Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (March 20, 1980)
TWO The Heppner Gaiette-Times, Heppner, Oregon, Thursday, March 20, 1980 L jr?f Tha Official Nwtpapr of h jS City of Hppnr ond th J,?? ' 'County of Morrow The 3A 'jwrTrw-TriMirQ JnJJU A ML JUtf ML M.VMM-im Morrow Contj's low-Owad Weekly Unspir U.S.PS- 240-420 Puhlihl rvirv Thurxby iul mlmd u wcond-cUv matter at the Pnst Office at Hrppnrr. On, under the Art of March 1 im Secnnd-dais pontaar paid at Heppncr. Oregon. Oftirr at M7 Weal Wilkmr Street Telephone IMS! 7-t2 Aririrem meomimtcalKw to the Heppner Gatrtte Tlmea. P O Bin sn, Heppner, thraiw 7Mft W an in Morrow. Umatilla Whrrler Gilliam rnuntiea: lion elaewhere. Jerome F. Sheldon, Publisher Steven A. Powell, News It Sports Editor Good Citizenship on Election Day Voters will make their trek to the polling places next Tuesday. For those who do go and cast their ballots, it will be an act of good citizenship. American elections traditionally draw a low turnout, particularly when issues seem cut and dried and there is no challenging contest between candidates. One might amend the foregoing to the extent that when taxpayers feel a pinch they tend to vote negatively, whether the turnout is small or large. The issues on next week's ballot reflect the budget requests of the school system and the City of Heppner, also Blue Mountain Community College which receives support from Morrow County. As presented, the budgets do reflect a studied appraisal of current needs. A good turnout, whether to say yea or nay, would indicate support for those serving on appointive budget committees and elective boards and councils. What would be a good turnout? Hopefully, better than 40 percent of the registered voters. The National Bottle Bill ( Senator Bob Packwood of Oregon, ranking Republican on the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee, chaired a hearing in Portland recently on a national bill to require deposits on beverage containers. "Oregon was the first state to enact a beverage container deposit law back in 1972." Senator. Packwood said. "We can learn much about the benefits and the problems of instituting a national bill from the Oregon experience." The following is a summary of the national bill.) The National Beverage Container Deposit Bill (National Bottle Bill) was introduced by Senator Mark Hatfield (R-Ore.) in January, 1977, during the 95th Congress and again in January. 1979, during the 96th Congress as one way to deal with the enormous number of beverage containers. The bill had three days of hearings January 25-27, 1978, but received no further action until this time. The intent of the Portland hearing, and hearings yet to be scheduled in Washington, D.C., is to bring members of the Senate Commerce Committee the most up-to-date information of the legislation, including a report on the successful state bottle bill in Oregon. Oregon, Main, Vermont, Michigan, Iowa and Connecti cut now have some type of bottle bill, Oregon becoming the first in 1972. followed by Vermont in 1973. Delaware also passed a bottle bill but delayed implementation until neighboring Pennsylvania and Maryland passed similar laws. The motivating factor behind the existing state bottle bill was a desire to reduce litter, solid waste, energy consumption, resource use and, ultimately, cost to consumers. According to figures released by the Oregon State Highway Division, beverage container litter was reduced 73 percent the first year after enactment of the bottle bill and 83 percent the second year. In addition, overall litter was reduced by 39 percent by piece count and 47 percent by volume within two years. Figures supplied by the State of Vermont indicate a 76 percent decrease in container litter after the first year and a 35 percent decrease in total litter. A return rate of 85 percent the first year rose to 85 percent the second year. Other states have taken different approaches to the beverage container problems. Some states without a comprehensive bottle bill (California, Minnesota, Virginia and Hawaii) prohibit sale of pull-tab cans. The industry responded to this ban by modifying the pull-tab to remain attached to the can instead of pulling off. Another approach to coping with beverage containers is a litter tax, such as the one enacted in Washington State. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, a national bottle bill would have the advantage of allow ing the industry to react to the law nationally instead of state-by-state by standardizing bottle design and centralizing bottle collection and cleansing operations. Other effects would be: reduction in roadside litter by 60 to 70 percent and by 20 to 40 percent total volume; reduction in annual municipal solid waste by 7 million tons (at least 5 percent of the total); reduction in total U.S. energy consumption of over 245 trillion BTU's annually (it takes at least 6 million gallons of gasoline everyday, more than two trillion gallons annually, to produce the approximately 56 billion beverage containers of all types produced in the U.S. every year); consumer savings of about 2.5 cents per 10-ounce beverage container; net increase in employment of 80,000 jobs. Beppner SaleHl Scene Persons concerned about declining voter activity and rising interest in popular legislation via the initiative petition route might do well to examine an apparent steady metamorphosis of the Oregon Legislature. That conclusion arises fol lowing the March 11 candidate filing deadline at the State house in Salem by which time an unofficial total of only 211 individuals had expressed in tentions to seek the 15 Senate and 60 House of Representa tive seats to be filled next November. In the recent past the number of candidates seeking all state offices has varied almost imperceptively rang ing from 378 in 1974 to 376 this year. But the number of candidates seeking nomina tion for the Legislature in the May primary election has LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 6We do not unanimously approve city budget9 Editor: For the third time in four years the voters of Heppner are asked to approve a city budget outside the 6 percent limitation. The proposed bud get totals $551,030, which is $84,964 over the current year's budget of $465,908 (an 18.2 percent increase). What does this mean to you? If your house is valued at $40,000, you paid $335 in city taxes this year (you paid an additional $525 in taxes for county services. BMCC, etc.). Next year you will pay an estimated $445 in city taxes if the "A" ballot is approved ($46,748) and an estimated $591 if both the "A" and "B" ballots are approved ($46,748 plus $76,094 equals $11,842). Water and sewer rates will also be increased substan tially to finance the budget. Further increases in taxes and water rates will result if the water improvement bond is- 'A comparison shows that we are underpaid9 Editor: Mrs. Schubothe's assump tion in "Letters to the Editor" (March 13. 1980 issue) con cerning our workloads clearly reveals that she has not taken into account how many deputy clerks, assessors, etc. that larger counties employ, mak ing our workloads similar or even heavier if evaluated by an employee-resident per ca pita ratio. Using her method of evalua tion. I suspect her husband's classrooms are not as full as those in Hermiston or Port land, so many Morrow County teachers should be due for a salary cut. The reason we are , asking for the big increases is that for the past several years, our salaries have not kept up with inflation. All we are asking for is a living wage that compares with what the school district employees get. It might be a real eye-opener for Morrow County residents to compare school and county salaries. I'm not saying that 'Jacksonville School planning 125th birthday9 Editor: Please run the enclosed in your "Letters to the Editor" column. Jacksonville School's Birthday Did you ever attend Jack sonville School between the years of 1854-1959? If you did. you might be interested to know that Jacksonville Ele mentary School in Jackson ville. Oregon is having its 125th Birthday Celebration April 7-11. Lots of activities are being planned including historical displays of photos, yearbooks, trophies, etc.; a potluck for meeting new and renewing old Steady turnover marks the Legislature by jack Zimmerman dropped steadily during the same period from 247 in 1974 to 229 and 228 in 1976 and '78 and to the 211 mark this year. Further evidence of declin ing interest in legislative service is the fact that of 62 incumbents seeking re-election, 46 face no opposition in the May primary election and II incumbent lawmakers 10 from the House have simply declined to seek re-election. The greatest number of incumbents in the drop-out column are Republicans and that party managed to field only 82 of the 211 total seeking nomination. This arithmetic, plus the fact the most hotly contested nominations will be among Democrat candidates filing for those vacated GOP seats, almost precludes any appreciable change in Demo cratic superiority in both houses. 