Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 26, 2007)
Sager to retire from BEO ....., . . Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Library 1 niversity o f Oregon hugene, OR 97403 Harley Sager will re tire on Thursday, September 27, from the Bank o f Eastern Oregon after 13 years. Sager was born in Caldwell, ID to Harley and Eula Sager. When he was six, Sager’s family moved to Payette C ounty where he attended the Fruitland Sehools aeross from Nyssa. Sager graduated in 1955 and started working at First Interstate Bank on Mareh 6, 1956. He worked there for 17 years. In A pril o f 1973, Sager w ent to w ork for C&B Livestock and continued working there until May of 1982. Sager went back to work for the First Interstate Bank in 1982 and worked there for 12 more years. Sager first came to Heppner in June o f 1962 and has come back to Hep pner three other times since then. Sager and his wife, Bertha, will celebrate their 49,h wedding anniversary on Thursday, September 27. The Sagers have four chil dren and 16 grandchildren. Kelly J. Sager and his wife live in Africa w ith their six children where they serve Harley Sager as m issionaries. Kirk D. Sager and his wife have four children and live in Grants Pass. Cheri L. Ross and her husband live with their three children in LaHabra, CA. Kimela K. Griffin and her husband live in Stanfield w ith their three children. Sager com m ented that retirement plans include "anything my wife wants me to do.” The Sagers hav e been to Africa twice to visit their son and family and hope to be able to go again, if their health permits. He is proud to say that he has had 51 years o f continuous employment. Sager, w ho driv es 98 miles roundtrip from Herm iston to Heppner, waves at everyone he sees. “ I will miss wav ing at everyone,” said Sager, “ I w ill miss Heppner.” A retirem ent party will be held at the Bank of Eastern Oregon on Thurs day, September 27, from I to 4 p.m. in the lobby. Health district approves contract with new physician, contract negotiations with Dr. Ed Berretta VOL. 126 NO. 39 10 Pages Wednesday, September 26, 2007 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Explosion still under investigation On Septem ber 22, 2007 at 6:50 p.m., the Mor row County Sheriff's Office 911 Center was contacted by Fawn Cate at the Bulow Farms at 77082 Pole Line Road outside o f Boardman regarding a large explosion. Morrow County S heriff’s Office deputies along with Boardman Ambulance, Irri- gon Ambulance and Board- Heppner Chamber to hold dinner dance The Heppner Cham ber o f Commerce w ill hold their first annual Rawhide and R hinestones D inner Dance on Saturday, October 20 at the Morrow County Fairgrounds from 7 to 11 p.m. Cover fee for this event is $8 for singles and $15 for couples. L a d ie s, w e a r all the sparkly je w elry you can stand. Men, wear your jeans. A no host food and beer, wine will be provided by B ucknum 's C atering. The meal cost will be $10- 15 per plate. Proceeds will ben efit the Heppner Chamber of Commerce. Tickets can be pur chased at City Hall. Heppner Chamber o f Commerce, and Murray Drugs. For more in formation contact the cham ber at 676-5536. man Fire Department re sponded. Upon arrival, depu ties located a white male adult id en tified as John Brandon Paradiso, 29, that had been seriously injured. Initial investigation believes that the explosion was a re sult o f an explosive devise. The subject was transported by A m bulan ce to G ood S hepherd M edical C en ter in Hermiston. Paradiso died due to the result o f the injuries sustained in the explosion. The O regon State Police Bomb Squad Unit was called to assist Mor row County Sheriff's O f fice in making sure that the residence and outbuildings were secure and to assist in the investigation. The Morrow County Sheriff’s Office is still cur rently investigating the ex plosion. M orrow County Sheriff's Office, along w ith Umatilla County Sheriff's Office, OSP, ATF, as well as other law enforcement, are continuing the investigation at the location o f the explo sion. Boardman Fire Depart ment, as well as Boardman EMS, were available on scene to assist. Additional informa tion, when learned, will be made available at that time. Hunting party has double success Dale Pearson (right) of Portland had a good day Sunday, September 9. when he hagged his nice six-point elk near Hep- pner. Mike Rowe of Damascus (left) later shot a five-point elk. Odd Fellows make donation to Assisted Living Center w ,v ' ( °"'".» / * Livestock \uctf The Heppner branch of the Odd Fellows recently purchased a hog at the 4H/ FFA Auction during the Morrow County Fair. The hog was raised by Kassey Wilson. The organization then had the hog butchered and donated the meat to the Assisted l.iving Center. “It was a natural choice," said Randall Peterson of their decision to donate the meat to the Assisted Living Center. The Morrow County Health D istrict Board, at their regular meeting Mon day night in Boardman, ap proved a three-year contract with physician Betsy Ander son and gave the go-ahead for M CHD CEO V ictor Vander Does to complete negotiations for a new con tract with Dr. Ed Berretta. Vander Does said that the district has sufficient prov iders to