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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 17, 2014)
SIX- Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon ~ Letters to the Editor Wednesday, September 17,2014 ~ Che Heppner Gazette Times vs ill print all letters to the Editor with the following criteria met: letters submitted to the newspaper will need to have the name of the sender along with a legible signature. We are also requesting that you provide your address and a phone number where you can be reached. The address and phone number will only be used for verification and will not be printed in the newspaper Letters may not be libelous. The UT reserves the right to edit The GT is not responsible for accuracy of statements made in letters Any letters expressing thanks will be placed in the classifieds under “Card o f Thanks" at a cost o f $10. Eastern Oregon is denied a voice in forest plan To the editor, The USFS states they wish the public’s involvement with the Blue Mountain Forest Plan Revision, yet why are they stonewalling the people's request to participate. As we have grown to see over the last several months, the USFS does not seem to truly want to engage with the people of Eastern Oregon on the Blue Mountains Forest Plan Revision (BMFPR), as proved through their lack of desire to hold formal comment meetings for those unable to submit written comments, or their unwillingness to ad dress requests for notifications of meetings with public officials in regards to the BMFPR. 1, as a member of Forest Access For All (FAFA), have been appalled to find out through our group that our request for formal notice of all meetings with public officials in regards to the BMFPR has been stonewalled by Forest Service leadership now since Aug. 17. I want to make sure everyone knows the unwillingness of USFS employees to answer a simple request and let the people of Eastern Oregon attend meetings they hold with elected county and state officials attending. The people of Eastern Oregon deserve to know what conversations are taking place and how' it will affect their motorized access to our public lands. It is unconscionable that such a simple request as, .requesting notice of all meetings with county, state or federal representatives or staff 3 days prior to meetings taking place. Furthermore, notification should include date, time and list of invited attendees,” would be such a difficult task to answer, es pecially when made to an agency that states they want to have a fully transparent system as they claim. 1 would challenge each and every Eastern Oregonian concerned about their motorized access to public lands in our region to contact the Blue Mountains Forest Plan Team through Ms. Jodi Kramer at jodikramer@fs.fed. us and request the same as FAFA has requested above. We deserve better than we are getting and it’s about time we start standing up for ourselves and demanding it. We were advised when attending the USFS meetings, our voices would be heard and there would be “additional meetings to voice our concerns.” Terri & Dave Denton, Heppner If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, help is available and that help Is FREE of charge. If Y O U h a v e a fa m ily m e m b e r w h o su ffers fro m g a m b lin g a d d ic tio n , Y O U c a n a ls o re c e iv e F R E E tre a t m e n t e v e n if th e g a m b le r is not re ce iv in g tre a tm e n t. If you a re a re s id e n t o f M o rro w C o u n ty a n d you w is h to ta k e a d v a n ta g e o f th e s e rv ic e s a b o v e o r d e sire m o re in fo rm atio n , P le a s e call a n y o f th e fo llo w in g n u m b e rs to s e t up a L O C A L a p p o in tm e n t o r ju s t to talk: B o b b y H a rris @ 5 4 1 - 6 7 6 - 9 9 2 5 o r 5 4 1 - 2 5 6 - 0 1 7 5 Community Counseling Solutions (C C S ) @ 541-676-9161 VA Health Care for Veterans Extended care - also known as long term care - is a program for Veterans o f all ages who need the dally support & assistance o f another individual. Veterans can receive geriatric & long term care programs a t home, a t VA medical centers, or in the community. _ Your eligibility is 111 J f ] ) M ih '— ■* • ' / lA Im based on clinical need, service or setting availability. For more information call Veterans Services 5 4 1 922-6420 - Eastern Oregon Word Round-Up set for Oct. 3-5 The third annual East ern Oregon Word Round- Up, celebrating a love of reading, writing and book, is set for Oct. 3-5 this year. The event is open to the public and features writers of all genres. The festival will be held at Tamastslikt