Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 27, 2008)
Data company looks at industrial park By David Sykes 1 1 1 1 • 1 1 1 a • i • 1 1 1 111 > 111 ■ 11 • 1 1 • 1 11 Bessie W et/ell Newspaper Library L ni V ersi tv o f Oregon Eugene, OR 97403 A California com pany that sp ec ia liz es in locating data centers has signed an option to lease 25 acres o f ground at the South Morrow Industrial Park out side of Heppner, the Port o f Morrow has announced. The follow ing ar ticle about the lease option appeared on the “ Data Cen ter Know ledge” web site, a site that is a leading source o f daily news and analysis about the data center indus try: A CDH California data center consultant, CDH Con sulting, has leased 25 acres o f land in a business park in Morrow County, Oregon w ith plans to develop a data center project. The vacant land in Heppner, Oregon is w ithin the Port o f Morrow and could receive afford able electric pow er from the Columbia Basin Electri cal Cooperative. The CDH site is about 50 miles from Google’s data center cam pus at The Dalles, Oregon. Chris Hardin, president of Santa Clara, Calif.-based CDH, told local officials that he is in talks with clients about building a data center project that could involve an investment o f $ 100 mil lion. “ It's very p re lim i nary,” Hardin said, adding that “w e've identified some key factors. This particular site has a high percentage o f those q u alificatio n s.” Jerry Healy, general manager o f Columbia Basin Electric Cooperative in Hep pner, told local media that Heppner isn't the only place in Oregon where corpora tions are seeking to estab lish data centers. “Oregon has probably the ch eap est power structure on the West Coast,” he said, “and that’s why they're looking in Oregon. We'd certainly like to see an opportuni ty like this in H eppner." CDH has a one-year option on the site, which is located in the Port o f Mor row. The land leased by CDH was previously part o f the Kinzua Mill logging operation, and has fiber con nectivity from Windwave Communications. Employment at the facility could vary from 25 to 100, H ardin said, w ith the building occupying 150,000 to 200,000 square feet. Hardin said if con structed the facility could house a call center, customer service cen ter, te le c o m munications center or data center. US Army Corps of Engineers hold public hearing regarding Willow Creek Lake purposes. He said irrigators 75 that under the lake's orig- have not taken advantage of The US Army Corps inal operating instructions the water until several years o f Engineers held a public 3,500 acre feet o f water Continued on page S hearing in H eppner last were allocated for irrigation week to discuss the plan to make long term agreements to release 2,500 acre-feet of water from Willow Creek Lake each year for use in irrigation o f farm land down stream from the dam. S in c e p ro p o se d in November the plan has caused controversy in the community with irrigators saying they need the water and recreationists fearful the drawdown will harm fishing and other recreational activ ity at the lake. The Corps of Engi neers was asking for public comments on the proposals when it received enough written comments (60) that it decided to hold a public hearing in Heppner to ex plain the proposal. Taylor Kem pas of Heppner hustles to get the hall Tim Kuhn, project Senior from a C hiloquinn Queen. The Mustangs advance to Pend manager o f the lake was on leton, beating the Queens 66-39. The Mustangs took on San- hand and told the crowd of tiam todav at 3:15 in Pendleton. Photo by Sandy Matthews Bv David Sykes Heppner girls continue on in bid for state title VOL. 127 NO. 9 8 Pages Wednesday, February 27 2008 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Heppner Juvenile Department names new director By Autumn Morgan The Heppner Juve nile D epartm ent recently added a new member to their workforce. Tom Meier from Pendleton recently stepped in to take the position o f juvenile director. Meier took on the position vacated by Carolyn Holt who retired from the position in January after 35 years o f service. Meier, who is from Pendleton, worked for 13 years as a probation officer in Umatilla County and for the- last year has worked with the child welfare sys tem. Meier, who has a bach elor's degree in history from Whitman College in Walla W alla, said he stum bled into this line o f work right out o f college. After gradu ation, he started working in the juvenile detention center in Pendleton and has been working with some aspect Tim Meier o f the juvenile system ever since. M eier said he was initially worried about how smoothly his transition from w ork w ith child w elfare and as a probation officer would go. But he said he was pleased to learn that he would basically be doing the same job he did before as a probation officer but is also acting as an administrator. “This