Chamber tours new Boardman sawmill
By David Sykes
^
Bessie Wet/ell Newspaper l ibrary
University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403
VOL. 127
NO. 44
12 Pages
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
The first thing you
notices as you enter the
brand new sawmill getting
ready for production near
Boardman is “ it ain’t your
daddy’s sawmill’’.
From its 150 cam
eras, to its m ultitude o f
com puters, curve cutting
saw s and environm ental
certification, all the way
down to the ‘no tobacco on
premises’ rule, this is a mill
for the future.
Gearing up to start
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Britt bull going to PBR World Finals
By David Sykes
A bull from the Rog
er and Rita Britt Ranch on
Upper Rhea Creek is going
to the Professional Bull Rid
ers World Finals in Las Ve
gas, N V, October 31 through
November 9.
Devils-Door Way is
a seven year-old-rodeo bull
with a 100 percent buck
off rate, and, according to
R oger B ritt, has bucked
off some o f the best riders
on the c irc u it including
McKennon Winberly, J.B.
Mauney, Kolt Donaldson
and Harve Steward.
D evils D oor Way
has been on the circuit four
years and is handled by PBR
bull contractor Big Bend
Flying 5 Rodeo Co. out o f
Ritzville, WA.
“This is the first one
w e’ve had that has gotten
to this level,” says Britt,
who, along with wife Rita,
raises 10-11 bulls a year for
rodeos.
The couple also uses
a unique way to help out
their grandchildren. “ We are
in the Bom to Buck program
w here each o f our three
grandchildren has a bucking
stock cow and they get the
full scale production, the
Collins Companies mill was
recently constructed near
Boardman in the middle of
one o f the grow ing plots on
a tree plantation that will
feed the mill enough 12
year old fast growing Pacific
Albus Popular to produce 40
million board feet of lumber
each year. That requires six
to eight acres o f trees cut
per day from the 25,000
acres near Boardman, and
the 8,200 acres the company
owns elsewhere.
The mill will em
ployee 50 people when fully
staffed, and m anagem ent
says it is still looking for
qualified mill workers. There
are now only 29 on the job.
“We need electricians, a saw
filer and a certified grader, as
well as general labor,” the
head o f human resources
said. A complete list o f jobs
is available on their web
site at: www.collinsco.com/
Careers/.
The mill is highly
automated and although it
can take up to a 30 inch log,
the ones from the planta
tion are smaller. In order to
get the most out o f the log
they are computer scanned
multiple times while being
saw ed, trim m ed and cut.
“The computers determine
the best way to cut the logs,”
says Lee Jimerson, manager
o f manufacturing at the mill.
He said there is a single pass
head rig before the boards
go on to re-saw, and the
edger can do 60 boards per
minute. As the plantation
logs all seem to have a curve
L-R Lee Jimerson, Manager of Manufacturing Accounts for
The Collins Companies, shows Larry Nicholson. Claudia
Hughes, Nancy Snider, Jeff Bailey, Shery l Bates and Kricket
Nicholson the cut Pacific Albus boards front the new sawmill in
Boardman. -Photo by David Sykes
in them the large saw actu
ally cuts in a curve to get the
most out o f the wood.
Once the boards are
cut and trimmed they are
shipped to the dry kiln,
which is located on Port of
Morrow Industrial property
in Boardman. It is operated
with surplus steam from the
nearby gas powered electri
cal cogeneration plant, the
boards are sold and used
for a variety o f products
including: landscape tim
bers, pallets, boxes, crating,
recreational vehicle parts,
veneer, Venetian b linds,
furniture, picture frames and
ceilings. None o f the tree is
wasted as usually one half
the tree goes to lumber and
the rest to chips.
Although the Pacific
Albus is considered a hard
wood, it is also a good al
ternative to many softwood
applications.
The C ollins C om
pany, which is a 153-year-
old privately held company,
runs the sawmill. The Green
wood Company runs the tree
-C ontinued on Page THREE
M. C. Health District has donated over $883 thousand
to Boardman health care facilities since 1999
By April Sykes
The Morrow County
Health District Board, in
the process o f fine-tuning
a contract with Columbia
River Com m unity Health
in Boardman, has indicated
that they may not be able
to make the previous an
nual $70,000 subsidy to the
Boardman clinic if MCHD's
39-cent levy pass does not
pass on November 4.
