Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current, August 13, 2008, Image 1

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    Council gives nod to mental treatment facility
By David Sykes
''l“l,»liliilllinn llllnill
Bessie WetzeJI Nevvsn-i , •
University o f Oregon P ^ llb rary
Eugene, OR 97401
cal opponent of the facility,
Denise Goebel, asked that
before the council voted
there be a show o f hands
from the audience either
for or against. Twelve vot­
ed against the facility and
31 in the audience raised
their hands in favor. There
were also letters o f support
from the Heppner Chamber
o f Commerce, the Willow
Creek Valley Economic De­
velopment Group, Morrow
County Health District and
the Morrow County Grain
Growers.
Following the vote,
a builder who constructed a
similar facility in Umatilla
said it takes 10 months to
have the facility up and run­
ning, and that it needed to be
finished by June o f 2009. A
site in 1 leppner has not been
selected, but developers are
in the process o f looking
now.
“I am happy we have
let the secure facility come
here, and I think we have
made the right decision,”
Mayor Les Paustian said at
the end o f the meeting.
The Heppner City
Council voted five to one
Monday in favor o f locating
an eight-bed secure mental
health facility in Heppner.
T he vote was the
end
a Process that saw
council discussions, a public
meeting and even tours o f a
similar facility in an effort to
bring out public opinion on
locating the facility here. In
the end the council saw little
public opposition, and lots A packed city hall listened M onda) to discussion about a
o f opportunity, and voted secure mental treatm ent facility for Heppner. -Photo by
D avid Svkes
in favor.
The meeting started
with members o f the audi­
ence standing to give state­
m ents to the council and
the audience. There were
six positive comments and
five negative. The negative
comments ranged from "the
facility w ill cause people not
to locate in Heppner,” to "it
would be a danger to the
community.” The positive
responses centered around
the econom ic decline in
Heppner, the loss o f jobs and
businesses and the economic
benefit and the jobs the facil­
ity would bring.
After testimony the
council was polled with
five council members, Judy
Buschke, JoAnn Burleson,
Kay Robinson, John Bow les
and Cindy Doherty saying
they had heard little oppo­
sition from the public and
w ere in fav or of the facility,
with Keith Lewis saying he
was against. A later vote on
a motion to allow the facility
to site in Heppner drew the
same number.
One particularly vo-
Four Morrow County %/ schools fail to
meet No Child Left Behind standards
By April Sykes
VOL. 127
NO. 33
8 Pages
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Royalty runs in the family for MC
Fair and Rodeo Queen Becky Schiller
By Autum n Morgan
Not everyone can
say that royalty runs in the
family. But in Becky Schil­
ler’s case, she can.
Schiller comes from
a long line o f rodeo roy­
alty, serving on the Morrow
C ounty Fair and R odeo
Court. Her Aunt Verina was
a princess and a queen, her
Aunt Bonnie was a prin­
cess, and Aunt Bobbi was
a pennant bearer. Also, her
cousin Maci Childers was
a princess and queen, and
her cousin Genia Grant was
a princess as well. Schiller
herself was a princess last
year and was a one-tim e
pennant bearer. Members of
her family have also served
on the rodeo board.
Last year Schiller
was a princess on the Mor­
row County Fair and Rodeo
Court. “ Last year was fun,”
said Schiller. “ 1 like the
M orrow C ounty C o u rt.”
Schiller enjoyed her time as
a princess so much that she
wanted to be queen this year.
So this year, she applied and
was named queen.
Schiller enjoys do­
ing the running because
she enjoys w orking with
the horses. “ I'm looking
forward to our home rodeo
and riding the cow,” said
Schiller. She will be rid­
ing a paint horse named
Peanut that owned by Katie
Thompson.
Queen Becky Schiller continues the family tradition of serving
on the Morrow County Fair and Kodeo Court.
She is the daughter
o f John and Shari Schiller.
She has two older brothers,
Jess and Pat. Having lived in
Morrow County all her life,
she was raised on the Vey
Ranch on Butter Creek.
Schiller, who gradu­
ated in 2007 from Pilot Rock
High School, is attending
Blue Mountain Community
College where she is study­
ing to be a dental assistant.
She has been working this
year at Vey Ranch, helping
her father w ith the haying.
