BESS I E WETZELl
U OF ORE
N E.'v; SPAPER LIB
EUGENE OR 97403
L.
Library, pool, streets-
Citv budget cuts underway
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Bob McEwen, Brave left fielder slid in time but failed to reach the plate and Giant pitcher, B. Way
put the tag on him. Giants came from behind for a 13-12 victory. See lesson in scorekeeping on
page 6.
Lightening hits power,
bnn
Lightning strikes on the hill
above the Willow Creek Coun
try Club at Heppner blew
three fuses Monday night, re
sulting in temporary power
losses at Ruggs, Eight Mile
and Hardman and interrup
tion of television signal in
Heppner, according to Dave
Harrison, manager of Colum
bia Basin Electric Coopera
tive. Harrison said power to
Ruggs, Eight Mile and Hard-
Heppner Girls'
State reps named
Two Heppner girls have
been named delegates to
Girls' State.
The delegates named from
Heppner are Dee Hedman,
daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
Arnie Hedman, and Kathy
Wolff, daughter of Dr. Wallace
Wolff.
Dee Hedman
Alternate for the two dele
gates is Sally Sumner, daugh
ter of Rita Sumner and State
Rep. Jack Sumner.
Sally Sumner will attend
Girls' State in place of dele
gate! Kathy Wolff, it was,
learned this week.
The delegates from Heppner
are sponsored to Girls' State
by the Heppner American Le
gion Auxiliary, Post 87, and
.WH-: imi.i) pi .IPH l . .JUJJUM" UHWUiiujU! I
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Sally Sumner
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needed
ram
man was off about an hour and
one-half. Lightning caught two
transformer fuses in the
system which feeds the station
for the three areas.
A third fuse was blown
nearby in the service for the
television antenna at Hep
pner, Harrison said.
On Tuesday morning, Hep
pner experienced some flick
ering of lights and lines were
being checked for damage,
perhaps related to a fallen
tree or other causes.
financed by the Legion Aux
iliary and the Soroptirnists.
WWWWWppM" i lawKi mrw
Kathy Wolff
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"We are grateful for the
lightning," Harrison com
mented. With the lightning
came various amounts of
much needed rain.
Cloudy skies and scattered
light rain began to occur in
Morrow County last Saturday
with increasing cloudiness
developing into the first of this
week. Late Monday heavy
storm clouds built up in
southern Morrow County.
WEATHER
High Low Precip,
Wed.,
Apr. 27 7 2 35
Thurs.,
Apr. 28 77 39
Fri.,
Apr. 29 72 48
Sat.,
Apr. 30 69 43
Sun.,
Mayl 68 52 .06
Mon.,
May 2 65 49 .14
Tues.,
May 3 58 40 .49
April closed with an all-time
record low precipitation of .07
hundredths of an inch. Normal
for April is 1.33 hundredths.
Lowest April of record was .09
hundredths in 1956. May
opened with a total of .69
hundredths in the first three
days.
Bands rate
high at
LaGrande
Heppner High School and
Junior High School bands
received I minus ratings last
week at the Large Group
Contest in La Grande. Only
Pendleton and La Grande
bands received a higher
rating.
Future concerts planned for
the Heppner area are an
outdoor picnic and concert in
the city park by the high
school music department and
the junior high. Sixth and fifth
grade music groups will have
their end of the year concert
on June 2 at the grade school
gym.
The Heppner city budget
committee in session Thurs
day, April 28, elected to cut the
city budget down to the six per
cent limitation for approval by
the City Council, but closed
about $16,000 short of the
mark.
In all, the committee trim
med $29,539 from the budget
proposal which city voters
have defeated twice.
The following cuts were
recommended by the budget
committee: From the swim
THE
GAZE
VOL. 94, NO. 18
School budget gets ax;
back to voters May 24
The Morrow County School
District Board and Budget
Committee meeting in Lex
ington Monday night, May 2,
cut $127,917 from the proposed
budget for the coming year
and elected to return the
reduced budget figure to
voters on Tuesday, May 24.
