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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 2006)
TW O - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, February 1,2006 The Official Newspaper of the City of Heppner and the County of Morrow Heppner GAZETTE-TIMES U.S.P.S 240-420 M orrow C o u n ty ’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 (5 4 1) 676-9228 Fan (541) 676-9211. E- mail editort^rapidservc.netordavidCtf heppner net Website: www.heppner net. Post master send address changes to the Heppner Gazette-Times, PO. Box 337, Heppner. Oregon 97836. Subscriptions $25 in Morrow County; $19 senior rale (in Morrow County only; 62 years or older); $31 elsewhere; $26 student subscriptions. David S y k e s.....................................................................................................Publisher Katie Foster ........................................................................................................ Editor All News and Advertising Deadline is Monday at 5 p.m. For Advertising: advertising deadline is Monday at 5 p.m. Cost for 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. 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 Obituaries Obituanes 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 wntten in a certain way must purchase advertising space for the obituary For Letters to the Editor: Letters to the Editor MUST be signed by the author. The Heppner GT will not publish unsigned letters All letters MUST include the author's address and phone number for use by the GT office. The GT reserves the right to edit letters. The GT 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. On the HEPPNER WEBSITE: www.heppner.net • Start o r Change a Subscription • Place a Classif ied Ad • Submit a News Story • View Real Estate fo r Sale • C ity C ouncil & Planning M inutes •Local B usinesses • C ounty Park • W illow C reek Park R eservations • Free D igital Postcards • S enior H ousing • and m ore! St. Patrick’s Senior Center news The Nazarene Church is providing volunteers for the Wednesday, Feb. 8 noon meal at the senior center. The menu, celebrating Valentine’s Day is as follows: stir- fry vegetables with chicken and rice, whole wheat and white rolls, juice, cookies and ice cream. The Hermiston Hearing Center will hold a free to the public seminar for information, consultations and demonstrations of varieties of hearing aides on Feb. 8, at 12:30 p.m., following the noon meal. The seminar will take place in the common room, the consultations will be in the office. The Sentimentalists and the senior center extend and invitation for people to attend their signing rehearsals on Wednesday afternoons at 4:30 p.m. Residents of the center already have taken advantage of the courtesy offered. This notice is a reminder that others are invited to enjoy these musical moments in a pleasant environment. The regular board meeting will be held Wednesday, Feb. 15 at 12:30 p.m. at the center office. Heppner Elks install new community reader board A new electronic community reader board has been attached to the Elks Lodge building in Heppner. The board is property of the Elks but was funded by the Elks Lodge, the Elks Ladies and the Heppner Booster Club. The board, which has been in the works for several years, will be used to let Elks members know about upcoming Elks’ events, as well as informing the community about upcoming school and community events. The old BPOE sign will be taken down from its current spot and moved to the rear entrance. H EPPNER ELKS 358 676-9181 - "W here Friends M eet" 142 North M ain Thursday. February 2nd - /> . FIJI M S ' J V i a M T M JV JV E M B a r b e c u e d C h ic k e n w it h a ll t h e t r im m in g s ! Dinner starts at 6 p.m. Lodge starts at 8 p.m. Editorial: Change could be good, but that depends on us Published: Jan. 25, 2006 Reprinted from Sweet Home News Well, here it is, 2006, ly be fleeing inordinately and if y o u ’ve heard the high housing prices and sounds of heavy equipment crummy city lives. They re on the Western Land Reli ally won’t be much different ance Trust property off Clark than any of us already here. M ill R oad, you’ve heard the sound of change. W e ’ re talking about 49 lots where de v elo p er Dan D esler sent in excavating eq u ip m en t to begin w orking last week. These lots are part of a 432-lot subdivi Dan Desler stands on the site of the 432-lot sion th at was subdivision, off Clark Mill Road, where given the go- work began last week. P hoto by S ean C. M or ahead by the city gan w ith Sw eet H om e N ew s. Planning Com m issio n last year. T his We all know that we, or our month, commission mem parents, our grandparents, or bers approved a 236-unit de some relative down the line, velopment at the end of 10th arrived here under similar A venue. B etw een them , circum