FOUR - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, July 5, 1995
The Official Newspaper of the
City of Heppner and the
County of Morrow
Nothing to fear from free at-large
elections
Heppner
GAZETTE-TIMES
U S P S. 240-420
Morrow County’s Home-Owned Weekly Newspaper
Published weekly and entered as second-class matter at the Post Of
fice at Heppner, Oregon under the Act of March 3, 1879. Second class
postage paid at Heppner, Oregon. Office at 147 West Willow Street.
Telephone (503) 676-9228. Postmaster send address changes to the
Heppner Gazette-Times. P.O. Box 337, Heppner, Oregon 97836.
Subscriptions: $ 18 in Morrow, Wheeler, Gilliam and Grant Coun
ties; $ 2 $ elsewhere.
Joy ce H u g h e s........................................Office Manager. Typesetting
April H ilton-Sykes..............................................................News Editor
Stephanie J e n s e n .............................................................. Typesetting
Monique D evin...................................Advertising layout A Graphics
Susan Hansen........................................................................ Distribution
Penni K eersem ak er.................................................
Printer
David and April Hilton-Sykes, Publishers
Q uestions answered on lone pool
By Chuck Starr, superintendent
of Morrow County Schools.
Why is the school district
running a swimming pool at
lone?
The swimming pool at lone
was built by the lone communi
ty in the mid-1950s, before the
existence of the Morrow Coun
ty School District. When
MCSD was formed through the
1959 consolidation, the district
agreed to continue running the
pool for the school and the
community.
How much does it cost the
taxpayers of Morrow County to
run the pool in lone?
For many years, the lone
pool was self-supporting, but
expenses have exceeded re
ceipts in recent years. Current
ly, the District subsidizes the
operation of the pool by $10,000
per year. When Measure 5 is
applied, the tax rate per $1,000
for that subsidy is about 1/3 of
one cent per $1,000 of assess
ed value. In other words, the
lone pool currently costs a Mor
»
row County taxpayer with a
$60,000 home about 20 cents
per year to operate.
What happens when the
lone pool requires major
repairs and remodeling?
This is a very good question,
and one that we are facing right
now. Preliminary estimates of
the cost to make needed repairs
to the lone pool and bring it up
to current codes range from
$200,000 to $400,000. These
costs are prohibitive for the
school district and would re
quire another bond issue to ac
complish. I believe that the on
ly logical way of solving this
problem is for the school
district to enter into an agree
ment with the Willow Creek
Park District to operate the lone
pool and move toward pro
viding the funds for its repair.
I believe that all of south Mor
row County must continue to
suport the Willow Creek Park
District in its efforts to provide
both park and swimming pool
facilities for the children of
Heppner, Lexington and lone.
CwetkeU
r -* ;s -J
J
«
• -* .Jr
.o 1
T-Shirts • Hats • Cards
Now In Stock
^ M umui ' j D íüui c
fj
-•
217 North Main
Heppner
676-9158
-• I
COAST TO COAST
Home
&
Garden
C o ast to C o ast
Htppntr
WF CAM HFIJ’ V(H
476-WrW
'i
I
(
To the Editor:
There are some faulty notions
being bandied about by some
of the members of the Morrow
County Home Rule Charter
Committee (MCHRCC) and
their supporters. Their efforts
are probably meant to drum up
support for their version of a
new charter for the county to
replace our present county
court system. As a member of
MCHRCC opposed to what the
majority appears to be trying to
do, I would like to comment on
each of these ideas.
First, my committee has ap
parently "bought” the notion,
advanced by Boardman mem
bers, that the "North County"
has been denied representation
on the Morrow County Court.
Therefore, they urge that coun
ty should be divided into five
districts, giving two represen
tatives to Boardman and its
rural environs while Irrigon,
Heppner, and the rural heart
land of the county, including
Lexington and lone have one
each. Even more curiously,
they threaten that if this is not
done that within a very short
time, perhaps four or five
years, the Boardman area will
become the "Colossus of the
North" (my interpretation of
what they mean), will win a
majority position on the coun
ty court, and will visit retalia
tion upon the South for all the
years of alleged abuse.
My response to this is best
expressed in barracks parlance:
"what a crock". Boardman and
the North County have not
been denied anything. The
people of Morrow County, in
free and open elections, elected
two county commissioners and
a county judge, none of whom
happen to reside in the Board-
man area. None of them reside
in the Irrigon precincts, or for
that matter, Lexington either.
