Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (March 14, 2007)
FOUR • Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, March 14,2007 Principals honored for school excellence -continued from page one teachers and students, but in clu d ed a th ree-w eek C h ristm a s holiday from December 20 to January 14, students ending June 11 and teachers ending June 13. Burrow s said that w hile O p tion C was somewhat radical, it would help the district in two ways. Students who traditionally leave for the C h ristm as holiday in M exico would have more time to return and would not miss school and fall behind. Secondly, the d istric t w ould not be penalized financially for those students who do not return from the holiday within the traditional one or two-week time period. Burrows added that a pre-Labor Day start would not give the district enough tim e to sch ed u le sta ff w orkshops and train in g sessions. He had requested a post-Labor Day start last year also, but the board voted otherwise. "The vast m ajo rity o f sch o o ls are starting post-Labor Day,” said Burrows. In other business, the board; -ad o p ted policy affirm ing parental rights, required by the No Child Left Behind Act. -ap p ro v ed a cooperative sponsorship for tennis betw een H eppner High School and lone High School. -heard a report from Wade Sm ith and Julie A shbeck, e x ecu tiv e secretary and personnel director, concerning the onerous number o f forms (estimated at 70-80) they are required to submit to qualify the district for state and federal funding. Smith said that “ a c c o u n ta b ility increases w hile funding decreases,” and added that if the d istric t “d id n 't go through the h o o p s” it w o u ld n 't get its federal funding." The district is scheduled for an on-site audit next year. -a c c e p te d the fo llo w in g re s ig n a tio n s/ retirements: Robin Mulder, Sam Boardman Elementary School special ed assistant, lrrig o n Ju n io r High v o lle y b a ll co ach ; Jake McElligott, IJH head girls’ basketball coach; G erald S m ith, R iv ersid e H igh School assistant custodian; E laine M iller, H eppner E lem en tary School se c re ta ry ; D ean Peck, Riverside High School social studies teacher. - a p p r o v e d em p lo y m en t for D avid Chavez, lrrigon High School a ssistan t c u sto d ian , replacing Norma Smith; Jose D eL oera, SBE a ssistan t custodian, replacing Juan Ayala; Larry Berry, RHS a ssista n t c u sto d ia n , replacing Gerald Smith. -ap p ro v ed the fo llo w in g tra n s fe rs/ p ro m o tio n s: L loyd Bowman, from Windy River E lem en tary a ssistan t c u sto d ian to IHS head custodian, replacing Grace Sandlin; Norma Smith, from IHS assistant custodian to WRE assistant custodian, replacing Lloyd Bowman. -ap p ro v ed the fo llo w in g ex tra duty contracts: Eric Lougee, IHS head tennis coach; Abel Burnett, IHS assistant track coach; Susan H isler, Heppner Junior High head track coach; Larry Palmer, HJH assistant track coach. -a p p ro v e d the fo llo w in g 2 006-07 probationary teachers (HES and HHS listed only): HES- Melissa Coiner, special ed, th re e -y e a r p ro b a tio n a ry te a c h e r for 200 7 -0 8 ; M ichelle Stone* kindergarten/first grade, two year probationary teacher for 2007-08; HHS- Petra Payne, Spanish, contract teacher for 2007-08; Josh Browning, language arts, c o n tra c t; M arianne Sm ith (H E S / H H S), P E /a ri, c o n tra ct; A Wee Bit O’History By Claudia Hughes Top O ’ the morning will soon be heard as Heppner turns green for the 25lh time! After so many years of thinking green, there’s still a checklist going off in my head, but I’ve been doing a pretty good job of hiding under a shamrock, and know that all is in very capable hands! New events and people have been added. The concert, Tarish has been moved to Friday evening. O ’Farley’s social hour and the O ’Shanty races are returning with the new O ’Kiddie tricycle races. W hat’s tradition is here to stay! Seems like yesterday when Jim Farley organized that small KUMA Coffee Hour, March 1982, in his Ford dealership showroom and invited Irish families to share their stories and songs of the old country. Soon the Sheep Dog Trials were added, and each year would find Farley cornering people with a "bit of the bribery” to bring in sheep, provide this and that, and give donations for advertising. People remember Charles Hutchinson (Hutch) of Hutch’s Printing and his wife Linda (the first chairmen of the event) helping and all businesses pitched in. What started as the KUMA Hour continued to grow with a lamb barbeque, lamb cook-off, St. Patrick’s ham dinner, a parade, and Irish Singers. Fundraisers such as the auction and casino came and went over the years. Farley’s party soon became more than a short-term event. It became evident to David Sykes, who served as chairman for 4 years after Hutch, that it was pretty difficult to run a printing business, newspaper, and handle all the Irish calls coming in. Somehow, shortly after the Hughes