Image provided by: Baker County Library District; Baker City, OR
About The Record-courier. (Haines, Baker County, Oregon) 1932-2016 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 8, 2015)
5*1 ************EQR|_QT 0074A**C007 BAKER COUNTY LIBRARY 2400 RESORT ST BAKER CITY OR 97814-2721 y Newspaper! (UHM wW.therconline.com Thursday, January 8, 2015 Est. Haines 1901 ~ Haines, Baker County, Oregon Volume 114, Number 2 *10 Pages • 75 cents BHS to Host Cheer Canw Over the Top About the Bandstand "We are ecstatic," said Dave Hunsaker over news he and his wife, Joyce, received on Tuesday from the Ford Family Foundation. The Baker City Bandstand Commit- tee/Soroptomist International of Baker County has re ceived an “Over the Top” grant from the Ford Family Foundation which ensures the construction of the band stand this spring. The project, which began in May of 2006, is expected to be completed by Miners Jubilee according to Joyce Hunsaker. Al Durgan and Phyllis Badgley are considered the orig inal "Dream Team" of the project, although others cer tainly helped the project along the way. Currently, the board is comprised of Dave Hunsaker who serves as Chairman, Marvin Sundean as Vice Chair, Lynette Perry as Treasurer and the representative from Soroptomists, Joyce Hunsaker who serves as the grant writer and Sec retary, and Cindy Endicott who is a Director and Treasurer pro-tern. Mark Johnson is the Construction Manager of the project. "We believe this is an important asset for the whole community and it has been 40-plus years since Baker City has had a bandstand. This, along with all the won derful playground improvements and upgrades the Lions Club has made to the horseshoe pits in the park is truly a rebirth, a resurgence, of Geiser-Pollman Park. It is the heart of the community and is where the community gath ers," said Joyce. The Ford Family Foundation was established in 1957 by Kenneth W. and Hallie E. Ford. Its mission is “suc cessful citizens and vital rural communities” in Oregon and Siskiyou County, Calif. The Foundation is located in Roseburg, Ore., with a Scholarship Office in Eugene. “This grant, plus our recent major award from the Leo Adler Community Foundation, have ensured the project’s success and will enable us to begin construction in Geiser-Pollman Park as soon as weather will allow,” said Dave Hunsaker, Committee Chair. l It is the heart of the ommunity and is where _Joyce the community gathers J J Hunsaker f “Ash Grove Cement Company, Pease Family Fund, the Durgan family fund, the Oregon Community Foundation, Idaho Power Company, MDU Resources Foundation (Cascade Natural Gas), and the Powder River Music Re view have each demonstrated continued financial patron age for this community asset,” Hunsaker added. Long-term community support has been essential with eighteen local individuals and families gifting $1,000 each and 350 individuals and businesses purchasing bricks and tiles. Over 4,500 volunteer hours have been given to the project along with volunteer performances by musi cians, and major support by every newspaper in Baker County. “Watch for our ribbon cutting this summer," said Hun saker. Scout Leader Alerts Family of House Fire ; It was a Happy New Year for a family who was saved from a house fire on Campbell Street in Baker City in the early morning of Jan. 3. It was very unfortunate their house caught bn fire, but very fortunate a young man by the name of Markeith Reese was passing by and noticed the front of the house on fire. “I saw flames coming from the porch of the house and no ticed there was no one around. I jumped the fence and starting banging on the window, but there was no response,” said Reese. He triedio reach the occupants, but. he was unable to wake them. Reese said he knew the neighbor, so woke them up and he told them to call 911. He was then able to force the back door open, yelled for the occupants to wake up and helped them get the children out of the house. Reese said the lady of the house couldn’t find her car keys, so he went back to his car for a flashlight and re-entered the house. He said he couldn’t find the keys, but she was able to locate them after the Baker City Fire Department extinguished the fire. v Reese said the scariest part was how quickly the fire spread from the time he spotted it, until the time the residents were safely out. Reese is a Scout leader for the Boy Scout Troop 433. He was a true hero that day. He told his story to another Troop leader, David Johnson of Haines, when Johnson asked him why he looked so tired. This conversation was held when the troop members were collecting Christmas trees in Baker City that Saturday morning. Reese grew up in Baker City and he is a 2013 graduate of Baker High School. Harvey Takes Helm By Emily Braswell After 34 years in the private sector as a home builder, Bill Harvey took his oath of office on Dec. 30 and began his first offi cial day as the Baker County Commission Chairman on Monday, Jan. 5. “Baker County is one of the most blessed areas to live in as