Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (April 15, 2009)
School district drops art programs at Heppner and Irrigon due to budget cuts Bessie V* el/v" By April Sykes The Morrow County School Board, at their Mon day night meeting at Windy River Elem entary School in Boardman, voted unani mously to eliminate the art programs at Heppner High School and Irrigon High School "as forced by budget constraints.” "Financially, these are not ordinary tim e s,” Eugene. OK ^ VOL. 128 NO. 15 8 Pages Wednesday, April 15, 2009 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Social gaming ordinance requires back ground check and fingerprinting By David Sykes An ordinance un der consideration by the city o f Heppner would re quire bar owners, bartend ers and others to have a police background check, be fingerprinted and the establishments pay a yearly $100 licensing fee before wagering card games could be played on the premises. The council did not vote on the ordinance, but instead tabled the issue for further study until next m onth's meeting. A full text o f the proposed ordinance can be read at www.heppner.net/ gaming. A ccording to City Attorney Ann Spicer, all wa gering card games in public establishments in Heppner have been illegal since 1991, with the games only allowed if the city has an ordinance governing them, which Hep pner does not. Nancy Gochnauer, owner of BucknunTs Tav ern in Heppner, started the ordinance process w hen she asked the city if it was legal to hold card games in her tavern. The city has since announced that w agering card gam es that may be going on around town are illegal. The proposed o r dinance would require fin gerprints o f the "ow ners, officers, principal managing employees, and all employ ees who are involved in con ducting the game activities or operating the game prem ises o f the applicant. Where the perm it applicant is a nonprofit membership orga nization, 'principal manag ing em ployee' shall mean the chief elected official of the organization and any other elected officials whose authority extends to the su pervision or management of permitted social games,” the ordinance reads. For th e E lk s it would be the Exalted Ruler as well as others who will be managing the club while the games were going on. S h e r if f 's D ep u ty John Bowles, who is also a city council member, said violation o f the gaming or dinance would be a Class A Misdemeanor, like a DUI, and that the local police would go into esta b lish ments to check compliance of the ordinance. The establishments where the card games are held would also have to pay a $100 annual fee as well as the cost of the fingerprinting and background checks. Some council mem bers asked that the ordi Hanna Green, 4. enjoys a visit with the Faster bunny at the annual Elks Easter Egg Hunt at City Park. Hannah is the daughter of nance be tabled until it could David and Candy Green of Heppner. Photo by David Sykes receive fu rth er study to Easter bunny makes his annual visit to Heppner -continued on page 3 HEEL SWEEPS $12 The Nichols heel sweep is a revolutionary design that allows both sweeping and chiseling to be done simultaneously. This combination results in breaking up the hardpan to encourage better root penetration and absorption of moisture. HS-18B M o r r o w C o u n ty G r a in G r o w e r s I said Superintendent Mark Burrows, who told the board that proposed reductions in the state school fund were worse than expected. He said that the state financial situation will return school funding to 2001 levels and w ill reduce the M orrow County School D istrict’s budget by around one and a half million, rather than the $800,000 loss previously anticipated. Burrow s said unless the upcom ing th ree-year serial levy is passed by dis trict voters, the district w ill be forced to cut five days from the school year next year and will seek a freeze in employees’ wages. "One and a half million is a lot,” said Burrows. In other business, the district adopted a pre-Labor Day start for the 2009-10 school year. Teachers will begin on August 24, 2009, with students starting on August 31. Christmas break is scheduled to begin Friday, December 18, with school resuming on Monday, Janu ary 4, 2010. The last day of school for students will be Wednesday, June 9, and the last day for teachers on Friday, June 10. Staff w as overwhelmingly in favor of this option. In other business at the meeting, the board: -heard a report from Burrows on how the district adapted to the road work in progress near Heppner El ementary School in regards to busing students to and from the school.. Burrows especially gave his appre ciation to Burke O'Brien for his "can-do attitude” and to the Morrow County Road crew for making modifica tions to facilitate the busing. The buses were taken out through the overflow park ing area and a bridge was built across Hinton Creek to