Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (July 6, 1994)
BESSIE e u «•' '* rv o Local family’s invention a breakthrough C. T •! Computer system to aid emergency response With the click of a computer “ mouse” button, emergency response coordinators in Morrow County will soon be able to know what resources are available and where to send that help during an emergency. Morrow County Emergency Management has an nounced it will purchase a Geographic Information System, or GIS. The GIS is a computer- generated map with many layers. A GIS map can show not only where roads are, but also the location of buildings, water mains, utility lines, and the number of beds available at the hospital. In a com m unity crisis, emergency response coordinators have to know immediately what resources are available. The GIS can be programmed, for exam ple, to show the location of vehicles needed to evacuate students and residents, or the whereabouts of food that is re quired at an emergency shelter. D uring an em ergency, emergency responders also need to know where to send help. At the click of a mouse, the GIS will display the populations of local schools and businesses. It will also show where special needs people live, what their needs are, and the nature of the assistance they have requested during an emergency. In the coming year, Em ergency M anagem ent employees will survey county residents iiving in the vicinity of the Umatilla Army Depot for this information. The GIS was purchased with funding from the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Prepared ness Program, or CSEPP, but the GIS won’t be used just by Emergency Management. The GIS will also provide new plan ning capabilities for other coun ty departments to support their participation in CSEPP. For the cost of a few pieces of computer hardware, these departments will Alzheimer’s series to be aired Ch. 3 Morrow County Medical Ser vices will air a five part series on Alzheimer’s Disease through the public access channel of Heppner TV, Inc. The series begins July 11 and will run through July 15. Each one-hour program will be shown on channel 3 at 7 p.m. “ These programs have been provided to us by the Columbia- Willamette Alzheimer’s Associa tion and are full of ideas and resources for dealing with this debilitating disorder,” says Pam Sagely, grant coordinator for Pioneer Memorial Hospital. Sagely says each show will ad dress a different Alzheimer’s related topic. Viewers can expect to learn how to identify normal forgetfulness from early Alzheimer’s Disease, what to ex pect as the disease progresses, current treatment advances, how to help someone suffering from Alzheimer's Disease and how to cope with this disease as a caregiver. Alzheimer’s Disease is the fourth leading cause of adult death in the nation. Approximate ly four million Americans are currently afflicted. With the rapidly increasing aged popula tion, estimates are that between 12 to 14 million people will be af fected by the year 2040. “ Unless a cure is found, Alzheimer’s Disease will become a reality for many of us, either as a victim or as a caregiver for an Alzheimer’s victim,” said Sagely. Sagely says Morrow County Medical Services is pleased to be able to expand its community health education efforts to include a televised format. “ Heppner TV has been very supportive of this undertaking and we anticipate air ing programs on a variety of health related topics,” she adds. She encourages anyone interested in a second showing of the Alzheimer’s series to contact her at 676-9133 or Heppner TV at 676-9663. Suggestions for future programs are welcome and may be submitted to Sagely. Babe Ruth All Stars selected All Stars for Columbia Tri- County Babe Ruth were selected June 24 by area coaches. Five kids from Heppner, lone and Lexington were named to the 13 year old all star selection. Derek Gunderson, Tim Dickenson. Jefl Waterland. Shane Matheny and Danny Coiner began district tour nament play in Boardman July 5. The tournament runs through July 10 . Selected for the 14-15 year old all star team were Josh Coiner, Eric S chonbachler, Donny Pointer. Dan Burnside and Tim Sumner. The tournament will be held in The Dalles July 12-17. South Morrow County coach ed by Rick Johnston won the league championship with a 13-2 record. be able to program information and produce GIS map layers of their own. Morrow County Emergency Manager Casey Beard says, “ This system will enhance our ability to respond to CSEPP emergencies or any hazard, while providing a valuable planning tool to other departments so they can assist us.” Scheduled for installation in October, the GIS will augment the department's rudimentary automated response system cur rently in place. The GIS will also enhance another planned autom ated response system known as the Federal Emergen cy Management