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.