[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 8]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 10842]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              TRIBUTE TO WHEELER COUNTY JUDGE JEANNE BURCH

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. GREG WALDEN

                               of oregon

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, June 29, 2012

  Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker I rise today to recognize the tremendous, 
longtime, and diverse public service of a leader who lives and works in 
the heart of Oregon's Second District, Wheeler County Judge Jeanne 
Burch. Judge Burch has served as Wheeler County Judge since 1994 but 
began serving her County long before that. Mr. Speaker, I have enjoyed 
working with her and I will miss her service and so will Wheeler 
County.
  Judge Burch lives in the town of Fossil, the county seat of Wheeler 
County which has a total population of around 1,400 people. Wheeler 
County is one of Oregon's most geographically diverse counties--it's a 
rugged place home to Oregon's most unique John Day Fossil Beds, two 
national forests, and the iconic John Day River which runs right 
through the middle of it. Judge Burch has seen days when her county has 
thrived from the economic benefits generated by the adjacent forests. 
And she's been there when things haven't been so good as the forest 
sector was forced to a halt and those jobs and benefits disappeared. 
Regardless, good times or bad, Judge Burch has been there to lead her 
county when they needed her most.
  Judge Burch has called Oregon home since 1947. In the early 1950s her 
father got a job as a railroad conductor in the region and the family 
moved to Wheeler County. Jeanne was a freshman in high school then, but 
went on to study at UC-Berkley where she received a degree in 
accounting. That is where she met her husband, Howard, who worked for 
oil companies as a drilling supervisor. Howard's job took them around 
the world--to such places as Nigeria, Iran, Greece, and the Canary 
Islands. After living and seeing the world, Jeanne moved back to 
Wheeler County to raise her daughters Belinda and Jennifer.
  In 1985, Jeanne began working as the Fossil City Recorder and Finance 
Director. From there, she was appointed Wheeler County Judge in early 
1994. Since then, Judge Burch has been described as a ``one woman 
county,'' and it's not hard to see why. She serves as a probate and 
juvenile court judge, the county administrator, and chair of the County 
Court. In her years of service she has overseen the complete 
rehabilitation of the county's courthouse, boosted local tourism, and 
opened the door for businesses to create jobs in Wheeler County.
  As the Chairman of the Communications and Technology Subcommittee on 
the House Energy and Commerce Committee, I am grateful for Judge 
Burch's remarkable work on telecommunications issues. As a founding 
board member of Frontier TeleNet over ten years ago, she has helped 
implement communication services and rural broadband to communities in 
Gilliam, Sherman and Wheeler counties. It began as a need for broadband 
access and distance learning opportunities to the rural schools in the 
three counties. Under Judge Burch's leadership as Chair, Frontier 
TeleNet has expanded service coverage from roughly 4,000 square miles 
across three counties to 21,000 square miles across nine counties, 
bringing with it new ways for medical clinics to help their patients 
and a backbone for public safety communications in these rural 
counties. Judge Burch understands the important role that modern 
communications play in rural isolated communities.
  Not only a driving force behind Frontier TeleNet's expansion, she 
spearheaded efforts to bring cell phone coverage to Fossil and the 
northern portion of Wheeler county, and continues these efforts in 
Mitchell and the southern end. Accomplishing these feats has not been 
an easy task and Judge Burch continued to push through. She has brought 
the knowledge gained from her experiences to other parts of Oregon as 
Chair of the Telecommunications Committee for Association of Oregon 
Counties.
  Mr. Speaker, one of my fondest memories of Judge Burch is and will 
remain her long fight to bring modern telecommunications into the 
county. Years after most rural communities around Oregon had some 
access to cellular service, Wheeler County and the county seat of 
Fossil remained a completely isolated island without cell phone 
service. Judge Burch would often tell me about the number of 
recreational accidents and ``potential drownings'' that float down the 
John Day River through the county every week in the summer, and the 
need for cell phone service for emergencies and other uses. With this 
need and Jeanne's stories on my ``to-do'' list, I took the opportunity 
to point out to U.S. Cellular that this unserved area was in their 
coverage territory. Well, the company took Jeanne's and my message to 
heart and within weeks U.S. Cellular began analyzing how to cover this 
county. In July 2008, Jeanne's coordinated and unrelenting efforts 
culminated with the community celebration of the county's first cell 
tower.
  I can recall that months after the cell service was established, 
Judge Burch closed a town meeting I held in Wheeler County by giving me 
a note from a woman whose husband most likely would have died from the 
heart attack he suffered, except for the fact that she was able to use 
her cell phone to call for emergency assistance.
  Mr. Speaker, I know you would appreciate Judge Burch's get're done 
attitude. It makes all the travel and work worthwhile to know that 
someone like Judge Burch was there to help find solutions to real 
problems.
  Although the sun is setting on Jeanne Burch's career leading Wheeler 
County, I can tell you the sun will never set on the impact she has had 
on this county and region and the people who call it home.
  I ask my colleagues to join me in wishing Judge Jeanne Burch and her 
husband Howard the best as she retires. Judge, thank you for your 
exemplary service to Wheeler County and to Oregon.

                          ____________________