BESSIE VfETZELL
U OF ORE
NEWSPAPER LIB
EUGENE OR 97403
' , -
- - -' '
personal reasons'
. .
1 W V ,.
?:'.ri:.
Rainy J?e
?urnuiL
fcacc at 1st I
Voters to
next
On Tuesday, May 17, Oregon
voters will take part in a
special election to consider
three constitutional amend
ments. The first is the
so-called school safety net
proposal and the two other
proposed amendments involve
veterans' service programs.
In Morrow County, as else
where in the state, voting will
be recorded by precinct. Hep
pner precincts 6, 7, 8 and 9 will
vote at the old Heppner
library building next to City
Hall.
According to Sadie Parrish,
Morrow County clerk, the
Crash kills
A one-vehicle accident four
miles north of Lexington
Thursday night, May 5, claim
ed the life of John Gesson
Martin, 26, of 14550 S.E. Vista
Lane, Milwaukie, Ore.
Martin was pronounced
dead at the scene shortly after
11 :05 p.m. The Martin vehicle,
a 1974 Dodge flatbed truck,
left Highway 207 after failing
to negotiate a curve 4.4 miles
north of Lexington.
State Trooper Vic Groshens
Public forum set
Residents of Morrow County will have an
opportunity to express their views to directors and
administrators of Blue Mountain Community College
Tuesday, May 17.
The public meeting, sponsored by the American
Association of University Women, will begin at 8 p.m.
in the West of Willow meeting room in Heppner.
Anne Doherty, spokeswoman for AAUW, said, "This
will be an input session for Morrow residents to help
direct policy of the college."
"For the past two years, South Morrow County has
voted down the college budget," she continued, "and
this meeting is being held so voters can express their
views and reasons for the vote."
School Board meets
The regular meeting of the Morrow County School
Board will be held May 16 in Boardman at Riverside
High School, beginning at 8 p.m.
The board will consider hiring classified employees
and will award contracts for all extra duty
assignments including coaching. Supt. Matt Doherty
said the board will also take action on whether or not to
require four years of English in high school.
Shane Fritz and Gordon Munk, Spanish teachers,
will report to the board on a trip the two took to Mexico
during spring vacation.
. ' -' :
if
j& puddly
isfd&y .-:
Tuesday
other polling places in the
county are as follows:
In Boardman at the Green
field Grange building; in Irri
gon at the Morrow County
office building; in lone at lone
City Hall; in Lexington at
Lexington City Hall and in
Hardman at the Hardman
Community Hall.
A sample ballot showing the
proposed amendments exact
ly as they should appear on the
regular ballot can be found in
legal notices in this issue of
the Gazette-Times.
Statewide, there has been
little, if any, opposition hoted
said he observed the vehicle
upside down with its lights on
at 11:09. On checking the ve
hicle, Martin was found in
side. Groshens said no wit
nesses to the accident were
found and there were no un
usual road conditions. The
trooper was apparently the
first on the scene.
Authorities said that all
indications point to the fact
that Martin fell asleep at the
wheel of his vehicle.
'News
i A
polls
to the two proposed amend
ments which authorize addi
tional veterans' fund uses and
increase veterans' loan bond
ing authority. Both have been
reported as self-sustaining
measures and have no relation
to state taxes.
The school operating levy
measure has produced con
siderable debate. Basically,
the amendment would allow
school boards to authorize
continued operation after two
election defeats. The opera
tion in the next year would be
based on the levy of the past
year plus six per cent.
one
Martin was apparently kil
led outright by pipe on the
rear of the truck, which came
into the cab on impact.
The truck was registered to
Martin Cattle Company of
Heppner. Martin was living in
a trailer house between Hep
pner and Lexington.
Funeral services were held
at 1 p.m. Tuesday, May 10, at
St. John's Episcopal Church in
Milwaukie.
Briefs'
Health Van here
A risk screening program for the prevention of heart
and lung disease will be conducted in Heppner,
Condon, Spray and Fossil next week, notes Rev. Lloyd
Perrin, pastor of the area Seventh-day Adventist
churches, sponsors of the program.
A medical health van will be in each area, providing
free blood pressure checks, lung function tests, height
and weight evaluations as well as other tests.
