Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 19, 2005)
TWO - Heppner Gazette-Times. Heppner. Oregon Wednesday, October 19,2005 The Official Newspaper o f the City o f Heppner and the County o f Morrow Heppner G A Z E T T E -T IM E S U.S.P.S 240-420 M orrow C ounty’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 ( Ml ) 676-9228. pax (541) 676-9211 E- niail ediuirti rapidserse net or davidtt1'heppner net Web site: www.heppner net Post master send address changes to the Heppner Gazette limes. 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 es.................................................................................................... Publisher Betty MacTavish.............................................................................................Editor Editor's note: Letters t o the Editor must be signed. The Gazette-Times w ill not publish unsigned letters. Please include your address and phone num ber on a ll letters for use by the G-T office. The G-T reserves the right t o edit. The G -T is not responsible for accuracy o f statements made in letters. (Any letters expressing thanks w ill be placed in the classifieds under "Card o f Thanks" at a cost o f $10.) Petition signers appreciated To the Editor: This letter is being written to show appreciation to the people in Lexington that signed the petition to recall News and A d ve rtising Deadline is M onday at 5 p.m. For Advertising: advertising deadline is Monday at 5 p.m Cost (or a display ad is $4.90 per column inch. Cost for classified ad is 50c per word. Cost for Card of Thanks is $10 up to 100 words Cost for a classified display ad is $5.50 per column inch. Disputes with rebuttal Letters to the Editor Jean Brazell. They are some of the people in the town that know the tru th and are co ncerned enough to do something about it. (s) Morris McCarl Lexington We’ve heard it all For Public/Legal Notices: public/legal notices deadline is Monday at 5 p.m. Dates for publi cation must be specified. Affidavits must be required at the time of submission. Affidavits require three weeks to process after last date of publication (a sooner return date must be specified if required). For Obituanes. Obituaries are published in the Heppner GT at no charge and are edited to meet news guidelines. Families wishing to include information not included in the guidelines or who wish to have the obituary written in a certain way must purchase advertising space for the obituary. To the Editor: W hat’s up Lexington? OK already. Taylors, the rest of us readers concede. You get the “ B ad d est L e tte rs ” On the HEPPNER WEBSITE: www.heppner.net • Start or Change a Subscription • Place a Classified Ad • Submit a News 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! Obituaries Melba E. Quackenbush M em orial Service for Melba E. Quackenbush will be held 1 p.m. Friday, October 21, at the Christian Life Center in Heppner. Mrs. Quackenbush. 95, o f H eppner died Monday, October 17, 2005 at A shley M anor in Hermiston. She was born F ebruary 2 8,1910 at P ortlan d , O regon the daughter of Matt and Grace M cF errin H ughes. She atten d ed the M adison School House at the base of Madison Butte and then later atten d ed H ep p n er High School. On June 30,1930 she m arried R obert Roy Quackenbush at Heppner. The couple ow ned and operated the Red and White Grocery Store in Heppner for many years. She also worked at Humphreys Drug Store, Murray’s Drug Store, and LeBush Dress Shop. Mrs. Quackenbush was a member of the Eastern Star and H olly R ebecca L odge. She en jo y ed bowling, tole painting, oil painting, and baking for her family. Survivors include her daughter Phyllis Piper and son in law Del o f Lexington; grandchildren, Mark Piper, Janette Skow, and Sheri Peck; six great grandchildren; sisters, Edna Kohlman of Portland, Betty P ettyjohn and June B ellen b ro ck both of Heppner. She was preceded in death by her husband Roy Q uack en b u sh ; b ro th ers, Elw yn H ughes, M arvin H ughes, H om er H ughes, M att H ughes, and Bob Hughes; sisters, Lena Kelly, Ethyl G aarde, and Edith Pfiel. M e m o r i a l contributions may be made to W illow Creek Terrace Assisted Living, PO Box 610, Heppner, OR 97836. Sweeney Mortuary of H eppner in charge of arrangements. Thomas E Sumner A graveside service for T hom as F. Sum ner, Arlington, will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, October 22, at Arlington Cemetery. Mr. Sumner died O ctober 15, 2005, at age 78. Tom Sum m er was born M ay 15, 1927, in P rin ev ille, O regon. He graduated from M itchell High School, and served in the U .S. M arines. He married Phyllis Wickland in 1947 and soon after began ranching south of Arlington. Survivors include his wife. Phyllis; daughter, Rita K ruse; sons, C raig and Mark; sister, Laura Krenk; brothers, Jim and Jay; five grandchildren and one great grandchild. He was preceded in death by his parents, Cal and Jerry, siste r Jeanne Hansen and brother Jack. Remembrances may be made to the Arlington Nazarene Church building fund. Justice Court Justice court at the M orrow C ounty Courthouse in Heppner has released the fo llo w in g report: Cody Busch, 19, Neotsu, No