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Public comments on Home
Rule Charter proposal
Students get a taste of the w orking w orld
Although they didn't all
agree on what changes would
occur, most people who spoke
at a public hearing on the pro
posed county home rule charter
Tuesday, did agree that a
change in county government
was in the wind.
The hearing was the second
of three around the county to
hear public comment on the
proposed charter.
The main topic of discussion
Tuesday was the number of
commissioners there should be,
and how the county should be
divided into voting districts.
An appointed committee has
been working for the past 18
months to come up with a new
county charter, or structure,
which will most likely be put to
county voters sometime in
19%.
Proposals for the election of
county commissioners ranged
from five com m issioners
elected at large, to three com
missioners elected from various
districts in the county. The
draft charter presented at the
meeting specified five commis
sioners coming from five
districts in the county, but to be
voted on by all county
residents. Charter committee
members said that could be
changed, however, based on
public input.
The draft charter also calls for
eliminating the elected posi
tions of county clerk, assessor,
treasurer and surveyor, and
making these positions ap
pointed. The positions of
sheriff and justice of the peace
would remain elective under
the plan.
Jerry Rietmann of lone
testified that he favored in
creasing the number of com
missioners to five, elected at
large throughout the county.
He pointed out that more com
missioners, meeting at night,
would open county govern
ment up to more people, those
who have jobs or own busi
nesses and are not able to take
the time off to attend day-long
meetings as the present court
does. "Business owners and
workers are excluded from the
county court presently," Riet
mann said. "Now you have to
be unemployed, retired or
wealthy to serve on the court."
He cited the county school
board as an example of open
government.
Heppner resident John Ed-
mundson testified that he had
Mustangs place four on
CBC baseball All Stars
'*^anr‘
Students work at City Park
By April Sykes
It's a win-win situation all
around, for kids, the school,
the community and the city.
> Two Heppner High School
classes are in the final stages of
completing a project at the city
mini-park located at the en
trance to Heppner. The project
involves concrete skills, literally
laying cement at the park, but
also encompasses much more
cooperative learning, com
munication, problem solving
and reasoning skills. The
groups alternate pre-integrated
mathematics (pre-algebra to all
the old timers) and a technol
ogy survey class. Technology
survey is an overview of many
areas of technology construc
tion, communication, manufac
turing and transportation. Over
the course of the year, the
classes covered fractions,
decimals, percentages, cost
estimation, formulas, area,
volume, equations, graphing,
mapping, scale, ratios, propor
tion, angles, distances, estima
tion and using various tools.
Heppner High School Prin
cipal Steve Dickenson is en
thusiastic about the mini-park
project. "This is really great,"
he said. "This is something
these kids will have ownership
of. There are some reluctant
academic students down here
working their tails off. Some
who haven't been leaders have
really taken charge. This is ap
plied knowledge, plus it puts
someting back into the com
munity. They (the students)
can always come by here and
say they had something to do
with this. It transfers to com
munity pride, citizenship and
community involvement.”
And the students agree. "It's
aw esom e," says freshman
Deena Hendricks, who added
that there was a little bit of com
petition between the two
■ ■
classes involved. "The other
class was bigger and they work
faster. And they rub it in our
nose," said Hendricks.
HHS technology teacher
Dave Fowler, who is on site
with the students as well as in
the classroom, said that the
project, while successful, was
almost too big. "It's a lot of
work," he said, adding that the
logistics of transporting the
equipment and materials was
difficult and the concrete work
was extremely time consuming.
Bad weather and availability of
a school bus to transport the
students sometimes cut into
on-site work time. "A smaller
project would be a really good
learning experience," he said.
Fowler said that John Ed-
mundson first approached him
about the project last spring.
"The idea was to give kids the
understanding of the world of
The Heppner Mustangs plac
ed two seniors on the first team
Columbia Basin Conference
east division all star baseball
team and one senior and one
junior on honorable mention.
Seniors Chris Dickenson and
Tr**nt Hughes were named to
the i&Ji team, Dickenson as in-*
field and Hughes as outfield.
Chad Skroch and Rod Zum-
walt were named on the
honorable mention team, in
field and outfield respectively.
Others named to the first
team included: Glenn Stillman
catcher, Brandon Dames and
photo by April Sykes
Casey Perkins, pitchers, all
Pilot Rock; Chris Whelan, Stan
field, first base; Dickenson,
technology and eventually Courtney Brody of Weston-
align the curriculum with the McEwen and Josh Baker of
project," he said.