staff the clin ics in Heppner and Irrigon and the emergency room at Pioneer Memorial Hospital. However, he said, all the new physician prospects have "bailed out”. Also at the meeting Vander Does told the board that he expects to receive plans for the sw ing bed remodel by the end of the week with the project ex pected to be started in Janu ary and completed by May or June. The rem odeling would enable the district to once again offer long-term care patients. The district has already accepted one long-term care patient and has four people expressing a "firm desire” to be admitted to that program, said Vander Does. The project is ex pected to cost in the neigh borhood of $800,000. Vander Does said that the district has receiv ed $20,000 in Tippage Fee money, $20-25,000 from the hospital foundation and another $30,000 in prev ious nursing home donations, with around $700,000 left to finance. Chief Financial Of ficer Nicole Mahoney said that the additional monies could be financed through a flex-lease, but added that the district expects around $400,000 from the state and has around $1.2 million in the bank. In other business, the board: -learned that the dis trict plans to hire an addi tional receptionist at Pioneer Memorial Clinic in Heppner to assist staff because o f the increased number of provid ers working there. -learned from Vander Does that a new portable x- ray machine is in the bud get for next year, because the wheels on the current one are deteriorating. The district plans to opt for a demo model from Turn-Key which would cost $37,000. A new model was quoted at $42,000. The machine will be compatible to the d istric t's existing digital equipment. -approved mov ing from AIG to Hudson for malpractice insurance. Ac cording to Vander Does, AIG prov ided poor serv ice and hiked their rates from $57,000 per year to $83,000. He said that Hudson pro vided the low bid, the same benefits and the policy has no deductible, com pared to AIG with a $10,000 de d u ctib le. He added that Hudson was also low bid last year, but because rates were comparable w ith AIG, the district decided against switching companies at that time. However, said Vander Does, “ I'm not going to stick with AIG when its $30,000 more.” -approved an e x penditure o f $15,000, plus or minus $1,000, for pur chase o f a new vehicle for the district and approved a plan to replace the existing vehicles on a yearly basis. Vander Does said that mile age on the district's current vehicles, four Ford Focuses that were purchased very economically several years ago, is now in the 80,000- 1 0 0 ,0 0 0 -m ile range and they need replacement after hard use. Three o f the cars were used by Home Health and Hospice and one was used for ad m in istratio n . Vander Does suggested that the district purchase Toyota Corollas. -approved a resolu tion authorizing the Mor row County Treasurer to invest funds for MCHD for 2007-08, usually in the state pool. -learned from Ma honey that the district ended July with a $162,350 gain and ended August with a $54,381 gain for a $216,732 gain for the first two months in the new fiscal year. "We started o ff the year very w ell,” she said. The dis trict made $209,401 more than budgeted for those two months. -heard the following report: Pioneer Memorial Clinic had 350 patient visits for August with eight new patients and 60 seen by a nurse; Irrigon Clinic had 249 patients with 55 new patients, 32 seen by a nurse and 14 no show s; H ep pner Ambulance had eight page-outs in August with six transports for $8,815 in rev enue and 16 transports in July for $ 16,486 in rev enue; Boardman Ambulance had 36 page-outs with 15 trans ports in August for $ 15,681 and 18 transports in July for $ 17,185; Irrigon Ambulance had 16 page-outs with 13 transports in A ugust for $11,542 and 10 transports in July for $8,810; Pioneer Memorial Hospital had one adm ission in August and three in July, 17 admitted for observation in August and 24 in July, 425 outpa tients in August and 375 in July; 49 emergency room encounters in August and 64 in July; 1,434 lab tests in August and 1,727 in July, 91 x-ray procedures in August and 103 in July; 24 CT scans in August, 26 in July; 19 EKG tests in August, 37 in July, 37 respiratory therapy procedures in August, 184 in July; Home Health had 200 visits in August, 178 in July; H ospice had six admits in July; pharmacy adm inistered 1,109 drug doses in August for $66,449 in revenue and 1,769 in July for $110,173. Heppner Booster Club to host steak feed and auction Mark your calendars. The Heppner Booster C lub Steak Feed and Auction is coming October 13. Dinner will be at 6 p.m. and the auction will be at 8 p.m. The dinner w ill consist of steak, potato, salad, bread and dessert. Tickets can be purchased ahead o f time at the following locations for S12 each. Holloman's. Heppner TV and Green Feed. 10°/o OFF PARTS AMD LABOR through February, 2008 ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M. We also have special financing: six months no interest, no payments on $1,500 or more of Case IH parts and service from Sept. 1, 2007 through Dec. 31, 2007 Morrow County Grain Growers Lexington 989-8221 ■ 1-800-452-7396 For form equipment rt»lt our web otto at wwwmciKiiot
