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FO U R - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, April 29,1998
Heppner wounding itself
Letters to the Editor__________ Questions demand an answer
Editor’s note Letters to the Editor must be signed. The Gazette-Times w ill not
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We don't need camp to prosper
To the Editor:
On March 26, 1998,1 attended
a public meeting with over 100
other people in order to be
informed about the sitting o f a
Youth Accountability Camp in
Heppner. In that meeting we
were told that the county was
willing to spend a total o f
$50,000 to purchase 30 acres of
land and to build a road up to the
site. A Port of Morrow official
told us that they were going to
provide technical assistance in
laying the water and sewer lines.
When asked what the cost o f the
road would be, we were told by
the county road master and the
county judge that the cost o f the
road would be $20,000. After
leaving this meeting most people
believed
that
the
total
commitment of the county would
be $50,000 and some technical
assistance by the Port of Morrow.
However, after receding the
official documents from the state,
submitted by the city o f Heppner,
Morrow County and the Port of
Morrow, I found that Morrow
County was willing to spend
much more money than they had
told us.
First, the cost to construct the
road was estimated by the county
road master to be $72,000. In
addition to this the county
committed up to $50,000 towards
the purchase of the land. The
Port of Morrow committed that
they would dig and install the
water and sewer lines to the site
and that Morrow County would
buy the materials. The cost of
this was estimated to be $50,500,
if they could be connected to the
existing lines at the end of
Fairview Street. However, I was
told by a city official that they
may have to go back as the
elementary school, four times as
far, in order to hook onto the
main water lines. Would this
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mean four times the cost?
Finally, in a promotional video
to the state, the county and city
said they would excavate the
building site and build the
parking lot for the state; They
did not estimate the cost of this,
but it is steep and rocky site very
similar to the baseball field at the
high school, and these costs
could easily be $50,000 or more.
This would raise our original
commitment of $50,000 to
$222,500 or more. These are not
the commitments and costs that
we were told at the public
meetings, but they were all
obtained from the documents and
testimony o f our city and county
officials gave to the state.
I believe these are questions
that we should all be asking the
city and county officials. What
other promises has the county
made to the state? How much
higher should we expect the costs
to the county taxpayers to go?
Why is the city "looking forward
to and excited about the future
expansion of the camp" as stated
in the application to the state.
Are there other projects in the
county where this money would
be better used?
In a town that has worked so
hard and done so much over the
past few years to make itself
more livable, is this youth prison
the only way we can attract new
people to move here?, Every time
I come into town it amazes me
how nice our town has become
by the hard work of its residents.
With over 2,000 new jobs in
Hermiston and Boardman, I
believe we already have
Heppner’s best
chance for
growth in the future, which is a
clean, safe, livable city to raise
children and to retire. We do not
need this youth camp in order to
prosper and especially at this
cost.
(s) John Kilkenny
Heppner
Stable population needed to maintain
services
To the Editor:
Mr. Armato has requested a
guarantee from the state as to
whether the state would not at any
time in the future expand the pro
posed youth facility in Heppner
to more than 50 youths.
Would Mr. Armato also like to
request an iron-clad guarantee
from Kinzua Resources that they
will never in the future have cause
to close the only substantial non
governmental employee base
here?
Having served on the Heppner
Chamber of Commerce board for
10 years, I am acutely aware of
how difficult it is to attract busi
nesses to south Morrow County.
Mr. A rm ato works in
Hermiston while his wife works
via computer from Heppner. Not
too many people are willing to
commute 100 miles daily; also
not too many are currently inter
ested or capable of working via
computer here. By the time Mr.
Armato’s trickle-down theory of
growth for south Morrow plays
out, the people currently here
would most probably be served
by a gas station, a grocery store,
a restaurant, a tavern and fewer
churches.
How many people can one en
vision being drawn to a truly
m edically underserved area?
How many clothing stores, jew
elry stores, newspapers and hos
pitals have closed lately? The last
time I read the statistics, 67 inde
pendent pharmacies in Oregon
had shut their doors permanently,
and possibly more now.
Heppner’s downtown business
district suffers from a lack of fam
ily-wage jobs in the area. Would
the remaining people truly be
happy with almost no services
available locally? This is happen
ing elsewhere. It takes a stable
population to maintain services.
They simply don’t exist in a
vacuum.
Tillamook has not experienced
difficulty with their youth facil
ity. The youths here would prob
ably be our youths from Eastern
Oregon.
