Long-time lone teacher, Dean
Robinson, announces retirement
lliliiliiililiillliiiiillilinll
Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Library
University o f Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403
VOL. 128
NO. 16
10 Pages
Wednesday, April 22,2009
By April Sykes
L o n g - tim e lo n e
teacher, coach and athletic
d ire c to r D ean R obinson
w ill retire at the end o f this
school year, the lone School
Board announced at their
Monday night meeting.
Prev iously, to ratch
et down costs, the board had
authorized Superintendent/
Principal Karl Ostheller to
reduce the teaching staff by
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Little League season begins
one position. Since Robin
son has announced his intent
to retire, the position will
not be reinstated. Ostheller
said.
Also at the m eet
ing the board discussed a
letter to the district from
Governor Ted Kulongoski
concerning the impact o f
the recession on the K-12
budget for 2009-11. Ku
longoski told them that the
state’s budget shortfall has
tripled to more than $3.1
billion below “ E ssential
B udget L ev el.” He also
told them to prepare for an
additional $2 billion in lost
state revenue by February
2010, which will bring the
total state loss to more than
$5 billion. Consequently,
Kulongoski asked the school
districts to develop budgets
according to a $5.4-$5.9 bil
lion State School Fund for
2009-11. The lone School
District indicated that they
are planning for the $5.4
billion scenario and hoping
that it won't be worse. “Edu
cation is not taking as big a
hit as other (state) agencies
and they’re down there ask
ing for more,” commented
board Chair Joe McElligott.
“ We don’t want to lose our
credibility.”
In other business:
-O s th e lle r a n
nounced that the district sold
its voter approved bonds on
April 7 and the interest rate
was lower than originally
projects. “The net effect,”
said Ostheller, “would be
a reduced tax rate (around
$2.45 per $ 1,000 of assessed
value instead of $2.82) and
an additional $77,000 above
the 2.8 million to be used for
the capital projects.”
-the g e o tech n ical
site investigation has been
completed for putting the
elem en tary ad d itio n out
for bid. Ostheller said that
in the process o f digging
test holes, it was discov
ered that the old building’s
foundation and basem ent
were under the surface w ith
the walls knocked in and
backfilled.
-the cafeteria, gym
and stage lighting project
has gone out for bid. O s
theller said that an extra bid
was added for retrofitting
the shop lighting and recom
mended by the energy audit.
The bid project is being
combined with Helix and
Athena-Weston to attempt
to get a low er bid price
for the projects in all three
districts. Eleven companies
showed up for the initial
walk-through.
-th e first b u d g e t
meeting was held April 13.
Linda LaRue was voted in
as chair and Marcus Col
lier as vice chair. The next
meeting will be held May
11 at 7 p.m.
-the board approv ed
a management contract with
the Umatilla-Morrow ESD
for $36,388. Funding for
m aintenance was not in
cluded in the contract.
-the board accepted
Dean Robinson's retirement
“with regret.”
-student enrollment
is at 164 with 71 students
in k in d erg arten through
grade five, 29 in grades
six through eight and 64 in
grades nine-12.
-according to Beth
O ’Hanlon, chief financial
officer, the district received
$118,300 in basic school
support in March; the gen
eral fund collected $17,018
in property taxes; and the
ex tra-cu rricu lar fund re
ceived $36,334 from the
M orrow C ounty U nified
Recreation District.
-O ’Hanlon reported
that intfividual special rev
enue funds continue to carry
deficit fund balances, how
ever, with the exception of
the Pool Fund, all funds will
be made w hole by approv ed
grant dollars.
-O'Hanlon reported
larger or unusual payments
for December for the fol
lowing: Mid Columbia Bus
for transportation; Morrow
County Grain Growers for
propane; Sysco for food pur
chases; Umatilla-M orrow'
ESD for a serv er and miscel
laneous supplies; Vem’s and
Sons for food purchases and
W illamette ESD for bond
project costs.
-O 'H anlon rep o rt
ed that the $5.4 b illio n
state school funding esti
mate would allocate “just
$1,400,981 for the lone
School D istrict which is
$90,000 less than discussed
during the budget committee
meeting, “primarily due to
the difference in local rev
enue,” said O'Hanlon. She
said that she had only in
cluded current property tax
collections as local revenue
instead o f county school
funds, in-lieu o f property
taxes, etc. She aid that the
initial estimates were pro
vided by COSA.
-mowing has been
initiated as per contract with
the city in consultation with
athletic director and track
coach Ryan Rudolf.
-the board approved
mov ing the June board meet
ing and budget hearing to
June 15.
-th e n ex t b u d g et
committee meeting will be
held on Monday, May 11, at
7 p.m.; the next board meet
ing will be held Monday,
May 18.
-the board held an
executive session to discuss
negotiations.
