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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (July 2, 2025)
Ione Fourth of July celebra- tion schedule PAGE 7 50¢ VOL. 145 NO.27 8 Pages Wednesday, July 2, 2025 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon From horses to city hall: Longtime Ione resident honored as grand marshal Linda LaRue on the porch of the family home in Ione. -Pho- to by Andrea Di Salvo By Andrea Di Salvo “I’m still surprised and puzzled as to why I got this honor,” admits Linda LaRue, Ione’s 2025 Fourth of July Grand Marshal. However, those who se- lected her aren’t puzzled. LaRue has been a fixture in Ione and its celebrations for decades. LaRue was born in En- terprise and raised in the small town of Lostine in Wallowa County, Oregon. She was the youngest of eight children. Her parents ran a small dairy, milking around 26 cows and selling the cream to a Wallowa creamery. The family kept busy on the farm, but there was still time for horses. “Horses were my life,” says LaRue. “It was a great way to grow up.” She attended school in Lostine, graduating as vale- dictorian in a class of about five. They were among the last who graduated from that school. The high school shut down and merged with Wallowa and Enterprise high schools two years after her graduation. Rather than going straight to college, LaRue married her high school sweetheart, Del LaRue, and started a family. “I tell people I shopped around a long time to get this name,” she quips. They were soon joined by children Robin, Shawn and Michelle. Del was a teacher, so when the Lostine school shut down, the young family moved to Wal- lowa, where he taught and coached. They then moved to Fossil. They spent four years there before settling in the Ione area when their children were in the second, third and fourth grades. They spent the next 54 years in their adopted home. All three of their children graduated from Ione High School, and Del built a successful career as a teacher and coach, espe- cially for track. “He used to tell the kids, ‘I’ll work with you, and you’ll be successful if you work hard,’” LaRue remembers. Her husband is still remembered and honored through the Coach Del LaRue Scholarship. Meanwhile, LaRue found her own career path. She started out driving a school van to pick up students where the regular bus routes didn’t go. She then drove larger activity buses for a while. Finally, she took on a part-time job at Bank of Eastern Oregon’s Ione branch, processing monthly statements. When someone retired and left an opening in the bank, LaRue transitioned to full time and worked out of BEO’s Heppner location. “I always liked to tell George Koffler I was sec- ond in charge and hot on his trail,” she remembers. She ended up retiring from the bank after 35 years. “It was a great career,” she says. “I had a hard time retiring, but I’m glad I did.” After retirement, she and Del moved to Arizo- na, where they spent four or five years. When her husband passed away, she says some people asked her where she was going to go. “Home,” she replied. “Here. Ione is home to me.” She still lives in the house she shared with her husband and children. She says it’s not exactly the same house they moved into—David Allstott had to do extensive rebuilding when they discovered the walls were made of old ammunition boxes, which were starting to warp and rot. She recalls that, in the process, he had to remove a window he had just in- stalled. As a joke, Alstott told her people had asked why he removed the window, to which he’d replied, “Well, you know, when they don’t pay their bills, you have to take it back out.” Always on point, LaRue told his she’d been asked the same question and replied, “Well, you know, bad workmanship, you’ve got to make them take it back out.” She doesn’t live there alone, though. She says that when her husband passed away, her daughter decid- ed she needed a dog. She now shares her long-time home with her eight-year- old West Highland Terrier, Sophie. LaRue has also been involved in various aspects of the community since first moving to Ione. She helped organize the Fourth of July event early on, but backed off her involvement as it grew and new generations rose to take over respon- sibility, or as she puts it, “moved up the chain from being the kids.” In fact, she has been an integral part of the plan- ning for so long, she and Del were grand marshals at one point. She says she pointed that out, but one of the current organizers said that was before they had been born. Now, she says she at- tends the Fourth of July as a “regular person.” “I can still answer ques- tions, but I’m not techni- cally on the committee,” -Contributed photo Blue Mountain Junior Girls’ Softball are District Champions L-R – Rachel Allen, Kamryn Dickenson, Isa Payne, Gracie Putman, Braelyn Perry, Tymber Longgood, Emily Spike, Harper Coiner, Tim Dickenson, Brynley Allen, Sydnee Wade, Matison Hendrix, Sylver Longgood, Emily