School district still considering
K-12 school for Heppner
HEPPNER
G T
50¢
azette
imes
VOL. 134
NO. 39
8 Pages
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
New fire hall depends on
voter approval
Both city and rural district need voter
approval for $975,000 facility
By David Sykes
The planning is com-
pleted, the land obtained,
permits approved and now
all that’s standing in the
way of construction of a
new $975,000 fire hall is
voter approval. And voters
in both the city of Heppner
and the Heppner Rural Fire
Protection District need to
pass their respective bond
measures in order for it to
begin.
City voters will be
asked to fund 60 percent, or
$585,000 of the facility, and
the rural district the other
40 percent at $390,000.
Voters should be receiving
their ballots in the mail this
week. Deadline to return the
Fireman Andrew Johnson explains details of the proposed new
fire hall to (L-R) Vern Keithley, Ginger Keithley and Deanna
Koerner. Ballots will be mailed out soon to both the city and
rural fire district voters for approval. –Photo by David Sykes
Hwy. 74 and Riverside Growers. It would feature
Street at Fuller Canyon Rd. administration offices, ap-
An artist’s sketch of the proposed new fire hall.
ballots is Nov. 2.
right at the edge of the city paratus bays, training room
The proposed new hall limits on land donated by and space to park multiple
would be built between the Morrow County Grain fire trucks and vehicles.
The new hall is needed,
city officials say, because
the current building on
Willow Street in downtown
Heppner is outdated and too
small, hampering safety and
response times. There is
also no room for training,
says Fire Chief Rusty Estes.
Some people have
questioned the need for
such a large new building,
to which the city responds
by saying space is needed
because of the increased
size of today’s fire trucks.
They also say the cur-
rent fire hall does not leave
room for firefighters to
safely get in and out, and
they do not have room for
maintenance and repairs of
equipment.
The bond levy would
be for 21 years and in the
city is estimated to result
in a tax of $0.88 per $1,000
of assessed value per year,
or approximately $132 per
year on a home assessed at
$150,000.
In the rural this mea-
sure is estimated to result
in a tax of $0.41 per $1,000
of assessed value per year,
or approximately $62 per
year on a home assessed at
$150,000.
The Heppner Gazette-
Times wants to see pic-
tures of your trophy ani-
mals from this hunting
season. Stop by to have
your picture taken, drop
off photos, mail them to
PO Box 337
in Heppner,
email them
Top: Aaron Smythe took this 3x4 buck on the opening weekend to editor@
of rifle season. Aaron is the son of Scott and Claudia Smythe of rapidserve.
Hardman. Bottom: Casey Fletcher, 13, shot his 4x4 buck Oct.
net or text
10 on the Columbia Basin Unit using a .300 Savage. Casey is
the son of Andy and Andrea Fletcher of Lexington. –Contrib- cell phone
photos to 541-980-6674.
uted photos
G-T Trophy Corner
An artist’s concept of what the layout of the K-12 school being considered for Heppner would
look like. –Courtesy of DLR Group
By April Sykes
If the Morrow County
School District is reading
the Heppner populace cor-
rectly, citizens of Heppner
are in favor of a new kin-
dergarten through 12 th grade
school located at the present
high school site on Morgan
Street, according to Scott
Rose, representing the DLR
Group, an architectural firm
hired by the district to come
up with solutions to the dis-
trict’s facility issues.
Board member Barney
Lindsay voiced concern as
to what the Heppner com-
munity really wants for its
schools.
“This is what we
thought you wanted,” re-
plied Rose, adding, “We
want to make sure this is
what the community really
wants.”
He said that each com-
munity has to have some
benefit in order to make
the plan work and that the
ultimate goal is to enable
the students to become
equally prepared for college
or careers. MCSD Superin-
tendent Dirk Dirksen added
that the information DLR
used was taken from input
at several meetings held in
each community.
According to DLR’s
long-range facility plan,
“Heppner schools host the
smallest student population
in the district with no indi-
cation from the community
of potential growth. There
is more education space
than the students need and
at the same time, a signifi-
cant amount of recreation
space that the community
would like to share, specifi-
cally, the new gymnasium
and cafeteria facility built
across the street from Hep-
pner Elementary School.
“Both of Heppner’s
schools have the highest fa-
cility conditions index. This
indicates that the cost to
renovate the overall facili-
ties to meet modern stan-
dards would cost close to
the amount it would take to
build brand new facilities.
“A new consolidated
K-12 building on the sloped
site above Heppner High
School is the community
committee’s preferred op-
tion.”
DLR recommendations
aim to work toward fix-
ing the district’s problems
concerning aging buildings,
maintenance and heating
and cooling costs, student
population and, most im-
portantly, educating stu-
dents of the future.
Recommendations for
Heppner schools would
include “offloading” the
Heppner Elementary class-
room building; retaining the
Heppner Elementary gym
for shared use by the school
and the community; demol-
ishing the Heppner High
School and shop buildings;
and building a K-12 school
above the demolished site.
Another option for
Heppner schools would
entail offloading Heppner
Elementary, retaining the
Heppner Elementary gym
for shared use by the school
and community and reno-
vating the high school to
become a new K-12 school.
Rose said that the plans
were community driven
and said that his compa-
ny compiled information
from a series of meetings
that sought input from
each community. He also
stressed the importance of
creating smaller schools
within schools, creating
an elementary or middle
school separate from a high
school, for example, al-
though the schools would
actually be in the same
building.
The thinking of MCSD
administrators is that the
time to start addressing fa-
cility issues is now. MCSD
Superintendent Dirk Dirk-
sen said that for the last 10
years, the district’s response
-See SCHOOL BUILDINGS/
PAGE FIVE
Police investigating death of
infant in Irrigon
Morrow County police
are investigating the sudden
death of an infant in Irrigon.
According to informa-
tion from Morrow County
Sheriff Kenneth Matlack,
the infant’s parents, Sheri
Leigh May and Andrew
Cody O’Neil of Garibaldi,
OR, were visiting friends in
Irrigon when their baby boy
stopped breathing Monday
morning.
Monday morning at
10:58, Morrow County
Sheriff’s Office 911 Dis-
patch Center reported that
they received a call from a
hysterical female who told
the dispatcher that her six-
week-old baby boy was not
breathing. The dispatcher
relayed the information to
the nearest deputies in Ir-
rigon and then tried to give
emergency instructions to
the woman. She remained
hysterical and was appar-
ently unable to follow the
initial instructions. The dis-
patcher briefly lost phone
contact but immediately
called back. A second fe-
male answered and the
dispatcher began to give
her emergency information.
MCSO deputies were
on the scene almost im-
mediately; within three
minutes of the initial call, at
11:01 a.m., deputies arrived
and deputy Oscar Madrigal
began administering CPR
to the infant. Eight minutes
later, Irrigon ambulance
arrived and transported the
-See INFANT DIES IN
IRRIGON/PAGE THREE
Boardman has first reading of
marijuana ban ordinance
At their Oct. 6 council
meeting, Boardman City
Councilors held a hearing
to consider a ban on recre-
ational marijuana within the
city limits.
One person attended the
hearing and spoke against
the ban, saying they felt
the city would benefit from
the tax revenue generated
by recreational marijuana
businesses.
City Manager Karen
Pettigrew said Morrow
County voted about 63
percent against Measure 91,
which directs the Oregon
Liquor Control Commis-
sion to license the produc-
tion, processing, wholesale
and retail sale of recre-
ational marijuana.
House Bill 3400 pro-
-See BOARDMAN MARI-
JUANA BAN/PAGE THREE
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