Secession issue turns ugly at
county school board meeting
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list Annual Wee Bit O ' Ireland
St. Patrick's Weekend Celebration Schedule
-------------------- Thursday, March 1 3 t h ----------------------
S A IN T PATRICK-APOSTLE OF IRELAN D AND S A IN T BRIG ID -PA TRO N ESS O F IRELAND
- 7 PM, St. Patrick’s Catholic Parish Hall, 560 NW Jones. Set in the Irish Mood. Original play
written by Father Condon.
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Friday, March 1 4 t h ----------------------
HEPPNER PUBLIC LIBRARY- Open 9:30AM - 5PM
MORROW COUNTY MUSEUM - Open 1 - 5 PM
VENDOR'S SQ U A RE - Enjoy crafts, food and other treasures from local and visiting vendors.
All day Friday, Saturday <4 Sunday at the Neighborhood Center on Main S tre e t across from
the Library/Museum/City Park. For information call 541-676-5024.
D ED IC A TIO N O F IR IS H FA M ILY FO U N TA IN - 4 PM in front of Murray's on Main Street.
S T . PATRICK'S ANNUAL A U C TIO N - Starting at 7 PM at the Elks, 142 N. Main Street.
Live and Silent Auction. Drawing for $100 Pot O' Sold
MRS. O ’LEARY'S S T EW FE ED - 5 - 7 PM at St. Patrick's Senior Center, 190 N. Main
S tre et, prepared by the Heppner United Methodist Church members.
B U FFET D IN N ER - 6 - 8 PM at the Elks, 142 N. Main Street.
LAD S A L A S S IE S T EEN DANCE - 9 PM - midnight—a drug and alcohol free event for
teens at HHS Cafetorium. Sponsored in part by Morrow County Behavioral Health. Music
provided by Dan Burns.
—
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Saturday, March 15th --------------------
(Shuttle Service All Day)
BREA KFAST - 6 - 10 AM at St. Patrick’s Senior Center, prepared by O’Senior Center.
SH EEP DOS T R IA L S - Starting at 8:30 AM (all day) at Thompson's Ranch, 3 miles northwest
of Heppner on Bunker Hill Rd. off of Hwy. 74, between mileposts #41 and # 42 .
S T . PADDY'S C R U Z -IN - 10 AM - 4 PM on Willow S tre e t in Downtown Heppner. Come and
take a look at Antique and Classic cars in Heppner's Third Annual Cruz-In.
S T . PADDY'S M O TO CRO SS - Sponsored by the Oregon Trail Pro Rodeo Committee Sign
up 8 - 9AM with races going from 9 AM - noon—then continuing afte r the Parade at 2 PM until
finished $2 admission fee.
MORROW COUNTY MUSEUM A FARM E X H IB IT OPEN
MORROW COUNTY C R E A T IV E A R TS AND C R A FTS - 9 AM - 3 PM, show and sale at Les
Schwab.
VENDOR'S SQ U A R E - All Day - Neighborhood Center across the street from Library/
Museum/City Park.
IR IS H HOOPSHOOT - Starting at 10 AM at the BEO Drive-way. Sponsor: Colt Basketball
KUMA C O FFEE HOUR - 10 AM at the Elks Club. Come hear family histories, music, stories
and blarney! Enter the IR IS H BROGUE C O N T ES T and win cash prizes Drawing for $ 100 Pot
O'Gold
HEPPNER PUBLIC LIBRARY - Open 11 AM - 3 PM
O 'SEN IO R CEN TER - 11 AM - 1:30 PM Have a taste of Irish homemade soup/bread, pie/
coffee after parade.
O'BARBECUE chicken and Ribs - 11 AM - 4 PM by Kessler's Katering at the City Park on Main
Street.
SHAMROCK LA N ES - Irish Sweepstakes/Mixed Doubles No-Tap Bowling Tournament, 11
AM and 2:30 PM
BRUNCH - 11:15 AM - 1:30 PM at the Elks, 142 N Main Street.
