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lïetzell
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fcugene, OR
VOL. 122
NO. 37
Judge’s recommendation-Morrow
County School District to give
$100,000 to lone
Lib rary
97403
8 Pages
Wednesday, September 10,2003
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
The M orrow County
School District is expecting to
lose an additional $ 101,000 to
th e lo n e S ch o o l D is tric t,
M C SD learned at its regular
m eetin g M onday n ig h t in
I rr ig o n . J u d g e F ra n k J.
Yraguen, who was employed
to assist in the division o f
assets and liabilities betw een
the M orrow C ounty School
District and the newly-formed
lo n e S c h o o l D is tr ic t,
reco m m en d ed in his final
report that M CSD pay ISD
a c c o r d in g to a fo rm u la
w hereby ISD is entitled to 7-
3/4 percent o f M CSD ’s assets
a n d lia b ilitie s. T he 7-3/4
percent figure was specified in
lo n e ’s bill to form its ow n
district, which was approved
b y th e O re g o n S ta te
Legislature.
A ccording to Judge
Y raguen’s recom m endation,
M C SD ow es ISD $55,050
fro m
th e
E q u ip m e n t/
O p e r a tio n s
R e s e rv e ,
$ 5 9 ,6 3 7 .5 0
fro m
th e
C o n tin g e n c y
Fund,
$ 14,956.66 from the Interfund
Transfers Fund and $12,250
from insurance prepaid for the
2003-04 school year. Judge
Y raguen also recom m ended
th a t IS D p a y M C S D
$40,111.09 from the Capital
Im provem ent Fund-A ssets
E v a lu a tio n . H e f u r th e r
Fires destroy two homes in Heppner
Tw o fire s, o n e on
Thursday, Sept. 4 and one on
M onday, Sept. 8, took the
h o m e s o f tw o H e p p n e r
families.
The fire Thursday at
T erry L u p in a cc i and Lyn
B rew er’s house on H w y 207
w a s c a u se d by e le c tric a l
problem s with an exhaust fan
in their kitchen. The fire was
called in by another party at
3:11 p .m . H e p p n e r F ire
D epartm ent arrived on the
scene and called for mutual aid
from the Lexington and lone
Fire D epartm ents. The fire
took approximately five hours
to put out, according to Rusty
Estes, H eppner Fire Chief.
The fire damage was extensive
and the house was a complete
The remains of the home of Dale and Diane Munkers on Water Street in Heppner.
loss.
M o n d a y n ig h t, a
house on Water St., Heppner,
rented by D ale and D iane
Munkers caught on fire due to
an electrical problem in the
living room . The M unkers
w ere hom e in bed w hen the
fire began. The H eppner Fire
Departm ent was called to the
scene and it took around three
hours to extinguish. The fire
c o m p le te ly d e stro y e d the
house.
“Your sense o f smell
shuts o ff w hen you sleep,”
s ta te d a fire d e p a rtm e n t
w orker. Due to this fact, the
H ep p n e r Fire D ep artm en t
would like to remind everyone
to check their smoke detectors
and if you do not have one or
m ore in your hom e to add
them . Sm oke detectors are
relatively inexpensive, around
$15-20, and in the long run
Firefighters work at extinguishing the fire at the Lupinacci-Brewer residence as smoke billows out
can save you m oney or your
from the hack of the house.
life.
Little League to hold
annual meeting
H eppner
L ittle
League C om m ittee will be
holding their annual election of
officers on Sept. 25, at 7 p.m.,
at G D ’s restaurant.
Anyone interested in
b e c o m in g
a H eppner
C o m m itte e m e m b e r o r
volunteer for Little League
should plan on attending this
meeting. Present members will
need to be at G D ’s by 6:30
p.m.
If you w ould like to
volunteer and cannot attend
the annual m eeting, please
contact Mindy Christianson at
676-5818.
recom m ended that the bond
levies should be left where they
are; that the two parties advise
PERS to split the account and
perform an actuarial study to
determ ine how the split shall
be accom plished, w ith each
school district paying h a lf o f
the cost o f the study; that the
fumiture/'equipment line item
b e h a n d le d as p e r th e
a g r e e m e n t b e tw e e n th e
s u p e rin te n d e n ts ; and th at
v e h ic le s be d iv id e d on a
92.66/7-3/4 ratio. According
to Bill Kuhn, M CSD Board
m em b e r, th a t m ea n s th at
M C SD also ow es ISD one
vehicle.
T he rec o m m e n d e d
payment to ISD prompted the
M CSD Board to revisit their
e a rlie r d e c is io n to a llo w
L exington area students to
c o n tin u e to a tte n d lo n e
Schools if the student had
already attended the previous
year. M CSD estim ates that it
will lose around $ 100,000 to
IS D e a c h y ear, b a se d on
approxim ately 24 students
w ho fall into that category.