far as friend ships, as people genuinely still care about one another here," said Harvey, who with his wife, Lorrie, fives in the Rock Creek area. He feels very fortunate to have been given the opportunity to spend the time in Baker County living and working. They have four children, all from their first mar riages, Harvey says, but they are a strong family unit. One of their daughters lives in Baker City. The other three would love nothing more than to move back, but the lack of job opportunities, unfortunately, keeps them away for now, he shared. Harvey comes to his new position hav ing previously served 12 years on the Baker County Planning Commission, one year as co-chairman of the Baker County Nuisance Ordinance Committee, and one year on the 5-J School District Budget Board. As a building contractor he spent a majority of his time working closely with his employees, supply companies, sub contractors, home owners and govern ment officials, often having to make tough decisions when choosing how to complete projects within their budget and time frame. He stated he plans to spend the first 90 days in office working side by side with county employees so he can fiilly under stand each position. He hopes this will give him a view of the county as a whole and assist him in understanding the dy namics he will face in his new role. “My job is to work with the other two commissioners, the best that we can, to lessen the problems by working with gov ernment agencies, helping them under stand the needs in Baker County,” Harvey said. This position is a four-year term, and when asked what his long term goals are, Harvey replied, “My goal is to do what ever it takes to benefit the citizens of Baker County.” This includes taking the reins back from the federal govern- m e n t . Harvey believes that too many hands are vying for control over land in Baker County, Bill Harvey and he declared, “Baker County lands need to be under Baker County control.” “42 years ago we had six mills in and around this area, and now there is nothing. The natural resources used to provide jobs, but they were taken away from us. It's time for us to get those jobs back.” He also has a determined focus on keeping federal lands open and accessible in an ef fort to create jobs in both the timber and mining industries. See HARVEY on page 2 By Braswell ---------------------------------------- Do you have a child of kindergarten through sixth grade age who loves the movie "Frozen" and wants to dance, cheer, and perform? The Baker High School (BHS) cheer leading squad will hold its second cheer camp of the school year during the first week of Feb. This perform ance will have an added twist: a popu r 11 lar theme from the. movie, “Frozen," ac cording to 'Hk flFo ■ - « BL ■ Hope Perkins new head cheerleading coach, Hope Perkins. Perkins was hired as head coach last Nov., and brings 15 years of cheerleading experi ence to share. This position marks the be ginning of her fifth year coaching the sport she is most passionate about. “The song is from the movie Frozen, which is super popular with kids. It should make it a lot of fun...and also attract kids to sign up,” said Perkins. The camp will also feature characters from the movie as each learning station will be based on a character from the storyline. Perkins and her squad of 15 bas ketball season cheerleaders will teach a dance, cheers, and jumps to a slightly mod ified version of “Let It Go” during three, one- hour long practices. Participants will then perform during half-time of the boys basket ball game against the La Grande Tigers. Cheer camp is open to students kinder garten through sixth grade. Boys and girls are equally encouraged to participate. Reg istration is $30 for each athlete who is signed up by Jan. 20. Students registered after Jan. 20 will be charged an extra $5. The fee pays for camp tuition, one camp t-shirt, pom-poms and the participant’s entry into the boys’ var sity game for the performance. (Adult tickets for the game are $5 per person and can be purchased at the door the night of the per formance.) Practices will be held in the BHS Commons Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, Feb. 3 - 5, from 5:30-6:30 p.m. each night. The per formance will be Friday, Feb. 6 during half time of the varsity boys game. The game begins at 7:30 p.m. and participants will meet in the BHS Commons at that time. For those interested, during the practice nights, cheerleading uniforms from prior years will be available for purchase at a very dis counted price. Registration forms can be printed off of the bulletin board of the Record-Courier's web site and BHS’s Facebook page: www.face- book.com/bakerbulldogs. They should also be available at each of the schools’ front of fices. Please return them with payment (checks made payable to BHS Cheerlead ing) to the BHS front office, or mail to: BHS Cheer Camp, 2500 ‘E’ Street, Baker City, OR 97814. Questions can be answered by Coach Perkins at 541-450-1376, or by emailing: bhscheerleading@hotmail.com.