TWO - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, March 29, 2023
The Official Newspaper
of the City of Heppner and the County of Morrow
Heppner
GAZETTE-TIMES
U.S.P.S. 240-420
Morrow County’s Home-Owned Weekly Newspaper
SEARCH OLD COPIES OF THE HEPPNER GAZETTE-TIMES ON-LINE:
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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
at Heppner, Oregon. Office at 188 W. Willow Street. Telephone (541) 676-9228. Fax
(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,
P.O. Box 337, Heppner, Oregon 97836. Subscriptions: $35 in Morrow County; $40
senior rate (in Morrow County only; 65 years or older); $30 elsewhere; $35 student
subscriptions.
Chris Sykes ...............................................................................................Publisher
Andrea Di Salvo ............................................................................................ Editor
Cindi Doherty.........................................................................................Advertising
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require three weeks to process after last date of publication (a sooner return date must be
specified if required).
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
or who wish to have the obituary written in a certain way must purchase advertising space
for the obituary.
For Letters to the Editor: Letters to the Editor MUST be signed by the author. The Heppner
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placed in the classifieds under “Card of Thanks” at a cost of $10.
Obituaries
Marianne
Gammell
McRoberts
Marianne Gammell
McRoberts, 90, of Auburn,
W
A
passed
away
on Nov.
1 8 ,
2022
from
cancer.
Grave-
s i d e
service will be held at Hep-
pner Cemetery on Friday,
April 28, at noon. All are
welcome.
Marianne was born in
Heppner. She married Lee
McRoberts of Heppner in
1949.
She was predeceased
by her parents, Lois and
Lester; her husband, Lee;
and her brothers, Richard,
Bob and Roy.
She is survived by
her three children, seven
grandchildren, numerous
great-grandchildren and
her beloved brother-in-law,
Ellis McRoberts.
Death Notices
Vilas Daniel Ropp—
Vilas Daniel Ropp, 65, died
Sunday, March 26, 2023, at
his home near Lexington.
He was born in Albany, OR
on August 23, 1957. A me-
morial service will be held
at a later date. Sweeney
Mortuary of Heppner is in
charge of arrangements.
Ronald George Cur-
rin—Ronald George Cur-
rin, 86, died Sunday, March
26, 2023, at Hermiston,
OR. He was born May
26, 1936, in Pendleton. A
memorial service will be
held at 2 p.m. on Friday,
April 7, at the Gilliam and
Bisbee building in Hep-
pner. A complete obituary
will follow in next week’s
Gazette-Times. Sweeney
Mortuary of Heppner is in
charge of arrangements.
William Allen Wolf-
sen—William Allen Wolf-
sen, 81, died Sunday, March
26, 2023, at a care facili-
ty in Hermiston. He was
born September 18, 1941,
at Sedro Woolley, WA. A
memorial service will be
held April 8 at 2:30 p.m.
at the Ione Community
Church. Sweeney Mortuary
of Heppner is in charge of
arrangements.
Wyden to hold Morrow
County town hall April 2
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden
will be in Morrow County
Sunday, April 2, for an
open-to-all, in-person town
hall. The town hall will
be at 4 p.m. at the SAGE
Center, 101 Olson Rd. NE,
Boardman.
The town hall is one of
several scheduled in East-
ern Oregon for the week of
April 1-7.
“Open-to-all town halls
shorten the distance be-
tween Oregon and Wash-
ington, D.C. by providing
opportunities for any Or-
egonian to ask questions,
suggest good ideas and
work toward solutions to
challenges facing commu-
nities throughout our state,”
Wyden said. “I encourage
people of all ages to attend
one of these community
gatherings that show the
rest of the country how
democracy is alive and
thriving in every nook and
cranny of the state.”
Quarterly chamber
meeting April 13
The next lunch meeting
of the Heppner Chamber of
Commerce will take place
Thursday, April 13, from
noon to 1:30 p.m. at the
Gilliam and Bisbee Event
Center.
Kim Cutsforth of the
Howard and Beth Bryant
Foundation and Brad Attig
of Reinventing Rural are
sponsoring the event and
will present on the Willow
Street Arts and Business
Innovation Center.
Pre-registration is re-
quired. RVSP for the quar-
terly luncheon by Tuesday,
April 11, at heppnercham-
ber@gmail.com or 541-
676-5536. Tacos Home-
town will provide a lunch
of chicken or beef burritos
with chips and salsa at a
cost of $15 per person.