Stanfield, infield; and Hughes,
After all the weeks of sket Lucas Pupo Weston-McEwen
ching, measuring, mapping
and putting the project to scale,
the kids were really anxious to
get to work at the project site.
Once at the site, boys and girls
alike excavated the dirt, put in
forms and mixed and layed ce
ment. They took turns being
foreman, process observer
(who keeps data on perfor
mance), and workers. "These
kids have an idea of what goes
on at a construction site," said
Dickenson." If their parents
wanted to put in a patio, they
would be able to tell them how
to lay cement."
After the sidewalks are com
pleted, city plans are to install
picnic tables and a water
fountain.
and Chris Humphreys, PR,
outfield; Shawn Tracy, utility
and Kyle Frederickson,
designated
hitter,
both
Umatilla.
Chris Dickenson
Trent Hughes
Rod Zumwalt
Chad Skroch
It's Tupper time again
no position on the proposed
charter, but did think there
would be no cost savings to the
county
with
five
commissioners.
As with most others who
spoke, Edmundson said that
growth in the county would be
in the north end of Boardman
and Irrigon. Soon 70 percent of
the population of the county
would live within 10 miles of
the Columbia River, he said.
Boardman resident Ed Glenn
presented the most vocal
testimony at the meeting, say
ing that no matter what the
charter committee did, the
power in the county would
soon shift to the north end. "It
doesn't make a bit of difference
what you do," he told the com
mittee. "Things will not change
in Morrow County for five
years, then there will be a shift
of power to the north end." He
said that at present county
government is irrelevant to the
people of Boardman and Ir
rigon, and that the committee
would be wise "to protect the
minority with a seat at the
table", because it will be the
only way to guarantee the peo
ple of Heppner have represen
tation in the future.
Scholarship
apps. available
Applications
are now
available for the Lexington Col
lege Scholarship at Morrow
County Grain G row ers'
Business Office in Lexington.
This $500 scholarship applica
tion is available to any student
who lives in the Lexington
voting precinct or whose
parents or spouse resides in the
precinct. The student must
have completed one full year of
college, university or vocational
training; this being two full
semesters or three full quarters
of school, and must include a
transcript with the application.
All applications must be com
pleted and postmarked on or
before August 1, 1995, and
mailed to South Morrow Coun
ty Scholarship Trust; P.O. Box
926; Heppner, Oregon 97836.
The recipient will be announc
ed in September.
For more information, con
tact board members: Reverend
Stan Hoobing, president; Bill
Reitm ann, vice-president;
Sharon Harrison, secretary;
Bob Kahl, treasurer; George
Koffler; Dana Reid, or Jim
Swanson.
TV membership to decide program
The Heppner T.V. Inc.,
board of directors has decided
to put the fate of Channel 19
before a vote of the
membership.
WGN's contract has run out
and the board may try another
network. The Home and
Garden Network and C-Span
have been previewed. C-Span
is now on until May 31. WGN
is also a choice to renew, said
Judie Laughlin, Heppner T.V.
office manager.
Ballots will be mailed to
determine what the communi
ty would like to place on Chan
nel 19. Ballots must be return
ed by 5 p.m. June 19, the day
before the 40th annual meeting
of the membership, Tuesday,
June 20, at 8 p.m. at the Hepp
ner T.V. office. Voting will
follow the Heppner T.V. Inc.,
by-laws, with one vote per
membership owned. A com
mittee will count the ballots
prior to the annual meeting and
will report the results.
G-T deadline strictly enforced
The deadline for news stories
for the Heppner Gazette-Times
will be strictly enforced starting
Monday, June 5. No stories will
be accepted after the deadline
which is 5 p.m. Mondays.
The deadline for classified
ads is Tuesdays at noon.
The Gazette-Times will be
closed for the Memorial Day
holiday, Monday, May 29.
photo by April Sykes
Heppner and lone sixth graders with the help of teacher Bil Ewing examine organisms at Bull
Prairie lake. The excursion to Bull Prairie was a part of a four day outdoor school experience
at the Tupper Ranger Station May 15-18.
Our Early Summer Sale
Runs thru Sat., May 27th
We will be closed Monday for Memorial Day
Morrow County Grain Growers
Lexington 989-8221
1-800-452-7396