Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 21, 1996)
TWO - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppnet, Oregon Wednesday, February 21, 1996 Letters to the Editor The Official Newspaper of the City of Heppner and the County of Morrow Opportunistic grab for power Heppner GAZETTE-TIMES U S P S. 2 4 0 -4 2 0 . Morrow County’s Home-Owned Weekly Newspaper Published weekly and entered as second-class matter at the Post Office at Hepp ner. Oregon under the Act of March 3, 1879. Second class postage paid at Hepp ner. Oregon Office at 147 West Willow Street. Telephone (503) 676-9228. Postmaster send address changes to the Heppner Gazette-Times, P.O. Bo* 337, Heppner. Oregon 97836. Subscriptions: $ 1 8 in Morrow, Wheeler, Gilliam and Grant Counties; $25 elsewhere April Hilton-Sykes............................................................................................. News Editor Stephanie Jen sen ......................................................Typesetting, Layout, Distribution Monique Devin ............................................................. Advertising layout & Graphics Penni K eersem ak er...........................................................u ....................................Printer David Sykes, Publisher Lexington N ew s ■ __________ _______________ By Delpha Jones Faye Ruhl is a patient at St. Charles Medical Center in Bend, where she underwent major surgery. She was flown out last week. Letters are out concerning the Morrow County Historical Society trip. Call Ruth McCabe or Delpha Jones to sign up. -:- The Rebekah regular pi nochle party will be held Satur day, March 2, starting with a chili supper for the public from 6-7:30 p.m. PMNH residents enjoy Valentine's Day Peggy J . (left) and Ida Lynn Residents of Pioneer Memo rial Nursing Home (PMNH) were treated to a party on Valentine's Day last week. PMNH staff members chose a resident as their Valentine for the day. ( , Rooms and wheelchairs were decorated and the residents were treated with chocolate, stuffed animals, balloons, and flowers, as well as special lunches. Some residents dined out, some lunches were brought in and some were treated with special favorite foods prepared by staff. "All residents and staff en joyed this special day," said Tonya Jones, PMNH activities director. Umatilla Basin Watershed meeting set The Umatilla Basin Water shed Council will hold its re gular monthly meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 27 at 7 p.m. The meeting will be held at the Pendleton Convention Center next to the Round-Up Grounds in Pendleton. The program will be on the new Water Quality Lions raffle rifle Standards and TMDLs present ed by Department of Environ mental Quality personnel. The W atershed Council meetings are open to the public and all interested parties are in vited to attend. For more infor mation, contact Luise Lang- heinrich, 278-3836. To the Editor: From the beginning of the Morrow County Home Rule Committee, the majority of its members have sustained a con stant assault on the present form of Morrow County gov ernment. They have never de fined the shortcomings of our present system nor, really, the virtues of the proposed new charter. Neither have they pur sued any intelligent discussion of what good government is and does, but most important ly we have collectively failed to stimulate the open discussion that a measure of this impor tance deserves. To me, the whole tone of the majority's position has been an opportunistic grab for power. Further, the committee's pro gram seems to have been or chestrated by "a mover and shaker" from Boardman, who is not even a member, and en ergized by the three members who refer to themselves as the "Boardman Contingent." The focus seems to have been to destroy a government that is uniquely suited for a rural county and to reap the benefits of the resultant disarray. After about a year and a half of undisciplined leadership, we went to public hearings with a proposed charter more worthy of Rodney Dangerfield than us. It divided the county into five districts and judging from the arguments that surrounded that issue, one would have gone to Boardman, another to Boardman's rural area, and one each to Irrigon, Heppner and the rural heartland of the county. Unfortunately, the voters of Morrow County stayed at home in droves and only a very few came to our public hear ings. The majority of those who did attend were county officials or county employees or rela tives of committee members. In my opinion, we would have best served the county by declaring them and there that we had discovered a profound lack of interest in changing our county government. The most often voiced opinion 1 have heard is, "If it isn't broke, don't fix it." Nevertheless, the majority of the committee has decided that the county should vote on whether the people want a new charter or not, and that will take place on March 12. The charter that is now being of fered is a greatly diluted ver sion of the monstrosity that seven of our nine members fought so valiantly to achieve, but I really believe that it is pro bably just a "damage control" compromise version of what is really wanted. If it passes, I an ticipate that county govern ment will be under continued frivolous assault by future op portunistic would-be politi cians. Our present county court system of government is about as close as we can get in modem times to Thomas Jeffer- son's ideal of democratic government. Anyone can run for office and we vote almost directly on every issue as im plied in the classic model. I like the concept of a county juvenile judge and the hands-on gov-, ernment and management we now have. I have serious mis givings about the proposed system that would be more ex pensive and modeled after the school board-superintendent theme. Voting no in this election would not destroy Home