Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 13, 1962)
U OF 0 EUGENE, ORE. Irrigon-Umafilla School Merge Eyed Seven Irrieon residents, in eluding Harvey Warner, a direc tor of Morrow County School district R-l, appeared before the State Board of Education and Dr. Leon Minear. state suDer- intendent in Salem Wednesday to recommend that an admin istrative school district be es tablished to include Umatilla Irrigon and Boardman. Also at the meeting were Supt Robert Van Houte of the Morrow county district; Darrel Reisch, director of special services; and uirector Fred Martin. Mrs. LaVelle Partlow of Irri gon acted as spokesman for the irrigon group and Warner pre sented a statement from the cit izens. Others included were Mr. and Mrs. Warren McCoy, How ard Gollyhorn, Mrs. Ernest Jorg enson, and Lee, Gustafson. Warner said, "At the present time Umatilla and Irrigon are very mueh in favor of consoli dation, but unless this is done very soon, the Morrow County School board will be calling for bids for a building at Board man." Director Warner had present ed the matter at the school bo'ird meeting in Heppner Mon day night, and the board dis cussed it. The three Van Houte, Reisch and Martin were assign ed to attend the meeting in Sa lem with the Irrigon delegation. Irrigon sometime ago proposed a merger with Umatilla for con sideration, Some of the residents there have expressed displeasure with the school board's decision to relocate Riverside high school in the Boardman area. It is pres ently located in Boardman. Warner's statement said, "We believe this decision is in con flict with the State Department of Education and contrary to the recommendations of consulting engineers and the State Depart ment of Planning and Develop ment." He said that a consolidation of Boardman, Umatilla and Irri gon would result in a high school of 220. Riverside presently has 75, of which 45 come from the Irrigon area and 30 from the Boardman area. Umatilla has 145 students. Dr. Minear extended the pro posal farther when he suggested that the area consider combin ing those proposed by Irrigon residents together with Echo and Stanfield to join Hermiston, forming one administrative dis trict of the whole group. He said that he was interested in the reorganization of the area and would send members of his staff to assist. Van Houte said that he would meet with Ken Stanhope, Uma tilla county superintendent, to arrange for a meeting with the Umatilla Rural school board to consider the matter. Should such a district be form ed, including the five towns to .loin with Hermiston, Hermiston high school enrollment would climb to about 850, roughly equivalent to Pendleton high school, although Pendleton also has a, junior high school. Formal proposal towards such a district would have to be in itiated by petitions to be filed with the Umatilla Rural School board and the Morrow County School board from those seeking the district. If the boards singly approved, they would then prob ably meet jointly and, upon agreement, would submit the plan to the State Board for .ap proval. When this was accom plished, notices would be given, and if no remonstrance came from any of the districts involv ed, the consolidation would be effected. However, an election would have to be held in any district where a remonstrance is issued and any district voting against the proposal would be omitted. Van Houte said that he dis cussed the matter with Stan Speaker 'Dispels Myth' At Farm-City Dinner Stimulated by the lively wit ticisms of Bill Barratt as master of ceremonies, 84 persons enjoy ed the annual Farm-City ban quet at the Lexington Grange hall Tuesday night, sponsored jointly by the Heppner-Morrow County Chamber of Commerce and by supervisors of the Hep pner Soil Conservation district. They heard J. H. Southworth, assistant director of livestock industries, State Department of Agriculture, in his words "dispel a myth" that "farmers are slav ing away for nothing out of the magnanimity of their hearts." He declared, "Farmers and ranchers are farmers and ranch ers because they want to be." He pointed out ttiree areas where he felt that farm and city people could work cooperatively: 1. In the area of soil and water conservation. 2. In the area of recreation. 