City Council decides to level BMX track
at Hager Park
Bs 3 3 i e We t z o l l
U of 0 N«'»3pap's? Library
E u ò :.“ 2 , 03
97403
The two-year old BMX track at Hager Park will he leveled and grass planted following action
Monday night by the city council. The Snoopy House (right) will also be removed.
V O L 123
NO. 19
14 Pages
Wednesday, May 12,2004
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Latino parents speak out to keep teacher
The circumstances
at the M orrow C ounty
School D istrict’s Monday
night m eeting in Irrigon
were regrettable, but those
circumstances brought out
the best of two worlds. For
the first time. Latinos in the
B oardm an
com m unity
spoke out—and the school
board listened.
L atino
w om en,
fearin g that a beloved
teacher would not be rehired
by the d istric t, gave
im passioned pleas in her
defense. The board was able
to listen— through the aid of
an interpreter.
O ne by one the
m others cam e up to the
m icrophone and Joel
C havez, d ire c to r o f the
d is tric t’s n ew ly-form ed
English language learning
program , translated their
concerns, and told of their
support o f B oardm an
Elementary School second
grade teacher Katie Dawson,
her d e d ica tio n , love of
te ach in g , love o f the
community and connection
with the Latino population.
Dawson, a 26-year
teaching veteran, had retired
in December under PERS
and was rehired to finish out
the current school year. She
requested to be rehired for
the 2004-05 school year, but
SBE Principal B.J. Wilson
offered contracts to two
other teachers for the second
grade
classes
and
employment of those two
teachers was approved by
the board at the Monday
night meeting.
Catalina Torres, who
spoke through C havez,
ty p ified the m o th e rs’
concerns and their love for
Dawson. Torres told the
board that six of her nine
children had Dawson as a
teacher and credited much of
their success to Dawson’s
en co u rag em en t. T o rre s’
continued page 3
Alaskan couple buys lone market
C om ing from the
northern reaches of Alaska,
M arcus and Lisa C ollier
have purchased the former
lone Market, to be renamed
Collier’s Market and have
begun to settle into the lone
com m unity.
C o llie r’s
M arket held its o fficial
grand opening May 10.
The C olliers, who
moved from Wasilla, AK,
but have also lived in Nome,
and other small A laskan
towns, were looking for a
chance to be closer to family
in western Washington and
to own their own business.
A fter searching via the
Internet and a real estate
agent, the Colliers looked at
about 40 businesses in the
Pacific N orthw est before
deciding that lone would
lend them
the best
opportunity.
M arcus, w ho has
been in the retail business
since he started working as
a teenager, has also worked
for Fred Meyer. Lisa also has
retail ex p erien ce and
worked in a hardware store
in Nome. They both felt that
the market would be a great
opportunity to use their retail
and people skills.
Another reason lone
appealed to the Colliers is its
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MONDAYS AT
5:00 P.M.
Following multiple
complaints from residents in
the area, the Heppner City
Council voted Monday to
level the BMX track at
Hager Park.
The track is a
collection of various sized
dirt mounds and was built
with volunteer labor about
tw o years ago. It was
intended as a place for local
kids to have a safe bike
riding area. R esidents
around
H ager
Park
complained Monday about
dust from the track and also
the location of a portable
outhouse in the park and a
large “Snoopy shed,” which
has fallen on disrepair.
Jo A nne and Joe
Burleson, who live at 655
Hager Street, which faces
the park, told the council
that the BMX track “was a
mess” and also dangerous.
“It’s an eyesore,” said Jo
Anne. “And that toilet needs
to be moved.” Her husband
Joe said he has witnessed
incidents of kids riding bikes
out into the street in front of
cars and also jumping over
people who were lying on
the ground.
Sherry
Ew ing,
whose home also faces the
park, said that the outhouse
is not even camouflaged.
“You drive up and there it is
right there. If the BMX track
stays we need to beautify it
and make it safer.”
R esidents
Jerry
Healy and Kit George also
expressed concern with the
co n d itio n o f the park.
“Either take care of it, or
level it and plant grass. That
outhouse has to go.
Volunteers aren’t going to
step forward and take care
of this place,” Healy said.
“It’s an eyesore and there is
dust,” said George.
A p p aren tly John
Bowles had expressed an
interest in trying to fix the
park; however, he was not at
the meeting.
E v en tu ally
the
council co n clu d ed that
volunteers were not going to
step up and do the work. “I
like the idea of the youth
having a place to ride, but I
don’t like this idea of the city
taking care of it for the next
100
y e a rs,”
said
councilmember Tom Wolff.
City works director
Bruce Nelson said it would
take a lot of time for the city
crew to weed eat the entire
BMX track area. “I would
like to see it le v e le d ,”
Nelson said.
“We tried it, it didn’t
work. L et’s level it,” said
council m em ber Judy
Buschke.
The council agreed
and voted to remove the
outhouse, knock down the
dirt mounds, spread the dirt
around and plant grass. They
also en co u rag ed park
neighbors to tear down the
Snoopy house.
Police discussion
In other business the
city discussed the currently
police situation. The city
contracts with the county to
provide deputies to patrol
Heppner. Under the original
agreem ent, the city was
suppose to have three
deputies patrolling the town.
Recently, because of injuries
We’re talkin’ turkey
ß
to two deputies and another
deputy atten d in g police
academy, the city has been
short on patrol officers.
“I thought the city
was supposed to get
deputies after they graduated
from the academy,” Wolff
said. “The county has not
reduced charges to the city.
We are paying top dollar for
three
d ep u ties.
We
understand they have had
some problem s up north
(two deputies were recently
injured), but that is not our
p ro b lem ,” he added. A
deputy at the meeting said he
would report back to the
council’s police committee.
Accepted offer on city
hall
The
council
accepted a counter offer
from the Heppner Gazette-
Times to purchase city hall.
The final deal included
trading the Gazette-Times
property plus $42,500 cash
for the current city hall
building. The city will in
turn purchase the former
Klamath First building now
ow ned by the Bank o f
Eastern Oregon and move
city hall there.
continued page nine
Marcus, Lisa and Annika Collier
clo se -k n it
fam ily
atmosphere and support of
its school. These tw o
qualities were important, as
the Colliers wanted a good
environment for their 10-
m onth-old
daughter,
Annika.
“We couldn’t have
picked a better town,’’ said
the
C o llie rs.
They
commented that many in the
community have helped to
make them feel welcomed.
The Zellers, the former store
owners, have also been very
helpful and great to work
with, added Lisa.
“ We feel they
[Zellers] had the business set
up for us to take it to the next
level,” said Marcus. New
inventory is being added,
in cluding
food
and
magazines, and in about two
weeks video rentals will be
available. The Colliers plan
on continuing the take-and-
bake pizzas as well, and
hope to expand that menu.
The building, which
is one of the oldest in lone,
will also be seeing some
changes. The Colliers hope
to restore the building and
tell everyone to expect a new
look by next year.
Donald Mathews, left, took his first turkey and his dad. Skip, took his second in the mountain
The Colliers were
around Heppner recently.
also excited about having
purchased the former Radie
home and enjoy its closeness
to the store. They look
forward to being active in
the com m unity and as
Annika grows, look forward
to being active in the school.
$ 2 .6 0 each b y the p a lle t ot 2 0 0
“We are very happy
to be here and are excited
about this new experience.”
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Morrow County Grain Growers