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June 12,2014

VOL 131, NO. 27975 cents

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factors in fatal crashPage A8

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Partly cloudy day leading to a clear night. highs around 86. Lows around 55.See details, A11.

Fundraising cross-country hiker passes through Montrose

By drew seTTerholMdAiLy PRESS STAff wRiTER

Walking across the full 3,000-mile breadth of the U.S. is no small feat, but for cross-country hiker and fundraiser Norman Horn, there is one big reason to keep putting one foot ahead of the other.

Horn is crossing the country, from San Francisco to Atlantic City, N.J., in sup-port of a nonprofit organization dubbed Coast 2 Coast For the Kids. The orga-nization, which Horn founded, aims to raise $100,000 and national awareness for pediatric cancer and the Four Diamonds Fund.

Horn is now just more than two months into his seven-month journey. He plans to head east over Monarch pass and on to Denver today.

After hours, days, weeks and months on the road, Horn is feeling the effects of the miles he has covered since leaving San Francisco — but his motivation and determination are unshaken.

“I feel good. I’m eating enough, I’m drinking enough. I’m not losing weight super fast. I’m coping with everything this country has thrown at me, and I’m

By drew seTTerholMdAiLy PRESS STAff wRiTER

When the doors open to Olathe’s new, downtown health care center late this summer, it will not be the same Olathe Community Clinic patients from the community and the greater region have come to know.

The River Valley Family Health Center, as the new facility located on Main Street in Olathe will be known, will replace the Olathe Community Clinic in mid-August. The new health center is designed to feature more exam rooms, more space in the wait-ing room, onsite mental health care and expanded administration, kitchen and conference areas.

Replacing the current commu-nity clinic, which serves about 2,200 patients from Olathe, Montrose and Delta, is only part of a greater mis-sion, though — River Valley Family Health Center is equipped to handle a changing health care market, and has plans to expand beyond Olathe in the near future.

River Valley Family Health Center will operate as a federally qualified health center, or FQHC, as the Olathe Community Clinic currently does. The FQHC distinction allows the clinic to

receive a higher reimbursement rate for Medicaid patients, and offers a slid-ing fee scale, comprehensive services and the ability to serve uninsured and underinsured patients.

With 2,810 new health insurance enrollments in Montrose County, more than half in Medicaid, since wide-reaching health reform reshaped Colorado’s health marketplace, River Valley will be ideally suited to handle an increasing patient load and shifting patient payment statuses.

“That is why we’re building this new building, is so we can accept all those new Medicaid patients who are getting qualified,” said Debby Harri-son-Zarkis, Olathe Community Clinic (and soon to be River Valley Family Health Center) Chief Executive Of-ficer. “We’re expecting our volume to increase by 75 percent.”

The new center, which is in con-struction, will host nine exam rooms, compared to the current clinic’s four, and will see an accompanying in-crease in health care provider staffing. River Valley Family Health Center is being built in a renovated space in the downtown Olathe professional build-ing, at 308 Main Street.

Renovation, as opposed to new con-

struction, allowed for an ideal location for the new health center, Harrison-Zarkis said.

“It was a lot cheaper and less time consuming than actually building a new build. This is really the per-fect building, the perfect location — we like that we’re on Main Street in Olathe,” she said. “We’re going to bring more business to Olathe. We have 2,200 patients today; if we increase by 75 percent, that’s a lot of people on this Main Street.”

Olathe Community Clinic Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Carroll is overseeing construction of the new center. In his past profession, Carroll oversaw a renovations company for 11 years.

“That’s one of the reasons Debby (Harrison-Zarkis) brought me on, was to oversee construction and also that we’re not cutting any corners,” Carroll said. “This is going to be a very well put together clinic for our patients.”

Ridgway Valley Enterprises was awarded the contract for construc-tion after a bidding process, and both Harrison-Zarkis and Carroll said the contractor has been exemplary in its work so far.