Cultural Institute on the Umatilla Indian Reservation and at the Pendleton Center for the Arts (PCA). Tam astslikt will of fer free admission to its museum on Oct. 3 and 4. Adm ission to the Word Round-Up and all one-hour programs are free. Two- hour workshops cost $25 each but are free to junior and high school students. The event is sponsored by the nonprofit Libraries of Eastern Oregon (LEO) with funding assistance from The Wildhorse Foundation. Proceeds are used to bring community programs to rural public libraries in the region. Keynote speakers are Lidia Yuknavitch, nation ally-acclaimed author of the best-selling The Chronol ogy o f Water, and Lance Olsen, creative writing in structor and author of Ar chitectures of Possibility. Yuknavitch will pres ent “The Worth o f Risk” at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 3 at Pendleton Center for the Arts. All ages are welcome to attend this inspirational presentation on using one's imagination to brave many fronts. Yuknavitch will dis cuss her own works and cre ative process. Yuknavitch publishes fiction, nonfic tion, and genre-bending writing online and in print. She is the recipient of nu merous awards and teaches in the Masters of Fine Arts program at Eastern Oregon University. In his keynote presen tation set for 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 4 at Tamasts likt Olsen will discuss spiral theory and the materiality of the page as depicted in his novel Theories of For getting. Olsen has taught experimental writing and practice internationally and currently is a professor of writing at the University of Utah. He is board chair man at Fiction Collective Two, one of America’s best- known ongoing literary ex periments and progressive art communities. Daytime events planned for Friday, Oct. 3 will be held at Tamastslikt and include Native Ameri can storytelling; the making of serial poems, a reading and discussion with author Pamela (S teele) Reese; poetry by Shaindel Beers, who teaches at Blue Mt. Community College; and other readings. Award-winning Herm- iston author Karen Zacha- rias will present a two-hour workshop to explore the twists and turns of character development and dive into story structure for both fic tion and non-fiction writers. On Saturday, Oct. 4 from 8-9 a.m., a free book making workshop will be held at the Pendleton Center for the Arts, presented by Roberta Lavadour, PCA executive director. All other programs and workshops scheduled for Friday and Saturday dur ing the day will be held at Tamastslikt. Oregon poet laureate Peter Sears will read from his works along with Klick itat poet Kolin Craig, who lives on the Umatilla Indian Reservation, Summerville poet Amelia Ettinger. who writes often about the im migrant experience, and essayist Justin Quaempts, a member of the Board of T rustees of CTUIR . Area editors and jour nalists will fill a panel to discuss the impact o f the internet on the community newspaper and the future of print journalism. Other one-hour pro grams include Isabel Sup- pe', author of Starry Nights, who will share her sur vival experience of falling 1, 100-ft. in the Bolivian Andes, theh crawling for days over a high-mountain glacier with a broken leg. Her compelling story of life and death and the redeem ing power o f beauty has been compared as the true female version of Touching the Void. W ell-know n author Molly Gloss will read from her forthcoming book, Fall ing from Horses. Other pro grams include meditative prompt writing, creative writing workshops for chil dren, place-based writing, and several readings. Two-hour workshops include one on writing for TV and movies, presented by noted Portland screen writer Micki Selvitella. Da vid Axelrod, co-director of the MFA program at EOU, will lead a workshop on writing the prose poem, and Nate Liederbach, author of several stories collections will present a workshop on Describing the Indescrib able. John C arr W alker’s w orkshop “ From Short Story to Novel” will en courage writers to try their hand at novel writing, as will Robert Stubblefield’s workshop to establish con flict, character and setting. Stubblefield has been pub lished widely and has won numerous awards. Rob Whitbeck will give a workshop on poetry in historical and regional con text and will address issues facing the working poet. He is the author of Writ ing Home, a survey of the history and literature of the Northern West. On Sunday morning at PCA, Pendleton poet Bette Husted, internationally- acclaimed author Ursula Le Guin, Barbara Drake, and several others will read from their works. Follow ing their reading. Sears will give an informal presenta tion on what it means to be Oregon’s poet laureate and his vision for the position. The Word Round-Up also includes a trade show and authors’ tables. Trade show spaces are $25 to businesses and free to east ern Oregon nonprofits. For a complete sched ule, see www.easternor- egonwordroundup.org. For more information, contact Lyn Craig Hancock, LEO executive director at leoli- braries@gmail .com. CAPECO considering local classes to help fall prevention in elderly Pendleton, Ore.