Mpa mh M N rrmrm
FOUR - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, November 3, 1993
Local control lost with passage of
Measure 1
The Official Newspaper of the
City of Heppner and the
County of Morrow
To the Editor:
As I have watched and read the every dollar spent. I feel that if
discussion about the proposed the tax is passed, we will be fac
sales tax, there are two issues I ed with new agencies to collect
and administer those funds,
have not heard mentioned.
First, by financing all school which will have to be paid for
systems at the state level, local from those dollars.
In the last few years, we have
control of the things we feel are
most important will be lost. witnessed the failure of the
Policy making and power will w orld’s largest centralized
eventually shift to the legislature government. Why should we then
and the powerful lobbies that in be in such a hurry to follow the
fluence it. That means that Mor example of failure and move
row County with only 3000 votes toward centralized control no
will come pretty low down on the matter how noble the cause? Yes,
education needs support. But, we
order of priorities.
Secondly, we all recognize that who live in Morrow County are
the higher up in the governmen still best suited to decide what
tal ladder the money goes, the those needs are and how best to
less efficient use of that money support them.
Sincerely,
the taxpayer gets. We will get less
(s) A1 R. Brazell
back in educational benefits for
Heppner
G A Z E T T E - T IM E S
U S P S. 240-420
Morrow County’s Home-Owned Weekly Newspaper
Published »eekl> and entered as second-class matter at the Post Office at tlepp-
ner, Oregon under the Act of March 3, 1874. Second class postage paid at Hepp
ner. Oregon. Office at 147 West Willou Street. Telephone (503) 676-4228.
Postmaster send address changes to the Heppner Oa/ette-Times, P.O. Box 337,
Heppner. Oregon 47836. Subscriptions: $16 in Morrow, Wheeler. Gilliam and
Grant Counties; $23 elsewhere.
Joyce H u g h es.............................................................Office Manager. Typesetting
April H ilton-Svkes.................................................................................News Editor
Monique D ev in ................................................................................................Bindery
Penni Keersemaker ..........................................................................................Printer
Jean Ann T u rn e r......................................................................................Distribution
David and April Hilton-Sykes, Publisher
Letter to the Editor
Board negative, argumentative
To the Editor:
We stood in the back of the
stuffy and crowded board room
quietly listening to the bickering.
This was our first glimpse at
Morrow County School Board
politics. We found that members
were argumentative and negative
towards those in the audience and
each other. The simple requests
were drug out and argued over.
Students who had the initiative to
work to reinstate a lost program
felt intimidated and put down.
Seven students from HHS at
tended the October 18 board
meeting to request that HHS be
allowed to have a dance team for
the 1993-94 basketball season.
The Heppner High School Dance
Team was one of the cuts.
Dance team members decided
to raise money last year for this
year’s season, believing that they
would still be able to perform if
they raised their own money.
They received a $400 donation
from Oregon Together, raised
$200. and found an'advisor. They
also informed the other schools
in the county of how they receiv
ed the donation and worked for
the $200. This was done so that
the other schools could follow
their example if they wanted
money to form a dance team.
The board turned down the re
quest because they wanted to sup
port the administrative position,
which is that if one school can't
have an activity, no school can
have one. We understand that the
board would want to support the
original plan, but when a group
o f students work hard for
something positive for our
schools, it’s worth the support
from the board. Isn’t it possible
that in this situation the ad
ministrative opinion might be
wrong? We believe so. Shouldn't
the board exercise the system of
checks and balances? They only
talk democracy; they don't use it.
We are not trying to get this deci
sion reversed, we are simply try
ing to understand why only two
members of the board are willing
Does anyone care about patients?
to support the positive actions of
the students of Heppner High
School.
The issue of Measure 5 was
brought up often at the meeting.
Our girls used this as a defense,
stating that, as seniors, they were
caught in the middle, between the
decision to cut certain activities
and the creation of a procedure
to reinstate them. We believe that
when these cuts were made the
procedure for reinstatement
should have been put into effect.
The school board replied by tell
ing us we had it better than the
younger students who will be hit
harder by Measure 5. We realiz
ed this fact. The board also said
that because of Measure 5, the
cuts were made and that was law.
They are in the process of com
ing up with a procedure to
reinstate cut programs if the in
terest arises. But for the Heppner
dance team this year it is just too
bad, because there were no pro
cedures in place.
We propose in these hard
times, which will only get harder
with cuts coming into full effect,
that if programs can meet the re
quirements for reinstatement, the
initiators should be praised for
their hard work, and not be put
down.
