Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 13, 2008)
Phyllis Danielson named Morrow County School District assistant superintendent l l i li i l i i i li l i i l l l i H i i l l i l i i i l l Bessie W et/ell New spaper Library University o f Oregon Eugene, OR 97403 By April Sykes The Morrow' County School Board, at their regu lar m eeting at R iverside High School in Boardman M onday night, approved p rom oting a d m in istrato r Phyllis Danielson to the as sistant superintendent posi tion. She replaces former as sistant superintendent Wade Smith w ho resigned to take a position w ith the Hermiston School District. The board also ad opted a resolution declaring an emergency for roof re placement at Sam Boardman E lem entary School. The roof was blow n off during a recent wind storm. The declaration o f an emergency allows the district to bypass the bidding process to expe dite the roof repair. Also at the meeting, the board accepted a letter o f separation from Irrigon High School art teacher Ray Davis. Under the separation agreement, Davis will re ceive his salary through the end o f the school year, but w ill not return to his position at IHS. He was also a coach at the school. In other business, the board: -heard a presenta tion from Lea Mathieu who is teaching advanced place ment classes. -voted to write a let ter of appreciation to Virgil Hausinger who has been a custodian with the district for 30 years. He will be retiring from his position as A.C. Houghton Elementary assistant custodian effecti\ e June 30. -accepted resigna tions from: Sarah Christy, Riverside High School vol leyball coach; and Susan Hisler, Heppner Junior High head track coach. -approved employ ment with Dean Mason, in a temporary contract for a half-time music teacher at A C H , rep lacin g A driene Lorraine. -approved extra duty contracts with: Martie Mc- Quain, Irrigon Junior High School half-time boys’ as sistant basketball coach; Dawn C allow , R iverside Junior High School head track coach; Rebecca Ren fro and Richard Rockwell, sharing assistant track coach position at RJH. -approved the first reading o f revised special education policies, whLh are mandatory' and canno; be modified by the district. -approved a resolu tion establishing a Section 125 plan, which would al low for deducting district e m p lo y e e s ’ m edical e x penses prior to taxes. - h e a r d th e f o l lowing attendance report: ACH-354 students in kin dergarten through fourth grade; Heppner Elementary S c h o o l-188, kindergarten through sixth grade; Hepp ner High School-227, grades seven through 12; Irrigon Elementary-127 grades five- six; IHS-326, grades six-12; RHS-388. grades seven-12; Sam B oardm an Elem en- tary-316, grades four-six; Windy River Elementary, Boardman-226, grades four- six; Morrow Education Cen ter-102. -held an executive session following the regu lar meeting to discuss per sonnel and legal issues. Council considers garbage rate increase VOL. 127 NO. 7 12 Pages Wednesday, February 13, 2008 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Boardman council raises concerns over “Mayor’s Notebook 99 The Boardman City Council revisited a topic from a year ago, M ayor Ed G lenn’s column in the North Morrow' Times new s paper. M ayor G lenn has been writing the monthly opinion column under the heading “From the M ayor’s N otebook” since he took office in January o f 2005. Previously he had written an opinion column in the same paper on a regular basis. The North Morrow Times is published monthly and is distributed for free throughout North Morrow County to all mailboxes and at local businesses. According to a press release from the C ity o f Boardman by Jackie M c C auley, C o u n c ilo r Pam Docken brought the concern before the Council at Tues day’s meeting. She was ap proached by concerned citi zens who feel the monthly column is written on behalf o f the City Council. Coun cilor Docken said the most recent article regarding the Tippage Fee Initiative was a negative article and is an at tempt by the mayor to sway votes on the issue. She is concerned about the City’s liability. She asked for a disclaimer to be published along w ith each "Notebook” article. E ach c o u n c ilo r w eighed in on the issue. Councilors Hollandsworth and Perry wanted to see the colum n’s title changed to "Ed Glenn’s Notebook” to avoid m isleading readers that the mayor was speak ing on behalf o f the City. Councilor Pambrun also felt the column was misleading. She believes the media does not understand that Mayor Glenn is not representing the City o f Boardman when he acts as spokesman for the m ayor’s and city man agers on the Tippage Fee Initiative, and would like them to be better informed. C o u n cilo rs D oherty and Yates did not see a real problem with the column, although Councilor Doherty did ask the mayor to publish a disclaimer in his column. Councilor Yates would like the C ity’s attorney to look He had to hurry on his way Although he has probably disappeared by now, this snow man could be spotted last week at the home of John and Linda Bristow of lone. into the issue and to get his view on free speech. M ayor G len n re sponded by saying other elected officials such as the president and the governor publish their opinions for their constituents. He said he tries to separate the kinds of messages he is sending and on occasion has published that his colum ns are his opinions. The mayor said he would consider the Coun cil’s request to print a dis claimer at the beginning of his column. He also remind ed the Council he is acting only as spokesperson for the M ayor’s and M anager’s on the Tippage Fee Initiative, although he understands the City o f Boardman has not taken an official stance on the issue. He reminded the Council that the North Morrow Times is happy to publish any rebuttal views submitted to them. In other City news, the Council approved ap plying for an Oregon De partment o f Transportation Enhancement Grant to im prove south Main Street. Councilors asked to see the engineered drawings o f the project before the applica tion is submitted. The City’s Tree Com m ittee reported they are ready to order trees to be planted along Front Street NW and Front Street NE. The Interchange Area M anagem ent Plan C om mittee reported they have an upcom ing m eeting on February 28. Also, the City is looking into recognizing its honored citizens with a memorial, the type and location is still being deter mined. And, the City will be designating the parking along the Post Office as 15 minute parking as soon as they can post it. T he next re g u la r City Council meeting will be Tuesday, February 19, 2008 at 7 p.m. at Boardman City Hall. ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M. \ I The Heppner City Coun cil Monday considered a request by the city gar bage collection company for an increase in fees for residential and commercial pickup. Under the proposal the cost to pick up a 32 gallon garbage can would go up from $10.80 per month to $11 per month, if the cans are brought to curbside. If cans are not brought to curbside there will be an additional $2.50 per week or $10 per month charge. Additional cans are $1.50 per month. Previous garbage collec tor, Heppner Garbage Dis posal, did not charge addi tional fees for picking up cans not on the curb. Ryan Miller o f Miller & Sons, which now has the garbage collection fran chise in the city, is request ing the increase because of increased fuel and equip ment costs. Miller said the company was going to charge the ad ditional $2.50 per week to pick up cans not on the curb because o f the increased la bor cost to go into people’s backyards and other areas to pick up the cans. Miller says that by the time he sends a man into someone's yard, and there may be dogs and such there, retrieves the can, empties it into the truck, and then takes it back, he has quite a bit o f time invested than if the can were on the curb. The council also dis cussed the problem o f cans left on the sides of streets that have been blowing around in the wind and weather. In re q u e s tin g the rate in c r e a s e Mi l l e r also point ed out that fuel costs have gone up 40 cents John Bowles a gallon, and he has had to invest in an addi tional back up truck for the business. A new picece o f equip ment called a roll off truck and box have also been purchased. Miller said the box would be available to deposit on site where peo ple could fill it and then have the box picked up and dumped. The council did not ap prove the new rates, but did set another meeting to dis cuss the request. In other business at Mon day's meeting the council appointed John Bowles to fill a council position left vacant with the resigna tion o f George Koffer. Kof- fler resigned effective this month after he moved out side the city limits. Bowles, 35, who has been a deputy with the Morrow County Sheriff's Depart ment since 2002, has three children and his wife's name is Kristen. Kristen is employed as a dispatcher with the sheriff's dept. Their children are Tosha. 17, Alex, 15 and Jake, 13. "I have been interested in the city council for a couple o f years,” Bowles told the Heppner Gazette-Times "and I would like to do my part and help out the city o f Heppner.” In other action the coun cil learned that the city has been awarded a $25,000 small city Oregon Depart ment of Transportation grant to do work on Mor gan Street. The city will probably do a thin overlay or extensive patching with the money. The council heard that the Corps o f Engineers may not be able to assist with funding for construction of a rest room facility near the little league field below the Willow Creek Dam. The city had hoped that money would be available from the Corps to help w ith construction. The Corps did offer to help find other grant or funding oportuni- ties for the city. The council also agreed to enter into a computer services agreement vv ith Pat Struthers Consulting o f Heppner to maintain the city's computer and net work systems. AARP Tax-Aide to offer free tax preparation AARP Tax-Aide is the nation’s largest free volunteer run tax assistance and preparation service for low and middle income tax payers. This free tax preparation service is again being offered in the Heppner area. Both State and Fed eral returns are prepared and electronically transmitted free o f any charges. This free tax serv ice is av ailable to tax payers of all ages and a w ide range o f income lev els. You do not need to be a member of AARP to benefit from this service. Prepares w ill be available to assist tax payers at the OSU Extension Office located at 5 4 176 Hw y 74 on Fridays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Anyone interested in tak ing advantage o f this free service can call 676-9642 to schedule an appointment. This service will be offered from February 8 through April 11. Please be sure to bring all W-2’s. 1098’s, I099's and any other documents showing income. If you have paid for child care, please bring information showing the amount paid, as well as the provider's identification number. If you think there may be a possibility that you would benefit from itemizing on your return, please be sure to bring all information pertaining to prescription drugs, medical care, including mileage to providers, plus proper!) taxes, mortgage interest and charitable contribu tions. It is important to remember that the Oregon standard deduction is considerably lower than the Federal, so you may benefit from itemizing for the State return only. E S-Z Guide 250 LigHttoar G u id a n c e L E D s» 4 . 3 ”C olorD isplay Duilt-ln G P S Receiver • Freeform G u id a n c e Pattern VS* • B Easy to Operate Right Out of the Box! $ 1405.00 Morrow County Grain Growers Lexington 989-8221 * 1-800-452-7396 For farm equipment, visit our wfb site at www megg n*t
