Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, April 6, 2016
MYREN RETIRES
-Continued from PAGE ONE Sandy I had around 1,400
MCSO boat as a marine
deputy.
“Back then all of us did
a little of everything,” he
says. “We didn’t have the
ability to specialize much
then.”
In January of 1990,
Myren and his wife bought
their own place outside of
Boardman, where they still
reside.
In 1998 he left law en-
forcement for a few years
and went to work for the
state health department as
a medical preparedness
officer. That led to some
interesting side work that
has continued to this day.
“During the time with
the state health department,
I was asked to sit on a
committee for disaster re-
sponse,” says Myren. “That
led me to get involved in the
state disaster team, and that
led me to become a member
of the federal system.”
Myren has been a
federal disaster responder
since 1999.
“The federal govern-
ment responds to disas-
ters when states are over-
whelmed. It’s kind of a
progression,” he explains,
adding that when a city
can’t handle a disaster, it
will call the county, the
county may call the state,
and so on until the federal
disaster system is activated.
“Once the federal system is
activated, we can bring in
all kinds of different sup-
port systems,” he says.
In that role, Myren
works under the U.S. Dept.
of Health and Human Ser-
vices (HHS). His current
title is that of Type I Op-
erations Section Chief; he
is one of only three people
at that level in the entire
HHS emergency response
system.
“That means that I go
out and I manage large in-
cidents. During Superstorm
people under my control
in the New York area. I’ve
worked hurricanes, tsuna-
mis, the World Trade Cen-
ter, and then a whole host of
scheduled events.”
One of those events
was the visit of Pope Fran-
cis to the U.S. last year.
“I was stationed at Fort
Dix (New Jersey) and I
managed teams in New
York and Philadelphia and
DC,” says Myren. Myren
says he intends to stay in-
volved with his federal
work, and that HHS al-
ready has him scheduled
for several events over the
summer.
While Myren’s role in
federal disaster response is
ongoing, his time working
for the state of Oregon end-
ed in 2004 when he went
back to law enforcement,
taking a job in Umatilla
County. He worked there
for a year before current
Morrow County Sheriff
Ken Matlack was elected.
“Ken was elected sher-
iff and asked me to come
work for him over there
as undersheriff,” he says.
Myren worked for MCSO
as undersheriff from Janu-
ary of 2005 until his retire-
ment last week.
When he thinks about
retirement, Myren says he
continues to have mixed
feelings.
“Well, it’s kind of ter-
rifying and exciting at the
same time,” he says. “I’m
gonna miss it tremendously,
the helping people and the
camaraderie with the other
officers and the people I
work with.”
However, he says he
also has noticed a surge in
violence in recent years, an
aspect he won’t miss at all.
“Used to be, people
talked. If you and your
neighbor had a problem,
you sat at the fence or the
Play proceeds beneit At home on the range
Editor’s note: The following article by Karli Erickson
parish hall restoration has been
reprinted with permission from Oregon Health
Father Gerry Condon presents the proceeds from this year’s
performances of his original play, “Intrigue at Glendalough,”
to the St. Patrick’s Parish Hall Restoration Committee. A total
of $800 was donated to the restoration fund, with $207 coming
from the Ione production of the play and $593 from the Hep-
pner production. The charity was chosen by the play’s cast.
Pictured (L-R) are Fr. Condon, Janet Greenup and Ashley
Lindsay. -Contributed photo
driveway and talked. Even
if you didn’t agree, you
talked,” he says. “Now
nobody can do that. They
call the police. Then, if the
issue can’t be resolved by
us because it’s a civil mat-
ter, people overreact.”
He says he’s retiring
now in order to focus on
family and personal pur-
suits, including both busi-
ness ventures and hobbies.
“One of the things I’ve
done since I was in my late
20s, early 30s, was a side
business where I outit po-
lice cars,” Myren says, add-
ing that he currently outits
cars for several agencies in
northeast Oregon, some-
thing he plans to continue.
He also hopes to get back
into participating in shoot-
ing competitions.
“I used to take part in
a lot of different shooting
competitions. I haven’t
done that for many years.
As an administrator, I just
didn’t have time. I plan on
doing a lot more shooting
competitions,” he says.
