TWO The Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon, Thursday, May 25, 1978
Sifting through
The Heppner
GAZETTE-TIMES
the i imr!,og
MEMORHI DflV'78
'Lest We Forget'
by Katherine Rozelle Farrar
In Flanders Field those red poppies still grow,
Among the crosses, row on row.
There many of our lads lie,
Called to fight the war ending all wars,
So the "knowing" ones said.
Our boys went with brave hearts; heads held high,
All to fight: Many to die,
In Flanders Field they lie,
That war went on.
Wars have come and gone, again, again and again.
Our lads were called to fight; too many to die
In other Flanders Fields they lie.
Lest we forget
We honor them today,
Each in our own way.
Then fervently for Peace we pray.
Peace forevermore.
Never another war.Never our lads to fight and die
Never in another Flanders Field lie.
(Editor's Note: The Gazette-Times' resident poet, Katherine
Rozelle Farrar submitted this poem for Memorial Day.
Flanders Field is a region in France where World War I are
buried, their graves marked by crosses, row on row. Our poet
remembers Memorial Day 1919 very well, the day her late
husband, Lester Lewis Farrar, came home from the war.)
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EGAZETTE - TIMES
The Official Newspaper of the City of Heppner
and the County of Morrow
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.
J G.M. Reed, Publisher Dolores Reed, Co-publisher Terry M. Hager, Managing Editor
Rick Steelhammer, News Editor Eileen Saling, Officer Manager Elane Blanchet, Reporter
Gayle Rush, Composing Chloe Pearson, Composing Justine Weatherford , Local Columnist
Ron Jordan, Printer
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Picture Credit
SALEM SCENE BY Jack Zimmeran,
Worker's
The high cost of Worker's
Compensation Insurance was
a major issue during the 1977
legislative session and promi
ses to occupy a position at
least as prominent when
lawmakers next convene in
Salem.
The fact that costs more
than doubled from $203.5
million in 1974 to $424 million
in 1977 and will soar to $488
million this year makes it
easy to understand why this
mandatory employer-paid
fringe benefit is being scruti
nized so intensely.
And high on the list of
Workers' Comp law changes
to be sought in 1979 will be
curbs preventing overlapping
of multiple benefits that tend
to pave the way to early
retirement for a growing
number of claimants.
Essentially, Workers' Comp
was designed for the benefit of
workers sustaining job-related
injuries and illnesses.
Workers so suffering are
entitled to have temporarily
lost income replaced, to have
medical bills paid, to be
returned to the workforce and
if unable to return to be
compensated for permanent
total disability when that
situation occurs.
5
.: ....
in
Comp will again be issue
Benefits are not awarded as
punishment to the employer.
Workers cannot be penalized
if their injury occurred be
cause of their own careless
ness. Employers cannot be
sued for negligence. It is
called a no-fault system.
As described by law, bene
fits are designed to make the
injured worker whole. They
were not intended to raise the
injured worker to a higher
economic status than existed
before the injury.
The problem that is becom
ing more troublesome each
year is the use of the system
as an early retirement pro
gram. This is encouraged by
multiple benefits from many
overlapping social programs
that have come into existence
since the birth of Worker's
Comp in the early 1900s.
A recent study by auditors
of the Secretary of State's
office for instance, concluded
job disability often can pro
vide Oregon public employes
with a tax-free income greater
than their former gross salar
ies. The study of 100 disability
cases from the beneficiary
files of the Public Employes
Retirement System revealed
that 85 also were collecting
jiSMiBJ"fvw" . . '
Trout angling season opened last Saturday, and Morrow
County fishermen invaded the woods to test their luck. Most
anglers reported limit catches from the well-stocked
streams. Bruce Millman of lone was caught on film as he .
landed a 10-inch rainbow from Cutsforth Pond.
payments from Workers'
Compensation . Insurance.
Further investigation unco
vered the fact 33 of those
collecting benefits from two
sources were being further
subsidized by disability
checks from Social Security.
