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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (March 16, 2011)
TEN - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, March 16,2011 STATE BUDGET SAVINGS -Continued from Page ONE state could save $100 m illion, and then $17.2 m illion per bien nium, by privatizing liquor distribution and sales in Oregon, and $53 million by doing the same with motor vehicle registration and inspections. In other areas she says if the state eliminated the Business Energy Tax Credit it could save $287 million, the healthy kids connect program for $154 million, bring corrections costs in line with national average and privatize the Oregon Youth Authority it could save $350 million. The biggest cost savings however would come with reform of public employee compensation, which she says, accord ing to studies done by her organization, The Cascade Policy Institute, is out of line with private sector com pensation. Edwards says that requiring public employees to contribute to their own retirement and health care plans, and align ing state compensation with the private sector, this alone could save the state $1,019 billion a biennium. Edwards also said the state should sell or lease the Elliott Sate Forest near Florence for revenue o f $70 million per biennium, and reduce or eliminate Oregon’s capital gains tax, which at 11 percent, is tied with Hawaii for the highest in the country. The state should also repeal measures 66 & 67 which raised taxes on individuals and busi nesses, all of which is caus ing loss of business, jobs and tax revenue for Oregon. She urged getting rid of pre vailing wage laws, which are causing unneeded cost increases to government construction projects. When asked about the loss o f local control over schools, which has oc curred over the past decade, Edwards says at this time there,is no effort she knows of to return more control locally. She does fav o r charter schools and school choice. “We should let poor students get scholarships to choose which school they want to attend,” she says. On the subject of school consolidation Edwards says legislators from the urban areas says it cost more to educate rural students. “But when you take out transpor tation it doesn’t cost more to educate a rural student,” says Edwards. “Our biggest assets in rural schools are the volunteers who help out at the schools.” Wolves in Oregon “ O fficially they say there are two breeding w olf packs in O regon,” Edwards says of the plan to reintroduce wolves into Oregon. “But we think there is a third pack.” She said Cascade Policy Institute is looking for funding to do a more complete study of the economic impact of the wolves on rural Oregon. She said there is some preliminary evidence of loss of weight gain and lower reproduction rates on cattle in the areas where wolves are located. Wolves killed two pregnant cows Feb. 15 on a ranch five miles east of Joseph, and one of the cows carried twin calves. The wolves took down the two cows and reportedly dug out the fetuses. One cow is valued at about $850, but because both cows were carrying calves, the loss was around $1,300 per cow. In the past year Fish and Wildlife has investigated 26 suspected wolf kills and concluded 13 were from wolves. Edwards says there is more economic impact on cattle than just the kills. “It is more difficult to move cows into an area where wolves have been,” she said, pointing out that the presence of the wolves dis rupts the cattle’s breeding and weight gain. The Cascade Poli cy Institute, which receives no government money or government grants for its research, she says has been trying to get the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation to donate some money for a wolf study. She said some areas of Idaho with a high w o lf population are reporting devastating losses among the elk herds. “There is no replacement calf birth,” she said. In one valley in Idaho there are officially 24 breeding pairs of wolves. The wolves being transplanted are not even the original breed. “These are Canadian wolves, and not even the original ones that were here,” she points out. She said there is currently a bill in the leg islature to create a w olf degradation trust fund to pay cattlemen for losses, and another that would limit the number o f breeding pairs to four. “The environ mental community keeps wanting to move the bar higher (allow more pairs) and we want to cap it at four pair and written into law.” Another bill would allow a person to kill a wolf if Our Friendly Staff In Heppner Would Like To Thank Our Customers And Invite Prospective Customers To Come See Us Today! their life is threatened and allow one to be taken if it is within 500 feet of a home or livestock. She said other ef forts are underway to get the wolves removed from the federal endangered spe cies list, but no such effort is underw ay to