Any business that
would like to present a new
service or project at the next
chamber luncheon is invit-
ed to contact the chamber
for sponsorship information
at heppnerchamber@gmail.
com or 541-676-5536 or
visit www.heppnercham-
ber.com.
Area pastors invited to
submit Easter messages
Pastors of area church-
es are invited to submit
Easter messages for the
April 5 issue of the Heppner
Gazette-Times. All messag-
es must be submitted by 5
p.m. on Monday, April 3.
To submit a message or for
more information, email
editor@rapidserve.net or
call Andrea at 541-676-
9228.
Ione approves
two-year contract
with MidCo Bus
By Andrea Di Salvo
The Ione School Dis-
trict Board approved a
new bus contract and an
integrated guidance plan
among other business at its
regular meeting Tuesday,
March 21,
The board approved a
new two-year contract with
Mid-Columbia Bus Com-
pany with words of praise
from both board members
and staff.
The bus company pre-
sented options for two-year
and five-year contracts,
which included updating a
2005 bus to a 2010 bus, as
well as replacing another
bus with a 2023 model.
Mid-Columbia Regional
Vice President Michelle
Taber said the latter was
currently being serviced
by a Type 10, but Morrow
County Manager Marlene
Newlun thought a full-size
bus would be more practical
and have more uses in Ione.
The current contract
has a 15-year age limit
on buses, so any bus that
reaches the age limit would
be replaced with a new,
late-model bus.
Taber also told the
board the company had
hired another bus techni-
cian to split the workload
for Morrow County, Ione
and Condon and that they
were also working with
a maintenance consultant
to improve that aspect, as
well.
“We just really are
looking at everything to
make sure however we can
improve any part of our
business,” Taber said.
Contract costs have
gone up, and Taber told
the board it was due to
inflation and the fact that
the company would be
raising employee wages
“significantly” to help with
recruiting. She also sug-
gested partnering with the
school district in hiring peo-
ple who would be willing
to split their time between
driving and custodial work.
Ione School Superintendent
and High School Principal
Kevin Dinning responded
that he thought that would
be good.
“We’d be happy to
work with somebody that
way,” he said.
Ione School Board
Chair Rob Crum said he
hadn’t heard any feedback
on the bus service this year,
but implied that was a good
sign.
“I think if it’s no feed-
back, that’s pretty good,”
Crum said.
“I think this year’s gone
well, and Marlene’s always
easy to work with,” added
Ione Elementary Principal
Tracey Johnson, saying that
the drivers this year have
been consistent.
While the five-year
contract was at a lower
rate, Dinning said he rec-
ommended going with the
two-year.
“I think for the sake
of making sure we’re not
getting too far extended
on the bond stuff,” he said,
“let’s see what it looks like
for two years.”
“I appreciate both pro-
posals,” he added. “I don’t
want to do it again in two
years, but I think it’s the
right move.”
The board also ap-
proved a new integrated
guidance plan for the dis-
trict. Dinning told the board
that they have to approve all
parts of the plan in order to
be in compliance with the
state.
One portion was a
needs assessment that re-
lated to equity. Dinning
said he had created a deci-
sion-making tree to guide
district decision making,
though he commented that
they usually don’t have to
use it because they know all
the students and families.
“The good part about
stuff like this is that we
make sure we’re being
intentional about who it
impacts, who it doesn’t,”
he said. “Is there a financial
cost, is there some sort of
staff that has to be attached
with it, are we communicat-
ing with the right amount
of people, did we include
people in the decision that
need to be included in it?”
The plan also listed
strengths and challenges
the district had identified.
Dinning said the highlights
for the district’s strengths
are that they recruited a bi-
lingual board member, have
adopted an English Lan-
guage Arts program, and
will adopt a math curricu-
lum that will address and
differentiate various focal
groups and levels. The dis-
trict has also reestablished
the backpack program,
hosted Cinco de Mayo,
created a student space
on the stage for providing
public health access, and
has increased career and
technical education (CTE)
and elective opportunities
for middle school students
in an effort to expand equity
and course offerings at that
level.
Dinning said that the
district’s small numbers
have made it difficult to
identify trends with stu-
dents.
“We have six kids in a
grade level, or 12,” Dinning
said. “It’s really hard to jus-
tify whether it’s juniors who
are having an issue with
that, or is it just the class
period that they’re having
an issue with?”
