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Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, April 6, 2016 MYREN RETIRES -Continued from PAGE ONE Sandy I had around 1,400 MCSO boat as a marine deputy. “Back then all of us did a little of everything,” he says. “We didn’t have the ability to specialize much then.” In January of 1990, Myren and his wife bought their own place outside of Boardman, where they still reside. In 1998 he left law en- forcement for a few years and went to work for the state health department as a medical preparedness officer. That led to some interesting side work that has continued to this day. “During the time with the state health department, I was asked to sit on a committee for disaster re- sponse,” says Myren. “That led me to get involved in the state disaster team, and that led me to become a member of the federal system.” Myren has been a federal disaster responder since 1999. “The federal govern- ment responds to disas- ters when states are over- whelmed. It’s kind of a progression,” he explains, adding that when a city can’t handle a disaster, it will call the county, the county may call the state, and so on until the federal disaster system is activated. “Once the federal system is activated, we can bring in all kinds of different sup- port systems,” he says. In that role, Myren works under the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Ser- vices (HHS). His current title is that of Type I Op- erations Section Chief; he is one of only three people at that level in the entire HHS emergency response system. “That means that I go out and I manage large in- cidents. During Superstorm people under my control in the New York area. I’ve worked hurricanes, tsuna- mis, the World Trade Cen- ter, and then a whole host of scheduled events.” One of those events was the visit of Pope Fran- cis to the U.S. last year. “I was stationed at Fort Dix (New Jersey) and I managed teams in New York and Philadelphia and DC,” says Myren. Myren says he intends to stay in- volved with his federal work, and that HHS al- ready has him scheduled for several events over the summer. While Myren’s role in federal disaster response is ongoing, his time working for the state of Oregon end- ed in 2004 when he went back to law enforcement, taking a job in Umatilla County. He worked there for a year before current Morrow County Sheriff Ken Matlack was elected. “Ken was elected sher- iff and asked me to come work for him over there as undersheriff,” he says. Myren worked for MCSO as undersheriff from Janu- ary of 2005 until his retire- ment last week. When he thinks about retirement, Myren says he continues to have mixed feelings. “Well, it’s kind of ter- rifying and exciting at the same time,” he says. “I’m gonna miss it tremendously, the helping people and the camaraderie with the other officers and the people I work with.” However, he says he also has noticed a surge in violence in recent years, an aspect he won’t miss at all. “Used to be, people talked. If you and your neighbor had a problem, you sat at the fence or the Play proceeds beneit At home on the range Editor’s note: The following article by Karli Erickson parish hall restoration has been reprinted with permission from Oregon Health Father Gerry Condon presents the proceeds from this year’s performances of his original play, “Intrigue at Glendalough,” to the St. Patrick’s Parish Hall Restoration Committee. A total of $800 was donated to the restoration fund, with $207 coming from the Ione production of the play and $593 from the Hep- pner production. The charity was chosen by the play’s cast. Pictured (L-R) are Fr. Condon, Janet Greenup and Ashley Lindsay. -Contributed photo driveway and talked. Even if you didn’t agree, you talked,” he says. “Now nobody can do that. They call the police. Then, if the issue can’t be resolved by us because it’s a civil mat- ter, people overreact.” He says he’s retiring now in order to focus on family and personal pur- suits, including both busi- ness ventures and hobbies. “One of the things I’ve done since I was in my late 20s, early 30s, was a side business where I outit po- lice cars,” Myren says, add- ing that he currently outits cars for several agencies in northeast Oregon, some- thing he plans to continue. He also hopes to get back into participating in shoot- ing competitions. “I used to take part in a lot of different shooting competitions. I haven’t done that for many years. As an administrator, I just didn’t have time. I plan on doing a lot more shooting competitions,” he says. He also