Page 2, THE GAZETTE TIMES. Heppner. OR., Thursdsft-May ,
1975
Horse sense.
ERNEST V. JOINER
1
Last week I was severely criticized for not stating facts
and for not having the correct facts regarding the county's
school system. The only facts I previously stated were the
following. Students on the honor roll in high school fail to
make the grade when they attend college; too much money is
spent on athletics in both the high school and the colleges. I
did not say, nor mean to imply that all students fail in their
bid for a college education, nor did I state that of all the
graduates of Morrow County, none had ever succeeded in
athletics.
Continued reference is made to Dick Ruhl, Heppner, who
captained the Beavers football team at the Rose Bowl Game.
With all due respect to Mr. Ruhl, whom I have never met, this
caption appeared in the newspaper, Sept. 13, 1962. "Dick
Ruhl, 204 pound fullback from Heppner, will see action with
the Oregon State Beavers in their first game of the season,
Sept. 22 at Portland. Ruhl is expected to see considerable
action as defensive linebacker and at present is number
three offensive halfback on the team. He is the first Heppner
boy on the Oregon State roster in modern history. He is a
junior and this is his first year on the varsity."
It w as suggested that I look at the facts of education, rather
than the prejudices I had built up from California. Well here
are some facts from the Morrow County tax collector. Of
every dollar collected in taxes within the county, 73.23 cents
goes for education. This figure also includes the money which
goes toward the support of Blue Mountain Community
College.
Of the total taxes levied by the county for the year 1974-75,
which totalled $2,411,459 00. 63 56 per' cent or $1,532,988 84
w ent to the county school. In addition another 9.67 per cent or
$233,226.57 went for the support of Blue Mountain Community
College. The total paid by the tax payer for education
amounted to $1,766,215.41.
A total of 1.322 students were enrolled in the county schools
at a cost of $1,159 60 per student, per year. By comparison,
less than six per cent goes toward the maintenance of the
county roads and $45,000, less than 2 per cent is budgeted for
Pioneer Memorial Hospital. Recently voters approved the
school budget for Morrow County Schools increasing the tax
levy another 18 8 per cent or $278,900.
A recent article in the newspaper stated. 54 per cent of the
expenditures in Morrow County and other counties in the
Slate of Oregon had been earmarked for education, yet it
costs this county's taxpayer 73.23 per cent. With the amount
of money spent on education in Morrow County we should
have the most qualified teachers as well as the most highly
educated students in the state. Parents are continually
griping that their children are not learning the basics of
reading, writing and arithmetic. One fact is certain, we have
the most expensively educated students in the State of
Oregon. I am not interested in the handful of students who
graduated from Morrow County schools and went on to make
a niche for themselves in the professional world, rather, I am
interested in the honor students who went to college and
never completed four years of higher education and why they
failed to make the grade. Chances are they never received
the basics in either elementary or high school. I know of a few
Morrow County honor students who graduated with the class
of "74. w ho have gone on to college and have since dropped out
because they could not maintain their grade standard.
v lam not interested in IQ averages or test performed on the
high school students and later compared on the national
level. These are but figures and not a true representation of
the students ability to perform the basics of the three "R'".
Many students with high IQs are far below average in
spelling, composition and reading retention.
To the doubting Thomases of the community, I would like
to make the follow ing offer. I will pay any high school student
$1 per minute for 25 minutes of his time if he will do the
following Come into this office Friday, June 13 and write a
100 word composition. I will offer three subjects on current
and local events The student may take his choice of the
subject matter. He will then be allowed 10 minutes to gather
his thoughts and given another 15 minutes to write the
composition. The $25 will be paid to the student who writes a
perfect composition, free of spelling mistakes and properly
punctuated. I will enlist the services of a high school teacher
to help correct the papers. No compositions will be published
in this newspaper, only the name of the winner. This offer is
not meant to solve any of the problems in our present school
system, however, it should prove interesting.
Interested students are asked to contact this office,
676-9228. prior to Wednesday, June II, so proper
arrangements can be made. g
After the War of the Almonds, the Land of Kulumar was
the richest and most powerful of all. Its fields were bountiful
and its granaries full. Its flocks were fat and sleek. The
Kulumese were proud and productive. They worked and
rejoiced in the highest standard of living known. Sire, the
Generous, surveyed all this plenty and said: "Surely a
country as rich as Kulumar should provide food and housing
and garments for our less fortunate. I will ask the lawmakers
to levy a tax on the workers to provide this."
