H ealth district seeks fix for budget woes
B e s 3 ie A'etaeli
U o f J N e « a ?a r,ar L i b r a r y
E u g e a « , OR 9'M
VOL. 122
NO. 23
12 Pages
Wednesday, June 4, 2003
Stories of the Flood
Taken from the San Francisco Call, June 18,
1903 edition:
H.K.. Bennett w as ju st finished his d a y ’s w ork in
his store when he says he felt that som ething fearful w as
going to happen. It had been raining and thundering for
som e tim e. He hastened hom e and told his wife they had
better go up on high ground. She laughed at him, but he
insisted so strongly that she at last accompanied him. They
had hardly reached a safe lim it w hen they saw a w all o f
water fully twenty-five feet high sweeping down the canyon.
He rushed dow n below the First N ational bank building
and aided m any in getting out. He said the roar was fearful
and the crash o f buildings grinding together and pulverizing
by the flood will long be remembered.
W hen the flood w as at its height, the w ater w as
knee deep in the b a n k ...
O scar H eppner had one o f the m ost thrilling
experiences. He saw his house going and determ ined to
save his family. Crawling over logs, trees and parts ofbroken
houses he reached his hom e and succeeded in saving his
family. He was badly bruised by his perilous trip.
George Conser, cashier o f the First National bank,
was down stairs in his house when the flood came. He woke
his w ife and rushed upstairs ju st as the house started. The
water was up to his neck part o f the time and by holding his
wife up he was able to save her from drowning. They drifted
dow n the canyon for about a m ile and landed up against
another house.
Mr. Conser kicked the window out and succeeded
in climbing onto the ro o f and escaping.
N.H. Galatt who lives nearly ten miles south started
to aid the sufferers as soon as he heard o f the disaster. He
found that the water spout had destroyed property and lives
for about twelve miles southward. Along the road the scene
w as terrible. In places the roadw ay w as w ashed out six
feet deep and other places rocks and drift w as piled up
equally as high. Destruction o f property is fearful. Farms
are w ashed out, gardens destroyed and every house near
the creek was brought dow n with the flood.
Souvenir flood edition goes on sale
Bert Houweling (left), owner o f Central Market, and David
Sykes, publisher o f the H eppner Gazette-Tim es, display the
souvenir front page o f the 1903 Heppner Gazette flood edition
that is now on sale at stores throughout Heppner.
The reprinted front page tells o f the story o f the devastating
flood and gives a partial list o f the known dead at that time.
The page will sell for $5 and is available at Central Market,
M urray Drugs, G ardner’s M en’s Wear, Peterson’s Jewelers,
Heppner Gazette-Times and W heatland Insurance.
A portion o f the proceeds from the sale o f the pages will go to
the com m em oration com m ittee which is putting on the 100-
year centennial celebration o f the flood.___________________
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Vandals hit
grange, church
auction items
Sometime last week vandals
entered the lone G range hall
and did thousands o f dollars
in dam age to not only the hall
but to the auction items stored
P ersistent financial
w oes, including a $117,000
loss for April and a $456,000
loss for the year, are prompting
M o rro w C o u n ty H e a lth
D istrict C E O V ictor Vander
D oes and the M CH D Board
to e x a m in e th e d is tr ic t’s
funding options. Vander Does
and the board, at their regular
m eeting M ay 27 in Heppner,
agreed that the district cannot
a f f o r d to c o n tin u e th e
extensive losses and consulted
w ith
M o rro w
C o u n ty
A s s e s s o r G re g S w ee k to
ex p lo re th e p o ssib ility o f
putting a new tax before the
voters to prop up the district.
