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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (April 2, 2003)
TWO - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, April 2, 2003 The Official Newspaper of the City of Heppner and the County of Morrow H eppner Bv Dr. Jack Crippen, superintendent GAZETTE-TIMES U.S.P.S. 240-420 M o rro w C o u n ty ’s H o m e -O w n e d W e e k ly N e w s p a p e r P u b lish ed w eekly and e n te re d as p e rio d ic a l m a tte r at the P o st O ffic e at Heppner, O regon under the Act o f M arch 3, 1879 Periodical postage paid at H eppner, O re-g o n O ffice at 147 W. W illow S treet. T elephone (5 4 1 ) 676- 9228. Fax (5 4 1 ) 676-9211. E -m ail: gt(a heppner net or g t@ ra p id serv e.n et Web site: w ww heppner net. Postm aster send address changes to the Heppner G azette- Times, P.O Box 337, H eppner, O regon 97836. S ubscriptions: $24 in M orrow C o unty; $18 senior rate (in M orrow C ounty only; 62 y e a rs or older); $30 elsew here. David S y k e s ...................................................................................................... Publisher Katie Wall Naw* d u d lln « i t Monday i t 5 p . m 1 dl,or For Advertising advertising deadline is Monday at 5 pm . Cost for a display ad is $4 75 per column inch Cost ter classified ad is 504 per word. Cost for Card of Thanks is $7 up to 100 words Cost for a classified display ad is $5 35 per column inch For Publio'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 HEPPNER WEBSITE: www.heppner.net • Start or Change a Subscription • Place a Classified Ad • Submit 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! Letters to the Editor 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 G-T office. TheG-T reserves the right to edit. The CrT is not responsible for accuracy o f statements made in letters. (Any letters expressing Draw the line before it’s too late To the Editor: Recently, we have been asked to take a look back in history. Fine. Any person who is old enough to remember their time in middle school, will know that when the class bully comes around, your choice is to resist him, if you can, or he eats your lunch for the remainder of the school year. The community at large will encourage you to delegate whatever power you have, and tell a teacher. It is never successful. The teacher will first demand o f you what you did to make the bully dislike you. The teacher will then chew out the bully. The teacher, finally, will assure others that the problem has been taken care of. ,..... A ctually, your problem has grown. The bully is now mad enough to give you special attention, after school. The only thing that works is for you to draw a line, and make your lunch too expensive for the bully to bother with. This line drawing usually involves a clenched fist in the bully’s face. S om etim es, these class bullies grow up to be international bullies. Looking back will show that a line must always be drawn. Also, looking back demonstrates that there is always some self-grandiose group, arguing that it is our fault Looking back shows that the Civil War line was drawn only after most of the South had seceded, and Fort Sumpter had been fired upon. Answers to the Mysteries of Education The First World War line was drawn only after the Kaiser had beaten France and England to their knees and U-boats were sinking our ships. The Second World War line was drawn only after Hitler had conquered most of E urope, and Japan had dominated most of the Pacific and had launched a bloody attack on Pearl Harbor. T here have been many other lines drawn. L o o k in g back suggests that, in every single case, had these lines been drawn sooner, the loss of life and limb would have been dramatically lessened. Looking back but a short d ista n c e , we see American hostages paraded in Iran, U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut blown up, airplanes hijacked or sabotaged out of the sky, attempts to blow the foundation out o f the Twin T ow ers, U .S. c itiz en s assassinated, U.S. embassies blown away, a gaping hole in the USS Cole, and then 9/ 11. My President and I have drawn a line. Mr. K ight, w hat would cause you to draw a line? (s) F. Green White Heppner W e Print Business Cards Heppner Gazette- Times 676-9228 The first week in April marks the end of the third nine weeks o f this school year. With all that is going on in the educational community, legislative session, budgeting challenges, lone secession, and the war in Iraq, it is important to remember what we are about; the ongoing education o f our county’s students. That education continues on at a high level as all the people involved in the process remain focused on the tasks at hand; I appreciate all who are working hard toward our goals. What should I look for in the school board candidates? It is truly gratifying to see 15 people willing to give of there time and talents as school board members. As we become familiar with each candidate we need to be looking for five individuals who have the desire to serve all the students of the county, not just one area o f the county nor a narrow agenda. Ours is a diverse county geographically and socially. With the funding challenges, we need people who will provide for the needs o f all o f our children. We are going to have several opportunities to get to know the candidates. There will be a candidate’s forum in Boardman and Heppner, in April. The school district’s newsletter School Days will give each candidate approximately a quarter of a page to outline there philosophy and expectations for the district. I urge you to select five