Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 16, 2009)
EIGHT - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, September 16,2009 SCHOOL DISTRICT CITY COUNCIL ter o f kittens in the engine of a vehicle he had parked in his garage, and w hen he started the engine he did not know they were there. The sheriff in atten dance at Monday’s council meeting said they can catch the cats, but determining the owners is another thing. He said someone had also been releasing the captured cats on Union Street before they could be relocated. The council did not take any action but said they would study the matter for later consideration. City has over S31,000 in late and unpaid w ater and sewer bills In other business at the council meeting, the council voted to become more aggressive in collect ing overdue water and sew er bills. The city at one time had over $30,000 in unpaid water and sewer bills and Monday the council gave authorization to turn over about $ 10,000 in 18 unpaid disconnected accounts to a collection agency T here is another $20,000 in late bills where 58 customers are still con nected to the city and are receiving water and sewer services. The breakdow n is $1,943 in 0-30 days over due, $ 1,804 in over 30 days, $ 1,576 in over 60 days, and $15,538 in over 90 days overdue water and sewer bills. The city has worked about payment agreements w ith five o f the 58 still connected accounts and will be working on making payment agreements with the others without shutting off services. M ayor w arns of windmill backlash H e p p n e r M ayor Les P austian said there may be a backlash com ing against the windmills m oving into the Willow Creek Valley. "Some people are upset w ith the idea of w indmills circling our town,” Paustian said. "You can’t tell people w hat they can or can’t do with their property, but this is going to be something coming up to deal with,” he said. Bikes in the creek The sheriff deputy reported that there have been several instances of bikes being found in Wil low Creek and that the de partment has fished several out. One councilm em ber said she saw another one Sunday while walking. The deputy said he would try and get that one out also. He said the department had a "collection” of unclaimed bikes that parents have not come to claim. New utility billing clerk hired It was announced that Staci Osmin was hired as the new utility billing clerk. There were 10 who applied for the position. MISSING FISHERMAN members from the Morrow County S h eriff’s Office, Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office, Sherman County S heriff’s Office, Gilliam County S h eriff’s Office, B o ard m an A m b u lan c e , B oardm an Fire D e p a rt ment, Columbia River In ter-Tribal Fisheries, Yakima Nation, Warm Springs Fire and Safety, Warm Springs Police Department, Warm Springs Natural Resourc es, and U.S. Coast Guard helicopter from A storia. Boats from M orrow CO SO (2), Sherman CO SO (1), Umatilla CO SO (1), Columbia River Intertribal Fisheries (2), and Columbia Basin Dive Rescue from Tri-Cities responded with two boats. Searching contin ued until dark without suc cess in finding the missing men. On Tuesday, Sep tem ber 15, at 7 a.m. the Morrow County Sheriff’s Office Command Post was reactivated and searching w as resumed. Approximately 50 people are involved in the search for the missing men on w ater as well as the shoreline. As o f press tim e on Tuesday, the search was still ongoing. Sheriffs Report mah County Circuit Court w arrant for DUI1 and a Hermiston Police Depart ment warrant for Contempt of Court and lodged at UCJ with $21,000 bail. -M CSO received report of shots fired in Ir- rigon. A deputy responded, but was unable to locate anything. -M CSO received request for extra patrol in Lexington for subjects rid ing four-wheelers on the street. -MCSO cited Dustin Dale Roilis, 28. for Driving While Suspended- violation. -MCSO cited Nick Lawrence Harrison, 20, for driving 81 mph in a 55 mph zone. -M CSO received report o f a boy in Heppner who was chased by a dog and fell and hit his head. -M CSO received report of a possible Yellow Pages scam in Heppner. -M CSO received report o f a brown, short- haired dog lying in a ditch in Heppner that did not look very good and his hair was falling out. The dog was put in the city kennel. -M CSO received report that a man and his wife were going through The Morrow County Sheriff’s Office reports han dling the following busi ness: Ju n e 24: Morrow County Sheriff's Office re ceived report from a deputy that he made contact with a group o f juveniles. They had an adult with them. -MCSO arrested a female subject on a Morrow County warrant for Failure to Appear. She was lodged at U m atilla C ounty Jail with $6,000 bail. She was also arrested on a Multno -Continued on Pane TEN Biggest thanks to those who help