Concern for district spurred yes vote
on tax increase, Smith tells Chamber
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Bessie
University of Oregon
l ueene.OR 97403
By David Sykes and Andrew
Sykes
R e p r e s e n ta tiv e
Greg Smith, one o f only
two Republicans to cast
a yes vote during the last
legislature in favor of a new
state tax increase, defended
his vote last week by saying
HEPPNER
imes
VOL. 128
NO. 39
10 Pages
Wednesday, September 30, 2009 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Caldwell hired as new HHS teacher
New to the staff also received his master
at H eppner High
of arts in teaching
degree from Con
School this year is
cordia University in
Matthew Caldwell.
June ^009.
B orn and
raised in Sacramen
During the
to, CA, Caldwell
time the he was in
and his wife Kris
Portland, Caldwell
ten currently live in
was a youth min
Hermiston. Kristen Matthew
ister at E astside
is also em ployed Caldwell
Church of Christ.
with the Morrow
And though he says
County School District as he had not always wanted
an 8lh grade language arts to be a teacher, it was dur
teacher at Riverside High ing this time that he began
School.
substitute teaching and, he
Caldwell attended says, “1 decided 1 loved
college in Portland where teaching.” He was a sub
he received his undergradu stitute teacher for 1 Vi years
ate degree from Oklahoma and taught one math class
Christian University. He at Columbia Christian High
it was for the good of his ey for Eastern Oregon Uni
voting district.
versity Library
Smith, who resides - $2.3 million in state bonds
in Heppner, told the
for Port of Morrow
Heppner Chamber
Education Center.
o f Commerce last
- Limiting cuts in
Thursday that his
the Oregon Univer
decision to vote in
sity System to ben
favor of the tax in
efit agricultural ex
crease secured over
tension centers and
$18 million in state Hep. Greg
the ranger resources
spending to come Smith
program. He also
out of the Democrat
asked for support
controlled house into his for extending a tax break on
district. In an often emo logging equipment.
tional talk to the Chamber,
Injustifyinghisyes
Smith said he voted in favor vote Smith told the Cham
of the tax increase because ber his research had show n
he was concerned about the that the tax increase w ould
possible closing of East only affect between 35 and
ern Oregon University, the 52 people in his district.
consolidation of Extension
S m ith and the
offices into one Northeast Democrats now have a new
ern Oregon block, possible obstacle in getting the tax
cutbacks in Health and Hu increase enacted however,
man Services, public safety as last week a group of citi
and education.
zens filed a petition w ith the
S m ith and Bob Secretary of State to have
Jensen of Pendleton were the tax placed on the bal
the only two Republicans lot for voter approval. The
to vote for a tax increase group, called The Taxpayer
on individuals making more Defense Project, turned in
than $125,000 annually, or more than twice the needed
families making more than signatures to have the tax
$250,000. Their votes were measure placed on the bal
crucial to the Democrats to lot January 26, 2010 for
get the measure passed in voter approval.
the last state legislature.
M eanw hile fa ll
In exchange for his out from Smith’s vote has
vote the Democratic con reached into the May 10,
trolled Oregon legislature 2010, prim ary election,
promised him the follow ing as Colleen M acLeod of
would be included in the LaG rande declared last
final state budget:
week she is running against
- $8 million in lottery mon Smith for the House District
ey for Blue Mountain Com 57 seat. MacLeod is a Re
munity College.
publican who served three
- $8 million in lottery mon term s as Union County
commissioner and was a
field representative for Or
egon Republican Rep. Greg
Walden. MacLeod has also
been active in the Associa
tion of Oregon Counties and
the National Association
of Counties. She and her
husband, Alan, run a small
coffee roasting business
in Summerville, about 16
miles north of LaGrande.
Smith has served five times
in the Oregon House, and
told the Chamber last week
he has received quite a bit
of encouragement from his
constituents. And at the
conclusion of last week’s
talk he received an enthu
siastic round of applause
from the Chamber of Com
merce. Heppner resident
and Chamber member Cliff
Green told Smith he was
glad he did what he did for
the district.
Back in June not
long after the crucial vote
in the legislature Smith
had told the same Heppner
Chamber o f Commerce:
“My job is to roll up my
sleeves and do the job for
the people back home, and
I am not ashamed of that.
Our communities are dying
and 1 am doing what I can
to support our communities,
and every item (that was
promised) has merit. 1 have
to come back and explain
what each of these (proj
ects) will mean. People are
going to tell me what they
think at the ballot box,” he
told the Chamber in June.
School. He completed his
student teaching at Corbett
High School.
This is the 25-year-
old’s first full-time teaching
job. He is teaching junior
high math, high school
business, and yearbook.
Caldwell’s first day
was September 21. “Com
ing in one month into the
school year can be tough,”
The Morrow County Health Department flu clinic has been cancelled for
said Caldwell. “But 1 feel Thursday, October 1, due to a lack of the regular flu vaccine.
very supported. 1 don’t feel
like I have been left in the
dust. This has been a posi
tive and exciting experi
Lynn Prag, co-publisher of the North Morrow Times in Boardman, has an
ence. My expectations were
nounced
that the next issue will be the final issue for the newspaper.
exceeded in coming here,
Prag has been publishing for 16 years.
both by the administration
and the students.”