And the lawmakers, each of whom hoped one day to
become Sire, levied the taxes. They then said: "Let there
also be free circuses for those who do not work. And let there
by soft hassocks and free food and wines for those who watch
the circuses." (And Greenways for those who don't.) And the
lawmakers levied more taxes.
When the workers of Kulumar heard of the free circuses,
the soft hassocks, and the food and wines, and then figured
their now monstrous taxes, they said:'That is for us." The
farmers left the fields. The shepherds abandoned their
flocks The weavers laid down their shuttles. The
blacksmiths cooled their forges.
All the Kulumese were watching the free circuses. Plenty
turned to scarcity. No longer was there abundant food.
Garments were hard to come by. The Kulumese did not even
have camel chips to heat their tents. Prices rose and rose.
And the lawmakers raised taxes again and again. (It was the
only thing they knew how to do. I
Misery and gloom replaced Joy and pride. And Sire, the
Generous, went to the Wise Man of the Mountain and said:
"Wise One. I have tried to give the good life to my people. But
they no longer want to work. Food and goods are scarce.
Prices are outrageous Taxes are even more so. Please; give
me a solution "
And the Wise Man of the Mountain replied in Kulumese:
Tanstaafl " . . . which means: "There Ain't No Such Thing
As A Free Lunch." ....
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THE GAZETTE-TIMES
Molt ROW Mil NTY'8 NEWSPAPER
Box 337. Heppner. Ore. t783
Subscript ion rale: $6 per year in
Oregon . $7 elsewhere
Ernest V. Joiner, Publisher
Published every Thursday and entered it
uTonriclats matter al the post office at
11,-ppiHT. Oregon, und r the act of March J, 1479.
Set-nnd-rlass postage aid at Heppner, Oregon.
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"Wait Here. I'll Run Get Jane Fonda Or Somebody
To Explain Why This Really Isn't Happening."
The mail pouch
EDITOR:
This is in response to Leann Rea's letter over the telephone
problems they have been having.
We can sympathize completely w ith them as we are under
the Eastern Oregon Telephone Company's service, too.
which we have struggled with for Vj years, both with house
and car (mobile) phones.
In a situation like the Rea's. we cannot see why the K O
Telephone Co. won't give up that one area to Pacific
Northwest Bell Telephone Company, since it is so much
closer, and let Bell service them since they are willing and
capable. This looks like the reasonable thing to do rather
than make a party go through H to be able to
communicate with someone else.
It seems that since the E O. Telephone Co. cannot provide
the proper service, (and they've had lots of time and practice
to improve!, that the Rea's could automatically be granted
serv ice from the next nearest source.
In our business when we cannot provide proper service to a
customer we can lose our right to serve that customer. In
other words we got our common carrier hauling authority by
going to court, but this by no means gives us a franchise or
monopoly over a certain area. There are many companies in
this area but if we do not provide serv ice for someone, they
can merely call another carrier.
Both Eastern Oregon Telephone Co and Pacific Northwest
Bell Telephone Co. and we as common carriers are guided by
the Public Utility Commission on rules and regulations and
we feel the P.U.C. should be able to step in and make a
decision which would allow Northwest Bell to service the
Rea's. since they are on this fringed border between the two
companies, under this type of circumstances.
LELAND & GRACE McKINNEY
McKinney Bros Inc.
Boadman
EDITOR:
Just got another issue of the paper. I have read the
Heppner paper since 1918. It has changed hands several
times. Some weren't the best, but they were good, honest
citizens. We liked them. I don't know about you. You run
down the people and the community. 1 have ignored most of
it.
My wife has taught two generations here She is a
dedicated teacher who is proud of her students and the
friends she has made. As for education, I don't know where
you received yours. When they passed out brains, you must ,
have been behind the door.
If you don't like this community, why don't you sell out
cheap, and leave us uneducated people? If you want to be
part of the community, why don't you find out the facts, and
present them honestly?
Book published about
Church of Scientology
(Editor's note): The following article is to explain the Church
of Scientology. A member of this group took issue with
statement in one of Lester Kinsolvings stories. This gives
equal space for their reply to Kinsolving.
LOS ANGELES Officials of the Church of Scientology
h.i ve announced that a recently published book "Scientology:
A World Religion Emerges in the Space Age" is now being
made widely available on the public market. The book
contains factual information and documentation about
Scientology, its background, religious practice, fiscal
policies, judicial recognition, and social reform activities.
Scientology was founded by L. Ron Hubbard, whoa first -book
on the subject, "Dianetics: A Modern Science of Mental
Health'' remained on the best-seller list for 43 weeks.