3- In stability of mar kets and stability of production. Barratt had sounded the key for the guest's address when he said in opening remarks that "even when things are bad in Morrow county, they are fairly good." Later Barratt said face tiously, "There is the farmer's side, the businessman's side, and the truth." The master of ceremonies call ed upon Raymond French, chair man of the board of supervisors of the Soil Conservation district hope early Thursday, and the latter said that Umatilla s mas ter plan called for consolidation of Echo, Stanfield, Umatilla and Hermiston. The Morrow superintendent stated the opinion that the State Board would not favor any re organization move that would not fit in with the Umatilla county plan; in other words, that Irrieon and Umatilla could not form a district alone but would need to become a part of the larger district. Board Renews Contracts; Acts On Other Matters Contracts of four administra tors were renewed for one year at the regular meeting of the directors of Morrow county school district R-l .Monday night. Included are Ron Daniels, prin cipal at Riverside high; Gene Harryman, principal of lone ele mentary school; Gene Harryman, principal at lone high; and Dar rel Reisch, director of special services. Other administrators previously qualified for three- year contracts and are not up for renewal. The board considered a num ber of other matters at the meet ing. Acting on a letter from the City of Heppner, they discussed the matter of drainage and im provements to the extension of Morgan street near the new Heppner-Lexington high school. ihe city council at a recent meeting had brought up the matter and councilmen express ed the feeling that it was the school board's responsibility to provide for drainage. School dircetors, however, ex pressed some doubt as to the ex tent of their responsibility on the matter. A committee was appointed by Chairman Dick Wilkinson, including Mrs. Esther Anderson, Ed Dick, Robert Van Houte, supt. of schools, and him self to investigate the matter. Van Houte was asked to arrange a meeting with the city, county and school committee partici pating to determine the respon sibility of each. Marcel Jones presented a re quest from the PTA asking per mission to flood the Heppner tennis courts for use in ice skat ing in cold weather. The board approved using tennis courts throughout the district for this purpose provided that advisory j boards also approve. Further discussion centered on the district's policy in regard to married students and their participation in school activities. There was some disagreement among the directors on the mat ter, particularly over a " portion of the policy that left a final decision on participation to the school administrators. It was de cided that the administrator would be polled before the next meeting to determine their feel ings on the matter. A request to run an activity bus on the Butter Creek run, which would provide for 7 to 11 students taking part in extra curricular activities, was approv ed, subject to funds available. This was in accordance with an earlier policy set by the board. Good progress was reported on the construction of the Heppner Lexington High school building. At the time of the meeting all of the new structure was under roof with one layer of paper ex cept for the gym and rough walls were up on most of the building, which will make it passible for the contractor to continue in side work through the colder and more inclement part of the winter. to introduce other supervisors and those connected with the district. Among them were Ray Lundell, Ken Turner, Bob Jepsen, Ralph Richards and Nels Ander son, and their wives that were present. Richards was chairman of arrangements for the banquet. French presented a gift from the supervisors to Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Palmer and Mr. and Mrs. Roger Palmer. The father and son were chosen Morrow county's Conservation Men of the Year for 1962. Fred Gimbel, president of the Chamber of Commerce, gave a brief talk of welcome to the crowd, and later introduced his officers. Leaders of various farm organ izations of the county who were present were introduced by Bar ratt. Pastor Ken Robinson of Valby and Hope Luth e r a n churches delivered the invoca tion, asking that all remember that they have "dominion" over their lands and properties and do not have "possession." The banquet, with turkey as the main entree, was prepared and served by the women of the grange, and the hearty applause given to them testified to the crowd's appreciation of it. Group singing concluded the enjoyable evening after the group had ad- (Continued on Page 6) 79th Year ggSC- miMtezWg"0" THE HEPPNER GAZETTE-TIMES Heppner, Oregon, Thursday, December 13, 3 k 1 i ' ,T s M- V. DICK RTJHL Ruhls Take Jet With OSU Team For Liberty Bowl Residents of Morrow county are more than casually interest ed in the Liberty Bowl game in which Oregon University football team will play Villanova Satur day in Philadelphia, Pa., because one of its own, Dick Ruhl, son of Mr. and Mrs. L. E. Ruhl of Lex ington, will take part in the con test with the Beavers. Dick and his wife, Suzv. daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Clint, McQuarrie of Heppner, boarded the jet plane for the east in Port land Wednesday night to em bark on the experience that they looked upon with the greatest of anticipation. It climaxes a won derful season for Dick in his first year as a back for OSU. He has felt it a ereat honor to have had the privilege to work in the backtield with the incom parable Terry Baker, who is now receiving the highest honors that can be accorded