L IT T L E LEPRECHAUN CA RN IVA L AND K ID S K U IS IN E - 11:30 AM - 3 PM On Main
S tre et by Post O ffice
IR IS H PARADE - 1PM on Main S tre e t
C E IL I (pronounced K-Lee) - 2 - 4 PM, upstairs at the Elks. Irish entertainment featuring
John Doherty and The Irish Singers, The Baile Glas Dancers and The Shenanigans
EW E-D O BINGO - 2:30 PM Live sheep activity - corner of Main and Center Streets.
Sponsor: Cheerleaders
TO U RS - 2 - 6 PM Morrow County Historical Courthouse structure built of blue basalt in
1902
O'DUCKY RACE - 3 PM Sta rts at the bridge in front of the Courthouse Adopt a duck to
win a prize of $10 to $100. Sponsor: Heppner Colt Football Program.
S T . PATRICK'S HAM D IN N ER - 4 - 7 PM at the St. Patrick's Catholic Parish Hall at 560
NW Jones Street.
B U FFET D IN N ER - 6 - 8 PM Corn Beef & Cabbage, etc. with music from 9 PM - 2 AM at the
Elks
TH E T IL L E R ’S FO LLY CONCERT - 7PM at Heppner High School Cafetorium - Admission
Charge $10 for Adults/ $5 for those 10 years old and younger Drawing for $ 100 Pot O'Gold
W EE HOURS O 'TH E MORNIN' BREA KFAST - 10 PM-3 AM by Volunteer Fire Department
at 190 NW Willow.
---------------------Sunday, March 1 6 t h ----------------------
BREAKFAST - 7 - 10 AM at the Nazarene Church, 335 N Gilmore.
SHAMROCK LA N ES - Irish Sweepstakes/Mixed Doubles No-Tap Bowling Tourn., 10 30
AM/1:30 PM
CHURCH - Your choice. Visitors welcome.
VENDOR'S SQ U A RE - All day at the Neighborhood Center across from the Library/Museum
SH EEP DOG T R IA L S - All day at Thompson's Ranch - See Saturday for location
W ILLO W CREEK SYMPHONY AND S IN G E R S - 3:15 PM at Heppner High School Cafetorium
ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE:
M O N D A Y S A T 5 :0 0 P .M .
»
The Morrow County
School Board and the lone
Self Determination Committee
are no closer to working out a
split of assets and liabilities in
the proposed lone secession
from the Morrow County
School District as the two
groups lobbed volleys at each
other at the regular board
meeting Monday night in lone.
M CSD S u p e rin
tendent Dr. Jack Crippen had
formulated a draft div ision of
assets and liabilities that he
says shows the proposed lone
School District could owe
MCSD between $1.7 and
$2.7 million after the split. His
figures were formulated on
insurance estimates based on
rep lacem en t
am ounts,
including personal property, on
the high end, and assessor’s
estimates, which don't include
personal property, on the low
end. Dr. Crippen said those
figures were only a starting
point for negotiations. The
lone S elf D eterm ination
Committee, however, says the
figures used in calculations are
faulty and outdated. They
maintain the new district would
not owe MCSD that much
money and complained that
the district is trying to throw a
m onkey w rench in the
secession process; all the while
saying they (MCSD) support
the secession.
At the Monday night
meeting, members of the lone
community pointed out that an
lone School District existed
before the MCSD was formed
and lone brought the buildings
it had at that time into the
district, so they should be
allowed to take the buildings
with them when the new lone
School District is formed. They
also asked that since the
district may have had plans to
close the lone High School,
why not just give the new
district those buildings, which
MCSD had no plans to use
anyway?
