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-Continued from PAGE ONE
+HSSQHU*D]HWWH7LPHV+HSSQHU2UHJRQ Wednesday, November 8, 2023 -- SEVEN
Ione/Arlington volleyball girls win
Big Sky League district title
The Heppner Mustangs - Photo by Tylynn Cimmiyotti
field to the Pirate 8-yard
line but were unable to
score and they turned the
ball over on downs as the
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The teams traded
punts and then Cameron
Proudfoot had a 12-yard
punt return to give the Mus-
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Orem then had two long
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one was to Caden George
for a 33-yard gain and then
he connected with Nick
Wenberg on a 39-yard pass
play that took the ball to
the one-yard line. Caden
George blasted into the end
zone for a Mustang touch-
down to make the score
14-0 midway through the
second quarter.
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on a long drive that the
Mustang defense stopped
at the ¿YH\DUG OLQH ZKHQ
Caden George stepped in
front of a Pirate pass and
intercepted the ball. That
ended the first half with
Heppner leading by the
score of 14-0.
The teams traded
possessions early in the
second half. The Pirates
then scored their lone
touchdown of the game
near the end of the third
quarter to make the score
14-7.
After the Pirate
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a 10-play drive that ended
with another score. They
were all running plays that
saw the Mustang offen-
sive line control the line
of scrimmage and give
the running backs lots of
room to run. The Mustangs
moved the ball 60 yards
before Hayden McMahon
ran the ball in from 5 yards
out. The score of the game
was now 20-7 with just over
eight minutes left.
The Heppner defense
stiffened and forced the
Pirates to turn the ball over
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Mustangs scored another
touchdown eight plays later
when Orem connected with
Caden George on a perfectly
placed pass. Caden made a
great catch over the de-
fender’s outstretched arms
on the play that covered 24
yards for the score. Orem
passed the ball to Caden
George for the 2-pt. con-
version to make the score
28-7 with two minutes left
in the game.
On the next Pirate
possession, Caleb George
intercepted a pass to stop
the driver. The Mustangs
took over and Caylan
Proudfoot came in at quar-
terback and took a knee two
times to end the game with
Heppner winning by the
score of 28-7.
Heppner totaled 17
first downs and Bandon/
Pacific had 10. The
Mustangs finished with
307 total yards in the game
and the Pirates 193. The
Mustangs rushed the ball
for 211 and had 96 passing
yards.
Orem was 3-5 passing
the ball for 96 yards and a
touchdown. Caden George
caught 2 balls for 57 yards
and a touchdown while
Wenberg had 1 catch for
39 yards.
Leading the team
in rushing was Caden
George who had 98 yards
on 23 carries and scored
1 touchdown. Hayden
McMahon ran for 57 yards
on 9 carries and scored
2 touchdowns. Cameron
Proudfoot rushed for 29
yards and Orem had 27.
The tough Mustang
defense was led by Caden
George with 9 tackles.
Jaime Cavan was next with
8 and with 6 tackles each
were Orem and Landon
McMahon. Cameron
Proudfoot and Wenberg
followed with 5 tackles
in the game and with 4
tackles each were Hayden
McMahon and Caleb
George. Owen Guerra had
3 tackles and with 2 tackles
each for the Mustangs were
Martin Medina and Tripp
Stewart.
This week Heppner
will travel to Stayton to
play for the Regis Rams in
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will be played at Regis High
School on Saturday at 1
p.m. There are no stands
for the visiting team’s fans
so you should take chairs or
be prepared to stand. The
game will not be broadcast
on NFHS.
Heppner cross country at state
-Continued from PAGE ONE
Heppner Boys Cross Country pose for a picture at state
meet. - Contributed Photo
his own personal best and
season record of 15:51.8,
which he set in Vernonia, he
did cement his place in high
school cross-country histo-
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win. His time of 16:12.9
gave him an impressive
10.3-second lead over se-
nior Eli Williams (16:22.6)
of Union.
