Artifactory Fair set for this Saturday
Merry Brannon (left) and friend Brittany Boothe show some of the items Brannon will sell at the
Artifactory. Brannon makes dried and silk flower arrangements, tree decorations and wooden
Christmas ornaments.
e
imes
VOL. 114
NO. 48
6 Pages Wednesday, November 29, 1995,
a m. and local singer Tim
Cundell will provide music
beginning at 10 a m.
The G reens W orkshop,
where people can make their
own Christmas wreaths, will be
held in conjunction with the
Artifactory.
The Soroptimist Q ub will sell
baked potatoes, hot dogs, chili,
pie, hot chocolate, hot cider,
pop, tea and coffee.
School board approves busing service contract
By April Hilton-Sykes
The Morrow County School
Board, at a special meeting
Monday, Nov. 27, at the district
offices in Lexington, approved
a contract to hire out school
busing services to Mid Colum
bia Bus Co., Inc.
Mary Kay Brant, Oregon
School Employees Association
representative, Ed Edwards,
director of labor/government
relations with Oregon School
Employees Association, and
several classified employees
asked the board not to approve
the busing contract, saying that
the board's action would hurt
the community. The union also
charged that the board's action
would break a three-year con
tract that the board had with
the bus drivers.
The OSEA has filed unfair
labor practices suits against the
district in connection with hir
ing out bus services; however,
the local OSEA chapter voted
against striking over the issue.
Ben Hubert and Dodie Givens rehearse their parts in the upcoming
HHS Drama Club production
School district superinten
dent Chuck Starr admonished
the union, particulary for ad
vertisements, news stories and
radio program s that were
"derogatory" to him and to
school board members.
Starr said that the union call
ed him "dishonest" and the
union said that board members
were "co-conspirators" with
Mid Columbia. Starr also said
that he objected to OSEA
members challenging the board
about facts and figures that
board members could not have
possibly known unless asked
ahead of time. He stressed that
the board had read the busing
contract, contrary to OSEA
ch arg es, and that board
member Dwayne Carroll was
instrumental in drawing up the
contract specifications. Starr
also refuted OSEA charges that
potential bidders were not
given sufficient time to submit
bid proposals.
The board's contract with
Mid Columbia will be effective
January 2, 19%. Other specifi
cations include the following:
-the board reserves the right
to inspect, approve or reject
any vehicle. Regular route
gasoline buses will not exceed
12 years and diesel, 15;
-the contractor agrees to pur
chase from the district any or
all school buses, spare parts,
tires, supplies or other mate
rials directly associated with
the operation of home-to-
school transportation;
-the contractor agrees to pay
for the buses at total cash value
at high yellow book;
-the contractor will pay
$726,900 in one lump sum,
which will be invested in the
state pool by the district for
three years, so the district may
buy the buses back at the end
of that period;
-contractor agrees to schedule
all routes for contract purposes
with the approval of the
district;
-during inclement weather,
the district will have the sole
responsibility of altering bus
routes or cancelling bus service
for that day, with the contrac
tor inspecting designated
roads;
-the district agrees to pay 80
percent of the yearly total ow
ed to the contractor for home
to school transportation in nine
equal monthly payments;
-the contractor is entitled to
exclusive use and possession
the district's transportation
facilities (bus garages and
sheds) and will pay the district
monthly rate of $1,500 each for
the Heppner and Boardman
facilities and $250 each for the
lone and Irrigon facilities for a
total of $3,500 monthly rent
-hiring and firing personnel
is up to the contractor, but the
district can require the contract
to dismiss any person or drive
who the district feels is not
qualified to operate a school
bus;
-the contractor will offer
employment to all regular
school bus drivers currently
employed by the school district
and who qualify for employ
ment by the contractor;
-the contractor agrees to pay
said employees at equal or
greater hourly rates of pay or
monthly salaries, plus incre
ments, as set forth in the
1995-% agreement between the
district and its current roster of
school bus drivers;
-the contractor shall provide
individual health insurance for
those currently employed bus
drivers receiving health in
surance from the district's
health insurance policy;
-those currently employed
district bus drivers working
four hours or more per day
receiving full benefits under the
district's health insurance po
licy would be eligible to receive
individual health insurance
from the contractor and would
be required to pay the dif
ference between the contrac
tor's monthly premium and the
cap rate as established by the
contractor;
-those currently employed
district bus drivers working less
than four hours per day and
receiving one-half benefits
under the district's heath in
surance would be required to
pay one-half the individual
health insurance premium and
the difference between the con
tractor's monthly premium and
the cap rate as established by
the contractor;
-those employees who are
receiving district health insur
ance have the option to pur
chase health coverage for their
spouse or family beyond the in
dividual health insurance from
the contractor at the employ
ee's expense.
