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The Library
University of Oregon
"Eugena, Or 97403
For Microfilm
The Ileppner
Morrow County's Award-Winning Weekly Newspaper
VOL. 96 NO. 29
HEPPNER, OREGON
THURSDAY, JULY 20. 1978
12 PAGES
20c
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The Heppner Gazette-Times
was one of four Northwest
Oregon Newspapers that won
awards of excellence in the
Oregon Newspaper Publishers
Association Better Newspaper
Contest presented at the
group's annual meeting at
Sunriver last weekend.
The Gazette-Times collec
ted five of the 11 awards won
by the four newspapers,
including first place for Best
News Story and Typographi
cal Excellence and third place
awards for Community Lead
ership, Best Editorial and
Special Section.
The Hermiston Herald took
first place in the prestigious
General Excellence category
for the second consecutive
year for newspapers with
more then 2,700 circulation.
The Herald also placed first in
sports coverage, second in
Typographical Excellence
and third in Best Editorial.
The East Oregonian earned
a first place award among
daily papers in the Special
Section category and the
Milton-Freewater Valley Her
ald earned a third place in the
Feature Story category for
weeklies with more than 2,700
circulation.
The Gazette-Time's Best
News Story award was for
coverage of the Mary Lindsay
murder, of which judges
said, "...complicated legal
enganglement handled with
clarity. An unpleasant subject
presented with good taste."
The Best Editorial award
Ateard of Excellent
IN. 0O0N Msoc(AT
Third Place
Third Place
5ytflat issue---
....
Gazette-Tillies wins
5 newspaper awards
was for a column on the
proposed move of state wel
fare and family services office
from Heppner, which the state
reconsidered. Community
Leadership came to The
Gazette-Times for its stories
surrounding the Heppner
UoDer Willow Creek road
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will be closed to traffic
The road connecting upper
Willow Creek with Ukiah will
be closed from Monday
through Friday of next week
for paving, the U.S. Forest
Service and Morrow County
Court announced.
According to Ben Seminoe
of the Heppner Forest Service
office, the road will be closed
from the end of existing
pavement near Cutsforth
Park to the junction with
Forest Service Route 53-26,
about halfway to the point
where existing hardtop on the
Ukiah side of the route begins.
By Friday night, the road is
expected to be open from
Willow Creek to the top of
Coalmine Hill.
During the following week,
from July 31 to Aug. 7 an eight
mile section of the road will be
closed from the beginning of
existing pavement on the
Ukiah side to the junction with
route 53-26. A uetour will be
provided, so that traffic will
be able to proceed around the
construction site.
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Child Development Center's
problems last year.
The Special Section that
received a third place award
was last year's Fair & Rodeo
section and the first place in
Typographical Excellence
was for the newspaper's
Persons wishing to travel to
Penland Lake during the
coming week will have to do so
from the Tupper side. Motor
ists may still reach the Ukiah
area through the Umatilla
National Forest by driving the
't
Dial "911" (Nine-one-one) if you need emergency police,
fire or medical help in Heppner, lone or Lexington.
The three communities activated their 911 systems last
week. According to Pacific Northwest Bell, that brings to 18
the number of PNB communities in Oregon which use the
simplified emergency call number.
"Because of the great distances and the time it takes to
respond to emergencies in Morrow County, being able to get
emergency help by dialing one number is important," said
Moriow County Sheriff Larry Fetsch.
"Before, it was sometimes necessary to make four to six
phone calls to get an ambulance, a fire truck and the police.
Now we can take one call and dispatch all of them at once."
Heppner, lone and Lexington agreed to tie their
communities together with one emergency number in
February this year.
eice
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over-all readability, use of
clear and concise headlines,
photos and printing quality.
The awards were presented
for the 1977 publishing year
and newspapers were judged
by the Nebraska Press Asso
ciation. Shaw Creek Grade.
Any questions on how to
reach various points along the
route during the paving period
may be answered by contact
ing the Heppner Forest Ser
vice Office at 676-9187.
