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Problems arise over waterpark management
BESSIE W E T : H
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Young swimmers and their mothers enjoy the sun at the Willow Creek Waterpark Monday afternoon
M *
imes
VOL. 117
NO. 26
8 Pages
Wednesday, July 1,1998
lone Fourth of July
festival this weekend
The lone Fourth of July Blues
Festival will get underway this
year with the fifth annual Best
Ball Golf Tournament, slated to
begin on Friday, July 3, at 10 a m.
That evening, beginning at 6 p.m..
the Red, White and Blue Band
will play, followed by the Oregon
East Symphony's Bonneville
Brass Quintet.
The next day, July 4, festivities
will begin with the sixth annual
Dawn's Early Light Fun Run,
Walk and Kids' Dash, planned for
8:30 a.m. Participants will meet at
the lone School grounds flagpole.
The run has something for
everyone with a 3K run. 5K walk
and sash for the kids.
All registrations for the race will
be done on race day this year,
beginning on 8 a.m. Medals will
be awarded to the top three
finishers in both the men's and
women's fun runs. All registered
:ntrants are eligible for the after-
•ace random drawing, featuring a
selection of prizes. Proceeds from
:his even benefit the Creative Care
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Mid-Columbia Bus
ranks among top 50
Preschool of lone.
Homemade pies, German
sausages, ribs, chicken, hot dogs
and a beer garden will be available
all day, along with children's
activities and go-carts.
The horseshoe tournament will
begin at 10 a.m. with the parade,
featuring the Northwest's Best
Classic Antique Cars, starting at
11 a.m.
The Blue bands begin
performing in the outdoor
amphitheatre at 2 p.m. with the
Doug Rowell Band. Also at 2
p.m.. fhe lone swimming pool will
open for a free swim until 4 p.m.
Anne-Louise Sterry will provide
"storytelling for the young and
old" at 3 p.m.
Blues artists Linda Hombuckle
will perform at 3:30 p.m. at Lloyd
Jones at 7 p.m. At 9:30 p.m. Bugs
Henderson and the Shuffle Kings
will begin their performance.
At dusk a special 50th
anniversary fireworks display will
get underway.
Mid-Columbia Bus Company
of Condon has been featured in
the June/July issue of “School Bus
Fleet,” a national management and
maintenance magazine for school
transportation fleets, as one of the
50 largest school bus contractors
in the nation.
Mid-Columbia Bus Company’s
fleet grew from 378 buses last
year to 421 this year. The com
pany has contracts with 26 school
districts, including Morrow
County, and transports 12,839 stu
dents per day.
Mid-Columbia Bus Company
owned and operated by Bill Flatt
of Condon with his sons and
daughters-m-law, is listed as the
21 st largest bus company in North
America. Laidlaw Transit, Inc. of
Burlington, Ontario is number one,
with a fleet of 38,300 buses which
carry 2,100,000 students daily.
Storer School and Contract Ser
vice of Modesto, CA., is the small
est of the top 50 group with a fleet
of 102 buses which transports
1,495 students per day.
Done 4 th ofi ÿ.ulu
S e c o n d A nnual
Friday, July 3rd and Saturday, July 4th
M usic, T ood & *Tun at
Done's A/eurly C om pleted Outdoor -Amphitheater!
12 noon
16 p.m.
1
F R ID A Y , J U L Y 3 r d
5th annual lone 4th of July Best Ball Golf Tournament begins
*Hole-in-one prize = Alaskan cruise for two!
ICABO Polish sausages, beer garden, frog jumping & much more j
“RedWhiteBlue” Band followed by Oregon East Symphony’s
“Bonneville Brass” Quintet (bring your lawn chairs, blankets
picnic dinners and enjoy!)
Concessions sold all day
SA TU R D A Y , JU L Y 4 th
^8:30 a.m. Dawn’s Early Light Walk/Run and Kids' Dash
i 10 a.m.
Horseshoe Tournament begins
! 11 a.m.
Parade 'Including the NW Best Classic Antique Cars
(Call 422-7243 for more information)
|2 p.m
BLUES BANDS BEGIN PLAYING IN THE PARK with
The Doug Rowell Band
¡3’p.m.
3:30 p.m.
7 p.m.
9:30 p.m.
DUSK
• *
From the Condon Times-Journal
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10 a.m.
X * t
Free swimming at the pool until 4 p.m.
“Simply Songs & Stories" by Anne-Louise Sterry
(Storytelling for the young and old)
Linda Hornbuckle
Lloyd Jones
Bugs Henderson and The Shuffle Kings
50th Anniversary FIREWORKS DISPLAY
Children’s activities, go-carts and great food all day (homemade pies,
German sausages, ribs, chicken, hot dogs, beer garden and more!)
For More Information, Call 422-7243 or 422-7410
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Hungry swimmers swarm around the newly-opened snack shack at the Willow Creek Waterpark
The Willow Creek Park District
Board and the Willow Creek
Waterpark manager Sarah Carlson
both want what's best for the new
Heppner waterpark. But, Carlson
and the board disagree as to how
that will be accomplished.
