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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 1977)
TWO The Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon, Thursday, December, 1, 1977 Telephone tree passes the word Sifting through the TIMESjl 3 After he looked out his window at about 2:30 a.m. Tuesday, Jerry Daggett picked up the phone to make a call the first of many to come that morning. When the dial ing was over, some four hours later, families of Heppner Elementary students were informed of a school closure and kids were scheming for their first snow day in recent years. Heppner Elementary relies on what Principal Don Cole calls a "telephone tree" to spread the word of emergency closures. Despite the lack of "instant" media coverage in the area, and the many connections needed to com plete the tree, Cole said 90 per cent of the families were 1 . t, aware of the shut down well before the usual time to pack the students off to school. Not one youngster showed up at the school Tuesday, Cole said. "Usually there are a couple that don't get the message but this time every thing was covered quite well." Cole credits much of the success of this year's tree to Jean Ann Turner, who serves as head room mother and did most of the organizing of the network. Each of the room mothers has a list of five or six numbers to call and the system continues from there. "Everyone is hopefully con tacted if they have a phone," Cole said. In order for the operation to run smoothly, the mothers are asked to refrain from personal calls for the 30-minute time period when their chain call might be expected. But before the room mo Public officials Following is a list of Oregon and Eastern Oregon public officials for the information of readers who want to communicate with them : U.S. Sen. Mark 0. Hatfield, Russell Senate Office Bldg., Washington, D.C. 20510. Member of Appropriations Committee, Interior Committee, Rules Committee and Indian Policy Review Commission. Portland office, Pioneer Courthouse, R. 107, 520 SW Morrison, Portland, Ore. 97204, phone 221-3386. U.S. Sen. Bob Packwood, Dirksen Senate Office Bldg., Washington, D.C, 20510. Member of Finance Committee and Commerce Committee. Portland office, 1002 NE Holladay, Rm. 700, (P.O. Box 3621), Portland, Ore. 97208, phone 233)4471. U.S. Rep Al Ullman, of the Second District, House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515. Member of Ways and Means Committee. Salem office, 150 N. Church, Rm. 219 (P.O. Box 247), Salem Ore. 97301, phone 399-5724. Gov. Robert Straub, State Capitol, Salem, Ore. 97310, phone 378-3100. State Sen. Ken Jernstedt (Morrow, Gilliam and other counties), 311 Pine St., Hood River, 386-1393. State Rep. Jack Sumner (Morrow, Gilliam and toher counties), Route 1, Heppner, 676-5364. THE GAZETTE TIMES Published every Thursday and entered as second-class matter at the Post Office at Heppner, Oregon, under the Act of March 3, 1879. Second-class postage paid at Heppner, Oregon. The Official Newspaper of the City of Heppner and the County of Morrow G.M. Reed, Publisher Dolores Reed, Co-publisher Terry M. Hager, Managing Editor Jim Summers, News Editor Eileen Saling, Office Manager Elane Blanchet, Reporter Gayle Rush, Composing Chloe Pearson, Composing Justine Weatherford Local Columnist thers ever get into the act, a lot goes on behind the scenes. Daggett, the school district transportation director, placed his first calls to the County Road Department and State Highway officials to check on road conditions. After he was assured that the white stuff was doing its best to foul up travel attempts, Daggett placed a 5 a.m. call to Heppner High School Princi pal Jim Bier. Next came a call from Bier to District Supt. Matt Doherty and on the basis of all the weather information gathered to that point, the closure decision was made. Bier then notified Cole and the telephone tree commenced to blossom. "It's important to get the word out before the drivers start to take off on their runs," said Cole, who makes "five or six calls to key staff people" to get the ball rolling. Although the high school doesn't use the same system Bier said the school utilizes radio announcements and some to staff members in steadthe elementary phone chain plays a sizeable role in closure notification for the Heppner area. "The fact that Don uses the system helps us out a lot. Word travels really well among the parents," said Bier, adding that drivers of high school bus routes are told simply not to make their run if conditions look hazardous. The only problem with the phone chain is that it has to be revamped each year as the school's student body chan ges. "We draw one up every year after the enrollment settles down," Cole said. Last year the school was fortunate enough not to have to use the telephone tree, but this year it has already paid off and it's not even winter yet. Parents Editor, The editorial section of our paper is a valuable tool to raise to the public eye issues of our community. Today, we the below, wish to use this means to give our thanks for the response of principal Don Cole. Several weeks ago, many of the parents of kindergarten children went to, his office to express our concern with the large number of small children of varied abilities that Mary Bennedict was dealing with each day. He had already Ramjet regretfully relinquishes reign Editor: In a group of more than two people there are always those who take pride in doing things a little differently. We