County officials, home rule proponents face off
By April Hilton-Sykes
P r S S ! E
W E T r r t L
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VOL. 115_______NO. 9
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8 Pages Wednesday, February 28, 1996,_______ Morrow County Heppner, Oregon
Lab program a community partnership
Students learn metal working skills
By Merlyn Robinson
C h illy w e a th e r o u tsid e
d o e s n 't keep things from
heating up inside the Heppner
High School Agriculture D e
partment metals lab. W ith
sparks from welders and tor
ches flashing, metals lab stu
dents are on a roll constructing
heavy-duty projects.
" I t 's a com m unity-based
p a rtn e rs h ip ," says Barney
Lindsay, instructor of the Voca
tional Agriculture and Techni
cal Science Department. Lind
say believes students are d e
v e lo p in g em ployable skills
w ithin the com munity. As
proof, former students Danny
Sharp, G ene Lancaster and
Mike Gorman, along with Ray
and Ryan Miller, are all em
ployed locally in agri-business
occupations.
However, Lindsay is quick to
say that he doesn't take full
credit for all the student train
ing. He credits Miller and Sons
and Jay Coil Fabricating for pro
viding additional knowledge,
the use o f tools and supplying
materials. Additional help has
also come from the Lexington
Body Shop.
Inside this school building,
students have constructed stur
dy carts for welders and a large
metal rack to hold steel. Long
pieces o f metal o f various
lengths can now be stored for
handy access instead of being
heaped on the concrete floor.
Presently under construction
are metal panels that will be us
ed in the land lab building ad
jacent to the shop. Steel for
these heavy-duty panels was
partially funded by a grant.
" T h e r e 's
an u n lim ited
amount o f exciting possibili
ties,” claims Lindsay. Already
in use are pickup guards and
bang boards built by students
Dale Wilson, Brian Struckmeier
and Dan Samples. The material
just arrived to make a flatbed
trailer for the school district.
Another class project under
construction are bleachers for
the H ep p n er H igh School
baseball field. Donnie Pointer
has masterminded much of the
cutting for this project. The
H eppner Booster Club pur
chased the materials for one
16-foot and tw o 12-foot bleach
er sections. Employees at the
M orrow County Grain G ro w
ers and Jay Coil Fabricating
have agreed to donate a Satur
day to weld the pieces together.
Just another community part
nership in action, says Lindsay.
Students learn to safely use
welders, torches, band and cut
off saws, drill presses, grinders
and paint sprayers. Thanks to
a grant, the department also
obtained a plasma cutter that is
now in heavy use. From scrap
pieces o f steel, students are
fashioning miniature mus
tangs, cap italizin g on the
school's logo. Students hope to
sell these are objects to provide
funding for additional supplies
and materials.
FBI may investigate power outage
The Federal Bureau of In
vestigation might be called in to
investigate the shooting of in
sulators, and the pow er outage
it caused Sunday morning,
Feb. 26, according Columbia
Basin Electric Co-op manager
Fred Toombs.
Toombs said someone shot
the insulators off a Bonneville
Pow er Administration pow er
pole sometime Saturday, which
caused the outage covering all
of M orrow and parts o f Gilliam
c ou n ties
early
S u n d ay
morning.
The O regon State Police are
investigatng the incident, but
since the vandalism was done
on federal land (in the area of
Juniper Canyon 2 miles west of
Bombing Range road) the FBI
m igh t also get in v o lv e d ,
Toombs said.
The pow er was o ff for five
hours Sunday morning, and
Toombs is asking for help from
the public in trying to catch the
vandals. "W e 'r e asking anyone
w h o might have information
about this to contact either the
state police or m yself," he said.
Toombs also pointed out how
dangerous it is to shoot pow er
line insulators. " I t ’s a very poor
thing to do. If the line happen
ed to break and fall on so
meone, they could get k illed ,"
he said.
The stew over the proposed
home rule charter now before
M orrow County voters has
passed the simmering stage
and has now advanced to a full
rolling boil with many county
officials squaring off with home
rule advocates.
