Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 23, 1991)
, 0 r Jenni Ashbeck chosen queen of 1992 Fair and Oregon Pro Trail Rodeo s s I f : U 0 F* ORE N E *v SPA P £ L f 1992 Morrow County Fair and Oregon Pro Trail Rodeo Court left to right: Princess Angie Partlow, Queen Jenni Ashbeck, Princesses Shelly Ashbeck and Staci O’Brien. VO L 110________ WO. 43________ 8 Pages Wednesday, October 23, 1991_________Morrow County Heppner, Oregon Kinzua initiates recycling program Jenni Ashbeck, 17-year-old daughter of Alvin and Julie Ashbeck of Buttercreek. was chosen as queen of the 1992 Morrow County Fair and Oregon Trail Pro Rodeo. Jenni has been a member of the Fair and Rodeo court for four years. She was a pennant bearer for three years and was a princess on the 1991 court with her sister. Queen Jodee Ashbeck. Ms. Ashbeck is a junior at Hepp ner High School where she is active ly involved in student government as junior class president. She also holds the office of FFA vice president and was recently selected to attend the National FFA Convention in Kansas City in November. She has par ticipated in sports. 4-H, FFA and was a 1991 homecoming princess at Heppner High School. Jenni’s court was also selected on Sunday, Oct. 20 by the Fair Board, Fair Committee and Rodeo Commit tee. She will be attended by princess Staci O'Brien, 17 year-old daughter of Burke and Ginger O’Brien of Heppner. Staci is a junior at Hepp ner High School where she is involv ed in sports, 4-H and FFA Staci’s sister, Kristi and her mother were both former princesses. Angie Partlow. the 16 year-old daughter of Jim and Pam Partlow of Boardman. was also selected as a princess. As a member of student council, and junior class secretary at Riverside High School, princess Angie still finds time to be actively involved in FFA and 4-H. Princess Shelly Ashbeck, 16 year- old daughter of Mitch and Tag Ashbeck, brings a long heritage of royalty to the court. Her grand mother, aunts, cousins, and sisters have all been past court members, as well as her grandfather, Don Greenup, who was last year’s grand marshal. Shelly is a sophomore at Heppner High School. Administrators seek salary increase . , |, . Photo by Joyce Hughes Les Paustain oversees the recycling project at Kinzua Corporation’s log yard A new recycling project at Kinzua Corp in Heppner will cut the com pany’s cost and help area farmers as well as improving the environment. The newly developed log-yard reclaim system uses the fine bark, dirt and sand that comes off the logs as they sit on the deck to create a mulch that Kinzua may be able to market later. Kinzua is in the pro cess of working with farmers, who are experimenting with the mulch on CRP grass. The mulch will be work ed into the soil, which will later be planted with grass. Marketing the mulch is around a year and a half down the road, according to Frank Pearson, Kinzua general manager. The system allows the mill to clean up the log yard, get the rock back on the log yard, get bark to the fuel the co-generation plant and create a mulch, said Pearson. “ We’re able to utilize everything,” he added. According to Pearson, Steve Maine of Hermiston who has been hauling off the bark, came up with the idea of putting the mulch on CRP. “ We’ve had some good in terest in the mulch from nursery peo ple, farmers and landscapers," said Pearson. The process cuts down on the volume that has to be hauled away, thereby cutting costs for the com pany. The project cost around $100,000 with most of the labor done by Kinzua. “ We’re pretty excited about it,” said Pearson. “ Log yard waste has been a problem.” City cuts $20 thousand from budget; no cuts in police dept, or library The H eppner City C ouncil deliberated only a short while Thurs day evening, Oct. 17, in front of a sometimes angry crowd, before voting to make $20,500 in ad ministrative cuts in the 1991-92 city budget. Several options, including cuts or elimination of the police departm ent and library, were rejected. The cuts were necessitated by an $88,000 shortfall of city funds caus ed by Measure 5 and devaluation of property within the city limits. City administrator Gary Marks said that Heppner was the third hardest hit by Measure 5 statewide Only the cities of Condon and Moro were hit worse, percentage wise, he said. Included in the administrative cuts were: —$4,500 