Medicare D assistance is available on the first Tuesday of each month, from 1-3 p.m., at the Harney County Senior Center. If you need help before that date, call 573-6024.

Harney Hospital Foundation meets the first Tuesday of each month in the Hospital Conference Room at 7 p.m.

Sylvia Rebekah Lodge meets the first and third Tuesday of each month at the I.O.O.F. Hall, 348 North Broadway at 6:30 p.m.

The Chamber Orchestra meets the first and third Tuesday of each month in the Burns High School band room, 1100 Oregon Avenue, from 7-8:30 p.m. with Ken Peckham directing.

Harney County Democratic Party meets the first Tuesday of each month at the Harney County Courthouse, 450 North Buena Vista, at 7 p.m.

Tai Chai  is held every Tuesday at the Harney County Senior and Community Services Center, from 9:30-10:30 a.m. All ages are welcome to participate.

Boy Scout Troop 440, sponsored by the Burns Lion’s Club, meets each Tuesday from 7-8:30 p.m. at the LDS Church in Hines. Boys ages 11-18 are welcome to join.

Slater Super Reading Club meets each Tuesday from 3:15-3:45 p.m. in the Slater School Elementary Cafeteria.

The Boys & Girls Club holds a cooking class, open to all members, each Tuesday.

Alcoholics Anonymous holds an open meeting each Tuesday at Foursquare Church, at 7 p.m.

BHS graduate is one of 15 in Weill Cornell Medical College’s first graduating class

By Debbie Raney
Burns Times-Herald

“When I grow up, I want to be a doctor,” a common statement made by children. As most kids grow up, their plans and dreams for their future change many times, but not so for Sharon King.

When King was growing up in Burns, she said she was always interested in serving others, and every time she turned around, things in her life were pointing her to medicine. She followed where her life’s arrows were pointing her, and on May 9, King took the Hippocratic Oath, and formally became an M.D. She is now Dr. Sharon King.

While becoming a medical doctor is in itself an accomplishment, King’s story goes a step further.

In 2004, 15 medical students made history by becoming the first class to enter Weill Cornell Medical College in Doha, Qatar (WCMC-Q). King was among those 15.

King said that when she graduated from Burns High School in 2000, her plans did not include attending medical school in a foreign country, let alone in the Middle East. While attending Eastern University in Pennsylvania, an organic chemistry professor suggested she consider Qatar. King said she felt it would be a great opportunity; one that would enhance her competency as a doctor. “You can learn so much by studying in another culture. It adds more understanding.”

So King applied and was accepted to WCMC-Q. Her class consisted of students from eight different countries. She would be studying medicine approximately 7,000 miles away from the United States. Making the transition from living in the U.S. to living in Qatar, wasn’t a big cultural shock to King, she said, thanks to previous stays in Costa Rica and Mexico. The biggest disparity between the countries she had visited previously and the country she was about to call her home for the next four years was the abundance of wealth in Qatar.

The WCMC-Q campus itself is state-of-the-art, with a 335,000 square-foot academic building and more than 38,000 square-feet of lab space. Lectures from Cornell’s Manhattan and Ithaca, N.Y., campuses are video-streamed to the facilities and more than 10,000 research resources are available electronically.

The most difficult challenge King said she faced while living in Qatar was the language barrier. Even after spending a year learning Arabic, she said that there are so many different languages and dialects, that she couldn’t communicate verbally with the majority of the patients she dealt with at the college.

She learned to communicate by reading her patients’ body language; and at times, King said finding someone to translate, such as cleaning ladies, was necessary to talk with patients. To some this may have seemed an inconvenience, to King it was a lesson in humanity. She said it will help her throughout her career to understand and be compassionate to all of her patients.

In October 2007, King and her classmates went through a white-coat ceremony, marking their move into the final stage of medical school. Upon receiving her coat, King said she was excited, but did have a moment of anxiety. “You think for a minute, ‘I’m not ready to fill these shoes.’” King soon found that she was not only ready to put on the shoes, they were a perfect fit. In May, the day before graduation, the Senior Honors Convocation was held, and as the Gulf Times, dated Thursday, May 8, said, “American student Sharon King was the star, bagging eight awards.”

