THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 3
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2016
Business & Ag
Button retires after 27 years
at Step Forward, Inc.
BY SAMANTHA
O’CONNER
Samantha@TheBakerCountyPress.com
After working for Step
Forward Activities for 27
years, Gene Button is retir-
ing from his position as
Executive Director.
Button is an Army
veteran who served from
1969-1971 during the
Vietnam War. He was in
charge of the development
of a military police training
school for the 6th Army in
Fort Lewis Washington.
He received the Army
Commendation Medal for
creating the school.
While he was in the
Army at Fort Lewis, he
met a captain who con-
nected him with the police
department at Washington
State.
He worked for the
Washington State Univer-
sity police department for
eight years, then worked
in North Bend, and finally
worked in La Grande for
eight years before retiring
as a patrol officer after 22
years in law enforcement.
While in La Grande, his
wife Linda Button worked
at New Day Enterprises,
a non-profit organization
that also serves adults with
disabilities.
He volunteered at New
Day during his off hours
for a year. After retiring
from the police depart-
ment, he had to decide
where he wanted to go and
what career path to take.
The director at New Day
Enterprises helped him
submit an application at
Step Forward Activities
for the position of Execu-
tive Director and he was
hired for his leadership and
management experience.
Step Forward was poorly
financed when he began
working with them.
“When I started in
January in 1990, it was to
build Step Forward basi-
cally from the ground up,”
explained Button. “And so
She said the economy
is going to die if some-
thing doesn’t happen. The
Longs would also like to
give those who live in the
county and use medical
marijuana an opportunity
to get their product closer
to home.
The Longs plan to keep
the Sumpter Nugget name
for the marijuana store,
explaining they thought it
appropriate for the type of
business.
They will call their café
the Huckleberry Junction.
Long said her daughter
kept bringing her ideas,
lamenting that Sumpter
Junction was already
taken. They liked the train
theme idea, and they love
huckleberries and believe
He continued, “Toys
make a difference; what
you give your child to play
with will make a difference
Prices trended generally steady. Most demand
lays with the retail/stable hay. According to some
producers, horse owners are starting to prefer lower
sugar, higher protein hay. Many hay producers are
looking forward to upcoming snow in the forecast
as hay sales tend to increase as the snow comes.
Recent dry weather in some areas throughout the
state has increased movement. All prices are in dol-
lars per ton and FOB unless otherwise stated.
\
Tons Price Range Wtd Avg
Alfalfa — Large Square Fair
500 100.00-100.00 100.00
Timothy — Large Square Good/Premium
85 120.00-120.00 120.00
— Cattle Market Report —
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
Vale, Oregon
Cattle sold through the auction: 1783
Steer Calves
300-400# Bulk 153.00 - 191.00 Top 192.00
400-500# Bulk 139.00 - 182.00 Top 185.00
500-600# Bulk 125.00 - 142.00 Top 143.00
Samantha O’Conner / The Baker County Press
Step Forward’s Executive Director, Gene Button, is retiring after 27 years em-
ployed there.
that’s what we did. I had
a very dedicated board of
directors who didn’t micro-
manage me. They let me,
basically, run full-steam
ahead under their guidance
and a lot of really positive
things came out of that.
And to the credit of the
board of directors, which
is pretty much the same
today as it was twenty six
years ago, credit for a lot
of Step Forward’s success
is directly attributable to
the board of directors be-
cause they let the company
grow, they let the staff
develop, and it worked re-
ally well.”
Button explained that
during his time with Step
Forward Activities, they
gained several contracts
that helped the company
grow. Their first contract
they made was to sell the
plastic bags highway trash
is put in. Button explained
that it was his staff that
researched and made the
contract happen for Step
Forward and it allowed
them to generate revenues
for them to pay staff and
expand their business
models.
“As with any business,
the secret to true success in
a business is not necessar-
ily the leadership,” said
Button. “I mean, leader-
ship is important because
it provides the direction
and the vision, if you will,
for the entire company.
But the true success of that
company is accomplished
by its staff. And one of the
really great—probably the
greatest—attribute that
Step Forward has is its
staff. Our managers and
our live staff are just, quite
seriously, the best in the
state of Oregon and I’ve
been to most of them. It’s
also quite a testament to
Eastern Oregon because
we do a lot of stuff here
that they—Salem, the
metropolitan area, and
businesses and stuff like
that—say ‘Well, you can’t
do that out of Eastern Or-
egon,’ and it’s a testament
to Eastern Oregonians and
their drive and their com-
mitment to the fact that
every time you say that,
it’s totally cool because
that’s when we go out and
do it.”
Step Forward Activities
has since acquired several
other contracts such as the
state contract for animal
waste collection bags that
are on the Leo Adler path-
way, city parks, and rest
stops. They also have the
state contract for soap and
hand lotion that was re-
cently made. Step Forward
Activities also bought a
vending company and they
now do vending strictly
in the Baker County area.
They have also been able
to build four new group
homes, two in John Day,
Oregon and two in Baker
City.
SEE BUTTON PAGE 9
it represents the area. The
café will serve huckleberry
products, including huckle-
berry shakes.