This situation is enough to
make anyone frustrated with the
way our school board handles the
ever changing and growing needs
of our country. We will get
nowhere if change is not sup
ported by our school board and
arguing is not replaced with
positive attitudes. We are glad we
are seniors so that we won’t have
to deal with unclear directions
and hard headedness as more and
more cuts come our way.
Sincerely,
(s) Alissa Brownfield
Senior class secretary
C andis
M arshall
(s)
Senior class treasurer
(s) Sara Greenup
Student Body business director
To the Editor:
Five Oregon citizens have died
while in the custody of Dam-
masch State Hospital since June
1, 1993. Two of them died chok
ing on pancakes on the same day.
Does anyone care?
Dozens of former patients of
Dammasch have told me of
medical needs undocumented and
unmet while at Dammasch
Hospital, and of people being
chased and tackled during “ take
downs” . Is anyone listening?
The deaths at Dammasch State
Hospital indicate an institution in
crisis. Several patients who died
would be alive today if staff us
ed p roper procedures and
recognized signs of serious il
lness. But we have a hospital at
which 140 of the 300 staff are
“ temporary” employees, where
doctors and nurses rotate through
unfamiliar wards, dealing with
people they do not know and
whose medical and psychiatric
histories
are
not
well
documented.
I know that administrators at
Dammasch care as much as I do
that people are suffering needless
ly. people whose only “ crime”
ios to need a safe and secure place
in which to regain their mental
health. One of the recent rounds
of layoffs cost Dammasch their
two doctors of internal medicine.
Their concern and anguish will
continue, with the “ downsizing”
of Dammasch taking two more
big bites out of staff in December
1993, and June 1994. There’s lit
tle they can do, because one of
the options they would like to
have “ on the table” isn’t: the
planned and funded closure of the
Dammash Hospital facility.
Why is it not on the table? Cer
tainly not because the law or
federal policy require large in
stitutions for care of individuals.
Federal policy, in fact, strongly
discourages such institutions,
refusing to pay Medicaid reim-
iVote for Measure I
You Are Invited To Our
CHRISTMAS
OPEN HOUSE
Saturday
November 20
9 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Refreshments
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] To the Editor:
Nobody would dispute the fact
that we have entered the informa
tion age. As Time magazine has
indicated, our children are travel
ing down an information highway
unknown to us at their age.
Sometimes we as parents may
have difficulty keeping up with
some skills our children are lear
ning, skills that will see them suc
cessfully into the next decade as
they make education, job and life
choices.
The reality of recent school
budget cuts resulting in first grade
classrooms of 28 and 29 children
and the specter of much deeper
cuts to some have prompted some
schools to abolish positions not
directly tied to classroom
teaching. This is resulting in the
elimination of some school
•) librarians, many of whom have
recently undergone advanced
training
in
inform ation
technology and are the best
prepared to serve the information
needs of our children.
We as Oregonians take pride in
being independent thinkers. With
no better alternative before us.
how can we not try to solve the
crisis facing our schools, and
ultimately our children, by voting
in favor of Measure 1 and giving
the sales tax a fair chance.
Sincerely,
| ( S ) Richard C Forcier. President
Oregon Educational Media
Association
bursement for any hospital for
mental treatment of more than 16
beds. Certainly not because Dam
masch is a model facility in which
the latest and best practices are
possible and delivered. Dam
masch is an aging building,
designed as a nursing care facili
ty and out of date for even that
use, which fails to meet current
standards for patient privacy,
security
and
therapeutic
treatment.
Closure is not on the table
because o f hidden political
realities. The grounds of Dam
masch are extremely valuable for
residential development (sur
rounded by expensive condos) but
current state law says that if the
land and buildings are sold by the
division the proceeds revert to the
general fund, giving the division
administators no incentive to
dispose of land and buildings they
think of as assets. In 1992 the
unions representing Dammasch
employees forced the hospital ad
ministrator to withdraw a ten
tative plan for closure of Dam
masch during the 1993-95 bien
nium and in 1993 a family
organization forced a hearing to
scare legislators and the public
about the possible consequences
of closure.
Replicable models to safely
serve the most difficult and frail
consumers now at Dammasch
already exist in this state. They
are not cheap, but they do meet
federal standards for medicaid
reimbursement. They do provide
care that keeps consumers near
their families, their communities,
their natural supports.
Many others are prepared to
document the poor care that is
currently dispensed at Dammasch
and due to continue, if not
deteriorate. We are ready to
discuss ways to protect both staff
and consumers in an orderly pro
cess. The administrators of the
hospital need public support to
break the political deadlock they
find themselves in. The public
has to care what is happening to
its fellow citizens who must live
or work at Dammasch. But it
seems that no one is listening.
