SIX - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, August 16, 2023
Heppner council meeting
-Continued from PAGE ONE climbing into a stroller and stray cats.
Morrow County Sheriff’s
Office transporting trapped
cats to Pet Rescue.
“You paid, I paid as a
citizen, six trips, five trips to
haul a cat per trip—one trip
may have been two cats—to
Hermiston, by a deputy,”
Wolff said.
Wolff said a Heppner
citizen on May St. had
trapped the cats and called
the sheriff’s office to get
rid of it. He said that, in
his estimation, each trip
was at least three hours of
patrol time the city is being
charged for to haul the cats.
He also said the problem
was escalating, as litters
born in the spring were
moving out on their own.
Wolff also said he
couldn’t find a cat ordi-
nance on the books for the
City of Heppner.
“We have dog ordi-
nances, and vicious dogs
and vagrant dogs and differ-
ent things about dogs,” he
said. “I don’t know what the
council’s flavor is as to what
we do about feral cats.”
Heppner City Council-
or JoAnna Lamb responded
that there is no state ordi-
nance regarding cats, either.
She said she had done ani-
mal control for two years.
“It doesn’t matter what
county or what state or
even what country you’re
in,” said Lamb, “it does not
enforce the laws on cats.”
She said the city might
be able to create a code
regarding feeding stations,
but that regulating cats has
always been difficult.
“Cats have always been
a difficult thing,” added
MCSO Lt. Nathan Braun,
who was present at the
meeting. “You can’t keep
a cat contained. It’s impos-
sible.”
He added that depu-
ties have been transporting
cats for as long as he’s
been a deputy, around two
decades. The City of Irri-
gon also used to pay the
sheriff’s department for cat
transport, but eventually
said they wouldn’t pay for
transports any more, Braun
said.
“They still have cat
problems. We just don’t
haul them anymore,” said
Braun.
Wolff said Heppner cit-
izens, especially neighbors
near the feeding stations,
were complaining. He men-
tioned one resident who
owns a soft-top Jeep.
“And the cats are defe-
cating and spraying on his
soft-top,” said Wolff.
Another resident com-
plained that cats were
spraying.
“I can’t find any muscle
for the city to do anything
about it, but I feel you need
to be aware of that.” Wolff
said.
He also said the city
had paid out more than
$500 dollars for Pet Rescue
to receive the cats.
“Two issues for me.
One is that we’re paying
for patrol time under our
sheriff ’s contract,” said
Wolff. “Number two, we’re
paying for this animal shel-
ter, disposal outfit to take
these cats.”
Heppner city councilor
John Doherty suggested
the city create resolutions
discontinuing cat transport
by the sheriff’s office and
banning feeding stations.
Lamb said she didn’t
have a problem with not
having deputies transport
cats; she said her family has
trapped cats and transported
them themselves. However,
she added that there might
be legal issues with banning
feeding stations.
“Proving ownership
on that cat would be very
difficult,” she said. “One
of the biggest problems is
that no country has a law
on cats that actually works.
The United States certain-
ly doesn’t, and each state
certainly doesn’t either. I
haven’t found one yet.”
“What is going to hap-
pen if they don’t get trans-
ported?” asked Heppner
City Councilor Cody High.
“Obviously, in this situa-
tion, the gentleman on May
St. who is actively catching
them is not doing that.
“If he continues to ac-
tively catch them but he’s
not actively driving them,
but is actively annoyed
with these cats, what do we
think is going to happen?”
he added.
High added that a pol-
icy against using city re-
sources to deal with feral
cats would also preclude
any kind of mass round-up
and transport the city might
want to do.
“I cannot believe that
we’re saying we have these
two places with a hundred
cats and the City of Hep-
pner is just like, hands off,”
said High.
“It is a problem. It’s
also a legal catch-22,” said
Lamb.
“Why? Nobody owns
them,” responded High.