Palmer receives $15,000 research grant
Little League season opened in Heppner on Saturday. -Photo by Sandy Matthews
Columbia River Community Health Services awarded
grant from American Recovery & Reinvestment Act
The U.S. D e p art
m ent o f H ealth and H u
man Services (H H S) has
announced the release o f a
one-time grant o f nearly $6
million to expand services
at 25 o f Oregon's commu
nity health centers. The
money was made available
by the American Recovery
and Reinvestment Act (the
federal economic stimulus
package) and comes as more
Oregonians join the ranks of
the uninsured.
A po rtio n o f this
grant was awarded to Co
lumbia River Community
Health Services to continue
to serve Boardman’s most
vulnerable residents. The
grant will be used over the
next two years to expand
services and outreach pro
gram efforts. Some services
already in the works are an
increased presence in com
munity events, childhood
immunizations during well
child visits, and setting up
a digital x-ray program and
tech. More one-time federal
grants are expected from the
stimulus plan to help health
centers fund capital projects,
including facility construc
tion and rem odeling and
the purchase o f electronic
medical records equipment.
Columbia River Community
Health Services will keep a
close eye on future federal
grants, as they plan to con
struct a new facility to house
their ever growing patient
population.
Health centers serve
one in every 15 Oregonians -
more than 264,000 in 2007,
about 48 percent o f whom
had no health insurance.
Centers provide physical,
oral and mental health care,
plus such support services
as case management, trans
lation and transportation.
Columbia River Community
Health Services delivered
care to over 56% o f Board-
m an's residents last year,
not counting patients from
_J0L Shindawa $ 199.99 on sale
Home Pro 22-T String Trimmer
L
f awn Thatcher Rentals 1
M orrow C ounty Grain G rowers Green F eed & S eed
242 W. Linden Way, Heppner « 676 -94 22 « 989-8221 (MCGG main office)
\
AXCP, exhibits novel re
activity with the gas, nitric
oxide. This unprecedent
ed hem e chem istry may
help AXCP protect bacteria
against the toxicity o f nitric
oxide in its environment,
and may also be relevant to
nitric-oxide-based signaling
pathways in the cardiovas
cular and central nervous
systems. To understand how
the molecular structure of
AXCP controls its heme
chemistry, the group will
carry out a range o f experi
ments using kinetic, spectro
scopic, and chromatographic
techniques.
P alm er is h o ping
to carry out research using
equipment that could pos
sibly be purchased for the
classroom , specifically a
spectroscopic. The proposed
work will be carried out
using state-of-the-art equip
ment in the new science
building at Eastern Oregon
University.
During the previous
three-years, a total o f 18
students were involved in
the project. Research was
published in the internation
al peer rev iewed journals,
“Biochemistry, and Journal
o f Biological Chemistry,”
as well as in the “Eastern
Oregon Science Journal.”
Students traveled widely
to present their research at
National and International
Conferences, including the
2006 “European Conference
on B io lo g ical Inorganic
C hem istry,” in Portugal.
Palmer will be presenting
at a national conference two
different years about the
findings in his research.
around the area, such as Ir-
rigon, Umatilla, Heppner,
lone, and their surround
ings.
C o lu m b ia R iv e r
Community Health Serv ices
accepts Oregon Health Plan,
Medicare, most insurance
plans, and offers a slid
ing scale fee program. The
clinic is open from 8 A.M.
to 5 P.M. Monday through
Friday. Some o f the services
they offer include: compre
hensive exams, DOT physi
cals, occupational services,
school sports p h y sicals,
chronic illness management,
well child exams, as well as
adult and childhood immu
nizations.
F o r m o re in f o r
Umatilla Morrow Head Start is currently accepting applications for the 2009-2010
mation on services, or to school year. Children must be 3 years o f age on or before September 1, 2009.
schedule an appointm ent
In Heppner, families can obtain an application at Heppner Elementary school
call 541/481-7212. For in or contact Candy Green at 676-5482. Ana Reynaud can be reached in the Boardman or
form ation on the clin ic's Irrigon area by calling 481-3254.
fundraising efforts, to build
a new clinic facility, con
tact Mindy Binder, also at
Morrow County Clerk Bobbi Childers has announced that ballots for the May
541/481-7212.
election will be mailed on May 1.
At the MCGG GREEN FEED STORE in H eppner:
’Tiller t
Jason Palmer, a sci
ence teacher at Heppner
High School, recently re
ceived at $ 15,000 grant from
the MJ Murdock Charitable
Trust. The grant is a Part
ners in Science grant in
which Palmer will be doing
research at Eastern Oregon
University with Dr. Colin
Andrew on the build-up of
nitric oxide in the blood
stream and how it’s trans
ported.
Palmer had applied
for the grant three different
times prior to receiv ing this
year’s. The grant is a two
year grant.
This project will in
vestigate the reactivity o f
a heme-containing protein
from the b acteriu m , Al-
ealigenes xvlosoxidans. Re
search has recently shown
that this protein, term ed
Umatilla Morrow Head Start accepting
applications for 2009-10 school year
Ballots to be mailed May 1
ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT
DEADLINE:
rcT op.
MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M.