Carlson tearfully told her staff
of assistant managers and
lifeguards at a meeting Monday
that she is at odds with the board's
decision to eliminate a break for
the lifeguarding staff from 3-3:30
p.m. and said that she would not
implement the decision until she
spoke with the board.
Carlson maintains that the break
is necessary from a safety
standpoint. She said that the staff
needs a break in which to refresh
themselves, relax or eat, so that
they can be alert and able to
concentrate fully on their job.
She also said that a straight four-
hour swim is too long for young
swimmers. "They get tired and
often don’t know that they are
tired,” she added. Carlson said that
the break would help prevent a
tragedy at the pool, similar to the
one which occurred around 10
years ago at the former pool, in
which a boy died. "Ninety-five
percent safe is not safe," she told
her young crew. "An accident is
not going to happen on my
watch."
According to board member
Patty Wehrli, Willow Creek
Waterpark is the only pool in the
area that clears swimmers out of
the pool mid-session. She said that
the lone, Pendleton, Hermiston
and Milton-Freewater pools do not
have a break..
Carlson said that the staff was
not paid during that half hour and
elimination of the break would
add $1,500-$ 1.700 to the payroll
in wages, overtime and payroll
taxes, an increase that would be
detrimental to an already ailing
waterpark budget. Wehrli said
that she understood that the staff
was, indeed, paid during the break
time.
Carlson told her staff that she
believed that the pool could
continue operation throughout the
season, despite a serious budget
crunch. "It will be tight, but I
think we can make it." she said.
Wehrli was not so optimistic,
expressing serious concerns about
the financial viability of the
waterpark throughout this summer
season.
Carlson said that a large part of
the cost of operation is for
electricity, with around $5.000 per
month going out to heat the
outdoor pool. She said that a
thermal pool cover could reduce
those costs by half, but a cover is
estimated at around $12-15
thousand and there is no money to
buy one.
Carlson said she has cut hours
for the staff, but the shape of the
pool and the waters!ide make it
difficult to cut additional staff
hours and still maintain safety. It
is difficult for a lifeguard in one
area of the pool to watch over
swimmers in other areas, she said.
Carlson encourages people to
support the pool by coming to
swim,
buying
passes
and
especially by enrolling for swim
lessons.
"I
want
to
let
grandparents know they can come
down," she said. "They don't have
to get in the pool, you can sit and
watch."
The snack shack, which opened
this year at the pool and is run by
volunteer labor may add to the
pool's income. Carlson said that
she and assistant manager Karen
Morgan have tried to come up
with other ideas to help the
financial situation. One such
suggestion was to place picnic
tables outside the pool fence, so
the snack shack could also be
accessed from the outside, thereby
bringing ip more money. But there
are no funds to purchase tables.
Carlson said that cutbacks have
also been discussed in the area of
groundskeeping. She said that the
groundskeeper
has
been
eliminated and that the assistant
manager has been assigned to
lawn maintenance. However,
Carlson said she would not
implement this decision either
because of safety concerns about
the slope of the lawn and exposed
sprinkler heads.
Carlson w as visibly upset over
other complaints concerning the
children of staff members
swimming at the pool. She said
that neither her children nor
Morgan's swim at the pool when
they are working unless the
children are accompanied by a
babysitter or another parent. "I,
like everyone else, bought a
season pass for my family," she
said.
"I'm not out here for my health,"
said Carlson. I'm not out here for
personal gain. I"m not out here for
my bank account. You need to
understand I don't need to work
here. I"m committed to this
facility and to its safety."
Board Chairman Skip Matthews
told the Gazette-Times Tuesday
that
the board implemented
changes that they believed were
straightforward and requested by
the community, but, he added,
"We'll have to sit dowTi and work
things out."
Matthews said that the board
will discuss the issues at its next
meeting on Wednesday, July 8, at
7 p.m. at lone City Hall. The
meeting is open to the public.
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Fireworks
stand open
It's almost time for the Fourth
of July and the Heppner Lions
Club is again helping supply the
fireworks. Their annual fireworks
stand is now open downtown
between the post office and The
Shoe Box.
Hours are from 1-7 p.m. daily
through July 4.
Dav Care seeks
yard sale items
Heppner Daycare and Preschool
are seeking donations for their
annual yard sale to be held
Saturday, July 11.
Proceeds from the sale will go
toward the purchase of supplies
and new activity equipment.
For more information, contact
Merry Brannon at 676-5429.
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MCGG WILL BE CLOSED FRIDAY, JULY 3rd & SATURDAY, JULY 4th
HARVEST HOURS
Starts Monday, July 6th
7 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday thru Friday
7 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday
M
orrow C o u n t y G r a in G rowers
Lexington 989-8221 • 1 -800-452-7396 for farm tqmpmtnt, wit our wtb sitt at www meg ntt
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