C o n s id e r in g
th e
current state-w ide econom ic
s itu a tio n , b o a rd m em bers
were hesitant to take a new tax
before the voters, especially in
an election that would require
a double m ajority. A sim ple
m ajority is required only in
g e n e ra l e le c tio n s. V ander
D oes su g g ested a tax that
w ould link M C H D with the
M o rro w C o u n ty S c h o o l
District, and possibly provide
health programs to the school
district, but board m em bers
felt that citizen dissatisfaction
w ith the school district could
possibly hinder, rather than help
the health district. A nother
option could be to float a levy
to emergency medical services
and link that to funding the
clinics the district operates in
H eppner and Irrigon, which,
according to Vander Does, are
the “big drains” to the district
financially. (Pioneer Memorial
Clinic, with a full-tim e and a
p art-tim e p h y sician and a
physician's assistant, saw 443
patients in April. Irrigon Clinic,
w ith a physician’s assistant and
occasional physician, saw 171
patients in April.)
“ It’s not going to get
any better,” said Vander Does.
“ 1 don’t see anything coming
out o f the state. T h e re ’s not
going to be any safety net.
Everything’s got to be local.”
Chief Financial Officer
Nicole M ahoney stressed that
if the board opts for a local
tax, time is o f the essence. “If
you wait ‘til (fiscal year) 2004,
you w o n ’t get the m oney ‘til
2005,” she said. If a tax were
passed in Septem ber o f this
year, the health district could
collect in fiscal year 2003-04,
if the budget included the levy
m o n ie s a n d w as a d o p te d
before June 30 o f this year. If
the tax was not approved until
Novem ber, the district could
not collect until fiscal year
2004-05. “ W e’re not going to
be able to m ake it if we d on’t
(add a supplemental tax),” said
M ahoney. “ We d o n ’t have
enough patients to generate
enough revenue to continue
operations. If we run out o f
m oney, w e c a n ’t p ay ou r
vendors and c a n ’t pay our
payroll. We have to decide
w hat serv ices you w ant and
prioritize them . It needs to
happen soon.”
Vander Does said that
he has asked for a five-percent
cost reduction from hospital
dep artm en ts, but said that
budget cuts alone are not
sufficient to balance the budget
and stressed that there is not
much more to cut. The district
anticipates a $300,000 gift
from an e s ta te , w h ic h is
expected to ease the district’s
financial problem s for one
year, depending in which fiscal
year the gift arrives, but does
not solve the district’s long
term problems. Vander Does
and the board agree that they
cannot continue to supply all
serv ices they currently provide,
but the hard jo b is to decide
w hich services are to be cut.
A bout $1,000 of dam age was done to church auction items
th e r e w a itin g fo r th is
Saturday’s annual lone United
Church o f Christ’s auction.
T he dam age was discov
ered Saturday morning when
volunteers show ed up to be
gin w orking on preparing for
the auction.
D am age was estim ated at
around $3,000 - $2,000 to
the building and $ 1,000 to auc
tion items.
The vandals apparently en
tered the building through a
dow nstairs door after break
ing a window.
The vandals proceeded to
open cans o f food and throw
the contents around the room.
They also took knives and slit
open several couches located
downstairs.
Pornographic graffiti was
scrawled on the walls as well
as the words, ‘Bitch we got u
back, ha ha” written on one o f
the counters.
Police said Tuesday they had
not apprehended anyone for
the crim e, how ever Saturday
shefifTs deputies Loren Dieter
and Brian Rietmann were tak
ing fingerprints from the knives
and other objects.
A fine pow der w as spread
over the floor and furniture
ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE:
MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M.
dow nstairs w here fire extin
guishers had been set off.
Up stairs was trashed heav ily
as the vandals tipped over
tables laden with auction items
and broke glass and other
items.
The restroom s w ere also
trashed and the toilets plugged.
By Saturday afternoon a
crew o f 20 volunteers had tom
up the old carpet and hauled
o ff several o f the destroyed
couches. By Sunday morning
new carpet had been p u r
chased and volunteers were
installing it
The Rev Paul C lay o f the
lone United Church o f Christ
said the auction is ready to go.
