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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (May 2, 1963)
2 tiiiiiiiiHiiti n HEPPNER GAZETTE-TIMES, Thursday, May 2. 1963 jam iviiisw TO THE EDITOR... THE HEPPNER GAZETTE-TIMES MOHHOW COUNTY'S NEWSPAPER PHONE 676-9228 1he Heppner Gazette, established March 30. 1883. The Heppner Times established November 18, 1897. Consolidated February 15, 1912. WESLEY A. SHERMAN HELEN E. SHERMAN Editor and Publisher Associate Publisher XNIWIPAPIt POiUiHIII V-AJIOCUTIOH NATIONAL EDITORIAL lASfsbcUTIQ'N i7 VJ U I czttsa Subscription Kates: Morrow and Grant Counties, $4.00 Year; Else where $4.50 Year. Single Copy 10 Cents. Published Every Thursday and Entered at the Post Office at Heppner, Oregon, as Second Class Matter. . OFFICE HOURS: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. HIMMIIIIMIIIIIIMIIIIMIIIIMIMIIIIIIIHIIMIIIIIIIIIMIIIIIIIHMmHHIMIIMtMilMIIIMIWIIIMMIBMMIMinMIIIIIIM The Fredrick Martin Recall When the recall is invoked against a person in public office, there is an inference that the person is guilty of some type of dishonesty or incompetency. Provision in Oregon school law applying to the recall of a district director, however, is not so specific. It merely states that the petitions must "set forth concisely the reason" for the recall without specifying what constitutes a sufficient cause for the action. It is apparent that in the case of Director Fredrick Martin the circulators and signers of the recall petition feel that they have sufficient reason or they would not have gone to all the time, trouble and expense to do what they are doing. This is a serious action that should not be taken lightly by voters. Every eligible voter should weigh the matter in his mind carefully and make it a point to express himself at the polls Monday. The recall involves the reputation of Director Martin, for if it is successful, it would indicate that in the eyes of the, voters he has not discharged his duties to the best of his cap abilities or that he has not acted in the best interests of the educational system In the district. This is in the face of the fact that he has served for many years in various capacities on school boards in Morrow county and holds a respected place among school directors throughout the state. Using the recall places another responsibility on. the voter as it applies to the person who donates his time and abilities to volunteer public service. If, for some reason, it is invoked against one who serves with competence and in good con science, how can the citizenry ask anyone to serve in such a capacity? Thus, it is Important that the voter's decision be carefully considered so that he is sure that the cause is sufficient for removal of the official. There can be no quarrel with one who votes for recall who in his own good conscience is sure that the official has failed to discharge his duties properly. However, it is a serious breach of this democratic process to vote for recall and a threat In the ultimate to democracy itself when the voter cannot con scienciously say that the official Is guilty of conduct sufficient for removal. Both those for and against recall will agree that it is im portant for all voters to come out for the election so that a true expression may be received. To the Editor: According to a letter in the April 11 issue of the Gazette Times a group of six men from the lone area read my letter of the week before and decided to try to deviate attention from their unfair charges against Fred Martin by stating they would like to enlighten me. vrxt nf nil. let me make it clear that my reference to the lone swimming pool and bud get vote in my first letter was made to invite an answer so that the voters of Morrow county might learn the identity of the "Boot Fred Martin" committee. I was well aware of the facts concerning the lone school plant. At a regular meeting of the rural school board of which I was a member held on Tuesday, April 8, 1958 a discussion led hv r.nr Kwnnsnn of lone in re gard to the use and rental of the pool made it necessary for the hnnrrt in form a nnlicv which I believe to be in effect at the present time. The motion was made by Dewey West and sec onded by Joe Nys that the board give their approval for carry - inir Gliph film is In the General fund. It was my feeling at the time and still is that the lone people are to be commended for Minlr mmnrrwitv in nrovidillC