8 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2015
Local
Huntington celebrates Christmas Sumpter holds
BY EILEEN DRIVER
Eileen@TheBakerCountyPress.com
Washington Street in
front of Lion’s Club Park
was brightly lit with
Christmas lights of all
colors imaginable, Satur-
day evening, December
12, during the Annual
Christmas Parade and tree
lighting.
The park itself was
decorated with gingerbread
men, large candy canes,
lighted deer and a giant
Christmas dinosaur along
with lights of every color
of the rainbow in anticipa-
tion of the arrival of Santa
Claus and the lighting of
the City tree.
Although the skies
opened up and the rain
fell it did not dampen the
spirits of all the children or
those who are still chil-
dren at heart, who came to
witness the event. With a
mile long parade of fl oats
to watch, all those gathered
were not disappointed.
Among the fl oats en-
tered was a National Guard
truck, windmill trucks,
and fi re department trucks
along with the Chamber of
Commerce fl oat and sev-
eral fl oats by local citizens
all festooned in colorful
lights.
The much-anticipated
arrival of Santa Claus,
sponsored by the Hunting-
ton Lion’s Club, rounded
out the parade.
Then it was on to the tree
decorating by the kids and
the turning on of the tree
lights that brightened up
the small town of Hunting-
ton even more.
By this time all were
ready to head inside the
Howell’s Cafe and Stream-
liner Lounge Banquet
Room to warm up, dry
off and have cookies and
cocoa with Santa, provided
by the Huntington Histori-
cal Society.
Young and old alike were
each given the opportunity
to sit on Santa’s lap and
whisper in his ear what
they wanted for Christmas.
The winner’s of the
Float Contest sponsored
by the Chamber of Com-
merce were announced
as follows: Third Place
went to the Huntington
Lion’s Club for their Santa
Float, Second Place went
to Kevin Jones for his
mini car covered in lights,
and the First Place Award
went to Mindy and Stefan
Burley for their fl oat por-
traying Santa Claus stuck
in the top of a teepee. The
Annual Christmas Parade
is sponsored by the Cham-
ber of Commerce and this
years theme was Babes in
Toyland.
Christmas Bazaar.
The annual Huntington
Christmas Bazaar was held
on December 5 from 9
a.m. to 5 p.m. at the VFW
Hall, located next to City
Hall on Adams Street, in
Huntington.
The tables were loaded
with holiday cookies,
candies and pies as well
as handmade items and
Christmas trinkets.
The Huntington Christian
Center Ladies booth was
selling a whole host of
goodies including cherry
pie, fudge and cinnamon
rolls all homemade and
very tempting. They also
had a variety of Christmas
ornaments and holiday
decorations available.
Kathy Hughes at the Hun-
tington Christian Center
Booth was pleased with
the turnout this saying,
“We didn’t have much left
to sell at the end. It was a
lot of fun seeing everyone
come out.”
There were approxi-
mately 10 booths covered
with handmade angels
ornaments, beaded jewelry
and tree wear, crocheted
pot holders and small
purses.
Christmas gifts of
decorated mugs fi lled with
cocoa or apple cider mix,
large and small Christmas
ornaments and Christmas
lights were on display.
There were also booths
from the Huntington His-
torical Society, Huntington
High School and numerous
private vendors.
Those who missed it
this year should be sure
to mark calendars for the
fi rst weekend in December
next year to join in the fun
and the opportunity to grab
some of the specialty items
on sale to fi ll Christmas
shopping lists.
This year’s Bazaar was
sponsored by the Hunting-
ton High School’s Senior
Class.
Pine Eagle Charter School
holds Christmas concert
festivities
Meghan Andersch / The Baker County Press
Santa stands at the Sumpter train station waiting for
the train to come in while supervising the plowing.
Heavy snowfall marked this year’s festivities.
BY MEGHAN ANDERSCH
Meghan@TheBakerCountyPress.com
Sumpter’s Christmas parade was made a little more
magical this year by the addition of falling snow, as
storms swept through the region.
The hours of planning by the Christmas committee
of the Sumpter Valley Community Volunteers and other
community members paid off with a fun weekend of
events on December 12 and 13.
The Christmas bazaar offered everything from hand-
made wooden toys to sweets to educational materials.
The Christmas trains again proved popular. Crews re-
portedly were out shoveling the railroad crossings to keep
things running smoothly.
Heavy wet fl akes blanketed everything as Saturday eve-
ning went on, frosting the town tree and making driving
interesting.
The parade started not long after dark and lasted about
ten minutes. Volunteer fi refi ghters made up the color
guard and led the parade down Main Street. Fire trucks,
ambulances, bedecked ATVs, and even a lighted up back-
hoe paraded by. Volunteers walked alongside the parade,
handing out handfuls of sweets.