DreW SeTTerholM/Daily PreSS

Olathe Community Clinic CEO Debby Harrison-Zarkis, right, and Olathe building inspector Scott Eklund look over blueprints inside River Valley Family Health Center, an expanded health care center in downtown Olathe that will replace the Olathe Community Clinic late this summer.

One step at a time

New space, new name in Olathe health care

DreW SeTTerholM/Daily PreSS

Norman Horn aims to walk across the full 3,000-mile breadth of the U.S.

SEE Hiker, PAgE A8

SEE CliNiC, PAgE A3

By KaTharhynn heidelBergdAiLy PRESS SENiOR wRiTER

With temperatures dropping and concerns for a severely injured climber growing, San Miguel Coun-ty authorities on Tuesday night continued rescue operations in the dark — an unusual decision that required night vision equipment in order for the rescue helicopter to land safely.

Earlier on Tuesday, John Rohde, 60, of Denver, began a solo climb of towering El Diente Peak from a campsite at Navajo Lake, per infor-mation from the San Miguel County Sheriff ’s Office.

The experienced climber had several Fourteeners under his belt, but met with bad luck when he tried to pull up onto a large rock.

The rock shifted, sending him plummeting between 1,500 and 1,700 vertical feet from the peak, which soars to an elevation of 14,165 feet.

Rohde broke his leg and sustained facial cuts.

He used his cell phone to call his wife, San Miguel County Sheriff Bill Masters said on Wednesday. Rohde’ wife contacted authorities in Dolores County, who in turn called San Miguel County for mutual aid.

The call came in during a search

welcome home Montrose gets

boost from BeckBy KaTharhynn heidelBerg

dAiLy PRESS SENiOR wRiTERA local phenomenon received national attention

Wednesday, when the Glenn Beck Show on TheBlaze TV featured Welcome Home Alliance for Veterans (Welcome Home Montrose) and the Warrior Resource Center.

The additional exposure could help encourage oth-er communities to implement the veterans’ support programs of Welcome Home, said founder Melanie Kline in a voicemail to the Daily Press on Wednesday, the day the segment was taped in Dallas.

“The thing we’re most excited about is that other communities will learn what Montrose is doing, that it’s the right thing to do, that it’s not rocket science and we have a model we would love to share,” Kline said.

Welcome Home Montrose/WRC is a proven success and other communities interested in launching a center can save a lot of time by contacting WHM, she said.

A larger goal is to have members of other inter-ested communities come to Montrose to learn the WRC model, and get a sense of what to expect when a center is opened.

“We’re really excited and grateful to have this na-tional exposure,” Kline said. “We’re kind of amazed that what we’re doing got Glenn Beck’s attention.”

Kline attended Wednesday’s taping with WRC’s executive director Emily Smith and board member Kirk Hartman.

The veterans advocacy organization was formed

PhoTo courTeSy oF SaN Miguel couNTy SheriFF’S oFFice

Search and rescue team members prepare injured climber Jon Rohdes for transport after a harrowing overnight rescue operation on El Diente Peak.

climber rescued after el Diente plunge

SEE CliMBer, PAgE A3

overnight mission saves Denver-area man

SEE BeCk, PAgE A3

MONTROSE DAILY PRESS LOCAL THURSDAY, JUNE 12, 2014 A3▲

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CLINIC: Community clinic moving downtown, rebranding

The cost of the move was budgeted at $1.1 mil-lion; the clinic received funding from grants, foundations and public entities. A capital cam-paign within the com-munities River Valley Health Center will serve is beginning now.

The building is mort-gaged, and opening will not hinge on the cam-paign, Harrison-Zarkis said. It would, however, let the clinic focus more on health care than its

mortgage payments. “It’ll help us put more

money towards our patients and our pro-grams,” Harrison-Zarkis said.

More information on the campaign can be found online at www.olatheCclinic.com or by calling 970-323-6141 and asking for either Harri-son-Zarkis or Carroll.

Once the move is complete, River Valley Family Health Center has its eyes on expanding its market.

“We would like to ex-

pand into the Montrose area, as well; that’s our next plan,” Harrsion-Zarkis said.

