FOLK - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, April 11, IWO
Straight talk about center
The Official Newspaper of the
City of Heppner and the
County of Morrow
The Heppner
GAZETTE-TIMES
Morrow County’s Home-Owned Weekly Newspaper
U S P S 240-420
Published every Wednesday and entered as second-elass matter at the Post Office
at Heppner. Oregon under the Art of March .1. 1874. Second class postage paid
at Heppner. Oregon. Office at 147 West Willow Street, t elephone (5(01 676-4228.
Address communications to the Heppner (iazette-Times. P.O. Bov .07, Hepp
ner, Oregon 478.16. Subscriptions: $12 in Morrow, Wheeler, Gilliam and Grant
t »unties; $23 elsewhere.
Joyce Hughes ...........................................................Office Manager, Typesetting
April Sykes .......................................................................................... News Editor
Beth Rafferty......................................................................... Graphics Department
Becky E v a n s......................................................................... Graphics Department
Monique P a r r e l.................................................................................... Distribution
Kay Rene Qualls.......................................................................................... Bindery
D a vid and A p ril Sykes, Publishers
Sheriff s Report
Letters to the Editor
Just say ‘No’ to SAIF
To the Editor:
Oregon small business should just
say no. No to supporting the State
Accident Insurance Fund (SAIF)
corporation with our premium
dollars, and no to SAIF's business
practices.
I oversee a private non-profit cor
poration with payroll less than
400,000 dollars a year and like so
many other businesses we were
cancelled from coverage with SAIF
on Decem ber 31.1989. This
cancellation came despite the fact
that we have an excellent safety
record and have paid thousands of
dollars in premiums to SAIF without
a single time-loss claim. The reason
SAIF gave for terminating our
coverage was that we had been
operating less than three years. Upon
being notified of this termination,
our board of directors agreed that we
should not do business with SAIF
Corporation again and directed our
insurance agent to place us with one
of the three other available workers
compensation carriers in the state.
On January 31, we were notified
that we had once again been placed
with SAIF at a rate 35 percent higher
than before. We objected and filed
complaints with our insurance agent,
the carrier, and the National Coun
cil on Compensation Insurance
(NCCI) the private company which
has the contract with the state of
Oregon to place companies from the
“ aligned) risk pool” with worker
compensation carriers. After a bar
rage of“ letter writing and phone
calls, including a complaint filed
with the fraud division of the state
nveCi
cjy & S°r
attorney general’s office, we have
been placed with WAUSAU in
surance company.
My personal belief is that any
business which finds themselves in
the same situation as our corporation
should exercise their “ consumer
rights” and drop SAIF. SAIF was
originally established to keep our
workers compensation rates low;
they have failed in this mission.
Their failure has created a worker’s
compensation market where any
small company with a reasonable
time-loss record can purchase in
surance from a company other than
SAIF for the same rate. Small
businesses which must constantly
struggle to remain competitive have
been forced into an unfair situation
of bailing out SAIF. Let’s just say
no. SAIF is a failed business, it is
time government let it fail. Drop
SAIF today. It is time that small
business give SAIF the same con
sideration they showed us on
December 31, 1989. Oregonians
need worker compensation reform.
SAIF has proven not to be a suitable
vehicle for this change.
(s) Stan Foster
P.O. Box 23
Weston, Oregon 97886
NOTE: Stan Foster is the Direc
tor of the Community Action Pro
gram of East Central Oregon in
Pendleton. Oregon. While the board
of directors has supported changing
worker’s compensation farriers on
behalf of the corporation, the opi
nions expressed herehrafc- those of
Mr. Foster and not an official posi
tion of the corporation.
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To the Editor:
Regarding Stan Foster’s letter of
March 21, lets have some straight
talk, indeed.
First of all, the Neighborhood
Center never “ threatened” to close
They were merely giving the
courtesy of letting people know what
was going to happen. The board
meetings are open to the public and
if Mr. Foster ever bothered to come
to one he would certainly realize
what financial straits the center was
in.
