Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 12, 2011)
Heppner declines to participate in county government reform Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Librar) University o f Oregon Eugene, O R 97403 By David Sykes The Heppner City Council was less than en thusiastic Monday to be part o f an effort by the mayors and city manag ers’ group to rewrite the 5(K VOL. 130 NO. 40 8 Pages Wednesday, October 12, 2011 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Morrow County Charter, changing how many elected commissioners the county has. The mayors and city managers group meets monthly to discuss common problems and solutions. At last month’s meeting, the group decided, because of increased frustration with the decisions of county gov ernment, to try to change the charter to what is com monly called a “home rule” form of government. Home rule usually consists of five elected officials, a paid ad ministrator and appointed positions such as assessor, clerk, and treasurer, instead o f those positions being elected. The mayors and managers say they feel the cities would be treated more favorably under this form of government. The group said the current charter was es tablished in 1859 and is outdated. “With the growth of the county population, budget, and the complex ity of the situations that the county deals with, the May ors/Managers believed that it was time for a change,” a news release said last month. The latest squabble between the cities and the county involves state high way fluids. The county has traditionally given money received from the state for use by the cities in their road funds. The county budget committee learned, however, that it was not required to give that money and at first decided to cut the distribution of those funds in half this year and maybe eliminate it altogether next year. The county later re lented and reinstated some funds, but not before the city managers and mayors became upset. The friction be tween the two dates even farther back, to 2008 when the cities banded together to place an initiative on the ballot that would change the way some $ 1 million in tip- page fees (money received from dumping fees at the large Finley Buttes Landfill in Morrow County) is dis tributed. The cities felt they should receive 75 percent of the funds. The initiative was defeated by voters at the polls. In the current char ter reform effort, the may ors and managers say they are going to form a charter committee made up of two members each from the communities o f Heppner, Boardman and Irrigon and one member from each of the communities o f Lex ington and lone. This com mittee would be tasked with drafting a charter that would eventually be submitted for a vote by the citizens of Morrow County. The plan hit a bump Monday, however, when the Heppner City Council said it wanted no part of the reform effort. “Why are we ap pointing someone to this?” councilmember Cody High asked. C o u n c ilm e m ber Cindi Doherty cited a county ordinance that said any committee to change the charter must be ap- -See COUNTY GOVERN- MENT/PAGE EIGHT C hanging H eppner street route School board learns of teaching model to improve student learning saves taxpayers $135,000 By April Sykes “PLCs create con to attend a safety sum Sam B oardm an sistency,” said Assistant mit scheduled for Friday, City comes up with alternate Elementary route teacher to Pam Superintendent George October 28, at the Port of Files presented a report on Mendoza. “A lot of these Morrow. Mary Apple from avoid expensive bridge replacement a teaching model for el collaborative practices in the InterMountain ESD said By David Sykes A suggestion to the Oregon Department of Transportation to reroute a Sperry St. access and avoid a costly bridge replacement could save taxpayers an estim ated $135,000, the Heppner City Council was told Monday night. At a meeting with ODOT in September, city Public Works Director Bri an Harmon suggested not replacing the Sperry St. Bridge but instead estab lishing accesses and build ing a connector between Morgan and the back side of Sperry. The revised plan was looked on favorably by ODOT, who wrote in a recent letter to the city: “In summary a new bridge would cost approximately $655,000 including pre liminary engineering and right o f way acquisition. A new street connection would cost approximately $520,000. “This is a favorable alternative to a new bridge that could lessen construc tion costs and eliminate a bridge that the city would have to maintain the fu The Sperry Street Bridge will probably be removed but not replaced. An alternate route to access Sperry St. has been chosen off Morgan St. -Photo by David Sykes ture,” ODOT said. In other business at Monday’s meeting, the council participated in a conference call with Jeff Wright of Artifx Media, a Pendleton-based advertis ing agency, about a pro posed county-wide adver tising campaign the city is considering purchasing. The council had met with Wright