Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (April 19, 2006)
Easter Bunny visits Heppner ..... ||,|„ l|| Bessie Welzell Newspaper Library I University ot Oregon Eugene, OR 97403 The Faster Bunny made an appearance at Heppner City Park on Saturday. April 15. Joining him were Cheyenne Smith. Mahaley Huddleston and Emily Smith. VOL. 125 NO. 16 10 Pages Wednesday, April 19,2006 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Doherty announces DA candidacy lone School Board declines support of speedway tax | lone School Board members, at their regular m eeting M onday night, declined to second a motion in support of the proposed speedway district excise tax. B oard m em ber Joel P eterson, in m aking the m otion, said that the raceway could provide an economic boost to the area and possibly more students for the district. Board member Anne M orter said that she was concerned about the time lag between the issuance of the bonds and the commercial d ev elo p m en t of the speedw ay d istrict which w ould pro v id e bond rep ay m en t. She also mentioned a clause in the contract which prohibits co u n ty em p lo y ees from sp eak in g about the agreement. Also at the meeting, the board approved a three- y e ar c o n tra c t w ith S u p e rin ten d e n t Bryn Browning. In other business, the board: -approved a contract w ith the city o f lone to provide lawn mowing for school grounds for $8,OiX) annually. -approved a contract with Apollo Sheet Metal in K ennew ick to provide preventative m aintenance for the school’s heating and air conditioning system for $9106 for the first year. The cost o f the m aintenance agreement was determined to be cheaper than the cost of obtaining service from Apollo as needed. -accepted the first read in g o f a p o licy on g en eral school administration. -ap p ro v ed the second reading and adopted a p o licy on fiscal management. -re c e iv e d a m anagem en t le tte r concerning the d is tric t’s annual audit, from Maxwell & Company, Certified Public A c co u n ta n ts, lo cated in Eugene. The letter said that “ the review p ro cess for student activity purchases was not c o n siste n tly applied” and recommended two levels of review on all purchases. The letter also noted th at “ the b u d g et re so lu tio n ad o p tin g the su p p lem en tal b u d g et contained no inform ation regarding the appropriation category m odified by the supplemental budget.” The resolution must state the appropriation category, such as in stru c tio n , su p p o rt services, etc. M axwell & Company recommended that the district review the “Local B u dgeting M anual publication prepared by the O regon D ep artm en t o f Revenue.” M axw ell & Company also reminded the district that Oregon requires construction-type donated services to be disallowed to protect union jobs. “This type of work must be done on a paid basis and at union scale,” said the letter. Financial services for the d istrict are provided u n d er c o n tra c t by the Umatilla-Morrow ESD. -ap p ro v ed a pool ag reem en t betw een the district and Willow Creek Park District, which has yet to be approved by WCPD. -tabled a decision on a resolution recommending that the O regon School Boards A ssociation hold mail-in balloting, rather than requiring that voting be held continued page two Valerie Doherty Valerie Doherty has announced her candidacy for district attorney. Doherty has been a resident of Morrow C ounty since 1963, graduating from Heppner High School in 1971. She then received her bachelor's deg ree w ith m ajors in science and psychology in 1976 from the University of Oregon and received her doctorate of jurisprudence in 1981 from W illam ette University College of Law. She cu rren tly resides in Lexington and serves as the Lexington mayor. Lexington Council hears raceway presentation Port o f M orrow C o m m issio n e r M arvin Padberg told the Lexington City Council, at their regular meeting April 11, that he not only supports the proposed raceway plan that will be built in the Boardman area, but that the project would provide needed economic grow th fo r the county. “ W e’re so dependent on agriculture,” said Padberg. an lone farmer. “This will bring in a non-agricultural business.” “It could very well double the (county’s) tax base,” he said. L ex in g to n M ayor Valerie D oherty, a local attorney, said that she sees w hat co u ld be p o ten tial problem s in the contract betw een the racew ay developers and the county. A ccording to D o h e rty ’s interpretation, the contract requires that the county issue bonds to fund racew ay development, however the funds from the eight percent excise tax, that county voters are being asked to approve May 16, are not earmarked to repay the bonds. Instead the monies would go directly to the d e v elo p e rs. "I u n d erstan d how it (the contract) is intended to be," said Doherty. “But I'm not certain that the contract we’re seeing says that.” Padberg and raceway developers, who were present at the council meeting, disagreed, saying that the bonds w ill be secured by a letter of credit that they have obtained and the contract will not put the county at risk. Doherty also voiced concern about a secrecy clause in the contract, which forbids county employees from m aking public ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M. pronouncements or issuing press releases about the contract. In other business at the meeting, the council: -approved a request by Columbia Basin Electric to have L exington maintenance personnel to read the electric company’s meters for a $1 Oft per month reim b u rsem en t on a temporary basis. The council approved the request for three months, although they d id n 't believ e the reim b u rsem en t am ount would cover the actual cost. -approved a three percent cost-of-living raise Doherty began her career in a partnership with Herman Winter and Michael Sweeney in Heppner. While there, most o f her work centered on criminal cases and family law. She then served as Morrow County deputy district attorney for 10 years and later as full-time county counsel. In 1997, Doherty returned to private practice, w orking alm ost exclusively in criminal law, both as retained counsel and under contract with the state for court-appointed work. T his is w here D oherty cu rre n tly fin d s h erself, working mostly in Umatilla C ounty, alth o u g h she appears regularly in Morrow County. She has also handled cases in Gilliam. Union and Wallowa counties. “I’ve learned a lot ‘out th ere,’ but it's time, now, to bring it home to Morrow County and put it to good use. Experience does count,” said Doherty. Doherty also speaks some Spanish, which helps her communicate better with many of her clients. She feels that it is important for people to know that they can call on the telephone and make an ap p o in tm en t or get the answers they need. As DA, Doherty also plans to help fight the drug problem. “ I know, as DA, that I c a n 't stop drugs [abuse], but I also know, as DA, I can m ake life su p rem ely d iffic u lt for persons involved in them.” She has spent the last 10 y ears, “fin d in g the w eak n esses in the pro secu tio n 's cases” and now w ants to fix and eliminate the weaknesses. D oherty will face E lizab eth B allard , H erm isto n , and John Ballard, H erm iston. in a th ree-w ay race in the primary election May 16. If one of the candidates wins by a clear 50 pcrcent-plus- one vote, he or she will win the election. If there is no 50 percent-plus-one win. the top two candidates will go on to the general election scheduled for Nov. 7, 2(X)6. lone residents to vote on local option tax R egistered voters living within the City of lone will be voting on a three-year local option tax. The tax will be used for general operating expenses for the City of lone. The tax will be for $ 10.(XX) for three year for a total o f $30 ,0 0 0 . The estimated tax impact would be $1.17 per $1(XX) for the first year. G eneral operating expenses would include such things as utilities, fuel, other expenses to keep the city running, as well as a possible increase in the hours worked by the city recorder. The current lack of funds is due in part to the increased and unforeseen expenses that have been created as prices for fuel, electricity, etc., have increased. “The city does the best it can with that it has." said Gayle Eynerich, city recorder. B allo ts w ill be m ailed out to voters on Friday. 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