BEO adds second story to operations center
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Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Library
University o f Oregon
Eugene. OR 97403
Workers of David Allstott Construction, LLC finish laying the groundwork for the second floor.
VOL 124
NO. 38
10 Pages Wednesday, September 21,2005
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Lexington Council grapples with issues
The Lexington City
C ou n cil g ra p p le d w ith
num erous issu es, m any
w ater re la te d , at th e ir
Tuesday, Sept. 13, regular
meeting.
M ayor
John
E dw ards q u e stio n e d a
statem ent in the m inutes
concerning six of the town’s
fire hydrants, which had been
listed as non-functioning.
E dw ards said th at the
hydrants are functioning and
the m in u tes should be
changed to indicate such.
The minutes were updated to
read “six fire hydrants that
need to be replaced.” The
issue concerned refitting the
hydrants with larger ports.
In other business, the
council:
-discussed the rate
charge fo r HBO on
Lexington cable television,
which is currently not paying
for itself. No action was
taken.
- d i s c u s s e d
Workman's Comp in regard
to a contractor who was not
a city employee, but was not
believed to be carrying his
own insurance.
-discussed a request
to the Lexington Council
from the Morrow County
Planning D epartm ent for
seed money to apply for
grants to develop a 50-year
w ater plan fo r M orrow
C ounty. The co u n cil
approved $100 toward that
fund.
-d isc u sse d
a
discrepancy in water meter
usage for two Lexington
residences. The city has not
discovered evidence of a
leak at their end. The owner
of one of the residences has
continued page two
Canadian family bicycles through Heppner to Arizona
A Canadian couple
and their two children, on
a bicycle trip from Canada
to Arizona, passed through
H eppner this w eek and
became guests of the Kay
and Mike Proctor family.
Andy Holmes, 35,
his wife, Martine Bedard,
36, and their two children,
Sylvie, two, and Lily, one,
left their home in Rossland,
British Columbia, Sept. 9,
traveling by a combination
o f rid in g b ic y cles and
taking the bus all the way
to Arizona.
The fam ily was
traveling by bicycle through
Heppner to the RV park at
the Willow Creek Dam and
were riding right by the
Proctor home when they
w ere sp o tted by Kay
Proctor, who took them to
her home for a respite and
provided them food and
shelter.
“This is the cutest
town,” said Martine. “It’s
the n icest tow n w e ’ve
seen.”
“The hospitality in
Oregon has been great,”
added Andy.
A ndy, w ho was
bom in England, has lived
in Canada since he was six.
Martine, who was bom in
M o n treal, is French
C an ad ian and speaks
French with their children.
Andy Holmes. Martine Bedard, with Lily and Sylvie
She took English in school,
but d id n ’t really learn
English until she was 20. The
two, who had been on a
p aren tal le av e — C anada
provides one year of paid
parental leave at 55 percent
of salary for new parents,
w hich can be sh ared —
decided to extend their stay
to make this journey to be
with their young daughters
while they could. The girls
would become too heavy in
a few months to allow their
parents to pack them on their
bikes, but the couple had
more compelling reasons.
The adventure would allow
them to simplify their lives
and be with their daughters
all the tim e. “ I t ’s an
adventure,” said Andy. “Life
is just too short. There’s a lot
of breast cancer in my family
and we realized that life is
just too short not to take
ad v an tag e
of
this
opportunity. We want to live
life to the fullest while we
can.”
So the couple, who
both are watercolor artists
and have p o st-g rad u ate
degrees in art therapy, sold
their paintings, sold their car.
cashed in their savings and
rented their house to finance
the trip. In addition to their
art. Andy, who was currently
continued page two
ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE:
MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M.
’
I
The Bank of Eastern
Oregon is adding 3000-plus
square feet in a second story
on top of the 4500 square
foot o p e ra tio n s c e n te r/
adm inistrative office that
was built in 1998.
The addition will
house nine offices and a
boardroom with an elevator
to the second story.
