M o rro w County School district loses suit
By April Sykes
The Morrow County School
Board has lost an unfair labor
practices suit to the Oregon
School Employees Association
(OSEA).
According to a news release
from Gary Baysinger, OSEA
field representative, ad­
ministrative law Judge Dave
Stiteler ruled in favor of the
OSEA, determining that the
district acted in bad faith con­
cerning contracting Morrow
County School District bus
service.
50 <
VOL. 114________ NO. 30________ 6 Pages Wednesday, July 12, 1995,________ Morrow County Heppner, Oregon
M eeting set on park district withdrawal
A public meeting to discuss
the Willow Creek Park District,
and petitions recently filed by
20 landowners in lone to
withdraw from that district,
will be held Monday night, Ju­
ly 17 in lone at the lone High
School cafeteria. The meeting
will begin at 8 p.m.
The meeting is being held to
discuss the recently approved
$975,000 bond issue for con­
struction of a pool in Heppner,
and the subsequent requests by
lone area land owners to
withdraw from the district.
Landowners are apparently
contending they will receive no
benefit from the district and
should therefore be excluded.
The park district also built
and operates an RV park at
Willow Creek Lake near
Heppner.
The county court held a hear­
ing June 22 on the original three
landowners' withdrawal peti­
tions, and although has author­
ity to grant the withdrawals,
has taken no action. Reported­
ly 17 more landowners have
since filed withdrawal petitions
with the court.
The court instructed the park
district board of directors and
the landowners to try and work
out their differences. The
meeting next Monday will be
an attempt to find common
ground. Linda LaRue will be
the facilitator of the meeting.
The Morrow County Court
will hold another public
meeting on the issue Tuesday,
July 18, at 1 p.m. at the
courthouse.
M edical district plans to hire Irrigon PA
By April Sykes
The Morrow County Health
District Board, at its regular
meeting July 10 in Irrigon
authorized Chief Executive Of­
ficer Kevin Erich to pursue hir­
ing a physician's assistant (PA)
for the Irrigon community.
According to Erich, Dave
Jones, a PA who has practiced
in Condon for the past 15 years,
has indicated that he is in­
terested in practicing in Ir-
igon. The board had earlier said
that they wanted to establish a
clinic in Irrigon. Erich said
Jones was also an EMT instruc­
tor.
The board also approved a
2.5 percent salary increase for
non-union employees for the
fiscal year 1995-%. Non-union
employees include registered
nurses and management.
In other business, the board:
-approved an amendment to
bring the contracts of dentist
Dr. Blair Smith and newly
hired dentist, Dr. Paul Mar­
shall, in line. Both dentists will
work at both the Heppner and
Boardman clinics.
Clients at the clinics have in­
creased to the extent that the
board found it necessary to hire
a second dentist. Non-emer­
gency patients at the Heppner
Dental Clinic now face a two
month delay for appointments
to see Dr. Marshall and a three-
month delay in appointments
to see Dr. Smith.
-agreed to wait to consider
the appointment of a new
Boardman-area board member
until board chair Cara Osmin
was in attendance. Former
board member Roger Cash re­
signed because of a change in
work hours. Gene Allen and
Jim Hankins have expressed in­
terest in the position and
several others, Dan Daltoso,
Mick Tolar and Sam Edwards,
were suggested as possible
members.
-learned that a nursing home
survey indicated only one
minor deficiency that was in
the process of being corrected.
-learned that around $6,670
had to be reimbursed to Med­
icare for 1993. However, Erich
said that around $30,000 had
been accrued for those reim­
bursements. Erich also said that
Medicare reductions will im­
pact Pioneer Memorial Hospital
around $72,000 over the next
seven years. Erich said that the
reductions were "not as drastic
as we thought, but we will
have to make some hard deci­
sions."
-discussed the district's cash
carryover, which is around
$741,000 currently. The car­
ryover is estimated to bottom
out at around $350,000 in Oc­
tober before taxes and to be
around $650,000 at the end of
the fiscal year.
-discussed a reduction in in-
patient revenues, partially at­
tributed to a mild winter. Erich
earlier said that the hiring of an
additional physician at Hepp­
ner, Dr. Ernie Atkins, would
probably help increase in­
patient revenues. Drs. Ed and
Jeanne Berretta had restricted
new patients to help ease their
heavy patient load.
-approved, with certain con­
ditions, a quit claim deed and
an intergovernmental agree­
ment between the Morrow
County Health District and
Morrow County in the change
from a county medical board to
a county health district;
-discussed a standardized
system to re-evaluate and ad­
just rates;
-approved a contract with a
company to provide cost ac­
counting;
-discussed a plan for an am­
bulance membership program.
