Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (May 16, 2007)
Patrons say school district too slow in funding Irrigon school sports facilities , 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ,1 1 The Morrow County School B oard heard c o n ce rn s at the re g u la r meeting Monday night about the p e rc eiv e d delay in bringing the Irrigon Junior/ Senior High School sports field/facility program up to speed. Irrig o n c itiz e n s expressed frustration that fui ding for athletic field/ facility improvements was Bessie W et/ell Newspaper Library University o f Oregon Eugene. OR 97403 HEPPNER imes VOL. 126 NO. 20 12 Pages Wednesday, May 16, 2007 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon 50 % turnout not met either Voters say no to county road levy The $10 million Morrow County Road Levy, which would have provided funds for a five year fix-up o f deteriorating county roads, went down to defeat at the hands of voters Tuesday 791 yes to 1167 no. The levy would have been defeated even if the vote had been reversed, however, as the required 50 percent plus voter turnout to pass money measures was not met. Only 45 percent of eligible voters in the county returned their mail in ballots. According to M orrow C ounty C lerk Bobbie Childers there are 4563 eligible voters in the county and only 2055 voted. In other contested voting Craig Miles won a spot on the school board with 65 percent of the vote in a 3- way election for position one. P osition three was taken by Bill Kuhn, who garnered 66 percent in a two-way race. Dan Daltoso took po sitio n 4 w ith 55 percent in a three-way race. Pat M cN am ee won 76 percent of the vote to win potion 5 in a two person contest. Many of the other contests were either non contested or no candidates filed. Stansbury Street closure “not going to happen' Closing off Stansbury Street, the street the cuts between the two elementary school buildings in Heppner, “is not going to happen” the Heppner city council learned Monday night. C losing the street off permanently has been talked about off and on for several y ears, and was recen tly proposed again by school Principal Jack Thompson. Thompson had hoped that the state highw ay department might include the cost of closing the street and e x ten d in g E lder St. around by the tennis courts to hook up w ith C ourt Street, would be included in its budget when other work is done in the area. Those hopes were dashed, however, when the state sent a letter nixing the idea. Thompson has been to the council and talked to city o ffic ia ls about clo sin g Stansbury over fears of a child being hit by a car crossing between the two school buildings. The city plans on putting up stop signs during school hours and o th e r tra ffic measures to alleviate fears of an accident when children cross between the school building and the gymnasium. The council also discussed o th e r tra ffic and safety c o n ce rn s in clu d in g cars speeding on Gale street, cars not coming to a complete stop at stop signs, and other automobiles observed not stopping for pedestrians at cross walks. Morrow County Sheriff Ken M atlack w as at Monday’s council meeting to discuss the city’s contract w ith the d e p artm en t providing police coverage, and he also addressed some remedies for the council's safety concerns. On the contract Matlack said he would like the basic contract with the city to remain the same, but there would probably be increases in what the city pays the sheriff department when final negotiations with the union are completed and he knows what kind of pay raises will be given to deputies this year. other business the co u n cil learn ed that its application for a grant to help out with upkeep costs at the St. Patrick's Senior C enter housing had been turned down. The city has hired a p rofession grant writer to work on obtaining m oney to help keep the Center profitable. The city voted to have the grant writer resubmit the grant at a cost of $2,500 to $3,000 to the city. In other action the council voted to have city crew and neighbors work to make repairs to the Kirk Street Bridge. The bridge is a dedicated city street and therefore (he responsibility of the city to maintain. The council also voted to approve the appointment of Larry Mills and Joyce Kay Hollomon to fill vacancies on the planning commission. Area graduation information Graduation ceremony for lone Community School will be held Friday, June 1, at 7 p.m. Baccalaureate services will be held Wednesday, May 30. at 7 p.m. at the Valby Lutheran Church. Graduation ceremony for Heppner High School will be held Saturday, June 2, at 2 p.m. Baccalaureate services will be held Thursday, May 31, at 7 p.m. at St. Patrick's Catholic Church. lone Mayor says he was “forced out of office” See letters to editor page 2 ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M. not as forthcoming as was expected. They maintained that the district should have anticipated better the start up costs involved. Irrigon citizen Meredith De Haven charged the district with sen d in g the m oney that rightly belonged to Irrigon to Heppner and lone schools for years, while the Irrigon community had no school. IJSHS Principal Tom Crane wrote the district a letter which he presented at the m eeting v o icin g his concern that he was left out of the loop in the budgeting process for sports facility improvements. He said in the letter that he