She won pre-clinical scholastic awards for academic excellence in the human structure and function course, the brain and mind course and the basis of disease course. In the clinical scholastic awards, she won for excellence in pediatrics, primary care and public health. To top it off, King was the recipient of the good physician award and the humanism in medicine award.

Of all of these, King said the humanism award meant the most, as the selection was voted on by faculty members and students, and presented to the student who has demonstrated the highest standard of compassion and sensitivity in their interaction with patients.

King and her classmates became very close through their time of study at WCMC-Q. She said she built especially strong bonds with her roommate Rana Biary, who is from New York, and friend Jehan Al Rayahi who is from Qatar. She believes they will remain friends for life; they share a strong connection as members of the WCMC-Q’s first graduating class.

Following a second graduation ceremony at the Cornell campus in New York, King now begins a three-year residency in Cheyenne, Wyo., with her pediatrics’ residency to be done in Denver, Colo. Her career of choice is rural family medicine. In an interview with the Cornell Chronicle Magazine, King said, “Family medicine covers all the topics, and I haven’t found a field that I don’t like. You have such great continuity of care. You build relationships with people.”

Where would King like to practice? “I would be very open to working in Burns. I always wanted to see the world, now, I can’t wait to get back. And I am slowly coming back.”

When she does make it back, she has one request. “I am Dr. Sharon, not Dr. King.”

By Randy Parks
Burns Times-Herald

Take burned forest land, mix in some moisture, occasional sunshine and moderate temperatures, and you’ve got the perfect recipe for a morel mushroom harvest.

That recipe is precisely what has happened this spring in the area of last summer’s Egley Complex wildfire, and as a result, hundreds of mushroom hunters are now in the hills above Burns and Hines seeking a small fungi fortune.

The hunters, for the most part, are a nomadic bunch, traveling the Northwest collecting and selling the mushrooms for their living. When the first of them arrived in Harney County a couple of weeks ago, the morels were selling for $18.25 per pound, but have since dropped in price.

The pickers
A number of temporary camps have gone up along United States Forest Service (USFS) roads in the burn area, and serve as home bases for the mushroom hunters. Each day they will spend from seven to 10 hours roaming the forest, searching for morels.

One mushroom hunter, who wished to remain anonymous, said she and her family have been in the area for about a week and were harvesting from five to 20 pounds a day. She added that they’ll stay here until they can’t find any more mushrooms, and then head to the next “hot spot.” Their travels are expected to take them to other parts of Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana before returning home to California in September.

Wayne Collins of Sandpoint, Idaho, arrived in Harney County on Monday, June 9, and spent a few hours in the woods the following day. “There’s about an inch of snow up there, and it’s still snowing. Not real good for finding mushrooms,” Collins said. “But I tell you what — if it warms up in the next day or two, and all that snow melts, the mushrooms will be popping.”

Collins said that he has traveled about 4,000 miles since February, hunting mushrooms. “From here, we’ll probably go to Idaho and just follow the snow level as it goes up.”
Collins then sold his mushrooms, pocketed the cash and headed for someplace warm.

The buyers
The mushroom pickers are the first to arrive at a mushroom harvest, but the buyers are never far behind.

Tom Vinzant of Long Beach, Wash., is one of eight buyers in town at this time, and said they’re buying anywhere from 200 to 2,000 pounds of mushrooms per day.

Vinzant said the going price for mushrooms changes by the minute, but he was currently paying $7 a pound. “The guy down the street may bump his price up by a quarter, and then I’ll talk to my boss, and we’ll bump it up 50 cents,” he said. “But if there’s a huge volume, the price will come down.”

As the mushrooms come in, Vinzant stores them in a cooler, and once he has 1,000 pounds, he transports them to Ontario or La Grande. Once there, they’re loaded on another truck and taken to Belmont Trading Company in Portland.

For Vinzant, the stop in Harney County is just one of many he’ll make throughout the year. “It’s definitely a year-round business,” he said. “In the winter we’ll be in California and on the coast. Then once it starts to warm up, we’ll travel to Washington, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Canada and Alaska. Wherever the mushrooms are.”