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Emergency phone
system installed
H
ospital Board public
meetings 6to clear air9
In an effort to clear the air
and ask voter approval of its
$150,582 special levy on Tues
day. Aug. 8, the Pioneer
Memorial Hospital Board of
Directors has scheduled two
public meetings for next week.
The first meeting will be
held Monday. July 24 at 7:30
p.m. in the Courthouse, Hepp
ner and the following night a
meeting will be held at 8:00
p.m.. Riverside High School.
The Hospital Board will
have a moderator handle the
meeting to keep things moving
in an orderly fashion, accord
ing to Dick Sargent, board
member setting up the meet
ings. In recent months the Hospi
tal Board and Administrator
Bob Byrnes have come under
lire from hospital employees
and county residents for
increased costs and personnel
management.
Hospital Board Chairman
Fred Martin replies, "We
have some personnel prob
lems that have been attributed
to the administrator, whereas
they are actually board policy
decisions, but as the admini
strator, he carries them out."
The board will- also explr.in
the need for the special levy
request of $150,582, cut some
$39,500 from the last election
on June 27 when voters turned
it down.
School Board defers zone
changes ; hires new teachers
The Morrow County Board
of Education deferred action
Monday on a proposed school
district zone change aimed at
equalizing representation on
the school board as county
population patterns shift to the
north.
A committee which has been
studying county population
projections with an eye to
wards more evenly distribu
ting school board representa
tion submitted a report during
Monday's meeting. The report
recommended converting two
zones currently representing
Heppner into countywide "at
large" zones.
Under the recommenda
tions, the Heppner zones
would not be converted to
at-large zones until the terms
of the district's two current
board members, Dr. Wallace
Wolff and Pauline Winter,
expire. Winter's term expires
in 1980 and Wolff's in 1981.
In its report to the board, the
committee noted that "the
original distribution of the
district representation on the
board was inadequate to
provide equal representation
in light of present and future
population trends."
The committee considered,
but finally rejected, increas
ing the number of board
members from seven to nine,
with the two additional board
members to come from nor
thern Morrow County.
Currently, school board
members are nominated from
single zones representing the
communities of Boardman,
Irrigon, lone, Lexington, and
rural Heppner, and two zones
representing metropolitan
Heppner. Candidates then
must win countywide elections
to receive seats on the board.
Action on the proposed zone
changes was tabled during
The hospital needs equip
ment in nearly every depart
mentfrom the laundry to the
front office, according to
Byrnes. In addition, the board
and administrator are at
tempting to equalize wages for
hospital employees that are
grossly underpaid.
Board member Dick Sar
gent commented, "If the
budget fails again and we're
forced to cut back to within the
six per cent limitation, we'll
still have a hospital but we'll
have to get rid of some people
and some services a substan
tial amount."
Workers stop at Carty
for safety reasons
A work stoppage at the
Carty coal-fired power plant
near Boardman was continu
ing at press time, idling most
of the 700 construction work
ers involved with building the
facility.
The walkout began last
Friday, following the death on
Thursday of a construction
worker at the site. Loyal A.
Vick of Spokane died en route
to St. Anthony's Hospital in
Monday's meeting, since
several board members were
absent. Should the board
approve the committee's re
commendations, an election
would be required next Spring
in order for the zone changes
to be made. No real change in
board representation would
occur until 1980, when Win
ter's term expires.
In other developments Mon
day, the board accepted the
resignation of Heppner music
instructor John J. Dawson and
A.C. Houghton teacher Lee
Ann Wilkes.
