10 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS
FRIDAY, JANUARY 9, 2015
Local
Ore-Ida loses potato load Sumpter rings in 2015
with bonfire, chili feed
Meghan Andersch / The Baker County Press
Sumpter residents stayed warm roasting hot dogs around the fi re.
By Meghan Andersch
Meghan@TheBakerCountyPress.com
Top: Todd Arriola / The Baker County Press
Below: Courtesy of Jesse Soliz
Monday morning, a truck carrying a load of Ore-Ida frozen potato products
crashed near the I-84 N. Baker exit 302. Traffi c routinely slowed to look, but
the wreck was in the median, not blocking traffi c. Tow trucks were in place that
morning, with the cargo unloaded and the semi beginning its haul down the
freeway around 4:30 p.m.
Despite temperatures
hovering around 0 degrees,
hardy Sumpter residents
turned out on the evening
of New Year’s Eve to cel-
ebrate at the Fairgrounds
with a bonfi re, chili feed,
and fi reworks.
The Sumpter Valley
Blue Mountain Snowmo-
bile Club hosted the event,
which was free, though
donations were accepted.
Hotdogs with fi xings,
marshmallows, and plenty
of long sticks for roasting
were provided. Chili, hot
drinks, and desserts were
served up in an onsite
building, which, with
several heaters running,
also served as a point to
periodically defrost fi ngers
and toes.
The ten-and-under set
enjoyed stomping through
the snow and fl inging
themselves off the snow
New Skills USA
club at BHS
Photo courtesy of The Depot Inn
Todd Hoffman with The Depot Inn’s Weldon Reedy.
Gold
Rush
Continued from Page 1
Reedy explained that
Todd Hoffman lives in
Sandy and grew up riding
his dirt bike and camping
in the Sumpter area. He
has a friend who owns a
cabin in Sumpter and peri-
odically still comes to visit.
According to the Discov-
ery Channel, “Todd Hoff-
man came up with his plan
to mine for gold in Alaska
in 2010 after watching the
steady decline of his avia-
tion business in Oregon.
While the economy stalled,
he watched the price of
gold rise and rise. Inspired
by his father Jack’s own
gold mining adventures
back in the 1980s, which
ended in failure, Todd
sourced a viable gold claim
and then assembled a team
of his unemployed buddies
and the equipment they
would need to start a full-
scale mining operation.”
The Reedys belong to
the Sumpter Valley Blue
Mountain Snowmobile
Club and Weldon rides out
from the hotel every day.
He posts updates on the
Depot Inn Facebook page
at facebook.com/Sumpt-
erDepotInn and is also
willing to answer questions
about riding conditions.
The Reedys are also
gearing up for the Snow-
mobile Poker Run on
February 14th, hoping to
see both plenty of snow
and plenty of participants
come to Sumpter.
In the recent past, other
television shows such as
“Ghost Mine,” as well as
one epiosode of “The Dead
Files” have been fi lmed in
Sumpter.
New episodes of Gold
Rush air Fridays on the
Discovery Channel.
Hoffman could not be
reached for comment in
time for this article.
Skills USA is a new
club at Baker High School.
A division of the Baker
Technical Institute (BTI),
Skills USA offers stu-
dents a chance to advance
their strengths in various
areas such as welding, ag
mechanics, art, construc-
tion, drafting, engineer-
ing, health services and
aquaponics.
As a club, members will
work on various commu-
nity projects; in addition to
testing our skills through
competitions with other
chapters in Halfway, Vale
and Elgin.
The Skills USA club
currently have 16 mem-
bers.
If students are interested
in joining or want to fi nd
out more information,
please plan on attend-
ing the next meeting on
January 20th at 3:35 p.m.,
Room 138 at Baker High
School.
bank, while most of the
older folks huddled around
the fi re to socialize.
The Snowmobile Club
hosts the Chili Feed and
Bonfi re annually on New
Year’s Eve and hosts a
Poker Run and Outhouse
Races on President’s Day
weekend.
More information about
the upcoming events can
be found at sumptersnow-
mobileclub.wordpress.
com.
Bandstand
project a go
The Baker City Band-
stand Committee/Sorop-
tomist International of
Baker County has received
an “Over the Top” grant
from The Ford Family
Foundation to start con-
struction of the bandstand
this spring.
Eighteen local in-
dividuals and families
gifted $1,000 each and 350
individuals and businesses
purchased bricks and tiles.
Over 4,500 volunteer
hours have been given to
the project.
Support BHS’s
Future Business
Leaders of America!
The Baker County Press is proud to team up with our local FBLA
in a fundraising eff ort to help send qualifying students to the State
competition in Portland and then Nationals in Chicago this year!
We will donate $10 per e-subscription and print (delivery)
subscription, and $5 for each print (mailed) subscription sold by a
member of FBLA, now through January 31, 2015.
Contact the FBLA member you know today!