Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (April 15, 1992)
FOUR - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, April 15, 1992 Pool issue clarified The Official Newspaper of the City of Heppner and the County of Morrow J l U j l ll f t owpA The Heppner GAZETTE-TIMES Morrow County’s Home-Owned Weekly Newspaper U S P S 240-420 Published ever> Wednesday and entered as second-class matter at the Post Office at Heppner. Oregon under the Act of March 3, 1879. Second class postage paid at Heppner. Oregon. Office at 147 West Willow Street. Telephone (503) 676-9228. \ddress communications to the Heppner Gazette-Times, P.O. Box 337, Hepp ner, Oregon 97836. Subscriptions: $15 in Morrow, Wheeler, Gilliam and Grant Counties; $23 elsewhere. Joyce Hughes ............................................................Office Manager. Typesetting \pril Svkes ........................................................................................... N«ws E<u,or Mary Van B ibber................................................................. Graphics Department Monique P a r r e l.................................................................................... Distribution Penni keersem ak er....................................................................................... Printer David and April Sykes, Publishers Letters to the Editor Get behind Fosters To the Editor: I would like to know why the police officers and city council are harassing the Fosters (the people running the bowling alley). I for one feel it should be stopped. Having that motorhome park ed back there is not hurting anyone and it certainly looks a whole lot better than the way it was before. The city o f Heppner is not so big that it can’t give a little on its ordinances. The Fosters are working hard to make a go o f the bowling lanes and have done so much for the kids and the rest o f us bowlers. I would like to talk to the ones who objected to them parking the motorhome there. Come on all you bowlers and people who feel like I do. Let’s get behind the Fosters and give them our support. (s) Maude Hughes Parents enable children to use alcohol or drugs To the Editor: In the January-February 1991 issue o f The Chemical People Newsletter there appeared an ar ticle “ How Parents Enable Their Children to Use Alcohol/Drugs.” A llow me to share the substance o f the article with you. 1. D enyin g. ‘H e’s not an alcoholic or chemically depen dent.’ As a result expecting the chemically dependent to be ra tional; or expecting the alcoholic to control his or her drinking; or accepting blame. 2. Drinking or using with a chemically depen dent person. 3. Allowing your young adult to use at home. At least he’s safe. 4. Keeping your feelings inside. 5. Avoiding pro blems. Keeping peace, believing lack o f conflict makes things bet ter. 6. Minimizing. It’s not so bad. Things will get better when... 7. Protecting the image ofthe alcoholic or chemically dependent person. Protecting this person from pain, m yself from pain; emotional distancing from the chemically dependent person. 8. Avoiding the situation by tran- quilizing with alcohol, pills, food or work. 9. Blaming, critizing, lecturing. 10. Taking over the young person’s responsibilities. 11. Controlling. If I keep him away from his friends he’ll stop. 12. Enduring. She will grow out o f it. It’s only a stage. 13. Waiting. He will stop when he gets older. 14. Maintaining a high tolerance for inappropriate behavior. 15. Standing between your young adult and his or her crisis. Bailing him or her out o f trouble with the school, court system or police. We hope as friends, relatives and interested adults that you take the above suggestions to heart and do your best to work with the youth o f our county and see that they do not turn to alcohol and drugs for support and friendship. Sincerely, (s) Rev Stan Hoobing Tsongas for President To the Editor: For those interested in the can didacy o f Paul Tsongas for Presi- C O N C R ETE & ROCK SALES THE NEW O W N E R S OF announce the opening of two locations MILTON-FREEWATER H ighw ay 11.936*5581 and BOARDMAN O ld C o lum bia H ighw ay • 481-9246 BOB C ALLO W Ganaral Manager C O N C R E T E St R O C K S A L E S dent, they should be aware that his candidacy is still viable. As soon as the suspension o f his can didacy was announced, due to a lack o f available funds, a citizen's committee was formed and is go ing forward to elect Paul Tsongas for President. The T ’citizens for Tsongas Committee may be con tacted by ca llin g 1 -800-881 -TEAM or by writing to the T’citizens for Tsongas Committee, 17 Shattuck Street, Lowell, MA 01852. Paul Tsongas’ name remains on the Oregon ballot for the May primary, as well as other states awaiting their primary elections, (s) Bruce C. Campbell 503 276-0879 Box 1373 Pendleton, OR 97801 To the Editor: Judging from the feedback I received, the article, “ Pool not worth fixing’, says Marks" (April 1), has created confusion as to the future o f swimming pool facilities in the community. Given the great importance o f having a pool, and the tremendous benefit it brings to the quality o f life in Heppner, I want to be sure the public understands this issue. Last summer the city ex perienced great difficulty dealing with a recurring water quality problem at the pool, forcing it to close 29 percent o f its scheduled time. These closures happened despite the facts that new filter cartridges had been installed and the best chemical research lab in eastern Oregon could not suc cessfully identify the problem. These difficulties prompted the