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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (April 12, 2023)
NINE - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, April 12, 2023 Dinning resigns -Continued from PAGE ONE as elementary principal for tion, and they look forward to making sure Ione is on their calendar for events and school functions that they can attend. “At this time, we do not know where our journey will take us next year, but we will always be grateful for being welcomed into the Ione Community for the last two years,” said Dinning. “We have accomplished a great amount in the last two years, and I am hopeful the district will continue the progress with the bond and school improvement with Tracey Johnson.” “The district is in great hands moving forward, as Tracey has been at the table the last three years, and she has been at the table for all of our district im- provement efforts and bond work,” Dinning added. “A huge thank you from me to the students, staff, school board, community mem- bers and community or- ganizations that supported us through the last couple years! “I will look forward to seeing the Ione School District and the Ione Com- munity School continue to get better every day for the rest of the year and after my contract year finishes at the end of June. Forever and always, go Cardinals!” County Republican Party to meet next week The Morrow County Republican Party will meet at 6 p.m., Thursday, April 20, at the Morrow Coun- ty Government Building, Don Adams Conference Room, in Irrigon. Precinct Committee Persons (PCPs) and anyone interested in the county Republican Party are encouraged to come and join the discussions. MCRP will draft a budget for 2023, continue planning the 2023 fund- raising event and discuss its presence at spring/summer community events. PCP positions are open in Heppner, Lexington, Boardman and Irrigon. Individuals interested in one of these positions are encouraged to attend this meeting to learn about the positions. PCP appoint- ments can be made during MCRP meetings. The Republican Par- ty is open to individuals interested in conservative ideals and values. The Re- publican Party platform can be found at https://oregon. gop/. For more information on the Morrow County Republican Party, contact mocoreps@gmail.com. Ione FFA participates for first time in district floriculture, meats evaluation The Ione FFA Meats Evaluation team participated for the The Ione FFA Floriculture team took third place at the district first time at the district competition last week. L-R are Corey competition this past week. This is the first time Ione has Rice, Liam Heideman and Martin Mendoza. -Contributed photo participated in this event, and Deacon Heideman was much ap- preciated as the bus driver. Pictured L-R: Deacon Heideman, Eight Ione FFA high be fun to watch these mem- Elizabeth Doherty, Jolene Serrano, Kelly Doherty, Delaney school members competed bers grow,” said Ione FFA Stefani and Brionna Serrano. -Contributed photo at the 2023 District Flori- culture and Meats Evalua- tion Career Development Event held at the BMCC Complex in Boardman last Thursday, April 6. This was the first time that any mem- ber of Ione FFA Chapter has participated in this event since the chapter chartered about seven years ago. “Our chapter has a very enthusiastic group of high school students, and it will The suspect, identified as Gregory Ryan Salverda, 52, of Boardman, was trans- ported to a local hospital with minor injuries and was reported to be in stable condition. OSP said there was no further danger to the public. Per department policy and in accordance with SB 111, the officer involved in the shooting has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation by the Morrow/Umatilla County Major Crime Team. Assisting agencies con- sisted of the Oregon State Police, Boardman Police Department, Pendleton Po- lice Department, Hermiston Police Department, Mil- ton-Freewater Police De- partment, Morrow County Sheriff’s Office, Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office, Morrow County District Attorney’s Office and the Oregon State Police crime lab. Ballots no longer to include secrecy envelopes Morrow County Clerk Bobbi Childers has an- nounced that the optional secrecy envelope will no longer be included with voter ballots. Childers told the Ga- zette-Times that price and scarcity of envelopes is a factor in the decision but that the secrecy envelope has always been optional for voters. It is no longer needed, as the outer signa- ture envelope has a printed security weave on the inside that protects voter privacy, she said. Childers said the deci- sion to discontinue privacy envelopes has been formal- ly approved by the Oregon Secretary of State’s office and will save the county both money and staff time. “Your privacy and the secrecy of your vote has al- ways been and will continue to be protected throughout the ballot counting pro- cess,” said a statement on the clerk’s website. The next ballots mailed will be for the May 16 special district elections. Signed envelopes must be received or postmarked by 8 p.m. on election day. For more information, see the county clerk’s website or contact 541-676-5601 or elections@co.morrow. or.us. Ione FFA was chartered in 2015 and is part of the Oregon FFA Association and the Blue Mountain Dis- trict. The district consists of Pilot Rock, Athena-Weston, Milton-Freewater, Herm- iston, Pendleton, Irrigon, Heppner, Boardman, Stan- field, Echo and Ione. For more information about Ione FFA, visit their Face- book page. Coordinated response includes outreach and education, well testing and replacement strategies, and delivering drinking water to impacted residents Governor Tina Kotek Salem, OR—In re- sponse to the ongoing groundwater contamination in the Lower Umatilla Ba- sin, last week governor Tina Kotek reiterated her com- mitment to coordinating an inter-agency response that includes testing and treatment of affected wells, pursuing a contract with a local community-based organization to engage in this effort, and dedicating a project manager to support safe drinking water. “Every Oregonian should have safe, healthy drinking water. The water contamination experienced in Morrow and Umatilla counties is unacceptable and must be fixed,” Gover- nor Kotek said. “Residents need to be aware of the danger posed by nitrates and have immediate access to well testing and clean drinking water while we work towards longer-term solutions.” Members of the gov- ernor’s office were in Mor- row and Umatilla counties recently