Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 15, 1979)
JV'"' W H" i-sft'' V'11'5 TWO The Heppner Gazette-Times. Heppner, Oregon, Thursday, November 15, 1979 ONPA Omgon N,papi Publxhvit Alloc iaon The Official Newspaper of the City of Heppner and the ' County of Morrow The Heppner GAZETTE-TIMES Morrow County's Rome-Owned Weekly Newspaper U.S.P.S. 240-420 Published every Thursday and entered as second-class matter at the Post office al Heppner, Oregon under the Act of March 3. 1879 Second-class postiige paid at Heppner, Oregon. Office at 147 West Willow Street. Telephone, (503) K7-92L8. Address communications to the Heppner Gazette Times. P.O. Box 3:17, Heppner, Oregon. 97K.ili SKiHt in w. I'matilla. Wheeler & Gilliam counties: $10.00 elsewhere. Senior Citizen Rate. $5.00 Jerome K Sheldon. Publisher Jane H. Sheldon. Associate Publisher Eileen Sahng. Office Manager Steve A Powell, News Editor Cheryle Greenup, Advertising, Chloe Pearson, Composition Composition Betty Green. Office. Composition ANOTHER VIEWPOINT Car crisis in Education Laugh if you like, cry if you like, doubt if you like; but it is an indisputable fact that education would be far better off if the automobile had never been invented. There are approximately 110,000,000 automobiles in the United States (this does not include trucks and buses); and surely high school and junior college administrators must feel, many times, that more than half of them are in school parking lots. Why are automobiles bad for education? There isn't enough room in this editorial to list all the reasons and the why's. But as a starter: except, perhaps, for television, probably nothing distracts and diminishes learning more than student cars. When they are not spending their time in cars and this could be a whole book in itself, they are expending time, energy and dollars in the purchase of a car or the upkeep of a car. Millions of cars are used for business and professional purposes or family errands of one type or another (both necessary and unnecessary); but kiddy cars are used primarily for fun and frolic. True , not many parents are going to go on record against fun and frolic, but today that fun and frolic (in cars) is (1) terribly expensive in dollars; (2) terribly wasteful, from the standpoint of energy consumption; and (3) a costly distraction, if not an outright deterrent to learning. If, however, you are bored with learning, and not too concerned with environmental conditions that may distract students from academic pursuits, you may be a little more concerned about life and death. Each year there are normally (or abnornally, depending upon your point of view)45 to 55,000 fatalities (about one-half involving young people) due to motor vehicle accidents. Since a sizable percentage of these are teenagers, we might conclude that automobiles are injurious to teenage health if not to their learning. If we set fatalitites aside and simply examine motor vehicle accidents, in general, there are 15,800,000 of these each year, in which, again, teenagers play a vital role. It is true that fun and frolic occurred in the horse and buggy days, too; but "escape" was somewhat more difficult then. Whether you look upon the teenager and the car as a tragedy or a comedy, it is a severe headache to school administrators, throughout the country and a seriously disruptive force in education. Reprinted from "Western Views" Educational Research Associates A nonprofit educational research corporation Biggest Business by Ed Curran U.S. Department of Agriculture Agriculture today isn't simply big business, it's Ar ?rica's biggest business. Its assets exceed $800 billion. That's about 75 percent the assets of all manufacturing corporations in the nation. It also employs more workers than the nation's transporta tion, auto and steel industries combined. Last year, the cash receipts from farm marketings the money farmers received for the livestock and the crops sold from their farms totaled a record $110 billion. That's up from a previous high of $96 billion in 1977, more than double the total of 1970. Sif ting through the TIMES7 V 192)1 Fifty years ago Geo N. Peck of Lexington explained to the Lions Club in Heppngr that if the freight rate of a bushel of wheat was dropped by only four cents, farmers in Morrow County could pocket an addi tional $60,000 annually. The Eastern Oregon Wheat League and other farm orga nizations were fighting to lower the freight rate. The Heppner grammar school put on a musical play about a story that is not often thought of as a musical. The students sang the story of Rip Van Winkle. Heppner High School de feated Hermiston 21-6 in the Armistice Day game. David G. Glass spoke at the Armistice Day program in Heppner in front of a very large crowd. He made a strong plea for universal peace. He was the substitute speaker for Dr. D.V. Ploing, who was injured in an automobile accident and could not make it. A rodent control meeting was held in Heppner. County agent C.W. Smith was in charge with the help of Ira N. Gabrielson, state rodent con trol leader from Oregon State College. Smith said the county is becoming infested with rats and the meetings showed interested persons what to do to control the rats and olher rodents. The boys' and girls' glee clubs al Heppner High School gave free performances to the public. For many years, spectators were asked to pay to go to school performances but Jas. M. Burgess, school superintendant, said that was not fair. A big carnival and dance was planned to be held Nov. 22 at Lexington High School. The Heppner Black Cats, the band that plays the peppiest and best music in the country and makes the old young again, was scheduled to perform at the big carnival. The