Looking back: 2011 in the news

The following is a review of the news and happenings that shaped our communities in 2011.

The second half of this review will appear in next week’s newspaper.

January 2011

On Jan. 10, Leslie Smith (Lzicar) was hired as the new full-time human resources director for the Adams County Public Hospital District No. 2. The HR position had been vacant for a number of years preceding Smith’s hiring into the position.

Smith used the current human resources assessment that was created by the Quorum Health Resources (QHR) as a guideline to fulfilling her position as the HR director. Smith is in charge of staff recruitment, ensuring compliance with all state and federal laws and coordinating all employee benefit programs.

The Adams County Public Hospital No. 2 halted negotiations on Jan. 25 that signaled the end of Dr. Charles “Marty” Sackmann and Dr. Valerie Eckley’s career as the district’s physicians. This occurred before community members had a chance to speak to the hospital commissioners about the decision.

The doctors’ contracts were set to end on Jan. 31, and according to CEO Mark Barglof, if they had not signed new contracts by Jan. 20, they would effectively be out of jobs.

The new employment agreement proposed to the doctors had a non-compete clause that would prevent them from practicing medicine in the surrounding areas if they chose to leave or their positions were terminated.

February 2011

The Historic Lund Barn outside of Benge received grant funding to restore the barn after the structure starting collapsing in November 2009. The Historic Lund Barn received a $34,339 grant from the Washington State Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation department.

The barn’s structural system needed to be rehabilitated from posts, studs and walls, to repairing existing framing material and replacing with like material. The barn had to be stabilized by heavy machinery to insure that the structure would not collapse during reconstruction.

The Historic Lund Barn was built in 1923 and as the largest dairy barn in Adams County. The project is intended to be complete on April 30.

The Ritzville School Board unanimously voted ‘yes’ on Feb. 22 on the academic cooperative between the Lind and Ritzville 6-12 grade students for the 2012-2013 school year.

The decision was made after a work session with the Lind School Board members and an extensive discussion during the regular board meeting.

The concerns that still remained for community members are transportation, union details, administrative logistics of sharing a superintendent, scheduling and curriculum.

The fall 2012 implementation allows the school board to have more time to discuss concerns and answer questions about the cooperative.

March 2011

Lind School Board unanimously voted in favor of the 2012-2013 academic cooperative between the Lind and Ritzville 6-12 grades.

The school board noted that if there was an unforeseen change, the school board could abandon the agreement of the academic co-op through an action item in the meeting.

The Lind School Board’s decision to go through with the academic co-op happened after a joint work session between the Lind and Ritzville school boards and after the Ritzville School Board approved the cooperative.

Union Elevator is potentially going to be purchased by Gavilon, one of the nation’s leading commodity management firms, after a shareholders meeting on Mar. 23. The elevator has been looking to expand its seed business and corn receiving operations.

Union Elevator has been in business for 103 years and adopted an Employee Stock Ownership Plan in 1993, meaning 68 percent of the company is owned by employees.

Rob Roettger, K-12 principal/assistant superintendent in St. John-Endicott School Districts will become the new superintendent for the Lind and Ritzville school district cooperative. The unanimous decision to hire Roettger by both boards was announced at the Lind School Board meeting on Mar. 28.

Roettger had been contacted on Mar. 27 and gladly accepted the position as superintendent for the cooperative. His strengths are experience with a cooperative school district and a strong knowledge about budgeting.

April 2011

Fred and JoRene Zumdahl sold Coast Hardware on April 1, to Robert and Jo Linda Heater who will change the store to become Ritzville Hardware. After owning the store for 22 years, the Zumdahl’s have decided to retire.

The Heaters currently own another store in Hayden, Idaho, and decided to come to Ritzville to return to the area where Robert’s great-grandparents used to live.

The Zumdahls have been in the process of selling Coast Hardware to the Heaters for the last two years and believe the Heaters will serve the community well.

Cameron Kiesz was honored at the Eagle Scout Court of Honor on April 17 at the American Legion Memorial Hall for receiving his Eagle Scout Badge. Kiesz is the fifth member of his family to receive this award.

