WET2ELL
U OF ORE
N EWS PAP ER L I B
EUGENE OR 97403
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Donna Va Inter named
'78 Fair & Rodeo Queen
. 15c
DC
VOL. 96 NO. 6
HEPPNER, OREGON,
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1978
12 PAGES
rfT1 I M I I n i fv.
m i iWlMn rift A a.A liiMIBliT Al, :. -'
Donna Palmer, daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. Lee Palmer of
lone, will reign over the 1978
Morrow County Fair & Rodeo
it was announced this week.
Selection of the remainder
of the Fair & Rodeo court will
take place Monday, Feb. 13 at
6 p.m. at the West of Willow
Restaurant.
Girls interested in inter
viewing for a place on the 1978
court should call Dennis
Doherty at 676-5269 before 5
p.m. Friday, Feb. 10. Applica
tions can be filled out Monday
evening and one parent should
accompany their daughter to
the interview session.
Queen Donna, a member of
last year's court, is a fresh
man at Blue Mountain Com
munity College. She is a 1977 .
graduate of lone High School.
Dam
set toni
A large turnout is expected
at tonight's (Thursday) public
meeting concerning the pro
posed construction of Willow
Creek Dam. The meeting
begins at 7 p.m. in the circuit
court room at the Courthouse.
The public meeting
begins at 7 p.m.
at the Courthouse
Senator Mark Hatfield has
told local residents the orig
inal, mult-purpose dam as
authorized by congress in
1965 could be funded this
year through the Public Works
Appropriation Bill.
On hand at tonight's meet
ing will be Steven G. Hickok,
field representative for Sen.
Hatfield; a Corp of Engineers
spokesman; Morrow County
Judge D.O. Nelson and off
icials from cities in Morrow
County.
Heppner Mayor Jerry
Sweeney will moderate the
meeting and residents wishing
to make a comment are asked
to have them condensed and to
the point because of the large
turnout expected.
Results of a straw ballot
that appeared in last week's
Gazette-Times will also be
told. A second straw ballot
appears on page two.
From the meeting and
straw ballot local officials
hope to formulate an answer
to the Senator on whether or
not Morrow County residents
are interested in construction
of the dam.
Much interest in resur
recting the Willow Creek Dam
project has been shown in
recent weeks as the cities in
Southern Morrow County have
been studying their compre-
Weather
HILowPrec
43 30 .04
47 34 .11
58 43
52 38
58 37
53 40 .17
51 41 .07
Wed., Feb. 1
Thur., Feb.2
Fri., Feb. 3
Sat., Feb. 4
Sun., Feb. 5
Mon.,Feb.6
Tues.,Feb.7
to
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Queen Donna
hensive plans and flood plains.
Further construction and ex
tensive remodeling of com
mercial property in those
cities will be sharply curtailed
because of the existing flood
piifoli
ght at 7
Hillview Church builds
Boardman youth center
Groundbreaking ceremony
for a new youth center
building in Boardman was
held Sunday, Feb. 5, at the
corner of Olson and Wilson
Road.
The construction is being
financed by the Hillview
Christian Center but the
Pinpointing students strong and weak areas
helps overcome learning problems
j f T i
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George Rex deals with both learning disabilities and
behavior problems as district school psychologist, visiting
each of Morrow County's schools on a regular basis. Above,
Rex goes through identification excercises with a student. '
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Palmer
c meetin;
pni
plains, which would be nearly
eliminated with the construc
tion of the dam.
A decision must be made by
Jocal officials before the mid
dle of March.
facility will be open to the
entire community, according
to Rev. Roy Plant, pastor of
the Boardman church.
The mulitpurpose youth cen
ter building will contain 10,560
square feet and include a
gymnasium. Cost of the build
ing is estimated at $140,000.
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U. S. National Bank announces
Boardman Branch opening
United States National Bank
of Oregon has named Steven
F. Hertel to manage the firm's
new Boardman Branch sche
duled to open Monday, Feb.
13.
Hertel joined the organiza
tion in 1972 as an accelerated
management trainee at the
firm's St. Helens Branch. He"
later worked as operations
officer at the bank's Clatska
nie Branch before assuming
the managership of the Gar
Heppner city foreman
says 'streets ....priority'
Ray Schierman assumed his
new duties as Heppner city
foreman on Wednesday, Feb.