Vinzant said both the hunters and the buyers keep a record of wildfires and will send out scouts to see if the burned areas are producing mushrooms the following year. “That’s how we ended up here,” he said. “We were in Ukiah, getting a few hundred pounds a day, and all of a sudden this group of guys showed up with about 1,000 pounds of morels.”

Vinzant said they wouldn’t tell him where the mushrooms were coming from at first, but after a couple of trips they asked if he could set up in Burns, so they wouldn’t have to drive so far. That’s all it took to bring the onrush into Harney County.

Even though it involves a lot of travel, the job can be rewarding monetarily. “The pickers probably make about $100 a day, and on this fire they’re averaging about $150 a day,” Vinzant said. He added that for his part, he receives a commission of 50 cents per pound.

Law enforcement
Whether it be a rock concert, a car race, a mushroom harvest or whatever, when there is sudden influx of people, there is the potential for problems to erupt.

Jim Mabe is with the USFS law enforcement team that arrived in Harney County to help monitor the situation. “There are a number of different ethnic groups that don’t always get along,” Mabe said. “There’s Ukrainians, Hispanics, Mongs, Vietnamese, Thai, Cambodians, Laotians, Russians and even the locals picking the mushrooms.”

Mabe said that there is an unwritten rule that you stay out of another group’s area, but every now and then, someone will cross the line, and that’s when there could be a problem.

Because 99 percent of the roads in the burn area are closed, the main issue for Mabe and other law enforcement officers is keeping vehicles off those roads. “We cite them for going in there, but they look at the fine as just a cost of doing business,” Mabe said.

He added that garbage left behind and illegally cutting firewood are also concerns.

The surprise harvest is not only good for the pickers and buyers, but it’s also been a boon for the local economy. “They have to buy permits at a cost of $20 to $50, and we’ve probably issued around 600 permits so far,” Mabe said. “They also buy food, gas and other things, so they’re definitely spending money here.”

No one can say for sure how much longer the mushrooms will last, but the best guesses are a couple more weeks. Once they’re gone, so are the pickers, buyers and extra law enforcement, who will be headed for the next fungi explosion.

Bill Yee of Milwaukie, died on June 11, of natural causes. He was 85 years old.
Born to Yee Quong and Homshee 85 years ago, Yee was the first Chinese baby to be born in Harney County.
Yee grew up in Burns and graduated from Burns Union High School making many friends. He was inducted into the United States Army at the outbreak of World War II and served two years in Germany. He was in the Signal Corp. stringing communication lines for the troops. He was sent back home just after crossing the Rhine river.
Yee’s many interests included working on Model “A” pickups and Ham Radios. He also liked to work on old televisions.
Yee is survived by his wife Elaine; sons, Robert and Raymond; daughter in-law, Lauren; grandson, Trevor; brothers Ning and Henry; sisters Lillie Toy and Elsie Keppinger; and many nieces and nephews.
Memorial Services will be held at Lincoln Memorial Park Cemetery, 11801 Mount Scott Blvd., in Portland.
In lieu of flowers, contributions in Yee’s memory may be made to the Harney County Museum at 18 W. “D” St., Burns, OR 97720.

Donald L. Laughlin died on May 3 in St. Helens. He was born on Sept. 10, 1946, in Fullerton, Calif. to Ather and Vietta (Todd) Laughlin.

He graduated from Beaumont High School in Beaumont, Calif. Laughlin later moved to Burns, where he spent most of his life.

Laughlin worked for the U.S. Forestry Department as a wildland firefighter and was a member of the U.S. National Guard.

Laughlin is survived by his children, Andria, Shon, Amy and Christopher Laughlin; sister Jackie Wolfolk; 12 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

A memorial will be held on Saturday, June 21, at Emigrant Creek, at 2 p.m.

By Lauren Brown
Burns Times-Herald

Pioneer Day 2008 is almost here. This year, the honorees include Pete Williams as the Pioneer President and Virginia Coble as the Queen Mother. The big day, Saturday, June 14, will start with pioneer registration (for those who have lived in Harney County for 30 or more years) beginning at 9 a.m. at the Senior and Community Services Center, 17 S. Alder. A potluck lunch will be served at noon and the program will begin at 1:30 p.m. One of the organizers, Mildred Fine, said everyone is welcome.

