TWO - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, February 10, 2021
The Official Newspaper
of the City of Heppner and the County of Morrow
Heppner
Teachers appreciate offer of COVID
vaccines
GAZETTE-TIMES
The president of the
Morrow
County Education
U.S.P.S. 240-420
association told the MC
Morrow County’s Home-Owned Weekly Newspaper
School Board Monday night
SEARCH OLD COPIES OF THE HEPPNER GAZETTE-TIMES ON-LINE: how much the teachers ap-
http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/
preciate the district’s efforts
to offer immunizations for
Published weekly by Sykes Publishing and entered as periodical matter at the Post
Office at Heppner, Oregon under the Act of March 3, 1879. Periodical postage paid
the COVID-19 vaccine.
at Heppner, Oregon. Office at 188 W. Willow Street. Telephone (541) 676-9228. Fax
MCSD Superintendent Dirk
(541) 676-9211. E-mail: editor@rapidserve.net or david@rapidserve.net. Web site:
www.heppner.net. Postmaster send address changes to the Heppner Gazette-Times,
Dirksen said that the county
P.O. Box 337, Heppner, Oregon 97836. Subscriptions: $31 in Morrow County; $25
health department (Morrow
senior rate (in Morrow County only; 65 years or older); $37 elsewhere; $31 student
County Health Department)
subscriptions.
David Sykes ..............................................................................................Publisher
“has done a tremendous
Bobbi Gordon................................................................................................ Editor
job” of working with the
Giselle Moses.........................................................................................Advertising
school district to provide
All News and Advertising Deadline is Monday at 5 p.m.
COVID-19 immunizations.
For Advertising: advertising deadline is Monday at 5 p.m. Cost for a display ad is $5.25 per
column inch. Cost for classified ad is 50¢ per word. Cost for Card of Thanks is $10 up to
He said Erin Stocker, Ex-
100 words. Cost for a classified display ad is $6.05 per column inch.
ecutive Director of Human
For Public/Legal Notices: public/legal notices deadline is Monday at 5 p.m. Dates for publi-
cation must be specified. Affidavits must be requested at the time of submission. Affidavits
Resources, organized the
require three weeks to process after last date of publication (a sooner return date must be
effort.
specified if required).
Dirksen said that there
For Obituaries: Obituaries are published in the Heppner GT at no charge and are edited to
meet news guidelines. Families wishing to include information not included in the guidelines
are still currently about
or who wish to have the obituary written in a certain way must purchase advertising space
“800 kids at home, the
for the obituary.
majority at the secondary
For Letters to the Editor: Letters to the Editor MUST be signed by the author. The Heppner
GT will not publish unsigned letters. All letters MUST include the author’s address and phone
level.” He said that 100
number for use by the GT office. The GT reserves the right to edit letters. The GT is not
percent of the Heppner Ele-
responsible for accuracy of statements made in letters. Any letters expressing thanks will
be placed in the classifieds under “Card of Thanks” at a cost of $10.
mentary students have been
in attendance, with about
92 percent at Heppner Jr./
Sr. High School; 85 percent
Send engagement and wedding announcements to editor@rapidserve.net or
at Irrigon Elementary; 81
upload to Heppner.net.
percent at Sam Boardman
Elementary; 78 percent at
A.C. Houghton Elemen-
tary, Irrigon;73 percent at
Windy River Elementa-
ry, Boardman; 41 percent
at Riverside Jr./Sr. High
School, Boardman; and
31 percent at Irrigon Jr./Sr.
High School.
Dirksen reported the
district is currently in the
green level district-wide in
terms of Covid-19 infec-
tions. However, he said if
the rate rises into the red or
orange level, they will have
to do COVID-19 testing in
the schools. The green level
is less than 30 cases; the
yellow level, 30-59; orange,
60-89; red, 90-100. As of
March 1, students cannot go
into the school if the level
is red or orange.
Dirksen said school
volleyball, soccer, cross
country and cheer could
possibly start February 22
and continue to April 10.
Engagements/Weddings
Lovgren-Nicol to wed
June 12
Torri Lovgren and Kyle Nicol
Torri Raye Lovgren and
Kyle Nicol, both Heppner,
announce their engagement
to be married.
