I
Fletcher takes over as MCSD business manager
Bom in Pendleton, he spent
his early years in Ukiah
before his family moved
to Pendleton. He attended
school there and gradu
ated from Pendleton High
School in 1986.
After high school,
Fletcher spent the next eight
years attending the Univer
sity of Oregon in Eugene.
The unusual length of time
was due, he said, to taking
summer classes and work
ing as a wildland firefighter
during the winter. He trav
eled throughout the world,
backpacking and fighting
wildland fires on several
continents.
Even though the
winter jo b extended his
college time, Fletcher says
the experiences were in
valuable. “It’s one o f the
greatest jobs in the world,”
says Fletcher. “I truly en
joyed it.”
Fletcher recalls one
adventure in particular.
He and a friend flew into
Cairo, Egypt, intending to
backpack through Israel,
Lebanon and the Eastern
Bloc before flying home
from Germany. It was 1990,
though, and the first Gulf
War derailed their plans.
“ We w ere stuck
in Egypt for five weeks,”
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Fletcher says. “It turned
out to be a great expe- and immediately took and
rience. When you
passed the exam to
spend sometime [in
become a certified
Egypt], it’s remark
public accountant
able.”
(CPA). In 1997, he
also married long
O ther ad
time love and Hep
ventures from his
firefighting days in
pner native Andrea
clude visiting Bul
Ball, whom h e’d
garia about three Andy
met while working
years after Cher Fletcher
as a wildland fire
nobyl and seeing
fighter.
the effects that ca
The couple
tastrophe had on the people remained in Idaho, where
there. Though Eastern Eu Fletcher taught accounting
rope was poor, he said, the at Idaho State for the next
people were remarkable.
year, until 1998.
“The people there
After leaving Idaho
were so super friendly. State, Fletcher worked for
They would find out you Deloitte Touche in Boise,
were American and say, ID, from 1998 to 2000. He
’Eat with me; come stay went from there to Building
with me.’” The food lines Materials Holding Corp.,
and empty grocery stores a large lumber supply and
were a stark contrast to that construction company in
hospitality, he says. “It’s a Boise. He stayed with them
very different lifestyle than until February of 2010. An
w hat Americans are accus drea worked as the director
tomed to.”
for Rural Health for the
Despite the lure of State of Idaho.
his overseas adventures,
Fletcher says they
Fletcher did graduate from moved back to the Heppner
the University of Oregon area to be closer to their
in 1994, with a bachelor’s sons’ grandparents and to
degree in marketing man raise the boys, now aged
agement. He went on to six and eight, in a small
attend Idaho State Uni community. Their kids at
versity in Pocatello from tend school in Heppner and
1996 to 1997. He obtained enjoy spending time with
an MBA with an empha
-See FLETCHER/PAGE
sis in accounting in 1997
SIX
Smith says K-12 funding to
get $50 million less over
last biennium
Corps to apply herbicide on
Willow Creek Dam
By Andrea Di Salvo
A ndy F le tc h e r,
CPA, is taking over the
post o f business manager
for the Morrow County
School District (MCSD).
The 43-year-old is tak
ing over from long-time
business manager Rhonda
Lorenz.
While not a Hep-
pner native, Fletcher is no
stranger to Eastern Oregon.
Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Library
University o f Oregon
Eugene. OR 97403
HEBBfrf'ER
pizette
im es
VOL. 130
NO. 15
8 Pages
Wednesday, April 20,2011
G azette-T im es welcom es
new editor
News editor Andrea Di Salvo settles into her new position at
the Gazette-Times. -Photo by April Sykes
H ep p n er n ativ e
Andrea Di Salvo is tak-
ing over the position o f
news editor at the Heppner
Gazette-Times.
Di Salvo takes over
the news editor position
upon the departure of long
time editor Autumn Mor
gan. Morgan, the daughter
of missionaries, was bom in
Texas and raised in Mexico
and Florida. She received
an associate’s degree in
business from Chipola Col
lege in Florida in 2004.
She and her husband, Troy,
moved to the Heppner area
in the summer o f 2006.
