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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 2017)
Health district moves forward with Irrigon Clinic addition HEPPNER G T 50¢ azette imes VOL. 136 NO. 5 8 Pages WCVEDG to host annual luncheon Willow Creek Valley Economic Development Group (WCVEDG) will host its annual luncheon on Friday, Feb. 17, from 12-1 p.m. at the St. Patrick’s Senior Center dining room. The group will hold its annual meeting, followed by guest speaker State Rep- resentative Greg Smith, who will be giving a legisla- tive update. Alvin Liu with Gateway Cafe will cater the lunch and will be serving barbecue ribs, grilled citrus basil chicken, homemade coleslaw, barbecue beans, sweet cornbread, cookie and a beverage. This lunch is free and both WCVEDG members and community mem- bers are invited to attend. Those attending are asked to please RSVP to Sheryll Bates at heppnerchamber@ centurytel.net or 541-676- 5536 no later than Tues- day, Feb. 14, to guarantee enough food and seating. Wednesday, February 1, 2017 By April Sykes Morrow County Health District CEO Bob Houser told the MCHD Board at its regular meeting Monday night in Ione that the CREZ II (Columbia River Enter- prise Zone) has awarded the district $150,000 toward construction of an addition to the Irrigon Clinic, which is managed by the health district. The Irrigon Clinic pa- tient load has increased greatly and the clinic is outgrowing its current facil- ity, despite a fairly recent remodel. Houser said that the dis- trict submitted a $206,250 request to CREZ for the Irrigon Clinic construction. He said he has also con- tacted a grant writer with Yellowhawk in the hopes of obtaining additional mon- ies for the clinic construc- tion, which is to begin this spring. Yellowhawk, a Confed- erated Tribes of the Uma- tilla Indian Reservation fa- cility, located on the Indian reservation near Pendleton, offers medical, dental, men- tal health, alcohol/drug treatment, pharmacy, lab, Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Local woman looks back on a century of life By Andrea Di Salvo Local woman Creth Harris will reach a mark few of us hope ever to achieve later this month— a century of life lived, and lived to the fullest. Evelyn “Creth” Harris was born Feb. 18, 1917 in Hardman, OR. She was born at the doctor’s home in Hardman, though exactly where that house stood is something no one now seems to recall. Her parents were John Edwin Craber and Maude (Rice) Craber. She was one of four siblings, the only girl among brothers Harold, Gordon and Dallas Craber. The family moved throughout the region while Lexington school. They lived in Pendleton for a while, as well as The Dalles for several years. They moved to Arlington in the early 1930s, where she at- tended her sophomore and junior years of high school before the Craber family moved back to Hardman. Creth finished school there, graduating from Hardman High School with the class of 1935. Many of Creth Harris’s memories have gotten a bit fuzzy, fading with the pas- sage of nearly a century. However, there are always memories that stand out. She recalls that they had cars, but concedes that, “We used a horse and buggy for red-letter day when we got anything but what he was.” to go someplace.” “He was sure a nice man,” she adds. “One of the best.” It was a partnership that spanned decades; Creth and Darrel Harris had been married 60 years when he passed away 18 years ago. The couple set down their own roots in Mor- row County, moving into their home on Upper Rhea Creek 60 years ago. Son Bob Harris, 67, believes his mother may be one of the Creth Craber Harris will turn 100 later this month. -Photo by Gazette’s longest-running subscribers—the Harrises Andrea Di Salvo have taken the Gazette- Times continuously as long “There weren’t many as they’ve lived on their places to go,” she adds. Upper Rhea Creek land. “You grew up in your home Creth and her husband with your family and you also settled down to raising never went any place.” a family, though that turned “Mom said they sat on out to be a painful road. the porch and rocked,” adds Creth had several stillborn her son, Bob Harris, but babies—perhaps as many says she also talks of dances as 10, though even she no at the community center in longer remembers. Hardman. “They never talked “Yes, lots of dances at about it much,” says Bob Hardman,” she agrees. Harris. In July of 1939 she Out of all their chil- married Darrel Harris. dren, only sons Bob and Creth says she doesn’t re- John survived. ally remember when she “Sometimes they didn’t met her husband; he was like us,” Bob says of his always a part of her life. parents, “but we knew they “I guess we just grew always loved us.” up as kids together. We Both sons now live on knew each other our whole the ranch to be near enough lifetime,” she says. “I don’t -See CRETH HARRIS TURNS 100/PAGE FOUR remember him ever being Columbia Basin says Creth was growing up. a long while.” Hardman they moved “We didn’t go much to expect From to Lexington, where she of anyplace in those days,” attended first grade in the she says. “It was always a larger Heppner coach receives state, regional electric bills awards Creth and mother Maude Craber when Creth was in the eighth grade. -Contributed photo Thomas Wolff, manag- er of Columbia Basin Elec- tric Cooperative, indicates customers should expect their January electric bills to be higher than normal. January’s billing cycle was 10 days longer than December’s, due to the holidays. The area also ex- perience longer-than-nor- mal, extreme cold weather. The co-op says customers’ increased energy usage—to keep homes warmer, to pre- vent pipes from freezing, etc.