DeMayo returns from year-long deployment to Iraq
Public open house to be held
By Autumn Morgan
Heppner City Man
ager Dave DeMayo returned
to Heppner on November 26
following a year-long tour of
duty in Iraq.
W hile in Iraq D e
Mayo serv ed as a liaison be
tween the U.S. Army Corps
o f Engineers and the Provin
cial Reconstruction Team of
the Maysan Province. The
Provincial Reconstruction
Team is run by the Depart
ment o f State. Projects that
HEPPNER
were worked on were infra
structure projects including
water purifiers and small
schools.
DeM ayo says that
troop morale in the Maysan
Province is very high and
that soldiers are treated very
well by the Iraqis. “They
have a good working rela
tionship,” stated DeMayo.
“The Iraqi people are no
different than we are. They
have families and love their
kids.”
D eM ay o say s he
wants people that are upset
because they think that the
U.S. is Iraq solely for oil to
understand that “our way of
life cannot exist without a
fuel supply. We depend on
automobiles for transporta-
Pictured is Dave DeMayo with a local Iraqi sheikh. -Contributed
Photo
tion.”
T he ty p ic a l to u r
length for troops serving in
the Army is one year. De
Mayo says that he will prob
ably not be going again as he
will soon be turning 62.
The City o f Hepp
ner will be hosting a public
welcome back celebration
for DeMayo on Thursday,
December 11, from 3-5 p.m.
at City Hall.
Undercover narcotics team spends time in Heppner
T he B lue M o u n
tain Enforcement Narcotics
Team (BENT) spent time in
Heppner last month making
drug buys, meeting with in
formants and doing surveil
lance on drug buys, it was
unes
VOL. 127
NO. 50
8 Pages
Wednesday, December 10,2008
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Area pastors invited to submit Christmas messages
All area pastors are invited to submit Christmas messages to be run in the De
cember 24 edition o f the Heppner Gazette-Times. Messages can be dropped off at the
GT office, faxed to 676-9211, or emailed to editor@rapidserve.net no later that Friday,
December 19.
New two-county communications
taxing district proposed
By David Sykes
A communications
system that links police, fire
and ambulance departments
together throughout most of
Morrow and Umatilla Coun
ties, could be dismantled in
a few years if a new tax
ing district is not approved
to co ntinue funding the
system, the Heppner City
Council was told Monday
night.
The communications
system, which allows many
different emergency agen
cies to talk directly with each
other, was installed when
the Umatilla Army Depot
began destroying chemical
weapons several years ago.
The chemical destruction
facility was completed in
2001, and the Army began
weapons disposal in 2004.
As part o f the disposal a
new communications sys
tem was installed by the
Federal Government. The
new 450 MHz radio system
allowed all local emergency
agencies in M orrow and
Umatilla counties to talk to
one another, so that in the
Heppner population up (by 10)
Heppner’s population is up by 10 people over the
past year, preliminary census figures recently released
show. From July 2007 to July o f 2008 the population
jumped from 1,415 to 1,425, according to figures pro
vided by Portland State University Population Research
center and announced at the Heppner city council meeting
Monday night.
In 2000 the city's population was 1,395, the report
said.
Reed takes bighorn sheep
Justin Reed of Condon killed his bighorn sheep on November 17.
The sheep measured 162 inches. Justin is the nephew of Roscoe
and Kayrene Qualls of Heppner. -Contributed Photo
event o f an accident at the
Depot, emergency services
could be coordinated.
Chem ical disposal
is scheduled to end in sev
eral years, at which time
the federal government will
d isco n tin u e funding the
advanced system , which
leaves emergency services
with several options, says
C h ie f M ike R oxbury o f
Umatilla, chairman o f the
450 M Hz system board.
Roxbury said one option
would be to do nothing and
revert back to the old VHF
systems, which were a patch
work o f different communi
cations that did not function
very well. “You are going
to pay for a new system one
way or another,” he told the
council. “The federal gov
ernment has been paying for
it so far, but we are not going
to get any more money from
FEMA (Federal Emergen
cy M anagement Agency).
When that last munitions
is destroyed that is the end
o f FEMA's involvem ent,”
Roxbury said.
A n o th e r o p tio n
would be to have each en
tity that uses the system
pay for its usage. He said
this would have the possi
bility o f overwhelming the
small users, and he gave
an example o f the Morrow
County Sheriff Dept, having
to spend $80,000 per year.
"This option is what caused
smaller agencies to declare
that they would go back to
VHF rather than pay fees
that they could not afford,”
Roxbury said in his report.
The best option he
said is to form a new dis
trict to cover the cost o f
-Continued on Page TWO
ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE:
MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M.
announced at Monday’s city
council meeting.
The exact num ber
of buys or arrests made was
not disclosed, but the Mor
row County Sheriff’s De
partment says BENT spent
eight and one h a lf hours
in Heppner in November.
