Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 25, 1968)
L 1 IRASY U Of EUGENE. ORE 07403 Board, Teachers Reach Pay Supt. Daniels Predicts Deficit to Start 1968-69 Starting salary of $G000 per yrar for teachers with a bach elor degree and no experience was agreed upon as a base for the Morrow county scnooi uis trict ut a meeting of the board of directors and me profession si mnsultatlon committee, rep resenting teachers, Tuesday night at the Lexington school administration oillce. An earlier request for $G200 by the committee had been re jected by the board at its last regular meeting. Three of four other proposals by the teachers were also rejected at me rej4 ular meeting. The $6000 proposal was made Tuesday night, following the first budget meeting 01 me school district, as one of three Doints substituted lor those which had been rejected. Committee proposals were as follows: 1. That a salary schedule with the present columns and index be maintained but wun me ioi lowing adjustment made: a, That the base salary for a be ginning teacher with a BABS be $uuuu. 2. That the Morrow county Snhnni Rnard become a partic ipant In the purchase of a health insurance plan for each teacher In the district. 3. That the Board re-evaluate the present personal leave pol icy for teachers. Increment at 4 At the regular January meet ing the teachers had also asked for an increase to 5 incre ments each year on the salary schedule instead of the present 4. Their second proposal elim inated asking for the increase, and the 4 increment remains. As tentatively figured at the meeting, the increase to a $6000 base from the present $5800 base with proper raises to oth er teachers throughout the schedule will increase instruc tional costs of the district about $25,000 per year. Present instructional budget is approximately $691,000 for the 1967-68 year. Next year with in crements it would increase to approximately $702,045 on the current salary schedule. With the new base, the figure will go to about $727,000. Supt. Kon uanieis, wno iuuk no position in tne discussion ex writ tn nresent facts and fig ures, said that It is possible that some teaching positions may not have to be tilled tor me coming year because some con solidations of teaching loads may be made and because the enrollment in the system has declined somewhat during the past several years. Vote a to 1 Vote on the new base, which followinff a motion by Dir ector Ralph Skoubo, was three yes, one no ano one udsuuhuik. Director Beverly Gunderson vot ed in favor with SkouDo. uirect nr Trvin Rauch voted no, and Director Jack Sumner abstained. Mrs. Gunderson said that she did not feel a 2 to l vote oe picive pnnush on such an im portant matter, and Chairman Don Mclinigoti men case jus vote in favor of the motion, mak ing it 3 to 1. Two directors, Max well Jones and Dr. L. D. Tib bies, were absent. The second point of the pro posal brought probably more discussion men me uase oaioij. tvio consultation committee ask ed that the district participate In a purchase of a health plan for each teacher in the district because under the plan propos ed the benefits are broadened when the district participates by sharing in the cost of the in surance. , , Currently about 90 of the 90-member faculty in the sys tem is covered on a health in surance plan. Cost per. teacher per month is $9.62. Those who cover families pay additional. The teachers asked that the district pay any part of the cov erage so that they would qual ify for the broader benefits. Director Rauch proposed that the base salary of $6000 be re considered and lowered to $5900 per year with the district pay ing all the health insurance, which would amount to approx imately $115 per teacher per year. He argued that the teach ers would gain about $15 per year more by this method than they would with the $6000 sal ary base. Vote Against Participation However, some directors hesi tated to open this area of "fringe benefits," and a poll of the six of seven consultation committee members present showed that they wished to stand on the $6000 base. . The committee then pointed out that any small participa tion by the board would qualify them for the broader coverage. Eventually Director Sumner moved that the board pay $2 per teacher per month, and this resulted in a 2-2 tie vote. Chair man McElligott broke the tie by voting no, and the matter stands at that point The proposal for re-evaluating the personal leave policy for teachers will be considered at a later date. Dick Carpenter, who was spokesman for the committee at this meeting, said that it was not the intention of the committee that a decision be made on this now, but that it be studied in the future. In presenting the three new proposals, Carpenter said that the teachers had reviewed their requests, made adjustments and felt that their new proposals were "realistic. He Dolnted out that lndlca tlons are that starting salaries of teachers around the state will he increased this vear and will average probably about $too0 for the base. Carpenter stressed the need