M CSD plans to discuss the
issue further in subsequent
m eetin g s, but has already
c o m m itte d to a llo w th e
Lexington students in question
to attend lone Schools for the
currentyear.
T h e H e p p n e r C ity
Council Monday continued to
debate the size and cost o f a
p r o p o s e d w a te r s y s te m
project that w ould overhaul
and rep lace old and leaky
pipes throughout the city.
Council members are
still unsure how big they want
the project to be, but are sure
o f one thing: they don’t water
rates to go any higher.
The recently enacted
water rate increases will raise
an additional $143,000 per
year (if usage stays the same)
a n d c o u n c il m e m b e rs ,
especially Tom Wolff, have
repeated that they do not want
the project to be any bigger
or cost any m ore than the
$143,000 per year can pay
for.
C ity m anager Jerry
Breazeale said Monday he felt
the city could replace all o f the
pipes that need to be replaced
in the city for $3.7 million, the
am ount o f debt the $ 143,000
w ould pay o ff in 30 years.
Wolff, however, said he didn’t
want the city to spend the $3.7
million just because it had the
money. “I don’t want to spend
the m oney ju st because we
have it,” W olff said. He said
the city should not replace pipe
on Rock Street for instance if
the pipe was still in good shape.
W olff said the city should
prioritize w hat needed to be
repaired and then spend only
that amount o f money. W olff
suggested that repairs m ight
only cost $ 1.7 to $2 million.
W en J o u o f A C E
C onsultants, the engineers
w ho studied the city 's w ater
feature several action pictures system, was at the meeting and
o f last F riday’s gam e with said he would do whatever the
Reedsport, taken by Gazette- council desired, but asked the
T im es sports photographer city not to completely scrap the
Teresa H ughes, will also be o rig in a l $6 m illion w ater
posted on the site.___________
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continued page 2
Water issues still flood
City Council
Football scores to be on Internet
Scores o f this Friday’s
away game with Umatilla will
be p o ste d on the In tern et
Friday night. The score o f the
gam e will be updated each
quarter. To access the scores
go to wvm.Heppner.net and
click on the M ustang football
scores link. Also on the site are
pictu res o f M ustang team
m e m b e rs and th is y e a r ’s
football schedule. As an added
In other business, the
board heard testim ony, both
p ro a n d c o n , c o n c e rn in g
establishing a high school in
Irrigon. Generally, Boardman
r e s id e n ts s p o k e a g a in s t
forming an Imgon high school,
while Irrigon residents were in
favor o f the school.
In a related issue, the
board, anticipating opening a
h ig h s c h o o l in I rr ig o n ,
established a boundary for
s tu d e n ts to a tte n d th e
p roposed high school and
c o n seq u en tly for students
attending Irrigon elem entary
s c h o o ls . T h e e a s t- w e s t
division w ould be along the
Bom bing Range Road to the
Columbia River, with students
west o f Bombing Range Road
a tte n d in g R iv e rsid e H igh
School and students east o f
th e ro a d a tte n d in g th e
proposed Irrigon High School.
M CSD Superintendent Dr.
Jack C rippen said that the
Bombing Range demarcation
would facilitate the division,
because the line runs through
an unpopulated area in Port o f
M orrow and Wildlife Refuge
te r r ito r y . T h e e a s te rn
b o u n d a ry w o u ld be th e
Morrow-Umatilla county line.
The southern boundary would
project and start over. Jou
said the city w ould be better
o ff to im plem ent that part o f
the city w ater m aster plan it
could afford.
The original m aster
planned called for the city to
upgrade the water system with
three new w ells and a new
750,000-gallon water storage
tank. The tank and wells would
be needed to accom m odate a
proposed future population o f
2,000. The wells and storage
tank will apparently be cut
fro m th e p la n n o w th a t
spending is to be reduced and
also the general public and
council m em bers d o n ’t feel
Heppner will reach the 2,000
population mark.
Jou also urged the
council to consider certain
upgrades that will ensure the
health o f the community. Low
pressure and “dead ends” in
the w ater system can cause
health problems, he said. The
health issue w as one reason
the city was able to obtain low
one percent financing on loans
to finance the water project.
C ity m anager Jerry
Breazeale has said at times he
“thinks” the city will be able to
preserve the low interest loans
even w ith the scaled dow n
project, how ever, he is not
sure.
After much debate the
council agreed that the project
s h o u ld m o v e a h e a d w ith
re p la c e m e n t o f th e m ost
critically damaged pipes being
the top priority. The engineer
will come back to the city with
a p rio rity list o f the m ost
needed areas o f the city water
pipes to be replaced. Bids for
the project will then be asked
for and the city will do the most
continued page 2
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