KNIGHTS OF VERITAS VISIT
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Tonasket’s History Park, Friday - Sunday, Aug. 23-25
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Hastings drops by
TONASKET FFA GETS BIG BOOST
Washington, he said, in effect gets penalized because it has historically been efficient in its use of federal dollars. “Other areas of the country are not as TONASKET - Taking advantage of his first extended break since last fall’s elec- efficient with federal dollars,” he said. tion, U.S. Rep. Richard “Doc” Hastings “Yet the costs are the same. One could (R-Pasco) recently stopped in Tonasket make the observation that the state of as part of his tour of Washington’s 4th Washington is being penalized for being District, which covers the central part more efficient with federal dollars (in of the state from the Oregon to Canada regards to reimbursement). “It’s not brand new; it just seems to borders. pop up now and again... The “It takes time to get through federal government should be the whole thing,” Hastings said like everyone else; they need to over fruit, coffee cake and water pay their bills on time.” at an outdoor table at Shannon’s Hastings said he fears that Cafe and Deli last week. “This with the implementation is my opportunity to touch base of the Affordable Care Act with people, which is what I’ve (Obamacare) such delays will done in the past.” only get worse. This is Hastings’ first U.S. Rep. Hastings “We never really get a good term “back” to representing Okanogan County, though he has held answer (about the remimbursement his seat since 1995. Re-districting in delays),” he said. “All I can say, and I don’t 2003 shifted the county out of the 4th mean to be negative, but it’s going to get District, but in 2010 another shuffle worse with Obamacare... I don’t like that returned the county to Hastings’ district. and I don’t like saying that. “Government will be even more in A lot of the issues, he said, were similar to the ones he heard about during control - not that they aren’t already his previous run as Okanogan County’s - it just adds that much more government control with the implementation congressional representative. Of a number of topics that were dis- of Obamacare. It’s going to slow things cussed, the issues involving Medicare down; it’s not going to speed up.” He did say that the Ways and Means and Medicaid reimbursements that have been a problem for North Valley Hospital Committee had been discussing chang(and other hospitals nationwide) in par- ing reimbursement rates but that it was only in the very early stages. ticular raised Hastings’ ire. “There’s always been a conflict on the reimbursement,” Hastings said. SEE HASTINGS | PG A3 BY BRENT BAKER
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Tonasket considering sidewalks ordinance Council expresses mixed feelings toward potential mosquito control district BY BRENT BAKER BBAKER@GAZETTE-TRIBUNE.COM
Brent Baker/staff photos
The Tonasket FFA Alumni hosted its fourth annual barbecue and dessert auction fundraiser for the Tonasket FFA on Friday, Aug. 15. The dessert auction was a fundraiser to support the state champion Rituals team, which is slated to go to the FFA National Convention this fall in Louisville, Kentucky. Team members Jenna Valentine, Rade Pilkinton, Jordan Hughes, Madison Bayless, Janelle Catone, Rachel Silverthorn and Sammie Earley were all on hand to visit with the large group of community members that showed up to support them. FFA Alumni president Desirae Coe and auctioneer Jerry Asmussen coordinated the festivities while ag instructor Matt Deebach, who received a gift from his team, managed the barbeque. Deebach reported that about $3,200 was raised that will be applied toward the team’s trip to Louisville. Top, Jenna Valentine does her best to help out Jerry Asmussen’s auctioneering during Friday’s dessert auction with a demonstration of pie tastiness. Above, Tonasket FFA ag instructor Matt Deebach and Rade Pilkinton work the barbecue at Friday’s fundraiser.
TONASKET - The Tonasket City Council is considering an ordinance to regulate the use of sidewalks in the downtown commercial and industrial districts. The council was presented with a draft of the ordinance at its Tuesday, Aug. 13, meeting where the council discussed its merits but decided that involving local businesses in the discussion before moving on it would be wise. The ordinance is designed to prioritize the usage of the downtown sidewalks, keeping a minimum of five feet in width for the passage of pedestrians, including those with handicaps, and so as not to obstruct line of sight at corners for vehicles trying to make turns.
