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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 31, 2007)
Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, January 31,2007 - THREE Heppner High School Attendance Pays assembly Photo by Darlene Marquanh H eppner H igh School held i t ’s second Attendance Pays assembly on Thursday, January 25, the last day of the quarter. The follow ing students received Perfect Attendance awards and will be placed in a drawing for a $50 savings bond to be aw arded at our next assem bly: Seth Palm er, Justin Pranger, G abriela Sanchez, Brett H arrison, D aisy V ictorio, Rudi Ramirez, Marc Thompson, Lane Wright, Joshua Shank and Jordan Shepherd. A num ber o f stu d en ts w ere also recognized for having two or fewer days absent and six or few er ta rd ie s. A lso recognized at the assembly were exchange student Julia R onnacker who is flying back to Germany after the end of this semester (January 25) and R.J. Farrens who was awarded the Student of the Year at the recent Towne and Country Banquet. State Essay Writing winners were recognized: Lane Wright, fourth place; Erin Price, third place; and Lacie Wagoner, second place in the state. D ave Fow ler, technology teacher, was also reco g n ized fo r being aw arded Educator of the Year at the recent Towne and Country Banquet. The site council and staff presented Fowler with a gift certificate to Home Depot. Garden Club Essay Contest 4th place winner I know and understand that the world is a frag ile and d e lic ate ta p e s try that we m u s t protect and care for. But s o m e times the care it needs must take a different Lane Wright ro ute to b e protected from itself. I'm talking of the recent seal population explosion and m ovem ents o f these creatures across the Pacific coast. The fact is that seals are becoming overpopulated along the Pacific coast from Baja California to Alaska. This problem is becoming more and more noticeable. A ccording to stu d ies co n d u cted by N O A A / N M FSC , a c o n tro lle d census from 1977 through 1993 along the O regon c o ast, the o rg a n iz atio n n o ticed that the annual increase of seals is 7.4%. In this same census the average amount of harbor seals for the years tested was 6,046. This amount might seem sm all, but the total abundance of harbor seals alone on the Oregon coast alone was 9,261. T his number is nothing compared to the 390,000 various types of seals and sea lions along the P acific co ast. T his abundance is a count of all H arbor seals, Stellar sea lions, and California sea lions along the West coast. This might seem like nothing, but a small over population issue. However seals have even started to m ove fu rth er inland onto public land. Beaches that your Children play on are being taken away from them by an environm entally inclined government, just so that the seals may have undisturbed breeding grounds. T his problem is growing and is u n ch allen g ed by an unknowing society. The movement onto public ground isn’t the only problem faced by increasing seal populations. The sudden decrease in pacific salmon can be contributed directly to the seals that wait at fish ladder openings. This drop has lowered the abundance of fishing licenses given out and low ered the average spawning rate causing local fishermen to start competing for their jobs not just with their friends, but with the seals. Seals, often chasing migrating salmon, destroy nets while endangering the fisherm en w ho's jo b .it is remove caught, aggravated seals, often causing hundreds of dollars in medical and repair bills to replace nets and for injured fishermen. Think of it, if the salmon population increases they could once again run the Columbia like their ancestors did, fishing could become easier. You may say, “Wait what about the salm on farm s raising salmon and releasing them Heppner Little League To conduct Registration for the 2007 season Registration for the 2007 season at Heppner Little League will he held on Wednesday, February 7; Thursday, February 8: and Friday, February 9, 2007 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. each night. Boys ages 5-12, Girls ages 5-14 arc eligible to enroll to play T- Ball. Minors and Majors Baseball and Softball. Registration is required even if the child played previously. Cost is $30 per child. $60 per family. Registration will be held at the Heppner Neighborhood Center. At least one parent or legal guardian must be present. If this is your first time or we don't have your information from last year, please bring three (3) proofs of residency (must have PHYSICAL address) and a copy of your child's original or state-certified birth certificate. A driver's license or utility bill is acceptable documentation If you cannot make it to tryouts please let us know. The deadline for signups is February 28. For more information call Sandi Putman at (541 ) 676-8469. At this time we are also accepting applications for coaches and volunteers. This year we will need a copy of your photo ID/ Driver's License to go along with it. - TRYOUTS - Major Boys Baseball - March 15. 