Facing tho Facts HEFPNEH GAZETTE-TIMES. Tbunday. May 1 196S TO THE EDITOR The furu should be quite clear to Morrow county voter Monday wh-n they cast ballot on the l'JCa-KJ county scnooi budget. Supt. Ron DanloU, the district director and the budg et committee have frankly pointed out that the budget will r considerably greater for the coming year. An nalynl of the reason, however, shows that virtually all the Increase Is due to factors beyond the control or tno school administration and the budget committee. Thus, when the election comes Monday, voters must de cide whether they want to maintain a Rood school program even though they, as taxpayers, may have to make some sacrifice to do so. Hero are some of the facts to be considered: Fact No. 1 The amount of the tax levy estimated for the ensuing year is $1,181,189, as compared with $1,016,401 for the current year. Thus, taxpayers will be asked to pay approximately 16 more for school purposes for the coming year, although the total budget Is Increased only about 8T. Fact No. 2 Receipts, other than taxes, are down sharply. This accounts for most of the difference between the In crease of only 8 on the total budget and the 16 on the expected tax levy. Receipts for the current year fell far short of expectations. Those budgeted for the 1968-69 year other than taxes are considerably reduced and placed on a more realistic basis. Receipts from some Federal programs, such as Public Law 874 (which partially reimburses the district for educating stu dents of Federally-employed parents In this case the ord nance depot) dropped sharply below the budgeted figures for 1967-68 and will be down for the coming year. Receipts from state basic school support also will be down somewhat. Receipts expected to come In for some district programs, such as $3500 for aid to handicapped children, never were received at all, and these have been cut out Failure of the receipts to measure up to the budget means that a deficit will face the district at the end of the current year. While It Is difficult at this time to tell how much this will be, the budget lists an expected deficit of $15,385. In years part, receipts have held up so that ordinarily the dis trict started with a substantial cash carryover. In all, receipts other than taxes show a decrease of $52,888 in the coming budget, and this Includes the $15,385 expected deficit. Fact No. 3 Cost of Instruction Is up primarily because of the Increases allowed on the teacher salary schedule. Starting teachers with a bachelor degree and no experience will receive $6000 per year. This Is an increase of $200 over the present schedule, but is less than the $6200 asked for by the professional negotiating committee. A check of other dis tricts of similar size schools and enrollments shows that the $6000 Is comparable with the approved scales in other areas. In arriving at a decision on the salary schedule, the board, however conservative Its inclinations may be, has to consid er what it must pay to attract and hold teachers who will provide the type of education that parents and school patrons desire. This Is an extremely difficult decision because they are squarely in the middle. Most of the board members are ranch ers and they full well know the tax situation. But they also know the keen competition for good teachers and the import ance of maintaining a good school program. The increase In instructional costs for 1968-69 would have been perhaps twice as great but for the fact that adjustments in teaching loads have been made throughout the district so that several teaching positions have been eliminated. How ever, the, salaries for instruction will be up about $28,000. It should be noted that the Instructional budget, includ ing salaries and teaching supplies, accounts for 61 of the districts total expected general fund expenditures. Thus, if it is conceded that the district must provide a salary schedule to hold good teachers and provide them with a reasonable amount of supplies to do the job, that leaves only 29 of the budget that could be considered for change, including transportation, fixed charges, operation and maintenance of plant, administration and the rest. But again, the district has no control over some of these. For Instance, take a look at Fact No. 4 Fixed charges are Increased by a sharp $27,825, and there isn't a thing that the district nor budget committee can do about it! Increases in Social Security costs, set by the Congress, will mean $6,500 more that the district must pay in 1968 69 as it matches the payments made by its employees. The district will pay $37,500 In Social Security as compared with $31,000 for the current year. What hurts even worse is the almost staggering jump in payments to the Public Employes Retirement System, going to $41,800 as compared with $22,000 for the current year, an increase of $29,800. These are things that the budget com mittee is powerless to change and must, accept. Fact No. 5 Operation and maintenance of plant sections in the budget are up. Part of this is due to nominal increases in salaries for non-certified employes and part is due to work that must be done to maintain standard school plants. School patrons will recall that a state report during the year listed Heppner Elementary and lone Elementary schools as sub-standard and required certain work to be done to make them "conditionally" standard. Failure to comply could mean reduction of basic school support funds from the state. In view of these items, the maintenance and operation of plant portions of the budget are up by a total of $31,227. Fact No. 6 Some sections of the budget have been de creased. That for transportation has been cut by nearly $4000 as the directors made adjustments on contract bus runs. The amount for health services is down very slightly. Now, in watching the directors and the budget commit tee at work, it is evident that they have made every effort to keep costs at a minimum. Substantial cuts have been made in the area of supplies and equipment. But the sad truth is that the major items mentioned above still control the budget and are responsible for the hikes expected. Patrons should consider the fact, too, that the coming year's budget is an honest and realistic one, This should re flect in a sounder administration in future years because re ceipts have not been overstated and deficits should be elim inated. Every effort has been made to hold costs down. Supt. Daniels has told administrators that no more orders for this school year are to be placed unless they are of an emer gency nature. On the budget committee with its lay members and school directors are some of the soundest thinkers in the county. As one watches them work, he gets the feeling that they are faced with the inevitable the budget, because of the fac tors mentioned above, has to be increased despite their best efforts to keep it down. If any of the rest of us served on the committee, we would have to come to the same conclus ions, assuming that we are genuinely interested in good schools. Despite the increase in the budget, Morrow county will not face as stiff a jolt as many. The total budget will cost taxpayers here approximately $13.50 per each $1000 true cash value of their property. This includes the levy both inside and outside the 6 limitation and that not subject to the 6 limitation. At Echo, for example, the budget calls for $15.70 per $1000 true cash value on the amount outside the 6 limita tion alone. At Hermiston it is $21 for the amount outside the 6 limitation! The present school administration has taken a forthright approach on this budget. It has laid down the facts, planned for a realistic budget, and dedicated itself to continuing a fine school program. There Is every indication to believe that the school sys tem now is the best it has been since the formation of the administrative district. Great progress has been made in in struction, in physical plants, in facilities, in curriculum and in adminlstraton. Your vote for the budget Monday will be a vote for more taxes, there is no doubt of that But those who realize the value of a sound school system and what it means to our children will gird for the blow and vote yes on the budg- THE HEPPNER GAZETTE-TIMES HepPM Oigoo 17836 Phots S 76-8224 MORROW COUNTY? NEWSPAPER The Heppner Gaette established March 30. 1K83. The Heppner Times established November 18. 1837. Consolidated February 15, 1912. NATtONAl NIWIPAPH -rkMJl!IHlBMI'HI l NIWSPAPII III 'ASSOCIATION WESLET A. SHERMAN HELEN E. SHERMAN ARNOLD RAYMOND Shop Foreman Printer GAIL BURKENBINE Society Circulation EDITOR AND PUBLISHER ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER REGGIE PASCAL Linotype Operator RANDY STILLMAN Apprentice JIM SHERMAN Pressman Subscription Rates: $4.60 Year. Single Copy 10 Cents. Published Every Thursday and Entered at inc rosi unice at Heppner, urcgon, as Second Class Mailer. Office Hours: 8 a.m. to 6 pjn., Monday through Friday; 9 a.m until noon Saturday. Chaff ani Chatter Wes Sherman IT DIDN'T TAKE LONG to get a response on how tightmiie and Gooseberry got their names after the query we printed Irom Giles French in last weeKS pa per. Mrs. Eugenia Huston of Hepp ner who was reared in tne Gooseberry area (located near the Gilliam county line almost due west from Heppner) came in Monday to report that Goose1 berry Springs was a camp ground in the early days be tween Arlington and the inter lor. It got its name from a wild gooseberry bush that grew at the spring. "When the Dostoffice was es' tablished, they adopted the name from the spring," Mrs. Huston said, "and the commu nity was known as Gooseberry." et AT THE SAME TIME, she brought In a clipping of a col umn written by D. H. Talmadge from the Oregonian or a good many years ago. It concerns this community of Gooseberry, and we will reprint portions of it because of its historical inter est. 