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The Heppner r.azrtte-Time. Heppner. Oregon. Thuriday. June l. 1980-THREE
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
'New Heppnerspan a
(The following Irttrr win
Rubmittrd for publication.)
June 16, 1980
Governor Victor Atiyeh
Stale Capital Building
Salem, Oregon 97310
Dear Governor Atlyeh:
I wish to advise you of a
proposed gross misappropria
tion of taxpayers' funds.
The Oregon State Highway
Dept. is proposing to destroy
and rebuild a perfectly good,
functioning concrete bridge
within the city limits of
Heppner, Oregon.
This bridge was constructed
Seniors fight
Editor:
At the United Seniors'
meeting on April 23. 1980.
action was taken to consider
this resolution. A motion was
made to pass the resolution
and it was passed unanimous
ly. Whereas: There are 380.000
senior citizens in Oregon past
65 years old; and
Whereas: More than 50
percent or 190.000 plus have
incomes below the poverty
level; and
Whereas: The large per
centage of those remaining
re on the brink of poverty;
and
Whereas: It is no longer safe
for anyone to carry even small
mounts of money on their
Qons; and
hereas: The elderly are
the least able to defend
themselves against robbery,
both legal and criminal; and
Whereas: The credit card
industry makes from 2 per
cent to 5 percent from each
retail sale at present plus
interest on any unpaid balance
after thirty days; and
Whereas : If 3000,000 of our
elderly In the state held credit
cards and are charged $10 a
year for them, amounting to
$3,000,000 which the credit
o Nick Ranieri gets the lead out.
And saves PGE customers
about $480,000 a year.
In the past year, Nick
Ranieri and his co-workers
have saved PGE custom
ers nearly a half million
dollars. They reclaim,
recycle and remanu
facture materials and parts
that are constantly rising
in price like the lead
used in electric insulators.
Reclaiming and
the lead, along
and aluminum, saves about
$10,000 every month. And
another $30,000 is saved
monthly by remanufactur
ing rather than replacing
various parts, such as
clamps, switches
brackets.
4 l& J
I 1
in 1921 and has withstood all
the floods In Heppner, mainly
due to Its bring considerably
higher than the city.
The proposed reconstruc
tion and subsequent widening
of this bridge would devalue
the residences affected by
greatly reducing the street
frontage, and would eliminate
street parking for four resi
dences and a grocery store;
there is no other parking
availuble for two residences.
The taxpayers of Morrow
County voted down the school
budget the first time, also the
city budget. We are in a
recession. The stale general ,
fund is looking at a deficit, our
credit fees
card industry would loan out
at 20 percent plus interest;
and
Whereas: United Seniors
and itenior groups listed below
believe there is a more
humane way to "make a
buck" than by grinding the
faces of the poor, and the
elderly poor in particular.
Therefore: Be it resolved:
United Seniors and senior
groups listed below go on
record opposing any annual
fee for the use of credit cards,
or any increase of percentage
charged on retail sales.
Be it further resolved: That
a copy of this resolution be
mailed to 'all stale and.
national offices of the credit
card industry and to all major
news outlets in Oregon.
The above document is
approved and supported by:
Carmalitel.Weddle. -President
Salem Area Seniors
Rex Griggs.
Oregon State Council
for Senior Citizens
S.T.Ford.
Chairperson. Dist. 3.
Area Agency on Aging
Advisory Council
that are more important
now than ever before.
Electricity costs are going
up everywhere, it's not just
here. Both private and
public utilities through
out the country
are facing soaring
recycling prices. Higher
with copper equipment costs,
fuel costs and
interest rates have
everyone on a tight
budget. And the rapid
growth of new cus
tomers in our service
area is another of the
problems we face.
and
tax waste
,
local plywood plant and saw
mill have reduced their em
ployees by some 200 persons
(Rreatly reducing the traffic,
both commercial and private
on this bridge).
If the Willow Crpek dam
goes through, the Willow
Creek highway will be re
routed practically eliminating
any log truck traffic and
greatly reducing private traf
fic, In view of these facts, how
would, you Justify the misuse
of $10(1.000 to $150,000 of
taxpayers hardarned
funds?
If the Stale Highway Dept.
still insists on widening this
bridge over the opposition of
the local taxpayers, it could be
done at a fraction of the cost
by merely filling the space
between the pedestrian lanes
and the guard rails and adding
new pedestrian lanes; this
would create no harm to
anyone and give a bridge
traffic widlh of 29'6" which is
3'6" wider than the available
street with parallel parking. I
fail to see any reason for a
bridge being wider than the
street it serves.
If the state still insists on
squandering our funds, you
could consider replacing the
highway bridge into Echo.
Oregon, that crosses the
Umalilla River. It was built in
192B and is 6" narrower than
the Heppner bridge that is the
subject of this letter. The Echo
bridge has a heavy traffic of
trucks, including a great
number of potato trucks that
are wider than most trucks.
( Heppner 's bridge has no
potato truck traffic.
There is also the bridge at
the fool of the Hardman grade
that has Ix-cn responsible for a
number of dealhs and crashes.
I hope this letter will be
given your most earnest
attention.
Thank you.
Yours truly,
Paul N. Hansen
2fi0Kast May Street
Heppner, Oregon 97836
In total, it means savings But, at PGE, we are for
of around $480,000. Savings tunate to have people like
Nick Ranieri working hard to
keep costs down wherever
they can. People with
cost-savings ideas for you.
res
n-3 iu
f
'County wages behind living costs
Editor:
June 24th is the' date the
Morrow County budget will
again be voted on by the
taxpayers, I would like to
make a few comments con
cerning salaries for Morrow
County employees.
