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VOL. 135
NO. 4 8 Pages
Getting to
know your
exchange
students
Didrick Fagerheim
Finnseth
17, Junior, Heppner
Where are you from?
Bodø, Norway—A town in
North Norway, just north of
the Arctic Circle.
Host Parent(s): Jon and
Jacque Dompier
What do you think
of Heppner and Morrow
County? “I really like it,
but it’s a lot
different.
Where I
come from,
there’s a lot
of moun-
tains and
trees. Obvi-
Didrick
ously here
Fagerheim
there aren’t
Finnseth
so many
mountains and trees. I re-
ally like the people here. It’s
a totally different culture
but it’s lot of fun.”
How has the experi-
ence been for you? It’s
been really great so far. It’s
been fun to get into a new
culture. I’ve made a lot of
new friends. It’s been great
to experience new places
and new things, and I look
forward to experiencing
more this year.”
What was the most dif-
icult thing about this expe-
rience? “People expect you
to behave differently than
where I’m from. We dress
differently. When I irst got
here, I wore a lot of skinny
jeans and I got teased some
about that.
“Americans use pickles
in everything, and I don’t
like pickles.
“At home, my parents
don’t expect me to tell them
where I’m going all the
time. That was something
to adjust to. It’s been pretty
smooth, though.”
What did you like best?
“Meeting new people and
going places. The food—
chicken and JoJos at the
Shell station! We go at least
twice a week on school days
to buy chicken and JoJos
at the Shell station. And
Gatorade.”
Did you have the
chance to attend any special
events? What did you think
of that experience? “My
favorite was Thanksgiving.
We don’t have Thanksgiv-
ing back in Norway, and I
love turkey. It was one of
my favorite experiences
so far. All that food on the
table. Just the whole family
getting together to eat food.
It was a lot of fun.
“I’m looking forward to
the Super Bowl. I watched
the Super Bowl last year—
I didn’t know anything
about football, and it was 3
a.m. because there’s a big
time difference between
America and Norway.
“I was really tired at
school the next day. But I
thought it was important,
because it was American.”
Wednesday, January 27, 2016
The Mustang wrestling team. Back row (L-R): Carson Brosnan, Tim Jaca, Will Lutcher,
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Ryan Smith, Cord Flynn. Front row (L-R): Charles Cason, Trevor Chamberlin, Leo Waite,
Zach Bredield, Sabashtian Futter. -Contributed photo
-See story PAGE FOUR
Health district continues search
for new clinic physicians
By April Sykes
The Morrow Coun-
ty Health District Board
learned from CEO Bob
Houser Monday night that
a physician’s assistant who
had expressed interest in
working for MCHD has de-
clined the offer, saying that
the move would not be good
for him at this time. Houser
also reported that the phy-
sician recruiter employed
by the district still has no
candidates interested.
Houser said that the
Willow Creek Assisted Liv-
ing facility currently has
four vacancies, with one
possible admission in the
near future and several
other possibilities for new
residents.
Houser also said in his
report that an employee had
been offered a position with
the Ione Community Clinic/
Community Counseling So-
lutions, but the district has
not yet received a response.
In other business, the
board:
-learned from Houser
that he would like to add
consent items to the board
agenda. He said this would
include information on
the department managers’
meetings, safety commit-
tee meetings, Q&A meet-
ings and compliance meet-
ings, among others. He
said that the consent item
agenda would allow the
board to review the minutes
and approve the agenda
items as a blanket vote.
He said the change would
not only speed up some
district meetings, but would
keep the board informed of
committee meetings held
throughout the month.
-learned from Houser
that he and his family are
in the process of moving
into the district house this
week. He added that the
district-owned apartment
will then become freed-up
for use by staff and interim
employees, if needed.
-heard from Houser
that he plans to meet with
ire and police department
personnel concerning Co-
lumbia River Enterprise
Zone funds and needs
throughout the district.
-received the following
proit and loss statement for
December: the district had
$801,822 in gross patient
revenue, less $11,637 for
bad debts, and $104,845
in contractual and other
adjustments, plus $160,269
in tax revenue and $7,150
in other operating revenue
for $852,759 in total oper-
ating revenue, $769,031 in
total operating expenses,
plus a non-operating gain
of $11,900 for a $95,629
gain for the month and an
$86,622 year-to-date gain.
-received the follow-
ing report for December:
Pioneer Memorial Hospital
had eight admissions, three
swing bed admissions, 10
observation admissions,
two hospital respite admis-
sions, 435 out-patients, 76
emergency room encoun-
ters, 1,647 lab tests, 89
x-ray procedures, 28 CT
scans, 11 EKG tests, six
lower endoscopy proce-
dures, one upper endoscopy
procedure, 14 respiratory
therapy procedures; Pio-
neer Memorial Clinic had
377 patient visits, 12 new
patients, 35 seen by a nurse
and 19 no-shows; Irrigon
Medical Clinic had 307 pa-
tient visits, 27 new patients,
63 seen by a nurse and 15
no-shows; Ione Commu-
nity Clinic had 34 patient
visits and three seen by a
nurse; Heppner Ambulance
had 31 page-outs with 25
transports for $45,543 in
revenue; Boardman Ambu-
lance had 39 page-outs with
17 transports for $25,663
in revenue; Irrigon Am-
bulance had 16 page-outs
with nine transports for
$12,070 in revenue; Ione
Ambulance had two page-
outs with one transport for
$1,427 in revenue; there
were three lights; Home
Health had 111 patient vis-
its; Hospice had ive admis-
sions; Pharmacy had 1,395
drug doses for $81,256 in
revenue.