2007 at 4:00 p.m. George Waterland Field Major Girls Softball - March 15, 2007 at 4:00 p.m. Bob Kilkenny Field Minor Boys Baseball - March 20, 2007 at 4:00 p.m Shad Hisler Field Minor Girls Softball - March 20. 2007 at 4:00 p.m. Bob Kilkenny Field T - Ball will not be having Tryouts Little League is the world 's largest youth sports program with more than 2.8 million children and I million volunteers in more that I 00 countries. For more information on Little League visit the Little League wehsite at ww w.Iirtleleague.org into rivers?” Well yes this is a good attempt to bring back salmon populations, but the problem is when they return to the rivers they're attacked again by the waiting seal and most farmed salmon don’t survive the first year in the ocean due to other predators only a select few make it back. The thing is that seals are over populated and the problem must be resolved. As I am sure you’re aware, Canada has started a nationwide seal hunt to try and low er the seal over population. Unfortunately the path they chose was more of a killing path where nothing was salvaged only d estro y ed . But w hat I propose is a little more humane. I propose an open seal season the same as a deer or elk season, that w ould create a lim ited number of tags and allow people to apply for tags and hunt the seals. Something needs to be done and this is my p ro p o sal. If the p o p u latio n c o n tin u es to grow salmon could become extinct, the seal population could rise, and finally when food sources run out they would starve, suffer, and also cause problems by searching b each es; en d an g erin g people, for food. So please consider my idea for the sake of the salmon, the seal, and you. Heppner Garden Club to meet The H eppner G arden C lub w ill meet Monday, February 5, at 7 p.m. at the Senior Center. Beth D ickenson w ill be sharing the progress of the green house at the high school. The Heppner Garden C lub has sponsored this program. She will be the Garden Club on what the class is doing at the high sch o o l. D ickenson has b ro u g h t classes to help Garden Club make wreathes before Christmas. Hostesses for this meeting will he Daisy Collins and Dorothy Jackson. The Heppner Garden Club is open to the public. Garden Club Essay Contest 2 nd Place winner O ur earth is a marvelous thing, it is diverse and delicate. We need the earth for t h e s u rv iv a l of our p e o p le . For the earth to p ro d u c e a n d p r o v id e for the population Lacie Wagoner it must be in good condition. One area of the world that is in need of our help is the rainforest. We tend to forget what goes on every day in our world and it is not always good. We need to o u r best to protect it; the easiest and most sensible way to do this is to harness all available reso u rces, not only the lumber value. Let’s take a moment to look at the facts of what actually happens to our rain fo rests. R ain fo re sts are being destroyed every day because it is thought that the timber is the only resource of value on rain forest land. It is estimated that for every second that passes one and one-half acres is demolished. T his accu m u lates up to thirty to fifty thousand acres per year. With the loss of this forest we also lose up to 137 plant, insect, and animal species a day. The truth is that if the rate o f say that by harvesting the plants and fruits on the land the value of timber and cattle grazing could be surpassed. And we would keep gaining rev en u e from these renewable resources. The S la sh -a n d -B u rn m ethod destroys the land fertility and it will only be use for cattle grazing which only makes about sixty dollars per acre. There are many resources like nuts, fru its, oil producing plants, medical plants in addition to timber. The rain forest also provides more than half of the food in the developed world's diet. Like avocados, coconuts, figs, o ran g es, lem ons, grapefruit, bananas, guavas, p in eap p les, m angos and tomatoes and many more produce items. Every one has heard about the problems in the rain forest, but after you finish this essay I hope you have a new understanding for a major world crisis. We have to be the ones to protect the fate of our world. We have to alert and stop mindless tree cutting, we must use all the resources we have access to. We must protect the people, animals and plants of the rain forest or our future generations will pay dearly for the mistake. 