Stories in this Regional News Roundup are excerpted from weekly newspapers from around the region.
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ELK CITY — “I never met a stranger. I can strike up a conversation with anyone, no matter their age,” Wayne Hasenoehrl said, laughing.
Hasenoehrl, 83, was chosen to serve as the 2021 Elk City Days grand marshal this weekend. He is known by his nickname, “Cross Threads,” or just “Threads” to many.
Born in Lewiston, Hasenoehrl moved around quite often growing up.
“My dad was a farmer-rancher who rented, and we lived just above Mission Creek on Mill Creek, then moved to Winchester, Ferdinand and Thorn Springs Canyon, East of Winona,” he recalled.
He, with three brothers and two sisters, attended schools in Ferdinand, Cottonwood, Greencreek and Big Butte before finishing high school in Greencreek.
“I entered the Army and did my training at Fort Ord [Calif.] and then spent time at Fort Bliss in Texas,” he said. “From there I went on to Dachau, Germany.”
He said this time in Germany was interesting in many ways, but especially because his father’s family was from Austria and his mother’s family from western Germany.
When he returned home, he began working in the logging industry, driving logging truck all over the region and beyond, including driving for Mark Swanson.
“I’ve been in Elk City for 55 years now, and I don’t wimp out and spend the winters in Arizona,” he laughed.
Hasenoehrl said he enjoys a “trip to the big city, like Spokane or Eugene, but I always like to come back to Elk City.
“When I see the Southfork, I know I’m home,” he said.
He is a member of the local VFW and American Legion and spent many years as part of the color guard for Elk City Days, as well as running the logging show.
“I did the logging show for about 30 years,” he said.
An avid four-wheeler enthusiast for years (with about 35,000 miles on his ATV), he laments that he does not see as much wildlife as he used to.
“They never should have brought the wolves back,” he emphasized. “People can go see them in Canada or Alaska if they want to, but we didn’t need them here.”
He said he enjoys the quiet of living in a small town, and today’s technology advances have the better of him.
“A car driving itself?” he questioned. “I think man should do some things himself.”
He also enjoys the lack of politics in a small town, though his head isn’t buried in the sand.
“I know it goes on here, too, but not as much as other places,” he said. “I believe in law and order, but you also have to be able to enjoy life.”
Hasenoehrl did himself a favor at the age of 49 when he quit drinking, he said — but that doesn’t mean you can’t still find him in the bar.
“I never quit going to the bar,” he said. “I still stop in to visit. I like to talk.”
Although he was married for a short time and has had a couple of girlfriends throughout the years, he said he has been single a long time.
“The married life didn’t really suit me, so right now it’s just me and Wigglebut,” he grinned.
Wigglebut is his cat.
“He’s good company,” he said. “And we’re just here trying to enjoy life.”
— Lorie Palmer, Idaho County Free Press (Grangeville), Wednesday
Vaccinating health care workers a slow process in Columbia County
DAYTON — A question on the minds of many in our community is why the Columbia County Health System does not require its employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Back in January, CCHS employees took an internal survey to assess their receptivity to the vaccine. According to Stephanie Carpenter, chief operating officer, one-third said yes, they would. One-third said probably, but not now, and one-third said they would not get the vaccine.
Last week, Carpenter said that, currently, only a little over half of all CCHS employees are fully vaccinated.
At the hospital district board meeting in May, Commissioner Jim Kime pointedly asked Katie Roughton, director of nursing services at the Booker Rest Home, if staff there were fully vaccinated and, if not, why not. She replied that there was no requirement from the state, but if the board pressed her, she would look into it. There were no further comments from other board members or administrators at that meeting.
Kime’s question is essential, as COVID-19 cases in the area have increased, and the delta variant is becoming more prevalent. Intensive care units at area hospitals are filling to capacity.
Last week, the Columbia County Board of Health Medical Director Dr. Lewis Neace told the board, it had taken him six hours to find a bed for one patient infected with COVID-19.
Washington State Hospital Association CEO Carrie Sauer said the hospital association’s board of directors urges hospitals and health care providers to require their employees to get the vaccine.
“This is a big deal,” Sauer said at an Aug. 2 briefing. “We understand vaccine requirements are controversial, but we think it is the right thing to do.”
Providence St. Mary Medical Center and Providence Medical group announced on Aug. 5 that caregivers employed at their facilities must be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Sept. 30.
When asked about requiring vaccines for CCHS employees, CEO Shane McGuire said they could be required from state or federal governments at some point in time, and when that happens, CCHS will comply.