1. Schierman was named to fill
the position left vacant by the
resignation of Paul Sumner by"
the Heppner City Council at its
first meeting in January.
Schierman said that so far
he was just getting acquainted
with his new responsibilities,
but he suspected that street
maintenance would be among -the
worst of his problems ' j,
As new city foreman, he is t
"We've had a lot of good
support from people who have
no affiliation with our church
but who recognize the need for
youth recreation facilities in
Boardman," said Rev. Plant.
He added that hopefully con
struction of the center should
be completed by mid-May.
After three months of kin
dergarten instruction, a stu
dent is still having problems
completing simple classroom
coloring. He can't remember
sequences of colors and does-
n't recall the alphabet well
enough to spell his name.
Apparently a learning han
dicap, but pinpointing the
causes, and more importantly
working out a solution, is
usually beyond the scope of
most classroom teachers.
That's why the Morrow Coun
ty School District has seen fit
to, work with Morrow County
Mental Health Services in
providing a district psycholo
gist for the students. MHS has
maintained the arrangement
with the school district since
the fall of 1975 and for the
past year, George Rex has
filled the role of school
psychologist.
The description of the kin
garten student is typical of the
problems Rex has dealt with
in his year at the schools.
"There's a lot of potential
problem areas leading to
learning handicaps," Rex
said. "I try and get a better
understanding of the situation
through testing and counsel
ing before I can come up with
a solution."
den Valley Branch in Rose
burg, his most recent position.
The grand opening of the
bank, located at 203 First
Street N.W., will include a
special ribbon-cutting cere
mony at 10 a.m. Monday, to be
followed by a week
long open house. Sylvia Mc
Daniel, Treasurer, Morrow
County, will cut the ribbon to
mark the start of business.
Also in attendance will be
Robert R. Mitchell, U.S.
working with a city crew that
includes two persons who are
also new to their jobs, Vincent
Ternes and John Mahan,
working for the city under the
CETA program. Jim Dile,
employed by the city, and on
the job for three years, is the
old-timer of the crew.
Schierman 's responsibility
as city foreman includes
maintenance of city streets,
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Ray Schierman
In the kindergarten stu
dents'scase, the first step was
a standard intelligence test
which showed that the young-
ster was of average intelli
gence. Next came the possibi
lity that the problem was
disciplinary in nature. But
conversations with the teach
er indicated the student did
put out effort and was well like
by his classmates.
Next came one of those
alphabet soup designations for
an important test which at
tempts to isolate various
channels of communication
used by. the student. The
Illionois Test of Psycholin
guists Abilities (ITPA) test
ing procedure charts 10 differ
ent communications functions
including auditory reception
and association, visual recep
tion and association, gramma
tic closure and manual ex
pression. "During this part of the
process, I'm interested in
finding the student's strong
and weak points," Rex said.
"The results of the test are
used as a guide and are
correlated with the teacher's
assessment."
In this case, the ITPA
showed a weakness in visual
and auditory sequential mem
ory, which involves the ability
Bank's president and C.W.
Beckett, senior vice president
and manager of the bank's
eastern region.
Refreshments will be served
at the open house and small
gifts and balloons will be
offered to those attending.
Regular lobby hours for the
Boardman Branch will be 10
a .m . to 5 p.m . Monday through
Thursday, and 10 to 6 on
Friday. The drive-up window
sewer and water systems,
parks and other city-connected
upkeep.
"I like the people here. If I
could just find a place to live,"
commented Schierman, who
was employed in construction
work for 30 years. He needs to
find a lot before his wife,
Ellen, can move with their
mobile home to Heppner.
I.
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to reproduce sequences from
memory. Because this was the
only area in which the student
showed a weakness, Rex
worked with the teacher to
develop an educational pro
gram to remedy the specific
area.
If however, the test had
shown weaknesses in all but a
few areas, the program would
have been structured around
the strong points, using them
as building blocks to reinforce
the lacking areas.
Suggestions were made to
the teacher using techniques
that wouldn't single out the
student from the rest of the
class. If possible, the exerci
ses actually involve the other
students and seldom do they
require materials not already
available in the classroom.
