TWO The Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon, Thursday, June 22, 1978
The Heppner
GAZETTE-TIMES
Voters to the polls Tuesday; 'yes9 vote
recommended on all
LETTERS FROM
READERS
Board member backs
BMCC levy
Sifting -througlv
"7 Z
Morrow County voters will again go to the polls
next Tuesday, June 27 to approve or deny three
special levy requests.
Morrow County is asking voter approval of a
$246,655 levy outside the six per cent limitation the
first time in more than a decade that the county has
had to do so. .
Watching the budget-making process this year,
one could sympathize with the County Court and,
budget committee as they straightened out a county
budget that had used federal revenue sharing
money over the last 12 years to keep from going
outside the six per cent limitation. In addition,
many areas of the budget overlapped and
employees in one department have been paid out of
a "richer" department, for the same reason.
That kind of budget-balancing wasn't done this
year. It had to stop because federal money has been
on a constant decline for the very reasons outlined
in the previous paragraph and the county court and
budget committee decided to bite the bullet. A good
move.
If voters fail to approve the levy request, cuts in
county services will certainly result and they're not
in a flush position now.
We recommend a "yes" vote on the county
budget.
A second ballot handed to voters next Tuesday
will be a special levy request in the amount of
$190,082 for the operation of Pioneer Memorial
Hospital.
One of the few remaining county owned and
operated hospitals in the state, the continued
stability and operations at Pioneer Memorial are in
the hands of the voter.
The hospital has some problems, but the
problems can and are being worked out. We feel
that County Court and hospital board indecision in
recent years is a part of the problem and making
the hospital stand on its own this year in regards to
obtaining voter approval of its levy request has
helped in motivating the board.
Hospital Administrator Bob Byrnes and the
board have undertaken a massive project in
determining 'the needs of the comunity and the
formation of a health care district, and
more... there's a long road ahead.
Another problem area is patient use of the
facility. While not enough patients use the hospital
to keep it on a break-even basis, certain equipment
and personnel must be kept and-or added to provide
care for the patients that do. Every effort is being
made to attract patients in need of health care from
surrounding areas to bring more non-tax revenues
into the hospital's coffers.
With the announcement this week that two of
Heppner's physicians will be leaving soon, the need
for a modern hospital is magnified if Morrow
County is to attract new doctors.
Moreover, if the hospital levy is defeated some
new equipment and possible personnel will be cut,
resulting in some patients traveling to other
communities for hospital care which in turn puts
Pioneer Memorial in an even more precarious
position financially.
Residents should not worry about the hospital
shutting down because a couple doctors leave the
community. There is no justification for such
reasoning... only rumor.
For continued modern and competent health
care, Morrow County voters shold cast a "yes" vote
for the Pioneer Memorial Hospital levy.
The third special levy request before voters is for
Blue Mountain Community College. We endorsed
the levy request last week and reiterate our position
now. The BMCC board and administration has cut
the budget twice after levy defeats this year and
voter denial of the BMCC levy threatens closure of
the facility.
In summation, The Heppner Gazette-Times
endorses a "yes" vote on all three levy requests.
Bad news...
The announcement this week that Drs. Richard
Carpenter and Joe Diehl will be leaving the
community is unfortunate.. on a couple ways.
First, no community likes to lose its physicians
and secondly, the handling of the announcement
was poor and reminds us of an afternoon soap
opera.
One can't really comment on the decision of the
doctors to leave the community because whatever
their reasons it certainly is their right to make
such a decision.
The revolting baseness in the decision, we feel,
lies in the fact the County Judge D.O. Nelson had to
call the doctors to confirm or deny the rumor that
had been circulating for over a week.
Secondly, with all that the community has done
in setting up not one, but two clinics at minimal rent
for the doctors (they dropped the idea of staffing the
second clinic in Boardman after it was built and an
x-ray machine was ordered) their decision is a
bitter pill to swallow. .
Thirdly, the doctors' decision to give the
community 30-days notice before they walk away
from a healthy practice in a clinic their patients, in
effect, helped finance through tax money.
When The Heppner Gazette-Times tried to
contact the doctors for comment this week, a
spokesman in the office said the doctors didn't want
to comment because they thought their decision
would influence a "no" vote on the upcoming
hospital levy. They shouldn't flatter themselves...
we give the voter more credit.
We hope the doctors will outline their exodus
from the community next week as they said
they will, for the benefit of their patients and the
community.
Letters Policy
ALL LETTERS of general interest are welcomed,
providing they are in good taste and not libelous.
250 WORDS IS about the maximum length we can
accept, however, if you need more space, please use
it.