How many of us would prefer
to have our newly tree-lined
streets lead to vacant buildings'1
(s) Meg Murray
lone
City ignores dog poop problem
To the Editor:
It is my understanding the city
o f Heppner does have a dog leash
law. If the city is not going to en
force it, why don’t they repeal it?
We moved to the city a couple
o f years ago and we have had
nothing but problems with dogs-
big dogs running through our
yard, urinating on the bushes,
poop on the lawn, on the drive
way, even to backing up and
pooping on the shrubs.
I never had any problems with
dogs in the country. The second
time they showed up, they never
came back. The law won’t let me
take care o f the problem the same
way in town.
Wc Print
B u sin ess Cards
Gazette-Times
676-9228
I went to city hall many times
about the dog problem. City hall
chose to ignore the problem. I told
city hall I was going to pick up
the dog poop, put it in plastic
sacks and deposit it on their door
step and see how they like it. I
did. City hall and city police still
ignored the problem.
I went out one morning to bum
trash, stepped in a big dog poop
pile. That did it. Several days later
there was more dog poop. I gath
ered it up, put it in plastic sacks,
took it to city hall and deposited
two sacks in front o f the city hall
door and one in front o f the city
police door.
It seems as though they (city
officials) don’t like dog poop on
their doorstep, so gave me a ticket
for offensive littering. I guess the
city officials don’t believe it is
offensive littering for the dogs to
poop on city residents' yards.
(s) Barbara Gilbert
Heppner
To the Editor:
Is our community being sold?
How much is our community
worth? How do we put a value on
the things we take for granted?
Once lost, can we ever get them
back?
Is our way of life up for sale?
Once lost, always gone?
Are your property values on
the chopping block?
Are people going to have a dif
ferent valuation of our town with
a correction institute situated in
our residential area?
Are our young people’s jobs
for sale? They say that the in
mates won’t compete for local
jobs. That’s what they say today,
but take note o f the pressure now
being applied in Pendleton to
change the policy of no inmates
working outside the prison. Ev
erything is subject to change, in
cluding good intentions.
M orrow County allocates
$50,000 towards new facility.
Why do governments always give
away our money to promote some
new kid on the scene?
Why not offer Kinzua $50,000
to the advancement of their busi
ness endeavors, or Main Street
merchants to upgrade and pro
mote their businesses? Is there no
value in supporting a community
and its livelihood for years on
end?
City of Heppner commits to
correctional institute. What are
we committing? City services-
utilities, employees, and outside
the city limits too. For a facility
that pays no taxes.
The proposed location is zoned
agricultural-how many o f you
knew re-zoning was so easy?
W hat do we value here in
Heppner? I think its time to take
stock of what we value and what
builds a positive image for our
future growth. A correctional in
stitute is not a positive image for
Heppner.
There are a lot of areas in Or
egon better situated to facilitate a
correctional facility than
H eppner. I ’m glad to hear
Tillamook is one of them. What’s
good for Tillamook says nothing
as to its value in Heppner. That
facility in Tillamook is a small
impact on a much larger commu-
nity-to build it in Heppner would
impact this community in a much
different way.
We need to build on a positive
image for our future growth, with
value of life.
A correctional institute is not
a positive image for Heppner.
Contact your representatives
with your comments.
(s) Dick Sargent
Heppner
Heppner needs wake-up call
To the Editor:
South Morrow County and
Heppner, in particular, need a
wake-up call. The Oregon Youth
Authority has announced that
Heppner "is the place" for siting
a 50-bed youth accountability
facility.
Just why was Heppner chosen
over several other qualified
sites? Some very aggressive
salesmanship on the parts of
county and city officials certainly
was a factor.
Morrow County has pledged
$50,000 of tippage fees as a start.
The acquisition of 30-plus acres
of land for the site, materials to
extend the water and sewer
services and labor equipment and
material for road construction to
the site are to be paid for by this
money.
In estimates made
locally and forwarded to the
OYA siting committee, materials
for the road (1050 feet at a width
of 30 feet with four-inch asphalt)
totals $72,000. A 500 feet, four-
inch water line installed with
valves and manholes totals
$25,000, with the possibility of
additional
pressure
boost
necessary. Sewer lines of eight-
inch PVC, installed, total
$25,500. This adds up to a grand
total of $122,500 for road and
utilities. After using the $50,000
tippage fee, there will be a
$72,500 shortfall and the
acquisition price of the land
remains to be negotiated as well
as any overage which might
occur. Where will this additional
funding be found?