city to hire a Portland-based pool engineer to examine our pool. The engineer advised that the filter and all piping be replaced. However, due to past flooding and the resulting silting-in o f the pipe gallery combined with exten sive cracking and settling o f the pool’s concrete decking, reaching and replacing the piping would require the complete removal o f most o f the deck-an expense that (when added to other necessary repairs) makes refurbishing o f the pool impractical. The engineer also discovered a safety hazard with the pool’s drain. According to the engineer, “ there could possibly be a hold down force on the main drain o f approximately 200 pounds." In ad d ition , city m aintenance workers have discovered that the earth beneath the pool’s founda tion has been washed away and despite attempts to secure the situation with cinder blocks, is in possible danger o f collapsing. Several other problems also exist with the pool. A video is available from city hall illustrating the condi tion of the pool. In addition to structural problems, the city has also encountered finan cial difficulties with the pool. Fun ding for the swimming pool comes prim arily from two sources— tickets/season passes and property tax money. Due to the increasing closures of the pool, ticket sales were down considerably last year re quiring substantial increases in tax subsidies for a total of nearly $17,000. These difficulties are made worse by the fact that the city’s general property tax revenues have been cut by about 40 percent under Ballot Measure 5. This cut equates to a $99,000 loss for the coming year. A reduction of that size is the reason the budget committee recent ly approved a new budget that eliminates funding not only for the pool, but also the library, one police officer position, and all equipment outlays for both police and fire. Confronted with these daunting problems, the city council appointed a citizen’s committee to develop a course of action for the pool. After numerous meetings, the collection of a considerable amount of data, and weighing several possible alter natives, the committee advised the council to make a formal request of the Willow Creek Park District to undertake a pool construction pro ject. The park board was presented with this request. As a result, the board authorized the formation of an exploratory citizens commission to develop a plan for a pool project that would be designed as a regional facility serving the greater Heppner- Lexington-lone community. The city asked the park district to undertake a pool project primarily because the city does not have the bonded debt authority required to finance such a project. Some have questioned how the city can finance a fire and police equipment bond and not a pool bond. The answer is sim ple: the equipment bond is con siderably less expensive and is within the city’s bonded debt limit. By asking the park district to under take a pool project, both the pool and equipment needs can be addressed for the community. Sincerely, (s) Gary B. Marks City administrator Vote ‘yes’ for library district To the Editor: I am writing in support o f the Oregon Trail Library District proposed for the cities o f Board- man and Heppner. These com munities stand to lose their libraries unless the voters agree to establish the library district and a tax base to support it. My brothers and sister and I began using the Heppner Library as soon as we could read, and visited almost every weekend un til we graduated from high school and moved out o f town. My parents still use the library every week. Many people in this town enjoy reading and the Heppner library does a good job o f pro viding the newest books on a wide variety o f topics with the limited budget it now has. If the library in Heppner were closed, the ability o f many townspeople to find new reading material would be severely restricted. In addition, the school libraries have very little to offer students in the way o f enjoyable reading materials. If we are to teach children to enjoy reading for reading's sake, we need a good source o f materials for them to choose from. Closing the city libraries will only limit students' choices o f interesting and fun reading. The Oregon Trail Library District, if established, would provide stable funding and more services to more people (in cluding children), at a lower cost per household than residents now pay. Please vote yes on May 19 to keep the libraries open and ser ving your communities. Signed, (s) Renee M. Kenison 815 Cozine Lane #7 McMinnville, OR 97128 On A Basis Of Need Health care issues have been good for a lot of printers ink in Morrow County this past year. Since the organization of the Morrow County Health Care Council, medical service has been on everyone’s mind. Remember? It was the health care council that convened the meeting in Boardman that voted to close the hospital in Heppner and then the very next week the meeting in Heppner voted to keep it open just the way it is. The council is composed of a dozen or so members from a wide variety of age groups, occupational groups and geographic locations. Each member has, in turn, organized a focus group of folks who advise them on the several issues the council has and is continuing to address. Morrow County has hired Pam Sagely as the council’s encourager and Mountain States Health Group from Boise provides technical and organizational guidance. Altogether the health council reflects the intense work of a hundred or more Morrow County folks. The idea is to collect the immediate impressions, goals, and