The budget proposal, de
feated by voters the first time
out on April 19, was $1,711,803
outside the six per cent limita
Morgan Street request stalled;
variance power change made
By Tom Franks
The Heppner City Council in
session Monday night, May 2,
delayed action on a request by
Larry Prock of lone to "va
cate" a portion of Morgan
Street north of the railroad
tracks and south of Highway
74. The matter was first
brought before the city six
months ago.
Prock seeks to straighten
the street almost in the same
location that it now holds on
property held between his own
and that belonging to Morrow
County Grain Growers.
The street is now plated
diagonally across Prock's
property, but is not built in the
location shown on the city
map.
Prock has requested that
the change be made so that he
can develop business enter
prises at the location.
The hold-up last night came
when City Attorney Robert
Abrams advised the council
that the current request had
not been published four times
in the newspaper. Thorne
Street was vacated earlier this
year without a similar pro
cedure. Prock's request includes full
city access to the road as well
Olds to face
Oregon charges
Extradition agents of Uma
tilla County were scheduled to
depart Wednesday a return
Michael Olds," 35, to Oregon
where he faces murder and
kidnapping charges.
The Umatilla County Dis
trict Attorney's office said
Tuesday that Pennsylvania
ming pool $3,650; from reve
nue sharing for ordinance
codification $2,800; all the
proposed walkway on Gilmore
Street $2,000; all for paving oil
$1,000; all for asphalt $1,000;
all fire truck reserve, $1,000;
all library books, $500; all
library $5,169; water utility
improvements $1,000; all
street department paving
$6,000; police department
parking meter maintenance
$600, down sanitary $320;
vacation and sick leave (park
1
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HEPPNER, OREGON
tion. The new figure is
$1,583,886 outside the limita
tion; but according to school
officials will result in a tax
rate 10 cents per thousand less
than the present year's bud
, get.
i The budget cuts of $127,917
nvere made on recommenda
tions of both the board and the
budget committee, aided by
patrons of the district and
members of local advisory
as maintenance of the road.
Fire Chief Forrie Burkenbine,
along with
objections
Burkenbine
cern about
hydrant if
Ed Dick, raised
to the change,
expressed con
reaching a fire
the street were
changed.
The nearest visible fire
hydrant is in the middle of a
field a block west of the
portion of street in question
and on the opposite side of the
railroad tracks.
Mayor Jerry Sweeney noted
that Thorne Street action
would be invalid under the city
attorney's ruling on the Mor
gan Street request.
Prock told the Gazette
Times that he wants to comply
with whatever process is re
quired and meet any valid
objections with an open mind.
The problem, Prock indicated,
is that the rules seem to keep
changing.
Prock is not the first to go
through laborious proceedings
in dealings with the city. For a
variety of reasons, other ap
plications and business have
met with a slow sailing.
The new franchise with
Columbia Basin Electric Co
op was six months in the
completion and before agree
authorities have consented to
release Olds.
Olds is charged with the
murder of a cab driver in
Umatilla County, the kidnap
ping of Mary Lindsay of lone
in Morrow County, and the
murder of Mrs. Lindsay in
Malheur County.
help) $1,000; park mainten
ance $1,000; legal service
$1,000; all engineer service,
$1,500.
The meeting was adjourned
with a motion to meet again on
May 12 at 7:30 p.m. in City
Hall to consider more cuts
following a new review of
current fund balances. .
The only thread of hope for
the committee consisted in a
report from Marshall Lov
gren, city budget officer, that
a posting error may have
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1 IlL
THURSDAY, MAY 5, 1977
committee members in dis
trict attendance areas.
The cuts included $56,574
from proposed capital outlay
and from transportation.
Comprehensive insurance on
school buses and other ve
hicles was reduced $3,208.
Another $15,709 was lifted
from the amount to be bud
geted from uncollected taxes.
Savings in the current
budget in the amount of
ment was reached on legal
points, the old franchise ex
pired. The dental clinic request,
hospital variance and at least
one application for a variance
for a trailer house have been
among protracted proceed
ings before the City Council in
recent months.
