Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 12, 2003)
MCSB discusses ESL teaching methods Sesaie >7etzali U of a Newspaper Library Eusarie, OR V0L. 122 NO. 46 8 Pages 97403 Wednesday, November 12, 2003 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Heppner celebrates Veterans’ Day Heppner Mayor Bob Jepsen addresses crowd of 80 at the Memorial Park. Also in cluded in the program was Mothers speaking for their sons. The mothers were Wendy Appleton, Linda Schultz and Donna Schonbachler. Samarra Van Dorn sang God Bless America and Luke Murray played taps. Jerry Breazeale read the names of the Heppner war dead, Pastor Keith Brudevold talked about our responsibilty to veterans. Judy Rickert read the story of the origin of the song taps. The ceremony ended with a fly over by a Chinook helicoper from Pendleton and then a reception was held at John’s Other Place. City of Heppner moves ahead with $3 million water project The City o f H eppner voted M onday to move ahead w ith the city w ater system renovation project at a cost o f $3 m illion. The project is a pared down version o f a water renovation project originally adopted earlier this year. The city raised water rates this sum m er to pay for the new system , how ever, council m em bers feared the rate increase would not cover the cost o f a $6 million project so they cut the project in half. H igh priority w ork ( m a in ly w a te r lin e replacem ent) is scheduled to be done on the fo llo w in g streets: G ale, M ay, A iken, W a te r, C e n te r, W illo w , C annon, Hill, Jones, Shobe, Union, A, and Baltimore. M e d iu m p r io r ity stre e ts to h av e w a te r line replacem ent are: Thom pson, G ilm o re to R e s e rv o ir 5, Cowins, Hager, Court, Chase, Linden Way (650 feet south o f Jenkins to Main), Riverside, Sperry, Morgan, Elder, Minor, South o f Shobe, and Church. Low priority streets are Rock, Pioneer and Linden Way Alley. If funding becomes a problem or bids for the project com e in too high the low priority streets would be cut off. Council member Tom W olff has been adam ant for m any m onths that the city is only able to afford a $3 million water project, and M onday he reiterated that stand. W olff presented the $3 million plan to the council. “1 believe this is an affordable and do-able project. If costs go up we start cutting streets,” W olff said. The city raised water rates in July to cover the cost o f the new w a te r system . Since the increase the city has collected $51,360 m ore than over the same period last year. At that time, city officials were unsure if H eppner residents w o u ld cut back so far on w a te r u se th a t p ro je c te d incom es to pay for the new system co u ld not be m et. A ctual w ater collections are about $2,848 less than had b e e n p r o je c te d b y c ity officials. N o w th a t th e c ity w a te r p r o je c t h a s b e e n approved, bids on the project are expected to be taken next fall, with construction to begin n e x t w in te r . E n g in e e r s explained that better bid rates are received for projects in w in te r tim e w h e n m a n y contractors m ay not be as busy. In other water related business, the city manager said city water had been receiving higher than allowed coliform re a d in g s . T re a tm e n t w as added to the system and the problem has been traced to leaky lines that run through c o n tin u e d ^ a g e jw ^ ^ ^ ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M. The M orrow County School Board d ebated the merits o f “ immersion” versus “ t r a n s i t i o n ” m e th o d s o f teaching English-as-a-second- la n g u a g e s tu d e n ts at the b o a r d ’s r e g u la r m e e tin g M onday night at H eppner Elementary School. Board m em ber Ken M atlack said th at he had contacted several educators in other states who promoted the im m ersion program , which im m e rs e s th e s tu d e n t in E n g lish , c o n c en tra tin g on intensive English instruction b e fo r e te a c h in g s u b je c t content. District superintendent Dr. Jack Crippen favored the transition m ethod, w hich he believes is the method taught in M orrow County schools an d , he say s, has been successfully employed at A.C. Houghton Elementary School in Irrig o n . T he tra n sitio n m ethod em ploys bilingual teachers and aides to assist monolingual Spanish-speaking students. M atlack countered that he did not believe the tra n s itio n m eth o d w as as successful as it should be. H o w e v e r, th e d iffe re n c e between the two methods was not immediately apparent and the board directed M atlack to r e s e a r c h th e im m e r s io n program further. Dr. C rippen told the board that they currently didn't have enough bi-lingual people to implement either program. T h e b o a rd a ls o d is c u s s e d n e w la n g u a g e c o n c e r n in g th e d i s t r ic t ’s athletic policies. The district’s p o lic y , a tte m p tin g to discourage athletic contests M o n d a y s , T u e s d a y s an d W ednesdays, w ould require principals to sign o ff if they p erm itted gam es on those days. B oard m em ber Julie Weikel said that the proposed policy would be impossible to uphold and suggested changes that the district could live with, while still discouraging games on those days. A com m ittee agreed to fine-tune the policies via a V-tel m eeting set for Wednesday, Nov. 19 at 8 a.m. In other business, the board: -discussed proposed facility changes and costs to turn Columbia Middle School into Irrigon Junior/Senior High School. Proposed changes s u g g e s te d b y b u ild in g principals include: outfitting a shop building appropriately for senior high school