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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 23, 2002)
TWO - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, January 23, 2002 ______ Letters to the Editor______ Merle Cowett named Police Chief The Official Newspaper of the City of Heppner and the County ot Morrow Editor's note: Letters to the Editor must be signed The Gazette-Times w ill not publish unsigned letters Please include your address and phone number on all letters for use by the CrT office. The G-T reserves the right to edit The G-T is not responsible for accuracy of statements made in letters. (Any letters expressing thanks w ill be placed in the classifieds under ‘ C ard of Thanks" at a cost o f $5.) H ep p n er G A Z E T T E -T IM E S U S P S. 240-420 Morrow County’s Home-Owned Weekly Newspaper Published weekly and entered as periodical matter at the Post Office at Heppner, Oregon under the Act of March 3, 1874 Periodical postage paid at Heppner, Oregon Office at 147 W Willow Street Telephone (541) 676-9228 Fax (541) 676-9211 E- mail gt(uheppner net or gt(u)rapidserve net Web site www heppner net Postmaster send address changes to the Heppner Gazette-Times, P O Box 337, Heppner. Oregon 97836 Subscriptions $22 in Morrow County. $16 senior rate (in Morrow County only, 62 years or older), $29 elsewhere .-v i e , l . . ............... Publisher April H ilton-Sykes................................................. ................................................... Ed,,or News deadline is Monday at 5 p m. For Advertising advertising deadline is Tuesday at noon C ost (or a display ad is $4 50 per column inch C ost for classified ad is 40« per word Cost for Card of Thanks is $5 up to 100 words Cost lor a classified display ad is $ 5 1 0 per column inch For Public/Legal Notices public/legal notices deadline is Monday at 5 p m Dates for publication must be specified Affidavits must be required at the time of submission Affidavits require three weeks to process after last date of publication (a sooner return date must be specified if required) On the HEPPMER WEBSITE: www.heppner.net • Start or C hange a Subscription • Place a Classified Ad • Subm it a News Story • View Real Estate for Sale • City Council & Planning Minutes •Local Businesses • County Park • Willow Creek Park Reservations • Free Digital Postcards • Senior Housing • and more! town and country continued from page one said presenter and HHS Principal Dick Allen. “Steve sets high ex pectations for himself and his students-no exceptions. His dedi cation is second to none and he is usually the first to arrive and the last to leave school.” Brownfield founded the Out door Club at HHS and on week ends takes students skiing, snow boarding or rafting. He has been involved in selling Christmas trees, in clean-up projects in and around Willow Creek, selling tickets at the Morrow County Fair and Rodeo and numerous food drives. He is a member and past president of the Nordic Club for cross country skiing and has spent many hours clearing trails in the mountains preparing for winter skiing. He is a member of the Ore gon Education Association and the Morrow County Education Assdciation. He is a current member of the Heppner High School Site Council. He and his class provide the National Weather Service current time information to help them predict severe weather patterns. Brownfield is the HHS junior class advisor and every weekend is responsible for concessions at home games. He is also respon sible for preparing and decorat ing for the annual prom and for organizing the senior breakfast. He is a member of the Hope Lutheran Church since he moved to the area and has participated in numerous events involving the church, particularly associated with youth. Student of the Year Julie Proctor, a senior at Heppner High School, has been extremely ac tive in 4-H. A member of 4-H for eight years, she is a 4-H ambas sador and leads a 4-H Club. She is the HHS student body public ity director, a STARS teen leader, a president of the OSSOM Club and a member and secretary of the National Honor Society. She is an HHS cheer leader and starred in the recent HHS musical. She is an active member of St. Patrick’s Catholic Church and oftentimes serves as a substitute teacher for Sunday school. She is also a princess on the Morrow County Fair and Oregon Trail Pro Rodeo Court this year. She also has a part-time job at the Bank of Eastern Oregon in Heppner. Presenter Bill Kuhn com mented, “This student’s concern for others is what sets her apart from her peers. She volunteers for any project without com plaint, with a cheery disposition and with all her energy. She is a source of inspiration to her school mates, to the adults she so quietly helps and to the entire community.” “She is a sensitive caring individual who makes us all proud,” continued Kuhn. “1 hope she regards herself as a hero.” Proctor is the