Immediately after the parade, folks gathered at the town
tree in front of the gas station. Santa arrived on foot,
explaining he hadn’t made it into the parade as his fl oat
broke down.
Mayor Leland Myers led all in a chorus of Jingle Bells.
He thanked everyone involved with the Christmas events.
Lynn Applegate announced the winner of the Christmas
lighting contest: Robert Woolery and Ruth Tennissen.
Myers then asked everyone to sing “Oh, Christmas Tree,”
and the lights came on.
JOB OPENING
NOTICE
Carmelita Holland / The Baker County Press
The Pine Eagle Charter School held its Christmas Concert on December 9th, playing to a full house in the
old grade school gym in Halfway. Teacher Denzil Kumar was Director, with Donna Schmitt and Joseph
Aguilar on the piano. Precious little Pre-schoolers presented “Lights on the Tree,” with Kindergarten/First
Graders following with “Jingle Bells.” Second Grade /Third, sang “O Christmas Tree.” “Deck the Halls,”
was sung by Fourth Graders, and”Angels We Have Heard on High” by Fifth and Sixth Graders, with Hunter
Simpson and Timbre Hill, soloists and Aubrey Vannice, on the fl ute. “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,”
was sung by Seventh and Eighth Graders, with Moroni Jensen on alto saxophone. “Kyre,” with Kelsey
Whybark, Jeff Rice and Shane Denig, soloists. The High School Choir sang the “Coventry Carol,” then “The
Christmas Song” with Moroni Jensen on the alto saxophone. The High School Band was outstanding in
playing three tunes, Latin Yuletide, Dreidi Adventure and White Christmas.
Boardman to Hemingway: Revised
Preliminary Environmentally
Preferred Alternative announced
The Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) has
announced a revised pre-
liminary environmentally
preferred alternative for the
Boardman to Hemingway
Transmission Line (B2H)
Project.
Following the Draft En-
vironmental Impact State-
ment (DEIS), released in
December 2014, the agen-
cies considered additional
route variations within
the study area based on
submitted comments and
have revised the previously
identifi ed environmentally
preferred alternative.
The revised preliminary
environmentally preferred
alternative differs from
the DEIS environmentally
preferred and agency pre-
ferred alternatives in some
locations.
The route variations
developed in response to
DEIS comments include a
number of new variations
to previously analyzed
routes and other routing
options within the study
area.
All alternatives that will
be analyzed in the Final
Environmental Impact
Statement (FEIS) are avail-
able on the project website
at www.boardmanto-
hemingway.com for your
information.
The BLM is working
with cooperating agencies
to identify the agency pre-
ferred alternative – consid-
ering economic, environ-
mental, technical and other
factors – and updating the
National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA) sched-
ule for the project. No
decision will be made on
the project until the Record
of Decision is issued, fol-
lowing the FEIS, expected
in late 2016.
Questions? Please con-
tact Tamara Gertsch, BLM
National Project Manager,
at info@boardmantohem-
ingway.com or 307-775-
6115.
OREGON TRAIL
ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE
NORTHERN DIVISION
DISTRICT
SUPERINTENDENT
Oregon Trail Electric
Cooperative (OTEC) with headquarters in Baker City,
Oregon, has an opening for Northern Division District
Superintendent. This position is based in the La Grande
District Offi ce and supervises operations employees in
the La Grande and Baker City offi ces.
High school diploma or equivalent required. A mini-
mum of fi ve years’ experience managing the engi-
neering and/or operations activities of a rural electric
cooperative is preferred. Experience in other business
settings will be evaluated for relevance. Ten years of in-
creasingly responsible experience in electric utility con-
struction and maintenance; demonstrated knowledge
of electric line crew operations, electrical principles
and safety codes; and the ability to supervise others
and work effectively with associates and consumers is
required.
Must be able to take appropriate action on one’s own
initiative. Strong management skills in areas of com-
munication, motivation, delegation, evaluation as well
as employee development and planning. Responsible
for all construction, maintenance and operations in both
district service areas including safety, fl eet maintenance
and assistance in budgeting. This position requires
that the employee have no restrictions on hours of work
and/or travel.
OTEC has 83 employees in four district offi ces serv-
ing over 30,000 members located in eastern Oregon,
known for its excellent hunting, fi shing, and outdoor
recreation. Excellent health and retirement benefi t
package.
Please submit a resume and application (which can be
found on our website—www.otecc.com) and any other
applicable documents to the attention of the H.R. Dept.,
OTEC, 4005 23rd Street, Baker City, OR 97814.
For questions or more information, please contact Deb-
by Ray, Director of Human Resources at dray@otecc.
com or (541) 524-2832. Applications and resumes must
be received no later than December 31, 2015.