Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (June 2, 1993)
County cuts $37 thousand from budget In action taken at their regular ly scheduled meeting May 26, the Morrow County Court resolved to reduce the levy by implemen ting a cost-of-living wage freeze on all county elected officials and department heads. The cuts total around $37,000 said Morrow County Judge Louis Carlson. “ This wage freeze will essen tially eliminate the cost o f living increase which is based upon an “ all city index” that reflects the inflationary factor in the state of Oregon,” said Carlson. “ This freeze, coupled w ith the skyrocketing cost of medical care and health insurance translates to less take home pay for all ad ministrative personnel,” he said. According to Carlson, “ the two failed levies is a clear de mand from the people that costs be reduced. The budget was so !. I P - 7 « r ■» HEPPNER tight to begin with that any cut is going to be a real one,” Carlson said. “ The court is committed to preserving the services offered to the taxpayers.” Carlson said that the one common “ thread” he heard in the concerns o f the public was “ the existing notion that services should be maintain ed, if possible, while cutting overhead and administrative costs.” Carlson said he felt that this was die only solution that was both financially responsible and responsive to the concerns of voters. The decision was made after a week of meetings, discussion and consulting with department heads and elected officials. Commis sioner Ray French said “ no one was particularly happy to see their own wages frozen, but fac ed with the possibility of another Swimming pool project to move forward imes VOL. 112 NO. 22 14 Pages Wednesday, June 2, 1993 Morrow County Heppner, Oregon 31st annual IUCC auction Saturday The Exploratory Swimming Pool Commission will request authority from the Willow Creek Parks and Recreation District to go out for bids on a feasibility study to be done for construction o f a swimming pool in Heppner. The commission has secured funding in the amount of $11,685 for the feasibility study. These funds are a result of the Heppner Coordinating Council awarding $6,000 from the county tippage fee grant money, $5,000 from the city of Heppner and $685 from People for the Pool. “ We are very excited to see the project getting started,” said Skip Matthews, commission chair man. “ We have had several peo ple in the community, both governm ental and non governmental, working toward this goal.” A feasibility study will outline site considerations, type and size of pool most appropriate, con- struction costs, funding sources, permit requirements and land ac quirem ent proposals, if necessary. When asked why a feasibility study was necessary, Matthews replied, “ The commission felt very strongly from the onset that in order to address all the ques tions that arise from building a swimming pool, the help of a pro fessional engineering firm would need to be obtained.” All of the people that are be ing contacted to bid on the feasibility study have experience engineering and building swim ming pools in the Pacific Northwest. “ In addition,” Matthews said, “ the preliminary contacts we have had with engineering firms indicate that the money spent on a feasibility study is generally ap plied to the overall cost for engineering.” It is expected that the study will be completed this summer. failure and the effect it would have on services, it was conclud ed that this choice was the only solution left that would represent a minimum loss o f services.” In addition cuts were also carved in to the travel, education and train ing budgets o f the county court and assessor’s office. “ A choice had to be made bet ween cutting our own salaries, or laying off our employees and eliminating the services they pro vide,” the court said. “ The choice we made demands a disproportionate sacrifice from a few, and perhaps that isn’t fair, but we still think the choice was the right one to make,” said com missioner Don McEiligott. The public will vote on a one year operating levy o f $3,240,535 which is $117,710 less than last year’s operating levy. Cycle Oregon meeting slated By Anne Morter An important Cycle Oregon meeting will be held Tuesday, June 8 at the lone High School Cafeteria starting at 7:30 p.m. Progress reports will be heard from all the committees and the functions of the committees and how they interact will be explained. Over 2,000 bicyclists and sup port teams will spend the night of September 14 in lone. They will eat dinner and breakfast in lone, as well as sample the lone hospitality. H undreds o f volunteers will be needed to suc cessfully accommodate them. All interested persons are urg ed to attend. This will be the last meeting until after the lone Fourth of July celebration. Seminar planned on OSHA compliance Jannie Allen and Laurel Cannon show some items for auction By Anne Morter This Saturday, June 5, marks the 31st annual lone Auction and Barbeque, sponsored by the lone United Church of Christ. Located at the Willows Grange Hall in lone, this yearly tradition serves as the main fund raising activity for the IUCC as well as providing an exciting and action packed day for the town. v The day kicks off promptly at 10 a.m. with the opening of the Country Store, featuring hand m ade crafts and sew ing, homemade baked goods, the popular ‘new to you’ selection and a fish pond for the kids. At 10:13 a.m. a silent auction will begin outside on a large assortment of glass items, in cluding vases, dishes and knick knacks. The bids are opened at 12:13 p.m. for that event. The main feature o f the day, the auction, gets underway at 10:30 a.m. This year’s auction will feature a large assortment of antiques, a beautiful handmade quilt as well as the usual and