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
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David S y k e s ...................................................................................................... Publisher
Katie Wall
Naw* d u d lln « i t Monday i t 5 p
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m
1 dl,or
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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.