and sharing this benefit at such a small cost to the taxpayers with their neighbors. The number of DCODle Who signed the petitions has no vulue to determine what the rlirht WAV tn vote on the recall would be. Thev all know it was not a vote, and would have plenty of time to consider and investigate the charges before voting. These charges are little more than clever Insinuations that there is something wrong with the conduct of Fred Martin as a county school board director. They were written by a lawyer to avoid the legal hazards of such action. The law requires that a record be kept of all reg ular and special meetings, which is available to all citizens where the actual record could be ob served of the performance of the school board, mis recau group has carefully avoided any ref erence to this record. Could it be that it does not contain any thing useful to their cause? Any action taken on any problem, or policy formed by the board must be by majority vote of that board so therefore any criticism of one member Is extremely unfair. Last Monday the voters in all areas of Morrow county turned down the budget to operate the schools another year except Boardman. The voters of Board man failed to represent the will of the majority of voters of the county. I hope no action will be taken against our friends in Boardman because they failed to look in their crystal ball before voting. The question of whether or not there is adequate fire es capes at the lone grade school is not the responsibility of one member of the county school board, but is the duty of citi yens and the entire board alike to make certain that the lives of our children will be safe guarded in case of fire. The state fire marshal's report of January 10, 1963 states, quote "Previous order complied with. No further orders at this time." End quote. He lists four recom mendations for future action, but no mention is made of fire esennes. The letter to enlighten me in Hi, Ciirta ctntoc the nnlv nnnl- nication noeueci to onserve me validity of the charge of sane linniniT Kchnnl bus transnorta tion routes is good enough vision to reonenize inrec Dass- enger vehicles painted highway yeuow, lanoioii morrow loumy Schools, meeting, passing, going nnnosite directions on our coun ty roads. I will challenge all six signers oi mis letter 10 pro duce a plan whereby the stu dents of our county can bo trans nnrted to school without meet ik liiismniT or point? in ounosue directions. No mention is made nf nnv nlnee where dunlication could be observed, for obvious reasons. Here again there is no evidence to support the charge that Vrm Martin should he re called because he sanctioned duplication of school bus routes. That also is a responsibility of the entire board, not one mem ber. What we will decide next May 6 is whether we will give Fred Martin a dishonorable discharge from his duties as a county school board director on unfair charges or whether we show by the vote that we appreciate me years of work that he has given tor tne Betterment oi eoucauon for our children in Morrow coun ty. Respectfully yours, Alonzo Henderson Lexington, Oregon To the Editor: I am sick at heart at tne in will between the communities in Morrow county. Like many other people, my loyalties are divided, inougn i taugnt in iune only one year, my parents lived there several years. Some former lone students now live in Hepp ner, and some lormer Heppner students now live in lone. I feel sure that these people too must be distressed at our failure to solve our problems witnoui bitterness. I havo hepn nroepedine on the strength of the prayer, "Oh Lord, let there be peace, ana may u begin with me." But in recent days many people have remark ed that the lack of letters sup porting Fred Martin nas iea them to wonder if his recall is not justified. So I want to ex plain my stand as an individual, on the recau ana scnooi su- rsvat.T. means REMOVE. The vote next Monday is to decide whether Fred Martin shall be REMOVED from the county ctinnl hnnrrl Mr. Martin was elected to two terms on the rural school boara, and two terms on the county school board wnicn succeeueu if Ho 1c a rniineilman in lone. He is an honest, Christian man uhn is nnp of the best-informed persons in the entire state on chnn au; hp is nmniv revalu ed throughout the state. He has represented lone fairly and he hoa haH tho host interests of the entire county at heart all his years on the boara. . . If