The problem is not uniquely
something that occurs only
among public employes. Over
lapping benefits are just as
prevalent in the private sec
tor. An interview survey conduc
ted among 1036 subjects in
Illinois, Georgia, New York
and California by Cooper and
Company for the federal
Interdepartmental Workers'
Compensation Task Force
indicated the overall signifi
cance of the overlap problem.
Of all respondents inter
viewed, 37 per cent said they
received benefits related to
their injury or illness from at
least one other source and 18
per cent from at least two
other sources.
The largest single overlap
appears to involve Social
security disability insurance
benefits. Next largest overlap
in the Cooper survey was
Social Security survivor's ben
efits. Also involved are Social
Security retirement benefits,
unemployment insurance,
Medicare, public assistance
(Welfare), Medicaid, Supple
mentary Security Income,
private insurance plans and
Community
BILLBOARD
Call 676-9228
S
I
t
veterans benefits.
No one has ascertained the
magnitude of this iceberg. But
the tip is fully exposed.
Investigation so far shows
most overlaps do not involve
defrauding the system. The
legality of overlaps is seldom
contested. But some states are
moving to close the more
obvious loopholes before the
system becomes so overbur
dened it can no longer exist in
a fiscally responsible manner.
Lawmakers in the State of
Washington made changes
when they learned there were
more police and firemen on
disabilty than on service
pensions. Police and fire
disability claimants in that
state now receive only token
payment from the retirement
system. Their cases are han
dled by a Workers' Compensa
tion Board that determines the
extent of disability and limits
payments accordingly.
The Oregon Legislature in
1977 enacted Senate Bill 1048,
which offsets the cost of
Workers' Compensation by
the amount of Social Security
benefits without reducing a
claimant's total entitlement.
The resulting new law also
requires periodical physical
examinations to prove con
tinuing disability and calls for
monitoring claimants' income
sources by requiring income
affadavits each April 15.
Thursday May 25
ECOAC meeting, 10 a.m.,
West of Willow
Heppner kindergarten regis-
tration. 1-4 D.m. & 6:30-8
p.m., Elementary School
lone High School commence
ment, 8 p.m., IHS gymna
sium, reception following
Friday May 2$ ,
Heppner High School com
mencement, 7:30 p.m., HHS '
gymnasium
N.W. Regional College Finals
Rodeo 4 p.m., Pendleton,
Round-up grounds
Saturday May 27
Spray Rodeo parade, 11:30
a.m.; rodeo, 1:30 p.m.,'
With this issue of the Gazette-Times, "Sifting Through
The Times" passes a special milestone a year ago this week
the fertile pen of then-editor Jim Summers produced the first
column, written entirely in the vernacular no less.
Let's take a glance at that first "Sifting" creation:
"You know, it don't take too much sense for a body to
figure out that these parts are in the midst of quite a dry spell
these days. And it seems like only yesterday that I was
reading about the new flood alert gizmos that Heppner was
getting hooked up to. Something about the Weather Bureau
tracking down clouds with radar or some such nonsense.
"It don't take no fancy machines to tell me when the
sky's about to let loose and it's time to head for higher
ground.
"But there it is, smack dab on the front page of the
Gazette-Times dated May 25, 1972. I've been collecting these
papers for longer than most people care to think back. Keep
'em right here on the front porch, next to the rocker. Durn
stocks are getting so plentiful, it's hard for 'ol Spooner to find
a place to rest his flea-bitten bones. Worthless hound dog..."
And on it went.
Columnist Jim changed "Sifting" to a more grammati
cal format for its second appearance, explaining:
"I've heard a couple of people saying they didn't
appreciate the incorrect grammar. ..in last week's column.
They seem to think that young people at an impressionable
age might pick up some bad habits from reading that kind of
phraseology in the newspaper...
"But my intention here, from the beginning has not bedh
to let clumsy semantemes cloud the message. My aim has
been to draw some of the interesting items from the past that
might trip a dusty memory switch and open the gate for a few
good recollections that might wander in. For the young
people, a mirror held to the past can often be as instructive as
a window opened to the future. That is my intention, nothing
more, nothing less..."
