Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 13, 1979)
TWO The Hepper Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon, Thursday, December 13, 1979 K g The Official Newspaper of the City of Heppner and the ' County of Morrow J ONFA Oregon Niapi The Heppner GAZETTE-TIMES Morrow Couty's Boae-Owatd Wttklj HewsMPtr U.S.P.S. 240-420 Published every Thunday and entered as second-class mailer al the Post Office at Heppner. Oregon under the Act of March 3. 1879. Second-class postage paid at Heppner. Oregon. Office at 147 West Willow Street Telephone. 1503) 076-9221 Address communications fo the Heppner Gazette-Times. P 0. Box 337. Heppner, Oregon. 978:lli Sum in Murrou. Umatilla. Wheeler & Gilliam counties: 110 00 elsewhere. Senior Citizen Rate. $5 on Jerome F. Sheldon, Publisher Steven A. Powell, News Editor The Political Map Next April the census takers will be making their decennial head count of the people in the United States. The new population figures will provide the basis for reapportionment, not only for the U.S. Congress but for various state legislatures. In a recent talk in Bend, State Treasurer Clay Myers reported that for the first time in a century, eastern Oregon will not lose representation. He was directing his remarks to an audience in Deschutes County, which he described as being proportionally the fastest growing in Oregon. He said the county would have its representation increased from eight-ninths of one represen tative to 1.3 representatives. In contrast, Multonomah County, which includes the Portland area, will lose three representatives and IV2 senators after the 1980 census, Myers declared. The City of Portland will lose most of the representation while Gresham, also in Multnomah County, will gain, Myers said. Forty years ago, Multnomah County contained 34 percent of Oregon's population but by 1980 it will contain only 21 to 22 percent. Myers said the greatest population growth in 40 years, besides Deschutes, has been in Washington, Josephine and Morrow counties. Last week, Morrow's legislator, Rep.' Billy Bellamy of Culver, was in Heppner for the livestock growers' convention. In a brief interview, he had some remarks to add to the question of reapportionment. Now, his constituency known as District 55 stretches from the Willamette Valley to eastern Oregon. He represents not only Morrow County but Gilliam, Jefferson, Sherman and portions of Clackamas, Linn, Marion and Wasco counties. It's a diverse territory. The one thing that all of these counties have in common is that there are no large population centers only small towns, Bel lamy said. After the 1980 census, he said, there are certain to be changes in the district boundaries. There is "talk" (he didn't specify by whom) that Umatilla and Morrow counties might be combined as one legislative district. Or, perhaps, Morrow County might be split in its representation, the northern part of the county being attached to Umatilla, following the present lines of economic interest; and the southern part of the county continuing its link to Gilliam and Sherman counties. However the legislative map may be redrawn, Bellamy said, it would be to Morrow County's advantage. Its representa tion would be stronger. If the county were divided between two districts, it would have double the present voting and vocal power in the House of Representatives at Salem. There was no discussion in the interview with Bellamy asto how the State Senate would be reapportioned. Sen. Ken Jernstedt of Hood River speaks for a district as diverse as that of Bellamy's House district. The new census figures will become known in the latter part of 1980. Then, it will be up to the Legislature to redesign the district boundaries. Practically speaking, Bellamy said, the Legislature probably couldn't agree on a new map. Or, the governor might veto any reapportionment plan. Any citizen may petitionJhePreg for a review of reapportionment plans. At the earliest, the new district lines would be applicable in 1981. Judging from these reports, eastern Oregon may anticipate added power in the statehouse in the coming decade. "Be silent always when you doubt your sense." Alexander Pope Sifting through the TIM lco; 1929 Fifty years ago a Morrow County grand jury returned three secret indictments to the court but the investigation could not be completed until some missing witnesses were able to come to court. The grand jury inspected the county jail and recommended that the jail be cleaned up and kept in more sanitary condi tions. Slight remodeling of the jail was advised. Senator R.J. Carsner said that range conditions were good in the Spray area in a speech in Portland. "Adam and Eva" was the play being performed at Heppner High School. It was a three-act comedy play and admission was 50 cents. Oregon State College was offering three specialized agricultural courses. The courses were in buttermaking for work in creameries, bank ing w6rk for the livestock market and canning. The Black Cat orchestra was performing at the Elks Club and it was the first dance 3 for weeks in Heppner and a large crowd was expected. The Eastern Oregon Wheat League held a meeting in Arlington and an executive session meeting backed the North Pacific Plan of grain selling. Yuletide mailing hits were given by the Post Office. The first hint was to mail as soon as possible. The second, wrap all packaged good and tight. The Lions Club continued to stress for the improvement of roads in Morrow County. They passed three resolutions in favor to continue work on the Heppner to Spray Road, oiling the Heppner to Pilot Rock road and the betterment of the Wallulla cutoff. Two hunters were employed in predatory animal control work in Morrow County. They both bagged 30 coyotes and one bobcat during the month. 