W ilgers to retire from district attorney’s office
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Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Library
University o f Oregon
Eugene. OR 97403
By Autumn Morgan
The office o f the dis
trict attorney has officially
changed hands six times
over the last 23 years, and
Vi Wilgers has been there
for those changes. She has
worked in the district attor
ney’s office since 1985 and
will retire on Friday, Febru
ary 13, after almost 24 years
o f service.
From managing the
office to taking care o f all
Vi W ilgers will retire from the district attorney ’s office on Friday
types o f legal papers, Wilg after 23 years of service. A public reception will he held in her
ers’ know ledge o f the inner honor on Thursday at noon at the courthouse. -Photo by Autumn
Morgan
workings o f the district at
torney’s office is extensive.
She has worked w ith seven
different district attorneys,
six o f whom were consid
ered official since one was
deployed w ith the National
Guard and a replacement
had to be brought in, since
her employment in 1985.
She has also worked with
four deputy district attor
neys. "If I didn't love this
job, I wouldn’t have stuck
with it for 23 years,” said
Wilgers.
W ilgers has lived
in Heppner for the past 33
years and has no plans to
leave after her retirement
is official. Her son Wayne
lives in Hermiston and her
daughter Annette lives in
Pendleton.
Once she gets used
to not going to the court
house for work e\ery day,
Wilgers plans to do a little
traveling and spend time
with her siblings. “I'm ex
cited about my retirement,”
said Wilgers. She also plans
on concentrating more on
some o f her hobbies which
include playing the v io
lin, painting, and arranging
flowers.
"It has been a plea
sure working for the DA’s
o ffice ,” said W ilgers. “ I
have made great friends
throughout the state and
the county has been great
to me.”
No replacement has
yet been hired.
A retirement recep
tion for Wilgers w ill be held
at noon on Thursday, Febru
ary 12, at the courthouse.
The community is invited
to attend.
City considers new restrooms for Hager Park
VOL. 128
NO. 6
10 Pages
Wednesday, February 11, 2009 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
School district to seek three-year levy
service contracts for 2009-
10 from Umatilla-Morrow
ESD...
-approved a coop
erative sponsorship for RHS
and Irrigon High School
girls’ and boys’ tennis pro
gram.
-heard a brief report
from principals concerning
plans for students who have
not yet met their bench
marks.
-heard a report con
cerning a National Science
Teachers convention.
-approved the fol
lowing employment action:
resignations/retirements-G.
Ann Thomas, RHS coun
selor; Dave Pedro, RHS
head tennis coach; Abel
B u rn ett, Irrigon Ju n io r/
Senior High School head
boys’ basketball coach, head
football coach and assistant
track coach; employment/
promotion-Martha Carmon,
Sam Boardman Elementary
assistant coach; Keli Bither,
SBE special ed assistant;
Danica Harjo, addition half
tim e tem porary contract
to cover SBE kindergarten
class for the remainder o f
the school year; extra duty
contracts-Robin Graffi RHS
head softball coach; Rhonda
Boor, RHS assistant softball
coach; Amy Tolar, IJH as
sistant track coach.
-received the fo l
lowing attendance report:
A.C. H oughton Elem en
tary School. Irrigon-343 stu
dents; Heppner Elementary
School-187; HHS-224; Irri
gon Elementary School-117;
IHS-319; RHS-389; SBE-
310; Windy River Elemen
tary School-230; Morrow
Education Center-Morrow
County School District-83;
Morrow Education Center-
Umatilla School District-
37; total-2239.
-heard the follow ing
announcements: President's
Day holiday-February 16;
next board meeting, March
9, ACH, 7 p.m.
-held an executive
Zech Hint/ and Ken Bailey coach (iaige Futter and Blaine M a
honey as they wrestled each other during a Colt wrestling tourna meeting to discuss person
ment held last Wednesday at Heppner High School. -Contributed nel, legal issues and nego
Photo
tiations.
By April Sykes
The Morrow County
School Board, at their regu
lar meeting in Boardman
Monday, authorized Super
intendent Mark B urrow s
to proceed with plans for a
three-year serial levy which
will be presented to the dis
trict’s voters this May.
The local o p tio n
levy, if passed, will offset
losses the district expects to
see from anticipated reduc
tions in state school funding
resulting from projected cuts
to the state's education fund.
The district expects to get
firmer figures by February
20 when the state releases
the newest fiscal outlook,
said board m em ber Bill
Kuhn. “ It's a waiting game,”
commented Kuhn, who said
that the state legislature is
waiting to see if Congress
will give them any stimulus
money from the federal bail
out package.
“ Right now ,” said
Burrows, “a loss o f $500,000
(to the district) is a conser
vative estimate. This (the
levy) will give patrons a
chance to weigh in.”
The district’s levy
will ask for $l per $1,000
assessed valuation. If the
levy is passed, a homeow ner
with a $50,000 home could
expect to pay around $40 per
year; a homeowner with a
$100,000 home would pay
around $70 per year; and
one with a $150,000 home
would pay around $110 per
year, said Burrows.