Mr. Foster gives the impression
that CAPECO and county funding is
all the center gets. If this were true
they would have closed long ago
Financial reports are sent to
V
The Sheriff s office at the cour
thouse in Heppner report dispatching
the following business during the
past week:
April 3: Morrow County deputy
assisted Oregon State Police with a
one motor vehicle accident on 1-84
mile post 151. There were no
injuries;
Morrow County deputy respond
ed to lone cemetery and began in
vestigation of vandalism;
Morrow County deputy respond
ed to Skyview Drive just outside
Boardman and began investigation of
a burglary. The victim was Diane
Garcia and value was unknown at
press time;
Morrow County Sheriff s office
dispatched the Condon fire depart
ment to a grass fire on the highway
from Condon to Wasco just at the ci
ty limits;
Morrow County Sheriffs office
dispatched the Condon fire depart
ment to a controlled bum that had
gotten out of control seven miles
south of Condon;
Morrow County Sheriffs office
dispatched the Arlington fire depart
ment to 1-84 east bound, milepost
122 for a motor home on fire. ,
April 4: Morrow County Sheriffs
office dispatched the Heppner Fire
Chief to St. Patrick’s Hotel. Turn
ed out to be a false alarm;
Morrow County Sheriffs office
dispatched the Fossil ambulance for
a male with unknown injuries. One
transport was made to Asher Clinic;
Morrow County deputy respond
ed to the Irrigon area for a report of
neighbor problems;
Morrow County deputy respond
ed to Boardman for a complaint of
reckless burning. Investigations are
continuing;
Morrow County deputy respond
ed to the LcxingUm area for a report
of theft. Complainant was unable to
be contacted, investigations are
continuing;
Morrow County deputy respond
ed to the Irrigon area for a report of
a missing horse. Horse was located.
April 5: Morrow County deputy
investigated a complaint of loud
motorcycles in the Boardman area.
April 6: Morrow County deputy
responded to the Boardman area for
an animal problem;
Morrow County deputy respond
ed to the Irrigon area to investigate
a juvenile problem. Juvenile was
cited for theft;
Morrow County deputy respond
ed to the Irrigon area to investigate
a juvenile problem;
Morrow County Sheriffs office
dispatched the Heppner ambulance
to a train/car accident in lone. One
female was transported to Pioneer
Memorial Hospital with unknown
injuries.
April 7: Morrow County Sheriffs
office dispatched the Boardman fire
department to a structure fire on East
Wilson Road, Boardman;
Morrow County Sheriff s office
responded to a call at Rhea Creek,
Ruggs to investigate a water pro
blem. Investigation is continuing;
Morrow County Sheriffs office
dispatched the Condon EMT’s to the
clinic for an ATV accident. Injuries
were unknown;
Morrow County Sheriffs office
responded to investigate a report of
a prowler in the Boardman area.
Prowler was unable to be found;
Morrow County deputy respond
ed to Irrigon for a disturbance. Cita
tions were issued to Tina Kegler, 29,
Irrigon for reckless driving.
April 8: Morrow County Sheriffs
office dispatched the Arlington am
bulance to a one vehicle rollover on
1-84 east bound at milepost 136. One
male was transported to Good
Shepherd Hospital with unknown
injuries;
Morrow County deputy respond
ed to the Irrigon area for a report of
vandalism to a vehicle. Investiga
tions are continuing;
Morrow County Sheriff s office
dispatched the Boardman ambulance
to a motor vehicle accident on
Wilson Road. Two individuals
were transported to Good Shepherd
Hospital with unknown injuries;
Morrow County Sheriffs office
dispatched the Spray Ambulance to
a residence in Spray. One female
was transported to Prineville with an
unknown illness.
A
CAPECO and the county every
month but perhaps no one is bother
ing to read them.
As for Ed Glenn's remarks,
maybe he should attend a board
meeting himself and get his informa
tion first-hand instead of writing a
story from other stories. The "whole
story” has been told and re-told by
the center’s board of directors, but
evidently certain people don’t like
what they are hearing. If anyone
wants to know anything about what’s
going on at the Neighborhood Center
I suggest they go down there and
ask, or go to a board meeting. A
snow job, my left foot.
(s) Sherry Vejraska
Heppner
Chamber Chatter
By Claudia Hughes, Chamber Manager
* Everyday should be Earth Day.
This message came home to me
when someone shared an astronaut’s
concept. He said something to the ef
fect that when you are out there in
the black of space and all that is visi
ble is a tiny ball called earth, it
becomes quite clear that as long as
we’re alive you should take care of
it because it’s home for you, your
children, grandchildren, and great
grandchildren. Responsible people
need to take care of their land, no
matter how large or smali. Plant a
tree, clean up your ranch, your yard,
pick up trash on public lands, respect
this earth, it’s all we have.