He also says he plans
to travel with his wife of
35 years, Miriam, and their
“spoiled dogs,” referring to
the Myrens’ two standard
poodles and Kerry Bleu
terrier.
His heart and home,
though, remain in Morrow
County, he says.
“It has been absolutely
my greatest honor to serve
the citizens of Morrow
County. And even though
I’m not doing it full time
any more, I intend to keep
on doing it,” says Myren.
“When we irst moved
here we thought, ‘Who
stole all the trees?’” he
jokes. “But over time we
got to know the area, we got
to know the people. We love
it here, and have no plans of
going anywhere.
“We’re staying put un-
til we die.”
-Continued from PAGE ONE or permittee’s request if ODFW used lethal control
Despite last week’s ac-
tions, Oregon’s wolf popu-
lation as a whole is grow-
ing. ODFW documented
110 known wolves at the
end of 2015, a 36 percent
increase over 2014.
For more information
on wolves, visit www.dfw.
state.or.us/wolves.
WOLVES KILLED
area at this time of year is a
marked departure from the
pack’s normal pattern. Co-
inciding with this changed
pattern, ODFW document-
ed livestock depredation by
the pack in investigations
on March 9, March 25, two
more on March 28 and one
more on March 30.
Under the rules asso-
ciated with the Wolf Plan
in Phase II, ODFW can
authorize lethal control of
wolves at a property owner
a) the agency conirms at
least two depredations on
livestock in the area; b) the
requester has documented
unsuccessful attempts to
solve the situation through
non-lethal means; c) no
identified circumstance
exists that attracts wolf-
livestock conflict; and d)
the requester has complied
with applicable laws and
the conditions of any per-
mit.
This was the third time
-Clothes
-Stuffed
Animals
-Books
-Toys
for wolves since they re-
turned to the state in the
early 2000s. Two wolves
were killed after a number
of losses in Baker County
in 2009, and two wolves
from the Imnaha pack were
removed in 2011 due to
chronic livestock depreda-
tion.
Heppner honor society
plans blood drive
The Heppner chapter of the National Honor Society
will hold a blood drive for the American Red Cross this
Friday, April 8, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at St. Patrick’s
Senior Center, Heppner.
To schedule an appointment or for more informa-
tion, call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) or email
james.martinez@redcross.org.
NEW
SELECTION
OF INFANT
& TODDLER
ITEMS
SWCD to give away
spruce saplings Friday
Morrow SWCD will have 750 spruce tree seedlings to
give away Friday, April 8, irst come, irst served. These
trees are excellent trees for riparian areas, but not a good
choice for lawn areas in town. The trees will be avail-
able at the SWCD ofice at 430 W Linden Way, Heppner
between 7:30 and 11:30 a.m.
Regular &
Scripture
Based
Coloring
Books for
Adults
217 North Main St., Heppner • Phone 676-9158 • Floral 676-9426
Serving Morrow, Wheeler & Gilliam counties Since 1959
- THREE
VOTE
JIM
D OHERT Y
COMMISSIONER
& Science University. Erickson’s husband, Anin, is a
third-year OHSU medical student who hopes to special-
ize in general surgery. At OHSU, all third-year medical
students participate in a required Rural and Community
Health Clerkship primarily in Family Medicine—his took
place in Heppner. Together the couple enjoys two lively
daughters and an 80-pound Goldendoodle. When she’s
not practicing the art of homemaking, Karli is an OHSU
Resource RN on 12C Labor and Delivery.
“I think we should take up bird hunting,” my hus-
band, Anin, and third year medical student says to me
when I arrive in Heppner, OR with our two daughters.
“Because we love dogs,” he adds to my furrowed brow.
A few weeks into his rural rotation and that’s the big
discovery he’s made.
For ive weeks third year medical students work on
their clinical skills in smaller communities. We were in
Heppner, OR, population 1,307 according to Wikipedia.
So just a touch smaller than Portland. The rotation is a
great clinical opportunity for students, but logistically
challenging for students with families.
For starters, timing. I was on maternity leave for the
rotation. I’d make a joke about our perfect timing, but
I’d only partially be kidding. When the rotation rolled
around, our daughters were two months and 21 months.
Families are welcome to accompany the student, but are
responsible for their own housing.