valid license, F ailure to obey traffic control device, Defective lighting, $562 fine. Ted B ritt, 44, Heppner, Violation of basic rule, 75/55, $143 fine. We want to than^you! Rpvembtr 1 marks the 5th Anniversary o f our association w ith W heat [and Insurance Center ; 'Wt truly have the residents and business owners o f iHeppner and the surrounding area to thankfor our success, your fa ith in our judgment and your confidence in our ability to protect your interests are truly appreciated. award. You win, move on, drop it, now’s the time for something else. We’ve heard it all and then some. A Gazette reader, (s) Nate Otto lone Museum volunteer appreciated To the Editor: We visited your town on August 13. We mainly cafne because of the special that had aired on PBS about the 1903 flood. We went to the Morrow County Historical Museum and found it closed although it was scheduled to be open. There were three phone numbers to call for questions about the museum. Barbara Bloodsworth was one o f the contacts. She offered to come and open the m useum fo r us to look around. She cam e very pro m p tly and w aited patiently while we looked around. She even offered her own information of stories she had heard and people she had know n w ho had survived the flood. Anyway, I really appreciated her doing this and it shows her devotion to history, your town and your county. (s) Mary Holm and Bill Robertson Florence Asbestos concerns voiced To the Editor: Thousands of rfiore p o te n tia l v ictim s from asbestos poisoning (are) not being informed by proper authorities. The government is p ro te c tin g the manufacturers and not the victims. W ater does som ew hat “d e a c tiv a te ” asbestos to an extent. Many experts deem it much safer to remove asbestos when wet. (Precautions and proper equipment are still required.) Wetting it down helps keep asbestos from becom ing airborne sim ilar to what happens when you wet down d irt to keep dow n dust. However, wet asbestos can still be breathed into the lungs. Once dry, asbestos is again hazardous. The h u rrican e destroyed many buildings that could have contained asbestos. There is a good lik elih o o d that asb esto s became airborne due to the hurricane. What is a bigger concern is the repairs that must be done to the damaged b u ild in g s. D em o lish in g b u ild in g s and re p a irin g construction will release asb esto s if not properly contained during removal. With the extent of the repairs needed and the push to get lives back to normal, proper measures may not be taken. Additionally, homeowners will be making their own repairs due to shortage of funds, not re a liz in g the danger. W ho is doing the laundry of these families that are doing their own repairs? Those garments need to be contained. W here are the g o v ern m en t re stric tio n s re q u irin g re sp ira to ry eq u ip m en t and p ro p er clothing? Is this going to be another tragic situation like Libby, Montana, only on a much more massive scale? If the Senate Bill S852- The Bailout bill for the Asbestos M anufacturers passes, the flood and hurricane victims will be even more devastated and victimized then they are now. Please call your U.S. Senators and tell them to vote “NO” on this biased p rejudicial bill designed specifically for the “special Interests groups”. (s) Anita Dorn Echo Church to show film The Heppner Christian Life Center, 535 W. Morgan St., will show the film "Left Behind - World at War” Friday, Oct. 21, and Saturday, Oct. 22, at 7 p.m. and on Sunday, Oct. 23, at 6 p.m. The film continues the story from the best selling books “Left Behind” and “Tribulation Force.” In 'ne story line, U.S. President Gerald Fitzhugh (Academy Award winner Lou Gossett Jr.) willingly turns over power to Nicolae Carpathia. But now Nicolae launches an all-out attack on America. Buck, Rayford, Chloe, Amanda, and Bruce are caught in the eye of the storm as they seek to help the embattled president. The film is free, and the public is invited to attend. A children’s film will be shown at the same time for children ages 12 and under. vjcur flaüfcweeh •Please stop in for Refreshments and help us CeleBrate! supplies W re ! iterrs, eartiy, H ‘ pvem btr 1 ,2 0 0 5 partis, costumes, urti »TucV »ruer »rurei ^ Muwrnj W INSURANCE H ^ W CENTER. L h INC ND HEPPNER BRANCH 217 North M ain • Happnar • Phone 676-9158 • Floral 676-9426 Raney, Steve, Janet, Rim & Terri ■ h t ug ' a ) Serving Heppner. Lexington & lone , To the Editor: To the Residents of Lexington, A fter read in g the letters to the editor and Jean B razell’s rebuttal in last week’s paper, as to why she should not he recalled, I thought the town people should be informed of some of the real issues and truth. J e a n ’s re b u tta l did not address the reason for recall, so I will make them a little more clear. Jean stated that in 1999, she was asked to go th ro u g h five y ears o f accounting, but in fact it was S haron W oodside and Marcia Kemp, that put the tow n’s book keeping and accounts in order. She stated that she resigned because of a few bullies, when it was because she was unable to do her work in a timely manner, and had been approached by the