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Written by: Elizabeth Larson

Published: 26 July 2007

LUCERNE – Vandals are causing significant damage to new improvements at Alpine Park in Lucerne, and the county's top parks official said it's becoming a costly concern.

Kim Clymire, head of the county's Public Services and Parks and Recreation Departments, said Thursday that vandals have been destroying upgrades to the park almost as quickly as county park staff can complete them.

As examples, Clymire said that since the new $200,000 restroom facility at Alpine Park was completed a few months ago, it has already been vandalized several times, with graffiti painted on the walls and the restroom doors pulled off the hinges.

Then, on Wednesday night, vandals broke off 17 pop-up sprinkler heads in the park's lawn area, the sod for which recently was placed.

“I have six people running 19 parks and trying to build three,” a frustrated Clymire said Thursday morning. “We can't even keep up with what we have to do.”

In his 30 years working in public parks, Clymire said he's seen a lot of vandalism, which unfortunately comes with the territory. He said it's usually a very small group who try to ruin it for the community at large.

Park vandalism is a countywide problem, Clymire said, but it's especially troublesome when it follows so closely on park improvements.

“This is our biggest hit,” he said.

Another serious recent incident involved Nice's Hinman Park, which is still under construction. Clymire said they had concrete forms prepared and a cement truck bringing wet cement to pour into them for park improvements.

When the crews got to the park site, half of the costly forms had been ripped out and broken, said Clymire. The crews had to hustle to try to get what forms they could back in place while trying to keep the cement wet.

Summer usually sees increased vandalism, said Clymire, because more people are out and have more idle time.

“I can't understand the mindset of some of these people,” he said.

Repairs at Alpine Park will be delayed, said Clymire. His staff is busy with new park construction projects at Hammond and Hinman Parks in Nice, Lucerne Harbor in Lucerne and the new Nylander Park in the Oaks, and he's told his staff to stay focused on those new projects.

In the meantime, he said they'll try not to let Alpine Park's new lawn die.

Clymire said he has asked the Lake County Sheriff's Office for more patrol around the Alpine Park area at night, when most of the activity seems to be happening.

So far, they have no tips on who might be doing the damage, and Clymire is asking the community to keep an eye out and call the sheriff's office if they see any suspicious activities around Alpine Park or any other county facilities.

He said he hopes that the vandals will leave the new parks alone.

“I'm optimistic but I'm not naïve,” he said.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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Written by: Editor

Published: 25 July 2007

WASHINGTON, – The U.S. Senate approved a provision late Thursday night to help National Guard and Reserve physicians maintain their practices during lengthy overseas deployments.

The bill that was passed, HR2429 – originally authored by U.S. Representatives Mike Thompson (D-CA) and Sam Johnson (R-TX) – is the House companion to S.1767, which was introduced by U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) and U.S. Senate Republican Whip Trent Lott (R-MS) earlier this month.

The measure will temporarily exempt physicians serving in the Armed Forces overseas from a Medicare law that currently places a 60-day restriction on the amount of time a physician can fill in for a colleague who is on a leave of absence.

This limit creates serious hardship for physicians in the National Guard and Reserves, who are absent from their practices for longer than 60 days when they are called for active duty. Sens. Wyden and Lott and Reps. Thompson and Johnson are confident that they will be able to enact a permanent exemption later this year.

"Our legislation will help the nearly 3,000 medical professionals who are putting their lives and careers on hold to take care of our troops overseas," said Wyden. "After their sacrifices for our country, these brave men and women deserve to find their medical practices waiting for them when they return home."

"Our men and women serving in the Armed Forces deserve more than bureaucratic red-tape, and this bill will help ease some of the strain placed on health care providers serving our country in uniform," said Senate Republican Whip Trent Lott of Mississippi. "When doctors go overseas, their patients are often left without a primary physician. Our legislation, passed by unanimous consent, will allow patients to continue visiting the offices of their citizen soldier doctors."

HR2429 passed the House of Representatives in May by a vote of 422-0. Wyden and Lott and Thompson and Johnson have also introduced legislation to make the exemption permanent for National Guard and Reserve physicians serving overseas. Last night, the permanent exemption was included in the House healthcare package, HR 3162.

"When physicians are deployed, they leave behind families and jobs just like any other person in the Reserve or Guard," said Vietnam veteran Congressman Mike Thompson. "But they also leave behind their patients. Doctors who care for our troops overseas shouldn't have to worry that their patients and practices aren't being cared for here at home. This legislation changes Medicare policy, ensuring that the patients and practices of thousands of doctors in the Guard and Reserves will be cared for when their doctor is called to active duty."