have such a person in town. This person takes pride in running up various flights of stairs, which in itself is not so strange, but this person does it in foggy conditions which adds a little spice to the game. As he limps about town he is setting plans for a refresher course in stair climbing. High lights of the course will include anti-fogging procedures, looking where he is going, and being sure the foot is higher than the next step. As the current holder of "The Heppner Fleet of Foot and Graceful Coordination Award", it is with great regret that I give up the honor. But when a worthy recipient appears and leaves no doubt about his qualifications for the award there is nothing else I can do but present him with the honored position. Therefore "Hop-along" Terry Lightfoot is now the holder of the title long live the Champ! With regrets, Robb Ramjet School Board action Lex students face assignment Lexington area students, who in the past have been given a free hand in choosing whether to attend school in Heppner or lone, will lose that discretion as a result of attendance recommendations adopted by the Morrow Coun ty District School Board last week. District Supt. Matt Doherty said the Board action means students in the Pine City and Lexington areas will be as signed to specific schools on the basis of space available. By following a system of Buschke named. . . ...Continued from page one else, Mrs. Buschke said. That "someone else" is Joan Hughes, who worked in Her man Winters law office for 11 years and started a part-time job with the ASCS office last May. Diana Ball, part-time pro gram assistant, and Everett Kiethly, a Federal Crop Insur ance employee and part-time ASCS field man, round out the present ASCS staff, though a full-time . field man is expected to be hired in the near future because of new federal farm legislation. Mrs. Buschke has lived in Heppner since she was 12 years old, the daughter of 7 Letters to the Editor appreciate principal's efforts personal preference, the dis trict has fallen into an imbalanced situation, Doherty said, citing the example of near capacity enrollment at Heppner Elementary while lone Elementary has a great er amount of student space available. The recommendation adop ted by the Board does not represent a new policy but it will result in stricter enforce ment of the existing policy. According to Doherty, when the five school districts conso lidated, students in the Cecil former residents Mr. and Mrs. Joe Wright. She graduated from Heppner High School in 1956, the same year she first went to work for ASCS. She is married toDelmer Buschke, a Kinzua employee, and they have three sons, Kyle, 20, Mike, 19, and Scott, 9. Recent word from Dave McLeod indicates he is enjoy ing his new job in the state office, Mrs. Buschke said. "We sure miss him a lot." From her new position as County Executive Director, Judy Buschke reminds all farmers that the ballots for members of the ASCS County Committee must be returned by Dec. 5. ifi 11 f 'U t I ' t - ' J; , u ' m ;i recognized the difficulty and through his work and ability corrected the problem by the use of teacher aides to assist the kindergarten teacher. A problem we felt needed to be dealt with, he handled very effectively and quickly. It is good to know that in emergency situations, problems can be solved without resorting to drastic means. We wanted to thank him publicly for his dedication to the education of our children and the well-being of teachers in his administration. signed Some of the thankful kindergarten parents Steve & Vicki Tollefson Steve & Nancy Brownfield Steve & Kathy Peck High-Low Prec. 15 Tue 56-40 .13 16 Wed 45-35 17 Thu 41-30 18 Fri 34-24 .32 5'b" Snow 19 Sat 26-12 .02 20 Sun 20-1 21 Mon 18-2 .01 Snow 22 Tue 24-14 .68 g- Snow 23 Wed 40-15 .06 24 Thu 47-24 .33 25 Fri 62-35 .25 26 Sat 58-42 27 Sun 57-37 .20 28 Mon 52-37 .01 29 Tue 56-39 w E A T H E R district automatically trans ferred to lone schools, stu dents in the Hardman district automatically went to Hepp ner schools, and although students in the Lexington and Pine City districts were as signed to specific schools, the decision in those two areas was left open to personal preference. "In the past, the free choice has basically been a matter of . custom rather than policy," Doherty said. "But with the current overload, the district has to begin assigning stu dents to certain schools to make the best possible use of available space in the facili ties." The Board also adopted a recommendation to use the Old Nelson Road serving the Lindsay ranch in the Sand Hollow area as a north-south student attendance boundary line. All students living north of the road would attend Riverside and A.C. Houghton schools while all students living south of the boundary would attend the Heppner or lone schools. In a related action, Board Chairman Pauline Winter was asked to appoint a committee to review the present repre sentation alignment on the School Board. Currently, the Board includes three mem v '"lit, HaW ? Bll HUM tM bers from the Heppner atten dance area and one member each from the Lexington, lone, Irrigon and Boardman attendance areas. The com mittee of lay people is expected to report its findings back to the Board in about three months and if a change . appears to be warranted, the ) issue will go to a public vote. Following a report from the teacherage committee, the Board moved to sell four of the six housing units maintained by the district for its person nel. When the