a board member like this is to be removed from the school board, what kind of a replace ment would tne voters warn; Cnmnnnn who Duts his own school area first in all consid erations? . , , Morrow county's school Doaro. has seven members, one each from lone, Lexington, Irrigon, and Boardman; three from Heppner. By trading votes me fr.nr rnnrpspntatives from the smaller communities can out vote Heppner. yet Heppner ns about 13 tne entire pupuiauu.. r tha nmmtv within its City limits, and its schoolboard members represent an even larger percentage of the people of the county. According to the 1962-63 Direc- fr nf Mnrrow COUntV School officers and teachers, 637 of the tntoi hnnl nonulation of lloo attend school in Heppner. This is over 54 of the students. So with over half the students and over a third of the population of the county, Heppner has only 37 of the representation on uk school boara. n tne memueis tho hnarri from lone. Lexington, Irrigon, and Boardman choose to put their communities first they have the power to uo &u. vmA Martin rip-htlv feels that he owes representation to the entire county, oo uu, i mum, ent board. So do, I hink, all u nthor mnmhers of the pres ent board. Do people really want it otherwise.' Wp Hennner area people are nrnhnhiv epttine better repre sentation than we deserve, con sidering our poor turnout i meetings concerning the schools and at scnooi elections. Heppner has 54 oi tne stu dents; 4 school buildings, 41 teachers, 2 cooks, b custodians, and 10 bus drivers. Compare these figures with those for the other 4 communities: 46 of ii,,. cinlnnk fi srhnol huildines. 42 teachers, 7 cooks, 7 custodians and 15 bus drivers. I am willing to pay extra taxes s0 that each community can have its school, so I can't under stand why, after they have ask ed for these facilities, lone, Lex ington nnit irrid'on voted against raising the money to pay for tlum- . u , Cnrolv thn rause for much of nni- lnrop NO VOtp Oil budCCtS is worry about the increasing property tax ouraen. ii every person who fears this creeping tax burden would write to at least one legislator demanding transfer ot most ot tne nnanciai cost of schools from property tax ir, innnmp tax nr sales tax. much more good would be accomplish ed. Income tax is based on ability in nav A sa. 1p tav should ex clude groceries, seed, and drugs because these things are neces sities; a sales tax covering necessities could be as burden some as our present property X3XGS. I hope Heppner voters partic hard thinking on these school problems, ask ing questions as necessaiy aim discussing them with their friends and neighbors. Then, please vote rega r d 1 e s s of whether you agree or Qisagice with me. . Rachel Forsythe uick (Mrs. L. E. Dick, Jr.) To the Editor: Chaff and Chatter Wes Sherman Many citizens of Morrow county are concerned about re- nt nhornroc maHo hV a CTOUP of lone citizens attacking the integrity of the Morrow county School Board, one specific school board member and the school er,rintpnripnt Thpse accusa tions are against the entire school board. All the members are charged with irresponsibility. What are the facts in tne mat ter? 1. Fire escapes at lone. Fire escapes which served the bal conies of the old lone gym were removed in the summer oi isou when the old balconies were Tho state fire mar- shall has not requested or sug gested that tnese De lepiauc. In fact, the words "fire escape do not appear in a single firs marshals report on lone since July 1, 1959. All orders to the school district by tne ure mai shall have been competed as di rected in all the schools of the district. Recommendations by the fire marshall, which differ from orders, in that the orders must be carried out and the rec ommendations are suggestions to be carried out whenever feas ible, so as not to interrupt school or whenever funds are available, are planned to be car ried out this summer. This in cludes installing swinging fire doors on the landings between the upper and first floors in both lone and Heppner schools, and also sealing all vertical openings in the school at lone. 2. Shop program at lone. At present, juniors and seniors and seventh and eighth graders have a shop program. The lathe, drills, welding equipment and other tnlc. nra hoinCT llsPfl in tlllS PrO- gram. The instructor is Mr. Strait. 