Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, June 28, 2023 -- NINE
Local 4-H members compete in Wicked Mary to headline
state shoot
Fourth of July celebration
Archery contestants from around the state during the awards ceremony at the Oregon 4-H
Shooting Sports State Championships last week. -Photo by Kirsten Espinola
Several Morrow Coun-
ty 4-H members made the
trip to Albany for the Or-
egon 4-H Shooting Sports
Championships last week,
bringing home ribbons and
bragging rights in various
disciplines. Of the 16 Mor-
row County youth who
qualified in four different
shooting disciplines, nine
chose to take their shot at
the bullseye in the state
event.
The state competi-
tion is the culmination of
months of practice and
scoring rounds for the
youth—archery begins
scoring in November, and
all other disciplines begin
in January. Unlike other
shooting sports organiza-
tions, Oregon 4-H uses the
Danish System of Merit,
where kids compete against
a standard, not against one
another.
State shoot results
were:
In shotgun, Jonathan
Ashbeck scored red in trap
and red in five-stand; Pres-
lie Bowles scored blue in
trap and white in five-stand;
Wicked Mary will headline the Ione Fourth of July Celebra-
tion. The show begins at 8:30 p.m.
Rural Rowdy Community Club members who participated in
the state shoot (L-R): Mary Ashbeck, Jonny Ashbeck, Keltie
Rietmann, Madelyn Campbell, Kalvin Rietmann, Novalee
Campbell and Kinasyn Rietmann. -Contributed photo
and D. Kalvin Rietmann
scored red in trap and red
in five-stand.
In smallbore pistol,
Mary Ashbeck scored a
blue in bullseye and blue in
Camp Perry, with her high
point in bullseye.
In smallbore rifle, Jona-
than Ashbeck took white in
3-P and red in CMP; Preslie
Bowles took white in 3-P
and blue in CMP; and Mad-
elyn Campbell took white
in 3-P and white in CMP.
In compound archery,
Novalee Campbell scored
red in FITA and white in
3-D; KayeleeJean Espino-
la scored red in FITA and
white in 3-D; Keltie Riet-
mann scored red in FITA
and white in 3-D, and Ki-
nasyn Rietmann scored red
in FITA and white in 3-D.
Other members qual-
ifying for the state shoot
were Carter Eynetich, Rad-
ley Griggs, Jace Wilson,
Joel Wilson, Callahan Bak-
er, Brayden McNeil and
Zion Ramos.
The state competition
was held June 19-21 at
Albany Rifle and Pistol
Club in Shedd, OR and the
Albany Gun Club in Alba-
ny, OR.
Health district approves LifeVac
kits for community benefit
Taking the stage at 6:30 p.m. will be James Dean Kindle and
the Country Connection.
The temperature is go-
ing to be hot next week, and
the stage lineup at the Ione
Fourth of July celebration
promises to make things
even hotter.
Headlining the event
will be Wicked Mary, a
La Grande-based rock ‘n
roll cover group. They will
take the stage on the main
amphitheater at 8:30 p.m.
Wicked Mary was born
out of the ashes of The Jeff
Carman Band (JCB) in
April 2009 with original
members Jeff Carman, Mar-
cus Case and Christopher
Bechtel. The group later
added Christina Devin and
Mark Emerson to complete
the set.
From the new line-up,
it became evident that each
of the five members brought
a strong presence and their
own individual identities
to the band, and from there
it grew into Wicked Mary.
The group covers clas-
sic and modern rock n’ roll
ranging from the 1970s
through today. Songs in
their repertoire range from
“Black Velvet” by Alannah
Myles to Ozzy Osbourne’s
“Crazy Train,” with songs
from artists like Journey,
Kid Rock, AC/DC and Pat
Benatar rounding out their
performances.
Mark Emerson per-
forms vocals, drums and
percussion; Christopher
Bechtel is on guitars; Mar-
cus Case performs vocals
and guitars, Jeff Carman is
on vocals and bass guitars;
and Christina Devin pro-
vides lead vocals.