for cooperation and working to pother, addlnir that the teach ers wanted full suDDort of the board, the budget committee and the public. He stressed that the salary schedule should be comparable to other districts so that gooci teachers could be hired and held in the svstem. Supt. Daniels will use the $6000 base salary in computing figures for the 1968-69 school budget. Red Cross Points To Vietnam Needs, Chapter Needs of servicemen in Viet nam are getting major atten tion of the American Red Cross at the present time. Bob Mock abee of Yakima, Wash., field roDresentative of the organiza tion, told members of the Mor row county chapter of the Red Cross at a luncheon meeting January 11 in the Wagon Wheel Cafe. The needs are "really taxing the Red Cross program," he said. One out of every three serv icemen in Vietnam received Red Cross service during the past year, Mockabee said. More than 51.000 messages were han dled for the servicemen overseas during the past month. Includ ed were a number of Morrow county men. "These young men are serv ing, fighting and dying over cir cumstances which they have no control," Mockabee declared. "They need and deserve our support." He pointed out mat mis serv ice to the military bv the Red Cross is in addition to the com munity programs of first aid, water safety, blood, oisas'.er re lief and others. A regional meeting was held in Pendleton on January 23 to consider additional support needed because of the demands of Vietnam. Letters were mailed to many in Morrow county ask ing their participation in the all dav meeting. "I have nothing but praise for Morrow county's support of the Red Cross and the work being done by the chapter here," Mockabee said. He pointed out that the county "came real close" to raising its $1400 Red Cross fund goal last year. Quota for the fund drive this year, to be held in March, will be $1428. The chapter is now in the pro cess of organizing for -the drive. Another School Suffers Burglary Another school was hit by burglary, apparently Friday night, when four typewriters and two portable record players were taken from the Heppner junior high school building, Ron Daniels, district school superin tendent, said. Only a few weeks ago, the Riverside High school lost more than $800 when a burglary oc curred there. Janitors noticed Saturday that someone had been in the jun ior high building, Daniels said, but it has not been learned det initely how entrance was gain ed. Teachers pinpointed the loss Monday when they reported for duty. Value of the missing art icle's is estimated at $400, Dan iels said. This loss Is not covered by insurance because directors de cided sometime ago in consid ering theft insurance that pre miums would exceed probable loss. Another check is being made of insurance costs now, the superintendent said. Entry in the junior high school is another in a series of local burglaries that have been unusually heavy this winter. Bristow's Market in lone and Del's Market in Lexington are among those business etablish ments which have been entered recently. Two More File For Offices Here Two more incumbent Morrow county officials filed for the May primary election during the week in the office of Mrs. Sadie Parrish, Morrow county clerk. Mrs. Sylvia McDaniel, treas urer, will be a candidate for nomination on the Republican ballot as she seeks another term in the treasurer's office. Walter Hayes of Boardman, county commissioner, filed also to run on the Republican ticket for nomination to succeed him self as commissioner. 84th Year THE GAZ1ETT&TIMES Heppner, Oregon 97836, Thursdoy, Jonuary ' (T' J t THREE MEMBERS of the Heppner Soroptlmist Club admire a handknit sweater of Irish wool wrn onf of a number of souvenir items ihon by Judy Conner (right). IFYE tuden to ' " ESS frXwina heriUusUated talk at th. club', meeting last week. At left .are Mrs. John Pto I- College Directors Propose Bond Issue ITmntilla and Morrow county voters will soon be asked to authorize construction of the third phase of the Blue Mount ain Community College campus. The college board of directors voted unanimously January 11 to place before dis trict voters a 31.250,000 bond, is sue to add a third multipurpose building to accommodate me growing cultural and agricultur al needs of the college. Facilities to be included in the proposed new building include a library, student center, voca tional agricultural wing, fine arts, lecture hall, and adminis trative offices. Several teaching stations and faculty offices would be included in the new building. In approving plans for the bond issue election the board of directors proposed a major change in the college's financ ing structure. The college is presently financing its building nroeram under a serial levy of $120,000 a year. If the bonding proposal is approved by the vot ers, the serial levy would be replaced by the bonds at an in itial savings to taxpayers of about 20 percent for the first three years. Thus, a taxpayer who is rjresentlv paving approx imately $2.50 in taxes for col lege construction on a $10,000 