TWO - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, May 24, 2023
The Official Newspaper
of the City of Heppner and the County of Morrow
County officially forms broadband action team
By Andrea Di Salvo
Morrow County took a
historic step toward coun-
ty-wide broadband last
U.S.P.S. 240-420
week with the creation of
the Morrow County Broad-
Morrow County’s Home-Owned Weekly Newspaper
SEARCH OLD COPIES OF THE HEPPNER GAZETTE-TIMES ON-LINE: band Action Team (Morrow
County BAT), a broadband
http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/
public improvement con-
Published weekly by Sykes Publishing and entered as periodical matter at the Post
sortium created through an
Office at Heppner, Oregon under the Act of March 3, 1879. Periodical postage paid
at Heppner, Oregon. Office at 188 W. Willow Street. Telephone (541) 676-9228. Fax
intergovernmental agree-
(541) 676-9211. E-mail: editor@rapidserve.net or david@rapidserve.net. Web site:
ment between Morrow
www.heppner.net. Postmaster send address changes to the Heppner Gazette-Times,
County and the Port of
P.O. Box 337, Heppner, Oregon 97836. Subscriptions: $35 in Morrow County; $40
senior rate (in Morrow County only; 65 years or older); $30 elsewhere; $35 student
Morrow.
subscriptions.
Aaron Moss, who has
Chris Sykes ...............................................................................................Publisher
Andrea Di Salvo ............................................................................................ Editor
been leading the project for
Cindi Doherty.........................................................................................Advertising
nearly two years, called the
All News and Advertising Deadline is Monday at 5 p.m.
agreement “the culmination
For Advertising: advertising deadline is Monday at 5 p.m. Cost for a display ad is $5.50 per
of 21 months of work and
column inch. Cost for classified ad is 50¢ per word. Cost for Card of Thanks is $15 up to 100
words. Cost for a classified display ad is $6.00 per column inch.
stakeholder engagement
For Public/Legal Notices: public/legal notices deadline is Monday at 5 p.m. Dates for publi-
putting together high-level
cation must be specified. Affidavits must be requested at the time of submission. Affidavits
designs for potential broad-
require three weeks to process after last date of publication (a sooner return date must be
specified if required).
band grant services.”
For Obituaries: Obituaries are published in the Heppner GT at no charge and are edited to
“This has been a
meet news guidelines. Families wishing to include information not included in the guidelines
whole-county effort, and
or who wish to have the obituary written in a certain way must purchase advertising space
for the obituary.
I really appreciate all the
For Letters to the Editor: Letters to the Editor MUST be signed by the author. The Heppner
work everybody has done,
GT will not publish unsigned letters. All letters MUST include the author’s address and phone
number for use by the GT office. The GT reserves the right to edit letters. The GT is not
and it’s been awesome,”
responsible for accuracy of statements made in letters. Any letters expressing thanks will be
added Moss.
placed in the classifieds under “Card of Thanks” at a cost of $10.
Moss came to Morrow
County in July of 2021. He
said he started by having
needs conversations with
county stakeholders and
eventually built those stake-
Judith M Durkee-Nor- pner. She became an EMT
holders into a team.
ris, 79, of Heppner passed for a brief time and finally
“And built it into, I
a w a y o n realized her calling as a
think, a force to be reck-
M a y 1 6 , licensed massage therapist.
2023, in
She enjoyed gardening,
N o r t h - nature, music and dancing.
port, ME. She loved meeting with old
A Boardman man is in
A C e l e - and new friends and often custody after attempting
bration of said, “A stranger is but a to elude law enforcement
Life will friend I haven’t met yet!” last week. Marco Anto-
be held at Islesboro, ME Judy was involved in hos- nio Garcia, 37, of Board-
on May 25 at 2 p.m. with pice as a volunteer, using man is lodged at Umatilla
Reverend Patricia Good- her gift of massage.
County Jail with bail set at
speed of Second Baptist
She is preceded in $185,000.
Church officiating. Private death by her parents and her
A b o u t 11 p . m . o n
Burial will be at Green- grandson, Casey Durkee.
Sunday, May 14, Morrow
wood Cemetery.
Judy is survived by her County Sheriff ’s Office
Judy was born in Jack- husband, George Norris Communications Center
sonville, FL to Robert and of Heppner; sister, Donna received a call reporting a
Thelma (Emery) Hammond Miller of Liberty; children, pickup truck with a trailer
on Sept. 27, 1943. Judy Kenneth of Islesboro, and that had pulled up to the
lived in several places as a Therese and Michael of Easterday Dairy milking
child, primarily Ohio and Northport; seven grandchil- parlor area and parked out
Islesboro.
dren and four great-grand- of sight.