a college foot ball player. Dick, according to Mr. and Mrs. McQuarrie who visited the Ruhls Monday night and Tuesday, has enjoyed the season immensely and is grate ful that he was under the influ ence of a player of the magni tude of Terry Baker and that he became so well acquainted with him. The young Mrs. Ruhl is one of six wives who are traveling with the team and will have all the inside thrills of being with the OSU contingent. The McQuarries brought the Ruhls' infant daughter, Dana Marie, home to stay with them until the football player and his wife return from the Liberty Bowl trip. After the game Satur day, the Ruhls, with the rest of the OSU group, will be honored at a big banquet in Philadelphia and then will take a side trip to New York. The young couple ex pects to arrive in Heppner Tues day and will spend the rest of Christmas vacation here. In Philadelphia, they will stay in the Sheraton hotel and in New York they will be at the Astor. The game will be televised and will be seen here at 10 a. m. over KGW-TV. Members of the family, like other fans in the community, will be strictly un available for interruption during the time the game is in progress. Ruhl has had a highly success ful season with the Beavers and has contributed his share in their fine record that resulted in the Liberty Bowl invitation. The Beavers are pre - game favorites over Villanova, but the eastern team far outweighs the Staters. It was reported that des pite the cold wave hitting the east, prospects are for a drv field Saturday. If this is true, it would seem to be in favor of the Oregonians. ' Elks Building Moving Forward Progress of the Elks building towards planned completion next week is on schedule, Glen Ward of the lodge said Wednesday night. Painters are now work ing in the club and lodge rooms and it is expected that the ren ovated quarters will be ready by the time of the Lodge's Christ mas party and dance, Satur day, December 22. Flooring is yet to be laid in the lodge room, finishing work needs to be done in the kitchen, and considerable other work is yet to be accomplished, but it appears that the contractors will have just time enough to get the work done. School Christmas Programs Due Tuesday, Wednesday Christmas programs by ele mentary and high school music departments in the Heppner and Lexington schools will be pre sented to the public next week on three successive nights. First of the holiday programs will be the grade school band and chorus in conceit and pag cant beginning at 7:30 Tuesday evening, December lh, in the multipurpose room, under the direction of Arnold Melby and Mrs. Ola Mae Groshens. Martha Santa Coming Back; Kids Enjoy Show Old Santa Claus will be back in Heppner Saturday to greet kids in the downtown area, and it is suspected that he will have treats for all who visit with him. Mike Whitesmith, chairman of the Chamber of Commerce Christmas emphasis this year, said that he understands Santa will arrive about 11 a.m. and will visit through the business section until about 5 p.m. A total of 270 youngsters jammed into the American Legion hall Saturday to see the free movie sponsored for the holiday season by the Chamber and the Elks lodge with the cooperation of the Legion. Glen Ward said that somehow they found seating places for all of them, and they seemed to thoroughly enjoy the colored movie, as well as the two cartoons. O'Donnell Heads Scout Fund Drive Harry O'Donnell has been named chairman of the Boy Scout fund campaign for this area and met with other interest ed leaders at a kickoff meeting Monday evening, Mr. O'Donnell stated that the funds received in the drive would be used by the Blue Mt. Council for continued service to the Heppner area by the District Scout Executive, Don Wike, and through varied services of the council service center. It was also stated that plans are now being made to develop a second troop here and also an Explorer Post for high school age young men. Mr. O'Donnell urged public support of this campaign in order to Insure more and better scouting for children in this area. IONE'S CARDINALS open their 1962-63 regular basketball season with games at home against Arlington Friday night and Weston Saturday night Shown with Coach Glenn Biehl (kneeling right) are (back row, from left), Gary Morgan, Bill Klinger, Marv Padberg, Jim Martin, Ron Crabtree, Rollie Ekstrom, Les Madden. Bill Akers, and (kneeling front, from left) Ken Klinger, Steve Lindstrom and Tom Heimbigner. (G-T Photo) Teams Face Week-end Games Both southern Morrow county high school basketball teams, lone and Heppner, have tasted nothing but victory in the young hoop season to date, the Mus tangs with three triumphs and the Cards with a win in the West End B jamboree. But each will have two challenges in the upcoming week. Ione's five entertains twice at home on the week-end, playing host to non-league Arlington Friday night and then jumping smack inio its league schedule against Weston