Well, Jim has now gone on to greener pastures, and we
can only hope the column he originated continues, in years to
come, to reach the goal he set a year ago.
A lot can happen in ten years on the political scene. A
front page Gazette-Times story reported the results of
primary elections in 1968: ."Morrow county voters
apparently followed state trends in the primary election
Tuesday, giving Eugene McCarthy the edge over Robert
Kennedy for president on the Democratic ticket, strongly
supported Richard Nixon on the Republican side, and giving
a slight margin to Robert Duncan for the U.S. Senate on the
Demo ballot..."
Graduation activities for Morrow County schools is in the
news in the Times this week as it was in years past. This list
of HHS seniors graduating in 1948 may trip one of those
memory switches for some people still living in these parts:
Richard Allstott, Robert Kilkenny, Jack Ployhar, Doyle Key,
Donald DuBois, Elizabeth Ann Smethurst, Clarence
Greenup, Morgan Connor, Kenneth Green, Myron Rill,
Donald Rippee, Harriet Ann Ball, Corabell Lee Nutting,
Mary Ellen Gearhart, Leila Joan McLachlan, Beverly Ann
Yocum, Edda Mae Thorpe, Ollie Hastings; Clara Sue
Ledbetter, Joan Marie Hisler, Merle Padberg and Hervel
Ray Pettyjohn.
La Verne Van Marter and Harriet Hager took high honors
at commencement ceremonies 40 years ago this week, in
which 27 members of the class of '38 graduated from Heppner
High School. Van Marter won the Norton Winnard Memorial
cup, given to a senior showing high ratings in leadership,
character, cooperation, activities and scholarship; while
Miss Hager earned a place on the class honor plaque.
In a flowery editorial entitled "Sand Through the Hour
Glass" the Times offered some words of encouragement to
the graduates of that year:
"Constantly sifting sand through the hourglass of time is
lifeless and leads to hopeless contemplation so long as the
sand particles are looked upon as aluminum silicate. ..But
when each grain. ..is seen as a human being. ..then the
hourglass takes on a brighter, more hopeful aspect.
"It is thus we see. ..the new class of high school graduates
each passing the meridian that so many graduating classes
have passed before. They are not sifting through aimlessly,
they are dropping into a world, and we see in each the ability
and ambition to help mold that world into a new and brighter
form...
"May we not offer you the world as your 'oyster', for to
do so would be misleading. But may we offer you the chance
of success if you continue to do your best, and be
determined.. .in applying your talents where the field is most
fertile, and your chance for happiness the greatest.. .You, .
particles of sand now sifting through the hourglass are the
hope of the world."
In less metaphorical language, the present staff of the
Gazette-Times, says to the Class of '78: "Congratulations and
good luck in the years ahead."
Such offsetting legislation
appears the most likely solu
tion to the problem of over
laps. And while the law
resulting from passage of SB
1048 in Oregon last session
applies only to Socal Security
benefits paid claimants on
N.W. College Finals Rodeo,
1:30 p.m., Pendleton, r-Up
grounds
Free film, 2:30-4 p.m., Ma
sonic Hall, lone
Sunday May 28
Pioneer Memorial Picnic
registration, 10 a.m. -noon;
dinner, 12:30 p.m.; Fair
Pavilion, Heppner
Spray Rodeo parade, 12:30
p.m. rodeo, 1:30 p.m.
N.W. College Final Rodeo,
1:30 p.m., Pendleton R-Up
grounds
Monday May 29
HOLIDAY
No Chamber of Commerce
meeting
permanent total disability,
additional offset will be sought
at other levels of disability as
well.
When tax-free benefits even
begin to approach take-home
pay, it becomes increasingly
difficult to restore recipients
to productive pursuits in the
workforce.
Overlapping disability bene
fits rapidly are approaching a
point at which the cure for one
social illness may create a
malignancy of even greater
magnitude.
Wednesday May 31
County Court, 10 a.m., Irrigoii
office
Sponsored By
RAY
BOYCE
INSURANCE,
228 N. Mam Sf Heppmr 6 76-962S
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