ALL LETTERS MUST be signed to be considered. If
you wish to" have your name withheld for good
cause we will do so after contacting you for an
explanation.
TELEPHONE NUMBERS should be included. The
number will only be used by the Gazette-Times to
confirm it was you who wrote the letter.
THE GAZETTE-TIMES reserves the right to refuse
any letter it deems unfit for publication.
LETTERS SHOULD BE addressed to Editor,
Gazette-Times, P.O. Box 337, Heppner, Ore., 97836.
""GAZETTE - 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 posfage paid at Heppner, Oregon.
G.M. Reed, Publisher Dolores Reed, Co-publisher Terry M. Hager, Managing Editor
Rick Steelhammer, News Editor Eileen Saling, Officer Manager
Gayle Rush, Composing Chloe Pearson, Composing Justine Weatherford, Local Columnist
Ron Jordan, Printer
Editor,
I am addressing this letter to all citizens concerned with
the continued operation of Blue Mountain Community
College.
The college budget has been defeated twice and the will
of the people has been heeded. The budget committee and the
administration carefully reviewed the budget and made
substantial cuts. To cut further would eliminate courses and
or programs resulting in the loss of students.
Now is the time for us to decide the future of this college.
It is my sincere belief that the people of, Umatilla and
Morrow Counties realize and appreciate the benefits of
having Blue Mountain Community College to serve many of
the educational needs beyond high school, the American
educational system has played a large role in making
America the great nation it is. Blue Mountain Community
College is a part of this system.
The faculty, the administration, and the board are
working together in a unified effort to provide quality
education to the students and citizens of this area. We need
your help and are calling on you to vote "Yes" on June 27.
Thank you.
Sincerely yours,
Malachi Campbell, Chairman
Blue Mountain Community
College Board of Education
Faculty supports
College levy bid
Editor,
We are writing this letter to urge a YES vote for the Blue
Mountain Community College budget in the June 27 election.
The college faculty is working with the board and
administration for your support. We want BMCC to be able to
continue its history of educational excellence in this area.
BMCC provides low-cost, quality classes and programs of
many kinds to the citizens of Morrow and Umatilla counties.
Such opportunities are available days and evenings, on and
off campus. Voting YES in this budget election will ensure
the continuance of our fine community college".
Please support BMCC by joining all of us in our efforts to
have the budget pass, so the college can continue to be the
important part of Eastern Oregon and your community that
it always has been.
The BMCC Faculty Association Officers
Cyndy Hilden, President
Alan Insko, President Elect
Tony Svetich, Jr., Secretary
Bob Irving, Treasurer
Roger says 'thanks9 to
area residents
Editor,
Although my campaign for the Republican nomination
for Governor was not successful state-wide, Morrow County
did support me in my effort and I will always have a warm
spot in my heart for the great people of your county.
I especially want to pay tribute to two of the best
campaign workers I have ever met, Steve and Cathy Peck,
and to all the people they were able to enlist on my behalf. It
was their efforts that resulted in my success in Morrow
County. And, you can rest assured, their hard work and your
voters' response will never be forgotten by me.
I have no immediate political plans, but if I run in the
future, you can be sure that Morrow County will again be one
of my favorite and priority areas in the State of Oregon.
My thanks to all of you.
Sincerely,
Roger Martin
House Minority Leader
OTHERS SAY
Mainly because of the big
play in the nation's press and
on tevee, California's Proposi
tion 13 has had a national
impact and "tax revolt"
groups are springing up from
nowhere in what seems to be
every village, town and state
in the U.S.
But we would caution Ore
gonians to tread softly when it
comes to a "tax revolt" when
only property taxes are invol
ved. Here's why:
REASON ONE: The bulk of
your property tax goes for
schools, and we would want to
study the situation very care
fully before cutting the jug
glar vein of education.
Sure, nobody likes property
taxes and they like the
continual raises even worse.
Take my humble, two-bedroom
abode, for instance. The
assessed valuation on it went
up $5,000 just a couple of
weeks ago. Larger homes up
the hill from us went up $8,000
to $10,000. On mine, that $5,000
increase means about a $125
tax increase if we use a rate of
$25 per thousand. That's
pretty stiff for one year and
I'm hoping the final tax rate is
as low as $25.
But schools cannot be the
whipping boy for assessment
increases. Your county asses
sor and inflation does that.
He's supposed to assess your
property at its true cash
value. And if home-and-pro-perty
inflation increases 8 per
cent in one year, you can bet
your assessment will rise
about that much.