“ L ast w eek one su sp ect
was arrested. We are get
ting results,” Deputy Randy
Rayburn told the council.
State economy prompts school district to
cut at least $180,000 from current budget
By April Sykes
M o rro w C o u n ty
School District Superinten
dent Mark Burrows outlined
a plan Monday evening at
the district’s regular meeting
at Irrigon Elementary School
to trim at least $180,000
from the current 2008-09
fiscal year budget. B ur
rows said the district must
cut the funds based on the
latest numbers released by
Governor Ted Kulongoski.
“If we can get to $ 180,000
in savings, I anticipate w e’ll
end the year okay,” said
Burrows. He added that the
district has budgeted “very
conservatively.”
He also said that
state school funding figures
look better for the 2009-10
fiscal year, with $6.55 bil
lion in the governor’s budget
for education funding. "The
only question is, “will the
economy support the gov
ern o r’s budget?” ’ queried
B urrow s. He said that a
budget of $6.2 billion would
sustain services, “although
w e'd like to have more.” He
added that district adminis
trators have been looking at
“what ifs” considering the
district’s budget in light of
the current economy
To m ak e up fo r
the shortfall in the current
budget. Burrows asked the
teachers union to cut one
half day o f a non-student day
at the end o f the 08-09 con
tract year. Morrow County
Education Association rep
resentative M arilyn Post
responded, saying, "Before
anything can be bargained, I
have to have more informa
tion. How many staff would
be giving up a day, giving up
salaries? Who else is taking
a pay cut besides us? I just
need to know if w e’ve taken
the gravy out o f the budget.”
She added, “ I hate to say
this, but is everyone taking
a pay cut?”
Burrows responded
by saying the points she
made were all “well tak
en."
He told the board
that cut o f one half day in
the teachers’ contract would
save the d istric t around
$23,000 if the te a c h e rs ’
union approves.
B urrow s also rec
ommended cutting:
-$57,000 from the
staffin g budget for four
vacant classified positions.
These positions, an aide at
Sam Boardman Elementary,
an aide at Riverside High
School and two aides in Ir
rigon, have not been filled.
-$100,000 from the
fuel budget. Burrows said
that because o f the high fuel
prices, the district had “bud
geted aggressively” for fuel
costs, however, if the fuel
prices remain low, the addi
tional budgeted amount will
not be required. He stressed
that the recommended fuel
budget cuts were hinged on
the current low fuel prices.
-$15,000 from the
maintenance budget.
-$5,000 from the ad
ministrator’s travel costs to
attend the Confederation of
Oregon School Administra
tors annual meeting.
-$5,000 in business
software for the school dis
trict office.
-$10,000 from the
field trip budget. Burrows
said that after the cuts, fund
ing for some field trips will
still remain.
In other business,
the board:
-heard from the Edu
cation Service District repre
sentative, who commended
that ESD will be facing the
same budget cutting issues
as the school district.
-com m ended Hep
pner High School Principal
Daye Stone for the Veteran's
Day remembrance ceremo
ny at the school.
-recognized students
who won the Morrow Soil
and Water Conservation Dis
trict poster contest. Board
member Nancy Vander Does
said that a child from each
com m unity in the school
district won first in the state
competition.
-approved appoint
ment o f Greg Baron and
Susie Frederickson to the
budget committee.
-ad o p ted the fo l
low ing budget calendar:
March 6-budgets due from
buildings and departments;
April 8-publication of notice
o f budget m eeting; April
15-second notice o f budget
meeting; April 20- distribute
budget document to com
mittee; May 4-first budget
m eeting/budget m essage;
May 11 -regular board meet
ing, second budget m eet
ing if needed (additional
meeting dates to be set by
committee if needed); May
18-deadline for budget ap
proval; May 27-publication
o f notice o f budget hearing;
June 8-budget hearing/adopt
budget and make appropria
tions; June 8-regular board
meeting; July 1-beginning
of 2009-10 fiscal year; July
15-deadline to certify levy
to assessor.
-re sc in d e d b o ard
member conflicts o f inter
est policy and adopted board
member ethics and conflicts
of interest policy and board
member ethics and nepotism
policy.
-heard the first read
ing o f head lice policies.
-rescinded policies
on staff ethics and gifts and
solicitations and heard the
first readings o f new poli
cies on ethics and gifts and
solicitations.
-heard a presentation
from Irrigon High School
FFA members for six to 12
students to attend the Na
tional FFA convention in
the fall of 2009. The board
approved their request. Stu
dents plan to raise monies
themselves to be able to at
tend the convention.
-held an executive
session prior to the meeting
to discuss the superinten
dent’s evaluation.
-approved a reso
lution for adoption o f a
403(b) plan. (The federal
g o v ern m en t passed new
rules concerning investment
vehicles.)
-approved an atten-
-Continued on Page THREE
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