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EUGENE OR 974 03 .
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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