Both of this year’s Pioneer Day honorees were born and raised in Harney County and have called the high desert home for more than 80 years.

Pete Williams

Birthdays are often a time for reflection. Pioneer President A.D. (Pete) Williams turns 83 this Sunday, June 15, and has a lifetime of rich memories from growing up and living in Harney County.

Born the youngest of four boys to Bert and Sadie Williams, he grew up in Princeton on his uncle George’s original homestead.
Williams’ father was employed as a World Progressive Administration trapper. He then became a government trapper and was also a supervisor at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge.

Williams likely inherited his father’s knack for trapping. As a youth, he took up snaring and shooting jack rabbits to make a little money. He received $.05 for each pair of ears. One time, he brought in 1,265 pairs. He made more money hunting jack rabbits that year than his brothers did working in the hay fields. Williams got to be such a good shot that out of a box of 50 shells, he could almost guarantee a bounty of 48 rabbits.

Williams attended first through fourth grades in Princeton and then moved on to schooling in Crane where he attended fifth through eighth grades and then lived in the dormitory attending high school in Crane as well.

Williams tried playing basketball and football, but decided neither sport was for him. However, he excelled at boxing. The Crane principal also happened to be the boxing instructor.

At the age of 16, Williams graduated from Crane Union High School and went to work for Pete Obeago during lambing season. He then hayed for Charlie Beckley and cleared ground for Earl Sitz.

Some of the sites that he prepped for construction included the old Harney District Hospital, the Presbyterian Church and the old One-Stop Shop.

Williams did a lot of haying at the Bell A and the P Ranch. In 1945, the crew was haying a field at the Bell A in the afternoon when a plane flew over with a large banner that read, “The War Is Over.” Haying, at that point, stopped for the day as everybody celebrated.

In 1953, Williams began working for Jim Poteet, who leased the Bell A. Williams was in charge of feeding the cattle during the winter.

In June 1955, Williams married Argetta Stedham, who was originally from Wyoming. The two met at the Bell A. Argetta worked in the kitchen, cooking for the hay crews and buckaroos. The couple spent a lot of time in the saddle trailing steers from field to field.

The couple had two children, Mike and Letha. Williams continued to work and live on the ranch with his family. A lot of time was spent in Catlow Valley and on the desert near Wagontire and Glass Butte.

The Williams now live on a ranch just outside of Burns. Their son, Mike, an electrician, lives in a nearby house on the ranch with his family. Daughter Letha is a vet technician and lives in Sisters.

When Williams found out he had been selected as the Pioneer President for 2008, he almost passed up the honor. “They called and at first, he was going to refuse,” his wife, Argetta, said. “But our daughter, Letha, called and talked him into it.”

This Saturday, Williams will be surrounded by friends and family who will honor him as a true Harney County pioneer.

Virginia Coble

“I’ve lived in Harney County all my life,” said Queen Mother Virginia Coble.

Her parents were homesteaders who settled in the high desert. Coble was born in 1922. Her mother died when she was just 6 years old. She and her sister were raised by their aunt Myrtle Caldwell in the Sodhouse area and attended grade school there.

Coble went to Crane Union High School and eventually married Jess Gibson. The couple lived on a ranch in Riley for about 30 years.

They had three daughters, Edna, Evelyn and Elizabeth. When her eldest daughter Edna started high school, Coble started driving the school bus to and from Riley. She had intended to do the job just while her girls were in school. “Then I was going to quit,” she said. “But they wouldn’t let me.” Coble ended up driving the bus to and from Riley for 27 years.

Coble said driving the bus was a good experience for the most part. She enjoyed helping kids with their homework and chatting with them during the drive. The ranch kids were well-behaved. “I had some city kids one time who thought they were going to raise heck,” she said. “But when I got through with them, they were pretty good kids.”

Throughout the years, Coble has been involved with a number of groups and projects. She helped raise funds to build the grade school in Riley. She has also been involved with the Cattlewomen, 4-H and the Pioneer Association.

Coble said she essentially raised her girls on her own because her husband traveled in the summers. She ended up doing ranch work for a neighbor for seven years during World War II to make ends meet for her family. “I did a man’s work,” she said.

Coble and her husband eventually separated and he went to live in Prineville. He passed away eight years ago. She now lives at the Aspens in Hines.

