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The Heppner
Aprii 22 : h
Gazette-Times
M o rro it'
V O I 104 NO 17
C ounty's H o m e-O w n e d W eekly N ew sp ap er
Heppner. Oregon 25 ' W
.
. |9 B6, Heppner. Oregon
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Weather
Tuesday
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P r n ip
50 20
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58 45 0 1 1
s ’ M 07
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l)\ tht* ( !it> of lleppntT
Columbia Basin board approves City’s personnel policy updated
construction of transmission line
The Columbia Basin Electric Co-
.>p board o f directors approved a
long range plan for the recon si rue
tion o f the transmission line from
Bonneville Power Administration
point o f delivery into Heppner at an
estimated cost o f $1 7 m illion at an
April 24 board meeting
At the present time, said co-op
manager Fred Toombs, with work
loads permitting, the construction
contract is expected to he let for bids
in October with work to begin in late
March. I*4K7 and to be completed by
November I. 1987 RFA loan funds
w ill be used to pay for a portion o f
the work with the balance o f the
money coming from co-op operating
revenues “ The reason for the
tremendous expenditure on the
transmission facility is because the
system has deteriorated to a point
where service is no longer reliable
to a majority o f customers in this
area." he said " I t w ill take the
cooperation o f every customer to get
through this massive project with its
series or outages."
Columbia Basin is continuing the
process o f inserting poles at mid
span in the ice areas to help prevent
breaks during the next cold spell
Win mom a
diamond
Area businesses arc celebrating
Mother's Day this year with a free
drawing for a % carat diamond
Anyone eighteen years or older
may enter to win at participating
businesses
No purchase is
necessary
Retail value o f the diamond is
5299 95. and is on display in win
dow o f Peterson's Jewelers
Enter between now and Saturday.
May 10 The drawing w ill be held
at 5 p m Saturday
Enter at any o f the following
businesses Sears. Country Rose M
A R Floor Covering. McDonalds
C hevrolet. Shoe Box. Central
Market. Petersons, Court Street
Market. Dr Rolen. Ix s Schwab.
Bud's Pub. Case Furniture. R A W
Drive In. Murrays Drug. Gardners
Mens Wear. Coast to Coast, Hepp
ner Elks. Morrow County Grain
G row ers, Pettyjohns Farm A
Builders Supply
the hoard also discussed
-current insurance problems and
approved a property damage and
public liability insurance package as
submitted by the staff Tixtnbs rvxed
that huge increases in cost for this
type coscrage had occurred in recent
years, particularly notable in 198b
By Avon Melhv
Personnel policy tor the City of
Heppner was worked out at a four
hour special session o f the council
last week "There has been a
50 year accumulation of personnel
jx'licies which have never been com
piled into one document." said
W illiam Kuhn, city attorney
"Several scars ago when the citv
created the post of city ad
numerator, the policies should have
been compiled.'' Kuhn said But this
was never done
The new policy sets up a clear
chain o f command The mayor and
council w ill direct the city ad
ministralor on matters o f personnel
policy City Administrator Marshall
lavvgren w ill implement them He
I he board also approved the order
for installing controls on the River
side High School boiler alter hear
ing the superintendent's report that
the boiler needed a control system to
increase efficiency I he cost is ex
peeled to he 59.182
In other business, the hoard
look no action on a complaint bv
Russell Oil ol Boardman that Devin
O il is oversharging the district tor
gasoline and diesel
-adopted the school calendar lor
next year with school beginning
September 2. 198b and ending June
5. 1987
approved new policies on com
lliunicable diseases and drugs and
alcohol for the district
; accepte< a bid tor $619 for an
•vlven iscd ous, rejected the bid on
the Pontiac sedan
took no action concerning out of
state transportation
heard that the highway engineer
out ol TYndleton has protected a cost
o f 519.578 to replace the retaining
wall and sidewalk at Heppner
Elementary Temporary and alter
native solutions lor this problem
were discussed, but no action was
taken
heard that moving the lax base
election to November consumes one
ol the two elections allowed above
the tax rale limitation This means
that there is need tor a strong effort
to pass the tax base electwvn
approved hiring D jn Marshall as
head custixfian maintenance person
at the district office
approved extru duty contracts tor
Brent t ggers. Heppner High School
assistant track coach, and John I d
mundson Heppner High Assistant
golf coach
accepted resignations from the
following certificated employees el
fective at the end of the school year
Kipp Norris, lone Junior High.
