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
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