County says ‘no’ to cities’ tippage demands
The Morrow County court
said “no” last Wednesday to
a demand by the county’s
five cities that would give
more tippage fee funds to the
cities.
“This money goes to the
county fund and the county
is going to keep control ot
those funds,” Commissioner
John Wenholtz said.
Over 40 people attended
the county commissioner
meeting, which was moved
from the commissioners'
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Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Library
University o f Oregon
bugene. OR 97403
HEPPNER
imes
VOL. 126
NO. 7
10 Pages
Wednesday. February 14,2007
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
New technology wave of the future for
Morrow County School District
Michael Lasher from the machines’ “tremendous
the Umatilla-Morrow ESD. at the benefit to children” . The
Monday night school board proposal has no senate bill
meeting in Boardman. outlined number as of yet.
Cost for the project
a proposed partnership among
the state legislature. ESD
and the school d istric ts
w hich w ould put data
projectors and document
c am e ra s
in all
708
classrooms in Umatilla and
M orrow and U m atilla
counties.
Lasher says he has
been working with State
S en ato r D avid Nelson,
Pendleton, to seek funding
through the legislature.
Lasher said that Nelson, who
has been proactive in terms
of promoting technology in
the schools, will help in
convincing the legislature of
is estim ated at around
$470,000. The ESD has
pledged $250,000, with the
ESD seeking another
$250.000 in matching funds
from the school districts.
The system is a sort
of high-tech version of the
o v erh ead
projector.
However, with the overhead,
a teacher has to write out on
tra n sp aren c ie s what he
would like to show to his
classroom . With a data
p ro jecto r and docum ent
cam era,
which,
say
educators, will make the
overhead projector obsolete.
Shannon Wicklund is shown w ith <»ne of her apron designs.
Four years ago
Shannon Wicklund began
making children's aprons
for charity. She asks for
donations for the aprons
and donates all proceeds to
the Prineville chapter of the
Relay for Life. Wicklund’s
daughter,
R ebecca
Swearingen, is the co-chair
of the Prineville chapter of
the Relay for Life.
Four years ago,
W ick lu n d ’s father died
from cancer and she has
had other relatives who
have died from cancer.
W icklund h e rse lf is a
cancer survivor.
This year’s goal for
Relay for Life in Prineville
is $60,000 with proceeds
going to fund cancer
research.
Many people have
donated fabric to Wicklund
to help her in making the
c h ild r e n ’s aprons. The
aprons can be found at
Murray’s Drug Store.
For
more
information about Relay
for Life you can visit the
w ebsite
at
www.relayforlifc.org or go
to www.cancer.org. and
click on the Relay for Life
link.
M l, NEWS (.V \DV KRTISEMENI DE \DEINE:
MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M.
the teach er can place
virtually anything under the
projector-a book, a math
lesson, child's homework, a
butterfly,
educational
inform ation from the
internet, for exam ple-to
show his students. Any type
of computer may be used
with the system . The
machine is highly desired by
teachers and "makes show
and tell a whole other
world,” said Wade Smith,
M CSD
assistant
superintendent.
The M CSD has
planned
yet
another
d e m o n stratio n , this one
co n cern in g a high-tech
school bus, Wednesday,
March 7, at A.C. Houghton
Elem entary School in
Irrigon. from 10 a.m. to
noon. People are invited to
“take a ride on the magic
bus” and those with wi-fi
laptops are invited to bring
them as they would be able
to log-on through the bus.
This technology will
not only allow a bus to be
observed by district officials,
but can tell them if the bus is
off its route or has stopped
for an unusually long period
of time and is equipped w ith
a global positioning system.
The technology also enables
district officials to “count
noses” and determine if and
when a child enters or leaves
the bus and could even have
the capability of scanning
fingerprints. The system can
also capture a license plate
and other activity on camera
and officials can determine if
the ow ner of the vehicle has
any prior convictions.
The
m o rn in g ’s
demonstration w ill include a
reenactment of an incident
normal office to the
cou rtro o m up stairs to
accommodate the crowd.
The mayors have been
meeting since August in an
attempt to cooperate on
various issues, and had
concluded they would seek
more of the nearly $1 million
paid to the county this year
in fees collected each time
garbage is dumped at the
large Finley Buttes Landfill
on Bombing Range Road in
North Morrow County.
Boardman Mayor Ed
Glenn represented the cities
at the meeting, and he told
the court that they wanted 42
percent o f the funds
distributed equally to the
cities, 33 percent distributed
to the cities based on
population, and 25 percent
left for the county.
He also said the cities
w anted $500,000 in the
current cash balance of the
tippage fund distributed to
the cities in equal shares.
The cities are contending
that the money was
promised to them when the
landfill was sited in the
county back in 1992. In fact
the county passed a
resolution dividing 90
percent of the tippage fees
up among the cities in 1993,
but then rescinded that
resolution one year later.
Several citizens testified at
the meeting, and most were
in favor of leaving the money
where it was. “If the cities
get this money most of our
organizations will go down
hill,” said Earl Papineau of
lone.