Vanessa Ihompson. Riverside High,
Barbara Stcfani. Heppner High.
Brent Eggers. Heppner H igh.
Kathryn Dean, retiring from River
side High, and from Thad K ill
ingheck as head baseball coach at
Columbia Junior High
The Morrow County Court turn
cd the Building Inspection services
over to the Stale Department ol
Commerce at the Wednesday. April
23 session ol County Court This
was done after weeks of serious
deliberations and not until all major
projects that were nearing comple
tion has been finalized by a contract
inspector,
said
Judge
Don
M il lligott The major consideration
to return the function to the state was
based on the tact that salaries tor tul
ly certified inspectors necessary
to maintain the service tall within a
salary range of 524.1X81 to 5MI.IXXI
a year Morrow County's salary
ranges for department heads and
division level employees does not
reach that amount M cElligott con
turned Budeet levels resulting from
severe cutbacks and low anticipated
revenues from inspection fees made
it impossible to retain this service
In further action, the Court re
q .sted the Planning D irector
.^organize his department and con
tmuc operation of permit centers in
l^xtngton and Irrigon. and develop
with the ( Iregon Stale Department of
Commerce a regional coordination
program Planning Director Deane
Seegcr w ill meet with stale officials
later in the month to negotiate a
greater share ot permit fees for the
county so that costs and overhead in
solved in maintaining permit centers
may be recaptured < >nc stop permit
locations would remove the burden
ot citizens having to drive to. or call,
the Department of Commerce field
office in Pendleton
Washington Public Power Supp
ly Svstem lawsuits It is now
estimated that the lawsuits w ill come
to trial in late 198?. Ti*>mhs said
Pre trial activities continue The
judge, he said, anticipates that the
trial w ill be held outside the Pacific
Northwest
lone school sewer system to be completed
The M orrow County School
Board decided to complete the lone
sewer sy stem at their Monday . April
21 meeting
Since arbitration over the system
has been completed, said Supcrintrn
dent Doyle McCaslin, the board ap
proved completing the system as
originally planned Since the ar
bitrator rullcd that the district dal not
have to pay for work improperly
done or not done at all. the hoard is
in the process ol developing con
tracts and bid specifications At the
May 19 meeting, they expect to open
bids from contractors and be ready
to approve a contract lor completion
of the work at the lone school The
area in front o f the scfuxil currently
has an "under construction" look,
said the superintendent, and septic
tanks are still uncovered with bar
racades in place to protect their tons
The Board antic qiates it w ill cost
58,000 to complete the D E
requirements
Finds balloon
A card from a balloon released by
a Troutdale elementary student was
found in a field where Dean Hunt
was seeding a week ago Monday
The balloon was not with the bright
yellow card when Hunt found it. but
was released by fourth grader Jixli
Fairbanks as pari o f a Weekly
Reader W riting Pals contest The
message on the card said that she
promised to write back if the tinder
of her halhcn would return the card
with a letter to her school
Ians (Mrs Deanl Hunt said that
she had written a letter to the stu
dent This is the second balloon
message her husband had found
while working in the field About a
year ago. he found a balloon rclcas
ed at Madras
w ill work with department heads,
who w ill give instruction to other c i
ty employees
"Losgren w ill be at the end of the
line as tar as responsibility goes."