She worked as a house children; and many nieces
K-9 Deputy Colleen
cleaner in her early years, and nephews.
Neubert arrived on the
which developed into a
Arrangements are un- scene and located a pick-
love for flower arranging, der the care of Riposta up pulling a horse trailer.
and went on to attend floral Funeral Home. Memories She identified herself and
design school. She became and condolences may be ordered the driver to stop,
a CNA, enjoying her work shared with the family at but the driver of the truck
in the nursing home in Hep- www.ripostafh.com.
immediately drove away.
During the driver’s 3.5-
mile attempt to elude the
deputy, a tire came off the
Larry Sperlich—Lar- WA. A graveside service at
ry Sperlich, 74, previously the Heppner Cemetery will
of Heppner, passed away be held in at a later date.
May 16, 2023, in Pasco,
Heppner
GAZETTE-TIMES
Obituaries
Judith M. Durkee-Norris
Project leader Aaron Moss
oned with statewide,” he
said.
The stated purpose of
the consortium is to al-
low the county and Port
to pool resources to more
effectively and efficiently
further broadband projects
in Morrow County.
Moss said that what the
Morrow County Board of
Commissioners was look-
ing at was a 100 percent
completed ordinance and
98 percent completed by-
laws, and that the bylaws
will need to be changed
before the consortium’s first
meeting.
The most notable
change will be to require
at least one vote from each
founding party to have a
measure pass, rather than a
simple majority, “to make
sure that there’s consensus
as much as possible on
board decisions,” added
Moss. Founding parties are
Morrow County and the
Port of Morrow.
The Board of Commis-
sioners adopted an ordi-
nance approving the inter-
governmental agreement
(IGA) at its May 17 meeting
in Irrigon. The ordinance
and agreement went into
effect immediately.
The board will be made
up of two members each
from Morrow County and
the Port of Morrow, either
commissioners or other ap-
pointed representatives, as
well as two at-large mem-
bers, one appointed by each
of the governing bodies.
The at-large members can’t
be elected officials, officers
or employees of either the
county or the Port.
The Port of Morrow
also approved the ordinance
at its last meeting after one
reading. Morrow County
Counsel Justin Nelson said
the county also could have
approved the ordinance in
one meeting but chose to
extend the process with a
first reading on May 3 to
allow time for public com-
ment or questions.
Morrow County BAT
hopes to have its first board
meeting June 15 at 3 p.m.
“As we continue to
move forward, the goal of
this governmental agree-
ment and this consortium
is really to put together
options for this new entity
to pursue infrastructure
funding in whatever model
it deems fit, whether that’s
public-private, whether
that’s private-led,” said
Moss. “As we continue to
move forward, this is to
continue to give our com-
munity the best options
as this historic moment of
broadband funding contin-
ues to grow nearer.”
“This has been the most
remarkable experience of
my life,” added Moss, who
is leaving Morrow County
now that the project is com-
pleted. “I’m very grateful
for everybody and excited
to hopefully keep Morrow
County positioned to be
that leader even when I’m
gone.”
Boardman man arrested attempting to elude during burglary
Death Notice
BMCC to offer free fiber
optic fusion splicing
certificate course
Blue Mountain Com-
munity College will host
a free fiber optic fusion
splicing certificate course in
collaboration with Amazon
Web Services (AWS) and
Sumitomo Electric Light-
wave. The two-day course
will take place June 21-22
at the BMCC Hermiston
Center.
The AWS fiber optic
fusion splicing certificate
course is a two-day training
on fiber optic installation
and repair. The course is
intended for anyone who
wants to enter the fiber optic
industry and learn fusion
splicing skills.
Fiber optic cables are
the backbone of the modern
world, carrying internet,
TV and telephone data.
They are made up of tiny
glass tubes, which makes
repairing and testing them
specialized work. These
skills are increasingly need-
ed to build out the world’s
data and communication
networks like 5G, as well
as data centers. Given this
need, and as part of Ama-
zon’s commitment to train
29 million people for free
on cloud computing and
technical skills by 2025,
AWS has teamed up with
Sumitomo Electric Light-
wave to host free fusion
splicing certificate courses
at colleges across the U.S.,
including Blue Mountain
Community College.
Students accepted into
this no-cost program will
learn through a combina-
tion of lectures and hands-
on training and can also
take part in a career net-
working session, allowing
participants to meet local
employers. Breakfast and
lunch will be provided.
At the end of day two,
there will be a certificate
ceremony and employer
networking event that will
conclude at 6:30 p.m.
Interested participants
must register at https://
fiber-aws.pearson.com/fu-
sion-splicing-registration.