Dates and times for the Van are: Spray, May 17
between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. ; Fossil, May 17 from 3 p.m.
to 6 p.m.; Condon, May 18 between 10 a.m. and 2:30
p.m.; Heppner, May 18, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. and May 19
from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Ione Baccalaureate
Baccalaureate worship services for 1977 Ione
graduates will be held Sunday, May 15, at 7:30 p.m. at
the United Church of Christ in Ione.
Sponsoring churches include the United Church of
Christ, St. William's Catholic Church and Valby
Lutheran Church.
Rev. John O'Brien of St. William's will give the
Baccalaureate address and special music will be
provided by the United Church of Christ choir.
A reception honoring the graduating seniors will be
held following the service. All members of the
community are invited to attend.
if jr,
By Tom Franks
County Judge Paul Jones
announced this week that he
intends to submit his resig
nation as county judge of
Morrow County to become ef
fective July 1, 1977, or as soon
thereafter as a successor may
be found.
Jones was expected to sub
mit his formal resignation to
the county court at press time,
Wednesday, May 11.
Jones told the Gazette
Times that he was resigning
for purely personal reasons.
"I leave the position of County
Judge with mixed emotions.
The last twelve and one-half
years in this position have
been extremely rewarding
and have emphasized my
feeling of confidence in the
people of our county," Jones
said in his formal statement of
resignation.
"In this period of time, I
have seen the county grow
from a strictly agricultural
economy to one with a wide
based economy not only of
agriculture, but of industrial
and commercial base. When
the P.G.E. plant is completed,
Morrow County will have a
VOL. 94, NO. 19
City finds
angelf for
By Tom Franks
There is good news and bad
news on the city budget scene
this week as the Heppner city
budget committee prepares to
go into session at 7:30 p.m.,
Thursday, May 12, at City
Hall.
The good news is that the
city has found $11,000 that
wasn't on the books. The bad
news is that they found $11,000
that wasn't on the books.
According to Mayor Jerry
Sweeney, the auditor for the
city has given a reasonable
explanation concerning the
"lost" $11,000. The amount on
hand is in certificates of
deposit.
Sweeney indicated that a
special meeting of the city
council will be called very
'"
valuation in excess of $5
million."
"This serves to emphasize
the fact that we are no longer
a small county, nor can we
operate much longer on a tax
base which has changed very
Judge
HEPPNER, OREGON
shortly after the budget com
mittee meets Thursday night.
It would seem that there is
very little for the budget
committee to do Thursday
night since they cut all but
about $16,000 from approxi
mately $45,000 over the six per
cent limitation at an earlier
meeting.
Those cuts include $3,650
from the swimming pool,
$2,800 from revenue sharing
for ordinance codification,
$2,000 for a proposed walkway
on Gilmore Street, $1,000 for
paving oil, $1,000 for fire truck
reserve, $1,000 for asphalt,
$5,169 for the library opera
tion, $500 for library books,
$1,000 for water utility im
provements, $6,000 for all
street department paving,
v -
N
AZETTE-TIMES
drought tax
Some Morrow County farm
ers have received a reduction
in assessed valuation on
dryland this year due to
drought conditions, according
to Everett Harshman, county
assessor.
The reduction involves dry
land grain land and the value
has gone down approximately
25 per cent, according to
Harshman.
Harshman said there has
been no notice of the reduc
tion, which is based on lower
grain prices.
Flood irrigated alfalfa
ground has gone up in as
sessed valuation due to the in
crease in the price of hay, he
said.
According to law, the as
sessor is required to send out
notices only to those who have
experienced an increase
amounting to $400 or five per
cent, whichever is greater.
Because of this law, many
little in the last 15 years. We
must have a new base and we
must provide new services.
"These two terms I have
served have been rewarding
to me. I have been enriched by
the experience, and if I have
' 1
Paul Jones
THURSDAY, MAY 12, 1977
elusive 11 -grand;
strained budget
$600 for parking meter main
tenance, $320 from sanitation,
$1,000 for park maintenance,
$1,000 for legal services, $1,000
for vacation and sick leave,
and $1,500 for engineering
service.
By making a cut of about
$6,000 in the item called, taxes
not to be collected, and adding
the $11,000 on hand, the cut
can be accomplished without
removal of a policeman from
the city force.
A source on the Morrow
County budget committee has
indicated that the county has
earmarked some funds for the
library, which serves a large
number of rural patrons, in
their otherwise tight budget.
