Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (May 24, 2000)
Only 45% vote in school levy Election turnout slim H EPPN ER unes VOL. 119 NO. 21 12 Pages Wednesday, May 24,2000 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Final FFA banquet held Only 45 percent of registered voters in Morrow County voted in the Morrow County School District's local option serial levy ballot May 16. The levy went down by a two to one margin, 4,718 to 2,117 and was defeated in every precinct except Hardman which tied at 6-6. However, even if the levy had passed, it did not receive the double majority required to take effect. The levy would have provided funding for 10 teaching positions which were cut from ihe school district budget which faced nearly a $1 million funding shortfall All Heppner, lone, Lexington and Hardman precincts reported over 50 percent turnouts. Boardman and Irrigon, which stood to gain the most if the levy passed, reported turnouts in the 30 percent range. If the levy passed, seven teaching positions would have been funded for Boardman and Irrigon schools, two for Heppner Elementary and one for lone Schools. Morrow County School Superintendent Bruce Anderson says that the district will not send the serial option levy back to the voters in the fall. He said the board has not yet determined whether to place a bond measure for construction of a new school in Irrigon on the ballot. The board is awaiting results of a public opinion poll on the issue. Anderson said that funds for staffing a new school would come through anticipated growth in the north end of the county. The more students attending a district, the more state funding it would receive. Anderson said that equiping a new school may be a concern because a contraction bond levy cannot not be used to pay for equipment. Following is a precinct-by- precinct breakdown of the local option vote (not all who voted in the May 16 election cast a vote in the school district serial option levy; some voted both yes and no): North Boardman: 36 yes to 60 no; 114 total voted out of 331 registered for a 34 percent voter turnout; 18 who voted in the election did not cast a vote in the local option serial levy. South Boardman: 79 yes to 153 no; 272 out of 798 registered voters for a 34 percent turnout; 40 who voted in the election did not cast a vote in the serial levy. Hardman: 6 yes to 6 no; 16 out of 30 registered voters for a 53 percent turnout; 4 who voted in the election did not cast a vote in the serial levy. lone: 95 yes to 133 no; 256 out of 438 registered voters for a 58 percent turnout; 27 who voted in the election did not cast a vote in the serial levy; one voted both yes and no; . North Irrigon: 80 yes to 142 no; 274 out of 714 registered voters for a 38 percent turnout; 52 who voted in the election did not cast a vote in the serial levy. South Irrigon: 92 yes to 141 no; 273 out of 827 registered voters for a 33 percent turnout; 40 who voted in the election did not cast a vote in the serial levy. Lexington: 30 yes to 130 no; 187 out of 356 registered voters for a 53 percent turnout; 26 who voted in the election did not cast a vote in the serial levy; one voted both yes and no. Northeast Heppner: 38 yes to 118 no; 188 out of 322 registered voters for a 58 percent turnout; 30 who voted in the election did not cast a vote in the serial levy; two voted both yes and no. Northwest Heppner: 45 yes to 140 no; 214 out of 364 registered voters for a 59 percent turnout; 29 who voted in the election did not cast a vote in the serial levy. Southeast Heppner: 27 yes to 102 no; 158 out of 250 registered voters for a 63 percent turnout; 28 who voted in the election did not cast a vote in the serial levy; one voted both yes and no. Southwest Heppner: 36 yes to 102 no; 165 out of 288 registered voters for a 57 percent turnout; 27 who voted in the election did not cast a vote in the serial levy. Cemeteries have containers available The Ione-Lexington cemeteries will have containers available for Memorial Day to discourage the use of glass containers. People planning to visit the cemeteries are reminded cemeteries do not have good roads and parking and anyone who is able to walk in, is asked do to avoid breaking the underground sprinklers. The gates will be open Saturday, May 27, Sunday May 28, and Monday May 29, from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. Planting of flowers is not allowed. The gates will be open Saturday, June 3, and Sunday, June 4, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. to pick up flowers. WCCC plans barbecue The Willow Creek Country Club will have a family barbecue on Monday, May 29, at 4 p.m. Each family will bring their own meat. Those whose last names begin with "A" through "K" should bring dessert and "L" through "Z", salad. Hosts will be Louis and Alene Rucker, Louis and Betty Carlson, Earl and Carol Norris and Jim and Cam Wishart. Kids enjoy hands on watershed field day Heppner FFA officers with charter members. By Dan Jepsen, FFA reporter The Heppner Future Fanners of America Chapter held its annual awards banquet on May 4 at the Heppner High School cafeteria The purpose of the banquet was to show the community what the local FFA Chapter had been doing in the past year and to give out awards to members. The banquet started off with the FFA officers opening a formal meeting. Officers present included: President Josh Hill, Vice President Corey Miller, Secretary Tracy Baker, Treasurer Sam Van Liew, Reporter Dan Jepsen and Sentinel Ben Turrell. After opening ceremonies, members and guests were treated