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. 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