The Year in Review

A month-by-month summary of the year’s activities as they appeared in The Odessa Record continues below for the months of July and August.

July

Odessa’s only grocery, which had been Denny’s Foods since the early 1990s, changed hands in July when Bob and Bonnie Dewey of Cowiche purchased the business from previous owner Denny McDaniel. The new owners, along with managers Jeff and Debbie Norris, presented the community with Odessa Foods.

The Chamber of Commerce, but primarily Biergarten chairman Ted Bruya, wrestled with the decision as to whether to change beer distributors for the event. The group heard proposals from both Midway Beverage of Moses Lake and Odom Corporation, which had become the biergarten supplier upon purchasing the previous supplier.

Two members of the Sons of the American Revolution came to Odessa to present a program on the history of the colonial period. They brought with them items such as musket balls, coins and scrip that was used by the colonists. The program included a segment demonstrating the use of muskets, which required permission from the town government, even though styrofoam “bullets” were used.

The Odessa FBLA chapter returned from national competition with several awards. Hailey Williams received a third place award for her Electronic Career Portfolio. Williams’ award was the highest an Odessa student has ever placed in national competition.

The Business team of Cade Weber, Markus Smith, Justin Hunt and Jared King took home fifth place for their three-way partnership between Second Harvest Food Bank of Spokane, the Odessa Food Bank and the Odessa High FBLA chapter.

Mariah Davison, Shelby Smith, Hailey Williams and Andrew Schafer delivered a flawless presentation to place ninth with their Community Service Project, which focused on training people to use an automated electronic defibrillator (AED) and to give cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

Tragedy struck Odessa again with the death of Nick Campbell, son of Jeff Campbell of Odessa and Jody Orvik of Idaho. Campbell was boating with friends on Lake Roosevelt July 23 when he jumped from a moving boat. As the boat turned to retrieve him, witnesses said, he surfaced once and then went underwater again. Ultimately, a remotely operated vehicle on a boat equipped with sonar that was used for the recovery effort.

Inland Empire Oilseeds held an open house featuring sausages, hot dogs, potato salad and baked beans to visitors, along with plant tours. The new owners added more storage for finished product and had ordered new equipment to facilitate the shipping of product. Demand was outstripping supply at the time of the event.

Rural Odessa fire chief Roger Sebesta, Town of Odessa fire chief Don Strebeck and more than 20 other area firefighters responded to a blaze that started north of Marlin and quickly spread to cover about 2000 to 2500 acres of mostly sagebrush-covered pasture, plus some wheat fields. One structure was also lost to the flames, a machine shed belonging to Marlin farmer Ron Lesser, along with all of the equipment stored in it.

In all, 11 vehicles fought the wind-whipped blaze that blew smoke and ashes into Odessa as it raced through dry tinder. Firefighters from Davenport, Reardan, Harrington, Wilbur, Creston, Almira and Sprague also rendered assistance.

August

Thieves once again broke into Odessa Drug, making off with all of the narcotic painkillers they could find, as well as about $200 in case, said owner Ted Bruya.

As in an earlier break-in attempt at Ramm Hardware, the rear doors of the store were the initial attempted point of entry. After mangling the door, the burglars resorted to standing on a trash receptacle and breaking out the small window above the door in order to gain entry.

My Sisters’ Closet, an antique and resale shop, opened for business August 13. Owner LoriLynn White worked hard to prepare the space and to transfer an eclectic assortment of goods from her home. White planned a grand opening for Deutschesfest weekend.

Odessa Memorial Healthcare Center (OMHC) received three certificates of outstanding performance from the Rural Healthcare Quality Network (RHQN), for “best practice heart attack protocol (emergency department door to electrocardiogram in under 10 minutes,” “participation in the national rural medicare beneficiaries quality improvement project (MBQIP), and for developing a “quality culture.” OMHC, along with other hospitals, is a leader in developing quality improvement programs, where all managers monitor and report on quality measures and share their quality metrics with other rural hospitals.

Odessa’s Town Council heard a proposal for an upgrade to the community center kitchen from Deutschesfest food chair Lindsy Starkel.

Thorsen Wehr, son of Odessa High School science teacher Jeff Wehr and Julie Wehr of Odessa, was selected as a semi-finalist in the Broadcom MASTERSTM science research competition, allowing him to attend the finals round in Washington D.C. in October.