Dr. Crippen reported
that several amendments have
been added to a bill in the state
legislature, which the self-
determ ination com m ittee
initially proposed to speed up
the secession process. The bill
has been tak en out o f
com m ittee in the Oregon
L e g isla tu re b ecau se o f
opposition. MCSD plans to
add
the
a b ility
for
remonstrance (opposition) as
an amendment to the bill. As
the bill now stan d s, no
remonstrance to the bill would
be allowed and once the bill
was approved by legislators,
it would become law. MCSD
wants to allow opposition,
which is allowed if the lone
secession proceeds through
the Education Service District,
rather than as a bill in the
legislature. Dr. Crippen said
that information presented in
a handout and read by Lisa
Rietmann o f the lone Self
Determination Committee
critical of Crippen and the
board was "full of innuendoes
and lies.” Jerry Rietmann of the
Self Determination C ommittee
angrily retorted that he took
offense at his friends, wife and
himselfbeing called liars.
At one point in the
meeting, at the behest o f
Marvin Padberg of lone, the
lone community rose to its feet
when they were once again
asked how many were in favor
of forming an lone district.
M em bers o f the
board later reiterated that they
represented the entire district
and voted to authorize an
appraisal to determine the
value of its assets.
Board member Gary
F red erick so n told the
audience that lone would be
welcomed back into the district
if the secession fails or the new
district finds it cannot operate
on its own.
In other business at
the meeting, John Murray of
Heppner, representing the
H eppner
G rassro o ts
Committee, presented a list of
req u ests to the board
concerning starting and other
items at Heppner Schools.
Murray said that a fund has
been created to receive
m onies to fund teaching
positions in Heppner and
families are being sought to
host foreign exchange students
in Heppner to increase the
number o f students attending
in the area and therefore
increase the state monies
receiv ed . He said the
committee is also seeking the
following from the district:
-a
fu ll-tim e
kindergarten teacher for the
2003-04 year if a Heppner
Foundation is able to raise the
money required. The board
had proposed a half-time
kindergarten teacher for
Heppner Elementary, although
Irrigon and Boardman schools
retained full-time kindergarten
teachers.
-a d ecrease in
administrative time at Heppner
Elementary from half-time to
one-quarter time, with the
remaining 25 percent covered
by a retired administrator or
teacher, as a cost-saving
measure.
-reimbursement by
the district office for additional
costs that would be incurred if
the district office moves into
HES from its current office in
Lexington as a cost saving
measure. The G rassroots
committee says, "We are not
looking to make money from ’
the IX) move to HES, but feel
strongly that H eppner
Elementary students should
not have to pay for costs
incurred by the district office
being in their school.”
Dr.
C rippen
responded later in the meeting
by saying that if the district
office was not welcome at
HES, perhaps it should be
located in north Morrow
C ounty w here tw o new
schools stand empty because
of lack of funding. He also
stated that it might be more
logical to have the district
office in the north end because
most o f the activity is there.
However, Crippen said that
the heating costs inv olved in a
move to schools at Irrigon or
Boardman may be prohibitive
because the whole building,
not just a portion o f it, would
have to be heated. At this point
it is uncertain as to w hether the
district office will move at all
from its Lexington location.
The move had been proposed
to save the district money in
utility costs and the district also
hoped to sell the building. The
d istric t o ffice has four
em ployees, all o f whom
currently live in south Morrow
County. If the office were
moved to the north end, the
current employees could opt
to drive or move to the area.
Upon resignation or retirement
of those employees, however,
employees from the north end
would likely till those positions.
-sc h o larsh ip s for
students to take v-tel and
cyber school classes, so that
electives would be available to
south county students.
In other business, the
board:
-received a report, but
took no action concerning
coordinating the bell schedules
continued page 2
mam nap
HES survives water line damage
C ity workers labored, Thursday. M arch 6, to repair a broken w ater line at Heppner Klementary School.
T h e line was hit w hile Colum bia Basin was drilling. The break caused a 60-foot geyser and a flood of
mud and water that stretched dow n Quaid St. all the way to Main. The road to the school had to be closed
and students were sent home early. It took city workers four hours to stop the water and a few more to
clean up the mess. Students were able to return back to school on Monday.
Danner Boot Sale
20°/o OFF SS
N ot all boots in stock - orders gladly taken!
Ulorrow County Crain Growers
Lexington 989-8221 * 1-800-452-7396
For farm equipment. visit our web site at www.mcgs.rtet