* Along these lines, Chamber
heard from Jerry Anderson and Cin
dy Doherty, Morrow Soil and Water
Conservation District, as they
presented the plans for a walking
path from the park up to the dam.
The Oregon Youth Conservation
Corps under the supervision of Vern
Keithley will be working on this in
June. Another idea was a trail pro
posal along Willow Creek from park
to park. This has been done suc
cessfully in Jackson County and
enhances communities. It would, of
course, depend on approval of pro
perty owners. Everyone would
benefit and some weed problems
would be solved in the process.
* Morrow County Tourism Com
mittee met Tuesday with lively
discussion on the Scenic Byway
dedication. May 12; plans for the
Morrow County booth at the Oregon
State Fair; Cycle Oregon; and
reprinting of placemats. Businesses
interested in having an ad on the next
placement should contact Doug
Rathbun. Morrow County Tourism
sells the placemats to finance the
organization.
* As you read this, many of you
will be enjoying long-stemmed
roses. Heppner Chamber appreciates
the opportunity to provide roses and
thanks
all those who purchased
them. It helps the organization to
realize their goals for 1990, all aim
ed toward the well-being of our
community.
* Next week Nancy Brownfield
will be sharing her experiences in
Washington D.C. with Heppner
Chamber.
Thought for the week: “ Nothing
would ever be attempted if all possi
ble objections could be overcome
first.”
New Look
It’s nice to step back and take a new
look once in a while. If you see the
same old thing, at least it’s comforting
to know somebody didn’t steal it while
you looked away.
That’s the way it is with the group
of folks working up the Morrow Coun
ty economic development plan. A cou
ple of years ago a lot of the same folks
went through the same process to come
up with the county’s position on a
regional economic developm ent
strategy.
That strategy was to look to
By Ed Glenn
agricultural industries for economic
growth. But in getting there there was
talk about tourism, forest products,
government centers and a whole host of different ways to broaden our
economic base. Because the strategy was limited to one and only one in
dustry, some folks got the impression that it was intended to be the ex
clusive pursuit toward economic growth. Others got diverted chasing the
prison and yet others got all teary-eyed fighting the prison.
The new look now, looks a whole lot like the old look. Same old pro
blems, same opportunities, same groups grinding the same axes. Not a
lot has changed. Except added agricultural development has gone on in
spite of organized community effort
Unlike the regional strategy, which has a very narrow focus and quite
a bit of money, it looks like the Morrow County economic development
plan will be a scatter-gun blast with no aim, all things to all people and
totally unfunded. Hard decisions are not made until we are forced to make
them and no one appears to be forcing a focus on the Morrow County plan.
Instead, it will advocate tourist development at the same time as it urges
preservation of the forest products industry. It will bless development of
a retirement atmosphere while it advocates growth in governmental ser
vices such as schools, roads and medical services. It will support energy
development and a road through the Boeing property.
The inconsistencies will be apparent to everyone but no one will dare
challenge someone else’s pet project.
If the plan is to have any value at all, it must quickly garner some pro
fessional advice on what it is that makes a community grow. What kind
of resources are required, which ones are only desirable and which ones
can be made out of whole cloth.
Then the planners must learn what it is that attracts industry to a com
munity. It may well be that our opinions about the great livability in Mor
row County mean very little to the fellows who decide just where the
next factory will be built.
Finally, the plan must include some choices. If it is true that the more
retirees there are in a community the harder it is to pass a school budget,
then we must choose between a retirement community and a high quality
school system. It if it is true that a large percentage of our present popula
tion does not want economic growth, then we must choose between no
growth and growth that is internal, not relying on public support.
If the planners make careful, generally supported choices, and give the
plan some kind of focus, it will be a valuable thing. If it is broad enough
to suit most of us, yet narrow enough that we don’t wander astray , it may
make a little bit of difference.
A well focused plan can muster some financial backing. The current
effort has some sanction from the Port of Morrow and it may also have
its financial support. But to just throw a little money at a new marketing
man and send him out to develop tourism, energy, agriculture, retirement
homes and whatever else some one happens to think of, is like tossing
leaves to the wind.
There’s more work to be done, let it be good work.
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