students; rem odeling a resource room, r e m o d e lin g th e lib ra ry , rem o d elin g the com m ons/ office area; upgrading the gym fire exit and installing security cam eras. A thletic and extra curricular changes include im p r o v e m e n ts su c h as: fo o tb a ll fie ld lig h ts -a t a p o ssib le co st o f $4 5 ,0 0 0 , bleachers, goal posts, score c lo c k , a n d a r e s tr o o m / c o n c e s s io n s fie ld h o u s e e s tim a te d a t $ 2 2 8 ,0 0 0 ; soccer goals, gym bleachers and a score clock-$7,000; w r e s tlin g m a t- $ 9 ,0 0 0 ; b a s e b a ll and s o ftb a ll backstops and field prep; an all w eather track-$250,000; upgrading locker room s, a w eight room and equipm ent, security fencing and grades seven through 12 uniforms for all sports-football, volleyball, soccer, basketball, wrestling, track, baseball and softball- $172,805. Facilities adjustments for R iverside High School g ra d e s se v e n th ro u g h 12 included bleacher/restroom c o n c e s s io n s f a c ility - $228,000, a four-pole, three net volleyball set up for Windy R iver E lem en tary -$ 2 ,2 2 5 ; storage shed-$ 1,000; locker ro o m u p g r a d e - $ 1 0 ,0 0 0 ; sev en th and e ig h th g rad e science equipm ent, seventh and eighth grade library books and security cameras. M any o f the projects m ay be appropriate for bond monies, said Dr. Crippen. He said around $800,000 in bond funds still remains. -re c e iv e d a re p o rt from Dr. C rippen outlining player numbers, coaching staff required and costs for current ju n io r high and high schools and estim ated data for three ju n io r/sen io r high schools, H e p p n e r, R iv e r s id e a n d Irrigon, for the 2005/06 school year. Costs are estim ated to increase from $400,247 for 2 0 0 3 -0 4 to $ 4 9 4 ,1 0 5 - $498,105 for 2005-06, if all current athletic teams remain. C o a c h in g p o s itio n s a re estimated to increase from 84 to 95. C rip p e n s a id th a t athletic participation m ight increase when Riverside High School is divided into tw o schools and each school will likely be classified as 2A , rather than 3A for athletic competition. Heppner already competes at the 2A level. Currently HHS offers f o o tb a ll, v o lle y b a ll, cheerleading, boys’ and girls’ basketball, b o y s' and g irls’ track, softball, baseball and golf. RH S currently offers football, volleyball, soccer, cheerleading, boys' and girls’ basketball, w restling, bo y s’ and g irls ’ track, baseb all, softball, golf and tennis. Yearly p a r tic ip a tio n at H H S is c u r r e n tly a v e ra g in g 211 s tu d e n ts ; y e a rly a v e ra g e p a r tic ip a tio n at R H S is currently 398. Estim ates for 2005-06 are: 209 participants at HHS, 206 at RHS and 194 at Irrigon High School. C u rren tly H eppner Junior High offers football, volleyball, cheerleading, boys’ and girls' basketball and boys' a n d g i r l s ’ tra c k w ith an estim ated 126 participants; C o lu m b ia M iddle S chool c u rre n tly o ffe rs fo o tb a ll, volleyball, bo y s’ and g irls’ basketball, wrestling and boys’ a n d g i r l s ’ tra c k w ith an estim ated 221 participants F o r 2005 -0 6 , H JH w ould have the same programs with a p p ro x im a te ly th e sam e n u m b e r o f p a r tic ip a n ts ; Riverside Junior High would offer the sam e program s as C M S w ith an estim ated 98 participants and Irrigon Junior High would also offer the same program s as CM S with an estimated 126 participants. -requested a m eeting w ith the M orrow C ounty Unified Recreation District to b e g in ta lk about e x tr a c u r r ic u la r fu n d in g . M C U R D gave the district $318,000 this year to fund extra curricular programs. -heard from M orrow County Assessor Greg Sweek w ho explained that Coyote continued page 2 HCMF to host community-wide Thanksgiving dinner It is that tim e o f year again, w hen we long to hear the “G obble, G obble” song s a n g a t th e C o m m u n ity Thanksgiving Dinner. Heppner C h r is tia n M is s io n a r y F e llo w sh ip is hostin g the d in n e r, j o in i n g w ith th e Episcopal C hurch who has g ra c io u s ly d o n a te d th e ir facilities to hold the gathering. The dinner will be held on Thursday, Nov. 27 at 1 p.m . Everyone is invited to com e and hear the G obble, Gobble” song and enjoy good food and have a great time o f fellowship. Last year, B ank o f Eastern Oregon donated five turkeys and this year they have donated six turkeys. Central R ed A p p le M a rk e t a ls o donated a turkey last year. The community support for the dinner is greatly appreciated. For more information contact John or Kathy Marick at 676-5951. lone celebrates Veterans’ Day Adam Collin, of lone, displays flag created by first through fourth graders at lone Elementary School to show their support for the veterans. A round 40 people gathered on Tuesday, Nov. 11, V eterans' Day, at the lone L egion Hall to show their appreciation to the local veterans. As part o f the program , the Legion Post 95 Color G uard displayed the flags, guest speaker Bob Spanger, o f Pendleton shared o f his tim e in W orld War II and patriotic songs w ere sung. Mustangs advance to quarterfinals 2A football playoffs. This win The H e p p n e r a d v a n c e s th e m to th e M ustangs took a 47-2 win quarterfinals, which will be held over the Vemonia Loggers on in Heppner on Saturday, Nov. N ov. 8 in th e O S A A /U S 15, at 1 p.m. The M ustangs Bank/Les Schwab Tires Class will be going against the Myrtle Point Bobcats. HiQual Equipment CLOSE OUT on Flex Horse PANELS Morrow County Grain (¡rowers Lexington 989-8221 • 1-800-452-7396 for farm equipment. viiit our w tb tit* at W W W .m e g * i»t