The Hom e Rule Pac com mit
tee recently sent county resi
dents a pamphlet outlining
benefits the charter w ould
bring to the county. M orrow
County Judge Louis Carlson
and M orrow County Counsel
Val Doherty say that some of
assertions made in the pam
phlet are simply untrue.
The pamphlet says that with
home rule, the county would
be able to enact laws and or
dinances. " W e can do this
n o w ," says Doherty. "T h e im
plication is that w e're gaining
something w e don't have now.
That's simply untrue." Rollie
Marshall, chairman o f the
Hom e Rule Committee, says
that while the county can enact
ordinances, it simply does not
have the "t e e th " to enforce
those rules. "F o r example, if
the county makes an ordinance
that people are supposed to
spray weeds, they can't enforce
it, because they don 't have the
statutory pow er to do that,"
says Marshall.
Carlson says that the county
can not only enforce ordi
nances, but does so regularly.
Carlson says that the county
now has a code enforcer. If, for
example the county receives a
complaint about junked cars on
a lot, the code enforcer (a M or
row County Sheriff's deputy)
has the ability to impound the
cars and the county may sell
them. If the county receives
complaints about too many
animals on a piece of property,
the county can turn the case
over to the district attorney for
prosecution, says Carlson. If a
county resident refuses to
spray their weeds, the county
can have the weeds sprayed
and then apply the cost to the
o w n e r 's p ro p e rty tax, he
continued.
The pamphlet says that the
home rule charter makes the
board of commissioners the
governing body for the county,
rather than the current county
court. Doherty says that the
present county judge and two
county commissioners function
just as a board o f commis
sioners would.
The pamphlet says that by
having evening meetings any
citizen, not just the retired,
unemployed or self employed,
would be able to either serve as
a commissioners or attend
meetings of the board o f com
missioners. Doherty says that
any citizen can now be elected
as county judge or a commis
sioner and adds that the job is
too big for anyone expecting to
spend only a night a month at
a county commission meeting.
According to home rule ad
vocates, the home rule charter
allows for nominal compensa
tion to help defray the costs of
being a commissioner. Doher
ty says that the board itself
would determine its own salary
under home rule.
Marshall counters this, say
ing that the charter specifies
that the budget committee, not
the com m issioners, w o u ld
determine the commissioners'
salary and adds that it would
cost approximately the same to
pay the salary of an adminis
trator and nominal salary for
board members as it does un
der the current system.
Both sides agree that with
h om e ru le, the c o u n ty 's
juvenile system would move to
circuit court. However the sides
disagree as to whether the
move would be good. "T h ere's
no way the juvenile court is go
ing to get the kind of treatment
that we presently g e t," says
Doherty. "W e 're already down
to pretty minimal service from
district and circuit court. Clear
ly w e're not going to have the
same level o f juvenile service.
W e haven't seen a circuit court
judge here in at least tw o or
three years. Virtually all the
work is done by district court
judges w ho pro-tem circuit
cou rt."
Doherty says that Carlson
now holds juvenile court hear
ings in Boardman and Irrigon
as well as Heppner. Home rule
proponents say that juvenile
court matters would be better
served by the circuit court,
perhaps especially in the north
end o f the county, and the cir
cuit court will have enough
time to deal with the juvenile
matters.
Hom e rule proponents say
that with home rule, county
governm ent can be streamlin
ed. Present county officials say
that the positions of assessor,
surveyor, county clerk and
treasurer are mandated by state
law and cannot be combined.
H o w ever, hom e rule sup
porters say, for example, per
haps it is not necessary to have
six separate financial depart
ments (the financial positions of
treasurer, assessor, tax collec
tor, finance director, clerk and
county court) and that con
solidation is not only possible,
but would also be more effi
cient and less costly.
Hom e rule proponents say
that the five commissioner
home rule system will provide
better representation through
out the county. Those against
home rule say that there is no
guarantee of better representa
tion. They say that because the
commissioners will be elected
at large, there is no certainty
that all five commissioners
w on 't be elected from south
M orrow County, or, if the
north M orrow population ex
plodes as predicted, that all five
w on 't be elected from north
M orrow County in the future.
