Web site ranks Heppner number
one for manufactured home living
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Bessie Wetzel! Newspaper Library
University o f Oregon
Eugene OR -t 7403
Upwardly Mobile Homes
W herr j r r the best
L
Happnar O n
160 900
town» to live in • mo
1.
Warsaw. *»
»98.800
1
Thompson FaMs Most M/900
4.
Fanning Sprwypv Fla. (4 4 Ü 0 0
b>lrhwnr>WeloufcriJ
for 10 placet with
plenty of people a nr
50 and older and loti
of upscale manufac
tured housing. H n r
they are. with the
corresponding modi
an value»
1
Ripley. Ohio
»43800
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CenlervWe. Tam.
»42.400
7.
Friendship Wit
»39,800
g
Fort Malte 1C.
»39400
A
Troy, Mo.
»38.200
10 Bathany Barren Oat
»38.000
Article in January issue of AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) magazine
ran the above article about top ten places for manufactured homes in USA. Heppner
is ranked #1.
Bringing in a median
value o f $60,900 for
m anufactured housing,
Heppner was recently listed
as the number one place to
live, if over 50 and into
“ upscale m anufactured
housing .” This listing was
published in the January
2005 AARP Bulletin from
ePodunk, Inc.
EPodunk, Inc., is a
privately owned company,
started by three journalists
and based near Ithaca, NY,
that publishes in-depth
community information on
the
Internet
at
www epodunk.com The
company gathers statistics
from the U S. C ensus
Bureau, US Forest Service,
NASA, United States Postal
Service, National Center for
Education Statistics and
many o th er governm ent
agencies, as well as from
state and local governments,
n ew spapers
and
organizations. From this
gathered information, one
can find information about a
com m unity’s population,
growth rate, school districts,
local
a ttra ctio n s,
newspapers, etc
EPodunk,
Inc
believes in “the power o f
place” and that “there is no
such thing as an unimportant
com m unity.” W ith this
philosophy,
ePodunk
publishes information not
only about big cities such as
Los Angeles, but also about
rural communities, such as
Heppner or Podunk, New
York
B esides
the
statistical in fo rm atio n ,
ePodunk com offers visitors
a chance to brag about their
towns through its “Claims to
Fame” and provides Top 10
lists for a variety of subjects
W hile we have
already made number one on
one their list, it might be
worth taking the time to visit
their site and brag a little on
Heppner. We might ju st
make their “Claim to Fame”
with our great St Patrick’s
Day celebration or even start
a list o f “The Friendliest
Small Towns.”
School Board reviews proposal
for
Irrigon
shop
building
Heppner seats new mayor and four
2005-06 fiscal year; July 15-
The Morrow County
The board also
School District Board heard review ed B u rro w s’ job deadline to certify levy to
council persons
assessor.
a presentation concerning perform ance
during
VOL. 124
NO. 2
8 Pages
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
City manage Jerry Brazeale (left) swears in council members Cindi Doherty, Kay
Roibinson and Glenn Baker.
For the first time in
12 years a new mayor will
preside over council
meetings at Heppner City
Hall Bob Jepsen turned over
the gavel to Tim Van Cleave
Monday night and formerly
stepped down from the city’s
top elected position
Before handing over
the gavel to end his reign,
Jepsen gave a farewell talk
to the incoming council He
urged them to be flexible and
c o m p assio n ate in their
decision making, relating
how he had at tim es
p ersonally paid for or
arranged to be paid water
bills o f fam ilies w hose
service was scheduled to be
terminated. “ I would hope
you would still let me know
if there is a family, especially
with small children, who may
be going to have their water
shut off, because I still want
to help them out,” he told the
council
City Manager Jerry
Breazeale then swore in Van
Cleave, new councilperson
Glenn Baker, and re-elected
members Cindi Doherty and
Kay Robinson Later, the
newly seated council voted
unanim ously to appoint
George Koffler to fill the seat
vacated by Van Cleave
Koffler will serve
until November o f 2005,
w hen he will then be
required to stand for
election. K offler is the
president o f the Bank o f
Eastern O regon and has
lived in Heppner with his
wife Debbie since 1974. His
community service includes,
among other things, past
president o f the W illow
C reek
E conom ic
D evelopm ent G roup, a
member o f the Elks Audit
committee and past board
m em ber o f the G reater
E astern
O regon
Development Corp
On his application
for appointm ent to the
vacant council position,
Koffler said he is interested
in “delivering w ater and
sew er services at an
affordable rate; quality
streets; city econom ic
development, and quality
police coverage.”
