Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 13, 2004)
Council hears proposal to take over city garbage service B e s s i e B f a t za ll U of J i»e*spa^ir L ib ra ry Eug en e, 0« 97 4 J 3 HEPPNER The Heppner city council meets Monday night for the first time at its new olfices on Main Street. imes VOL. 123 NO. 41 12 Pages Wednesday, October 13, 2004 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Gang activity, safety issues discussed at school board meeting Gang-related activity in connection with the Morrow County School District’s alternative school becam e the focus o f the d is tric t’s regular school board meeting Monday night in Irrigon The discussion on that and other safety issues, prompted by new district su p erin ten d en t M ark B urrow s, brought some concerns to the surface. R epresentatives o f ESD, which is under contract to o p e ra te the altern ativ e school, and d istrict administrators in the north end o f the county acknowledged some issues, but reminded the audience that the students who attend the alternative school were placed there because they Heppner boy takes time to enjoy Oktoberfest Jordan Scott, age 4, of Heppner, had his face painted in a Spiderman motif while enjoying events at Oktoberfest held in Heppner on Saturday, Oct. 9. had problem s in regular classrooms. Board member Bill Kuhn said that he had been contacted by a parent concerning safety at the Irrigon alternative school Bill D eB oard, assistant principal for Irrigon schools, said that some stu d en ts attended the alternative school because they had problem s with discipline, drugs, gang- related incidents, weapons, violence or intim idation, w hile o th ers fell behind because o f “massive” lack of attendance, sometimes as the result o f ill health, and yet others were pregnant or parenting teens. Some were also older students in the 18- 20-year-old range and some were required to attend by court order O f the 50 stu d en ts atten d in g the alternative school, 31 had Irrigon addresses, 15 had Boardm an addresses and four had Heppner addresses, which does not necessarily mean that those students attended those respective schools. Board member Ken Matlack expressed concern o f the p o ssib ility th at stu d en ts w ere placed in alternative school as a way to rid the particular school o f discipline problems as a consequence of the district’s “zero tolerance” policy Administrators said that so far this year, there had been no g an g -related problems, probably due to the separation o f tw o regional gangs since the opening o f the Irrigon Junior/Senior High School this fall Members o f one gang, the Nortenos, whose color is red, primarily live in the Irrigon area, while the members o f the other gang, the Surenos, whose color is blue, primarily live in the B oardm an area Joel Chavez, English Language Learners program director, said that members o f the B oardm an-area Surenos may want to avoid trouble becau se if they w ere recommended for alternative school, they would be placed on hostile tu rf in Irrigon C havez later told the Gazette-Times that gang- related activ ity w as a concern, but o f far greater impact was the effect o f “meth” on families The board explored the idea o f obtaining a grant to fund a resource officer in the north end schools, the a lte rn ativ e school in particular The board also approved the first reading of a change in the in te rsch o lastic and co- curricular activities program in an effort to cut down or eliminate mid-week athletic games as follows: “ In the event th at a gam e is scheduled o th e r than Thursday, Friday or Saturday, the follow ing guidelines will apply: 1. No mid-week games shall be scheduled where the student returns home later than 10 p.m ; 2. No student shall lose more than seven hours o f seat time per academic year; 3 The number o f mid-week games must reduce from one year to the next to ensure the board’s direction to move away from all mid-week games ” Also at the meeting, the board ratified a collective bargaining agreement with classified employees which provides a one and a half percent increase for 2004-05 and a one and a half to three percent increase each year for the next tw o years, depending on the consumer price index The board had ratified the agreement in September and the union approved the agreem ent later continue J page three ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 RM. The Heppner City Council Monday night discussed the possibility o f taking over city garbage service currently done by Heppner Garbage Service owned by David Green A 10-year franchise agreement with the company expires at the end o f 2004, and Monday the City Public W orks D irector Bruce Nelson suggested the city not renew the franchise and take over the service Because o f what the city called “numerous complaints from customers,” the council w as d iscu ssin g placing Heppner Garbage on a 90- day “performance review.” The review will require H eppner G arbage to maintain a business phone with response to customer complaints within 24 hours, maintain a regular pickup schedule; provide backup for days that may be missed because o f sickness or vacation; provide adequate dumpsters in good condition for accounts that request them and maintain garbage trucks in a clean and sanitary' condition It also called for certain m onetary requirements from Heppner Garbage City M anager Jerry B reazeale said the main customer complaints came from Heppner Elementary School, which told the city, dumpsters had been moved and not returned and that garbage had piled up on numerous occasions During the discussion Public W orks D irector Nelson said garbage pickup could be a moneymaker for the city He said garbage cans would have to be put out to curbside, but that two people could pick up the city in three days. He said there would be one person on the truck in the morning and one in the afternoon “I think it would be a wise thing to do,” Nelson said No action was taken, however, the council did vote unanimously to place continued on page 3 New Heppner business to offer high speed internet access A new telecommunications company soon to open in Heppner will offer both high speed wireless and high speed fiber optic cable to homes and businesses in the area, a company spokesman said Monday. W i n d w a v e Com m unications General Manager Nate Arbogast said the company is now signing up subscribers at $29.95 per month plus set up fees. S u b scrib ers who have w ireless capability installed in their computers will be able to be on the internet anywhere within a tw o mile area around H eppner The com pany advertises the service as being “up to 27 times faster than dialup ” The company will also install fiber cable directly to the home Cable provides even faster data transfer and will at some point m ost likely offer movies and other content on dem and, according to Arbogast Windwave has been approved to construct a new 4760 sq ft building on N orth C hase S treet in Heppner The company has also been approved to offer service in Baker It was incorrectly reported that the business was affiliated with the Port o f M orrow in last week's G azette W indw ave is a wholly owned subsidiary of Inland D evelopm ent C o rp o ratio n and not connected to the Port, Arbogast said Windwave does, however, rent office space from the Port building in B oardm an and Port Manager Gary Neal is on the board of directors. Windwave is a privately held company, Arbogast added “We are very excited to be providing this service in the H eppner a re a ,” Arbogast said. “It will help with the econom ic development o f the area.” The co m p an y ’s number for information is 1 (800) 860-8508 Medical District to ask for tax levy Elizabeth Peterson (right) asks a question at a town hall meeting in lone Sept. 29 to discuss the proposed Health District tax levy on the ballot, or $39 per year for some- Health District Adniinis- trator Victor Vander Does along with board members and the county assessor an swered questions from a crowd of about 25 Sept 29 concerning the M orrow County Health District 3- year tax levy coming up for a vote on the Nov 2 ballot Vander Does explained that the levy will cost tax payers 39 cents per thousand one '*ial ovvns a $100,000 home The money will be used to keep the levy o f service at the 3 clinics and the hospital in the county unchanged, and also to purchase new ambu lances for an aging fleet in the district The health district has cut costs the past years by clos ing the nursing home, taking continued page l l VETERINARY SUPPLIES Larger, E xpan de d Selection! 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