Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (April 6, 1994)
School proposal eliminates 95-96 sports Protesters picket for mill in Eugene Cornino 1 Tom p Tim Sumner (I) and Philip Spicer-Kuhn take part in the picket Friday in Eugene. The future of the Kinzua Mill is still precarious, but one thing is for certain, Heppner will not “ go gentle into that good night.” We’re going to go fighting. Heppner City Manager Gary Marks made sure of that. Last Friday Marks organized a picket of the Eugene corporation representing the prospective buyers of the mill. “ Thursday morning 1 got the idea to go down to Eugene and raise the level of awareness of what was happen ing to our town,” said Marks. “ 1 think we turned up the heat several notches. I wanted to let the investors know what the ramifications were. 1 want the mill workers and their families to know that we're trying to do something.” Marks got a bus together and he and 17 other people left for Eugene around 6 a.m. Friday, April 1. They arrived in Eugene around 1 p.m. and were met by eight other people. The group picketed the office of Larry Gildea. attorney representing Pioneer Resources L.L.C.. the group of investors in the process of buying the mill. Heppner Economic Develop ment Corporation members had earlier been busy recruiting peo ple for the bus trip and making picket signs. The signs were graphic and to the point, with messages such as “ Pioneer Resources-town killers” (com plete with skull and cross bones). “ 4 rich guys vs I small town” , “ R.I.P. Heppner. so the Rich Can Get Richer” , “ Don’t Kill Our Town” and "N o Mill. No Jobs, No Business. No Hepp- While the lawyers weren’t in their offices and didn’t even get to see the live demonstration, they probably had plenty of op portunity to see it later-on the front page of the Eugene Register Guard, in The Oregonian, on all three Eugene television stations and on Channel 2 and Channel 8 in Portland. Accompanying Marks on the bus from Heppner were his wife, Laurie, and their two children, Benson and Adam, the Rev. Tim and Myrna VanCleave and their four children, Darren, Matthew, Nathan and K risten, Rita Sumner, Cindy Sumner and her son, Tim, Phillip Spicer-Kuhn, Roger and Rosalie Scharen. Cliff Green and Rudy Bergstrom, who drove the bus. Gail Burkenbine met the Heppner entourage in Eugene and several other people from Eugene also participated. The Heppner crew returned home around 9 p.m. that evening. No word has been heard about the mill’s status. Kinzua Corp. General Manager Frank Pearson said at a Chamber of Commerce meeting Tuesday that the current mill owners have granted a two- week extension to the prospective buyers so that the new owners have time to get all their documentation into escrow. Pear son said that if the new owners close the mill before April 14. they have to give 48 hours notice. The contract has a “ drop dead” clause, said Pearson, which means if the deal is not closed by April 14 the deal is off. The investors are Greg Demers. Veneta, owner of ATR Services, Inc., a timberland aquisition company; Edward King, owner of the large King Estate winery and vineyard in Lorane and other ventures; and Melvin and Norman McDougal, owners of McDougal Bros, tim ber company and other holdings in Oregon, Washington and Montana. According to the Eugene Register-Guard, Kinzua Corp. president Jim O ’Donnell said that Kinzua Corp. did not realize when they entered into negotia tions that the investors did not in tend to operate the mill. He said that there was enough timber to operate the mill. But extending the deadline for purchase of the mill to April 14, instead of stick ing to the original April 4 date puts that statement into question. Demers told the Register Guard that Kinzua wanted to sell the mill and timberlands because of the “ looming federal timber shortages and the pending closure of the Union Pacific Railroad to Heppner. They saw it coming,” he told the Eugene newspaper. Prayer meeting set A prayer meeting will be held Sunday. April 10 at the Christian Life Center, in place of the mon thly Singspiration. which is spon sored by the South Morrow County Ministerial Association. Time will be used to pray for the mill, mill workers and south Morrow County. There will be a time for personal reflection beginning at 6 p.m. followed by prayer service at 7 p.m. Refreshments will be served and everyone is welcome. A cost-cutting proposal to come before the Morrow Coun ty School District Budget Com mittee April 11 and the Board April 18 would adopt a four-day school week, a pay-to-play sports program for the 1994-95 school year and would eliminate sports and other extracurricular ac tivities entirely in Morrow Coun ty for the 1995-96 school year. According to district figures, $1,272,781 in cuts are recom mended to balance the 1994-95 general fund and around $1,400,250 in cuts are recom mended to to balance the 1995-% general fund to meet projected losses resulting from Ballot Measure 5 tax limitations. School tax limitations are currently $10 per thousand assessed valuation. Next year the limitations will decrease to $7.50 