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Welcome to the Morrow County Fair
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August 16-20, 2023
Heppner, Oregon
'Treasured Traditions '
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VOL. 143
NO. 29 10 Pages
Wednesday, July 19, 2023
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
In Your Community: EMTs are on call to
save lives
L-R: Paul Martin, Tina Davidson and Frank Iovino work to insert a breathing tube in a
medical dummy during a recent refresher course at Pioneer Memorial Hospital in Heppner.
-Photo by Andrea Di Salvo
By Andrea Di Salvo
If emergency dispatch-
ers are the voice of help and
safety in an emergency, first
responders like EMTs and
paramedics might be con-
sidered the hands and feet.
For most, it’s not simply
a job—it’s a calling and a
way of life.
“People who get into
this career do so not only
because they want to help,
but because they want to be
the kind of people who can
help,” says Paul Martin.
Martin, 37, is a para-
medic and training officer
for Morrow County Health
District. He has been with
MCHD just over a year
but has been in emergency
medical services (EMS)
for more than two decades.
He started at age 16, be-
fore the law required emer-
gency medical technicians
(EMTs) to be 18.
“I’ve been doing this
my entire adult life,” he
says.
EMS falls into different
categories. The most basic
is Emergency Medical Re-
sponder (EMR). It doesn’t
require a college education
but is more of a hands-on
training to master certain
skills.
The next level up is an
Emergency Medical Tech-
nician, or EMT. In Oregon,
all EMT and higher certifi-
cations must be completed
through a college. An EMT
must have two quarters of
college, an Advanced EMT
must have three, and EMT
Intermediate must have
four.
A paramedic like Mar-
tin is required to have two
additional years of college
beyond that.
Martin says you don’t
have to go step-by-step
through the levels, but any a
person must be an EMT for
at least a year before going
on to become a paramedic.
“This is a field that very
much values experience
and exposure, because the
real world doesn’t always
follow textbooks,” he ex-
plains.
There is also continu-
ing education to remain
certified—24 hours every
two years for an EMT, 36
hours for advanced and
intermediate EMTs and 48
hours every two years for
paramedics.
Martin says that level
of training is necessary
because EMS personnel
have to stay proficient in
the necessary skills. If an
EMT or paramedic has used
their skills in the real world,
they don’t need to test. If
they haven’t, they have
to go through testing and
refresher courses to prove
themselves before being
recertified.
“If you don’t use them,
you lose them,” he says.
Frank Iovino also
works for MCHD. He has
been working the front lines
of EMS since 1996, often
as a fire department-based
EMT. He adds that the
ability to take control also
comes with a need to be
able to relax and decom-
press when not on duty.
“It’s a balance,” he
says. “We work with each
other for long hours. Most
emergency medical ser-
vices or fire departments,
you spend a third of your
life on duty.”
That’s no exaggeration.
In EMS, someone always
has to be on duty and ready
to answer that call.
Morrow County Health
District has more than 60
EMTs and paramedics,
more than 20 of those full
time, and that doesn’t count
fire department volunteers.
“A lot of us are trained
to assist in any capacity we
need to,” says Martin, who
is a volunteer with the Irri-
gon Fire Department where
he lives.
He adds that, in a rural
community like Morrow
County, trained EMTs are
also the people who are
usually found volunteering
for the fire department and
other emergency response
teams.
“They don’t always get
paid. They’re always ready
to help.”
“It takes a very special
kind of person to get out of
bed at two in the morning
to answer the call for some-
one you don’t know, just
because someone needed
help,” said Martin. “No
matter what system you’re
in, we’re all out there to
help.”
-Continued to PAGE SEVEN
CDA celebrates land transfer with ribbon cutting
Members of the Columbia Development authority invited community members to attend a
ribbon cutting to celebrate the land transfer of the former Army Depot July 12. Pictured in
the forefront with the ribbon are CDA Executive Director Greg Smith, Former CDA Board
Chairman Bill Tovey (CTUIR), Hermiston Mayor Dave Drotzman, Morrow County Com-
missioner David Sykes, Port of Morrow Executive Director Lisa Mittelsdorf, Port of Umatilla
Executive Director Kim Puzey, Oregon Military Department Deputy Director of Installations
Jim Arnold, CTUIR Executive Director Donald Sampson, Umatilla County Commissioner
John Shafer, Base Realignment and Closure representative Michele Lanigan and CDA Ad-
ministrative Assistant Debbie Pedro. -Contributed photo
The Columbia Devel-
opment Authority (CDA)
invited community mem-
bers to a ribbon cutting
July 12 to celebrate the
transfer of more than 9,000
acres of from the U.S.