The city library committee
is meeting this week to con
X CXI JLJLll a
farmers are unaware that
their values have decreased
considerably, Harshman said.
The decrease does not apply
to home sites where increases
have been recognized with
appropriate notice.
In general, the decrease on
dryland grain acres should
HHS musicians
to host concert
The concert will be informal
and several groups of the
music department are expect
ed to participate.
The band will be selling
cotton candy and popcorn.
Donations will be accepted
toward the band uniform fund.
In the event that the
weather is bad, the picnic and
concert will move indoors and
be held in the high school gym.
contributed anything to Mor
row County, then I have been
amply rewarded.
"However, the time has
come that I feel I must step
down as county judge," his
statement concluded.
Appointment of a successor
for Jones may have some
legal questions, but the cur
rent consensus and the opinion
of the district attorney in
dicates that the appointment
of a county judge will be in the
hands of Gov. Robert Straub,
based on the recommendation
of the Democratic Central
Committee.
Judge Jones is head of the
Democratic Central Commit
tee in Morrow County.
Judge Jones, 67, had pre
viously planned to retire this
year when his first wife was
alive. He has since remarried.
His resignation announce
ment followed on the heels of
budget committee sessions
which again resulted in a
county budget within the six
percent limitation. According
to Jones, this was accom-
10 PAGES
sider means of keeping the
library open despite the fi
nancial pinch. Every indica
tion is that such an operation
will depend for the most part
on volunteer help, despite the
county action and several
hundred dollars which remain
in the city budget for payment
of utility services to the
building.
The proposed city budget,
totaling approximately
$163,000, went to Heppner
voters twice. It was defeated
the first time by seven votes
and the second time by 20
votes.
Voters in southern Morrow
County in recent elections
voted down a requested in
crease by Blue Mountain
Community College (the issue
get
relief
'result in a cash reduction in
taxes. The final word will not
be in until late August or early
September when the State of
Oregon sets the mill rate.
In the meantime, the old
adage holds true "No news is
good news."
The Heppner High School
music department will pre
sent an outdoor band concert
and public picnic in city park
beginning at 1:30 p.m. Sun
day, May 15, according to Jim
Ackley.
The picnic, featuring barbe
qued hot dogs, will get under
way at 1:30 with the band
concert beginning at 2 p.m.
Cost will be $1.00 per plate.
"8 IT
iJLJLJLjj'
plished by accounting revenue
sharing funds to the general
fund in the amount of $46,000.
Jones ran on a pledge to
keep the county budget under
the six per cent limitation. In
recent years, that pledge has
put strain on the county
operation and Jones had been
considering going to the voters
next year with a proposal to
change the taxable base in line
with the growing valuation of
Morrow County.
Reports from the budget
committee indicate that both
Jones and Sheriff L.D. Fetsch
had requested salary increas
es for themselves, which were
not considered favorably by
the committee.
"No one on the county
payroll is getting rich," noted
one budget committee mem
ber. The county budget has been
put under additional strain by
the costs of transportation and
care of prisoners, a situation
experienced across the United
States following state and
federal guidelines on stan
dards for jail facilities which
resulted in the closure of
many rural jails.
15 c
was carried by Umatilla
County and by a margin in
northern Morrow County);
voted down the first round on
the school district budget
(which goes back for a vote
May 24 with $127,917 in ad
ditional cuts) ; and twice voted
down the Heppner budget
proposal.
Voters wifl apparently not
face the issue of a county
budget as that budget, at least
in committee, has been pared
within the six per cent limita
tion. The City of Heppner still has
the option to return to the
voters with another request.
The action doesn't appear
likely, since the consensus of
the majority of city officials is
that the voters have spoken. In
addition, there is the concern
of credibility with voters in the
matter of the lost, but found,
$11,000.
May rain
is above
normal
High Low Precip.
Wed.,
May 4 59 35 .16
Thurs.,
May 5 55 33 .01
Fri.,
May 6 54 30
Sat.,
May 7 56 33 .22
Sun.,
May 8 64 35
Mon.,
May 9 68 37
Tues.,
May 10 66 45 .53
Rainfall thus far in May
totals 1.61 hundredths of an
inch. Normal for May is 1.34
hundredths. In May of 1976,
the total for the month was
1.16.