As Fall Presses In, Keep Summer’s Pleasures In Mind

By Scott R. Cooper, Crook County Judge
first published in the Central Oregonian of Prineville, September 2007

Fundamentally, Crook County has much to be pleased about

I both dread and anticipate the arrival of fall.

The return of cool weather, the beauty of the changing landscape, the excitement in my house that accompanies the start of school and the end of lawnmowing for another season are all reasons to be glad to put the hot days behind us. Professionally, there are reasons to like the fall as well: the early season threat of floods and the late season threat of fire largely disappears. The tide of hunters appears creating its own challenges, but their impact on law enforcement is more than offset by benefits to the local economy. It isn’t snowing yet, so winter road mainentance isn’t yet a priority. All in all, fall is a pretty nice time to be in county government.

If there is a downside to the season, it’s the fact that fall seems to signal that point in the year when we start to pay attention once more to the world around us. In the summer when the sun beckons us to enjoy our world from early morning until late at night, there are just too many things to do to waste a lot of daylight hours hunkered down in front of the tube or scanning the headlines of the paper. Even though the national housing market might be crashing around us and the war in Iraq continues to produce grim statistics and scandalous revelations about senior senators from Idao remind us once again that elected officials have just as many faults as normal people, things just don’t seem so bad as long as the sun keeps shining.

That changes with the shortening of the days. We start to pay attention again, and in the dark of the night as the cold presses in through our windows and we nudge the thermostate the news which seemed distant and far away just a month ago somehow seems more ominous. Maybe that’s why the framers of our Constitution called for elections to be held late in the fall: being farmers themselves, they understood this was the period in the year when we were most likely to be paying attention.

So as we enter that period, it seems like a good time to recap not what’s wrong in our community but instead to focus on a few things that are right.

Recently, I was invited to give a presentation to the Commerical Investment Division of the Central Oregon Realtors Association which met here in Prineville. As far as I know, this is the first big gathering of this regional group which plays an important role in directing investment throughout the region. As I prepared for the speech, my focus was on telling the Crook County story: that whatever you may have thought or known about Crook County yesterday, today’s Crook County looks decidedly different. In short, all the reasons I remain, Bullish On Prineville.

Here are just a few of the statistics I presented to that group:

While the 327 building permits issued in Crook County in the fiscal year ended 2007 was under the number issued in calendar years 2004, 2005 and 2006, the number continues to exceed the number issued in calendar years 2000-2003. What we are experiencing now appears not to be a slow down but a much-needed correction to sustainable and historic development patterns which the community can more easily absorb.

Faced with market pressure, the rapidly escalating price of housing in Crook County has begun to soften. In the second quarter of 2007 saw the median (middle) price paid for residential property settle at $210,000, compared to Bend’s $348,250 and Redmond’s $255,000. While affordability, especially for young families and first-time homebuyers, remains a concern in Crook County at any number above $200,000, the slowing trend suggests that in combination with a cooling (or “frozen” as realtors might characterize it) housing market nationwide, the possibility of a good mix of both affordable and higher end housing returning to our community is on the horizon.

The situation as it relates to employment oportunities continues to improve. The number of Crook County employers counted by the Oregon Employment Department rose from 480 to 664, between the first quarter of 2001 and the first quarter of 2007. That’s a 38 percent increase. By contrast, Oregon overall posted only a 22 percent increase experienced by Oregon and even Portland posted only a 21 percent rise in the same period. Clearly, business continues to invest in Prineville and Crook County.

With the increase in employers came two key things: population and wealth.

Crook County was the fastest growing county in Oregon in terms of population in 2005, outpacing Deschutes County. In 2006, the two counties swapped positions with Deschutes taking first position and Crook taking a close second. With an estimated population of 24,525—for all intents and purposes 25,000—Crook County has experienced a total increase in population since the 2000 census of 29 percent. During the same period, the Oregon population grew just under 8 percent. I suspect I’m not the only one who walks into Bi-Mart these days and feels like there are an awful lot of people I don’t know anymore, but I’m not complaining: the newcomers bring talents, diversity and new perspectives to our community to help us plan a better future.

Perhaps even more importantly for the future of our economy, they also bring with them economic opportunities for those of us who predated them.

During a six year period, 2001-2007, the total quarterly payroll in Crook County jumped 47 percent. compared to 25 percent statewide. The average wage increased 29 percent, compared to 17 percent statewide. Deposits in Crook County financial institutations, as reported by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation were 226 percent greater in 2006 than in 2000. By contrast, the statewide total increase was about 152 percent greater over a six year period, and the Crook County growth exceeded even that of Deschutes County, which increased 215 percent during the same period.
Bottom line is: Crook County’s economic fundamentals are strong: At no period in our history, have we had it so good. As the days shorten and our thoughts turn once more to the world around us, we would be well advised to bear that in mind .

Taking A Bite Out of Cancer

By Scott R. Cooper, Crook County Judge
first published in the Central Oregonian, August 2007

As Cancer Surpasses Heart Disease As State's No. One Killer,
Here's What We're Doing About It

Two incidents in recent weeks caught my attention.