1954 Twenty five years ago at least 500 children were expec ted in Heppner to come see Santa Claus. There was a free theatre show afterwards and the Heppner Elks were pas sing out free candy. Dean Graves of Heppner and Mrs. Edna Grimm of Irrigon were awarded with 10-year 4-H pins by Jack Bedford, manager of the First National Bank of Portland. At the same banquet, Mrs. L.A. McCabe of lone was honored as a 10-year 4-H leader, the first person ever to receive the honor in Morrow County. Burglars entered the home of L.L. Robbins and stole the contents of a large piggy bank, a $300 accordian and a 410 gauge shotgun. Robbins was an agricultural teacher at Heppner High School. Seven county farmers signed contracts to grow safflower on 86 acres with a company from California. It was the first time safflower had been grown here in any quantity to see if it could be grown here for profit. The Lions Club was sponsor ing a Christmas lighting contest and three prizes were going to be given out. , The building occupied by Gilliam and Bisbee Hardware was sold to Virden and Rosa Heliums of Pendleton. The 26,500 square foot building, one of the largest in Heppner, was purchased for investment purposes. Gilliam and Bisbee were one of the oldest firms in Heppner having started the business in 1877. 1974 Five years ago approxi mately 200 younsters attended the first coming of Santa. Because of the lack of snow, Santa came on a fire truck instead of in his sleigh. Henry R. Krebs of lone was elected president of the Ore gon Sheep Growers at its annual convention in Eugene. Shirley Rugg, of Heppner was elected 2nd vice-president and Mrs. Dorothy Krebs of lone was elected president of the Oregon Sheep Growers Auxi liary. An Unidentified Flying Ob ject was sighted in Heppner by Ernie Ertz, Bob Lowe and Mrs. Etta Parker. Lowe said he knows people must be saying that they all had been drinking out of the same bottle but he said they were not. Heppner had not had a UFO reported since the 1940's. Legislative Report from the State Capital EXCLUSIVE to Oregon's Weekly Newspa pers from Associated Oregon Industries. Salem Scene Forest industry brings tax relief Most Oregonians under stand the economic signifi cance of the state's forest products industry. They comprehend jobs, pay roll and the products used to construct the homes in which they live. But something relatively few residents of this state consider is the property tax relief provided homeowners by virtue of Oregon's produc tive forests. On an annual basis, the manufacture of forest pro ducts means employment for some 90.000 workers in this state collecting a payroll in excess of $1.2 billion. And on the same yearly standard, productive forests provide another quarter of a billion dollars in property tax relief for homeowners throughout Oregon. That's the subject of a recent study by Jim Carbone. forest taxation director for Associated Oregon Industries in Salem. Carbone's study was promp ted by a newspaper editorial calling attention to the fact homeowners in Lane County's Marcola area received "whop ping" tax bill reductions this year, mainly because of exceptionally large timber severance tax collections off setting property taxes. The reductions, according to the editorial, were even greater than those provided by the state's new property tax relief program. The AIO timber tax special ist believes this substantial side benefit derived from productive, working forests is commonly overlooked "vhen people analyse the importance of Oregon forests. "One can easily see the prosperity and employment created by a healthy forest economy." he said. "But hidden to many is the fact our commercial forests are a ma jor source of property tax relief for Oregon homeown ers." Carbone went on to explain the state's 25 million acres of commercial forest lands gen erate nearly $250 million of tax offset annually. This money from timber and land taxes and state and federal-shared forest revenues is used as a direct offset to the costs of running state and community services costs which other wise would be -paid by homeowners and other pro pery taxpayers. The majority of private forest landowners are taxed bolh on the land and on their crop. Carbone explained. This differs from agricultural land which only pays land tax. Under the Western Oregon severance tax law. woodland ' owners pay an annual tax based on the value of the land. In addition, they pay a tax at time of harvest amountingto 6'- percent of harvestValue. These revenues areaistribu ted back to tlKyVarious taxing districts on the basis of assessed forest land value and annual harvest in each area. x Eastern Oregon's forest tax system is similar and small woodland owners in western Oregon have the option of paying a larger annual tax, based on land productivity, instead of paying the final harvest tax. State and federal forest lands produce revenues for LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Cardinals of early days pictured .- I ' iT - j:Vv "V V.