Disabled Services Advisory Council (DSAC) meets every fourth Thursday at the State Office Building small conference room, 809 West Jackson, at 1:30 p.m.

Harney County Soil and Water Conservation District board of directors meets the fourth Thursday of each month at the Rory and Ryan Best Western in Hines from 5-7:30 p.m. The public is welcome to attend.

The Prescription Assistance program through the Harney County Senior and Community Services Center is held each Thursday, from 1-3 p.m. Call Selena Westlake at 573-6024 to make an appointment.

Chamber Music Bell Choir meets each Thursday at 6:30 p.m., at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 393 West A. St. Bell ringers are being recruited. For information, call Carol Sawyer, 573-6886.

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

Kiwanis Club of Burns-Hines meets for a no-host luncheon each Thursday at Glory Days Pizza, 690 Oregon Avenue, at noon.

Take Off Pounds Sensibly meets each Thursday at Hines City Hall, 101 East Barnes, at noon. Call 573-2896.

Alcoholics Anonymous meets each Thursday at the Foursquare Church, at 7 p.m.

Oregon Old Time Fiddlers, District 9, meets the first, third and fourth Friday of each month. Call Julia at 573-2770, for time and place.

Alcoholics Anonymous meets every Friday at Foursquare Church at 7 p.m.

The Valley Golf Club “31” tournament will be held on Feb. 28 at 10 a.m. A potluck lunch will be served. Everyone is welcome to join.

The Chamber Music Society audition recital will be held on Saturday, Feb. 28, at Faith Baptist Church at 7 p.m.

Alanon holds an open meeting each Saturday at Foursquare Church at 7 p.m.

Gospel meetings will be held each Sunday at 3:30 p.m. at the Ashlock’s house, 112 E. Circle Drive in Hines. All are welcome to join.

Alcoholics Anonymous meets every Sunday at Foursquare Church for 12X12 study, at 7 p.m.

Medicare Assistance Program, through the Harney County Senior and Community Services Center is held the first Monday of each month from 1-3 p.m. Call 573-6024 to make an appointment.

Harney County Search and Rescue meets the first Monday of each month at the Harney County Courthouse basement meeting room at 7 p.m.

Masonic Lodge meets the first and third Monday of each month at the Burns Masonic Lodge, 1210 West Taylor, at 7 p.m.

The Burns Lions Club meets each Monday at noon at the Burns Elks Lodge, 118 N. Broadway, for lunch. Those interested in serving the community are welcome.

Narcotics Anonymous holds an open meeting each Monday at 7 p.m. at Foursquare Church.

HDH Sports & Physical Therapy will offer a free athletic injury clinic at that facility, 559 West Washington, every Monday from 5-6 p.m. A physical therapist will assess and treat athletic injuries and provide education for athletes and parents on self management of injuries. For more information, call 573-1543.

The Hines Volunteer Fire Department meets at the Hines Fire Hall each Monday at 7 p.m. (except the last Monday of the month). Prospective members may contact Fire Chief Bob Spence at 573-7477 or 573-2251.

Harney County Library Advisory Board meets the last Monday of each month (except for those dates that fall on national holidays) in the library, 80 West D St., at 6 p.m. The public is welcome to attend. Use the back door to the left. For more information, call 573-7339.

Medicare D and Health Plan assistance is available on the first Tuesday of each month, from 1-3 p.m., at the Harney County Senior Center. For an appointment, call 573-6024.

Harney Basin Writers meets at the Harney County Library the first and third Tuesdays of each month, from 2-4 p.m.

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 Chi 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.

Patient Assist, Needy Med Program trained volunteers will be at the Harney County Senior Center each Tuesday, from 1-4 p.m. For appointments call the Senior Center at 573-6024.

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.

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

Chosen candidate elects not to take the position

By Randy Parks
Burns Times-Herald

The search for a city manager for the City of Burns is still in progress.

At the council’s regular meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 11, councilors met in executive session to discuss the candidates, and after convening back into the regular session, voted to offer the job to C. Elaine Placido of Eureka, Calif.

Mayor Len Vohs said he would contact Placido that night to begin negotiations.

On Monday, Feb. 16, Vohs reported that Placido had decided to not accept the position, and the council would  move forward with the other three candidates.

Last month, the City Manager Search Committee notified the council that they had 15 applicants for the position, and had narrowed it down to four finalists.

Face-to-face interviews were held with the four finalists on Feb. 10 and 11.

•••

The council opened a hearing on Ordinance No. 09-800 at 6:15 p.m., an ordinance adopting the “Burns Downtown Plan,” the “Highway 20 Intersection Improvement Plan,” and the “Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Plan.”

Interim City Manager Bill Guindon said the three projects in the ordinance are not connected, but are inter-related. Guindon added that these projects have been in the development stage for some time, and adopting the ordinance would make it possible for the city to move forward should funding become available.

Following a discussion, the council voted in favor of adopting the ordinance.

