The Baker County press. (Baker City, Ore.) 2014-current, June 23, 2017, Image 3

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The Baker County press., June 23, 2017, Page 3, Image 3

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Newspaper Page TextTHE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 3 FRIDAY, JUNE 23, 2017 Business / Agriculture New downtown group forms A group of downtown merchants and prop- erty owners have come together to form “Baker City Downtown” (BCD). This non-proﬁt organiza- tion will be following the Main Street Approach, a comprehensive method to downtown commercial district revitalization. “Shortly after I began working in Community Development, I started hearing interest from downtown merchants who wanted to know more about the Oregon Main Street Program,” stated Robin Nudd, Community Development Coordinator for the City of Baker City. In February Nudd set up a community meeting with Sheri Stuart, Program Di- rector for the Oregon Main Street Program. Over 30 people attended and over- whelmingly supported the idea of getting involved in the program. After that meeting vol- unteers signed up to serve as the Interim Board and work began on creating a vision and mission state- ment and draft bylaws for the new organization. “A huge thank you needs to go out to the Interim Board. They put in so much time and energy— we really couldn’t have done it without them,” stated Nudd. Interim Board members included Tori Brown, Shelly Cutler, Da- vid Kassien, Jenny Mowe- Friday, June 16, 2017 — Eastern Oregon Prices trended generally steady in an extremely limited test compared to week ago prices. Most producers are sold out for the year, and are busy out in the ﬁelds preparing for new crop. Some producers have cut and starting to bale and are pre- paring to start selling 2017 hay. So far, new crop hay pricing, in an extremely lim- ited test, seems generally steady compared to 2016 pricing for similar quality. Tons Price Range Wtd Avg No new sales conﬁrmed for this week. USDA Market News Service—AMS.USDA.gov — Cattle Market Report — Submitted Photo. L-R: Tori Brown, President; Bev Calder, Vice President; Jenny Mowe-Joseph; Rick Stout, Treasurer and Heather Isaacson, Secretary. Joseph, Tom Novak, Jamie Ostrander, Carol Phillips, and Kate Reid. “We really wanted to develop an organization that would give businesses a voice, and that would help coordinate efforts to spur economic develop- ment in Baker City as well as support the institutions of downtown that have prevailed here,” stated Jenny Mowe-Joseph. With draft bylaws and a vision and mission state- ment complete, the group held elections on April 19th. “We had a great turnout, over 40 property and business owners turned out,” reported Nudd. That evening the group elected Tori Brown, Bev Calder, Heather Isaacson, Jenny Mowe-Joseph and Rick Stout to lead the organiza- tion. The newly elected BCD Board is looking forward to reaching out to prospec- tive members and hearing what downtown business and property owners’ goals are and how an organiza- tion such as this can help- support their businesses. “As downtown busi- ness owners, we all share a common desire—to see our downtown thrive. There was a need for organization, structure, and new energy, which is exactly what this group has. Each of our board members brings a different attribute to BCD, along with a lot of passion for this town and its success. We have a good vibe going and we have a lot of sup- port from the community so far. I can’t wait to see what we can accomplish,” said Tori Brown, President of BCD. Later this month the Board of Directors will be attending training provided through the Oregon Main Street Program. Soon after the Board will be holding a “Meet and Greet” where business owners, property owners and community members will have the op- portunity to learn about the four-point approach—the guiding framework for the program. For more information and to sign up to receive updates please visit baker- citydowntown.com. Halfway quilt shop in magazine Quilts Plus, a quilt shop in Halfway, Oregon, has been chosen as one of the 10 featured shops across the United States for the Fall/Winter 2017 issue of Quilt Sampler® magazine, published by Better Homes and Gardens. Quilt Sampler, published twice a year, has been proﬁling North America’s top quilt shops for the past 22 years. Quilt shops submit a detailed application on their history, business pro- motions, charitable work, teaching schedules and de- sign philosophies. A panel of quilt experts led by Jody Sanders, Senior Editor of American Patchwork & Quilting® magazine, narrows down the applica- tions to 10 featured shops for each issue. Competition to be included in Quilt Sampler is keen. Nearly 3,000 quilt shops are eligible to ap- ply for this year’s honor. Quilts Plus and the other nine shops chosen were photographed and inter- viewed by a team from Quilt Sampler, and a mul- tipage proﬁle of the shop will appear in the issue, which will be available on newsstands on September 5, 2017. Employees of each quilt shop also design an origi- nal quilt for the magazine, and the full-sized pattern for the quilt appears in the issue of Quilt Sampler. Quilt Sampler has proven to be a huge suc- cess, and early out-of- print issues are collector’s items. Chosen shops are inundated with visitors and requests for the shop’s quilt patterns and fabrics. Quilters are known to try and visit all the shops in each issue, getting the sig- nature of each shop owner in their copy of the issue. The art of quilting has changed dramatically since the days of quilting bees in church basements, with quilting enjoying a major renaissance across the country. A Quilting Consumer Insights study, completed in 2011 by American Patchwork & Quilting magazine, reports that the U.S. quilting market is comprised of 4.2 million avid quilters. Further research shows that readers of American Patchwork & Quilting spend an average of $1,165 per year on quilting sup- plies and complete nearly 11 projects per year. This group is over- whelmingly female, well-educated, afﬂuent, and