get the buses on their routes. Burrows also credited Mid Columbia Bus, the neigh bors who allow ed access through their property and Heppner city manager Da vid DeMayo for facilitating the process. -approved a reso lution accepting- and ap propriating $3,650 for a supplem ental grant from the Department o f Educa tion for instruction and staff developm ent at Riverside High School in the A d vanced Placement Incentive Program. -approved release of two students to the Umatilla School District. -a p p ro v e d a tte n dance variances for one student from the Herrn- iston School D istrict to A.C. Houghton Elementary School in Irrigon. -approved renewal o f atte n d an c e v arian ces for one student to attend Hermiston School District from MCSD and one student to attend Hermiston High School w ith su b seq u en t board discussion on the cri teria for granting variances. Burrows told the board that the policy has been for the convenience o f the students and parents and w hen cours es are not available within the Morrow County School District. "Times are hard and we want to preserve the ADM (the way the state calculates enrollment and reimburses the school for each student attending), said Burrows. The board plans to discuss the policy further. -approved a leave of absence for Mary Koertje for the rem ainder o f the school year. -approved the fol lowing employment action: resignations retirements for Jean Strange. Heppner High School PE and art teacher; Kathy Simonis, Riverside High School language arts teacher; Cody Booth. Ir rigon High School Span ish language arts teacher; Helen Walty. RHS assistant custodian. -approved the fol lowing extra duty contracts: David Boor. Riverside Ju nior High School head foot ball coach; Kyle C arpen ter. RHS assistant football coach. -accepted S500 do nations each to ACH, Irri gon Elementary School and IHS from the Washington Defense Group at the De pot. -heard a mathemat ics textbook adoption report from Erin Stocker. How ever, the tex tb o o k s will not be purchased this year because o f the anticipated budget cuts. -heard a presentation from Windy River Elemen tary staff on "parent par ties” which create a bridge between the parents and the classroom. -le a rn e d that the Umatilla-Morrow ESDwill be required by the state leg islature to combine w ith the Union ESI) by July 1,2010. The board was assured that there will be "no service disruptions.” -approved a resolu tion for budget transfers as follows: $500 from technol ogy instruction to support services; $1,200 from drug and alcohol prevention to support serv ices. -heard the follow ing announcem ents: the first budget committee meeting will be held Monday, May 4, at the district office at 7 p.m.; the next board meeting will be held Monday, May 11, at Irrigon High School; election day is Tuesday, May 19; the last day for seniors is Friday. May 29; the math contest will be held this Thursday at 6 p.m. at Riverside High School; the dedication for the new baseball, softball and Little League field at Irrigon at 10 a.m. Saturday. -held an executive session for the purposes of d iscu ssin g em ploym ent, negotiations and legal mat ters. Wrangler Riding Club raffling off bench W rangler Riding C lub charter member Howard Bryant puts his brand on the bench the club is raffling for their only fund raiser while technology education teacher Dave Fowler and student Dev in Robinson look on. The bench is on display at Les Schwab lire ( enter. The bench was made by Wood on Wood of Heppner and branded with W rangler Club member's brands and stained In Bill Gentry. Tickets are available at Les Schwab or from a VV rangier member for $5 each or six for $25. The bench will be raffled on the last W rangler I’ layday on May 3. Contributed Photo 9th annual TV shoot to be held in lone The 9th annual TV shoot w ill be held in lone on Saturday, April 25, at Frank and Joe Halvorsen's farm. The fee is $20 per person, per shot. Registra tion will be from 8:30-9:30 a.m. An all you can eat lunch w ill be available. The cost is $6 for adults and $3.50 for children 10 and under. Prizes will include $100 for hitting the target at 1,000 yards. There will be three classes and prizes for all three classes: Class #1 - elk and deer rifle; Class #2 - heavy target or bench guns; and Class #3 - open site 600 yards. Allison Carey Gun- works o f Portland will be in charge o f the free clay pigeons for the kids. Bill B resh ears o f B&B Barbecue o f Gresham will be serving tri-tip sand w iches, brats, hot dogs. baked beans, and potato salad. For more informa tion or to help sponsor this event and get your name on the reader board, call Fanna Padberg at 422-7276. The Halvorsen farm is located at 64686 H al vorsen Lane in lone. All proceeds will be used for children's games, prizes, and the lone Fourth of July Celebration. ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M. k
