Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 16, 1994)
City sewer renovation project in final stages E F S S I E V CF ORE NEWS P A P E R EUr r m v r, r, L 1 îmes V 0L. 113 NO. 47 6 Pages Wednesday, November 16, 1994 Morrow County Heppner, Oregon lone Lady Cardinals win state title With a major city streets repaired, the meter is still tick ing on the final stages of the sewer renovation project. Final adjustments and the installa tion of a methane gas burner are part of the count down. The city council is now focussing on restroom facilities at the city park on Main Street. This project will be primari ly financed from a $20,000 gift awarded to the city as one of the recipients of a $250,000 donation to community pro jects by former owners of Kin- zua Mill Corporation. Tentative plans envision a concrete block building along toe street side of city park pro perty between the turn-around and a proposed new play ground site to the west. Pen ding costs, new playground equipment was discussed by council members. The council also approved specifications to be written for an automated water supply system monitor. Estimated at $30,000 funds for this project were included in the city's cur rent building and maintenance bond. This machine, housed in city hall, has not been func tional for some time and parts are no longer availaUe, city of ficials said. Early detection of a malfunc tion at one of the city's wells, such as a blown fuse or a burned-out motor, can avert a serious water shortage. Manual inspection at the well sites is now necessary on a daily basis. There are no warnings available if a shut-down occurs during off hours, according to city for- man David Winters. The city council also agreed to sponsor the Heppner sum mer youth program, that formerly was handled through the Neighborhood Center. This program for grades K-6 was in stituted three years ago to pro vide summer activities for children. Council members agreed to continue with liabili ty insurance for this five day a week program during July. The city agreed to handle the receipts and disbursements for this program, but declined to provide monetary assistance. According to Pastor Stan Hoob- ing, a proposed budget of $11,000 includes funding for lunches, transportation and bus driver costs. Formerly the project has been self-sup porting through grants. A proposed youth activity for older youths, ages 14-20, is part of an ambitious project as presented by Joe Wilhelm. The council endorsed this project according to Wilhelm, 22 local youths have expressed interest in a sailing club, however volunteer adult leaders are needed. Liability insurance will be covered at a minimal cost, Wilhelm said, for those Sea Ex plorers part of the Boy Scout Explorer program. Exposure to related career opportunities plus recreational quality time creates a spin-off. Activities will be at the Willow Creek Lake. Currently Wilhelm is attemp ting to establish a boat yard at the Port of Morrow, which would give employment for three people. With more than Extensions' future to be discussed Front L-R: Asst, coach Anne Bedortha,, Bridget McElligott, Dawn Boor, LaRee Anderson, Jessica Stefani, Kim Bedortha, Lynde Minster. Back l-r: head coach Charity McElligott, Becky Picknell, Mary Jane McCarty, Angie Ball, Suzie Heideman, Melissa McElligott, Becky Wagenblast, Allison Sullivan. By Anne Morter lasting the physical Powers ball the whole tournament." The lone lady Cardinals sur prised everyone but themselves by taking the State 1A volleyball championship last weekend at Springfield High School. Entering the tourna ment unranked in the last poll, the lady Cards played the cin- drella role to perfection, knock ing off Adrian in the opening round, outfoxing and out- Cruisers in the semi-finals and finally blowing past Dufur in two games in the champion ship round. First year coach, Charity McElligott was understandably thrilled with the outcome. "The girls went there with on ly one thing in mind," she said of their quest to bring home the title. "W e played good team Along with the first place trophy, two lone players, junior Melissa McElligott and senior Mary Jane McCarty were named to the first team all tour nament team. The lady Cardinals finished their dream season with an overall 18-4 undefeated in league play and with a district championship in hand. Park districts could fund school extra-curricular programs There still may be a way to get around school district budget cuts which next year threaten cuts in sports and other extra-curricular activities. While the school district does not say that all sports will definitely be out, the district has targeted sports and other activities, such as school clubs, for elimination in the 1995-% school year. "Co-curricular ac tivities is one of the targeted areas," said a school district spokesperson. "It is a strong consideration for elimination." A group of people has pro posed that park districts in the county be a funding source for sports and other school ac tivities. There is a park district for the Boardman area, one for the Irrigon area and one that encompasses south Morrow County. School Superintendent Chuck Starr said at the school board meeting Monday, Nov. 14, that he hopes that all three park districts unite to put together funding for extracur ricular activities for all schools in the county. He said that this would eliminate problems which could arise if different park districts fund different co- curricular activities. Starr said that the proposed park district program would function in a fund raising capacity, and that the school district would still be in charge of running the programs. Starr met with Morrow County Assessor Greg Sweek, George Koffler, Heppner, Rick Minster, lone, and Willow Creek Park District chairman Kenny Turner, secretary Nan cy Brownfield, and members Bob Kahl, John Ripple and Robin Baker earlier to explore the possibilities. Minster says that the pro posal is just in the planning stages and that the group is in the process of putting facts and figures together. A meeting is planned for next week concer ning the issue. Final General election results released Results of the Nov. 8 election, including absentee ballots have been released by the Morrow County Clerk's office. Following are election returns: -County Commissioner: Ray French, 1,413 with 48.9 percent of the vote; Art Kegler, 876, 30.3 percent; Jackie Bergstrom, 599, 20.7 percent; -Morrow Health District Director Zone 3: Robert Me Kinley, 258, 56 percent; Roger Trueax 203, 44 percent; -Morrow Health District Director Zone 5: Cara Osmin 493, 65 percent; Tom McElli