Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 16, 1979)
The Heppner GAZETTE-TIMES Editorials o Columns Letters From Readers Come again. Senator always glad to see you! r 'o rrntaet with the rprfain in thf nnt-rlistar Grassr'- 's tontact with the voters is bwod for any politician, whether President Jimmy Carter or Senator Bob Packwood. So it was gratifying to see Senator Packwood in Heppner last Thursday and the large crowd out to meet him, his wife, son and staff assistants at the West of Willow Restaurant. The Senator admitted it had been a number of years since he had been to Heppner. Whether or not he was laying the groundwork for his 1980 re-election campaign, there was no less warmth in the welcome. In the same vein, the commun ity was disappointed at Rep. Al Ullman's inability to make his scheduled Eastern Oregon tour because of a fall in his home that resulted in a leg injury. We wish him a speedy recovery and express the hope that he will come here for certain in the not-distant future. Prfcsidnt Carter has been criti cized for taking his "road show" out of Washington to call on selected voters in Pennsylvania or West Virginia. His latest foray was to Baltimore, where he traveled with his aides and the press aboard an Amtrak train. It would have been as easy, and perhaps less energy consumptive, to have used television to reach the people. However, personal contact between officials and their constituents is good on both sides. Sure, television may carry the face and the voice of the President or the Senator but a personal handshake is much more satisfying for the citizen than to watch an electronic image. Senator Packwood ought to come here more often and not just before a pending re-election campaign. Civic responsibility Citizens who voluntarily serve on civic boards and commissions are those who deserve medals if any were to be given out. Their responsibilities are de fined by law and once accepted, should be fulfilled at least to the minimum extent by attendance at regular meetings, in the opinion of those who. take an active part in civic affairs. When a quorum is lacking, meetings must be cancelled to the inconvenience of the public that a particular body serves. A case in point was this week's meeting of the Heppner Planning & Zoning Commission, where only three of the seven members showed up. The agenda included considera- Editor's Notebook tion for a number of conditional use permits for the installation of mobile homes. One person who had a scheduled request before the commission had brought his attorney here from Pendleton, presumably at some expense to himself. The chairman, Terry Hager, announced a rescheduled meeting for Aug. 27 and offered his apologies to the public in attendance: He announced he would be writing a letter to the City Council as well as to the individual members of the commission. .The intent of his message seems to be clear .-Either serve or resign and give some other interested person the opportu nity of taking on a civic chore. WHAT OTHERS SAY Congressmen and senators receive so much mail that they often use "gang pens" to sign their outgoing correspondence. These are banks of pens arranged so that with a single flourish several letters may be signed at once. In spite of their volume of mail as many as 5,000 letters a week in the case of Oregon's Sen. Bob Packwood the legislators try to maintain the personal touch in their replies to constituents. When Packwood was in Heppner last week, one of his aides, assistant press secretary Bob Witeck, said Packwood has never had to use the gang pens. Instead, he has a secretary who has developed a very good facsimile of the Packwood signature. She signs many of his letters and adds a personal comment, when appropriate. Witeck said the aides who go through the incoming mail know whose letters should be sent directly to the Senator's desk. The CIA is coming in out of the cold. In a letter addressed to the "foreign editor" of the Gazette-Times, a number of publications of the Central Intelligence Agency are being advertised as available to the public. They may be purchased from the National Technical Information Ser vice of the U.S. Department of Commerce. One monthly publication, available at $36 a year, is a directory of chiefs of state and cabinet members of foreign govern ments for more than 150 countries, including some not yet fully independent and others not even officially recognized by the United States. Other publications deal with economic information about Communist and non Communist nations, of value to businesses in the export or import market. Plainly, the CIA is not made up solely of spies and assassins but includes deskbound analysts who may know more about the nations they study than those who engage in clandestine feats of derring-do. New industries? The idea of bringing industry or manufacturing to rural communities has been investigated recently by Gene Summers, a rural sociologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His conclusions are interesting and pertinent. "Things begin to' change with new industry but not always as expected. Summers found that counties with new industry were able to raise more revenue. These same communities, however, found government expenditures