Bessie Wet/ell Newspaper l ibrary
University of Oregon
Eugene. OK 97403
5<K
VOL. 132
NO. 15
8 Pages
Wednesday. April 10, 2013
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Work began Monday on the Barrett Blvd project in Heppner. Here, workers are beginning
the excavation necessary to put in a drain pipe.
City to remove pedestals; shut down statue debate
Council had enough o f hard feelings and division ' over Heritage Plaza statue plans
By David Sykes
Saying it has had
enough of the hard feel
ings and divisions caused
in the community over
what kind of statue to put in
Heritage Plaza in Heppner.
the city council Monday
voted unanimously to “ta
ble indefinitely discussion
and remove the concrete
pedestals” (on which any
statue would have been
placed) concerning any
park statues.
“There have been hard
feelings and people are not
cooperating,” Mayor Joe
Perry told the council. “We
should table it indefinitely.
It has caused very strong
feelings,” council mem Heppner city council voted Monday to remove these
ber Skip Matthews added two cement pedestals at Heritage Plaza, and end
in proposing the motion the debate over w hat kind of statue might be placed
there.
that would shut down the
months-long debate, which
has caused heated discus
sion, letters to the editor
and numerous meetings and
proposals.
The controversy origi
nally start in July 2012
when then city manager
Dave DeMayo told the city
council he had contacted
the Umatilla Tribes about
placing an Indian themed
statue in Heritage Plaza, a
park in Heppner with some
farm equipment already
on display there. The
statue idea generated some
discussion at the time as
to whether it should be In
dian themed, or more Irish
themed, matching the city’s
Irish background, but at that
time neither idea gained
much traction.
However, in Febru
ary of 2013 DeMayo, who
had since retired as city
manager, resurrected the
idea and went so far as to
pledge $5,000 of his own
money to pay for a statue,
which under one proposal
would have been a “digger”
silhouette of Indians. The
plan immediately drew fire
and praise from both critics
and proponents and caused
strong emotional letters to
the editor, and division and
discussion within the com
munity. Heppner resident
Tom Wolff wrote a letter
to the city council urging
that an Irish themed statue
would better suite llepp-
ner’s Irish background and
heritage. DeMayo coun
tered that the display would
not compete with Hep-
pner’s Irish background,
and would instead inform
visitors of the diversity of
the area.
At a March 14 Parks
committee meeting a long
discussion was held about
a display, and according
to minutes of the meeting
several different proposals
were advanced, but consen
sus was not reached. This
lack of a consensus and
no evident path to resolu
tion, prompted the council
Monday to put an end to the
controversy. “Maybe a year
or two from now, but not in
the near future,” said Mayor
-CONTINUED ON
PAGE SIX
Big changes on School board approves pre-Labor day,
the horizon for but not extremely early school start
area post offices
By Patty Nance
Big changes are com
ing to the Heppner and
lone Post Offices - well,
maybe.
At issue is the change
in the time of day that mail
is picked up from the local
post offices or, in postal
speak, “dispatched”. Lo
cal postmasters are certain
of one thing - it will be a
lot earlier than it is now.
According to Heppner
Postmaster Dennis Lien,
the changes are a result
the shutdown of the Pend
leton Processing facility.
When that happens, he
explained, all mail will be
processed through Port
land. “We don’t know all
of the particulars yet,” he
said. Lien has been Hepp
ner postmaster since 2005
and has been an employee
at the post office for the
past 19 years.
The lone post office is
in the same boat, accord
ing to Stephanie Hudson,
spokesperson for the lone
Post Office. “We have not
been officially informed
about any of it,” she said.
Lien explained that
starting sometime be
tween May 1 and 5 an
earlier dispatch time will
be determined. There are
currently fliers in the post
office telling patrons that
the dispatch times for mail
are being changed from 5
p.m. daily to 1 p.m. “I am
afraid it could be earlier
when everything is said
and done,” Lien said.
Hudson said they are cur
rently estimating an 11:30
a.m. dispatch time. “But
that’s not set in stone,”
she said.