The Eagle Scout Badge is the highest youth achievement award in the Boy Scouts of America and only about five percent of members will ever earn this badge. Kiesz’s Eagle Scout project was working with the Ritzville Public Library to plant a Japanese lilac tree and build a circular reading bench around it.

Kiesz worked the hardest in the last year to be awarded the Eagle Scout award along with 11 other badges. His Boy Scout accomplishments include serving as a patrol leader and a senior patrol leader.

The Lind Medical Center will close its doors after its governing board decided to terminate the lease effective on June 28. The staff at Lind Medical Center had 910 patient visits in 2010 but many of those patients are elderly and no longer drive to their appointments.

Many of the patients that frequented Lind Medical Center wanted to see their primary physicians, which were Charles Sackmann, M.D. and Valerie Eckley, M.D. who have recently opened a clinic in downtown Ritzville.

The Lind Medical Center, Inc., was formed in 1953 and the current lease has been in place since 1993.

May 2011

During January and February, the Adams County Public Hospital District No. 2 was under much scrutiny from the community. The public cross-examination of the hospital board created many questions for the board to answer and records regarding pay of employees and fees were requested.

The Journal received a copy of documents requested in March that contained the pay of multiple employees and legal fees paid for the contract dismissal of Charles Sackmann and Valerie Eckley.

The commissioners and the CEO are focusing on how to make changes and what to expect in the near future. There will be an all day commissioner meeting on May 18 regarding plans for the future, for a retreat and a strategic planning session.

The Ritzville FFA Chapter Rituals team captured the state title at the 81st Washington State FFA convention in Pullman during the second week of May. The Rituals team was composed of Sydney Nelson, Dylan Hartz, Soraida Chavez, Caitlin Schoessler, Elizabeth Schofstoll, and Tyler Frederick.

The Rituals Career Development Event requires the teams to perform opening and closing ceremonies, and conduct a committee activity in between those ceremonies. They were also judged on voice, poise, dress, correctness and team unison during the opening and closing ceremonies.

There were 24 teams that competed in the rituals competition at the state convention and all of these teams first had to qualify at the district level. The announcement that the Ritzville FFA Chapter Rituals team had won occurred at Beasley Coliseum in front of 2,600 FFA members and guests.

Ritzville High School Alumni will return for the 106th annual banquet on Saturday, May 28, at the Gilson Gymnasium. A total of 308 alumni will be attending the evening event where there will be a roll call, introduction of current graduates and a special recognition of the 1911, 1936, 1961 and 1986 classes.

Steve Rogel from the class of 1960 will be the Toastmaster for the evening. Former Ritzville educators will attend a no-host lunch at Casuela’s Grill and former students and friends are encouraged to stop by.

In addition, there will be alumni memorabilia on display in the train depot that visitors can stop by and look at. Reunions for several classes have been scheduled separately and apart from the main banquet that will host all 308 alumni.

June 2011

The Lind FFA Agronomy and Marketing teams will be traveling to the National FFA Convention in October after placing first in both competitions. Members of the agronomy team are Maya Wahl, Connor O’Neill, Bridger Smith and Scott Diefenbach and the marketing team members are Miriam Longoria, Jessica Hernandez and Saige Casady.

The Lind FFA Chapter Potato teams also placed first and second but there is not a national competition for potato judging. The potato teams were comprised of Brandon Knodel, Traven Smith, Grayson Morris, Michaela Doyle, Mackenzie Ellis, Bridger Smith, Cassady, Wahl, O’Neill and Diefenbach.

The farm business management team placed second at state, the livestock judging team placed fourth, the meats judging team won second place and the soils teams placed fifth in state.

Nick Carter, Amber Rodriguez, Jesse Miller and Alex Razwick-Donovan from Sprague High School competed in the Imagine Tomorrow competition on May 20-22 and won the award for “Best First Time Participant” at the event.

This year’s topic was energy sustainability and the students had to complete four categories: technological, behavioral, design and multidisciplinary. The entry for the team was a “Sustainable Electric Car” that measured five feet in length, three feet in width and two and half feet in height.