Rep. Smith voted against controversial ethics law
By David Sykes
State representative
Greg Smith (R), Heppner,
says a recently implemented
ethics law is the most “ ill
conceived piece o f legisla­
tion, that criminalizes vol­
unteers”.
Sm ith, w ho tw ice
voted against the legislation
in the last session, says the
Democrat controlled Oregon
Legislature “poked us in the
eye” here in Eastern Oregon,
and rammed a piece o f legis­
lation down our throats that
lliliiliiililiillliimlliliiill
Bessie Wet/ell Newspaper Library
University o f Oregon
Liiyone. ÓR 97403
HEPPNER
“is just wrong”.
fects on the small towns in
The ethics legisla­ Oregon.
tion that went into effect
“ I support tough eth­
April 15 has caused wide­ ics requirem ents for state
spread resig n a­
elected officials,
tions among city
such as myself.
and county plan­
However, I don’t
ning commissions
believe the state
and city councils
should discour­
across rural O r­
age honest, law
egon. The law re­
abiding citizens
quires volunteers
from serv ing in
to fill out quarter­
their com m uni­
ly forms reveal­
ties. This is why
ing the n am es
1 voted “no” on
o f sp o u ses and Rep. Greg Smith
Senate Bill 10,”
relatives, people
Smith said in a
owed money and
letter to the edi­
other information
tor this week.
many people consider intru­
Smith said there is
sive and none of the govern­ nothing that can be done
ment’s business. Failure to now about the law, but said
complete and file the form he would introduce legisla­
on time subjects the volun­ tion in the next session that
teer to fines up to $5,000.
would create two-tiered leg­
Smith said the Dem­ islation with less disclosure
ocrats in the legislature; for volunteers. “One thing
esp ecially the “ P ortland you have to rem em ber,”
Democrats” are using the Smith said,” is this is just
law to solidify their base phase one. Cemetery, library
w ithout regard to the ef- and other boards are next.”
City to continue with
sheriff police services
unes
VOL. 127
NO. 16
10 Pages
Wednesday, April 16,2008
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Morrow County School District hears
biodegradable food tray proposal
By April Sykes
The Morrow Coun­
ty School Board, at their
regular meeting at Windy
River Elem entary School
in Boardman Monday night,
heard a proposal which, if
approved, could help the
school district “go green.”
Judy Brow n, A.C.
H o u g h to n E le m e n ta ry
School teacher and a mem­
ber o f the Irrigon Commu­
nity Education Committee,
proposed that the district re­
place Styrofoam lunch trays
with biodegradable sugar
cane pulp trays. The trays
would reduce the number
o f Styrofoam trays in land­
fills, but come at more than
double the cost and would
require composting.
The sugar cane trays
are microwave safe and are
a renewable resource, said
Brown.
ACH Principal John
Sebastian said that ACH
uses approximately 500-600
trays a day, 150 days a year,
which amounts to around
75,000-90,000 trays a school
year. “That’s a lot o f Styro­
foam in our landfills,” said
Brown. “ I can see a lot of
good publicity out o f this
if M orrow C o u n ty goes
green.”
During one school
year at ACH, for example, the
biodegradable trays, at .09
lone kindergartners raising chicks
— i t ;— —
lone Kindergarteners show off chicks that they are raising in
their classroom. -Contributed Photo
Kindergarteners in lone, waited 21 days to see what
would happen with the eggs they were incubating. They
marked off the days and watched the eggs to see what
would happen. Then one morning they came in to hear
peep, peep, peep, coming from the incubator.
The class was able to watch several little wet
chicks come out o f the eggs. The first and second grades
also joined in watching new baby chicks hatch. Now the
kindergarten is learning to care for their chicks. The class
is a big hit with all the other pet lovers in the school. The
chicks get lots o f tender lov ing care.
lone’s Preschool also joined the class for some time
with the chicks. The kindergarteners were able to answer
all their questions about hatching chicks. They also read
the books they had made to the preschoolers.
Along with the egg hatching study, the class is also
doing other egg experiments. They have made rubber eggs,
egg in a bottle, and an egg membrane ball. They have also
studied the parts of an egg, made books about animals
that hatch from an egg, and have shared this information
with others.
cents per tray, would cost ap­
proximately $6,750-58,100
compared to approximately
$3,000-$3,600 for Styro­
foam trays at .04 cents per
tray.
The board approved
using the new trays at ACH
for a month-long trial pe­
riod.
A lso at the m eet­
ing, M CSD S u p e rin te n ­
dent Mark Burrows told the
board that the district had
received preliminary writing
scores. “ We’re delighted,”
said Burrows. “ It was one
huge perform ance leap .”
Burrows said that Riverside
High School scores were up
30 percent and 86 percent of
students at Heppner High
School passed the writing
tests. Burrows commented
that results a year ago were
“dismal” with less than 50
percent o f the students pass­
ing. Now, he said, around 80
percent are passing.
Administrators told
the board that the scores
have improved because o f
the district’s emphasis on
w riting skills. “ Everyone
teaches writing now,” said
Principal Chris Davis. Writ­
ing instruction is no longer
lim ited to language arts
classes, but is stressed in all
classes, they said.
District high school
principals reported on Ad­
vanced Placement classes
they intend to im plem ent
startin g the next school
year at the direction o f the
superintendent and board.
AP classes were proposed at
all three district high schools
and could include a variety
o f classes, including calcu­
lus, U.S. governm ent and
history, English language
and com position, English
lite ra tu re and c o m p o si­
tion, chemistry and Span­
ish. depending on the vari­
ous schools' needs and the
number o f students needed
to sustain the p a rticu lar
- Continued on page Two
ALL NEW S AND ADVERTISEM ENT DEADLINE:
MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M.
f
By David Sykes
The city of Heppner
and Morrow County Sheriff
Department have tentatively
decided to continue with a
contract having the Sheriff
Department provide police
protection in the city lim­
its.
