Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (July 10, 1980)
''''nftttiiill LIB !t , " 'rt: tr- NEWSPAPER LI ! ,'n EUGENE OR 974 03 . SHffKS Weather The Heppner byDonCaUam Court decides against early Morrow County Court de cided not to have an "Emerg ency Election" to vote on the county budget. .So the county budget will be voted on Sept. 16. If an emergency election had been dec lured, the vote could huve been three weekH earlier on August 20. The county budget has been defeated twice In two previous elections so the county will huve to operate on $170,000 in carryover from the lust fiscal yenr and whatever resources come into the county until the Sept . 16 voting date along with the tax base of $:ifi7.90 plus the Hix percent increuse limi tation amount of $22,079.40. Budget Officer Alma Green said it is hard to tell right now If the county has enough oCouncilman resigns Frank Pearson has resigned from the Heppner City Council It was announced Monday night. Pearson, who served 1 'i years on the council, said In letter he was resigning be cause he had taken a job in Portland and was moving. PGE's coal fired Boardman plant obegins production Portland General Electric'! coal -fired plimt near Board mun iK-gon producing elec trical power for the first time this week, according to PGE spokesman Dave Eagon. It will only be producing at five percent of its capacity, however. Oil is still being used to turn the turbines but coul will be burned to produce the power in ulxnit a week, Eagon said. Even though power is being produced, the plant is still In its testing phase but It is scheduled to go on line full time the first week in August. "The start up and testing will include going up to 100 percent of our power," Eagon said He added thut the power tests include holding the power at a certuin level for a sustained period of time. Even though oil is being burned to hent the water that turns into steam which turns the turbines. Engon said the emissions thut will be coming out the smokestack at the coal plunt probably will "not be visible," Pooch'g bail will cost you If your dog gets picked up In Heppner, and you plan to contest the impoundment, it will now cost you $20 to get your pooch back instead of the former $15, the city council ruled Monday night. People had been paying $15 deposit on the dogs, and then forfeiting the bail, thus avoid ing a $20 ticket, said Police Chief Dean Gillman. Also under the new ordin ance enacted by the council, the second time your dog is picked up it will cost you $40 to bail him out. The third time will cost $60. VOL, 8 NO. 22 money to operate trom July 1 to Sept. 16 so all of the county departments are going to have to operate at the bare mini mum. About $98,000 in cuts have been made in the budget that was defeated June 24 plus about $100,000 more is expect ed in resources that had not been planned last Februrary when thr budget was first formed The budget has been reduced to the point that taxpayers will actually pay less for county taxes than they did last year. On (he ballot boters will see the figure $1,014,082. County Court Judge Don McEUigott and Commission ers Warren McCoy and Dor othy Krebs decided that be cause of all the special actions According to Clifford Green, council president, a replace ment for Pearson may be named either by himself or the mayor. However, the replace ment would serve only until the next general election (November), at which time a candidate would be elected to serve. "' ? -w , AH the electricity that is produced, even during testing, from the plant will be trans mitted to the Willamette Valley. Child Support a problem in county Collecting child support from an absent parent is a big problem in Morrow County just like every other county, according to Ann Spicer, assistant district attorney. District Attorney Dennis Doherty has assigned his assistant with the impossible task of trying to track down and prosecute non-paying absent parents when com plaints are presented to the county. Some statistics in the D.A.'s office show that of 163 average absent parent cases in Ore gon, 38 percent of the absent parents will comply with a court order, 20 percent will partially comply with the support payments and 42 percent will not comply at all in just the first year. Only about 19 percent of the single parents with custody of the children will take legal action against the non-paying parent. After 10 years of being absent parent, the statistics are even more alarming. Only 13 percent of the parents are fully complying with the court ordered support payment eight percent are partially complying and 79 percent are not complying at all with the child support payment. But after 10 years, only one percent of the parents with custody (usually the mothers) are willing to take legal action against the absent parent to get the child support payment