which will be trimmed from the general fund and redistributed to the water and sewer fund. From now on. the city treasurer will be reimbursed for the time she spends on water and sewer business from the water and sewer account, which is self-supporting —$8 thousand which will not be transferred this fiscal year from the general fund for closing costs for the old city landfill The landfill will not be closed until next year, so costs budgeted for that expense will not be spent this year —S3 thousand in vacation and sick leave which was cut because, accor ding to city officials, no city employees have accumulated vaca tion or sick leave time. —$5 thousand which was cut because of unexpended line items. While funds werenot cut from the city pool budget, city officials an ticipate that the funds will probably not be spent. They said they expect that the pool will probably not be opened in June, because of problems with the pool filtering system. Several options with regard to repair, renovation or closure of the pool have been discussed and meetings are expected in the future. Also not axed from the city budget was $2,304, earmarked for the Chamber of Commerce manager’s salary. “ I would like to see the chamber manager stay,” said former mayor Cara (Costa) Osmin. The manager does a lot more for the city than many people realize.” $20,500 in cuts leaves a 1992-93 cash carryover of only $61,201, which is down from a carryover of $104,464 for 1991-92. City ad m inistrator Gary M arks, who recommended a larger cash car ryover. said that the carryover sup ports city expenses from July 1, the beginning of the fiscal year, until tax monies are received in November; allows for unexpected unbudgeted expenditures; and earns additional money for the city through interest. He stressed that if there is not enough cash carryover, the city may be forced to borrow funds for operating expenses. A low carryover could also affect the city's ability to bond, added Marks. He said that after the city pays its bills this month it will have only around $27,000. Former city administrator Marshal Lovgren. argued against proposed cuts in the general fund, protesting that he felt that the original budget agreed on by the budget committee and the council should stand He said that the budget should not be sacrificed to ensure a large carryover and stated that he felt cuts in the police department would result in an increased crime rate. The city’s cash carryover for the last two years was around $88 thou sand, according to council member LoRayne Bowman Morrow County Assessor Greg Sweek said that he thought that Heppner might be in a better posi tion next year, because of the U.S. Forest Service building and other construction. The Forest Service building, now under construction, is owned privately and will be placed on the county tax rolls. He said, however, that the city will still face large losses, compared to pre- Measure 5 tax revenues Administrators in the Morrow County School District are seeking a six percent increase, including salaries and benefits, for the 1992-93 year and a four and a half percent total increase for the 1993-94 year. The school board Monday evening voted not to accept the increase, say ing they were not necessarily oppos ed to the salary package, but wish ed to review it further. Included in the salary package is a $390 per month cap on medical, dental and vision insurance coverage. In previous years there was no cap. According to Morrow County Superintendent Ralph Reed, the cap on the administrators’ coverage for 1992-93 is less than the teachers’ present cap of $400 per month The administrators’ cap on insurance coverage will rise to $425 per month in 1993-94. According to Reed, contract days are down from 255 days a year to 218 for administrators at A.C. Houghton, Sam Boardman Elemen tary and the Riverside High School vice principal; to 223 days for ad ministrators at Columbia Junior High and Heppner Elementary Junior High; and to 228 days at Riverside High, Heppner High and Ione-Elementary-Middle and High Schools. Reed said that there are no provisions for vacation days, but the contract days are down and bereave ment leave, at the discretion of the superintendent, has been included. For the 1992-93 year, ad ministrators seek an increase of $1,334 across the board. ACH, SBE and RHS vice