Jeremy Stewart, man
ager of Hatt's Fuel Stop
and assistant postmaster
at Lexington, said the
dispatch times are set to
change from 12:30 p.m.
to 5:30 p.m.
The change could af
fect rural route customers
whose mail arrives back
at the post office after the
new deadline. “That mail
would go out the next
day,” Lien said.
Hudson said with the
changes, which will take
place in early May, will
mean that mail sent from
lone to Heppner will take
an additional 2-4 days to
deliver.
The change does not
affect postmarks. Lien
said. For instance, all mail
-CONTINUED ON
PAGE SIX
By April Sykes
The Morrow County
School Board approved a
pre-Labor Day school start
date, but did not select
the early start date recom
mended by administration.
MCSD Superintendent
Dirk Dirksen and the board
reported that after receiving
input from staff and parents,
the early start date was not
recommended, largely be
cause staff and families ad
vised that many had already
made vacation plans for this
coming August and they be
lieved it was too soon, right
on the heels of the Morrow
County Fair and Rodeo.
Administrators recom
mended the early start date.
Option A, and, according to
a poll, staff preferred it by
only one vote, 65-64. Op
tion A called for teachers
to begin August 12 and stu
dents to begin August 19,
immediately after the fair,
so that students would have
more instructional time
prior to the state OAKS
(Oregon Assessment of
Knowledge and Skills) tests
in May and also so that
the first semester would
end prior to the two-week
Christmas break. The last
opportunity for schools to
conduct the OAKS tests is
May 22; however district
schools generally have the
tests completed by May
I
16, according to Dirksen. 9; spring break from March
Dirksen said that it has 24-28; students ending June
been determined that it 4; teachers ending June 6.
is too late to plan for an
Option A called for
early start this fall, for the teachers to begin August 12,
2013- 14 school year, but a week earlier than Option B
suggested that the district and two weeks earlier than
start early to make plans Option C; students to begin
for next year. He told the August 19. the end of the
board that changes could first semester December 19;
include an earlier start for Christmas break the same
2014- 15, but could perhaps for all options, December
also include school be 20-January 5; spring break
ing held on some Fridays. from March 24-28, stu
Morrow County Schools dents ending May 29 and
have not had regular school teachers ending June 3.
days on Fridays for about
O ption C, which
20 years, initially because called for a post-Labor
of budget constraints. Day start, received only
Option B, which was 31 votes among staff and
approved by the board, and was taken off the table
received 64 votes among for further consideration.
staff, calls for a pre-Labor
In other business the
Day start, with teachers be- board:
ginningAugust 19; students
-Approved a resolution
beginning August 26; two to accept $5,000 in unan
weeks’ vacation at Christ ticipated revenue from the
mas, December 20-January Good Shepherd Commu
5; school starting back up nity Health Foundation for
on January 6; the end of playground equipment for
the first semester January Irrigon Elementary School.
-Granted a request from
Heppner and Irrigon FFA
members to attend the na
tional convention, w ith fund
raisers planned to aid with
student costs for the trip.
-Approved the first
reading of a policy laying
out the qualifications and
duties of the superintendent.
-Approved the first
reading of a policy called
“Mother Friendly Work
place", which deals with
providing breast feeding
mothers employed by the
district a place to express
milk, but eliminates word
ing in the previous policy
which allowed for breast
feeding on site and which
previously allowed a child
to be brought to the site.
Policy now states: “A rea
sonable effort will be made
to provide a flexible work
schedule in consideration
the requirements of the staff
-CONTINUED ON
PAGE TWO
mm
GREEN FEED & SEED IN HEPPNER:
TIM E TO G A R D E N
WEEKS
Trees • Shrubs • Becking • Fertilizer^*.
ON
Soil Amendments • Plants • P o t t in g ^ o ils M j^
rOFF
IN S T O C K
Morrow County Grain Growers Green Feed & Seed
242 W. Linden Way, Happnar • 676-9422 • 989-6221 (MCGG main ofTIca)
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