Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (June 28, 1979)
I"' 4 f f" r" & E S 3 i W T 2 E L L U OF ORE - '" 3 P A P E R :-' ; C ;;: c r l ! 3 0 7 4 0 3 Morrow County's Award-Winning Weekly Newspaper VOL. 97, NO. 26 HEPPNER, OREGON THURSDAY, JUNE 28, 1979 12 PAGES 20 cents - j0- -J - ij i t i r-. End of the road A truck owned by Harold Beckett and parked on S. Court Street in Heppner was pushed into a power pole early Monday morning about 1:10 a.m. by a car driven by Robert Riddle, 19, Heppner. Riddle was treated and released from Pioneer Memorial Hospital and the pole had to be replaced by a crew from the Columbia Basin Co-op. Traffic accidents result in minor injuries here over weekend A rash of traffic accidents occured last weekend in the Heppner area. Robert Riddle, 19, was treated at Pioneer Memorial Hospital for injuries sustained when the car in which he was driving struck a pickup parked on South Court Street about 1:10 a.m. Mon day. The collision pushed the second vehicle, owned by Harold Becket, into a power pole. The pole had to be replaced by a crew from Columbia Basin Co-op. Riddle's vehicle received extensive damage, according to Heppner City Police. Police officer Chuck Holt reported that a truck over turned above CHtsforth Park on a 20 m.p.h. curve Sunday. One of four boys riding in the truck driven by Steve Marlatt, Darwin Ansotegui received a cut on the eye. Chuck Walsingham and Lee McCarl were also passengers in the vehicle. On Saturday night, a colli sion occured between a car driven by Robert Turpin, 17, Arlington and a pickup driven by Paula J. Lindstrom, 17 about 1 :25 a.m. on Highway 74 near the Bunker Hill Rd. A passenger in the Turpin vehicle, Cindy Griffiths, Arlington and Turpin were treated and released from Pioneer Memorial Hospital. The Turpin vehicle was totaled and the Lindstrom vehicle received an estimated $900 damage, according to the Morrow County Sheriff's Department. I r j as" - - s' Br- if 1 '. 1 - 4 fi i 1 County Court give nod to I Tib appealed Jrpoarciiiiaii uiioiviio n 1 The Morrow County Court supported the county planning commission's approval of the SJ-2 subdivision, half a mile west and south of the city of Boardman, Wednesday des pite an appeal by Arnold Braat. Representing the opinion of the board, County Judge D.O. Nelson said, "I would sustain the findings of the planning commission. They acted in good faith." The decision came after an hour of arguments presented by Braat and Ed Glenn, an attorney representing the sub division's developer, Dewey West. Braat, who owns farming operations adjacent to the future development of two to three acre farm-residential property, argued before the court that the subdivision "would be a serious detriment to my farming operation", because of possible com plaints from the residential owners about the dust blowing off his fields, noise created by his farm machinery, and crop dusting planes flying over at five a.m. in the morning plus the spotting , effects from v crop-dusting chemicals. Insisting that a road assess ment through the subdivision was not wide enough to handle both residential and harvest time traffic, Braat cited other possibilities which he felt would come with increased population density. "The more people you get the more dogs you will have," Braat said, and said the dog problem would' increase as result of the subdivision. He felt the number of residences, 18 instead of 10 if the county restricted the subdivision to five acre lots in the 50 acre subdivision, would also present a greater vandal ism problem than before by increasing the number of kids. "We've lost things," Braat said. Half a mile away, Braat said, children could be elec trocuted from a pivot switch box. Judge Nelson said he had encountered the same prob lem and installed locks to protect unwanted snoopers. Besides environmental ef fects of locating the subdivi sion close to farming opera tions, Braat expressed con cern about taking agricultural land out of production and argued that land is available closer to Boardman. "Eighteen houses that close is definitely a detriment to intensive farming," Braat said. ' Attorney Ed Glenn told the court that the development is the second addition of an existing subdivision, SJ-1 and the role of that body is to question the wisdom of the planning commission except in the "event of clear abuse or plain illegal action." "They were not beyond their authority, not arbitrary and capricious," Glenn added. As for dust problems, Glenn Cont. on page 10 PMH levy downed by 5 votes; County levy passes by 111 margin The Pioneer Memorial Hospital levy failed to gain a simple majority by five votes in Tuesday's election in Morrow County, receiving 620 yes votes and 624 no votes. The Morrow County tax levy request was accepted by the voters with 678 yes votes and 567 no's, according to a voting tally by Morrow County Clerk Sadie Parrish. It was the second try for both levies and this election produced a greater turnout with over 400 more voters casting ballots at five voting areas. A little over 800 voters turned out for the first dual levy election May 22 and over 1,200 showed up at the polls Tuesday. The vote was heavily in favor of the $549,077 hospital tax levy with an estimated tax rate of $1.22 per $1,000 true value from voters in Heppner, Lexington and lone, and its heaviest opposition came from the Irrigon and Boardman areas. The PMH levy received 362 yes votes compared to 219 no's from Heppner, 80 yes and 41 no votes from Lexington and 130 yes and 55 no's from lone. Irrigon voters cast 13 yes and 141 no's against the measure and Boardman voters registered 35 yes and 168 no votes. Included in the levy proposal were funds in the amount of $157,000 for operation of the North Morrow Medical Clinic in Boardman. . The proposed county tax levy of $494,410 outside the six percent limitation was approved in a 111 vote margin, 678-567. Heavy voting in favor of the levy proposal