Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 16, 2005)
Broken meters will cost property owners City warns residents to insulate meters Bessie Wetzel I New spaper Library University o f Oregon Eugene. OR 97403 V O L 124 NO. 46 8 Pages Wednesday, November 16, 2005 H ep p n er public works director Bruce Nelson Monday urged residents to insulate their water meters before cold weather hits. Nelson told the city council it may be especially vital to insulate early given that the new water meters from the city water project have now been installed. N elson said S ty ro fo am shipping “ p e a n u ts ” m ake good insulation, but they should be sacked in a plastic bag before placing around the water meter. Council member Tom W olff reminded everyone that it is the responsibility of the homeowner to pay for the meter if it is broken by freezing. Nelson also told the co u n cil at its m onthly meeting Monday that Moore Construction is done with the big city water project and that most o f the pressure issues have been worked out. He said varying water pressure in the area around the hospital has been solved, and that the city is working. In other business at November’s meeting the city council: H eard from M orrow C ounty D istrict Attorney Dave Allen who agreed to help the city with Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Heppner schools honor local veterans its urban growth boundary (U G B ) ex p an sio n application. Martin Davis of Milton-Freewater had been w orking on the p ro ject; however, he recently passed away. The council agreed to e n te r into an in te r governm ental agreem ent will Allen. Cost will be $850 from the city and $850 from M orrow C ounty fo r the project. The city is making a p p lic a tio n to ex ten d Heppner’s UGB east toward the industrial park. D iscu ssed a p o ssib le p ro ject by the O regon D ep artm en t o f Transportation that would widen the road around the curve at the Heppner Grade School on N orth C ourt Street. The project would make the area safer for foot traffic and is still in the planning stages. - Learned that the St. P a tric k 's S en io r C en ter c u rre n tly has three v a c a n c ie s, and that the S e n io r M eal Site has c o n tra c te d w ith John Gouchnauer to provide the meals every Wednesday. - Decided to have an open house at city hall on Dec. 1 to introduce the new city m an ag er D avid DeMayo. School district receives excellence award The Morrow County School D istrict Board learned at its Monday night meeting that the district has received an award, a “Salute to E xcellence” , from the O regon School B oards A sso c ia tio n p resen ted d u rin g the OSBA c o n v en tio n . The aw ard included a blue ribbon, a desk plaque and a $500 prize, which the MCSD will match and present to each of the two schools involved, A.C. Houghton Elementary in Irrig o n and Sam Boardman Elem entary in Boardman. The tw o sch o o ls w ere n o m in ated for the award because they achieved testing results in the 90lh percentile, despite having large numbers of children atten d in g who are still English language learners, said MCSD Superintendent Mark Burrows. F ollow ing the schools’ nomination, they were invited to participate w ith a d isp lay at the c o n v en tio n , w hich was actually a competition. The schools won the competition continued page two VS8ÊÊÊ Local veterans pose for group photo at High School The Heppner Jr. and Sr. High Schools honored the local veterans on Thursday, Nov. 10. The day started when sev eral veterans spoke to vari ous classes at the high school about their experiences in the military. Later an assembly was held in the gymnasium where Principal Daye Stone wel comed the 62 gathered vets. The HHS Band and Chorus performed the Star Spangled Banner and Within These Hallowed Halls. The guest speaker was former HHS Principal Lt. Colonel Steve Dickenson of the Oregon National Guard. Students then put on a video presentation and Wade Sm ith, A ssita n t Superintenedent of Morrow County Schools, read a rool call of all the gathered vets. Tom B ed o rth a then played taps to close the cer emony. Afterwards the vet erans were served lunch in the High School cafeteria. Mustangs face Lost River L ost R iv er beat G lide 12-7 last w eek to advance in the playoffs. The H ep p n er H igh School Football team plays Lost River this Saturday, Nov. 19 at 1 p.m. at the M orrow County Fairgrounds. If the Mustangs win this Saturday, they will play the winner of the Blanchet vs. Monroe game. Valby Lutheran welcomes new interim pastor The new in terim pastor and his wife. Don and Ruth S w an so n , w ill be attending for their First time on Sunday, Nov. 20 at Valby Lutheran Church. The church service will begin at 11 a.m. and will be followed with a potluck d in n e r at the Valby Fellowship Hall. The com m unity is invited to attend and help the c o n g re g atio n w elcom e P astor Sw anson and his wife. Lexington chooses lighting contest theme The Lexington Town Council chose “Red. White and Blue Christmas” for its Christmas lighting theme this year, in honor of service men and w om en. C ateg o ries include “best interpretation of theme,” "mini but bright,” “most original” and “just rig h t.” L orrene M ontgom ery and M indy Wilson were selected to head up the lighting committee. The co u n cil also approved obtaining a debit card for city use in the event o f an em ergency and to facilitate city purchases and d ire c te d re c o rd e r N icki C lem en t to look into obtaining a card. In other business, the council: -learned the town's c o m p u te r crash ed and a n o th er one had been purchased. Tony Clement agreed to assist and was in the process of putting the com puter together. Nicki Clement said that she was lo o k in g into so ftw are sp e c ific a lly fo r local governments, which could co m b in e d ata input to integrate and facilitate billing and financial reports. She had been using several systems to generate billing and re p o rts. It was su g g este d that the information be backed up on line. The town had budgeted $1,000 for a new computer and a n o th er $ 1 ,0 0 0 for program s with additional monies for the television and water billing systems. -approved a motion confirming an OLCC permit with regard to the Lexington mini mart, transferring the perm it from the M orrow County Grain Growers to H attenhauer D istributing, b ased on tra n sfe r o f ownership. -rec eiv ed $2,0 0 0 from ODOT in payment for a break in the city water line caused by ODOT workers. -a u th o riz e d new bank signature cards for new council members. Beverly Steagall and Mike Orwick. -heard a report from Fire Chief Charlie Sumner, who said that the town has five certified drivers now. He also said that some pipes on the fire truck that had been almost rusted through had been replaced, at a cost of around $1.100. which will extend the life of the truck. The town also agreed to have Sumner check out the cost of obtaining a report c o n cern in g the to w n 's system with respect to fire su p p ressio n . T his could enable the town to find and correct problems prior to an official audit, which could o ccu r at any tim e. Data collected from an audit may be supplied to insurance companies and could affect fire insurance for the town's residents. -discussed a process by which the reason for the discrepancy betw een the town water meter and the meter for several residences could be discovered. -heard from Mayor Val D oherty co n cern in g several options concerning the old telephone building which is currently on private property. Doherty suggested that: 1) the b u ild in g be b u rn ed by the fire d e p artm en t for train in g practice; 2) be dismantled for the wood (the woodworking in the old building is reported to be beautiful); or 3) be renovated, which would be extensive and expensive and would most likely require a continued page two MCGG will be closed Thursday, Nov. 24th through Sunday, Nov. 27th in observance of Thanksgiving. Have a safe & happy holiday! ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M. ({ Morrow County Grain Growers Lexington 98 9 -8 2 2 1 • 1 -8 0 0 -4 5 2 -7 3 9 6 fo r farm equipment, v tiit our web lit* at www m e n n*t