state game commission said it had arrested 69 more persons the past year than the year before which will add $4,000 more money to the fund than the previous year. 1!I5I Twenty-five years ago the residents of lone were hit with the TV bug as A.E. Stefani and Noel Dobyns set up a test set on a hill just east of the town. A tent was set up with a TV receiver inside and every night 50 to 75 persons crowded into the tent to watch TV. The reception was reported as being good. Parents of band members sold $110 worth of food on election day and they planned a candy sale for the middle of December and a carnival for Jan. 15 to make money for the band. . Sarah McNamera donated $1,000 to Heppner High School to set up a student loan fund to aid junior and senior college students who have graduated from the school. A stipulation for the donation was that the PTA match the donation. Pioneer Memorial Hospital had an addition to the build ing. A new wing was built at the north end to match the one on the south. New bedrooms, a health center and an office for the county health nurse were planned to be put in the new wing. 1974 Five years ago the commit tee that was looking for a doctor to come to Heppner hit a snag when all seven doctors who showed an interest still had anywhere from one to three years left in training before they could begin practice. Some of the families at the Episcopal Church decided to cook their Turkey Day birds at the parish hall and they invited all lonely persons in the community to come to dinner. "Don't Eat Alone," come join us the church members said. The Kinzua Corp. re-opened after being shut down for a month because of boiler prob lems. James Ronald Stipe was fined and put in jail for shooting a cow owned by Terry Thompson. He was fined $605, spent five days in jail, had his hunting rights suspended for three years and agreed to pay the owner of the cow $200. Ken Belcher, manager of the First National Bank in Heppner, was named chair man of the Morrow County Rodeo Board. Bruce Young was the Gazette-Times mystery person and 200 persons identified h'im correctly. Mrs. Lewis Halvor sen won the prize when her name was drawn from the 200 entries. Van Rietmann of lone was elected board president of the Columbia Basin Electrical Cooperative . Legislative Report from the State Capital EXCLUSIVE to Oregon's Weekly Newspa pers from Associated Oregon Industries. Salem Scene Workers comp in the news again By Jack Zimmerman Workers' Compensation In surance is making news in Salem again. The system by which Ore gon administers care and compensation for injured workers is a major source of news emanating from the Capitol during regular bien nial sessions of the State Legislature. And now it ap pears Workers' Comp will be just as important from a news standpoint during the non-legislative year to come. The reason is basically the same that brings the issue to prominence during each legis lative session staggering in creases in program cost. Premiums for Workers' Compensation Insurance cost Oregon employers $74 million in 1968. Total cost of those premiums doubled in 1972, doubled again by 1976 and exceeded an overwhelming half-billion dollars in 1978. Premiums this year are expected to approach the $600 million mark! The increases have earned Oregon the distinction of being the highest Workers' Comp cost state in the nation. And considering premiums are wholly paid by employers and thus become a cost of doing business, one begins to under stand why the issue is attract ing constant attention. Costs Rising Successive sessions of the legislature have tackled the problem with less than effec tive success. Costs continue to escalate. Repeated studies indicate those costs are largely the result of liberal judicial inter pretations of existing state law and the expense of medical treatment. For the most part, legislative action appears the only solution. Lawmakers in 1977 for instance, succeeded in streamlining the appeal pro cure for Workers' Comp cases by eliminating appellate action in circuit courts. But any savings gained by elimi nating that costly court proce dure were lost to inflation and constantly rising costs of medical care. Lawmakers in 1977 also made major changes in the system designed to separate administrative and appellate responsibilities. A Workers' Compensation Department was created to administer the program and the Workers' Comp Board was to function as an appeals body. The legislature earlier this year enacted another statute aimed ostensibly at providing uniformity in the appeals process for disability cases. And rules arising from that law are causing the current controversy. Claims Procedure Under the present system involving disability cases, an injured worker's disabling claim is established first by his doctor and referred to the Workers' Compensation De partment's Evaluation Divi sion. If the worker is not satisfied with the Evaluation Division's decision, he can appeal to the Workers' Comp Board's Hearings Division. A hearing referee examines the claim and may affirm Evalua tion's decision, reduce it or raise it. If the worker still is not satisfied, he may appeal to the WC Board itself and again if not satisfied the Oregon Court of Appeals and some times to the Supreme Court. A study of disposition of disability cases last year revealed that some 48 percent of Evaluation's decisions were being appealed and that the Hearings Division was in creasing the amount of award in 72.9 percent of cases appealed. Consequently, Director Roy Green of the Workers' Com pensation Department act ing in accordance with author ity he believes was established by the 1979 law has proposed new rules to provide unifor mity at all steps of