Scientology, a religious philosophy, succeeded Dianetics in
l2 after further research by Mr. Hubbard into the spiritual
nature of man. The Church now has a world-wide
membership numbering in the millions.
The Church of Scientology has been active in many areas of
mh' i.i I reform, such as care of the aged, mental health, tax
reform and drug abuse rehabilitation. This fully documented
hook, "Scientology: A World Religion Emerges in the Space
Age", gives its readers a clear picture of how the application
of Scientology technology is rapidly becoming an
indispeasable tool in today's society.
Famous jazz musician. Chick Corea, stated in a recent
interview, "Scientology is an applied philosophy that's
clearly put and the main thing about it is, it's very workable.
What it 's intended to do is to come to a better understanding
of oneself in relation to oneself, others, to his environment
and to the world , . . The idea is to increase a person's
self -determinism and ability to know himself." The
technology is applicable not only to individuals, but to groups
and nations who are seeking to change conditions for the
better.
"Scientology: A World Religion Emerges in the Space
Age" is available from all of the 100 Scientology churches
and missions in the United States.
Courthouse notes
HAROLD ERWIN
EDITOR:
Occasionally an inaccurate report slips into a newspaper.
Very rare is the publication of a book review that doesn't give
the title of the book being reviewed. This happened two weeks
ago in this paper.
I turned in a review of Martha Martin's diary type story of
the winter she spent alone in the Alaskan wilderness. Madge
Thomson gave an excellent review of the book for the
Bookworms.
I stupidly omitted giving the book's title, "O Rugged Land
of Gold". This book has been chec ked out of the Heppner
Library since its review, but should be available again soon,
JUSTINE WEATHEKFORD
tne SOVEREIGN STATE of AFFAIRS
The county Board of Equali
zation has been kept busy
longer than it expected hear
ing appeals on appraisals.
Judge Paul Jones said, " A
few corrections were made
where obvious mistakes
occurred or in cases which
involved unusual circumst
ances." The judge ilso said that
anyone who had filed an
appeal by May 19 will be heard
by the board. "And, all
taxpayers have the right to
appear before the Board of
Equalization if they so re
quest." He announced that the
county court has had to
increase insurance on all
county buildings to bring the
protection In line with inflated
replacement costs.
The national medical mal
practice insurance has crept
into Morrow County's health
services. It has caused finan
cial difficulty at the hospital,
and In the County Health
Office. Acting Health Nurse
Pat Wright has been carefully
reappraising the services that
the health nurse can offer and
the relationship of the health
office program to the need for
high-cost malpractice insur
ance coverage.
The County Planning Office
has processed several out -of -city
building permits so far
this month. These Include a
permit to build a dwelling at
lone to Mark Murray; a
permit for an I x IS foot
structure on Route I, Heppner
to Mary Blettel, and a permit
for a potato storage ware
house and maintenance shop
at Boardman to Sim-Tag.
' Justice of Peace Charles
O'Connor is back at his desk
after eye surgery and re
covery. He says that being
housebound can get pretty
tiresome.
BOYD and Wood
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V ernes aho 60 ro th6
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DEAR MISTER EDITOR:
' The fellers at the country store Saturday night were talking
about the old ways of doing things, and I was surprised that a
heap of what they were saying made sense. Usual, they ain't
a grain of salt big enuff to take what you hear at one of our
sessions with.
Clem Webster was talking about a neighbor of his that
won't buy meat. It ain't that he don't like meat fer his family,
he does, but he prefers to raise his own. He was raising
rabbits fer fun and food long afee the price of meat went out
of sight, said Gem, and he has alius had chickens and a few
pigs around the place. He has kept cows as long as Clem has
known him.
When food to grow a rabbit starting costing more than the
selling price of a grown rabbit. Clem said he went out of the
rabbit business. The only way he says he can git his money
out of his cows Is to eat it out, so he does. Clem says he
learned to butcher and he built hisself a good size walk -in
cooler in his basement. One price squeeze led to another,
Clem allowed, until this neighbor don't have time to do all the
butchering that folks want him to do.
Actual, Clem reported, this feller and his family took the
best of the old days and added the best of the new days, They
got the advantage of deep freezers and plenty of hot water,
and they got enuff land to take care of their meat and a big
family garden. The feller's wife cans and freezes just about
everthing that grows to eat, Clem said, and she is already
organizing other wimmen out this way to hold what she calls
"co-op cannings" that give them a chanct to git together and
save on their food budgets in the bargain.