home, would pay only about $2.10 per year under the propos ed bonding program, if the bond is retired in equal amounts over a 20-year period. Three More Years on Lew ! The present $120,000 annual serial levy would expire in three 'Medley of Songs' Theme for Parade "Medley of Songs" will be the theme for the 1968 Morrow county Rodeo parade, Randall Peterson, parade chairman, an nounces. The theme was submit ted by Mrs. Bill (Ida) Farra in a public contest, and she will receive tickets to rodeo perform ances as a prize. Judges chose the winner from a number of selections submit ted in the contest. Parade will be on Saturday, August 24, this year. Rodeo per formances will be on August 24 and 25, and the Morrow county fair will start on August 20. In the past two or three years, the theme selection contest has been held early in order to give organizations and firms a better opportunity to plan and prepare their entries. Theme for the 1967 parade was "Fashions ana a towers. Others in recent years were as follows: 1966, "Between the Bookends"; 1965, "The Good Old Days"; 1964, "Famous Quota tions"; 1963, "Songs, Old and New"; and 1961, "The Soaring 60's". There was no theme for the 1962 parade. Judge Henry Kaye To Speak Monday Circuit Judge Henry Kaye of Pendleton, who serves on the bench in the second position for Umatilla-Morrow county district circuit court, will be the speaker at the Monday luncheon meet ing of the Heppner-Morrow coun ty Chamber of Commerce. Agreement; Coming Budget . - years, if the bond issue were not passed. Whether or not the levy would be extended at that time would have to be approved by the voters. At its Thursday night meeting the board directed that an edu cational program be conducted to explain throughout Morrow and Umatilla counties the needs now facing the college. Actual date for the election has not yet been set. In approving the pro posed bond issue, members of the board expressed concern ov er the rapidly increasing needs of the college and the accom panying trend of building costs. "The college has already out grown its present facilities," President Wallace W. McCrae told the board, "and if needed facilities are not added, enroll ment would have to be curtail ed and needed programs reduc ed." Construction costs are going up at about 5 a year, the board was told by Architect Donald Erickson. and the increase in costs this year is expected to be 5.7. Matching Funds Available The board also noted the timeliness of starting construc tion this year in order to take advantage of state matching funds. The state has allocated $250,000 to Blue Mountain Com munity College mis year, aim u construction is delayed, this money could be reassigned to another college. Also considered hv the hoard was the promise of additional state funds for fu ture construction. . II the propos ed building levy is approved, Blue Mountain would De entit led, under the present state for mula, to additional future con struction funds. Under the prior credit provision approved by the last session of the legislature, state funds will be available on a 65 -35 basis for additional building bond retirement with out additional local matching money. The board of directors has studied the college's building needs for the past nine months and visited several community colleges in Oregon and Wash ington before its Thursday night meeting. Members of the board express ed concern over the lack of ade quate library facilities and the absence of a vocational agricul tural center. They emphasized the need for a student center, especially for the commuting students, and agreed mat a lec ture hall was needed for a wide variety of teaching and cultur al activities. An office for col lege administratiorl would also be provided. The administrative office is presently located in rented office space In downtown Pendleton. . Attorneys to Open Office in Condon Winter and Balfe. attorneys, will open an office in Condon beginning next week. The office there will be staffed on Mon days and Tuesdays with Herman Winter and Joe Balfe alternat ing at various times on going there. Both attorneys will continue to live in Heppner and conduct their practice from the office here. For the present the Con don office will be open only on Mnndavs and Tuesdays, but oth er times may be arranged by appointment. "V ," '';.' Y", ' s -.it &t88ttx Number 48 HEPPNER 25, 1968 10 Cents 'ivl::v National Wheat Meet Calls Three Three from Morrow county, in cluding Mr. and Mrs. Robert Jep sen and E. H. (Tad) Miller, Jr., are attending the annual meet ing of the National Association of Wheat Growers in Wichita, Kan., this week. Miller left Saturday by train for the convention and Mr. and Mrs. Jepsen left Sunday by air plane. Mrs. Miller said Tuesday that her husband had called and said that he had arrived Mon day. Those who had gone by plane encountered some delay from fog but also have arrived at the convention site. Jepsen, past president of the Oregon Wheat League, repre sents the public relations com mittee at the national meeting and Miller