attitudes of Morrow County folks, then study and examine them closely to develop a series of recommendations to the Morrow County Medical Board. The board created and appointed by the county court, has general authority over those medical facilities financed in whole or part by county tax money. The Health Council is not a perpetual body, but rather is nearing the end of its 14 month life span. The first of several recommendations formally adopted and passed on to the medical board, if adopted (and if accepted by most of the people) will go a long way toward settling much of the controversy surrounding medical services in Morrow County. That recommendation was that medical services be provided throughout the county based on need. If that recommendation becomes medical board policy, the ramifications are immense. Long before there was a medical board, there were political pressures, which continue today, to distribute medical services (at least the portion financed by tax money) on the basis of population or in some instances on the basis of place of origin of tax revenues. Those pressures are what has lead to the controversy over Pioneer Hospital and other issues involv ing medical care. If we all accept the premise that need is the proper basis for allocation, all the talk about population and location of the big taxpayer will be ir relevant. That is a courageous position for the council to recommend and will be a courageous policy for the medical board to adopt. It will also go a long way toward resolving the issue of Pioneer Hospital. The controversy over the hospital revolves more around a geographic allocation of tax money than it involves an appraisal of need. Once we adopt a policy of need, the hospital issues will very nearly disappear. But not content to hope that will happen, the council is now in the process of formulating a recommendation on the hospital issue itself. Even before the council’s recommendation is done, others in the system are talking about hospital alternatives. There are other reasons for look ing at alternatives than the Boardman meeting's goal of closing the facili ty. Physician retention in Heppner is perhaps the most important of those other reasons. The health care council has precipitated discussion and has reached deci sion on a number of medical care issues that will go a long way toward resolving much of the controvery in Morrow County that has brewed for many years. It could not have done so without a dedicated encourager, hard working members and their focus groups and most importantly, the courage to face some hard issues head on. __ I for one applaud their w o rk _____________________________________ Disheartened, but not down To the Editor: L etter to the H eppner community. We wish to express our thanks to all o f you who signed the peti tion ordinance #493-92 against Transient Room Tax. Jeff Wallace for district judge To the Editor: I am writing to urge everyone to vote for Jeff Wallace for Umatilla- Morrow County District Court Judge. As many people are aware, Jeff has been the Morrow County DA for the past five years. He has handled all types of criminal cases, from child abuse and drunk driving to homicide cases. Jeff has also been in private law practice for four years and is familiar with civil legal matters such as divorce, real estate and business law. A district court Judge handles a wide variety of legal matters. He also needs to have ‘ ‘judicial tempera ment’ ’. I believe that Jeff is the type of person who has common sense and good judgment-qualities which we need in a judge. Jeff will apply the law as it is writ ten and not try to make new laws. I urge you to vote for Jeff because he is fair, honest and calm in his ap proach to the law. He will make an excellent district court judge. Sincerely, (s) Norma French Heppner We are saddened that your voice, the voice o f the people, wasn’t heard by the city council, the council who is elected by the people, for the people, but yet the wishes o f the people fell on deaf ears. The council felt there were no business owners that signed the petition and that your signatures were the signatures of “ uninformed folks who didn't know what they were signing.” Well we know better. We are disheartened but we are not down. The voice o f the people will be heard. Thank you, Darlene Scroggins Court Street Market lin p p V filCMI 1)1 | | | | | I 1 L 1 1 U 1 1 1 1 111 N. Court Heppner 676-9643 GROCERIES - MEATS - PRODUCE Prices G o o d A p ril 1 5 th th ro u g h 2 1 s t Folgers Brick Bag 39oz. B roccoli C o ffe e F resh A sp aragu s • • V Large Over the years some things never change at a quality dealership • • V Oberti 5.75oz. O liv es HONES TY-INTEGRITY-RESPONSIBIL1TY-SER VICE Doing business for over 45 years in the same old fashioned way R oast ‘ ea. Parts Hermiston, Oregon Phone 567-6487 Boneless Ribeye G reen B ean s Western Family 2lb. bag • l * # ib. ! •**•« I f ^ ^ P 'e a . n o , ¥ 9 * \ A A 4 W ea. B row n or P o w d e r e d S u gar ^ l , f ib. Miracle Whip 32oz. T-Bone S alad D ressin g S teak $ 4 ,° # ib. Western Family 20oz. Chunked-Crushed-Sliced R oast CHEVROLET O il f^ S ^ ea. j Western Family 16oz. • l B#ib. Boneless Pork Loin GM C a k e M ix Crisco 48oz. - 3 varieties 9 9 Bar-S Boneless, Whole H am Margarine Betty Crocker 18.25oz. T om a to es SHERRELL CHEVROLET i Imperial Cube ^CHEVROLET j SERVICE *4 **e a i Frozen P in eap p le T u rk ey B reast 12oz. 6pk. Cans - Reg. or Diet Western Family 8oz. C o k e o r P epsi • f c * # ea 8 9 % a j * ® # # +deP 88%a. 8Q8D8Q8D8Q8D8I CLOSED EASTER SUNDAY C ream C h eese I têm
