Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 13, 2010)
Heppner and Boardman high schools named ‘outstanding’ by U.S. News & World Report 97403 Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Library University of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403 By April Sykes M orrow C o u n ty School District Superinten dent Mark Burrows told the school board Monday night that two district schools, Heppner High School and Riverside High School in B oardm an, w ere nam ed outstanding schools by U.S. HEPPNER News and World Report. Burrows said that only 31 schools in Oregon were so noted. Burrows also pre sented a plaque to Heppner Elementary School Princi pal Matt Combe commem orating Heppner Elemen tary School being named an “outstanding” school by the Oregon Department of Education. Combe credited his staff for their hard work and dedication and their em phasis on curriculum . Two HES teachers, Jannie Allen and Melissa Coiner, made presentations on their resp e c tiv e read in g p ro grams that evening. Coiner implements the COLT Time read in g program in her class curriculum and A l len oversees the extracur ricular Basketball Reading Program. Also at the m eet ing Morrow County Clerk Bobbi Childers presented an election report on the school district’s Com m u nity Education C om m it tees, which, she says have often lacked candidates. They have also tradition ally lacked quorums for the meetings and do not have authority to take action. Childers said CEC votes must be counted by hand and that CEC e le c tio n s prove to be expensive for the school district. Many o f the functions of the CEC groups overlap w ith the site c o u n c ils w hich are state m andated. CEC are c u rre n tly esta b lish e d in the H eppner, B oardm an and Irrigon communities. C hilders said the district may opt to abolish CECs or may continue with them. In other business, the board: -received a state ment o f assurances from Burrows that district schools are com plying with state standards. -approved naming Joe Taylor to the district budget committee position 7 as nom inated by Berto Hernandez. -See MORROW COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICTPage TEN Chamber elects Sponseller president for 2010 By David Sykes imes VOL. 129 NO. 2 10 Pages Wednesday, January 13, 2010 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Public invited to Cap & Trade program Free presentation to address effects o f legislation on energy costs and the economy By David Sykes program will present both A program sides o f the issue, to inform the pub w ith p lu sse s and lic about Cap and minuses, and win Trade, what it is and ners and losers. how it will affect Some of the people’s lives, will topics to be covered be held this Sunday, include assumptions January 17, begin p eo p le m ay have ning at 2 p.m. at the on Cap and Trade, Heppner Elementa what is it and how ry School gym. The Jeff does it work, pos Burkhart program will be put sible effects o f the on by Jeff Burkhart, legislation, effects a Walla Walla attorney and on a g ric u ltu re , im p acts expert on Cap & Trade. to m anufacturing and the According to Bur economy, and how much khart, the presentation will the bill is expected to cost focuses on the bill known in d iv id u a l h o u s e h o ld s as “Waxman-Markey” that through increased energy passed the U.S. House of and other costs. There will R epresentatives on June be a questions and answer 26, 2009. Burkhart says his session with the public. “ P rice in cre ase s would be essential to the success o f a cap-an-trade p ro g ra m b e c a u s e th ey would be the most impor tant m echanism through with businesses and house hold would be encouraged to make investm ents and behavioral changes that re duced C 02 emissions,” said Terry Dinan, Congressional Budget Office, testifying before Congress on March 12, 2009. The program is free to the public and is spon sored by the Willow Creek Tea Party, a local nonparti san group advocating public education on various issues facing the country. Ballot drop site locations announced B allo ts w ere re cently m ailed out for the vote on Measures 66 &67. Ballots can be returned by mail or at any designated drop site. L isted below are the M orrow C ounty drop site locations and the available days and hours the sites will be open. All ballots m ust be received by 8 p.m. on January 26, Election Day. -N ew B oardm an City Hall, 200 City Cen ter Circle, Boardman, OR 97818; Open January 8-25, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday th ro u g h F riday, and on January 26 (Election Day) 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. -Irrig o n A n n ex - Planning Department Lob by, 205 NE 3rd St., Irrigon, OR 97844; Open January 8-25,8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Mon day through Friday, and on January 26 (Election Day) 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. -Bank o f Eastern O regon-lone Branch, 280 West Main St., lone, OR 97843; Open January 8-25, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday th ro u g h F riday, and on January 26 (Election Day) 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. -M orrow C ounty R oad O ffic e , 365 W est H ighw ay 74, Lexington, OR 97839; Open January 8-25,8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Mon day through Friday, and on January 26 (Election Day) 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. -M orrow County Courthouse, 100 S. Court St., Room 102, Heppner, OR 97836; Open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and on January 26 (Election Day) 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. For more informa tion contact the M orrow County Clerk at 541-676- 5604, 541-481-2112, 541- 9224103 or visit www.mor- rowcountyoregon.com. Boardman grants extension to sell Tower Road property to Love’s T he B o a rd m a n City Council voted in favor o f extending an agreement w ith L ove’s Travel Stop and C o u n try S to res for the purchase o f approxi mately thirty plus acres o f city property located on Tower Road near Board- man. Love’s plans