unusual items. The antique list in cludes several chairs, a rocking chair, a solid oak dresser, an oak buffet, a fancy piano bench, a trunk, an ornate cast iron manhole cover and a selection of smaller items like dishes, lamps and glassware. This year’s auction quilt is made in a variation of the log cabin pattern, made in a multitude of colors and trimmed in royal blue. Helen Heideman pieced the top together last fall and winter and a contingent o f the church members worked diligently this spring to quilt it. At 12:30 p.m. the auction ac tion will halt when the delicious pit barbecue beef dinner is serv ed. The dinner, which costs $3 for adults and $2.30 for ages 6-12, will include a salad buffet, baked beans and French bread. An outdoor snack shack will feature snow cones and cold drinks for the duration of the auction. Farmers and ranchers, con cerned about making their place a safe working environment for their employees and complying with the current OSHA standards are invited to attend a seminar Tuesday, June 8 at 7 p.m. at Col umbia Basin Electric in Heppner. AOI-Compwise, the W orker’s Compensation program for small business, sponsored by the Association Oregon Industries, will conduct the seminar. The seminar will include an explana tion of what OR-OSHA regula tions require and will offer sug gestions on how to comply. Everyone is invited to attend the seminar, regardless of where their workman’s comp is written or if they have employees at this time. Contact VanMarter and Kahl insurance 676-9113 in advance so there will be enough room for everyone. L aR ue nam ed C oach o f year Tippage fee grants announced Heppner Coordinating Council chairman Gary Marks has an nounced the recipients of $20,000 in Morrow County Tippage Fee Grant Funds for fiscal year 1993-94, which begins July 1. Successful applicants and the amount of grant funds awarded are as follows: $3,000 to the Morrow County Fair Board and Pro Rodeo Com mittee toward the completion of the new fairgrounds rodeo arena; $3,000 to the Heppner baseball field committee toward the com pletion of the new Heppner High School baseball field; $6,000 to the exploratory swimming pool commission for partial funding of a feasibility study for the development of a new swimming pool; $2,300 to the Heppner Elemen tary School Parents' Club for safety improvements at the Hepp ner E lem entary School playground; $1,000 to the Neighborhood Center of South Morrow County for ro o f rep airs to the Neighborhood Center building located on Main Street; and $500 to Heppner Day Care for the purchase o f playground equipment. The council also decided to make a special request to the Morrow County Coordinating Council for a $5,000 funding match for the rodeo arena, bring ing the grant total for the project to $10,000 if approved. “ The Coordinating Council received grant requests from several well deserving organiza tions and projects,” Marks said. “ The council worked very hard to try to make the best decision on how to award the funds. Now that the grants have been award ed, we’re excited about the im pact these funds will have for the community.” Marks said the Coordinating Council received nearly $37,000 in requests. However, not more than $20,000 can be counted on for awards. The exact amount available will not be known until late June. Funding estimates range from between $20,000 to $25,000. “ The council decided the prudent choice was to award the $20,000 we felt firm about and to save any excess for future years,” Marks said. Local graduation dates announced Graduation ceremonies for Morrow County Schools are planned this week. Heppner High School gradua tion ceremony will be Thursday, June 3 at 7:30 p.m. in the high school gym. lone’s graduation will be Friday, June 4 at 8 p.m. and Riverside’s graduation will be Saturday, June 5 at 8 p.m. plaques Long-time lone coach Del aRue has been named overall >ach of the year and track and eld coach o f the year for divi- on 1-A schools. The announce- lent was made at a recent regon high school coaches ¡sociation banquet in Eugene. LaRue coaches football, isketball and track at lone. Coast to Coast to host business after hours Cliff and Cindy Green Cliff and Cindy Green, owners of the Coast to Coast store in Heppner, will host the next Hepp ner Chamber o f Commerce business after hours next Tues day, June 8. Refreshments will be served and the afterhours gathering will begin at 6 p.m. Business owners, managers and employees are in vited to attend the informal gathering, and get to know your local businesses better. lone Fourth shaping up This year’s theme for the lone Fourth of July Celebration is “ The Trail from Independence to lone...for Independence that I own,” co-chairman Jim Swanson announced recently. Swanson also said that there will be more activities for kids at this years celebration, and that the biggest fireworks display lone has ever had will be dedicated to Bob Rietmann, a life-long lone resi dent who died this year of cancer. Chicken dinner will be provid ed by Kesslers, and the parade is expecting six to 10 antique roadster cars from the Tri-Cities, Swanson said. The celebration is getting big ger every year, and funds are always needed he said to put on the activities. Anyone wishing to donate may contact Swanson. The next meeting of the Fourth of July committee will be on June 17 7:30 p.m . at Beechers restaurant. Weather Report _______________________ by City ol H«ppnf May 25 - 31, 1993 High Low Prec 75 45 .05 Tues. Weds. 79 53 .06 Thurs. 76 47 .06 69 43 Tr. Fri. 76 55 .0 Sat. 75 55 .0 Sun. 67 46 .44 Mon. Total precipitation for May was 1.34. Introducing our new LOW INTEREST CREDIT LINE THE EVERGREEN ACCOUNT O A {|K OF . __ D Arlington jE a ste m Oroqon • Heppner • tone ),»w huh i>< nth ni khnnv (hutnil Hunk
