Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (June 15, 2011)
I a 1 1 a 1 11111 1 11 1 * a a M Right of way dispute surfaces at council meeting 11111 1 1 1 1 Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Library University of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403 By David Sykes Whether a Heppner man can use part of a city right of way to park his RV and also have a small build ing on was subject of some discussion at M onday’s Heppner city council meet ing. Following the meeting, 50 «? HEPPNER azette imes ¥ VOL, 130 NO. 24 10 Pages Wednesday, June 15,2011 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon council members went over and looked at the disputed site. In contention is w hether Dan M cBride, who lives with his wife in an RV on property he owns on the comer of Kirk and August Street, can use part of the Kirk Street road ease ment, which is 40 feet wide, to park an RV and have a small, movable building. He also stores some mate rial within the easement. McBride says he doesn’t see a problem, and that fire trucks and adjoining property owners still have plenty of room to use the existing street to access their property. “I just don’t see what the big deal is,” says M cBride, whose father owned a body shop on the property for many years. “ We have improved the property,” he says, pointing to a garden he and his wife have planted. They have also knocked down weeds on the city property to keep it looking better. M c B rid e , w ho moved back to Heppner after living in Irrigon for Dan McBride is trying to resolve a dispute with the city over his use of a city right of w ay along Kirk St. in Heppner. Here he stands in the middle of Kirk and to his right is the area he has an KY parked on and a small wooden movable storage building. -Photo by David Sykes some time, told the coun- cil Monday the issue has caused him to feel that “I have come back home and I feel that 1 am not welcome here.” The issue o f the property line came up when a property owner next to the lot McBride owns, and on which his RV home is located, had his property surveyed to divide it into two parcels in preparation for putting it on the market. At that time, the survey revealed that McBride was using the city right of way. “Nobody has com plained,” McBride says. “The only one who has com plained is DeM ayo (city manager David De- Mayo).” An obviously frus trated M cBride told the council he has called the city attorney several time to try to resolve the issue, but has not had his phone calls returned. DeMayo says he isn’t trying to be the bad guy, and isn’t necessary against McBride using the property, he just wants the council to approve the us age. See CITY COUNCIL/ PAGE SIX Tom Shear retires after School board approves slight meal cost increase, long teaching career new position, approves sexuality course policy By April Sykes Throughout his long career, Tom Shear has had the rare and fortunate ability to bring together his two loves, art and horticulture. “ I ’ve been fortunate that I ’ve h ad tw o p r o f e s sions and th e y ’ve both been extremely enjoyable. It’s been good,” said Shear, who retired this year Tom Shear from teaching at lone Schools. in lone and half time in Shear was bom and Heppner. When lone sepa raised in Eugene, graduat rated from the M orrow ing from high school there County Schools, he ended in 1964 and continuing on up staying there, where he to college at the Univer has taught art, shop and sity of Oregon at Eugene, horticulture. Shear says that where he received a degree plans are now to convert the in art, with an emphasis on art/shop facility at lone to graphic arts, drawing and an ag-science building. painting, and art education Shear, who says in 1968. only that he is “of retire “1 always enjoyed ment age,” added that he art. It was just a natural was “pleasantly surprised” choice,” he said. “But 1 w ith a recent party held for haven’t had time to do that him in lone. He received recently.” He said that at the a gift certificate for the time he graduated from col Bandon Dunes golf club, lege there were a lot of art a hobby he enjoys in addi ed jobs, something which tion to fishing, gardening, has changed as of late. woodworking and build He s ta r te d h is ing. “It will be nice to have teaching career in 1969 in some tim e” to do these Heppner, where he taught things, he says, but other art for around 10 years. than that, he has no special Then he changed profes plans for retirement. sions, returning to Eugene Shear has a grown to go into the retail nursery daughter who lives in Herm- and greenhouse business. iston and a son who lives in In the mid 1990s Washougal, WA. He and his he came back to Morrow partner, Sherron Woodside. County, relocating to lone live in lone. and teaching art half time By April Sykes The Morrow Coun ty School Board Monday night in Lexington voted to raise school lunch prices by 10 cents. The current cost of $2 for elementary lunches and $2.25 for high school lunches will rise to $2.10 and $2.35 this fall. D is tr ic t C h ie f Financial O fficer Andy Fletcher told the board that the federal government is requiring school districts to eventually charge lunch patrons the same amount of reimbursement that the federal government gives the schools, so the rise in prices is mandated. He said that the Morrow County School District currently receives $2.74 per lunch in federal reimbursement for free and reduced lunches. The more free and reduced lunches the district serves, the more the district re ceives in reimbursements, he added. Fletcher said that the district has been losing money in the food service program for many years and is working to try to get the program to become more efficient and to eventually break even. “It’s not paying for itself,” he said. He said that the district has to either serve more meals or reduce costs. He said that the district has looked at closing campuses to increase the number of meals served, out-sourcing food services, combining Former Heppner resident, two others die in plane crash Reprinted from World o f Rodeo Longtime Colum bia River Circuit cowboy Ned Kayser, former Miss Rodeo Oregon Janice Healy Davis and Gerald Hunter, 74, the pilot of a Bellanca single engine aircraft died in a crash around midnight on June 11 in a remote area south