- ( ml I - , O : i If ) lone High School football team in a photo taken many years ago. Editor: Even though the football season has ended, I thought the enclosed picture was interesting and might be of interest to your readers. I found it among my deceased mother's papers. After conferring with some old timers around town, most of them agree on the following identifications: Back row, left to right. 1. Bob Sperry, 2. unknown, 3. Leo Gist. 4. Harold Mason. 5. Mr. Kauffman, coach. 6. Frank Hopkins. Front row, left to right, 1. Merle Blake, 2. Walt Cochran, 3. Roy Blake, 4. Walter Dobyns, 5. Lester Blake, 6. Jesse Jordan. 7. Roy Akers. These may not all be correct. Perhaps readers can help out. Sincerely, KatherineLindstrom lone P.S. I cannot mail this with adding that I thought the article on "Lama.e" which took up at least a quarter oi last week's Gazette-Times front page (Nov. 29 issue) was in very poor taste. I have not heard one person speak in anything but disgust about it. Granted, Lamaze instruction is excellent but we don't need a detailed account on the front page of our county newspaper (dilated to five centimeters, yet!). Surely if a reporter looked hard enough, he might be able to find a subject on which he could "wax elo quent" that would be of interest to a broader range of his readers. K.L. Oregonians based on harvest level. Revenue from harvests in state forests are paid to counties or the Common School Fund. The two most significant federally con trolled revenue producers in volve harvests on National Forest and Oregon & Califor nia (O&C) lands. National Forests are administered by the U.S. Forest Service and include about 11.5 million acres of commercial forest land. Thirty-one counties in whicn these forests are loca ted receive 25 percent of harvest revenues. The Bureau of Land Management man ages O&C lands in 18 counties and distributes 50 percent of those timber revenues back to the counties involved. Carbone's report indicates that although all Oregonians derive some economic benefit from the working forests, the degree of tax relief varies widely among counties and taxing district depending on the amount of forest land, type of ownership and level of harvest in each. One method of looking at the tax relief is to determine the reduction in tax rate produced by timber offsets. Statewide, that reduction averages approximately $5.34 per thousand dollars of asses sed value. In other words, according to Carbone, the average owner of a $50,000 home in Oregon is paying about $267 less property tax each year thanks to the working forests. In some highly timbered areas the largest part of a district's budget is paid for by timber offsets. Tax rates in Sweet Home School Dist. 55 would be more than $11 per. thousand higher without re ceipts from the forest pro ducts industry. Redmond Dist. 2,1 has an offest of only two cents per thousand from private lands. Rut Deschutes County is 70 percent federal land and another 75 cents per thousand accrues from federal reve nues. In Polk County's Dallas Dist. 2 the offset is 92 cents per thousand from private lands. And Marcola's Dist. 79.1 had a total timber tax offset equal to one third of its entire tax levy in 1978! As Carhone concluded in his study, it is obvious that a healthy forest economy is a ma jor factor in the ability of homeowners and Oregonians generally to afford the public services they desire. "Good forest management in Oregon enables us to eat our cake and have it. too." he said. "We get lower property tax rates and more services for fewer tax dollars all at the same time." Weight-mile taxes paid by trucks, buses set record Oregon weight-mile rax re ceipts reached a record level for a single month in October, according to Don Haakenson, Motor Program administrator for the Public Utility Commis soner. Receipts for the month were $5.7 million. The previous record was $5.3 million in October of 1978. Collections for the year now stand at $48.3 million, a record for the first ten months. Weight-mile taxes collected from truck and bus operators using Oregon highways are based on the declared weight of the vehicle and the amount of miles traveled. m) Heppner Auto Parts 234 N.Main Heppner 676-9.123 i ; ; - lie i "i Mia J M&R FLOOR COVERING The Rapco FoamerS Carpet, Linoleum, .422 Linden Way Ceramic Tile, Kitchen 6e-v4io Cabinets, Rapco Insulation HePPner CASE FURNITURE Heppner Carpet, Linoleum, Counter Tops Installed Beauty Rest mattresses, Fabrics and Accessories, Sherwin Williams Paint TURNER T Houx niuxanct- needi VAN MARTER 3 & BRYANT 43 1B7MOKTH MAM 1TMIT . OatOON 7M umtn VuMlRTBl tm INSURANCE HOWARD HTANT - - - n m--iBi - Home Remodeling Jpecijizing In Aluminum Siding and repair of old siding Storm Window! and Doon Prime Windows Small Remodeling Job 676-5051 Ken Rfwld In Buvne C , MEDICAL CENTER PHARMACY 'd Fnc Miana Serviz On Pnacripiooi Hopital Sopptier Z-A . Moc-Fri. 9 p-m. Sm 9-1p.m. Looted in the Medial Center 1100 Southgate Pendleton 276-1531 SWEENEY MORTUARY Cemetery, Grave Markers 676-9600 Granite, Marble, Bronze or 676-9226 Serving lone, Lexington & Heppner p.o. Box 97 JNES BUSINESS 11 AC HIKES Service calls every Wednesday , in Heppner, lone and Lexington 332 S. Main St., Pendleton Telephone 276-6441 811 N. Firat, HermMon Telephone 367-2731 r - - . Chevron GLENN DEVIN " Chevron USA, Inc. w"n Commission Agent , 676-9633 A Heppner Boordmon Morrow County Abstract & Trtfa Corsipeny fifte Insurance t Escrow Service ', 676-9912 431-9261 1
