Council approves motel tax;
opponents begin legal proceedings
35C
azette
imes
VOL. 111
NO. 14
10 Pages Wednesday, April 15, 1992
Morrow County Heppner, Oregon
Myren honored for DARE project
Photo by Joyce Hughes
M.C. Sheriff Roy Drago (I) presents plaque of appreciation to deputy Steve Myren at County
Court Wednesday. Standing
Steve is Judge Louis Carlson and Commissioner Raymond
French.
M orrow County S h eriff’s
D eputy Steve M yren was
presented a plaque from the Mor
row County S heriff s Office for
conducting local DARE pro
grams. DARE is the drug/alcohol
awareness program Myren taught
in the Morrow County Schools.
Myren, who said that the pro
gram ’s first year in Morrow
County was successful, said he
spent an average of 20 extra
hours a week in addition to his
regular work week. He said that
his extra work has brought results
in more positive relationships
betweek the kids and police and
also involves the parents.
M yren’s first session was the
sixth grade classes, but he said he
had recently been involved in the
high school driver’s ed and health
classes. He has been asked to at
tend outdoor school later this
year.
Soroptimist honor Jane Rawlins Voters to receive
precinct cards
The Morrow County Clerk’s of
fice will be sending out precinct
cards to registered voters in the
county beginning this Friday, accor
ding to Barbara Bloods worth, county
clerk.
Bloodsworth said they are sending
the cards because of changes in
senate and representative districts.
All Saints Italian
dinner set May 8
Photo by Joyce Hughes
Soroptimist member Gail Burkenbine (r) presents Jane
Rawlins with Distinguished Woman award.
Heppner and lone senior girls
and their mothers were treated to
the annual Senior Girls Lun
cheon on Thursday, April 9 at All
Saints Episcopal Church. The
luncheon is sponsored by the
Soroptim ist International of
Heppner.
In addition to the “ lovely salad
luncheon” provided by the ladies
of All Saints, the girls were enter
tained with musical selections by
Joyce H ughes, and Debbie
Miller. Jaclynn Hughes. Mindy
and Tammy Smith and Roxanne
Miller also sang a special Easter
number. Betty Marquardt was ac
companist. Guest speaker Birdine
Tullis, who has been active in
4-H and Extension, delivered an
“ upbeat motivational" talk on
success.
Honored at the luncehon was
Jane Rawlins, who received the
“ Woman of Distinction” award
for her “ tireless” volunteerism
and contributions to the Heppner
community. Jane is involved in
the Garden Club, the senior
mealsite and is director o f the In-
tergenerational Theater Group
and has been Morrow County
First Citizen. The Soroptimist
presented her with a plaque and
a dozen long-stemmed roses.
The Rev. Lea Mathieu o f the
lone United Church of Christ
gave the invocation. Jackie
Bergstrom was chair of the
luncheon.
The candlelight Italian dinner,
sponsored by All Saints Episcopal
Church is scheduled for May 8,
the Friday before Mother’s Day.
The dinner menu includes
m inestrone soup o r salad,
spaghetti , lasagna or seafood
fettucini, spumoni ice cream and
coffee, milk, wine or sparkling
cider.
Two seatings are available for
the dinner, at 5:30 and 7:15 p.m.
The dinner is by reservation on
ly. Organizer Marcia Anderson
says that the dinner is always sold
out and encourages early reser
vations. For reservations call
Anderson 676-5182, Aloha DeS-
pain 676-5376 or All Saints
Episcopal Church 676-9970. Cost
is $7 for adults and $3.50 for
children.
lone egg hunt
The lone Easter Egg hunt will
get underway at 10 a.m . this
Saturday April 18.
P re sc h o o le rs
through
kindergarten children will hunt at
St. Williams Catholic Church and
grades one through four at the
lone City Park.
The Heppner City Council
voted in a five-percent transient
room tax Monday evening April
13, but Tuesday morning motel
ow ners Tom LaR usso and
Dolores Cooper began pro
ceedings to fight the new tax.
LaRusso and Cooper presented
Heppner City Administrator Gary
Marks with documents to begin
an initiative petition to amend the
city charter to prohibit new city
taxes or increases on city taxes
without voter approval, and a
referendum which would take the
room tax back to the people for
approval. As it stands now, only
the council can increase or levy
a city tax. A vote of the people
is advisory only, not binding.
