Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (April 5, 1995)
% School district will fund fall sports • E “3 3 I L* O F OR N E W 3 P A P r r.< r • Despite earlier announce ments to the contrary, the Mor row County School District said Monday there will be enough money to fund sports and other extracurricular activities next fall. Sch ool S u p erin ten d en t Chuck Starr said because of re cent passage of the school bond issue, and increased funding from the state level, the distict now has the $140,000 necessary to fund the extra activities fall term only. Prior to the bond issue the district had said there was no money for sports and extra ac tivities, and that these pro grams would be cut. This short fall prompted local people to work for creation of a county w ide recreation d istrict, separate from the schools, to provide funding for these ac tivities. The recreation district has been formed, however, a vote to provide funding for the district was not able to be held in time to provide money for fall activities. Consequently the district agreed to fund fall ac tivities until the recreation district could begin collecting taxes to be turned over to the school district. Voters will have to approve funding for the rec reation district in September. Starr said the district could not fund activities after the $140, 000 is used up. Also in his budget message Monday, Starr said, "Ballot Measure 5, combined with the "O regon Legislature's failure to adequately fund schools in this state, has forced the Mor row County School District in to a pattern of budget reduction and program cuts over the past two years." Starr said that in two years the district has reduced the general fund budget by $745, 948, while inflation has increas ed by six percent. The 1994-95 budget was $602,744 lower than the 1993-94 budget and that year's budget was $143,204 lower than the 1992-93 budget. Next year's budget will be in creased $89,712 over the cur rent year. Starr told the audience of board members, budget com mittee members, administra tors and two observers that the district will continue to see a need for budget reduction, despite passage of a bond levy and a projected increase in state school funds. The budget calls for $50,000 to be spent on food service. The food service program is ap proaching self sufficiency, said business manager Shirley Lan- dauer, but still requires addi tional funds. Lunch prices will be increased next year. Also included is $138,000 for bus purchases. The district ap proved a recommendation to contract bus services, but it is not certain that negotiations for bus service will occur, so the district is planning according ly. Starr said that a contract for busing services cannot be worked out until negotiations with classified employees are completed. Kindergarten county-wide will see a move to all day every day classes. Kindergarten students had previously at tended every other day and before that attended half days every day. While the district proposed a cut of 11 full time equivalent (FTE) teachers, it will add 1.5 FTE at Sam Board- man Elementary to implement the all-day every day kinder garten, which will result in a reduction of 9.5 FTE. If the bond measure for capital con struction had not been approv ed, the district proposed a cut of 25 FTE. Other budgeted changes this fall include a move to a 7-12 grade configuration at Heppner High School and a move to a 6-8 configuration at Columbia Junior High. Following is a budgetary breakdown: Summary of School District General Fund 1995-96 VOL- 114 ________ NO. 14_______ 8 Pages Wednesday, April 5, 1995,________ Morrow County Heppner, Oregon Projects planned at city park Center Instruction District Office Transportation Maintenance A.C. Houghton Sam Boardman Heppner Elementary lone Elementary Columbia Jr. High Heppner Sr. High lone Jr. High lone Sr. High Riverside Sr. High Total 766,063 924,972 951,037 746,657 309,017 761,300 885,790 119,434 280,650 1,095,351 6,840,271 Support Service Community 679,211 $88,089 1,656,847 139,917 138,926 189,937 70,645 200,937 204,020 17,973 66,724 291,539 4,244,765 Other 1,434,000 15,869 15,869 1,434,000 Total 2,879,274 588,089 1,656,847 1,064,889 1,089,963 936,594 379,662 962,237 1,089,810 137,407 363,243 1,386,890 12,534,905 Salem testimony to-air on Heppner TV The city of Heppner opened bids this week on a restroom facility to be constructed at the city park on Main Street. The project is expected to be com pleted by this summer. The restroom project will be funded through a $20,000 grant from Kinzua Corporation, the former owners of the mill and a $12,000 tax settlement with the Union Pacific Railroad. Monies not required for con struction of the restroom will be used to help fund new play ground equipment at the park. The city hopes to raise an ad ditional $7 to $8 thousand in donations so they can install two portions of the playground equipment at the same time. City manager Gary Marks says that having both phases of the playground equipment install ed at the same time will cost the city less money. The play ground project will cost around $19 thousand if both phases are installed at the same time, and around $20 thousand if they have to purchase the two parts separately. Soroptimist International