have been quilting for almost eight years. Gentry sells company CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 McCurry, 46, has been in the car dealership business just over 20 years, begin- ning with the Ford dealer- ship in Mountain Home in 1997, adding the Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, and Ram brands in 2003, acquiring the GMC Chevy Buick store in 2013, opening the Meridian Auto Ranch out- let in 2015, and adding the Ontario Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram dealership in 2016. The Subaru brand is included, too, he said, speaking of a dealership also located in Ontario. “It’s really a good brand strategy, and eastern Oregon’s a great market, with our kind of people—a more rural, and more hometown-type atmosphere, which is how we like to go, to market. We’re not really interested in doing stores in cities like Boise, that are larger...We think people in the more rural markets pay a little — Weekly Hay Report — more attention to where they trade, and appreci- ate hometown service and hometown values a little more than some in larger markets, so, that’s who we like to talk to,” McCurry said. He said that short-term plans include “refreshing” the Baker City facilitie— new paint, new carpet, and ingress and egress work, for example—rather than any major remodeling, and long-terms plans include ﬁnding a site for a new facility, expanding, and adding more staff. The consolidation won’t result in any layoffs, he said, and acquisition of the Gentry facilities meant keeping 95% of the team, with the remainder of person- nel leaving mostly due to retirement. McCurry’s known Gentry for over 15 years, through the dealership business, and he said that Gentry, President of Ontario-based Edge Performance Sports, will continue in that role. Edge Performance Sports is a full-service dealership that sells new and used motor- cycles, ATVs, and parts, and is one of the largest franchises for Honda, Suzuki, Kawasaki, Can- Am, KTM, Polaris, Polaris Power, Sea-Doo, Ski-Doo, and Timbersled, according to the company’s website. According to a press release, Gentry said, “Turning over the legacy my grandfather, Keith, started in 1952, in Weiser, was not an easy decision. Gentry Ford has been a part of Ontario since 1958, owned and operated by my grandfather, my dad, and myself. It was important to me to remain a ‘local owner’ business. I believe I couldn’t have found a better buyer. For over 20 years, Todd has owned and operated dealerships, and has done business in this Valley. He is a very com- munity minded person, and cares about his employees and customers. I am very conﬁdent that I am turning the Gentry Auto Group over to the perfect car dealer. Customers can ex- pect to ﬁnd the same great experiences and people with his company, as they did with mine. I will con- tinue to own and operate Edge performance Sports, with our continued support of the Western Treasure Valley.” McCurry said, “It’s important to me that the community knows that Ryan and I are friends, we have been for some time, that we remain friends, and I wish him the best...It deﬁnitely was a close-knit family dealership group, we wish Ryan and his family the best, and we’re looking forward to bring- ing the Auto Ranch service and the Auto Ranch values to the Baker community, and all of eastern Oregon.” For now, McCurry and crew remain busy with the transition, and an ofﬁcial grand opening is expected later this year. Wednesday, June 14, 2017 Vale, Oregon Cattle sold through the auction: 1549 Steer Calves 300-400# Bulk 153.00-178.00 Top 179.00 400-500# Bulk 162.00-173.00 Top 175.00 500-600# Bulk 149.00-170.00 Top 171.00 Heifer Calves 300-400# Bulk N/A Top N/A 400-500# Bulk 147.00-158.00 Top 159.75 500-600# Bulk 142.00-155.00 Top 156.00 Yearling Steers 600-700# Bulk 145.00-166.00 Top 167.00 700-800# Bulk 127.00-142.00 Top 144.00 800-900# Bulk 123.00-138.00 Top 139.00 900-1,000# Bulk 113.00-126.00 Top 129.00 Yearling Heifers 600-700# Bulk 126.00-140.00 Top 143.00 700-800# Bulk 127.00-134.00 Top 135.00 800-900# Bulk 119.00-126.00 Top 128.00 900-1,000# Bulk N/A Top N/A Thin Shelly Cows 64.00-71.00 Butcher Cows 72.00 - 79.00 Butcher Bulls 83.00-102.00 Stock Cows Young 1110.00-1480.00 Hfretts 87.00-103.00 Pairs Young - 1125.00 - 1500.00 ProducersLivestock.com 541-473-3136 — Log Price Report — Prices are based on the majority of saw mills in Northeastern Oregon and Central Idaho. The prices listed below are a composite prices of various saw- mills willing to visit with me about this topic. Ponderosa Pine—small diameter class 8-11 inches diameter class $250 per mbf. Only one sawmill was willing to buy small diameter pine at this time. Ponderosa Pine—medium diameter class 12-17 inches diameter class $300 to $350 per mbf Ponderosa Pine-large diameter class 18 plus inches diameter class $380 to $410 per mbf The Pine prices are still approximately $40 per mbf below average lumber/log market due to 2017 ﬁre salvage Doug Fir & Western Larch—$380 to $420 per mbf. Normal prices typically ranged between $425 to $475 per mbf. White Fir-$300 per mbf. Normal prices typically ranged between $340 to $360 per mbf. Engelmann Spruce—$350 at one Idaho sawmill, other sawmills including with White ﬁr prices. In general, the log prices still impacted from 2015 ﬁre season and ﬁre salvage that resulted. Sawmills are starting to get log yard inventory in line with sawmill production needs. With a new Administra- tion as of 1/20/2017, a more normal economic envi- ronment should result and hopefully a more healthy housing situation will result in a better climate for Northeast Oregon Sawmill and private forest land- owners. Courtesy of Arvid Andersen, Andersen Forestry Consulting — Precious Metals Report — Price per ounce, USD Gold: $1,244.10 Silver: $16.43 Platinum: $922.35 Palladium: $874.63 Bloomberg.com — Ag Commodities — Corn: $378.00/bu/USD Wheat: $487.75/bu/USD Soybeans: $938.75/bu/USD Oats: $261.25 bu/USD Rough Rice: $11.66/cwt/USD Canola: $483.60 CAD/mwt Live Cattle: $115.90//lb./USD Feeder Cattle: $143.93/lb./USD Lean Hogs: $81.65/lb./USD Bloomberg.com