April 28, 2011 QVPR

By ChuCk [email protected]

The Quincy Valley Medical Cen-ter’s board of directors and administra-tion was told during a presentation by the Neenan Corporation that it must increase the community’s use of the hospital facilities now as part of a plan

to construct a new hospital facility in the future.

According to a study of the hospital’s finances and market, con-ducted by Michael Curtis and Brian Haapala, many people within the hospital’s service area are not utilizing its services.

Half of the patients in the com-

munity seeking emergency care go somewhere else. And nine out of 10 community members receive their in-patient hospital care elsewhere. Also, four out of five community members are going elsewhere for endoscopy and other surgeries provided by the hospital.

Another telling statistic is that about

half of the residents in the hospital’s service area have private insurance coverage, but the hospital is not seeing a large percentage of them.

Increasing the number of residents who use the hospital’s services is the best way to increase the bottom line numbers to make a new hospital facil-ity a viable option, stated Haapala.

Dean Taplett, hospital controller, agreed with the assessment.

“We need to have a bottom line,” he said. “There is very little we can do until we create that profitability model.”

When it comes to buildng a new


The Quincy School District has selected Chris Backman, an assistant principal for a middle school in Tacoma, to become the principal of Monument Elementary School, said super-intendent Burton Dickerson.

Backman will replace Don Francis, who is leaving the school at the end of the school year to take a job as the sec-ondary-school principal at the Awsaj Academy in Doha, Qatar for at least two years. Francis and his family will be leaving for Qatar in August.

Prior to becoming an as-sistant principal, Backman was the coordinator for the guidance-counselor program for the Tacoma School District, Dickerson said.

He added that Backman and his family plan to live in the Quincy community.

In other school business, the Quincy school board heard a proposal from Erin Comer, of The American Academy, about a drop-out retention service they can provide to the school district.

Comer explained that the school district would provide a list of dropouts to her or-ganization. The organization would then seek out those

individuals and help them to earn their diplomas following online instruction.

A local coordinator would be hired to work the program and students would also be assigned an on-line coach and have access to 24-hour on-line tutoring to help with assign-ments.

Each student in the program would be provided with a laptop computer to use in the program.

The students would also need to follow the same require-ments that students in either Quincy High School or High Tech High must fulfill in order to earn their diplomas.

Comer said the program would not create additional expenses for the school district if it chose to participate.

Larry Aliment and Tom Parrish were also recognized by the North Central Wash-ington Athletics Association for the volunteer coaching they provide for QHS sports. Aliment is a volunteer golf coach and Parrish a volunteer track coach.

The board also approved the contract negotiated with the Quincy Education Associa-tion. The three-year contract, which was approved by the QEA, runs through 2014, said Dickerson.


A Wenatchee man and three Quincy juveniles have been charged with sec-ond-degree murder and related charges following the gang-related, drive-by shooting of Adan Beltran, 25, on Fri-day, April 22 at about 4:30 p.m. near the 500 block of F Street SE.

According to court documents, Ro-berto Murillo Vera, 20, of Wenatchee, and Quincy residents Alexis Hernan-dez, 16, and Benjamin Lopez-Torres, 17 and Abraham Lopez-Torres, 15, who are brothers, were driving in a blue 1985 Oldsmobile Delta, when they pulled into a trailer court on the 500 block of D Street SE and approached Beltran’s home.

Witnesses say they saw a suspect on foot chase Beltran around to the side of the trailer that faces F Street SE, which is Quincy’s most heavily traveled street, and then saw the sus-pect shoot Beltran before leaving the scene. The shooting was witnessed by children living in Beltran’s home and also on the street.

Beltran was transported to Quincy Valley Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 5:35 p.m. Follow-ing an autopsy conducted on Tuesday, April 26, Grant County Coroner Craig Morrison determined the cause of death to be a gunshot wound to the chest.

A 911 caller reported the description of the suspects’ vehicle and the license plate number. The vehicle was spotted in Douglas County on Highway 28 heading toward East Wenatchee. A high-speed chase ensued and deputies were finally able to get the vehicle to stop by putting down a spike strip to puncture the car’s tires. Murillo Vera, the driver of the vehicle, tried to escape in an orchard, but was apprehended after about a 100-foot chase. The three juvenile passengers were also arrested at the scene and two loaded pistols were also recovered.

Sgt. Paul Snyder of the Quincy Police Department credited the wit-nesses who called 911 for the speedy apprehension. He said if witnesses don’t come forward to report what

Four charged in fatal drive-byThursday, April 28, 2011 • Quincy, Washington • Volume 62, Number 46 • USPS No 453-080 • 12 pages • www.qvpr.com • 75 cents

❂ Proudly Serving Quincy, George, Crescent Bar, Sunland, Trinidad and Winchester ❂

OurNeighbor

HeathKaech

Page A2

Please see Drive-by page A6

New principal hired for Monument Elm.