According to MCHD
C hief Financial Officer Ni
cole Mahoney, since 1999,
Devils Door Way from the Britt Ranch on Upper Rhea Creek
the health district has paid
will be in Las Vegas at World Finals. -Contributed Photo
$ 8 8 3 ,7 3 4 , to B oardm an
health care clinics, first to
proceeds from the bulls the
D evils D oor Way the Boardman clinic, a pri
cows produce for their col statistics from PBR web site vate clinic operated by Dr.
lege fund,” Britt says.
are as follows:
Robert Boss and then, start
07-08 Season
Career
ing in 2004-05 to Columbia
Times Ridden
0 out o f 4 times 0 out o f 4 times
River Community Health,
Percent Ridden
0.0%
0 . 0 %
w hich is staffed by Dr. Boss.
Buckoff Percent
100.0%
100 . 0 %
According to the health dis
Average Buckoff Time 3.63 seconds
3.63 seconds
trict records, MCHD paid
Average Ride Score
0.00
0.00
$ 105,019 to Dr. Boss’ clinic
Average Bull Score
43.19
43.19
in 1999-2000; $108,466 in
Bull Rating*
21.58
21.58
2000-01; $126,450 in 2001-
02; $121,558 in 2002-03;
$140,000 in 2003-04; and
$72,240 in 2004-05. MCHD
also paid $70,000 to Co
lumbia River Community
Health in 2004-05 and then
paid $70,000 to them in 05-
06 and $70,000 in 06-07.
The board has stated
Mustangs win district tournament
that the CHCH 07-08 pay
ment and subsequent pay
ments may depend on the
passage o f the levy.
“ The MCHD Board
has voiced several concerns,
first, they have learned that
an unidentified individual
has begun placing signs in
B oardm an o p p o sin g the
MCHD levy; and second,
the Boardm an com m uni
ty is being told m islead
ing inform ation concern
ing the district’s support of
the Boardman health care
community. MCHD Board
member Leann Rea told the
board M onday night that
one CRHC board member
told her that he did not be
lieve MCHD has contribut
ed financially to CRHC. The
MCHD Board has earlier
expressed frustration that
they haven't been able to
communicate to the Board-
man community the amount
o f monetary support they
provide for health care ser
vices to the area.
In addition to the
$883,734 paid to the clin
ics, MCHD also operates
the Boardman and Irrigon
ambulance services, pays
salaries for two paramedics
stationed in Boardman and
one stationed in Irrigon,
pays for standby and call
back for EMT volunteers,
has donated half the monies
required to purchase a defi
brillator for Riverside High
School, provides CPR train
ing for the schools, provides
two standby ambulances for
sporting events, recently
purchased a $110,00 am
bulance for the Boardman
community, provides Home
Health and Hospice serv ices
for Boardman area residents
and a operates a foot clinic in
Boardman, currently stalled
by Home Health nurse Cher
yl Tallman o f Boardman.
Vander Does said that the
health district provides these
services for each community
in the district.
Unlike Pioneer Me
morial Hospital and Pioneer
Memorial Clinic in Heppner
and the Irrigon Clinic, how
ever, which all bring in mon
ies for the district, subsidies
to Boardman clinics bring in
no receipts for the district.
MCHD CEO Vic
tor Vander Does told the
board that while some of the
monies from operating the
north end ambulances are
recouped, the problem has
been that while an ambu
lance responds to a patient, if
-C ontinued on Page THREE
Don’t forget to turn back your clocks
Daylight Savings Time ends this weekend.
Don't forget to turn your clocks hack one
hour on Saturday night.
The Heppner Mustang volleyball team took first place in the district tournament held in F.nter-
prise this past weekend. They Mustangs will host a plav-off game at home on Saturday, Novem
ber 1, at 4 p.m. against Lakeview. -Photo hy Sandy Matthews
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