Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 6, 2014)
Bessie Wet/ell Newspaper Library University of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403 August to continue July heat, predicts weather service HEPPNER azette imes VOL. 133 NO. 27 8 Pages Wednesday, August 6, 2014 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon July was a hot one in Heppner, with the weather in A u g u st p re d ic te d to c o n t i n u e th e a b o v e normal trend, reports the National Weather Service in Pendleton. The average tem perature in July was 73.8 degrees, which was four degrees above normal. High temperatures averaged 90.7 degrees, which was 5 degrees above normal. The highest recorded was 101 degrees on the 17th. Low temperatures averaged 57 d eg rees, w hich was 3.1 degrees above normal. The lowest was 32 degrees on Fair cleanup takes some heavy lifting the 27th. O n 17 d a y s , th e tem perature exceeded 90 degrees. It was at least 100 degrees on three days. P recipitation totaled 0.13 inches during July, w hich w as 0.20 inches below normal. Measurable precipitation o f at least .01 inch was received on three days with the heaviest, 0.08 inches, reported on the 24lh. Precipitation this year has reached 7.59 inches, which is 1.40 inches below normal. Since October, the w ater year precipitation at Heppner has been 9.96 inches, which is 3.09 inches below normal. T he o u tlo o k fo r A u g u s t fro m N O A A ’s Climate Prediction Center c a lls for a b o v e -n o rm a l te m p e ra tu re s and n e a r n o rm a l p r e c i p i t a t i o n . Normal highs for Heppner d u rin g A u gust are 85.5 degrees and normal lows are 53.5 degrees. The 30- year normal precipitation is 0.39 inches. The National W eath er S e rv ic e is an o ffic e o f th e N a tio n a l Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency o f the U .S. C o m m erc e Department. DEQ to hold Morrow Pacific public hearings T he D e p a rtm e n t o f E n v iro n m e n ta l Q u ality (DEQ) is coming to Eastern O re g o n to h e a r lo c a l thoughts on the M orrow Pacific project. T h is O re g o n D EQ h e a r in g is to r e c e iv e c o m m e n ts a b o u t th e d raft 401 w ater q uality c e r t i f i c a t i o n f o r th e proposed C oyote Island Coal Terminal Project in Boardman. The DEQ will hold a public hearing on the project Tuesday, Aug. 12, from 6-9 p.m. in the Port of Morrow R iver Front C onference Room, 2 Marine Drive in Boardman. T he DEQ w ill give a b rie f presentation and answer questions from 6-7 Barry Mlinkers of Lexington backs through the empty parking lot at the Morrow County Fairgrounds in Heppner as he clears away downed tree branches in preparation for the 101st Morrow County Fair. The fair and rodeo will take place next p.m. and will begin taking week, Aug. 13-17. -Photo by Andrea Di Salvo ■ comments at 7 p.m. Each person will have a maximum o f two minutes to comment on the draft 401 certification. l'he hearing w ill be d iv id e d into fo u r h a lf- h our se ssio n s th a t w ill accommodate 15 registered speakers. P r e - r e g is tr a tio n is currently sold out, but DEQ also will receive comments on a walk in, first-come, first-served basis in the Port o f M orrow Well Springs Room from 7-9 p.m. Additional information reg a rd in g the p ro p o sed project is available at http:// w w w .o re g o n .g o v /D E Q / Pages/CoalExport.aspx. Q uestions about the hearing, contact M arcia Danab at danab.marcia@ deq.state.or.us. MoCo Rodeo expands Pioneer Memorial named recipient of entries to include Critical Access Hospital grant former residents T h e O re g o n T r a il Pro R o deo C o m m itte e has announced that it has opened up Morrow County Rodeo entries to include Morrow County alumni and their immediate families. The com m ittee has also changed M orrow County resid e n cy req u irem e n ts from one year to six months. Amateur C alf Roping is still only for M orrow County residents or alumni. Mutton Bustin’ entries need not be residents. Entry deadline for the Morrow County Rodeo is Aug. 15 at 8 p.m. Entry forms are available at www. morrowcountyoregon.com/ fair/rodeo. Any questions, c o n ta c t m o c o r o d e o @ hotmail.com. The rodeo office will be open Thursday, Aug. 14, thru Sunday, Aug. 17; office number is 541 -676-9451. Special fair section in this week’s paper A special 28-page Fair and Rodeo section is included in this w eek’s Heppner Gazette-Tim es. The section contains articles, interviews, photos and other information about the upcoming Morrow County Fair and Rodeo. Fair-goers browse through entries at a past Morrow County Fair. -File Photo Umatilla Forest reports small lightning fires Pendleton— A total of nine fires were reported over the weekend on the Umatilla National Forest as a result of recent lightning a c tiv ity , fo re s t a g e n ts reported Monday. Seven fires were located on the North Fork John Day Ranger District. The largest w as th e B o n e C a n y o n Fire, four m iles w est o f Dale, OR near Bone Point. Firefighters w orked late into the evening and were successful in containing -See FOREST LIGHTNING FIRES/PAGE FIVE P o r tla n d , O r e .