Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, October 9, 2019 -- THREE
A View from the Hill
By Doris Brosnan
A look at a bit of trivia
as this column begins today.
Last Friday was the 17 th
birthday of Willow Creek
Terrace, this assisted living
facility in which Suzanne
Jepsen and her co-commit-
tee members had enough
faith to persist with Jepsen’s
vision until it became a
reality. The service the
Terrace has offered the area
since opening its doors to
Jean Nelson, the first resi-
dent, might be evidenced in
some statistics. The sixteen
apartments have served 104
residents; ten of those were
couples and three couples
currently reside at the Ter-
race; ten individuals have
stayed at the Terrace for
varying lengths of respite
care. The Terrace continues
to offer assistance as need-
ed for residents to remain as
independent as possible and
it continues to offer a pos-
itive working environment
for people who care.
Another birthday
helped get October off on
a positive note last week.
Marjorie Gorham cele-
brated her birthday on the
3 rd . One of her favorite
luncheon menus added to
her celebration with family
and neighbors.
The staff tearfully bid
Ron Peck a “goodbye, be
good” when he moved
away recently. Ron now
requires a higher level of
care than the Terrace can
offer, so he has moved to
the long-term care facility
at Pioneer Memorial Hos-
pital. Administrator Nairns
reports that Ron and his
great sense of humor are
greatly missed.
The staff is pleased to
report the recent addition
of two student interns from
HHS, sponsored by the
Workforce Training Pro-
gram of the Port of Morrow.
This introduction to the
~ Letters to the Editor ~
work-a-day world and work
ethics is a semester-long
experience of twelve hours
a week with a staff-member
mentor. Sage Ferguson and
Nicole Myers, both juniors
at HHS, are the first interns
at the Terrace.
They could probably
add some new perspectives
at the morning discussions
on the hill, as participants
talk about Farmers (12 th ),
the Navy’s 244 th birthday
(13 th ), Being Bald and Free
(on the 14 th , when Bud
Wilson will be especially
missed), Grouches (15 th ),
Bosses (16 th ), the Cadil-
lac’s 117 th birthday (17 th )
and Mothers-in-Law (27 th ,
probably not a subject with
which Sara and Nicole are
familiar).
This week is designated
Fire Prevention Week, so it
is time for annual fire-pre-
vention equipment tests
and a practice fire drill.
Staff will also be encour-
aging residents to replace
batteries in their various
apparatuses.
The end-of-the-month
highlight for staff and resi-
dents will again be Hallow-
een, of course. Staff will
wear some appropriate cos-
tuming and will encourage
residents to do the same.
They all will be enlisted
to fill bags with treats, don
their Halloween t-shirts,
and greet the trick-or-treat-
ers who dare to come and
scare the community on
the hill. All ghosts, goblins,
heroes, princesses and mon-
sters will be welcome from
4:30 to 8:30.
And that leads to two
questions the residents at
the Terrace view as pretty
important right now, “What
do skeletons say before
eating?” And, “What can’t
you give the headless horse-
man?”
USDA opens 2020 enrollment for dairy
margin coverage program
Dairy producers can
now enroll in the Dairy
Margin Coverage (DMC)
for calendar year 2020. US-
DA’s Farm Service Agency
(FSA) has opened signup
for the program that helps
producers manage eco-
nomic risk brought on by
milk price and feed cost
disparities.
“We know it’s tough out
there for American farmers,
including our dairy pro-
ducers,” said Bill Northey,
Under Secretary for Farm
Production and Conserva-
tion. “As Secretary Perdue
said, farmers are pretty
good at managing through
tough times, and we know
that more dairy farmers will
be able to survive with this
2018 Farm Bill and its risk
mitigation measures, like
the Dairy Margin Coverage
program.”
The DMC program
offers reasonably priced
protection to dairy pro-
ducers when the difference
between the all-milk price
and the average feed cost
(the margin) falls below a
certain dollar amount se-
lected by the producer. The
deadline to enroll in DMC
for 2020 is Dec. 13, 2019.
Dairy farmers earned
more than $300 million
dollars from the program in
2019 so far. Producers are
encouraged to take advan-
tage of this very important
risk management tool for
2020.
EOCCO to hold
meetings
Public invited to help shape
future of local healthcare
Eastern Oregon Coor-
dinated Care Organization
(EOCCO) will hold com-
munity meetings in each
of the 12 counties it serves.
EOCCO serves Oregon
Health Plan (Medicaid)
members throughout the
12-county region.
The meetings present
an opportunity to learn
about community-driven
health improvement efforts,
and to consider shared strat-
egies under the state’s next
phase of coordinated care,
known as “CCO 2.0.”
“The greatest strength
of Eastern Oregon com-
munities is collaboration.
As we move into a new
era of coordinated care,
Eastern Oregon is uniquely
positioned to raise the bar
on healthcare for the indi-
viduals and families who
call this region home,” said
Kevin Campbell, Chief Ex-
ecutive Officer of EOCCO.
“We look forward to
hearing from communi-
ty members as we work
together to build and con-
sider new approaches to
improving the healthcare
system. Our commitment is
better care and better health
at lower costs for Eastern
Oregon communities,” said
Sean Jessup, EOCCO Pres-
ident.