Nichols is no stranger
to the spotlight, but she fell
slightly short of her best
in Eugene. Her time of
19:32.5 didn’t match her
personal record of 18:39.4,
also set in Vernonia, but it
did give her what she need-
ed to place fourth behind
Jaya Simmons of Valley
Catholic, Daisy Lalonde
of East Linn Christian, and
Sophie Schoolmeester of
Banks.
Mustang cross country
will feel the loss of three
strong runners when seniors
Grady Greenwood, Arianna
Worden, and Irelynn Koll-
man graduate next year.
However, lots of young up-
and-comers promise plenty
of victories in the future as
several sophomores and
freshmen come into their
own.
Full stats from the state
meet are:
Men’s 2A/1A 5,000
Meters
1. Grady Greenwood
16:12.9
33. Carson Greenwood
18:38.3
4 1 . J a k e Wi l s o n
19:04.7
62. Walker Lathrop
20:34.8
67. Quaid Jensen
21:20.2
7 1 . M a x Wi l s o n
21:49.7
Women’s 5,000 Me-
ters 3A/2A/1A
4. Lily Nichols
19:32.5
19. Arianna Worden
20:45.3
27. Riley Archer
20:56.1
47. Hailey McDaniel
21:37.0
55. Brooklyn Hen-
dricks 22:02.4
76. Irelynn Kollman
23:30.4
Greater Idaho border discussions
-Continued from PAGE ONE can move forward with its funding for a new all-terrain
to further comment but
received none. No action
needed to be taken at the
meeting.
Also at the meeting,
Lexington Town Councilor
Katie Imes and Lexington
Town Recorder Veronica
Ferguson provided an up-
date on Lexington projects.
Similar to the City of Hep-
pner, Lexington is currently
focused on updating and
improving its water system,
as well as creating a sewer
system for the town.
Imes told the commis-
sioners that the town’s wa-
ter and sewer feasibility
studies are complete, and
Lexington is in the process
of finding funding so it
plans. Planning has been
underway since 2022.
The Lexington Town
Council plans to hold a
one-stop meeting with state
agencies. A one-stop meet-
ing is one in which sever-
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funding scenarios and op-
tions.
Ferguson added that
they hope to gather as many
agencies as possible. The
meeting will be on Nov. 14
from 2-3:30 p.m. at Lexing-
ton Town Hall or via Zoom.
“It’s really just a great
way, an opportunity, to
learn more about our needs
in Lexington,” said Imes.
In other business, the
board also voted to pursue
vehicle (ATV) for county
park maintenance. If re-
ceived, the funding would
be used to purchase a Po-
laris Ranger to replace the
county’s aging ATV, which
was purchased with a pre-
vious grant.
The Oregon Parks and
Recreation Department has
funds available through its
all-terrain vehicle grant
program. The grant requires
a 20 percent cash match
from the county, which
is estimated to be around
$9,500 based on quotes
received last month. How-
ever, the vehicle would not
be purchased until summer
of 2024, and new quotes
would be gathered at that
time.
The Ione/Arlington volleyball team won the Big Sky League district title on Saturday, Oct.
21 st, 2023, at The Dalles High School. Team members include(L-R) front row Analisa Valdez,
and Calli Troutman, back row, Noelia Ramirez, Savannah Blagg, Najiah Knight, Victoria
De La Torre, Grace Claughton, Jolene Serrano, Phegley Padberg, Novalee Campbell, Lizzy
Doherty, Kaitlyn Hooper, and Kelly Doherty. - Contributed Photo
ODOT region manager talks progress
-Continued from PAGE ONE implication of that policy
he said. “It’s kind of nice
to have that transit im-
provement to come with
the population growth in
Morrow County.”
While Patterson and
Lani covered a lot of ground
in a relatively short presen-
tation, much of the conver-
sation centered around a fa-
miliar government theme—
money, or the lack of it.