the court says they are entitled to. JJJrAlLiiLj 11 11 li-i 11 JiIvUiJLw' Morrow County's THURSDAY, JULY 10. IK0 that need to be taken to call on emergency election and be cause there is only three weeks difference they thought they could stretch the budget V. L While lone and Boardman scheduled pyrotechnics displays on Independence Day, this youngster had a mini Fourth of July celebration of his own in Heppner. Study to makes county tick' An Oregon State University economist commissioned to study economic life in Morrow County says he wants to find out "what makes the county Spicer said many reasons are given by men for not paying the child support but none are really valid in a court of law. Some of the excuses often given include: "She denied me visitation, so I didn't pay support," "I have remarried and have three adopted children from the new marriage so there isn't enough money to support two famil ies." "I shouldn't be required to pay for the month the children live with me," or "I won't pay (or I won't allow visitation) so long as she (or he) is in the company of 'X' ." Spicer said the problem of the non-paying absent parent is. "a burden to Oregon taxpayers who have to pay for the support of the children who receive public assistance when a parent is unwilling or unable to support them." Non support cases are a primary duty of the district attorney's office because Oregon, non support is a crime. "It is a crime if a person fails to support a child under the age of 18 without a lawful excuse," Spicer said. "It is not a civil case because it is under statutory law." Even though it is a crime, Spicer said putting the non paying parent in jail is a "last ditch thing." She said they first try to garnish his wages or lien against his property but if all else fails, he can be Continued hack page Home-Owned Weekly Newspaper i mr.F.s county budget vote and not have to call a special emergency election. In other County Court news. Rachel Harnett will be the director of the count v museum - fv' vx 'find out what 7 ' Dr. Fred Obermiller tick." Dr Fred Obermiller of OSU told the Heppner Chamber of Commerce Monday that he will begin a study soon which, when completed, should give a pretty accurate picture of economic life in Morrow County. Obermiller told the cham ber that graduate students from OSU will begin inter views of businesses, farms and households soon, and, when the information is com piled and analyzed, it should provide county officials and others with data for future economic planning. This study will show how many different types of busi ness are in the county, and will also show, from the household interviews, where people are spending their money, Ober miller said. He said that although the study will draw no conclus ions, such as where future economic expansion in the county should go, he did say the study will be valuable in planning any such expansion. letters explaining the eco nomic study have already been sent to 250 businesses county-wide, Obermiller said. And he said questionnaires will be mailed to every fourth household in the county soon. The study was commission ed by Morrow County at a cost 2ft CENTS next to the library and Joann Wood will spend 20 hours a week at the museum and 20 hours a week as secretary for Planner Deane Seeger. 1 of $16,000, and similar ones have already been done in Grant and Union counties. "Most of the time counties ask to have the study done when a crisis arises (and they need economic data) ...but Morrow is asking before a crisis." Obermiller said. He said interviews should start next week, and last for about two weeks. He said the confidential information gath ered will be put through a computer and the final study will be ready by the end of the year. "This study will document to firms the value in locating in Morrow County," Ober miller told the Chamber of Commerce. He said it will also help when dealing with the federal government by show ing the economic impact of a change in the use of federal timer and range lands. Campbells Roger and Robert Campbell oftheR&R Campbell Ranch in Ixington have been named Morrow County Conservation Men of the Year for 1980. Don Bennett, last year's winner, and Paul Tews, mem ber of the Agricultural Stabil ization and Conservation Ser vice, chose the Campbells out of a list of 15 candidates. The award is given annually for excellence in the use of conservation practices on farms in the county. The Campbells will compete with other county winners for the state title. Judges will triUr the winners' farms from each county ana announce the state honor at the Oregon Wheat Growers league state meeting in Portland in De cember. A Field Day is currently being planned for early Sep tember after harvest so the public can tour the farm and to honor the Campbells for their work, said County Ex tension Agent Harold