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
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