Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (March 24, 1993)
■se NNpNMilfllMVpa School board approves vo-ag building at HHS heppner 35C imes VOL. 112 NO. 10 6 Pages Wednesday, March 24, 1993 Morrow County Heppner, Oregon City adopts street replacement program The city of Heppner at a coun cil meeting March 8 adopted a street replacement program and a replacement priority list, accor ding to city administrator Gary Marks. Marks said that public works director Roger Ehrmantraut rated streets on a scale of one to five in eight categories with a score of eight excellent and 40 very poor. Church street, between Gale and Jones streets, was determin ed to be first for repair. Both Church and Baltimore street, from Gale street to the dead end received 32 points, but the deter mining factor in selecting Church was the traffic usage. During a certain period. Baltimore had on ly eight cars travel on it and Church had 23. Church street will also cost less to repair, said Marks. Baltimore is likely to be the next, he said. Marks said that the list will be updated every year before the construction season to take any drastic changes into consideration. “ Funds are very limited,” said Marks “ At best, we’re looking at (repairing) a street a year.” Factors in rating a street in clude significance of the street to the overall city transportation system, paving, potholes, street crown, smoothness of ride, lateral and horizontal cracks and shoulders. In other business, the council postponed a decision to award bids for a fire truck pending fur-' ther analysis by the fire department. -heard that the fire hall addi tion . specifications are firming up and plans are for summer construction; -heard that the first stage of a two-phase application for an economic development grant for the city of Heppner wastewater system improvement has been approved; -heard that the Department of Environmental Quality, which had proposed tightening of wastewater disposal permit con ditions, had relented on seven of eight areas after speaking with ci ty officials; -adopted an additional 3.5 per cent PF.RS pickup in lieu of wage increases. While this action will raise the PERS pickups from six to 9.5 percent, but the raise will be offset by a 2.5 percent reduc tion in salaries. Employees choosing this option consented to the salary cut. Marks said that the city will realize savings in social security taxes with this option; -renewed the contract to pro vide groundswork for the coun ty at $6,200 per year. Marks said that the money will be dedicated to city parks. The Morrow County School Board, at its regular meeting March 15, approved construction of an agri-science building behind the vo-ag shop at Heppner High School. According to vo-ag instructor Bill Umbarger, funding for the pole building has been approved through a grant program . Students will complete the con struction with supervision and, through fund raising, will provide funds for finishing the building. The building will have a dirt floor and will house livestock. Um barger said that the building will eventually need power and estimates that basic wiring will cost from $1,000 to $1,200 which will also be provided by student fund raising. In other business, the board ap proved a two-year contract with the Education Service District, at a cost of $420,000 this year and $480,000 next year. * approved adoption of an art textbook “ Art in Focus” ; ■"approved the 1993-94 school year calendar. School will start on August 30 and end on June 8. Christinas break will begin Mon day, December 20 and school will resume January 3. Spring vacation will be from March 21-25; *approved the lone High School senior trip to Couer d ’Alene over Memorial Day weekend; •approved a request from Lex ington Baptist Church to use a school van to transport children to a youth rally; ■"heard a report by lone students, Tanya Anderson, Ran- di Wise and Nicole Hudson on their trip to Anne Frank exhibit in Portland; ♦heard a report from Roger Helmer on the state student assessments; ♦heard a report on the district dropout rate which is significantly down and ♦approved, first, second and third year probationary teachers: First year: AC Houghton Ka- ty Belanger Tonya Martin, Karen Talaski; Riverside High School- Dottie Britton, Lisa Cook, Courtenay D eniston, Alan Haskins, Torie Myers, Dave Pollard, Victor Wallace. Jill Woodis; Heppner Elementary School-V icki Broden; Sam Boardman Elem entary-Pam Files, Fred Jacquot, Paula Kemp, Carol Oswald; Heppner High School-Gwyneth Franklin, Nan cy Swarat; Columbia Junior High-Pat Furgerson, Marvin House; lone-Jim Raible, Kelley Swarat. Second year: SBE-Carol Chap man, Susan Baker, Judy Meyer; lone-Robin Graff, Dale Holland, Steven Schaber, Greg Likens; RHS-Becky Kington, Pat King, Smokey Joe Wightman; CJH- Dale Peters, Pauline Durham, John Larson; HHS-Guy Post; ACH-Gail Horning. Third year: RHS-April Edson; SBE-Marie Eisele; HES-Greg Grant, Pat Hentges, Betty Gray; Ione-Sue Warren; HHS-Bob Sagely, Bill Umbarger. Two spots open on mental health board Matt Doherty, chairman of the Morrow County Mental Health Board, told the county court last week that the terms of office of two board members would be ex piring in July o f 1993. Doherty, who resides in Irrigon said that his three year position was one of those up for grabs as was the position currently held by Donna Bergstrom of lone. Both Doherty and Bergstrom have been members of the board for several years. There are currently six members on the Morrow Coun ty Mental Health Administrative Board: Matt Doherty, Irrigon; Aloha DeSpain, H eppner; Richard McNemey, Boardman; Kenneth Smouse and Donna Bergstron, lone; and Jean Ann Turner, Lexington. The board is answerable to the county court and is responsible for policy making decisions relative to the me'Atal health pro grams carried on in Morrow County. Under the current by laws, the board is responsible for hiring and firing of the director, and overseeing the