The district did have
some good news at the meet
ing. The board learned that
Business Week Magazine
and Great Schools Organi
zation gave Riverside High
School the #1 Top Academ
ic Performance in Oregon
award for “schools in low
socio-economic areas” and
also named the school the
# 1 Most Improved School in
Oregon “for all schools”.
Burrows commend
ed RHS Principal Dirk Dirk-
sen and school employees in
RHS in recognition of their
achievement and Dirksen
presented employees with
plaques.
Burrows said that
five schools in each state
received awards from Busi
ness Week, except in Oregon
where four schools received
honors, since Riverside gar
nered two awards.
Also at the meeting,
the board:
-viewed a presenta
tion from H eppner High
School students who trav
eled to Washington, D.C.,
for the inauguration.
-approved a request
from HHS Vo-Ag students
for an educational field trip
to attend the vo-ag con
vention in October, which
includes visiting ag-related
industries in Tennessee and
Kentucky and participating
in a volunteer community
service program.
-a p p ro v e d p u b lic
Colt wrestling tournament held
By David Sykes
The Heppner City
Council on Monday opened
bids for construction o f a
new restroom building at
Hager Park, but may end up
approving a modular type
restroom , the same used
in Forest Service C am p
grounds, as an alternative.
The city is not di
rectly paying for the rest
room facility as a group of
citizens has been raising
funds for the project. They
re p o rte d ly have $7,5 0 0
more to raise. The restroom
would be located at the end
o f Hager Park near the Little
League field.
Two bids from local
contractors, one for $45,549
and the other for $51,113,
were received by the city for
“stick” type construction;
however the council opted
instead to look closely at the
modular type restroom made
by CTX Company, which
supplies restrooms for For
est Service campgrounds.
The model favored
by the council is called
the Cortez and cost about
$34,000 delivered. Accord
ing to the company’s adver
tising “The Cortez’s stan
dard features include sink,
toilet bowl, electric hand
dryer and interior and exte
rior entry lights. The Cortez
is ideal for both urban and
rural areas that experience
extreme vandalism.”
The city estimated it
would cost about $2,500 to
put utilities to the restrooms
and a parking lot would cost
an additional $7,500, which
backers hope will be paid for
with a grant from the Ford
Foundation.
The council did not
make a decision, and in
stead agreed to have the city
Beautification Committee
take a look at the restroom
proposal.
Water rates going up
In o th er bu sin ess
the council heard a report
from City M anager Dave
DeMayo, who said the city
will most likely raise water
rates in the coming months.
He said later that rates could
The city is considering this type of modular restroom for
Hager Park. The model is called the Cortez. -Contributed
Photo
go up by $4 per month, and
then six months later be
raised another $4. The util
ity commission will discuss
the raise at its February
meeting.
The increase is nec
essary to begin paying off
the loan the city received
to put in the new w ater
system completed several
years ago. Repayment o f
the bonds was delayed while
the city resolved a lawsuit
with the contractor on the
project.
The city needs to
raise $130,000 per year in
water fees to pay o ff the
note, DeMayo said, and it
reportedly now only col
lects between $74,000 and
$78,000 per year in water
fees.
In other action the
council heard a report that
the St. Patrick Senior Center
remodeling project should
be done by February 20, and
there are currently three va
cancies and four on the w ait
ing list. When remodeling is
completed, operation of the
center will be shifted from
the city to a management
company to be paid $798 per
month. “It will be a benefit
to the city to be out from
under this (the management
responsibility)," Mayor Les
Paustian said. “ It will give
the city manager time to do
other things.”
Seat belt “blitz” sched
uled
The Morrow County
Sheriff's Department, which
handles patrol duty for I lep-
pner, announced Monday
that it will be holding a seat
belt blitz from Feb. 9 until
Feb. 22. There will be sev
eral overtime shifts added to
look for no seat belts buck
led violations in Heppner,
Lexington and lone. The
fine for no seat belt is $99 or
$128 in a school zone.
It w as a ls o a n
nounced that deputies Ivan
Dike and Jon Lehman have
been rotated in to work the
Heppner area. They will
be working Heppner until
May.
City sets 2009 goals
The Heppner City
Council adopted its goals for
2009 at its meeting Monday
night. The council had held
a goal setting session last
week.
Goals included the
following:
1. Ensure that the in
frastructure of Heppner is pre
pared to support the expansion
of residential housing in areas
that are prime candidates for
development (i.e. Heppner
Valley Heights, the area south
o f Lakeview Heights and the
vicinity o f the Rasmussen
Lott Addition).
2. C o n t i n u a t i o n
and completion o f the fol
lowing 2008 PW projects:
a) Install a flow meter in the
incoming sewer main at the
Wastewater treatment plant.
b) Continue to fence water
wells and reservoirs to pre
vent tampering.
e) Continue to cleanup the
public works yard.
-Continued on Page TEN
OPEN HOUSE
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13
February 9th -20th
ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE:
M orrow County Grain Growers
MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M.
Lexington 989-8221 • 1-800-452-7396 For farm equipment, visit our web site at www mcgK net
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