Kuhn said He w ill be in charge of
both the city crew and police
departments
His dec isions may be- appealed to
the mayor or council
How police w ill be reimbursed lor
overtime was a matter o f some
discussion at the last regular court
ctl meeting In the special session it
was written into the new policy that
police w ill receive compensatory
time o il. the same as other city
employees The city has not had
overtime pay covered in the budget
lor at least two years," said Kuhn
Need lor the personnel |volicv up
date has existed lor years according
to Kuhn Policies in effect in other
towns were studied bv council
members, in arriving at what would
work best for Heppner The new
document w ill be discussed, and a
vote is expected ai the regular
meeting oI the council Monday at 8
p m at city hall Also at that meeting
an updated policy on peddlers and
door to door salesmen w ill be
adopted by the council
State to do county building inspections
mem
under the direction ot the assis
tant planner. Lori Bergstrom, issues
Currently, the planning depart
state plumbing and electrical per
mils The county retains 10 percent
o f these fees
Stale laws tequire obtaining not
only building permits, but zoning
and DEQ permits as well These
regulatory functions are both
frustrating and time consuming, both
to the general public and to enforce
tnent agencies at .(¿I levels says the
ludge It is the sincere hope ot the
County Court and the Planning
Department whose function it is to
administer these laws, that permit
centers w ill ease the burden as much
as possible
Through m utual
cooperation, understanding and pa
lienee bv all o f us. we hope to pro-
v ule a serv ice ami to keep a xuffit lent
percentage of tees at the county level
to cover all costs so we are not re
quired to spend property taxes to
find the service, he concluded
Potato stocks 25% more than last year
Stocks o f field run potatoes held
in Oregon on April I. totaled 8 0
m illion hundredweight. (4<XI.(XXI
tons), according to the Oregon Crop
and l ivestixk Reporting Service
This estimate is 25'< highc ’ than last
year April I stock' are MPT of the
Stales I98X (XHato production com
pared with 27‘T ot production last
year ('ullage and dumping ol
potatoes continues to he above
average because o f frost problems
Export wheat-quality studied
A recent L' S Department of
Agriculture study concludes that
l ! S 198' wheat exports met or ex
seeded the importer'* grade require
ment The study. conducted by
L'SDA's Federal ( Train Inspection
Service, analyzed 1985 official
records from more than 878 bushels
o f inspected wheal exports By class,
the sample was broken down by 197
m illion bushels of Hard Red W inter
I A4 m illion bushels o f Hard Red
Spring. I 11 m illion bushels of Soft
Red W inter. I 50 m illion bushels of
White Wheat, and 4b million bushels
of Durum Neatly 94 percent of the
exports was certified l S No 2 and
six percent certificated either t S
No I or U S No 1 To determine
quality, the study analyzed test
w eight, heat damaged kernels,
foreign material, shrunken and
broken kernels, contrasting class,
wheat of other classes, dockage and
moisture
A tree presehool screening clinic
w ill be ottered Thursday Mas 29
from d a m to 1 p m at the Hcpp
ner Elementary School for children
from Heppner. Lexington and lone
who plan to attend kindergarten next
fa ll
Parents o f next ye a r's
kindergarteners need to call the
elementary school. 67b 9128, to
nuke an appointment lor their child
Although the sc recning process has
been streamlined and a shorter time
is needed, appointm ents are
necessary Parents need to bring
their child's birth certificate and itti
mum/ation records
To begin kindergarten next fall,
children must be age five before
September I. |9Hb
Younger
children w ill be tested in specific
areas upon request
Readiness testing w ill be pros id
cd in the areas o f vision, speech and
language development, hearing,
motor skills, and general maturation
and development
The town hall meeting on school
finance scheduled lor A pril 24 at
Riverside High School in Hoardman
was postponed at the last minute and
rescheduled for Mas 1 .7 p m at the
Riverside High School auditorium in
Boardman l ack o f attendance due
to numerous conflicts was cited as
the reason for the postponement
A rt Kegler. Boardman/North
Morrow County Chamber o f Com
merce president and meeting
moderator said, “ we picked a dale
that turned out to have many con
flicts. but the issue of school financ e
and property taxes is too important
to just torget it We need to give the
people another opportunity to speak
out "
Flyers announcing the reschedul
ed meeting w ill be sent home with
Morrow County school children ear
ly in the week to remind parents to
attend
For more information call Pal
McClintock 4 k l 3014
Preschool screening clinic set
School finance meeting re-set
Tuesday morning fire d&troys structure
The cause o f a si rue ture lire on
Baltimore St in Heppner luesday
■noming is still under investigation
..nil a spokesperson 1er the Heppner
hire Dept A small outbuilding us
cd as a bedroom was completely
destroyed follow ing the bla/e
Twelve firemen with three trucks
spent two hours at the site controll
mg and mopping up the lire
Fire Chief Tome Burkenhine was
treated ai Pioneer Memorial Hospital
and released after an aerosol can of
insect rcpellant exploded in his lace
No other iniuries were reported