Thursday flu clinic cancelled
North Morrow Times to publish final issue
Boardman clinic seeks $100,000 from Morrow
County Health District to fund new clinic building
By April Sykes
Mindy Binder, ex
ecutive director o f Co
lumbia River Community
Health Services, and Lynn
Prag, CRCHS Board chair,
appeared before the Mor
row County Health Dis
trict Board meeting Mon
day night in Boardman to
request $100,000 for the
CRHCS building fund.
CRCHS operates
a federally funded migrant
health care clinic in Board-
man which had received
from $70,000 to $140,000
yearly in MCHD funds,
with the exception of last
year because the health
district’s previous levy had
expired and the new levy
had not been received.
The previous stick
ing point for the health
district board had been that
CRCHS had not been forth
coming in providing their
annual audited financial
report. The health district
had requested the report
from CRCHS as a prereq
uisite for providing oper
ating funds for the clinic.
Prior to the establishment
of CRCHS, the board also
unsuccessfully requested
financial reports from Dr.
t
Robert Boss, who sold his
medical clinic building to
CRCHS and continued on
as a physician with them.
Ed Glenn o f Boardman,
representing CRCHS, pre
viously denied a request by
the Heppner Gazette-Times
for financial reports, say
ing that the operation was
not required to divulge that
information.
Binder announced
that Dr. Boss was stepping
down as a physician with
CRCHS as of December
31, but will be continuing
on as medical director. His
departure as a practicing
physician with CRCHS
will leave the clinic with
three providers-one physi
cian and two physician’s
assistants.
Binder said that
CRCHS had 11,500 patient
visits in the previous year.
M C H D B o a rd
m e m b ers a g re e d th a t
CRCHS needed new fa
cilities and praised them for
the services they provide to
Boardman area residents,
but Monday night did not
request audited financial
reports from CRCHS as
they had previously. The
board appeared favorable to
providing the $ 100,000, but
they opted to wait and see
if CRCHS received federal
funding for the project. If
the federal funding was not
approved, the consensus of
the board was to reevalu
ate the funding request at
that time.
CRCHS requested
a $1 m illion loan from
USDA and $2,370,178
from the Health Resources
and Services Administra
tion for its “capital cam
paign”, $200,000 from the
Ford Family Foundation,
$200,000 from the MJ Mur
dock Charitable Trust, and
$341,840 for capital equip
ment from HRSA in addi
tion to the $100,000 from
MCHD and other monies
from a variety of other re
sources. CRCHS received
$475,405 from HRSA for
operating funds on May 15
of this year and requested a
$497,303 grant from HRSA
on September 3.
Binder said that
they plan to go forward in
requesting a USDA loan for
clinic construction and, if
funding is received, break
ground on the new clinic
in late spring or early sum
mer next year. “Make no
mistake,” said Prag. “We
are going to guild a new
clinic.”
B oardm an EMT
Bruce Kirkendall asked the
MCHD board to not com
mit the funds to CRHCS
at least until CRCHS had
received confirmation that
federal funds had been ap
proved. Kirkendall said that
Boardman EMTs’ equip
ment was not up to par and
said he believed that the
monies would be better
spent in providing better
equipment and more fund
ing for EMTs, rather than
giving the monies to the
Boardman clinic. “I see
other areas where we are
short and lacking . . . staff,
volunteers and equipment.
Some equipm ent is just
ju n k ,” he said. He also
raised questions about the
need for a new building. “Is
this the best use for these
monies?” he asked.
The district cur
rently provides funding for
two paid EMTs in Boardman
and one in Irrigon. Board-
man has two ambulances
provided by MCHD.
Also at the meet
ing, MCHD CEO Michael
Blauer introduced Barbara
very fortunate to be here.”
She said she planned to visit
the clinic this Wednesday
and start work on Thurs
day.
Also at the meet
ing, Prag, who is also co-
publ isher of the North Mor
row Times, the Boardman
newspaper, announced that
the paper’s next issue would
be its last, due to increased
costs. Prag said she had
been publishing the paper
for the last 16 years.
In other business,
the board:
-h eard a re p o rt
from Molly Rhea, Director
of Nursing, Home Health
and Hospice, who said that
the district has had difficul
ty in recruiting nurses and
especially certified nurse's
assistants. She also said
that the entire staff is on a
provider list for the H1N1
(swine flu) vaccination and
the staff has been vacci
nated for the regular flu.
She said that in the event
of an epidemic, MCHD has
some Red Cross cots, but,
she added, “We’re already
short staffed.” In addition
to Rhea, the district current
ly has only five registered
nurses and Home Health
has specified that currently
only people hospitalized
with the flu will be tested
for the H 1N 1 virus, but, she
added, hospitalization of
flue patients would increase
exposure to other patients
and hospital staff. She said
that one solution would be
to teach people to take care
of themselves at home.
-learned from Chief
Financial Officer Nicole
Mahoney that the district
owes $191,000 back to
Medicare as a reimburse
ment for overpayment to
the district. She said that
Medicare calculates the dis
trict’s reimbursement at one
rate and then reassesses the
rate later, sometimes result
ing in a hefty repayment for
the district. “It was to my
huge surprise that we w ould
owe so much back," said
Mahoney, who attributed
it to an increase in “swing
volume.” She said that situ
ations like this were testi
mony as to why the recent
tax levy was needed.
- l ea r ned from
Blauer that no bids for the
Pioneer Memorial Clinic
remodel were received. He
said that they plan to re-bid
the project and also have a