Dinning also said reg-
ular attenders in K-12 are
lower than they would like
to see at about 55 percent.
However, he said he has
analyzed several similar
school districts and found
that Ione’s numbers are
actually pretty good, with
many districts having much
lower numbers.
“I think it’s an area to
target still, it’s something
that came back,” he added.
He also told the board
that third grade reading data
is showing growth but at
a varied proficiency level,
and that the community
feedback is that CTE offer-
ings need to broaden.
“We need to offer more
that are in line with our
regional job fields, and we
agree with that,” he said.
Dinning said they also
lack translation with some
of their communication
methods, specifically ro-
bo-calls and communica-
tions that are put out day-of.
Finally, he said the district
saw a need for increased
focus on school safety.
In other business, Din-
ning reported that the school
had received its augmented
reality (AR) welder. They
now have a handheld one
and a large tabletop unit.
“It’s got a screen on
it, it’s got curriculum in it,
the guy hooked it up for us
-Continued to PAGE FIVE
Garcia promoted to
detective
Morrow County Sheriff’s Deputy Dalton Garcia was pro-
moted from Patrol Deputy to Criminal Deputy/Detective, the
sheriff’s office announced last week. “This is a well-deserved
promotion,” said Morrow County Sheriff John Bowles.
“Here’s to a long successful career with the Morrow County
Sheriff’s Office.” -Contributed photo
Ione school announces
third quarter awards
Ione Community School third quarter students of the quarter.
Back L-R: Isabelle Venegas, Nain Calvillo, Kole Strzelewicz,
Cheston Covey, Emmyngton Revoir and Guadalupe Aguilar.
Front L-R: Julius Bailey, Anson McCabe, Anthony Elia,
Gabriel Mendoza, Vayda Ramirez and Harlow McElligott.
-Contributed photo
Ione Elementary School recipients of attendance awards for
the third quarter. Those receiving attendance awards had
attendance of 90 percent or more. -Contributed photo
Third Quarter Student of
the Month
The following Ione Com-
munity School students re-
ceived Student of the Quarter
recognition for being honest
and helpful:
Mrs. Orem’s kindergarten
class: Anthony Elia and Vayda
Ramirez.
Mrs. Wainwright’s first
and second grade class: An-
son McCabe, Julius Bailey,
Gabriel Mendoza and Harlow
McElligott.
Mrs. Rietmann’s third and
fourth grade class: Guadalupe
Aguilar and Emmyngton Re-
voir.
Mrs. Osmin’s fifth grade
class: Kole Strzelewicz and
Cheston Covey.
Mrs. Ogden’s sixth grade
class: Nain Calvillo and Isa-
belle Venegas.
Attendance Awards
The following elementary
students received attendance
awards for 90 percent atten-
dance or better for the third
quarter at Ione Community
School:
Ryan Atkin, Wyatt Geer,
Adley McElligott, Aimeric
McElligott, Vayda Ramirez,
Andalynn Rietmann, Ezekiel
Soto, Liam Aparicio, Julius
Bailey, Anson McCabe, Luna
Rico, Kyson Scoggin, Kleo
Childers, Amira Hernandez,
Ana Juarez Martinez, Myles
McAhren, Harlow McElligott,
Gabriel Mendoza, Germain
Ramos Lopez, Miriam Rico
Gonzalez, Matthew Bailey,
Emmyngton Revoir, Luke
Neiffer, Guadalupe Aguilar,
Alison Aparicio, Jeslyn Fer-
nandez, Emily Rico, Amilya
Rupe, Elissa Yates, Izabelle
Carson, Cheston Covey, Mina
Hernandez, Joshua Neiffer,
Emberlee Revoir, Cooper
Stefani, Bryson Bailey, Nain
Calvillo, Madelyn Campbell,
Haryss Padberg, Teagan Roy
and Brylee Scoggin.
Grow ‘Em and Show
‘Em holds lamb and
goat meeting
By Jasper Hanna, Club
Reporter
On March 17, 4-H group
Grow ‘Em and Show ‘Em
had its first Goat-Sheep
meeting.
Members went over
body part recognition and
what to look for in a goat
and/or sheep. They did an
ice-breaker bingo, then
elected officers. Brooklyn
Hendricks was elected pres-
ident, Tenley Rosenbalm
vice-president, and Jasper
Hanna reporter.
The club’s next meeting
will be April 9.
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