Torri is the daughter
of Patrick and Bobbette
Lovgren, Heppner. She is
employed at the MCGG
Feed Store in Heppner.
Kyle is the son of Al-
bert “Abby” and Martha
Nicol, Austin, TX, formerly
of McMinnville, OR. He is
employed with the Morrow
County Road Department.
They plan a June 12
wedding at the Lovgren
family ranch, Heppner.
Births
Send birth announcements to editor@rapidserve.net or upload to Heppner.net.
Ryder Stinson
Worden
Richard and Kelsie Worden of Heppner announce
the birth of their son, Ryder Stinson Worden. Ryder
was born January 19,
2021 at 2:03 p.m. at
St Anthony’s Hospi-
tal in Pendleton. He
weighed 7 pounds, 12
ounces and measured
20.5 inches.
Ryder joins sib-
lings, Daemon (16),
Arianna (15), Eva (10) Ryder Stinson Worden
and Lucas (3) Worden.
Grandparents are Kelly and Lorrie Fox and Robert and
Pamela Worden, all of Heppner.
However, he cautioned,
“It could change tomor-
row.” “We’re still looking
at football,” he added, with
the first practice possibly in
February.
The school board, put-
ting off the superintendent’s
evaluation this year because
of the COVID-19 epidemic,
voiced their appreciation to
Dirksen during the epidem-
ic, saying, “Good job Dirk.
We appreciate all you do.”
The MCSD Board
received the enrollment
report for February as fol-
lows: A.C. Houghton Ele-
mentary, Irrigon-210; Sam
Boardman Elementary-335;
Heppner Elementary-173;
Irrigon Elementary-193;
Windy River Elementary,
Boardman-255; Heppner
Jr./Sr. High School-146;
I r r i g o n J r. / S r. H i g h
School-369; Riverside Jr./
Sr. High School, Board-
man-465; Morrow Educa-
tion Center, Irrigon-123;
total-2,269.
Enrollment by com-
munity shows that the
Boardman schools lost 23
students over the past year,
1,078 to 1,055; Heppner
schools lost four students,
323 to 319; Irrigon schools
lost 28 students, 800 to 772;
Morrow Education center
gained 68 students, 55 to
123; district totals, plus 13,
2,256 to 2,269.
Also, at the meeting
Rob Tremper of Dickey &
Tremper, LLC, presented
the district’s annual finan-
cial report, citing “four
significant deficiencies in
internal control” on their
financial statements, but ex-
pressing an opinion that the
district presented a clean
audit of its financial state-
ments. He said that delays
and changes in staff, with
new people in those posi-
tions, may have contributed
to the deficiencies. “Most of
the audit corrections were
DA’s Report
Morrow County Dis-
trict Attorney Justin Nelson
has released the following
report:
-Jeffrey Alan Kelly was
convicted of attempted sex-
ual abuse in the first degree.
He was sentenced to 45
months prison sentence to
the Oregon Department of
Corrections and five years’
post-prison supervision.
He was also convicted of
failure to report as a sex of-
fender and sentenced to 14
months prison sentence to
the Oregon Department of
Corrections and two years’
post-prison supervision. For
his conviction of fleeing or
attempting to elude a police
officer he was sentenced to
six months prison sentence
to the Oregon Department
of Corrections and one-year
post-prison supervision
-Liobaldo Villa Cam-
pos was convicted of un-
authorized use of a vehicle
and sentenced to 18 months
formal probation, not use
or possess controlled sub-
Day!
Sunday, February 14th
stances except pursuant to
a medical prescription, sub-
mit to testing for controlled
substance, cannabis or alco-
hol use, not possess weap-
ons, firearms or dangerous
animals, participate in a
mental health evaluation as
directed by the supervising
officer and follow the rec-
ommendation of the evalu-
ator, complete 80 hours of
community service work,
not use, possess, or attempt
to use or possess any drug
paraphernalia including
items primarily designed to
manufacture, process or use
narcotics including mari-
juana, not associate with
any person known to use,
sell, manufacture, deliver,
or possess unlawful con-
trolled substances or nar-
cotics including marijuana,
small, but they added up,”
said Tremper.