— Pioneer Memorial Hospital in Heppner is the recipient o f a C ritic a l A c c e ss Hospital grant, the Oregon Office of Rural Health at Oregon Health & Science U n iv e rs ity a n n o u n c e d Monday. Pioneer Memorial received $19,500 out o f $78,000 in grants that the O regon O ffice o f Rural Health has awarded to four C ritical A ccess H ospital communities. Critical Access Hospital grants, awarded under the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Grant Program, aim to improve health-care outcom es for M e d ic a re p a tie n ts and enable hospitals and their surrounding communities to implem ent sustainable p ro g ra m s in re s p o n s e to ch allen g es identified through community needs assessments. A c c o r d i n g to the O regon O ffice o f Rural Health, Pioneer Memorial Hospital will use funds “to im prove care transitions and red u c e E m erg en cy D ep artm en t ad m issio n s for high-risk patients. A hom e h ealth n u rse /c are coordinator will identify individuals from Irrigon Medical Clinic and Pioneer Memorial Clinic with high- risk d ia b e te s, co ro n a ry artery disease or multiple chronic conditions. Individualized care plans will be developed for each patient to help coordinate and integrate patient care. The care coordinator will be part of the Morrow County In te r-d is c ip lin a ry C are Team and will collaborate with them on identifying ne eds and m atc h in g patients with appropriate resources.” Morrow County health D istrict CEO and Adm inistrator Dan Grigg says the grant is exciting, as it will allow PMH to look into a new model o f health care. Morrow County Local Community Advisory Council ( LCA C) also recently received a grant to set up a medical wrap around program in which people in the community come together to identify local needs and resources. “ This grant helps us feed into that program ,” says Grigg. Grigg says the health district plans to use home h e a l t h n u r s e s as c a r e coordinators to work with patients, doctors and LCAC to i dent i f y c o mmu n i t y n e e d s and r e s o u r c e s and create strategies for b e tte r health care in the community. “ Most insurance companies don’t pay for a home health visit unless the patient is homebound. This grant allows us funding for nurses to visit patients who may not be hom ebound but may need some help to keep them healthy and Talking rocks silent for now Rocks promise plenty o f info, some high-tech surprises Basalt rocks from the Osmin Ranch quarry were recently placed around Heppner for the Talking Rock project. Wilkinson Ranch will also donate large rocks later. Plaques are in the process of being ordered and will each have a QR barcode for smart-phone scanning, leading to extensive information about each subject and links about the Heppner area. There is also a Facebook page. “Talking Rocks, Heppner, Oregon USA,” and a brochure with a map of the rocks' locations. Some of the historical topics include the railroad, 1903 Flood survivors, Jackson Morrow and the county courthouse. Donors are still being sought for the hospital, Chinese, and the Willow Creek Dam plaques. Contact Heppner City Hall for more details. -Photo by David Sykes F A IR & R O D E O S P E C IA L Bm 0 FREE RODEO TICKETS w it h e a c h p u r c h a s e OF $50 OR MORE OF W RANGLER CLOTHING _______ Oregon Trail Pro Rodeo or Morrow County Rodeo Morrow County Grain Growers Green F eed & Seed ^4^Jf^indenJWa^i9|>£ne^^676^942^^^894l22^MCG^wai™fnca) I V 1 out o f the clinic and out o f the hospital. It’s pretty innovative,” Grigg says. “ R ight now w hen a patient comes into the clinic, there’s only so much time they have with a doctor, and there might be so much more they need, like with a chronic condition, for instance. There m ight be some education involved. If a person has to go to the ER a lot, there m ight be -See PMH GRANT/PAGE THREE V