rapidly rising to cope with costs associated with new industry. These include police, medical facilities, schools, fire protection, streets, roads and expansion of government itself. "Population growth often accom panies a new plant. New people move and fewer people move in and fewer leave the community. From the public sector prospective, people cost money and more people cost more money." "To local business, new industry and more people mean more purchases of goods and services if sales don't go to regional or national suppliers and if payrolls don't leave the community to be spent in nearby shopping centers." "There is some myth mixed with realities concerning rural industrial dev elopment," Summers concluded. "Com munities should consider alternative sources or revenue before deciding industrial growth is the only answer." Vale's geothermal resource can be considered very advantageous to some kinds of commercial development. Just what and how is up for debate. Certainly one practical use has been found by developers of the Oregon Trail Mushroom facility that is now awaiting completion of its financing program before beginning construction. The addition of new commercial developments related to agriculture, and using the potential of our geothermal resource are a definite possibility for the Vale area. Malheur Enterprise ' fillip; ! ' riT;,:tf; . ; J I y-w"'' t i -t i ite&M I ' 111 111 & MM -.Iff: ' . , ' iff a Hn ih'li I- ! T5 - - If f - f 1 ; f " , if$Zr : r'V s ,v i . r k. i rl "' 1 , f fZ a" i 'k , , , ,, r. M . M Marking their ballots in poll Voters lined up to cast their votes in the special Hospital . levy election Thursday in the old Heppner City Library. Heppner and Ruggs precincts produced the heaviest turnout in the county and the number of yes votes, 528, exceeded the countywide total of no votes, 459. It was the third and last hospital levy election of the summer and ensured continued operation of Pioneer Memorial Hospital and" the North Morrow Clinic. Irrfr 'r PV it r ci IP ... Legislative Report from the State Capital EXCLUSIVE to Oregon's Weekly Newspa pers from Associated Oregon Industries. Salem Scene By Jock Zimmerman By Jack Zimmerman Now that the dust has settled following adjournment of the 60th Legislative Assembly in Salem, it appears lawmakers established at least one record and came within a whisker of matching several olhcr all-time marks. Biggest recent legislative news, however, involves Gov. Victor Atiyeh's veto of 19 bills one short of the 2(i-vcto record established by then-Gov. Bob Straub following the 1977 session. The large number of vetoes two years ago produced a rash of bumper stickers in the Capital City proclaiming: "I've been Straubed!" So far none have appeared in response to the Atiyeh vetoes. The single new record appears to be the total number of bills enacted by both houses. That stands at 903, compared with 899 last session. Altogether, the 60th Assembly enacted or approved a grand total of 964 measures, including bills, resolutions and memorials 14 shy of the 978 total in 1977. Lawmakers came within minutes of matching the 178-day length-of-session record set in 1973, adjourning at 11:25 p.m. on this session's 177th day. Total measures introduced this session stands at 2435, considerable fewer than the record of 2812 proposed in 1977 and a figure less than the total for any session since 1971. Although no serious flap has deve loped following announcement of the Atiyeh vetoes, there is always the possibility the Legislature will attempt to overturn them when the Assembly again meets in special or regular session. A quick analysis of the vetoed bills indicates 10 were disapproved by Atiyeh for technical reasons while the remain ing vetoes likely were invoked largely on the basis of philosophy. Gov. Atiyeh also let an additional six bills become law without affixing his signature to them. This is a gubernator ial prerogative indicating he didn't completely favor the bills but his displeasure was not great enough to actually kill them. The six are Senate Bill 13, relating to political activities of OLCC licensees; SB 252, relating to bedding regulations; House Bill 2479, defining danger or threat to public welfare; HB 2529, relating to smoking bans; HB 2540, relating to property tax relief, and HB 3144, relating to Crabtree Valley property. Vetoed for what appeared to be technical reasons were SB 58, relating to collective bargaining; SB 274, relating to piloting aircraft under the influence of intoxicating liquor; SB 562, relating to burden of proof in suits to enforce public meeting law; SB 689, relating to classifying Parole Board members as police officers; SB 906, relating to controlled substances ; HB 2137, relating to confidentiality of records; HB 2377, relating to OLCC food sale requirement ; HB 2520, relating to registration of electrologists; HB 2759, relating to juror challenges in death penalty cases, and HB 2772, relating to judges' instructions to jurors. In his veto messages, Gov. Atiyeh indicated the foregoing were disap proved because of technical flaws, redundancies or conflicts with existing statutes or constitutional provisions. Vetoed for what appears to be more philosophical reasons were SB11, re lating to the