Okanogan Valley Gazette-Tribune, September 13, 2012

Page 1

Annual Country Celebration

Local Sports

10th Annual Country Celebration Saturday, Sept. 15 5:30 p.m. Oroville American Legion

See Page 10-11

SERVING WASHINGTON’S

OKANOGAN VALLEY

SINCE 1905

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Hometown Pride at County Fair

Brent Baker / staff photo

Above: Hattie Buchert and her sheep Reba were ready to show their stuff at the Okanogan County Fair last weekend. Left: PUD workers not only gave demonstrations but gave kids a chance to climb poles at the Okanogan County Fair. For more photos of the fair see page 4 and look for the full results, when they are posted, at www.gazette-tribune.

Tonasket School Board Oroville and USPB hears transport request agree on water BY BRENT BAKER BBAKER@GAZETT-TRIBUNE.COM

TONASKET - The Tonasket School Board heard a request from the Peaceful Valley Christian School, which asked that a pair of students be allowed to utilize the district’s bus transportation. The students live on Toroda Creek Road, outside of Wauconda. District transportation director Jeff Yeckel was approached by Peaceful Valley Christian School principal Jackie Jager, who asked if the students could be transported to Tonasket, from where her school would arrange transportation. Tonasket superintendent Paul Turner said that the school could consider the request and that there were RCW statutes in place to cover such a situation. Turner read through the stipulations outlined in the RCW: - that the district would not have to alter any bus routes;

- rides would be on a seats available basis; - the district is required to charge an amount sufficient to reimburse for the cost of transportation. Yeckel said that the first two stipulations were already met. One question, Turner, said, was how to figure out the right amount to charge for transportation. “The average student per year is running about $1,030 per student,” he said. “The other possibility - that seemed like quite a bit -- was milage. It was worse, almost $1,800. So there is some discussion on how that works, and I need to get a more formal opinion on that.” Turner said that there were also some high school basic education requirements that came into play, though those might not apply as Peaceful Valley Christian is only a K-8 school. “I don’t have a good answer for you at this point,” Turner said. “I need to get some better (legal) interpretation on what

this means. I recommend we address it at the next meeting.” After some discussion, the board agreed that further research was needed before reaching a decision. The board also approved the resignations of Gretchen Vargas, Migrant Home Visitor; Billy Monroe, assistant tennis coach; and Kim Helleson, RN, who is resigning after 21 years “to become a fulltime grandma,” she said in her letter of resignation. The board approved Jill Wehmeyer to be hired to replace Helleson as the district’s RN, contracted to split hours between the school district and the ESD. They also approved certificated substitutes Ryan Frazier and Aileen Carrero Perez. Following the meeting, the board convened into a work session to discuss details and prioritization of the capital levy, with final decisions to be made at a subsequent board meeting. The school board next meets Monday, Sept. 24.

North Valley Hospital board continues belt-tightening BY BRENT BAKER BBAKER@GAZETTE-TRIBUNE.COM

TONASKET - The North Valley Hospital District Board of Commissioners heard more detail from administrator Linda Michel, who spent a good portion of the board’s Thursday, Aug. 30 meeting going over measures being taken to reduce the hospital’s warrant level. Michel reviewed a number of actions taken in the previous weeks, including

the layoff of eight employees, and what their estimated savings would be for the remainder of this year and the entirety of next year. The layoffs are projected to save about $101,000 this year and $122,000 next year. Other cost savings include $50,000 this year and $122,000 next by closing the Tonasket clinic to civilians; $78,000 by halting second floor construction; and about $169,000 this year through the sus-

OKANOGAN VALLEY GAZETTE-TRIBUNE Volume 108 No. 37

pension of about a half dozen contracts, including $125,000 for architectural fees related to basement construction. The hospital’s contract with Caribou Trail Orthopedics was altered, resulting in savings of about $12,000 this year and $35,000 next year, and Coast-to-Coast (which supplies emergency room staffing) reduced its rates, resulting in more than $14,000 savings this year and nearly

SEE BOARD | PG. 3

Photo by Gary DeVon

Central Ave. and Cherry St. will get a resurfacing, with construction starting in April of next year. The project is expected to be finished in late 2013 and is being funded by a federal Surface Transportation Program grant (STP) that the City of Oroville first began applying for in 2007. The last major paving project on the streets was in 1995.

Central and Cherry resurfacing project to begin April 2013 BY GARY A. DEVON MANAGING EDITOR

OROVILLE – After several months of back and forth, the Oroville City Council authorized Mayor Chuck Spieth to sign an agreement with U.S. Border Patrol to supply water to their new multi-million dollar facility north of the city. The city had a letter from the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers dating back to January, but an agreement has been held up while the various federal agencies gave their stamps of approval. City attorney Mick Howe has gone over the document and city staff recommended

SEE COUNCIL | PG. 3

INSIDE THIS EDITION

CONTACT US Newsroom and Advertising (509) 476-3602 gdevon@gazette-tribune.com

that the city sign it, according to Kathy Jones, city clerk. “Mick said that most of it is boilerplate,” said Jones, referring to the thick document. “They (the federal government) consider us a vendor because they are paying us to build a reservoir and to deliver a transportation system for the water,” Jones said at the council’s Tuesday, Sept. 4 meeting. “They sent this to us on Aug. 27 and wanted us to sign and return it right away after they made us wait so long,” Jone said. “They know in order to build the reservoir we have to have check in hand.” Although the city can connect the new Border Patrol station up to its north end water system, the reservoir is required in order to make sure there is enough supply to run the station’s fire suppression system without draining the entire system. When

Community 2-3 Fair Photos 4 Letters & Opinions 5

Valley Life 6-7 Movies 6 Classifieds/Legals 8-9

Sports 10-11 Obituaries 12 Church Directory 12


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