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
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