The city has pledged in a letter
from the city manager, "to
include the site in the urban
growth boundary, annexation of
the subject property (following
the UGB adjustment) into the
city (without charge) thereby
.assuring a lower water usage
rate, use of city public works
department personnel as needed
for assistance with trenching,
pipe laying, backfilling and other
labor intensive tasks, use of city
public works equipment and
operators as needed to assist with
p u b lic
in f r a s tr u c tu r e
development."
The Port of Morrow has
committed to install the water
and sewer lines and the port
manager, states, "any fencing,
paved
areas,
utility
improvements within the site, the
water tank for fire protection, as
well as other improvements,
would be something we could
include in a long-term land lease
with
the
Oregon
Youth
Authority."
Is it any wonder that the state
chose Heppner? The gift of land,
considerable monetary outlay for
roads, utilities, plus "free" use of
city, county and port labor and
equipment makes it a very good
deal, indeed.
It might also be noted that in
response to a question on
expansion of the facility, the
answer was, " The city of
Heppner would not only be
willing, but would also be
excited to help accommodate
future expansion of a YAC
facility." They then added,
"Moreover, the proposed site is
large enough to accommodate
expansion."
Heppner needs to take a lesson
for our neighbors in lone and
encourage families to move in
from surrounding areas. Let’s
sell our quality of life,
community
spirit
and
recreational facilities to families
and not to the State Corrections
Department.
Citizens and
taxpayers have until May 15 to
make their wishes known before
the youth accountability camp
becomes a reality.
We would be happy to share
our documentation to anyone
interested in more information,
(s) Terry and Karen Thompson
Heppner
Marshall a man of character
To the Editor:
husband. He has also raised three
Here’s why I plan to vote for ' great girls. He is an honorable
R ollie M arshall for Morrow man whom I respect and submit
County Judge on May 19.
to as an elder of our church.
I vote for candidates who are
If Rollie is voted into office,
not only qualified with appropri there will be no scandals, inves
ate skills, education and experi tigations or impeachments. Our
ence, but that have for years dis tax dollars will be spent wisely
played morals and ethics in the as he will be using his time to ful
home and workplace. As is occur fill the job duties of judge-he will
ring with the U.S. presidency, not be wasting time defending
elected officials have no privacy- himself to the media or the courts.
past and present actions will be Nor will he lose the respect of his
known. It can be difficult to look . colleagues in the midst o f per
at the yard/field signs and other sonal controversies.
campaign literature and know
You can be proud to vote for
what kind of person a candidate Rollie Marshall-a man of charac
is, so I am here to testify to ter.
Rollie’s values.
(s) Chandra Arbogast
Rollie is a Christian man who
Heppner
has for 23 years been a faithful
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H p p p n e r te tte -llB e s
JJ
To the Editor:
In March residents of Heppner
received a letter from the
Heppner Chamber of Commerce.
This letter, in a question/answer
format, contained information
That was intended to "help you
make an informed decision about
how you feel about this
opportunity for the Heppner
Community". Unfortunately the
information provided was both
incorrect and incomplete. Please
consider the following before
you support this community
commitment.
From the chamber letter:
"Question:
Can the state
change the use of the facility in
the fiiture? Response-County
officials have said that they will
negotiate with the state a clause
that the work camp will not be
able to be changed with out
specific county approval for any
project."
From Heppner's application to
the Oregon Youth Authority for
siting
of
the
Youth
Accountability Camp: (this is a
public
record)
"Question:(Expansion): 'Describe
the capacity and willingness of
the local jurisdictions to
accommodate
any
future
expansion of the facility."
Answer:
The city of
Heppner would not only be
willing, but would also be
excited to help future expansion
for a YAC facility.'"
In fact the Oregon Youth
Authority (OYA) requires a site
large enough to accommodate
any future expansion (30 acres
for a two-three acre youth
accountability camp). The OYA
requires total control and
flexibility for future use of this
site. The OYA expects to expand
and change the use of this site.
An important criteria for
selection of Heppner was the
willingness
of
the
local
jurisdiction to accommodate any
expansion. We are buying a
Youth Accountability Camp.
But they are selling us a prison.
Remember, Pendleton started
with 350 prisoners and they now
have 1,500.
(
It seems as though Heppner is
wounding itself to purchase a
bandaid. We need to carefully
consider the future of our town
and the values we hold dear. The
state should not be able to
control our entire destiny as a
community.
