Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (May 15, 2013)
Bessie Wetzell Newspaper l ibrary University of Oregon Eugene. OR 97403 VO L 132 NO . 20 8 Pages Wednesday, May 15, 2013 Riverside parents voice concern over students’ ‘school experience’ By April Sykes A R iv e rs id e H igh School parent, who said she was speaking on be half of other parents who have children in the school, voiced a vague dissatisfac tion concerning their chil dren’s high school experi ence at RHS during a Mor row County School Board meeting Monday night at Windy River Elementary School in Boardman. Maria Lomas told the board that parents are con cerned about the number of students transferring away from the school and com mented that feelings of in security may be part of the concern. Lomas, who said she has children attending college who graduated from RHS and also children still in school, said that perhaps some students do not have anyone they trust at the school and have no one to confide in. However, she stressed that she still thinks the school is “great.” B oard C h a ir Thad Killingbeck, a past MCSD administrator, countered, saying that if the parents are not happy with the school, they must not be consider ing academics, because, he maintains, RHS is one o f the best academically. Riverside High School was recently named one of the U.S. News and World Re port’s best high schools for the fourth year in a row and it also came in second out of 13 schools for the East ern Oregon U niversity’s regional math contest, with Irrigon High School, third, and Heppner High School, first. After the initial public comment period, Killing- beck shut down audience Allens named 2013 Spray Rodeo grand marshals Dick and Jannie Allen of lone have always used the line that they ran the Eastern Oregon Half-Mar athon so they didn't have to run in the Eastern Oregon Half-Marathon. They must Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon have done something right, though. The city of Spray has honored their involve ment by naming them the 2013 Spray Rodeo Grand Marshals, along with fellow long-time volunteer Lyle Rilling. Dick and Jannie grew up in Kinzua and Fossil, respectively, taught in Fos sil and moved to Spray from Fossil in the fall of 1979. The rodeo weekend in 1980 was their first Spray Rodeo, and Dick and Jannie quickly joined the excite ment o f M emorial Day w eekend in Spray. The Allen children, Steve and Elizabeth, rode their deco rated bikes in the parade, Dick ran the Hut, the popu lar school hamburger stand, and Jannie helped in a vari ety of ways. They took over the “running” of the half-mar athon in the early 1980s and continued until they moved from Spray to lone in 1985. In lone, Dick was principal/superintendant for six years, retiring in 2002. In 2003, he came out of retirement and for Dick and Jannie Allen five years was involved in administration in Heppner, lone and Condon, retiring for good in 2008. In 1988 Jannie started teaching fifth and sixth grades in Heppner and has been there ever since, with her retirement taking place at the end o f this school year. In 2004, Dick and Jan nie joined up with Rilling and once again were in volved in being directors for the Eastern O regon Half-Marathon. Spray resi dents say they’ve made a great team, with Rilling be ing in charge of the course, the T-shirts, water stations and timing. Dick arranged busing, highw ay form s and timing. Jannie made the prizes, entered runners, made certificates and, with several friends helping, did the time sheets. “It has been so much fun, and we have made many wonderful friends over the years,” Jannie -See ALLENS GRAND MAR SHALS/PAGE TWO City of Boardman named Enterprise Zone ‘fiscal agent’ City to handle Smillions coming into new government entity By David Sykes The city of Boardman has been named the “fiscal agent” for the newly reor ganized Columbia River Enterprise Zone (CREZ), and its new job will be to handle the millions of dol lars expected to roll in from businesses locating in the zone paying fees instead of taxes. At a meeting Monday, the Enterprise Zone Board o f D irectors appointed Thomas A. Kligel, finance director for the City o f Boardman, as the person who will accept, hold and distribute funds collected under financial agreements between the zone and busi nesses locating there. So far, the businesses that have signed agree ments with the CREZ are Rackspace, Columbia River Technologies, Columbia Plywood and ZeaChem. The businesses have ne gotiated deals with the En terprise Zone to pay “fees” instead of county taxes on new m anufacturing and service facilities. These fees are based on the amount of development the company does within the Enterprise Zone, a 12-square-mile area encompassing mainly the- Port of Morrow Industrial park near