Generally, when people mark
their ballots, they vote for the
candidate whom they believe
will govern best. The results of
that process has produced the
current composition of the
court, which is subject to
change at each election.
We have the only perfect
one-person/one-vote system of
elections; that is, voting at large
county-wide for each represen
tative to be elected. I am stunn
ed by the refrain repeated time
and again by the majority of my
committee and their principal
supporters that "county gov
ernment" is not an issue in the
North County anymore, that
the people up there are just
waiting patiently for the
revenge that will soon be
theirs. The truest and most
time-honored fact about free
elections is that bad govern
ment will cause the wrath of an
aroused citizenry to unite and
turn it out. What these self-
styled political leaders interpret
as an angry, surly citizenry
biding their time eager to grab
the reins of county goverment
is more likely folks just like the
rest of us, reasonably contented
with the people that make up
our county government, both
elected and appointed, who are
doing their best to deliver ex
cellent public service.
A second idea of my commit
tee that cries for careful ex
amination is the notion that
districting the county and in
creasing the number of county
commissioners to at least five
would be a good thing because
it would allow greater par
ticipation in county goverment.
My answer to that is that coun
ty government is not an in
tramural softball league where
you measure success by the
number of participants. Three
good people with above-
average intelligence, some
management experience, good
character and a wish to serve
are all that are needed in my
opinion. I am especially wary
of the idea of replacing our two
commissioners and judge with
five or more commissioners
who would meet only once or
twice per month to endorse the
actions of a county manager
much as our county school
board does with their superin
tendent of schools. I much
prefer the daily hands-on
management of our present
system. Our county court can
district the county and hire a
county manager if necessary
and as time goes on that may
be advisable. I do not see that
either is urgent at this time.
Thirdly, the majority of my
committee and their principal
supporters, mainly from Board-
man, seem to have little heart
for electing every represen
tative to county government,
whether from single-member
districts or not, by majority vote
of the whole county. Rather,
they seem to be more concern
ed that Boardman get the lion's
share of representatives more
than anything else. Of all the
issues involved in "going home
rule" or not, I think this one is
the most important. The right
to elect every political represen
tative of the county by popular
vote of the whole county is in
valuable. Don't give it up! It's
the key to finding the best
government and turning out a
bad one if we make a mistake.
Further, it would be a grave er
ror to district the county so that
Boardman, which has only 38
percent of its population re
gistered to vote (in contrast to
the lone precinct with 71 per
cent) would elect two represen
tative while the rest of the
districts would elect only one
each.
I believe that the districting of
this county, with its meager
population of less that 9000
souls, is of doubtful wisdom
and serves no purpose other
than to ensure majority
representation for the Board-
man area through political gim
mickry rather than open elec
tions. Umatilla County, with
more than seven times our
population, started their home
rule charter government with
only three commissioners. On
the average, each senator and
representative in the U.S.
Legislature represents about
500,000 people!
Fourthly, and particularly
galling to me, is the repeated
claim in our public hearings by
the MCHRCC spokesmen that
our committee has pointedly
abstained from examining the
county court to determine its
shortcomings, nevertheless im
plying that there is something
wrong with it. This simply isn't
true. From the beginning of our
so-called "deliberations" about
18 months ago, we have been
advised by other counties' com
missioners and we have read
articles advising us that we
could not hope to pass a home
rule charter if we could not tell
our citizens exactly what is
wrong with our present
system-and therefore why we
should change it. The subject
has some up at almost every
one of our meetings. The sum
total of our finding of "d irt"
would not fill a thimble nor
does it amount to as much as
a "hill of beans". Our lack of
"su ccess", however, is not
from lack of trying.
I have put in many long
hours learning as much as I
could about our county court
system and the people who run
it. I have found no evidence
whatever of misfeasance, mal
feasance, negligence, gross in
efficiency, dishonesty or in
competence. It seems to me it
deserves our applause rather
than censure. The internal
squabbles you sometimes hear
about are generally of little con
sequence, except to those
directly involved, and are pro
Letters to the Editor
bably more common in
business, schools, universities,
the military and indeed chur
ches than in Morrow County
government.
Lastly, I wish to add my
overall impression of what I
have seen in my committee.
There has been, at best, a cer
tain overzealousness on the
part of the majority to use the
home rule charter as a vehicle
to achieve a radical change in
county goverment. That notion
seems to me to grow from an
inner conviction that the
political power that they seem
to want cannot be achieved by
doing the grass-roots things
that a community normally
does to prevail at the poll.