3. Duplicate bus routes. There are not duplicate bus routes in nf,.,.i7 pnnntv The transDorta- tion department of the State De partment laid out all the school bus routes after a careful survey in 1959. However, in order to get to lone or Heppner, loaded buses must in some cases travel on .u ,v,o hicrhwav after DlCKine up students on their regular routes. Full credit should be given to fVin inno eommunitv for their building program prior to July, 1959. It shouia De pointeu uui, however, that Heppner residents am ctiii makinff hond Davments on the elementary building they constructed in 19S4. neppnei bond payments will be complet in iQ7n Roardman taxDavers made a final bond payment this year. Irrigon and lone complet ed their payments in 1962. The current building program is intended to complete addit ionally needed facilities. The board has not practiced decep tion in this or any other pro gram which is under our con trol. t . The school board does not asK for a blank check, but for funds within a budget for the oper ation of our schools. All expen ditures are approved by the board as a whole and all our SATURDAY NIGHT'S Band Carn ival was a tremendous suc cess from every standpoint but one Harley Young never did rr.,,nH thrpp nails into the 4x4 with three blows each, try as he might. He had a connaeni southpaw swing and wielded a mighty blow, but he never quite made the grade. I don't know how many tickets he used up trying, but the number was con siderable. The Columbia Basin manager turned the board sidewise and pointed out nails that had been Hritron from tho other side, with the inference that his were bumping Into them on tne way down. Nevertheless there were some good clean imprints, deep in the wood, of the hammerhead beside some of his nails. THERE JUST couldn't be any nicer affair for the family than this homemade entertainment. Everyone has a good time, and all the kids, regardless of size, carry home so highly-valued prize Japanese lantern or kew pie doll and the proceeds go for a fine cause. We marvel at the wonderful job of organization done on tnis carnival. Bud Peck is the guid ing light, and he deserves high praise from the community for his work. It is obvious, too, that a crrpat amount of work is done by many hands to get the job done. DON'T EVER say that Randall Peterson doesn't have some financial accounts are audited annually. All our audits have been commented upon favorably by the auditors, witneren, witn erell, Lavoie and Morrison, of Pendleton. ii should he obvious that in our present system where the cnhnnl hoard is assisted bv the county superintendent and the principals and aavisory Doaras from each community, no one man can be held responsible for the charges made against Fred Martin charges over wnicn Mr. Martin did not have sole control. It is mv fervent hope that the voters of Morrow county will ovaminp their consciences and vote in a fair and honest man ner, as I believe irea Martin has performed his duties as a memhpr of the Morrow County School Board. Dick T. Wilkinson sort of influence with Old Jupe Pluvius! Through two or three weeks of bad weather he calmly went about preparations for the Cnr nrr m OctlVfl I nPre llllUUKli aix sorts of jibes and taunts. But when the great aay came, .c hinssnmpd forth, lust as he A;tnA ooriv in the morning and stayed out all day. He had old Jupe cowea someuuw, cvc. though it had rained Friday. rru TToctiirol tlimpd OUt tO De a fine event with a lot of fun and interest. Randall just about does a one-man jod iorwieinei i,,ntc mmmittpe of the Cham ber of Commerce, and his fellow businessmen snouia giye ium highest commendation for his ..ts-vris- rtnr rn mctinuii Line unto wuirv, w who come to town ana enjoy u. m t ACCORDING to a half-hour .nii-ni7!1o snpeiai UUUUiilcir JlBUWllu.w . toiovicmn nresentation re cently, entitiea vauum b Breed," country newspaper cu thpir wav to obliv ion. The telecast was the case history of an editor in one of the states of the Deep South, v,o hori thp nnlv DaDer in the county just like the G-T in Morrow county. The editor was subject of con troversy in the county, partic ularly because of political issues, and much of the TV time was devoted to pro and con com ments about him. rnnntrv pditors mav be a "Vonichinor Rrppd." but We think "Dimishing Breed" would be more apt. Population trend is towards uroan centers, au right, but there always will be some small towns, and always a place for the warmth of the weekly paper. We've known of cases in the past when some irate reader would have liked to place us immediately in tne category 01 the "Vanished Breed," but not too often. The country editor can be a tenacious character. reading it again Besides that's the only way many oi us ea itors get by, and hope that no one remembers that we're re peating ourselves. 