By The Gazette-Times | Posted: Saturday, July 23, 2005 12:00 am
PEBB to consider Samaritan request
The state Public Employees' Benefits Board will hold an emergency meeting on Monday to reconsider recommendations on medical contractors for Linn, Benton and Lincoln counties.
The meeting was prompted by a request issued Thursday by Samaritan Health Services that its competitor Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon be reinstated as a health insurance option for state employees, according to Ingrid Norberg, PEBB communications coordinator.
PEBB's proposal selection committee will convene at 9:30 a.m. in the Pacific Room of the Oregon Lottery Building, 500 Airport Road S.E., Salem. Immediately following, the eight members of PEBB will assemble. The meetings are open to the public.
Chinese acrobats to perform Monday
Corvallis will welcome a 34-member delegation from Henan Province, China on Monday. Ties between Corvallis and Zhengzhou, the capitol of Henan, are strong, especially through the Oregon State University Departments of Music and Art. Exchanges on both sides of the Pacific have strengthened ties between Oregon and Henan, and the visit Monday will be another in a long line of visits.
The delegation includes four government officials and 30 performers, including acrobats, martial artists and musicians. They will be performing at a free show at the Ashbrook Independent School at 7 p.m., Monday.
Crash victim remains critical
The family of Richard "Dick" Weinman, the Corvallis man seriously injured in a car crash on Highway 34 on Thursday, said the 72-year-old former Oregon State University professor remains in critical condition on Friday.
A former radio personality, Weinman is a retired professor at Oregon State University. He was the former chair of the broadcast media department at OSU. For many years, his voice was on the airwaves weekday mornings on Oregon Public Broadcasting's radio program, "Morning Edition."
Lynne Clendenin, program director for OPB Radio Network, said she worked with Weinman when he was the local host of the morning news show.
"He is very dear and gentle. He is highly respected in his field," Clendenin said.
Weinman was driving east on Oregon Highway 34 around 8:30 Thursday morning when his van veered into a cement truck near Owl Place. He was taken to the Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center where he remained in intensive care, a representative of the family said Friday morning.
His family encouraged people to send cards and well wishes to hospital. The family is requesting no visitors at this time.