family was honored, David encouraged this leprechaun to stick her nose into the mix, joining Diana Ball who worked at the Gazette. Sykes continued to be a valuable asset to the committee, and for many years chaired the coffee hour. Eventually, Cara Osmin, then mayor, came on board as co chair when Sykes talked her into taking over the coffee hour. Jim Farley continued to keep us lined out and we checked out any ideas with him to make sure they passed muster! Father Condon started writing plays. The Cruz-In, Motocross, vendor’s square, stew feed, races, and family flags were added. The celebration became known as A Wee Bit O ’Ireland in Heppner and grew to four days, most recently adding Road Bowling on Sunday afternoon. Leprechauns began to appear and traveled to a Portland T.V. station and other events to promote Heppner. Heppner grew the biggest shamrock in the world. For a while, the St. Pat’s Committee stood on it’s own with many committee members of Irish heritage coming from outside the City limits with no specific location. Then, as Heppner’s celebration grew, it became evident that more than a committee and treasurer were needed to manage the event; thus the funds were handled through the City of Heppner. Being co-chair and then Chamber manager meant an abundance of St. Pat’s calls were coming to the office, so the Heppner chamber included the Irish event in their goals, and, with the City, has taken on the responsibility of keeping the Wee Bit O 'lreland celebration ongoing. The secret is, were it not for the entire community, your Chamber, your City, and all of you faithful hard working individuals, committees, and organizations in Morrow County, Farley's Party would have died out long ago and gone the way of shriveled up toad stools. You make the difference, you make it happen! Luck of the Irish to one and all! There's no better spot for the wearing O ' the green than Heppner, Oregon! “May the road rise up to meet you, the wind be to C o llie r ’s M arket for always at your back, the rain fall gently on your fields, the processing the cans through printing the program s is sun shine warm upon your face, and until we meet again, reasonable the club may also may God hold you in the palm of his hand.” their store. The fram ed print programs for volleyball motivational posters the club and football. The club voted to purchased have arrived and gift items. This is a very provide $ 100 for the LaRue will be hung in the high extensive selection of items family to help with expenses school hallway. M orrow C ounty all done by th ese tw o lone C om m u n ity for K evin to atten d the Creative Arts and Crafts will creative people. Agri-Business Organization Geography Bee competition. be at the Les Schw ab Sandra Haynes will The next meeting of is planning their annual fall have her p ain tin g and showroom on Friday, March m eeting for W ednesday, the Cardinal Booster Club 16, from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. draw ings o f anim als and M arch 14, at the Legion will be Monday, April 2, at 7 and on Saturday, March 17, western art on display also. H all. T hey have asked p.m. at the school library. from 8:30 a.m. until 4 p.m. Mary Ella will be taking care Cardinal Booster Club for a for the St. Pat’s celebration. o f her display w hile she report on the past y e a r’s A m ong those attends the Russell show in activities. Ramos agreed to members putting on the sale Montana. represent the club at the New this year is Ed and show will be Mary Ella dinner meeting. Patton with his frontier art Jo h n so n w ith her hand The club discussed M orrow C ounty cro ch et co tto n rugs and items of knives and jewelry. upgrading the quality of the Clerk Bobbi Childers has sister Beverly McCloud with Roquel Herrera will b ask etb all p ro g ram s. released the following report her wool crochet rugs and have aprons and homemade Browning will contact the of marriage licenses issued: pot h o ld ers. T his is tamales. ESD about p rin tin g a -March 6 - Keith E. something we all have heard Come and see the colored program cover with Ames, 46, Heppner, and our grandmothers talk about variety of things the local the su p p o rtin g b u sin ess C ruz M. L opes, 26, or did. What a nice gift or artists make and take home m em b ers’ nam es on the Heppner. a special gift or some new special rug for yourself. back. The school will print - F e r n a n d o Betty Christmas and home decoration. the lone team information M adrigal, 22, Boardman, Lorene M ontgom ery will inside the cover and provide and Faviola M acias, 21, have a country collection of Correction In the Wednesday, an insert with visiting team lrrigon. b la n k ets and hom e M arch 7, ed itio n o f the information. If the cost of decorative items and many Heppner Gazette-Times, in the “G ran d M arshal announced for St. Patrick’s Festivities" story, a daughter Nor youR rypk c\( “kish” mcA(, 6ur ir lv\s 6ccn Alisa Halvorsen (deceased) was inadvertently listed as pRcpARcd 6y mAny