Several years ago
in a cost cutting measure,
Heppner disbanded its po­
lice department in favor of
contracting with the county
sheriff. M onday the city
council and Sheriff Matlack
tentatively agreed to con­
tinue with the relationship.
Most provisions of
the agreem ent w ould re­
main the same, however be­
cause o f increased fuel costs
and wages payment to the
county would increase by
$7,545. The city also buys
a new patrol vehicle this
year at a cost o f $22,500. If
the city and county were to
void their contract, and the
city re-establishes its police
force, the county would give
this vehicle to the city.
N ot c o u n tin g the
patrol vehicle the city will
pay $153,876 for police
coverage in 2008-09. The
amount covers the cost of
two deputies and material
and services such as uni­
forms, training, gasoline and
repairs.
At a M arch 2 7 ,h
meeting o f the city police
commission, several coun­
cil members asked Deputy
Randy R ayburn why the
city would pay for a vehicle
that would end up patrolling
the north end o f the county.
Rayburn said vehicles are
assigned to indiv idual depu­
ties which improves vehicle
maintenance and deputy re­
sponse time. Sheriff Depu-
ties are rotated every four
months on patrol throughout
the county.
C ouncil m em bers
also wanted to know if there
were problems with deputies
not being available in Hepp­
ner at certain times. Rayburn
said the city is contracted for
320 hours of patrol time per
month, and that deputies are
called out in emergencies.
He said there are two depu­
ties living in Heppner and
one lives outside o f town.
The council did not
accept the contract, how­
ever, after discussions with
Sheriff Matlack, agreed to
hold a work session and
would most likely continue
the relationship.
In other business at
Monday’s meeting the coun­
cil heard from Judy Buschke
o f the Housing Authority.
She said the rem odeling
project is moving forward,
but kind o f slowly. She said
four contractors had been
certified to bid on the project
when it goes out to bid.
B uschke said the
housing authority has been
considering placing a sur­
veillance camera in the cen­
ter because of possible prob­
lems occurring after hours.
The center shuts down at
8 p.m., but some problems
have been reported and a
camera would monitor the
building.
The c o u n c il also
heard from Public Works
Director Brian Harmon, w ho
said the recently completed
sewer plant upgrade project,
had come in $1,811 under
budget. The total project
cost $ 126,349 (see article in
last week’s Gazette-Times).
The last upgrade at the treat­
ment plant was in 1994 Har­
mon told the council.
Resignations roll
ing in after imple­
mentation of new
state ethics law
By Autumn Morgan
T he new s ta te
ethics law has had signifi­
cant effects on the plan­
ning com m issions and
city councils throughout
Morrow' County. Resig­
nations have been roll­
ing in th ro u g h o u t the
county. The new ethics
law requires volunteers
to fill out quarterly forms
revealing the names of
spouses and relativ es,
people owed money and
other information that is
being considered inva­
sive. Failure to complete
and file the form subjects
the volunteer to a fine up
to $5,000.
T he M o rro w
County Planning Com ­
mission has received let­
ters o f resignations from
Betty Bums, Roger Britt,
and Art Kegler and Joel
Peterson.
The H ep p n er
P lanning C om m ission
received resignations at a
meeting on Monday night
from Larry Mills, Dave
Fow ler, K andy B oyd,
JoyceKay Hollomon, and
Suzanne Jepsen. “ I have
enjoyed my 16 years as a
member o f this commis­
sion, but must now move
on to o th er v o lu n teer
w ork,” said Jepsen. “ I
feel that it would not be
in my best interest, or my
family’s, to disclose all
o f our private informa­
tion that these forms re­
quests,” said Hollomon.
“ I feel it is an invasion
o f our priv acy and is
unfounded for holding a
volunteer position. I en­
joy being a volunteer for
our community projects
have been for over 40
years.”
In Lexington, all
four o f the city council
members. Mindy Wilson,
Dale Wilson, Curtis Pap­
ineau, and Dwyla Yocom,
turned in resignations.
In Irrigon, Mayor
Pro-tem Arnold Theisen
and Mayor Charles Neu­
mann resigned from their
city council positions.
From the planning com­
mission, Linda Neumann
and Tiffany Lehue turned
in their resignations.
No resignations
were reported from Hep­
pner City Council, Board-
man C ity Council and
Planning Commission or
lone City Council. A l­
though all the members
signed the forms, some
o f the council members
were "upset w ith the form
because they felt it was
somewhat invasive.”
HHS Mustang Three Man Scramble held
The Mustang Three Man Scramble
'
had a full house with 27 Three Man
teams enjoying the 7A degree weather
on Sunday at the Willow Creek Coun­
try club. Gross winners were: l" place
team of Tayler Hodges, Weeb Wil­
liams and Dan Mills; 2"d place team
of Slater Mitchell, Josh Coiner and
John McCabe; and 3rd place team of
Joe Pranger, Dave Pranger and Tom
Bedortha. Net winners were: I*' place
team of Troy Morgan, Tim Dickenson
and Daye Stone; 2nd place team of
_
Murray, F.ddie Ramirez, and Jason Howelling. Photo
Kelly Fox, Mike Doherty and Mike
Schrader; and 3rd place team of Sean by Sands Matthews
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Come in and check out our ATV SPRAYERS
in stock. Two styles of boomless sprayers,
15 and 25 gal. tanks with hand wand.
Morrow County Grain Growers
Lexington 989-8221 * 1-800-452-7396
For farm equipment, »tilt our **b sit* at wwwmcKK ict