Rule forever. It will always remain possible, but I hope it will hap pen, if ever, after a thorough going give-and-take discussion befitting its importance. Sincerely, (s) William H. Dinkins member, MCHR charter committee Heppner Lion Club member Jim Wishart shows rifle to be raffled by the club. Wishart holds a Ruger M77R Mark II Rifle 25.06 with a 3-12 x 40 mm scope. Only 400 tickets will be sold. Cost is $5 per ticket or five tickets for $20. To purchase a ticket contact Wishart, Steve Rhea, Bob Kahl, Mike Mills or David Sykes. FEBRUARY BfflSHQE BRONZING SU I! B ro n ze d b a b y s h o e s a r e n o w m o re p o p u l a r th an e v e r t Your baby’s sh oes can be richly preserved in solid metal with every crease, scuff and wrinkle retained. Save 25% Ib is Jack Strege, Linda LaRue, Lisa Rietmann, Dan Van Schoiack and Hal Dinkins, spend two years researching the pros and cons of Home Rule and found it was something each end of the county could agree on. As chairman of the commit tee, I would urge you to sup port the Home Rule committee by voting yes for Home Rule in Morrow County. (s) Rollie Marshall Heppner m onlb onlyf Sale prices start at Just 1 19.46 (u m o u n te d bright bronze shoe). Bring your baby's shoes in and select from a variety of styles and finished; including bright bronze, antique bronze, "pewter”, silver, gold and neWt'porcelainizfng Vote yes for home rule To the Editor: This week ballots will be go ing out and you will have an opportunity to vote on Home Rule for Morrow County. I have some refreshing news in regards to drawing each end of our county closer together. The Home Rule Committee by an overwhelming number (the vote was 8-1) is recommending Home Rule for Morrow Coun ty. This committee, made up of myself, John Prag, Bill Brown, SALE! DAVID H A R P E R APRIL 25, 1992 ENGRAVING Ask for personalized ID plate with baby's name and birthdate— only 35C per letter. (Simulated birthstone and zodiac sign also available.) S ale t e n d s F e b r u a r y 2 9 ...b rin g s h o e s in to d a y ! <1 Member Jewelers of America, Inc. Peterson's T Heppner *g /. Jewelers 676-9200 Reduce taxes, bureacracy Golf classes to begin March 7 Beginners Golf Instruction, sponsored by Blue Mountain Community College, is slated to begin Thursday, March 7, for a six-week run at Willow Creek Country Club (WCCC). The class is scheduled for Thursday evenings from 5-6:30 p.m. The class is intended for peo ple with little or no prior golf ing experience. It will cover the basics of the rules, play and eti quette of the game. The skills of putting, chipping, pitching, G e n u i n e C approaching, fairway shots and teeing-off will be covered. School students in grades five and above may enroll in the class with the instructor's per mission on a space available basis and if an adult enrolls in the class with them. Cost of the class is $20 plus $20 for a temporary member ship to WCCC for all non members. John Edmundson will be the class instructor. To register for the class, con tact Anne Morter, 422-7040. h e v r o l e t Remember when your word was your Bond. - You sealed a deal with a handshake - That's still the way we do business today. C O M F O R T A B L E • T R U S T F U L L • H O N E S T • C A R IN G The Largest Volume Chevy Truck Dealer in Eastern Oregon SHERRELL CHEVROLET Hermiston, Oregon 1-800-567-6487 New C ar S a le s 567-6488 Used C a r Center 567-3919 To the Editor: Morrow County has a chance to change our form of county government. A yes vote for Home Rule will move our county from rule by Oregon statute to local control. Just as importantly, our county com mission (with salaries and benefits) will move from a troika running day-to-day operations and vested in the county bureaucracy, to a five- person commission (nominally compensated) with the appro priate distance to govern the county's business. The day-to- day management wil be turn ed over to professional man agement serving at the will of the commission. Home Rule will open the door to reduced taxes and re ducing the bureaucracy. The elected positions of treasurer, clerk, assessor and surveyor will no longer be elected, or even have to exist if efficient management finds ways to consolidate their functions. Historically, these elected posi tions have been filled by the same person for a full career. They generally are elected without opposition and answer to the county commission on ly on budget matters. This leads to limited accountability and a constant desire to have bigger departments by adding employees to the county pay roll. No form of government is perfect, but keeping the tax payers in charge and opening the commission to citizens who want to be involved, without looking at it as a career move, has to be an improvement. Please join me in voting yes for Home Rule. (s) Jerry Rietmann lone D EA D LIN E E X T EN S IO N i t ' ALL EMPLOYERS INSURED BY THE STATE ACCIDENT INSURANCE FUND CORPORATION (“SAIF”) AT ANY TIME BETWEEN JULY 1, 1981 THROUGH SEPTEMBER 2, 1982 The class action settlement is now pending in the Circuit Court of the State of Oregon, Marion County. You may be a member of this class and thus eligible for monetary relief as part of the pending settlement, but only if you were insured by SAIF at any time between July 1, 1981 and September 2, 1982 St. P a t's A u c t i o n C o m m i t t e e w ill b e s o l i c i t i n g i t e m s for the St. P a t s A u c t i o n o n F e b . 2 7 f r o m 3*5 p . m . W c w ill b e d riv in g through tow n to p ic k up th e s e item s. F o r m ore inform ation o r to request an in for Please support our main fund raiser for the St. Patrick’s Celebration! 1-800-831-0170 For earlier pick-up, please call Steve Rhea, 676-9113; Dan Brosnan, 676-5389; Mike Mills, 676-9141; or John Murray 676-9158 m ation p acket please call: DO NOT CONTACT THE COURT OR THE C LER K ’S OFFICE FOR INFORMATION