She is currently working
on a bachelor’s degree in
business at Eastern Oregon
University.
Morgan, who has
served as Gazette-Times
news editor since Novem
ber of 2006, is leaving the
paper to take on Mary Kay
Bellamy’s previous position
as Fiscal Services Special
ist for the Morrow County
School District.
Di Salvo, 33, says
she is excited to take on
the role o f editor for her
hometown newspaper.
“Autumn has done
an excellent job as editor.
She made it look easy,” Di
Salvo says. “I have some
big shoes to fill and only
hope I can do half the job
she’s done over the past
several years.”
The daughter o f
long-time residents Dex-
ter and Corinne Miles, Di
Salvo was bom in Heppner
and raised on the Miles
farm just outside of town.
She was home-schooled
from kindergarten through
high school and went on to
attend the Lutheran Bible
Institute (LBI) of Seattle in
Issaquah, WA. She gradu
ated from LBI in 2000 with
a B.A. in cross-cultural
ministry.
After college, Di
Salvo moved to Virginia
Beach, VA, to attend Regent
University. The move from
West to East coast was a
shock, she says.
“ It was the first
time I’d ever had grits, and
barbecue means something
entirely different in Virgin
ia,” she says. “Then there
were the traffic, the humid
ity and the hurricanes. It
was a huge adjustment. I’d
been to Africa and had less
culture shock.”
She stuck it out
through the culture shock,
though, and obtained a
master’s degree in journal
ism from Regent in 2002.
After her marriage to hus
band, Carmelo, in 2002,
the couple settled down in
Virginia Beach.
Di Salvo worked in
a variety of writing-related
-See NEWS EDITOR/
PAGE SIX
Bellam y injured in auto
accident
T ravis Bellam y,
former Lexington resident,
was seriously injured in an
automobile accident on Fri
day, April 15, near Bend.
According to fam
ily reports, he suffered a
skull fracture and had sur
gery to remove a blood clot
in his brain and repair the
fracture. He was listed in
critical condition and is cur
rently in an induced coma at
St. Charles Medical Center
in Bend.
He is the son o f
Sam and Mary Kay Bel
lamy, Lexington.
A bank account has
been set up at the Bank of
Eastern Oregon to help
cover medical costs since
he had no insurance.
By David Sykes
The legislature has
passed a $5.7 billion K-12
education budget, which is
down from $5.75 billion
in the current budget, state
representative Greg Smith
told the Heppner Chamber
of Commerce last week.
Sm ith was on a
conference call from Sa
lem with the chamber and
said he was not pleased
that education funding was
down, but was happy to get
the budget figures out to
the school districts so they
could begin planning their
local budgets. “This is a sig
nificant reduction over what
schools need with inflation
and increased costs,” Smith
said of the $50 million cut.
In other state is
sues Smith said a plan to
combine Hermiston and
Heppner court systems with
Pendleton’s has been avert
ed. In a cost saving measure
the legislature had earlier
floated a plan to close the
Heppner court system, and
Smith says that closure has
been averted.
In o th e r issu es
Smith said a bill to com
pensate ranchers for grey
wolf damage has been in
troduced, but he did not
know if it would pass or not.
“The problem with that is I
do not want my tax money
going to pay for wolf dam
age,” said Heppner resident
and Chamber member Cliff
Green.
“I don’t disagree,
but I have a large urban
population (here in Salem)
and they do not understand
the problems of the rural
areas,” Smith responded.
Smith said that,
under the current proposed
budget, OSU extension
was set to lose $20 million.
“This will cut everything
from research to 4-H for
kids,” Smith said. He added
that he is fighting to keep
4-H spending whole.
Smith said other
than the budget issues he
did not see a lot of “big”
legislation coming out of
this session of the Oregon
Legislature.
“There is a 30-30
split in the house between
Republicans and Democrats
and there just isn’t going to
be a lot of ground-breaking
legislation,” Smith said.
“Any kind of education re
form is just going to stall.”