daughter of Kay and Mike Proctor of Hepp ner. Booster Club discusses tennis court By Jeri McElligott The Cardinal Booster Club met Monday, Jan. 7, at the lone High school library. Eighteen members were present. A thank you note from the lone Elemen tary staff for the purchase of the new die cut machine was read. Debbie Morgan was given a gift certificate to the Hermiston Cin ema in appreciation for organiz ing the concessions at the two December tournaments. The construction of the new elementary school will destroy the lone Schools tennis court. The architect's plan to put a new court at the end of the high school will not work due to sewer and water lines. The bus yard will be measured to see if it is large enough, although it was agreed the new tennis court probably would not be included in the new construction project. The club is still seeking spon sors for the new track area, but will not go ahead with the project until the elementary construction is finalized. The estimated cost for the track area and storage is $ 10,000. The club agreed to con tact additional sponsors for that project. The new Dairy Farmer's aca demic championship sign for the boys' football team is ready to be put up. Dean Robinson noted the OSAA Gold Cup Award now includes sportsmanship along with academics, athletics and activities. lone High School is currently in the lead for the award for the 2001 -2002 school year A sign will be made for the OSAA Cup Award the school received the last two years. The club agreed to order two dozen pro-back Cardinal hats the next time they are needed. Shiloh Svetich inquired about Cardinal sweatshirts for the lone fans. Club members discussed having a list of academic awards printed on shirts, or having "Leaders in Academic Excellence” printed on them. Svetich will >ook into de signs, prices and cc rs. The club received a $1,000 donation for the boys' basketball program. The money will be used to buy new varsity uniforms, with the old uniforms going to the boys'jumor varsity team. The club voted to buy a new, larger junior varsity uniform for one of the players. Donkey basketball will be March 14 at 7 p.m. The club voted to give $200 to the school assembly account and to transfer $3,000 from the checking account to the Eastern's Best Account. Only paid booster club mem bers will be in the district bas ketball program lone team page. Anyone wanting to be included should pay dues as soon as pos sible. A list of paid members will be at the home basketball games. The basketball coaches paid for the charter buses to Enter prise and Helix. The club voted to pay the extra for charter buses to Dufur and Cascade Locks. The next meeting of Cardinal Booster Club will be Monday, Feb. 4, at 7 p.m. at the lone High School library. We Print Business Cards ¿Ufíe¿ & coúnj. fo c A mmc ¿ uhh Heppner Gazette-Times • 676-9228 Cut CAM, scale back CIM to avoid teacher cuts To the Editor: There is no question that the Oregon Legislature and the Gov ernor will have to cooperate to make the best use of available funds. In times of reduced fund ing. the purpose of the public school system, grades K-12, should be to a basic education for students, and then let on-the-job training, tw o-year or community colleges, and four-year colleges build on that foundation. I wish to suggest places to cut funding without cutting teachers. Years ago, the Certificate of Advanced Mastery (CAM) was planned as a way to build on the skills students had demonstrated in the Certificate of Initial Mas tery (CIM) process. The first CIM areas assessed were the ba sics-reading, math computation and problem solving, and written composition. The CAM was planned as high school experi ence in an area of interest that could provide a student with job skills at graduation. Oregon can be proud of the quality of the Statewide Assess ment Program, but it has come at a cost. Developing test items; checking validity and reliability; and printing and distributing the tests are all very expensive and time-consuming. Training and paying teachers to score essays and multi-step math problems also take time and money. The CIM is important and should be kept, but it could be scaled back. Tests have been de veloped in other curriculum areas, such as science and social studies, but teachers can, and should, be doing assessment in those fields. In an era of reduced funding, Oregon should continue to test and certify that students have met state standards in the basic skills. Students who pass CIM criteria at 10th grade have all the basic skills necessary fora job or further education; students who do not show mastery of these skills by 10th grade still have two more years in high school with teachers trained to work with students who need more help. I'm in favor of cutting the CAM program requirements completely. Universities, com munity colleges, job training cen ters, and employers can provide that training and