BESS t E WET2ELL
U OF ORE ,
FWSPAPER LID
U 1J G L i. Ok j 7 4 -, 3
Tne tieppner
WEATHER HWi I-" Preclp.
...
Turn.. .Ian. 20 ,37 25
WH Jan. 21 38 32 .27" rain
Thurs.. Jan. 22 45 35
Fri.. Jan. 21 48 39 ,.13" rain
Sat.. Jan. 24 45 35
Sun.. Jan. 25 46 31
Mon . Jan. 26 49 30 .11" rain
Weather
y Don Gilliam
Morrow County's Home-Owned Weekly Newspaper
VOL.tW, No. 5 THURSDAY. JANUARY 20, 1981
10 PAGES 20 CENTS
HEPPNER. OREGON
q 11 ic- ji iiwiics
Proposed flash flood warning system
should double evacuation time
A new flash flood warning
system being considered for
installation in the Heppner
area will give townspeople
twice as long to evacuate the
city in the event of a flood as
the present system, city
officials have said.
The new system, proposed
by the US Army Corps of
Engineers, would be tied
directly Into the Morrow
County Sheriff's department
at the courthouse, and would
warn of excessive water run
off down Shobe canyon and
Hinton Creek.
lone Bank of Eastern Oregon
plans grand opening Saturday
' ,. .''7,. ' mmmmmmtmriiC"'' ' - " "" rfj
I
-
J U ; j
x ;
June Crowell stands
The Bank of Eastern Ore
gon, lone branch, will hold a
grand opening this Saturday.
Jan. 31. in honor of the
completion of its new bank
building in lone.
Construction of the new
72-by-36 foot structure began
July 31 of last year and was
Just recently completed.
The new building was con
Denny Smith
announces Ore.,
D.C. addresses
Recently elected U.S. Rep
resentative to Congress from
the 2nd District Denny Smith
has announced addresses and
phone numbers for his offices
in Salem and Washington, D.
C, as follows: 1207 Longworth
House Office Building, Wash
ington, D.C. 20515, (202)225
5711; 4035 12th St. S.E. No. 20,
Salem, Ore. 97302, (503)399
575. Until alterations are com
pleted on a district office,
Smith says he will be working
out of a temporary space at
1797 13th St., S.E., P.O. Box
12868. Salem. Ore. 97309,
371-3-28.
The system, as presented to
city and county officials at a
meeting last Wednesday night
In Heppner. would consist of
five rain and snow gauges and
one river gauge In the Shnhe
Cnnvon drainage, and nine
rain and snow gauges with two
river gauges In the Hinton
Creek drainage.
City officials praised the
system, saying it would in
crease the amount of time
available to evacuate the
town in case of impending
flood and will not cost cither
the county or city any money.
behind tellers' windows
8tructed on the same site as
the previous bank building, a
structure which was erected
in IRW8 The bank had occupied
the building since 1959.
The new structure features
a lounge area, safe deposit
boxes, a new and stronger
vauir. three tellers windows, a
bookkeeping area, office
space, a night deposit and
Eastern Oregon DMV
supervisor named
Dale Boyer, who for the past
14 years has been in the Motor
Vehicles Division headquart
ers in Salem, has been named
supervisor of the division's
Eastern Region, by Administ
rator David P. Moomaw.
As a region supervisor,
Boyer will be responsible for
all DMV offices In Heppner,
Baker, Burns, Enterprise,
Hermiston, John Day, La
Grande, Milton-Freewater,
Ontario, and Pendleton.
The appointment will return
Boyer tq Ontario, the site of
his first job with the division.
He was manager of the
Ontario field office when the
facility opened its doors in
Corps spokesmen said the
Corps will buy and install the
svstem with the city providing
minimal maintenance.
The present flood warning
system consists of several
river gauges monitored at
Pioneer Memorial Hospital.
Flood warning consists of
about 15 minutes of actual
time to evacuate the city.
Mechanically the system
will be made up of a small
bucket guage at the top of a
ten-foot-high pipe. The buck
ets tip over when full. This
information is radio-transmit-
space for a drive-in window
which may be added in the
future.
"We think it's pretty
special." says lone Branch
Manager June Crowell .
Crowell says the grand open
ing will be open to everyone
from 2 to 5 p.m. Sat., and that
door prizes will be given away
and refreshments served.
1949. He later supervised the
Eastern District and became
assistant manager of DMV's
then-registration branch in
1966. When the division was
reorganized in 1970. he be
came the proration and recip
rocity officer, responsible for
Oregon's prorated-interstate-vehicle-licensing
pacts with
other states.
Boyer, 55, suceeds Pat
Guymon. Guymon will remain
in the Baker field office as
technical supervisor for the
region. In addition, he will
conduct dealer and wrecker
investigations and driver im
provement interviews.
ted to a computer in the
sheriff's department at the
courthouse.
When enough rain falls to
indicate flood danger a warn
ing would be issued.
