TWO • Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon
Wednesday, April 14, 2004
The Official Newspaper
of the City of Heppner and the County of Morrow
Heppner
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U S P S. 240-420
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school board hires superintendent
continued from page one
budget. Previously, acting-
su p erin ten d e n t G eorge
M urdock had said that
M orrow C ounty U nified
Recreation District funds
would be sufficient for MCSD
extracurricular programs.
-postponed raising the
junior/seniorhigh school lunch
prices from $1.75 to $2.
Lorenz told the district that
while the lunch program was
currently self-supporting,
additional costs are anticipated
in opening a new kitchen and
renovating an aging kitchen
facility.
-heard a report from
Dirksen and Smith concerning
the proposed FFA program.
They said that a full-time vo-
ag teacher would be hired at
Irrigon High School and vo-
ag classes would be available
to Riverside High School and
H eppner H igh School
students via two-way V-tel,
which will be available in a
couple of months. Currently
one-way V-tel is available.
They said that Ron Anthony,
Columbia Middle School
principal who will then be
principal at Irrigon Junior/
Senior High School this fall,
was at a job fair to seek
applicants for the position.
They said that the program’s
emphasis would largely be
determined by the specialty of
the teacher selected.
-heard that plaques
have been installed at the two
new elementary schools and
decided that dedications will
be left to the schools and
communities.
-voted to suspend the
teaching license for Jerry
C ronin, CM S Spanish
teacher. According to the
board, Cronin had given only
three days notice prior to his
re sig n atio n b ecause of
financial costs incurred in
commuting to work and other
family issues. According to
M urdock, teach ers are
required to give 60 days
notice.
-g ran ted
an
attendance variance for a
student who lives on the
“extreme edge” of the district,
to attend school in Arlington.
Kuhn opposed that motion.
-heard a report from
Kuhn concerning lone. Kuhn
said that he and Craig Miles
went to lone to try to work
out a cooperative arrangement
concerning disputed Pine City-
students and suggested to lone
representatives that the two
districts share funding for the
students. “We did not get a
very good reception for that
idea,” said Kuhn. The lone
District has since explored
formation of a charter school,
which would allow admission
to any student. Kuhn said that
25 students, each bringing
approximately $5,200 in state
school funding to a district are
at the c en te r o f the
controversy.
Kuhn proposed that
MCSD contact the Oregon
School Boards Association to
lobby for legislative changes,
w rite the D epartm ent of
E ducation and co n tact
legislators, to prohibit charter
schools from taking students
from outside their districts.
Charter schools in Oregon do
not have
atten d an ce
bo u n d aries.
M urdock
reminded Kuhn that ISD is a
member of the Oregon School
Boards Association as well as
MCSD.
-heard information
from Lorenz concerning
landscaping. She said that the
district plans to hire people for
grounds keeping this year and
hopes to have grounds keeping
and landscaping contracted
out for next year, once bidding
requirements are established.
-voted to designate a
trial
a tto rn ey
as
a
housekeeping measure. Board
member Julie Weikel was the
sole “no” vote.
-ap proved
the
following resignations: Jerry
C ronin, tem porary CMS
Spanish teacher, effective
March 31; Maria Gomez,
A.C. Houghton Elementary
English as a second language
ed assistant; Becky Kindle,
H eppner H igh School
assistant volleyball coach;
Mark Rouska, Riverside High
School head soccer coach.
-rejected co n tract
offers for: Dale Rowekamp,
RHS science teacher; Jorja
Gunderson, Columbia Middle
School social studies teacher.
- a p p r o v e d
employment: Tyson Pratt,
RHS ESOL teacher; Rick
Drake, RHS music teacher;
Maria Aguiar, CMS half-time
ESOL teacher; V eronica
Cortez, RHS ESOL teacher;
Joel Chavez, half-time ELL
(English as a second language)
program director and half-time
RHS assistant principal,
pending budget adoption;
L aetitia S chreier, ACH
kindergarten teacher; Joyce
Hesla, ACH reading specialist;
Jill Milton, Sam Boardman
Elementary first grade teacher;
Kathleen Spinks, HHS/HES
special ed teacher; David
Melville, HHS half-time math
and half-time PE teacher; Joel
M yer, CM S tem porary
Spanish intern, replacing Jerry
Cronin; Elba Cardenas, ACH
ESL assistant replacing Maria
Gomez. The board further
d iscu ssed the C h av e z ’
employment as half-time ESL
d irector/R H S assistan t
principal. Matlackexpressed
concern that C h a v e z ’
employment as a half-time
assistant principal would take
away from his crucial job as
ELL director. Administrators
responded that Chavez’ half
time position as assistant
principal would also give him
the freedom to respond to ESL
priorities and free him to be
Must succeed in Iraq to ensure safety
To the Editor:
I am an 85-year-old
farmer and have lived through
two terrible attacks on my
homeland, those of Pearl
Harbor and New York City.