'Not long ago I was looking, half idly over a map of Oregon," Talmadge wrote. 'The name 'Gooseberry, a dot in Morrow county, caught my eye. It seem ed to me an odd name. I search ed for it in the list of Oregon postoffices and failed to find it. iNor was it to be lound in the census list of Oregon cit ies and towns. A paragraph, intended to be interrogative, was then printed in this column with a view to satisfying my curiosity in the matter. Perhaps it was of no great importance, but I want ed to know the why and where fore of 'Gooseberry.' Among the results of that paragraph is a letter from Mrs. Ruth Adkins of Coquille, a let ter at once interesting and informative." The column then quoted Mrs. Adkins' letter, as follows: When the pioneers came to that country they found rolling hills, covered with sagebrush and bunch grass, peopled with coyotes, jack rabbits, ground squirrels and rattlesnakes. Not prepossessing, you mav sav. Yet I can imagine them stop ping and gazing for miles across the hills, gashed here and there with canyons, occasionally a creek deep between the hills, and far, far to the north a flash of blue from the mighty Colum bia. "As thev gazed, don't vou sud- pose thev had a vision of these hills covered with golden wheat fields, as they are today, with nere ana mere a wnite farm house down in the canyon, out of the wind, and flocks and herds In place of the wild things? "Now in a few places in these hills, nature, thinking perhaps sne naa oeen too harsh, gave me country a spring of clear, cold water. Wild things came mere to quencn their thirst, and willows and flowers and grass grew abundantly. "Such a place was the orig inal Gooseberry springs." CONTINUING, "This was a stop pine place in the old davs for freighters on their long trip to The Dalles for supplies. Then came Jacob Young from Mis souri, and built his home lust below the springs. The water then was used to irrigate the trees and tne fruit and goose berry bushes which he and his young wife, Mattie, planted and tended so caretully. Roads were built, and the sections of coun try northwest of the springs be came Known as Gooseberry. -jnow wnen tnese pioneers came they brought with them shrubs, plants, trees and seeds trom tneir old home, and it was found that the gooseberry alone would thrive without irrigation in this new country. Imagine, v. xi., a ianu wunoui wild Iruit of any kind! "The gooseberry to them was not a sour, green berry on a prickly bush, but a delectable fruit for sauce and pies and to be canned for use during the winter. Every ranch there has its gooseberry bushes, and the housewives gather and can the fruit as did their mothers and grandmothers, even though now. with quick transportation, other fruit is available in season. "If the name of Gooseberry In trigues you, here are some more land marks in that country: Dry Fork, Democrat gulch, Hail ridge, Six Dollar, Butter creek, Jack Rabbit canyon, Porcupine canyon, Sweet Milk canyon, But termilk canyon, Black Horse, Sunflower flat, Dutch Billy creek, and many others. "That part of the country north of Black Horse was nam ed The Banana Belt' by S. E. Notson when he was county school superintendent. Mr. Not son is father of Robert Notson of The Oregonian, and at pres ent district attorney and Repub lican state committeeman." . BACK TO THE PRESENT: The G-T editor is glad that he recognizes some of the names in the letter of Mrs. Adkins, but a few of them don't ring a bell, such as Six Dollar, Sweet Milk canyon, Buttermilk canyon and Dutch Billy creek. But we ve on ly been here seven years and haven t had time to search out all those places! We can't tell from the cud ping just when that article was printed, but some advertising on the back gives the clue that it was a good many years ago. An automobile battery, 6 volts, 13 piates, is listed lor SJ.yb, an electric alarm clock $1, and 3- piece bedroom set for S3d. nob Notson is still with the Oregonian, having recently Deen named puDiisner as most everyone here knows. OLA MAE GROSHENS also came to our rescue on the names. She used a codv of Lew is A. McArthur's 'Oregon Geo graphic Names." published in 1944, to get the information. As explained in the book. "The post office at Eiehtmile takes its name from Eightmile Canyon, which was' so named because its mouth was about eight miles up Willow Creek The Rhyming Philosopher FRUSTRATION WHENEVER T MENTION SOME SYMPTOM OR SIGN OF ILLNESS ATTACKING MY VIGOR, THERE'S ALWAYS SOME BOOR LIKE