represents the re search committee. C. Allen Tom of The Dalles, national president, is presiding at the sessions which started Mondav and continues through Thursday. He gave his report on Tuesday morning. An address by the Hon. Robert B. Docking, gov prnnr of the state of Kansas, was a highlight of the after noon. ' rirville L. Freeman. Secretary of the Department of Agricul ture, was scheduled to address the convention on Wednesday and Sen. Frank Carlson of Con cordia, Kan., is to speak Thurs day morning at 11:15. The Jepsens plan to be back home Friday and Miller is due early Saturday morning. Wranglers Slate Princess Tryouts Wranglers club will hold try outs for princess for the 1968 Morrow ccunty Fair and Rodeo on Sunday, February 4, at 2 p.m. at the Wrangler grounds, Mrs. Ron Currin, sceretary, states. To be eligible a girl must be a 1967 Wrangler member, 16 years of age or a junior in high school, and not be more than 21 years of age. If weather is bad, the contest will be moved to the fair grounds to be held in the indoor arena. . . Those taking part will be jud ged, 50 on horsemanship, 30 ori' personality and 20 on ap pearance. "Everyone interested is invit ed to come to see this year's sel ection," Mrs. Currin said. Merchants Decide On Year's Events Heppner merchants decided on promotional events for the year when they met last Thursday at the Wagon Wheel Cafe with Bill Hust, merchants' chairman, pre siding. A Washington's Birthday sale is the next event scheduled, to be held in February. In April, a Moonlight Sale is tentatively planned. May will emphasize Mother's Day, and June will be Father's Day and Dollar Days. Sidewalk Sale will be in early July, and Back to School pro motion is planned in August. Moonlight Sale will be in Sep tember, Crazy Days In October and Christmas Opening in late November. $6,000 Base Granted; Insurance Help Rejected Because of decline in re-tour ces from sources other than tax es during the 1967-68 school year and the Met that tne luui-bf budget was overexpcmled, the Morrow county school district faces the prospect of starting the coming fiscal year with a deficit of $15,385, Supt. Hon Dan lels told members of the school board and budget committee Tuesday night Ho Dresented his budget mes saee at the meeting, the organ ization session of the budget committee, in the school admin 1st nit Ion office at Lexington. "This presents a rather bleak Dicture to begin with. Daniels said, "but any omer approacn would be unrealistic." The sunerlntendent, who Is budget officer for the district. said that the 1966-67 school year finished with a deficit of $8,3Sa. Budeet for 1967-68. which nec essarily had been prepared sev eral months prior to the start of the fiscal year, had antlci pated a cash carryover of $7,000. This amount was included In an expected increase in receipts of approximately $10,000. How ever, the $10,000 Increase was not realized, and tne oeiicu re sulted. Wahfonka There, Blue Devils Here On Mustang Slate By BOB DOBBS Heppner Invades The Dalles Friday to meet the Wahtonka Eagles. It will be the second league game for both squads and the second time they have paired off this season. The first clash turned out to be a disaster for the Wahtonka boys. Heppner bumped the Eag les' off in the opening round of the Mid-Columbia tournament at Sherman County, by a 64-45 margin. The Eagles went on to win the consolation bracket. Russ Kilkenny was the big gun for the night with 26 points, whllp Rill McLeod was second with 15 counters. Bruce Wilkies was high for wahtonka wun 10 points, which was matched by Heppner's Dave Hall. Both the Eagles and the Mus tangs have been dumped by the Pilot Rock squad in league play. Heppner was downed by a close margin of three points. It was 70-73 at the close of the contest. The Wahtonka bunch was destroyed by the Rockets Friday, 93-68. On Saturday, January 27, the Condon Blue Devils come to Heppner for the second and last clash for these teams. The first game, played at Condon, De cember 15, left the Condon club with a 16-point advantage, 49 65. High point honors went to Jamie Grabenhorst with 34! pointers, only two or wnicn came from the charity stripe. Gary Kemp was high for Hepp ner with 15 points. Condon has since proved to be a tough club, if it wasn't es tablished by this earlier game, nnd the Mustangs know their work is cut out for them Sat urday night. County Publishes Budget Addition Revenue coming to the coun ty road department above that anticipated for the year has caused the county court to pub lish a small supplementary hiiHorpt in this week's Gazette- Times (page 6), and hearing on the budget has been set for the courthouse at 10 a.m. on Mon day, February 19. The state attorney-general has ruipri that tustice of the peace fines which are allocated to the county from traffic offenses must go to the county's general road fund, rather than the gen eral fund. These are shown in the supplementary budget as in creasing the road fund resour ces by $5,521. In addition, the county road department has received some $15,104 