the appeals process. Setting Guidelines They are aimed at providing the same guidelines for esta blishing disability of unsche duled injuries mainly hurts of head, neck, back and trunk for use by the Evalua tions and Hearing Division, LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Hoo-ray for Meg Murray, she's right on education Editor: Hoo-ray for Meg Murray. I agree, our children should be given the opportunity to choose the best education offered. If lone is giving less to their students, it turns into an unfair situation for them. We live on the very end of. Morrow County. My children could go to Echo or Heppner for their education. They are attending the Heppner schools because they knew Heppner offered a better education. I think this is the same situation that the school sys tems are having in all small, isolated counties. All students should be able to attend the school that gives them the best education. Hermiston now has a pri vate school for those who felt ' their children were not re ceiving a fair "education" in Echo. The waiting list is getting longer every month. Can this happen in Morrow County? Dorothy Hawkins, Star Route Echo, Ore. 97826 Tax Measure six alive, well, going to voters in November 1980 Editor: Attention all dissatisfied tax payers. The successor to Measure 6 is alive and well and on it's way to submission to the voters in November 1980. Now that the tax statements are out, it should be obvious that the legislature never seriously intended an overall reduction of property taxes. The only answer is to place a one percent limit on property taxes in the constitution where the legislature can't tinker with it. Want to help?? Can you carry a petition?? Your sup port is needed to make the 1 percent limit the law. Your support, moral, physical and financial is necessary to bypass a legislature that no longer listens. Write Oregonians for Tax Relief., P.O. Box 24, North Bend. OR 97459, Orvin C. Stanwood. Chairman. Orvin C. Stanwood 264 Pierce Point Road North Bend, Ore. 97459 the Workers' Compensation Board and courts. In essence they would prevent increases in disabling claims unless there is a demonstrable change in the worker's condi tion or an error committed at the evaluations level. Green believes such rules would provide greater equity for workers and employers likely raise the initial benefit for all claimants, reduce the situation that now sees about half the disabling claims appealed and three-fourths of those granted higher awards and elimination of as much as $4 million dollars annually in non-productive legal costs. The controversy arising in response to his proposal involves whether the rules follow legislative intent. The law granting his rule-making authority refers to providing general guidelines for evalua tion of permanent disabilities in accordance with existing law. Green's guidelines in elude charts and graphs. Circumventing Intent Opponents point out law makers struck reference to charts and graphs during passage of the law substitut ing "in accordance with existing law." At the same time the new law contains no prohibition of the use of charts and graphs. Nonetheless, opponents largely members of the legal profession involved in the appeals process of the system claim Green is circumven ting legislative intent. A hearing has been conduc ted on the rules and written testimony still is being accep ted. Legislative Council Com mittee plans to review the rules next month as part of its Administrative Rules Review function. It is empowered only to make a recommendation to Green and the WC Director is not required to accept that recommendation. Regardless, it appears likely that if the rules are put into use, the issue will be taken to the Court of Appeals. And that will take time. It also likely will provide still another Workers' Compensation issue for further resolution during the 1981 session of the Legisla ture. All of which tends to reveal little more than the fact this increasingly costly care and compensation system has be come so huge and unwieldly that modification to reduce mounting expense appears almost hopeless. Fish and Wildlife Comm. meeting The Fish and Wildlife Com- Wildlife Department head mission wil conduct a general quarters, 506 S.W. Mill Street business meeting beginning at in Portland. 9 a.m. Nov. 16, at Fish and C Heppner Auto Parts . ..it . ... r s r- " 234 N.Main Heppner 676-9123 - g Tuesday, Wednesday, I Friday I Call For Appointment Donna's 360 e. Aiken 676-5393 676-9909 M&R FLOOR COVERINI The RdDCO FoamerS ririwt Linoleum. 422 Linden Woy Ceramic Tile, Kitchen oo-v.o Cabinets, Rapco Insulation HePPner CASE FURNITURE Heppner Carpet, Linoleum, Counter Tops Installed Beauty Rest mattresses, Fabrics and Accessories, Sherwin Williams Paint TIIRNFR oi aCC youx Jmuxanae. nctAs. VAN MARTER B & BRYANT 0m 'Dittpfion. 676-9113 LtVtRNB VuMAKTCB. INSURANCE HOWARD brtant 187NOKTM turn TT Mm. omao n f Home Remodeling I Specializing In Aluminum Siding and repair of old siding Storm Window! and Doort Prime Windows Small Remodeling Jobs c MEDICAL CENTER PHARMACY Free MaiUof Service On Pnacriptnu Hospital Suppbn Mon.-Fri. 94 pjn. Sa. 9-1p.m. Located m the Mediod Center 1100 Southgite Pendleton 276-1531 SWEENEY MORTUARY Cemetery, Grave Markers 676-9600 Granite, Marble, Bronze or 676-9226 Serving lone, Lexington & Heppner p.o. Box 97 (JAYNESl BUSINESS MAC HIKES c Service calls every Wednesday in Heppner, lone and Lexington 332 S. Main St., Pendleton Telephone 276-6441 811 N. Pint, Hermiwon Telephone 567-2731 Chevron GLENN DEVIN It53 Chevron USA, Inc. Commission Agent 676-9633 flit- UiKwMWi Heppner Boaidman Morrow County Abstract & Trtia Company Tttie Insurance Escrow Service 676-99! 2 431-9261