gott, 263, 34.8 percent; -Formation of Extension District: 1,451 no; 1,408 yes; -Formation of Morrow Coun ty Health District: 1,527 yes, 1,262 no. The future of the Extension in Morrow County will be discussed in coming weeks by local people and officials of the Oregon State University Exten sion Service following the nar row defeat of the proposed Morrow County 4-H and Ex tension Service District in the Nov. 8 general election. The proposal, to establish an Extension Service District with its own tax base, failed by 43 votes. Local contributions to ex tension work are part of the Morrow County government general fund. The service district proposal came after the Morrow County Court said that it could not guarantee support for Extension beyond the cur rent fiscal year. The Morrow County Exten sion office and its staff of exten sion agents and secretaries is secure until June 30, 1995, points out Roger Fletcher, ex tension associate director for county programs. "What happens after June 30 is still to be decided," Fletcher emphasized. "W e will be talk ing with county extension ad visory council, the Morrow County Court, and others about avenues of support." Extension will try to maintain the Morrow County office as long as there is a possibility of local support, he added. Although state and federal funds pay the salaries of Exten sion agents working in the county, local support is necessary to pay the operation costs of the local office. Carol Michael-Bennett, ex tension agent and county staff chair, expressed the apprecia tion to alTthe volunteers who worked on the proposed district. "They were tremen dous. They have been working since last January when they started passing petitions to form the district and raising funds for election expenses." Don Eppenbach, Irrigon, chair of the county advisory committee, said that many peo ple may not have realized "that this was not an additional tax. People were already suppor ting Extension through county budget. The proposed district simply shifted the location of local funds for Extension from the county to the district." Fletcher said that he does not expect a final decision about the future of Extension in Morrow County to be made for several weeks. Extension educational programs in agriculture, home economics and 4-H have been offered in the county since 1918. Surveyors begin work on city roads A team of surveyors is at work on the streets of Heppner in preparation for reconstruc tion of Main and May streets scheduled to be let in 1997. The survey team arrived this week and is expected to remain in the area until March because of a complex mapping job. While the main part of the mapping process will be be downtown, some work will also be done on the outskirts of town. In addition to mapping the elevations of the existing road and sidewalks, the team of around three or four people will map the water lines, water valves and water meters, sewer lines, property pins and business entries. Dick Baldwin, engineering specialist with the Oregon Department of Transportation out of LaGrande, says that in addition to satisfying people's curiosity about the survey crew, he is concerned about the crew's safety and asks that peo ple be extra careful when driv ing near the surveyors. "In the last five m o n th s," says Baldwin, "five Department of Transportation people have been killed." The reconstruction project will involve rebuilding Main and May streets and will also include work on side streets and sidewalks. After the survey has been completed the infor mation will be turned over to a designer in the Department of Transportation who will design a new highway and then the design will be sent to Salem. 200 boats now docking in the Columbia River upper region, Wilhelm said the only boat repair facilities are in Portland. This is very time consuming and an expensive way to facilitate pleasure boat repairs, he said. In other business: The council declined a plea from Janice Skaggs, director of the Neighborhood Center for funding. According to Skaggs a shortfall in funding is ex pected when it comes to pro viding Christmas baskets for around 60 needy families. The annual budget for the Neighborhood Center is pro posed at $8,000 with $800 fund ed through the county's general fund. Grants have been sought to provide additional funding, she said. The council agreed to a re quest that would transfer the Heppner Garbage Disposal Service ownership from Cliff Green to his son, David Green. A 10 year extension of this solid waste franchise was approved. The council agreed to upgrade Garriques Street, a dedicated city street, by gravel ing this road that gives access to property owners Phil and Shirley Landauer. Heppner High School counselor Barbara Hayes agreed to work with a council member committee to for mulate guide lines for a $500 Heppner High School scholar ship offered by Perry and Anderson Associates, La- Grande, engineers of the city sewer system renovation. ASCS office reorganized "The Agricultural Stabiliza tion and Conservation Service or ASCS office, officially no longer exists," said Skip Mat thews, acting director of the newly formed Farm Service Agency. The 1994 USD A Reorganiza tion Act has reorganized certain phases of the local USD A of fices and services including ACSC, Soil Conservation Ser vice, Farmers Home Ad ministration and Federal Crop Insurance. "O ne of the goals of the cur rent administration in Wash ington, D .C .," says Matthews, "was to consolidate field of fices, reduce bureaucracy and bring more efficiency to USDA programs through a complete restructuring of USDA on both the national and local levels." This act allows the Secretary of Agriculture to do that by reducing staff by 7,500 posi tions, cutting the number of USDA agencies from 43 to 30 and closing approximately 1,100 field offices nationwide. These actions are expected to save the tax payers $2.5 billion dollars, $61 million as a result of the new Farm Service Agen cy alone. Matthews explained that he doesn't foresee any drastic changes in the local office or the surrounding counties, but he added, "at this point all we know for sure is the name change. No one in authority has actually come out and said what is going to happen for cer tain. It is pretty early in the pro cess to know excactly what changes, if any, are in store for our office here in Heppner." Deadline set to order wreaths November 28 is the last day to order wreaths and swags from the Heppner Garden Club Greens shop. Call Ida Farra, 676-9446 to order. iV e'ft keep y o u warm this w inter ¿S»* Morrow County Grain Growers Lexington 989-8221 1-800-824-7185 r