remove them from the state list. Edwards said the entire Endangered Species Act (ESA) needs to be re vised as it is “not benefitting either species or people.” “The ESA is not benefit- ting the Spotted Owl,” she points out. There is evi dence the Barred Owl is moving into the old growth timber that was preserved to protect the Spotted Owl, a move that shut down the logging industry in most of the National Forest and cost Oregonians thousands of jobs. One procedure sug gested was nullification, which local government can use to force the fed eral government to review the endangered status of species every five years. “The Washington Cattle men’s Association (which Edwards was a lobbyist for several years ago) sued the Fish and Wildlife depart ment for not review ing certain species to see if they need protecting. “We need to keep the Fish and Wildlife’s feet to the fire,” Edwards said. F orest planning rules also need to be over hauled, Edw ards says. “Why is the planning rule so important? Because you are in perpetual planning mode and no action mode. The environmentalist com munity has continually held up logging over one spe cies. We need to soften that and have a balance of the ecosystem. We need to change the best avail^b|p science rule to the most practical available science (when making decision on forest use),” she says. Edwards suggested more control at the local Forest Service level. “If you do not have a lot of economic activity in your forest then you do not get a lot of money.” She used the example that forests that have more logging or graz ing, and thus more income, should receive more money in their budget. She also suggested that if the city of Portland, for instance, gets its water from the feder ally owned Bull Run water shed, then the city should be required to pay for that use of keeping that forest pris tine and isolated from other uses. “This is important to you and your economy,” she said of rural areas. She added that efforts are un derway to designate certain areas as wild lands, which is a way to get around needing congressional approval for wilderness areas. “This is already affecting grazing,” Edwards said. Fifty-three percent of the land in Ore gon is owned by the federal government, and since pas sage of the Wilderness Act in 1964 congress has added 2.4 million acres of forest to wilderness designation. On w hat to do about the concentration of voting power in the met ropolitan area of Portland, to the detriment of rural Oregon, Edwards said she has spent a lot of time of the issue. “I have spent long hours and headed down many dead end alleys look ing for that answer,” she said. She urged citizens to write letters about rural is sues not only to their state representative, but also representatives from other rural districts. “A personal letter to a legislator is very good, very effective,” she concluded. The speaker was part of a program sponsored by the Willow Creek Tea Party Patriots. Remembrance Walk/5k Run planned for Saturday Friends H elping Friends Social Hour/Reg- istration will begin at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday at All Saints Episcopal Church fellowship hall. You need not walk nor run to join in the morn ing fun. Committee mem bers will serve drinks and homemade treats. The Remembrance Walk/5K Run is a fund raiser to Pioneer Memorial Hospital. A Pot of Gold and various door prizes will be given away to various pre registered number holders. With a $5 donation, per name to be memorial ized, participants will re ceive a pink Remembrance Walk/5K Run wristband. The walk one mile, the run three, and children ac companied by an adult are free. Watch for the green shamrocks with pink hearts along the route. H a ppy B irthday O p € n House for B ob JoNes I Please join us to celebrate the 8 0 th birthday of our beloved husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather & friend. April End from I -4 pm 6 0 1 11 Stock Drive Rd. Heppner OR 9 7 8 3 6 I No gifts please St. Patrick’s Pit Ham Dinnei |r Where finicky Leprechauns eat! Amy (tollman lohn Hays Branch Manager Com m ercial/Agricultural Loan Officer m unity Serving: Pit Ham, Irish Potato Casserole, Green Salad, Veggie, Roll & Homemade Pie! Adults - $9 / Children under 12 - $5 Wee ones - free BANK St. Patrick's Church Parish Hall Local Money Working For Local People 525 Gale Street (one block off Main Street) 127 N M ain St M I4 K 4 M www communitybanknet com Member FUC Saturday, March 19 from 4 • 7 p.m. f i lone Community School hosts science fair The top winners of the fifth annual lone Community School Science Fair received microscope sets sponsored by the lone Education Foundation. Pictured (L-R) back row: Emily Hol land, Lauren Garrett, Emily Rea, Morgan Orem and Julianne Carlson. (L-R) front row: Emma Rietmann, Matt Orem, Jake Heideman and Madison Orem. -Contributed Photo lone Community School hosted