Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 20, 2004)
Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, October 20, 2004 - SEVEN Teens in the Steens Written by the lone Journalism Club A pre-dawn party o f 16 lone High School juniors and seniors set out armed with camping gear, warm clothes and a notebook for Southern O regon T he entourage was chaperoned by four p aren ts, fo u r community members, their principal and their teacher. The objective of this Natural Resources field trip was to o bserve the g eo lo g ical w onders o f O regon, how ever, these stu d en ts came away with a lot more Amy Jep sen , 11th grade, said, “My favorite part was climbing to the summit o f the Steens and seeing such an incredible view from 10,000 feet high We could see in all directions and for miles.” “It was fun. 1 learned different terms for geology like what a gunsight ridge was People who live out there are very rural and far away from civilization 1 could only handle living out there for a little bit; not all the time The landscape was sim ilar to here w hich su rp rised me w ith the sagebrush, but it was way more flat.” Commented Kyle Palmateer, U pgrade Tyler B row n, 11th grade, added, “ I liked it when we w ent cave spelunking in the Diamond Craters. Crawling around u n d erg ro u n d w as c o o l collecting lava bombs and stuff My dad went on the trip too; I guess that was cool too ” “ I think everyone should view the Kiger Gorge at some point in their life - it was absolutely awesome,” remarks Barbara Holland, 12th Grade. “ T his is an opportunity to learn about natural resources in the field, anything from the new management policies o f the S teens C o o p erativ e agreem ent to looking at alpine glaciation features, to traveling on the highest road in Oregon The camping and the camaraderie is fiin also,” said Duane Neiffer, Natural Resources teacher R ecalls Bryn B row ning, “ The m ost amazing part o f this trip were the students At each stop they ju m p ed ou t w ith notebooks and pencils This group climbed anything and everything and loved to throw rocks into any type of water They were divided into cook groups, car groups and camp groups I did bring extra food, but soon realized that each student pulled their own weight and some are pretty good cooks No one complained about setting up and breaking camp three times and everyone pitched in to help others. We all rotated cars so that we could spend time with the different chaperones and it seems that we laughed most o f the trip My favorite part was the aspen groves with all the vibrant oranges, reds and yellows.” The group had an extensive itinerary, which follows: Day O n e- lone to Diamond, OR via Ironside, Beulah Reservoir, Juntura and Crane; Day T w o- Diamond, OR to Roaring Springs Ranch (south o f French Glen) via lava beds, Hammond Ranch and the Malheur Wildlife Refuge, Day T hree- Roaring Springs Ranch to Inglewood, OR (north o f Burns) via the sumrnit o f the Steens M ountain Range, French Round Barn, The N arro w s and R oaring Springs Cave; and Day F ou r- Inglewood, OR to lone via Pictured from left to right (Front Kim) Austin Arhallo, Kelly Thompson, Taylor McElligott, Bryn Browning, Kyle Palmateer (Back Row) Duane Neiffer, Ashly Grams, (behind Ashly, Virgil Morgan) Abby Key, TVIer Raible, Tyler Brown, Barbara Holland, Amy Jepsen, John Walton, Dan Long, James Acock, Sara Peck, Arthur Eckstrom, Jenny Griffith. John Day Fossil Beds, Cant miles, one show er, cold to unload notebooks full of '^eeting, which will be held Ranch and Dairy Queen nights and hot days, the n o tes, soil sam ples and 8 at fum > tne class A fter alm ost 900 group pulled into lone ready several varieties and sizes o f will present their trip logs rocks. At the next lone board Please join us if you can Umatilla-Morrow ESD to take over Union-Baker contracts worth $9 million M orrow C ounty School be on the students and their On Friday, October 8, O regon School S u p e rin ten d e n t Susan Castillo announced that the Departm ent o f Education would be removing almost $13 m illion w o rth o f contracts from the troubled U n io n -B ak er E d u catio n S ervice D istrict T his amount is spread over a two- year biennium and includes instructional services for youth corrections, regional special education oversight and early intervention/early childhood education The Department also announced that they would be searching for alternative p ro v id ers for th o se contracts Today, ODE fo rm ally n o tified the Umatilla-Morrow Education Service District that they are the recommended contractor for approximately $9 million w orth o f those contracts covering regional special education management and early intervention/childhood e d u catio n program s. Regional oversight would include Umatilla, Morrow, U nion, Baker, W allow a, Grant and Malheur counties As part o f the contracting process, ODE will be sending a special team to Pendleton for an on site v isita tio n p rio r to co m p letely tu rn in g the programs over to the new c o n tra c to r In ad d itio n , Judge Frank Yraguen, who served as the m ed iato r b etw een lo n e and the Preschool students trot through lone There’s absolutely no substitute for 26 years