Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 12, 1978)
' - .j I J ' " -f H .f n"i if If .: BESSIE WETZELL U OF ..ORE NEWSPAPER LIB EUGENE OR 07403 t iff: Virginia Grieb elected chairman, Fair Board considers rodeo posts , , 2 ! .n hi ' "1 WW 7 ) I Virginia Grieb of Lexington ws elected to a one year term as chairman of the Morrow County Fair Board at its meeting on Monday, Jan. 9. She succeeds Paul Hisler. Beginning her third year on the five-member Board, Mrs. Grieb said her interest in fairs stemmed from her childhoon on a farm near Walla Walla where her family raised and showed Angus cattle, and she participated in 4-H. She and her husband Gary also raise Angus cattle on their ranch near Lexington and show them at many fairs. TH VOL. 96 NO. 2 icliool committee members Morrow County School Dis trict Supt. Matt Doherty Monday presented budget committee members with a proposal of $3,538,459 a fi gure which represents a 15.4 per cent increase over the current school year budget. In his budget address to the committee, Doherty said the budget package presented was $472,241 higher than the 1977-78 budget but added that coupled with a reduction in available resources of the District, the additional amount to be raised by taxes would be $615,015. Based on a projected District value of $325,000,000, this would re quire an increase of $1.90 per thousand over the current tax rate of $7.58. Doherty said the budget proposal had been prepared by staff members, admini strators, advisory committee members as well as by members of the Board and central administrative staff. He pointed to several areas responsible for the increase, including: Increased staff to care for a growing student population, education of the handicapped and improvement of the educational programs offered. Salary increases as a result of adjustments to meet Br ! I if i li 0k I !J 1! , 'IE p ? Much of the Monday night meeting was given to discus sion of possible new members to be appointed to the Rodeo Committee, which will put on both the jackpot rodeo and the Friday night Morrow County show. The Board decided to reduce the Rodeo Committee from 11 to nine members, eliminating an assistant dance director position and shuffling duties in other directorships. In addi tion to a chairman and secretary, positions on the reorganized committee will include directors responsible Epj A 77TT7 THURSDAY, JANUARY budget proposal shows 15.4 negotiated agreements. Increased costs in Social Security and Retirement Be nefits. Increased purchased ser-. vices due to inflation and additional requirements for handicapped children. Increases in supplies due to added student population, inflation and shortages result ing from under budgeting last year. Increases in capital outlay Emergency telephone system gains approval The approval of the "911" emergency telephone system by the Heppner City Council last week means the system can now be installed in south Morrow County. Approval was given late last year by the City Councils of lone and Lexing ton, and by the County Court. Special lines will be instal led to the courthouse by Pacific Northwest Bell and the system should be operational on or before July 1. After that time, dialing 911 in an emergency will connect the V- x.. ; Hif i - ill .....III iil.U I IJH l , ,k . j . . f - jjpf L; - j Li j: j -r : ; ..... V. ; for prizes and promotion; parking, tickets and conses sions; dance; racing; grounds; livestock; and court. Members of the Rodeo Committee will include both old and new appointees, and the Fair Board expects to finalize and announce the committee appointments within the next two weeks. In other action, the Board voted to use Frank Beard of Outlook, ,Wash., as livestock contractor for the 1978 jackpot rodeo if a satisfactory con tract can be negotiated. Members agreed on two 12, 1978 HEPPNER, OREGON due to inflation, increased student numbers and the need to improve programs and maintain facilities. Approximately one quarter of the proposed budget $873,677" represents flexible items where the costs are not fixed and can therefore be adjusted by the committee as they see fit in their delibera tions. The remaining $2,644, 782 represents fixed cost items such as negotiated salaries caller with the sheriff's office where a special phone will be used to quickly contact the proper persons to handle the emergency. The total annual operating cost of the system in south Morrow County is projected at $1,610, plus $340 for installa tion. The cost is determined by the number of phones in volved, with each city paying for phones within its limits and the county covering the cost of rural phones. Heppner, with 725 or 51 per cent of the total in the area suggestions to improve the county fair rating and evalua tion system: 1) that credit be given for volunteer hours used and 2) the same rater be used for two consecutive fairs so that improvements can be noted. Jim Launer, who took over fairground caretaker duties . from Jack Wallace on Jan. 1, discussed with the Board maintenance and improve ment work that needed to be done on the grounds. Persons who need to use the fairground buildings should contact Launer at 676-5290. begin deliberations and fuel costs. Doherty said in order to reduce the budget to a 14 per cent increase over the current year, $42,971 would have to be cut; achieving a 13 percent increase would mean trim ming $73,633; and to reduce it to a 10 per cent increase, a total of $165,579 would have to be eliminated. Committee members were told that prior to the current year's budget deliberations, covered, will pay $821 opera ting costs plus $173 installa tion, lone will pay $195 for operation plus $41 installation, having 172 phones or 12.1 per lone Planning Commission seeking public comment The lone Planning Commis sion and City Council invites comments from residents on the lone Draft Comprehensive Plan at a public hearing to be held on Monday, Jan. 16, at 7:30 p.m. in the lone City Hall. lone is the only city in the county to propose to expand their urban growth boundary beyond the present city limits. Gene Rietmann, vice-chairman of the lone Planning Commission, explained: "This is because at this stage of the game, most of the built-up limits of the city have Bank of Eastern Oregon employes Judy Barber and Pam Mabe pick out their favorite paintings from the collection of Richland artist Robert Thomas on display at the bank through Jan. 20. The paintings may be purchased; for information ask any Bank of EO employee. 