In other business:
-The board received
two calendar options for
the 2021-2022 school year,
one with a pre-Labor Day
start with students begin-
ning August 30, 2021 and
students’ last day June 9,
2022. With a post-Labor
Day start, students begin
September 7 and their last
day is June 16. Winter break
is December 17-January 2
and spring break is March
21-25 for both options.
-The board received
the following statement
of 2020-2021 anticipat-
ed revenues: total budget
resources-$32,918,383;
year-to -date reve-
nue-$25,568,804; antici-
pated revenue-$8,406,061;
total-$33,974,865. Pro-
jected ending fund bal-
ance: $30,576 in revenues;
$30,849,744 in expen-
ditures; revenues under
expenditures ($272,832);
beginning fund bal-
ance-$3,397,953; pro-
jected ending fund bal-
ance-$3,125,121.
-The board approved
the following action: resig-
nations/non-renewals-Rob-
ert Barker, RJSHS junior
high head wrestling coach;
Laura Browne-Winters,
HJSHS assistant track
coach; Beth Harrington,
A.C.H. assistant custodi-
an; Belinda Lomas, SBE
ed assistant; and Kalinn
Prouty, IJHSH ed assistant;
employment/promotions/
transfers-Austinn Black,
MCSD/SBE behavior tech;
Alejandra Caldera Tell-
ez, WRE ed assistant; Di-
ana Chavez Barrera, WRE
ed assistant; Paige Grieb,
HJSHS ed assistant; Denis
Lien, HES assistant cus-
todian; Jacqueline Ritch,
IJSHS temporary English
Language Learner teacher;
Lainey Rogers, SBE ed
assistant.
-rescinded the May 12,
2003 counseling and guid-
ance program and adopted a
revised December 14, 2020
school counseling program.
-adopted revised/re-ad-
opted “equal educational
opportunity” policy.
-revised/re-adopted
policy on “threats of vio-
lence.” In this policy, if a
student threatens harm to
himself or others, threatens
acts of violence, including
threats to damage school
property, the student shall
be subject to discipline up
to and including expulsion.
“The district may enter
into contracts with licensed
mental health professionals
to perform student evalua-
tions.” “Funds for evalu-
ations, other disciplinary
options or other procedures
as may be required by law
and this policy shall be
provided by the district.”
The building principal is no
longer required to “ensure
notification” of violation of
the policy and disciplinary
action imposed,” to the
parent or guardian, but is
required to “attempt to no-
tify” the parent or guardian.
-accepted and appropri-
ated the following monies:
HES-$1,000 from EC Elec-
tric; HJSHS-$4,000 from
NW Farm Credit Services;
$19,237 from the Oregon
Community Foundation;
SBE-$788.37 from the Ben-
evity Community Impact
Fund; RJSHS-$1,769.99
from the RJSHS Booster
Club.
-approved an early
graduation request for an
IJSHS junior.
-approved the ESD ser-
vice plan.
-announced there will
be no school on Feb. 15,
President’s Day.
-announced that the
next meeting will be held
March 8 at ACH.
not knowingly be present at
any place where unlawful
controlled substances are
used, kept, sold, grown,
manufactured or distribut-
ed, neither use nor possess
alcoholic beverages, not en-
ter bars, taverns, or areas of
other establishments where
alcohol is the primary item
of sale and complete an
alcohol and/or drug eval-
uation and any required
treatment programming.
-Rene Landeros Mon-
tes was convicted of assault
in the fourth degree and
sentenced to 36 months for-
mal probation, participate
in a substance abuse eval-
uation as directed by the
supervising officer and fol-
low the recommendations
of the evaluator if there
are reasonable grounds to
believe there is a history
of substance abuse, not
possess weapons, firearms
or dangerous animals, par-
ticipate in a mental health
evaluation as directed by
the supervising officer and
follow the recommendation
of the evaluator, complete
120 hours of community
service work, complete an
anger management evalua-
tion and any recommended
treatment through a court
approved provider, neither
use nor possess alcoholic
beverages, not enter bars,
taverns or areas of other
establishments where al-
cohol is the primary item
of sale, complete an alco-
hol and/or drug evaluation
and any required treatment
programming and have no
offensive physical, verbal,
non-verbal, or third-party
contact with the victim.
-See DA’s REPORT/PAGE
SIX
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