Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 18, 2006)
Community members and business honored at Town and Country I l ' ln li. il. f i. lllu , J | , | (1(|| Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Library University o f Oregon Eugene. O R 97403 Doris Brosnan Duane Neiffer ■f Heather Kill VOL. 125 NO. 3 10 Pages Wednesday, January 18,2006 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon School board approves six-classroom addition to Windy River Elementary The Morrow County School Board, at its regular meeting Monday night in Heppner, voted to build six more classrooms on to the Windy R iver Elem entary S chool b u ild in g in Roardman. T he e lem en ta ry school building, constructed with six original classrooms, was designed to be easily m o d ified to add on a d d itio n a l room s. Two classrooms will be added to one wing, which already has six classroom s, and four classrooms will be added to the o th e r sid e, w hich c u rre n tly has four classroom s. W indy River currently has around 150 students in the fifth and sixth grades. M C S D S u p e rin te n d e n t M ark Burrows said that Boardman school population had been growing rapidly, seeing a four percent grow th rate from 1998 to 2001 and a six percent growth rate from 2001 to 2004, before slowing to one-and-a-half percent from October 2004 to October 2005. Burrows estim ated that at a five-percent growth rate, the six c lassro o m a d d itio n s w ould accommodate the Boardman e lem en ta ry student p o p u lation for five-plus years. At a one-and-a-half percent grow th rate, the a d d itio n s should accommodate students for around 10 years. B urrow s also presented projections if the board approved construction o f only four a d d itio n a l classroom s, how ever the cost for the two additional room s was only around $200,0(X) more, so the board opted for more rooms now to save construction costs later. WRE Principal Thad K illin g b eck assu red the Becker Construction the low bid, but the d istric t had worked with the company before. Becker Construction is cu rren tly building the Irrigon High School's new PTE building, which will be used for the Ag and PE complex. B urrow s said that B ecker C onstruction has estim ated that the project will be completed by June. B urrow s ad d ed that he expects that the project will be done by the start of school in September. The monies for the first four classroom s had already been budgeted and the additional $228,700 will com e from next y e a r ’s budget. “This is incredible,” said board m em ber Pat M cNam ee. “We have the money without going out for a bond.” B u rro w s said the school facilities at Irrigon A s s i s t a n t appear to be sufficient for the Superintendent Wade Smith time being, since Irrigon, said th a t not only w as continued page 7 board that the rooms would not go to waste until they are put into use as classrooms. “Certainly the rooms would not be id le ,” said Killingbeck. “We would use them from day one and then, as needed, co n v erted to classrooms,” he said. He said that the rooms could be used fo r labs or fo r o th e r instructional purposes and not merely for storage. Plans are to move students to WRE from Sam Boardman Elementary. Becker Construction won the bid with $487,338 for the base bid o f four classroom s and $228,870 more for the two additional room s for a to tal o f $716,200, which was low bid. W.C. Construction bid $744,693 for the base and alternate bids com bined; M cCormach Construction bid $798,700; and Knerr Construction bid $940,800. Lexington Council extends telephone building deadline The Lexington Town C o u n c il, at its re g u la r meeting Tuesday, Jan. 10, ap p ro v ed a m o n th -lo n g extension to allow additional time for someone to step up to provide a solution to the dilemma over the fate of the old L exington telephone building. The b u ild in g is currently on Jim N elson's property. Nelson told the board that he would allow the building to remain on his p ro p e rty an ad d itio n a l month, but after that he may opt to destroy the building. Nelson also offered to move the building, but the council has received no definite offer for a resting place for the structure. “ I would get it moved at no cost and set it down on town property,” said N elson. M ayor Val Doherty said that a county official has indicated that the county may also be able to m ove the b u ild in g . The council also heard that Dean Hunt has indicated that he, too, has located a place to place the building. If a place is located, the b u ild in g w ould still re q u ire ex ten siv e renovation. Talk centered on obtaining a grant to restore the building, but that may require more time than is a v a ila b le . A cco rd in g to interested citizens at the m eetin g , the M orrow County Historical Society has also indicated interest and may be able to provide some funding for renovation. continued page two ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M. John Ripple, representing MCGG South M orrow County community members gathered Thursday, Jan. 12 for the annual Town and Country Banquet where six citizens and one business w ere presented w ith the C ham