says he plans to travel with his wife of 35 years, Miriam, and their “spoiled dogs,” referring to the Myrens’ two standard poodles and Kerry Bleu terrier. His heart and home, though, remain in Morrow County, he says. “It has been absolutely my greatest honor to serve the citizens of Morrow County. And even though I’m not doing it full time any more, I intend to keep on doing it,” says Myren. “When we irst moved here we thought, ‘Who stole all the trees?’” he jokes. “But over time we got to know the area, we got to know the people. We love it here, and have no plans of going anywhere. “We’re staying put un- til we die.” -Continued from PAGE ONE or permittee’s request if ODFW used lethal control Despite last week’s ac- tions, Oregon’s wolf popu- lation as a whole is grow- ing. ODFW documented 110 known wolves at the end of 2015, a 36 percent increase over 2014. For more information on wolves, visit www.dfw. state.or.us/wolves. WOLVES KILLED area at this time of year is a marked departure from the pack’s normal pattern. Co- inciding with this changed pattern, ODFW document- ed livestock depredation by the pack in investigations on March 9, March 25, two more on March 28 and one more on March 30. Under the rules asso- ciated with the Wolf Plan in Phase II, ODFW can authorize lethal control of wolves at a property owner a) the agency conirms at least two depredations on livestock in the area; b) the requester has documented unsuccessful attempts to solve the situation through non-lethal means; c) no identified circumstance exists that attracts wolf- livestock conflict; and d) the requester has complied with applicable laws and the conditions of any per- mit. This was the third time -Clothes -Stuffed Animals -Books -Toys for wolves since they re- turned to the state in the early 2000s. Two wolves were killed after a number of losses in Baker County in 2009, and two wolves from the Imnaha pack were removed in 2011 due to chronic livestock depreda- tion. Heppner honor society plans blood drive The Heppner chapter of the National Honor Society will hold a blood drive for the American Red Cross this Friday, April 8, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at St. Patrick’s Senior Center, Heppner. To schedule an appointment or for more informa- tion, call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) or email james.martinez@redcross.org. NEW SELECTION OF INFANT & TODDLER ITEMS SWCD to give away spruce saplings Friday Morrow SWCD will have 750 spruce tree seedlings to give away Friday, April 8, irst come, irst served. These trees are excellent trees for riparian areas, but not a good choice for lawn areas in town. The trees will be avail- able at the SWCD ofice at 430 W Linden Way, Heppner between 7:30 and 11:30 a.m. Regular & Scripture Based Coloring Books for Adults 217 North Main St., Heppner • Phone 676-9158 • Floral 676-9426 Serving Morrow, Wheeler & Gilliam counties Since 1959 - THREE VOTE JIM D OHERT Y COMMISSIONER & Science University. Erickson’s husband, Anin, is a third-year OHSU medical student who hopes to special- ize in general surgery. At OHSU, all third-year medical students participate in a required Rural and Community Health Clerkship primarily in Family Medicine—his took place in Heppner. Together the couple enjoys two lively daughters and an 80-pound Goldendoodle. When she’s not practicing the art of homemaking, Karli is an OHSU Resource RN on 12C Labor and Delivery. “I think we should take up bird hunting,” my hus- band, Anin, and third year medical student says to me when I arrive in Heppner, OR with our two daughters. “Because we love dogs,” he adds to my furrowed brow. A few weeks into his rural rotation and that’s the big discovery he’s made. For ive weeks third year medical students work on their clinical skills in smaller communities. We were in Heppner, OR, population 1,307 according to Wikipedia. So just a touch smaller than Portland. The rotation is a great clinical opportunity for students, but logistically challenging for students with families. For starters, timing. I was on maternity leave for the rotation. I’d make a joke about our perfect timing, but I’d only partially be kidding. When the rotation rolled around, our daughters were two months and 21 months. Families are welcome to accompany the student, but are responsible for their own housing. In Heppner, the one and only housing option we found was a lodge that did long-term rentals. We will forever be grateful that the Kilkenny’s lodge was available to rent, and that the Kilkennys were both kind and accommodat- ing. With