council about this. Re. The W ater Project. On Jan u ary 27, 2003, (after Jean became a council member) Jim Nelson motioned to assign Jean in charge of the water project, Chirella Wallace seconded the motion and Luella Taylor asked that the rest o f the council be kept informed as to what was going on. This was not done; the rest of the council was not kept informed. W hen information was needed as to w ater lin e s, v alv es, communication etc, it was impossible for anyone (other than Jean) to know because the maps were not at town hall, where they belong. But, she always just happened to have th at in fo rm atio n available to herself, at home. C o m m u n icatio n s w ere w ithheld from engineers, state e n g in ee rs, state agencies and etc Re. The S to rag e Building T h ere w as a co st o v erru n on the sto rag e building because of it being put together wrong and had to be partially tom down due to the inability of Jean and AI Brazell to properly read the blue prints. Some of the town members did volunteer to put it up again the second time and a contractor was hired to straighten out the building. This resulted in a cost of $5468.22 to the city. The contractor was fined $500 by OSHA, of which Jim Nelson paid $255.41. The contractor would not guarantee his work because of the way in which it had been put up. The final cost to the city was $5,319.29, over and above what was paid by grant moneys. These excess expenses were paid out o f G en eral Fund Contingency. This is public information and can be read at town hall, per the June 10th, 2003 minutes. It is true that Jean writes reports for the town’s citizens, which could be good thing if it was approved by the council, but she only v o ices her o p in io n , and wants things done only her way. She makes contacts with lawyers, engineers and agencies without the consent or knowledge of the council and w ith h o ld s th at information to herself. She also m akes m ajor agreements and decisions w ith o u t the co u n cil knowledge. A ccording to law, C o u n cil m em bers, against whom a recall is initiated, are considered full active m embers until the votes are certified. There was a letter, d ated S ept 5, 2005, addressed to the Mayor and Council, from Bill Kuhn, regarding actions that could be taken in the event of a successful recall. This letter was sent to town hall. The tw o c o u n cilo rs being recalled were not given this letter of information. There had been no prior discussion in council regarding this. Again, Jean acted without au th o rity to c o n tact the lawyer, and then instructed the recorder not to divulge the contents of the letter to those concerned. This is just one example, and one of the latest, o f her withholding information. Re; Well Property Two years ago, the town was awarded $27,000 to search for a new water source from M orrow County Tippage fees. This m oney was not spent in accordance with the award specifications. When it was decided to fence the town well property, Jean took it upon herself, with the help of a form er employee, to clear the property of farm equipm ent. She had been in fo rm ed by sev eral individuals that there was a problem with the deed and that the town did not have a c le a r title . T his was discussed numerous times in council meetings. She chose to ignore this and confronted a farm er, w hen he d isco v e re d them in the process o f rem oving his equipment. They had quite a few words and she told him that he had b e tte r get a lawyer, because he was on tow n pro p erty . Consequently, he charged the tow n $ 1 0 ,0 0 0 for property that he would have given the town, had he been asked in a polite manner. All it would have taken to solve the problem was a trip to the Assessor’s office, if she had taken the time and made the effort to do so. To pay for this indiscretion, tippage fees had to be used. The money, in return, was donated by the farmer to the Heppner track field. This information can be verified by talking with the farmer in question, as he has told numerous people about this, myself included. The well fence cost $6163.37 and, according to several fencing contractors, should have been let out to bid (w hich it was not) because it exceeded $5,000. A ddendum : The m istake refereed to by Jean in her rebuttal was made when a former mayor did not inform the council of expenditures and ch o se not to share financial information. Jean did not institute the two check signature protocol, as she has indicated. It has been in effect for many years. (s) Bob Taylor Lexington One-day dance/ cheer clinic nears The Shamrockettes are taking a group of girls to Portland to participate in a one-day dance/cheer clinic sponsored by the U nited Spirit Association, Sunday, December 11. Participants do not need to be members o f the Sham rockettes or have dance experience. P a rtic ip a n ts w ill atten d the c lin ic and participate in the pre-game show fo r the P o rtlan d Trailblazers. The girls will stay for the Houston Rocket/ T railb lazer gam e before returning to Heppner. Registration deadline is N ovem ber 1. There is a fee for this event. For more information please call Jodi Chapa at 676-8161.
