FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2017
THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 5
Local
Local teachers head to China
BY SAMANTHA
O’CONNER
Missing hunter
located
Samantha@TheBakerCountyPress.com
Baker High School Lan-
guage Arts Teachers David
Laws and Tom Joseph trav-
eled to Xi’an, China for ten
days over the summer.
They had previously
gone to China in the spring
and were invited to return
and teach at a summer
camp by a headmaster
Joseph had met.
“It’s a major city for its
history,” explained Laws.
“Because 1,000 years ago,
during the Tang Dynasty,
it was the capitol of all of
China and, so, we got to
see some incredible sites.
They took us all over the
place, we taught every day,
we taught English, and we
prepared them for a perfor-
mance for parents.”
Laws explained the camp
they went to was organized
by a successful private
school in Xi’an and they
went to a military academy
where they were doing
basic military training as
middle school and high
school students.
Laws and Joseph had
prepared the students for
a recitation of vocabulary
and grammar patterns they
had taught them for a per-
formance on one of their
last days in Xi’an for all of
the parents.
The students recited
things in English that they
had learned in their class.
“It’s an up and coming
private school in Xi’an,”
explained Joseph. “It’s
very rigorous; a lot of
stress on the kids, a lot
of stress on teachers to
perform. So, they take get-
ting into high school very
seriously and they run this
kind of military-style boot
camp where the kids, from
7:30 a.m.until noon, are
in military fatigues, out in
the heat, lining up march-
ing, listening, respect, all
of these kinds of drills,
getting them ready to
function as effi cient high
school students. That was
their morning, they’d take
lunch, a little bit of rest,
and then they’d come in
and they’d have English
classes.”
There were about 10
English teachers at the
camp and Laws and Joseph
were the only two Ameri-
On September 11, 2017, Baker County Dispatch
received a report of an overdue hunter at approximately
9:57 p.m.
The reporting party stated that he and his hunting part-
ner, John Ladd (DOB 8/20/54), had been scouting in the
Monument Rock Wilderness when Ladd decided to return
to their camp near Onion Springs. He was last seen at
approximately 5:30 p.m. The reporting party searched for
Ladd but was unable to locate him.
Baker County Sheriff Travis Ash and Baker County
Search and Rescue Team Coordinator, Chris Galiszewski,
responded to the Monument Rock Wilderness area.
The Search and Rescue Team was activated early this
morning. Ladd was located at approximately 6:53 a.m.
Once located, his condition was assessed and it was deter-
mined that he did not need medical attention.
Samantha O’Conner / The Baker County Press
David Laws and Tom Joseph.
can teachers at the camp
and they taught classes of
about 50 students.
Laws explained that
the summer camp helped
another project the district
is working on, to establish
a cultural exchange.
Their fi rst trip was
organized by Superinten-
dent Mark Witty that was
focused on establishing
stronger relationships with
the sister schools.
Leading up to that, there
was one sister school in
Shiquan and for four years,
Witty has organized travel
groups from that school
to come to Baker County
and visit important sites.
In their spring trip, they
established a sister rela-
tionship with the private
school in Xi’an.
“That’s really part of the
relationship,” explained
Joseph. “The conversation
I had with that headmaster
that inspired us coming
over there was just about
that; he was talking about
some methodologies that
we would use teaching
English in an American
school, where the break-
down is, do those things
work when you’re working
with 50.
“Their methodologies
typically are everybody sit
down, be quiet, look up at
the board, and just a lot of
seat work and ‘stand and
deliver’ is what teachers
would call it; the teacher
stands and delivers and
you just sit and receive.
“Where American classes
are much more interactive
and small group collabora-
tions that breaks down for
them, sometimes, like how
do you manage that with
50?
“Even we would
struggle to do those meth-
odologies with classes of
50. So, that’s where the
conversation started and
that’s why they invited us
to come over there and,
just groups of teachers
talking about best prac-
tice methods and seeing
what works teaching kids
English.”
“All of this sort of or-
ganizes around the dream
of the Superintendent to
have a Chinese Cultural
Exchange Program in place
with different program
offerings for the Chinese
interest groups, for people
who are interested,” said
Laws.
Joseph explained that
there are students in China
who are interested in not
just coming here for col-
lege but for coming over
and doing at least part of
their high school years in
America.
“A lot of major cities
have exchanges right now,”
said Joseph. “So, Baker’s
just trying to start some-
thing similar with the goal
of us getting some Baker
students then to go back
and, maybe not do a year
of high school, but just get
over there for the travel
experience and get to see
some of the awesome sites
that we’ve seen.”
While in China, Joseph
and Laws they went to see
the Great Wall, the Famen
Temple, sacred Buddhist
sites, and the Terracotta
Army.