Ed Doolittle said he ain't one to harp about how good the
good old days was. Fer his money, Ed allowed, he wouldn't
trade indoor plumbing fer what some folks like to call the
simpler times, but he was strong in favor of doing what we
can to git around the idee that we got to sell a steer fer 16
cents a pound whole and buy it back in pieces at f I a pound.
Ed said he has listened to them Guvernment economists
argue w hether we can save more on food by eating less or by
buying more til he has decided our politicians and
department figgerheads need a little help with this problem.
Fer some reason Ed said he never has understood, folks think
that between movie stars, ball players and politicians we can
git the answer to everthing. We have got so use to asking
somebody we have forgot to ask ourselves, the only ones that
really know anything about our problems, was Ed's words.
Personal, Mister Editor, I was disagreed with Ed. I saw
this piece in the paper where the U.S. Department of
Agriculture has put out a 358 page book called "Shopper's
Guide" that is designed to help folks answer some of their
own questions
Yours truly,
MAYOR ROY.
C W
Understandable .
contempt of court
By LESTER KINSOLVING
In allowing himself to become the first Episcopal Presiding
Bishop in history to be cited for contempt of (ecclesiastical)
court, the Rt. Rev John Allin has demonstrated the general
breakdown of discipline in the 3 million member
denomination.
Bishop Allin defied a subpoena to testify at the trial of
Washington rector William Wend!, who was charged with
disobeying his bishop and allowing a woman deacon to
officiate as a priest in his parish.
Bishop Allin seemed at first to have played into the hands
of the denomination's militant fenale-ordmatKxmow at-any-cost
clique. But there is just a possibility that he decided
to give these canon outlaws a taste of their own medicine, as
well as providing the denomination with an object lesson in
the cost of chaos.
It would be hilarious Indeed if any of these nationally
publicized disobey ers of canon law now attempt to Indict
Bishop Allin for his contempt of a court which was several
tailswings beyond the decorum of the scopes monkey trial.
For example:
Over the repeated protests of the Church Advocate
(prosecuting attorney) the court allowed Ingenious defense
counsel William Stringfellow to turn this trial into a platform
to promote female prieslhood-lnitead of confining itself to
the actual charges: that Wendt disobeyed what is hardly an
ungodly admonition of his bishop.
If Wendt is found guilty by this court, any sentencing will
be up to this same bishop, William Creighton. who ( 1 ) refused
to take any disciplinary action regarding Wendt's defiance
until nudged Into action by II of his priests and (2) has
announced hia own Intention to defy canon law next year,
unless said law Is changed to allow ordination of lady priests.
One of the Judges of this court, the Rev. Canon Charles
Martin, when called upon for public prayer, prayed "for
those in bondage because of their sex." (Has "White
Slavery" broken out in Washington? Canon Martin declined
to identify anyone in sexual bondage.) -
This same judge Martin, while Wendt was on the witness
stand, announced that he could see "almost a halo around the
head" of this defendant-whose wife he called upon to stand
and be welcomed. (When asked if such procedure from the
bench would be tolerated In any civil court, the appointed
legal adviser, Edmund Campbell, refused to comment.)
Dally local press coverage of this event was also of note.
The Washington Star provided fair and balanced coverage.
The Washington Post opened its first "news story" by
comparing Wendt with Martin Luthej. (When asked why it '
was merely Martin and not Jesus Christ, Wendt's defense ,'
counsel laughed and replied: "Give us one more day!"
; One thing of value emerged from this three-day, '
. pseud(Juridical farce. The prosecuting attorney Tillman I
Stirling was able to cross-examine two of the Movement's ;
biggest guns,
Formef Presiding Bishop John E.Hlnea and former Bishop
of Pennsylvania Robert DeWitt both quit their church posts .
before retirement age. Yet in the thirty years and the '
fourteen years, respectively, that they served as bishops '
before resigning, neither one of these prelates ever ordained :
any womcn-dcsplte ample opportunity.
"The spirit may have been moving, but I was not " -admitted
DeWitt. which sheepish confession convulsed even
the pro Wendt crowd.
In addition to this admission of what might be termed
chronological conscience, the two resigned prelates both
testified that an Episcopal bishop who uses the right words 1
and hand laying can make priest of a ten year old child. .
The Washington Cathedral s outspoken and liberal Dean '
Francis Sayre noted "'palpable contradiction in these '.
defendants citing the Holy Spirit as justification for their
actions-while at the ssme time arraigning the Presiding
Bishop for a breach of law and order."
' Added Sayre : "They remind me of a group of young boys
pretending to be Chief Justice."