Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 21, 1978)
BESSIE WET2ELL U OF ORE NEWSPAPER LIB EUGENE OR 97 403 The Heppner JT71 ' . rrri n I pi Morrow County's Award-Winning Weekly Newspaper VOL. 96 NO. 38 HEPPNER, OREGON THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1978 TWO SECTIONS 18 PAGES 20c a V I sssa A , X .. -" - A .s Learning CPR Ciaool iDoaFdi iiie to relieve crowded classroom Frances Williams of Lexington, right, and Fr. Francis Herbert of Heppner work as a team during their final class in CPR training at the Heppner Christian Church, as instructor Linda Connor looks on. Nearly 20 area senior citizens took part in the cardiopulmonary resuscitation training program. Emergency steps to relieve overcrowding in classroons and school buses in northern Morrow County were taken during Monday's meeting of the Morrow County Board of Education. 1 The board authorized Super intendent Matt Doherty to hire two new teachers, a full-time and a half-time bus driver, and to buy a new school bus. The new teachers will be assigned to A.C. Houghton Elementary in Irrigon, which has experienced a 20 per cent increase in enrollment from last year. As many as 39 students have been assigned to a single classroom at the Irrigon school this year. Classroon space will be estab lished in the old Irrigon school building when the new teach ers arrive. The new bus drivers and new school bus will also serve the North Morrow area, main ly in the Boardman vicinity. A group of North Morrow par ents appeared at Monday's meeting to complain about crowding and discipline pro blems on the bus routes. One parent said that students were crammed four to a seat on one bus. An additional bus had been added to the Irrigon area fleet earlier this month. Doherty was authorized to purchase the new North End bus on an emergency, non-bid basis, to speed delivery. Money for the vehicle is already included in the cur rent budget. Money to hire the new teaching personnel, how ever, will have to be drawn from the school board's con tingency fund. In other developments Mon day, Ed Glenn, a spikesman for Many Against Drugs, a Boardman-based anti-drug organization asked the board to continue "with renewed interest" the school district's policies against drug usage on school grounds. ' School officials admitted that drug usage among stu dents was a problem at most county schools. "The problem is a concern to us," said Doherty, who noted that drug education is part of the in-service training program for county teacher. Due to legal questions, however, "no thing much can be done unless a student is caught with the stuff on school property," the superintendent added. The board postponed action on establishing a new tax base, since the Oregon Legis lature recently approved a bill would not require a new tax base election until 1980. The board did adopt a new budget calendar, which calls for preliminary hearings on the 1979-80 school budget to begin on Oct. 16, with an official public hearing to be held on Feb. 19. On April 3, voters will decide whether or not to approve the amount by which the school board plans to exceed the six per cent limitation on spending. Seve ral school board offices will also be up for election during the April 3 polling. Appointed to the board's budget committee Monday night were Jerry Hollomon of Heppner to a two-yeat term, Bob Stevens of Hardman to a three-year term, and Judy Currin of the Butter Creek area to a three-year term. ' In another potential money matter, the school board decided to meet in executive session with school adminis trators on Sept. 26 to discuss strategy for collective bar gaining matters with county teachers. The school board voted to hire Monica Swanson as a half-time -. home economics teacher at lone High School. Extra duty contracts were approved for Tom Forsythe, as head tennis coach at lone High ; Vaness Thew, assistant volleyball coacb at lone High; Jerry Martin, high school baseball coach at lone; Linda Schellenger, Riverside Junior High cheerleader adviser; Pat Campbell assistant basketball coach at Riverside High; Kevan Pratt, assistant foot ball coach at Riverside Junior High; Mary Benedict, assis tant junior high basketball coach at Heppner; Andrew Clark, Heppner Junior High track coach ; Kathryn Miller, Heppner Junior High cheer leader adivser. Ruggs-to-Ione bike ride slated for Saturday Cyclists of all- ages are getting their bicycles ready for this weekend's giant Mil lion Dollar Bike Ride as part of the fight against leukemia and other dreaded diseases that take the lives, of thou sands of children each year. The event, scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 23, is sponsor ed by the Beta Omega chapter of lone and Alpha Theta of Heppner, ESA Women Inter national for benefit of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. The Ride will originate at Ruggs about 10 a.m. and registration begins at 8:30 a.m. Forms for securing sponsors are avail able in Heppner at the R & W . Drive-In . and lone at the school, Bank of E.O., Brenda Ekstrom and Linda LaRue. Cyclists will pedal under close supervision by the Mor row County Search and Res cue Possee for a 22 mile trip from Ruggs to the lone City Park. Those needing rides to Ruggs from Heppner can be picked up at Wayne's Diesel and Auto Repair at the corner of Main and K. May St. at 8:30 a.m.; from lone you can be picked up at the lone City Park at 8:30 a.m. Numerous prizes will be awarded to riders raising funds for the Hospital. A stereo will be awarded to the cyclist who turns in the most money. Second prize for the second largest amount of money turned-in is a portable' 8-track player. Other prizes will go fo the oldest rider, youngest rider and the largest family group riding. As a special feature this year, all cyclists will be eligible to earn t-shirts, back packs and nylon jackets. Individuals raising $25-$75 will receive a t-shirt; those collect ing $75-$150 will receive a back pack and t-shirt; and those raising,, over $150 for the Hospital will receive a nylon jacket and t-shirt. All prizes will be awarded according to the amounts of money turned in by October 7. Sponsor sheets and money can be turned in to Rita Harris at the R & W Drive-In in Heppner, Brenda Ekstrom, corner of Main and "B" St. (yellow house), lone and Lucy Ann Tworek, 2nd and "E" St. (single-wide mobile home), lone. Anyone may particiapte by riding, pledging financial support, or volunteering assis tance. , Interested persons should contact chairman Lin da LaRue at 