stances — usually th at’s 668 new houses or looking for a better life. apartments, and that does Not to put too fine a not count another 1,100 pro point on it, but w e’ve heard posed lots along the river, muttering about “those Cal about 500 of them Desler’s, ifornians” or developers who in earlier stages of develop “are going to turn Sweet Home into California.” ment. To be blunt, Desler’s We’re not too hot on and these other projects have cookie-cutter, cheaply built evoked some pessimism and housing, either. We’re not suggesting that our local de nay-saying in town. We’ve all heard folks velopers are of the ilk that either bemoaning the arrival build this kind of junk and of these new homes (and res skate away as the houses idents) or staunchly main slide down the hillsides. But taining that it would never we expect that our city offi happen, that Desler and oth cials will ensure that these er developers would be un new homes are built the right able to get their acts togeth way, built to last, and that er to actually make some they will be a positive addi tion to the city. Sweet Home thing happen. Well, something is can’t afford to have it any happening. W hether it is other way. Sure, local folks op good or not depends on how posed to change could resist we all respond. These residences are these newcomers, but that not going to be hovels, at would be a mistake. Many of tracting folks looking for the them will likely bring talent cheapest place to lay their and positive influences to heads. No, the people who our community. They may be are expected to buy many of able to help Sweet Home these homes will be people change for the better. with money — either mon Some of these new ey they are earning at cur residents will bring vision rent jobs or money they’ve and, we hope, energy to saved for retirement. They make that vision a reality. also will be people looking There is vision here now, but for a better life, which is why it’s been dulled somewhat by most of us have moved to tough economic realities that Sweet Home at one point or have hurt Sweet Home and another. turned it into what it is to Sweet Home has a day — a bedroom commu lot of pluses, but its econo nity that needs to become my is currently not one of something more than that. The fact is, change is them. These homes, while certainly increasing travel on inescapable. The sound of city streets and demands for that heavy equipm ent off city services, also will in Clark Mill Road is the sound crease cash flow in Sweet o f change. We want that H om e. T h e re ’s a good change to be progress in a chance that more businesses positive direction for Sweet could get a foothold here Home and it will take atten with the arrival of these new tion and effort from all of us residents. — city officials, residents Some, if not many, of and newcomers to make that these folks will come from happen. out of state. Many will like- Pop Can Drive to be held The Morrow County Fair and Oregon Trail Pro Rodeo Court is having an on-going pop can drive. They will pick them up or you can drop them off. For more information contact Renee Yocom in the Fair office at 676-9474 or talk to Queen Heather Yocom or Princess Josie Miller. G-T News Deadline Mondays at 5 p.m. C a s e IH E Z -S te er A s s is te d Steerin g System • Hands-free steering • Easy installation and set up • Low cost alternative to auto-guidance • Easily transferred from vehicle to vehicle • Allows operator to focus on equipment operation Also available: Case IH EZ-Guide plus Lightbar Morrow County Grain Growers Lexington 989-8221 • 1-800-452-7396 for Order Magnetic Door Signs farm »quipment, «Wt our w «b «it« at « F W w .m tB .m t Heppner (ìazette-Times 676-922H ~ Letters to the Editor ~ The Heppner Gazette Times will print all letters to the Editor with the following criteria met: letters submitted to the newspaper will need to have the name of the sender along with a legible signature. We are also requesting that you provide your address and a phone number where you can be reached. The address and phone number will only be used for verification and will not be printed in the newspaper. Letters may not be libelous. The GT reserves the right to edit. The GT is not responsible for accuracy o f statem ents made in letters. Any letters expressing thanks will be placed in the classifieds under ‘‘Card of Thanks” at a cost o f $10. Reckless driving will cause accidents To the Editor: When there’s no traf fic, the in te rse c tio n o f Church and Gale Streets in Heppner is a portrait of pas toral serenity. The historic Methodist church sits on one comer, the Episcopal church occupies another, and St. Patrick’s church is just a few steps to the north. Ironically appropriate, since som e body’s going to be killed here, within spitting distance of their own funeral service. I live on this comer, supposedly controlled by two stop signs on Church Street. Just about any time of the day or evening, I can count on looking out my front window to catch the reckless drivers on parade. The most common offense is a right turn from Church onto Gale Street, running the stop sign at the comer. 