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
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