10 PAGES the District was boosted by a $248,000 beginning cash bal ance carried over from pre vious years. Most of that mount was used up last year to reduce the budget after it was defeated by county vo ters. This year, Doherty said, the District is expected to have a cash balance in the $50,000 range. "We went down to the bottom of the barrel to reduce cent of the total. Costs for Lexington with 110 phones or 7.7 per cent will come to $124 for annual operation plus $26 installation. been declared flood hazard plain, so most of the buildable land is under that cloud at this time." , Rietmann said that the Planning Commission decided to include land in their growth boundary above the present 11 foot flood hazard level so the city wouldn't be locked in by possible future restrictions. "We're hedging, not knowing the whims of the bureau crats," Rietmann comment ed. Agricultural land included in the expanded boundary may still be continued to be Applications open for lone Recorder Applications for the position of lone City Recorder are now being accepted by the City of lone, to be considered at a special meeting on Monday, Jan. 16, at 7 p.m. in the City Hall. Interested persons should contact Mayor Robert Drake on or before that date at S m SB W .- MAAi WVAhJ. 15c the budget last year and this year we had to borrow money to pay our bills," Doherty said. "So you can see we have an interest problem." The budget committee elec ted officers for the year and set dates for upcoming budget meetings. Jim Wishart was elected to serve as chairman, Pauline Winter as vice chair man and Alice Vance as secretary. The county will pick up the rest of the tab, paying $571 plus $101 installation, for 416 rural phones or 29.2 per cent of the total in the area. farmed after the growth plan is adopted until the landowner decides to convert the land to urban uses, subject to city, county and state regulations. After the public hearing on Monday, the draft plans will be revised, after review and comment, to be adopted as city policy-. Anyone who has questions or comments concerning the draft plan, sent to all lone residents, may contact Marie Hall, ECOAC, P.O. Box 339, Pendleton, OR 97801, or may call toll free 1-800-422-8112. 422-7222. Elizabeth Ernst of lone has held the recorder position for the past three years. She said her resignation, effective Feb. 1, was tendered because she didn't have enough time to give to the job. Mrs. Ernst is an employee at Morrow Coun ty Courthouse. hike, fx If i I J tV Aiil v ,J) ? - l ! Kevin McCabe goes high for a rebound as Cards Dennis Thompson, Robin LaRue and Dennis Stefani look on. lone tagged Ukiah twice over the weekend for the Cards first wins of the season. News Pole fire plunges area into darkness An insulator failure caused a poletop fire and pulled the power plug on south Morrow County for as much as three hours Monday afternoon. Columbia Basin Electric Co-op general manager Dave Harrison said the pole fire occurred in an area east of Lexington. The power outage put a temporary kink in the routines of residents in Heppner, Lexington, lone, Ruggs, Olix and Sand Hollow. Harrison said the fire was touched off by Monday's heavy rains which soaked through a bad insulator. The power was grounded and in the process, the fire spread to an arrestor on an adjoining span that serves Lexington, causing additional outage time. The lines went dead at 2:22p.m. and CBEC was about to begin sectionalizing tests to determine the location when CBEC member Jim Bloodsworth called in to report a fire flash east of Lexington. CBEC workers began patrolling the lines in that area and after locating the blaze, it took them about 30 minutes to extinguish it. "We had checked with Bonneville and were just about to open the switch to start sectionalizing when we got the call," Harrison said. "When we located the fire, the extinguisher we had didn't do the job so we had to return for more." Harrison said once the fire was controlled, workers sawed off the top of the pole and completed their repairs. Harrison said a new pole will have to be set, adding that it will be done while the "line is hot" to avoid another shutdown. Power in Olix, Sand Hollw and lone was back on line by 3:35 p.m., Heppner got its juice at 4:41 p.m. and Lexington wsa back in business by 5:47 p.m. Charter night set for Arlington Lions A charter celebration for the newly-founded Arlington Lions Club is scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 14, featuring a social hour, dinner and guest speaker. The new Lions Club is the first to be sponsored by the Heppner Lions, said president Dave Harrison. The new club will have 23 charter members the same number that started in the Heppner club, Harrison said. Included are five present or former Lions, three having served as Lions presidents in other clubs. The first president of the Arlington Lions will be Dean Robinson, past president of the Sherman Lions. The evening will begin with a social hour from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the PGE building in Arlington. Dinner is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. at the Arlington Elementary School. Vern Hawn, a past Lions International director will be the guest speaker. Good timing.... The Morrow County stork finally made his first trip of the year to Pioneer Memorial Hospital on Tuesday, but the new baby boy is unfortunately ineligible to collect the gifts offered in the first baby contest because his parents are Umatilla County residents. Under contest rules, the parents of the first baby winner must be residents of Morrow, Wheeler or Gilliam Counties. Mr. and Mrs. Jeff Kubin of Pendleton are the proud parents of their second son, still unnamed, horn at 1:08 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 10. He weighed in at 6 pounds 14 ounces. Dr. Richard Carpenter delivered Mrs. Kubin's first child, Bryan, now two years old, when he was practicing in Pendleton. Mrs. Kubin wanted him to deliver her second child, so regularly traveled to Heppner for prenatal care. And he delivered her second son Tuesday morning. Briefs wrong county t I i I- )