Employee seminar planned
The "Customer Satisfaction
Equals Customer Retention"
seminar will be a morning full
of activities for employees in
south Morrow County, says a
spokesperson for the event.
Employers recently attendecf
a similar seminar and helped
create the upcoming session for
their employees. All businesses
are welcome to send their
employees to the seminar Mon­
day, July 31, from 8-10:30 a.m.
at the Heppner Elks. The
seminar will include group ac­
tivities, video, discussion and
sharing of ideas.
The cost will be $10 per
employee up to three, or $7 per
employee if employers attend­
ed the previous seminar in
June. More than three em­
ployees will be free. Coffee,
juice and muffins will be
provided.
Registration forms will be go­
ing out soon. The seminar is
sponsored by the Morrow
County Tourism Committee.
For more information, call the
Heppner Chamber of Com­
merce, 676-5536.
Livestock growers social set
The Morrow County Live­
stock Grower's will hold their
summer potluck and social,
Saturday, July 22 at the Mor­
row County Fairgrounds in
Heppner. The social hour will
start at 5 p.m. and dinner will
follow at 6 p.m. Meat will be
provided. Those attending are
asked to bring a salad or
dessert. Musk and a dance will
conclude the evening.
Anyone interested in the
livestock industry and buyers
at the Morrow County 4-H and
FFA Livestock Auction is in­
vited to attend.
A saddle valued at $1,400 will
be raffled off. Tickets will be
sold only at the social.
OSEA, the district will rewrite
the bid specifications and go
out for bids again.
Starr said that if the decision
is reversed, the district will still
complete negotiations and then
enter into a contract with the
low bidder or, if negotiations
with OSEA are resolved, the
district would not contract out
transportation services.
. The school board earlier
decided to contract busing ser­
vices as a money-saving
measure.
M C G G purchases Lexington ball field
By April Sykes
imes
Baysinger said that the
district took steps toward con­
tracting out before bargaining
was completed.
Morrow County School Dis­
trict Superintendent Chuck
Starr said that the district will
appeal the decision. But, he
added, the district's decision to
appeal "doesn't affect our com­
mitment to negotiate with the
employees."
Starr said that after the ap­
peal, if the judgement against
the district stands, upon com­
pletion of negotiations with the
The Morrow County School
District (MCSD) Board, at its
regular meeting Monday, July
10, revealed that Morrow
County
Grain
Growers
(MCGG has purchased the old
baseball field across the street
from the school district offices
in Lexington.
Neither the city of Lexington,
nor the district wanted to con­
tinue upkeep on the field,
which was owned by the dis­
trict and seldom used by the
community.
MCGG manager Larry Mills
said that MCGG had no spe­
cific plans for the field, but pur­
chased the property for "possi­
ble future expansion." Pur­
chase price was $25,000.
MCGG said they would re­
pave the old tennis court
behind the school district of­
fices for either a new tennis
court or a basketball court for
the community of Lexington.
MCGG also agreed to keep the
ball field watered until they
decided what to do with the
property.
In other business, the board:
-received engineering reports
concerning repairs for the lone
swimming pool. According to
JyJ^SD Superintendent Chuck
Starr, Timothy Rundquist,
Spokane architect, said that
repairs, which would take care
of the pool's immediate pro­
blems and keep the pool oper­
ating for at least 20 years,
would cost around $324,000.
Starr told the Gazette-Times
that he hopes that the current
problems concerning Willow
Creek Park District and the fun­
ding of the proposed swimjn-
ing pool in Heppner can be
worked out. He also indicated
that he hoped the park district
and the school district can come
to an agreement so that repairs
to the lone pool can be funded
through the park district.
MCSD will not be able to pay
for repairs because of budget
shortfalls resulting from Ballot
Measure 5 and the state school
funding formula. The school
district has already cut teach­
ers, programs and co-curricular
activities and consolidated
Heppner High School and
Junior High as money-saving
measures.
Following the breakdown of
the lone Pool, three landown­
ers have petitioned to with­
draw from Willow Creek Park
District, according to Morrow
County Judge Louis Carlson.
Carlson said that several others
have turned in petitions to the
Morrow County Clerk's office.
Voters in the district, which in­
cludes Heppner, Lexington
and lone, approved a bond
levy in March, 759 to 726, to
construct a pool in Heppner
and a levy for operation of that
pool, 788 to 737. lone voters
overwhelmingly rejected both
issues, 229 to 77 for construc­
tion, and 229 to 84 for the
operating levy.