In Heppner, the one and only housing option we found
was a lodge that did long-term rentals. We will forever be
grateful that the Kilkenny’s lodge was available to rent,
and that the Kilkennys were both kind and accommodat-
ing. With cost and time constraints we only spent the last
two weeks with our student, aka Papa, but it was worth it.
Out at our 20-acre lodge we had workable wii and
cable television, which is a television more than we ever
have. Cell service, however, was limited in the area. The
hospital had service; Verizon worked in the lodge; and
according to our hosts, AT&T in the front yard. Alas, we
mistakenly did not prepare a low chart of protocol for
communication mishaps.
See, we only had one car. If post-clinic Anin was
called into the ER, it could make for a late night. I would
have had to wake the girls and pack them in the car to go
fetch him. Thus, nearly every day the girls and I chose
isolation and adhered to bedtimes over having a vehicle.
As luck would have it, the one day we kept the car to
explore Heppner’s very nice playground, disaster struck.
To be fair, the problem was more a communication
error between us parents (read: always have a designated
meeting spot) than the lack of cell service. But in short,
Anin trekked home along the highway fearing we were
off in a ditch somewhere, while I emptied my bag of
snacks and tricks on the up-past-bedtime toddler while
waiting for him to leave for the day. Hint: he’d already
left. His calls, texts, and voicemail registered on my
phone 20 minutes after the fact. Never fear, we scooped
him up alongside the highway and avoided the many
crossing deer.
In addition to deer, we “had” cows. The toddler and
I occupied much of our time moo-ing whilst monitoring
their daily progression in the ields across the way. Peppy
cows I tell you. They were lively—trotting, galloping,
chasing one another. I never thought I’d envy a cow, but
my post-partum body both wished for their energy and
felt exhausted watching them expend it.
For all, to have food is important. For me, to have
healthy(ish), delicious food is everything. Although Hep-
pner has a grocery store, at over $5 for a loaf of sandwich
bread, it wasn’t a viable option for us. Knowing how
important eating is to me, I planned accordingly. Enter the
world’s best gadget for rural rotations and life in general,
the slow cooker.
I prepped two weeks’ worth of frozen meals that
simply needed to be placed in the slow cooker. Chicken-
sweet potato curry, done; coconut lentils, made; vegetable
beef stew, see you in eight hours. Despite all that, we still
managed to takeout four large pepperoni pizzas, because
no matter how tasty lentils are, they’re still lentils.
On that note, we’ve never had a more enjoyable
time ordering takeout. Simply call and order—no name
or phone number needed. Just, “I’d like a large pep-
peroni pizza” met with “See you in 15 minutes.” Kudos
to Howe’s About Pizza for one of the best pizza crusts out
there. After-toddler-bedtime-pizza-takeout is a parenting
must-do.
And, because food really is that important to me,
here’s another sentence on how I premade chocolate,
chocolate chip cookies and chocolate pecan bars for the
freezer as well. In retrospect, I should have also premade
cookie dough to bake on-site for warm, melty, goodness,
but we were supposed to living a more rustic lifestyle.
Anin learned much, and our family experienced
what may be our two favorite weeks of medical school.
To accompany your student on his or her rural rotation
is undoubtedly logistically and inancially challenging,
but well worth it if you can achieve it—at least if you’re
headed to Heppner.
PUBLIC NOTICE
Record of Decision
The U.S. Navy, in cooperation with the National Guard Bureau and
Oregon National Guard, has announced its decision to implement its
Preferred Alternative (Alternative 2) to increase the types and
number of certain training activities at NWSTF Boardman; develop
and enhance training facilities at NWSTF Boardman; and create
additional special use airspace to support existing aircraft training.
The Navy made its decision after carefully considering the potential
impacts training and testing activities may have on the human,
natural and cultural environment and comments from the public on
the proposal and environmental analysis. The Proposed Action is
needed to provide a training environment at NWSTF Boardman –
including ranges, training areas and instrumentation – to better
support current and future unit and personnel training requirements.
The Navy’s Record of Decision and Final EIS are available
online at www.NWSTFBoardmanEIS.com, and at the
following public libraries: Multnomah County Central, Salem Central,
West Salem, Oregon Trail Heppner, Oregon Trail Boardman
and the Stafford Hansell Government Center.