In that regard, I think they
are mistaken and out of touch
with their citizenry. I can't
believe that Irrigon, for exam
ple, wants to tie their political
future to the tail of the Board-
man kite. They know from ex
perience that such a position
comes with some undesirable
Best served by elected officers
To the Editor:
I attended the recent hearing
in lone of the committee in
vestigating whether or not we
should have a vote to deter
mine whether or not we want
"hom e rule", as compared to
the elective system we have
now in our county govern
ment.
Since the committee's task is
to investigate and propose the
kind of "home rule" they think
would be best, the discussion
centers on the details of what
"hom e rule" is. With my
understanding of the structure
of our current county govern
ment it is very difficult to agree
that we should throw out our
current system of governing.
It seems to me that we are
To the Editor:
The fear of change is a strong
emotion. But now that the In
dustrial Park Annexation in
Boardman is a fact rather than
a mere proposal, those emo
tions are rapidly being replac
ed with rational consideration.
Most of the horror tales that
were told for a fact are proving
false and many of the parties on
both sides are now talking to
each other.
The issue, of course, was
water-water for present in
dustries and water for future
development. Political forces
far beyond Morrow County are
making new water sources
much harder to acquire so it is
imperative that we all protect
the water resources we now
have. Now, the vast unused
water resources of the city of
Boardman can be available for
back-up to other existing
sources and for future in
dustrial and residential users.
Throughout this process,
Morrow County Assessor Greg
Sweek has performed his pro
fessional duty to provide infor
mation and certifications cour
teously, promptly and ac
curately. Now, Morrow Coun
ty Judge Louis Carlson is serv
ing a valuable role as moderator
of meetings between public and
private entities which will de
velop a new, higher level of
cooperations toward our com
mon goals.
Boardman City Manager Jack
Palmer has worked tirelessly to
assure timely notice, properly
drawn documents and still deal
with the many substantive
issues. Many others could fore
initsJss.
Featherlight Aluminum
Sooner Aluminum
Sundowner Aluminum
Donahue
Walla Walla, WA
1-800-831-0875
1-509-525-1111
best served by elected officers
rather than an appointed
manager. Why? You can appeal
and discuss with an elected of
ficial of a department, while
you would have to discuss your
concerns with a board under
"hom e rule". Also a good
manager wines and dines his
board, so I believe a manager
of a county that has "home
rule" would be vastly power
ful, and unresponsive to
citizens' concerns.
We as citizens of Morrow
County had better acquaint
ourselves with the kind of
government we have now,
before we vote another system
in.
Sincerely,
(s) Don Peterson
lone
Fear of change strong emotion
Order?
900 S. 9th
baggage. Rather, they seem to
have a healthy interest in
strengthening the social and
political development of their
own community by doing such
laudable things as working to
establish their own high school.
I think home rule charter, as
my committee has crafted it,
has lost much of the appeal it
might have once had. I hope
we can bring it to a graceful end
and let wiser heads try it in
years to come if they wish.
Whether you believe what I
have said or not, we should let
the idea of a grand cleavage
between north and south Mor
row County die a much-
deserved natural death and get
on with electing the govern
ments we may choose. The
great majority of us share com
mon values and the minority
has nothing to fear from con
tinued free elections voting at
large.
Sincerely,
(s) Hal Dinkins
MCHRCC member
see the immense value annex
ation of the Industrial Park
would have in preparing the
Boardman community and all
of Morrow County for the
Twenty-first Century.
As we move forward with
this annexation, its true value
to us all will be maximized as
more and more folks join the
positive aspects of industrial
development rather than suc
cumb to the destruction of the
emotional fear of change.
Sincerely,
(s) Ed Glenn
Boardman
Justice Court
Report
The Justice Court office at the
courthouse annex building in
Heppner reports handling the
following business during the
past week:
Jeff Hiatt, Heppner-Criminal
Mischief II, $625 fine plus $312
restitution, 180 days in jail; $250
and jail sentence suspended
with two year probation with
no further violation of law ex
cluding minor traffic; continue
anger management counseling
sessions.
Paper
Gazette-Times
676-9228
Horse • Stock
• Utility
Don Johnson
Trailer Sales
Trailers
Circle J
• American
Flatbeds • Utility
Wells Cargo
Morgan
a\\*v