A NEIGHBOR OF MINE WHO CLAIMS THATS WHAT HFS GOT. BUT BIGGER. THE DOCTORS REPORT SOMETHING WRONG WITH MY GEARS, PRESCRIBING A RARE COSTLY TONIC: BUT THE JOKER NEXT POOH HAS HAD IT FOR YEARS WITH COMPLEXES NEAR ASTRONOMIC. EACH SPRING ! PLANT RADISHES. CABBAGE AND CORN AND FERTILIZE FAR. WIDE AND HANDSOME: THEN OFF TO GO FISHING FOR SALMON AT DAWN, WITH HOPES TO GET LUCKY AND LAND SOME. REGARDLESS WHAT WHOPPERS MY PUMPKINS WILL SCORE. SOME NEIGHBOR BOASTS HIS ARE TITANIC; AND OTHER FOLKS' FISH WILL WEIGH TWICE MINE OR MORE: COMPETING BRINGS NOTHING BUT PANIC BUT NOW rVE DECIDED THAT SOMETHING MUST GIVE: FRUSTRATION I'LL MANAGE WITHOUT IT. MY VENTURES IN FUTURE AS LONG AS I LIVE I'LL TRY, BUT TELL NO ONE ABOUT IT. HARRY W. FLETCHER from the Columbia River. The name was first used by pioneer stockmen." As to Gooseberry, the book corroborates the information given by Mrs. Huston: "Goose berry is a locality west of Hepp ner near the west edge of the county. The place was known as Gooseberry Springs at least as early as 1872 and was well known to cattlemen. It was named for a large wild goose berry bush just above the spring. Gooseperry post office Is shown on the 1887 post omce list, but it has been out of ser vice for a good many years. There are many places in east ern Oregon named for wild gooseberry bushes." We had the good lortune to meet the late Lewis (Tarn) Mc Arthur in 1947. He was then president of the Oregon Histor ical Society, and came to Dal las for a visit after we had edit ed a 100-Dace historical book let on Polk county history in connection with the county's centennial. He told us that he had read through the booklet and found it to be complete and accurate except for one thing. We had said something about the "be- whiskered pioneers." Tarn Mc Arthur maintained that the or iglnal pioneers to Oregon were clean shaven, and the growing of beards didnt become fash ionable until later on. WHAT A GREAT contribution McArtnur made in recording Oregon history! His valuable book is just one part of it. And thanks, ladies, for your help on the local names. Proud of Larry To the Editor: In the article about Larry Cook In last week's Issue, the line stutlng that nine awards were made gives the erroneous lmression that nine of these awards were given at the same time. This impression definitely dims the luster of the honor given Mr. Cook, because the fact is that he was the only one in the State of Oregon to receive that honor this year. Probably nine awards have been made, but only one each year. For this reason it is easy to see how Royal Arch Masonry, and, for that matter, Heppner as a whole, can be proud of this member of our community. Harold L. Becket, Deputy of the Grand High Priest, Royal Arch Masons of Oregon ) community! BILLBOARD Jl For Weed Spraying Call on Me ID oyer Owner-Gar Aviation FIELD MAN Jim Pettyjohn Spraying-Dusting-Fertilizing-Seeding DRY OR LIQUID FERTILIZER APPLICATION A GOOD JOB AT A FAIR PRICE You Can Find Us All Year Around AT THE LEXINGTON AIRPORT Phone 989-8422 Coming Events TRAVELING PIE SALE Friday, May 3, from 3 p.m. By Jaycee Wives Call Mrs. Jerry Samples or Mrs. Tom Wilson for orders for pies, delivered OES SOCIAL CLUB Saturday, May 4, 1:45 p.m. Heppner Masonic Hall Members urged to attend GOLDEN AGE CLUB Tuesday, May 7, 7 p.m. All Saints' Episcopal Hall Potluck dinner, followed by entertainment Guests welcome MERCHANDISE SHOOT Sunday, May 5, 10 a.m. Morrow County Gun Club Amateurs welcome ART SHOWING Sunday, May 12, lone Amer lean Legion Hall, 12:30-5:30 p.m. Paintings of art students in area of Dr. McDevitt on display Public welcome TEENAGE ROAD-E-0 Local competition, Sunday, May 18, fairgrounds. 1 p.m. Sponsored by Morrow County Javcees Enter now at School, Jack's Chevron, Ford Garage or with Jerry Hollomon SPONSORED AS A PUBLIC SERVICE BY C. A. RUGGLES Insurance Agency P. O. Box 247 PH. 676-9625 Heppner I Chevrolet's special savinas bonus now adds mora value to cars already giving you the most. ''u ftanlii Randall ana Mnnfg Smirtt 1 J IMPAIA CUSTOM COUPE Anyone con offer you Just about anything with a fancy paint job, special trim, a few gadgets, and call it a "sale." But see what your Chevrolet dealer is coming up with during, his 68 Savings Explol 200-hp Turbo-Fire V8, Powerglide and whitewalls. 2. Any Chevrolet or Chevelle with 250-hp Turbo-Fire V8, Powerglide end whitewalls. 3. Any regular Chevrolet with 250- Check these Bonus Savings Plans, hp Turbo-Fire V8, Turbo Hydra- I. Any uievroiet or uieveiie witn Mane and whitewalls. 4. Now, for the first time ever, big savings on power disc brakes ond power steering when you buy any Chevrolet or Chevelle V8. 5. Buy any Chevrolet or Chevelle V8 2- or 4-door hardtop save on vinyl top, electric clock, wheel covers and appearance guard items. GM 1