The restaurant equip-
ment is outdated, so Long
said they will start out
offering simple fare like
soup, sandwiches, coffee,
and soft-serve ice cream.
If they make enough profit,
they will work on getting
the grill, hood, and fire
suppression updated so
they can offer more.
The main door of the
building will open onto the
lobby, which will house
an ATM and brochures on
local attractions. From the
lobby, doors will lead to
the café, marijuana store,
and public restrooms. The
construction office will
have a separate entrance.
Long said they have a
good crew working with
them on the remodel,
though challenges con-
stantly arise. The building
was constructed in 1976
and has been sitting unused
for about ten years.
The crew was close to
having one of the bath-
rooms remodeled, when
they found out the water
heaters were bad.
When they removed the
water heaters, they found
the floors needed work.
Other renovations include
a new front door to meet
ADA requirements and
work on the sewage lines.
They had to replace some
of the drywall due to roof
leaks.
The focus of the work
is first on the marijuana
store and lobby, then the
café, and the construction
office last. The Longs are
planning an open house
event on December 31st.
Jenny Long said the event
will feature whatever is
completed by that time. If
the café is not operational,
they will plan to offer
coffee and cookies in the
lobby.
The initial OLCC initial
inspection for the marijua-
na business was December
1st. Long said it went well
and the inspector was able
to offer her many helpful
tips, including on camera
placement.
Long said they hope to
open the marijuana store in
January, depending on how
the remodel goes.
She sounded optimistic
that the City ordinance
process will not delay the
start of business, saying,
“We didn’t plan to open
until January, anyway.
Maybe they’ll have it
worked out by then.”
in terms of their success
in school and later in life
as an adult; I’m absolutely
convinced of that.”
Marvin Sundean encour-
ages adults to continue
playing, such as puzzles
and games they have and
encourages people to play
interactive games.
Tumbleweed Toys and
Tales are open 9 a.m. to
6 p.m. Monday-Thursday
and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Fri-
days. They have not set up
to take credit or debit cards
Heifer Calves
300-400# Bulk 119.00 - 144.00 Top 147.00
400-500# Bulk 123.00 - 139.50 Top 140.00
500-600# Bulk 114.00 - 127.00 Top 128.00
Yearling Steers
600-700# Bulk 117.00 - 129.00 Top 131.50
700-800# Bulk 122.00 - 128.00 Top 128.25
800-900# Bulk 113.00 - 121.00 Top 124.00
900-1,000# Bulk 101.00 - 120.00 Top 120.50
Yearling Heifers
600-700# Bulk 111.00 - 119.50 Top 119.75
700-800# Bulk 105.00 - 115.00 Top 117.75
800-900# Bulk 101.00 - 111.00 Top 115.00
900-1,000# Bulk N/A Top N/A
Thin Shelly Cows 39.00 - 49.00
Butcher Cows 51.00 - 58.00
Butcher Bulls 52.00 - 65.00
Pairs Older 900.00 - 1100.00
Hfretts. 67.00 - 83.00
Stock Cows Young - N/A
ProducersLivestock.com
541-473-3136
— Log Price Report —
Price per 1,000 board feet: Northeast Oregon
Currently the local log market is flooded with
fire salvage logs. The log buyer for Malheur
Lumber Co. stated they have all the logs they
need under contract and are not accepting any
new purchases. BCC/LLC of La Grande has
receive so many burned fire salvage logs they
are no longer accepting logs at the La Grande
log yard. Any additional pine logs have to be
delivered to the Elgin Log yard cut in plywood
lengths and to a 8 inch top. For these pine
logs cut in plywood lengths, BCC is offering
$280.00/mbf. They are also paying $420.00/
mbf for Doug Fir & Western Larch. For White
Fir they are offing $325.00/mbf. At the Pilot
Rock Saw Mill BCC is offing $360.00/mbf for a
12 to 15 inch top, for 16 to 19 inch top $400.00/
mbf & offing $425.00/mbf for 20 inch plus top
Courtesy of Arvid Andersen,
Andersen Forestry Consulting
— Precious Metals Report —
Price per ounce, USD
Gold: $1,177.00
Silver: $17.25
Platinum: $942.20
Palladium: $733.30
Bloomberg.com
— Ag Commodities —
Toy store reopens for holidays
CONTINUED FROM
PAGE 1
Friday, December 2, 2016 — Eastern Oregon
USDA Market News Service—AMS.USDA.gov
Sumpter Nugget expansions
CONTINUED FROM
PAGE 1
— Weekly Hay Report —
at the present time and will
only be able to take cash
or check and they do not
have a phone set up for the
store.
They will let people
know if these details
change.
Corn: $357.25/bu/USD
Wheat: $400.45/bu/USD
Soybeans: $1047.00/bu/USD
Oats: $212.50 bu/USD
Rough Rice: $9.92/cwt/USD
Canola: $529.60 CAD/mwt
Live Cattle: $110.28//lb./USD
Feeder Cattle: $126.08/lb./USD
Lean Hogs: $59.73/lb./USD
Bloomberg.com