At least one item was
cleared up Monday night in
the passage of Ordinance 406
which will keep applicants for
conditional use permits from
bouncing back and forth be
tween the planning commis
sion and the City Council.
The request is now expected
to go through four publications
in keeping with Oregon law,
since there is no specific city
statute to allow the change
already "approved" on
G-T
Terry M. Hager, 28, of
Dayton, Wash., this week
assumed the post of general
manager and business man
ager of the Gazette-Times in
Heppner, according to G.M.
Reed, publisher, of Hermis
ton. Reed said that Hager will be
responsible for the overall
management of the Gazette
Times as well as advertising
sales and promotion.
A native of Milton-Free-water,
Hager comes to Hep
pner from advertising sales
with the Dayton Chronicle.
Prior to working for the
Chronicle, Hager spent about
six years in the restaurant and
tavern business in both Ore
gon and Idaho.
He worked previously for
the Valley Herald in Milton-
made an $11,000 difference in
the street department be
ginning fund balance.
Little hope is held that the
posting error would turn up
any money, since the posting
error most likely will have the
same result as transferring
$11,000 from one back pocket
to another.
Councilman Hubert Wilson
commented that there was
"no fat in the budget to begin
with." Both Wilson and Coun
cilman Cliff Green said their
HEPFMEU
-TIMES
12 PAGES
$52,426 will be applied to the
budget as revenue to complete
the $127,917 reduction, it was
reported.
According to the district
officials, the $127,917 reduc
tion in the tax request is
estimated to result in a tax
rate which will be approxi
mately $8.72 per thousand.
The present year tax rate is
$8.82 per thousand.
Thorne Street and the request
still pending on Morgan
Street. The council will con
sider the request again at a
meeting in June.
In other action, the council:
.Approved payment of bills
amounting to $1,585.14.
.Held a public hearing on
Ordinance No. 406 and passed
the power to grant variance on
conditional use permits from
the council back to the City
Planning Commission.
.Held a public hearing and
approved a zone map change
by Norman Patterson from
Residential to Zone N, allow
ing establishment of a shop for
logging equipment north of
Morgan Street.
.Held a public hearing
amending city zoning. The ac
tion deleted a requirement
staff changes
Freewater and the Hermiston
Herald in Hermiston.
TERRY HAGER
He is the son of Mr. and Mrs.
Ben Hager. They operate the
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opinion was to cut the budget
back within the six per cent
limitation. Councilman Larry
Mills said he was hesitant
about going back, but added
that he didn't "...see any
reason to go back the third
time." Mills had reference to
the two defeats of the pro
posed budget.
Following the May 12 meet
ing, the City Council will
receive the reduced budget
proposal for consideration.
IS c
Polling places for the May
24 election will be the Heppner
Elementary School, the dis
trict office at Lexington, lone
High School, A.C. Houghton
Elementary School, Riverside
High School and Hardman
Community Hall. The polls
will be open from 8 a.m. until 8
p.m.
Legal notice of the election
appears in this issue of the
Gazette-Times.
that a building must be set
back from lot lines on all sides
a distance equal to its height.
Prior to adjournment, May
or Jerry Sweeney noted that
residential property has been
subject to an increased valua
tion of nine per cent while
commercial property valua
tion is up 22 per cent in
Heppner.
With improvements in the
north end of Morrow County, it
is possible that the millage
might increase to the point
that people would have to pay
no more and possibly even less
tax, Sweeney said. "There is
no way of knowing until all
budgets are in and all valu
ations made," Sweeney ad
ded. B & B Restaurant in Milton
Freewater. Hager replaces Wil Phinney
as advertising manager. Phin
ney will move to the Her
miston area where he will
continue with the Reed pub
lications, continuing an as
sociation of seven years.
Another new addition to the
Gazette-Times' staff is Mrs.
Gearl Seal of Heppner. She
takes up duties this week in
advertising composition and
circulation.
Georgia and her husband
are natives of Baker. They
moved to Heppner about four
years ago. They have two
children, Andy and Audra.
Gearl works for Kinzua.
Georgia replaces Sharlene
Arends, of Heppner, who plans
to devote full time to her
home.
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