Volunteering a way of life for lone teens
VOL. 116
NO. 39
8 Pages
Wednesday, September 24,1997
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Lawsuit filed to wreck unified rec. district
Boardman resident Ed Glenn
is going to court to stop the
Morrow County Recreation
District from collecting taxes to
fund
sports
and
other
extracurricular activities in the
Morrow County School District.
Glenn said the rec. district was
set up two years ago only as a
stop gap measure and that it was
never intended as a permanent
solution to funding sports in the
school district.
In the face of budget cuts the
school district had threatened to
cut
sports
and
other
extracurricular activities in all
the schools in the district, and
the rec. district was passed by
voters to fund these activities.
"I believe the rec. district was
created by tax payers for
temporary adjustment, not as a
permanent thing," Glenn said this
week.
If Glenn's petition in Oregon
Tax Court is successful the rec.
district will lose most of its
taxing power, dropping the
amount it can collect and give to
the school district, from about
$450,000 per year, to around
$30,000, Glenn says.
Glenn said he filed the legal
action challenging the district
now because, after one more year
the, rec. district
can tax
$450,000 per year with a three
percent automatic increase each
year.
Glenn said he was pursing legal
action against the rec. district
mainly to, "reduce the tax burden
on Morrow County tax payers."
Glenn also said he thought the
school district could, if it chose
to, "tighten its budgeting
process", and find the money to
fund sports without the rec.
district. He also said the district's
per pupil costs are too high
compared to statewide averages.
When asked what would
happen to sports in the schools if
the rec. district money was no
longer available Glenn said the
school district could come up
with the money if it wanted to.
He said the school district
routinely overestimates expenses,
and underestimates revenues,
leaving it with a surplus of
between $250,000 and $400,000
per year.
Glenn, a former lawyer, said he
would be handling all the legal
work on the petition himself.
"I'm sure the recreation district
will go out and hire itself a high
powered attorney, but I don't
have the money to do that. I will
be doing this myself."
Recreation district board chair
Cyde Estes said she wouldn’t
comment on the lawsuit, saying
the board had not received
official notice of the legal action.
Glenn's basis for the suit is that
the recreation district is a school
tax and therefore should be
included in the $5 per $1,000 of
property valuation for schools,
required under Oregon law. The
recreation district spends money
on other activities outside the
school, therefore claiming it is
not a school tax and as such is
subject to the higher $10 per
$1,000 valuation which would
preserve its taxing ability.
Glenn says that the rec. district
spends only a small token
amount on non-school activities
(mainly Morrow County Arts
Council activities), and the
school district spends the money
how it wants, without direction
from the rec. district, which,
he says, proves that the money
raised by the rec. district is really
a school tax.
If Glenn's suit is successful it
would force the rec. district levy
into the $5 limit and essentially
eliminate its ability to levy much
over $30,000 per year.
Glenn said he chose now to file
suit because determinations on
all taxing classifications must be
completed before tax statements
go out this year.
Tax statements normally go out
near the end of October, but
Glenn said because of
the
passage of measure 50 and the
confusion that has caused, the
statements will not be going out
on time.
"The rec. district moves to the
top of the calendar," Glenn said
oti when the court would resolve
the issue. He said it is possible
the trial could be held in
Heppner.
Rec. District to discuss suit
The Morrow County Unified
Recreation District will discuss
potential litigation concerning
the district's taxing authority and
Ballot Measure 50 at their
meeting on Thursday, Sept. 25, at
Columbia Junior High School in
Irrigon.
Other business includes: the ski
program; the Morrow County
Arts Council year end report;
contracts; English as a second
language; and the chairman's
report.
The board will also meet
in executive session.
Topics pending include "pay to
play" and, in December, the
Morrow County Ski Program
agreement.
The next meeting will be held
October 30 at the Morrow
County Courthouse in Heppner.
MCGG's Larry Mills
announces retirement
Morrow County Growers
general manager Larry Mills has
announced
his
upcoming
retirement, effective in May of
next year.
