School district hires asst, superintendent
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Roger Helmer
HEPPNER
35C
Roger Helmer, 50, has been
hired as the new Morrow Coun
ty School District assistant
superintendent. He began work at
the district offices on Sept. 28.
Helmer, who most recently came
from Hattiesburg, Mississippi,
replaces Mike Wsiaki, who
resigned from that position in
July.
Helmer was a graduate student
and teaching fellow working
toward a Ph D at the University
of Southern Mississippi prior to
com ing to H eppner. He
graduated from high school in Il
linois and received his master’s
degree in education administra
tion from Northern Illinois
University.
Helmer has four years ex
perience as a teacher and cur
riculum
coordinator
in
kindergarten through eighth
grades. He was a principal for
grades K-12 at Healy, Alaska, for
seven years, was principal and
superintendent at Jordan Valley
and a principal at Fern Ridge both
in Oregon. He was an assistant
superintendent in both Illinois and
elaska for around eight years.
Helmer said that in his current
position he will be responsible for
district-wide curriculumn, text
book adoption, special education,
and special programs such as
Chapter I, Chapter II, the
Talented and Gifted programs
and grant programs.
Helmer, who says he has liv
ed all over the world, plans to
reside in Heppner. His wife of 25
years, Dona Helmer, is an
associate professor in Montana.
The couple has a 21 year old
daughter who is a senior at In
diana University at Bloomington.
Helmer’s salary is $50,000 a
year which will be pro-rated this
year. The school board, at its
Monday night meeting Oct. 19,
voted to grant Helmer $1,000 for
moving expenses.
City administrator to speak at convention
azette
imes
VOL. 111 NO. 41 8 Pages Wednesday, October 21, 1992 Morrow County Heppner, Oregon
Mayor Kay Robinson has an
nounced that the city of Heppner
is being recognized by the League
ot Oregon Cities for successful
ly developing and implementing
financial solutions to deal with the
shortfall of Ballot Measure 5.
Robinson said that the league
had asked city administrator Gary
Marks to speak at the annual
League of Oregon Cities conven
tion in November on the topic of
successful financial planning and
communications in the face of
Ballot Measure 5 cutbacks. She
said that the invitation was made
because of the league’s recogni
tion of M arks’ success in
developing innovative financial
solutions, that ultimately gained
voter support, at a time when
many Oregon cities have been
paralyzed by voter rejection of
such efforts.
“ We’re very lucky to have an
administrator of Gary’s caliber
and the league’s speaking invita
tion demonstrates that point.”
Robinson said. “ When we hired
Gary 18 months ago, Ballot
Measure 5 was just coming into
effect and the city was about to
Engineers confirm s assessment o f pool Bank of EO uses high tech
An engineer’s report on the
condition of the Heppner swim
ming pool released this week by
Skip Matthews, chairman of the
Willow Creek Park District’s Ex
ploratory Swimming Pool Com
m ission, confirm s earlier
assessments of the condition of
the pool.
The report found that “ the ex
isting municipal pool is in bad
repair” and that renovations of
$600,000 to $800,000 would be
‘ required to make tnat pool safe
and usable.”
“ Unfortunately, because of the
restricted site, the existing pool
could probably never be com
pletely brought up to current code
and safety standards," according
to the report.
Commenting on the report
Matthews said, “ City staff, the
city’s Ad Hoc Pool Committee,
the city council, and our ex
ploratory pool committee had all
examined the pool and we all
came to the same conclusion that
the pool was unsafe and unusable.
This report confirms what we all
believed.”
The report was prepared by
Robert Bignold, engineer and
principal-in-charge of the ORB
O rganization
of
Renton.
Washington, a 20 year old
engineering firm that has work
ed on more than 145 pool projects
in and around the Pacific
Northwest.
In the areas of safety and code
violations, the report found that
“ the present pool tank does not
meet present pool diving safety
standards.” The report goes on
to say that, in the event of an ac
cident, failure to meet these stan
dards would mean ’’the city
would be susceptible to a damage
claim” and “ we feel that the ci
ty would be judged by legal ex
perts on the generally accepted
standard of safety.”