people who are solution oriented, process driven and can work together and speak as one voice for the district. Why does the district need so much cash carryover each year? The district’s cash carryover or beginning fund balance is our savings account, and serves several purposes. First, at the beginning o f each school year, it allows the district to pay its bills for several months until the tax money is received beginning in November. In the past, the district received one- sixth of the State School Fund (SSF) in August and the next payment in October, which was one-twelfth o f our SSF. We have to pay some payroll and lots ofbills for supplies beginning in July. In some years the one-twelfth SSF payment would barely cover our monthly payroll costs. So the cash carryover would keep the district from the need to borrow money until tax money began to be received. Second, some o f this carryover money was always placed in the budget as contingency money. If we had a severe winter, it would be there to pay for the extra fuel and electricity needed to heat and care for the buildings. If we had unplanned for occurrences such as boilers going out or part o f a roof needing repair, we would be able to take care of it at the time. Third, when we have years like this year, where we did not receive the money we expected when we created the budget, we need the cash carryover to take us through the year. This year that was the case because the State did not receive the money for which they had budgeted. The State adjusts our SSF money for up to one calendar year after the school year is over. Their method of collecting for overpayment o f one year is to deduct it from our May payment o f the next year. Having a cash carryover allows the district to not make staffing changes during the school year. This year for instance, without our cash carryover, we would have had to make personnel reductions each quarter as the state reduced it’S funding to us. That reduction was around a million dollars that could have resulted in a loss o f approximately some 20 teachers. What is the status of the legislative action, the budget process and lone’s secession? From the discussions taking place, it appears that the funding number for the 2003-2005 biennium will be around $4.5 billion. This is a ten percent reduction from the Governor’s proposed budget o f January o f 2003. It is roughly equal to funding for the 1998-1999 school year. We should have a better idea after the May funding forecast. We are building our budget on the $4.5 billion number. The budget will be published a week before the April 21 budget committee meeting. It may need to be adjusted after the legislature adjourns, which could be as late as August this year. One other item that is complicating the budgeting process is lone’s desire to secede from the district. That process is mov ing along, and we do feel that it could still happen in time for next school year. Both the district and the community of lone are working at reaching an agreement that can be written as an amendment to Senate Bill 372. If you have questions about items in this article or desire an explanation o f items concerning education, please write or E-mail me in care o f this newspaper or to the Morrow County School District office at P.O. Box 368 Lexington, OR 97839. MS Walk to be held second weekend in April W alkers c o lle ct The 2003 Rebif MS Walk, held annually in over 700 sites across the US, as well as here in Heppner will be held Saturday, April 12, beginning at 9 a.m. Walkers w ill m eet at A ll S aints Episcopal Church on Gale St., in Heppner. H a l f - off C o m p u t e r s fo r M o r r o w C o . R e s id e n t s Electronic P»rt» C om pany it offering a very lim ited supply of top-of-the-line, brand new com puters w ith the latest Inteff technology to all M o rro w Co. Residents A ll com puters com e packed in their original boxes w ith a full manufac tu re rs warranty. I -800 tech support and have the latest W in d o w s' Technology They are equipped w ith a I 3 ghz Intel* processor, upgradable to 1.8 .1 28 mb S D R A M , a 20 gb H ard D rive. I 44 inch floppy disk drive. 32 bit sound card and video card. C D B U R N E R , netw ork and Internet capability, speakers, keyboard and m ouse Buyers have their choice of W in d o w s X P o r can upgrade to 2000 for an additional $60 U st price is $798: cost ter M o rro w Co. Residents is $399 Pentium * 4 's also available for $599 You m ust call 1866 662 C O M P by Saturday to qualify w w w epcparty com U se prom o cod« PR 8825 p led g es to fund c lie n t p ro g ram s fo r th e 5,800 Oregon residents living with MS, as well as 300 national/ international MS research projects. Those interested in donating to local groups have many opportunities as many groups in H eppner have created walking teams. Two known teams include the Bank o f Eastern Oregon staff and the Morrow County Sheriff’s Office. For other team information or to find out other Walk information you can contact M erilee McDowell at 676-5238. Rhea Creek Social Club to hold outing The R hea C reek Social Club will be meeting April 9, at 9:30 a.m., in front o f G D ’s R esta u ra n t in Heppner. Everyone is asked to bring a sack lunch as the group will be driving out to Sherry Palmer’s house to see her dolls. Chamber C hatter By Claudia Hughes, Executive Director April, what better time than to “stop and smell the flowers.” Spring break spent with children gives one the opportunity to do just that. W atching a five year old contemplating the rippling creek and cloud formations, climbing a tree, running as she explores, or