-received the following
year-end ambulance report:
Heppner Ambulance had
292 page-outs with 235
transports; Boardman had
349 page-outs with 203
transports; Irrigon had 337
page-outs with 194 trans-
ports; Ione had 10 page-
outs with ive transports;
for a yearly total of 988
page-outs, 637 transports
and 33 lights.
Speed limits change March 1 on I-84,
other eastern Oregon highways
Motorists traveling on
some state highways in
central and eastern Oregon
will see a change soon due
to Oregon House Bill 3402.
The bill, enacted by the
2015 legislation, raises the
speed limit on Interstate 84
and some other routes east
of the Cascades. The new
law takes effect March 1
and will raise legal speeds
to 70 mph for passenger
vehicles and 65 mph for
commercial trucks on I-84
between the Idaho border
and The Dalles. These same
speed limits will apply for
U.S. 95, which runs through
southeast Oregon between
the Nevada and Idaho bor-
ders.
In addition, sections of
eight other highways will
have speed limits increased
to 65 mph for passenger
vehicles and 60 mph for
trucks. These include por-
tions of U.S. 20, U.S. 26,
U.S. 97, U.S. 197, U.S. 395,
OR 31, OR 78, and OR 205.
The new speed limits
will more closely match
A section of I-84 and some other eastern Oregon routes will see speed limit increases effective
March 1. -Photo courtesy of ODOT
those of neighboring states.
More information, in-
cluding a map showing the
speciic highway segments
that will see the changes,
a copy of HB 3402, up-
date news and information,
plus links to related photos
and video is available on
at www.tinyurl.com/OR-
speed2016.
The current speed lim-
its on I-84 are 65 mph for
passenger vehicles and 55
Report hunt results
by Jan. 31
$25 penalty for not reporting
deer and elk tags
SALEM, Ore.—Any
hunter who purchased 2015
big game or turkey tags
needs to report their hunt re-
sults by the deadline, which
is Jan. 31 for most tags.
Hunters are required
to report on each deer, elk,
cougar, bear, pronghorn and
turkey tag purchased—even
if they were not success-
ful or did not hunt. Sports
-See HUNT RESULTS/PAGE
FIVE
mph for commercial trucks.
These limits will not change
for the section of interstate
west of The Dalles.
The current speed limit
for other non-interstate state
and U.S. routes is typically
55 mph for all vehicles, un-
less posted otherwise.
Prior to March 1, 2016,
travelers may see some
highway work needed to
support the speed limit
change, including modify-
ing passing zones to relect
the higher legal speed; new
sign posts installed to ac-
commodate new, larger
signs; new or modified
curve warning signs; and
other minor changes.
The new signs are ex-
pected to be installed on
I-84 by March 1 and on sec-
ondary highways as quickly
as possible to accommodate
the March 1 effective date.
Getting to
know your
exchange
students
Mads Damkjaer Meltofte
16, Junior, Heppner
Where are you from? A
small town near Middelfart,
Denmark—Middelfart is a
town in central Denmark,
with a population of about
14,800.
Host Parent(s): Ray
and Jennifer Cecil
What do you think of
Heppner
and Morrow
County?
“The size of
the town is
basically the
same as the
town I come
from. What Mads
s u r p r i s e d Damkjaer
me was that Meltofte
they have
these big hills surrounding
the town. And the people
here are so nice and so
willing to help you if you
if you ever need anything,
and they’re so open-minded
here. That’s not something
I’m used to in Denmark.”
How has the experience
been for you? “So far it’s
been amazing. It’s really a
great opportunity to come
over here. I’ve been playing
football with the team; win-
ning a state championship is
something most exchange
students don’t experience.
I’ve made a lot of new
friends. It’s been great so
far.”
What was the most dif-
icult thing about this ex-
perience? “Before I came
over here I used to cuss
a lot, swear a lot. In my
country, people don’t take
it as hard or offensive. So I
got constantly told I could
not say that, don’t say that.
That was hard. But I got
past that, and now I hardly
cuss at all.”
What did you like best?
“When the football team
won the state champion-
ship. I played on the JV
team, but the coach always
thought it was important
that we should all get expe-
rience, so we always went
along and, whenever the
team was winning, we got
to go in and play at the end
of the game.
“That was a huge expe-
rience, to go out and play on
the ield in Hermiston and
then be able to say I played
-See EXCHANGE
STUDENT/PAGE FOUR
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