"When you're a doctor serving in a war, the last think you want to worry about is your patients not getting the care they need because no one can help them. Our bill changes that," said the 29-year Air Force veteran, U.S. Congressman Sam Johnson.

Medicare currently allows physicians to enter reciprocal billing arrangements, whereby replacement physicians can care for the absent physician's patients and bill Medicare accordingly. However, these arrangements cannot last longer than 60 days. After that, a second replacement must be found. Securing replacement physicians is an expensive and difficult process, especially for practices in remote and rural areas.

Physicians who cannot secure multiple replacements during their absence can either lose their patients to other doctors or their patients must go without care.

The legislation suspends the 60-day cap for physicians filling in for members of the National Guard and Reserves who are called for duty through the rest of the calendar year.

This bill has been endorsed by the American Medical Association and is supported by the Reserve Officers Association.

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Written by: Elizabeth Larson

Published: 24 July 2007

LAKEPORT – A lawsuit filed against the City of Prineville, Ore., includes claims that two of its employees were laid off in retaliation for telling then-Assistant City Manager Jerry Gillham that he was not adhering to city and state policies.

Gillham has since been hired as Lakeport's city manager.

“Anybody can make an accusation of any kind they want, I guess,” Gillham told Lake County News on Tuesday.

He added the allegations in the suit are “blatantly false.”

James Mole Sr. and Samanthia Waltjen filed the case, which last week was scheduled for a pre-trial conference on Sept. 25 in Crook County Circuit Court. The case was first filed April 5, with the City of Prineville filing its response June 22.

Mole, Prineville's former director of Public Works, and Waltjen, formerly Mole's administrative assistant, claim they were discharged in retaliation for telling Gillham that “he should comply with public policy and not violate state law or city policies,” according to the suit, a copy of which Lake County News obtained.

The suit focuses on Gillham's alleged actions during his brief tenure as assistant city manager in Prineville, where court documents say he was hired Sept. 5, 2006, and held supervisory authority over both Mole and Waltjen. No other city officials or individuals are mentioned in the suit.

In its formal response to the case, the City of Prineville denied any wrongdoing, saying the positions formerly held by Mole and Waltjen were eliminated “as a result of an administrative and budgetary departmental reorganization in mid-January, 2007,” and that both were laid off.

Mole joined Prineville in February 2003, with Waltjen hired July 24, 2006, according to court documents.

The suit explains that Mole and Gillham had regular weekly meetings after Gillham joined the city in September, 2006. Mole asked Waltjen to accompany him to those meetings to take notes.

During one such meeting last November, the suit alleges that Gillham said he planned to hire a public works inspector, to which Mole claims he responded that the city budget didn't contain the salary for such a position. Gillham said he would transfer money from one of the other city accounts to cover the salary.

“Mole communicated his belief that such a transfer without city council approval would violate city policies,” the suit states. “Gillham then expressed his intent to transfer money without obtaining city council approval.”

Two months later, in January, during another of their weekly meetings, Gillham and Mole had another exchange in which Gillham is alleged to have discussed his plan to divide up a $1 million public works project into smaller parts. That, the suit alleges, was so Gillham could award the contract to a particular company, which wasn't named, without having to go through the competitive bid process.

“Both Mole and Waltjen expressed their opinion that such practice would violate state statutes establishing bidding procedures for public works projects,” according to the suit.

The following day, Jan. 18, Mole alleges that Gillham informed him that his position as Public Works director was being eliminated. The day after that, Gillham reportedly told Waltjen that she too was being laid off.

Gillham is not being sued in the case.

Mole and Waltjen are asking to be reinstated to their jobs and for economic damages and wages exceeding $25,000 each, with the approximate amounts to be calculated at trial. They are also asking for $150,000 apiece for the “mental, emotional and physical distress” they say their wrongful termination caused them, attorney's fees and other costs related to filing the suit.

Their attorney, Roger Hennagin is on vacation this week and could not be reached at his Lake Oswego, Ore., office.

Gillham resigned from his Prineville post in February. The Central Oregonian of Prineville reported that his resignation followed Mole's controversial dismissal.

The City of Lakeport hired him officially at its May 1 meeting. The terms of his contract state he is on a probationary period until Sept. 30.

In the case of Mole and Waltjen, Gillham said, “Understand I was just the assistant city manager at the time.”

He worked for City Manager Robb Corbett, who remains in that position with Prineville.

In doing his job, Gillham said he had to lay off the two staffers as part of a “typical city restructuring,” and that the suit arose because they weren't happy with that process.

The Central Oregonian reported that Mole's job was replaced by a superintendent position.

Gillham, who said he didn't know if he would be deposed for the case, refused to speculate on other motivations for the case.

“I didn't do anything wrong,” Gillham maintained.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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