Coble’s daughter Evelyn died of Hodgkin’s disease about 10 years ago. Edna lives in Harney County, and Elizabeth lives in New Mexico.

Coble looks forward to Pioneer Day at the Senior Center when she will get to see her daughters as well as other family members who will come into town for the big event. She tries to get her family together every summer for a family reunion. “I think people should make an effort to do that when they get older,” she said.

By Debbie Raney
Burns Times-Herald

Is there a dairy operator out there somewhere who would be interested in moving their business to Harney County?

Harney County Economic Development Coordinator Mark Maliwauki thinks there is — it’s just a matter of finding them.

At the June 4 meeting of the Harney County Court, Maliwauki presented an update on a dairy project recruitment plan, along with Jerry Gardner, Oregon Department of Agriculture who participated via phone.

Gardner reviewed with the court the actions already taken in the recruitment processes. These included attending the Tulare World AG Expo in February, and beginning to make contact with leads obtained there. Gardner said he had talked to representatives from Darigold, Horizon, Organic Valley and the NW Dairy Association. All of the conversations led him to the same conclusions: there is interest in this area from dairies, but the problem lies in finding a facility willing to purchase the milk and process it. “It’s the chicken and the egg,” said Gardner. “No source, no processor. No processor, no dairies.”

Maliwauki told the court that the efforts to recruit will continue, with an emphasis to be placed on educating dairies on the area. Advertising campaigns would focus on easing concerns and incorrect perceptions relating to feed supplies, fuel costs and remote location.

•••

In other Harney County Court business, Judge Steve Grasty told the other commissioners that there would probably have to be a budget resolution made in order for the Harney County Fair budget to work out.

Grasty said that the fair board was looking at possible solutions to cut expenses, but once wages were paid in June, there would only be approximately $15,000 left. The budget was planned to start the new fiscal year, July 1, with $36,000.

“We have never had a fund in this condition,” said Grasty.

Discussion as to how the deficit could be corrected was held.

•••

Fred Flippence of the Harney County Library Foundation presented a first-quarter investment funds report for the Claire McGill Luce Endowment Fund.
Flippence also informed the court that a new library director, Cheryl Hancock, had been hired. Hancock was the assistant library director at the library in Prineville. She has been hired to fill Jolyn Wynn’s position. Wynn will retire on June 30.

•••

Title III projects were approved for funding. Training and Employment Consortium received $38,760 for the Oregon Youth Conservation Corp (OYCC); and Burns High Agriculture Program received $11,000 for the Forestry & Natural Resources Education Internship Partnership.

By Debbie Raney
Burns Times-Herald

The decision to allow a non-farm dwelling to be built on land in the Princeton area designated for agricultural use, EFRU-2, is back in the hands of the Harney County Court.

A Dec. 19, 2007, decision by the court to uphold the Harney County Planning Commission’s determination to allow Randolph Hogrefe to build a home on 10 acres was appealed by neighboring landowner Thurston (Rusty) Inglis. The appeal went before the Land Use Board of Appeals, and on April 16, was remanded back to Harney County.

On June 4, a remand hearing was held at the Harney County Courthouse, permitting parties involved to submit new and/or additional evidence to the record.

The majority of the arguments presented by both Hogrefe and Inglis revolved around whether the acreage in question is suitable for agriculture. Tyler Smith, representing Hogrefe, offered as new evidence a soil report from the Harney County Soil and Water Conservation District that stated the soil was type 6, which said Smith, will only grow vegetation that livestock will not graze.

Smith also submitted a statement from a Simplot soil and fertilizer expert saying the cost to make Hogrefe’s land productive would be cost prohibitive. Photos submitted by Hogrefe were submitted showing sections of the property with heavy alkali deposits. Smith told the court that when making a determination of whether a tract of land was suitable for agriculture, only a portion had to be deemed unsuitable.

In another argument, Smith said the construction that Hogrefe is contemplating would not make a significant impact on Inglis’ livelihood or any of the neighboring farm land. He said the dwelling Hogrefe proposes to build would be further away from the cattle and horses than Inglis’ own house and out-buildings.