For more information, con-
tact Kaley Cope, Director
of Marketing and Commu-
nications at kcope@bmcc.
edu or 541-278-5774.
Print & Mailing Services
*Design *Print
Sykes Publishing
*Mail
541-676-9228
horse trailer and the truck
and trailer became stuck in
a potato field. The driver
then fled on foot. Both the
truck and horse trailer were
full of items.
K-9 Telly was deployed
but was unsuccessful at
locating the suspect. Board-
man PD also responded
to assist and advised that
Boardman Fire had a drone
that might be available.
Boardman PD secured the
truck and trailer and the
pursuit scene.
The K-9 team headed
back to the milking par-
lor, where they had been
advised there might be a
second suspect. Deputy
Neubert, K-9 Telly and
an Oregon State Police
(OSP) Trooper cleared the
building but did not locate
a second suspect.
The K-9 team then re-
turned to the field. The
drone was in the air and
Ione City Council approves
nuisance ordinance
City water testing shows clean
bill of health
The Ione City Council
is working on cleaning up
the community—literally—
beginning with a new nui-
sance ordinance to address
multiple issues.
“The ordinance is to
address the debris for an-
ticipation of the sewer proj-
ect, the smell of marijuana
growing during the spring,
and loud noises, so there
was a need to address a
variety of issues,” Ione
City Administrator told the
Gazette-Times. “In general,
we would like to clean up
our town.”
The council passed
the ordinance at its May
9 meeting. The ordinance
addresses offensive odors,
noise, uncontrolled weeds
and grass, debris and rodent
control.
The city will be mailing
all residents a copy of the
nuisance ordinance, along
with copies of the existing
dog, chicken and aban-
doned vehicle ordinances
already in place.
The city also released
its 2022 annual drinking
water report. Water test-
ing for last year showed a
DEADLINE:
MONDAYS
AT 5PM
complete absence of most
contaminants, while those
that were present were well
within federal and state
requirements for safe drink-
ing water.
Notably, the city water
showed no traces of E. coli
or other harmful bacteria,
and no nitrates. Lead was
present at 0.0010 parts per
million (ppm)—above the
goal of zero, but well below
the action level of 15 ppm.
Small traces of copper and
barium were also detected.
The entire report can be
found on the City of Ione’s
website, https://cityofione-
oregon.gov/. Anyone with
questions about the ordi-
nances or drinking water
report can contact city hall
at 541-422-7414.
located the suspect in the
field. He was burrowing
in the dirt in an attempt to
hide. The K-9 team and
OSP trooper were instruct-
ed on where to find the sus-
pect. When they arrived at
the suspect’s location, only
his face was showing; the
rest was covered with dirt.
He was advised to co-
operate and that a K-9 was
present. He initially did not
cooperate, but then the K-9
stepped forward and began
barking. The suspect was
then taken into custody
without further incident.
The items in the truck
and trailer were identified
as property of Easterday
Dairy. The total value was
almost $63,000. The horse
trailer was also confirmed
stolen out of Hermiston.
The suspect was identi-
fied as Marco Antonio Gar-
cia, 37, of Boardman. He
was currently on probation
with Morrow County Parole
& Probation. He also had
an active Morrow County
warrant, and his driver’s
license was suspended.
He was charged with Bur-
glary II, Aggravated Theft
I, Felony Elude-Vehicle,
Misdemeanor Elude-Foot,
Unauthorized Use of a Mo-
tor Vehicle, Driving While
Suspended-Misdemeanor
and a Morrow County Cir-
cuit Court warrant for Fail-
ure to Appear on Criminal
Driving While Suspended.
MCSO appreciates the
assistance of Boardman
PD, Boardman Fire for use
of the drone and operator,
and Oregon State Police for
their assistance. If anyone
has any more information
on this case, they are asked
to contact Morrow County
Sheriff’s Office at 541-676-
5317.
WWW.HEPPNER.NET
Submit News, Advertising & Announcements
Letters To The Editor
Send Us Photos
Start A New Subscription
HUNTER EDUCATION
CLASSES OFFERED
Classes start Tuesday, June 13th, & Thursday June
15th, 6-9 pm Field Day the 17th 8am to noon. Classes
Tuesday the 20th and 22nd 6-9 pm. at the Lexington
Gun Club. To sign up go to myodfw.com Must sign
up on line. https://myodfw.com/articles/hunter-educa-
tion-classes-field-days.
Contact Instructor, Jim Marquardt at 541 969-4845.
if questions.
Honor their memory this Memorial Day
Fresh cut and silk floral arrangements available
Call our floral department today!
Have a safe weekend.
Closed Monday, May 29
217 North Main St.,
Heppner, OR
Phone 676-9158 Floral 676-9426
murraysdrug.com