"It's a much better sys
tem." said City Administrator
Marshall Iovgren. "Should
double our warning time,"
commented Heppner Mayor
Cliff C.reen.
The Armv Corps of Engi
neers has indicated it plans to
Install the system In conjunc
tion with construction of the
Willow Creek dam.
lone teacher wins
essay contests
An lone English teacher.
Ijiura McDoueal. has won two
essay contests sponsored by
the Idaho Newspaper Associa
tion, it was announced recent
lv bv lone High School
Principal Chuck Starr.
McDoueal. a first year
teacher at lone, entered an
essav entitled "A Free Press
Safeeuards My Freedom" in a
contest in the "Messenger-.
Index." the newspaper in her
home town of Emmett. Idaho.
Sen. Jernstedt receives
committee appointments
Stale Ren. Ken Jernstedt of
Hood River has received his
1981 committee appointments,
including the vice chairman
ship of the Committee on .
Trade and Economic Develop
ment. Jernstedt also will serve on
the Agriculture and' Natural
Resource Committee, the Jus
tice Committee, the Revenue
Committee, the Rules Com-,
mittee and the Legislative
Council Committee.
The appointments were
made recently by Senate
President Fred Heard. D
Klamath Falls.
McCoy to plead
'not guilty9
Morrow County Commis
sioner Warren H. McCoy,
Irrigon. says he plans to plead
not guilty to a misdemeanor
charge he solicited a prosti
tute while in Portland last
week.
McCoy, who is scheduled to
go to court on the charge
Friday, said Monday he did
not think he broke any laws in
the incident.
"I didn't know it was
against the law to talk." he
said. "I had no intention of
rping anywhere with her (a
Portland policewoman posing
as a prostitute). I was on my
way back to my car and no
money exchanged hands," he
said.
McCoy was in Portland on
his way home from a meeting
in Eugene when he allegedly
on State
Fair wants
MC exhibit
The Oregon State Fair has
told Morrow County it would
like to see the county repre
sented with a booth at next
year's fair.
In a letter to the county
commission Jan. 15. the Ore
gon State Fair's superinten
dent of agriculture depart
ment said the fair would like
to have the county contribute
and would like to have the
names of people or groups
who could sponsor an exhibit.
Morrow County did not have
a booth in last year's state
fair, and "because the State
Fair is Oregon's Showcase we
would like to have your county
contribute." the letter stated.
Names of possible sponsors
are needed by the fair by Feb.
1. the letter said.
McDoueal not only won that
contest and $75. but went on to
win the state competition and
$?sn for the same essay.
McDoueal 's essay has now
been entered in national
competition, which offers a
vir of $l.ono to the winner.
"We're very proud of her
and we're elad to see one of
. our teachers get the recogni
tion." commented Starr.
McDoueal is a graduate of
the University of Idaho at
Moscow.
As in the past sessions.
Jernstedt was received one of
the heaviest committee loads
in the Senate.
Jernstedt expressed plea
sure at his committee assign
ments "because they will
permit me to devote a major
effort to issues of critical
importance to the people of
our area."
Senate Minority Leader Bob
Smith of Burns said the major
committee posts held bv
Jernstedt "are indicative of
the respect with which he is
hold hv members and leaders
of both political Parties."
Warren II. McCoy
(file photo)
propositioned the woman.
"I always thought the
police were out to protect
people not entice them and
take them in on something."
he said.
WW
V '1
v ..MI
'81-82 School budget to
go to voters March 31
The Morrow County School
District budget committee
finished up work on the 1981-82
budget Monday night, and will
send it to the voters for
approval on March 31.
In its third and final meeting
since receiving the budget
Jan. 5. the committee took the
knife to the document, cutting
a total of $435,687 from almost
every school and department
in the district.
From a proposed 17.8 per
cent increase at the beginning
of deliberations, the commit
tee cut the budget back to a 9 9
percent increase over last '
year.
School administrators were
instructed at a Jan. 12 meeting
of the committee to trim the
$6,499,421 budget. Monday.
Superintendent Matt Doherty
presented $435,687 in across,
t he-board cuts to the commit
tee, which approved the re
ductions without change after
two hours of deliberations.
The cuts will mean a total
budget of $6,063,734 - up
$548,162 over last year. The
budget will require a tax rate
Irrigon council elects mayor,
dismisses police officer
By FRANCES ROSE WILSON
The City of Irrigon Council
convened a week late for its
January session because of
postponement due to the death
of Mayor Vernon Stewart's
father, near LaGrande.
Newly -elected councilman.
Joel Stahl, was sworn in and
the oath of office was also
administered to Recorder
Caryle Mayrand by Mayor
Stewart. Daryl Brownlee was
appointed to fill the council
vacancy left by Dennis
Riesch. Marie Johnson had.
previously been appointed but
she reconsidered and refused
the appointment.
With a full council in
session. Donald Eppenbach
was elected by the group to
serve as mayor for the coming
year. He replaces Vernon
Stewart who has served in this
position the past 4 years. The
council re-elected Bill Cooley
as mayor pro-tem.
