Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 12, 2011)
Where did the money, go? Morrow County received $37.5 million in fed stimulus money in 2010 Eugene, OR 9740: From a $14,000 fence project to a $25 million grant to ZeaChem, federal spending created 14 jobs VOL. 130 NO. 2 8 Pages Wednesday, January 12, 2011 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Morrow School Board to hire Dirksen as superintendent Mendoza tabbed for assistant job The Morrow County School Board Tuesday night voted to direct cur rent Superintendent Mark Burrows to schedule pub lic meetings concerning the proposed hiring of Dirk Dirksen as district superin tendent. Dirksen has been with the district his entire career, first as a teacher and currently as Riverside High School Principal. Burrows, who has been with the district seven years, has announced his retirement effective this year. Also at the meeting, held at Heppner Elemen tary School, Burrows said that the district plans to hire George Mendoza, cur rent RHS vice-principal, as assistant superintendent, replacing current Assis tant Supefintendent Phyllis Danielson, who has also announced her retirement effective this year. Daniel son has also been with the district her entire career, as a teacher, a principal and then as assistant superin tendent. By David Sykes B oardm an, H e p pner, Irrigon and lone, as well as the Port o f Morrow and other entities, received a total o f $37,452,866 in Federal Stimulus funds dur ing 2010, creating about 14 jobs, according to a govern ment website that tracks the funds and subsequent job creation. The biggest recipi ent o f funds in the county was ZeaChem, a Colorado- based ethanol company that received a $25 million grant to build a prototype pro cessing facility in Board- m an. Z eaC hem said the funds w ould create 2.17 jobs. Congress approved The A m erican R ecovery and Reinvestm ent Act o f 2009 (which authorized the stim ulus funding) to dis tribute $787 billion across the United States with the purpose of creating jobs. T h is is how the fu n d in g broke dow n in Morrow County. Spending in Heppner $14,813-R em oval of Elk fences in the national forest. Jobs created - 1. $1,507,639 - New highway project from Court Street to the Morrow Coun ty Fairgrounds. This project was originally funded under the state highway budget, but was switched to stimu- ZeaChem, a Colorado based company, received a $25 mil lion stimulus funds grant to build a digester similar to this one in Boardman. The grant was part of the $37.5 million in funds given out in Morrow County in 2010 lps funding when the money became available from the federal government. Jobs created - 1.65. $ 5 0 9 ,2 1 1 - 2.3 miles o f paving on Upper Rhea Creek Rd. Jobs cre ated - 0. $117,800-W eath- erization at county court house. Jobs created - not reported. $121,737-N o rth west Trails, Inc., received the funds to develop forest tfails and facilities. Housing, LLC, o f Enter prise, Oregon, to develop low income rental housing in Boardman. $341,840- T o Co lumbia River Community Health Services to purchase an electronic medical re cords system. Jobs reported - 1 . 1 . $131,146-T o Co lumbia River Community Health Services to expand its dental and x-ray pro gram. Jobs - 1.5. $1,454,400 - To Spending in Port o f M orrow to add Boardman new track and turnouts and $25,000,000 - To improve crossing safety. ZeaChem to build ethanol Jobs - 0. prototype facility. Jobs - Spending in Irrigon 2.17. $1,527,962 - For $5,315,678 - To construction o f First Street S a g e b ru s h A f fo rd a b le -Continued on page 6 Chamber elects 2011 officers Nolen arrested on sex charges M o rro w C ou n ty degree. The charges stem D istric t A tto rn e y from a January 1, Ju stin W. N elson 2011 incident in Ir- recently announced rigon. the indictment and Nolen was a rra ig n m e n t o f arraigned on the in Russell Lee Nolen, dictment on January 7 by Judge C hris 31, on charges o f topher Brauer. The U n la w fu l S ex u al court kept bail set Penetration in the Russell Lee at $150,000. A pre first degree and Sex Nolen trial conference was Abuse in the first set for January 13, trial readiness fro February 10, and trial for February 24 in Morrow County Circuit Court. The case is being investigated by the Morrow County S h eriff’s Office. Anyone with information should call the sheriff’s of fice at 541-676-5317. Pioneer Memorial Clinic in Heppner participates in study Pioneer Memorial Clinic in Heppner is one o f four Oregon Rural Health Clinics that is participat ing in a study through the O regon R ural P ractice- Based Research Network (ORPRN) through Oregon H ealth & S c ien ce U n i versity. The study, called Shared D ecision-M aking in R ural P rim ary C are, explores the best ways to ’use informative materials to help patients make complex m edical decisions about their care in partnership with their physicians. The study is fund ed through grants by the Boston-based Foundation for