Hardman site listed on
national historic register
A local Independent
O rd er o f O dd Fellow s
(l.O.O.F) hall is one of the
latest listings in Oregon in
the National Register of
Historic Places. Oregon’s
HEPPNER
zette
VOL. 131
N 0. 37
8 Pages
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
County Court discusses
wind farm valuations
Dept, o f Revenue valuations leave counties in tough spot
The Morrow County
Court met in Boardman on
Sept. 12 with Judge Tallman
and Commissioner Grieb in
attendance.
The city and citizen
comment period for Irrigon
was opened, with no one
present to comment.
The court reviewed and
approved the minutes of
the Aug. 22 meeting, also
review ed and approved
the payroll payables, Life
Flight payroll payables,
August retirem ent taxes
and account payables in
the net total am ount o f
$112,912.86. The court
reviewed the projected cash
balance activity for the
week o f Sept. 10, 2012
through Sept. 16, 2012.
Fair Board: The court
requested a summarizing
report regarding fair activi
ties from Chair Rod Taylor.
Doashea Qualls was ap
pointed to the fair board.
C on tracts: C ounty
Counsel Ryan Swinbum-
son rem inded the court
that Judge Tallman had
previously been given the
authority to sign Non-Dis
closure Agreements related
to Enterprise Zone and Stra
tegic Investment Program
negotiations on behalf of
the county. The court re
viewed and signed a Com-
mercial Lease Agreement
between the county and
Com m unity C ounseling
Solutions for office space
in the Gilliam and Bisbee
Building at a rate of $695
per month through June
30, 2013.
O regon S o lu tio n s
Plan: B o ard m an C ity
Manager Karen Pettigrew
explained the Oregon So
lutions Plan that they have
been working on for sev
eral years. Pettigrew stated
that GEODC has written
policies and procedures that
clarify how the funds will
be managed and tracked.
Port o f Morrow General
Manager Gary Neal stat
ed that the Port will front
the $100,000 for match
money, with the Port to
be reimbursed through the
Enterprise Zone fees over
the next few years. The
court decided to support
the creation of the Board-
man Housing Development
Fund (BHDF) and agreed
to participate through the
Enterprise Zone. The court
approved the Memorandum
of Understanding between
the City of Boardman and
Morrow County to carry out
these housing activities.
Com m issioners Re
port: Judge Tallman report-
ed that he went to Salem
and met with the Dept, of
Revenue (DOR) along with
representatives from Gil
liam and Sherman Coun
ties. At the meeting, the
valuation o f wind farms
was discussed. DOR has
already reduced some val
ues by one to 56 percent
with no explanation as to
the wide range of change.
DOR stated that in the origi
nal valuation process they
keep track of grant money,
Production Tax Credits and
Business Energy Tax Cred
its and subtract that amount
from the value basis. This
creates a major problem
for the county when the tax
dollars are distributed to the
various Tax Code Districts
only to have the amount
appealed to DOR, and then
the county is in the position
of needing to refund large
sums to the company.
V a r i o u s
correspondences
and
upcoming meeting notices
were
reviewed
and
discussed.
This information is
provided by Commissioner
Leann Rea. Anyone who
would like to receive
Morrow County Court
minutes can contact Karen
Wolff at 541-676-5620.
Like the Gazette?
Facebook page gives residents new way to
‘like’their paper
Those looking to keep
in touch with their home
town newspaper now have
a new way to do so. The
H eppner G azette-Tim es
has opened a page on the
popular social networking
site, Facebook.
Though newspaper staff
will post on the page from
time to time, Gazette editor
Andrea Di Salvo says the
page is primarily another
avenue those with news to
share can use to connect
with the newspaper.
The paper will w el
come postings o f news,
events, photos and anything
else that might be of interest
to South Morrow County.
And, o f course, those who
follow the page will have
the inside edge on stories
posted there...a reason to
go on Facebook and click
that “Like” button.
Di Salvo hastens to add
that those who aren’t com
fortable with technology
like Facebook will still be
able to reach the paper in all
the usual ways, via phone,
fax, email or by walking
into the office on Willow
Street in Heppner.
“A lot of people are on
Facebook,” says Di Salvo.
“It’s a very popular site. We
just thought it was time we
made the Gazette-Times
more accessible to people
for whom that’s the most
convenient form of com
munication.”
Visit the Gazette-Times
Facebook page at http://
www.facebook.com/Hep-
pnerGazetteTimes.
State Advisory Committee
on Historic Preservation
recommended the l.O.O.F.
nomination in their Febru
ary 2012 meeting.
Constructed in 1900,
the Hardman l.O.O.F. Hall/
Community Center still
serves as a center for com
munity activities in the
town o f Hardman. Like
many l.O.O.F. organiza
tions across the state. Lone
Balm Lodge #82, estab
lished in 1886, served the
cultural and social needs
o f the small town of Hard
man, playing a significant
roll in the civic and social
development of the town.
In addition to fulfilling
the I.O.O.F.’s mission to
“Visit the Sick, Relieve the
Distressed, Bury the Dead,
and Educate the Orphan,”
the building also served
as a dance hall and music
center.
The two-story, wood,
false-front building is no
table for its architecture,
The Hardman Community Center, which housed the l.O.O.F.
Lone Balm Lodge #82, established 1886 in Hardman. -Photo
by David Sykes
which is a good example of
a historic building type that
is closely associated with
historic western towns. To
day, the Hardman l.O.O.F.
