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About The Record-courier. (Haines, Baker County, Oregon) 1932-2016 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 22, 2015)
5*1 ************ECRLOT 0074A**C007 BAKER COUNTY LIBRARY 05/07/2015 2400 RESORT ST BAKER CITY OR 97814-2721 ECEIVE Volume 114, Number 4 *12 Pages • 75 cents Est. Haines 1901 ~ Haines, Baker County, Oregon Vaughan Wins Div. Ill Burnt River FFA Coordinator of the Year Planning Spring Banquet By Hayden Perkins Linfield College in McMinnville, Ore. has a long standing history of success in football. With 59 contin uing winning seasons, the Linfield Wildcats are a force to be reckoned with. Jackson Vaughan, a Baker High School graduate, is part of that heritage. He began as an offensive lineman himself, moving from Burnt River to graduate from Baker High School. Attracted to Linfield’s competitive football program, Vaughan went on to play for the Wildcats until he suffered a knee injury. After a time at his campus radio station, Vaughan turned his eye to coaching. He began as a student as sistant but made his way to his current position, De fensive Coordinator, where he designs and calls defensive plays and heads defensive game planning. He has been at Linfield for about 20 years. Linfield ranked second in the nation last year in scor ing defense and allowed under three yards per carry for opposing rushers. “It’s a program that prides itself on excellence,” says Vaughan. He credits his defense’s success on a mix of speed, quickness, and preparedness. Earlier this month, Vaughan was awarded ProGrass’s Division III Coordinator of the Year. “It’s been a lot of fun,” says Vaughan of his coaching career thus far. Football isn’t the only sport Vaughan coaches - he is also Head Coach for Linfield’s softball team. Softball has seen nine conference titles and two national championships under Vaughan's leadership. For both teams, Vaughan says a strong work ethic is paramount to success. He enjoys softball’s focus on technique as well as football’s need for strategy. As Vaughan puts it, “Football is the ultinjate team game.” Vaughan also comments on the leadership aspect of coaching - it isn’t always easy. After a fatal stabbing of a young man who played linebacker for Linfield last fall strongly affected students, staff, and the commu nity, Vaughan and other coaches had to lead by exam ple. “That was probably one of the hardest things we went through as a staff,” he said referring to the stab bing. Vaughan is gratefill for his offensive line coach Bill Mitchell at Baker High School and other coaches for welcoming him and helping his skills develop. He credits growing up in Baker County with giving him a strong base from which to pursue his goals in football. “Growing up in Baker,” he says, “it was always a place I felt at home.” Burnt River FFA members meet with Sharon Orr to discuss their Spring Banquet. From left: Country Cottage Cafe owner Sharon Orr, Shelby Swindlehurst, Daniel Andersen, Julia Schuff, Shea Swindle hurst and Kelly Kamonwong Story and photo by Gina Perkins Smead and Mehaffy Chosen Legacy Man and Woman of the Year By Gina Perkins The annual Chamber of Com merce Banquet was held Saturday night at the Elks Club to honor the outstanding efforts of citizens and organizations throughout tile county. Ralph Smead of Halfway and Ann Mehaffy of Baker City were recognized as Legacy Man and Woman of the Year and the Lifetime Service Award was given posthu mously to Doyle Perry who passed away in Sept, of 2014. Legacy Man of the Year : Moving to Halfway in 1983, Smead has been active in the Halfway Lions Club and helped grow the Crab Feed from 200 to 1200 under his leadership with the proceeds of the event helping the community in many ways. He served as the Halfway Chamber president and was the Halfway fair board president for 12 years. He also was instrumental in remodeling the Exposition Hall, and implemented live Christmas trees and plywood hearts to be hung on poles on Main Street. He helped host Cycle Oregon three times, and has personally kept the fairgrounds, watered and planted flowers, and spearheaded the pavil ion construction. Smead was nomi nated by Dr. Sheryl Blankenship. Legacy Woman of the Year Andrew Bryan said of Ann Mehaffy, "she is the recipient of the Ford Family Fellowship which is an award given to Oregonians in recog nition of their ability to contribute to their communities. She is the former director of Historic Baker City and has been president of the Crossroads Art Center and never misses an op portunity to contribute to her com munity." Lifetime Achievement Award Nominated by Roberta McCall, 94922 23720 0 Doyle Perry was chosen for the Lifetime Service Award for his ded ication and service to this commu nity. He volunteered his time in Little League, served as a sports and parade announcer and most recently, was president of the Friends of the Heritage Museum. His also gener ously gave his time to the Powder River Music Review, Baker City Easter Egg Hunt, Community Night Out and many other community ac tivities. Perry worked as a radio an nouncer and also had been an editor of the Record-Courier. Man of the Year Blake Marlia was chosen as Man of the Yean He is active in the Catholic Church, Knights of Columbus, Lions, and volunteers for YMCA sports. "Blake has been a leader in the Lions Club, going through the vari ous ranks, and now serves on the district board as environmental chair. He has been a leader in devel oping the Leo Adler walkway, ob taining grants to construct kiosks, reader boards and equipment. Mar lia was also instrumental in setting up the new Lion Park on the Powder River and acquiring playground equipment for the