The report found that “ the pool
tank has only one main drain
which does not meet existing state
codes. The high velocity through
a single main drain grate is con
sidered a safety hazard, as a
swimmer could be sucked against
the bottom of the pool and drown
ed.”
In addition, Bignold’s report
found that the filtration system
does not meet health code stan
dards. The filter "is sized for ap
proximately two thirds of the re
quired code flow,” according to
the report.
The engineer also found that
the narrow deck on the north side
of the pool "makes it impossible
to properly guard the pool and
restricts its use as a recreational
pool." Moreover, the weight of
the concrete overlay on the deck
along with the deteriorated
footings and temporary cinder
block foundations “ give me
reason to doubt the structural in
tegrity of the deck," Bignold
wrote.
The report comments that the
pool’s piping system is 40 years
old and that the “ piping has from
1/8 to '4 inch of oxidation on the
interior of the pipe. It is our opi
nion that you have very little re
maining life in the pool piping
system.”
The report estimates that
repairs would cost anywhere
from $600.000 to $800,000 and
would extend the life of the pool
another 20 to 25 years and would
still not be able to meet all code
requirements. In contrast, the
engineer estimates the cost of a
new outdoor pool to be between
$800,000 and $1 million and
would provide a useful life of ap
proximately 35 to 40 years.
Matthews said that if the
engineer’s cost projections are
amortized over their expectan
cies, a repair job could cost bet
ween $24.000 and $40.000 per
useful year, while a new outdoor
pool could cost between $20,000
and $28,600 per useful year.
The Exploratory Swimming
Pool Commission was formed in
the summer of this year to
analyze the pool situation and
develop an appropriate swimm
ing pool proposal tor considera
tion by the Willow Creek Park
District Board.
Matthews said that the Ex
ploratory Pool Commission
would be holding public hearings
this winter in Heppner, Lexington
and lone to take community in
put on the future of swimming
pool facilities in the south Mor
row county area.
Chamber hosts after hours
satellite network for training Salad supper
slated Oct. 27
Employees of the Bank of latest banking issues.”
Eastern Oregon have high-
quality, up-to-the-minute infor
mation and training available in
side the bank through American
Financial Skylink. a satellite com
munications network. “ We now
have the latest information on
new procedures, customer ser
vice and much more.” said
Gerald Pierson, president of the
bank.
■* Skylink. a subsidiary of the
American Bankers Association,
offers programming on topics that
range from preventing bank rob
beries to providing excellent
customer service.
“ Our customers are going to
see a difference. We’ve com
pletely integrated Skylink into our
training,” Pierson said. “ Every
employee is benefitting from one
or more of the programs. In turn,
our customers benefit because our
employees are in-the-know on the
Skylink program m ing is
transmitted via satellite to receiv
ing dishes at subscribing banks
around the country each week.
“ This technology brings more
than just training to the bank,”
Pierson said. “ We will be able to
access a variety of programming
that, until now, was not available
to us or to some parts of our com
munity.”
In some communities, banks
make programs like the NASA
shuttle launches available to area
schools. Other banks give tapes
of foreign language programs to
language teachers at local high
schools.
“ Skylink is our link to the
future,” said Pierson. “ We’ll
never lack the kinds of cutting-
edge information we need to stay
com petitive and serve our
customers.”
Morrow County Grain Growers
annual meeting set Nov. 2
The Morrow County Grain
Growers annual stockholders’
meeting has been planned for
Monday, November 2, at the
Morrow County Fairgrounds
pavilion in Heppner.
Dinner will be served at 6:30
p.m. followed by election of of
ficers’, a multi-media slide pro-
duction entitled "The Land We
Inherit” and reports. The multi-
media program will be presented
by internationally acclaimed
photographer Don VanPolen.
For those with young children,
babysitting will be provided free
of charge at the dormitory next
door to the pavilion.
‘Dirty Work at the Crossroads’
mellerdramma set Nov. 15
Country Rose owner Cindy Schmidt will host business
get-together.
The Country Rose will host the
first chamber “ Business After
Hours” .
Heppner business managers
and owners are invited to an in
formal gathering on Tuesday,
Oct. 27 from 6 to 7 p.m. at the
Country Rose.
Owner Cindy Schmidt will
serve wine and cheese and will
have a door prize.
