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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (April 24, 2024)
+HSSQHU*D]HWWH7LPHV+HSSQHU2UHJRQWednesday, April 24, 2024 -- SEVEN %RDUGRI&RPPLVVLRQHUV$SULOWKVHVVLRQ WCCC Ladies play WKHFRXQW\WKH¿VFDODJHQW She is also looking for 6WD൵KDGPHWWKHSKR- while Morrow County Fi- funding and bids for new day results tographer during the St. or not it leads to moving -Continued from PAGE ONE the border, there’s no other organization out there right now that’s talking about it.” He then asked the com- missioners to reach out to the Oregon senate president or speaker of the house and ask them to start some dis- cussions. “Our representatives, legislative-wise, in Eastern Oregon are not listened to,” McCarter said. “They’re run right over the top by everything that’s coming out of Western Oregon. “We’re trying to get a voice, because we don’t have that representation that we need,” he added. He mentioned that Har- ney County is the largest county in Oregon, larger than five U.S. states, but only has four law enforce- PHQW R൶FHUV 0HDQZKLOH he said, Measure 114 is tar- geting gun ownership and threatening citizens’ ability to defend themselves. He also pointed out that the legislature is trying to UHGH¿QH KREE\ IDUPV DQG is targeting the water rights of small farms and shutting them down. “We’re being steam- rolled, and somehow we need to get our voice out there,” he said. HB 4002 The BOC also heard the H൵HFWVRIWKHSDVVDJHDQG now the repeal, of Oregon Measure 110. The measure, voted into law in 2022, had de- criminalized possession of small amounts of ille- gal drugs. However, the undesirable consequences of the measure moved the state to repeal the measure recently, re-criminalizing drug possession. Part of that repeal was House Bill 4002, which grants counties funds for deflection programs for persons suspected or cited for unlawful possession of controlled substances. “It’s better than Mea- sure 110,” said Morrow County Commissioner Roy Drago. “It’s not perfect.” The bill focuses on di- YHUWLQJ RU GHÀHFWLQJ LQGL- viduals from the criminal justice system, Morrow County District Attorney Justin Nelson said. He com- pared it to the diversion available to individuals who are found guilty of drunk driving but have no prior record. Diversion would send a person into a treatment program through the district DWWRUQH\¶VR൶FH'HÀHFWLRQ would bypass the DA’s R൶FH SUREDEO\ OHDYLQJ LW LQ WKH KDQGV RI R൶FHUV WR make an on-site determina- WLRQRQZKHWKHUDQR൵HQGHU VKRXOGUHFHLYHGHÀHFWLRQ Both Nelson and Drago said they preferred the idea of diversion because it gave the county better tools to ensure that individuals fol- low through with treatment. Nelson told the com- missioners that Morrow County is eligible for $150,000 but must submit an application to receive funds. However, the ini- tial application is due next month, leaving little time to work out the details of such D GHÀHFWLRQ SODQ RU HYHQ who would administer it. “Most grants, you say, ‘Hey, here’s our process we want to go through, here’s our plan,’” said Nelson. “This one, it’s like, we are interested, here’s the mon- ey, now go start planning on it and once you get that done, we’ll give you the rest of the money.” One of the questions was who would serve as the ¿VFDO DJHQW IRU WKH JUDQW Nelson asked the commis- sioners to consider making nance Director Kevin Ince asked if there was a reason the county needs to the EH WKH ¿VFDO DJHQW UDWKHU than an organization like Community Counseling Solutions (CCS). Nelson replied that, while CCS would likely receive part of the funding, it wasn’t certain they would receive all of it. Drago said he support- ed the bill but did not have a preference on how the fiscal responsibility was designated. “But right now we probably are the best situ- DWHGWRWDNHWKLV¿UVWVWHS´ he added. “And if we don’t, we don’t get our foot in the