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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t v é f ttr e ly jj& ftc /t,
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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