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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 4, 2017)
OFF PAGE ONE Saturday, November 4, 2017 East Oregonian Page 13A SILVER: Watt plans to return to Pendleton for the Cattle Barons in May Williamson says ballot measure could ‘drastically change’ 2018 session Continued from 1A to press, including making another push for increased restrictions on gun owner- SALEM — House ship. Oregon Gov. Kate Majority Leader Jennifer Williamson says that the Brown, a fellow Democrat, outcome of the upcoming renewed her support for health care referendum further restricting gun could “drastically change” ownership in the wake of the 2018 legislative session. the October shooting at a Williamson, D-Portland, country music festival in Las Vegas. discussed her While it’s not priorities for the clear that such upcoming 35-day measures would session with the get through the EO/Pamplin Oregon Senate, Capital Bureau Williamson Tuesday. intends to keep Oregon voters working on the will weigh in issue. on parts of the “Every session state’s funding Williamson is so different from plan for Medicaid, the one before it the health care coverage program for the and the one that will come poor, Jan. 23, eight days after it,” Williamson said. before legislators are due to “It’s just different dynamics, and for a lot of legislation convene. “I think if the ballot I work on, you work on it measure doesn’t pass, then session after session, and figuring out how we stabilize at some point, sometimes health care in Oregon and something clicks, sometimes ensure that Oregonians have there’s new members.” House Democrats also access to health care will be the priority, and probably want to pass a cap-and-in- the only thing we work on vest program in 2018. Williamson acknowl- in the February session,” edged that there are differ- Williamson said. A “yes” vote means ences of opinion within her keeping the current plan and caucus, which she has led a “no” vote means doing since July 2015. Williamson now leads a away with certain revenue streams that help pay for 35-person caucus of Demo- crats, an increasingly diverse Medicaid. Williamson said the latter group that includes both would result in losing about moderates and progressives $1.5 billion in state and but tends to skew left of the Oregon Senate. The House federal matching funds. There’s no back-up plan of Representatives has 60 members total. — yet. “We negotiate things all “We’ll be ready when the February session comes, the time around policies, regardless of what happens whether it’s within our at the ballot,” Williamson own caucus, or within our said. “The folks in this own committees, or among building who do budgets are members,” Williamson said. working on a plan, we just “I think that’s the nature of what we do.” don’t have it yet.” Williamson pointed to Williamson said she could not yet provide a the statewide transportation “laundry list” or specific package — which took options in the event that the years of bipartisan work and ended up setting aside $5.3 ballot measure fails. If voters affirm the billion for transportation funding plan, though, projects — as an example of Williamson has other prior- negotiating those differences ities that she may have time effectively. mixing light critiques with encouragement and self-deprecating humor. “I couldn’t draw a person if you wanted me to,” she said. Watt said she’s no prodigy, only committing to learning her father’s craft while still in high school. After her parents moved from Ontario, Canada, Watt’s family settled in Coalinga, a small town in California’s rural San Joaquin Valley. A silversmith who specialized in spurs and bits, Jeremiah said he wasn’t surprised when his daughter approached him about getting into the family trade. Jeremiah didn’t dispense any allowances, so his kids sold handmade crafts for pocket money. From the start, Watt said she wanted to try something different in her designs, inspired by the things she saw while accompanying her father on teaching trips around Europe, Australia and other locales. Jeremiah said he encouraged his chil- dren to develop their own voices. “Don’t hide your bless- ings under a bushel in a basket,” he said. Watt went to Montana State University and got a degree in exercise science, but she returned to silver after graduating. She moved with her boyfriend to Frenchglen, a settlement deep in south- eastern Oregon, a place much closer to the Nevada and Idaho borders than to Pendleton. Wikipedia counts 12 people in Frenchglen, but Watt said there’s less than that. Without her jewelery in tow, Watt spent Friday and Saturday doing engraving demonstrations for GRS, By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE Capital Bureau Staff photo by E.J. Harris Nevada Watt of French Glen demonstrates how to use a tool to Glen Adams of Crane at an GRS Equipment metal engraving booth at the Pendleton Leather Show at the Pendleton Convention Center. Contributed photo by Neveda Watt Contributed photo by Neveda Watt Sterling silver engraved cuff bracelet with turquoise stones created by Nevada Watt. Sterling Silver cuff bracelet with engraved scrolls and a stamped overlay. a Kansas-based engraving equipment company. Watt guided attendees as they made their own copper engravings, and in-between sessions, Watt said her work does receive pushback from traditionalists. Watt said she holds nothing against traditional designs, but she would be bored if she stuck to them. She thanks critics for their input and continues to imbue her work with her own style. She had only been to Pendleton a