Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 1979)
The Heppner Gazette -Times, lleppner, Oregon, Thursday, November 1, 1979 THREE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Morrow County lacks funds to support basic high school services for lone (The following letter was submitted for publication.) Dear Board Members of the Morrow County School Dis trict Rl and County Citizens: When we moved from Hepp ner to lone fifteen years ago there were two grocery stores struggling to survive in the town of lone. There was not enough economic activity to sustain two robust grocery stores capable of offering what the com munity needed in the way of goods and services. Shortly thereafter one grocery store moved, and the remain ing store blossomed, giving the community a widely stocked store that can well serve the people's needs rather than two stores carry ing duplicate, inadequate fare. This same set of economic conditions is crunching in exorably down upon the Mor row County School District. No one, and I mean no one, has wanted to force the people of lone to do anything they have not wanted to do, as long as it did not hurt the quality of the school programs in the rest of the county. Unfortu nately, the day has arrived when all the programs are hurting. There is not enough tax money available to do all that is needed. What money we do have should be used in the best interests of all Morrow County students. The curriculum at Riverside High School and Heppner High School is the minimum that should be offered. The curriculum at lone High School is not minimum, largely due to difficulties in scheduling what is offered. The students de serve a more well-rounded program particularly in agri culture, our basic industry. Our salary schedule in Morrow County is so low (excepting for the starting salary ) that we risk losing our good experienced teachers that we would like to retain. We are also risking a teach er's strike eventually, of course, or a mass of poor teachers, or a lack of continu ity districtwide such as lone High School struggles with. So where do we look for economies in our school sys tem? We can't cut the bare-bone curriculum. We can't cut the teachers' sala ries, as we need to raise them instead. We could cut out all extra curricular activities, but only at the risk of producing other problems, such as dis ruptive, frustrated students. There is really only one area in which the county is spend ing excess school dollars per student, and additionally not giving the students the curri culum that is needed to function in the world we live in today. Quite a few people in the area recognize this fact. They would like to have the choice of where to send their children to high school if they wish additional curriculum. ' The Morrow County School Board voted them this right. In doing so, the board was following policy adhered to by previous administrations. In practical application, however, Supt. Doherty has negated the transfer policy derived after many meetings and much time and effort. He has done this because of pressure from a few friends, having himself graduated from lone High School. His actions are clearly in defiance of good school administration policy, as well as in defiance of a currently established school board policy and past administrative policy. Where is he leading us? Shall we wait to see if north Morrow County sickens of being told all three schools have to be treated equally, or be equal, when this is an impossibility under the pre sent set up? Or shall we wait until we have only teachers that can't get a job elsewhere? Or a teachers' strike? Or undesirable cuts in needed programs? Do we really want to break up an economically desirable county school system? South Morrow County helped to build schools in north Morrow County when it was sagebrush country with no tax base to speak of. Do we really wish to split it up when the tax base could finally be a real asset to north and south Morrow County alike? Nationwide the school popu lation is ebbing during the next decade. We have ade quate classroom space at a good facility in Heppner for the projected student popula tion in south Morrow County. A gradual transition could have come about naturally, and much less painfully, if Supt. Doherty had told his friends that he had to abide by school board policy. It was the only responsible reply. He did not do this. Our school system cannot afford this type of leadership. Chaos awaits us if we drift with Supt. Doherty. We need an experienced educator who will be objective about our district's problems to guide us through the difficult economic times ahead. The county school system that could evolve with one strong high school in the north end and one equally strong high school in the south end has possibilities of being the best system in the state, both economically and education ally. Or we can break down completely with political in fighting whereby everybody is the loser the taxpayers and students alike. The children of all the communities function gladly and freely together. Can the adults? Let your school board mem bers know how you feel. Everybody deserves a voice in the direction your school system takes. Yours truly, Meg Murray Many old friends are heard from Editor: Thanks so very much for letting our old friends know through their readership of the G-T of the passing of our wonderful mother, Cyrene C. Miller. We are receiving cards and letters from throughout the USA from those who subscribe to our favorite hometown newspaper. We also want to thank those who worked with Suzanne