to pizza, salad, and soda. About 50 guests were present for the occasion, including four former FFA members who were charter members of the original Heppner FFA Club. The original charter was created 63 years ago in 1937. The signers attending were Marvin Casebeer, Riley Munkers, Dick Wilkinson and Wilber Worden. Omer McCaleb, the 1938 FFA president, called to send his best wishes. The FFA Creed was read by Dan Jepsen, the treasurer’s report was given, and awards were presented by advisor Lynn Harmonson. Greenhand Awards were given to all first year members. These included: Brad Adams, Dan Jepsen, Sam Van Liew, Ben Turrell, Tracy Baker, Kelsey Greenup, Tony Looney, Travis Rhode, Dawn DeBoer, Doug Orwick and Tyler Henderson. Officer awards were also presented, and two honorary members were inducted into the FFA and awarded with plaques. These two people were Kyle Robinson and former Heppner agriculture teacher, Barney Lindsay. Both were picked as honorary members because o f the support and assistance they had given the FFA and the agriculture program in Morrow County during this year's budget cuts. Awards were given to the Heppner FFA chapter from the State FFA Office. These awards were for increasing the membership in the chapter by 10 people or 10 percent. This year, Heppner had 28 FFA members, which was an increase of 17 students over last year's 11 members. Finally, the FFA Charter was handed over to Dick Wilkinson of Heppner who will keep the charter in hopes that someday the Heppner FFA will be started again, and the charter can be returned to its normal place in the Heppner Ag room. It was a sad moment for members and community supporters to give up the charter. Due to school budget cuts, the entire vocational agriculture program in all of Morrow County is being discontinued. Baseball golf scramble planned By Rick Paullus The second-annual Heppner Baseball Golf Scramble fund raiser will be held on Sunday, May 28, at the Willow Creek Country Club. The player auction will be at 8 a.m. with golf to start at 9 a.m. The format will be a four-person team scramble with prizes and raffles. The cost is $20 per person with the money going to Heppner Baseball which includes for the Babe Ruth program and the Heppner Mustang baseball team. Lunch will be provided with a $3 charge for non-golfers. For more information call Rick Johnston, 676-5562, or Rick Paullus, 676-8779. Volunteers needed to help host baseball tourney Willow Creek Little League is hosting the 11-12 year old Base ball All-Star Tournament in Heppner on July 14-16 and July 21-23. The league is looking for volunteers for various duties throughout the tournament. For those who can help, contact Shawn Kempas at 989-8314 as soon as possible. Dave Pranger, Morrow County Weed District, presenting weeds to students The Umatilla-Morrow Natural Resource Systems Consortium sponsored a successful Watershed Field Day for students on May 10-11 on Duane Neiffer's property near lone. According to organizers, the goal of the field day was to provide students with quality "hands-on" experiences that tie into existing science, agriculture and natural resource classes or units. The field day consisted ôf six different stations: a weather station presented by Marilyn Lohman. National Weather Service: weed identification and bio-controls presented by Dave Pranger; Morrow County Weed District, soil development presented by Loren Unrah. $ 3 .9 9 per gallon ~ regular $ 4 .9 9 per gallon Sala good through Saturday. May 27th orrow C ounty Lexington 989-8221 • 1-800-452-7396 waters. Courtney Nelson from Lynn Harmonson's ag class at Heppner High said she enjoyed the hands- on experience, especially working with the macro invertebrates, measuring the waters pH and learning about the soil profiles. Kristina Powell from Duane Neiffer's science class in lone said she thought that all stations were very interesting but some of her favorites were learning about the different weather station instruments, identifying the macro-invertebrates and planting the willow trees. Funding for substitute teachers and transportation was made available through the Limatilla- Morrow ESD. The coordinators for the field day were Marilyn Johnson, Umatilla-Morrow ESD; Aletha Eastwood. RARE student, and Morrow SWCD district clerk, Menlec McDowell. Z SUMMER COOLANT SALE RADIATOR ANTIFREEZE M Natural Resource Conservation Service; macro-invertebrate sampling and identification presented by Robert Newell, Washington State University, water quality presented by Sarah Mundy, North Fork John Day Watershed Council, and streambank stabilization and restoration project presented by Kelly Cahill, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and Tom Straughan, Oregon Department of Agriculture. Students from Umatilla and Morrow counties attended and leamecl about several different weather instruments, identified weeds and explored "bio- controls". They also learned how soil develops through wind, weathering and biological processes over time and collected samples of aquatic macro- invertebrates from Willow Creek. Students also measured basic water quality parameters including pH, turbidity, conductivity, temperature and dissolved oxygen levels and planted willow trees along the creek to assist with stream bank stabilization and establishment of shade plants to maintain cool G r a in G row ers f»rf»rm(quipm*nt,vtiit our «rebut* at wwwmcggn«! Softball team to play in finals The Heppner High School softball team will play in the state finals game versus Corbett, there on Friday. May 26, at 1 p.m .