Please ask the
council
to withdraw
our
application.
(s) Kim Cutsforth
Heppner
In opposition to youth camp
To the Editor:
I am in opposition to the siting
o f the Youth A ccountability
Camp in Heppner. A lot of prom
ises have been made to the com
munity as how positively this will
affect our lives. The city of Union
withdrew their application for
some of the same reasons we are
in opposition of siting the Youth
Accountability Camp in Heppner:
1) No guarantee of jobs gener
ated for current residents o f
Heppner.
2) No guarantee of Heppner
residency by prospective employ
ees of the camp.
3) Negative association of this
type of facility, which, legitimate
or not, nevertheless exists (the
NIMBY syndrome) and detracts
from the desirability of Heppner.
4) No local tax revenue gener
ated from the facility.
5) Escapes will occur, putting
the city of Heppner’s residents in
harm’s way.
6) Punishes law-abiding kids
by allowing work crews from the
camp to take jobs away from
them.
7) Funding of the facility by
county officials with taxpayers’
money.
8) Probable expansion of the
prison facility with a possible
change of the type of inmates, to
inmates with more violent histo
ries.
9) Fifty-eight percent of re
spondents to the state are op
posed. Opposition is not a minor
ity.
It is not too late to voice your
opposition. Ask the city to with
draw the application: Mayor Bob
Jepsen, 676-9850; Skip Mathews,
676-5490; Loretta Naims, 676-
5334, Tim Van Cleave, 676-5448,
Kay Robinson, 676-9678; Mike
McGuire, 676-9661, Jeri Sly,
676-9151.
(s) Diane Kilkenny
Heppner
Cast vote for Lynn Lundquist
To the Editor:
It is with total dismay with the
political antics displayed in
House District 59 that I write this
letter in support of one of our
s ta te ’s greatest diplom ats.
Speaker o f the House Lynn
Lundquist. Beginning with an
undocumented voice vote, during
AG-PAC’s candidate endorse
ment meeting, in which more than
50 percent of the attendees have
since identified themselves as
having supported Speaker
Lundquist in that vote; to the
unrepublican antics o f Tan
Hermens’ campaign rhetoric that
offers nothing to District 59 but
innuendo and negativism. My
comment on the tactics of Ms.
Hermens is that she has no talent
or skills or history of any nature
that would benefit either the ru
ral natural resource communities
or the conducting of the business
affairs of our state.
Speaker Lundquist has the wis
dom, intellect and background of
education and professional expe
rience to bring consensus on the
challenges that overlap both ru
ral and urban issues. We are not
two factions, like Ireland, that
must maintain a warlike atmo
sphere to maintain our identities
and agendas. We are one Oregon
and we need to act accordingly.
This is the era of consensus build
ing; we have to work with one
another. There is not room to
make economic progress and
keep drawing lines in the sand at
the same time.
Both political parties need
more people like Speaker
Lundquist that have the long-
range interests of Oregon as the
core of their convictions. I am
proud to see more progressive
individuals in the political arena
who can see beyond the pettiness
o f what Speaker Lundquist’s
challenger has demonstrated to
date.
I hope that the negative under
tow of the House District 59 can
didate race backfires on the chal
lenger in such a manner as to re
ally showcase the many fine
qualities o f our Speaker o f the
House Lynn Lundquist.
Support consensus building;
support wisdom and intellect;
support long-term economic sta
bility; support District 59 House
Representative Lynn Lundquist in
his bid for re-election. All o f Or
egon will benefit from this wise
choice.
(s) Susan Ramsay
Oregon Cattlemen’s Associa
tion member and committee chair
Scio
For Rollie Marshall
To the Editor:
I am writing this letter today to
let you know a little about Rollie
Marshall, who is running for
Morrow County Judge. I have
known Rollie for many years and
can attest to his character,
honesty and the caring of the
people of this community.
He has always been involved
with the youth of our county,
helping out with Little League
coaching, high school basketball
coaching, junior and senior youth
group leader, and has been
president of the Heppner Little
League. He really understands
our youth today and no doubt
will have many ideas in helping
the juveniles of our county.
His professional record speaks
for itself with 20 years in
banking, preparing financial
statements and budgets. He has
also served on the city of
Heppner Budget Committee.
Rollie is a public relations man
and the right man for the job.
(s) Barbara Watkins
Heppner