Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (June 17, 2009)
Smith says tax increase vote helps district By David Sykes R e p r e s e n t a t i ve Greg Sm ith, one o f only two Republicans to cast a yes vote in favor o f a new state tax increase, defended his vote last week by saying it was for the good o f his voting district. Smith, who resides in Heppner, told the Hep- pner C h am b er o f Com - ...... an (f n ^ on^ 'i> /ö ^ 3 sZ spaper Libn EuSenc. OR eo 974 HEPPNER unes VOL. 128 NO. 24 10 Pages Wednesday, June 17, 2009 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon M. C. District Attorney Ballard and Attorney General Kroger announce aggravated murder indictment M o rro w C o u n ty District Attorney Elizabeth A. B allard and A ttorney General John Kroger re cently announced that a grand ju ry has indicted Araceli Velasquez Espain on multiple counts for the death o f her infant son. Espain faces charg es of aggravated murder, first-degree manslaughter, second-degree manslaugh ter, first-degree crim inal mistreatment and abandon ment of a child. All persons charged are presumed innocent un der our Constitution until proven g u ilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court o f law. The indictment ac cused Espain o f intention ally killing her baby on June 6. Espain was sched uled to be a rra ig n e d in M orrow C ounty C ircu it Court at 1:15 p.m., Tuesday, June 16. The case is being investigated by the Major C rim es Team, which in cludes the Morrow County Sheriff’s Office, Boardman P olice D ep artm en t, O r egon State Police, Umatilla County S h e riff’s O ffice, Hermiston Police Depart ment, Pendleton Police De partment, Milton Freewater Police Department, Morrow County District Attorney’s Office and Umatilla County District Attorney’s Office. S en io r A ssista n t A tto rn ey G en eral Scott Jackson o f the Oregon De partment o f Justice is as sisting in the case at the request of District Attorney Ballard. Attorney General John Kroger leads the Or egon Department of Justice. The departm ent’s mission is to fight crime and fraud, protect the environm ent, improve child welfare, and defend the rights o f all Or egonians. Port of Morrow celebrates 50th anniversary 4 k i 'W f £ * I f * merce by conference call tem to benefit agricultural last Thursday that his deci extension centers and the sion to vote in favor o f the ranger resources program. $472 million tax He a ls o a sk e d increase w ould se for support for cure over $18 mil extending a tax lion in state spend break on logging ing to come out equipment. o f the Democrat “ My job controlled house is to roll up my into his district. sleeves and do the Before job for the people his yes vote Smith Rep. Greg Smith back home, and I received a letter am not ashamed last Tuesday from Demo o f th a t,’ Sm ith told the crat House Speaker Dave Chamber, the same day a Hunt and Ways and Means front page article about the co-chair Dem ocrat Peter trade o ff appeared in the Buckley, promising benefits Portland Oregonian. including: “Our communities $8 million in lot are dying and I am doing tery money for Blue Moun what 1 can to support our tain Community College. comm unities,” Smith told $8 million in lot the Chamber. “And every tery money for Eastern Or item (that was promised) egon University Library has merit.” $2.3 million in S m ith and B ob state bonds for Port of Mor Jensen of Pendleton were row Education Center. the only two Republicans Limiting cuts in to vote for a tax increase the Oregon University Sys on individuals making more than $125,000 annually, or families making more than $250,000. Also on Thursday o f last w eek R epublican party Chairman Bob Tier- nan filed an ethics com plain t a g ain st H unt and Buckley for violating the public trust in the trade off deal. Tuesday Andrew Over, the state party’s ex ecutive d irector told the Heppner Gazette-Times the ethics committee responded that the com plaint would not be investigated because it was not in their jurisdic tion. “We still believe there is merit to our complaint,” said Over. A s for S m ith he told the Chamber o f Com merce: “1 have to come back and explain what each of these (projects) will mean. People are going to tell me what they think at the bal lot box.” lone School Board adopts budget By April Sykes The lone School D istrict B oard M onday night adopted a 2009-2010 budget with $5,703,204 in appropriated funds and an additional $370,000 in un appropriated funds. They also imposed a tax rate of $4.0342 per $1,000 o f as sessed value for operations and $243,626 for bonds. Also at the meeting they approved a transporta tion contract with Mid-Co and approved the purchase of an $11,300 Kubota lawn m ower over a three-year contract. In other business, the board: -heard the follow ing report from Superin- tendent/Principal Karl Os- theller: "“stu d e n t e n ro ll ment is unchanged from last month w ith 164 students in kindergarten through 12lh grade. "“tea c h e r e v a lu a tions have been com plet ed; "“tw o classroom s are alm ost ready for the floor abatement process. "“th e c u s to d i a l/ g ro u n d sk e e p e r p o sitio n has been