Heppner City Council votes for
reduced police coverage
IU m I h .I.I m III.....WA m W
Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Library
University o f Oregon
Eugene, ÓR 97403
VOL. 124
NO. 16
10 Pages
Wednesday, April 20. 2005
The H eppner City
Council voted last Monday
to cut police coverage in
Heppner from 120 hours per
week to 80 hours. The city
is under contract with the
co u n ty sheriff, w hich
provides the coverage
N ew sh e riff Ken
Matlack had asked the city
for substantial changes in the
contact over previous years.
The city will pay about
$155,000 per year for the
co v erag e T he o rig in al
contract in 2002 called for
120 hours o f coverage per
week for about $150,000
The cost would have risen to
$21 0 ,0 0 0 for the same
coverage the coming year
The city has been in
negotiations with Matlack
for the past several weeks
ham m ering ou t a new
agreement and last week the
sheriff was at the meeting to
express his views on the
county’s relationship with
Heppner.
Matlack asked for
more latitude in assigning
o fficers
to
p atro ls
throughout the county. In the
past, three officers w ere
assigned to p atro l the
Heppner area Under the
new agreement the sheriff
will be able to move officers
easier.
Citing the low crime
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Local teacher meets Rumsfeld in Afghanistan
David Melville, Heppner Jr/Sr High School math teacher, with Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld on April 13, 2005. Rumsfeld was on a trip to Afghanistan where
Melville is stationed as a Chinook helicopter pilot.
New women’s group organizes benefit dinner
Diva Club planning benefit for Coil family
An elegant evening o f fine dining and live entertainment has been planned as a
benefit for the Darcy Coil family The semi-formal event will take place on Friday May 6
at the Elks Lodge in Heppner There are two seatings available- one at 5:30 p m and one
at 7:30 p m
The menu includes Tuscan style pork chops, penne pasta with a putenesca sauce,
Italian style vegetables, tossed mixed green salad, garlic and herb bread and dessert
Dinner, dessert and entertainment tickets are $25 for adults and $15 for children
12 and under You may also purchase dessert and entertainment only tickets for $10
Seating time for dessert only tickets will be at 7 p m
Tickets may be purchased at Murray’s Drug or the Bank o f Eastern Oregon in
Heppner This event is being planned by the “Diva Club" o f Heppner, a newly formed
women’s group For more information about the event or to become a “Diva," contact
Marianne Smith, Ann Murray or C'arri Grieb
ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE:
MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M.
»
rate in Heppner, M atlack
said it is difficult to keep
officers to patrol Heppner
He pointed out one month
where an officer on patrol in
Heppner received 14 calls,
and nine o f those were for
dog problems He said under
those circum stances it is
difficult to keep morale high
in the department. “Part o f
the reaso n people leave
H ep p n er p atro llin g is
because o f boredom We
don’t want to do a lot o f
recruiting,” Matlack told the
council.
Under the agreement
there will be two deputies to
cover Heppner during a 24-
hour period Matlack said
although there may not be
someone patrolling all the
time, most o f the deputies in
the d e p artm en t live in
H eppner and he told the
council that “you might not
have someone to respond to
a barking dog, but if you had
so m eth in g
su b stan tial
happen you w ould have
som eone th ere.’’ He said
since
the
s h e riff’s
departm ent is located in
H eppner w ith d ep u ties
coming and going that he
was sure the city would end
up with more than 80 hours
per week in coverage
The council debated
whether or not to cut back
lone superintendent
receives board praise
The lo n e School
B oard praised school
su p erin ten d e n t
Bryn
B row ning at the regular
board m eeting M onday
night
“The lone Board of
E d u c a tio n
is
firm ly
convinced that they made an
excellent decision to employ
M rs. Bryn B row ning as
su p erin ten d e n t o f lone
School D is tric t,” said a
b o ard release
“ M rs
Browning has exceeded the
expectations o f the board
during her first year She is a
constant presence in the
classroom and the district
She has done a superb job of
integrating the district with
the school community. She
collaborates with staff to
design p ro g ram s that
in crease
stu d en t
achievement. The district is
currently on a fiscally sound
basis d esp ite a difficult
funding atm o sp h ere for
education in the state o f
O re g o n ,” th e release
concluded
Browning, who has
been with the district this
past school year, is the
d au g h ter
of
G eorge
M urdock, head o f the
Morrow-Umatilla ESD, who
has contracted for many
services with ISD since the
lone Schools’ split from the
M orrow C ounty School
D istrict M urdock also
served temporarily as lone
su p erin ten d en t p rio r to
B ro w n in g 's em ploym ent
with the district
The district shows
$ 1 ,6 3 2 ,0 5 9
in
to tal
resources and $940,479 in
total expenditures since the
beginning o f the fiscal year
According to the district’s
financial update, property
tax payments have increased
since the second property tax
billing w ith
$ 2 0 ,0 8 2
collected in M arch The
g en eral fund receiv ed
$93,451 in Basic School
Support, with two additional
payments expected this year
ISD is eligible for $22,000
in Title I reimbursements
which will be billed in April
ISD had no large
expenditures in March, but
large expenditures in April
include a compressor and
pool expenditures.