“These are completely
stray, random. I don’t un-
derstand.”
Wolff replied that, as a
citizen, he didn’t want his
resources used to round up
“But you want the feral
cats gone,” said High.
“There’s ways to take
care of that, by private citi-
zens,” said Wolff.
The council voted 4-3
to discontinue use of city
resources, including the
sheriff’s office and public
works, to trap or transport
feral cats.
“The second item—
what are we going to do
about the cats?” said Hep-
pner Mayor Corey Swee-
ney.
Heppner Councilor
Dale Bates suggested an
ordinance against feeding
feral cats.
“Two or three, you
could probably get away
with that, but if you get a
picture of someone with 20
cats in their yard, that can
be presented to our code en-
forcement people,” he said.
Heppner City Counsel
Bill Kuhn said he would
contact the League of Or-
egon Cities and see if any
other cities had a working
ordinance like that. He also
added that, if they created
such an ordinance, the city
would be using resources
if an officer had to go and
issue a citation.
Heppner City Coun-
cilor Adam Doherty also
addressed the gray area of
people placing feeders on
property that doesn’t belong
to them.
“Where they just say,
‘That’s not my feeder. What
are you talking about?’”
he said.
Wolff replied that the
two feeders in question
were obvious—one woman
was even posting on Face-
book, asking for donations
for cat food. However, he
conceded that he could
see people moving feeding
stations to avoid the city
ordinance. Lamb added
that, if the feeder were on
city property, the city could
simply remove it.
High also suggested
contacting the Feral Cat Co-
alition of Oregon (FCCO).
“It needs to be done by
a nonprofit organization,”
agreed Lamb. “That’s more
organized and specifically
for these cat problems.”
Wolff said he would
create a list of resources
for residents dealing with
feral cats.
“But the city is not
transporting them,” he said.
“We’re not paying to have
them fixed. We’re not pay-
ing to have them delivered.
We’re not paying to have
them euthanized.”
Lexington continues discussion
on traffic, speed zones
By Andrea Di Salvo
Streets, speed zones
and signage were again
topics of discussion during
the Aug. 8 Lexington Town
Council meeting.
Lexington Town Re-
corder Veronica Ferguson
told the city council she
had submitted the request
to Oregon Dept. of Trans-
portation to lower the speed
limit to 20 miles per hour
through town. She said she
also had a follow-up call
with ODOT traffic inves-
tigator Rick Stanton about
reducing the speed zone.
She had been told that
the town is one of 11 in the
investigator’s jurisdiction
currently seeking a speed
zone change.
“He’s the investigator
for this entire district,” she
added. “He has to respond
to all 11 of those.”
The traffic investigator
has to go to each site and as-
sess the traffic and the need
for the speed zone change.
Stanton said it could take
several months before he
could even make it to Lex-
ington.
“But it’s submitted,”
Ferguson repeated.
Ferguson said she had
also spoken with Stanton
about how best to get vehi-
cles to slow down through
town.
“We spoke about our
need for signage,” she said.
“He said the most ‘bang for
our buck’ is going to be the
radar speed flashing light
that flashes how fast people
are driving by.”
The signs are not made
to record information, and
nobody would be issued a
ticket based on the sign’s
reading, but Stanton said
it really helps get people’s
attention.
The jurisdiction usual-
ly pays for the sign, while
ODOT would install it and
maintain it. The cost for the
signs is high, but Ferguson
said she was told there
might be a possibility of
funding.
“I like that idea,” said
councilor Bill Beard. “It
gets my attention.”
Ferguson said ODOT
had also requested informa-
tion on what signage, if any,
exists where the crosswalk
is at the intersection of
Hwy. 74 and Hwy. 207.
“There is currently no
signage,” Ferguson told the
council. “Just the painted
lines on the road.”
