Healys donate padded chairs to HHS gym
Heppner High School gym­
nasium received a new addition,
thanks to the Jack Healy Memo­
rial Fund. On January 12, Jacks'
wife Gwen and children, Jean,
Jerry, Jim, John, and Judy, along
with their children, dedicated and
passed on to the Heppner High
School Student Body royal blue
padded "Running Mustang" fold­
ing chairs to be used on the bal­
cony for the senior citizens of the
community.
Jack Healy, who passed away
in March of 2001. was a 1938
graduate of Heppner High School
and an avid Mustang fan who
supported his children, grand­
children. nieces and nephews and
the Mustang teams tor nearly 40
years. For Jack and Gwen, the
best seats in the house seemed to
be on the balcony. So it is only
fitting that in Jack’s memory his
family chose to honor him with
soft-padded seated chairs to be
used by the senior citizens on the
balcony where he so loved to be
watching the Mustang teams
pound the hardwood floor. You
can now say "the best seats in the
house are still on the balcony.’’
says the family
E¿33lo V.'otaoll
U of J I.o..apa.-5or Library
L U J 3 :i3 , Uft 9 / ‘U 3
I.eft to right: Brent Eckman. Sarah Eckman, Diana Healy (front) and
Jared Eckman. on behalf of the Jack Healy family, present padded
Mustang chairs to Principal Dick Allen, representing Heppner High
School.
Jack Healy passed away in
March, but not before he watched
his Mustangs at the State 2A
boys basketball tournament The
family hopes the senior citizens
will enjoy the chairs for many
years to come.
Donations and memorial
funds for specific items or pur­
chases can be established through
the Heppner Booster Club.
School cuts not expected to be as
severe this time around
VOL 121_______ NO. 3_______ 8 Pages
Wednesday, January 16,2002
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
School board seeks applicants
for board positions
The Morrow County School
District is seeking applicants to
fill two school board positions
that were vacated when it was
determined that two board mem­
bers did not live in the zones
from which they were elected.
Applicants must live in Zone
4 or Zone 6.
Zone 4 is described as the
"area within the Heppner City
limits except that area east of
Cowins Street, Court Street and
Highway 74. north and east from
its junction with Court Street”.
Zone 6 is described as the
“area in Morrow County east of a
north-south line extending Paul
Smith Road in Boardman, which
extends from the Wheeler
County line to an east-west line
one mile south of Township IS,
east on that east-west line to
Highway 207 and northeast on
Highway 207 to Bombing Range
Road and north on Bombing
Range Road to Finley Buttes
Road to the Umatilla County
line, except for that area detailed
in Zone 4”. The Zone 6 area
takes in the Hardman, Ruggs,
North Lex, Lena, Buttercreek,
Hinton Creek, Upper Willow
Creek and Sand Hollow areas.
According to the district, it is
the applicant’s responsibility to
determine eligibility based on the
legal description of the zones.
Applicants must turn in a let­
ter of interested by 4 p.m. on
Monday, February 4. Interviews
will be held on Monday, Febru­
ary 11, beginning at 5:30 p.m. at
Sam Boardman Elementary
School in Boardman.
New board members will be
sworn in at the regular school
board meeting that same evening,
Monday, February 11, beginning
at 7:30 p.m.
City hall/library
survey goes out Geography Bee held at HES
Questions such as: "Which Andre, Kelsey,
Jan. 25
A survey to measure public
opinion on a proposed city
hall/library complex should be
mailed out by Jan 25, the
Heppner city council was told
Monday night.
The survey is the result of a
public meeting held Jan. 3 to
gather public opinion on the
12.000 sq ft complex to be built
next to the post office in Heppner.
The survey will tell the city
council if there is enough public
support to move ahead with the
project. There has been public
opposition to the project.
The council authorized up to
5 1.000 to pay for the survey, and
was told the library district may
chip in $250 of that cost.
The survey will go out to 1184
registered voters in four precincts
in and around Heppner. Of those
847 live within the city limits.
A committee picked the night of
the public meeting will decide
how to word the survey, which is
expected to be turned back in by
Feb. 8
In other business at Monday’s
meeting the council was told that
the city sewer treatment plant is
back in good working order after
a lot of work by the city crew and
two local contractors.
About 8.000 gallons of heavy
grit was removed from the
primary clarifier and about 2.000
gallons of sludge was taken out of
the secondary clarifier. There
was also work done on the golf
course tank, reported new Public
Works Director Craig Canham.