Information System, or FEMIS. Together, these systems will help Morrow County officials respond to an emergency. For more information contact Geoff Tyree Public Information Officer at 503 564-5792 or 503 567-2084 or 503 922-4133. An invention by a Heppner man, Lowell Gribble, and his sons, Stuart and Douglas, may revolutionize maintenance at the PGE Coal Fired Plant near Boardman. The invention, called the Ultra- Lube, consists of a aviation headset which is placed on the end of a grease gun and allows an operator to determine by sound whether bearings are over or under-lubricated and if the bear ings are defective. The machine indicates hard-to-detect mechanical noises and conditions in gearboxes and other rotating equipment that can precede breakdowns. Lowell Gribble said that Stuart and Douglas earlier spent three days testing equipment at PP&L. They had found one motor that they believed was in critical con dition. The next week, said Lowell, the motor in question did go out and the whole plant was shut down. “ This is a tremendous breakthrough in the field of maintenance and lubrication,” said Lowell. Prior to their inven tion, there was no way to deter mine if a bearing was lubricated enough. Gribble says that over- lubrication is as dangerous as under-lubrication, because an over-lubricated bearing can overheat and blow a seal. “ There is no end of the potential (of the Ultra-Lube) for big business, down to little business,” said Gribble. The Gribbles delivered the first $1,850 Ultra-Lube to the coal fired plant on June 20. PGE workers will use the Ultra-Lube to check the bearings of coal con veyor belts. Gribble first developed a ser vice company, UPM (Ultrasonic Predictable Maintenance) through which he was able to test bearings for wear and lubrication. Then around eight years ago, Doug came up with the idea to put a dectector on the end of a grease gun and the Ultra-Lube and . WUra-Vibe Lubrication Monitor ing System (UVLM) was bom. Now Gribble says that they plan, with the assistance of Merrill Lynch and Randy A. Edgerton of Decision Dynamics of Lake Oswego, to come out with a soft ware program which will com bine UPM and UVLM. Decision Dynamics writes software pro grams for maintenance systems. Gribble says that the marriage of the UPM, UVLM and Decision Dynamics will create a “ com pletely new approach to maintenance” and will give Deci- Dr. Boss opens new clinic within Dr. Robert Boss has announc ed the opening of a new “ clinic within a clinic” at the Boardman Health Care Clinic. The new clinic. Desert Wind Clinic, will operate in the same location on Kinkade Ave., Boardman, with essentially the same personnel but will be considered a separate en tity for scheduling and accounting purposes. Desert Wind Clinic is in the process of being certified as a Rural Health Care Clinic which will make the two clinics better able to serve patients now being seen at the Boardman Health Care Clinic, said Dr. Boss. “ Patients need not worry about which clinic they should make appointments with,” Boss said, “ since staff is being trained to assist in that mat ter.” Boss has operated the Board- man Health Care Clinic since 1990 and is assisted by physician assistant Tony Carabba. Dr. Donald Rose provides fill-in relief. The combined Boardman Health Care Clinic and the new Desert Wind Clinic will continue to provide family practice and in ternal medicine for the Boardman and Irrigon communities. Medicare consumer guide available Consumers shopping for in surance to supplement their Medicare benefits will soon get help from the latest edition of the Oregon Consumer Guide to Medicare Supplement Insurance and HMOs. The guide is a detailed com parison of the benefits and premiums of every Medicare sup plement plan currently approved for sale in Oregon. The publica tion also contains detailed com parison of the state’s Medicare Health Maintenance Organiza tions (HMOs). “ This guide offers Oregonians a chance to have all the facts when choosing a Medicare sup plement policy,” said Kerry Barnett, department director. “ We’re pleased to make the guide available for the sixth year.” M edicare supplem ent in surance is private health in- surance sold to supplement the federal government's Medicare program. Sometimes known as “ Medigap” insurance because it fills all or part of the gaps bet ween Medicare beneficiaries’ ac tual expenses and the amount Medicare pays. To get a free copy of the brochure, write: SHIBA. Oregon Insurance Consumer Advocacy, Department of Consumer and Business Services. 