That section of road-
way used to be posted as 20
mph due to that area being
a school zone. However,
in 2019, Morrow County
School District requested
the sign be changed because
there was no longer a need
for it. It has been decades
since the building operat-
ed as a school, though the
school district had kept its
district offices at that loca-
tion until 2013.
According to Stanton,
that created two separate
issues for the intersection—
the speed zone and the
crosswalk. ODOT is re-
sponsible for signage and
other upkeep for crosswalks
within school zones, but all
other crosswalks fall to the
care of local municipali-
-Continued to PAGE SEVEN
Heppner Elementary to close
Stansbury two hours on school days
Stansbury Street in Heppner will soon be closed for an hour in the morning and in the after-
noon during school days. The closure comes from a concern for student safety after school
staff observed unsafe driving on the street. -Photo by Andrea Di Salvo
By Andrea Di Salvo
Heppner Elementary
School will continue with
its plans to close Stansbury
Street two hours a day on
school days beginning on
the first day of school this
year.
The closures will begin
Aug. 28. The street will be
closed between 7:30 and
8:30 a.m. and 3-4 p.m.
on school days, typically
Monday through Thursday.
Morning hours may change
to 10:30-11:30 a.m. when
school is delayed due to
inclement weather or on the
four STEAM days through-
out the year.
The traffic flow for par-
ent drop-off would be a
circle through the parking
lot and then down to the
side of the school to drop
off at the school yard gate.
The crossing guards would
still be on duty and would
be there to put up and take
down street barriers, includ-
ing if an emergency vehicle
needed to get through.
The school had sent
a request to the Heppner
City Council earlier this
year, asking for the tempo-
rary closure due to safety
concerns. The city council
approved the request at its
April 10 meeting, but the
school opted to put off the
change until the new school
year this fall.
“With a city street bi-
secting our campus at Hep-
pner Elementary School we
often see potential auto pe-
destrian accidents waiting
to happen,” HES Principal
Dieter Waite wrote in a
letter to the council.
Waite also said in the
letter that the school has
seen more parents drop-
ping off or picking up their
students by car. He said
they had enacted safety
measures such as moving
the parent pick up location
to the recess gate near the
fairgrounds, using sand-
wich boards to direct traffic
in a circular pattern by the
gym and increasing cross-
walk staffing. Still, safety
concerns remain.
Heppner councilor
JoAnna Lamb, who also
works at HES, told the
council that there have been
several traffic violations,
with drivers trying to go
through when there are
people crossing the street.
“Not everyone has been
very patient with wanting to
get where they’re going,”
said Lamb.
Waite said the idea for
the temporary closure came
from another school in a
small town, where they
use traffic cones to create a
similar closure.
“This creates a safety
zone that removes many
of the auto pedestrian con-
flicts,” Waite wrote.
Several council mem-
bers and city staff expressed
concern with the idea when
it first came up, since it
would block one of two ac-
cesses to that side of town.
They suggested educating
the public, using cameras to
track offenders or trying to
divert a deputy there during
that time period.
However, with the
school’s promise to provide
access for emergency vehi-
cles, councilor Cody High
said that it came down to
the school making a request
because of safety.
“I don’t think for two
hours a day that it’s too
much for people to avoid
one cut-across,” said High.
“The ultimate concern
is the safety of the children,”
added Lamb. “And there are
people not being safe.”
WCCC Sunday
men’s play
Twenty-three partici-
pated in the par-three chal-
lenge on Sunday, Aug. 13,
at Willow Creek Country
Club.
Results are as follows:
Net—1 st , Dale Holland,
53; 2 nd , Gary Watkins, 54;
and 3 rd (tie), Kelly Fox,
Rick Britt, 57.
G r o s s — 1 st , T i m
Wright, 60; 2 nd , Charlie
Ferguson, 62; and 3 rd (tie),
Dennis Peck, Jerry Gentry,
Jeff Watkins, 65.
The next men’s play
will be Aug. 20, hosted
by Kelly Fox and Mike
Doherty.
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