in revenue that was not anticipated from sales of grav el, oiling Jobs, work done for the school district and others. The county received $6,000 from Pacific Gas Transmission com pany in connection with road work for the new gas compres sor station. The supplementary budget thus is to show $20,625 addit ional receipts in the general road fund and proposes $20,625 in expenditures. Since all the revenue is from sources other than taxes, it will not raise the current year's county budget above the 6 limitation, and therefore is not subject to vote of the people. County Judge Paul Jones said that it is proposed to replace three trucks with the funds, and to make a payment on a trac tor. An additional amount Is in cluded for repairs. Any interested person is wel come to attend the hearing on February 19 to ask questions or to speak for or against the sup plementary budget. Discussed He said that the 1966 67 budg et was overexpended In 41 of Hi categories and that the 1967 6H budget was not increased to cover all the categories in which a deficit existed. New Syitem DeUed "To insure that we do not en counter the same problems again, we have initiated a new accounting system whereby wa are able to keep an up to date accounting of all funds expend ed and a day by day balance of funds remaining in each budget category," he said. Daniels said that this year the system is trying to under expend Its budget by $20,000 "in order to start even." However, prospects for this aro not too bright. Unexpected de mands have been keeping the nressure on the budget. Later Tuesday night, Principal Alan Martin of the Heppner Elemen tary school presented estimates that repairs to the junior high gvm would cost $1,473. Ceiling nlaster had to be removed after some of it fell in the auditor ium. The board took no action on the matter because of the short age of funds, and the principal said that the auditorium por tion of the building will be clos ed. Without a fire resistant cov ering over the exposed wooden lath, the building does not meet state fire code. Some remaining bits of plaster also present a hazard from the possibility of falling, he said. Junior high bas ketball games will be played at the high school gymnasium. Receipts to Be Down Daniels compared resources oi the current budget, point by noint. with those expected for the coming year. He showed the areas where receipts were below those anticinated. In the 1967- 68 budget, the resources other than taxes were listed at $332, 590. In the proposed budget for 1968-69, the figure is set at $273,- 102. He deferred presenting any detailed analysis of 1968-69 ex penditures until the next budget meeting because action had not been taken on proposals for a teacher salary increase at the time of this message. This was done after the budget meeting when the board agreed to a $6000 base salary for teachers. Elden FadDerg oi L,exingion was elected chairman of the budget committee and Harley Young of Heppner was elected secretary. Election May 6 Date of Mav 6 was set as time of the election on the budget, coinciding with the regular school election. This date, later than usual, was decided upon to save the expense of a special election. Ensuing meetings of the budget committee are scheduled for February 13 at 7:30 at the lone High school and on Feb ruary 27 at the A. C. Houghton school. Final budget meeting will be March 5 at Heppner High school. Publication of the budget Is tentatively set for March 20 and March 27, and the public hear ins for April 9 at 7:30 In the school district office. All members of the school board are members of the budg et committee, together with the lay members, Chairman Pad berg of Lexington; Secretary Young of Heppner; Clinton Mc Quarrie, Heppner; Mrs. Warren McCoy, Irrigon; Frank Anderson of Heppner; Bob Sicard of Boardman; and Bob Rietmann of (Continued on page 8) Saturday s 70 Ties Warm Record Saturday's maximum temper ature of 70 degrees, coming dur ing a springlike week, tied the high temperature record for this time of year, according to Don Gilliam, weather observer. Fifty years ago on January 1, 1918 a 70-degree temperature was recorded on the New Year day but that stands alone un til the same mark was hit this January 20. The warm weather, with max imums of the week ranging from 45 to the 70 and minimums ranging from 32 to 52, is taking a toll on the snow at Arbuckle Mountain. In mid-week it seem ed dubious that conditions there would permit skiing this week Official report for the week of January 17 through January 23 as compiled by Gilliam, is as follows: Hi 45 55 64 70 59 48 47 Low 32 42 48 52 49 33 32 Prec. Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday .05 Premature Spring t Closes Arbuckle Premature spring has resulted in the closure of Arbuckle Mountain ski course for the coming week-end, Ed Dick of the directors announced Wed nesday morning. Warm terrmerature has melt ed snow and made it unsatis factory for skiing, he said. It la hniM.fi that more snow will come soon to make it possible to reopen for ensuing weeK-enas.