The cooperative is in the
process of advertising for a new
manager through a recruiting
firm.
Advertisements
have
appeared in national trade
publications and newspapers
such as the Wall Street Journal.
Mills, who has been with the
company for 29 years, says that
MCGG plans to name his
successor after the first of the
year.
MCGG, which handles gram
and provides marketing services
for around 430 cooperative
members and other area farmers,
has a sales volume of $50 million
yearly and employs 60 full-time
and part-time workers. MCGG is
overseen by a 12-member board
of directors.
MCGG has outlets in
Lexington, lone and Arlington,
offering
farm
equipment,
fertilizer
and
chemical
applications, gasoline and diesel,
clothing and farm supplies and
also operates grain elevators and
shipping centers. MCGG recently
opened a gas station and
convenience store in Lexington.
Mills, 61, says that he will
remain in the area.
Wilkinsons to be honored at dinner
Dick and Virginia Wilkinson,
Morrow County Wheat League
1997 Conservation winners, will
be honored Wednesday, Sept. 24,
at
the
Morrow
County
Fairgrounds in Heppner.
A barbecue dinner will be
served at 5 p.m., followed by a
video tour of the Wilkinson
ranch. Meat and beverages will
be provided. Those with last
names starting with A to M are
asked to bring a salad; N to Z, a
dessert.
"Just as the twig is bent, the
tree's inclined." This quote by
Alexander Pope seems very true
for two young people from lone
who seem "bent" to help others.
Taught to volunteer from the
time they were young children, in
a community where volunteering
is away o f life, Steve and Liz
Allen, now teenagers, have gone
from
helping
out
their
neighborhood, community and
state—to volunteering on a global
scale.
Members of the lone United
Church of Christ (IUCC) and the
lone Youth Group, Steve, 18, and
Liz, 14, have raked leaves and
shoveled snow for the elderly,
aided the homeless and worked
in soup kitchens on Portland's
Burnside Street. Liz even started
a project several years ago
collecting coats for the homeless.
The brother and sister completed
countless other school, church
and community projects over the
years. But this summer, the two
upped the ante. They spent some
o f their summer vacation in
Ecuador, building a church for
some of the poorest of the poor
there.
The two first heard about the
project in Ecuador from their
pastor at IUCC, the Rev. Lea
Mathieu Peterson. * "We were
excited from the beginning," said
Liz. "It never really sunk in
though, until the day we left,"
added Steve.
After a lengthy series of shots,
the two packed their bags,
including a set of tools from
Morrow County Grain Growers
and a bag of clothing, and set off
for Ecuador on August 3. They
spent around 10 hours in the air,
flying from Portland to Chicago
and then to Miami before
arriving in Quito, Ecuador, a city
of around two million people and
the only industrialized area they
saw in Ecuador.
They spent about four days in
Quito, which has an elevation of
around nine thousand feet.
The Allens and their group,
consisting mostly of Oregonians,
with the exception of one teen
from Idaho and one from New
York, then traveled by bus to the
town of Pasco Calle. Steve said
that the bus was quite nice, not at
all the stereotyped movie image
of a crowded bus, complete with
livestock. Their reception in
Pasco Calle was extremely
warm, they said. Fifteen to 20
people were waiting to greet
them. "They didn't shake our
hands," said Steve. "They started
out hugging us. We were totally
spoiled there."
In Pasco Calle the group built a
church. Steve worked mainly
with concrete and Liz painted. "It
took a lot of coats of paint," said
Liz. "They watered the paint so
much, when we turned our backs,
they would be dumping more
water in." Everyone in the town
helped out—kids, 60-year old
men-everyone. The people in
Pasco Calle improvised with
branches hammered into boards
for scaffolding and branches tied
with string for ladders.
Steve and Liz were shocked by
the poverty there, but added that
the people seemed really happy.