rolling a log to the campfire, with the help o f her big brother, puts life into p e rsp ec tiv e . R em em ber having an entire day to “play”? Back then, lives didn’t run on a time clock. Children learned who they were while they built memories without too much adult interference. Not such a bad idea. N ow we have information and scheduling overload. A recent article stated, “Today a single issue o f the New York T im es contains more information than the average 17th century person came across in an entire lifetime.” Many people have become addicted to continuous T. V. news, email, Internet, voice mail, faxes, junk mail, newspapers, cell phones, m ag azin es, books and catalogs. The brain has only so many connections and cannot handle the bombardment of information; thus it becomes increasingly difficult to focus on one thing with undivided attention. Loss of sleep occurs during the night as the brain is still continually trying to process all it has taken in that day. Eventually the result is p h y sical and m ental disturbance. Very little o f the information glut allows one to interact with people. If you should choose human contact over the above mentioned, here are just a few o f many opportunities to do just that: To enhance your business, attend Business Northwest 2003 on Tuesday, April 22 at the Pendleton Convention Center. Featured speaker is Robert E. Farrell, owner o f Farrell’s IceCream Parlors and author o f “Give- em The Pickle... and they’ll be back!” Four sessions have excellent presenters; breakfast and lunch is included. Call the H ep p n er or P en d leto n C h am b ers fo r m ore in fo rm atio n or v isit w w w . b u s i n e s s - north west. com. Usually one has to drive hundreds of miles for a conference of this caliber. For h an d s-o n decision making, come to the Morrow County Chamber o f Commerce-sponsored School Board Candidates’ Forum on Tuesday, April 29. Fifteen candidates will be invited to address questions submitted by the public prior to the event. Watch the Gazette for more in fo rm atio n and subm it questions to the Heppner Chamber o f Commerce, P.O. Box 1232, H eppner, OR 97836 by Tuesday, April 15. Creativity: The 2003 Flood C o m m em o ratio n C o m m ittee and the St. Patrick’s Celebration Family Flag P ro ject w elcom e volunteers. That’s only two of the many Willow Creek Valley a c tiv itie s th a t o ffer opportunities to become more informed, more creative and grounded in reality. Working together creates balance. The H ep p n er C h am b er o f C om m erce in v ites new members to join the chamber. C ost is $25 for a 2003 membership. P atrio tism : Try eliminating news that gives airtim e to events that go against your principles, such as flag burning. Those who respect the flag o f the United States of America and what it stands for, and who are willing to stand up for their country, give us freedom to be who we are. They deserve recognition. Remember to “play along the way”. Nature offers much if we take the time to look and listen. I t’s not competitive and it gifts us with a different sunrise and sunset each day. N atu re, not information overload, puts things in perspective. Thought for the week: “Winning is making do with less, and feeling more.” Bird» Kegan Creek Steagall- a son, K egan Creek, was bom March 11, 2003 at St. Anthony Hospital in Pendleton to Jennifer and John Steagall of Lexington. Hayden Joseph H yatt- a son, H ayden Joseph, was bom March 17, 2003 at St. Anthony Hospital in Pendleton to Leah and Troy Hyatt o f Heppner. Jessie Isaiah Islas- a son, Jessie Isaiah, was bom M arch 19, 2003 at St. Anthony Hospital in Pendleton to Kirsten Barnes o f Irrigon. Hunter Orville Idel Leighton- a son, H unter Orville Idel, was bom March 20, 2003 at St. A nthony H ospital in Pendleton to Jennifer and Deeno Leighton ofBoardman. Kylea Arianna Paullus- a daughter, Kylea Arianna, was bom March 16, 2003 at G ood S hepherd Medical Center in Hermiston to T iffan y B oyd and K risto p h e r P au llu s o f Hermiston. Gun Club news Fifteen shooters had fun busting targets during last Friday’s night shoot. Annie Oaklies were won by Harvey Childers and Chris Goble. Three buddy shoots \v^re held with Curt Day and Martin Mills winning one with a p e rfe c t sco re. M arch Schlichting and Childers won the second buddy shoot. The third buddy shoot was a chip baker won by the team of Curt and Chance Day. The C lub w ill be shooting again on Friday, April 5 at 6 p.m. The last Sunday ended the winter league season with the following results: First- Barry Munkers/Jeff Cutsforth: 569; S eco n d - H arvey Childers/March Schlichting: 567; Third- Curt Day/Jim Powney: 566; and Fourth- Sandi Day/Chance Day: 550 M unkers and C utsforth won silver belt buckles. Curt Day ended the season by shooting 25 for 25 at 16 yards, then backing it up with a 24 for 25 at the 20-yard line. The club hopes to see more shooters next year. Call Schlichting at 989-8525 or Childers at 422-7412 for more information. The high league shooter this year was Curt Day with 290 points followed closely by M unkers and Childers, each with 289 points. A fter league, five Annie Oaklies were shot with Chance Day, Bob Krein and Munkers, all picking up wins. Curt Day took the other two wins. D ue to busy weekends this spring, Morrow County Gun Club will not shoot on Sunday, however we will be open every Friday night at 6 p.m. Hope to see you there. Daylight Savings Time begins Sunday It is that time o f year again when we must “Spring forward" our clocks. Daylight Savings Time begins Sunday, April 6. All clocks will need to be set ahead one hour.