protect our littlest passengers. The Oregon Deportment of Transportation, ACTS Oregon Child Safety Seat Resource Center and Safe Kids Oregon would like to thank the specially-trained volunteers who assist their communities year round with child safety seat selection and installation. in acknowledging .he following nationally-certified child passenger.afely technicians who serve your area. Please join G illian N elson [ana Arroyo Sue Picker b in Bredfield JW Roberts arci Buschke Lisa Safer Amy Ford John Fox Kem ble Tellefson |e n n ife r Jaca ;sse Labenske Laura T orres JenniferV ega Buckle Up. The Way to Go. Transportation Safety — O D O T nizations, but subsequently learned that one vaccination may be sufficient. Burrows said that Julie Ashbeck, the district’s human resources director, has been d e sig n a ted as the district’s H1N1 coor dinator. He said that when attendance dips below 90 percent, then school secre taries will begin contacting parents to determ ine the nature of their child’s ill ness. If absenteeism hits 30 percent, the health de partment will be consulted and school closure will be evaluated. While student at tendance has been stressed, in the event of an outbreak, the d istric t’s attendance policy may be suspended. A.C. H oughton E lem en tary School Principal John Sebastian also suggested that the state be notified and urged to back off on attendance requirem ents. Attendance influences each school’s state report card. He said that recent research indicates that people who have contracted swine flu may be contagious for as long as a week. Symptoms include fever, respiratory illness, nausea and other flu-like symptoms. River side High School Principal Dirk Dirksen said that his facility will be using fever as a guideline in determin ing which children should be sent home. Also at the m eet ing, the board ratified the teach ers’ contract which had been ratified earlier by the Morrow County Educa tion Association. Because o f the current state funding situation and budget con straints, teachers agreed to forgo a raise for the one- year contract. The new contract in clu d e d the fo llo w in g changes or additions: -w o rd in g w hich would allow for removal o f a student who poses a threat o f imminent harm to a teacher or other students. -a provision that school principals meet with teachers at the beginning o f the year to discuss build ing disciplinary standards and procedures and school district policies relating to threats o f violence, assaults, or other dangerous student behaviors. -clarification that a day is considered eight hours and a half-day four hours. -a provision that the superintendent will notify the employee via e-mail, phone or mail if authoriza tion to access the personnel file is requested. -an increase in the district’s obligation toward the teachers’ insurance pre miums from $940 to $982 per employee per month. -a provision that if the teacher is on approved leave, the cost o f the third day will be borne by the district. -a provision that payment for teacher course- work made between June 1-June 30 for summer term will be recognized as being in the new fiscal year. -a provision that if the district closes its schools for lack of funds for seven or fewer days, the district’s contribution to employee health insurance benefits will not be altered. If it is necessary to close schools for more than seven days, the district’s monthly con tribution will be pro-rated based on the num ber o f days worked in the month. The district will notify the teachers’ union before an nouncing the closure. The w ording o f th is a rticle , prior to addition, stated that if the district closes its school because of a lack of funds, no m em ber o f the bargaining unit shall be entitled to any wage, salary or fringe benefits provided in this agreement while the schools are closed. T he b o a rd a ls o heard a p resen tatio n on the “Tooth Taxi” program, w hich w ill provide free dental care to students at A .C . H oug h to n and Ir- rigon Elementary schools. Marilyn Post, a teacher at ACH and past president of the Morrow County Educa tion Association, said that the program has targeted uninsured students w ho are eligible for free and reduced lunches. She said that the Tooth Taxi van will be at ACH for four days and will provide an initial screening and then treatment, if required, at no cost to the child’s family. "We’re making a small dent in a very large problem,” commented Jim Jobes, with Oregon Education Associa tion Choice Trust. He said the program was endorsed by the OEA. Post said that they were hoping to expand the p rogram to in clu d e Boardman schools. In other business, the board: -heard a school im provement report from Bur rows and Phyllis Danielson, assistant superintendent. -h e a rd a re p o rt from Sebastian on a draft of revised elementary