—should save members money in the long run. The co-op also encour- ages anyone who needs as- sistance to contact CAPE- CO or the Neighborhood Center, and to also consider signing up for Budget Pay in April to help alleviate unforeseen increases in their month-to-month bills. “Columbia Basin Elec- tric’s Member Owned Co- operative does everything in its power to help keep our members’ rates as af- fordable as possible and assist our members with conservation and efficiency measures,” said a statement by the cooperative. Greg Grant, Heppner Mustang golf coach, re- cently received two awards from the National Federa- tion of State High School Coaches Association. He was chosen as the 2016 Coach of the Year in the state of Oregon for girls’ golf. Not only did he win the award at the state level, but he was also honored as the 2016 Northwest Sec- tional Coach of the Year. The Northwest section in- cludes the states of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming. In 2016 the Heppner girls’ golf team, which con- sisted of three freshmen, a sophomore, and two ju- niors had a very successful season. They won five of the six invitational tournaments in which they played around the region. They were the 4A-1A Special District 3 Champions and finished fourth at the OSAA 4A-1A State Championship. At district and state tournaments, the Mustang girls’ team has to com- pete against teams from Greg Grant and the 2016 Mustang Girls Golf team with their fourth-place trophy at the 4A-1A OSAA State Championship Tournament. -Contributed photo schools that have up to and sometimes more than 800 students. Last year’s suc- cess followed two years that saw the Mustang girls’ team take home second- place trophies at the state championships. The NFHS Coaches Association is the official national coaches’ associa- tion of the National Federa- tion of State High School Associations. The Execu- tive Director of the asso- ciation, Robert B. Gardner, wrote in a letter to coach Grant, “your contributions on behalf of high school -See HEALTH DISTRICT/ PAGE FOUR SELECT WINTER CLOTHES * MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M. * ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: athletics are deserving of our appreciation, recogni- tion and thanks. Congratu- lations on being selected to represent all the deserving coaches from your state and section.” radiology, DUII diversion and outreach programs in public health, CHR servic- es, WIC, nutrition, health education, senior meals and caregiving services. Houser also told the board that the new MRI service is underway and five scans were conducted on the initial day, with four scans on Jan. 21 and three scheduled for Feb. 4. An MRI, which stands for magnetic resonance imag- ing, uses a magnetic field and pulses of radio wave energy to make pictures of organs and structures inside the body. Irrigon community leaders Barb and Wayne Huwe and other Irrigon community members at- tended the meeting to voice their concern over the res- ignation of Kelly Shelton, Irrigon paramedic. Shelton accepted a position with the Hermiston Fire/Res- cue. His resignation leaves the Irrigon area without a paramedic. Houser said the district will be recruiting for a paramedic or EMT-1 for Irrigon. Houser also said that he had met with a recruit- ing firm with a 90 percent success rate in recruiting physicians to rural areas that this past year recruited a physician’s assistant to the Asher Clinic in Fossil, which is “really rural,” he added. He indicated that he may ask the board to sign an agreement with a recruiting firm in February. In other business, the board: -learned that three board positions, District 1, currently held by Joe Perry, District 2, held by John Murray; and District 3, held by Leann Rea, are up for election on June 30. The first day to file is Feb. 4 and the last day is March 16. -renewed Dr. Russ Nichols’ contract with the district. -received an update on the progress of the re- model of the endoscopies procedure room at Pioneer Memorial Hospital. En- doscopies (which include colonoscopies) at PMH had been halted by state officials until changes could be made to the room where they were conducted. De- spite progress, Houser said he still did not expect the procedures to resume until July. -closed out the 2015-16 strategic plan. -reviewed and ap- proved the “redline” version of Governance Policies, chapters 1-4, as amended. -approved the consent agenda, including depart- ment head, EMR, Infection Control, Quality Improve- ment, Safety and ASA QA minutes. -received the follow- ing December profit and loss statement: $762,030 gross patient revenue, less $10,510 provision for bad debts and $83,211 in con- tractual and other adjust- ments, plus $168,350 in tax revenue and $18,118 in other operating revenue for $854,777 in total operating revenue; $882,384 in total operating expenses and a $11,927 non-operating gain for a $15,680 loss for the month and a $30,727 * * * * 20% OFF * * * Morrow County Grain Growers Green Feed & Seed 242 W. Linden Way, Heppner • 676-9422 • 989-8221 (MCGG main office)