Pearl Harbor was an attack
against our strongest armed
service, but within a few hours
our country was unanimous in
our desire to respond in kind
and avenge those lost. I
believe that the attack on New
York City was a larger, more
heinous crime since it was
perpetrated against civilians,
unarmed men, women and
children. The surprising thing
to me is that the nation was not
unanimous in demanding
retaliation immediately and
against Afghanistan, Iraq,
Syria and Iran if they did not
join us in hunting down the
killers.
We have been under
criticism from many of our
own for not calling on the UN.
Of course forgetting that the
UN has never taken any
action against third world
dictators even when they were
committing genocide. Some
European countries have been
afraid of losing their private oil
deals with Saddam while
others are simply jealous of
our power and influence. I do
not think that the UN will ever
be more than another League
of Nations. For you younger
readers, the old League was a
debating society that existed
before WWII.
During that war, I was
stationed for most of my active
duty time in North and Central
Africa and for a good portion
of that time lived off base so
had more contact than most
service men with the natives
and European émigrés. Since
m ost o f the n ativ es are
Moslems we soon became
aware of their customs. As a
result, I confess to having a
sixty-year prejudice against
Islam . To me its only
relationship to religion as we
know it is th at it is
monotheistic. Otherwise, it
seems to be a method of
governing without any rights
for the individual. Not only do
the imams teach a hatred of
Jews and Christians, but deny
fundamental rights to their
women. The wealthy oppress
the poor, sometimes holding
them in virtual slavery. Our
landlady had a maid, a lady in
her late forties, who had been
purchased as a 6-year-old
child from her father, and
raised in the landlady’s family.
Madame G recounted with
pride that Zora had been
allowed to marry a Moslem
boy when she was sixteen “for
love.” And she had allowed her
Local Elks Lodge
Effort and extra installs officers,
work make a
announces
great community awards
To the Editor:
Pat
and
John
Edmundson were right on
target with their letter to the
editor on April 7,2004.1 think
we have the best city council
ever. Tom Wolff did a lot of
extra effort on the new city
water project. For several
days I saw Bob Jepsen and
Jerry Breazeale with rake and
shovel in hand fine grading the
ground at Heritage Park. On
A rbor W eek, I saw Bob
Jepsen, Jerry Breazeale, Jack
Meligan and Steve Brudevold
planting trees that will be a joy
to all for years to come. I also
want to say Public Works
Director Bruce Nelson is a
hands on leader. This kind of
leadership gets results. I’ve
seen a lot of cleaning up in the
last few weeks and other
projects getting done in a
proper manner. Effort and
extra work by all.
We have local
merchants on Main Street
from Cliff Green down to the
City limits and back up to the
other side and on several side
streets hanging in there making
our little town a much better
place to live. What more can I
say, God bless you all.
(s) Mel Piper
Heppner
own daughter to choose her
own husband, an alm ost
unheard of liberty. In many
cases, the camels seem to be
held in higher regard than
wives or daughters.
T he w orld has
changed a lot in sixty years and
I hope that the Middle East
has too, but unless we succeed
in establishing some model like
we hope to do in Iraq, none
of us will probably be alive to
see it. I suspect that even
today the imam will have his
madrassas, the circle o f a
dozen squatting little boys
memorizing the Koran, out in
front of the mosque learning to
hate the other half of the world.
I support the war in Iraq, not
because I love w ar, but
because if we leave this
battlefield, I believe that
neither we nor our children will
ever be safe anywhere in this
world again. A characterless
president and Congress ran
from Beirut, Somalia and the
Cole disaster so that most of
the Middle East is convinced
that we will cut and run if we
suffer causalities.
Presently, there are
about 19 or 20 o f these
“peace” groups and even a few
candidates singing the “Hate
Bush, Get Out Now” song. Do
you know who is financing this
propaganda? If not it is time
to start asking questions. But
don’t expected anything but
silence from Dan Rather, Peter
Jennings or the New York
The Willow Creek
Tunes.
Symphony
and Singers will
(s) Don McElligott
perform at A.C. Houghton
lone
Elementary School in Irrigon
on Sunday, April 18 at 3:15
p.m. The sym phony will
A nnaG race Olivia perform a variety of music
“ M o o n lig h t
Rose W enberg- a daughter, in clu d in g
AnnaGrace Olivia Rose, was Serenade” by Glenn Miller and
bom April 12,2004 at 11:34 a gyp sy them e en title d
a.m . at K adlec M edical “Rumanian Overture.” The
Center in Tri-Cities, WA, to c h o ir w ill sing several
Erik and Cynthia Wenberg of selections including “Simple
Heppner. AnnaGrace was 5 Gifts” and an arrangement of
pounds 3 ounces and 19 “An Old Irish Blessing.”