has gathered information about the history and needs of IJSH S, has talked to many people to get in fo rm atio n and has established a field/facility co m m itte e to g a th er information that would help the school adm inistration determine IJSHS priorities. Crane said that he w as told by a ssista n t superintendent Wade Smith that “ the m oney in the b udget w as for im p ro v em en ts and not necessarily for ju st field lighting. I was 99 percent assured that the $25,000 in the 06/07 budget would be replaced if we spent that m oney on fen cin g . He (S m ith ) p ro v id ed ex tra money to get the first phase o f the perim eter fencing done. I was also told that we were waiting on a grant to help finish the PTE (PE and technology) building. That grant did not com e, so finishing the building became the number one priority at IJSHS,’’ said Crane. C rane said that a th re e -y e a r plan reco m m en d ed by the ad m in istra to rs at IJSH S includes the following: -0 7-08 F inish heating, air conditioning and lighting in PTE-$35,000; lighting upgrade in gym- $10,000 (Umatilla Electric Co-op matching dollar for dollar grant); sports field lighting/scoreboard i n s t a l l a t i o n ^ 5 0, 0 00 (funding/m aterial request turned into UES). -08-09 Perm anent concession stand to include restrooms and crow’s nest. Track -09 10 grant (resea rc h on a p p lic a tio n s has been started). D i s t r i c t S u p erin ten d en t M ark Burrows responded that the budgeting process was not yet over and the district would send the sports field/ facility budget back to Crane for his input. C rane had e a rlie r su b m itted his resignation to the board, saying that he had accepted a position elsewhere starting this fall so he could be closer to his child. C ran e also responded to remarks from the Irrigon citizenry alleging that the IJSHS Booster Club “runs the school.” Crane said that he told Burrows and the booster club that he would not agree to be on the b o o ster club b o ard and would not be a dues paying member. Rather, he said that he or IJSHS Vice Principal Chris Davis would attend the booster club meetings as a resource to discuss ideas. “We have had a very good re la tio n sh ip w ith the boosters, chamber and other g ro u p s both in sid e and outside of the school. As wi t h each tow n in the district, we are all trying to help our students and staffs succeed,” said Crane. A fter the m eeting IJSH S B o o ster C lub m em ber Dan Young reiterated that the “booster cl ub does not run the school.” He said that the problem he encountered w as that there w ere a sm all num ber o f p aren ts who volunteer to support the kids in a variety of activities. He said that those involved parents seem to show up at every m eeting or event, versus a large number who choose not to get involved. Also at the Monday night meeting at Windy River Elementary in Boardman, the board approved hiring Matt Combe to the Heppner E lem en tary p rin cip al p o sitio n , rep lacin g Jack T hom p so n , w ho has resigned to take a position elsew h ere. C om be is currently administrator at the Morrow Education Center in Irrigon. R iv ersid e Ju n io r/ Senior High School Principal Dirk Dirksen review ed a plan which requires students who have not passed their benchm ark tests to take ad d itio n al benchm ark classes, rather than electives. If a student then passes his benchmark test, then he may return to an elective class at the end of the quarter. In other business, the board: -gave approval for district adm inistration to negotiate with the Chartwell company for food service management district-wide. An OSEA representative ex p ressed co n cern that current employees’ jobs may be in jeopardy and asked the district work to retain their current employees. -saw an enrollment rep o rt as fo llo w s: A .C. H oughton E lem en tary , Irrig o n , g rad es p re kindergarten through fourth- 347; IJSHS grades seven- 12-312; H eppner Elementary grades k-six- 195: Heppner High School g rad es s e v e n -12-228; Irrigon Elementary grades four-nine-128; RHS grades sev en -1 2 -3 9 1 ; Sam B oardm an E lem en tary grades k-three-322; WRE grades fo u r-six -2 3 0 ; Morrow Education Center/ M orrow C ounty School D istrict stu d en ts-5 2 ; Morrow Education Center/ Umatilla School District-36; total-2241 students. -ap p ro v ed the fo llo w in g 2006-07 c la s s if ie d /c o n f id e n tia l personnel recommended for rehire for 2007-08 (H eppner/L exington area only listed): - H e p p n e r Elementary: Loma Botefuhr. special ed assistant; Deb -Continued on Page three Vandalism at Citv Park / rr~~ Public Works employees for the City of Heppner recently reported that vandalism has been discovered at the City Park. Wyden visits Heppner I A A US Senator Ron Wyden (left) visits with Kenneth Turner at the St. Patrick’s Senior Center in Heppner Saturday. W yden was here to hold a Tow n Meeting to discuss issues with local people. Previous he held a private meeting with govern ment officials and others at the courthouse. A small crowd heard the senator discuss energy, farm programs and other issues. At th e MCGG GREEN FEED STORE in H ep p n er: Rototillers and Lawn Thatchers for rent F irew o o d p e rm its now a v a ila b le ! - "Spring hours through June: 8 - 5 : 3 0 Mon-Fri / 8 - 4 Sat - M orrow C ounty Grain G rowers G reen F eed & Seed 242 W. Linden Way. Heppner • 676-9422 • 989-8221 (MCGG main office) t