The board hired Kim Coop
er, an Eastern Oregon State
College graduate, as third
grade teacher at A.C. Hough
ton; Kay Dawson, also an
EOSC graduate, as kindergar
ten teacher at Boardman;
Carol Faith, Eastern Wash
ington, as speech therapist;
Rod Fife, Lewis and Clark, as
science teacher at Riverside
Junior High; Joanne McGov
ern, University of Oregon, as
language arts teacher at
Riverside Junior High; Ralph
Schubothe, Whitman, as math
teacher and assistant track
and basketball coach at Hepp
ner High; Vanessa Thew,
EOSC, as sixth grade teacher
at lone Elementary; Donna
Weed, Idaho State, as Hepp
ner kindergarten teacher; and
Robert Carson as fourth grade
teacher at A.C. Houghton.
The board re-elected Pau
line Winter as its chairman,
and voted to approve of a
September field trip for Hepp
ner and Riverside High art
students to Seattle, to view the
Egyptian King Tut exhibit.
In another development, the
board accepted an early
graduation policy for excep
tional students. , s
Under the terms of the
policy, students would be able
"People here must decide
what level of health care they
want available in Morrow
County," echoed board mem
ber Hubert Wilson.
Faced with yet another
problem the lack of doctors
in the community the board
has some thoughts and opin
ions to share on that issue.
Also on the agenda will be
discussion surrounding the
formation of a health care
district in Morrow County,
that would administer health
care services to all residents
and would have the taxing
powers of a special district.
Pendleton, after his chest was
crushed while he was loading
heavy boxes at a location
about 10 miles from the main
construction area.
Vick's death sparked a
protest over safety conditions
by fellow workmen- at . the
plant, who contend that im
proved communication sys
tems and more immediatly
available medical care could
possibly have saved Vick, and
to receive high school diplo
mas in less than four years if
they
complete the board's re
quired credits and competen
cies agree upon a plan for
early graduation with their
high school principals
submit early graduation
requests in writing no later
County to get less
federal funds
than thought
The Morrow County Court
learned this week that is
would receive less revenues
than anticipated for 1978-79,
from the federal government
for payments in lieu of taxes.
The money is received for
federally-owned lands in Mor
row County and in the past has
amounted to about $65,000
annually.
In a letter received from the
Oregon Association of Coun
ties, the county was told that
allocation would be made
based on a different formula
this year, amounting to $17,000
in revenues, a cut of $48,000.
Judge D O. Nelson said the
cut in revenues puts the
county in an even more
precarious position financial
ly. "That's nearly $50,000 that
we were counting on to help
with the budget and we'll have
to find some places to cut it
from." said Nelson. "It also
means that we need voter
approval of our request for
$246,655 outside the six per
cent limitation."
The board of directors of the
special district would be
elected from various parts of
the county.
Three petitioners are
needed to obtain signatures
for the hospital district and
the board has two persons
from the south portion of the
county, Mrs. Harry (Mary)
Kennison and Orville Cuts
forth. A person from the
Boardman-Irrigon area is
needed for a prime petitioner.
The petitioners must obtain all
of the signatures on the
petition themselves, attesting
to each signature.
may save other workers who
might suffersevere injuries at
the construction site.
A number of workers began
returning to their jobs after
noon on Monday, kindling
hopes by Portland General
Electric and Bechtel Corp.
officials that the protest was
ending. However, on Tuesday
morning, protesting workers
Cont. on page 7
than one semester prior to the
planned graduation date, ex
plaining the educational or
vocational reasons for seeking
early graduation
convince school officials
that the early graduation
would be in the student's best
interests, on the basis of high
school records, and post-high
school plans.
The county's levy request
will go before voters on
Tuesday, Aug. 8 for the second
time at the same amount.
The last vote on June 27
ended in a deadlocked 513-513
tie.
This year marks the first
time in over a decade the
county has sought monies
outside the six per cent
limitation. The budget is
bare-bones, according to Nel
son, who said there are no
funds earmareked for new
construction projects or other
major capital improvements.
Weatlicr
by Don Gilliam
Hi Low
Wed., July 12 83 45
Thurs., July 13 92 53
Fri.,July 14 96 59
Sat., July 15 94 60
Sun., July 16 78 61
Mon.,Julyl7 79 45
Tues., July 18 82 47
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