—Or egon is one o f 48 states that supports the National Council on Aging (NCOA) Falls Free Initiative declar ing Sept. 23 Falls Preven tion Awareness Day. Falls are the leading cause of both fatal and non- fatal injuries for those 65 years of age and over. Every 14 seconds, an older adult is seen in an emergency department for a fall-related injury. The chances of fall ing and of being seriously injured in a fall increase with age. “Nationally, over 2.4 million older adults were treated in emergency de partments for falls and 30 percent were hospitalized. As a result, the medical costs from falls are signifi cant. In addition, the death rate from falls is increas ing,” said Marci McMur- phy, Area Agency on Aging Director at Community Ac tion Program of East Cen tral Oregon (CAPECO). “ We can change this by bringing greater attention to the many preventive measures that can be eas ily employed to keep our seniors safe.” This y e a r ’s them e, Strong Today - Falls Free Tomorrow, highlights the important roles profession als, older adults, caregivers and family members play in raising awareness and preventing falls in the older adult population. “Falls are not a nor mal part o f aging and the resulting injuries can steal quality life from seniors and their families,” said Albert Terrillion, NCOA Senior Director, Clinical Community Partnerships. “This awareness day is an opportunity for older adults and their support communi ties to learn how to reduce falls risks so our seniors can stay independent for as long as possible.” At senior centers and other community-based or ganizations across the Unit ed States, programs like A Matter of Balance, Tai Chi, and Stepping On help older adults gain strength, improve balance, and build confidence to help them live healthier lives and preserve their independence. Locally, C A PECO ’s Area Agency on Aging has received grant funding to offer Tai Ji Quan: Moving for Better Balance classes throughout Umatilla and Morrow Counties. Accord ing to McMurphy, “Several staff are now certified to lead this program. They will be working with area senior centers to offer this evidence-based falls pre vention program to older adults.” For more information on the availability of class es in your area, contact Helena Wolfe at hwolfe@ capeco-works.org or 541 - 564-2560. Wolfe has stated that CAPECO would like to hold classes in Heppner but that “a solid base of partici pants who are interested” is necessary for classes to be scheduled locally. Community lunch menu C IT Y C O U N C IL Heppner United Methodist Church members will serve lunch on Wednesday, Sept. 24, at St. Patrick’s Senior Center. The meal will include parmesan-crusted baked fish, rice pilaf, mixed vegetables, Waldorf salad, hot rolls, Boston cream pie, milk, coffee and tea. Suggested donation is $3.50 per meal. Menu is subject to change. Affordable Family Eyewear Two Complete Frames & Lenses $ 89.00 Includes: Single Vision, Bifocal, Trifocal or Progressive, Plastic Lenses Excellent Selection of Frames! Some restrictions may apply. -Continuedfrom PAGE ONE continual long term multi infraction properties. -Cutsforth said she has been attending a FEMA training for flood plain Eastern Oregon’s ONLY SAME DAY SERVICE for Prescription Lenses!! (541) 567-3790 se habla espanol www.affordablefamilyeyewear.com management in Eugene. It was a week-long training. The classes were very rig orous and informative. The floodplain through Hep pner impacts us all and this training will help the city to better manage it and to take informed actions for the residents that live or own properties in the floodplain, Cutsforth said. Fire Department August Report Rural wild land fires - 3 False alarms - 1 Secure landing zone for helicopter - 5 M otor vehicle acci dents - 3 Structure fire - 1 Lift assist - 1 Mutual aide Hermis- ton - 1 Mutual aide Gilliam Co. - 1 Task force called for a wildland fire to Gilliam Co. Wildland fire in town - 1 Illegal bum barrel - 1 Smoke alarm investiga tions - 2 Smell of gas - 1
