Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 10, 2004)
Qualls prepares to leave for Iraq Bessie A'etzell U of 0 Newspaper Lit. Eugene, OR 974J3 (Back Row L-R): Doashea Qualls, John Qualls, his parents, Kay Rene and Rosco Qualls, and his sister and brother-in-law, Mindy and Tim Davidson, holding their baby, Maci, 4 months; (Front Row L-R): Children, Sydney Qualls, 5 and Hayden Qualls, 4 and Mindy’s daughter, Kailea Sample, 5, at Bank of Eastern Oregon in Heppner for a farewell breakfast. John Qualls, 27, an employee of Bank o f Eastern O regon, had a farew ell breakfast with his family at BEO in Heppner Qualls will be leaving for Louisiana on Nov. 16 and will be heading to Iraq with the National G uard at the end o f November Some o f his duties will include patrolling and helping out with the Iraqi people and schools. It is expected that he will be in Iraq for Wi years City may get flood plain relief VOL. 123 NO. 45 10 Pages Wednesday, November 10, 2004 Morrow County, Heppner. Oregon School board discusses changes in athletic policy, drug testing The Morrow County School Board deliberated changes in the newly formed policy concerning athletic gam es at th e ir regular meeting M onday night in Boardman Board member Craig Miles said that he felt that the p rev io u s p o licies w ere effective in reducing mid week contests while still allow ing the schools to com pete in their leagues, w hile board C hair John Renfro said that he felt that too many athletic contests were held mid-week and wanted to eliminate those games. The board agreed w ith new w ording as follows: -In the event that a game is scheduled other than T hursday, Friday or Saturday, the follow ing guidelines will apply: 1. N o m id-w eek games shall be scheduled where the student returns home later than 10 p.m. 2. Mid-week games shall diminish by 10 percent per year until such time that the board determines that further reductions are not necessary or practical The superintendent will report annually on the number o f mid-week games scheduled in cu rre n t and previous years The board eliminated the wording that specified that “no student shall lose more than seven hours o f seat tim e per academic year” because the amount o f time away from class time depends on the activity, the student and the number o f activities in which the student participates, said the board The board also elim inated the foljowing wording: “ the number o f m id-w eek gam es m ust reduce from one year to the next to ensure the board’s direction to move away from all mid-week games ” T he board also reviewed as a first reading a new policy on drug testing as follow s, w ith new wording underlined. Co-curricular Drug Testing S t u d e n t s participating in co-curricular activ itie s re p re se n t the community, the school, and their peers When illegal substances are used by co- curricular participants, such use impinges upon general m otivation, cohesiveness and performance As a result, the well being o f the individual and the general school com m unity is diminished by a participant’s use o f illegal substances M orrow C ounty School District is conducting a m andatory drug testing program for co-curricular participants in the Jr/Sr high schools th at wish to p a rtic ip a te by recom m endation o f their principal The purpose of the drug te stin g program is threefold: (1) to provide for the health and safety o f all co-curricular participants; (2) to undermine the effects o f p eer p ressu re by providing a legitimate reason for participants to refuse to use illegal drugs; and (3) to encourage participants who are found to be using drugs to p a rtic ip a te in drug treatm ent programs This drug testing program shall be instituted and conducted according to the procedures set forth in this policy This policy has a relationship to the Student Discipline Policy, Substance Abuse Policy and Student A ctiv ities and A th le te ’s Policies Co-curricular p a rtic ip a n ts should be advised that each o f the above policies might also affect their eligibility Normal disciplinary measures are still applicable for violations that do not arise from these testing procedures Definitions: Drug: Any substance considered illegal by Oregon S tatu te or which is controlled by the Food and Drug Administration Co-Curricular Participant: Any student participating in co-curricular p rogram s sp o n so red by M orrow C ounty School continued page 3 Christmas wall hanging to be raffled W illow V alley Service Club is currently selling raffle tickets for a C h ristm as q u ilted wall hanging The raffle drawing will be held Thursday, Dec 2 during the Light Parade in Heppner Ticket prices are $ 1 each or six for $5 Monies raised from the raffle will be donated to the Mural Fund The wall hanging is being displayed throughout Heppner You can catch the moving display at Bank o f Eastern Oregon, M urray’s Drug or Heppner TV, Inc Election results by city available Unofficial election resu lts for the Nov. 2 G eneral Election broken down by city are located on page 5 o f this week’s edition of the paper The