district ac quired the teacherages in 1966 two houses in lone, a duplex in Irrigon and a duplex in Boardman an accompany ing resolution stated that the district did not intend to place itself in the housing business. The properties were obtained as inducements to new teach ers at a time when housing in those areas was difficult to find. Now that the housing short age in Irrigon and Boardman appears to be over, the Board adopted the committee's re commendation to put the duplexes up for sale. Doherty said the units would be offered by bid or auction at the end of the current school year. He added that the two houses in lone would be retained until the housing situation in that city improves. The sale by auction of 22 Bureau of Land Management tracts in north Morrow County was front page news this week in 1967 The sale, held in Greenfield Grange Hall m Boardman, was attended by a crowd of 500 persons. A total of 9,774.74 acres were sold for $431,900, an average of $48.49 per acre. Oscar and Gerald Peterson were the only Morrow County buyers, acquiring Tract 10, 640 acres six miles southeast of Boardman, for $40,200 or $62.81 per acre. A home fallout pretection survey was officially kicked off by Gov. Tom McCall and was scheduled to get underway in Morrow County, Ted Smith, Civil Defense director, announced ten years ago. McCall estimated that only about 60 per cent of the population of Oregon could be adequately sheltered from radioactive fallout in case of a nuclear attack. The survey was to be used to determine the amount of protection each individual house provided. The first snow of the year was reported this week in 1967. A cold spell with a low of 17 degrees followed the Thanksgiving holiday, accompanied by one inch of snowfall and icy roads. Photographs of 22 mysterious local Santa Clauses were featured in the Gazette Times this week in 1957. Readers were invited to participate in a "Name the Santas" contest as part of a Christmas shopping promotion sponsored by 22 local stores, each served by its own Santa Claus. An emotional editorial printed 30 years ago in the Times was later proved prophetic by historical events: "In the race against time to save western Europe from the perils of communism it is possible that insufficient attention is being given to one of the most fertile fields for the spread of this menace to democracy and freedom. That field is China, where the spread of communism has been rapid in recent years and where conditions are still such as to lend encouragement to further envelopment of the Chinese people unless drastic measures are taken to combat the insidious propaganda fostered by the Kremlin." With an extremely light voter turnout, five schools including Heppner, Liberty, Willow Creek, Golden West and Clark's Canyon, voted to consolidate with school District 1 in 1947. Only 48 ballots were cast in all, 37 for the consolidation and 11 against. A sample of grocery specials advertised this week in 1937 is enough to make today's shoppers groan with envy: Coffee, 3 lbs., 50c; peanut butter, 2 lbs., 29c, sugar, extra fine, 100 lbs., $5.69; bacon, 33c a lb.; beans, red or small white, 10 lbs. 49c; and fancy chocolates, 2 lb. box, 59c. Fifty years ago this week, the Gazette Times reprinted an editorial from the Canyon City Blue Mountain Eagle, advocating farm investment over the "tinsel of town": "There will be no better time to buy or own a farm than right now. There is a move due to bring people back to the rural localities. The competitive life of the city center is less alluring than a few years back and wages are bound to shrink with expenses remaining stationery or possible advancing. People perform in a circle and quit where they start. The tinsel of town loses its luster and in the end the freedom of the rural centers draws those who long to live along the path of least resistance or less struggle. And so, so far as investment is concerned, there is none better today than the farm. City property is not advancing in value, except in choice locations and there are few cities in the United States where there is any speculative motive in town lots. They have reached the end of it, except in cases where some particular thing has had a tendency to stimulate development." Obituaries Gladys Gladys Helen Prock, 62, Heppner, died Tuesday, Nov. 29, in Heppner. She was born May 17, 1915 in Heppner, the daughter of John and Ada Templeton Cason, and was a lifetime resident of the community. She was united in marriage to Faye Prock at Prosser, Wash., Oct. 14, 1935. Mrs. Prock was a member of All Saints Episcopal Church and the Degree of Honor Lodge. Graveside services will be held today, Thursday, Dec. 1, at Heppner Masonic Cemetery with Rev. Kenneth Miller of All Saints Episcopal Church officiating. Sweeney Mortuary is in charge of arrangements. Casket bearers are Claude Buschke, Cornett Green, Paul Heinrichs, Dale Baker, Bill Kenny and Bob Mahoney. Picture credit Chinook winds took away Morrow County's bountiful snowfall last Thursday night, but this 'fun-loving' group found enough piled in the middle of Heppner's Main Street to build a happy albeit skinny snowman that lasted for a few minutes. Prock Mrs. Prock is survived by the widower, Faye, Heppner; a daughter, Karen Cutsforth, Heppner; a son, Larry Prock, Pendleton ; two sisters, Vivian Elder, Heppner; and Patricia Scritsmeir, Portland; five grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews. RUBBER STAMPS CLASSIFIEDS WORK FOR YOU 676-9228 V