The original discussion had been prompted by complaints that some businesses’ outdoor displays were impeding pedestrians, particularly those with handicaps that required more space to navigate the sidewalks. The other issue involved the leaving of business wares out on sidewalks overnight. “I really like the verbiage pertaining to (leaving things out on the sidewalk) at night,” said council member Jean Ramsey. “It has to be ‘outsideable’ material.” “It’s much more restrictive than the what we have right now - no restrictions - but it does allow the use of the sidewalks during the day for retail businesses,” said Mayor Patrick Plumb. “ The council discussed informing area
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Tonasket EMS expands EMT pool, training Adding volunteers, coordinating with other agencies were new director Greene’s big first year push BY BRENT BAKER BBAKER@GAZETTE-TRIBUNE.COM
TONASKET - If this is what retirement looks like, it’s hard to imagine what Tonasket EMS Director Michael Greene’s fulltime career must have looked like. Greene, who moved to Tonasket with his wife Barbara to retire after health issues ended his 37-year full-time fire and EMS career, found himself taking the EMS director job last spring after former Tonasket Elementary School principal (and EMS director) Jeff Cravy moved to Whidbey Island.
Greene had been happy working as an EMT, but quickly started putting his experience to work. Over the past 14 months, Greene has managed double the size of the Tonasket EMT pool from nine to 18 through his training efforts, spurred greater coordination with other firstresponder agencies, upgraded the EMS district’s vehicle fleet, provided support for Republic as its EMS district has gone through transition; and somewhere in there managed to effect improvements to the EMS building. “It’s been a really busy 14 months,” Greene said. While Greene has provided direction, he says that credit for all that has happened through all of the changes goes to the nine experienced EMTs that bought in to his efforts. Wendy and Rob Burks, Glenna Brown, Kim Humphries, Leilani Kilpatrick, Julia Verbeck, Shannon Garoutte,
Yvonne Kennedy and Karen Kenyon, he said, were the mainstays that have made the transition successful. “I can’t emphasize enough what a great group off people we have here, from the EMTs to the advisory board,” Greene said. They’re just great, dedicated people. At the start, we got their input on their top priorities, their concerns, their solutions. The people on the front lines bring the best perspective.” The biggest immediate challenge, Greene said, was expanding the number of EMTs. With only nine available, and the need for three on call at a time, that meant 56 hours a week of volunteer duty, per person. “We were asking them to commit to 2,920 hours of volunteerin a year, “ Greene said. “If you volunteer at the Kiwanis you get to decide when you volunteer, you bring your own skills, and
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it doesn’t cost anything. If you volunteer with the ambulance, you have to start with 180 hours of training, the cost of which you pay for yourself, about $1000. Then, you don’t get to decide when you volunteer. You’re on call. That’s nights, weekends and holidays. “Our biggest realization was needed to get people. The biggest obstacle was the time commitment and the cost of training. So we recruited within the community.” Greene renewed his license to teach EMT classes, while Kilpatrick and Kennedy went through the steps to become state instructors. That meant staffing enough for three classes a week in Tonasket as well as three more in Republic, which had been in dire straits because of an even worse shortage of EMTs. “I was so impressed with how committed our people were to
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helping,” Greene said. “It would have been impossible to do that class without all of the current EMTs participating. Many of them sat through the entire class. So they’re there helping during the practicals, they were there on weekends, they came up to Republic to help. I was overwhelmed with the kind of commitment that they had to being able to do it.” Greene, who noted that in many arenas the more experienced employees are threatened by the presence of newer workers, said his volunteers showed no such fears. He said he asked Wendy Burks why that wasn’t the case. “She told me, ‘This is our community. We want to train these people to help them take care of our friends and neighbors. Of course we want to help.’ “So that was pretty cool. They did all that, in addition to their
volunteer hours, and they just gave a million percent.” In all, 11 new EMTs finished out the course and nine of those have stuck with it since. “Instead of calling people up and pleading with them to cover shifts, we have more people than shifts, which is great,” Greene said. Probably the other area where Greene’s handiwork has been most evident has been in his efforts to train with other agencies in a coordinated fashion so as to be prepared in the event of a major incident. A real-life incident last year where a number of orchard workers were exposed to insecticide highlighted that need. “A critique at the hospital afterward showed there was not a level of coordination between all the agencies,” Greene said. “So
SEE EMS | PG A3
INSIDE THIS EDITION Valley Life A2 Letters/Opinion A5 Community A6-7
School Supplies A8 Obituaries A9 Classifieds/Legals A10
Real Estate Cops & Courts
A11 A11