" I think it's a mistake to
secede from the (park) dist­
r ic t," said Starr. " I t 's a
negative not only for the Hepp­
ner pool, but for the lone
pool." He said that working
together would be a benefit to
both the Heppner and lone
communities. He added that it
would be difficult for a com­
munity the size of lone to be
able to fund the repairs. "It
doesn't mean they couldn't do
it," Starr said, but added that
"It's a different deal" than it
was when the lone communi­
ty built the pool in the mid-
1950s.
Morrow County School Dist­
rict pays for operation of the
pool, which runs around
$10,000 a year.
Russ Morgan, Heppner and
Scott Johnson, Irrigon, were
sworn in as elected members of
the school board;
-Board member Scott Bauska,
Boardman, was elected chair­
man and John Rietmann, lone,
vice-chairman;
-resignations were accepted
from: Craig Lankford, Sam
Boardman Elementary School
teacher; Kevin Swann, River­
side High School assistant
custodian; Bob Morris, north
end school bus driver;
-employment was approved
for: Ramona Hernandez, spe­
cial education assistant, replac­
ing Kay Ceton, and Paul Gisi,
head custodian, replacing Ron
Dean, both at RHS.
-accepted a grant from Meyer
Memorial Trust to Riverside
High School to "bring global
telecommunications into an
isolated community and in­
tegrate multimedia technology
into a freshman course combin­
ing technology, global studies
and language arts";
-learned that bids will be
opened Thursday for outdoor
basketball courts to be built at
Heppner High School. Starr
said that the four courts will be
available during school hours
for seventh and eighth graders,
who will be attending classes at
the high school beginning this
fall. Previously there was no
outside activity area for stu­
dents. After class time, the
courts will be available to other
students. The gravel area below
the shop building will be pav­
ed and fenced so that balls will
not roll into the street. The
courts will also have a wheel
chair lift for handicapped ac­
cess. Starr said that the paved
access ramp to the courts will
also be available for addditional
parking. He said that the goal
is to have the court project
done by the time school begins,
but that may not be possible.
-named Ann Spicer, Nancy
Hungerford and John Witty,
legal counsel; Van Marter and
Kahl, insurance agent of
record; the Bank of Eastern
Oregon, First Interstate Bank,
Inland Empire Bank and the
Bank of America, depositories
for district funds; and the
Gazette-Times and The East
Oregonian, newspapers of
record.
The next board meeting will
be held at A.C. Houghton
Elementary School in Irrigon
on August 14 at 7:30 p.m.
Hail storm devastates area wheat ranchers
By April Sykes
Area ranchers were hit hard
by the storm that carved a
swath through Morrow Coun­
ty Sunday. Golf ball-sized hail
stones were reported from lone
and north Lexington, as well as
Condon and Hermiston. Flood­
ing was also reported in lone
Jim Swanson of Wheatland
Insurance of lone said that he
had processed around 90
•claims for crop damage and 50
to 60 auto damage claims.
Swanson said that around
60,000 acres of crops he insured
were damaged and estimated
that the claims could approach
the neighborhood of $2 million.
"Som e places were complete­
ly wiped out," he said.
Swanson also said he had 17
adjustors in his office to assess
the damage Tuesday morning.
He said that damages occuring
about five years ago resulted in
around a half million in dam-
ages.
Bob Ployhar of Ployhar In­
surance of Heppner said that
he had around 40 claims as of
Tuesday, adding that he was so
busy he had no idea of the
monetary value of the claims.
Morrow County Grain
Growers manager Larry Mills
said that farmers experienced
some "very extensive losses"
in the North Lex area. Mills
said that most of the losses oc­
curred in a four to five mile
wide strip running northeast,
with the worst damage in a one
to one and a half mile strip.
Mills said that the losses on
the edge of the swath ranged
from 10 to 30 or 40 percent of
the wheat crop, but in the
center of the strip there was ex­
tensive or total damage.
"Som e losses in the area
south of lone don't appear to
be too extensive," said Mills,
who added that there was also
extensive damage in the area
south of Condon.
Mills said that some of the
worst damage occurred as the
storm crossed the Bombing
Range Road, severely or total­
ly destroying the crops on the
ranches of Larry Lindsay, Dave
Matheny, Virginia Grieb, Riv-
ercrest Farms, Bob and John
Kilkenny and Irvin Rauch.
Mills said that while he
believes that most of the
farmers were insured, some
weren't because hail "rarely
hits in that area."
Protect Your Stored Grain
RELDAN 4 E
RELDAN 3% DUST
TEMPO
Morrow County Grain Growers
Lexington 989-8221
*«*» * ,
1-800-452-7396
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