to build a travel stop on the property and is currently working on their site approvals. L o v e ’s o r ig in a l agreement with the city was due to expired on January 12 o f this year, after both 45 day ex ten sio n s w ere exhausted. Frank Ule, o f Love’s Travel Stops asked the council Tuesday night for the extension, explain ing the land use issues with the state have been time- consuming. He asked for an extension, ending January 12, 2011, to complete the sale o f the land. A fter declaring a Conflict o f Interest as he works for Devin Oil Com pany, Councilor Steve Do herty was the first from the audience to speak in oppo sition to the sale; Devin Oil has been an outspoken op ponent to the Love’s Travel Stop project. Mr. Doherty said he originally voted in favor of the sale because he mistakenly believed Love’s would be subject to an 8% tax on all sales because the project would be located within the proposed speed way excise tax district. He said he w ould not have voted in favor otherwise. Mr. Doherty said having a travel stop at that exit would cause a commercial district to develop outside the city limits. The H eppner C h am b er o f C om m erce elected Claire Sponseller president for 2010. She w ill take over from Jeff Bailey who served the past two years as president o f the group. Sponseller, along with the rest o f the Chamber Board o f D irectors, was sworn it at the Cham ber annual m eeting luncheon held last Thursday at All Saints Episcopal Church. Sponseller, who previously served on the C ham ber Board o f Directors, is the 4-H Agent at Oregon State University Morrow County Extension Service, with of fices in Heppner. Before being pre sented with a plaque o f ap preciation, outgoing presi dent Bailey praised all the volunteers who worked on various community projects the past year including St. Patrick’s Day Celebration, the going away party for Barbara Hayes, Christmas lights on Main Street, Cel ebrate H eppner and the Parade o f Lights. C ham ber E xecu tive Director Sheryll Bates also gave out aw ards to some special volunteers in the community. “When I’m putting together any type o f event or activity, I have learned it is very important Top Photo: 2010 Heppner Chamber of Commerce officers were sworn in at the group's annual meeting last Thursday. They are left to right: Board members Dean Antonucci (also second vice pres.), Dave DeMayo, Nancy Snider, Kay Fow ler. Les Faustian (also vice pres.) Dave Stone, Jeff Bailey (also outgoing pres.) Claire Sponseller (2010 president), Lisanne Currin (treasurer) and not pictured Anne Murray. Middle Photo: Incoming Chamber of Commerce President Claire Sponseller presents Jeff Bailey w ith a plaque of appreciation for his work as president the past two years. Bottom Photo: Chamber Executive Director Shery ll Bates (left) presents Doris -See CHAMBER OF COM- Brosnan, Joanne Burleson and Babette Wall with volunteer MERCE/Page TEN awards. -Photos hv David Sykes Residents must now dial 541 to make local calls Beginning January 10 residents living in the 541 area code had to begin dialing a three-digit area code for their local calls to be connected. According to Oregon’s Public Utility Com m ission, if you dial incorrectly you will get a recorded announcement in structing you to hang up and dial again with 10 digits. Customers have been able to m ake calls by dialing either 7 or 10 digits since July 12. The Public Utility Commission also states that custom ers with existing 541 area code telephone numbers will continue to use their same area code and seven digit telephone number. It may take some time before customers be gin seeing phone numbers with the new 458 area code. Phone companies will first use their inventory of 541 phone numbers. However, after February 10, 2010, they may assign numbers w ith the 458 area code. City manager concerned over possible conflict of interest on sewer study By David Sykes Heppner City Man ager Dave DeMayo is con cerned about a possible conflict o f interest when the same engineering firm scheduled to do a study o f the city sewer system, will probably end up doing the engineering work on the final system upgrade project. M onday DeM ayo shared emails he has ex changed w ith LaG rande engineering firm Anderson Perry w ith the Heppner City C ouncil, outlining those concerns. “ I am very c o n cerned in general, that an unbiased study is even con ceivable, A-P (A nderson Perry), DEQ (Department o f Environmental Quality) and the funding agencies all have a vested interest in an unfavorable outcom e, and I might add. typical ly an expensive unfavor able outcom e," DeM ayo em ailed Anderson Perry President Brad Baird on Dec. 16. DeMayo also sent a copy o f the email to Del Little, Program and Policy C oord in ato r o f the Safe Drinking Water Revolving Loan Fund, which would help finance any planned improvements to Heppner’s Sewer Treatment facilities. An unfavorable outcom e would mean the study will find extensive and expen sive upgrades are necessary to the waste system. At their December m eeting the city council heard a presentation from Baird who talked then about the waste water treatment facility improvement plan his firm will be working on. The $25,000 study will identify where Heppner's sewer system needs work, and where it will need ex pansion. There are currently 690 connections in the city, -See CITY COUNCIL/Page TEN -See BOARDMAN GRANTS EXTENSION/Page TEN Town and Country Awards event to be held Jan. 14 The Heppner Cham ber of Commerce Town and Country Community Awards event, sponsored by Centu- ryLink, will be held in the Pa vilion at the Morrow County Fairgrounds on Thursday, January 14. This year’s theme is “Honor Our past. Celebrate the Future.” A no-host social hour will begin at 6 p.m. and din ner will be served at 7 p.m. Catering will be provided by “Pudding on the Ritz”. Tickets will be $20 and can be purchased at Bank of Eastern Oregon, Com munity Bank, Chamber of Commerce, Heppner TV, and Murray Drugs. Morrow County Grain Growers Lexington 989-8221 * 1-800-452-7396 For farm rqulpmrnl visit our wife sit« at www m e « not