"The kids waited around for our
leftovers," said Liz. " While we
were there, the kids ate better,
the animals ate better." When the
teens went to the store, they
brought back candy, stickers and
even a bottle of bubbles. The
Ecuadorian
children
were
fascinated with Liz' compact CD
player, she said.
The Allens were impressed by
the closeness of the Pasco Calle
people. "You couldn't tell who
were brothers and sisters and
whose kids were whose," they
said. And they were also amazed
by the peoples' faith. "Going
down there,"
said
Steve.
"Religion was to me something I
didn't really need. But seeing
people there-their faith was so
strong and they were so happy.
They asked us all the time when
we found Jesus and when Jesus
came into our lives."
The living conditions in Pasco
Calle were "the worst" said the
Allens. "It makes you realize
how many details you have here
Steve and Liz Allen
Ecuadorian rain forest
in
the
Steve and Liz Allen
(in the U.S.) that you don't need,"
added Liz. "They didn't have
anything, but they keep going
through faith. Every night they
would get together and sing." Liz
said she sang Beatles songs with
some of the people and they
enjoyed having Steve play his
harmonica.
Liz visited an orphanage where
the workers earned $50 in
American money for two months'
work. The children couldn't
afford medical care, so the group
paid for a child, ill for several
months, to go to a doctor. The
doctor's visit cost only $3 but it
was beyond the means of the
people there.
People were so poor, it wasn't
unusual to see children without
clothes and animals going to the
bathroom on the floor in the
houses, they said. During their
visit to Pasco Calle, the teenagers
"gave away a lot of money",
bought paint and supplies and
left their tools and a lot of
clothes. "No matter how much
we did, it just wasn't enough,"
said Steve. "We took more out of
that trip than we gave." "It made
you grow up a lot," replied Liz.
When they left Pasco Calle
practically the whole town turned
out to tell them how much they
appreciated the Americans' visit.
"They told us that for three years
they had been waiting for another
group of God to come," said Liz.
"When they spoke, it was so
powerful."
After a week in Pasco Calle, the
group traveled to another town,
Otovalo, to build a church there.
Their reception in Otovalo was
as cool as the reception was
warm in Pasco Calle. Only two
people showed up to greet them
and in church, the people from
Otovalo sat on one side and the
American group on the other.
"The church was nice," said
Steve, "but it seemed that we did
things that weren’t really needed.
It seemed that they just wanted
us to give them money."
After a week in Otovalo, the
Allens and their group were
ready for some R and R
Tliey took a seven-hour bus
ride and a 1-1/2 hour canoe ride
to spend a week "on vacation" in
the Ecuadorian jungle.
On the way, they encountered
random stops "by guys with
guns" and were told by their
interpreter to keep quiet—advice
they took to heart. In the jungle
they visited a reserve for
endangered animals and animals
confiscated from smugglers.
They saw poisonous snakes, boa
constrictors, parrots, monkeys
and incredible plants and flowers
and even met a Peace Corps
worker from Corvallis there.
The monkeys jumped down
and sat on the visitors' heads and
shoulders. "You had to watch
your backpacks," said Steve,
"because they'd unzip them and
steal stuff out." A monkey even
stole a bottle of pop from Liz—
and drank it. They had rainwater
showers, but the first night Liz
encountered a tarantula in the
shower. So from then on, they
bathed mostly in the river,
despite warnings about snakes.
"I prayed every day that they
would be safe," said Liz and
Steve's mother, Jannie. "But Dick
(their father, who is principal at
lone Schools) and I never really
worried about them. When
they're doing something they
should be doing, you feel as
someone's watching over them."
She said that she had learned a
lot about the country through a
friend and fellow teacher from
Ecuador, Vicky Broden, who
taught at Heppner Middle
School, Junior High and High
Continued next page
CENEX OIL SALE
on selected 55 drums, 2% gallon, and quarts
Prices posted in store... Sale good through Sept. 30th
MORROW COUNTY GRAIN GROWERS
Lexington 989-8221 1-800-452-7396______________