The first was the phenomenal success of the Relay for Life event held over the weekend of July 28. It was a sobering reminder of just how many lives are touched by the effects of cancer, and touching monument to the way people can open their hearts and wallets to help people they have never met. The event raised over $54,000 from our small community to help fund cancer prevention and research. That’s a whopping achievement for community the size of Prineville.

The second matter to come to my attention was contained in a not-so-interesting report copied front and back on a yellow sheet of paper that I receive every month from the Oregon Public Health Division. Entitled, “Communicable Disease Summary, this front-and-back newsletter usually contains statistics and treatment information geared more for healthcare providers than for county judges. This time, however, the newsletter contained a timely fact: Cancer has climbed above heart disease as Oregon’s number one killer.

It isn’t true in every county. In ten of Oregon’s counties, including Crook County, heart disease is still the leading cause of death, but the gap between heart disease and cancer is steadily shrinking. It is just a matter of time until cancer overtakes heart disease and all counties see cancer as the number one enemy.

In a corollary study, the Division of Health looked at the impact of cancer on a county-by-county basis. Their findings were that in Crook County in 2004 (the last year for which complete statistics have been compiled) cancer caused a combined loss of 119 years, compared to average life expectancy had cancer not intervened. Imagine all that lost economic, cultural and social productivity that would lost to this disease.

The report contained a few more surprises.

Not surprising was the fact that the leading cause of death in Crook County in 2005 was by far and away lung cancer. Nor is there much surprise that the leading cause of lung cancer is tobacco, with 80 percent of lung cancer diagnoses linked to tobacco use. What did surprise me were the numbers two and three cancer-related deaths: brain cancer was second while cancer of the lymphatic system (non-Hodgkins lymphoma and leukemia) were third. Bringing up fourth place were colon, pancreatic, ovarian and bladder cancer and not until fifth place did breast and prostate cancer appear. Who knew?

One of the keys to effective cancer treatment and prevention is early diagnosis. This got me wondering, just what are we doing in Crook County to raise awareness on this issue? So I called Crook County Public Health Director Wendy Perrin and asked for a report. This is what she told me.

The Crook County Health Department offers a numbers of programs designed to detect potential cancer, help patients identify treatment and assist patients in modifying behavior that may lead to cancer. The department has a strong program for helping local residents kick the tobacco habit. Smoking cessation supplies are available through the department as well as one on one counseling. In fact, one full-time person does nothing but counsel individuals on how to quit—an investment which saves lives and, in the long run, tax dollars for all of us to the degree indigent and elderly people don’t contract lung cancer.

This year, the department is excited to have launched an aggressive new preventative vaccine to address cervical cancer. The vaccine is called Gardisil, and it is available through the local Health Department. Doctors recommend it for girls age 9-26. One vaccine can eliminate 70 percent of cervical cancers later in life. Those are pretty impressive odds. The cost of the vaccine is reasonable too. Based on income, the vaccine can be had for as little as $10. In addition, the department offers screening for cervical cancer (pap smears) which are vital for the detection of precancerous lesions. An annual pap smear is recommended for all women over the age of 18, but one in seven women “hasn’t gotten around to” a test in the last three years. Twenty-two percent of women ages 18-24 have never had a paper smear. That’s too bad because this simple test precipitously increases the chance of survival as a result of cervical cancer.

Women are also encouraged while visiting the health department or their local medical providers to receive annual breast exams and to learn the techniques for monthly self examination. These are important pre-screening tools which can help women learn when to seek a mammogram—an important means of detecting breast cancer early and increasing survival rates. Despite the importance of these basic prevention activities, 27 percent of breast cancer cases are caught too late in Oregon when the prognosis for cure is poor. An astonishing one in eight women reports never having had a mammogram.

For the gentlemen, the county doesn’t offer as many services. There are a couple of reasons for this: for one thing, the principle cancer of concern to men is prostate cancer, and we guys are notorious for not going to the doctor. Since you can’t very well examine the prostate of the unwilling, there’s not much point of keeping a doctor on staff to twiddle his thumbs and wonder where the clients are. For another, only a doctor can perform a prostate exam, so this service is best left to local practitioners. What the health department can do, however, is provide information about the symptoms of prostate cancer and help arrange medical examinations by physicians and nurse practitioners—help which is especially important for low-income individuals. As with all cancers, early detection is the key to long-term successful prognosis.

Those are just a few of the service the Crook County Health Department offers. Now co-housed with the Ochoco Community Clinic, the goal of Crook County Health Department is to be a primary source of information for individuals in the community who need help getting information about health conditions or connecting to health services. In some cases, the health department itself is a direct provider of services and it is an excellent resource for those needing to be matched with providers. For more information about health-related issues, call the health department at 447-5165.

Crook County and particularly the Crook County Health Department are committed to doing our part to help reduce and perhaps in some cases even eradicate cancer and other diseases in our community. Not only do we enjoy keeping our friends and neighbors around, but we also realize that everyone who walks through our doors is someone’s child, sibling, parent or other loved one, and the pain that accompanies premature loss of life to diseases like cancer and heart disease is pain inflicted on our entire community.

Our goal is to keep you well, and I and the folks at the Health Department look forward to the day when the yellow sheet from Oregon Public Health lists the leading cause of death for Crook County as “Old Age.”