its science fair for grades kindergarten through high school student that boasted over 200 people present and seventy entries. Student were accountable for developing a project, creating a report complete with objective, hypothesis, materials, procedure, data, conclusion and bibliogra phy in addition to a display board. Each project was unique and different and catered to the individual interest of students. “I was really proud of these kids,” said science teacher, Erin Heideman. “Their projects were wonderful and they did a tremendous job at the fair. This is the fifth year for the science fair and it keeps getting better. We outgrew the cafeteria and moved into the gym.” Elementary judges were Jim Swanson and Jerry Archer, middle school judges were Paul Neiffer and Della Heideman and high school judges were Dale H olland and Dick Allen. The winners of each category listed below re ceived science medals and ribbons, judges picked an overall fair exhibit and those students each received mi croscope kits sponsored by the lone Education Founda tion. People who attended the science fair voted for a ‘people’s choice’ award in each category; grade, middle or high school and those students each received lone Cardinal t-shirts spon sored by lone Community School. Grade school win ners were: Austin Morter, 5th grade ( l 51 Biology: Mi crobiology); Morgan Orem, 5th grade (Overall Judges Pick, 1“ Biology: Botany); Anthony Rietmann, Seth Thompson, and Andrew Ames, 5,h grade (1st Physi cal Science: Machines); Dayshawn Neal and Ro man Rodriguez-Sheena, 5th grade (151 Physical Science: Physics); Maggie Flynn, 5th grade (1” Physical Science: Chemistry); Katilin Gar rett, 5th grade (1M Physical Science: Chemistry);Grace Ogden, 1* grade (1“ Biol ogy: Animal Physiology); Jake Heideman, 3rd grade (Overall Judges Pick, 1” Physical Science: Phys ics); Emma Rietmann, 3rd grade (Overall Judges Pick, 1” Biology: Animal Sci ence); Matt Orem, 3rd grade (Overall Judges Pick, 1” Earth Science: Volcanoes); Payton Miller, 4lh place (People’s Choice Award, 1” Paleontology); Madison Orem, kindergarten (Over all Judges Pick, 1” Biol ogy: Botany); and Kalvin Rietmann, kindergarten (1* Physical Science). Middle school win ners were: Emily Rea and Lauren Garrett, 8,h grade (Overall Judges Pick, 1" Biology: Botany: Physiol ogy); TJ Patton and Bren dan Thompson, 7*h/8,h grade (l* Biology: Physiology); Hannah Padberg and Yaner Cavillo, 6th grade ( l 5t Biol ogy: Botany: Behavior); Ally Haguewood, Matty Camp, and Katelyn Bass, 6th grade (1st Biology: Mi crobiology); Karina Rios and Rita M cElligott, 8th grade (1st Physical Science: Chemistry); Joe Doherty, Oskar Peterson, and Daniel Holz, 8th grade (People’s Choice Award, 1” Physical Science: Machines); Bab- ali Peterson and Amanda Rea, 6th grade ( 151 Physical Science: O ther); Austin Carter and Hector Aguilar, 6th grade (Physical Science: Electricity); Ann Rietmann and Rachel Holland, 7th grade (1st Earth Science: Geology: Minerals); Hailey Jones and Brianna Snyder, 7th/8,h grade ( l sl Earth: Ge ology: Volcanology); and Jared Snyder and Colton Hollis, 6th grade (1“ As tronomy). High school win ners were: Julianne Carl son, 10th grade (Overall Ju d g es P ick, P e o p le ’s Choice Award, Is' Biology: Psychology); Dustin Lutz, 10lh grade (1 st Biology: Ecology); Ty Barnett, 10* grade (Biology: Microbiol ogy); Evan Rietmann, 10,h grade (1st Biology: Botany: Physiology); Emily Hol land, 9th grade (Overall Judges Pick, l 5' Biology: Botany: Anatomy); Stacee Halvorsen, 10th grade (1M Physical Science: Chem istry); Tanner Bass, 10th grade ( l sl Physical Science: Physics: Machines); and Jaqueline Juarez, 10,h grade ( 1 * Earth Science: Geology: Meteorology). P eo p le’s Choice awards, voted upon by the parents who attended, in the elementary was given to fourth grader, Payton Miller. In the middle school, Peo ple’s Choice was awarded to eighth graders Daniel Holtz, Oskar Peterson and Joe Doherty and in the high school, Julianne Carlson. Overall judges pick for the grade school was awarded to third grader Emma Ri etmann for her experiment titled “Can you tell if dogs are color blind?” and fifth grader, Morgan Orem for her wheat trials. Other over all judge’s pick in the ele mentary went to kindergart- ner, Madi Orem and third graders Jake Heideman and Matt Orem. Middle school overall winner went to eighth graders, Lauren Garrett and Emily Rea for their work with moisture levels o f fruits. Overall pick for high school went to sophomore, Julianne Carl son, for the physiological testing of people and lying and freshman, Emily Hol land for her work in osmo sis and capillary action. “I would really like to extend my deep thanks to our edu cation foundation for spon soring the microscope kits, ribbons and metals awarded to students for their efforts,” said Heideman, “and to the judges who volunteered their time and talents.”
