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About The Baker County press. (Baker City, Ore.) 2014-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 13, 2015)
10 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2015 Local BHS’s Skills USA club hosts its first competitio Community Bank announces first winners On January 30th Community Bank conducted the first of 12 drawings as part of the Silver Sweepstakes. In cel- ebration of the 60th anniversary, each month 60 ounces of silver bullion will be given away - a 10 oz bar to six lucky winners. With 14 branches, that will be 14 names advanced to the prize drawings. A random drawing of six names will determine the lucky winners for the month. January winners are: Jeanenne Bowers of Baker City; Larry Morrison of La Grande; J.P. Nelson from Hermis- ton; LaRae Holm of Clarkston; Mike Rossman of Hep- pner; and Lorrie Rigdon of Pendleton. Enter up to once every business day at a local Commu- nity Bank branch. There is no purchase necessary and a full disclosure is available at your local Community Bank or online at www.communitybanknet.com. Gina K. Swartz/ The Baker County Press Skills USA members from four schools focused on their areas of competition last week. By Gina K. Swartz Gina@TheBakerCountyPress.com Teams gathered from Pine Eagle, Vale, Elgin, and Baker City to com- pete in what was the first official completion held. Students competed in Welding, Engineering, Au- tomotive and Construction. “All of the teams that are here today are part of the Eastern Oregon Regional Construction Hub,” said Sherry Cole, Co-Director. “This is basi- cally a pre contest before they head to the other side of the state in April.” Cole would love to see more of these type of events held and support given to the students so the Department of Education can see the benefits and provide more funding into these types of programs. After a long day of completion the winners of each category were presented a plaque at an awards ceremony. A list of winners for each category was not available at press time. Judges for each category of competition consisted of Engineer- ing: Kyle Carpenter and Ron Rasmussen. Weld- ing: Kevin Campbell and Pat Conley. Automotive: Clay Gyllenburg, Dusty Christensen, Mike Reever, Rocky Brown and Topper Schlupe. Construction: Pete Nelson, Jeff Richman and Bill Harvey. As the awards ceremony concluded Burke Smejkal, one of Baker Technical Institute advisors ad- dressed the competitors. “I have had the opportunity to work at BTI for 1 year, the pilot year. This has been one of the highlights of the year for me and it’s been exciting to bump elbows with some of the other schools. This has also been an opportunity to see you all in a different light, I know you spend most of your time in classrooms maybe not enjoying yourself as much as I saw today, there were a lot of smiles, a lot of teamwork, a lot of enthusiasm. I like that we are all wearing kind of the same colors it’s like we are all on the same team. Congratulations to all the students,” he said. Baker Technical Insti- tute (BTI) is headed by Jer- ry Peacock. BTI would like to thank Miller Lumber for donating the wood for the competition, Pizza Hut for their continued support of the local chapter, and Oregon Sign Company for the vinyl sign that hangs in the BTI hallway. — Obituaries — Continued from Page 2 Bruce Christman Bruce was born August 5th 1943 in LaGrande , OR to Calvin and Helen Coffee Christman. He attended school in North Pow- der, Oregon. In 1961 he enlisted in the US Marine Corps. He served for six years until he was injured in the line of duty. He saw action in Vietnam and the Domini- can Republic. After his military service he went on to work in the logging and construction industries in northern California and later eastern Oregon. He worked as a surveyor, heavy equipment op- erator and timber faller. After earning a degree he worked for the Oregon employment department. Then he contracted for the La Grande Observer before his health forced his retire- ment in 2006. Bruce married Laura Lynn Morris on June 19th, 1976 in Dayville, Oregon. They combined their families and had two more sons. Bruce, Laura and their children lived multiple places in eastern Oregon, before settling in the Baker valley in 1991, so he could attend college in Pendleton and later La Grande Where he earned a bachelor of sci- ence degree from EOSC in 1998. That was one of his proudest accomplishments. He was a lover of the outdoors and spent a great deal of time hunt- ing, fishing and picking mushrooms and huckleber- ries all the time sharing his love and knowledge of the outdoors with his wife and children and later his grandchildren. Bruce is preceded in death by his parents, a brother Cedric Christman, and a sister, Janice Christ- man Metz. Survivors include his wife Laura, sister Carol Wisdom and husband Duane of Nampa ID, sister Marylin Esquibel and huysband Felix of Nampa ID, sister in-law Betty Christman of Lexington OR, daughters Kelly Kenworthy and husband Robert of Baker City, Tina Ingerson and hus- band Kevin of LaGrande, OR, and sons Cedric and Charles Christman both of Baker City. He also had five grandsons, three granddaughters and many nieces, nephews, cousins and friends. Memorial contributions can be made to the Wild- land Fire Fighter Founda- tion and/or Southern Pov- erty Law Center (Bruce’s favorite charities) through Gray’s West & Co. Pioneer Chapel, 1500 Dewey Ave., Baker City, OR 97814. Amos Frederick Rasmussen Baker City, 1936-2015 Amos Frederick Rasmussen, 78, of Baker City died February 8, 2015 at St. Alphonsus Amos Medical Rasmussen Center in Baker City, Oregon. No services are planned at this time. Amos was born May 21, 1936 in Toledo, Oregon to Pete and Mary “Jett” Rasmussen. He grew up on the Oregon coast and graduated from Newport High School. After high school he entered the Air Force and served as an Airman 2nd Class/ Air Policeman from June 16, 1955 through