few times before she came to the leather show, and has never made it for the Pendleton Round-Up. In previous years, Watt said she’s spent Round-Up week recovering from the Lake County Round-Up, Lakev- iew’s annual September rodeo. But Watt is already planning her return to the Round-Up City for the Pendleton Cattle Barons in May, where her jewelery will be on display. ——— Contact Antonio Sierra at asierra@eastoregonian.com or 541-966-0836. HEALTH: 15 people already interested in next peer training Continued from 1A Staff photo by E.J. Harris Shelly Coykendall’s quilt called “graffiti quilt” is featured in this month’s edition of Machine Quilting Unlimited magazine. QUILTS: ‘I’m not in it for business, I’m in it for fun’ Continued from 1A edge,” she said of entering contests and expos. The Coykendall house is full of quilts, hanging over curtain rods along walls and draped over furniture. A large tan quilt with colorful diamonds and a dreamcatcher adorns one wall in the hallway, while a patterned bedcover in fall colors sits in the guest room. The collection is just this season’s quilts — Coykendall has a closet full of others ready for Christmas- time, spring and summer. Many of Coykendall’s quilts mix styles, meshing pieced quilting with embroi- dery, raised trapunto designs and free motion stitching overlaying lines she first sketched out with a water soluble pen. While the thread often matches the color of the material it overlays, for her graffiti quilts Coykendall uses colors that stand out against the background, starting at the center of the fabric and improvising patterns as she works outward. “Every single one is going to be different,” she said. Coykendall said she always had an artistic nature growing up, but she didn’t indulge it much past her art classes at school until she retired from Eastern Oregon Telecom and began experimenting with quilting techniques. She is mostly self-taught using DVDs and webinars. Her husband Dennis, who says he’s immensely proud of her, has his own hobby, wood- working, and has custom-built a number of racks, tables and desks for her quilting room. Coykendall sometimes gives quilts away to family members and friends, but she doesn’t have an interest in taking orders or selling the ones she completes. “I’m not in it for business, I’m in it for fun,” she said. “I don’t want to take the joy out of quilting.” ——— Contact Jade McDowell at jmcdowell@eastoregonian. com or 541-564-4536. Staff photo by E.J. Harris The dove on a quilt made by Shelly Coykendal is an example of a raised trapunto design. out 80 percent of rural counties lack a practicing psychiatrist. He said the network hit upon using peer mentors after drafting a plan in 2016 to improve behavioral health services in the four-county area. According to the network, studies found peer recovery support programs provide multiple benefits, including lower hospitalization rates for adults with serious mental illnesses, lower relapse rates and increased treatment retention. A federal grant covered the cost of the training, which took place at Blue Mountain Community College, Pendleton. “We had 23 people sign up,” Peterson said. “All of that was word of mouth, which was really surprising to me.” Five out of the 23 didn’t show, he said, but the 18 who did had 16 hours of online education and three days of classroom instruc- tion. Daystar of Portland, the state’s approved trainer for substance abuse and addic- tion education, handled the instruction, which covered subjects from the role of peer mentors to crisis inter- vention to the rules and laws peers must follow. Umatilla County Public Health covered the cost of state certifying the peers with the Addiction Coun- selor Certification Board of Oregon. Peterson said about nine of the class worked for Lifeways Inc. or other behavioral health providers, and the certification allows agencies to bill for services. Peterson said the health network is looking at its next peer training, and 15 people already are interested. He also brought up the peer mentor program Thursday night at the Umatilla County behavior health community forum at BMCC, Pendleton. The forum was the network’s first to hear locals share their experiences of mental health treatment in the county and weigh in on what needs to improve. Peterson said the health network plans to hold forums in three other coun- ties as well. He moderated the event while a panel of local experts answered questions and discussed the needs they see. The panel consisted of: Joyce Bailer, vice president for patient care services, St. Anthony Hospital, Pendleton; Steve Hardin, St. Anthony emergency depart- ment manager; Micaela Cathey, the local division administrator for Lifeways Inc.; Becky Greear, director of behavior health services for Yellowhawk Tribal Health Center, Pendleton; and Amy Ashton-Williams, director of Umatilla County Social Services. Nearly two dozen attended, including several audience members who credited local mental health services for helping them. Audience members and panelists, though, also sang common refrains. The county needs more mental health services, they said, and more physicians willing to see people suffering from mental problems. That’s a place the peers can play a key roll in helping clients meet medical appointments, for example. Several also said the county needs more behav- ioral health housing, ranging from facilities with staff on site to apartment-style living. Ashton-Williams pointed out it is difficult for someone to get treatment when they cannot meet a basic need. ——— Contact Phil Wright at pwright@eastoregonian. com or 541-966-0833.