The city council also authorized
the city manager to begin
dismantling the old swimming
pool in preparation of its
demolition The city will take any
salvageable parts it needs and
then the city will make the rest of
the salvage available to the
public.
continent has the world's largest
known oil reserves?" (Asia) and
"Which continent is crossed by
every line of longitude?"
(Antarctica) were asked at the
Heppner Elementary School
Geography Bee on Thursday,
January 10.
The bee is sponsored by the
National Geographic Society and
held each year to encourage
interest
among
youth
in
geography and people of the
world
Former Heppner teacher Al
Beck served as the reader for the
contest and Heppner Elementary
School teacher Janme Allen was
scorekeeper.
HES teacher
Lindsay Harle prepared a slide
show depicting children from
around the globe as the song "We
Are The World" played in the
background
The competition began with 13
young geographers.
Nacho
Elguezabal. Spencer Palmer,
Logan Anthony, Ashley Wolff,
Emily Thompson. Andre Rauch,
Kelsey Wolff. Jordan Hatfield.
Maggie Armato. Luke Young.
Kate Kendrick. Eddie Ramirez
and Tayler Hodges. After the
preliminary
round,
six
contestants remained. Emily.
Maggie, Luke,
and Kate. At the end of the final
round of questioning, Andre
Rauch and Kelsey Wolff
remained.
In the championship round,
Andre became the champion by
correctly answering this question,
"An opera house was built in
Cairo to celebrate the opening of
what canal in 1869?"
The
answer is the Suez Canal.
Andre received a medal
from the National Geographic
Society and a globe bank. Andre
took a written test which will
determine if he moves along to
the next level of the competition
At the end of the day, all
participants in the geography bee
feasted on ice cream sundaes
with all of the extras.
Men’s breakfast
scheduled
A community men's break­
fast will be held on Sunday, Jan
20. at 8 a m. at Christian Life
Center, 535 W. Morgan St.,
Heppner.
All men are invited to attend
and “enjoy a time of fellowship
and breakfast together."
Pieter Bos. an evangelist,
will share a devotional.
Morrow County School Su­
perintendent Bruce Anderson
told the board at their regular
meeting Monday night that the
district is expected to face cuts
with the projected state funding
shortfall, but said that because
the district took action during the
last budget crisis it shouldn’t see
such drastic cuts as previously.
Anderson said that it was too
early to determine how much
money will have to be cut from
the budget and where the cuts
will be made. “The worst case
scenario would be about a $1
million deficit,” said Anderson,
“but I don’t believe it will hap­
pen.” “I’m not prepared to make
any projections,” he added. “As
soon as I have better numbers I’ll
get them out right away."
The board announced that it
will accept applications for the
two vacated board positions on
February 4. That day marks the
end of a 30-day appeal of the
circuit court decision which up­
held the vacation of the board
position held by Barney Lindsay
because of residency issues. Ap­
plicants for board zones 4 and 6
must provide a letter of interest
by 4 p.m. Monday, February 4.
Interviews for the positions will
be scheduled for Monday, Febru­
ary 11, at 5:30 p.m. and new
board members will be sworn in
at the regular board meeting at
7:30 p.m. that same day. The
board plans to appoint the new
board members from existing
zones who will serve until the
next election. The board earlier
voted to address rezoning in
April of this year.
The board heard an audit re­
port from Bob Armstrong of Os-
ter Professional Group, which
has offices in John Day and
Bums. Armstrong told the dis­
trict that they found “no in­
stances of non-compliance, no
material weaknesses, no issues of
internal control” and "no difficul­
ties in dealing with manage­
ment." “The district is complying
with rules and regulations." he
said. Armstrong told the board,
however, that there is "room for
improvement’ in the area of
tracking purchases of fixed as­
sets, such as furniture and
equipment, since go\eminent
agencies will soon be required to
report depreciation of fixed as­
sets.
Nan Hall, school bond pro­
ject manager w ith Hccry Interna­
tional, told the board that archi­
tects will meet with staff and
administrators on January 23 for
a focus group meeting on the in­
terior building details of the
Heppner Elementary project She
said that a public hearing will be
held at the Heppner Planning
Commission on Monday. Febru­
ary 4, to review the conditional
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use application made January 10
and the issue will also be dis­
cussed at the February 11 Hepp­
ner City Council meeting.
The lone School bond project
focus group meeting w ith archi­
tects. staff and administration to
review interior building details
has been postponed until after the
lone Advisory Committee meet­
ing. Hall said that considering the
postponement of the focus group
meeting, it may be possible to let
bids on new construction and
then lump all the remodel pro­
jects together, to a\ oid delays. "It
should not affect the costs," she
said. However, she said that the
lone project was overbudget be­
cause of estimated foundation
costs, but added that they were
“working on a solution” to the
problem.
