Public meeting held on proposed
mental facility for Heppner
Illlllllllllllllllllllllllllllll
Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Libran
University of Oregon
Eugene. OR 97403
VOL. 127
NO. 32
6 Pages
Wednesday, August 6,2008
Bv David Sykes
A town meeting to
learn more about the pro
posed mental facility wish
ing to locate in Heppner
drew about 95 people last
Wednesday evening at the
St. Patrick’s Senior Center.
R e p re se n ta tiv e s
from the company that
would build the facility,
and the local mental health
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
A princess who loves to meet new people
By Autumn Morgan
Lo. ,
'■
C heyenne Ward
loves meeting new people.
That is why she decided
to apply to be a Morrow
County Fair and Rodeo
princess.
Cheyenne was bom
in Grant and was raised in
w ’l
the Pilot Rock/Ukiah area.
She is the daughter of Nancy
Porter and Curtis Ward, both
Vj
of Pilot Rock.
Since being named a
princess, Cheyenne has had
the opportunity to travel and
enjoys interacting with and
meeting new people.
Cheyenne is a self-
proclaimed “ranch kid” who
likes to ride. “It has been a
change to work with the hair
and makeup portion of the
job,” says Ward. “I have to
_____
clean up to be in parades but ___
I have a great time.”
Since the court was
announced, Cheyenne has
participated in 15-20 events.
“I love the rush of the run-
ins,” she said. Ward is also
looking forward to getting to
walk around at the Morrow
County Fair and Rodeo and
interact with the kids and
see the 4-H projects. She
has enjoyed promoting the
fair and rodeo.
<*«*£**
im
Cheyenne’s favorite
outfit to wear during events
is the official riding outfit
of the court that consists of
m t.
ultra-suede gaucho pants.
“This outfit is different that
what other courts wear,”
she said. “We get a lot of Princess Cheyenne Ward with her horse Dollar.
Cheyenne will be riding her sorrel gelding named Dol-
compliments.”
During the Morrow 16-year old quarter horse lar.
County Fair and Rodeo
Heppner baby dies from accidental drowning
A one-year-old baby
died from a possible drown
ing at his home in Heppner
July 29.
The Morrow County
Sheriff’s Office received a
911 call from the residence
of Steven and Sarah Mona
han Rollis reporting the pos
sible drowning of their son.
Timathy Hunter Monahan-
Rollis at 7:40 p.m. The baby
was transported by Hep
pner Ambulance to Pioneer
Memorial Hospital were
resuscitation efforts were
unsuccessful. The baby was
declared dead at 8:22 p.m.
An autopsy p er
formed by the Oregon State
Medical Examiners Office
at Clackamas on July 30
determined that the cause
of death was accidental
drowning.
The results of the
death investigation were
presented to the Morrow
County District Attorney’s
office for review.
ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE:
MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M.
agency that would admin
ister it, were in attendance
to both explain the facility
and answer questions from
the public.
One of the most fre
quent questions asked was
where the eight-bed residen
tial treatment facility used to
house and treat mentally ill
persons convicted of crimes
and found “guilty except for
insanity” would be located.
Rod Estes, a regional
residential development spe
cialist from Lifeways Com
pany, which would build the
facility, said that no site has
been selected yet, and that
he has “only begun the site
selection process.” In fact,
he said that no decision has
been made to locate in Hep
pner. “We do not know if it
is going to be located here
or not,” Estes said.
The Heppner City
Council, which discussed
the facility at its last month
ly meeting July 14, and also
had some members tour the
facility a week later, has
given its tentative approval,
but only if people were will
ing to accept it.
Although there were
questions and skepticism
at last Wednesday’s town
meeting, there did not seem
to be overwhelming opposi
tion as there was years ago
when a youth boot camp-
type facility was proposed
for Heppner.
City manager Steve
Bogart mediated the meet
ing and limited discussion to
questions and answers with
limited “statements” from
the public. The city council
is planning on continuing
the discussion about the
facility at its next meeting
on Monday, August 11, at 7
p.m. at city hall. City coun
cil meetings are always open
to the public.
