Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (May 3, 2023)
Lexington passes on town-wide security cameras 50¢ VOL. 143 NO. 18 8 Pages Wednesday, May 3, 2023 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Baker named May Day Grand Marshal which wasn’t around yet. They first lived in a tent where the Green Feed building is now, before moving out to Wilson Creek near the sawmill. They later moved from there down Rhea Creek to farm. He remembers that his father bought 10 milk cows, and it was his job to take care of them. Lexington man Ed Baker is the Grand Marshal of “I had to milk them the May Day Parade. This morning and night,” he year’s theme is “Flowers and says. It was a big job to do Flags.” -Contributed photo by hand, but it wasn’t his only job growing up. He Ed Baker in the U.S. Army in the 1950s. -Contributed photo By Andrea Di Salvo When Lexington was also worked for Floyd Jones 1940s would eventually ington State for a while, as planning for this year’s from the age of 12 or 13, be replaced by a Class A well as southern California. “Flowers and Flags” May Commercial Driver License In California, he transport- Day celebration, it was (CDL) with endorsements ed personnel ranging from difficult to think of a better for tankers and hazmat officers to new recruits. grand marshal than Lexing- trucks. “I took care of all the ton man Ed Baker. Baker, In 1949 he was part of officers coming in from 93, has deep roots in Lex- the crew that built the Rug- World War II,” he says. ington and a love for the gs grain elevator. It was an- Officers were transported American flag that few can other tough job, mixing the a few at a time in Jeeps. surpass. cement that the workmen New soldiers he transported “He has always had raised up by hand to build to training 18 at a time in a heart for service, in one the massive walls. It was a heavy military 6x6 trucks. form or fashion,” says Lex- job that seems staggering There were several training ington Mayor Juli Kennedy. to the 21-century mind, but fields, including some in Those who have lived Baker took it in stride. unexpected places. in South Morrow County “We opened it up in “Where you see the big for a few decades will re- Baker with son, Patrick, and 1950,” he says proudly. Hollywood sign,” Baker member a time when the holding daughter, Maggie, “We had it ready to go.” gestures with his hands to red, white and blue unfurled when they were children He joined the U.S. indicate the iconic hillside down the main streets of in Lexington. -Contributed Army in December of 1952. Lexington and Heppner photo -Continued to PAGE TEN He was stationed in Wash- for every holiday. Baker mowing the yard, haying was instrumental in plac- and doing other jobs around ing those flags, as well as a the farm. He also attended Hep- mainstay in the American pner School for a time— Legion color guard in pa- “The old building,” he says, rades throughout the region. referring to the 1913 build- His story didn’t begin ing that used to sit near the in Lexington. He says he current elementary school. was born in a house on the In 1947 he got his edge of Bend in 1930, while chauffeur license, a precur- his father worked on the sor to the modern driver’s roads in that area. “Dad, he had his horses license. He worked at Pio- out there building the road,” neer Caterpillar in Heppner and says that’s where he he recalls. Much of Baker’s life was devoted to serving in the American The family moved to learned to be a mechanic, Legion. He worked diligently to decorate local towns with the Heppner area in 1938 working on Caterpillar and American flags on national holidays and faithfully marched when his father got work John Deere machinery. in the Legion’s color guard in parades and events through- in a sawmill—not Kinzua, The chauffer license of the out the area. -Contributed photo Health district board raises CEO spending authorization By Andrea Di Salvo After extensive discus- sion last week, the Mor- row County Health District Board approved a resolu- tion raising the Chief Ex- ecutive Officer’s spending authorization from $10,000 to $25,000. The health district pre- viously had a spending limit of $10,000 for the CEO. Any amount above that needed to be brought before the health district board for pre-approval. “That’s been in place for a very, very, very long time,” MCHD CEO Emily Roberts told the board at the April 24 meeting, “and it’s never been increased or COLAed or adjusted for inflation, which means that nearly everything comes to the board for approval for expenditures.” Roberts said that was challenging because it delayed the process for things like smaller con- tracts, short-term staffing and repairs. The new resolution also included language re- quiring board approval for contracts and agreements that will exceed $100,000 cumulatively, whether or not they meet the initial threshold for procurements. Previous wording had re- quired board approval for contracts that exceeded $10,000 cumulatively. Board member Aaron Palmquist at first requested that the resolution include language stating that the expenditures must be in- cluded in appropriations, or budgeted. He said he want- ed that language because of history in the health district and other government juris- dictions where people had wanted to spend money with no strings attached. “If it’s not appropri- ated, it binds the district because we gave her autho- rization,” he said, referring to Roberts. “If it’s 20,000 and it’s not budgeted, she can go spend like a drunk sailor. We can say, ‘Well, she’s not going to do it.’ Well, then let’s make it so that it protects her and the district.” “I’ve said before, get off the 10,000 and give her more,” he added, “but it’s got to be budgeted.” “There are many things that are not budgeted,” Roberts replied, “but when we need a RAD tech, it’s very hard to send an email to five board members and then have to ratify it later because I don’t have spend- ing authority to be able to sign those contracts. “And right now, the way that it’s written, I don’t have spending authority to do that,” she added. MCHD Interim Chief Financial Officer Nicole Mahoney pointed out that adding language about ap- propriations would not nec- essarily stop someone with “bad intentions,” as they could try to justify expenses under large categories. “So what’s to say, well, the money was there even though it wasn’t specifically in place when the bud- get was inked,” she said. “There’s a lot of ways you could interpret that very broad clause.” “And I would argue that the previous resolu- tion didn’t stop that person you’re referring to from spending the money,” Rob- erts added. “If this is a ques- tion of transparency, I’m telling you why I need it.” Mahoney also pointed out that a second person had to sign off on all ex- penditures. “I cannot just make ex- penditures with no one else knowing,” agreed Roberts. “That’s not possible.” “Our chair is in anoth- er city and travels, and I travel,” said MCHD board vice-chair Diane Kilkenny, who was acting chair in the absence of chair Marie Shimer. “This makes it so she (Roberts) can hire people in a pinch, or things that are taking place that prohibit medical services from being provided, which is our main mission.” Palmquist said he could support that, but wanted to be very clear for the record that the board was being transparent and “guarded.” “Those things need to be forthright and commu- nicated,” he said. “How are we going to watch the By Andrea Di Salvo The Lexington Town Council went against a recent trend at its April meeting when it decided not to pursue more securi- ty cameras throughout the town. L e x i n g t o n To w n Recorcer Veronica Fergu- son gave a presentation on Verkada security cameras at the April 11 meeting. Verkada is the same compa- ny Heppner and Ione have recently entered agreements with, and the cameras are also used in several other communities in the region, including Arlington. Fergu- son said she had also heard that the county was looking into them for some of its properties. “It’s incredible what this software can do,” said Ferguson. She added that she was bringing it forward so the council and town could be aware that this was the direction neighboring cities were going. “I don’t necessarily think that we need these types of cameras in this town,” she added. The company gave a proposal for one indoor camera for Lexington Town Hall and four outdoor cam- eras. Ferguson said, if pur- chased, the city would own the cameras, but the compa- ny would install them. A community mem- ber mentioned that similar public cameras, though owned by the city or other entities, are helpful in law enforcement when they are able to access the feeds. She gave the example of when the Morrow County Sher- iff’s Office was able to see video feeds of the Irrigon skate park when there was trouble there. The town already has cameras at town hall and the town shop, though Verkada cameras offer more capabil- -Continued to PAGE SEVEN Madison Orem honored at Ione assembly Ione senior Madison Orem, Ione volleyball coach Dawn Eynetich and SFC Joseph Sullivan of the National Guard. Sgt. Sullivan presented Orem with the OSAA Most Valuable Teammate award at a recent school assembly. -Contributed photo Ione student Madison Orem was presented with the OSAA Most Valuable Teammate award at a stu- dent assembly on Tuesday, April 25. Orem is a senior at Ione High School. The award is sponsored by the National Guard. She was nominated for the hon- or by Ione head volleyball coach Dawn Eynetich. “Madison is an ath- lete that any coach would want on their team,” says Eynetich. “She shows up with a smile, volunteers to help do anything, gives it 110 percent, and is the biggest fan of all of her teammates.” On hand to present the award from SFC Joseph Sullivan of the National Guard. “ We w e r e e x c i t e d to hear about an award co-sponsored by the OSAA and the National Guard,” says Ione Schoold Dis- trict Superintendent Kevin Dinning. “It is an honor to have one of our students recognized at this level for this type of reason!” Boardman man arrested in fatal pedestrian accident A woman is dead and a Boardman man in custody after a fatal vehicle-ver- sus-pedestrian accident last Saturday. Around 10 p.m. on April 29, Oregon State Police responded to a vehi- cle-versus-pedestrian crash on Hwy. 395, near milepost 4A, in Umatilla County. The preliminary inves- tigation indicated a 2014 Ford F150, operated by Jeffrey Dean Toms, 53, of Boardman, was traveling southbound in the slow lane when it struck a female pedestrian, 50-year-old An- gela D. Beshers-Liles, who was crossing in a non-cross- -Continued to PAGE TEN walk, unlighted section of the highway. Beshers-Liles was pro- nounced deceased at the scene by EMTs from the Umatilla County Fire Dis- trict #1. The highway was impacted for approximately four hours during the on- scene investigation. Toms was arrested and lodged at Umatilla County Jail on charges of driving under the influence of alco- hol, reckless endangering, and manslaughter II. OSP was assisted by Umatilla County Fire Dis- trict #1, Umatilla County 911 Dispatch Center, Herm- iston Police Department, and ODOT. CALL 541-989-8221 ext 204 for more information
