Easter Bunny visits Heppner
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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. April 28 and need to
be returned by the election
date of May 16.
continued page two
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