Board chairman, athletic director differ
on school game scheduling
Bessie fetzell
U of O Newspaper L i o r a r y
Eugene, OR 97403
VOL. 123
NO. 37
10 Pages
Wednesday, September 15, 2004 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
String o f burglaries, thefts leads to M orrow C ounty
T hree
unnam ed
suspects have been linked to
several area burglaries and
thefts. One of the suspects,
a 16-year-old juvenile from
Hermiston is currently being
lodged at Umatilla Juvenile
Detention. The two other
suspects, who are trying to
be located, have been
id en tified
as Irrigon
residents.
The su b jects are
su spects in th efts at
Fredrickson Ranch and the
RD Offutt property, as well
as from several north
M orrow County tractors.
They are also suspected of
burglary and theft at the Rill
resident in the Heppner area.
Items stolen include
farming equipment, tools,
tool boxes, radios, jewelry
and vehicles. With the help
o f the ju v e n ile su b ject,
several item s have been
recovered and returned to
their owners.
Jewelry and a 2001
Ford Mustang were stolen,
and have not yet been
recovered, from the Rill
residence.
The incident started
when the suspects borrowed
a vehicle from a friend who
later reported it stolen. That
vehicle was wrecked and a
second vehicle was stolen
from G illiam C ounty.
G illiam County deputies
then pursued the subjects
into Morrow County where
they had stopped at the Rill
residence, burglarizing the
house, stealing jewelry and
the Ford M ustang. The
vehicle out o f G illiam
County was recovered at the
Rill residence.
A ccording
to
M orrow C ounty S h e riff
Verlin
D enton,
the
P endleton
Police
Department believe that the
Mustang was traded by the
suspects to another fugitive
who is suspected to have left
the area. An attem pt to
locate the subject and the
vehicle is still being made.
City Council discusses expansion of
Urban Growth Boundary
The Heppner City
Council made a preliminary
m ove M onday tow ard
expan d in g the U rban
G row th
B oundary
surrounding the city.
The diagram below
shows the new proposed
expansion to the Heppner
UGB. The dashed line is the
UGB. The narrow line
shows the current city limits.
the golf course and Dee Cox
Road to the South Morrow
Industrial Park,
Each o f O reg o n ’s
241 cities is surrounded by
continuedpage 3
M orrow C ounty
School Board Chair John
Renfro and Heppner High
School ath letic d ire c to r
Greg Grant, at the regular
m eeting in L exington
Monday night, expressed
frustration over differing
view s o f the d is tric t’s
athletic policy concerning
changes in school game
schedules.
Renfro maintained
that the principals, athletic
d ire c to rs and coaches
appeared to be disregarding
d istrict policy which he
b eliev ed
p ro h ib ited
sch ed u lin g
m id-w eek
athletic contests and said
that he had receiv ed
com plaints from parents.
G rant said that school
officials were doing the best
they could in discouraging
mid-week games, bearing in
mind that the M orrow
County School District has
to work with other districts,
some o f which did not have
that sam e em phasis. He
asked Renfro to trust the
“professionals” to do their
jobs. He also said that he
w ould
also
receive
complaints from parents if
the quality o f play went
down. Renfro countered that
while some may consider
board m em bers “ dum b
farmers and ex-cops,” the
board sets the policy and the
ad m in istratio n and sta ff
should follow that policy.
However, the board
did not prohibit mid-week
games or prohibit changes in
the athletic schedules, but
rather, on D ecem ber 8,
2003, rev ised policy
concerning the scheduling
o f ath le tic c o n tests as
follows: building principals
are required to subm it a
written report for the board
within 30 days o f the end of
the season, which contains
the
orig in al
ath letic
schedule, actual schedule
and start tim es, actual
departure and return times
for away contest and the
num bers o f students
tran sp orted to and from
“away” contests. Since the
district’s four-day school
week was approved, the
board vowed to cut down the
num ber o f m id-w eek
athletic contests and the
am ount o f tim e students
spend away from class time.
The issue came to a
head following scheduling
o f recent H eppner High
School mid-week games.
H eppner High School
Principal Wade Smith and
Grant said that one o f the
games was scheduled so far
in advance that they did not
anticipate that school would
already be in session at the
time o f the game. School
started prior to Labor Day
this year. One of the mid
w eek aw ay gam es in
question was to Walla Walla
on the first day of school.
Also at the meeting,
the board awarded bids for
roofing projects for A.C.