December 5, 1958 with an honorable discharge. On September 20, 1958, just before he was discharged from the Air Force, Amos married Rosemarie Leopold in ULM Germany. Upon his return to the United States, Amos com- pleted training at the Or- egon Police Academy and worked from 1959 through 1988 with the Oregon State Police retiring as Lieuten- ant. He also worked as the Marine Patrol Manager for the Baker County Sheriff’s Department and as a US Forest Service Liaison for the Grant County Sheriff’s office. Amos enjoyed a variety of hobbies including woodworking, leather work, horseback riding, sport shooting, motor- cycle riding, reloading and was considered a Master Craftsman. He was a member of the Elk’s Club and an active community volunteer which included serving as the Western Heights water systems manager. Survivors include his wife, Rosemarie Rasmus- sen; sisters, Irene Rasmus- sen and Maxine Rasmus- sen and brother, Elmer “Speed” Rasmussen. He was preceded in death by his parents; Pete and Mary Rasmussen; and his brothers, Ed “Mickey” Rasmussen and Dale Ras- mussen. Memorial contributions may be made to the Sclero- derma Foundation through Gray’s West & Company Chapel, 1500 Dewey Av- enue, Baker City, Oregon 97814. Donald Lee Pringle Baker City, 1932-2015 Donald Lee Pringle of Baker City, OR left his family and friends to a new life in Heaven on January 09, 2015 at the age of 82 after a battle with cancer. Don was born Decem- ber 27, 1932 in Longview, WA. He was the son of Victor and Dorothy Pringle of Kelso, WA. Don served in the Korean War on the ront lines with the Army Infantry as a Sergeant for three years. Don was preceded in death by his grandson, Phillip Prin- gle. He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Beverly Pringle; daughter, Darlene Johnson of Vancouver, WA and son-in-law, Mike Johnson; daughter, Char Buxton of Sherwood, OR; daughter, Linda Sterr; 8 Grandchildren, and 10 great grand-children. Don worked for many years in the logging in- dustry, but made a career in construction building many roads and bridges in the Pacific Northwest when he went to work for a Roy Ladd Construction. In the wilderness, Don found his life’s passion: fishing, hunting, camping, in ad- dition to his most beloved passion, woodworking. Don was an active mem- ber of the Baker County Sheriff’s Posse, and was voted Posseman of the year. Don was an active member of the Elkhorn Muzzle Loaders for the past few years, a 50-year member of the Interna- tional Labors Union, VFW member, and a volunteer at the local food bank. He will be remembered for his humanitarian work and for the significant co - tributions he made to all of the hundreds of families around the world that he helped throughout his life. A memorial service was held to honor Don’s life at 10 a.m. on Friday, January 14, 2015, at Willamette National Cemetery (11800 Southeast Mount Scott Boulevard Portland, OR 97086). The family has request- ed that in lieu of flowers, memorial contributions be made to Gray’s West & Co. Pioneer Chapel. Ash Grove has new CFO Ash Grove Cement Company announced David G. Meyer is join- ing the company as its vice president and chief financial officer in th company’s headquarters in Overland Park, Kan. In his new role, Meyer will direct accounting, trea- sury, internal audit, tax and information technol- ogy functions. Submitted Photo “Dave brings 17 years of corporate finance leade - David G. Meyer. ship in strategic planning and capital markets as well as financial planning and reporting within a la ge cor- porate setting. His prior experience also includes seven years with a Big 4 public accounting firm. Dave is a great addition to our senior management team,” said Ash Grove Cement Company President and Chief Operating Officer Randy Vance. Most recently, Meyer served as senior vice president – finance for Dairy Farmers of America, a $13 billion dairy cooperative headquartered in Kansas City, Mo. Prior to his employment at Dairy Farmers of America he served as audit manager for Deloitte, also in Kansas City. “Ash Grove has a great history of success here in Kan- sas City and is well-respected in the cement manufactur- ing industry,” said Meyer. “I am eager to use my strong background in accounting and finance and experience with transactions to benefit the compan .” Meyer earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Ad- ministration degree from Kansas State University and is a certified public accountant Safeway warns about local scam Last week, two Baker City residents went into the local Safeway store on Campbell Street after receiving convincing calls from someone alleging to be from Pub- lisher's Clearing House. The caller stated that they have won the sweepstakes— up to $11 million in one case—but require that the winners send $950 beforehand to satisfy the IRS's tax portion. A pre-paid Reload-It card and/or Western Union money transfer are requested by the scammer. Safe- way has alerted their loss prevention division and local authorities. Local RadioShack not among closures Texas-based RadioShack has announced the future closure of up to 2,100 of its 4,400 stores, resulting in massive job loss. 18 of those closures will hit Oregon and southern Washington state, but the Baker City franchise, owned by Ken Gross, is not among the casualties. The closures come as part of a reorganization plan fol- lowing bankruptcy. The Oregon and Washington stores on the chopping block are: •11525 NE Halsey St., Portland •Lancaster Mall, Salem •Washington Square, Portland •Clackamas Town Center, Happy Valley •Keizer Creekside, Keizer •65 Division Ave., Eugene •Martinazzi Square, Tualatin •550 SE 10th, Hillsboro •Medford Riverside, Medford •Medford Bear Creek Plaza, Medford •Garden Valley, Roseburg •Albany Heritage Mall, Albany •10587 SE 82nd Ave., Happy Valley •4000 SE 82nd Ave., Portland •Tanasbourne Village, Hillsboro •Valley River Center, Eugene •6607 E. Mill Plain, Vancouver •Vancouver Mall, Vancouver