Steve Schauer from Oregon Trail Electric Consumers Cooperative (OTECC) attended the meeting and presented the city with a check in the amount of $32,000 in accordance with the franchise agreement.

Schauer told the council that for the Burns district, the OTECC capital budget for the coming year is $698,000, or about the same as last year. Schauer stated that the breakdown for the amount is as follows: $120,000 for new line extensions; $65,000 for transformers and meters; $100,000 for feeder reliability and improvements; $105,000 for reject pole replacements and joint pole corrections; $100,000 for the purchase of a new service truck; and $175,000 for a new line truck.

In other business:

• the council discussed possible adoption of city council minutes guidelines. Guindon reported he had come across a minutes recording model and recommended the council adopt a resolution on the minutes’ format at the next meeting to ensure impartiality as well as legal requirements;

• the council officially declared a vacancy on the council following Sean Wilson’s resignation at the Jan. 28 meeting. The council position will be advertised;

• the council voted to pay an invoice from Steve Finlayson and agreed to find out how much more the city owes, if any;

• Vohs said he would wait to make any decisions on appointing councilors to standing committees until he has a chance to visit with all councilors.

The next meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 25, at city hall.

Schools currently use an evaluator and have to refer psychological reports to Bend

By Lauren Brown
Burns Times-Herald

While the Harney County District No. 3 School Board has been grappling with big issues including the resignation of Superintendent David Courtney at the end of the school year and the uncertain financial forecast from the state, one of the main topics from the Feb. 10 meeting was whether or not the district should hire a psychologist to handle psych reports.

Geoff Robinson, Student Services Director, has been researching the pros and cons to having an in-district psychologist as opposed to an evaluator, which the district currently utilizes to do research on students who are having problems learning in a normal classroom setting.

He said that presently, when the district needs a psych report done on a student, it is referred to a service in Bend because there is no psychologist in Harney County. One report can cost up to $2,000.

He has contacted other organizations that might benefit from an in-county psychologist. These include Harney Behavioral Health, the Early Childhood Center, the Department of Human Services and the Oregon Youth Authority. All would be willing to contribute to a psychologist salary, if the district decided to hire one. Robinson said that it would probably cost the district $58,788, with help from the other organizations, to hire a psychologist.

He said having a local psychologist would benefit students because someone familiar with rural schools and Harney County would be doing the evaluations, not someone from Central Oregon. This person would also be available on a day-to-day basis to help in case of emergencies.

Board member Steve Bull asked whether the psychologist would be hired in place of the evaluator, and Robinson said the district may have some options to choose from, but likely the psychologist would replace the evaluator.

Bull said he thought there might be too much work for one person doing psych reports.

Robinson said he would continue to do more research on the matter.

In other business:

•  Bond Project Manager Bill Renwick stated that the new boiler is in place at Burns High School, but it still needs to be piped in. He also noted that the district’s insurance company has agreed to pay for the engineering of the Hines gym roof, which has structural problems. However, insurance will not pay for the repairs. Renwick said engineers are scheduled to come look at the roof.

• Superintendent Courtney said as part of the federal stimulus plan he has submitted three projects: a new boiler at Slater Elementary School, new windows at Burns High School and the repair of the Hines Middle School gym. President Barack Obama’s proposed federal stimulus project seeks to create jobs through repairing or building school facilities across the country;

• Courtney stated that while the student district population is still down, he said those numbers should change when the Kirkland Institute for Children and Family is back up and running soon;

• the board discussed instituting a salary schedule for administrators. Business Manager Petrina White was asked to put the current administrator salaries in a proposed schedule to see how they would fit. The board will decide at an upcoming meeting whether or not to approve the schedule;

• the board voted to proceed with sending out a district newsletter on a trial basis. The newsletter will be a one-page document that will be inserted in the Burns Times-Herald sometime before the end of the school year. Board member Randy Parks, who works at the newspaper, abstained from the vote.

Board Chairman Gordon Mallon said that he felt the newsletter would possibly help generate some positive publicity for the district;

• the board discussed the upcoming superintendent search. The district has hired Chuck Bugge, a representative from the Oregon School Boards Association, to conduct the nation-wide search. The service will cost the district a base fee of $6,500. The district will put together a committee that includes two administrators, two teachers, two classified employees, two students and six members of the public to review applications. Anyone from the community interested in serving on the committee needs to submit a letter of interest to the district office (at the Lincoln administrative building) by 5 p.m. Feb. 26;

• the board formally acknowledged the resignations of Courtney from his position as superintendent (effective July 1); Scott Smyth as head football coach at BHS; Mary Jo Evers from her position on the budget board; and Bill Cheek from his position on the school board. At the March 10 board meeting, the board will appoint a temporary member to fill Cheek’s position;

• the board approved the hiring of Jill Zaharko as head BHS track coach. The board also approved the following volunteers: JR Toelle, Tyrel Peasley, Travis Miller and Talon Hoffman as assistant wrestling coaches at BHS;  and Stacy Radinovich, Kris Sanders and Brett Thomas as girls basketball coaches at BHS;

• audience member Tim Colahan told the board that districts around the state are reeling from potential cuts the state will make and are preparing to make big cuts to compensate for the loss of state funds. He asked the board whether the district is making similar preparations.