in the south end of the county carried the levy against voting opposition in the Irrigon and Boardman areas. In Continued on page 8 Pioneer Memorial consultant: Community committee advised With the outcome of the second hospital levy request unknown, Morrow County Hospital Board members were urged Tuesday, June 19 by Ron Ellingson of the Oregon Hospital Associations to appoint citizens to a community advisory commit tee. A "mission statement" was adopted by the board stating that Pioneer Memorial Hos pital is a county-owned facility operating under O.R.S. (Ore gon State Statute) 440.110 as a not-for-profit health care pro vider; its mission is to provide through coordination of hos pital and clinic services, the primary and geriatic care needs of Morrow County and to portions of Gilliam and Wheeler counties and to co operate with other health care providers in meeting secondary needs; and to provide health education. The ultimate goal of the hospital, according to the mission, "is to upgrade the level of health in its service area through preventative and curative measures." The board delayed appoint ing community members to the advisory committee until July 2 but a number of persons were suggested as possibili ties. Board member, Alice Bartlett, suggested John Jep son, Evelyn Black and Ray Alsup and Chairman Fred Martin mentioned June Lind strom, Don Peterson, lone Mayor Linda LaRue or Mrs. Steve Peck from the lone area. Ed Dick said he was waiting to hear from Dan Sweeney, another board member, before making rec ommendations. As outlined by Ellingson, the purpose of the community advisory committee and two other committees, medical staff and hospital employees would be to undertake long range planning for the hos pital's future. Formation of the planning committees is required by federal law and Ellingson, based in Portland, was hired to help in the technical planning for the makeup of the advisory groups. Ellingson advised the board to select about 12 people to the committee and not more than 15 people. Each of the three committees will be headed by a board member. Another recommendation was to secure representation from the Tri-County Health Board which oversees health care needs in a 3 county area. Each group will draft writ ten recommendations setting long range goals and conduct ing a community survey of health care needs. In Union County, Ellingson said, survey results indicated that 196 problems were not being treated because people were afraid or embarrassed to come into the hospital for treatment. Hospital Administrator Bob Byrnes reported to the board a 24 percent decrease in hospital admissions from the previous year and a 36 percent decline in patient days. A financial statement of current revenue and expenses shows that the Cont. on page 3 Tri-county agency gives health care at home - I "'. ' . . 1 V i , r f 41 "We are there to help people," says Sheridan Tar nasky, director of the Tri County Home-Health Care Agency and a registered nurse serving patients in Heppner, lone and Lexington. The young agency has been in existence for a year and a half and served over 90 patients in the home-oriented program, according to Mrs. Tarnasky. Its goal is to treat patients recovering from sur gery outside nursing homes and hospitals. Staffed by five nurses in cluding Mrs. Tarnasky, the agency's service area in cludes Morrow, Gilliam and Wheeler counties. Lori Sulli van of Arlington covers the Boardman-Irrigon ... area, Marie Waters is the nurse covering Condon and Fossil, Pat Bond, the tip of Wheeler County and Joyce Hickerson based in Arlington. Si Help at home The most important part of home-health care is caring for people, says Sheridan Tarnasky, director of the Tri-County Home-Health Care Agency as she checks the heartbeat of Thomas Healy, Heppner. The programs offer health care outside hospitals and nursing homes. All patients are referred to the agency by physicians and Tarnasky said a great deal of the nursing responsibility is reinforcement of the doctor's advice. The nurses are under physician supervision within the home setting. Funding for the program comes from private insurance and Medicare with a normal caseload of patients at 10-17. Mrs. Tarnasky said the agency needs funds to con tinue and has applied for a federal grant from the Health Systems Agency, part of the federal superstructure linked to a regional health services program. "We need outside financial support," Tarnasky said and advised that private donations may be mailed to the agency office in Heppner, Box 525, 676-5133. When first formed, the agency was part of the Tri-County Health Agency but when funds were cut back, the home health care unit broke off and has survived thus far from its service to persons outside the health-care insti tution. Most patients are short term cases with 18 months as the longest duration in which a patient has been treated. The oldest patient served is 94. The agency has handled sick children, taken care of babies, undertaken dietary teaching of diabetics, done surgical dressings and performed many other treatments. It has also offered part-time physi cal therapy. The treatment and educa tion given, says Mrs. Tar nasky, depends on the patient. Asked what reaction the families had to the home treatments, Tarnasky said, "They have all raved about the help. It gives the patients the teaching and support they need." On the board of directors of the agency are Mark Murray, lone, Carleen West, lone, Elizabeth Curtis, Heppner, Foster Odom, Arlington and Pat Woelke, Fossil. The home-health care con cept of nursing is not new to the nation and it was started in Portland in the 1900's for treatment of polio and tub erculosis. It also costs less than care provided by nursing homes and hospitals, says Tarnasky. Nurses attached to the agency are members of the national Visiting Nurses As sociation and the agency has met state and Medicare license requirements. VT. h i :, S 3 .4