results will become official on Nov 22 after certification Write-in candidates’ names are not published in election results received from the county. All write- in can d id ates are consolidated into one group on the results ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEM ENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M. The city of Heppner received good news Monday when a preliminary report shows that certain parts of the city could see a reduction in the flood plain by up to 68 percent The report is part of an ongoing study o f the Willow Creek Valley’s entire flood plain by FEMA (F ed eral Em ergency Management Agency). H eppner city m anager Jerry Breazeale was pleased to report that, “If preliminary numbers hold true, we are going to see a substantial reduction in the flood plain.” The 100 year flood plain m aps are what d eterm in e who must purchase flood insurance in H eppner, lone and Lexington and what type o f building restrictions are in place within the plain in the th re e cities B reazeale initiated the study last year when he noticed that the amount o f water currently predicted to come down during a flood didn’t match the reality o f what Shobe, Hinton and Willow Creeks could actually deliver If the prelim inary reports hold true throughout the entire study, Heppner re sid en ts should see substantial savings on flood insurance premiums and the freein g up o f building restrictions Flood insurance is required when homes or businesses in the flood plain are purchased through banks or other lending institutions As an example of the reductions expected, the report said that in Willow Creek above Hinton Creek there would be a reduction in the amount of predicted flood water by 64 percent Below Hinton Creek, would be 68 percent On Shobe Creek, there would be a reduction o f 53 percent and Hinton Creek would see 72 percent Heppner would not be the only city affected lone would see a drop o f th ree percent and in R ietm ann C anyon, 31 percent. Certain parts o f Lexington would see 51 to 53 percent reductions in the amount o f water predicted during flooding Heppner Mayor Bob Jepsen praised Breazeale for his work on the revised flood plain study “This shows what one person can do Jerry has been working on this for quite some time,” Jepsen said B reazeale did instigate the revised study, but was quick to add it was the result o f the efforts of many people In other business at M o n d ay ’s m eeting the council: -Voted to establish a school zone at the bottom of Water Street The speed limit there will drop from 25 mph to 20 mph at all times. -H eard that the public works department had dug up a drum of paint at the city yard and was having it analyzed for toxicity Public works also sold an old street Artifactory begins holiday shopping A rtifac to ry ’s 38 booths were reserved early this year for the Holiday Bazaar on Saturday, Nov 20 Willow Valley S ervice C lub is anticipating a lively day for holiday shoppers Doors open at 10 a m at the M orrow C ounty Fair Pavilion and will be open until 3 p.m. Lunch will be available by the service club and Santa will make his visit around 11 a m A $2 donation at the door goes tow ards the club’s youth sch o larsh ip s given to stu d en ts who will be attending college The club encourages you to, “Come out to start your holiday shopping and enjoy a festive day.” sweeper, water truck and tar pot for $30 each -Voted to stagger the speed zones coming into H eppner on the Spray highway from 45 mph, to 35 mph, to 25 mph when the highway reaches town -Learned that the Willow Creek Golf Course membership was going to ask its membership whether or not to have the course included in the proposed expansion o f the city’s urban growth boundary There will be an informational meeting Nov 16 to consider the UGB M orrow C ounty Planner Carla McLain will be at the meeting to explain the UGB -Heard that bids for the city’s $3 million water project might be let out in December - Agreed to sign- a lease with the Port o f M orrow for 4.5 acres o f industrial land at the South M orrow Industrial Park David Sykes, president o f the Willow Creek Valley Econom ic G roup (W CVEDG) said WCVEDCi planned at some point to build a 5,000 sq ft metal m an u factu rin g building on the site Because o f lack o f insurance WCVEDG is unable to sign the lease Sykes told the council his group had hired a professional grant writer to apply for grants to build the facility. The port, who wants to encourage dev elopment at the industrial park, is leasing the land to the city for $10 per year In o th e r city business, the G azette has learned that a franchise agreement between Heppner Garbage Disposal and the city will expire at the end of 2005, not 2004 as earlier rep o rted C ity M anager Breazeale told the Gazette that the city never intended to take over the garbage service The possibility was discussed at last m onth's council meeting, however, no action was taken 10% OFF r r p w County Crain Grow ers Lexington 989-8221 * 1-800-452-7396 Fee farm eq u ip m en t. vM t our web tite a t www megg n e t r 1.