Firefighters help with fair and rodeo preparations
Heppner Volunteer Firefighter .lay Keithley lights the hill side a bla/e at the fairgrounds pre­
paring for the Morrow County Fair & Kodeo event. Local volunteer firelighters donate many
man hours to our community. Photo by Sandy Matthew s
M o rro w ’C o u n ty
School District Superinten­
dent Mark Burrows told the
board at its regular meeting
Monday night in Irrigon that
four schools in the Morrow
County School District did
not make the federal No
Child Left Behind adequate
yearly progress (AYP) stan­
dards.
Burrow s said that
H e p p n e r H igh S c h o o l,
Riverside High School in
B oardm an, W indy River
Elem entary in Boardman
and Irrig o n E lem en tary
School did not meet the
federal standards. Accord­
ing to Burrows, a school
m ust achieve 60 percent
passing in each subgroup,
such as special education
or English language learner,
for the school to pass. If one
subgroup is deficient, he
said, then the entire school
does not make AYP.
He said that in all
four o f the schools, either
or both o f the English lan­
guage learner and special
education populations did
not achieve the standards.
“This is the first year these
schools didn't make it.” said
Burrows. “They all made it
last year. They don’t give
you credit for progress.” He
said that all other subgroups
at the schools, such as pov­
erty and race, did meet the
standards and the population
o f each school as a w hole
also met the standards.
This year the stan­
dards went up with 60 per­
cent of the subgroups hav ing
to pass benchmark exams,
up from 50 p ercen t last
year.
Burrow s said that
while Heppner High School
did not achieve the federal
AYP, it w ill still probably be
classified as an “Exceptional
School” by state standards.
He said that only three spe­
cial education students at
Heppner High School did
not pass the AYP standards,
but that was enough to result
in HHS not passing.
He added that the
percentage o f students mak­
ing the board achievement
goal, in which each student
will make or exceed gains
prescribed by Oregon state
grade level standards, rose
significantly compared to
2006-07. Ten percent more
students achieved the writ­
ing standards, 14 percent
more achieved the reading
standards and 18 percent
more achieved the m ath­
ematics standards.
Also at the meeting,
R honda L orenz, deputy
clerk, announced the change
in insurance plans to Oregon
Educators Benefit Board
(OEBB). She said that the
certified employees’ (teach­
ers) plans were very similar
to w hat they had previously.
The classified em ployees
plans w ill see some changes
and their rates are expected
to go up, Lorenz said. She
said that information on the
plans has already been sent
to school district employees
by the state and added that
she is mailing rate informa­
tion to the employees this
week.
In other business,
the board:
-passed a resolution
approving the six percent
PERs pickup for employ­
ees.
-learned from Bur­
rows that the district deeded
over a 350-square foot piece
o f property for the proposed
ODOT road changes near
Heppner Elementary School
for $350.
-heard an a d m in ­
istrators' report on Irrigon
High School.
* * * * ♦ ’
t + * •
-approved the 2008-
09 substitute teacher pay at
$150.16 per day.
-accepted the follow­
ing resignations/ retirements:
David Chavez, Irrigon High
School assistant custodian;
Mike Burrows. A.C. Hough­
ton Elementary head custo­
dian; Lea Mathieu, River­
side High School language
arts teacher; Josh Brow ning,
Heppner Junior High School
language arts teacher; Petra
Payne, HHS Talented and
(lifted program coordinator;
Judy Daniels, Irrigon High
School ed assistant.
-approved employ­
ment for: Virgil Hausinger,
IHS assistant custodian,
replacing David Chavez;
J e ff W hitbeck, ACH a s­
sistant custodian, replacing
Virgil Hausinger: Andrea
N elson, HJHS language
arts/social studies, replac­
ing Josh Browning; David
Norton. Heppner Elemen-
tary/H IIS counselor, new
position; Sharon Hindman,
Irrigon Elementary assistant
cook, replacing Lea Nuna-
maker; Mark Christiansen,
IHS art teacher, replacing
Ray Dav is; Darlene Snyder,
Sam Boardman Elementary
head cook, replacing Kathy
Hyder; Jennifer H ackett,
SBE assistant cook, replac­
ing Bonnie Matlack; Alice
English. I JUS counselor, re-
-C ontinued on Page Tw o
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