1 know that the best thing we can do is to make use of all the abundant resources we have access to. Garden Club Essay Contest 3rd place winner R ain fo rests are precious to our world. T h e y c o n ta in m edicine a n d oxygen for us which are re a so n s for us to k e e p them. M o r e Erin Price than half of the world’s estimated 10 million species of plants, animals and insects live in the tropical rainforests. These deep rainforests are more than most people think. We need to protect and preserve these delicate rainforests. Biologist Edward O. Wilson said: “... The one process ongoing in the 1980s that will take millions of years to correct is the loss of genetic and species diversity by the d estru ctio n o f natural habitats. This is the folly that our descendants are least likely to forgive us for. “ M any sp ecies o f animals like the rainforest prim ate. Slow Loris, and plants like the R afflesia Arnoldii, one of the world’s largest flower, live in these en d an g ered ra in fo rests. When the rainforest is being destroyed some animals will be caught underneath all the underbrush. Those who do escape could migrate into an already over populated area. Then that area, only having a lim ited am ount of resources, will not have fo h n S £Pfatce " In fa n tin e \ in n e r -- JOHN S PLACE- Main Street, Heppner • 676-5481 ■w enough food and space for all the animals, therefore, causing these anim als to move closer to town and causing them to starve or even die. M any m edicinal plants can be found in these rainforests. The scientists are still finding more and more plants for m edicine, but many plan ts are being destroyed by deforestation. How terrible if there was a cure to so m eth in g , like cancer, and then find out that these plants to cure cancer were now extinct due to cutting down rainforests. The rainforest is a huge o x y g en -p ro d u cin g machine. It absorbs a lot of carbon dioxide, and gives us a load full of oxygen. The A m azon F o rest, for example, is describ ed as “ the lungs of our planet” for it produces more than 20% of the oxygen in the world. In clearing of the forest land, stumps and stems of plants are burned off. In this process it releases carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. T his hurts the ozone surrounding our planet. This c o n trib u te s to the “greenhouse effect" which leads to global warming. One of the world's most amazing rainforest is none other than the Amazon rainforest. It contains the largest group of plants and animal species out of all the rainforests. Scientists say that every 2.47 acres holds 900 tons of living plants. The Amazon Rainforest is found in Brazil and because it is so big, Brazil has a third of the remaining rainforests in the worlds. Unfortunately they are the w o rld 's g reatest rainforest destroyers burning of 2.7 million acres each year. The ra in fo rest contains much importance of people.plants, and animals. There were an estimated ten million Indians living in the Amazonian Rainforest five centuries ago. Today there are less than 200,0 0 0 because the land is limited due to the forests being cut down. Scientists estim ate that we are losing more than 137 plan ts and anim al species yearly because of rainforest deforestation. The world’s demand for wood, corn, wheat, and rice has grow n. The W o rld 's Resources Institute says that demand for com. wheat, and rice in 2020 will grow to 40%, and the dem and of wood by 2050 could double, and the rainforest is still looked at as a big supply for this wood. So you may be wondering what we may do now. Help out the rainforest, p u rch ase ren ew ab le ra in fo re st p ro d u cts. O f course recycle, especially paper. Consider the delicate thins that we need to protect and preserve in this world, like our rainforest. Justice Court Report Judge Charlotte Gray. Heppner Justice Court, has released the following report: -Kenneth Fred Wenberg, 60, Heppner. failure to obey a traffic control device (stop sign). $214 fine. : ) ! -Scott King. 28, Hermiston, disorderly conduct. $1025 fine with $300 suspended. 90 days in jail with 81 suspended and nine days served. Bring you r sweetheart to John’s Place fo r a romantic Valentine’s dinner! Saturday, February 10th from 4:30 - 8:30p.m . h deforestation does not slow down significantly, the rain forests will be consum ed with in the next fifty years. The rain forest is one of the earth’s most valuable and necessary features. It provides us with tropical w ood, m any m ed icin al plants, tropical grown foods, a variety o f anim als and in sec ts, and m ore importantly a major source of oxygen. The rainforest once covered 14% o f the planet earth it has been red u ced to 6% . The rainforest is home to nearly half of the earth’s plants, birds, and animals but with the depletion of their home they are in very real danger. But it is not only the animals that have cause to worry, we too should have m ajor concerns. More than twenty percent of the earth’s oxygen com es from the Amazon Rainforest, as well as 121 prescription medicines on today’s market are derived from the rainforest. The A m azon is the larg est rainforest on earth but it is only one forest, there are other just as valuable forests in In d o n esia, Z aire, Malaysia, and Burma. You may be wondering what can be done to help the forests, I believe that by leaving more of the forest in tact and harvesting all the resources would be the best way to go about saving the forest. Experts Heritage Land Co. 278 N. Main, Heppner We sell Residences, Randies, end Recreifien (541) 676-5049, (541) 980-3465 www.heritageland.net,www.farmseller.com www.eastoregonrealestate.com South M orrow County's Number One Reel Estate Company ■ fc-»-