Boardman. So far the CREZ has long-term funding coming in over the next 15 years in excess of $21 million, and board members said this could be just the beginning of many such deals. Mon day it was announced that there are three more com pany agreements waiting to be negotiated and approved by the board. -See ENTERPRISE ZONE/ PAGE SIX Local mans wants Indian memorial on ballot; city denies the request Local man: Let citizens decideC ity: Doesn't meet standards ‘ By David Sykes A local man working to put an Indian statue me morial at Heritage Plaza in Heppner is not giving up on the effort, even after the -See SCHOOL TRANSFER Heppner City Council last CONCERNS/PAGE FIVE month voted to end the de bate and remove the cement pedestals upon which the Indian statue would have been placed. At Monday’s city coun cil meeting, former City Local street projects are Barratt project is on track, M anager Dave DeM ayo moving along according to and retaining walls should Heppner City Manager Kim be started next week. The beautification proj Cutsforth. Cutsforth said that Wa ect that includes Quaid ter Street and Riverside Street is going out for paving will be complete bid. The project should be Information provided by this week and that stairs awarded by the end of the M orrow County H ealth on Water Street will be month. Cutsforth said that District Director o f Nursing installed next week. The the city is hopeful that this Molly Rhea, RN and Laura Lover’s Lane bridge should project will be started in Klink, Public Relations Co be started and in full swing June. ordinator at Providence St. the following week. The Vincent Medical Center H inton Creek cattle rancher, 83-year-old Jean Bennett, usually spends her days hauling hay and travel ing in her red pick-up truck for her state job as a part- time brand inspector. So, when she had trouble read ing the telephone bill last month, her husband Don knew som ething w asn’t right. “I could see the infor mation on the bill, but it just didn’t register—I couldn't comprehend what it was,” says Jean. Don suspected Jean was having a stroke and. U.S. Rep. Greg Walden met with lone ranchers Clint and despite Jean’s requests to go Maureen Krebs in Washington, D.C. last week. Clint Krebs is lay down. Don insisted they currently serving as the president of the American Sheep In go to the hospital. Don’s dustry Association, promoting the industry around the country. keen eye for recognizing He’s a fourth-generation sheep producer and has been running the signs of a stroke was City projects moving along sent a request asking the city to place the issue on the ballot for voter ap proval. Tuesday, however, present City Manager Kim Cutsforth gave the effort a set-back by denying the ballot request. Citizens can apparently present ballot initiatives to the city for placement before voters; however, the city manager must deem the initiatives valid before the city will sponsor, and pay for, the measure. In this case Cutsforth said no, the request was not valid. The proposed ballot would have read: “ The Heppner City Council, in behalf of its citizens, shall consult and coordinate with the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reser vation (CTUIR) to install a memorial at Heritage park commemorating the fact that Heppner and the sur rounding areas, are places ’ where these tribes hunted and gathered the resources necessary to maintain their way of life.” Voters would vote yes or no on this. D eM ayo had been pushing for over a year to have an American Indian statue placed in Heritage Plaza in Heppner, and that effort had caused “strong feelings” in the community, with some people opposed, -See DEBATE CONTINUES/ PAGE FIVE Telestroke success story New technology helps local woman survive stroke lone ranchers meet with Walden sheep his entire life. -Contributedphoto I A critical to Jean’s survival. According to health care professionals, more than 90 percent of Americans don’t know the signs of a stroke. When they arrived at Pioneer Memorial Hospital (PMH), Emergency Medi cal Services Director Rusty Estes was the first to greet the couple. Rusty was well known by Jean, as he was a classmate of her youngest daughter. When she didn’t recognize him. Rusty went through the hospital door, announcing, “It looks like Jean Bennett sits opposite the Telestroke robot at Pioneer -See TELESTROKE SUC- Memorial that helped doctors in Heppner and Portland work CESS/PAGE SIX together to save her life during a stroke last month. -Contrib uted photo [PKtUNIAS • PCtUNtAS • PCVUNIAS m StOCN M S A ll 1/2 O ff! ■ r _____________________, j M C D C r iA l 10% D iscount on ALL M a rk o t O r tv IM L A nim al Food A S up p lies Morrow County Grain Growers Green Feed & Seed 242 W. Linden Way, Heppner • 676-9422 • 989-8221 (MCOG main offlca)