at lone Satur day night. Number 41 1962 10 Cents Peck will be heard in an alto saxaphone solo, "Holy City." The band will play the familiar "White Christmas," "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," "Winter Wonderland," and "The Christ mas Suite." Immediately following, vocal students will be heard in a Christmas pageant, "Prince of Peace." A verse choir will nar rate, through song and scriptur al readings, the story of the birth of Christ, as told in the book of Luke. On the stage, after the processional, will be pantomined seven Biblical scenes, from the vision of Mary and the angel to the traditional manager and na tivity scene. Students from grades five through eight will be dressed in costume and several soloists will be featured. Assisting Mrs. Groshens with costumes and special stage ar rangements are Mrs. Lois Kirk, Mrs. Lena Kelley, Mrs. Inez Er- win, Mrs. Inez Meador, Don Clark, Tom Hughes and Mrs. Frieda Slocum. The following night, Wednes day, December 19, the classical and semi-classical music concert by the high school band and chorus will be presented in the gymnasium, at 8:00 p.m., under the direction of Mr. Melby. boioists will include Tamara Smith on the flute in Schubert's Ave Maria," a piano solo by Marti Dixon, "Christmas Rhap sody," and a vocal solo by Spen cer Sampson, "What Child is This?" A girls trio, Sherron Bunch, Shirley Carlson and Pam Cochell, will sing the carol, "While Shepherds Watch." Band and chorus will be heard in fav orite Christmas numbers, closing with a finale by band, faculty and students uniting in Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus," from the Messiah. Parents of the children in the four elementary grades in the Lexington school will be offered "Christmas Present in Song," on Thursday evening, December aj, cm p. m. in the Lexington school auditorium, under the direction of Mrs. Groshens. The program, in seven parts, will feature characters and singers, in costume, in a musical revue of favorite Christmas songs. Acting as master of ceremonies will be Charles Pointer, son of Mr. and Mrs. Don Pointer, with special parts being taken by Greg Davidson, Luke Padberg, Barry Munkers, June Ledbetter, Marlene Smith, Becky Doherty, George Steagall and Victor Klinger. Assisting the director are teachers, Cleo Robinson, Donalda Knighton, Fordyce Hills and Lorena Jones. No admission will be charged for any of the programs. Heppner, riding the three game winning streak, will go to Pilot Rock Friday night for a non-league affair, although Pilot Rock will furnish league oppo sition later. On Tuesday, the Mustangs will be back on the road for a game at Stanfield. This will be the end of their action until they play hosts at a return game for Stanfield here on Saturday night, December 29, in a holiday encounter. The Mustangs, on paper, loom as favorites in each of their con tests. Their big worries come arm Reappraisal reement Made Irm State of Oregon and Morrow county at a meeting Wednes day night, December 5, agreed to share costs of a farm reappraisal program in the county, each paying 50 of the cost. Judge Uscar Peterson and Commission ers E. O. (Gene) Ferguson and Milton Biegel signed for the county and Charles Mack, chair man of the State Tax Commis sion, signed for the state. It was approved by Assessor Oliver Croswick. The appraisal of farm property is scheduled to start here as soon as Bill Johnson, appraiser, com pletes reappraisal of urban prop erty. He said Thursday that he expects this to be done about April 1. When a reappraisal of farm property is concluded in Umatilla county, some help will come from there to assist with the job. It is expected that the county s share of the cost will approxi mate $25,000, which includes Johnson's salary, and it is plan- Irrigon School Dedication Set Dedication of the new addit ion to the A. C. Houghton ele mentary school at Irrigon will be tonight (Thursday) at 8 p.m. with dedicatory address by Ew aid Turner, Pendleton, past pres ident of the National Educa tion Association. Others on the program include Don Adams, mayor of Irrigon, Joe Tatone, mayor of Boardman, Dick Wilkinson, chairman of the county school board, and Robert Van Houte, superintendent of schools. Don Olmscheid, principal of the school, will introduce guests and Mike Partlow, president of the student body, will present a picture of A. ,C. Houghton, for whom the school was named. Roy Bechtel of Bechtol Bros. Con struction Co., contractors, will al so give a few remarks. Combined bands of A. C. Houghton school and Riverside high schol will play and Rev. J. A. Kenney will give invocation and Rev. G. A. Hash will pro nounce the benediction. The addition provides a multi purpose room, library and class rooms to the school. Lexington Light Contest Planned Deadline for entries in the Lexington Christmas light i n g contest, sponsored by the I'TA, will be Saturday evening, Dec ember 22, Mrs. John Ledbetter, chairman, announces. The