'SHOW YOUR COLORS," de piarps .Tim Farlev of Farlev Motor Co. who has become a part of a campaign to get Amer ican people into flying their oftpn. Hp deelarps that 66 of the homes in the country do not even own a Hag, and Americans display their colors less than any other na tion in the world. Come to think of it, we are rather negligent on this point- even right here in neppner. Goodyear Rubber Company has a nationwide emphasis on this "Show Your uoiors- program nv,i tTorlou no local dpalpr for Goodyear tires, is handling it here. He has a brand new stocK of American flag kits that are hoino nffprpH at cost as a Dart of the promotion. Take our word for It, he doesn i mane anyming on them. Stop by his service station and take a look, then show your colors on every ap propriate occasion. COMMUNITY U J BILLBOARD j To the Editor: T unnripr who could stoop SO low as to swipe flowers that took me three years to start on my folks lot in tne cemeieiy. They dug up the pink peony huihe hut did leave the red ones, it was done since last year. Yours sincerely, Andy Hayes nvtv F.niTOR that we hate to see "Vanish" from the Eastern Oregon scene is Giles trench, 3n vpars editor of the Shprman Countv Journal at Moro. He has sold the paper to Dan Bartlett, former editor of the Hermiston Herald. The Journ al attainpH its nlace in the sun as the medium of Giles' pithy, pertinent and often caustic comments. He has an apparently onriipss snnrcp of clever nutshell comments, such as in one of his recent papers, relative to tne rainu nnpninc dav of trout concrtn "A trout, eaueht Satur day would hardly know tne an ference." Every week he had a full column of them on the front page, and his sage observations were widely quoiea. Giles said that the reason he is quitting is that he finds him self writing the same thing over that he wrote last year. Most of us wouldn't mind Coming Events LEGION MOVIES Saturday, May 4, 8 p.m. "Glory," starring Margaret O'Brien and Walter Bren nan. Plus cartoons. FOUR ONE ACT PLAYS Full evening of entertainment by Heppner Hign scnooi students. Friday, May 3, 8:00 p.m. Adults, 75c Students, 25c DON'T FORGET TO VOTE! School Election M o n d a y, May 6. Polls open from 2 to 8 p.m. HOMEMAKER'S FESTIVAL 'The Wonderful World Ahead," Miss Esther Tas kerud, OSU, guest speaker. Wednesday, May 1511 a.m St. Patrick's Parish hall SPONSORED AS A PUBLIC SERVICE BY C. A. RUGGLES Insurance Agency P. O. Box 247 PH. 678-9625 Heppnar Dear Editor: In the March 18 issue of this paper the Morrow County School Board voted to let each school have one trailer on the school property at $10.00 per month charge. Tliis is just one more item that proves very poor manage ment by our school board and leads to higher taxes. There is now and has always been housing available for teachers. lone has a very nice trailer park with flowers, laun dry, dry cleaning available at $15.00 per month. If the school board Installs trailer space on the school prop erty it will cost the taxpayers several thousand dollars be cause trailer space must meet state specifications, such as 750 gallon septic tank minimum, 150 foot drain field per bedroom, double this if a garbage dis posal is used. I think it is time for we the taxpayers to stand by our con victions and on our own two feet and do something about the wasteful spending of the taxpayer's money. E. J. Akers lone, Oregon Spring Checkup Time If winter driving has gotten your car down-get a lift here! Change oil Lubricate chassis Check brakes We sell all ATLAS tires batteries accessories New working hours: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays Closed Sundays Wayne's Chevron Station SHOW YOUR COLORS WAYNE BALL AT HEPPNER FORD GET fNEW 50 -STAR ; FLAG SET s NOW FOR KJrJU J ' HOLIDAY ST-v I l-f i DISPLAY! f " fi COMPLETE 6-PIECE ENSEMBLE READY TO FLY Big 3 x 5 ft. Double Hemmed Cotton Flag in brilliant fade resistant colors Has 5-i"ch Amprii'sn Eagle on top of 6 ft. collapsible Aluminum Staff Includes Cord Halyard and metal mounting wall bracket with screws i Complete with Illustrated Manual on Ullicial t lag ttiquette Get Them At FARLEY MOTOR CO. 126 E. MAY HEPPNER PH. 676-9116