Discussions with Mon-trose Memorial Hospital are in progress, Harri-son-Zarkis said. For now, the primary objective is completing the move to the new facility.

“The town of Olathe has been very support-ive. They’ve very excited about us coming here, and we’re very excited about staying in Olathe,” Harrison-Zarkis said. “This is our community.”

FROM PAGE 1

and rescue training, which led to a quicker response.

Carefl ight 11 from Montrose also responded, but because of Rohde’ loca-tion, couldn’t land safely. A survival pack was dropped, but Rohde couldn’t retrieve it in the dark and was also limited by his injuries, according to the SMCSO.

Crews maintained cell phone contact with Rohde.

“We were becoming increasingly concerned for his health and safety, especially with the falling tempera-tures and threat of hypothermia,” Deputy Chris White, search and rescue coordinator, said, per a sheriff ’s offi ce news release.

At that point, the sheriff made a call that is unusual for the agency: search and rescue efforts would continue overnight, despite the danger.

“We don’t usually do night rescue operations for adults,” Masters said Wednesday.

Five team members were fl own to the foot of the valley near Navajo Basin, one by one, and dropped. They hiked to Rohde’ location, reaching him at about 4 a.m. Wednesday. They found Rohde in obvious pain, though he had used his snowshoes to splint his leg.

“He was really cold. Obviously, he had suffered a lot of trauma and he was having a diffi cult time,” Masters told the Daily Press.

A helicopter pilot from Olathe Spray Service used night vision to land in the rugged terrain so that Rohde could be fl own out for care.

“We’ve never used night vision for a

helicopter landing that we can recall,” Masters said.

From the fi rst phone call to Rohde arriving at Telluride’s airport for transfer to a clinic, and from there, to Montrose Memorial Hospital, the rescue operations took more than 12 hours.

“The darkness complicated it,” Mas-ters said of Rohde’s rescue.

Weather, though mostly fair, posed “serious potential threats” because of gathering rain and thunderstorms in the area, per the SMCSO’s news release, which notes that the fi nal two search and rescue members were fl own from the scene with snow, hail and high winds in the area.

San Miguel County devoted about 20 deputies and search and rescue mem-bers to retrieving Rohde.

According to SMCSO, Rohde has successfully summited dozens of the state’s Fourteeners and was “well pre-pared” for the El Diente climb, but does not hold a current Colorado Outdoor Recreation Search and Rescue Card.

The card covers for individuals the costs of backcountry search and rescue operations and is available in exchange for a donation to the rescue fund, the SMCSO noted in its press re-lease. Information about the CORSAR card can be found at www.coloradosar-board.org.

Without the card, people who end up needing rescued could be billed for the mission costs; Tuesday’s El Diente operation was “costly,” said Masters, though he did not yet have an estimate and did not indicate whether he would attempt to bill Rohde.

CLIMBER: Night-vision helicopter landing a fi rst for agencyFROM PAGE 1

with the goal of making Montrose a welcoming community for veter-ans, including through coordinated services to meet their needs; by creating additional necessary programs and removing barriers in local infrastructure.

Welcome Home Mon-trose draws heavily on

volunteers and dona-tions.

On June 21, the “No Barriers 5K Run/Walk” will be held to help fund the next “Mission: No Barriers Adventure Week.”

The run/walk begins at 10 a.m. at The Bridg-es, 2500 Bridges Drive.

Advance registra-tion is $25; event-day registration is $30.

Visit www.Welcome-HomeMontrose.org.

On the site, people can also pledge a continuing donation of $6 a month through Welcome Home’s “We’ve Got Your 6” campaign to offer ongoing support.

The Warrior Resource Center is located at 11 S. Park Ave., Montrose, and can be reached at 970-765-2210.

FROM PAGE 1

BECK: Montrose’s success a model for other towns, Kline says

Anniversary of national anthem

celebratedBY JASON WHEELER

DAILY PRESS STAFF WRITERWave that banner

high; Saturday is Flag Day. To celebrate, Montrose and Delta are putting on celebrations over the next couple days. Saturday also marks the 200th anni-versary of the national anthem.