'sue is approved in the May election. This letter is written to tell the voters of Heppner that while we as city councilmen voted to submit the budget for a special election, we do not unanimously approve of it. The budget committee did a good job of paring the various departments' budget requests to a level that would not reduce city services. We feel that substantial cuts can still be made. These cuts could result in a slight reduction of city services but such services would remain at a very acceptable level. Shall we go along with inflation or shall we "tighten our belts" at the city level as we must all do at home? Joe Miller Warren Plocharsky (The writers of the above letter are both members of the Heppner City Council.) teachers are overpaid; I'm only stressing that a compari son would show we are underpaid. Our Health Department gave free direct services to 2.500 people last year with only l's employees. If these services had been purchased personally, it would have cost them $60,000. I have the figures to back this statement up as I am forced to keep meticulous records to qualify for the $14,000 in grant monies we receive each year from the State. The ever increasing taxes of one form or another, plus the exceedingly cruel tax of infla tion, have certainly hurt us all. But striking out at the local level will hurt no one but ourselves. Yours truly, Pat Wright R.N. . County Health Nurse Lexington friends; scheduled tours of the old building: a historical program involving children, past principals and teachers and video tape and slides of alumni. We need your help in gathering information and pictures about our school's history. We hope you can attend. Please call or write so that we may send you a schedule of activities. Sincerely, Janie Brown, Teacher Jacksonville School P.O. Box 9 Jacksonville. Or 97530 (503) 899-1361 Senate Democrats have held a numerical advantage over Republicans since 1964 and House Demos have enjoyed majority control since 1972. Only seven OOPs currently serve in the 30-members upper chamber and 26 from that party now occupy seats in the 60-member House. And although much can happen to sway voters be tween now and November, many Salem-watchers believe Democrats will enhance their majority margins in both chambers before lawmakers convene in regular session again next January. Another indication service in the Oregon Legislature is losing its luster is the general attrition rate at the State house. Turnover in the House of Representatives averages more than 25 percent every two years. Senators, who are elected every four years, naturally serve longer. But Senate turnover is also signifi cant. Eighteen newcomers were elected to the House two years ago and there were six new faces in the Senate. Another measurement of the tenuous tenure of lawmak ing in this state is the relative absence of veterans willing to establish long-time careers in Salem. Typically in the last decade at least half of the House members were fresh men or sophomores and last session only 20 percent of the 90-member body had served 10 years or longer. And if you go back 20 years, only one current member of the Senate, Gresham Democrat Vern Cook, qualifies as a two decade lawmaker. Longest House tenure belongs to House GOP Minority Leader, Paul Hanneman of Cloverdale. who was first elected in 1964. It has been suggested the greatest twin deterrents to legislative service are time and money. And those factors arise at two stages of every lawmaker's term. The first is when a candidate considers both primary and general election contests. Considerable money gene rally $10,000 or more must be secured to mount meaningful campaigns. And even if a hopeful is successful in raising this type of money, success no longer hinges mainly on placing the most effective or greatest number of advertise Sifting through 193(1 Fifty years ago the Lions Club celebrated its charter day with a celebration at the Episcopal Church. The church was decorated as a jungle den for the occasion. A large gathering of 112 attended. The Christian Endeavor Society of the Heppner Church of Christ staged the three-act comedy play "Apple Blossom Time." Bob Mathews played the unwilling visitor at the crossroads. Cal Pickens the village constable, Nancy Pres cott a pretty neighbor, and Malvina Kurtz played a girl whose ambition was to have a beau. Young men the age of 17 to 31 were enrolling in army camps. Four Heppner boys: Harlan J. Devin, Maurice Edmundson, Clarence W. Hayes and Earl W. Thomson, were chosen by a committee of Morrow County persons to attend a camp. There was no obligation to join the army after attending the camp. Morrow County schools were having a spelling contest with a silver cup going to the school with the best speller. The Hynd brothers of Cecil had a sheep that gave birth to an eight-legged lamb but it died. Several years before, the same brothers owned a six -legged lamb that lived for a few years. The lamb was two lambs joined together at the breast except that it only had one head. They sent it to a Portland taxidermist for mounting. ments in news media, on billboards and lawn signs. A candidate's time is all impor tanttime spent knocking on doors, attending neighborhood coffees and distributing litera ture. There's a certain amount of red tape each candidate must comply with and that means taking time to create a support organization. Today's successful candidate doesn't achieve office by beaming on passersby from posters. The successful candidate takes the time to guarantee personal exposure to the greatest number of