‘ We are expecting a great day
Satuday w ith lots o f people
and good food and lots o f fun,"
he said.
Rev. C lay also said there
would be another work party
scheduled for Friday a 19a.m.
and anyone who would like to
help is welcome.
C h u rc h m em b e r Jean
Jepsen, w ho w as the first to
discover the vandalism , said
"W e will be ready to go. I is
so m eth in g that slow s you
down, but d oesn’t stop you.”
"W e’re looking at reducing
staffhours,” said Vander Does.
“The next cut w on’t be labor.
It will be services.” Vander
Does estimated that the district
n e e d s a n o th e r d o lla r p e r
thousand in tax m onies to
survive.
Sw eek presented the
board information on tax rates
th ro u g h o u t th e d is tr ic t,
including utilities, industrial
taxes and enterprise zones and
“compression”, and provided
some answers as to how these
issues affect the health district’s
taxing capability. The board
d isc u s s e d the re q u e st by
M CH D Board m em ber Ed
Glenn, Boardman, to have the
city o f Boardman be excluded
from the M orrow C ounty
Health District, but took no
action as the district is not yet
sure whether that action would
result in increased costs for the
citizens o f B oardm an and
w hether it w ould help the
d istric t’s bottom line. The
b o a rd a lso d isc u s s e d the
p o s s ib ility o f th e c ity o f
Boardman annexing the land
o n w h ic h th e p ro p o s e d
N ascar race track is to be
built, since that land currently
is on the county tax rolls, but
abuts city property. The city
o f B o a rd m a n p re v io u s ly
gained substantial tax monies
after annexing Port o f Morrow
industrial property. If the city
o f Boardm an opts out o f the
district, Boardman taxpayers
could have to pay 90 cents to
$ 1 per thousand to support
their medical services, versus
the 60-1 12 cents per thousand
they currently pay.
In other business, the
board agreed to an added
eight percent incentive for Dr.
Sam Datta, who is employed
with the district in H eppner,
w h ich c o u ld in cre ase his
current salary o f $ 125,000 up
to $ 140,000. W hile the board
was reluctant to increase costs
for the district, they agreed on
the importance o f consistency
in h e a lth c a re p ro v id e rs ,
D atta’s good standing in the
Heppner com m unity and the
value o f financial returns he
brings to the district, w hich
V ander D oes estim a tes at
a ro u n d $ 2 7 7 ,0 0 0 . W h ile
M CH D also pays $140,000
to Dr. R o b e rt B o ss, w ho
operates a private clinic in
B o a rd m a n , th e d is tr ic t
receives no direct financial
return, other than the “good
w i l l ” o f th e B o a rd m a n
community.
In related business,
th e b o a rd v o te d a g a in s t
reimbursing Dr. Boss for costs
for two physician’s assistants
during a one-month transition
period, w here one PA was
training to replace another who
had announced his resignation.
They agreed to pay $5,841 to
Dr. Boss to reimburse him for
costs for one PA, rather than
the $ 10,214 he requested. The
board w as in agreem ent that
Dr. Boss m ust abide by the
terms o f his new contract and
provide required data to the
district in order to receive
monthly payments.
In o th e r b u s in e s s ,
Vander Does announced the
resignation o f W illow Creek
T e rra c e A s s is te d L iv in g
adm inistrator Tonia A dam s.
Nancy Vander Does will serve
as a d m in istra to r until the
facility is fully occupied. Hie
assisted living center currently
has seven residents, but has a
potential for 16.
S heriff deputies investigate the crim e scene
HiQual L iv e s to c k E q u ip m e n t
C L 0 5 E O U T S A L E OI\l S E L E C T E D IT E M S
• Bale Spikes • Flex H orse Ponds • and m orel
Call or sto p b y for a co m p le te list of sale Ite m s
Morrow County Grain Growers
Lexington 989-8221 • 1-800-452-7396
For farm equipment. viti« our wtb »it* at www.nKgg.not
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