contest is open to both town and country entrants and pnzes will be given from funds solicited for the purpose. En trants .should register at Gene's Chevron Service Station, and more information may be ob tained from Mrs. Ledbetter. with the opening of the league season at Moro with Sherman county on January 11. Coach Glenn Biehl says that he knows little of the Arlington team and does not know what to expect Friday night. Against Weston Saturday night, he knows that his team will have a tough battle. "They are always tough." he said. "Coach Don Roberts is shrewd. He does a real good job. Even if he had all freshmen he would develop a' team in con tention before the end of the season." ned to spread this over three years' budgets, beginning with the 1963-64 fiscal year. At least two years will be required to complete the job, but the staff hopes to have the reappraisal completed in time to go on the 1964-65 tax roll. However, it may not be finished until 1965-66. Some 100 persons, most of them Interested farmers, were present at the 2 -hour meeting in the courthouse last Wednes day night to discuss the reap praisal program and hear an out line of procedure. Mack pointed out that Morrow county had not had a reapprais- al every six years as required by law and .said that the state would assist with the program now, but if the work were not started there is a possibility that the Tax Commission would "have to act." Many farmers participated In the discussion, including Orville Cutsforth, Herb and Jack Hynd, Norman Nelson, Frank Anderson and others. Some expressed the fear that taxes would go up as result of the reappraisal pro gram. However, Assessor Oliver Cros wick stressed that it is not val uation which Increases taxes but the addition of more services in budgets. I would suggest that farmers participate in budget hearings and show more interest in how their tax dollar is being spent," he said. Reappraisal is expec ted to equalize the tax load in the county for the first time, Creswick said. His prediction Is that the tax levy will be re duced about seven mills as a result of reappraisal on the basis of the current tax load. Robyn Godwin, superintedent of appraisal for the tax com mission, discussed three ap proaches used to arrive at the, true value of property for assess ment purposes: Market, cost and income. The first market is the easiest to apply to this type of property, he said. Mack declared during the course of the evening that he favored the setting up of a non partisan committee on a perm anent basis to study taxes in the state of Oregon. The committee could study the tax structure and determine if the burden is unfair to any par ticular group. If taxes are un fair to any group, something could then be done about it, he suggested. Mack said he had long advo cated an overhaul of the tax system in the state and had made the request to the tax com mittee of the House of Repre sentatives at the last legislative session. He believes that the re quest will result in a favorable report to create such a comnftl tce. Purposes of reappraisal is to determine the true market value, Mack declared. The new state law requiring a 25 percent ratio must be based on true cash value for the property tax load to fall equally on property own ers. Navy, State Talk On Range Terms Sam Mallicoat, director of the State Department of Planning and Development, together with Rupert Kennedy, met with U. S. Navy officials in Seattle, Wn,, Wednesday to work on price negotiations between the state and Navy on the bomb range lands that tne JNavy wilt deed to the state, Judge Oscar Peter son said. The judge and Assessor Oliver Creswick were asked to attend the meeting to help work with the price negotiations, and they Intended to fly from Pasco, Wn., to meet Mallicoat and Kennedy at the Seattle airport. However, when they reached Pasco they learned that their plane was fogbound in Salt Lake City, and they were grounded. The two drove home via Walla Walla to visit the Corps of Army Engineers. The judge said that the Navy expects to be completely moved to the eastern part of the range within about a week. The county built a road recently through ar rangements with tne Navy to facilitate the move. Lighting Contest Entries Lagging Only two entries have been received in each of three div isions of the annual Heppner Christmas lighting contest. Sixty dollars in prizes are of fered in the contest, split be tween outdoor residential, in door residential and business windows. Business entries have until Saturday at 5 p.m. to register at the Gazette-Times, and res idential entries have until Sat urday at 5 p.m. to register at the Gazette-Times, and resi dential entries have until Sat urday, Dec. 22, at 5 p.m. to register. The event is sponsored by the Heppner-Morrow Coun ty Chamber of Commerce with an anonymous donor giving the prizes. Registrations may be made by telephone (670-9228). Mrs. Arnold Melby is chairman of the contest.