ber o f C om m erce’s annual awards. The theme fo r the ev en in g was “Volunteers are Top Hat” and the guest speaker for the evening was “The Portland O re g o n ia n " co lu m n ist Jonathan N icholas. A lso in tro d u ce d d u rin g the e v en in g w as the 2006 M orrow County Fair and Rodeo Court. On the court this year are Queen Heather Yocom and Princess Josie Miller. A1 R iney w as honored as this year's Man of the Year. Riney grew up in Condon and worked as p o stm a ste r and o w n er/ operator of Liberty Theater before becoming manager of ranching operations for an outfit in Mikkalo. “Retiring” to Heppner in 1999, Riney has become an active part of the community. He has helped with landscaping and building c o n stru c tio n at W illow C reek T errace A ssisted Living and Oregon Trail Library. He also worked on machinery and grounds for the Farm M useum and Heritage Plaza. He serves as chairman of the building and g ro u n d s co m m ittee at Willow Creek Country Club and serves in leadership roles and as a w o rk er in the M asons and the Odd Fellows, helping with many projects. He has helped w ith the St. P a tric k 's Day Celebration and served as a p arad e ju d g e . He also volunteers in the Heppner Garden Club. He worked three years on the cemetery restoration project. When he is not v o lu n te e rin g in construction projects, he brings enjoyment to others while playing in the Blue Mountain String Band. H onored as this year's Woman of the Year w as D oris B rosnan. Brosnan, who grew up in Heppner. but spent some time away, returned with a can do attitude and helped support many Heppner and Owen Healy Don McElligott Al Riney Morrow County Fair and Rodeo Court Queen Heather Yocont is crow n ed by last y e a r ’s Q ueen J essica Wainwright. Left is Princess Josie Williams. W illow C reek Valley projects. Some of her many projects include w orking w ith the W illow C reek E conom ic D ev elo p m en t Group, serving as director of the Dinner at the Cemetery event and introducing the idea o f Mr. B ill’s Trivia Show to raise money for the M ural Fund. She is also instrumental in keeping the Morrow County Chronicles alive, working as editor and writer. She has also served on num erous boards and com m ittees including the Flood C o m m em o ratio n committee, St. Patrick’s Day co m m ittee, the St. P a t’s Hotel board. Willow Creek Terrace Board and numerous others. She is also a member of the Heppner Chamber of Commerce and St. Patrick's Catholic Church. These are ju st a few o f the many projects that Brosnan helps create, support and keep running. This year's Citizen- Educator of the Year award was p resen ted to new ly re tire d D uane N eiffer. Neiffer has not only spent the last 24 y ears ed u ca tin g Morrow County youth, he has been instrumental in their extracurricular activities as well. Neiffer spent 15 years teaching in Heppner, seven years in lone and went to Hermiston for two years. During his career he has re ceiv ed m any aw ard s in c lu d in g . G rant R igby Memorial Teacher Award. Region 5 Outstanding High School Science Teacher, Inspirational Teacher Award from E astern O regon U niversity and the Holes Memorial Award. When he’s not in the classro o m N eiffer finds himself active in his church and the community. He has serv ed as a 4-H leader, S unday school teach er, freshman and JV basketball coach in Heppner, golf coach in Heppner and a bowling coach. H onored as th is year’s Youth of the Year was Heppner High School senior H eath er R ill. R ill’s achievem ents encom pass school, 4-H, volunteerism continued page 7 Willow Creek Economic Development Group annual meeting Jan 26 The Willow Creek Valley Economic Development Group will hold its annual meeting Thursday, Jan. 26 at 12 noon at John's Place in Heppner. Guest speaker for the meeting will be Dan Desler of Western States Land Reliance Trust. Desler is the owner of a Eugene development company and will speak about his plans for development at the South Morrow Industrial Park (formerly Kinzua mill site) near Heppner. Western States Land Reliance is a non-profit organization, which is close to purchasing the industrial park from the Port of Morrow. The trust plans to operate the co-generation electric plant at the site and has also indicated it may site other compatible businesses there as well. In other business at the annual meeting, the current WCVEDG president David Sykes will be turning over the gavel to next year's president George Koffler and all members are welcome to attend and vote for next year's president and a board of directors, as well as discuss any business they wish to bring before the group. In other business, there will be a review o f WCVEDG's current effort to apply for tax-exempt status with the Internal Revenue Service. Becoming tax exempt will allow WCVEDG to accept a wider range of grants to be used for local economic development. The lunch will be hosted by W CVEDG however, those wishing to attend should be sure to RS VP to secretary/ treasurer Marcia Kemp by Tuesday, Jan. 24 at 676-2100. M C G G G R E E N F E E D S T O R E in H eppner 10% OFF ALL PURINA car. 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