C o n d u cto r o f the
inches long. She jo in s
Willow
Creek
Symphony and
brothers Sebastian, 6, and
Singers
is
R.
Lee Friese of
Noah, 2. Grandparents are
Dr. Ken and Bonnie Wenberg, Athena. Assistant conductors
Heppner and Alita Leesburg, are W endy A p p leto n o f
M ichigan and g reat- Heppner and Nolan Frost of
grandparents are L illian Pendleton. The symphony and
Shadduck, Heppner and P. singers are based in Heppner
Kenneth Wenberg, Heppner. and are comprised of youth
and adults from throughout
Bailey makes
M orrow and U m atilla
counties.
Both groups are
EOU Dean’s List
a
ffilia
te
d
w ith Inland
M eghan B ailey,
H eppner H igh School Northwest Musicians at 25
graduate and daughter of Ken S.E. Court, Pendleton, (541)
or
em ail
and K aedene B ailey o f 9 6 6 -6 6 4 9 ,
info@inwm.org.
Heppner, made the Dean’s List
The concert is free to
at Eastern Oregon University
the public. A reception will be
in La Grande.
Bailey has a 3.6 GPA held following the concert.
and is an Ag-Business major.
Willow Creek
Symphony
and Singers to
perform
Births
The Heppner Elks
Lodge re c en tly held an
installation ceremony and
installed their officers for the
2 0 0 4 -2 0 0 5 Lodge Year.
Installed, as Exalted Ruler, was
Burke O' Brien. Other officers
in stalled w ere: L eading
Knight- Anthony Clement,
Loyal K n ig h t- L indsay
Kincaid, Lecturing Knight-
Colin Anderson, Esquire-
Marc Orem, Chaplain- Josh
Coiner, Inner G uard- Wade
Smith, S ecretary - Roger
Mortimore, O rganist- Ken
Turner, Treasurer-Joe Kenny,
and Trustee- Thomas Wolff.
Installing officers, all Past
Exalted Rulers, included past
Oregon Elks Assn. President
and former Heppner resident
Jack Sweek, with local Grand
Lodge Officers Gene Hall,
M arvin B rannon, D ave
Barnett, Joe Kenny, Eddie
Gunderson, Jr., Glen Ward,
Bob Lovgren, Calvin Sherman
and Dick Turrell.
O utgoing E xalted
R uler T hom as W olff
announced the “Officer of the
Year” and “Elk of the Year”
aw ards. E squire C olin
Anderson and Chaplain Marc
Orem were named as Co-
Officers of the Year. Both had
taken ch arg e o f youth
p ro jects, w ith M arc c o
chairing the Elks Hoop-Shoot
project, and Colin chairing the
Elks Eye P o ster S afety
Contest project. “Both of
these Officers have helped
with several projects through
out the year, and I could count -
on them to come-through for
me” said Wolff. The Elk of the
Year award was presented to
Anthony Clem ent for his
numerous contributions to the
local Lodge. “Tony ran our
Bingo project for us all winter,
along with helping at almost
every d in n er and social
function” said Wolff. “He is
always pleasant to work with,
and volunteered every time the
call for assistance went out,”
continued Wolff.
A fine Bar-B-Que
Ribs and Oyster dinner was
en jo y ed fo llo w in g the
ceremony. Dancing concluded
the affair with Matt Howard
Productions providing the
entertainment.
A full calendar of
community and charitable
ev en ts w ill o ccupy the
attention of the newly installed
officers.
Heppner Prom
nearing
The Heppner Prom
will be held at the Elks Club,
on Friday, April 23. This
year’s theme is Mardi Gras.
Music will be provided by Dan
Bums.
We Print Envelopes
H e p p n er G azette-Tim es
Speak up
for
a child.
E
ach year, nearly 3 0 0 .0 0 0 children end up in court.
They have committed no crime, but have been
abused and neglected - the forgotten victims of family
crisis. It is up to a judge to decide where they will spend
their future.
You can help these children have a chance to live in
safe, permanent homes. You can volunteer to be a child’s
voice in court.
There’s no pay. no legal background required.
Speak Up For A Child. Give your time and support today.
For information, contact: The Morrow County Juvenile Department / (541) 676-5642
Or write The National Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Association,
2722 Eastside Ave., E., Suite 220, Seattle, WA 98102 / (206) 328-8588