HAUNTED HAY RIDE COUGAR KILLED IN OROVILLE
Saturday, Oct. 25, 6:00-9:00 p.m. Taber’s Fruit Barn
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Dumpster debate cools for now Council approves hospital trash location on temporary basis BY BRENT BAKER BBAKER@GAZETTE-TRIBUNE.COM
TONASKET - Tensions didn’t boil over, but they certainly were simmering as the Tonasket City Council and two representatives of the North Valley Hospital District engaged in some verbal sparring over the placement of garbage dumpsters that had taken up residence along the curb on Western Avenue. Tonasket Mayor Patrick Plumb, a hospital employee, recused himself as mayor for the discussion, handing the gavel to Mayor Pro Tem Jill Vugteveen, but was permitted to participate. After a lengthy back and forth the council approved a motion to allow the hospital to keep the dumpsters in a pair of parking spaces near the North Valley Extended Care while researching how to properly charge the hospital for a franchise agreement for semi-permanent use of city property. It also requires the hospital to present a permanent plan for the location of its dumpsters within a year (though the plan may not be able to be executed at that time). From the council’s perspective, the issue of dumpsters blocking the right of way on either the sidewalk west of the hospital or taking up space on the side of the road has been problematic for some time. Director of Ancillary Services Noreen Olma and Plant Engineer John Sanchez echoed what CIO Kelly Cariker said at a recent hospital board meeting, that the
issue was a new one to them. A number of hospital administrative staff, including Cariker and Sanchez, have been with NVH for less than two years. The two largest of three dumpsters have been moved to two parking spaces on First Street in front of North Valley Extended Care, which met with the council’s approval albeit on a temporary basis. “There was some mention that we should have planned better,” Sanchez said. “Most of us in the game now haven’t been here (since the new hospital building was planned). Originally with the first bond issue the dumpsters were supposed to be in the parking area by the Eagles. That fell through, and we’re out of land. “Now we have a quandary. Beyers Market has a franchise (to pay the city for the use of public space for a dumpster)... We’d like to move them back (to Western) if possible.” Olma said that the location by the nursing home was not central for the majority of staff on campus. Council member Dennis Brown, who had visited with Cariker and toured the facility, had his own recommendation for alternate homes for the dumpsters, but Sanchez said the garbage company had rejected Brown’s suggestion due to its proximity to the building. “We ran a survey through with two different trucks and they said, no, we’re not taking the liability,” Sanchez said. “We started looking at other options. We don’t have a lot.” Brown said part of his concern was for public safety. “You want to put them out where they can cause a safety hazard, and there have
An Oroville Police Officer, Okanogan County Sheriff’s Deputies, Agents from the U.S. Border Patrol and Troopers from the Washington State Patrol all converged at high speed on Balmes Road, just north of the Cherry Street Bridge in Oroville last Monday morning. They were in pursuit of Kenneth Wesley Clark, 35 Clark who was tracked by the sheriff’s K9 Basco, and was located hiding in a house near the end of the road. He was arrested on a state Department of Corrections Felony Warrant for Possession of a Controlled Substance with Intent and booked into County Jail.
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Gary DeVon/staff photos
Candidates attend forum in Oroville BY GARY A. DE VON EDITOR@GAZETTE-TRIBUNE.COM
OROVILLE – Candidates seeking local county, state and federal offices were invited to Oroville last Thursday, Oct. 16, to introduce themselves and tell voters why they should cast a ballot in their favor. Invited to talk were candidates for office where more than one person was seeking the office. Locally that meant Scott D. Furman and Les V. Stokes, both looking to win the County Assessor position; Dave Rodriguez and Gary V. Reams who would like to be the county’s first elected coroner; and David Womack and Scott Vejraska vying for PUD Commissioner in District 1. Candidates seeking state offices are incumbent Brain Dansel for Senate, who appeared without his challenger, as did Joel Kretz, who wishes a return to the House of Representatives. While Clint Didier, candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives was on hand, their was no sign of fellow Republican Dan Newhouse who also seeks the Fourth Congressional District seat. Rep. Kretz, however, read a statement from Newhouse who was unable to attend. In the case of the three offices where two candidates were present, the first at the podium was given 10 minutes, while the opponent was given 12. The first speaker was then given an extra two minutes for rebuttal. Incumbent Furman said he started with the assessor’s office in 1984 under then assessor Bain Crowfoot and continued to serve under Jim Hand. When Hand got sick Furman took his place as County Assessor. “We have 51 thousand parcels to appraise each year and over $41 billion in total property values in the county,” said Furman, who adds that the assessors office completes that task each year with 12 employees. Furman said that since he has been in
