Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 15, 2008)
Morrow County sheriff’s candidate forum 11 1 1 • 1 1 111 1 1 1 1 • 111 11 a 11 11 1 1 11 Bessie Wetzell New spaper Library Univ ersity o f Oregon Eugene, OR 97403 VOL. 127 NO. 42 10 Pages Wednesday, October 15,2008 The H eppner G a zette-Tim es recently sent a list o f questions to both candidates running for the position o f Morrow County sheriff, Kenneth M atlack (incumbent) and Larry Sam ple. Election ballots will be mailed out on Friday, October 17. The following questions w ere posed to both candidates: Q u estio n 1: Are you satisfied with the con tract to provide protection to the City of Heppner? If not what needs to be changed? Kenneth Matlack: Yes. I returned the third posi tion to the C ity and the money was used for oth er m u c h needed c ity s e r vi ces. 1 asked the City sev Sheriff Kenneth eral times Matlack if t hey were satisfied with the cov erage or did they want to replace the third position. They felt the money for the third position was better used for other city services. Other hours are provided for free. The money belongs to the city and it’s their deci sion. Larry Sample: No! 1 think in order to patrol a city the size o f Heppner ef fectively you need to have at least three deputies to get the required coverage. The deputies should be ro tated every three months. When you have only two deputies and both live in the North part o f the county, you lose four hours o f pa trol time due to driving to and from Heppner. Patrol hours need to be scheduled during the evening hours when thefts, burglaries and Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon criminal mischiefs are being committed, some o f which are being committed by ju their doors to community veniles after curfew. Question 2: What concerns. The mayor runs is the biggest law enforce the tow n ment problem you see fac without ing Morrow County? any oppo sition, ap poi nt i ng council m em bers o f her By April Sykes choice Sam Boardman El w h i l e ementary teacher Pam Files the tow n made a presentation to the Lexington City Council: Meet the candidates Editor s Note: Sam uel Martin, who is running against Marcia Kemp fo r Position 4 Councilor, could not be c o n ta c te d f o r an interview or picture. John Edwards could not be con tactedfor a picture. This election year there are three councilor po sitions that have opposition for Lexington City Council. The candidates were con tacted to find out why they are running and what they hope to accomplish if they are elected. Their responses are as follows: Q uestion 1: Why did you decide to run for your position? Councilor, Position 1: R uth H a s k e tt: I wanted s o m e th in g to do on the side. I like to learn. I w a n t to h e lp o u t the town. Robert Taylor: The way they’ve been conduct ing business the last 6-10 months, it has been kind of sad. They can’t start meet in g s on tim e be- c a u s e so m eo n e is not there or is late. I hope that if we get enough in th e r e th a t w ill Robert Taylor change their habits, we can have the meeting start on time. They don’t read the minutes out to the public. The bills aren’t ex p lain ed to the public. They’ve got a lot o f phone expense. There’s room for a lot o f changes. Also, half o f the business is conducted behind the scenes. Councilor, Position 3: John E dw ards: I don’t particularly care for the way the council that is in office now is doing busi ness. Charma Marquardt: I am run n in g b e cause the mayor (Val D o ll e r t y ) asked me c o u n c i l Marcia Kemp to. ignores the current town charter, Charma ordinances and laws. The Marquardt council would not endorse or support a local Lexington Councilor, Position Neighborhood Watch pro gram. Recently, the Lexing 4: Marcia Kemp: There ton City Council was invited is no clear direction on where to attend a jo in t meeting the Lexington Town Council hosted by the Willow Creek is taking the town. The cur Valley Economic Group and -Continued on Page THREE rent town council has shut Maben shoots first buck Treston Maben, 12, killed his first buck on the opening day of buck season at 8:30 a.m. This buck is a 4x5 with a 23 inch spread. -Contributed Photo The Heppner Gazette-Times wants to see pictures o f your trophy- animals from this hunting season Stop by to have your picture taken, drop o ff photos, or email them to editor@rapidser\e net ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M. Kenneth M atlack: The revolving door of crimes committed by repeat offend ers. Much o f the crime is the result o f drug addicted or affected people. Property crimes, vandalism, thefts, burglaries and other crimes are constantly upon us. 1 advocate mandatory prison time for these offenders. Serve the time, dry out then perhaps treatm ent and a second chance. Otherwise, it may be a repeat life o f mandatory time working on a prison farm. Larry Sample: I be lieve drugs, and drug related crimes are th e b i g gest prob lem facing Morrow County. H aving a D .A .R .E . Larry Sample p ro g ram , more time spent working drugs in Mor row C ounty, m ore rural patrol, and communications with communities are tools to help with this problem. Question 3: Are you satisfied with the county's relationship with BENT? Kenneth Matlack: Yes. BENT has been des ignated as H1DTA (high intensity drug trafficking area) taskforce. They re ceive federal dollars for work on major drug opera tions. This saves the county money because H1DTA pays for the substantial overtime costs and related expenses when w orking the larger cases. We still get local sup port, drug houses contacted, assistance on cases when needed while they fight the methamphetamine epidemic on a larger scale. Larry Sample: The Sheriff’s Department had a good working relationship with the BENT taskforce in the adm inistration and it can be again. When I am elected I will be contact ing BENT officers, and the BEN T B oard to try and get things worked out so more narcotic investigations are occurring in M orrow County. I will reestablish a good working relationship with them in order to get this accomplished. 