judicial experience. Cristi Crowell, with help from Penny Krebs, gave the tudents of Creative Care Preschool in lone pony cart rides. Front Row L-R): Aaron Smythe, Kristi Crowell and Wyatt dcNary; (Back Row L-R): Maggie Flynn, Wyatt Steagall, *enny Krebs and Ivy Sandford. R e-elect C h a rlo tte G r a y mm fo r J u s tic e o f the P e a c e Paid for by C harlotte Gray (Front R om L-R): Leslie Browning, Kristi Crowell and Kaitlin Garrett; (Back Row L-R): Joey Olsen, Penny Krchs and Morgan Orem. Morrow County Clerk <« A History of Service *» I will represent you efficiently, effectively and cheerfully providing the accountability that is critical to sustain trust in local government. / hope you will allow me the opportunity to serve you. Paid for bv the Committee to Elect Cydc Mane Estes District, will be facilitating the contract transfers on behalf o f ODE. In learning o f the new s, S u p erin ten d en t G eorge M urdock said he was extremely pleased that the D ep artm en t is recommending the Umatilla- M o rro w ESD for this responsibility. “More than half o f the students served by these programs live in our ESD and as the largest regional agency in Eastern Oregon, I believe that we have staff and the capacity to provide the kind o f high quality m anagem ent that ODE is seeking.” He went on to say, “there are excellent people already providing direct services in the other five counties including Union and Baker and 1 am looking forward to the opportunity o f working closely with them to help p e rp e tu ate the outstanding work they are doing in serving the needs of children who qualify for these services.” “ I know that there has been c o n sid erab le consternation on the part of parents, students and staff at the grassroots level as these events have unfolded and we are anxious to provide assurances that there will no b reak s in program continuity. Many o f these services require licensed staff m em bers w ith com plex certification and unusual skills and we want to make sure that we can keep them on-board.” M urdock w as in Salem on Oct. 13 and 14 meeting with state officials and he was in LaGrande on Oct 18 meeting with staff at the Union-Baker ESD “It is our hope,” he said, “to be able to meld together the administrators and staff from our two agencies in order to be able to capitalize on the strengths o f all involved While the issues that have distracted us during the past sev eral m onths have involved adults, we need to continue to be reminded that our primary focus needs to Congratulations Jim Sheltonl in the tradlton of 20 years of excellence In Auto Qlaae replacement and repair, NORTHWEST WINDSHIELDS. INC. la proud to welcome another Matter Glazier to the tea ml A t the only NGA Matter Certified Technician in Eaatem Oregon, Jim Shelton it one of the latest of our otaea profeteionala to achieve the preetigioue rating of ‘ Auto Slate Expert* Welcome and congratulation Jim! Proudly S w in g the Northwest Since 1985 (800) 421-0022 unique needs.” ODE has m ade it very clear that accountability will be a top priority for their new contractors and that they plan to accelerate their involvem ent in term s o f program oversight The c o n tra c ts invo lv in g in s tru c tio n a l p ro g ram s fo r y o u th d e te n tio n and ju v e n ile corrections will most likely be turned over to agencies lo cated n earer the institutions they serve The U m atilla-M orrow ESD is not involved in th o se contracts and also does not pro v id e a lte rn ativ e education programs. Two of the program s- long-term care and treatment and the R iverbend C o rre c tio n s program , are both in the LaGrande School District and could be handled by that district Should LaGrande choose not to go that direction, then the Umatilla- M orrow ESD considered option two by ODE A dded M urdock, “Our board has long felt that the regional contracts and o v ersig h t o f the early childhood/early intervention programs ought to be in our ESD since we have the majority of the students We have experience in this area and it is a natural fit If we w ere to look at o th er questions related to Union- Baker such as alternative education or a potential merger, that would require m ore d iscu ssio n and direction from the board.” T here are 20 education serv ice districts in the S tate o f O regon providing a wide range o f regional services with the largest responsibility being Special E d u c a tio n The ESDs also provide a wide array o f services in support o f the No Child Left Behind Act including curriculum, staff development, services for second language learners and assessment and testing. Some ed u ca tio n service districts also provide a series o f specialized services such as information technology, c o o p erativ e p u rch asin g , alternative education, media, technology in the classroom and printing T he U m a tilla - M orrow ESD handles a v ariety o f m an ag em en t contracts in the areas o f b u sin ess serv ice s, tech n o lo g y , hum an resources, purchasing, and Special Education The ESD serves as the business office for lone. Helix, Ukiah, the O regon A sso c ia tio n o f Education Service Districts, the Oregon Small Schools A sso ciatio n and the Nixyaawii Charter School