Opening for Wicked
Mary will be James Dean
Kindle with his Country
Combo. Kindle was born
and raised in Pendleton,
where he still lives.
Referring to himself as
a “maverick” singer-song-
writer-musician, Kindle
normally works within the
realm of Americana music.
However, he also fronts
the rock band The East-
ern Oregon Playboys and
dabbles in electronic and
experimental music. On oc-
casion he is a participant in
the Baker City psychedelic
noise collective Swäwm
Pass.
With him in Ione will
be Country Combo mem-
bers Luke McKern on gui-
tar and Thomas Paul on
bass. They take the stage at
6:30 p.m.
Performing on the main
stage during the afternoon
will be Soul Patch, featur-
ing Luke Basile and Frazer
Wambeke, and the Cory
Peterson Band. Soul Patch
will take the stage at 2 p.m.
Peterson and his band will
perform at 3:30 p.m.
Also on the amphi-
theater stage during the
afternoon will be the annual
Fourth of July talent show.
Registration begins at 4
p.m., with the talent show
beginning at 4:30 p.m.
Ione council hears sewer update
-Continued from PAGE ONE
Aaron Palmquist
Cari Grieb
A LifeVac home kit.
By Andrea Di Salvo
The Morrow County
Health District Board of
Directors approved the pur-
chase of 200 LifeVac kits to
be distributed throughout
the community at its regular
meeting Monday night in
Heppner. The $10,000 for
the units will come from the
health district’s community
benefit fund.
LifeVac is a rescue suc-
tion device that can be used
on choking victims when
traditional methods like the
Heimlich Maneuver don’t
work. It works by placing
suction on a person’s up-
per airway to clear objects
blocking a person’s breath-
ing. So far, the company has
recorded more than 1,050
lives saved with the device.
MCHD CEO Emily
Roberts said the idea for
purchasing the units had
arisen after a choking inci-
dent at an Easter egg hunt
in Heppner this year. The
young boy involved in the
incident was helped using a
finger-swipe method often
used on young choking
victims, but health district
staff started considering
what other tools might be
helpful in similar situations.
“Providers felt they
would rather have more
tools available,” Roberts
said.
Roberts said that, in
discussing the idea with
various entities around the
county, law enforcement
and fire departments had
already expressed interest
in obtaining about 30 each.
The health district would
also get a significant dis-
count for buying the units in
bulk, $20 off of the original
$70 cost for each unit.
MCHD board mem-
bers were supportive of the
idea, with board member
Aaron Palmquist simply
questioning whether 200
units would be enough for
the needs of the community.
Roberts replied that the cost
of the 200 units would not
use the whole fund, and the
board could always choose
to allocate more funds later.
The units are not reus-
able, though Roberts said
the company would replace
a unit once it was used.
While the manufacturer is
not specifically a nonprofit,
its stated mission is to save
as many lives as possible.
One way it does that is to re-
place LifeVac units free of
charge once they are used.
The board discussed
possible placement in
schools, senior centers and
even at the Elk’s lodge.
Palmquist and others also
said they liked the idea of
training members of the
public how to use the de-
vices. Roberts responded
that training was simple.
She even suggested that stu-
dents at the junior high and
high school levels could be
trained to use the units that
might be placed in schools.
“This just gives us one
more tool that we can make
available to people,” said
Roberts.
Also at the meeting,
the board approved the
budget resolution for the
fiscal year 2023-24. The
budget for the upcoming
fiscal year is $26,111,607.
Of that, personal services
is $17,678,679; materials
and supplies, $5,309,887;
revenue deductions and
bad debt, $375,338; capi-
tal purchases, $2,509,961;
loan principal reduction,
$187,742; and community
benefit grants, $50,000.
The tax rate levied
by the district includes a
$0.6050 per $1,000 as-
sessed value permanent tax
rate and a $0.39 per $1,000
local option levy. The dis-
trict expects to receive an
estimated $3,578,486 in
taxes.
