Peterson selected as
new Port Commissioner
50¢
VOL. 143
NO. 43 10 Pages
Wednesday, October 25, 2023
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Ian Murray chosen to fill vacant Heppner
council seat
By Andrea Di Salvo
The Heppner City
Council selected Ian Mur-
ray to fill the vacancy left
by former city council
member John Doherty at
its October meeting in Hep-
pner. Doherty, who was
appointed to the council
earlier this year, resigned
from his council position
when he was hired as the
new Heppner City Man-
ager.
The city council will
soon have another vacan-
cy, with councilor JoAnna
Lamb planning to leave
the council at the end of
this year.
Of the four applicants
for the current vacant posi-
tion, the council members
focused their attention on
the two who were present at
the Oct. 9 meeting. Council
members said they felt both
men were qualified and
urged the other candidate
to apply again when they
began searching for Lamb’s
replacement.
Meanwhile, new Hep-
pner City Manager John
Doherty was present for
his first meeting in his new
role. He said much of his
time so far has been spent
getting up to speed on on-
going projects and set-
ting goals for the coming
months.
In particular, he has
been working to wrap up
the HB 2017 street project
and the Oregon Dept. of
Transportation’s ongoing
curb project, as well as
Ian Murray - Contributed
Photo
catching up with the city’s
water and sewer projects
and dealing with code com-
plaints.
Doherty said the sewer
project is still in process,
with some draft plans only
needing final signatures
before being submitted to
the Dept. of Environmental
Quality for review. How-
ever, city engineering firm
Anderson & Perry reported
that there was a holdup on
one of the plans due to a
complete staff turnover in
the DEQ Eastern Oregon
region since 2019.
Once all the draft plans
are complete and approved
by the DEQ, the city can
move forward with the de-
sign and seek funding.
Doherty also reported
that the city’s last water plan
was drafted in 2002. Ander-
son & Perry is working
on a new plan and should
have a draft completed by
about the end of the second
quarter of 2024. Doherty
said a water plan has about
a 20-year life.
“Basically, when we
look at the new master plan,
we want to think 20 years
ahead,” he said.
For instance, he said he
and Heppner Public Works
Director Chad Doherty had
both considered the need
for at least one backup
generator upstream.
“[So] that we can still
have water supply even if
the power does all go down
in the area,” he said.
The council also ap-
proved a contract with
Consor to inspect the 28
ADA ramps constructed as
part of the HB 2017 street
project. The ramps, which
were completed two years
ago, need to be measured
in order to receive project
funds back from ODOT.
Consor is the project
manager for all of ODOT’s
ramp projects in the state.
Doherty said Consor had
told him there was a one-
in-a-million chance all the
ramps would pass inspec-
tion because of the time that
has passed.
“These should have
been inspected when they
were poured,” he said. “Fer-
guson should have inspect-
ed it at that time.”
“Literally, it should be
after the forms are taken off,
they should be measured at
that point,” he added. “This
should have happened be-
fore Premier left town.”
However, he said, Fer-
guson is no longer in exis-
tence, which leaves the city
having to go to another firm
like Consor.
On a positive note, the
city does not necessarily
have to spend money to
redo the ramps if they do
fail. Doherty said the in-
spection is one part of the
process necessary to release
the state funding for the
process. Nor is the reim-
bursement “all or nothing,”
he said. Rather, it would be
based on the percentage of
ramps that pass inspection.
“To get any of that
money released, we have to
have the forms turned in,”
said Doherty. “Even if they
all fail, we’re still going to
get money back. It’s just,
how much?”
Doherty said he had
also been talking with
ODOT regarding the city’s
concerns about the state’s
recent ramp project in Hep-
pner. He said he had been
told Heppner had much less
input in the design phase
of the project than other
cities had.
“That has me kind of
worried on what was signed
off on,” he said.
Doherty also told the
council he had addressed
several animal complaints,
only one of which hadn’t
been resolved by the time
of the meeting. In that case,
a resident on Jones St. had
a permit for a single horse
on her property but had two
horses, chickens, a rooster,
and a goat. Lamb observed
that it was a small property
Joel Peterson - Contributed
Photo
By Chris Sykes
After almost a month
of being unable to reach
a decision, the Port of
Morrow Commissioners
finally approved a new
commissioner to fill Jer-
ry Healy’s vacant seat. A
special meeting was held
on Monday to address
the deadlock in filling the
Commission vacancy. Pre-
viously, the commissioners
were evenly split between
two candidates, Jerry Reit-
mann from Ione, and Brian
Thompson from Heppner.
Taylor and Stokoe support-
ed Reitmann, while Mur-
ray and Doherty favored
Thompson.