Please see QVMC page A6

Tacoma educator is selected to head school

Wenatchee man and three Quincy juveniles are facing second-degree murder charges in gang-related shooting

Ready for the big sale

Chuck Allen/Post-Register

Blanca Corona (left) and Adriana Luna water flowers in the Quincy High School’s greenhouse to prepare them for the annual FFA plant sale this weekend. The sale is on Friday, April 29 from 3 to 5 p.m. and Saturday, April 30 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. The sale is a fundraiser for the FFA program. The FFA Club is also planning to hold its ag day/baby animal fair for area children during school hours on Thursday, April 28 and the annual Donkey Basketball game on Tuesday, May 3.

Report: QVMC needs to increase patient load as a path to new hospital

Chuck Allen/Post-Register

Police officers investigate the area where Quincy resident Adan Beltran was killed in a gang-related, drive-by shooting on F Street SE on Friday, April 22.

Police RePoRts

A6April 28, 2011 Valley News

they saw, police won’t be able to do their job.

“We’ve had more witnesses come forward this time than we have in the past,” Snyder said. “Because of that, it led to the quick identification of the vehicle, and allowed us to get it out to Douglas County,” he said.

All are now in custody in Grant County and each are being held on $1 million bail. Along with second-degree murder, the suspects are being charged with drive-by shoot-ing and unlawful possession of a firearm. The identity of the shooter has not been dis-closed.

Grant County Prosecuting Attorney D. Angus Lee stated in a telephone interview on Tues-day that Benjamin Lopez-Tor-res and Alexis Hernandez will both be automatically tried as adults according to state law be-cause of the seriousness of the charges brought against them. Since Abraham Lopez-Torres is 15, there will be a hearing to determine if he will be tried as an adult. The prosecuting attorney’s office has made such a request of the court.

According to court docu-ments, the shooting of Adan Beltran is thought to be retali-ation for the shooting of Edwin Cesar Davalos, 19, on Oct. 17. Davalos was shot to death while

he was sitting on a porch outside a home on the 600 block of Fifth Avenue SE, just a block and a half from Beltran’s home.

Beltran was a member of the West Side 18th Street gang, which was thought to be behind the shooting of Davalos, a member of the Marijuanos 13th Street gang. The four suspects are believed to be members of the Marijuanos 13th Street gang.

Snyder said Quincy police have dealt with the three ju-veniles many times, and all of them have an extensive record and are known gang members.

They all had been arrested and released on felony weapons possession charges in Grant County this year.

According to court records, Hernandez and the Lopez-Tor-res brothers were all arrested following an incident on Janu-ary 22. In that case, there was report of shots fired outside Hernandez’s house on the 900 block of 3rd Avenue SE, which is across the street from Pioneer Elementary School.

Police officers responding to the incident discovered the three boys inside the house. The officers were given permission to search Hernandez’s bedroom by his parents and during the search, two guns were found. All three boys were charged with possession of the fire-arms. The charges against the Lopez-Torres brothers were withdrawn by the prosecutor’s

office for lack of probable cause. Hernandez, who was already on probation, was found guilty of the charge and sentenced by Superior Court Judge John Knodell to 10 days in custody with time served and four months of community supervision. He was also told not to associate with members of Marijuanos 13.

The Lopez-Torres brothers were again charged with felony weapons possession following a Feb. 26 incident.

On that evening, they were passengers in a vehicle that was involved in a high-speed pursuit through Soap Lake, Ephrata and Grant County. Before deputies were able to apprehend the suspects, the occupants of the vehicle tossed two handguns out of the win-dow, which were recovered by the deputies.

The felony weapons posses-sion charges against Abraham Lopez-Torres were dismissed on March 24 by Knodell.

The felony weapons posses-sion charges against Benjamin Lopez-Torres were dismissed on April 5, also by Knodell. Both dismissals came at the request of the boys’ defense attorneys.

Anyone with information on the drive-by shooting case, or any other, is asked to call Quincy Detective Sal Mancini at 787-4718, ext 505.

— K.C. Mehaffey, of The Wenatchee World, contributed to this article.

Drive-by:Continued from front page

hospital, Haapala and Curtis said comparable facilities in similar-sized communities have been built for about $15.5 million.

The financial position of the district would need to be improved to get to a point where the district would be able to secure financing for the project.

That includes a continued positive bottom line, more cash on hand, and removing existing warrants and debt.

Haapala said lenders are looking for financial stability, management and board experience and developing collaborative relationships with other area facilities.