H oughton
E lem entary
School,
H eppner
E lem en tary
School,
Heppner High School and
R iv ersid e High School.
S u p erin ten d en t
Mark
Burrows told the board that
the bid was initially too high,
at $1.6 million, but he was
able to negotiate a reduced
amount. The initial amount
was sent at $1.25 million,
but the board approved the
bid at $1,396,800. Burrows
said that the additional cost
was due to the high cost of
steel.
In other business,
the board:
-received a report
from B urrow s w hich
showed that districts with
four-day school w eeks
ach iev ed
state-w id e
benchm arks
at
approximately the same rate
as districts with five-day
school weeks. Results were
compiled from 10 Eastern
Oregon school districts with
four-day school weeks and
10 with five-day weeks. On
an average, in grade three:
in 4-day week schools, 15
percent did not meet the
benchmarks, 64 percent met
and 21 exceeded, compared
to 25 percent not meeting,
52 m eeting and 23
ex ceed in g for five-day
schools; in grade five: in
four-day schools, 18 percent
did not meet, 62 percent met
and 20 percent exceeded,
compared to 17 percent not
meeting, 63 percent meeting
and 20 percent exceeding in
five-day schools; in grade
eight: in four-day schools,
43 percent did not meet, 29
percent met and 28 percent
exceeded, compared to 44
percent not m eeting, 28
percent m eeting and 28
percent exceeding in five-
day schools; in grade 10: in
four-day schools, 60 percent
did not meet, 31 percent met
and nine percent exceeded,
compared to 58 percent not
meeting, 29 percent meeting
and 13 percent exceeding in
five-day schools.
-received a report
from Burrows concerning
the V-tel classes scheduled
throughout the district as
follows: a V-tel calculus
class o rig in atin g from
Candidates9 Fair to be held
A Candidates’ Fair
will be held Sept. 16 and 30
at John's Place in Heppner
from 12-1 p.m. The general
public is invited to attend
these meetings to meet the
various candidates.
On
Sept.
16,
candidates for County Clerk
and County Sheriff will be
on hand. On Sept. 30,
candidates for Justice o f the
Peace and City of Heppner
Mayor will be on hand.
The
H eppner
Chamber of Commerce and
Willow Valley Service Club
are sponsoring the event.
Town Hall meeting to be held in lone
Heppner
city lim its
A town hall meeting
to d iscuss the proposed
medical district levy will be
held in lone on Sept. 29. The
meeting will be at 7 p.m. at
the lone Legion Hall.
Officials from the
medical district will explain
the levy and take questions
from the audience. All
interested persons are urged
to attend.
Riverside High School has
four students from RHS and
two from H eppner High
School; a psychology class
originating from Heppner
High School has 17 HHS
stu d en ts and 10 RHS
students; an ag-leadership
class originating at Irrigon
High School has 16 IHS
stu d en ts and five RHS
students; an ag-business
class originating from IHS
has 18 IHS students and two
RHS students.
-receiv ed
an
elem en tary class load
a n aly sis from Burrow s
w hich
show ed
the
following: A.C. Houghton
Elementary-four
kindergarten classes with
c ontinued page three
L ocal m an
grad u ates from
M arin e basic
train in g
Travis Bellamy
H eppner
H igh
School g rad u ate T ravis
Bellamy, 20, graduated from
the Marine Corps Recruit
T raining D epot in San
Diego, CA on July 16 after
attending the C o rp s’ 12-
week boot camp there.
Since then,
B ellam y has com pleted
Marine Combat Training at
Camp Pendleton's School of
Infantry
in southern
California.
He is currently attending
M ain
B attle
Tank
Technicians School in Fort
Knox. KY.
D ay indicted on
num erous th eft
ch arges
Sandi
Day, o f
H eppner, was indicted
Tuesday, Sept. 14, by a
Morrow County grand jury
on 85 co u n ts, m ostly
pertaining to theft from the
Morrow County Transfer
S tatio n , acco rd in g to
M orrow C ounty D istrict
Attorney David C. Allen.
One count of tampering with
public records and one count
o f official misconduct are
included in the indictment.
Allen said his office
would apply for a warrant
for Day and set bail. If Day
is unable to make bail at that
time, a release hearing will
be held the following day,
during which a judge will
decide whether she may be
released or must post bail, he
said.
D A N N E R
BOOT SALE
The dashed line outlines the proposed expanded Heppnerllrhan Growth Boundry
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