County Judge Terry
Tallman had said last week
that if the county loses the
tippage fee money it will
have to lay off people and cut
back on support for groups
and o rg a n iz atio n s. The
county disburses some of the
tippage money to various
civic and other groups in the
county including the
Neighborhood Center and
the Extension as examples.
"I ask that both sides go
easy on this,” said George
Koffler of Heppner. "There
will be loss of jobs and
services. We are just asking
that you slow down the
process. It would be difficult
for groups and entities to
m ake up this shortfall
(caused if the county lost the
ability to fund them),” he
said.
Form er county
commissioner Dan Brosnan
said the loss o f tippage
money
would
be
“d e v a sta tin g ” to county
government. Brosnan said
there would be layoffs in the
sh eriff departm ent. At
present the tippage funds are
distributed by the court
between rural and city needs,
a balance he feels would be
lost if cities were given most
of the funds.
Previously several mayors
had said the cities need the
funds for such things as
water and sewer projects,
roads and other services.
Brosnan said approval of
the tippage redistribution
would probably mean the
end of a special levy being
proposed to fix roads in the
county. “This is bad policy
at a bad time and I urge the
commissioners to reject it,”
Brosnan said.
A nother form er
commissioner Ray Grace
said he felt the same as
Brosnan. "T his county
works within their budget."
Grace said. “ 1 would not
vote in favor of this. I could
not
accept
the
consequences,” he said.
Form er ju d g e Louis
C arlson, who was c h ie f
negotiator with Tidewater
Barge Company to establish
the landfill here, also wrote
a letter against the cities
proposal.
There were several who
supported the c itie s ’
position, however, including
Heppner city councilmember
Glenn Baker (see letters to
the editor page 3) who told
the commissioners that the
issue is accountability and
need. "The county reversed
it self (in 1993) and I feel
promises made should be
kept. We all have needs, and
so do the cities,” Baker said.
"You are balancing the
budget on a precario u s
s o u rc e ,” H eppner City
Manger David DeMayo said.
""The DEQ (Department of
E n vironm ental Q u ality )
could shut this landfill down
at any time.
G lenn told the
commissioners that funds
from the tippage fees were
originally promised to be
used to offset the negative
impact having a garbage
dump located in the county
would have, including
forcing people to live
elsew here.
Tallm an
disagreed. “To say that
Finley Buttes is the reason
people do not live in
M orrow
C ounty
is
hogwash,” he said.
Glenn apparently felt
different about disbursement
of the tippage funds in 1987.
In the July 22, 1987 issue of
the Heppner Gazette-Times
Glenn was quoted at a public
hearing discussing locating
the landfill here as saying he
was probably closer to the
project than any other
resident of the county. "The
lights of the trucks will be
shining right in my bedroom
window,” he pointed out.
Glenn said at that time he
favored the project, but
thought the county should
decide on how to spend the
“franchise fees" imposed by
the county, and that the
money should be used to
stim ulate
business
development.
“ I think we should
dedicate the money to help
small
m an u factu rin g
com panies locate in the
county," Glenn said. “Small
manufacturing will bring
new money into the county,”
he said at the time.
Although all three
m em bers o f the county
com m ission refused to
reallocate the fees, they did
indicate they were willing to
talk later about a new way
to distribute the "needs and
issues" funds given out from
the tippage fee funds each
year.
continued page 9
Special elections to be held
The Morrow County
Clerk has announced that on
May 16. an election will be
held for the purpose of
electing board members to
fill the positions and terms
for the following districts
listed below:
Heppner Rural Fire
Protection District
two positions at
large - four-year terms;
lone Rural Fire
Protection District
two positions at
large - four-year terms;
B oardm an Rural
Fire Protection District
two p ositions at
large - four-year terms;
Irrigon Rural Fire
Protection District
Position 1 - four-year
term
Position 2 - four-
year term;
M orrow C ounty
Unified Recreation District
Zone 3 - four-year
term
Zone 4 - four-year
term
Zone 5 - four-year
term;
Oregon Trail Library
District
Position 1 - four-
year term
Position 2 - four-
year term
Position 3 - two-
year term;
Port of Morrow
Position 4 - four-
year term
Position 5 - four-
year term;
Heppner Cemetery
Maintenance District
one position at large
- four-year term;
lone
L exington
Cemetery District
two p o sitio n s at
large - four-year terms;
Boardman Cemetery
District
one position at large
- four-year term;
Irrigon C em etery
Maintenance District
two p ositions at
large - four-year terms;
Willow Creek Park
District
three positions at
large - four-year terms;
Irrigon Community
Park and Recreation District
Position 2 - four-
year term
Position 3 - four-
year term;
Boardman Park and
Recreation District
three positions at
large - four-year terms;
lone School District
No. 2
Position 1 - four-
year term
Position 2 - four-
year term;
M orrow C ounty
School District Director
Position 1 - four-
year term
Position 3 - four-
year term
Position 4 - four-
year term
Position 5 - four-
year term;
H e p p n e r
C om m unity Education
Committee
Position I - two-
year term
Position 2 - two-
year term
Continued on page two
Continued on page three
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