prin cipal: step 1-$36,476; step 2 -$38,672; step 3-$40.868; step 4- $43,065: step 5-$45,261. CJH. HES-HJH: step l-$37.282: step 2-$39,529; step 3-$41,776; step 4-$44,022; step 5-$46,269. RHS, HHS. IHS: step l-$38,088; step 2-$40.385; step 3-S42.682; step 4-S44.979; step 5-$47,276. with the MCGG slates annual meeting The M orrow County Grain Grow ers annual stockholders’ meeting will be held Monday, Nov. 4, at the fairgrounds pavilion in Heppner. Dinner will be served at 6:30 p.m. Featured speaker for the evening will be Dorothy W ilhelm , a humorous motivational speaker who makes regular radio and television appearances in the Seattle area. Free babysitting will be available in the fairgrounds dorm itory building during the dinner and meeting. Chamber to host get-together Heppner Chamber of Commerce is sponsoring a get-together of all Heppner businesses Wednesday, October 30 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the All Saints Episcopal Church. “ Looking Ahead” will be the focus of the meeting with image and community partnership the goal, said chamber manager Claudia Hughes Wal-Mart will be a topic for discus sion. Local retailers who have visited Wal-Mart stores will share their perceptions and related han douts will be available. Included on the agenda will be the unveiling of sketches of Main Street businesses and the tree-lined Main Street pro gram. There will be ample oppor tunity for the business community to visit with their retail neighbors and for everyone to share what they en vision for the Heppner business community, she said. "Everyone is welcome; this is not limited to chamber members by any means," said Claudia Hughes. “ It's about working together, talking to each other, solidarity and new op portunities for Main Street There is no charge. Come visit, enjoy pop corn and cider and leave with new ideas.” Merchants moonlight sale Thurs. Heppner merchants will hold their annual moonlight sale this Thursday, Oct. 24 from 5 to 8 p.m. in downtown Heppner. Time to ‘fall back' It's time to ‘fall back’ and turn your clocks back one hour Saturday night, Oct. 26. Standard time goes into effect Sunday, Oct. 27. exception of the Riverside High School principal who would receive $48,276 at step 5. For the 1993-94 year ad ministrators are asking the following increases: ACH, SBE, RHS vice principal: step l -$37,394; step2-S39.731; step 3 $42,068; step 4-S44.405; step 5-$46,742. O H , HES-HJH. step 1 $38,257: step 2-$40.648; step 3-$43.039; step 4-$45,430; and step 5-$47,821. RHS, HHS. IHS step 1 $39,119; step 2-$41,564; step 3-$44,009; step 4-$46.445; step 5-$48,899. with the exception of the RHS principal who would receive $49,699 at step 5. Reed said that administrators salaries in Morrow County are below the state average. “ Most could get better salaries, on the average, if they went elsewhere,” he said. Also included in the salary package for each administrator is: * Long term disability insurance; * $100 a month for deferred com pensation. life insurance or tax sheltered annuities; * $100 each month for in-district expenses; * Full cost of two state profes sional education organizations and one national professional educational organization membership; * Twelve days of sick leave per year with unlimited accumulation of sick leave; * The cost of PERS pickup; * Reimbursement for full tuition costs for up to six quarter hours of credit per year at the state col- lege/university rate; * Bereavement leave as approved by the superintendent; * Hospital/medical insurance coverage until the age of 65 after 10 years of service with the district im mediately preceding retirement. In other business the board: -heard an overview of the results of new statewide achievement tests for children in grades three, five, eight and 11 from curriculum coor dinator Mike Wsiaki; -heard a dispute between lone music teacher Geneva Mathews and lone principal Dick Allen concern ing the music program and schedul ing conflicts; and -hired Joyce Hughes as the Hepp ner High School cheerleader ad visor. Pam Dowdy as assistant basketball coach. George Norris as head custodian and Ervin “ Stub" Lewis as assistant custodian. A G R IC U L T U R A L LO A N S That’s our business Give us a call g ANK OF ...... zZ a 6 tem O roqon • loo« A rtin a to n • H « p p n « r ■ Your Independent Home Owned Bank F 0 ,c