In addition to approv-
ing the new budget and tax
rate, the board also voted
to unrestrict board funds
within the budget. MCHD
Chief Financial Officer
Nicole Mahoney told the
board that 10 percent of the
district’s gain for every year
was placed into a restricted
board fund, which now
totaled $547,945.
“Our cash available
for operations is less than
it has been in prior years,”
Mahoney explained. “Oper-
ationally, it would be more
advantageous for us to have
the funds unrestricted at this
time.”
The Monday meeting
also included a farewell to
outgoing board members
Cari Grieb and Aaron Palm-
quist, who chose not to seek
reelection when their terms
expired this year. New-
ly-elected board members
Trista Seastone and Stephen
Munkers will be sworn in
at the next board meeting.
Roberts recognized
Palmquist and Grieb for
their contributions to the
health district and present-
ed them with parting gifts
purchased by the board
members and staff.
“It has been a journey,”
responded Grieb. “I am
proud of the things we have
done, and I am very excited
for the future of the health
district.”
the city to maintain the
building.
“You’re not going to
find any space in this town
that would bill you less,”
said Peterson.
“It was agreed that it
needed to go up,” added
Ione Mayor Mike Skow.
“It was agreed that it should
have gone up gradually in
the past. I apologize for
the drastic, all-at-once in-
crease.”
Doherty and Morter
requested that, in the future,
the item be on the agenda
earlier and that the library
be allowed to be involved in
the discussion. Doherty also
asked what the city’s costs
were that were pertinent to
the raise.
“Talk with us. We’re
willing to work with you,”
said Morter.
Peterson responded
that the agenda had been
posted around for all to see,
but Doherty said that wasn’t
good enough.
“I’m going to suggest
that whenever you have
an item on your agenda
that involves a particular
group, you let them know,”
Doherty said.
“I think we’ve all
agreed that we need bet-
ter communication,” said
Skow. “We’re not trying to
push you out. We want to
be good neighbors.”
Also at the meeting,
Brad Baird of Anderson
Perry & Associates engi-
neering firm was on hand to
give an update on the city’s
ongoing sewer project.
Baird said a team is con-
ducting septic surveys right
now. If everything stays on
track and the Dept. of En-
vironmental Quality (DEQ)
responds to the city’s plans
in a timely manner, the city
hopes to send the project
out to bid by July 24 or Aug.
1. In that case, bids would
be due Aug. 22.
“We don’t want to get
too tight on a project like
this, because there’s a lot
to figure out,” said Baird.
Meanwhile, the city is
working on permits and
accesses, including county
right-of-way easements for
the drainpipe that will run
up Johnson Grade Lane to
the 40-acre drain field.
If work on the new sew-
er system goes as hoped,
construction could start as
early as this fall, with com-
pletion in early 2025.
Peterson reported that
the new Verkada security
cameras for the city have
arrived. However, they are
waiting on new SIM cards
for the cameras before in-
stalling them. Once the
SIM cards arrive, they will
need to coordinate with Co-
lumbia Basin Electric since
they will be installing them
on their poles.
Peterson told the Ga-
zette-Times that a total of
nine cameras will be in-
stalled—three at the en-
trances into the city from
Hwy. 74, two on the en-
trances to Emert Addition,
one on Third St., one on city
hall, one at the city park and
one on Main St.
Ione School already has
a camera that covers the
front of the school toward
Gooseberry.
The council also ap-
proved a change to the
nuisance ordinance the city
adopted May 9. In section
4.1, Reduction of Flamma-
ble Vegetation, they added
the sentence, “Tenants and/
or landowners are responsi-
ble for the disposal of yard
debris and shall not dump
on the City of Ione’s burn
pile.”
Peterson said the
change was needed because
people had been dumping
on the city’s burn pile. She
said Ione Public Works
Director Shad Hass had re-
cently burned the city pile,
then someone had dumped
more debris on the pile and
it had reignited.
The next regular meet-
ing of the Ione City Council
is planned for July 11 at 6
p.m. at Ione City Hall.
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