Administrator Mehdi Merred said he was glad to receive the findings of the report because it shows things that the hospital can do right away to become more profitable.

“Whether we need $15 million or $20 million to build a new hospital, that shouldn’t be part of the discussion at this point,” he said. “What I want us to think about is what we can do today to grow the hospital. I’m thinking that those numbers are within reach.

“The bottom line is we need to get the message across that we are a vital part of this community. We need to be in a situation where our clinic and our hospital is well-utilized.”

In other hospital business, the hospital will be the primary site today (Thursday, April 28) for a regional trauma nurse and trauma registrar network meeting.

23 E Street SE • 787-4431 Hours: M.-Sat. 7 to 6; Sun. 8 to 5

Get it at Gates!GATES HARDWARE

Live plants now in stock!

Get it at Gates!

Pony Packs $1.59

Geraniums$2.99

Waves $2.59

Stuffers$2.59

Red Pontiac Seed Potatoes59¢ per lb.

Plenty of other plants and seeds for your garden, plus everything to help it grow!

QVMC:Continued from front page

Continued from Page A38:43 a.m. — A 14-year-old runaway was

reported on the 800 block of Willow Avenue NE.

April 2111:43 a.m. — A domestic disturbance

was reported on the 200 block of 3rd Avenue SE.

2:57 p.m. — Theft was reported on the first block of Mountain View Drive.

3:08 p.m. — Two males were reportedly trying to pick a fight on the 500 block of C Street SE.

6:26 p.m. — A dangerous pitbull was re-ported on the 400 block of E Street NE.

6:36 p.m. — A domestic disturbance was reported on the 100 block of E Street NE.

April 223:32 a.m. — Suspicious activity was re-

ported on the 400 block of O Street SW.9:40 a.m. — Drugs were reported on the

300 block of 6th Avenue SE.11:53 a.m. to 4 p.m. — Seven animal-

related complaints were reported in various areas around Quincy.

1:31 p.m. — Vehicle theft was reported on the first block of F Street SW.

2:09 p.m. — Two vehicles were reported racing down the street and throwing rocks at each other on the 700 block of K Street SW.

2:10 p.m. — A burglary was reported on 3rd Avenue and B Street NE.

4:26 p.m. — A drive-by shooting was reported.

6 p.m. — Roberto Murillo-Vera, 20, of Wenatchee, was booked on a charge of first-degree murder.

April 232:48 a.m. — A subject reported their home

had been burglarized and ransacked on the 300 block of H Street SE.

12:01 p.m. — An abduction was reported on the 1000 block of Alder Street SW.

1:36 p.m. — Drugs were reported on the 300 block of 6th Avenue SE.

2:22 p.m. — A domestic disturbance was reported on the 200 block of G Street NE.

9:28 p.m. — Edwin Lopez, 20, was arrested on two warrants.

9:29 p.m. — A 15-year-old male was ar-rested for assault/domestic violence.

10 p.m. — Harassment was reported on the 1800 block of 4th Avenue SW.

10:04 p.m. — Harassment was reported on the 200 block of 1st Avenue NE.

11:11 p.m. — Luis Pulido Martinez, 34, was booked on a DUI and no valid operator's license without identification, and obstructing.

April 248:06 a.m. — Suspicious activity was re-

ported on the 200 block of 3rd Avenue SW.10:38 a.m. — Harassment was reported on

the 100 block of 3rd Avenue SE.12:42 p.m. — Harassment was reported on

1st Avenue and G Street SE.4:59 p.m. — Roman Buenrostro Diaz, 39,

was cited for DUI.6 p.m. — A young child on the street was

reported on 1st Avenue and G Street SE.8:55 p.m. — Suspicious activity was re-

ported on the 300 block of H Street NE.

April 259:12 a.m. — A traffic accident was reported

on the 700 block of Central Avenue S.11:02 a.m. — Theft was reported on the

200 block of D Street SE.4:38 p.m. — Suspicious activity was re-

ported at the city park near the bathrooms.4:42 p.m. — Suspicious activity was re-

ported on the 200 block of M Street SW.6:27 p.m. — Suspicious activity was re-

ported on the 500 block of D Street SE.7:29 p.m. — Jose F. Ruiz Ramirez, 24, was

cited for DUI.8:45 p.m. — Suspicious activity was re-

ported on F Street SW.8:54 p.m. — An intruder kicked in the

back door of a residence on the 300 block of A Street SE.

Psssssst!They’re

right behind

you!A pair of eggs

elude the gaze of a participant in the

George Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday,

April 23.

Tammara Green/Post-Register

April 28, 2011 QVPR

Documents

Transcript of April 28, 2011 QVPR