job works hand-in- hand with the child welfare system in many different ways,” said Meier. Meier said that Mor row County is one o f the few counties in Oregon in which the juvenile director also acts as the probation of ficer. He said he was initially surprised at the differences between how problems are handled here as compared to other counties. “Not much is dismissed here in Heppner,” said Meier. “ We handle the s tu ff big co u n tie s d o n ’t handle. We don't specialize with one aspect, we deal with everything and it keeps us busy. Carolyn (Holt) built good partnerships with the police, courts, schools, at torneys and counselors.” M eier’s wife Heidi is employed with the O r egon Youth Authority and is based out o f Pendleton. Let’s hear it for the girls! Ilcppner fans, Jared lledman and Daniel Jeffreys join in with the band to keep the spirits high at the Heppner game last Friday in Heppner. Photo by Sandy Matthews ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M. NAPA FILTER SALE M arch 3 rd - 8 th , Lexington B oardm an and U m atilla stores Morrow County Grain Growers Lexinqton 989-8221 • 1-800-452-7396 For farm miilDment. visit our wfb sit* at www m e « net Health district sets timeline for remodel proposals to accommodate long-term patients By April Sykes M o rro w C o u n ty Health District CEO Victor Vander Does, at the regular board m eetinga M onday night in B oardm an, p re sented the board a timeline for requesting and receiving proposals for the planned re model ing of Pioneer Memo rial Hospital to allow for the care o f long-term patients. The hospital has not pro vided long-term care since the closing o f the nursing home several years earlier. Vander Does said that the rem odeling proj ect will be advertised in several media on March 5; a pre-bid walk-through is planned March 10; bids will be opened on March 24; and recommendations will be presented to the board at their next regular meet ing March 31. Documents are available for viewing at several locations around the state. Vander Does said that when the long-term care rem odeling is com plete. Pioneer Memorial may also accept Alzheimer’s patients in addition to other long term care patients, however their admission will he on a case-by-case review, de pending on the level o f care the facility is able to provide. Also at the meeting, board members came to a consensus that the district w ill most likely seek a bond measure to allow the district to continue to “prov ide qual ity care” for its patrons. Dis trict Chief Financial Officer Nicole Mahoney had ear lier projected the district’s long-term financial outlook, which showed that the dis trict will require passage o f another bond measure to provide up-to-date care. The board's goals include expanding the Irrigon Clinic and continuing to provide funding for the Boardman community clinic, in addi tion to remodeling Pioneer Memorial Hospital. Vander Does and board members stressed that they have to continually upgrade tech nology, equipment and fa cilities to provide the best possible care. The district also now pays fora full-time param edic in Irrigon and two full-tim e param edics in Boardman. Vander Does and board Chair Larry Mills also noted that the district will continue to require a subsidy if they continue to take Medicare, which does not reim burse at the dis trict's rate. The board agreed that they would not pursue a voters' survey to indicate how patrons may vote on the issue because o f the survey cost. Vander Does said that the district can, however, put out facts concerning the ser vices the district prov ides. In other business, the board: -learned that the dis trict lost $35.598 in Janu- ary with $450.706 in gross patient revenue and $531, 141 in total operating ex penses, with an additional $17,818 in other funds. In December the district had $450,998 in gross patient revenue and $473,734 in to tal operating expenses with an additional $17,402 for a $68,275 gain. -receiv ed the fo l lowing report: In January. Pioneer Memorial Hospital had 426 patients with 16 new patients and 51 seen by a nurse; Irrigon Clinic had 202 patients with 29 new patients, 36 seen by a nurse and II no-shows, which may be attributed to the several weather; Hep pner A m bulance had 19 page-outs with 15 transports for $14,684 in revenue; Boardman Ambulance had 21 page-outs w ith 10 trans ports for $9.785 in revenue; Irrigon Ambulance had 23 page-outs with 16 tran s ports for$ 14.028 in rev enue; there was one flight; Pioneer Memorial Hospital had five admissions, three sw ing bed admissions, 15 admitted for observation, two admitted for respite care, 355 outpa tients, 70 emergency room encounters, 1460 lab tests. 102 x-ray procedures. 26 CT scans. 23 EKG tests. 2 19 respiratory therapy pro cedures; Home Health had 166 visits; Hospice had one adm ission; pharmacy had 1320 drug doses for $51.713 in drug revenue.