A fter seating new
members and mayor, the
council:
-heard a report from
public works director Bruce
Nelson, who said the soil
samples from the city yard
under a buried paint barrel
are being analyzed to see if
further digging and how
much excavation will be
needed
The paint is
considered a h azard o u s
George Koffler was sworn in
to fill out Tim Van Cleave’s
council position
waste and the Department of
Environmental Quality is
studying soil from the burial
area
-heard a report from
Breazeale that a study by the
Federal
Em ergency
M anagem ent A gency is
proceeding, which will most
likely reduce the flood zone
in the Willow Creek Valley
He said many o f the
“numbers are in” on the new
study, but he is working with
FEMA to possibly get the
flood zone reduced even
more in the South Morrow
Industrial Park and the lone
area
-agreed to refer to
the utility commission a
proposal to add gravel and
continued page two
ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE:
MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M.
t
architectural plans for a new
shop building for the Irrigon
Junior/Senior High School at
their regular board meeting
Monday night in Irrigon, but
deferred a decision until they
are able to further study the
proposal Jan 19.
The
proposal
consists o f three options,
depending on the board’s
d ecision and funding
available The first option
would be to build the shop
building only, the second
would be to build a shop
building and an uncovered
commons area and the third
option would be to build the
shop,
co n stru ct
the
commons area and provide
a cover, uniting the new
facility with the old building.
The board and
su p erin ten d en t
Mark
Burrows had been lead to
believe that the construction
could be completed by the
start o f school this next year,
but learned from the
architect that construction
will probably not be
com pleted until around
December or January 2006
Also at the meeting,
the
board
heard
a
p resen tatio n concerning
costs o f outfitting for the
shop building, including
tools and other equipment,
and curriculum options
In other business, the
board approved purchase of
the a lte rn ativ e school
building from the troubled
Union B aker ESD The
board sold the building to
Union Baker ESD last year
for
$146,000
and
repurchased it for the same
amount MCSD will begin
operating its own alternative
education program
executive session Following
executive session, board
member Barney Lindsay
gave Burrows “high praise
for the short time he’s been
here.”
In other business, the
board
-adopted the 2005-
06 budget calendar as
follows: March 1-budgets
due from buildings and
departm ents; M arch 30-
publication o f notice o f
budget meeting; April 6-
second notice budget
hearing; April 11-regular
board meeting, distribute
budget document; April 18-
first budget meeting, budget
message, with additional
meeting dates to be set by the
budget committee if needed;
May 9-deadline for budget
approval, June 1-publication
of notice o f budget hearing,
June 13-regular board
meeting; July 1 -beginning of
-heard a statement of
assurances from Burrows
that the d istrict is in
compliance with standards
for
elem entary
and
secondary schools
- a p p r o v e d
employment for Elizabeth
M elendez,
B oardm an
school-family liaison; Laurie
H offm an, Irrigon High
School part-time assistant
cook; C hristina Chavez,
R iverside High School
English as a second language
educational
assistan t,
rep lacin g
E lizabeth
Melendez; Hollie McGill,
RHS Title III ed assistant,
June Dabling, Windy River
Elem entary Title I ed
assistant, and Jarrod Pearce,
A C. Houghton Elementary
Title I ed assistant.
-approved extra duty
contracts for: Randy Barton.
RHS head softball coach,
replacing Tom Jensen;
continued page two
Health District position open
Due
to
the
resignation of member John
Prag, who is moving out of
the Morrow County Health
District to the Tri-Cities
area, one at-large position
has been made vacant on the
MCHD board
The appointee will
serve through June 2005,
with an election being held
in May. According to Victor
Vander D oes, MCHD
Administration, two other
positions will also be on the
May ballot Those positions
are currently held by Ed
Glenn, of Boardman, who
will be resigning at the end
o f the term (June 2005) and
Kenneth Matlack, who has
not indicated w hether he
would run for re-election or
not
For those interested
in the current opening, a
letter o f interest should be
provided by 1 p m , Jan 26
to: V ictor Vander Does,
A d m in istrato r, M orrow
County Health District, PO
Box 9, Heppner, OR 97836
Interested parties should
then attend the next regular
meeting of the Board, Jan
31, 7 p m in lone at the lone
United Church o f Christ, for
an interview
For any additional
information, you can contact
Vander Does by phone at
676-2915
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