Health district moves forward
with Irrigon Clinic addition
HEPPNER
G T
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azette
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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
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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)