experience. The goal should be to do eve rything possible to avoid cutting teachers. (s) Linda A. Shaw Heppner Transportation Comm. To fund Eastern Oregon project The Oregon Transportation Commission (OTC) selected 25 transportation projects for East ern Oregon at their Jan. 16 meet ing. Franklin Grade near Heppner and Juniper Canyon Road in north Morrow County were in cluded among the projects. The new Oregon Transportation In vestment Act (OTIA) will fund the projects. They account for $65.46 million out of $400 mil lion total in OTIA funds avail able statewide. Construction on some projects will begin as early as this summer. Of the 25 OTIA projects in Eastern Oregon, four will be modernization projects for new construction ($14 million), four will be preservation projects in tended to extend the life of exist ing highways and structures ($7.77 million), and 17 will be for repairing or replacing bridges ($43.69 million). "Eastern Oregon's share of this funding, $65 million, is in addition to the estimated $195 million already scheduled to be spent on transportation projects here over the next three years. Considering it can cost over $10 million to buildjust one highway interchange, the OTIA funding doesn't solve all our transporta tion needs, but it certainly helps," said ODOT Region 5 area man ager Mary Martini. Transportation projects should also help with improving Oregon's high unemployment rate. "This list represents a sig nificant boost to the state econ omy. Designing and building these projects will support hun dreds of family-wage jobs in Oregon," said Steve Corey. OTC chair. "After the projects are completed, they will continue strengthening our economy by allowing people and products to move more efficiently.” ODOT plans to start many of the OTIA projects this year, however those that don't require a lot of complex engineering work or the purchase of right of way will be first. For Eastern Oregon, the Franklin Grade and Thielson Road Preservation pro jects will go to bid this year. "ODOT is committed to getting as much of this funding as possi ble on the road in the next two years," Martini said. The project selections made by the OTC mark the end of a public involvement process that started last July. Since that time ODOT's Region 5 has worked closely with Area Commissions on Transportation (ACTS), city and county officials, and other stakeholders representing com munities throughout Eastern Oregon. "The modernization and preservation projects selected for OTIA funding are the projects the local communities put high on their priority list. Now that the selection process is over, we will start working to get these built in partnership with local govern ments, who will be doing some of the work," said Martini. Local projects that the OTC approved for OTIA funding in clude: Juniper Canyon Road re alignment ($500,000)-will re align the county road through the Juniper Canyon area to improve traffic safety and movement of commerce through northern Mor row County. Local funding will provide an additional estimated ($295,575 for this project. Oregon Highway 74/Franklin Grade ($l,676,920)-will widen highway and reconstruct pave ment with new asphalt (overlay), install guardrails, drainpipes and drain inlet boxes. Projects will extend approximately 10 miles, from milepost 55 to 66. SweetPro® Lick Blocks Premium Feed Supplements SweetPro blocks feature fermentation ingredients that increase feed efficiency up to 30% or more. Energy in SweetPro com es from “Complex Carbohydrates”, not simple sugars like molasses blocks. Fortified with Vitamins A, D and E, with a balanced blend of “chelated” trace minerals. Deliver safe protein with high “rumen by-pass" value. $gjectPro’ Convenience Plus Economic Performance Now available at: Morrow County Grain Growers Lexington 989-8221 • 1-800-452-7396 f«r farm ram pim i m u o r ■ *» u * M mm meg M l Merle Cowett Long-time Heppner Police Officer Merle Cowett took over as Heppner Police Chief offi cially on November 29 of 2001. Cowett had been named the in terim chief following the retire ment of Chief Doug Rathbun in June. Chief Cowett first came to Heppner in 1979 when he was hired on as an officer with the Heppner Police Department. Be fore coming to Heppner, Cowett had been a deputy sheriff with the Douglas County Sheriffs Department as resident deputy at Loon Lake. Prior to his employ ment with the Douglas County Sheriffs Department, Cowett served as a patrolman with the city at Jordan Valley, as a pa trolman for the city of Bums and as a reserve officer and patrol man for the city of Lakeside. He attended the police academy in 1975. Bom and raised in Selma California, Cowett graduated from Selma Union High School in 1959 and joined the Coast Guard in 1960, ending up in Ore gon in 1961. In the Coast Guard he was a dental technician, trav eling up and down the Oregon and Washington coasts in a mo bile dental unit. His