Harney County Farmers Market will be held from 9 a.m. to noon Aug. 29 at Hines Park. Pick your produce, craft your craft, set up a table and buy or sell locally produced items. The market will be held every Saturday through Sept. 12. To reserve your space contact Kelly at 541-573-1809 or harneycountyfarmersmarket@live.com.

Diabetes Support Group meets at the Harney County Health Building, 420 North Fairview, the first Saturday of each month at 2 p.m.

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

The Harney County Ministerial Association holds services every fifth Sunday. The community is invited to join in a time of music, fellowship and praise. For information contact Pastor Jean Hurst, 573-4141.

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

Registration for Awana Clubs will be held on Monday, Aug. 31 at Faith Baptist Church, 777 N. Saginaw in Hines, from 7-8 p.m. Awana is a nondenominatinal children’s and youth ministry, active in more than 100 countries. Children ages 3, as of Sept. 1, through sixth grade are welcome. Regular Monday evening club nights will begin on Sept. 14, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. For more information, call the church at 573-7777, or Sally King at 573-4215.

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.

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.

Burns Fire Dept. meets each Monday at the Burns Fire Hall at 7 p.m.

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.

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

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.

An open house at Burns High School will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 1, from 6:30-7:30 p.m.  Introduction of staff will take place in the cafeteria at 6:30 p.m. Parents may then visit their students’ classrooms.

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.

New Superintendent finds kinship in smaller communities

By Lauren Brown
Burns Times-Herald

“This is home,” said Bob Sari, the new superintendent for the Harney County District No. 3 School District.

Sari is no stranger to the Harney County area. He was hired in July as the new Burns-Hines schools superintendent, replacing David Courtney, who resigned after eight years on the job.

Sari was the superintendent of the Crane Schools from 1992 to 1994 and then again as the interim superintendent in 2007, so he is a familiar face to many students and families in Harney County. “I have a really strong attachment to the rural families,” Sari said.

He was born and raised in Klamath Falls and feels a kinship to the people here because the town and people are similar to the community he grew up in. He noted that both areas have roots in the timber industry and both communities boast generations of families who matriculate through the educational system, loyal teachers who stay until they retire and a close-knit nature in general.

Sari’s first administrative position was in Elgin, where he was principal. He then went to Crane and from there went on to become the superintendent in the Mill City-Gates area.

He has interspersed interim superintendent stints at both Crane and North Lake with real estate work in Klamath Falls and Scottsdale, Ariz.

In June, Sari accepted the superintendent position here, and the Harney District No. 3 School Board approved his salary of $88,500 for one year effective July 1, 2009, through June 30, 2010.

After only a month and half on the job, Sari has quickly familiarized himself with the district staff, facilities and issues. He noted that Burns High School was originally built to house 800 students. That was when the mill was in business and thriving. Now, there are 300 students at the high school. In recent years, the district has had to deal with a dwindling student  population.

Sari is aware of the implications that has on a budget. “We’re in harm’s way,” he said. That is why Sari is starting the budget process for the 2010-2011 school year now. He said this community and the district need to get together and decide which areas to focus on.
Sari said it’s important that the district live within its means. “We need to step it up for kids and save their education.” He wants to keep teachers in the classroom while keeping class sizes down.

That may sound like a tall order, but Sari truly believes that if everyone works cooperatively, it can happen. “I want to pull people together and have everybody work within their role,” he said. He plans to do this by relieving staff anxiety through communication while creating a positive work environment. “My major responsibility in school leadership is to be creative, to motivate and to articulate individual and organizational achievement,” he said.

Sari’s educational philosophy involves addressing the needs of each student by identifying teaching strategies that are conducive to each child’s learning abilities. “I believe schools should provide a safe environment for the development of healthy values, minds and bodies,” he said.

Sari said he looks forward to the beginning of the school year and promises to be out roaming the halls rather than holed up in his office.

Coalition seeks to unite Eastern Oregon vets

By Lauren Brown
Burns Times-Herald

Local veterans who attended last week’s meeting at the Harney County Senior and Community Services Center received information on the Burns-Hines Veteran’s Administration Outreach Clinic as well as the newly formed Rural Eastern Oregon Veterans Advocacy Coalition.

Clinic open

Much of the Aug. 12 meeting focused on the fact that Harney County veterans can now receive basic health care here in Burns without driving to Bend or Boise.  The clinic here can handle basic lab work and X-rays in addition to office visits. More complex testing still needs to be done in Boise, Idaho.

Clinic Manager Steve Bull said that Dr. Tom Fitzpatrick is available to see patients through the VA clinic, which is temporarily set up at the High Desert Medical Center, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Tuesday. To schedule an appointment, call Patient Services Assistant Brent Perry at 573-8884. He can also answer questions on eligibility and mileage reimbursement.

Bull, a licensed clinical social worker, provides mental health care for veterans and is available 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9 a.m. to noon on Friday. Veterans can call 573-8869 to discuss mental health issues with Bull.

