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 ”
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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.