Volunteers of Amer-ica and Alpine Bank are hosting a program at Demoret Plaza on Friday. A color guard will present the fl ag and Park Ranger Paul Zaenger will give a les-son on its history.

Volunteers of Ameri-ca Regional Marketing Coordinator Erin Berge said Flag Day is impor-tant to celebrate due to it being a commemora-tion of the second Conti-nental Congress adopt-ing the fl ag in 1777.

“It’s something we thought would be a great public event,”

Berge said. Berge noted the

program is on Friday instead of Saturday to give downtown busi-ness owners a chance to enjoy it. Ten-year-old Collin Huffer will also sing the national anthem. Following the program, there will be free hamburgers and hot dogs.

Delta will be celebrat-ing Flag Day during the Second Saturday Street Fair. Kami Collins, ex-ecutive director of the Delta Area Chamber of Commerce, said the Vet-erans of Foreign Wars post in Delta asked to celebrate at the fair by collecting tattered fl ags for retirement. The post will also be selling new fl ags to raise money for a new building.

Willie Gordon, exalted ruler of the Delta Elk’s Lodge, said the lodge will retire the tattered and worn fl ags in a ceremony. He noted the ceremony is important to the Elk’s organiza-tion.

“It’s always been an Elk’s tradition,” Gordon said. “We do it every year.”

To celebrate the 200th anniversary of the national anthem, the Smithsonian has encouraged America to join in the largest group singing of the song in history. At the closing of the street fair, Ridgway musician, Mark Beren-son will lead the com-munity in singing the anthem. Berenson will also be providing his brand of original folk/blues/ragtime/blue-grass music throughout the street fair.

The Flag Day program in Montrose will be at Demoret Plaza from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. De-moret plaza is located at the intersection of Main and Townsend.

The Second Saturday Street Fair in Delta will be at West Third St. in Delta between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. The national anthem will be sung at 2 p.m.

For more informa-tion about the program in Montrose, call Erin Berge at 970-275-1220.

For more information about the Street Fair in Delta, call the Delta Area Chamber of Com-merce at 970-874-8616.

BY JENN GAUTHIERDAILY PRESS STAFF INTERN

The MG Car Club will be bringing its passion for old cars and scenic views to Montrose.

This Friday through Sunday, June 13-15, the club is holding the 62nd Annual Rallye Glenwood Springs.

Part of the event takes place on June 13 at the Bridges Golf Club at 7-9 a.m.

The event is the “lon-gest continuing distance rallye in North America,” said LaVerne Downey, the Western Slope Tourmas-ter.

“I convinced them to have a second start over here in Montrose,” Downey explained.

He said that this is a “great opportunity to see classical automobiles that people don’t get to see every day.”

A car rallye is rather like a treasure hunt, Downey explained.

It is when a group of drivers follow instruc-tions to specifi c destina-tions. In this case, the club’s destination is Glenwood Springs.

People from all over the country and the world come to show off their classical MGs, which are British sports cars no longer in production.

Downey explained there will be 15 partici-pants, from places such as Utah, Colorado and Washington, showing off

their MGCC-RMC sports cars.

“I have a ’52 and a ’54 MG myself,” said Downey, suggesting all ages come learn about the history of the cars.

“There is no charge for people interested in watching,” said Downey, “The start line is a great way to meet people and view these British sports cars.”

In addition, there will be a scenic road tour, a si-lent auction, a banquet, a car show and the awards presentation.

Downey said it was “absolutely” not too late to sign up to participate.

For more information go to the event’s website at mgcc.org.

Racing to Glenwood Springs Flag Day events set for Delta, Montrose

The Delta Police Department has determined that reports of a man in a truck stopping to talk to a preschool girl was not suspicious in nature.

The man was in a place that he had a right to be, Chief Robert Thomas said, and the DPD is no longer seeking information about the incident.

Delta incident involving preschooler not suspicious