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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (July 13, 2005)
TWO - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, July 13,2005 The Official Newspaper of the City of Heppner and the County of Morrow Letten to the Editor Editor's note: Letters to the Editor must be signed. The Gazette-Times will not publish unsigned letters. Please include your address and phone num ber on all letters for use by the G-T office. The G-T reserves the right to edit. The G-T is not responsible for accuracy of statements made in letters. (Any letters expressing thanks will be placed in the classifieds under "Card of Thanks" at a cost of $10.) Heppner GAZETTE-TIMES U.S.P.S. 240-420 Morrow County's H om e-O w ned W eekly N ew spaper Published weekly and entered as periodical matter at the Post Office at Heppner. Oregon under the Act of March 3, 1879 Periodical postage paid at Heppner. Oregon. Office at 188 W Willow Street Telephone (541) 676-9228 Fax (541) 676-9211 E- matl: editorWrapidserve net or davidd* heppner net Website: www heppncr.net. Post master send address changes to the Heppner Gazette-Tunes, P.O. Box 337, Heppner. Oregon 97836. Subscriptions: $25 in Morrow County; $19 senior rate (in Morrow County only; 62 years or older); $31 elsewhere; $26 student subscriptions. David S y k e s....................................................................................................Publisher Katie Foster......................................................................................................... Editor N ew s and Advertising Deadline is Monday at 5 p.m. For Advertising; advertising deadline is M onday at 5 p.m C ost for a display ad is $4.90 per colum n inch. C ost tor classified ad is 50« per word. C ost tor C ard of Thanks is $10 up to 100 words. C ost lor a classified display ad is $5.50 per colum n inch. For Pubtic/Legal Notices, pubtic/legai notices deadline is M onday at 5 p.m. Dates for publi cation m ust be specified. Affidavits m ust be required at the time of subm ission Affidavits require three w eeks to process after last date of publication (a sooner return date m ust be specified if required). For Obituaries: O bituaries are published in the H eppner G T at no charge and are edited to meet new s guidelines. Fam ilies w ishing to include information not included in the guidelines or who w ish to have the obituary wntten in a certain way m ust purchase advertising space for the obituary. On the HEPPNER WEBSITE: www.heppner.net • Start or C hange a Subscription • Place a C lassified Ad • Subm it a N ew s Story • View Real Estate for Sale • City Council & Planning Minutes • Local Businesses • County Park • Willow Creek Park Reservations • Free Digital Postcards • Senior Housing • and more! DA’s Report Morrow County D istrict A ttorney David C. Allen has released the following report: Stacey Lee Jessen, 36, was convicted of one count of Strangulation, a Class A Misdemeanor, and was sentenced to 180 days in jail and 24 months of bench probation. He was ordered to pay $626 in fines, fees and assessments, and c o m p lete 140 hours o f community service. He was ordered to have no offensive physical contact with the victim, enroll and complete an a n g er m anagem ent p ro g ram , subm it to an alcohol evaluation, enter into and successfully complete an approved certified alcohol tre atm en t program and submit a written apology to the victim. Vemon Shad Jeffreys, 37, was convicted of one count of Contempt of C o u rt/P u n itiv e , an Unclassified Misdemeanor, and was sentenced to jail for 30 days, required to pay $626, and 24 months' bench probation. He was ordered to have no offensive physical contact with the victim. G a r a y Emestor Raynundo Torrez, 19, was convicted of one count o f D elivery of M arijuana one ounce-No Pay, a Class A Misdemeanor and was sentenced to jail for 180 days, suspension of d riv e r’s license for six months, and is required to pay $626 in fines, fees and assessments. Defendant shall not use or possess any illegal drugs or narcotics, and shall notify the probation officer of any prescriptions given by doctor, not possess any n a rc o tics p arap h ern alia, including smoking devices, not associate with any person known to use, sell or possess illegal drugs or narcotics, not frequent places where illegal drugs are kept, used or sold, submit to random monitored drug testin g , obtain a substance abuse evaluation and complete 40 hours of community service. Artisan Village quilt show seek entrants A rtisan V illa g e ’s fourth annual outdoor quilt show will be Sunday, July 31, from 9 a.m. - 8 p.m. Q uilts are needed. Those planning to bring quilts in should do so from July 10- 24. Quilts will be accepted Friday, July 29, but Artisan Village reminds entrants that it is easiest to make a nice display if q u ilts are not brought in at the last minute. No quilts will be accepted for the judged competition category after July 24 when the shop closes. Q u ilte rs are also reminded that, like the last three years, there will be three categories to enter quilts: Display Only - the largest category; For Sale; and For C o m p etitio n Judged. Also remember any quilt 50 years old or older may be put in the quilt shows more than once and Artisan Village encourages entrants to