Your neighbors do it to you,
too. If your neighbor's house
sold for $30,000 five years ago
and $40,000 today, you can
promise yourself a healthy
increase just because of that.
Inflation certainly seems to
be a never-ending nightmare,
especially with Oregon's true
Moonshining was front-page news in the Gazette-Times ,
60 years ago, when two South Carolina men were arrested at
the head of Little Butter Creek, where they were operating a
10-vat still. .
The Prohibition violaters had been producing about 40
gallons of "corn squeezings" per day at the spring-fed Butter
Creek site, which was nestled in a grove of trees, well out of
sight from local roads.
Police said the moonshiner? had been selling their wares
for $50 per gallon, making the operation a profitable $400 a
day.
Several barrels of whiskey, as well as 12 bushels of
cornmeal, barley, ana rye were connscatea in tne raia.
Pendleton and Heppner were believed to be two of the main
local consumers of the still's outnnt
Also in the news 60 years ago was the accidental gunshot
death of Rhea Creek sheepman Louis Groshens.
Groshens' body was found in his car, in which he had
been following the herding of his sheep from Rhea Creek to
summer range near Stites, Idaho. The car was located near
the Hynd Brothers ranch along Sand Hollow.
Groshens, a native of France, had lived in Morrow
County for 35 years prior to his 1918 death. He was 58.
Fifty years ago this week in the Gazette-Times, an
editorial appeared praising the Republican nomination of
Herbert Hoover for President. New Chevrolet roadstsers
were selling for $495 at Fergusen Chevrolet in lone.
Twenty-five years ago in Heppner, the Heppner Chess
Team returned from a victorious road trip to Pasco. The
Heppner team of LaVerne Van Marter, Harry Tamblyn,
C.J.D. Bauman, Forrest Adams and Joe Winslow beat the
Pasco team 6V4 to Vk.
Fire destroyed 15 square miles of Morrow County
rangeland between Heppner Junction and Cecil 20 years ago
this week. The 1958 blaze charred all of the Hynd Brothers'
range, but damaged no wheat. More than 100 firefighters,
including fire departments from Irrigon, the Army munitions
center at Ordnance, and the Navy bombing range helped the
area farmers battle the blaze.
The sheriff's department had problems controlling
trattic on the Willow Creek Highway, which was clogged with
hundreds of spectators.
However, the Gazette-Times reported, "the loss of life
was confined to thousands of kangaroo mice and '
jackrabbits."
Ten years ago, Louis Carlson of the Valby District was
honored by a visit from 200 state farmers and wheat
producers, after being named Oregon's Conservation Man of
the Year.
That same week, Barbara Gribble of Heppner was
leaving by plane for Athens, Greece, where she was to marry
Airman First Class Larry Derrick of Baker.
Wheatsupport prices in 1968 were set at $1.28 per bushel,
and yearling steers were selling for $26.50 per hundred
pounds.
Five year ago in Heppner, one of the first public
meetings on the proposed Willow Creek Dam was being held
with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The possibility of
relocating the town of Heppner was dropped, when it was
determined that property values in the flood plain totaled
more than $9 million.
As has been the case in subsequent hearings on the dam,
nothing concrete was decided.
That same week in 1973, Mrs. Rose Kilcup celebrated her
100th birthday.
Mrs. Kilcup operated a dres shop in Heppner from 1901 to
1907, when she married Butter Creek rancher Walter Kilcup.
She continued top operate the ranch for a number of years
following her husband's death in the 1950s.
Class of '68...
Editor,
The Class of '68 would like to thank everyone who helped
make our Car Wash and Bake Sale a complete success.
We would expecially like to thank all the parents who
donated food for the bake sale and Cal & Bev Sherman for the
use of their service station for our car wash.
Sincerely
Class of '68
Susan Johnston
Watch for Proposition 13
cash value system.
Perhaps limiting assess
ments to a certain per cent on
a base year is a good place to
start. But at the same time,
we must look to other means
of financing education. We
just can't leave them out there
in the cold.
REASON TWO: If there's
going to be a tax revolt, why
limit it to property taxes and
schools? Why not go for the
big one?
In most cases, your federal
income tax far outstrips your
property tax. You just don't
realize it since your income
tax is withheld by your
employer a little each week.
It's money you earn, but never
see. And many Americans
even get a refund at the end of
the year. It's the refund they
look forward to and remem
ber, not the big amount that
actually came out of their
checks.
So if we're going to have a
"for real" tax revolt, let's
direct it at the most wasteful
and inefficient tax collector...
federal government.
Milton-Freewater Valley
Herald
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