470 Labor and Industries Bldg., Salem, OR 97310. L-R: Lowell, Doug, holding Ultra-Lube and Stuart Gribble sion Dynamics a more complete picture in maintenance systems. In communicating with Grib ble, Eugene Bryan, president of Decision Dynamics, writes, “ You have in Mr. Doug Gribble, a son you can be proud of. He has an all-too-rare combination of high intelligence, creativity, am bition and rock solid integrity. We look forward to a long-term win/win relationship with Doug, Stuart and you as we bring our receptive strengths together to do great things.” Gribble started out 25 years ago with a Deleon Dectector, m anufactured by Hew litt Packard. The detector tested the condition of the bearing, but many times, the companies that had the detectors didn’t know what to do with them. So, Grib ble built a service company around the detector. Gribble’s experiences are many and varied. At one time he own ed a service station in Pendleton. Out of that came a district sales manager position. He then went to work for a farm chemicals company at Athena and later operated a farm chem icals distributing company in Morrow and Gilliam County called Inland Chemical Services, bringing Shell NH3 chemical fertilizer into the area. He eventually sold out to Shell around 17 years later. He then came upon an ad for the Hewlitt Packard detector and became involved in that enter prise. The Gribbles, who came to Heppner in 1952, later moved to Salem where they spent 12 years before returning in 1990. “ We love this community,” said Grib ble, who, along with his wife, Dolores (“ Dee” ), is an avid golfer and was a key figure in the formation of the Heppner golf course. Gribble, who just turned 84, was also instrumental in bringing irrigation to Morrow County. He wrote a proposition to Shell Chemical Company in regards to irrigation in north Morrow County. While Shell’s system wasn’t implemented, Gribble’s idea sparked interest and what would evolve into a multi-million-dollar industry. During the Gribbles’ first sojourn in Heppner, Lowell and Dee, 83, both did a stint as Justice of the Peace at the Morrow County Courthouse. Gribble credits God and his close-knit family for their suc cess. He is president of UPM and a board member of UVLM. His wife is UPM vice president; Doug is secretary-treasurer of UPM and president of UVLM; Stuart is boardmember of UPM and vice-president of UVLM; daughter, Barbara D iggins, boardmember of UPM. Doug has been in the business 25 years and Stuart, 23. The senior Gribbles now have six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Ultra-Vibe, the instrument Gribble uses in his service com pany, has been copyrighted and registered by UPM. UPM now has stock which will be available for sale soon in Oregon. Ultra- Lube has been registered and patented through UVLM. UVLM stock is not available. Gribble says that all 10 of the original Ultra-Lubes and another 25 on order have been sold. Plans on the horizon for the companies in clude developing export potential, expansion, developing new technology and creating new op portunities for employment. “ Morrow County's been good to m e,” concluded Gribble, “ and I think I’ve been pretty good to it.” Wranglers trail ride July 9 The Wranglers annual Trail Ride will be held July 9 starting at 11 a.m. with a barbecue to follow at approximately 3 p.m. The ride will be on the Alder, Skookum trails and will take around four hours. Riders should bring canteens. Directions are as follows: Go 26 miles to Anson Wright Park, take a left for nine miles to Tup- per Guard Station, three miles past Tupper to the Alder, Skookum trail sign with a left off the main road at the sign, 1A mile to the barbecue site. It takes around one hour to haul with a total of 38 miles from Heppner. Cost for the ride and barbecue is $5 single and $15 family. Those attending should bring a salad or dessert. Everyone is invited to par ticipate. RSVP to Judy Barber 676-5037, T erra Adams 676-5819 or Judy Eckman 989-8498. Coordinating Council to meet The next meeting of the Hepp ner Coordinating Council will be held Tuesday, July 12 at 7:30 a.m. at the GEODC office. Council members are nearing completion of the rewriting of the Heppner Strategic Plan. Goals and strategies statements have been completed. Specific action plans designed to accomplish the goals and strategies are being formulated. The public is invited to attend Heppner Coordinating Council meetings. Hearing on health districts set A public hearing concerning the formation of two health districts in Morrow County will be held on Wednesday, July 6 at 7 p.m. at the Morrow County School District Office in Lex ington. The Morrow County Court will hear public comment on the issue. The first such district is known as the “ Boardman Medical District” and the second district is known as the “ County-wide Medical District” . This meeting is a continuation of the first hear ing pursuant to the statutory district form ation process. Anyone may appear and be heard. Stop by and say HI to Charlie Graybeal Our new Tire Department Manager Morrow County Crain Growers Lexington, OR • 989-8221 • 1-800-452-7396