The agenda is visiting and get
ting to know Country Rose, says
cham ber m anager Claudia
Hughes.
Hughes says she hopes the idea
catches on as it has in other
communities.
“ It’s important for all of us to
be familar with our various
businesses and know what they
have to offer,” says Hughes.
Schmidt has owned the
women’s dress shop for the past
8 '/i years. She has two
employees. Merry Brannon and
Cindy Kennedy.
lone community dinner set Oct. 25
The annual lone Community
Dinner has been planned for Sun
day. Oct. 25 at 4 p.m at the lone
Legion Hall.
Turkey and potatoes will be
furnished Those attending should
bring a hot dish, salad or dessert.
An old-fashioned sing-a-long will
be held following the dinner.
The dinner is sponsored by St.
Williams Catholic Church. lone
United Church of Christ and
Valby Lutheran Church.
Everyone in the community is
invited to attend.
experience the third highest
percentage cut-back in the entire
state. Gary was able to quickly
assess the problem and develop
sensible plans, such as inclusion
of the city library in the new
Oregon Trail Library District and
a first-of-its-kind police and fire
bond measure, that the voters
found deserving of support and
passage.”
"Although the city took some
bad licks from the ballot measure,
it would have been much more
devastating without Gary’s advice
and innovative leadership,”
Robinson said.
Theater goers who have mark
ed their calendars for Nov. 7 to
see HIT’s old time mellerdram-
mer “ D irty Work at the
Crossroads” should change the
date to Nov. 15. The early Sun
day evening dessert will begin at
5:30 p.m. with music follow
ed by the play.
“ The melodrama was popular
in the late 1800’s. Now in the late
1900’s this form offers an even
ing of fun with its extremely evil
villain and female counterpan and
extremely virtuous hero and
heroine and songs of by-gone
d a y s ,” said director Jane
Rawlins.
The audience's role is booing
and hissing the villain and ap-
plauding, ohhing and ahhing for
the heroine and hero at the right
time, she said.
“ D irty
Work
at
the
Crossroads” , an authentic piece,
actually played in the 1870’s has
a sneaky villain Jim Raible and
his wife Lee Matheiu who are
foiled again and again, and super
virtuous
heroine
Aleida
Goodyear, and hero Bryce
Tucker. It comes complete with
a railroad track.
Guests are encouraged to come
early for sinfully rich or virtuous
ly weight-conscious desserts,
visiting and live music. Reserve
tickets are on sale at Murray’s,
$3 for adults. $2 for students and
$10 for a family.
There is no charge to attend.
Those planning to attend should
contact M arcia Anderson
676-5182, Beth Bryant 676-9411
or their local church.
All area women are invited to
attend the annual Christian
women’s Autumn salad supper.
The supper will be held Tues
day, Oct. 27 at 6 p.m. at St.
Patrick’s Senior Center.
Parent-teacher
conferences set
Parent-teacher conferences for
the first nine-weeks are schedul
ed for November 5 and 6 at the
Heppner schools.
Heppner Elementary/Middle
school will hold conferences on
Thursday. Nov. 5 from 8 a.m. to
8 p.m., and Nov. 6 from 8 a.m.
to noon. No classes will be held
for students in kindergarten
through eighth grade on those
days.
Kindergarten conferences will
be held on Wednesday, Nov. 4,
through Friday, Nov. 6. There
will not be any kindergarten
classes on those days.
All parents will be notified by
their child’s teacher regarding the
date and time of the conference.
If you are not contacted by Nov.
2. please contact the school to
make an appointment.
Heppner High School will hold
parent-teacher conferences
Thursday. Nov. 5 from 5:20 to
8 p.m. and Friday, Nov. 6 from
8 a.m. to noon. Regular classes
will be held at HHS on Thursday
but there will be no school on Fri
day. Parents should contact the
school to make an appointment or
plan on dropping by the school
during the scheduled hours.
Both schools have established
the Thursday evening conference
session to better meet the needs
of working parents who are
unable to make a morning or
afternoon conference time.
Parents should feel free to con
tact the schools' offices, HHS
676-9138 or HES 676-9128, if
they have questions about parent-
teacher conferences.
Bank o f EastemOregon
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