While the clinic is temporarily located at the High Desert Medical Center, it will soon move into its new home at the Racine building, which is currently being remodeled for that purpose. The work will likely take until November to complete.

REOVAC

George Wadsworth queried the veterans in attendance regarding the Rural Eastern Oregon Veterans Advocacy Coalition (REOVAC) that he would like to see form. He has already started the process of applying for 501c3 status, so that the group can obtain grant funding. However, he said that gauging interest from veterans in this area was important. The group would need officers and a board to function as well as meet once a month to conduct business.

He sees the REOVAC as a way to unite veterans from all over Eastern Oregon (Harney, Malheur, Lake and Grant counties) so as to give veterans in this area a stronger voice in Washington, D.C. and provide as many VA services here as possible. “They’ve basically ignored us because we don’t make enough noise,” Wadsworth said. “We need to step up to the mound and let them know we’re here.”

Much of the discussion during the Aug. 12 meeting centered on transportation and reimbursing vets for travel when they have to go to Boise for doctor visits. There is a van that travels to Boise every Thursday for such visits, but not everyone can get their appointments scheduled for Thursday. Wadsworth said that one of REOVAC’s objectives could be to obtain more funds for transportation.

Wadsworth said he hopes the REOVAC can serve to open the line of communication for veterans in Eastern Oregon.

In addition to the information on the clinic and REOVAC, Sean Wilson from the Burns Armory and Veteran Service Officer Guy McKay also gave presentations on veteran-related issues.

For more information on Rural Eastern Oregon Veterans Advocacy Coalition, e-mail REOVAC@ymail.com.

Harney County’s Distance Education Center hopes to raise more than $1,500 for continuing education students with this year’s wild horse drawing.

For the eighth year in a row, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Burns District has donated a wild horse for the fund-raising event. All proceeds will go toward the Harney County Futures Scholarship Fund, which supports local individuals participating in online programs offered through Eastern Oregon University and Treasure Valley Community College.

This year’s wild horse is a 1-year-old black gelding, named Moon Ray, born in a holding facility on Feb. 1, 2008. He is halter trained.  His necktag number is 8582.

Tickets can be purchased from the Harney County Distance Education Center during regular business hours, or at the fairgrounds on Sept. 11, 12, and 13, where Moon Ray will be available for viewing. Drawing for the winner will occur on Sunday, Sept. 13 at the Harney County Fair, you need not be present to win. The winner must meet the requirements of BLM’s Adopt-A-Horse program to take the wild horse home.

For more information concerning the Harney County Futures Scholarship, or to purchase tickets for the wild horse drawing, contact the Distance Education Center at 573-5012. For information regarding the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Adoption program or adoption qualifications, call 573-4400.

Mary Ellen Brown, 89, died on Aug. 15 in Kennewick, Wash.

She was born in Red Oak, Okla., on Aug. 6, 1920, to John R. and Jane S. Heath.

She and her father came to Harney County in 1938 working on area ranches with the remainder of the family following soon thereafter.

In 1939, she married Emery Allen Parker. Two daughters were born to this union, Barbara Ann in 1940 and Judith Ellen in 1947.
In 1949, her husband and her brother, Richard drowned in a boating accident at Beulah Reservoir.

Brown worked at Bennett Motors, Trailways and later went to work for Bend-Portland Trucking (later System 99 & TransWestern) where she was the office clerk for 20 years.

In 1962, she married George “Sonny” Brown.  They were married just short of 35 years. Many happy years were spent on Gunbarrel Creek with family and friends.

Brown loved the outdoors, hunting and fishing most of her life. She was also an avid reader and was known to enjoy meeting up with a slot machine or two.

After her second husband’s death in 1996, she found companionship at the Harney County Senior Center, and many happy times with the beautiful Golden Girls of Harney County.

She was a member of the Sylvia Rebekah Lodge for 60 years.  Brown was also a member of the American Legion Auxiliary and Harney County Historical Society.  She loved Harney County and the people in it. She was very active for her age and known and loved by many.

Brown is survived by her daughter, Judith Krutsch and husband, Anthony of Kennewick, Wash.; sisters, Helen Lessar of Burns and Dorothy Shockley of La Pine; granddaughter, Kelly Krutsch of Pasco, Wash. grandsons, Emery Mims and wife, Marlene of Portland, Kevin Krutsch and wife, Jennifer of Yakima, Wash., and Gavin Lee Siscel of Coos Bay; great-grandchildren, Aaron Mims, Chelsea and Cortney Krutsch; and many nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents; husband; daughter, Barbara Ann Parker; brother, Richard Paul Heath; and sister, Jacqueline Johnson.

Contributions in Brown’s memory may be made to the Harney County Senior and Community Services Center.

Graveside services will be held on Saturday, Aug. 22,  at 11 a.m., with a celebration of her life immediately following at the Harney County Senior Center. LaFollette’s Chapel is in charge of funeral arrangements.