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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (July 8, 2009)
Blauer begins work as Morrow County Health District administrator By Autumn Morgan Hi lulu Michael Blauer re cently began his official duties as Morrow County Health District administra tor. Hav ing moved to Hep- pner from Colorado where he was an adm inistrative assistant, Blauer takes over for Victor Vander Does w ho retired after 10 years with the district. Raised in Burley, ll'lmll Bess¡e Wet/clI Newspaper labrar} University of Oregon Eugene. OR 97403 Pictured left to right are Amy Blauer and Michael Blauer. who was recently named administrator for the Morrow County Health District. -Photo by April Sykes ID where he grew up on a farm. Blauer has degrees in Spanish and business man agement from Idaho State University and a master of health services administra tion from the U niversity of Michigan. He has trav eled extensively, living in the Dom inican Republic, Spain, and Mexico. He has worked as a legal and medical inter preter for the Idaho, Michi- gan and C olorado court systems and hospitals and an administrative intern for St. Mary Mercy Hospital in Livonia, Ml. He was also an administrative resident for the Poudre Valley Health System in Fort C ollins, CO w hen one o f its fa cilities, Medical Center of the Rockies, received the Malcolm Baldrige Award that is given annually to one medical facility in the nation. Blauer believes that he “can bring experience and work with everyone” because of the good training he has received. B ecause he grew up in a small area, Blauer has always w anted to w ork in a sm aller com m unity to help make a difference. “We’re super excited to be here,” said Blauer. “It feels like home.” Blauer's wife, Amy, has a degree in Span ish and is currently taking online classes. Blauer is looking forw ard to his work w ith the health district. “The district is in a good place right now and the staff is great and supportive,” he said. “ 1 will make sure the levy money is used wisely to provide the best services we (MCHD) can to the community and use the m oney in a fis cally responsible way. (I'm ) aware o f the need to provide quality healthcare and I'm excited to get involved in the community.” From hospital administrator to full-time RVer By Autumn Morgan VOL. 128 NO. 27 8 Pages Wednesday, July 8,2009 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Walden says government spending out of control By David Sykes R epublican C on gressman Greg Walden told the Heppner Cham ber o f Commerce last week that spending in W ashington, D.C., is out of control, and he has no idea how the country is going to pay off the debt President Obama and the D e m o c ra t-c o n trolled congress is piling on the country. Walden handed out a graph from the Congres sional Budget Office that shows the deficit will bal loon from a little over S400 billion in 2009 to over $1.8 trillion in 2010. “How are we going to possible pay this back?” Walden asked. “The pros pect o f paying back this m uch debt is bleak.” He added that he was afraid the Obama and the Democrats w ere g oing to m onetize the debt and drive inflation to very high levels. “My biggest fear with all this ir responsible spending is we are causing higher interest rates and higher inflation,” he told a crowd of about 45 at the Chamber meeting last Thursday. In a related matter he said it was China who in part is buying up the Ameri Congressman Greg Walden spoke to citizens last Tuesday, June 30, at St. Patrick's Senior Center. -Photo by David Sykes can debt, and that they are in the process o f also buy ing gold and commodities. He said the United States sells its bonds every' other day, and the num ber o f bidders on the debt has dropped from 40 to just 17. He said the country has to sell huge amounts of obli gations every other day just to pay off previous bonds that are maturing. On another issue Walden said the Cap and Trade legislation that is touted as decreasing global warming, is nothing more th a n a c a rb o n tra d in g schem e. “ I opposed the bill for the trading scheme alone,” he said. He said there would be derivatives and other trading devises just like we have in other m arkets, and that is not good. He added that the bill, which passed the house and is on its way to the Senate will cause higher energy, electric, gas and diesel prices and, if passed, will cause 2-3 million jobs to be moved offshore, out of the United States. He said Spain had the same system and it helped cause a 17.5 percent unemployment rate there. Walden also said debate on the cap and trade was severely limited in the congress by the Democrat lea d e rsh ip . “ The house leadership shut down de bate on this,” he said. “Eight committees could have had hearings, and did not. This is the biggest tax on the econom y in the h istory o f the country; we should be having more, not less, debate.” County visitors “reviving Oregon’s amazing roots” V i c to r V a n d e r D oes’ retirem ent became official on Monday, July 6, as he finished up his last day as Morrow County Health District adm inistrator. In fact, his retirem ent is so official that he and his wife Nancy have sold their car and are planning to take up the RV life