He admitted that main-
tenance has been an issue
for ODOT and put it down
to funding. He said the re-
gion’s construction budget
was about $200 million
this past year, with a much
smaller maintenance budget
of $19 million “in a good
year.”
“We’re now starting to
shrink our budgets up based
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to be a little smaller than
that,” he said.
“The last four years,
we’ve had about 70 per-
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project development,” he
added. “What that’s meant,
is we have less purchasing
power for our maintenance
activities, so we’re having
to tighten our belts accord-
ingly.”
Patterson also talked
about ODOT funding, both
where ODOT’s money
comes from and funding
programs that can be used
by cities and counties.
For instance, seven
projects in Eastern Oregon
recently received funding
through the Small City
Allotment, which targets
towns and cities with pop-
ulations of less than 5,000.
He said ODOT often
receives questions as to
why stimulus money and
other federal funding isn’t
trickling down to mainte-
nance projects.
“Maintenance activities
cannot be funded by the
federal government,” he
told the commissioners. “It
has to be state-funded.”
That leaves ODOT de-
pendent on income from
sources like the state gas tax
and registration fees. With
vehicles becoming more fu-
HOH൶FLHQWDQGPRUHHOHF-
tric vehicles on the road,
some of that funding is
shrinking.
Morrow County Board
of Commissioners Chair
David Sykes asked if con-
sidering the state’s mandat-
ed goals to switch to electric
vehicles, anyone at the state
level had been talking about
how to meet that funding
shortfall.
Last year, Oregon leg-
islators passed a law re-
quiring that any car sold
in the state be 35 percent
battery-electric, hydro-
gen-powered, or plug-in
hybrid (PHEV) by 2026.
The percentage increas-
es annually, reaching 100
percent in 2035. That has
serious implications for
funding received through
a gas tax.
Patterson said Sykes
had “hit the nail on the
head.”
“It’s not a mystery. This
has been something that
we’ve seen coming for a
long time,” said Patterson.
“And it’s just a natural
decision.”
He said ODOT had
been discussing with the
legislature the need to come
up with more sustainable
funding that is in line with
current policies.
“If we want these kinds
of policies to encourage
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still have a transportation
system to fund, and we
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fund that accordingly,” he
added.
He said some discus-
sions had already started
about tolling, especially in
metro areas, as well as a
road usage charge. There
is already a pilot project
called OReGo in which
participants pay by the mile
versus paying the gas tax.
“They’re looking to
diversify that funding,” he
said.
CDA Update
At the same meet-
ing, the commissioners
also heard an update from
Columbia Development
Authority Administrative
Assistant Debbie Pedro
regarding the status of the
long-sought land transfer.
The CDA maintains
offices in Boardman but
includes representatives
of Morrow and Umatilla
counties, the Port of Mor-
row and Port of Umatil-
la, and the Confederated
Tribes of the Umatilla In-
dian Reservation (CTUIR).
The CDA acquired
9,500 acres of land from
the Umatilla Army Depot
in March of this year, the
culmination of decades of
preparation.
“We’re just thrilled that
we were able to complete
this task. It had taken many,
many years in order to
transfer this property over,”
said Pedro, “but a great op-
portunity for development
in the future out at this
property.”
She also said it was
their understanding that
this was the fourth-largest
base realignment and clo-
sure transaction that has
happened in the history of
the U. S. Army.
“So that’s really excit-
ing,” she said.
Of the land acquired
from the Army, Pedro said
they are working to transfer
4,019 acres to CTUIR. That
transfer is due to a memo of
understanding between the
CDA and the tribes so the
CTUIR can form a wildlife
refuge on the land. She said
she believed that transfer
would happen sometime
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She said the CDA had
also been working on devel-
oping agreements for elec-
tricity and water rights, as
well as working with plan-
ning departments in both
counties to move toward
marketing and developing
the former military land.
Plans for an internal
road are in the works with
ODOT, to the tune of $7
million, and the CDA is
also looking at solar power
opportunities.
“I think this will be re-
ally exciting to see how the
outcome will be on that,”
she said.
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