Hall is the only active com
mercial building left stand
ing in Hardman, located
south of Heppner on State
Route 207. It is one of five
historic properties in Mor
MCSD includes online
learning program
By April Sykes
The Morrow County
School Board heard a pre
sentation about online/dis-
tance learning at its regular
meeting at Irrigon Junior/
Senior High School on
Sept. 10.
Jerry Boomer, a rep
resentative of Greenways
Academy, a diploma-grant
ing institution, told the
board that the program is
appropriate for a wide-
range o f students, from
those who have lost time
because of illness, active
ath lete s, ch ild ren who
are bi-polar, are attention
deficit/hyperactive, have
Asperger’s Syndrome, have
been expelled, those who
need credit recovery, all
the way to English-as-a-
second-language children,
home schooled students and
disciplined, self-motivated
students who excel in their
studies.
The program is cur
rently in use by 10 stu
dents within the district,
who may never even come
into a school building, said
MCSD Superintendent Dirk
Dirksen. Dirksen said that
if there is already a class
offered within the district in
a bricks-and-mortar class
room, they will place the
student in the building be
fore recommending the stu
dent for an online class. He
said that this may be the best
option for some students,
especially while the district
is dealing with budget cuts
and reduced staffing at the
secondary level, and subse
quent scheduling conflicts.
He said that the district’s
finances are currently fine,
but funding is flat now and
the district is anticipating
a 7.2 percent increase in
Public Employees Retire
ment System costs during
the next biennium.
Educators stressed that
their main goal is to edu
cate kids, regardless of the
format, while adhering to
state standards. Boomer
said that they were required
to contact the students on
a regular basis and added
that Greenways teachers are
bilingual.
A workshop for board
members concerning the
Greenways program is in
the planning stages.
Dirksen said that while
the population is really
close to being flat from a
year ago, the district is still
in a good position with
regard to offering college
classes for high school stu
dents through the Eastern
Promise program.
In other business, the
board;
-heard a report from
Kim Mabry, food service
director for the district, who
coordinates and oversees
lunch menus and district
kitchens. She said that the
new menus include a lot
of whole wheat and whole
grain foods. “You can eat as
many fruits and vegetables
as you want,” she added.
-learned from Dirksen
that the district is in the
process of collecting infor
mation on costs concerning
the current district office in
Lexington. The board had
much earlier discussed the
need for improvements at
the district office building,
the costs of such improve
ments, the current costs of
heating and cooling the ag
ing building and the costs of
putting the district office at
another location.
-heard a report on the
Irrigon Junior/Senior High
School positive action pro
gram.
-heard the following
enrollment versus atten
dance report as of Sept. 4:
A.C. Houghton Elemen
tary, Irrigon, (grades kin
dergarten through third
grade)-277 students en
rolled, 267 in attendance;
Irrigon High School (grades
seven-12)-372/352; Hep
pner Elementary (grades
K-six)-177/166; Heppner
High School (grades sev-
en-12)-181/175; Irrigon
Elementary (grades four-
six )-2 1 1/203; Riverside
High School, Boardman
(grades seven-12)-397/397;
Sam Boardman Elementary
(grades K-three)-343/334;
Windy River Elementary,
Boardman (grades four-
six >-204/198; Morrow Edu
cation Center, Irrigon, Mor
row County School District
ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE:
MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M.
i
students-18/14 (no students
from other districts en
rolled); total 2,180 enrolled
vs. 2,106 in attendance.
-approved the follow
ing em ployment action:
resignations from Richard
R ockw ell, RHS ed u ca
tional assistant; Chad Do
herty, Heppner Junior High
School head football coach
and Kristi Richmond, Ir
rigon Junior High assistant
volleyball coach. Employ-
ment/promotions for Misty
Bellamy, from RHS assis
tant cook to head cook. Ex
tra duty contracts for Javier
Garcia, HJH head football
coach; Chad Doherty, HJH
assistant football coach and
Carol Johnson. RHS assis
tant volleyball coach.
-approved a resolution
accepting and appropriating
$1,100 from the Depart
ment of Education to Hep
pner High School, Dave
Fowler and Troy Morgan,
for a technical math cur
riculum research project,
funds not anticipated during
the regular budget process.
-approved the second
reading rescinding old
policies and adopting new
policies on a wide variety of
topics as follows: in-service
on accident prevention,
pest management, health
insurance, personal com
m unication devices and
social media, cyberbul-
lying, domestic violence,
harassment, sexual assault,
attendance, admission and
inter-district transfer of
resident students, reporting
suspected child abuse, haz
ing, harassment, bullying,
intimidation, teen dating
violence.
-approved the appoint
ment of Tom Wolff. Hep
pner, to the district budget
committee with the term
ending June 30, 2015
-heard the following
announcements: next board
m eeting, Heppner High
School, October 8, 7 p.m.;
Oregon School Board As
sociation fall regional meet
ing, Blue Mountain Com
munity College, Pendleton,
October 10, 6 p.m.; OSBA
convention, Portland, Oc
tober 8-11.
ALL OTHER
NURSERY STOCK
The Heppner Gazette-Times wants to see pictures o f your trophy animals
from this fishing/hunting season. Stop by to have your picture taken, drop o ff
photos, or email them to editor@rapidserve.net.
row County listed in the
National Register.
The National Park Ser
vice maintains the National
Register under the authority
o f the National Historic
Preservation Act of 1966.
For more information about
the National Register and
recent Oregon lists, visit
www.oregonheritage.org.
THURSDAY
SEPTEMBER 27TH
50% OFF
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