Estes said the facil
ity would be different from
the one recently proposed
for Fossil, which caused a
great deal of community
upheaval and animosity and
was eventually abandoned,
in that the proposed Hepp
ner facility would not house
sexual offenders. It “could”
house any type of criminal
but the type allowed here
would be determined by
the administrator of the
facility, which would be
the Community Counseling
Solutions (CCS), formerly
Morrow/Wheeler Behav
ioral Health.
The facility would
give an economic boost to
the area, Estes explained,
providing 20 to 24 full time
positions paying $30,000 to
$65,000 in wages for annual
salaries of $720,000. The
annual operating budget
would be around $960,000,
and construction costs of
the facility would be $1.2
million, he said.
In addition most sup
plies for the facility would
be purchased locally, in
cluding food, medications,
and transportation and gen
eral supplies. It would also
strengthen the local mental
health services, increase lo
cal school populations with
more students of workers,
and generally strengthen the
local economy, he has said.
Kimberley Lindsay
of Lexington is the head
of CCS and would be the
administrator of the facility.
She said the mental facility
would not accept “preda
tory sexual offenders. Can I
change that?” she said. “No.
our commitment to you is
that it will not happen."
Lindsay said some
Q,
A **
,
L
|j|
____ & _
*V |
Staff of McNary place show members of the Heppner City
Council and other community members the central control
room during a recent tour of the mental facility. -Photo by
David Sykes
residents of the facility w ill
be allowed out for trips
around town, but always
under escort. In response
to questions, she said the
average stay is five years
and, although many of the
residents would move from
this secure facility to a less
secure facility before being
released, they normally go
back to the communities
they came from and would
not stay here.
In response to ques
tions about the safety of
the facility Lindsay said,
“I live in this community.
What you think about me
matters,” Lindsay told the
crowd. “I do business here,
my kids go to school and we
go to church here.” She said
she would feel safe if the
facility were located here.
O ther q u estio n s
from the public were:
dents and stay in the com
munity?
A. No one at Colum
bia River Ranch in Board-
man (a similar facility) has
moved there, said Lindsay.
Families do not relocate for
this kind of patient. They
visit but they do not move
there, she said.
Q. Why did Fossil
and Boardman turn down
this facility?
A. It was a painful
and horrible process, said
Lindsay. The state has since
said that sexually deviant
individuals remain in state
facility. The Boardman and
Fossil facilities would have
accepted these people.
Q. What about the
recent escape at the similar
facility in Umatilla, Mc-
Narv Place?
A. The resident that
escaped was not perma
nently there, Estes said. He
came from LaGrande and
was there voluntarily. He
was not a dangerous crimi
nal on the attack.
Q. Could the popu
lation of the facility be lim
ited to those w ho commit
ted non-violent crimes?
A. There would be
no mass murderers, but
there will be some which
have committed \ iolent acts.
Both Lindsay and Estes have
said that the residents are
controlled by medications,
and that they want to stay in
the facility, which limits the
amount of problems.
Q. What happens to
people who misbehave?
A. They go right
back to the state facility.
People w ant to be in the resi
dential facility and behave
themselves to stay there.
Q. W ill property
values decrease if the facil
Q. How long has ity is built here?
A. Estes said stud
Oregon had these type of
ies have shown that prop
facilities?
A. 20 to 30 years erty values actually increase
in the communities where
said Estes
Q. For econom ic these are built.
Q. Could the peo
activity, why can't we get
beds for elders instead, ple w ho go outside into the
community be fitted with
like geriatric patients?
A. We are already an ankle bracelet?
A. No.
providing facilities such as
Q. Is the 8 -fo o t
assisted living and a recent
upgrade of the hospital for fence adequate to keep
them in?
long term care.
Q. Do friends and
A. Because of the
familv come with the resi-
-Continued on Page Four
Special fair & rodeo section
in this week’s paper
A special fair & rodeo section is included in this week’s
Gazette-Times. It includes articles and other information
about the fair which opens at the Morrow County Fair
grounds in Heppner next week
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