An kish hAnd! Jimmy Farley’s daughter. She should have been listed as the daughter of Trisha Saturday, March 17th • 4:00 - 7:00 p.m. Huddleston. David M elville, math/PE, second year; Joe Lindsay (HHS/HES), music, second year; Beth Dickenson, vo- ag, seco n d y ear; Troy M organ, advanced math, second year; Sam Thurston, special ed, second year. -ap p ro v ed the fo llo w in g 2006-07 a d m in istra to rs through 2007-2010: John Sebastian, A.C. Houghton Elementary School principal, contract; D irk D irkson, RHS principal, contract; Thad K illingbeck, Day Stone, HHS principal, contract. -ap p ro v ed the fo llo w in g 2006-07 a d m in istra to rs through 2007-08: Jack Thompson, HES principal/counselor, third year; Phyllis Danielson, lrrigon Elementary principal/ counselor, third year; Chris D avis, IHS assistan t principal, third year; Mark Jo n es, RHS a ssistan t principal, third year; Matt C om be, a lte rn a tiv e ed director, third year; Tom Crane, IHS principal, second year. -ap p ro v ed the following contract teachers (HES and HHS listed only): HES-Jannie Allen, Karen Clough, Pam Dowdy, Mary Ann Elguezabal, Sue Gibbs, Mary Haguewood, Sherry M atteson, Sharon Morris, Molly Rill, Karen Smith- Griffith; HHS-Jean Collins, Mark Dowdy, John Flaherty, Dave Fowler, Terri Gentry, G reg G ran t, D arlene M arquardt, Jason Palmer, Petra Payne, Dieter Waite. -le a rn e d from Burrows that the state on line testing program “has c ra sh e d ” b ecau se o f a breakdown in negotiations betw een the O regon Department rif Education and the testing vendor. “This is really bad new s,” said Burrows, who added that students will now have to take state m andated assessments with paper and pencils. The board voted to send a letter of disapproval to Susan C astillo , state superintendent o f public instruction. -heard concern from Burrows about the monies estimated to be earmarked for state education by the Oregon legislature. Burrows said the estimated $6 billion (sta te w id e ) was “disheartening”, especially considering the $360,000 that is expected to be lost by Morrow County in federal title program monies. “We’re just barely breaking even," lamented Burrows. "We’re going the wrong way." -h eard co n cern s from board member Ken Matlack over after-school use of district buildings. He said that the district should e n co u rag e rath er than d isco u rag e use o f its buildings to help kids stay out of trouble through after school programs and called for a change in policy, which, he says, currently requires school staff on site for these events and requires purchase of an insurance policy. Smith said the policy was written with loopholes purposely to allow such use. "We will take a stab at rewriting policy in a more flexible way,” added Burrows. -approved w riting letters of congratulations to n u m ero u s stu d en ts and team s for academ ic and athletic successes. -voted to change the joint Community Education C om m ittee m eeting to 6 p.m ., p rio r to the next regular board meeting on Monday, April 9, at 7 p.m. at lrrigon High School. -heard the following announcements: deadline to file for May elections in March 15; end of the third nine weeks is M arch 22; spring break is March 26-30; the next board meeting will be held at lrrig o n H igh School at 7 p.m. on April 9; O SBA sp rin g reg io n al m eeting w ill be held at BMCC at 6 p.m. on April 19. Cardinal Booster Club meets and discusses weight room project The C ard in al Booster Club met Monday, M arch 5, at the school library. 10 members were present. The club discussed the weight room project. The school board has discussed the plan and asked for fu rth er in fo rm atio n before giving their final ap p ro v al. K eith M orter ex p re ssed co n cern the bleachers would be in the way of getting equipment to the site to dot the work. Superintendent Browning w ill check to see if the bleachers can be moved for construction if needed and then put back in place. Lynn Dee R am os, pro ject coordinator, will contact a professional to draw up the plan the club has approved. Once the drawing has been completed, Ramos will set up a m eeting to estim ate p ro je c ted co sts. T hat committee will consist of R am os, V ince A llem an, Loyal Bums, Joe Vandever, K eith M orter, L isa Rietmann. A rlynda Gates and Joe McElligott. Betty Gray reported that from February of 2005 through February of 2007 the group recycling cans has g en erated $ 3 ,7 5 3 .6 0 in income for the booster club. C ans are d o n ated from community members and sorted by G ray, L aurel Cannon and Wayne Hams. Gray expressed appreciation Arts and crafts to be seen at Les Schwab Marriage Licenses - TIT H A M DIMMER ~ St. Patrick’s Church Parish Hall • 525 Gale Street Cost: Adults $7 / 12 & Under $4 Menu: H avm . Irish PotAto CASScrolc, Irish F U 5 S a I a J*. Corn, HowcwAhc Rolls. H ovmcvma O c Pic. Coffee or Juice A n d enjoy (hr musicA( enccRCAinmenr 6y rh e Lindsoy PxmKy! v t CU STO M BANNERS Heppner Gazette-Times 676-9228 t