“The most important and
probably most memora-
ble—don’t get me wrong,
the magnitude of history is
what is impressive when
you look at something that
is that old and just real-
ize how young American
history is when you think
about it—but also just
some of the awesome
exchanges with working
with the kids,” said Jo-
seph. “They’re very, very
interested in Americans,
they’re very appreciative
of teachers, and they’re
just so respectful and just
truly enjoy the interaction.
It’s been awesome to see
just how they react to our
teachings and their curiosi-
ties and all the questions
that they ask.”
Laws and Joseph are
planning a return trip for
the spring and they are
planning to go back if they
have their summer camp
again.
Judge Baxter files for reelection
On September 7, 2017,
Baker County Circuit
Judge Gregory L. Baxter
fi led for re-election. The
Primary Election will be
on May 15, 2018. Baxter,
57, has served as circuit
judge since January 1,
2001.
“As a youth, becoming a
judge was my dream job.
I feel the same way about
the position today. Though
I don’t like everything that
I hear or see, I do enjoy
each day I get to serve the
public. I love the law and
enjoy my interactions with
people in fi nding correct
legal solutions. I look
forward to continuing that
work,” Baxter said.
Judge Baxter was
awarded the Chief Justice’s
Man dies in
Hwy. 86 crash
Juvenile Court Champion
Award in August 2004 for
his work with abused and
neglected children. He is
a member of the Judicial
Engagement and Leader-
ship Institute and, from
2013 – 2015, served on a
subcommittee that re-
viewed adoption processes
in Oregon.
Judge Baxter graduated
from Baker High School
in 1978. He served a
two-year mission for The
Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints in North
Carolina from May 1979 –
May 1981.
He received an Associ-
ate’s Degree in Account-
ing from Ricks College in
April 1982; a Bachelor’s
Degree in Business Man-
agement and Finance from
Brigham Young University
in December 1983; and his
law degree from North-
western School of Law,
Lewis and Clark College in
May 1989.
Baxter worked at the law
fi rm of Silven Schmeits
and Vaughan for two years
before becoming the Baker
County Deputy District
Attorney.
He was appointed the
district attorney by Gover-
nor Barbara Roberts after
Doug Johnson resigned the
position. He was elected
the Baker County District
Attorney in May 1992 and
served in that position until
he was elected onto the
bench.
Judge Baxter and his
Photo courtesy of Ballotpedia.
Judge Gregory L.
Baxter.
wife, Karen, have been
married for 33 years. They
have 5 children: Greg,
Sam, Zack, Courtney, and
Jake, and 12 grandchildren.
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Fill out the form on page 9 and surprise a friend or family member!
Photo courtesy of OSP.
This single-vehicle fatality accident closed Hwy. 86
for both directions Tuesday for hours.
On September 12, 2017 at approximately 1:20pm, OSP
responded to a fatal motor vehicle crash on State Route
86 near milepost 25, near Baker City.
Preliminary investigation revealed a 2006 Dodge 2500
pickup was traveling eastbound on State Route 86 near
milepost 25, when for an unknown reason the vehicle left
the roadway, struck an embankment, and came to a rest
on the driver's side in the middle of the roadway facing
westbound.
The driver, identifi ed as Jimmy Hilderbrand, age 87 of
Halfway, Oregon, was pronounced deceased at the scene.
There were no other vehicles involved in the collision.
At the time of the collision, Jimmy Hilderbrand was
wearing his seat belt and there was airbag deployment.
Next of kin notifi cation was made to Hilderbrand's son.
OSP was assisted by Baker County SO, MEDEX, Baker
County Fire Department and ODOT.
No further information was to be released at this time.
Feeding the
firefighters
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Crippen said, “Through those solicitations we’ll get
information back what they can provide and the prices
they provide them at.
“We will send that information to local vendors pre-
season and we set up preseason agreements with local
vendors to provide that. Little Pig is one of those that we
have been using this summer, we do have some others
that we use also in the local area and we’ve been feeding
from, on a couple of our different fi res, from 20-50 folks.
It’s really good to be able to utilize local folks and local
vendors to do that, we like to keep our business local.”
Crippen said they have had people camped out re-
motely and they will send them MRE’s—Meals Ready
to Eat—and supplement them with local vendor’s sack
lunches and breakfast items, such as breakfast burritos.
A lot of times, fi refi ghters are remote and have to have
their food fl own in to them.
This year, fi refi ghters were camped in the North Fork
John Day Wilderness and all of their food had to be fl ow-
ing in by helicopter from the Wildlife Feeding Station.
“It’s really good to utilize local folks and the folks here
have been really good for us in the past,” said Crippen.
This year is the third year Little Pig has prepared
meals for the fi refi ghters.
They prepare around 70 meals for the fi refi ghters, mak-
ing dishes like beef kabobs and grilled chicken.
“We try to make everything homemade and lots of
protein and lots of carbs,” explained Little Pig owner
Erin Hansen. “We bake dessert for them fresh every night
too.”
“The folks at Little Pig we were working with did a
great job feeding the fi refi ghters,” said Crippen. “They
went above and beyond for them.”