Jepsen and Melba Miller in organizing a luncheon at the Episcopal church following the services in Heppner on October 13. We visited with friends and relatives we hadn't seen in years. We are most proud that our "roots" started in Heppner, where folks still care about one another. James G. Barratt 3920 NW Jameson Drive Corvallis, OR 97330 William F. Barratt Rt. 3 Box 520 Spokane, WA 99203 Rain cuts harvests in state In the last Farm Labor Information bulletin of the season, the State Employment Division reported that rain during the past week coninues to delay most harvests throughout Oregon. However, all areas report adequate help is available. Potato harvests continue in the Hermiston, Klamath Falls, Madras and Ontario areas and walnut harvests are continuing in the Hillsboro, McMinnville and Salem areas. Sugar beet harvests are continuing and onion harvests are nearing completion in the Ontario area, the State Em ployment Division reports. MI Irk Anderson for Director from Rural Zone (3) Columbia Basin Electric Cooperative trie mil give important balance to our area utility Board of Directors VOTE & mail your ballot back Ad paid by: Eldon Padberg Fritz Cutsforth Co-chairmen; Elect Eric Anderson committee s f e i Morrow mint farms rank first in state 0 Vv THEY'RE PLASTKKI.M; (ienny and James Phillips of Hermiston were working this weekend on the Senior Citizens' Neighborhood t enter in Heppner. They are dry-wall plasterers whose work takes them throughout Morrow and Umatilla counties. They pose here on their rig parked opposite the fire station. Ullman worried about foreign investments in U.S. farmland Oregon Congressman Al Ullman has expressed con cern about foreign investment in U.S. farmland and other real estate and said the tax laws must not give unfair advantage to foreigners. Ullman, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, made his remarks at the opening of a hearing he called to consider various proposals for changes in taxing foreign investors in U.S. property. "I want to make certain that these foreign investors are not getting tax breaks which are not available to our own farmers," Ullman said. A recent survey by the U.S. Department of Agriculture indicated foreign investment in rural land is growing, but remains a tiny part of this country's agricultural land. Ullman, who represents the largely rural 2nd district in Oregon, said the examination also should extend to foreign investment in all U.S. real estate. Some of the proposals be fore the Ways and Means Committee would tax foreign investors on gains from the sale of farmland and other rural land. The Administra tion has proposed taxing the gains from the sale of any U.S. real estate by foreign inves tors. "Our only interest is to see that our tax laws do not give unfair advantage to the for eign investors," Ullman noted. Morrow County certified mint growers are No. one in the state, reports Harold Kerr, Morrow County Extension Service Agent. "We are not number one in mint oil production, but we are number one in acres of certified mint rootstock," he said. "In fact, 74.5 percent of all the certified peppermint and spearmint rootstock grown in Oregon is grown in Morrow' County." Growers in Morrow County are: Far West Farms, Board man; Jerald Rea, Lexington; Sabre Farms, Boardman; C.K. Peck, Lexington and Lee Padberg, Lexington. Varieties grown include Mitehams Peppermint, Todd's Mitcham Peppermint, Murray's Mitcham Pepper mint, Scotch Spearmint and Native Spearmint. In February of 1977, Morrow County was established as a mint disease control area. Kerr said this action placed the following restrictions on mint production; . Allow change of ownership of propagation mint rootstock within the control area only if such stock is Oregon State University Certified 11 or better or has been certified by the Oregon Department of Agriculture. ..Limit importation of mint rootstocks into the control area to Oregon State Univer sity Certified 11 or better rootstock. ..Require mint growers to submit mint field maps indica ting location and certification of mint rootstock. . . Require mint growers to retain documentation of mint rootstock sources and main tain maps of new plantings. .And, provide for inspection of mint fields by the Oregon Dept. of Agriculture if such are not eligible for Oregon State University certification. The purpose of this control area is to control the spread of Verticillium Wilt in mint fields. Commercial mint growers have become very concerned about the spread of this disease and are very interested in buying mint roots which are verticillium wilt free. Lists of certified growers and acreage of each variety is available at the Morrow County Extension office. Some 458,000 Vietman ve terans returned from the war with a disability, according to the President's Committee on Employment of the Handicapped. (HO Mm .. gtrifeeafatalMoto 1 I xfts. to inflation. ifl I I HfkA Nabisco 'I I I Ml sm- 1 Double Chip Cookies 88 c I I ;j Q. Quiv$f 21itre p,u$depos, 59c Jl 11 P lli;!' Western Family 1 ' j I 1 V,.,,,,, ..mv Strawberry, or apricot pineapple Jam $139 V II 32 W; I Shady Glen 1 K I I r a Mushrooms Stems & P,eces 52 e I , I 4 oi. I ! QaGteB 1 Bag Snacks 69e ! f ' J ' J V. ir,K rm Mmmmimm '- Vg P0QCll6S $llCed Or holVCS I' I I Ij Hss pacific Friend I 1 III f 1 Q-qI, ftHeat $1" j I Hi iWM 6 oi; "ZZZ (II fMmMi Mmmm) " Mill II 1 Wl teitffi ffim J1 --M ARRET :' , llh Hj Prices effective N...1.W lj i" ' 1 1 i II ""TilJ Ri n B , I n f tizriH rn- i n a w . w i 1 i e i in . in u , i rr-n -n rir-T-Tr''" ' ' i 'U " m n n zr a i X f ! ( 1