1 worked in and supervised the BENT taskforce for 10 years and I know the drugs are plentiful in Morrow County and it needs to be addressed. Question 4: What is the biggest change you have made in the Sher iff's Office since you were elected? Kenneth M atlack: V isibility and activity. 1 knew when elected sheriff I would not receive addi tional manpower. 1 decided that both the sh eriff and u n d e rsh e riff w ould take calls for service. As the calls for serv ice came in and the deputies needed help, the sh e riff and u n d e rsh e riff provided the relief and the assistance they needed. To gether they have averaged between 600 and 1000 calls for service each year since taking office. This substan tially changed the MCSO operation. -Continued on Page THREE Student assessment scores to be tied to graduation state-wide by 2012 M orrow C ounty School Board Monday night that outlined a student assess ment tool which has helped her id e n tify a s tu d e n t’s strong and weak areas and then, as much as possible, direct the student’s course o f study. Files said she can use the MAPS testing sys tem which allows her to see where students are deficient and w here they excel to determine what area each student should focus on. The data can be used to inform parents how their students are doing and how they compare to other students, she said. The MAPS sys tem monitors students from kindergarten through third grade and starts with the first skill as skills increase through the third grade, said Files. Files said that she can use the data to see how close the students come to meeting their benchmarks by the end o f third grade. “That is very impressive,” commented board member Bill Kuhn, after hearing Files’ presentation. This “data driven” assessm ent is becom ing more and more important as students' ability to graduate will become tied to their RIT scores by 2012. The RIT (Rausch Instructional Units) scores are units o f measurement to determine how students do in statewide assessments,” said Morrow County School Superinten dent Mark Burrows. Bur rows said that a third grader should achieve a RIT score o f 204, while a 10th grader should achieve a RIT score o f 236. Indeed, by 2012 all Oregon students must have a RIT score o f 236 to graduate from high school. “If you don’t have it, you w on't graduate,” said Bur rows. “The level o f concern for high school graduates is great,” he said. In light o f the new RIT requirem ents loom ing for students statewide, a “ 236 C o m m itte e ” has been created by the Mor row County School District to develop a plan to assist students in meeting those graduation requirements by 2012. The “236 C om m it tee" has developed a plan, still in the developmental stages, which could include additional learning time on Friday or after school, dur ing summer school, and ulti mately, possible retention. A cco rd in g to the “ 236 C o m m ittee's” draft presented at the m eeting Monday night, students who do not meet or exceed the reading and math require ments after the first and second testing will be given an additional four hours o f learning time on Friday or after school. Students who do not meet or exceed the standard after the third testing will be provided an additional four w eeks o f instruction during summer school. Students who do not meet or exceed the standards and who do not participate in the Friday or after school programs or summer school and attend school less than 90 percent o f the time will be review ed via a place ment hearing with the su perintendent and principal “to determine appropriate placement.” In other words, the student may be retained and may not be allowed to graduate. Administrators and the committee said that they included a student’s atten dance as a factor because attendance is important to student success. However, they said that retention may or may not be considered when a student who attends school at least 90 percent of the time is still not meeting benchmarks, perhaps as in the case o f special needs students. He p p n e r High School Daye Stone added that Heppner High School has “ serio u s a tten d an ce issues,” which he laid to community values. “All of our intervention has done nothing in this community,” he said. The “236 Commit tee's" first emphasis will be to disseminate the informa tion to parents and students via a wide variety o f m e dia, such as parent-teacher -Continued on Page THREE AT MCGG GREEN FEED & SEED IN HEPPNER: ALL M UCK FOOTWEAR NOW 10% OFF M orrow C ounty Grain G rowers Green F eed & S eed 2 4 2 W . L in d e n W ay, H e p p n e r • 6 7 6 -9 4 2 2 • 9 8 9 -8 2 2 1 (MCGG main office)