of Ukiah, Ore., in the Blue Mountains. The plane encoun tered a violent thunderstorm not long after taking off from The Dalles Munici pal Airport in Dallesport, Wash., but the exact cir cumstances of the crash are unknown, pending an FAA investigation. Kayser, 53, and Da vis, 51, were on their way to the College National Finals Rodeo in Casper, Wyo., where Kayser’s daughter, Kelly, is competing as a member of the University of Nevada-Las Vegas team and two of Davis’ nieces are also competing. The Oregon Civil Air Patrol launched a team of five search planes early Sunday morning to look for the missing aircraft. One of the search planes had a possible sight ing Sunday morning around 9:15 in a mountainous area of southern Umatilla Coun ty Umatilla County spokesperson Jodi Florence said deputies confirmed the wreckage was that of the missing aircraft. Emer gency officials reached the site early in the afternoon of June 13 and confirmed there were three fatalities. The crash site is 13 miles southeast of Ukiah, which is about 50 miles south of Pendleton. Several roads are closed in the area surrounding the crash site, Florence said. K ay ser and his brother, Nate, were both tie down ropers in the Colum bia River Circuit for many years in the 1990s, each qualifying for the Dodge Colum bia River C ircuit Finals. K ayser’s cousin. See PLANE CRASH KILLS THREE/PAGE kitchens, transporting meals and other cost-cutting mea sures, but because o f the complexity of food service mandates and nutritional requirements, the problem will require further study. “It’s more complicated than consolidating kitchens,” said Fletcher. He said that some food service personnel are retiring, which will result in a reduction in staffing as new personnel are not expected to be hired. “Our food service employees are put on the front lines once again,” said Fletcher. Fletcher said that due to a decline in stu dents, not as many meals are being served in Heppner schools. T he b o a rd a p proved funding for a new district position, a “student achievement coordinator,” proposed by incoming su perintendent Dirk Dirksen. This position would entail working with at-risk kids and their parents to increase school attendance and aca demic success and also applying for grants, which would most likely be during the summer months. Dirksen said that he realizes that is a difficult year to add a position, but added, “There are some kids who are falling through the cracks.” Heppner High School Principal Day Stone echoed this sentiment, say ing that in Heppner there are four-to-five kids not attending school regularly, “roaming the streets,” who may be helped by contact that this position could provide. “If it comes to a dollar figure, every kid we can get back in school means more money for the schools,” said Dirksen. He said that many of the title programs have a portion of funds earmarked for pa rental involvement, which could be used to help fund this position. He said that the person hired to fill this position would fall some where “between a police officer and a parent liaison working with the schools.” He said that the hiree would be extremely busy during the school year and would most likely emphasize grant writing during the sum mer. Dirksen said that the $60,000 a year posi tion would not require a four-year college degree, but rather only a two-year degree. Employment would be for 260 days a year, com pared to 225 working days a year for administrators and 169 for teachers. Board member Bill Kuhn questioned whether the job should be paid at $60,000 per year and instead favored spending more along the line of $40,000; however, the position had already been advertised. Board Chair Barney Lind say joked that the position would require someone that “walked on water.” “This is more than a full-time job for one per son,” responded Dirksen, “ so that walk on w ater aspect is there.” Retiring assistant superintendent Phyllis Dan ielson remarked that the program would put the district more in a “proactive mode, rather than a reactive mode” of waiting until a kid drops out. The program was approved on a one-year basis on the condition that the board receives regular reports. Also at the meet ing, the board approved a mandated “age appro priate” human sexuality course, which includes in struction on AIDS/HIV, sexually transmitted dis eases and health education. The school district policy says that parents of minor children will be notified in adv ance of any human sexuality or AIDS/HIV district instruction. It also allows parents to opt out of the program._____________ According to the district, the course: -“promotes absti nence for school age youth and mutually monogamous relationships with an unin fected partner for adults”; -“allays those fears concerning HIV that are scientifically groundless”; -“is balanced and medically accurate”; -“ p ro v id es b a l anced and accurate infor mation on risks and ben efits of contraception and other disease reduction measures”; -“discusses respon sible sexual behaviors and hygienic practices”; -“stresses high-risk behaviors such as the shar ing of needles in tattooing and body piercing and sy ringes for injecting drugs and steroids”; - “ d isc u sse s the characteristics of the emo tional, physical and psycho logical aspects of a health relationship and the benefits of delaying pregnancy be yond the adolescent years as a means to better ensure a healthy future for parents and their children”; -“stresses that HIV/ STDs and Hepatitis B/C can be serious possible hazards of sexual contact”; -“provides students with inform ation about Oregon laws that address young people’s rights and responsibilities relating to childbearing and parent ing”; -“advises students of consequences of having sexual relations with per sons younger than 18 years of age to whom they are not married”; -“encourages fam ily communication”, and - encourages hon esty, respect and responsi bility and cautions against unwanted physical or verbal sexual advances and harm ing or exploiting another See SCHOOL BOARD/ PAGE EIGHT Brake Parts cleaners YOUR CHOICE £ •MAC 4700 Brake Parts Cleaner £ 1 9 8 •MAC 4800 Nonclorinated ▼ W Brake Cleaner •MAC 4810 Low-VOC Nonchlorinated Brake Cleaner Morrow County Grain Growers Lexington 989-8221 * 1-800-452-7396 r»r r»ra mnipmtai I ■«> tit« u w m m g tt