Contracted rates for provid
ing school bus services are as
follows: school bus routes and
field trips-$1.69 per mile;
special education school bus
routes-$1.54 per mile; activity
trips-87 cents a mile, with $7.80
driver hourly stand-by rate and
driver overtime after eight
hours a day and all weekend
and holiday hours- $3.90;
motor coach-$1.68 per mile
with driver overnight rate of
$60.
In other business, the board
awarded a bid to low bidder
Ramsay Construction of Cor
vallis for carpeting work for
remodeled areas and additions
to Columbia Middle School and
A.C. Houghton Elementary in
Irrigon.
Ramsay Construction bid
$3,102,021 which was under
the district's proposed budget
of $3,3 million. Other bids were
$3,103,700 and $3,163,338.
Holiday Sale
Hurry our BIG SALES
ends Saturday Dec. 1
WCPD meeting
rescheduled
Willow Creek Park District's
December meeting has been
rescheduled for Monday, Dec.
4 at 7 p.m. at the Lexington Ci
ty Hall.
ceramics, dolls, birdhouses,
tole painting, sweatshirt jack
ets, T-shirts, wool rugs, knitted
and crocheted items, dish
towels, aprons, tree orna
ments, table wreaths, flower
baskets, baked goods, clocks,
picture frames, stained glass,
jewelry, dough art and, for the
kids, 'Flubber' and 'Silly
Putty'.
Santa will make his annual
appearance from 10 to 11:30
Morrow County Heppner, Oregon
It's a "Hillbilly Weddin'" at HHS
There's going to be a weddin'
at Heppner High School--a
hillbilly w eddin', and y'all are
invited.
"Hillbilly W eddin'", a three-
act farce by Le Roma Greth and
published by Heuer Publish
ing, will be performed by the
H ep p n er Drama Club on
Thursday and Friday, Dec. 7
and 8, at 7 p.m. at the HHS
cafeterium. Admission is $1 for
students and $2 for adults.
The play concerns Paw Bel-
snickle, a man with a problem-
-make that six problems, in the
form of six unmarried daugh
ters. Third daughter, Juney
Lou, is a pretty girl who wants
to marry Homer Upschlager.
Since he also wants to marry
her, the solution may seem
simple. But no. Maw Belsnickle
has decided Juney Lou cannot
be married until Ceelie, at the
ripe old age of 19, and Bonnie
Mae, the bookworm, are safe
ly married off. Maw elects Paw
to find husbands for them.
Paw has a very simple
method of producing the nec
essary husbands. He decides to
wing them, pick out the buck
shot and have the fellows mar
ried to his daughters before
they know what has happened.
A handsome medical student
who happens on the scene
complicates the issue.
Needless to say, there is a lot
of confusion and mayhem
before the story ends happily
for all concerned.
Paw Belsnickle will be played
by Cory Larson; Maw by Jayme
Hansen; Ceelie by Brandi Mar
shall; Bonnie Mae by Dodie
Givens; and Juney Lou by Traci
Dickenson. Other cast mem
bers are as follows: Four
Belsnickle-Toni Kemp; Five
Belsnickle-Tina Kemp; Six
Belsnickle-Stormy Howard;
Obeey Upschlager-Tim Dicken
son; Chiz Upschlager-Josh
Coiner; Ronald Maxwell-Ben
Hubert; Lucy Maxwell-Kristina
Grant; the Reverend-David
Michael; Cousin Zeke-Robby
Schultz; cousins-Josh Roy,
Travis Wilhelm, Cimmie Huth
and Jenny Burkenbine.
Student directors are Beth
Cookston and Phillip Spicer-
kuhn. Advisor is Nancy Swar-
at. Schultz and Wilhelm are set
designers.
The National Honor Society
will sell refreshments at inter-
mission.
The annual Artifactory, the
arts, crafts and food fair spon
sored by Soroptimist Interna
tional of Heppner will be this
Saturday, Dec. 2, at the Mor
row County Fairgrounds from
10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The Artifactory will showcase
around 35 different vendors
this year selling a variety of
crafts and baked goods. Items
for sale include wood crafts,
The cast of the HHS Drama Club production “ Hillbilly Weddin"
Morrow County Grain Growers
Lexington 989-8221
1 -800-452-7396_________