door, then we’ll lose out on that.” Morrow County Com- PLVVLRQHU-H൵:HQKRO]VDLG he was cognizant of the ex- tra workload it would place RQ FRXQW\ VWD൵ HVSHFLDOO\ during budget season, but also thought it would be bad to miss out on the funding. Morrow County BOC Board Chair David Sykes said it came down to wheth- er the present and future EHQH¿WR൵VHWWKHLPSDFWDQG ORDGRQFRXQW\VWD൵ “Sometimes your im- mediate benefit as com- SDUHGWR\RXUIXWXUHEHQH¿W you have to take a hit,” said Sykes. The commissioners voted unanimously to have Morrow County to act as ¿VFDO DJHQW IRU WKH JUDQW FRQWLQJHQW RQ VWD൵ UHYLHZ and approval. Other Business Regarding the budget, Morrow County Adminis- trator Matthew Jensen told the commissioners that the county budget committee KDVEHHQ¿QDOL]HGEXWWKH budget committee meeting has been pushed back to May 9-10 to accommodate changes to the budget. “This will just give a little more time to nail it down,” he said, adding that the reason for the exten- sion was the change in the county’s auditors, which required adjustments to pre- vious years. That, he said, impacted this year’s budget outlines and “dominoed.” “We just want to make sure what we take to the budget committee is au- thoritative and accurate,” Jensen said. He also told the BOC that the county has made R൵HUVWRFDQGLGDWHVIRUERWK the assistant county ad- PLQLVWUDWRUDQGWKH¿QDQFH manager positions. The new assistant administrator currently works for the City of Pasco and is expected to start May 15. “Both of those posi- tions will help expedite, streamline some things and make sure we have adequate stewardship over the items that the county’s supposed to be taking care of,” he said. Jensen also said he, Morrow County Public Works Director Eric Imes and Morrow County Plan- ning Director Tamra Mab- bott had met about road access permits. He said there are some challenges, because what comes before the county in each situation LVDOLWWOHELWGL൵HUHQW “We just want to be consistent on how we’re handling that,” he said. +HDOVRVDLGVWD൵ZRXOG like to commission some photographs of county landscapes from a regional photographer, as the county is “bereft” of good photo- graphs in its public spaces. ³-XVWDQHDWWKLQJWR¿OO some of the blank walls and celebrate some of the heri- WDJHRIGL൵HUHQWDVSHFWVRI our county,” he said. Patrick’s Celebration in Heppner. “She’s got a good eye,” Jensen said. In other business: The board of commis- sioners approved a Memo- randum of Understanding with USDA Department of Forestry and other “Blue Mountain governments” to establish cooperating agency relationships for the purpose of preparing the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Revised Land and Resource Management Plans for the Malheur, Umatilla, and Wallowa-Whitman Nation- al Forests. The board named Jen- sen as the county adminis- trative contact and Drago as the county program contact. “Umatilla Forest is a big part of Morrow County. We have the head office here, we have a lot of forest land here,” said Sykes. “It’s a big part of our county. I feel good to have this status settled and have us involved in the process.” The Board of commis- sioners approved a contract with the City of Heppner for law enforcement services by Morrow County Sher- L൵¶V2൶FH MCSO Undersheriff Brian Snyder told the com- missioners they had moved to a two-year contract, July 2024 through June 2026. The total contract amount for two deputies will be $230,826.42 each fiscal year, plus a standard cost of living adjustment the second year. The city will make quarterly payments. The city will also pur- chase a patrol vehicle in the second contract year at an estimated cost of $44,000. The board also ap- proved the appointment of Joselyn Piper of Heppner to the Morrow County Fair Board. “We’re really happy to have Joselyn on. She’s come to the meetings and looks like will be a great ¿W´ VDLG 0RUURZ &RXQW\ Fair Secretary Sue Gibbs. Piper’s appointment will leave two remaining vacancies on the fair board. One of the three vacan- cies was from an expired term, while two members resigned citing family situ- ations and lack of time. Department Reports In her department re- port, Gibbs said she has spent the year so far trying to get a head start on spon- sorships and that results have been “outstanding.” 