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
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