Eastern Oregon educators
learn about the benefits of
Google apps
More than 40 edu
cators from Arlington to
North Powder and every
where in between recently
gathered at the Umatilla-
Morrow Education Service
District to learn how Google
applications, or "apps,” for
education can benefit them
in the classroom.
Through an agree
ment with the state of Or
egon, G oogle provides
schools with free applica
tions in mail, online docu
ments, sites and calendars
to provide teachers with
the tools they need to keep
up with the ever-changing
world o f teaching with
the Internet. The UMESD
hosted the all-day event,
which is part of a Google
Apps road show by the
High Desert ESD’s (out
of Bend) Oregon Virtual
School District Training
Team of Rachel Wente and
Steve Praull. Both Wente
and Praull taught courses
in utilizing Google Apps. as
will the UMESD’s Instruc-
4
tional Technology Spe
cialist Joe Buglione and
Sunridge Middle School
(Pendleton School District)
teachers Paul Nolan and
Heidi Paullus.
“I’ve been thrilled
with the response, and get
ting it out to teachers in the
classrooms,” said Wente
o f her trainings around
northeast Oregon, “because
there are some really great
apps.”
Wente and Praull
will return to the area either
this summer or early fall for
another round of training
with educators from the
region.
The U .S. Army
Corps o f Engineers will
apply herbicide to the face
of Willow Creek Dam this
spring to kill undesirable
vegetation.
G&L Exteriors of
Estacada, OR is currently
installing a permanent fall
protection system, includ
ing horizontal life lines, on
the face of the dam. The
system will protect work
ers who will later apply
herbicide over the course
of about a week.
The total contract
cost is about $127,000. In
stallation of the permanent
fall protection system will
reduce the cost of future
applications.
The types of herbi
cide to be used have been
closely coordinated with
the state Department of
Agriculture and do not pose
a significant health risk to
people or animals in the
area. The actual application
area is on the face of dam
where no public access is
allowed.
Although the her-
bicides are approved for use
in or near domestic, irriga
tion or recreational water
supplies, the Corps plans
to lower the level o f the
small holding basin below
the dam during and imme
diately after the application
to minimize contact.
“Vegetation con
trol on the dam is some
thing the Corps has always
tried to accomplish, but the
right equipment was not in
place to do a thorough job,”
said Willow Creek Dam
Park Ranger Dan Dunnett.
“Contractors have sprayed
the face of the dam twice a
year but could never reach
a significant part [of] the
growth with the equipment
they had.”
Although unsight
ly, the shallow-rooted veg-
etation-mostly flowering
plants and grasses-on the
dam’s face does not pose a
hazard to the dam’s struc
tural integrity.
For more informa
tion, call the Ranger Office
at 541-676-9009.
Columbia River Community
Health Services receives
ConAgra grant
C olum bia River
Community Health Ser
vices and the “Investing
in B oardm an’s H ealthy
Future" Capital Campaign
have received a grant in the
amount of $ 10,000 from the
ConAgra Foundation.
The C o n A g ra
Foundation grant will be
used to support the con
struction of a new health
clinic for the Boardman
community, which serves
as many as 12,000 visits per
year. Columbia River Com
munity Health Services, a
nonprofit organization, is
the only medical facility in
Boardman and provides up
to 30 percent charity care
each year. “In order to con
tinue to offer quality health
care to the Boardman and
North Morrow communi
ties, a new facility must be
built,” said Mindy Binder,
Executive Director of the
clinic. “This gift from the
ConA gra Foundation is
wonderful news and brings
the new clinic that much
closer to reality.”
Cu r r e n t l y , C o
lumbia River Community
Health Services is housed in
a 5,000 square foot building
that can no longer expand
with the existing footprint.
The new facility will be
15,000 square feet when it
is completed in early sum
mer o f 2012. The capital
campaign's goal is to raise
$4,723,800 in cash pledges
and in-kind contributions;
to date the campaign has
secured $3,500,687.
Director Binder re
minds everyone that com
memorative bricks are still
available for purchase. Con
tact Mindy at 541-481-7212
to make a donation.
Valvoline Air Shield
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2.5 gal
$11.99
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Morrow County Grain Growers
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