Kerr. II KPPNER. OREGON Commissioner criticized for helping establish county salary schedule County Commissioner Dorothy Krebs has been attacked recently for helping to establish a new salary schedule for county employ ees instead of hiring, an independent outside firm. Krebs defended her actions in an interview last week. She said the county did pay for an independent study to be done in 1977 by the Local Government Personnel Insti tute. But that rate schedule did not work. "There was a lot of dissen sion in the courthouse about that study because employees were doing the same type of work but were not being paid equally." Krebs said. She said the job descriptions were not defined in the LGPI study so a salary committee was formed earlier this year made up of county employees from every department at every job level. That commit tee defined the different jobs and equalized the salaries. Krebs said the LGPI study also , established raises by , merit and time on the job. Since the county does not have a personnel officer, it Public works be moved to Morrow County Court has decided to move the Public Works Office to Lexington instead of having it near the County Fairgrounds next to the Road Dept. CETA employees will as semble the Public Works Office at a permanent location in Lexington. If it would have slaved at the fairgrounds, it could have only been there temporarily. County Planner Deane Seeger will stay at the courthouse instead of moving into the Public Works Office with director Don Briggs. Until Briggs is in the Lexing ton office, the county is renting office space for him above the Coast -to-Coast store. Commissioner Dorothy Krebs said the permanent Public Works Office will be named 1980 Conservationists ; T ! i' t '.- M I? ' ' Roger and Iris Campbell Don and Jean Bennett of Heupner won the award in 1979 and they had a Field Day Turi., July 1 Wed., July 2 Ttwrt., July 3 Frl..July4 Sat.. JulyS Sun., July Mon., July 7 IWBI was impossible to give raises by merit so some county departments would just give the increase automatically on the time basis while others did not bother with the study at all. So there was dissension because raises were given in some departments and not in others. Real fireworks 'no problem9 at display A brush and grass fire started by fireworks at the Fourth of July celebration last week in Boardman wasn't any problem and was put out in fifteen minutes, according to the Boardman Police Depart ment. The fire burned about an v acre of brush and grass near the marina on Columbia River. A fire truck on hand for the big fire works display .. pushed to the ttU and quickly 'doused the flames. "The fire was no problem," said Larry Phillips of the office to Lexington fixed up by the CETA workers so it will "look nice." Krebs said the county has had trouble obtaining the proper permits for the office because Oregon state officials have ruled it to be a modular instead of a mobile unit. The only state inspector for mod ular buildings is in Salem and the state government wants the county to pay for every thing to have the man fly here and inspect the building. "It is a matter of economics and that is why it is taking the county so long to get Mr. (Don) Briggs into an office," Krebs said. Krebs said that Briggs has been in the county for four months without an office, a secretary or bookkeeper "so he has not been able to prove himself." in their honor last summer. They went on to win the state award too, which was the M-Sl 83-S7-.e8 74-4 74- 51 75- 43 7t-4t $-$ I The salary committee, led by Krebs, came up with a schedule for raises to be given in automatic time steps at 2'i year increments with no merit decision involved. By drawing up their own salary schedule, it saved the taxpayers money, she added. Boardman Police Depart ment. "It took about 15 minutes to knock it down and 30 minutes to wrap it up." He said the fire probably . was started from fireworks set off by spectators there to see the big show. "It caused some excitment," Phillips said. "There were about two to three thousand people there to see the show, and a lot of " them rushed up to Witch -the- -'ire." Man found dead at Willow Creek A 27-year-old former Pend leton man was found dead at Willow Creek, about 18 miles south of Heppner, Saturday, July 5, according to Morrow County Sheriff Larry Fetsch. The cause of death is un known. Sheriff Fetsch said that the body of Gregory Robert Bel knap was found between 6 and 7 a.m. Saturday by a friend, Eldon Tucker of lone. Belknap and Tucker had been camping and fishing at the Willow Creek site with friends, ac cording to the sheriff's report. 'The cause of death is pending," said Morrow County Medical examiner L.D. Tibbies. Tibbies said that it would be two weeks before the autopsy results are re turned. occassion for the state tour of their ranch and Field Day last month. I