And it seems that no one cares.
(s) Mary F. Byrkit
8291 Macleay Rd SE
Macleay 97301-9071
Library association supports tax
To the Editor:
The Oregon Library Associa
tion supports the sales tax on the
Nov. 9 general election ballot,
and it urges library users
statewide to get behind the
measure and work toward its
passage.
Our association does not nor
mally get involved in ballot
measures, but providing stable
funding for education is an issue
of such over-reaching importance
that it is clearly not a time to sit
on the sidelines.
We wouldn’t deny that there is
self-interest involved with the
library community’s support of
the sales tax.
If our education system fails to
produce life-long readers and
seekers of information, libraries
will suffer an inevitable decline
1n patrons.
And if no replacement revenue
is approved and the next phase of
Measure 5 cuts is implemented,
libraries throughout Oregon will
be in serious jeopardy of reduc
ed service levels, sooner or later.
To be fair, our members are
not uniformly enthusiastic about
the sales tax. We’re a pretty fair
cross-section of Oregonians.
Some would have preferred a dif
ferent kind of tax, or a different
rate or whatever.
But we were unanimous in our
support of replacement revenue,
and that comes down to a yes or
no vote on the sales tax.
The Oregon Library Associa
tion strongly urges a yes vote on
Measure 1.
Sincerely,
(s) Patrick Grace
President
2422
G reen
St.
Philomath, OR 97370
Marriage Licenses
Justice Court
Report
The Justice Court office at the
courthouse annex building in
Heppner reports handling the
following business during the past
week:
Ronald Allen Nonamaker, 5 1,
Salinas, CA-Possession of False
ly Applied Deer Tag, $255 fine;
Possession of Falsely Applied
Resident Combination License,
$255 fine;
Jerry Eugene Armstrong 35,
Salinas, CA.-Illegal Possession of
Deer (no valid tag) $375 fine;
Possession of a Falsely Applied
Deer Tag, $255 fine; Possession
of Falsely Applied Resident
Combination License, $255 fine;
Sean Patrick Harnett, 23,
W alla W alla, W A .-K illing
Antelope Closed Season, $96
fine.
The Morrow County Clerk’s
office at the courthouse in Hepp
ner reports issuing the following
marriage licenses during the past
week:
O ctober 29: Estanislado
Alderete, Jr., 32, Boardman; and
Lorena Torres, 23, Boardman.
November 2: Francois Zayas,
28, Miami, Florida; and
Patricia Cecilia McElligott, 24.
Miami, Florida.
in the Service
Marine Sgt. John Martin, son
of Carl and Geri Martin, Hepp
ner, was recently promoted to his
present rank while serving with
Recruit Training Regiment,
Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San
Diego.
Martin, a 1984 graduate of
Heppner High School joined the
Marine Corps in April 1986.
Patricia McElligott & Francois Zayas
Wedding - Nov. 6
Jodee Ashbeck & Mark Swanson
Wedding - Nov. 27
Yvonne Frost & Keith Morter
Wedding - Nov. 27
4 ^ MuWUj'J D awj -
'Heppner
217 N o rth M ain
676-9158
November 18th
November Ladies Nite-Dinner at 6 p.m.
District Deputy Visitation by Mike Lusk
Dining every Fri. and Sat. 6-9 p.m.
Elk hunters-bring in your hides. The
Vets in hospitals needs the leather
te* Heppner Elks 358
676-918!
w h en-1 lit mis M e d "
142 N. Main
Court Street Market
111 N. Court Heppner 676-9643
GROCERIES - MEATS - PRODUCE
prices so
Prices good Nov. 3rd - 9th
Boneless Beef
Roma Tomatoes
49*
lb.
39*
lb.
Flour
$|59 ea
Oberti Black 53k oz.
Christmas Rose or Ribier
;; Grapes
lb
Western Family 10 lb
q Golden Delicious
2 Apples
Pot Roast
79*
lb.
Olives
79*
ea
Lady Elberta 29 oz.
3 Red Potatoes
: Cooks Ham Steak
15*
lb
• t 4* b
Peaches
Heinz Ketchup 32 oz
* ! * • ..
Bumble Bee 6 1/8 oz.
Boneless Pork Chops
• ! • • ib.
Tuna Fish
a.
Diet Mt Dew or Diet Mug Root Beer
Pork Blade Roast
*1»*» Pop 6 pk cans
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