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.
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