and his partner, Ka tie Oblisk, at last month’s meeting to discuss the cam paign. M onday, certain co u n cil m em bers once again asked Wright what ementary school students at the Morrow County School Board’s regular meeting at SBE Monday night. Files stressed the importance of PLCs (pro fessional learning com munities) through which teachers collaborate not only on teaching methods, but on assessment and then interventions if the students do not respond. Board Chair Thad Killingbeck, a former edu cator, commented that he appreciated that Files went from speaking about “my students to our students.” “We can walk into each school and they’re all doing the same thing,” he said. “The reality is that teachers getting together helps students learn,” said MCSD Superintendent Dirk Dirksen. “We try to maxi mize the district's PLCs.” crease student learning.” Mendoza also pre sented a program before the board on the district's “ Response to Interven tion” model, which stresses assessm ent and a tiered intervention response to children’s learning based on that assessment data. He said that the majority of students, around 80 percent, fall into the Tier I level, not requiring additional inter vention. Approximately 15 percent fall into Tier II, he said, requiring intermediate intervention with teacher- lead small groups, and ap proximately five percent require individual one-on- one instruction. He said that some students simply require more learning op portunities and more time to achieve. In other business, the board: -has been invited that, in addition to school board members and admin istrators, law enforcement personnel, city mayors and city managers, and fire safety personnel have also been invited to attend as an integral part of school safety. -le a rn e d th a t a meeting on the district’s “sexuality curriculum” has been scheduled on Tues day, November 1 at the lone School. This meeting will include adm inistra tors, sixth-grade teachers and grade seven-12 health teachers. Dirksen said the meeting will include lone educators as well as those with MCSD in order to coordinate a “county direc tion.” -heard from board member Barney Lindsay, who indicated that he would -See SCHOOL BOARD/ PAGE SIX exactly the city could ex pect to receive from the campaign, and once again was given the same answer as last rrlonth. Wright told the council once he is given a budgeted amount the city is ready to spend, then he could tell them what they would receive. The plan right now is to band together with Boardman and Irrigon, with each city kicking in an as yet unspecified amount to fund the cam paign. By Andrea Di Salvo H eppner n ativ e The money would then be Ann Murray was recently -See CITY COUNCIL/ named Pharmacist of the PAGE FIVE Year by the Oregon State Pharmacists Association. This isn’t the first time Murray has received Top: Diana Healy, age 11, shot the award; she and husband, her buck last Tuesday in the Columbia Basin as part of the John, received it jointly Mentored Youth Hunter Pro in 2002. Still, 47-year-old gram. Healy dropped the buck Murray, who runs Murray’s with the very first shot from Drug with her husband, said Ann Murray, the OSPA pharmacist of the year, stands sur her new shotgun. Bottom: she was shocked to receive rounded by her supportive team, Shannon Wicklund (L) and Ten-year-old Trevor Wilson of Jennifer Palmer (R). -Photo by Megan Futter Hermiston shot his first buck the award this year. “I’m honored.” she Saturday in the Heppner Unit. He bagged his four-pointer said. “I have no idea why I Memorial hospital’s drug pharm acists, M urray is while hunting with his dad, was chosen.” room, which she directs. also an advocate for rural Stacy Wilson, under the Men That sentiment is More than one customer has pharmacies. She keeps state tored Youth Hunter Program. part of a patient-focused stories of Murray’s “above legislators updated on the -Contributed photos humility that makes Murray and beyond” ethic, which issues facing small-town popular with both custom includes coming in on days pharmacies and serves on ers and staff. Pharmacy off, opening on weekends the Oregon State Pharmacy The Heppner Gazette- technician Jennifer Palmer and delivering prescriptions Association board of direc Times wants to see tors. Ann also plays the says Murray goes out of her to home-bound patients. pictures o f your trophy Aside from being way to help patients both at -See PHARMACIST OF animals from this the drug store and at Pioneer one of Heppner’s favorite THE YEAR/PAGE EIGHT hunting season. Stop by to have your picture taken, drop offphotos, email them to editoFa) rapidserve.net. iper lades ntifreeze or send cell phone photos to 541-980- asher luid 6674 C heck your veh icle ' s light i Ann Murray named pharmacist of the year G azette-T im es Trophy C orner IT’S FALL WE HAVE WHAT YOU NEED! •W B •W ®RV A F Morrow County Grain Growers Lexington 989-8221 * 1-800-452-7396 For form oquIpiMnt. visit our web alto at wtrm m e n not