Chairman Mallon said that, at this point, such action would be premature because the district has yet to find out exactly how much they will be shorted by the state. “Do we have a plan for how we’re going to deal with that catastrophic loss? No,” he said.

Board member Bull stated that the finance committee is looking at fund-raising possibilities for the district and different ways to deal with the district’s financial problems once the state has made a determination in how much it will cut.

The next Harney County District No. 3 School Board meeting will be at 7 p.m. March 10 at the Lincoln Administrative building.

Reinaldo Cooke hails from the University of Florida

Oregon State University (OSU) has hired a recently graduated animal scientist from the University of Florida to conduct research on beef cattle and help address ranchers’ needs.
Reinaldo Cooke, who started in January, is based at OSU’s Eastern Oregon Agricultural Research Center in Burns. His appointment means OSU now has two statewide Extension beef specialists. The other is David Bohnert, who is also based in Burns and whose research focuses on nutritional management strategies.

Cooke, who earned a doctorate in animal sciences in December, will spend his time conducting research and reaching out to producers and the public through OSU’s Extension Service.

On the research end, Cooke plans to focus on management options to enhance the reproductive performance of beef cows and heifers. He plans to develop management strategies and feeding programs to speed up the arrival of puberty in heifers and increase pregnancy rates in cows. Additionally, he intends to study how low-stress handling by humans affects reproductive rates of female Hereford and Angus breeds.

Cooke also aims to improve the health of calves so they’ll be ready for the feedlots. Typically, calves are weaned at about seven months of age and then sent to a feedlot to be fattened up. But if they’re not managed well at the cow-calf ranch, they can get sick and don’t gain the desired weight at the feed yard, he said. So Cooke wants to take pre-emptive action and evaluate how background strategies, such as vaccination, weaning and feeding programs, will improve the health and performance of these calves at the feedlot.

On the public outreach side, Cooke plans to develop a statewide beef program for the Extension Service that would include the following: educational workshops offered around the state; a report published every two years that would explain OSU’s latest beef research in layman’s terms; an online database of technical articles that can be easily accessed and understood by producers; a field day where producers can visit the research center in Burns; and in-service training for extension agents so they can stay current on the latest developments in the beef industry.

Cooke grew up in a medium-sized town surrounded by large citrus and cattle operations in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. He earned a bachelor’s degree in animal sciences from São Paulo State University in 2003. The following year, he enrolled in the University of Florida.

By Randy Parks
Burns Times-Herald

The Burns girls varsity basketball team wrapped up yet another Eastern Oregon League (EOL) title with a 44-33 win over Vale on Saturday, Feb. 14, at Burns High School.

The win came on the heels of a 58-38 victory at Nyssa the previous night, and raised the Hilanders’ EOL record to 9-0. Burns will finish out the regular season this Friday, Feb. 20, when they host Grant Union.

In Saturday’s win over Vale, the Hilanders got off to a quick start, outscoring the Vikings 17-10 in the first quarter. With the Vikings’ defense keying on Mattea Zabala, the Hilanders’ perimeter players stepped it up, led by Jamie Higle with seven points in the first eight minutes of play.

With both teams playing scrappy defense over the next two quarters, points were at a premium, and by the end of the third quarter, Vale had cut Burns’ lead down to 30-24.

With their lead down to five in the fourth quarter, Zabala squared up at the top of the key and drilled a 3-pointer to put Burns up by eight. Zabala went on to score 10 of the Hilanders’ 14 fourth quarter points as Burns pulled away for the win.

Zabala finished with a game-high 20 points, followed by Higle with nine, Brea Ribeiro eight, Ashley Schouviller four and Taylor Lee three.
The Vikings were led by Brooke Hawkins with 11 points and Amy Delong with 10.

The victory over Vale not only provided the Hilanders with their sixth straight EOL championship, it also marked a milestone for head coach Alice Herauf. It was her 200th career win as a head coach, including 190 wins over the past eight years.
Burns also won the JV game, running past Vale 58-25.

1    2    3    4   Final
Val     10    6    8    9     33
Bur    17    7    6   14    44

•••

Zabala scored 21 points and Ribeiro added 15 as the Hilanders beat Nyssa 58-38 in EOL action on Friday, Feb. 13.

Higle and Schouviller scored eight points apiece for Burns, Teri McConnell four and Lee two.

The Hilander defense kept Nyssa in check throughout the game, coming up with 28 steals, led by Ribeiro with nine.

“This was a good win for us,” Herauf said. “Nyssa had been playing well, winning their last five games. Not only did the starters do their job, but we also had some kids come off the bench and step it up.”