Board of Auctioneers; SB 19, relating to warehousing of wine; SB11, relating to care, placement and super vision of children committed to Child ren's Services Division; SB 201, relating to Wage & Hour Commission; SB 458, relating to protection of employees against discrimination; SB 890, relating to moratoria on construction and land development; SB 930, relating to' regulation of auto dealers; HB 2487, relating to changes in the public employees' retirement law, and HB 2967, relating to billboard removal and compensation. The Governor's veto messages on these bills referred to necessity of certain regulatory activity, maintaining a free competitive atmosphere in the market place, maintaining balance between judicial, legislative and executive branches of government, maintenance of local control and mandating fiscal actions on local government. At the conclusion of the bill-signing process, Atiyeh complained the Gover Cont. on page 5 J OIJPA Oregon Newspaper Publisher! Association The Official Newspaper of the City of Heppner and the County of Morrow The Heppner GAZETTE-TIMES Morrow County's Award-Winning Weekly Newspaper U.S.P.S. 240-420 Published every Thursday and entered u second-class matter at the Post Office at Heppner, Oregon under the Art of March3, 1879. Second-class postage paid it Heppner, Oregon SUBSCRIPTION RATE 18.00 In Morrow, Unatilla, Wheeler & Gilliam County; $10.00 elsewhere Jerome F. Sheldon, Publisher Jane H- Sheldon, Co-Publisher Terry M. Hager, General Manager Jim Hackelt, News Editor Eileen Soling, Office Manager Gayle Rush, AdvertisingComposition Melissa Scott, Composition Cindj heny. Office Justine Weatherford, Local Columnist 0 Sifting through the TIMES 1929 Fifty years ago, Robert Hart, who had been with the Sam Turner threshing crew during the summer was injured when struck on the forehead by the heavy fork that carries back the straw from the stationary machine. The moorings of the derrick came loose suddenly, releasing the implement which descended upon the lad. He suffered a deep gash to the head. The accident occured at the Harry Turner place in Sand Hollow. C.W. Smith, county agent, left Tuesday night on a two week vacation with W.O. Bayless, accompanying a shipment of 8 carloads of lambs made by C.W. McNamer and R.A. Thompson on a consignment to eastern buyers. Heppner 's new boxing commission functioned for the first time with a fight on Saturday. In the main event, Browny Buskirk of Pendleton defeated John Gideon of Centralia, Wash. The two preliminaries were highlighted by knockouts with Kid Johnson of Los Angeles hitting the solar plexis of Spud Murphy, Salem and Kid Weston taking a knockout from Merle Cummings of Heppner. In the regular food ads, the MacMarr Stores located in the Heppner Hotel advertised a box of tomatoes for 89 cents, bananas for 39 cents for 3 lbs., 45 cents for fancy bulk peanut butter, two lbs. and two dozen ears of corn for 43 cents. The new Majestic Radio was advertised by' the LaToureell Auto Company. For the cheaper model, buyers could purchase a model for $149.50; the more expensive model was $179.50. And Ferguson Chevrolet Co. of Heppner, owned by E.R. Lundell, lone, was advertising the new six cylinder Chevrolet for $595, noting that the new car would pick up better than 20 miles to the gallon. "The Grip of the Yukon" starring Neil Hamilton, Francis X Bushman and June Marlow was showing at the Star Theater. 1954 Twenty-five years ago, the Gazette reported that a thunderstorm which hit Heppner and this section of Morrow County early Sunday brought an assort ment of rain, hail and lightning which caused only a small amount of damage to crops but put a temporary stop to most harvesting operations. The final princess dance' was announced in honor of Princess Christine Swagart, who was sponsored by the Lena community. Rev. Lester' Boulden, pastor of the Heppner Methodist Church was named Tuesday night as" president of the Morrow County chapter of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis at a meeting of chapter officers and mem bers. The Heppner Elks Lodge offered to donate half of the necessary funds for lighting the rodeo field. Football practice was slated to begin August 24. The opening season game was scheduled against Pilot Rock. The lone swimming pool was given a Class A rating. 1974 National Weather Service personnel completed installation of flash flood alarm systems on Shobe Canyon and Balm Fork. Only two of these were located in the Columbia Basin and both were in Heppner, according to Dave Bauman, National Weather Service, River Forecast Center. "After a sustained absence of 22 years, I can notice a lot of changes in Morrow County," Matthew Doherty, Morrow County's new school supt. told the Heppner Chamber of Commerce. Doherty told chamber members he never dreamed agriculture would link northern and southern parts of the county together and his biggest surprise came when he saw a load of logs coming down Butter Creek. Jerry Eyestone, government coordi nator for the Willow Creek Dam Project was scheduled as the next speaker at the chamber. Don Bristow of Bristow's Market, lone, reported a burglary at the market in lone sometime Saturday night, August 3. Final preparations were made for the upcoming fair.