Marshall says that with home
rule, the at-large system can be
changed to a district system by
a vote o f the people. "T h ere's
nothing to prevent the board of
commissioners from putting it
(districting) back on the ballot,"
says Marshall Marshall said,
however, that the overw helm
ing majority of those attending
public hearings on the home
rule issue favored at large elec
tion of commissioners rather
than districting.
A change to the home rule
system would change the coun
ty assessor, treasurer, clerk and
surveyor from elected to non-
elected positions. Home rule
advocates say that the depart
ment heads would then be
more answerable to the coun
ty com m ission ers. Those
against home rule say that the
department heads are now
resp on sive to the voters.
"W h at people would lo se,"
says Doherty, "is their elected
representatives. So one can tell
them to shut up and hold the
county lin e."
However, she adds that the
county court maintains control
over the different departments
through control of staffing, o f
fice space and funding.
Doherty says that what home
rule will not bring is restructur
ing of county government. "A ll
of the state laws apply just as
equally to charter counties as to
statutory counties,” she said.
" A ll of the laws that define the
relationship between counties
and the state apply equally to
charter and non-charter coun
ties. You don't change your
basic identity as a cou n tv."
The two sides also differ on
their views on a countv ad
ministrator. Those against
home rule say, in effect, that an
appointed administrator will
pander to the board. Marshall
looks at it differently. " If vou're
running a S14 million busi
ness," he said, " I think you
need a professional."
While home rule will be in ef
fect "im m ed iately" after the
election, says Marshall, current
elected officials would continue
their positions with the coun
ty until their terms expire.
However, the candidate w inn
ing the commissioner's posi
tion now held by Don McElli-
gott, would be elected under
home rule, since McElligott's
term will be up Jan. 1, 1997.
Home rule ballots, which
were mailed to voters last
week, are due into the county
clerk's office by March 12.
St. Pat's team roping March 17
The Oregon Trail Pro Rodeo
(O T PR ) St. Patrick's Day Team
Roping event will be held Sun
day, March 17, at the OTPR
arena in Heppner beginning at
11 a.m.
Entries will be open the mor
ning o f March 17 until 10 a.m.
Classes are as follows: open-
three for $20.50, limited to three
entries; no. 9 and 7-three for
$15.50, limited to three entries;
and no. 5-three for S12.50,
unlimited entries.
Concessions will be available
and spectator admission is free.
For more information, call
Ken Bailey, chairman. 676-5110
or (541)379-2812. Committee
members are Mike Proctor and
Bailev.
W IC clinic scheduled March 18
A W IC (special supplemental
food program for women, in
fants and children) clinic will be
held in Heppner on the third
Tuesday of each month from 10
a.m. to 3 p.m.
W IC participants or those in
terested in determining if they
are eligible may call the M or
row County Health Depart
ment, 676-5421, for an appoint
ment.
The program is open to
wom en w h o are pregnant or
breastfeeding, wom en who
have delivered babies in the last
six months and infants and
children from birth to five years
o f age.
Income must be within the
W IC income guidelines. Forex-
ample, a family o f four must
make less than $28,028 a year
or $2,336 a month and be
residents of M orrow or Uma
tilla counties Participants must
also have a medical or nutri
tional risk, which w ill be
evaluated even - six months.
W IC provides: sceening for
anemia, poor growth patterns,
inadequate diet and other
heath problems and needs;
n utrition cou n selin g and
education to relate good nutri
tion to their health and dietary
habits; nutritious foods to im
prove nutrition-related medical
problems; and referral to other
health or social services when
needs are identified.
Those attending the clinic-
should bring income data and
a list of hxids eaten in the last
24 hours.
For more information, call
676-5421 or (541) 278-0770.
GOOD LUCK
Cardinals & Lady Cards
at State Tournament
Morrow County Grain Growers
Lexington 989-8221
1-800-452-7396