Bergstrom named administrator of new treatment facility
By Autumn Morgan
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Matt Bergstrom
has been hired to be the
administrator for Lakeview
Heights, the secure resi
dential treatment facility
being built above the Wil
low Creek Reservoir. The
facility, which is expected
to open in February, will
provide services to indi
viduals with severe mental
Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Librars
University of Oregon
Eugene. OR 97403
HEPPNER
imes
VOL. 128
NO. 47
8 Pages
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Drama Club to perform “It’s a Wonderful Life”
illnesses.
Heights.
When Bergstrom
Currently, work
was in college, he
is still ongoing in
didn’t picture him
the building pro
self as running a
cess of Lakeview
treatment facility.
Heights. The facil
In fact, he holds a
ity is on schedule
bachelor’s degree
to be completed in
in education and a
January and Berg
minor in psychol
strom hopes it will
ogy from Albertson
be fully operational
Matt
College of Idaho.
by the beginning
He returned Bergst rum
of February. The
to Hermiston from
facility w ill employ
college in 2006 with plans 14-16 positions includ
to be a teacher. But in ing residential associates
stead, he spotted an ad in to help with cleaning and
the newspaper and “one transportation, a registered
thing led to another.” In nurse who will work with
July 2006 Bergstrom began residents’ medications,
working for Community mental health specialists,
Counseling Solutions, pre and an assistant administra
viously known as Morrow tor. Fifty-five applications
County Mental Health. In have been receiv ed to so far.
December of2007 he began Bergstrom said he plans to
running Columbia River begin interviews next week
Ranch, a mental health and hopes to have positions
facility in Boardman. In filled by Christmas. Two
August of 2009, Bergstrom weeks of staff training w ill
was hired to run Lakeview be held in January. Berg
Biorefinery facility
planned in Boardman
By David Sykes
A Colorado based
company plans to build
a production facility in
Boardman that w ill convert
poplar trees into chemicals
and fuels, a representative
of the company told the
Heppner Chamber of Com
merce last week.
C arrie A tiy eh ,
public affairs director of
the ZeaChem Inc.of Lake-
wood, CO, told the Heppner
Chamber of Commerce last
Thursday that the company
is currently constructing
the facility at the Port of
Morrow in Boardman. She
said, when completed, the
plant will produce 250,000
gallons of ethanol per year
using fast growing poplar
trees harvested from the
35,000 acres of tree farms
owned by GreenW ood
Resources in the Pacific
Northwest.
Atiyeh said the
plant is not a full produc
tion facility, but is called a
semi-works scale facility,
used to test production for
a large scale production
plant to be built later. She
did not say where the full
scale facility will be built.
“Financing is tough right
now," Atiyeh said. “But
this plant is the first step to
prove the technology to go
out and put in our first com
mercial size facility.”
She said ZeaChem,
which was incorporated in
2002 and also operates a
research and development
Top Photo: Carrie Atiyeh told the Heppner Chamber of Com
merce last week about a new bio facility going in at the Port of
Morrow in Boardman. Bottom Photo: The new facility plans to
use poplars from the tree farm near Boardman as raw material.
It may also use other raw material such as wheat straw and
forest waste, a representative said. -Photos by David Sykes
laboratory facility in Menlo
Park, CA, is putting $30
million into this facility,
Jodessa Chapa and Zech Hintz perform the parts of Mary and George Bailey for the Hep
but she declined to name
pner High School Drama Club's upcoming production of “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Three
the full price.
performances will be held in the HHS cafeteria on Monday, November 30, and Tuesday and
Atiyeh did, how
Wednesday, December I and 2, at 7 p.m. Tickets are $5.50 each and can be purchased at Sweet
ever,
say
Oregon’s favor
Productions or by calling 676-8022. -Contributed Photo
able renewable resource
tax exemption law, which
may be repealed by the
state legislature in special
The Heppner Gazette-Times will be closed on November 26 and 27 in obser
session in February, was a
vance of the Thanksgiving holiday. The office will re-open on Monday, November
major reason the company
30, at 9 a.m.
decided to locate here. She
also said the company is
looking for venture capital
and federal stimulus money
to move development and
construction of full scale
production forward.
Some of the end
products coming out of the
plant will be chemicals for
plastic products, car paint
material and an additive
that makes coffee decaf
feinated. Atiyeh said the
plant could, in the future,
also use wheat straw or
waste from the national
forest in its production.
“Com was the first genera
tion of ethanol production,"
Atiyeh said. “But now we
Left Photo: Ashley Wolff, 17, of Heppner took her first elk recently, a mature cow. The hunt was donated to the Booster Club are expanding into other
Auction by Brian and Susan Thompson, and guided by Sid Kennedy. Right Photo: Micha Hintz of Heppner killed this spike areas. It’s not just ethanol
elk at the OHV Youth Hunt on November 7. -Contributed Photos
anymore,” she said of the
ZeaChem process.
The Heppner Gazette-Times wants to see pictures o f your trophy ani
The test facility at
Boardman
take bio
mals from this hunting season. Stop by to have your picture taken, mass (wood will
or other mate
rial), and ferment the mate-
drop off photos, or email them to editor@rapidserve.net.
Gazette-Times to close for Thanksgiving
Wolff, Hintz fill elk tags
ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT
DEADLINE:
r0
strom is currently working
with the state on licensing
for the facility.
Bergstrom, 26. is
enjoying working in Hepp
ner. Although he w as raised
in Hermiston and currently
lives there, he has family
roots that tie him to Hep
pner. His parents, Mike
and Michele Bergstrom,
both graduated from Hep
pner High School. Also,
his grandparents, Marlene
and Randall Peterson, Bob
Bergstrom, and Don and
Margaret Evans, all live in
Heppner. He is engaged to
be married in July to Chel
sea Gill of Hermiston, w ho
is employed as a teacher.
Bergstrom is look
ing forward to the opening
of the facility. ”1 think it’s
awesome,” said Bergstrom.
“I'm excited and every body
has been so supportive.”
An open house is being
planned after completion of
the facility.
rial w ith a natural bacteria
called acetogen. Acetogen
is highly robust, but unlike
yeast, produces no car
bon dioxide (C02) during
the fermentation process.
According to a company
news release ZeaChem's
approach “ leapfrogs the
yield and carbon dioxide
(C 02) problems associ
ated with traditional and
cellulosic based biorefinery
processes."
The company went
on to say that it has a sig
nificant capital cost ad
vantage compared to other
cellulosic technologies.
By efficiently extracting
the most energy possible
from biomass feedstocks,
ZeaChem significantly in
creases output while re
ducing both production
costs and environmental
impacts.
The plant in Board-
man will employ 25 people
when completed, and will
employee 75 during con
struction, which is expected
to be completed b\ the end
of 2010. Hazen Research of
Golden Colorado will con
struct the plant, which will
actually be a series of indi
vidual modular processing
units constructed elsewhere
and then connected together
when they arrive on site in
Boardman.
We will be closed for Thanksgiving at all locations
November 26,27, and 28
Have a happy holiday!
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