Hall said that traffic analyses
of both the Irrigon and Boardman
bond projects indicated no sign
of impact at either site, except for
"signage revisions”.
In other business, the board:
-Approved the second read­
ing and adopted a revision to a
policy requiring sports physicals
every other year;
-approv ed the second reading
and adopted a three-year mainte­
nance plan, with a correction;
-heard of correspondence
from Oregon Representative
Greg Smith. R-Heppner, which
apparently accused Anderson of
mishandling a situation with the
Oregon Legislature which, ac­
cording to Anderson. Smith said
ended up “costing the district
$138.000 in state funding".
Board Chair Julie Weikel com­
mented that the correspondence
was confusing and suggested that
it was a misunderstanding, but
she neither read the correspon­
dence out loud nor distributed it
outside of the board. Anderson
said that the correspondence and
accusation were "related to my
decision to not allow him (Smith)
to distribute what I consider po­
litical material.” Smith had ap­
parently left congratulatory let­
ters to Heppner Elementary stu­
dents to be distributed at the
school. The letters were taken by
Heppner Elementary administra­
tion to Anderson for review.
Anderson decided the letters
were political in nature and did
not allow them to be distributed.
He declined to release the letters
to the public.
-heard a report from George
Murdock on the superintendent
search. Murdock said that 14
people had applied for the super­
intendent's position. "Fourteen is
a very good number," said Mur­
dock. The district screening
meeting of superintendent candi­
dates has been set for Wednes­
day. January 23. at the district
office beginning at 4 p.m.
-heard a report from board
member John Rietmann who is
on the district s negotiating team
Rietmann said that “contract ne­
gotiations are off to a good start . "
“We hope to have it over and
done in a w eek or two Both par­
ties feel that's a possibility," he
said Rietmann said that “nego­
tiations are the most positive that
I’ve ever seen" and added that
they appear to be easier than
board zoning issues.
-accepted
resigna-
tions/retirements from: Gary Ol­
sen, Riverside High School
Learning Center teacher retiring
September 30; and Mike
Wetherell, RHS career coun-
selor/registrar retiring December
31.
-approved interim agree­
ments for Olsen from September
30. 2002. through June 2003; and
Wetherell from December 31.
2002. through June 2003.
-approved employment for:
Howard Sheets, maintenance su­
pervisor; Christina Wall. English
as a second language educational
assistant at A.C. Houghton Ele­
mentary. replacing Irma Rodri­
guez; Julie Steinbruck. RHS as­
sistant cook/ food service clerical
assistant.
replacing
Teena
Sirucck; and Tera Tolar, tempo­
rary special education one-on-
one assistant for a special needs
student at ACH.
-approved extra duty con­
tracts for: Poul Murtha. Colum­
bia Middle School head track
coach: Judy Daniels. CMS assis­
tant tract coach.
-approved maternity leave
for Rachel Luke, ACH teacher,
for Eebruary and March.
-heard the following an­
nouncements: January 21 -Martin
Luther King Day holiday; Febru­
ary 11-next regular board meet­
ing. Sam Boardman Elementary;
March 16-Oregon School Boards
Association spring regional
meeting at EaGrande.
BMCC offers
class on
1903 Flood
Blue Mountain Community
College is offering a class on the
1903 I leppner Flood on I uesday.
Jan. 22. at 7 p.m. at Heppner
High School
The class w ill prov ide insight
to the events that occurred be­
fore. during and alter the flood.
Personal letters and media cov ét ­
age will be discussed. Also. Bei­
jing Wang has recently translated
the Chinese Hood victims' head­
stones that remain at the Heppner
Masonic Cemetery and the class
will include a discussion ot
Wang's interpretation.
The class w ill be led by Mar­
sha Svveck and I ami Sneddon
Swcek is a historian who was the
director of the Morrow County
Museum for 12 years Sneddon is
also a previous Morrow County
Museum employee and has de­
signed and currently maintains
Morrow County’s genealogy and
history website. I his site
w w w.rootsweb.com ormorrow
also includes information on the
flood as well as Wang's interpre­
tation ot the C hinese headstones
For more information or to
sign up for the class, contact
BMCC coordinator Anne Mortcr
at 422-7040
Extension office
closed on IMLK
The Morrow County Exten­
sion office will be closed on
Monday. Jan 21. in observance
of Martin Luther King. Jr Day.
Lhc office will reopen on Tues­
day. Jan 22. at 8 am