Established in 2012,
EOCCO serves about
50,000 members across a
50,000-square-mile service
area, roughly the size of
New York state.
“We’re really proud
of the way the healthcare
community has come to-
gether to form and support
the CCO. Through these
partnerships, we are rapid-
ly becoming a nationwide
model for success in rural
communities,” said Robin
Richardson, Chief Operat-
ing Officer and Board Chair
of EOCCO.
On Sept. 27, the Ore-
gon Health Authority an-
nounced EOCCO’s five-
year contract award as the
coordinated care organiza-
tion serving Oregon Health
Plan members in the fol-
lowing counties: Baker,
Gilliam, Grant, Harney,
Lake, Malheur, Morrow,
Sherman, Umatilla, Union,
Wallowa and Wheeler.
EOCCO will enter its
next contract cycle Jan. 1.
This fall, EOCCO will en-
gage the public at meetings
throughout the region.
The meeting to be held
in Morrow County will be
at the SAGE Center, 101
Olson Rd. NE, Boardman
on Thursday, November 7
from noon to 2 p.m.
All producers who
want 2020 coverage, even
those who took advantage
of the 25 percent premium
discount by locking in the
coverage level for five years
of margin protection cover-
age are required to visit the
office during this signup
period to pay the annual
administrative fee.
“Dairy producers
should definitely consid-
er coverage for 2020 as
even the slightest drop
in the margin can trigger
payments,” said Northey.
“Dairy producers should
consider enrolling in DMC
to guard against what has
been, for several years,
an extremely unforgiving
market.”
The 2018 Farm Bill
created DMC, improving
on the previous safety net
for dairy producers. DMC
is one of many programs
that FSA and other USDA
agencies are implement-
ing to support America’s
farmers.
For more information
on enrolling in DMC and
taking advantage of an on-
line dairy decision tool that
assists producers in select-
ing coverage for 2020, visit
the DMC webpage.
For additional ques-
tions and assistance, contact
your local USDA service
center. To locate your local
FSA office, visit farmers.
gov/service-locator.
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“Card of Thanks” at a cost of $10.
No litter on highway
To the editor:
Last Friday I did a
“windshield inspection”
of the Heppner Chamber
of Commerce Department
of Transportation Adopt a
Highway 1.7 state highway
segment. This was to de-
termine if a pick up needed
to be organized. There was
virtually no litter along the
segment.
This speaks very well
of our citizens who remove
any litter they see as they
walk around town. This
effort keeps our town litter
free for ourselves and our
visitors.
Good work.
John Edmundson
Heppner Chamber of
Commerce Member
Adopt a Highway pro-
gram coordinator
Turmoil and negativity
in the community
To the editor:
As a member of the
Lexington community I
feel that it is important to
voice my concern. Though
I have done so with other
community members indi-
vidually, I feel that I would
be negligent not to voice it
publicly.
There has been a great
deal of turmoil within our
small community and so
much negativity, it saddens
me. I will admit that I didn’t
take the time out of my
schedule to regularly attend
our city meetings until the
town shut down. Since then
I have been attending every
meeting. Let me share some
things of what I have seen.
There has been so much
anger from many different
people from both sides.
Those that support May-
or Kemp and those that
side with council members.
Meetings are not productive
for anyone (both sides).
More time is spent in finger
pointing and accusations
than trying to get past issues
and seek resolutions that
would benefit our commu-
nity.
Yes, Mayor Kemp did
not individually call coun-
cil members regarding the
budget approval meeting,
but members of the council
knew exactly when that
meeting was scheduled and
had the responsibility to
make sure they were there.
When the city shut down
there were comments that
the mayor caused the shut-
down. This only because
she didn’t call each member
to remind them of the meet-
ing. Once it was shut down,
there was not any effort to
move forward in a positive
manner to move past what
happened and look to the
future of making Lexington
better. When there was a
motion to pay the two city
employees for the seven
days that they were off, the
vote of only two council
members (as that was all
that was in attendance)
voted to not pay them. One
council member made the
comment “maybe the one
that caused it should pay
them.” This was in refer-
ence again to Mayor Kemp
and again not helpful. All
of which I heard as I was
in attendance.
Bottomline, we as a
community need to be in-
formed. This means at-
tending meetings, speaking
with the mayor and council
members, etc. As with any
election we need to vote
based on knowledge and
not just the word of oth-
ers that are sharing their
opinion. Ask yourself what
the facts are. If someone
like the mayor is accused
of something, especially
illegal, ask for the facts to
back it up. We all know
what a downward spiral
it is to go solely based on
“he said, she said” types of
conversations.
In closing, let’s get past
the past. Let us look to a
representative government
in our city. A mayor and
council that represent the
interests of the citizens and
not pushing their own agen-
da. We face that enough in
our world on many levels.
Someone may not like the
mayor personally or the
council members, but if
they are doing the job ap-
pointed to them and we
are satisfied with that, then
set aside any personality
disputes. If we do not like
the job (based on facts) of
what they are doing then
take action upon that.
The city government
of Lexington needs to stop
bickering and seek resolu-
tion. I sincerely hope that
no matter who is in office
(mayor and council mem-
bers) that they come togeth-
er as a governing board and
work together. Community
members, get active, have
a voice, be informed, make
your own decisions. We
have the ability to make
this right.
Sincerely,
Juli Kennedy
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