Army to the CDA. The
new industrial site in Uma-
tilla and Morrow counties
has been nearly 30 years
in the making, with the
land transfer finalized on
March 3 of this year, with
an official signing at the
Pentagon March 20.
“The ribbon cutting
was a historical day of cel-
ebration and a recognition
of community collabora-
tion,” said CDA Executive
Director Greg Smith. “Now
the hard work begins.”
The ribbon cutting was
held at the Raymond F.
Rees Training Center, for-
merly the Umatilla Army
Depot. The CDA is made up
of five partners through an
intergovernmental agree-
ment, including Morrow
County, Umatilla County,
the Port of Morrow, Port of
Umatilla and the Confed-
erated Tribes of the Uma-
tilla Indian Reservation
(CTUIR).
The program began
with a welcome by CDA
Board Chair Kim Puzey,
followed by a tribal bless-
ing by CTUIR Executive
Director Donald Sampson.
Other speakers included
Smith, Mark Leeper of the
Office of the Deputy Chief
of Staff and Jim Arnold of
the Oregon Military De-
partment.
After the program and
a celebratory barbecue,
attendees received a guid-
ed tour of the CDA sites
in Morrow and Umatilla
Counties, including the
Morrow County southern
Oregon Trail site, military
and demilitarization sites,
the site of the 1944 igloo
explosion and a tour inside
a munition igloo.
Exhibits - Entertainment - Rodeo
The special fair insert
to be included in the August
9th issue of the Heppner
Gazette-Times is seeking
your stories related to 4-H,
fair, rodeo, etc. Businesses
are also invited to submit
their ads for this special
publication.
The deadline for ar-
ticles and ads is Tuesday,
August 1 at 5 p.m. Ads may
be submitted via email to
graphics@rapidserve.net
and stories to editor@rap-
idserve.net. For additional
information contact the G-T
at 541-676-9228.
Boardman to get
$1.5 million for
business incubator
Council finalizes new city
manager appointment
The City of Boardman
will be getting $1.5 billion
in federal funding for a
new business incubator on
Front Street, U.S. Senator
Jeff Merkley announced
last Friday.
The funding will allow
the city to construct a new
facility to support new and
emerging businesses with
the space they need to oper-
ate. The incubator building
will especially focus on
enhancing opportunities
for minority business en-
terprises and low-income
populations in Morrow
County.
“The City of Boardman
and its partners are excited
to hear that this bill is mov-
ing forward. This funding
will allow us to build our
business incubator build-
ing, which will provide
space for businesses to start
up, open and/or relocate to
our community. We thank
our federal leadership in
helping business contin-
ue to grow and succeed,”
said Rick Stokoe, City of
Boardman City Manager
Pro Tem.
Merkley, as a member
of the Senate Appropria-
tions Committee, helped
secure economic devel-
opment and community
safety improvement in-
vestments for the state in
the fiscal year 2024 Senate
-Continued to PAGE NINE
Ione council discusses
safety, traffic concerns
By Andrea Di Salvo
Citizen safety was a
chief topic of discussion
at the regular meeting of
the Ione City Council last
week. Among the concerns
at the July 11 meeting were
a suspicious vehicle, a pos-
sible car thief and speeding
drivers in residential areas.
Morrow County Sher-
iff’s Office (MCSO) Crimi-
nal Sgt. Scott Carter opened
the meeting by reporting
that the sheriff’s office spent
39 hours on patrol in Ione
and responded to 33 inci-
dents for June. Of those
33, only nine of them area
checks. He said that’s the
opposite of the usual num-
bers in the normally quiet
town.
“Which means we had
other stuff going on,” he
said, adding that there were
a few people who had been
generating most of the ac-
tivity. “Some we may not
be able to help because it’s
just outside of our control.”
The council also dis-
cussed a suspicious maroon
van that had been spotted in
the area, driving slowly and
apparently taking videos.
Carter said he had checked
on it and been unable to
find a local address for the
owner but that it had also
been spotted in Irrigon.
“I’ve also had calls be-
cause the citizens are saying
there’s a lot of strangers
driving up and down there
a lot,” added Ione City
Administrator Elizabeth
Peterson, referring to the
area around the Emert Ad-
dition. “Some are driving
fast, some are driving slow,
but they’re seeing increased
traffic of vehicles they don’t
recognize.”
The council discussed
purchasing an additional
camera to give more cover-
age at the Emert Addition.
Peterson said she thought
-Continued to PAGE EIGHT
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