constituents. Once success is achieved, time and money once more bedevil each member of the Oregon legislature. The com mitment to service from a time standpoint requires at least fulltime devotion to the job in Salem for a minimum of six months every two years, For more and more indivi duals that simple requirement is too great to bear. And when one considers the increasing amount of time required by expanding duties between ses sions, the burden is overpow ering to many more. And time is money. Despite the fact Oregon lawmakers have seen significant in creases in salaries, fringes, staff assistance and Capitol Building office space, service for the traditional lawmaking farmer, lawyer, self-employed business person and many wage-earners and sal aried executives is performed only at considerable financial sacrifice. (iiven all thene considera tions the complexion of the Oregon Legislature continues to change. It is peopled more and more by persons unham pered by time and money constraints and individuals willing to scale their living standards to those provided by legislative pay. The type of legislation enacted reflects the concerns of those in office. As the legislative metamorphosis continues, so does the body of law it produces. Pragmatic concern with economic reality appears outweighed by imple mentation of social and emo tional concerns. And one needs only to scan the list of major issues confronting lawmakers in Sa lem each recent biennium to test the veracity of this contention. the TIMESjfe I 55 Twenty-five years ago the Heppner Civic League an nounced it was having an election so voters could decide if they wanted the kindergar ten joined with the school system. Heppner Pine Mills was going to be closed for 30 days because major remodeling worth more than $250,000 was going to take place. The county court surveyed all the roads and decided that it was too dry to do any work on them. To put a grader on roads that are too dry would tear them up worse, the court said. A rash of burglaries hit lone in the prior four weeks and the county sheriff and police said clues have been found and that they should arrest someone soon. Ione's Library celebrated "Know Your Library Week" with an open house and tea celebration. The library was organized by 24 women in the Women's Topic Club. More than 3,000 books were avail able. l75 Five years ago State Repre sentative Jack Sumner spoke at the Chamber of Commerce meeting. Grand Ole Opry star Pat Robert was scheduled to put on a show at Heppner High School. The Lions Club spon sored the show. The Morrow County school levy passed by a slim margin of 57 votes county wide. Census takers needed Full-time, temporary jobs as census takers in this area hit still available, David Kiisnuissen, malinger of the WHO census office at Bend, said recently. "We're counting on you if you can work a 40-hour week visiting households and inter viewing the residents," the manager said, adding that some evening and Saturday work will be required. Census takers will begin work soon as part of the 1890 Census of Population and Housing. They will attend a training session for which they will be paid, Most census takers will be paid a piece rate for the number of household interviews completed, In a 234 N.Main The Bapco Foamers Carpet, Ceramic Cabinets, CASE FURNITURE Carpet, Linoleum, Counter Tops Installed Beauty Rett mattrewev Fabrics and Accessories, Sherwin Williams Pint -IM - i -- ' -- - " n TURNER VI VAN MARTtK s i ii Brian i ie?NuTM mm limit mftK Home Remodeling Sfmaalamg Jh Aluminum Sdrtg and rmpat of old mV' Storm Windnwi tad Dcun Prime Wmdowi Small RrmudrLuig Juia Ktn Hfwld 676-5051 I) MEDICAL CENTER PHARMACY 8 Hon frv M pm Wr pm. Lomd m tW Mdl Cantor 1 100 Sowhpne Pendleton 276-1531 SWEENEY MORTUARY Cemetery, Grave Markers 676-9600 Granite, Marble, Bronze or 676-922$ Serving (one, Lexington & Heppner p.o. Box 97 JAYNES BUSINESS MAOMXES Chevron few instances, pay will be by the hour. For all workers, pay will average $4 an hour or more, Census lakers must be able to follow printed instructions, do simple arithmetic, and read maps for which they will be tested before hiring. They should be able to walk a considerable amount, climb stairs, and ought to have good eyesight and hearing. They should have a home telephone and many will need a car, for which mileage will be paid when it is used in census work. Contact : David S. Rasmus sen, Census District Manager, at 745 N W. Bond Street in Bend. OR 97701 or call 1-3119-0170. il 'i i mill Heppner Auto Ports Heppner 676-9123 M&R FLOOR COVERING Linoleum, 422 I .ode" Way Tile, Kitchen 6f48 Rapco Inflation HWn" rr si i J isnuanc n&tax -m -at. moot rut ,1,11 ,I,.III,1M Service calls every Wednesday in Heppner, lone and Ixington 3)2 S. Main S Pcndlnoa Tclephon 27(r64l Sll N. Fow, HcraiMaa TdrtcwM 567-2731 GLENN DEVIN Chevron USA, Inc. Commission Agent 676-9633 4 iJ