per thousand assessed valuation and in 1995-% limitations will decrease to $5 per thousand. Under Ballot Measure 5, no more reductions in cost per thousand assessed valuation will be made after 1995-96. Heppner Elementary School Principal Bill Karwacki outlined the cuts at a HES Parents Club meeting Monday evening and stressed that the cuts are recom mendations only. The recommen dations will have to be approved by the school board. For the 1994-95 year $1,114,281 in reductions have already been made: $544,376 in payments to ESD contracts because of a change in the law; $50,515 for assistant superiten- d en t’s position (assistant superintendent Roger Helmer resigned and that position will not be filled); $50,000 in food ser vices; $354,546 in maintenance projects; $40,655 in school capital outlay requests; $30,000 in extra curricular transportation (schools will combine JV and varsity players and girls and boys on one bus instead of sending two); $9,000 in shuttle bus runs (buses will run after game prac tice but will not run after games and dances); $4,111 in district’s contribution to Outdoor School; $3,078 in district’s contribution to FFA costs; $28,000 in substitute costs (previously overbudgeted). 1994-95 additional cuts r e c o m m e n d e d - $ 1 5 8 ,5 0 0 : $33,500 in extra curricular athletic programs; $125,000 sav ings from four-day school week. If a pay to play sports program is adopted, it was proposed that a student would pay $50 per sport with a maximum of $100 per stu dent and $200 per family, said Karwacki. If the four-day-school week is not adopted for 1994-95, $110,000 for licensed media specialists, $20,000 for driver’s education costs and $10,850 for field trips are also recommended to be cut that school year. But, regardless these items are recom mended to be cut for the 1995-96 school year. Other recommended cuts for the 1995-96 school year are $200,000 for elementary physical education, art and music specialists; $90,000 for voca tional agriculture/industrial technology; $96,000 for home economics; $200.000 for staff reductions at Heppner High School and Heppner Middle School because of the proposed grades 7-12 configuration at the high school; $63,400 for ground smen; $360,000 for the re mainder of the extra curricular programs (sports, drama, etc.); $250,000 in reduction of the unappropriated end fund. The total cuts for 1995-96 would amount to $1.400,250. If additional cuts are required for the 1995-% year, additional recommendations include: con sidering contracting transporta tion, food service and maintenance services; consider reducing staff-one full time equivalent position at the district office and two full time equivalent positions in high school art or music. The district originally had $110,000 that was not required for food service. But, with the defeat of the school bond issue, the district put $60,000 of those monies into a fund to purchase modular classrooms to cope with overcrowding in the north coun- ty schools. Karwacki says that people can help the dire situation in the schools first by passing the bond issue to fund new classrooms and improvements. He says that could save around $200,000 in this year’s budget and $100,000 in successive budgets. Secondly he suggests getting mobilized and politically active to change the situation in the legislature. Petitions out for health dist. Ann Murray watches as Larry Lindsay signs petition to establish a county-wide medical district. signatures by the end of April to The Heppner Chamber of place the request on the ballot. Commerce is spearheading a The petition also asks for a drive to get the request on the $600,000 tax base to fund the Ballot in response to a Boardman- new medical district. Medical area petition to form a separate services are part of county medical district there consisting government now, however, the of the city of Boardman and the services are governed by a Coal Fired plant. county-wide medical board. The Chamber must gather 850 Deadline extended for scholarship The South Morrow Scholarship Trust announces an extension for applications for the $500 Lex ington Community Scholarship. Deadline for the applications at the school district office in Lex ington is 5 p.m. June 15. Applicants’ parents must live in the Lexington voting precinct. Applicants must have completed one full year (three quarters or two semesters) of education after high school and must have their completed year’s transcript with their application. Application forms may be pick ed up at the school district office after April 10. The scholarship will be awarded in this summer. For further information contact a South Morrow County Scholar ship Trust board member. Easter Bunny visits Heppner Photo by Joyce Hughes Kayla Sweeney was one of hundreds of children that visited the Easter bunny last Saturday, April 2 in Heppner. This was the Easter bunny’s 20th year to visit Heppner. The annual Easter egg hunt is sponsored by the Heppner Elks Club. SNAPPER BLACK HAWK See it now at your local SNAPPER DEALER H o rro w C o u n ty G rain G row ers Lexington, OR • 989-8221 • 1-800-452-7396