6KH VDLG VKH KDV ¿YH JDWH sponsors so far, bringing the sponsorship amount to around $22,000 so far this year. “And we just received another one yesterday,” she added. “So I’m really excited about that.” Gibbs said her goal is WR ¿QLVK WKH IDLU SUHPLXP ERRN E\ WKH ¿UVW ZHHN LQ May and get it out by the ¿UVWZHHNLQ-XQHKRSLQJWR get it into the schools. This year’s fair theme will be “Admiration for Generations.” The winner of the fair theme contest was a fifth-grade student from Ione. Gibbs said she has had several superinten- dent meetings and was just awarded a grant from the arts coalition. “My superintendents for open classes are really excited. We’re going to be using that money, $5500, to bring in professional artists to encourage and do displays at fair,” she said. She said they hope to bring in two professional artists to do presentations and free classes for the public. doors on the sheep barn. Morrow County Public Transit/The Loop Director Benjaman Tucker reported that The Loop had operated it’s new transit service 15 days in April. He said he had not heard from all driv- ers, but those he had spoken with already reported more than 100 rides. “Word is getting out there, and people are start- ing to use it,” he said. Demand response gave ULGHV GXULQJ WKH ¿UVW quarter of 2024. Those rides covered 43,938 miles. Tucker said his hope LVWKDWWKH¿[HGURXWHVZLOO gain popularity and that people currently using de- mand response will switch WR¿[HGURXWH7KDWZLOOIUHH up resources to serve more demand response riders who can’t be served now due to limited availability. “We’re pretty much right there at the max as far as what we can do for demand response,” he said. Morrow County Justice of the Peace Glen Diehl lamented previously re- porting that driving speeds seemed to be going down. “I should have kept my mouth shut,” he quipped. “It was right after that we received a speeding ticket for 150 miles.” He also said that he had attended a judges’ training and found that what Mor- row County is experiencing is happening statewide. “For some reason, peo- ple still aren’t getting it, and they’re going some of these outrageous speeds,” said Diehl. $PLQLPXP¿QHIRUH[- ceeding 100 mph is $1,150 and an automatic suspen- sion of 30, 60 or 90 days at the judge’s discretion. “And that was a re- action from the state say- ing, ‘Everything’s getting out of hand, and going those speeds, the chances of surviving an accident are greatly diminished,’” said Diehl, adding that the blow- out from such an accident also increased the chance of involving more vehicles. He also said he had found getting people to show up for court has be- come a widespread problem since COVID. “Some people honestly forget. Others, they just don’t care,” he said. On a positive note, he said the court has assisted 12 people in getting their licenses and insurance this year so far. “To me, that’s a win- win for the entire county,” Diehl said. WWW.HEPPNER.NET Sɲɟɪɦɱ1ɢɴɰ$ɡɳɢɯɱɦɰɦɫɤ $ɫɫɬɲɫɠɢɪɢɫɱɰ /ɢɱɱɢɯɰ7ɬ7ɥɢ(ɡɦɱɬɯ 6ɢɫɡ8ɰ3ɥɬɱɬɰ 6ɱɞɯɱ$1ɢɴ6ɲɟɰɠɯɦɭɱɦɬɫ There were 12 players in the ladies game play at the Willow Creek Coun- try Club on April 23 rd . the weather was cool but sunny. The results are as follows; /RZ*URVVRIWKH¿HOGZDV (A) Karen Thompson and (C) Betty Carter. The Low QHWRIWKH¿HOGZDV $ &RU- al Mithcell and (C) Nancy Arnson. Least putts was Kris Linder. Longest drive was (B) Loa Heidman, and (C) Nancy Arnson. Upcom- ing game is April 30 th with tee-time at 10am. 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