do so. “All old quilts, new quilts, big quilts, little quilts, funky qu ilts, trad itio n al quilts, quilted wearables, baby quilts and granny quilts will be accepted. Quilt artist, Laura E stes of O dessa, Washington, will be a special guest at the show. She has been an avid quilter since the early 1980s and owns her own quilt design pattern business and line of quilting stencils. Interested persons will be able to take mini “make and take” classes at the show. The cost will be $4 and includes the class and a small kit that can be made during the approxim ately one hour class. G-T NEWS & ADVERTISING DEADLINE MONDAYS AT 5 P.M. m imxmnux\».vtvvvn\xxxvwv\ttxULmxx>xxxxrm - CO U LD IT B E ... K .T .... T U R N IN G 70?!?!? j Please join us for a Writer mislead, misquoted To the Editor and the Residents of the Town of by the c o u n cil, but her a ctio n s, o u tsid e o f and Lexington: Re: The m eeting referred to by the letter to the editor as ‘T o set the record s tra ig h t” in last w e ek ’s paper. It appears that the w riter has again mislead, m isquoted and provided false info rm atio n to the c itiz en s o f the Town of Lexington. This meeting was an executive session for an em ployee ev alu atio n . A cco rd in g to law, any business, conducted at these sessio n s, is co n sid ered private unless consented for release by the employee or by the entire council. The w rite r o f the letter, did indeed, help the recorder with the report and she was told to clarify the statement regarding “Nothing Being Done” , how ever she also told the recorder that it was her responsibility to sign the rep o rt, thus p lacin g the recorder in the position of v oicing an o p in io n and providing false information. Reports of this kind should address the subject only and should not editorialize (state an o p in io n ). T hat was w rong, as it m ade the recorder responsible for the entire report, and absolved the w rite r of any responsibility. As for firing the recorder, that was not even a c o n sid e ra tio n , however there has been a L ex in g to n re c o rd er terminated in the past for voiding her own opinion and not that of the Council And now for the rest of the story: The writer speaks of a Safe D rin k in g W ater Revolving Loan that she has pu rsu ed and d e sires to o b tain . T he Tow n o f Lexington currently has two (2) outstanding water loans: one that was taken out in the late 1970s and one that has a b alan ce o f alm ost $100,000. Both these loans are charging a higher rate of in terest than w hat any savings is earning. She also talks about a survey that she sent out to 123 m eter num bers. She stated that she received a 35 percent return . How can that be true when there are quite a few residents who did not receive and probably were not even sent a survey form? She states that she was told by the Secretary of State that her survey was okay, but yet a phone call to the same office stated that surveys are to be sent to all residents and not to just a sample, and that they should not be identifiable on return. Her survey forms were noted with the residents m eter numbers. She speaks o f an action that was not approved without the knowledge or consent of the council, has resulted in an extra expense of thousands of dollars for the tow n and p ro b ab ly c re ate d a lia b ility o f thousands more. She has consistently made contacts and agreements with others w ithout consulting other council members. She speaks o f no engineer. That statement is also untrue, as it has been addressed several times over the years. But, unfortunately som e o f them are not interested in Lexington. Wal- Mart only certifies a small number of engineers, and Lexington has had more than their share. A local farmer has stated that he is willing to let the town drill on his property for water, That, too, she has refused to consider, because it is not part of her plan. The town was awarded $27,000 to find a new water source, but that money had to be used to pay off one of her “screw ups” and to put up a fence. Another farmer had indicated that he was willing to donate land to the town, but when she and a former city employee proceeded to remove his equipment from his property and than told him that he had better get a lawyer, he decided to charge the town $ 10,000. The town still does not have clear title to the land. There are several elderly residents and even som e young fam ilies in Lexington who are having a hard tim e m aking th eir m oney stretch. Some o f them are doing w ith o u t medications, and possibly adequate food in order to do so. They are having problems paying for their water now. What would it be like if an additional loan was taken out? The current loans need to be spent down and paid off before any further ones are obtained. If not, Lexington will not survive. The w riter o f the prior letter should get her head out of the sand, and take a look at the real world, instead o f the one o f her fantasy. If she would work with the rest of the council, instead of thinking that she is the expert on everything and that everything needs to be done only her way, much co u ld be acco m p lish ed . W hat w ill be her next project? Perhaps a local option tax to finance her “screws ups” or maybe a privilege tax for the honor of living in Lexington. A very concerned c itiz e