Using photos to support his argument, Inglis rebutted Hogrefe’s claim that the land in question was not suitable for agriculture. The pictures were of like-land, owned by Inglis that raises crested wheat grass, as well as other native grasses. Inglis told the court that his property is type 6 soil as well, with “alkali slicks.” He said that in his opinion the alkali content of the land was a moot point because he has proven that it can be converted to productive land. In other argument, Inglis’ legal council, Jack Hofman, commented on whether allowing Hogrefe to build on his 10 acres would set a development pattern.

He said that the court needed to project the worse-case scenario and assume that any property in the 2,000-acre study area that could be divided, would be.

Inglis countered Hogrefe’s claims that there would be no significant impact on his ranch or livelihood by saying that his cattle are acclimated to his dogs and pickups and are use to his operation.

Public comment was taken from proponents and opponents of the conditional use permit. Statements made covered topics including the availability of “buildable” land, inconsistency of land-use decisions and Harney County’s comprehensive plan.

A seven-day period to allow Inglis and his council to review the new evidence submitted by Hogrefe was set by the court. Following the review period, which will end today, June 11, Hogrefe and his council will have seven days to rebut. A decision will be rendered by the court on June 18 at the regular county court meeting at 4:30 p.m.

By Randy Parks
Burns Times-Herald

Burns High School (BHS) capped off another successful athletic year with the spring sports and year-end awards presentations on Thursday, June 5.

BHS activities director Paula Toney opened the ceremonies by telling the crowd that BHS had 10 different teams qualify for the state playoffs and three of them brought home state titles.

She then announced that this year’s Hilander baseball team not only won the state title on the field, but also won the overall award in the Dairy Farmers of Oregon Academic Awards with a team grade point average (GPA) of 3.71. “They had the highest GPA of all classifications,” Toney said. “And that counts a lot in points toward the Oregonian Cup.” She added that the final Oregonian Cup standings would be announced Tuesday, June 10.

For winning the Dairy Farmers award, team members were presented with “got milk?” sweatshirts.

Each coach then introduced their teams and presented the athletes with their certificates and awards.

Special award-winners are as follows:

Softball

Most Improved Player — Shelby Root; Most Inspirational Player —Tory Bull and Katee Withee; Most Valuable Player — Courtney Toney.

Track and Field

Coaches’ Award — Jamie Higle and Louisa Van Batavia; Freshman of the Year — Jennifer Higle; High Point Athletes — Jaela Dinsmore and Carraig Colahan; Most Improved — Brea Ribeiro and Anthony Frail; Most Outstanding Athletes — Dinsmore and Lucas Schaefer.

Tennis

Most Outstanding Athletes — Kelsee Morefield and Tyler Fenton; Most Inspirational — Olivia Palmer and Jess Tate.

Golf

Most Improved — McKiah Aamodt and Ian Revak; Most Outstanding — Sarah Fitzpatrick and Andy Hammon.

Baseball

Most Improved Player — Matt Ogata; Lynn Brinkley Memorial Award — Caleb Feist; Most Valuable Player — Tommy Ghost Dog; Lew Herrera Award — the entire 2008 baseball team.

Special Year-end Awards

Most Inspirational — Van Batavia and Ogata. Outstanding Female Athlete — Dinsmore. Outstanding Male Athlete — Ghost Dog and Drew Heinz.

Delores “Dee” Grace Duncan died on May 9 in Enterprise.

She was born on Feb. 9, 1927, in Port Townsend, Wash., to Marc (Sandy) and Leona Anderson.

Duncan was raised in Burns. In 1945, she married Robert J. Duncan, Sr., and they had three children. They were later divorced.

Duncan was best know as the smiling “gramma” at The Studio in Enterprise, which she co-owned with her son Robert since 2001.

She was an assessor for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in Medford for many years.

Duncan is survived by her children, Lynn Stein of Joseph, Robert J. Duncan, Jr. of Joseph and Marc Duncan of Gunnison, Colo. She is also survived by seven grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; sisters, Dorothy Evans of La Grande and Donna Schatz of Jacksonville; and brother, Marc Anderson of Grants Pass.

Contributions in Duncan’s memory may be made to the Wallowa Co. Humane Society, the Shriner’s Hospital or Herring House Cancer Center in Walla Walla, Wash.