Geiser-Pollman Park," said Gerald Hopkins District Governor of the Lions 36-G. Woman of the Year Kurt Miller who nominated Rose mary Abell, an educational consult ant, for Woman of the Year said that Abell has been active as a PEO member, in the Ford Family Foun dation, was recently elected to the Baker City Council, has served as secretary on Historic Baker City and the Budget Board for the 5J School District. Excellence in Agriculture Excellence in Agriculture was presented to Ralph and Myrna Mor gan of Bowen and Sumpter Valleys. "We love ranching and are so glad our kids also want to continue in the industry," said Myrna Morgan. "It's a wonderful way of life, and we were very surprised and honored to "We're really lucky to have such great support," said Burnt River FFA Vice President, Shelby Swindlehurst. Celebrating its second year following a hiatus she said, "Only four kids at Burnt River aren't in some way involved with the FFA program." The chapter currently has 17 members, tripling its membership from last year. Of the five members I spoke with last Thursday at the Country Cottage Cafe' in Baker City, three are foreign exchange students. Two are from Germany, Daniel Andersen and Julia Schuff, and Kelli Kamon wong is from Thailand. Schuff is staying with the FFA advisor, Jessica Wilson and said she really enjoyed attending the Halfway Fair last summer. Andersen says he thinks FFA is awesome and shared that he is from the northeast coast of Germany and that his grandmother lives on a rural property. Kamonwong likes participating and meeting so many new people. The chapter is raising funds for their Spring Banquet which will be held April 2. They are seeking silent auction items and door prizes. According to their Burnt River FFA adviser, the funds will be used for sending Spring Êatiquet members to the state convention in 2016, educational field trips, contest fees and April 2 scholarships for eligible seniors. To help call Jessica Those who want to help the at 541.446.3336 members raise funds may contact adviser, Jessica Wilson by calling 541-446-3336. Walden Speaks at Baker City Rotary Meeting By Emily Braswell Photo by Stephanie Brown Ralph Smead holds his Legacy Man of the Year Award be given this award," she said. "Among the many accolades Ralph and Myrna have received are Conservationist of the Year award for their work in juniper thinning, stream restoration and spring devel opment," said Cheryl Martin who nominated the Morgans for the award. Young Leader/Up and Coming Award Travis Cook was the recipient of the Young Leader/Up and Coming Award. Cook was raised on the fam ily ranch in Keating and helped them establish Eagle Cap Nursery. He was active in Cub Scouts as a youth and earned his Eagle Scout status in 2002. He graduated from Oregon State University and with the support of his family, has planted and established a winery. "Travis is a very dedicated young man with great leadership qualities. He is a volunteer at the Keating Rural Fire Department when in Keating and he is currently the youth leader at his church. See CHAMBER on page 12 U.S. Rep.Greg Walden (R- Hood River) made his scheduled stop in Baker City Monday after noon to attend a Baker County Rotary Meeting as their guest speaker. Walden took the podium and enthusiastically presented updates on the major topics currently being discussed in Congress. His initial dialog described the new congress majority party switch. “We have new Congress. The Republican majority grew in this Congress to the largest number since Babe Ruth was swinging a baseball bat back in 1928,” said Walden. For the past two weeks, Secur ing Rural Schools and Forestry legislation, two issues which are veiy important in Eastern Oregon, were heatedly discussed and Walden was happy to announce that the House of Representatives now has several allies in the Sen ate for those topics. Forestry and Natural Resource policy remains a huge priority for Walden. Some of the first Bills passed through the House already this year have to do with issues with Obamacare. They pointed out some major problems regarding certain insurance requirements which were not feasible. The first, the Hire More Heroes Act, would allow businesses to hire current and past service members who have coverage through the VA or the Department of Defense and not have to count them in their total workforce numbers. This could help keep the business under the 50 employee threshold, which, if triggered, requires em ployers to implement different provisions required by the Afford able Care Act (ACA). The second deals with the Health and Human Service’s def inition of a volunteer. Under the ACA, if a volunteer first respon der, or fire fighter, receives any type of compensation, they are considered an employee, and therefore their employer would be required to offer them, or pay for them, to get health insurance. About 781,000 volunteer fire fighters across America would be affected by this provision of the ACA. Walden explained, “So we cre ated legislation that said no, a vol unteer is a volunteer and here is how they are described; and hope fully [this will] take that expen sive mandate off our local fire districts.” The third Bill dealt with a new ACA requirement that categorizes an employee who works more than 30 hours a week as a full- time employee. “The practical effect of the mar ketplace has been to reduce peo ple’s hours to 29.. .Who does this effect? According to University of California Berkley’s Research Center, about two million Ameri cans ... predominantly women aged 19-34...” Walden said. The bipartisan legislation that was passed defines a full time em ployee as someone who works 40 or more hburs a week. See WALDEN on page 4