n , tax p ay e r and homeowner, (s) Bob Taylor Lexington D O N T MISS OUR ANNUAL 70th Birthday Celebration Kenny Turner No Gifts Please J To the Editor: To whom it may concern: As a newly returned resident to Heppner and a graduate of Heppner High School, I was dismayed to discover, on the election ballot in May of this year, that no one was running for any of the six positions on the H eppner Com m unity E d u catio n C om m ittee. A lth o u g h I have little experience (none) in public serv ice I told m y self, “Enthusiastic help is better then none, right?” I filed to run, attended and spoke at the candidates’ forum, and was duly elected. A long time friend and classmate at HHS, Jim Cason, ran as a write in candidate and was also elected. As of July 1, the start of the new term, we are the only co m m ittee members. A fter talking to a number of members of the district school board, I was better informed but no more p leased ; the H CEC had seldom met in the previous year, at least w ith the minimum of four members needed for a quorum. The Boardman/Irrigon C o m m ittee m em bers a p p aren tly had no such p ro b lem s atten d in g m eetings; the citizens of those communities must care more about the state of their schools than those of us in the South End. An embarrassing situation, to say the least. C urrently, we are ex tre m ely lucky in the quality, enthusiasm , and approachability of our board members and particularly our district superintendent, Mark Burrows, and his staff. By all accounts they have done a great job of working within a limited budget and still delivering the services they are mandated by the state to provide. But this is no time for complacency; there are c u rre n t p ro g ram s and ongoing issues that require v ig o ro u s and d ilig e n t attention of the part of the com m unity. We need to evaluate the effectiveness of state and federally mandated testing programs. We need to begin actively lobbying state le g isla to rs fin d a permanent solution to the on g o in g school funding c risis. We need m ore im a g in a tio n and p u b lic participation in academic program s, not ju st sports programs. We must continue to push for more and better arts and vocational programs at Heppner High School. As stated in the policy manual, the purpose of the CECs is to “provide input and advice to the board o f directors through their principals concerning the d is tric t’s sc h o o ls.” T his includes but is not limited to c u rric u la , program s and facilities; the committee is also encouraged to solicit and present the views of the community at large on issues related to the schools. Please do your part to help our schools: let us (the members of the HCEC) know w hat you think o f school operations and what issues you would like us to concentrate on. Better yet, join the com m ittee. We still need four members and at least one alternate in order to en su re th at we have a quorum at each meeting. For more information, contact me at the number below or call Julie A shbeck at the District Office: 989-8202, extension 2010. (s) Pat Struthers Heppner Job hirings not fai To the Editor: Approximately three weeks ago I applied for a job watering flowers with the City of Heppner. The job closed the 30th o f June. When I didn’t hear anything about it from the City of Heppner, I realized that it had been given to someone else. Y esterday I was in fo rm ed th at (a local te en a g e r) got the jo b . I would like to know why it went to someone who really d id n ’t need it, instead of som eone who did. Were politics involved? I also applied for the park host p o sitio n at Cutsforth Park. 1 don’t know who received that position, but whoever it was, wasn’t interviewed for it. I know I wasn’t. How can the county know w ho is the b est qualified for the job without interviews being conducted? I don’t feel that’s fair or even wise. My husband and I are struggling to make ends m eet. He is on a fix ed incom e, and c an ’t afford health insurance, or to go to a dentist which is urgently needed. (s) B. Lisa Cutsforth Carter Heppner Camille Murray earns degree C am ille M urray, daughter of Matt and Mary Murray, graduated from La Quinta, Ca., High School June 16. She completed the s c h o o l’s In te rn a tio n a l B ac c ala u re a te P rogram graduation with a 4.6 grade point. She has been invited to atten d C am b rid g e University in London for a month this summer and to spend an additional month in Paris to experience their culture. She will be attending L in field C o lleg e at M cM inville, Oregon, this fall. Local man receives treatment W ord has been re c eiv e d th a t H ep p n er resident Gary Richards is currently receiving cancer tre a tm e n t at St. M ary Medical Center. Letters and cards may be sent to Gary Richards, St. Mary Medical Center; c/o Herring Guest H ouse; P.O. Box 1477; W alla W alla, WA 99362; phone 1-800-452-3320 ext. 2882. Sister One and Sister Two I No matter how old I get i for When: July 23,2005 Where: Heppner Elks Lodge Time: Cocktails 6:30 p.m. Lite Dinner 7:30 p.m Help our schools; participate in ed committee I’ll never be as old as you!' ^ Muiuuj'j D äuj 217 North Main • Heppner Phone 676-915« • Floral 676-9426 Serving Heppner. Lexington A lone i HAPPY BIRTHDAYS!! I Thanks For Everything! I Love, | Baby Brother Bobby j