programs of the mental health director. The Morrow County Court makes the appointments to the board and invites applications from the communities of Irrigon and lone to fill the two positions that will become vacant in July. School district hires Chuck Starr Chuck Starr has been hired as superintendent for the Morrow County School District. Board chairman Marcia Kemp announc ed that Starr has signed a three year superintendent’s contract with the district starting July 1. Starr will be paid $70,000 for die first year of his contract. He will replace Dr. Ralph Reed who has resigned. Kemp stated “ We are looking forward to Chuck returning to Morrow County. For 17 years Chuck has served Morrow Coun ty School District as an oustan- ding educator and ad ministrator.” Starr has served as the superintendent of the Central Linn School District in Halsey for the past four years. Starr previously served with the Mor row County School District from 1972-89; as assistant superinten dent for four years, principal of the lone schools for nine years and as a Heppner High School mathematics teacher for four years. “ Chuck Starr will bring to the district extensive experience in curriculum development, school financing and has implemented portions of HB 3565 in his pre sent district,” said Kemp. He and his wife, Diana, have two mar ried sons and six grandsons. Chuck and Diana will be moving into the district in the near future and look forward to renewing form er acquaintances and meeting new Morrow County friends, said Kemp. Work underway on IUCC auction quilt School D istrict to lose $582,000 M orrow County School District will lose $582,334 for the 1993-94 school year, a 5.2 per cent loss resulting from Measure 5 cuts. The state school fund grant to Morrow County will be increas ed $391,594 from $3,144,677 in 1992-93 to $3,536,271 in ‘93-94. However, the local tax revenues, limited by Ballot Measure 5, will be reduced by almost one million dollars, from $7,955,998 in ‘92-93 to $6,982,069 in ‘93-94. The school board had earlier discussed possible savings with the closure of lone High School. District superintendent Ralph Reed stressed that closing down the lone High School is not being considered by the board or by the adm inistrator. The estimated savings would be “ minimal” said Reed. Reed said that the savings in teachers’ salaries and not having to install a $250,000 elevator to provide handicapped access at the H E P P N E R M orrow County Special Election Tuesday, M arch 23, 1993 L-R: Debbie Morgan, Helen Heideman and Lucille Rietmann work on the quilt to be auctioned at the annual auction and barbecue held in June, sponsored by the lone United Church of Christ. By Anne Morter Work is underway on the featured quilt for the lone United Church of Christ's annual auc tion. The quilt is done in a varia tion of the Log Cabin pattern in multi-colors and trimmed in royal blue. Helen Heideman pieced the top together, starting last November. She says that she worked on it for two months. “ That was quite a project,” she said. The quilt was set up on a quilting frame in the UCC base ment on March 12 and the quilters work on it as time allows. Judy Rea has been spearheading the quilting project, which they expect to be finished in another week or two. United Church o f Christ members craft an original quilt each year as one of the featured items at the UCC auction. It will be on display at the lone branch of the Bank of Eastern Oregon two to three weeks prior to the auction. lone schools would be counteracted by losses in state reimbursement for “ small and remote schools” for which lone and Heppner qualify, the loss of property values, and subesquent- ly taxes, in the lone area and the impact on the lone community. “ How much would we really gain?” asked Reed. The state grants additional aid to schools that are more than 15 miles from the nearest school and have less than 200 students. Shall Morrow County Levy $3,388,550 outside the tax base YES NO for operating purposes for fiscal year 1993-94? YES Shall Morrow County Levy $526,316 outside the tax base NO for the health care operations for fiscal year 1993-94? Do you approve of developing a system of government which YES would permit each Oregon county to elect one state senator? NO H A R 0 M A N 383 378 519 235 598 142 L E X 1 N Q T O N i 0, N E 1 R R 1 a 0 N B O A R 0 M A N Sagely indicated that she felt a conflict of interest if chosen for the job. Sagely was recently appointed to the Morrow County Medical Board to fill the unexpired term of Paul Sumner. Sumner’s term was to expire on June 30, 1995. Other members of the board are Merle Cowett, Heppner; Bill Sheirbon, Lexington; Roger Cash, John Hascall and Ray Michael, all Boardman; Lori Pruitte and Kelli Strebins, Irrigon. The county court invites anyone who is interested in the medical care of Morrow County residents to apply for appointment to the board. The applications will be received until April 7 at which time the appointment will be made. P ort o f M orrow D irector P o rtio n N o. 1 W ON 450 128 121 266 175 1140 Jerrv D. Anderson Wm. P. Sharkey 196 68 92 202 270 Gene Allen Daniel Creamer John M. Grace 126 256 184 W ON 36 83 53 36 76 78 352 91 375 210 1015 57 66 150 509 LOW RATES ON AUTO LOANS New Loans as as 8 % Used Loans £ 9 %% Member FDIC Arlington • Heppner l>«m /> h h / 1 - t iih n i H i m u I S i n r i l U m i *■ f* * • y •. a 821 - Port o f M orrow D irector P oekkxi N o. 2 Low S 112 146 206 217 1064 101 85 281 248 109C 121 147 188 193 1168 94 84 319 276 1001 167 199 340 344 1648 44 34 145 121 486 M edical board seek s new m em ber Kevin Erich, administrator of Morrow County Health services, advised the county court last week of a vacancy on the Mor row County Medical Board. Pam Sagely, of Heppner turn ed in her resignation to the medical board and to the county court last week, stating that she was applying for employment within the Morrow County Health Services as a grant writer. T O T A L