A dm inistrative personnel
using the new offices will
include President and CEO
George Koffler, Executive
Vice President and COO
Linda LaRue, Chief Credit
Officer and Vice President
Jeff Bailey, the Finance
Department consisting of
Finance O ffic e r Jan et
Dezellem and Christi Correa,
the H um an R esources
D ep artm en t
inclu d in g
Human Resources manager
Tricia Gunderson and Jill
Martin. Compliance Officer
D aw na D ougherty and
E xecutive A ssistan t and
Marketing Assistant Babette
Wall.
The existing lower
level will house the Data
Processing Center including
In fo rm atio n
S ystem s
Manager and Vice President
K evin M cC abe, Sunday
Dyer and Laurie Barrow.
Operations Manager Becky
K indle and electronic-
banking specialists Rhonda
Winter and Lynn Uitto along
with Accounts Payable clerk
Mindy Davidson. Supply
sp ecialist and statem ent
departm ent clerk D onna
Osmin will also be located in
the existing building that is
also hom e to the banks
training center.
The additional space
is the result of the bank's
acquisition of seven Klamath
First branches late in 2003
and the resulting growth
from an $80 million bank in
total assets to approximately
$175 million in total assets.
General contractor
for the project is David
A llsto tt
of
A llsto tt
Construction LLC. The five-
man
crew
started
construction in August and
the sch ed u le calls for a
completion date of Dec. 31.
2005.
The Bank of Eastern
Oregon is a 60-year-old bank
with 1 I b ran ch es in six
eastern Oregon counties.
They include Heppner. lone,
Irrig o n .
B oardm an,
Arlington. Condon, Moro.
Fossil. Burns, John Day and
Prairie City. The bank also
featu res a full service
Mortgage Division headed
Construction begins on the face of the new second story of Bank
of Eastern Oregon.
by Vice P resid en t and
Mortgage Manager Melissa
Lindsay. Loan Production
offices are also located in
Ontario and Hermiston. The
bank also has a financial
services department headed
by Assistant Vice President
Anda Kay Zastrow.
Health district shows
unprecedented $175,000
profit
o u tp a tie n ts
and
The Morrow County
Health District showed an
unprecedented $175.000
profit for August, mainly due
to a spike in em ergency
room
and
o u tp a tie n t
charges. The welcome profit
bucks years o f m ostly
negative balances.
The district had an
$81,534
gain
from
operations and a $93,516
non-operating gain, which
included an $80,(XX) “brand
new decontamination unit”
donated by CSEPP. which
was listed as an asset on
ad v ice o f the d is tric t's
accountant.
D ata for A ugust
includes 475 outpatients and
96
em ergency
room
encounters. In July, which
showed an atypical $31.398
p ro fit, M CHD had 394
58
em ergency
room
encounters.
O ther August data
includes: 1,363 lab tests,
w ith 152 of those inpatient
tests and 1,211 outpatient
tests; 131 x-ray procedures;
27 CT scans; 28 EKG tests;
two treadmill procedures;
367 patient visits at Pioneer
Memorial Clinic with nine
new patients and 47 patients
seen by a nurse; 289 patient
visits at the Irrigon Clinic
with 33 new patients, 43
seen by a nurse and 22 no-
shows; 29 ambulance runs
for Heppner Ambulance with
28 transports, 17 ambulance
runs for the B oardm an
A m bulance,
w ith 13
transports, seven ambulance
runs for the Irrigon
A m bulance, w ith six
transports, and three flights
continued page two
Day receives jail sentence in
embezzlement case
Sandra Kay Day, 39. of Heppner. was convicted of
Theft I. a Class C felony and Theft II, a misdemeanor, for
her embezzlement of funds from Morrow County, said
David Allen. Morrow County District Attorney. Day
embezzled approximately $1().(XX) in a two-year period
from the Morrow County Transfer Station. Day acquired
the money by falsifying reports given to the Morrow County
Treasury Department and taking cash from receipts
collected from the transfer station, explained Allen.
Day was sentenced to 120 days in jail, 80 hours
community service, two years supervised probation and
payment of $10,(XX) in restitution. The jail sentence began
Sept. 12 at Umatilla County Jail. Additional fines were
suspended due to the payment of restitution, said Allen.
After discovering the method Day used in the
embezzlement. Morrow County has changed practices in
receiving the receipt of monies gathered at the transfer
station and now has a reconciliation process between public
works and treasury, said Allen.
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