Informed Medical De cision Making. According to a press release issued by the foundation, each year it funds organizations that it believes have the greatest co m m itm en t to p atient- centered care and the infra structure to make decision aids part o f daily medical practice. Each grant covers demonstration site activities for three years. The deci sion aid materials consist of booklets and DVDs that are created with the assistance o f medical experts in each specialty and thoroughly review a patient’s options and include real patients discussing their choices. Pioneer Memorial Clinic began participating in the two-year study last year under the direction of Dr. Betsy Anderson, with the clinic’s other providers and staff also taking part. Sue Thompson, RN, is serv ing as the data coordinator for the study at the clinic. The three areas of Decision Aid study at the clinic for 2011 are Depression, Knee O steoarthritis and Grow ing Older - Staying Well. Patients with a diagnosis o f one o f these conditions are asked if they would like to take part in the study. Those who agree watch a DVD and read a booklet on their diagnosis topic that provides information about the condition and discusses various treatment options. They then decide if they want to follow up with a doctor to discuss the treat ment options or not. The patient also com pletes a survey about the materials and those survey results are compiled into reports along with data from participants at the other ORPRN clinics at Winding Waters Clinic in Enterprise, Bayshore Fam- ily Medicine in Pacific City and Lincoln City Medical Center. The Oregon results will then be compiled with those from participating clinics across the country. As o f mid-July, 24 Pioneer M emorial Clinic patients had participated in the study. O f those pa tients, 45 percent reported their overall rating o f the m aterials was Very Good .while 35 percent said it was Good, 18 percent said it was Excellent and five percent rated it as fair. The remaining three percent left the question blank. “People have been happy with the information in the booklets and the DVDs. Everyone usually learns som ething new, and it’s a great oppor tunity to talk to the doctor again about any new infor mation or questions,” said Dr. Anderson. The Oregon Rural Practice-B ased Research N etw ork (O R P R N ) was founded in 2002 and is a collaboration betw een Oregon Health & Science University, the participating primary care clinicians and their practices. The mission o f ORPRN is to improve the continued on page 8 A L L N E W S A N D A D V E R T IS E M E N T D E A D L IN E : M O N D A Y S A T 5 :0 0 P .M . The Heppner Chamber of Commerce at its annual meeting last week elected new officers for the 2011 year. Pictured above are (left to right) Lisanne Currin Treasurer, Nancy Snider and Jeff Bailey board members, Claire Sponseller outgoing president, Les Paustian President, John Gould, Michael Blauer, Kay Fowler and Ann Murray board members, and not pictured Daye Stone Vice President. Shervll Bates is employed by the Chamber as it Executive Direc tor. -Photo by David Sykes New med student on clinical rotation with health district Val Riss, 26, from the smallest o f all the rural Portland is the new face that choices. She began her rota you might see if you make tion last Tuesday. As part o f a trip to P io n eer the H eppner rota M e m o ria l C lin ic tion Riss works in or Pioneer M emo the clinic, covers rial Hospital. Riss h o spital p a tie n ts, is medical student and is on call for the from Oregon Health rm erg en cy room . and Sciences Uni She is c u rre n tly versity working on a pursuing a medical clinical rotation. Val Riss doctorate and will As a third d ecide next year year m edical stu dent, Riss is required to what to specialize in. When deciding on participate in rural clinical rotations. Each rotation is a career, Riss knew she five weeks long. Riss chose wanted to do something she H eppner because it was was passionate about, and ì i briefly considered going into politics. But she enjoys the one-on-one interaction that practicing m edicine provides, and she is good at science. “ I like Heppner,” said R iss. “ The doctors take time w ith you to teach you." But it hasn’t been all work and no play for Riss since arriving in town. She has been enjoying the snow and has been cross country skiing. “I'm having a fun tim e in H eppner," states Riss. M orrow County Schools closed Jan. 13th, 14th, and 17,h Morrow County Schools will be closed on Thursday and Friday, January 13 and 14 for teacher work days. Schools w ill also be closed on Monday, January 17, in observance o f the Marlin Luther King, Jr. holiday. School w ill resume on Tuesday. January 18. GREEN FEED & SEED IN HEPPNER: C old w e a t h e r clothing •Insulated Coveralls •Jackets, ALL WINTER PAC BOOTS 15% OFF Morrow County Groin Growers Green Feed A Seed 242 W. Linden Way, Heppner * 676-9422 • 989-8221 (MCGG main office) i I