career ex perience also includes a stint as a driver for United Parcel. Cowett and his wife, Judy, who was bom and raised in Win chester Bay, were married in February of 1962 at Rockaway. They have three grown children. Sherry Goodboy, who lives in Fargo, North Dakota, Shawn, who lives in Spokane, and Yvette, who lives in Portland, and four grandchildren. Heather Cowett, 16, Fruitland, Idaho, Keeley Goodboy, five, Fargo, and Dylon Cowett, five, and Ty ler Cowett, 1-1/2, both Spokane, WA. Cowett’s term as chief will be a short one, however, as he has announced his plans to retire as of June 30 of this year. He says that his retirement plans in clude traveling, remodeling his house and working on his prize 1970 Jaguar. “I’ll have enough things to keep me busy,” said Cowett, 61. “I’m sure I’ll find something part-time. I can’t just quit. I’ve worked since I was 12 and I don’t know how to do any thing else.” Gonzaga lists honor student Jacob McElligott, a senior from lone, was among the 629 students named to the president’s list for fall semester at Gonzaga University, Spokane, WA. Students must earn a 3.7 or better grade point average to be listed, O ff T he B y A /ic rly n R o b in s o n Keeping those New Year resolutions is almost on par with storing Christmas decorations, particularly those bulky, tangled-up icicle lights. Small wonder that so many strings are sold each year, since it's tempting to pitch them when trying to compact them for storage. Minus a practical solution, it's time to address the issue of what to do with all those beautiful Christmas cards. Once the addresses from cards are updated in address books, I still can't throw them out. In fact, this past Christmas found me re-reading messages on cards from the previous year as I determined which ones I could recycle for family Christmas package labels. It's much easier to pitch out all those Christmas catalogs that contribute to weight gain lust by inhaling the pages of Christmas goodies. Seems illogical that a pound of chocolate can contribute to five pounds of body fat. But not to worry, if you take to heart all the offers of weight-loss programs or exercise equipment, as promoted on television and through ads in the mail. In addition to advertisements, junk mail and bills, our mail carrier's load would be lighter if it weren't for all the political propaganda, credit card offers and causes asking for donations. As to your weight maintenance strategy when you're sweating away jogging or slaving on an exercise machine, there appear to be other options. In my mail is a weight loss offer that says it eliminates dieting and exercising. That's right! All one has to do is to eat their specially prepared raisins. Yes, I said raisins, as in dried up grapes. An extra bonus is their grape anti-wrinkle cream offer. Prunes maybe, but I don't think raisins are the answer. Plus that anti-aging cream is in the same class as the next-to-nothing undergarments offered in Victoria Secret catalogs. It's no secret that I wouldn't be caught in such an exposed state, since I tend to cover body sags. As to those exposed character lines, better known as wrinkles, I prefer to think of them as well-earned mileage markers. Anyway I prefer my grapes fresh or smashed into some delicious- tasting wine, supposedly good for your health. The downside is that a glass of wine w ith the evening meal contributes to a dozy state that obstructs reading or watching television programs. Judging from the volume of catalogs sent, sometimes it seems as if one's name is on every database and mail list in cyberspace. Who knows who obtains your address when you order anything using credit cards? As to on-line buying, I'd just as soon revert back to when everything we ordered came from either Montgomery Ward or the Sears catalogs and the outdated issues were recycled in the little house out back. Now get this — the post office is going to raise first class postage. Meanwhile they are flush enough to pay for expensive ads on television. Currently we have the opportunity to update mailing addresses for the next addition of Century Tel phone books. Though many of us have lived in the same place for years, those letters with old route addresses do upset our postal system. Anyway if I have to call local people to find out their new address, then why bother with a letter? However one of the positive things about living in this rural area is that many people tend to stay put and care enough to stay in touch. Meanwhile it's time to start browsing through the many gardening catalogs that are appearing like dandelions in summer and forget about the sore muscles to come. URGENT NOTICE Attention: Medicaid Customers It you have the O R E G O N HEALTH PLAN for prescription coverage, please contact us I IMMEDIATELY (before Thursday, January 31st). % MURRAY DRUG’S PHARMACY DEPT. ' 217 North M ain M u _____ a m Um v J __________ J Lexington S lone