office information has gone from paper to online availability. “You used to have to trek down to Okanogan to get the information, now it can all be done online,” said Furman. “Electronically we have also made many improvements in efficiency.” He served as president of the Washington State Association of Assessors in 2005-2006, the first president of the association in 40 years, he said. “Politics don’t get involved in how property is assessed. It is all done by WAC and spelled out by the state legislature,” he said. Scott D. Furman Furman is proud of how quickly his office was able to assess the damage done to the 243 houses and 50 cabins that were burned in the Carlton Complex Fire. He said by doing a quick assessment it will help people to begin the recovery process. “There were some 250,000 acres involved and of the 4600 parcels, 3800 were privately owned,” he said. “It involved a tremendous amount of work for my office and the staff worked hard... we just about have it wrapped up. I’m proud of my staff.” The taxing dis- Les V. Stokes trict hardest hit he said was the Pateros School District which lost 20 percent of its taxable value. “Next year that will have to be picked up by the remaining property owners because the bond has to be paid back,” he said. “We’re hoping that maybe some will be gotten back from the federal or state government. There was a two percent
OKANOGAN VALLEY GAZETTE-TRIBUNE Volume 110 No. 43
overall loss to the county in property value.” Stokes, a general contractor for over 20 years, said he first considered running for Assessor in 1991 because he feels that property should be assessed at the value it can be sold at within 120 days. “The original laws on property values are 100 years old,” he said. Stokes said he was on the Twisp City Council in the 1990s when the town lost its sawmill, leaving Twisp without 40 percent of its revenue. “By the time I left we had balance our budget. That’s one of the proudest things I Gary Reams was ever involved in,” he said. “And when it comes to running a tight ship you can’t get more experience having been on a volunteer fire department.” Stokes said he has done a lot of refitting of homes so that they qualify for loans. “I have a good eye and real experience at dating structures.” Stokes said he applauded Furman for being “right on top of things” regarding the fires. “If you don’t want to change ships I don’t blame you,” he David Rodriguez said. Furman was then given two minutes to address anything that was brought up by Stokes. “Of the 51,000 real properties we assess we do mass appraisals,” Furman said. “I’ll be the first one to admit we can’t get every one right. I encourage anyone to come in and talk to staff who will show them the appraisal info we used to assess the property. If that is not enough we
welcome you to appeal to the local board of adjustment,. Reams said after graduating from Omak High School in 1970 he went on to college to become a Licensed Practical Nurse. He was drafted and stationed with a MASH unit in Germany from 1970-72. After the Army he started working at Brewster Hospital as an LPN and then became a Respiratory Care Practitioner. He worked in that field at Mid-Valley Hospital for 21 years. From there he worked in home health care, as well as Respiratory Care at Three Rivers Hospital in Brewster and Valley Care Scott Vejraska Center as an LPN. He has also worked at Legacy Funeral Home in body removal and transport. He said it was while working there he was encouraged to run for the newly formed Coroner’s position. “I’m coming at the job strictly from the medical end. If elected I think I can work alongside law enforcement to establish the cause of death,” he said. The new coroner will be expected to set up a budget, according to Reams. “Anyone that has raised a family knows how to look at resources to do a David Womak budget properly,” he said. He said he believes he will be expected to hire a staff, but doesn’t know how many. “What I don’t know about the job... what I do know I know well,” said Reams, adding that one thing the job will take is compassion. Rodriguez said that while most elected
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positions are issue driven, when it comes to county coroner all you hear are crickets. “What we basically have here is an extended job interview,” he said. “On January 1 the new coroner will walk into his office and it will be one man show.” Since there are only two candidates to chose from he said you have to ask yourselves who will do the best job “right out of the gate” that first date at the stroke of midnight. Rodriguez said he had 25 years in law enforcement, 23 with the Okanogan County Sheriff ’s office. He also has 13 years experience with emergency medical training and experience as an EMT. “Plus I have direct training as a death investigator,” he said. “I have the training and can hit the ground running on day one.” Rodriguez said before the county reached a population of 41,000 - where an elected coroner was required - the prosecutor or someone from the prosecutor’s office usually served as coroner. “The bulk of the investigating was handled by law enforcement then,” he said. “They were the first at the scene and then the prosecutor would show up with a clip board and go back to the office to do the paperwork. I’ve done all the first part already. So now I am uniquely qualified to do the rest of the job.” Rodriguez said by law the coroner is the first one to examine the body, even before law enforcement. “If you don’t know what you’re doing you could screw up a crime scene. I’ve been to hundreds of thousands of crime scenes. I’m experience in the role of giving death notices,” he said, adding that the position comes with no budget for staff. “My intent is to reduce law enforcements work load,” he concluded. Scott Vejraska said he was a third generation rancher who graduated from
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