reopened to create a larger pool o f applicants. Four applications and one verbal com m itm ent have been received. "“s p e c ia l e d u c a tion interviews have been scheduled for June 18. The district had a pool of 10 ap plicants and four would be interviewed. "“construction proj ects should be starting soon with the gym floor work beginning around June 17. Pool work should be mostly complete with the excep tion o f hooking up the chlo rination system which is expected to get underway later this week. The pre-bid meeting for the roof project, construction m eeting for the gym floor and a pre-bid m eeting for w indow re placement will be held this week. A facilities meeting will also be held to review the bids for two classroom additions. "“the International Club will hold a dinner dur ing the Fourth o f July cel ebration and speech debate students will be assisting in a variety o f activities. -received the fol low ing financial update from C hief Financial Of ficer Beth O ’Hanlon with the Umatilla-Morrow ESD as o f May 31: "“the d is tric t r e ceived basic school support totaling $71,938 and school stabilization money totaling $48,681. The general fund collected $2,851 in property taxes. "“the d is tric t r e ceived an update for the 2009-10 funding estimate which includes $14,717 in additional common school funds. "“the interm ediate program , operations and maintenance and transpor tation remain over budget. "“b o n d p ro c e e d s earned $3,203 in interest for the district. "“individual special revenue funds continue to carry deficit fund balances. The district ordered money to cover the deficit balances in state and federal title funds," said O ’Hanlon. "All but the pool fund will be made whole by the end of the year. If the general fund has funds available to trans fer at the end o f the year, “she said. "We would like to propose using a portion o f the capital projects transfer to cover the pool.” "“larger or unusual payments in May include the following: Carruth Con sulting for the annual fee to m aintain 403 (B) plan documents as required by the IRS; M id C olum bia Bus for transportation; U.S. Bank for adm inistration fees as trustee for the bond; Willamette ESD for bond project services; Umatilla- Morrow ESD for custodial services. -learned from board member Anne Morter that graduating seniors earned over $18,500 in scholar ships from local sources. -rescinded a m o tion to authorize the Um atilla-Morrow ESD as the recipient for SIP funds. The district learned that it is not authorized to do so. -heard the follow ing announcements: a spe cial meeting will me held Monday, June 22, at 7 p.m.; no m eeting will be held in July; the August board meeting will be held Mon day, August 17. -held an executive session to discuss nego tiations and perform ance evaluations. Congressman Greg Walden to visit Heppner 4 t ■i .I t , 7. The Port of Morrow is celebrated its 50th anniversary with a public luau last Friday from 4-7 p.m. at the new transload building at 71401 Kail Loop Drive in Boardman. The celebration was an informal affair that included a roasted pork dinner and tours of the new 55,000 square-foot building. Although there was no formal ceremony a slide show of the port’s progress was presented. The transload building, the newest port improvement, will be a warehouse distribution nexus, with rail, truck and barge transportation options. -Photo by David Sykes Alumni football game cancelled Due to the lack of participation, the alumni football game scheduled for this year has been cancelled. Celebrate Heppner photos can be found on Page THREE ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M. Congressman Greg Walden will be in Heppner on Tuesday, June 30, to give a congressional up date, covering topics such as economy, forestry and health care. To accom m odate this, the cham ber lunch m eetin g w ill be m oved from Thursday, July 2, to be provided at $9 per person and RSVP’s are required to allow for sufficient seating and meals. Please RSV Ptothe Heppner Chamber o f Com- merce no later than Mon day, June 29, if you w ill be attending so accom m oda tions can be made. Tuesday, June 30, and the “all entities reports” will be moved to Thursday, July 9. The meeting w ill be held in the Senior Center Dining Room from 11:45 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. A n y i n te r e s te d com m unity m em bers are invited to attend this meet ing. A "no host" lunch w ill Annual Red White & Blues Texas Hold ‘em Poker Tournament to be held The 4,h annual Red White & Blues Texas Hold ‘em Poker Tournament w ill be held Saturday, June 20, 2009, at lone Legion Hall. Sign up begins at 6 p.m. with a $40 buy in. able. B everages w ill be Play w ill begin at 6:30 p ro v id e d by T a y l o r ’s. p.m. There will be no late For more information call M arvin Padberg at 422- sign-ups. 7276. A sa n d w ich and salad bar w ill be avail- M a te s a great Q y E v e rc ra ft 6 - Pc. S c re w d riv e r set # 776-0501 * 1 / 1 9 1 4 o . 9 o 9 f tin t 9 M orrow County' drain Growers Green Feeii • 1 & Seed 242 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 21 (M C G G m a in o ffic e ) 1 i