Matching colored blocks
with the appropriate spot in a
color scheme or studying color
sequences and then reciting
r them from memory were two
of the exercises recommended
for the student. Rex also met
with the parents and sug
gested exercises such as
reading short repetitive sto
ries and having the child retell
the details or playing simple
repetitive games such as
Simon Says.
Because Rex visits each of
m. mm n ni mm imiinir imiiiii iinii iiinmr iiIi-kViiiiiWi i
will be closed on Monday,
February 13, but afterwards
will be open from 9 a.m. to
5p.m. Monday through Thurs
day and from 9 to 6 on Friday.
The new 2,200 square foot
facility will feature full bank
ing service to local merchants
and residents, including drive
in window, letter drop, night
r
News Briefs "
Michael Olds trial
scheduled Friday
The trial for Michael Olds, accused of murdering 72-year
old Mary Lindsay of lone last April, will begin Friday
morning in front of Malheur County Circuit Court Judge
Frank Yraguen.
Olds was found to be mentally competent to assist in his
defense according to a ruling filed by Judge Yraguen last
Saturday.
The defendent has pleaded innocent by reason of mental
disease or defect. Judge Yraguen's ruling has no reflection
on whether mental disease or defect were involved at the
time Olds is alleged to have killed Mrs. Lindsay.
Olds was convicted last July in the murder of a Walla
Walla cab driver near Helix. At the conclusion of the trial in
LaGrande, Umatilla County Circuit Court Judge Jack Olsen
sentenced Olds to life imprisonment.
V-G Tavern takes
new 'old time9 look
The V & G Tavern in 'downtown Lexington' is getting a
face lift. Proprietors Gay and Patti Harsman expect the
outside remodeling work on the building to give the business
an "old-time saloon" look.
Cliff Aldridge and John Mollahan are putting up rough
lumber on the front of the building and adding a balcony. A
sillouette of a.dance hall girl in an upper window will add to
the old-time atmosphere.
Gay is also looking for a special painting to put over the
bar to enhance the effect.
The Harshmans invite everyone to Lexington this weekend
to inspect their remodeling job.
the five district schools every
week, and still maintains his
duties at the Morrow County
Mental Health Services office,
uic emu e m uce&a vaivco auuut
a month, with a follow-up visit
made a few months later.
Dealing with learning handi
caps is only part of Rex's
duties as student psychologist.
He also handles behavior
problems, working with the
student, the teacher and the
parents.
When a teacher experiences
behavior problems, with a
student, the parents are con
tacted for their consent before
Rex enters the picture.
Through observing in the
classroom, counseling with
the student and conversations
with the teacher, he sets up a
program to deal with the
problem.
"Each evaluation is tailored
to the individual," Rex said.
"But in many cases the
problem involves lack of
attention span or disregard for
the teacher's requests."
The teacher and the psycho
logist try to focus on some part
of the school routine that
interests the student and then
try to work in the rest of the
classroom activities around
the interest areas.
If it appears family pro
depository, safe deposit boxes
and ample parking.
Construction was by Timber
Company of Hermiston and
U.S. Bank invested about
$81,000 in the project, plus
costs for equipment, fixtures
and supplies. The new branch
is U.S. Bank's 156th office in
Oregon.
blems are involved, Rex
refers the case to Mental
Health Services where the rest
of the family can get in on the
"I actually wear two hats,
working with both the district
and Mental Health Services,"
Rex said. "I've been with both
for a full year now and the
schools are starting to use our
services a lot more than
before."
The use has increased to the
point where Rex now faces a
backlog of cases. Most of the
casework comes from the
elementary grades where it is
easier to determine learning
problems. At the junior high
and senior high levels, Rex is
more involved with counsel
ing, which in many cases is
initiated by the students
themselves, after first obtain
ing parental consent.
As school psychologist, Rex
conducts classes covering sub
jects as mental health and
effects of crime. With MHS, he
also holds classes for students
on alcohol abuse. Whether
working with students in the
classroom, or counseling their
families at the Mental Health
Services office, the objective
is the same to provide a full
array of mental health ser
vices for the community.