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
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