touring impacted residential sites and meet- ing with community lead- ers, local elected leaders and public health officials in advance of the governor visiting Umatilla and Mor- row counties in the coming weeks. Since January, the governor’s office has been meeting with the U.S. En- vironmental Protection Town and Country awards banquet May 4 The Heppner Chamber of Commerce will host its annual Town and Country awards banquet on Thurs- day, May 4, at 6 p.m. at the Gilliam & Bisbee Event Center in Heppner. A limited number of tickets are for sale at the Heppner Chamber of Com- merce, Heppner City Hall, and Murray’s Drug. Tickets are $40 each, which in- cludes a prime rib dinner by Gateway Café and a no-host bar provided by Bucknum’s Tavern and Grill, a silent auction and, of course, the community awards presentation. Award nomination forms can be found at www. h e p p n e r c h a m b e r. c o m / awards and will be closed Friday, April 14. Potato could be Oregon’s state vegetable Oregon Sen. Bill Hansell (R-Athena) has announced that the humble potato is one step closer to becoming the Oregon State vegetable. Hansell is one of the chief sponsors of SCR 3, which would designate the potato as the state veg- etable. The senate resolu- tion has made it through the senate with unanimous support and now moves to the Oregon House of Rep- resentatives. “It is good to see we are one step closer to making Oregon the potato state,” Hansell said in a release. Hansell says he sup- ports the potato as the state Jace Thompson, winner vegetable because of the of the grand prize at the spud’s important role in Oregon’s agriculture and Heppner Market Fresh economy. Easter egg hunt Satur- According to Hansell’s day, grins as he shows off speech to the state senate, his prize—a big bunch Potatoes are Oregon’s most of water balloons and widely cultivated vegeta- launchers. -Contributed ble crop, taking up 44,000 photo acres. In 2021, Oregon That’s one egg-citing prize were then judged. Elizabeth Doherty was number eight overall. The meats team earned third place as well and consisted of Martin Men- doza, Corey Rice and Liam Heideman. They were re- sponsible for identifying 25 cuts of meat with species, primal cuts and retail cuts and then evaluating a class of steaks based on yield grade information. Governor promises coordinated response to groundwater issues Pursuit ends in officer-involved shooting A pursuit in North Mor- row County Tuesday night ended in an officer-involved shooting and car crash, ac- cording to a statement by Oregon State Police. Shortly after 11 p.m. last Tuesday, April 4, Mor- row County Sheriff’s Of- fice attempted to perform a traffic stop on a vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed on Highway 730. The vehicle attempted to elude the MCSO deputy and traveled into the City of Boardman. The pursuit continued through the res- idential areas of Boardman before the fleeing vehicle eventually crashed. During the incident, a Boardman Police Depart- ment officer fired his duty weapon and hit the eluding vehicle. Oregon State Police troopers were able to finally force the vehicle to stop in the vicinity of West Main Street and Boardman Av- enue and the suspect was taken into custody. Advisor Erin Heideman. The floriculture team earned third place and con- sisted of Delaney Stefani, Elizabeth Doherty, Jolene Serrano, Kelly Doherty and Brionna Serrano. They were responsible for iden- tifying 10 insects, 10 plant diseases and 25 flowers or plants. They then created bud vase arrangements and developed a cost invoice on each arrangement, which farmers harvested 2.6 bil- lion pounds of potatoes, and potatoes are Oregon’s top-selling vegetable, add- ing 216.8M to the Oregon economy. In fact, pota- toes are Oregon’s seventh most valuable agriculture commodity; 25 percent of Oregon frozen French fries. “For, no matter how you cut it, no matter how you slice it, no matter how you chip it, no matter how you dice it, no matter how you flake it, no matter how you shred it, no matter how you mash it, no matter how you peel it, no matter how you bake it, no matter how you fry it, no matter how you cook it, no matter how you eat it, and no matter how you drink it (remem- ber vodka comes from po- tatoes) the question has been answered... there is no question,” Hansell told the senate. “For the Oregon vegetable, the potato should be!” Agency (EPA), Oregon Health Authority (OHA), Oregon Department of Hu- man Services (ODHS), the Department of Environ- mental Quality (DEQ) and the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA), as well as engaging community leaders to build a plan and team that will accelerate free testing of domestic wells. At the direction of Gov- ernor Kotek, a dedicated project manager from OHA has been identified to lead this inter-agency work. A public education and out- reach campaign will ensure that every domestic well owner in the Lower Uma- tilla Basin Groundwater Management Are (LUB- GWMA) has information on the impact of high ni- trates in drinking water. In addition to free water testing, households whose water tests high for nitrates will receive delivered wa- ter and, where effective, in-home filtration systems, while longer-term solutions are being developed. The governor’s office is also pursuing a contract with a local community-based organization to support the outreach, engagement, and delivery of water testing and treatment in impacted communities. There will be additional outreach to other community-based organizations to engage in that work. Kotek says she is committed to working with the EPA, DEQ, ODA, and community members to address the long-term remediation needs of the groundwater aquifer. “I want residents who have been impacted by this water contamination to know that we are working with urgency to deliver solutions,” Kotek said. “The state’s coordinated response must meet the needs of the families on the ground. In addition to my staff’s hard work over the past several months, I look forward to personally meeting with community members in Umatilla and Morrow counties in the weeks ahead.” Residents of the affect- ed region can access testing by visiting the OHA Lower Umatilla Basin Groundwa- ter Management Area Test- ing and Treatment webpage or contacting their county public health department. Call today and receive a FREE SHOWER PACKAGE PLUS $ 1600 OFF 1-833-395-1433 With purchase of a new Safe Step Walk-In Tub. Not applicable with any previous walk-in tub purchase. Offer available while supplies last. 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