1 spe cifically say “running” be cause when they take that comer at between 15 and 20 mph, that’s no “rolling stop”; that’s running a stop sign, pure and simple. By the way, how do you make a fast 90-degree left turn without losing con trol of your vehicle? Simple. You “soften” the angle by veering into the lane of op posing traffic as you execute the turn. At least, that’s fre quently how it’s done at my corner. It works great as long as you d o n ’t smash head-on into a car approach ing you in the lane you have no business being in. A nother com m on occurrence is cars going up or dow n G ale S treet at speeds of 40 mph and up. Fifty is not unheard of, and during the Christmas holi days, I swear I observed some clown tearing up Gale at 60 mph As most of us with driver licenses can recall, the state-m andated lim it for travel on residential streets like Gale is 25 mph unless posted otherwise. Add these inexcus able driving habits to the unavoidable fact that people, especially kids, are occasion ally careless, and death or serious injury is the inevita ble result. Based on casual observation over the last y e ar or so, along w ith enough knowledge of basic statistics to be dangerous, my guess is that the victim will probably be a local child aged 15 or younger, and the killer will likely be a male driver between 16 and 25. W hile young men typically display the worst driving judgment most fre quently, I’ve also noticed a more disturbing trend. Hep- pner’s reckless driving con tingent encompasses a lot more than just testosterone- ravaged teenage males. It also includes over-scheduled soccer moms, female high school students, local busi ness owners and employees of both genders, government workers, church-goers, and an occasional retiree for good m easure. In o th e r words, the phenomenon is fairly widespread and virtu ally every segment of the lo cal driving population is rep resented. Am I just being are- actionary old crank? No doubt about it, but it turns out I’m not the only one. After asking around, I dis covered similar complaints from residents on Gilmore, Riverside, Water, Hager, and other streets around town. All of which seems to point to a very interesting anoma ly: Heppner is the epitome of small town rural American life in just about all aspects except one- an uncomfort ably large number of us be come self-indulgent maniacs w hen p laced behind the wheel of a motor vehicle. So why isn ’t local law enforcement doing more (i.e., issuing citations by the hundreds) to get the problem under control? Beats me. Som e tim e ago, I posed that question to the local sheriff’s office, which is paid (by you) to handle law enforcement for the City of H eppner under a service contract. The answer I got was that they preferred to “educate” the public rather than issue citations on a wholesale basis. Very pro gressive-sounding, except that approach falls flat on its face when directed at those mule-headed souls among us who resist educational over tures with every fiber of their being unless the lesson is backed up by force and/or penalties. So, what next? First, if you agree w e’ve got a problem, call or write your local elected officials and dem and more aggressive traffic enforcement. You can make your feelings known to me or any other member of the Heppner city council, the mayor, the city manager, or the sheriff. If enough of you speak up, the wheels of gov ernment will lurch forward. You can also remain silent. In either case, the old politi cal adage holds true: people generally get the quality of government they deserve. Second, if y o u ’re one o f the lousy drivers, adopt a belated new year’s resolution to clean up your act behind the wheel. Start by coming to a full halt at stop signs. After you’ve mas tered that, work on the con cept of obeying speed lim its. And third, join me in the following pledge: RE SOLVED- If I happen to witness the senseless slaugh ter or maiming of anybody on our public streets by a reckless driver, I will fall all over myself in my zeal to get to the courthouse for the purpose of testifying against the perpetrator, regardless of his or her family name, posi tion, or status in the commu nity. Don’t get me wrong. Heppner is still the best place I’ve ever found in which to live. I just don’t want it to be the best place for some kid to die a violent and pre mature death, especially as a result of something as in credibly stupid as a traffic accident. We can do better than that. (s) Glenn Baker Heppner r SUPPORT ' youR LOCAL BUSINESSES! ^Shop In Tou/Hy