Bonner, and Josh Coiner. -Photo by Melissa Coiner The Blue Mountain ju- nior girls’ team beat Union County 11-10 on Monday, June 30, to earn a spot in the state tournament. The state tournament is in Ma- dras Oregon July 12-14. The Blue Mountain team consists of players from Heppner, Echo, and Stan- field. The team is coached by Rachel Allen, Tim Dick- enson, and Josh Coiner. Little League takes district championships Blue Mountain Little League 12U All-Stars baseball team. -Contributed photo -Continued to PAGE EIGHT CDA in ‘wait and see’ mode over fire annexation Public records policy gets an overhaul By Andrea Di Salvo Columbia Develop- ment Authority Executive Director Greg Smith report- ed last week that the CDA is in “wait and see” mode as far as annexing the devel- opment authority’s Morrow County property into any fire district. With Boardman Fire Rescue District and Irrigon Rural Fire Protection Dis- trict in dispute over rights to the annexation, the CDA and Morrow County have both pulled back from any action on annexation. The Boardman and Irrigon fire departments have agreed to let the courts settle the case. Smith said he expects it to be mid-July before an update is available. The best-case scenario, he said, puts any fire district annex- ation after Labor Day. The current restraining order Irrigon has filed does allow for the “status quo” for emergency services, so there will continue to be fire coverage for the entire property. Boardman will serve the industrial lands on the Morrow County portion of the CDA property, while Irrigon will cover the 640 acres to the north, Smith said. When one of the board members raised the ques- tion of Irrigon Fire’s plans to build and staff a fire sta- tion near the property, Nic Kotz of the Oregon Mil- itary Department (OMD) responded that they plan to use an existing OMD build- ing, equip it with an engine and staff it during the day shift, but that staffing had not yet happened. “We’re still in the working-out phase on that,” he said. Another topic on the board’s mind was the issue of formalizing a policy for public records requests. “I want the public re- cords request at a level that provides simplicity and ease for the public to submit their requests,” said Smith. “In addition, I want a policy that is open and transparent and is uniform.” Previously, the CDA had not charged any fees for records requests. In recent months, however, a rise in requests apparently strained the CDA’s staff resources, prompting the formaliza- tion of a policy. Smith had previously presented a draft document to the board. June 24, he presented a new draft that had been reviewed by news outlets and the CDA’s legal counsel. The draft listed infor- mation that the person re- questing documents needed to provide. It also provided a general timeline of five business days to acknowl- edge the request and 10 additional days for staff to respond with the informa- tion or an update on their progress. Records requests will be filled on a first- come, first-served basis. In addition, the new policy outlined a fee sched- ule with a base rate of $25. Anything that takes longer than an hour or that re- quires legal review will cost more—as much as $670 an hour for the CDA’s lawyers to review a request. Umatilla County Com- missioner John Shafer said the legal charge seemed steep and asked how many requests would actually need it. Smith responded that, until two years ago, none had been needed. “Zero. Then, for about a 24-month period of time, the Malheur Enterprise had multiple, multiple re- quests,” said Smith. “They became complex, they be- came what some people may perceive as needing legal review. “At the end of the day,” he added, “Our legal coun- sel suggested, based upon the volume, the complexity, and quite often the vague- ness of the request, that they do review.” Over that 24-month pe- riod, he said, the CDA spent more than $90,000 handling one person’s public records requests. He also mentioned that, with the Malheur Enterprise closing, requests seemed to have declined. “That doesn’t mean it’s not going to occur again,” he added. Smith said it was im- portant to news agencies that the fees be up-front, consistent across the board and as affordable as pos- sible. “The CDA will make every effort to keep its fees reasonable,” said Smith. “However, excessive, du- plicative or vague requests cost the taxpayers money.” That said, the draft pol- Blue Mountain Little League 10U All-Stars baseball team. -Contributed photo A community of sheep ranchers and wheat farmers emerges Ione, Oregon, became a bustling community and re- mains an active town Steve Lent, a Crook Ione is located along County historian, authored Willow Creek about 30 this story published on June miles south of the Columbia 20, 2025, for Southwest River in Morrow County. Connection (www.swcom- The lush rangeland grasses -Continued to PAGE FIVE mconnection.com) -Continued to PAGE EIGHT CALL 541-989-8221 ext 204 for more information