of Heppner has already pledged $1,200 for the playground pro ject. Marks says that he is available to speak to clubs, organizations and individuals about the project. The taped testimony of Mor row County residents at the February 10 meeting of the State School Finance Commit tee at the Oregon Legislature will be broadcast by Heppner TV on Friday April 7 at 6 p.m. Heppner TV will broadcast on designated public access chan nel 3, interrupting the Learning Channel for about an hour. "A re a residents are en couraged to watch this pro gramming to see the effect that concerned, committee citizens can have in the legislative pro c e s s ," said a Hepner TV spokesperson. Sonja McCabe contacted Representative Lyn Lundquist to arrange testimony from the Morrow County delegation. The committee was so impressed with the presen tation that it allowed much m ore than the originally scheduled 30 minutes, McCabe said. McCabe says she believes that the testimony was very im portant in the current attempt in the legislature to add $180 million to the funds available for education. H ep p ner area resid en ts presenting testimony were Bill Kuhn, Molly Rill, Greg Grant, Olivia Sagely, Tony Greenup, Phil Spicerkuhn, Steve Dicken son, Doug Drake and Bob Sagely. Maben wins Lions rifle Pool could be in operation next year The new Willow Creek Rec reation District swimming pool, approved by voters in the March 28 election, may be in operation by next year's swim ming season, said Gary Marks, Pool Commission project man ager. Marks said, however, that there are too many variables, including the weather, to be certain. Marks said that the city must sell the construction bonds, employ an architect, obtain necessary permits, let the pro ject out for bid and award a bid before construction can get underway. Voters approved a $975,000 bond for a basic pool, with swimming lanes, a zero-depth fan for small children and han dicapped access, a water slide and changing rooms, to be located at Hager Park in Hepp ner. Extras in the plan, how ever, such as an indoor mini therapy pool and a meeting room, are expected to cost an additional $250,000. To offset the additional costs, Kinzua Corp., the former owners of Kinzua Mill, has pledged $45,000 to People for the Pool, which is the fund raising group for the pool project. People for the Pool has also raised an ad ditional $15,000 through bake sales, benefit dinners, raffles and other fund raisers. Marks says that between the sale of the bonds and when construc tion costs are paid, the bond monies will be placed in an in terest bearing account, which will also generate funds. Still, Marks anticipates that an addi tional $150,000 at least will be required. He said that fund raising options could include a State Department Outdoor Recreation Grant, grants from private foundations and dona tions. The indoor mini-therapy pool may avail the project to grants concerning therapy, ex ercise or senior citizens, Marks added. Marks said that there will be an opportunity for volunteer ef forts and People for the Pool is expected to step up their fund raising efforts. They are still selling inscribed bricks to be in stalled at the pool. BEO holds stockholders meeting The Bank of Eastern Oregon held its annual stockholder's meeting March 29 at Arlington City Hall. Fifty-six stockholders and employees attended the m eetin g, bank p resid ent George Koffler announced. A year-end summary was reported showing a net income for the bank of $605,432 in 1994 or $4.18 net income per share. Return on assets was recorded at 1.63 percent and return on equity at 15.26 percent, accor ding to Koffler. O th er highlights of the meeting included announce ment of the opening of the bank's Condon branch in May, as well as reports on the new BEO Financial Services and BEO Mortgage departments. Jack Maben (left) accepts the rifle from Lions Club secretary Steve Rhea. Maben won the $500 Ruger M77R Mark II 300 Magnum rifle during the Lions Club annual rifle raffle. HHS students nominated for award Ethan Burnside and Jenny Krein, both Heppner High School seniors, have been nam ed Tandy Technology Scholars nominees. Burnside was nom inated for the Outstanding M a th / S c ie n c e / C o m p u te r Science award and Krein for the top two percent academic category. Each received a certificate. This is the sixth year that the Tandy Technology Scholars program has made awards to te ach e rs and gradu ating seniors at Am erican high sch ools. C u rren tly 15,476 public and private secondary schools have been certified to participate in the awards pro gram. That is more than 72 per cent of all secondary schools in the United States. The academic top two per cent of graduating seniors are eligible to receive certificates recognizing their academic achievements. This year the Tandy Technology Scholars program will honor 26,946 m eritoriou s sen iors. Each school may nominate a senior who is outstanding in mathe matics, science or computer science. These students receive a certificate recognizing them as a Tandy Technology Scholar. In addition they are eligible to compete for the 100, $1,000 scholarships awarded annual ly- Our Best Tires ON SALE NOW See our Ad on page 2 >rrow County Grain Growers .exinaton 989-8221 1-800-452-7396