A ccording to docum ents
received by Marks, LaRusso and
C o o p er are aim ing at the
Novem ber general election.
Signatures of 15 percent of the ci
ty’s registered voters are required
to place an initiative on the ballot
and 10 percent are required to
place a referendum on the ballot.
An initiative is a proposal
which is initiated from the peo
ple. A referendum concerns a law
already in effect which is refer
red back to a vote of people.
Marks has five days to examine
the documents before he must
give them to city attorney Bill
Kuhn. Kuhn will examine the
documents, prepare a ballot title
and then return them to the spon
sors who may then begin collec
ting signatures. Signatures col
lected in a previous petition con
cerning the room tax are invalid
because proper procedures were
not followed, according to Mor
row County C lerk Barbara
Bloodsworth.
If enough signatures are col
lected and prove to be valid, then
the initiative and referendum will
be placed on the ballot.
The hotel-motel tax, passed by
the council Monday night will go
into effect July 1, the start of the
1992-93 fiscal year. Provisions in
the ordinance allow for 10 per
cent of the tax to be kept by hotel
owners to reimburse them for
collection and bookkeeping.
Another 10 percent will go to the
city for administration and payroll
taxes, leaving 80 percent of the
tax money to help fund the part-
time chamber o f commerce
manager’s salary.
The ordinance states that the
hotel-motel owners do not require
bonding. The provision in the or
dinance is there if there is a col
lection problem, according to city
attorney Bill Kuhn. The room tax
ordinance could be amended at
any time by the council, so the
proceeds could be used for some
o ther purposes besides the
chamber of commerce.
Dolores Cooper, part owner of
Heppner’s only motel, the Nor
thwestern, said she didn't object
as much to paying the tax as “ the
way it’s been set up. Our books
can be inspected at any tim e,”
she said.
Her partner, Tom LaRusso,
however said the chamber should
be doing more fund raisers to
support themselves. And he said
he thought he and his supporters
were doing the right thing in cir
culating what he thought was a
petition to stop the council from
passing the tax ordinance.
“ W e’re going to pursue the in
itiative process to amend the city
c h a rter and get it on the
November ballot,” he said. Two
hundred fifty signatures (in op
position to the tax) ought to mean
something,” he said.
Darlene Scroggins, owner of
the local bed and breakfast house
said she objected to “ being nail
ed to the cross” even though her
small business wouldn’t hurt or
help much either way. But she
added that because her establish
ment requires a business license,
her insurance rates have doubled.
She said that her business hasn’t
been affected by events such as
St. Patricks or the local fair and
rodeo, which bring a lot of peo
ple into the community.
“ It’s just bad tim ing,” in light
of measure 5 cutbacks, said coun
cilman David Allstott, who voted
in favor of the tax. Chamber ac
tivities benefit the whole com
munity, not just businesses; but
a lot o f people see it as opening
the doors for additional taxes, he
said.
However, Cliff Green, owner
of the Coast to Coast store em
phasized that the tax ordinance is
not breaking any new ground.
“ It’s common place in most
to]|B$ to collect a motel tax that
goes towards economic develop
ment. And it’s the city’s respon
sibility to be involved in the
economic health o f our town. In
large towns, city employees are
hired for economic development
roles, but in small towns that
responsibility is passed on to
cham bers
and
vo lu n teer
economic development groups,”
he said.
Ann Spicer, a Heppner lawyer,
said that a research shows that of
the 52 Oregon cities with motel
Easter egg hunt planned Saturday
The annual Easter Egg hunt for
area kids, sponsored by the
Heppner Elks Club will be held
this Saturday, April 18 beginning
at 10 a.m.
P re -sc h o o le rs
through
Kindergarten will hunt at the ci
ty park next to the library and
museum; first and second graders
will hunt at the Heppner Elemen
tary School lower field; and third
and fourth graders will be at
Hager Park.
Forest service to sponor blood drive
The U.S. Forest Service is spon
soring an American Red Cross blood
drive, Monday, April 27 from 1 to
6 p.m. at the St. Patrick Senior
Center, 182 N. Main, Heppner. The
National Honor Society will provide
the canteen.
