Page 8A
BUSINESS
East Oregonian
Saturday, May 13, 2017
BRIEFLY
HERMISTON
Safety health
conference includes
forklift contest
Feelingstone Gifts offers rocks, crystals and beads
PENDLETON —
Participants will learn how
to improve on-the-job safety
and health during a two-day
event in Pendleton.
Topics covered during
the Blue Mountain
Occupational Safety and
Health Conference include
ladder and forklift safety,
fall protection, hazard
identification and effective
personal communication.
Oregon OSHA, a division
of the Department of
Consumer and Business
Services, is among the
partner agencies presenting
the event. Pre-conference
workshops are Monday,
June 5 from 12:30-4 p.m.
and the regular sessions
are Tuesday, June 6 from
8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the
Pendleton Convention
Center, 1601 Westgate.
In addition to a keynote
address by Al Arguedas, a
longtime safety professional
based in the Portland area,
the event features a Forklift
Round-Up. Also, break-out
sessions address everything
from lighting safety and
people skills to injury
prevention with ergonomics
and how to develop a
safety culture.
Conference registration is
$75, which includes lunch.
There’s an additional fee
of $50 to compete in the
forklift event. For more
information or to register,
visit https://safetyseries.
cvent.com/blue17.
Construction
begins on Ranch
and Home store
HERMISTON — Work
has begun on the Ranch
and Home store at 2500
S. Hwy. 395.
“They signed a
development agreement with
us yesterday afternoon,” said
assistant city manager Mark
Morgan on Friday morning.
The city has provided
Ranch and Home with an
incentive package. If they
complete the construction
and get an occupancy permit
by Jan. 1, 2018, the city
will reimburse them for the
building permit, system
development charges and
$10,000 for extension of
water and sewer lines,
which will make it easier
to develop neighboring
properties in the future. The
total incentive package is
estimated to be worth about
$107,800.
“The tell us they have no
concerns about meeting the
deadline,” Morgan said.
He added that the
incentive package is on
a sliding scale, and that
the reimbursements will
decrease by 10 percent for
every month the deadline
is missed. The deal is off if
the store is not complete by
April, Morgan said.
Ranch and Home
currently has two stores in
the Tri-Cities and one in
Milton-Freewater. It sells
supplies for home and
garden, livestock, pets,
sporting goods and clothing.
Group petitions
EPA head to upend
coal ash rule
WASHINGTON
(AP) — A utilities group is
asking the Environmental
Protection Agency to sweep
away rules governing the
disposal of the poison-laden
ash left behind when coal
is burned to generate
electricity.
The Utility Solid Waste
Activities Group filed a
petition Friday asking EPA
Administrator Scott Pruitt
to reconsider broad sections
of the Coal Combustion
Residuals Rule.
The EPA chief has
expressed his willingness to
gut or freeze environmental
regulations finalized under
the Obama administration,
especially if doing so aids
the fossil fuel industry. Like
President Donald Trump,
Pruitt denies the consensus
of climate scientists that
manmade carbon emissions
are the primary driver of
climate change.
The nation’s coal-fired
power plants produce tens
of millions of tons of coal
ash each year that contain
such toxic heavy metals as
arsenic, lead and mercury.
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Staff photo by Jade McDowell
Cabochons sit for sale at Feelingstone Gifts.
Staff photo by Jade McDowell
Strings of beads line a display at Feelingstone Gifts.
Feelingstone Gifts has a
little something for everyone
who thinks rocks are cool.
“There are so many
different types of people
who love rocks,” said Jackie
Koppany, who owns the new
shop on Hermiston Avenue
with her husband Attila
Koppany.
She said the shop caters to
rock hounds, craft beaders,
“yoga types,” jewelry collec-
tors and people “who are
spiritually drawn to rocks.”
Koppany
has
been
operating online and out of
her home since 2013, but
she said when customers
had trouble getting out to
her place on snowy roads
this winter it provided the
impetus to finally try opening
a store in town.
“So far I feel really
flattered, because everyone
loves the shop,” she said.
“I’ve had people thank me
for being here.”
The store, located in
Grainary Square at 115 W.
Hermiston Ave., sells agates,
crystals, geodes, and other
stones (both polished and
uncut) as well as stone beads
and carvings.
Staff photo by Jade McDowell
Rocks sit on display at Feelingstone Gifts.
It also features finished
jewelry pieces made by
Koppany, and a wide range
of supplies — including
beads, wires and metal
charms — for making one’s
own jewelry. There are
books, cutting and polishing
equipment, wind chimes,
candles and incense, too.
“People always end
up finding something,”
Koppany said.
She said she first got into
the business because she
enjoyed cutting and polishing
rocks. She started making
cabochons, which are flat
on one side and curved on
the other so that they can
be placed into settings on
necklaces, bolo ties and other
objects.
“I thought, ‘What am I
going to do with these?’” she
said.
She learned wire wrap-
ping to create pendants out of
the cabochons, then moved
on to learning bead work and
other jewelry-making skills
to create a finished product
and began selling them
online.
Feelingstone Gifts is open
11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday
through Friday and 10 a.m.
to “whenever” on Saturdays.
PENDLETON
Nurse practitioner to receive 2017 State Award for Excellence
East Oregonian
Tracy Pozar of Pendleton
is among the recipients of a
2017 State Award for Excel-
lence.
The Pendleton nurse
practitioner will be honored
during the National Amer-
ican Association of Nurse
Practitioners
Conference,
which is June 20-25 in Phil-
adelphia.
Pozar has been serving
Pendleton’s community in
multiple health care capac-
ities since 2010.
Trained by Steven
Neal in allergy,
otolaryngology
and
cosmetic
procedures, Pozar
continues to prac-
tice with him. She
also works with
Umatilla County
Public Health in Pozar
the school-based
health centers at Sunridge
Middle School and Pend-
leton High School.
Perceiving an unmet need
in the county, Pozar
sought advanced
and
specialized
training so she
could
provide
sexual abuse and
physical
abuse
examinations for
Guardian
Care
Child Advocacy
Center. She is
currently the sole
child sexual abuse medical
examiner for all of Umatilla
County. As Umatilla Coun-
ty’s child abuse intervention
center, Guardian Care Center
provides
comprehensive
child abuse assessments
that include a child forensic
interview and a medical
exam.
Pozar’s work at the center
has been an important way
for her to serve the Pend-
leton community, and the
whole of Umatilla County,
said a press release from
Marisa Remington, the
center’s executive director.
Pozar encourages health
care providers to contact the
center to see how they might
use their talents to help the
children of Umatilla County.
The American Associa-
tion of Nurse Practitioners
is the largest professional
membership organization
for nurse practitioners of
all specialties. It provides a
unified networking platform
and advocates for their role
as providers of compre-
hensive and cost-effective
patient-centered health care.
For more information, visit
www.aanp.org.