Morrow County Planner
Dean Seeger presented a
preliminary plot of a proposed
subdivision to the council. The
4-acre tract, which lies west of
13th St. and south of California
Ave. is outside the city
boundary but lies within the
urban growth lines under
which both city and county
approval is required.
The tract of land is control
led by Stan Knapp. H. Eugene
Smith and Kenneth Kamer er,
all of Hermiston, and would be
titled Honeywild Estates with
home offices in Vancouver.
Wash.
The project would consist of
37 one-acre lots with easement
for future development of
streets and would be develop
ed for sale in two stages.
Three wells are proposed for
water service to the area and
individual septic tanks for
sewage disposal. The tract is
somewhat isolated from de
veloped streets and several
citizens and council members
raised questions concerning
this issue. The tentative plan,
however was approved.
of 9 2 dollars per thousand of
valuation, an increase of 1.2
over last year.
The budget will also require
both A and B ballots, a point
debated by budget committe
members. ,
Superintendent Doherty ex
pressed a desire for the
committee to name specific
programs which will be in
cluded in the $416,905 B ballot.
He asked that the commit
tee name areas to be included
in the B ballot as an aid In
explaining the ballot to dis
trict taxpayers. -
In response, the committee
identified 12 programs that
would most likely bear the
brunt of cost cutting if the B
ballot were to fail.
The programs include afh
letics. driver education, kind
ergarten, speech therapy. :
summer grounds help, a new
"able and gifted program,"
transportation, food services,
bus and shop improvements,
bus replacement, learning
disability, and educational
media.
Doherty expressed belief
that B ballots, however, are .
Daryl Brownlee presented a
petition containing 76 signa
tures asking the council to
dismiss the city safety officer,
Robert Hoover, who was hired
last summer. Since the cir
cumstances which prompted
the petition were presented in
the form of a series of
questions rather than by
specific charges of dereliction
of duty, the council was
reluctant to take action. The
dozen or more townspeople
attending the session were
quite outspoken concerning
specific occasions. Both busi
nessmen Paul Brown and
John Cimmiyotti named in
stances alleging that Hoover
either failed to respond to
calls or came only after a long
period of time.
Because of the possibility of
legal repercussions which
could arise from discharging
an employee without due
process the council agreed
Hoover should have an oppor
tunity to answer allegations.
Police Commissioner Bill
, Cooley stated that he had
requested Hoover to be at the
meeting of the council. At
tempts to reach Hoover by
phone were unsuccessful and
two men sent to his residence
could not get a response by
knocking on the door.
In a final effort of fairness, a
special meeting was set for
Wed.. Jan. 21. with the safety
New to town?
New to the community? The Gazette-Times is now offering
a free three-month subscription to newcomers. Just give us a
call. 676-9228. and we'll sign you up.
Jernsted nominated
for Senate president
State Sen. Ken Jernstedt of
Hood River was nominated for
Senate president pro tern
during the organizational act
ivities of the 1981 legislature.
Jernstedt. a 14 year legisla
tive veteran, was nominated
here to stay in Morrow
County.
"If we are going to operate
schools in Morrow County you
are going to have to have a B
levy, and you are going to
have to sell it." he told the
budget. committee.
He said the district's tax
base is not realistic enough to
support the district by itself
now.
On a positive note Doherty
told the committee that be
cause of better than expected
tax collection recently, he was
increasing the anticipated
cash carryover the district
will have for next year's
budget from 'he original
estimate of about $50,000 to
over $150,000.
Overall Doherty said. "It's a
budget I think voters can
support." commenting that
the percentage increase was
the lowest in at least five
years, and the .total dollar
amount the lowest in the last
three years. -
"We are doing better than
some of the districts around
us." he added.
officer to be notified of the
meeting in a hand-delivered
letter.
At the special meeting Wed.,
action was taken to discharge
the policeman and safety
officer. Robert Hoover, after
several attempts to deliver the
letter and to contact him by
phone had failed.
In other business the coun
cil: . ,
adopted a resolution call
ing for depositing of $14,000 of
funds from a matured-time
certificate in the City Hall
Building Fund to savings and
transferring of $3,396 of it to a
General Fund to pay accumu
lated attorney fees related to
the railroad property.
adopted a resolution to
transfer funds in the amount
of $1,598 from the water-reserve
fund to pay for mater
ials and supplies purchased
for the water system.
tabled a request from
Albert Philips for reimburs
ment for his use of his truck to
haul gravel on a street to a
new lot he has for sale.
requested that Umatilla
Electric Co-op Association
conduct a street-light study
concerning upgrading and
projected needs for city light
ing. selected a logo for new
city seal and letter heads.
noted that the census
count for the citv is 710.
. for the number-two Senate
post by Sen. Jim Simmons of
Tieard and Senate Minority
leader Bob Smith of Burns.
Jernstedt received the un
animous support of his Senate.
Republican collegues.
I "
I
. r