The board received
an adm inistrative rep o rt
from Browning as follows:
-Local artist Bonnie
W enberg, assisted by
m em bers o f her family,
co nducted a tw o-w eek
artist-in-residence program
at lone Schools, funded
through the lone Education
F oundation S tudents in
grades one through four
wove baskets and made wall
h an g in g s w hile m iddle
school stu d en ts made
baskets
-ISD received two
g ra n ts p ro m o tin g early
literacy for kindergarten-
grade three students, the first
from the Oregon Reading
Foundation for $2133 to
fund two thirds o f the start
up costs for a SMART (Start
Making a Reader Today)
reading program and the
second for $1067 from the
lone Education Foundation
to fund the rem ainder
M ichelle Stone, a new
teacher at lone who is a
trained SMART coordinator,
will assist with the program
-Twice a month the
school holds “Read-n-Play,”
a reading program for
children from birth to five
years old, their parents and
continued page two
coverage and in the end
voted 4 to 2 to approve the
80-hour contract
C ouncil m em ber
Glenn Baker, who served on
the police commission that
n e g o tia ted the sh eriff
c o n tra c t, said he was
“uncom fortable” with 80
hours (see this week’s letters
to the editor) saying police
p ro te c tio n is the m ost
important thing a city can
p ro v id e for its citizen s
B aker voted against the
contract
C ouncil m em ber
Judy B uschke said the
reason H eppner d o e sn ’t
have a lot o f police calls is
because “the people who
make the trouble know they
(the deputies) are out there ”
She also voted against the
reduced hours.
O th er
council
members Cindi Dougherty,
G eorge K offler and Kay
Robinson, along with Mayor
Tim Van Cleave voted in
favor Council member Tom
Wolff was not at the meeting.
“I don’t want to go
to 80 hours,” Mayor Van
Cleave said “But if we go
on our own (set up a city
police department again) we
would have recruitment and
all the other problems that go
with a department.”
lone annual
TV shoot to
be held
The annual 1000-
yard TV Shoot will be held
on Saturday, April 30 at the
Frank and Joe Halvorsen
Farm. Registration is from
8:30-9:30 a m., with the
shoot beginning promptly at
9:30 a m The fee is $20 per
person per shot. An “all you
can e a t” lunch will be
available for $6 for adults
and $3.50 for kids 10 and
under The menu will include
BBQ chicken and ribs, hot
dogs, baked beans, potato
salad and beverages Lunch
price includes b reak fast
pastries, juice and coffee in
the morning
All proceeds will be
used to purchase children’s
prizes for the lone 4th o f July
C eleb ratio n . C h ild re n ’s
activities funded in the past
included a fish pond, balloon
race, bicycle drawings, straw
money pile, frog jumping
contest, talent show prizes,
free sw im m ing, b ouncy
castle, poster contest and
many other activities
The prize is $ 100 for
hitting and breaking a 27-
inch TV tube at 1000 yards
Lindsay Kincaid is giving a
$ 100 prize for hitting a small
TV tube 10 to 12 inches at
1000 yards.
It is also asked that
participants please leave
their dogs at home
This is the fourth
annual TV shoot Also clay
pigeons will be available too
If you would like to help
sponsor this event and get
your company’s name on our
reader board, a donation o f
$100 or m ore w ould be
appreciated
For
fu rth e r
information contact Tanna
Padberg at (541)422-7276
DANN ER BOOTS ON SA LE
30% OFF
Morrow County Grain Growers
Lexington
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