school report cards. The cards will now include the students’ benchmark scores and in dicate whether the student has passed his benchmarks. Sebastian said he was tired of making the difficult call to parents o f children who had been receiving A’s and B’s but who had not passed their benchmarks. -heard a finance re port from Burrows who said that the district will be okay financially this year, be cause the district based its budget on a 5.6 million state funding level. He noted two tax increases enacted by the last legislature that could impact school funding. H ouse B ill 3405 will increase the C-corpo- ration minimum tax from $10 to between $150 for businesses earning less than $500,000 and $100,000 for businesses earning m ore than $250 m illion. Busi nesses filing as partnerships would also pay a $ 150 entity tax; domestic corporations would pay a $ 100 filing fee with the secretary o f state, while foreign corporations w ould pay a $275 filing fee. Businesses would also pay new corporate income tax rates o f 7.9 percent, up from the current 6.6 percent level. The rate would fall to 7.6 percent during tax years 2011 and 2012. The measure would raise $261 m illion over the 2009-11 biennium and $762 million between 2009-2015. H ouse Bill 2649 will raise taxes on indi vidual filers earning more than $125,000 and jo in t filers earning m ore than $250,000. The move will raise $582 million over the next two years and $ 1.2 bil lion over the next six years. However, the legislature and governor did not refer the tax increases to the voters, and signatures are currently being collected to place both these two new tax increases on the ballot for voter approval. -ap p ro v ed re s ig nations for: Laurie Ellis, Irrigon Junior/Senior High School educational assis tant; Alma Perez, Morrow Education Center English Language Learner ed as sistant; Lorena Cardenas, R iverside Ju n io r/S e n io r H igh School special ed one-on-one assistant; Nish McNamee, IJSHS depart ment secretary. -approved employ ment for: Barbara Phillips, three-quarter time ACH ed assistant; Misty Bellamy, .60 tim e assistant cook/ food service clerical and .40 time RHS ed assistant; Joy Hearn, IJSHS ed assistant, replacing Laurie Ellis; Judy Woody, RHS ed assistant; Ida Alfaro, RHS special ed one-on-one assistant. -a p p ro v e d e x tra duty contracts for: Mindy W ilson, H eppner Junior High head volleyball coach: Chad Doherty, HJH head football coach; Jason Dun- ten, IJSH assistant football coach; Randal Olsen, RJH half-time assistant football coach; Tom Grimes, RJH half-time assistant football coach; Laura Combs, IJSH assistant volleyball coach; Joy Hearn, IJH head vol leyball coach and assistant basketball coach. -approved the fol lowing attendance varianc es: a renewal for a MCSD student to attend Stanfield High School; two Umatilla High School students to at tend Irrigon High School; three students from Hermis ton School District to attend MCSD. -re sc in d e d p rio r policies and approved new policies on special ed pro cedural safeguards, evalua tion procedures and free ap propriate public education, all mandatory policies. -ap p ro v e d b oard Chair Barney Lindsay as the Oregon School Board Association candidate for Region 2. -heard the follow ing announcements: OSBA convention, November 12- 15, Portland; OSBA fall regional meeting, October 29, Blue M ountain Com munity College, 6 p.m. development of ongoing and upcoming projects to improve the quality o f life in Iraq. Determined to observe and engage, Major DeMayo made numerous visits into the hos tile environment of Maysan even though the province was considered a High to Extreme threat area. His willingness to carry out his mission dem onstrated his dedication and courageous attitude to get the job done regardless o f the danger. His hard work and resourcefulness directly impacted the success of each project he was involved with, providing a significant impact to the mission of the Coali tion Forces in Iraq. Through his/her distinctive accom plishments Major DeMayo reflected great credit upon himself, the Multi-National Force-lraq, the United States (Army/Navy/Air Force/Ma- rine Corps), and the Depart ment of Defense. DEMAYO his personal efforts in devel oping, organizing and con ducting a course in “Compre hensive Land Use Planning” for senior provincial officials. These efforts will impact the M aysan province for decades to come. An effec tive communicator, Major DeMayo personally liaised with the Director Generals, Directors of Provincial Re construction Development Council, Provincial Council and the Provincial Governor to assist them of them in the For more information, including a list of child safety seat checkup events around the state, c o lli- 8 0 0 - 7 7 2 - 1 3 1 5 or visit us online at w w w .c h ild s a fe ty s e a t.o rg . 9 I I