cost and time constraints we only spent the last two weeks with our student, aka Papa, but it was worth it. Out at our 20-acre lodge we had workable wii and cable television, which is a television more than we ever have. Cell service, however, was limited in the area. The hospital had service; Verizon worked in the lodge; and according to our hosts, AT&T in the front yard. Alas, we mistakenly did not prepare a low chart of protocol for communication mishaps. See, we only had one car. If post-clinic Anin was called into the ER, it could make for a late night. I would have had to wake the girls and pack them in the car to go fetch him. Thus, nearly every day the girls and I chose isolation and adhered to bedtimes over having a vehicle. As luck would have it, the one day we kept the car to explore Heppner’s very nice playground, disaster struck. To be fair, the problem was more a communication error between us parents (read: always have a designated meeting spot) than the lack of cell service. But in short, Anin trekked home along the highway fearing we were off in a ditch somewhere, while I emptied my bag of snacks and tricks on the up-past-bedtime toddler while waiting for him to leave for the day. Hint: he’d already left. His calls, texts, and voicemail registered on my phone 20 minutes after the fact. Never fear, we scooped him up alongside the highway and avoided the many crossing deer. In addition to deer, we “had” cows. The toddler and I occupied much of our time moo-ing whilst monitoring their daily progression in the ields across the way. Peppy cows I tell you. They were lively—trotting, galloping, chasing one another. I never thought I’d envy a cow, but my post-partum body both wished for their energy and felt exhausted watching them expend it. For all, to have food is important. For me, to have healthy(ish), delicious food is everything. Although Hep- pner has a grocery store, at over $5 for a loaf of sandwich bread, it wasn’t a viable option for us. Knowing how important eating is to me, I planned accordingly. Enter the world’s best gadget for rural rotations and life in general, the slow cooker. I prepped two weeks’ worth of frozen meals that simply needed to be placed in the slow cooker. Chicken- sweet potato curry, done; coconut lentils, made; vegetable beef stew, see you in eight hours. Despite all that, we still managed to takeout four large pepperoni pizzas, because no matter how tasty lentils are, they’re still lentils. On that note, we’ve never had a more enjoyable time ordering takeout. Simply call and order—no name or phone number needed. Just, “I’d like a large pep- peroni pizza” met with “See you in 15 minutes.” Kudos to Howe’s About Pizza for one of the best pizza crusts out there. After-toddler-bedtime-pizza-takeout is a parenting must-do. And, because food really is that important to me, here’s another sentence on how I premade chocolate, chocolate chip cookies and chocolate pecan bars for the freezer as well. In retrospect, I should have also premade cookie dough to bake on-site for warm, melty, goodness, but we were supposed to living a more rustic lifestyle. Anin learned much, and our family experienced what may be our two favorite weeks of medical school. To accompany your student on his or her rural rotation is undoubtedly logistically and inancially challenging, but well worth it if you can achieve it—at least if you’re headed to Heppner. PUBLIC NOTICE Record of Decision The U.S. Navy, in cooperation with the National Guard Bureau and Oregon National Guard, has announced its decision to implement its Preferred Alternative (Alternative 2) to increase the types and number of certain training activities at NWSTF Boardman; develop and enhance training facilities at NWSTF Boardman; and create additional special use airspace to support existing aircraft training. The Navy made its decision after carefully considering the potential impacts training and testing activities may have on the human, natural and cultural environment and comments from the public on the proposal and environmental analysis. The Proposed Action is needed to provide a training environment at NWSTF Boardman – including ranges, training areas and instrumentation – to better support current and future unit and personnel training requirements. The Navy’s Record of Decision and Final EIS are available online at www.NWSTFBoardmanEIS.com, and at the following public libraries: Multnomah County Central, Salem Central, West Salem, Oregon Trail Heppner, Oregon Trail Boardman and the Stafford Hansell Government Center.