Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (March 21, 2007)
Burns honored at annual ICABO meeting i ' t 1111 • i ■ 1111 ■ 11111 • 111 M i n i I Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Library 1 niversity o f Oregon Fugene, OR 97403 The lone Community Agri-Business Organization held its annual meeting last W ednesday night at the Legion Hall in lone. While members and guests ate lunch various groups from throughout the community gave reports. The Burns were honored for their activities in ICABO. 4"' o f July, C olum bia Basin Electric Board, United Way, Creative Care Pre-School, lone Library, City Hall, park expansion and more. The o rg an izatio n also elected Ed Rollins this year's president, Betty Gray Vice P resident, Karen Padberg Secretary and Stacie Miller Treasurer. G roups in the community reporting were: lone School District, City of lo n e. C reativ e Care Preschool. Willow Creek Symphony, Port of Morrow. W illow C reek Valley E co n o m ic D evelopm ent G ro u p , lone E ducation Foundation, Topic Club, B ooster C lub, Blue M o u n tain C o m m u n ity Betty (¡ray (second from left) presents Loyal and Betty Burns with a plaque of appreciation for their service to the lone community during the annual meeting of the lone Community Agri-Business Organization (ICABO) last Wednesday night in lone. Left is Ed Rollins new president and (¡rav is VP of ICABO. C ollege, lone Fire Legion and Ladies Legion D epartm ent, A m erican Auxiliary. Oregon Ed Department-TESA breakdown to affect lone Schools VOL. 126 NO. 12 8 Pages Wednesday, March 21,2007 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Cities would get $1.635.967 of the funds Voters to decide on $10 million road levy May 15, voters in Morrow County will be asked to approve a five-year, $10 million road levy that will be used to repair roads in the north and south areas of the county. The county says the money is needed to do major work unable to be paid for out of the regular county road fund. If the levy is approved, work would be done on the following roads: Kunze Lane. Depot Lane, Juniper Lane, Ella, Sand Hollow, lone Boardman and Miller Roads. Morrow County Public Works D irecto r Burke O'Brien has asked each city in the county to come out in support of the proposed levy. In a letter to the cities O ’Brien said the road work is important to the cities. “All of these projects have a significant impact on the communities that they are near or serve,” he said. “We have school busses that use these roads on a regular basis. This, in itself, is a huge issue in respect to safety. Further they all. to some extent, serve as primary routes to and from rural residential properties, as well as farming and ranching operations. Thus we are looking at the movement of goods and services. In some cases these roads can be of a benefit to commuters that live in our rural communities and work elsewhere, thus making their commute more viable and less stressful,” he wrote. O'Brien went on to say that the yearly road fund is not enough to keep up with the major work that needs to be done on some of the roads around the county, thus the need for the special levy. The Heppner City Council did not take action on the request for support at its March meeting and has asked O 'B rie n to attend April's meeting and further ex p lain the levy before c o n sid e rin g support. O'Brien was also scheduled to attend council meetings Tuesday night in both Irrigon and Boardman, however results of those meetings were unavailable at Gazette- Times press time. The tax rate necessary to raise the $10 million would be $2.60 per th o u san d o f assessed valuation. The levy would be for five years and would commence in 2007. According to state law, a portion of the funds must be distributed to each o f the five cities in the county. If the levy passes, Boardman would receive $ 237,248 each year, H ep p n er $ 3 6 ,384, lone $8,834, Irrigon $37,693 and Lexington $7,035 each year for five years for a total of $ 1 ,6 3 5 ,9 6 7 . How the money is divided depends on the amount of assessed value within the limits of each city. “I would sincerely hope that we can work together on this project for the good of everyone," O'Brien told the city councils. The levy will be on the May 15 ballot, and would fall under the Oregon double m ajority law w here a majority of registered voters (over 50 percent) would have to cast ballots, and a majority of those voters say yes, for the levy to be approved. To further explain the work to be done O'Brien w rote: “O ver the past several years we have managed to maintain and im prove several roads throughout the County by fo llo w in g our Transportation System Plan for road work. We have done this w orking within our available budget revenues and with guidance from the M orrow C ountry Road Committee. This Committee is comprised of members from throughout the County. We have managed to do a good jo b of keeping the majority of our paved road system in good condition. We have accessed dollars through the State for projects such as chip seal work and overlays on several roads. In the Irrigon area we w ill complete the last of the roads there with chip seal work this year, with the exception of Depot Lane. Depot Lane is beyond preservation work and is in need of m ajor reconstruction. We see this road as sig n ifican t to residents of the Irrigon area. continued page 2 An unidentified contestant was injured during the Motocross races on Saturday. March 17. He was transported to OHSU and his condition is unknown at this time. ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M. lone School District S u p e rin ten d e n t Bryn Browning told the board at th eir reg u lar m eeting M onday night, that the breakdown in negotiations b etw een the O regon Department of Education and TESA (T echnology E n hanced Student Assessment), a computer testing company, will create a “ huge impact” on lone Schools. “Its going to be a nightmare,” said Browning. “We're lucky we have built- in assessments,” she added. “We know where our kids stand.” Instead of c o m p u te riz e d on-line testing, student assessments will be by paper and pencil tests. The a ssessm en ts determ ine each sch o o l's report card, which will, in turn d e term in e federal funding for districts. If paper and pencil tests are taken, Browning estimated that it probably wouldn’t be until October when results are determined. Browning said that even parent-teacher-student conferences will be affected without TESA. Also at the meeting, the board: -approved the 2007- 08 school calendar with some ad ju stm en ts. Employee in-service will be held from August 28-30. with school beginning after L abor Day on Tuesday, September 4; Veteran's Day holiday, Monday. November 12: Thanksgiving holiday. T h u rsd ay and Friday, November 22-23 with early release on W ednesday. November 21; winter break from Friday. December 21- W ednesday, Jan u ary 2; Martin Luther King holiday, M onday, January 21; Presidents' Day. Monday. February 18; spring break Monday, March 24-Friday. March 28; Memorial Day holiday, Monday, May 26; graduation Friday, May 30. no school; last student day Tuesday. June 10; last em p lo y ee work day. Thursday, June 12; calendar includes eight four-hour in- service days to include 12 hours of conference time, four employee workdays, four 8.5 hour in-services and three employee in-service days. -accepted the yearly audit report for 2005-06. -approved the second reading and adopted an interscholastic athletic policy revisions to include the following: students must “demonstrate appropriate school behavior including meeting d ress code re q u ire m e n ts during practice, trav e lin g and attending home and away games; be in attendance the full day of any scheduled activ ity in o rd er to p articip ate. The coach, athletic d ire c to r and principal must approve any exceptions to this policy. Attendance on Thursday is mandatory for participation at a Friday contest. Students absent or late to school the day after an activity will be referred to the coach for disciplinary action per team rules; extra duty employment shall be from the beginning to the end of the specific sports season; the principal shall recommend for employment the most qualified person, licensed or non-licensed and employment shall be from the beginning to the end of the specific sports season. -approved policy permitting eighth graders to take high school classes, although the credit cannot be used to reduce below 26 units o f credit to be completed in grades nine through 12 for high school graduation. -accepted the low bid from Fife & Cockburn accounting firm in Pendleton to complete the district's annual audit for a three-year period with costs ranging from $4,645 the first year to $5125 for the third. The firm was also deemed to provide the best input to the board and the willingness to meet w ith them. -req u ested that board m em ber Gregg R ietm ann ask the Little League if they might clean up the dugout. -heard a report from Browning on the funeral service held for student Storm y K endrick at the school. Browning said that she was impressed with the C risis Flight Team who resp o n d ed to help the students cope w ith the loss, the ESD, staff, students and many community members who chipped in to help, and the support, cards, letters and m onetary don atio n s received not only from the community and surrounding areas, but from all over the state. - heard the following financial update: collections included basic school support and property tax receipts, including February payments of $5.951 in forest fees and $38,158 from the M orrow C ounty School District for special ed billing; the extra-curricular fund appears overspent, however $28,000 was receipted from the Morrow County Unified R ecreation D istrict the second week of March. This collection reimburses the fund in total. With the ex ce p tio n of the pool account, which was $ 13,250 to the negative, all special revenue funds should net to zero by the end of the year. -heard a report from Browning that the aging boiler has had recurring problem s and may need eventual replacement. "It -continued on page two Jordan Biriim. X. Amanda Coop. ID. and Jeremy Birnm. 6. enjoy the St. Patrick's Day festivities. Amanda is the granddaughter and Jordan and Jeremy are the great grandchildren of David and Diann Nagel of Heppner. Ml three are from Camas, WA. See page three for more St. Patrick's Day photos. A t th e M CGG G R EEN FEED S T O R E in H e p p n e r: Stop by Cult Cadet as * BC4*40TT • 4 x 4 Utility Vehicle • 20 hp Cat diesel 3-cly engine • 4WD trail tires • and check them out! (?ult (?cdet OH I \V T 6FT HT ITT * “ M orrow County (¿rain (irow tirs Green Feed K Seed 242 W. Linden Way, Heppner • 676-9422 • 989-8221 (MCGG mam office)
