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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (April 27, 2016)
Ed. foundation grants more than $260k to county schools HEPPNER G T 50¢ School districts upgrading technology, student opportunities with funding BOARDMAN—Mor- row Education Founda- tion awarded grants to all Morrow County schools this month totaling over $260,000. Both districts are focus- ing on upgrading and add- ing more technology to the schools. Morrow County School District received $242,395, while Ione re- ceived $22,604. Foundation board member Ed Rollins said the amount is deter- Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon mined on a per-student azette imes VOL. 135 NO. 18 10 Pages Wednesday, April 27, 2016 Disque selected as home care nurse of the year Robanai Disque of Lexington was recently recognized as the Home Care Nurse of the Year at the Oregon Association for Home Care’s annual con- ference in Newport, OR. Disque has worked as a home health RN since 1983. Traveling throughout Morrow and Gilliam coun- ties, those who know her say she carried with her a strong set of clinical and teaching skills, as well as basis. Ione will use its funds to start a ive-year process of replacing three Promethean Active Panels each year, totaling $12,500. and add 20 Chrome Books with pro- tective covers for incoming freshman for $6,000. Ione Community School prin- cipal Henry Ramirez said the remaining funds will be used for the school’s new science club ield trip and early learning. “We’re very fortunate and grateful for the fund- ing,” Ramirez said. Morrow County School District superintendent Dirk Dirksen said the district will continue to invest in tech- nology, Eastern Promise opportunities for students, ield trips and wraparound services. “Our goal is to be able to get technology to where students have technology available at a one-to-one -See ED FOUNDATION GIFTS/PAGE THREE Candidates speak to Heppner Chamber Medicare-Certified Hos- pice. Carrying a full home health patient load and mul- tiple work-related setbacks, Disque faithfully worked toward the goal of hospice certiication. When Pioneer Memo- rial Hospice received Medi- care certiication in 2002, Disque assumed the role of hospice coordinator. For more than 12 years, Disque co-led the hospice volunteer County commissioner, judge, and circuit court judge candidates attended a candidates’ forum last Thursday and spoke trainings as well as monthly before a large crowd at the Heppner Chamber of Commerce. Pictured above left to right are Jim Doherty, commissioner candidate, Melissa Lindsay, county judge candidate, and Leann Rea, also commission candidate. Also in attendance and speaking were John Ballard and Jon Lieuallen, both candidates for judge of the circuit court sixth district, position two. Greg Sweek, who is also running for the county judge position, was not able to attend because of illness. -Photo by David Sykes Health district discussion heats up over budget Home health RN Robanai Disque (right) with Pioneer Memo- rial Hospital Chief Nursing Oficer Molly Rhea. -Contributed photo a strong sense of intuition. O n e o f D i s q u e ’s dreams, then goals, was to enable local residents to access the beneits of a volunteer meetings held in three locations throughout the service area of Morrow -See NURSE OF THE YEAR/ PAGE NINE By April Sykes The Morrow Coun- ty Health District Board approved a preliminary budget for 2016-17 amid sometimes contentious de- bate at its regular meeting held in Lexington Monday night. The disagreement among board members re- sulted from a difference of opinion concerning the district’s policy on setting up “rainy day” capital re- serve accounts, providing ending and beginning fund MCSO arrests Hermiston man on assault, harassment charges Morrow County Sher- of Heppner, with their two iff’s Ofice has arrested a young daughters. Nicole man on several counts of Brown told police her hus- assault and Harassment, band had left on foot and among others, according to that she didn’t know his a statement by the current location. local law enforce- MCSO person- ment agency. nel responded and Last Saturday transported the vic- at 8:30 p.m., MCSO tim and children to a dispatch received waiting ambulance, a 911 call from which transported 27-year-old Nicole John them to Pioneer Me- Leticia Brown of A l e x a n d e r morial Hospital in Hermiston. Brown Brown Heppner. The Mor- advised she had row County