The county cost-of-living
adjustment for 1980-81 is
based on 8 percent plus
one-half of the January Port
land Consumer Price Index
over that amount. The CPI for
January was 14.8 percent.
Using the formula than of 8
percent plus 3.4 percent gave
a figure of 11.4 percent. This is
the amount of increase given
to all employees for cost fo
living adjustment.
The CPI for March was 16.6
percent. So even though our
salaries are newly adjusted
they are still behind the rate of
Senior
The only special activity for
senior citizens scheduled
ahead is the annual trip and
noondav luncheon at Cutsforth
Park on Wednesday, July 9.
Those interested in riding to
the park in the senior bus need
to tell the Heppner Neighbor
hood Center in advance of the
picnic date to arrange a place
for them.
Meals to be served to
seniors next week at the three
meal sites in this county will
include, at Irrigon on Monday
evening. June 23--roast turkey
and dressing, mashed potat
oes and gravy, green beans,
sliced tomatoes and green,
peppers, with other relishes,"
74 less energy
The production of steel from
scrap metal requires 74 per
cent less energy than the
production of steel from iron
on-, so that 1.000 tons of
recycled steel save the energy
equivalent of 140.000 gallons of
gasoline.
inflation. This is something
the County Court cannot
control. It is up to our national
leaders to curb inflation. Since
we cannot treat the
cause, we have lo treat the
effect.
Some county positions, like
those of the commissioners,
were given only cost of living
adjustments, others were giv
en an actual salary increase.
The last three years the
cost-of-living adjustment was
well below the rate of Infla
tion. Employees were losing
buying power. It was bound to
create a financial crunch, and
it did.
The county began to lose
employees because higher
paying jobs were available.
The cost to the county to have
a high turnover rate is
considerable. The choice was
Citizens
tossed green salad, bread,
butter and Jelly and spice cake
with topping.
At Heppner on Tuesday.
June 24-tomatoe juice, puffed
turkey sand wiches, macaroni
salad, relishes and cheese
sticks, vegetarian baked
beans and cream puffs with
lemon sauce.
At lone and . Heppner on
Wednesday, June 25meat
loaf. mashed potatoes. Har
vard beets, tomato aspic
salad, cornbread. orange juice
and applesauce cupcakes.
7jZ T 7 Y7 1 Prices Effective June 19-,
I iL n : Coffee :
tVl ,i Dy X All Grinds
It : jpy V
Pork Back Ribs lime 1 -
m : O V ib.
II JIN
W Western Family
11 IP : X Scott 4 Pak VTT
SS? 1 39 Bathroom Tissue 99
' Kraft Deluxe 14 02.
Macaroni & Cheese c
: - : " '"' 1
: Western Family Large, Pitted Ripe t
Olives I ft
i 60" J "Seedless Grapes g$
Fresh Corn s Mre n 1
tt-i'4v lift ' 4
f ?hm B,ng cherr,es 1
off J W I
-. "fAMlUET M
to raise wages to be competi
tive or become a training
ground for personnel to reach
better Jobs. Asking people to
work for less tnan the going
rate is equivalent to asking
them to donate a portion of
their wages for the privilege of
holding a county Job.
The' Court house Salary
Committee reviewed all the
salaries, including those ot
elected officials and wage
earners. It decided on a
schedule it deemed fair and
equitable for all. (The com
mittee based the Judge's
salary on the pay of other
county employees with simi
lar responsibility. The Judge
was not involved in that
decision.) The budget com
mittee reviewed the schedule
. and adopted it.
The voter of Morrow County
is the actual employer. The
Salary Committee has recom
mended an increase. Now the
individual must decide what
constitutes good responsible
management.
The job of County Commis
sioner is considered to be a
half-time position, or 20 hours
a week. One day a week is
spent in a court session either
in Heppner or Irrigon. The
remaining time is spent in a
variety of ways: Attending
meetings, caring for corres
' pondence. doing necessary
reading, listening to indivi
dual problems, following upon
needed , action and seeking
solutions.
Let me give you a brief
rundown on job-related re
sponsibilities that I hold
presently: Secretary-treasurer
of East Central Oregon
Association of Counties, sec
retary of Quintra Transporta
tion for Elderly and Handi
capped, vice chairman of
Eastern Oregon State College
Regional Services Institute,
chairman of ECOAC Econom
ic Development Project Re
view Committee, member of
Public Lands Committee, As
sociation Oregon Counties;
member of Developmental
Disabilities Council of Oregon,
member of Legislative Inter
im Committee County Law
Revision, chairman of ECOAC
Budget Committee and chair
man of Morrow County Per
Bon
UcDonaldr
6QACB
Door Prizes
mm m
l.f pq A7Q?S
sonnel Policy Committee.
In addition to serving on the
executive committee or at a
member of the above, I also
attend Comprehensive Plan
ning sessions. Budget School,
legislative updates, planning
institutes, computer semin
ars, and other meetings where
court representation is need
ed. The list is not complete but I
hope that I have given enough
to convince the reader that the
job of County Commissioner is
time consuming, laden with
responsibility and calls for
constant decision-making.
Dorothy Krebs.
Morrow County
Commissioner
1
676-9921
POD!
Free Coffee & Donuts
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