Any healthy adult age 17 or over
who weighs at least 110 pounds may
give blood. Blood is used to help
cancer and leukemia patients, bum
and accident victims, children with
certain disorders and people
undergoing surgery.
“ When you give blood, you save
lives. You give someone another bir
thday, another laugh with a friend,
another chance,” said Nancy
Adams, donor resource consultant
for the Columbia River Region.
T-Ball, Minor tryouts set
T-B all and m inor league
tryouts will be held Tuesday
April 28 and Thursday, April 30
at the Heppner Elementary school
lower fields beginning at 6 p.m.
“ This is the last time that anyone
may sign up so if you would like
to play on a team you nees to
come to one or both of these prac
tices and sign up if you aren’t
already.” says coordinator Joyce
Hughes. If you can’t make it to
a practice, want to play and
haven’t signed up please let Joyce
kl hw and you can still be on a
team. Teams will also be divid
ed at this time. Coaches are also
needed. If anyone is interested in
coaching or helping please con
tact Hughes at 676-9959 or stop
by the Gazette-Times in Heppner.
taxes, 40 o f them use the tax
money for economic develop
ment. And 21 cities fund local
chambers for the same purposes.
But it’s not unique to get objec
tions to imposing this tax, she
said. For example, it took the ci
ty of Umatilla nearly three years
to pass a motel tax.
Chamber president LoRayne
Bowman, who is also a council
member, said that most chamber
members are stretched to the
maximum when it comes to
vo lu n teerin g
for
events.
“ Without a parttime chamber
manager to answer phone calls,
write letters and coordinate ac
tivities, there wouldn’t be so
many additional community
events from which the communi
ty as a whole benefits,” she said.
Adding to that, Larry Mills,
manager of Morrow County
Grain Growers, said that when it
comes to a motel tax for funding
the chamber manager’s salary, it
was a good thing for south M or
row County. For instance the re
cent St. P atrick ’s weekend
festivities brought in around
$8,000 to churches, school-
sponsored functions and the
senior citizens for meals and
other events, he said.
Councilman Chuck Holtz, who
was the lone voter against the tax,
said that most people he had talk
ed to see the tax as a benefit only
to businesses. The Chamber
manager position does benefit the
whole community, he said, but
unless a person is a member of
chamber, they can’t know all the
activities that the chamber is in
volved with, he added.
A consensus of the council
members agreed that they were
going to get “ a lot of flack” by
passing the ordinance, but they
agreed with council member
Martha Doherty, that “ more
harm could be done by losing the
chamber manager position than
by passing the tax ordinance." A
great deal of consideration by
each council member has been a
part of the decision-making pro
cess, added councilman Bob
Jepsen, a retired farmer and city
resident. He said that in order to
keep a community healthy,
economic development and cater
ing to tourism play a major role.
Although business owner Steve
McDaniel said he had never been
asked to join the Heppner
C ham ber, m anager C laudia
Hughes said that numerous letters
have been sent to businesses and
others who are not currently
chamber members. She also said
that the chamber has encouraged
ranchers and farmers to become
chamber members to help support
chamber functionsd. She stress
ed that without the involvement
of a lot of south Morrow county
people, the town could have
never hosted the Cycle Oregon ID
event. She also added that the St.
Patrick’s celebration has grown
into a year-long job involving
correspondence and planning
activities.
In other business the council:
-held a hearing on a grievance
brought by Police Chief Douglas
Rathbun. The hearing resulted in
a decision that there was no
grievances offense. However, the
council approved the adoption of
a merit pay raise policy;
-appointed Barbara Watkins to
the Housing Authority Board;
-asked that the landfill closure
details be brought up at the next
meeting;
-requested a public hearing on
the animal control ordinance at
the next meeting;
-approved putting money from
the sale of city-owned ATVs in
to the police reserve fund;
-authorized a paving contract
for the south side of May street;
-tabled resolutions on clean-up
of several properties. Letters are
to be sent and property clean-up
monitored.
NEW CAR LOANS
9.5%
H A tlK OF
48 months
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Arlinaton • Hopprw
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Arlington
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