422-7468. Funds received from the Bike Ride are sent to St. Jude Children's Research TTospirai for use in the research and treatment of leukemia and other childhood cancers. The Hospital was founded in 1962 by entertainer Danny Thomas. SitnTag Farms produces record wheat crop here SimTag Farms near Board man this year has produced what is believed to be the largest wheat crop ever pro duced by a single farm in the United States. SimTag 's winter wheat yield totaled 1,082,000 bushels, averaging 104 bushels per acre on 10,405 acres carved out of the semi-desert land and irrigated with water pumped from the nearby Columbia River. "So far as we have been able to determine, this seems to be the first time an individual farm in the U.S. has exceeded one million bushels," said Peter J. Taggares, SimTag co-owner. While the SimTag acreage is not unusually large compared with many western wheat ranches, it does include a larger than average percent age of irrigated land. All totaled, SimTag has some 25,000 acres under irrigation. About 10,000 of these acres are devoted to potatoes, producing nearly two per cent of the nation's annual potato yield. The potato and wheat crops are rotated annually. The crops are planted in 100 and 150 acre circles, irrigated by center pivot sprinkler systems. Liquid fertilizer is added to the system at the pivot. SimTag's crops are grown on land subleased from Boeing Agri -Industrial Co., a subsi diary of the Seattle-based Boeing aerospace firm. The SimTag acreage is part of a 100,000-acre parcel held by Boeing under a long-term lease from the state of Oregon, obtained in the mid-60s for testing rockets for the nation's space program. The tract includes 8,300 acres originally developed by Boeing to de monstrate the feasibility of farming the arid terrain. SimTag Farms is jointly owned by Taggares, of Oth ello, Wash., and Jack Simplot of Boise. Conservation District meeting tonight on water quaility The draft copy of the Soil and Water Conservation Com mittee's sediment reduction project on non-point or "no fault" pollution control will be discussed during a meeting at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 21 in the Morrow County Courthouse. Comments on the draft proposal must be collected for consideration no later than the first week in October. The proposal will then be submitt ed to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. Local control over the enforcement of the program will be maintained in Morrow, Umatilla, Gilliam, Sherman and Wasco counties, under the terms of the draft proposal. Local control will be possible through an agreement be tween the local Soil and Water Conservation Districts and the county courts with the Depart ment of Enviromental Qual ity. According to Ben Mouchett, resource conservationist for the SWCC, the sediment reduction is "at the signing on the dotted line stage." Motor Vechile Division requests Heppner office A permanent field office for the State Motor Vehicles Division will open in Heppner early next year, if the Oregon Department of Transportation and the State Legislature approve the move. RobbRush joins G-T as columnist A new columnist has joined the ranks of the Gazette-Times sports writers. Robb Rush, a standout high school running back for the Crook County Cowboys and manager of Les Schwab Tire Center in Heppner will be writing the weekly column "Bleacher Seats." At 135-pounds Rush was a leading ground-gainer for the Cowboys when Crook County was playing Triple-A ball back in the mid-60's. After his senior year of play for the Cowboys, jersey number 27 was retired from the active ranks. An avid sports fan with knowledge of the game, Rush will be commenting on the finer points of football and volleyball for Heppner and lone schools. Bleacher Seats appears on the front of this week's second section. The Gazette-Time's new sports columnist, Robb Rush of Heppner, is shown here in jersey number 27, retired from the Crook County Cowboy roster after the fleet running back completed his senior year. The column appears on page nine. The Motor Vehicles Division on Tuesday requested per mission to establish a Heppner office from the Department of Transportation. If the DOT approves, the question will be submitted to the Legislative Emergency Board next month for final approval, according to an MVD spokesman. MVD studies showed that it would be more cost-effective for Motor Vehicles examiners and area licensees to locate a permanent facility in Hep pner rather than to serve the community with the MVD's mobile facility, the spokes man said. If the approval program proceeds without hitch, the Heppner office could open as early as March of next year. Until that time, Heppner will continue to be served by the mobile examining station. The Motor Vehicles Division van will makes stops in Heppner on Oct. 18, Nov. 15, and Dec. 13, at Heppner City Hall. Health District will not be on November election ballot The proposed Morrow Coun ty Health District will not be on the November general election ballot as previously announced, County Judge D. O. Nelson told the Gazette Times this week. Nelson said proponents of the district have failed to obtain and turn in to the county resolutions of support from the incorporated cities in Morrow County. Before the county court can schedule hearings on the proposed district, city coun cils from each of the cities within the county are required to act on a resolution indicat ing whether or not they choose to participate in the district. As of this week the court had received nothing from health districts proponents although the City of Heppner approved a resolution supporting the district at its Sept. 18 meeting. The City. of Irrigon has decided not to be included in the district' and the City of Boardman will bring up the matter at its Oct. 3 meeting. "At this time we hope to have public hearings on the district within 30-50 days and follow with a special election on formation of the district," Nelson said. Nelson emphasized the cou nty court will not establish a district without taking it to a vote of the people. Concerned Citizens meet to talk Pioneer Memorial problems A group calling themselves Concerned Citizens to Save Our Hospital has been formed and held their first public meeting Monday, Sept. 25 with about 18 people present. Jewell Hager of Heppner, one of the group's organizers opened the Monday night meeting saying the group "is very concerned about losing our hospital (Pioneer Memor ial)." Mrs. Hager went on to . Cont. on page 6
