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
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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 .