“We currently have not made them required, but we are working on policies and procedures to keep everybody, vaccinated and not, healthy and safe. Health care workers have to manage infectious illnesses as part of their jobs, every day, and at this time, we are reluctant to make people’s healthcare decisions for them,” he said.
McGuire said education and messaging from CCHS is continuing around the vaccine’s efficacy in preventing most people from getting COVID-19, becoming symptomatic, or ending up in the hospital.
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Editor’s Note: On Monday, Gov. Jay Inslee announced all state employees and workers in private health care and long-term care settings must be fully vaccinated by Oct. 18. Employees who refuse to be vaccinated will be subject to dismissal from employment for failing to meet legal job qualifications.
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Author’s note: There are two airborne infection isolation rooms at Dayton General Hospital, and CCHS CEO Shane McGuire said patients infected with COVID-19 are generally placed in them out of an abundance of caution.
The administration had hoped to build a hallway connecting Dayton General Hospital to a wing of the Booker Rest Home, creating two more airborne infection isolation rooms. The $2.4 million project was to have been paid for with CARES Act Provider Relief Funds. McGuire said construction documents were submitted to the Department of Labor and Industries and the Department of Health’s Construction Review Services. However, the June 30 deadline for that funding was not extended, delaying the project as CCHS administrators look for other funding options.
— Michele Smith, The Times (Waitsburg), Thursday
Valley hospitals report 32 new COVID-19 cases in the last week
A total of 32 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the past week by Valley County’s two hospitals.
St. Luke’s McCall reported 21 new cases in the last week. Cascade Medical Center reported 11 new cases, including six in one day, CEO Tom Reinhardt said.
The two hospitals have reported a total of 34 new cases since Aug. 1, which is on a pace to exceed the 63 new cases reported during July.
Not available were the ages of those infected, how many had contracted the delta variant and how many were previously unvaccinated.
The number of people vaccinated in Valley County continued its slow rise.
A total of 61 percent of eligible residents had received the vaccine as of Monday, or a 2 percent rise in three weeks, according to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.
Adams County had a total of 41 percent of eligible residents vaccinated compared to 39.5 percent three weeks ago.
A total of 892 cases of COVID-19 have been reported by the two hospitals since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020.
Four confirmed deaths and two suspected deaths related to COVID-19 among Valley County residents have been reported by Central District Health.
Four deaths related in COVID-19 have been reported in Adams County by Southwest District Health.
— Tom Grote, The Star-News, (McCall), Thursday
Dangerous Curves debuts at Webb’s Slough
WEBB’S SLOUGH — A debut is in the making for the next sprint boat races in St. John on Aug. 28.
Dangerous Curves is a team of locals, Mike Thomas and Clint O’Keefe, who formed last year and waited out the pandemic-canceled 2020 season.
Then the night before the opening race at Webb’s Slough in June, they put the boat in the water for a test run and it did not go as they hoped.
“Catastrophic failure,” Thomas said.
The boat sucked in water, ruined two push-rods and bent a valve.
No racing for them, and their debut was delayed.
Since then, Thomas and O’Keefe took the engine out of the boat, and O’Keefe drove to Yakima last week to pick up rebuilt engine heads.
They hired a man in Post Falls to reassemble the engine. Now the St. John men are putting the small-block Chrysler into the hull and taking it out to the slough again.
“If we can get everything together, hopefully we’ll be ready for the August race,” Thomas said.
The first step is the test rim.
O’Keefe works for the state Department of Transportation in Colfax. He bought the boat hull used from a fellow racer in Coeur D’Alene, and partnered with Thomas, a former Lamont 2005 graduate of St. John-Enchcott High School.
“I’ve been going down to the races, hanging out, wanting to do it and I finally found someone to do it with me,” Thomas said.
To make the debut at the next race event on Aug. 28, the boat needs to pass inspection. Once it does, navigator Thomas and driver O’Keefe get four runs to qualify. From there, the “eight cut” follows as the field is reduced to eight, then the “four-cut.”
The course is set on water snaking among dirt banks. There are enough two-way turns of its 13 that the race route is given to the teams the night before.
“Like streets in a town,” said Thomas.
As the navigator, he needs to memorize the path and deliver hand signals to O’Keefe amidst the racing. No instruments are involved.
Thomas waits and wonders what it would be like to be out there.
“I haven’t got to be in a race yet,” he said.
They keep working to make sure the boat is ready.
“As of now, it looks like (it’s) a pretty good shot,” said Thomas, who owns St. John Auto Body & Custom. “It’ll be a couple of late nights and long weekends.”
— Garth Meyer, Whitman County Gazette (Colfax), Thursday