Commissioner John
Murray made a motion to
appoint a different can-
didate (Joel Peterson) in-
stead of the two they were
an impasse on. After some
discussion and questioning
of Mr. Peterson, a roll call
vote was conducted. The
motion to appoint Peterson
successfully passed with a
3-1 majority, with Joe Tay-
lor, John Murray, and Kel-
ly Doherty voting in favor,
and Rick Stokoe voting
against.
Following his appoint-
ment, Mr. Peterson was
sworn in to take over the
vacant seat, and the meet-
ing resumed its regular
proceedings.
Mustang Volleyball
finishes 3 rd at the BMC
Conference game
-Continued to PAGE NINE
Mustangs lose to Tigerscots 14-0
Their first loss to Weston-McEwen since 2011 and only their fifth
league loss since 1999
Maya Payne #4 and Hallee Hisler #11 go up for the block
against Irrigon during districts in Grant Union.
- Phot by Tylynn Cimmiyotti
Caden George #42 of Heppner dives to block a punt by
Weston-McEwen. - Photo by Robert McLean
The Heppner Mus-
tang football team lost a
tough game against the
Weston-McEwen Tiger-
scots by the score of 14-0.
The Mustangs are now 6-2
overall and 3-1 in Blue
Mountain Conference play.
The game with the
Tigerscots was a hard-
fought game from start to
finish that both defenses
dominated. Both teams
traded possessions ear-
ly in the game and then
Weston-McEwen scored
a touchdown in the last
minute of the first quarter
to make it 7-0.
The Mustangs were
forced to punt on their next
possession. The Tiger-
Scots went on a long drive
that the Mustangs stopped
at the eight-yard line. The
half ended there with the
score 7-0 in favor of the
Tigerscots.
The second half
started off the same as the
first, a defensive battle that
saw the teams trade two
possessions. The Mustangs
forced a fumble that Nick
Wenberg jumped on to
give Heppner good field
position. On the next play,
the Mustangs fumbled the
ball and Weston-McEwen
recovered it. The Tiger-
Scots scored again to make
the score 14-0 near the end
of the third quarter.
The rest of the game
saw the teams battle but
neither one of them could
score again. Weston-
McEwen won the game by
the score of 14-0.
The Mustangs could
only manage to get four
first downs in the game
and could only 127 yards
of total offense. They had
63 yards rushing and 64
passing yards.
Weston-McEwen had
252 total yards in the game.
Mustang runner dragged down by multiple Tigerscots Fri-
day night. - Photo by Robert McLean
Caden George
completed 3 passes for
55 yards in the game and
Mason Orem completed
2 passes for 9. Wenberg
caught a pass for 28
yards, Orem had 1 catch
for 27 yards and Cameron
Proudfoot had 3 receptions
for 9.
Caden George led
the team in rushing with
49 yards on 10 carries.
Orem was next with 12
yards and with 1 yard each
were Proudfoot and Hayden
McMahon.
Leading the defensive
effort for the Mustangs
was Caden George with 12
tackles. Caleb George was
next with 10 tackles and
Proudfoot finished with 9.
Wenberg followed with
7 and Orem recorded 5
tackles. Landon McMahon
and Tripp Stewart were
next with 4 tackles in the
game and Jaime Cavan
had 3. With 1 tackle each
in the game were Hayden
McMahon and Owen
Guerra.
The Mustangs will
travel to John Day this
Friday to play the Grant
Union Prospectors.
By Tylynn Cimmiyotti
The BMC District
Tournament at Grant Union
on Saturday, October 21,
2023, was the final op-
portunity for the Heppner
Mustangs volleyball team
to secure a spot in the State
Playoffs.
The Mustangs played
two games against Irrigon
and Stanfield. They won the
first game against Irrigon
with three consecutive sets,
demonstrating their drive
to do what needed to be
done to make it to the next
game. They fell to Stanfield
in the second game with
one set to three, although
they gave their best effort
and attempted to block
and dig their opponent’s
strong hits. Coach Wilson
congratulated the team on
their achievement and ex-
pressed her enthusiasm
for coaching them for an-
other week before the first
round of the playoffs next
weekend. The Mustangs
finished the weekend third
in the BMC conference and
are tenth overall. Several
Mustang players received
All-League awards this
weekend. First Team: Hal-
lee Hisler. Honorable Men-
tion: Katie Spivey-Libero,
Morgan Cutsforth, Ava
Gerry, and Maya Payne.
Heppner vs. Irrigon:
Won, 3-0. 25-7, 25-20, 25-
17. Stats: Ava Gerry: 6 kills,
9 assists, 6 digs, 4 aces.
-Continued to PAGE SIX
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