Sher- been assaulted by her hus- iff’s deputies were unable band, 29-year-old John Al- to locate the suspect that exander Brown. According evening, but bulletins were to her statement, they were sent out to other law en- camping in the mountains forcement agencies to be on above Blakes Ranch, south the lookout for the suspect. On Sunday, April 24, sheriff’s office personnel located the subject as he was leaving the area with the truck and camp trailer. A felony stop was performed and the John Brown was taken into custody without further incident. John Brown was ar- rested and lodged at Uma- tilla County Jail on charges of assault II, two counts of assault IV domestic felony, one count of strangula- tion, harassment - offensive physical contact, and two counts of felon in posses- sion of a weapon. Total bail is listed at $143,000. Open house planned for B2H project An open house is planned for Wednesday, May 4, at 6 p.m. for those who will potentially be af- fected by the Boardman to Hemingway (B2H) trans- mission line. The open house concerning the pre- liminary Agency Preferred Route for the B2H line will take place at the Port of Morrow Riverfront Center in Boardman. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) re- cently released the pre- liminary Agency Preferred Route for the Boardman to Hemingway (B2H) transmission line, a project proposed by Idaho Power Company (I PC). The pre- liminary Agency Preferred Route, along with other routes being considered, will be analyzed as part of the inal Environmental Impact Statement which is scheduled for release later this year. The Bureau of Land Management will be avail- able to answer any ques- tions about the project and the BLM permitting pro- cess. Also available will be the Oregon Department of Energy to answer ques- tions about the application that has been submitted -See B2H OPEN HOUSE/ PAGE THREE balances, and presentation of inancial reports. The 2016-17 budget was approved with the con- dition that Chief Financial Officer Nicole Mahoney will provide additional be- ginning and ending fund balances. “I want to see that we have money on hand,” said board member Aaron Palmquist, Irrigon. “ Yo u s e e i t e v e r y month,” countered Ma- honey. Palmquist, who was the sole nay vote against the preliminary budget, also argued that the district needs to set up a reserve account to pay for capital items. Palmquist, seeming to direct most of his ex- asperation at CFO Nicole Mahoney, maintained that the district should not be inancing projects or pur- chases when it has cash on hand and was adamantly in favor of setting up a capital reserve account. “This is the people’s money,” he commented. “We keep spending more instead of tightening our belts,” Palmquist added. “As a fiscal steward, we can’t keep kicking the can down the road.” He also questioned the way the inancial reports were pre- sented to the board, asking for additional information, requesting different formats and commenting more than once that Mahoney is an “employee” of the district. Board member Jill Parker, Boardman, indicated that she agreed with Palmquist, but voted in favor of the preliminary budget. Parker commented that the confusion and perceived discrepancies probably arise because “at the end of the year the reports look different” that the monthly reports the board members receive. While acting chair Leann Rea said she agreed that a reserve account should be established, she, along with Mahoney, noted that in earlier days the dis- trict’s cash on hand had dipped to dire levels, which prompted extreme cau- tion about spending down the district’s cash reserves and leaving the district in danger of not meeting its inancial obligations. CEO Bob Houser added that he has seen the bottom line swing dramatically in small critical access hospitals such as Pioneer Memorial. Rea also noted that the contentious discussion would be better held at a subsequent long-term planning meeting. She sug- gested that the district use a percentage of the com- -See HEALTH DISTRICT/ PAGE SIX Ione royalty sparkles at prom Ione High School celebrated prom April 16 at the Port of Morrow Riverfront Center. Pictured are King Rory Barresse and Queen Ann Rietmann. -Photo courtesy of Little Echoes Photography MOTHER'S DAY SPECIALS 10 % OFF - H anging B askets C OlOr B Owls - P lanters MONTANA SILVER 20% OFF Morrow County Grain Growers Green Feed & Seed 242 W. Linden Way, Heppner • 676-9422 • 989-8221 (MCGG main ofice)
