Weather doesn’t stop annual Heppner Christmas event HEPPNER G T 50¢ azette imes VOL. 135 NO. 51 8 Pages Wednesday, December 21, 2016 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Zaleta Masterson, Irelynn Kollman and Zandra Masterson serve as Santa’s helpers at the an- nual Celebrate Heppner Christmas event last Thrusday. See full story PAGE THREE -Photo by David Sykes Getting to Idaho company looks at Heppner know your co-gen plant exchange Has year option whether to purchase By David Sykes students The com- Daniel Kelly Age 16, Junior at Ione From: Clyde North, Aus- tralia Host Parents: Keith and Yvonne Morter What do you think of Ione? “Really like it. It’s a small community compared to what I’m used to, but I really like it because everyone kind of knows ev- eryone. A Daniel Kelly lot more buttes than what I’m used to because (home) is more flat.” How has the experience been for you? “It’s been awesome. I’ve been able to fit into the community eas- ily. Plenty to do if you’re up to the drive.” What has been the most difficult thing about this experience? “The days go- ing by too fast. Having to look forward to leaving. Having Coach Rietmann understand my accent.” What have you liked best? “The family. The community as a whole. Ev- eryone’s accepted us, really. It’s been easy. Plus, having snow on your doorstep and not having to go up to the mountains.” What special events or holidays have you experi- enced while you were here? What was that experience like? “Thanksgiving. It was really good to meet the extended host family. Some good food, really nice food I hadn’t tried before. be online next year; we just don’t know.” pany that did He said the original the plant rehabilitation would em- on the Kinzua ploy 15-16 Mill co-gen people plus plant has truck drivers come back to and support take another personnel if look with an the plant were eye on pos- to be opera- sibly pur- tional. chasing and “I have restarting the done this be- plant. fore and it is Officials very costly to from Preci- run a facility sion Energy like this be- Services, Inc. cause of the (PES) out inconsistency of Hayden of the wood Lake, ID fiber. We will were in town Precision Energy Services of Hayden Lake, ID is looking into purchasing and starting up the use 100,000 recently look- long dormant wood-fueled power plant at the former Kinzua Mill site in Heppner. tons of wood ing over the waste a year,” long-dormant wood-fueled meeting of the Morrow tion. Oswald said. County Court and “We did an inspec- electrical generat- Also at the meeting was said his company tion yesterday,” he told Corey Bitton, of Willow ing plant trying to is inspecting the the court. “There has been Renewable Energy out of decide whether to plant, looking for equipment taken off and Pasco, WA, whose compa- purchase the facil- fuel sources and there is some wiring miss- ny would provide the wood ity from the Port of seeking a buyer for ing.” Morrow and resume waste to operate the plant. the electricity if it is He said the Heppner Bitton said they are contact- making electricity Michael put back on line. He plant is a long-term project ing the Forest Service to there. and several others and at this time there is Company Presi- Oswald -See IDAHO COMPANY recently toured the no projected start date. “I dent Michael Os- LOOKS AT MILL SITE/ wald attended the Dec. 14 plant inspecting its condi- cannot tell people this will PAGE SIX New scanner adds to services available at Pioneer Memorial Specialist Susan Bitner, who traveled to PMH to train staff on the use of the new machine, said the scanner can measure bone density to determine how healthy bones are, and if they’re at risk for breaks or diseases like osteoporosis. Scans primarily focus on DENTS/PAGE TWO the lumbar spine and hips; the nature of those bones makes them the best indica- tors of bone health through- out the body, though other bones can be scanned if necessary, she said. “And it doesn’t hurt at all,” she said. Bitner also said that this particular model can also look at body composition, including the amount of body fat on a patient and its distribution throughout the body. It can even as- sess visceral fat—the fat wrapped around internal organs, which isn’t visible to the naked eye. Visceral fat can be an indicator of conditions like heart dis- ease, diabetes or metabolic syndrome. “Not every machine has this capability. It’s ex- Kenneth Troxell, 13, of Heppner took his first cow elk this citing that they have this,” By Andrea Di Salvo Pioneer Memorial Hos- pital staff are receiving training on a new piece of equipment this week, a Horizon DXA scanner that will be used primarily to measure bone density in patients. -See EXCHANGE STU- Clinical Applications G-T Trophy Corner season in one shot at 479 yards. -Contributed photo Your Trophy Photos Wanted! The Heppner Gazette-Times wants to see pictures of your trophy ani- mals from this hunting season. Here’s how: Stop by to have your picture taken, drop off photos, mail them to PO Box 337 in Heppner, email them to editor@ rapidserve.net or text cell phone photos to 541-980-6674. Getting to know your exchange students Tiarna Church Age 15, Junior at Ione From: Wodonga, Australia Host Parents: Rick and Sylvia Sandford What do you think of Ione? “I really love it here. I like the small commu- nity. It’s really nice to get along with everyone. I live in kind of the same terrain, but it is much smaller than w h a t I ’ m Tiarna Church used to.” How has the experience been for you? “My experi- ence has been amazing. My host family has been incred- ible. They’ve been taking me all these places, and I’ve been able to experience so much I wouldn’t be able to if I was in Australia.” What has been the most difficult thing about this experience? “Missing fam- ily. And, as much as the culture’s similar, there’s still a bunch of differences we have to make our way through. And the accent. Rick never understands it.” What have you liked best? “Family. They’ve been wonderful and given me every experience I ever could have wanted. The school spirit, the dressing up and fun days. And defi- nitely the snow. It’s going to be great to have a white Christmas.” What special events or holidays have you experi- enced while you were here? What was that experience like? “I really liked Thanks- -See EXCHANGE STU- DENTS/PAGE TWO PMH technician Oscar Holguin performs a bone density scan on health district employee Nicole Maahs during staff training on the new Horizon DXA scanner this week. -Photo by Andrea Di Salvo said Bitner. The new scanner cost Morrow County Health District $45,900, which MCHD CEO Bob Houser said was budgeted from operating expenses. He indicated the health district mainly purchased the ma- chine for its bone density scanning functions. “It’s a service they’ve never had in this com- munity before,” Houser said. “Given the age of our population, a bone density scanner makes sense. It’s needed in this area.” Houser said that, before acquiring the DXA scan- ner, physicians at Pioneer Memorial who needed bone density scans for their pa- tients had to send them out of town, when the proce- dure was something that could be done at PMH in a matter of minutes. “With the referral num- bers we’ve been tracking, it was definitely a wise deci- sion,” Houser added. OSP seeks info on poaching Oregon State Police is seeking information on a poached mule deer buck at the Wilkinsons’ property on Willow Creek Highway across from the hay barn. The incident was be- lieved to have occurred over the weekend of Dec. 17-18. Only the head and backstraps were taken, with the rest of the animal left to waste. Anyone with informa- -See POACHING CASE/ PAGE EIGHT 2016 HOLIDAY HOURS: CLOSING AT NOON CHRISTMAS EVE CLOSED DECEMBER 25TH AND 26TH MERRY CHRISTMAS Morrow County Grain Growers Lexington 989-8221 • 1-800-452-7396 For farm equipment, visit our web site at www.mcgg.net