full-time. Vander Does, who grew up on a farm in Michi gan, was a “clinical person” a long time before he was an administrator. He moved to Heppner in September of 1999 to fill the position of MCHD administrator. Be fore that, he had worked at a small hospital in western Washington beginning in 1974 and spent a short time in Spokane. The biggest obsta cle Vander Does says that he had to deal with was the state o f the M CH D ’s financial and billing sys tem s w hen he first took over the position. “Every thing now seems to be on track,” said Vander Does. “A levy has passed to make it more stable for the next five years, depending on federal legislation.” But along with ob stacles, Vander Does has had many memorable mo ments. On his last day, in Pictured are former Morrow County Health District adminis trator and his wife, Nancy. Vander Does retired after 10 years w ith the health district -Photo by April Sykes fact, employees spent part o f the m orning trying to corral a feral hamster that was in the hospital’s front lawn. Though they are leaving the Heppner area, Vander Does suspects that they will be back to visit a lot to visit their goddaugh ter, Jaiden Mahoney. The Vander D oes’ have taken Jaid en and her brother, Blane, on road trips. “As godparents it is our duty to educate and broaden their horizons.” Vander Does says he will miss the community, friends, and fam ily, but “will miss the kids the most. The managers, employees, and nurses have been great to work with,” said Vander Does. “They are enthusi astic and dedicated to the hospital and community. I couldn’t ask for a better staff.” Vander Does and h is w ife N a n c y began their new RV life on Tues day, heading off towards Olympia to visit their two daughters. But as they left they took with them fond m em ories o f th eir tim e here. “Heppner is, w ithout a doubt, the best community we have ever lived in. It is just a friendly commu nity.” New watermaster hired for Lower John Day Basin and Willow Creek Drainage S cott W hite has been hired as the new wa term aster for the District 21 office o f the O regon Water Resources Depart ment (OWRD) in the Lower John Day Basin and Willow Creek Drainage. White re places Joel Clark who has moved to Post Falls, Idaho to further his career as a forest hydrologist for the State o f Idaho, Department o f Lands. W h ite , h is w ife M ary, five year old son H unter, and 1 y e a r old daughter Gracie, are mov ing from Pendleton where he has been the north cen tral region well inspector for OWRD. Prior to that, Scott worked for the City o f Albany as an environ mental services technician and Mary worked as a full time mom and a part-time pre-school teacher at A l bany Christian School. He is nearing completion of his master’s degree in business administration and earned his b ach elo r o f science degree in environm ental studies from Oregon State University. While working to achieve his bachelor’s degree, Scott interned for the Benton Soil and Water Conservation District and the City o f Corvallis pro m oting the conservation and wise use o f water. The White family enjoys traveling and spend ing time in the outdoors. They are looking forward to embracing the dry land wheat fields, the deep can yons, am azing geology and the radiant charm of Condon as their new home. While breaking from the exhausting w ork of being a mom, Mary' enjoys writing, landscape photography and painting. Scott's interests are baseball, hunting and fishing. S c o tt f i l l ed the W aterm aster position on June 01, 2009. If you have any questions or concerns about water management activities, please contact Scott at the Watermaster's office in Condon at (541) 384-4207. Articles wanted for annual fair edition The annual Morrow County Fair is fast approaching. Once again this year the Heppner Gazette-Times w ill be putting together a special fair edition. Anyone interested in writing any fair related articles are asked to turn in those articles by Friday, July Dave DeMayo (left) and John Sutton (right) listen as Aaron Auer (center) reads the Declaration 15. Articles can be dropped of at the Heppner Gazette-Times or emailed to editor@ of Oregon's Ministers and Statesmen on the Morrow County Courthouse steps on Monday, rapidserve.net. July 6. Auer is representing Jason Lee, Oregon's first missionary, w hose statue can be found at National Statuary Hall in Washington. D.C. Sutton is representing Jedediah Smith, the Methodist trapper/mountain man who was also known as the “shouting Methodist.” The two are part of K.O.A.K.. Reviving Oregon's Amazing Roots. Auer and Sutton are visiting Oregon's 36 counties in an effort to revive Oregon's “amazing roots by celebrating and preserving the treasure of Oregon's Christian and patriotic heritage" as the state celebrates its 150,h anniver sary of statehood. Auer and Sutton presented DeMayo with a copy of the 1924 Circuit Rider dedication for Morrow County. Photo by Autumn Morgan ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M. f GREEN FEED & SEED IN HEPPNER: DOG FOOD SALE! con in e^ o^ .o M j f <>" Sale 3 0 lb b o g $ 41.95 Taste of the ONLY Q $ 33.95 Wild ___________ M orrow Count}' Grain Growers Green Feed & S eed 242 W. Lind en Way, Heppner • 676-9422 • 989-8221 (MCGG main office)
