I Record-Courier
7
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4,2016
Mark Luker and LeAnne Woolf
sumptervolunteers@gmail.com or
541-894-2303, leannemywo@gmail.com
Sumpter was visited over the
weekend
by
riders
from
Halfway’s snowmobile club.
Halfway has its Poker Run the
day after Sumpter’s Poker Run,
making February 13 and 14 a
heck of a weekend for snow-lov
ing folks to visit Baker County. In
our continuing saga of snowfall,
we offer you the photo below of
needing to figure out where to put
all the extra snow. The postmaster
is not yet letting us ship it.
Calendar (as of Jan. 31)
training)
Thursday, Feb. 18 - Bag Ladies,
Schoolhouse Community Cen
ter, noon-?
Thursday, Feb. 18 - Sumpter Val
ley Community Volunteers
Meeting, Schoolhouse Commu
nity Center, 6:30 pm
Friday, Feb. 19 - Bingo, School
house Community Center, 7
p.m.
More Winter Tips
No one really wants to think
about getting sick or injured
while shoveling snow, or about a
house fire caused by trying to stay
warm this winter, but the local
fire departments urge you to plan
ahead just in case. For ambulance
and fire trucks, access points heed
to be twenty feet wide. If you use
a wood stove, make sure it’s on a
fire-resistant base and. that you
don’t stack flammable materials
Thursday, Feb. 4 - Planning
Commission, City Hall, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 6 - Sumpter Valley
Blue Mountain Snowmobile
Club, Schoolhouse Community
Center, 6:30 p.m.
Monday, Feb. 8 - Powder River
Rural board meeting, Mosquito
Flats, 7 p.m.
Tuesday, Feb. 9 -r City Council,
City Hall, 7 p.m.; meet County
Commissioner candidate Kody
Justus (tentative)
Friday, Feb. 12 - Sumpter Valley
Blue Mountain Snowmobile
Club Poker Run registration be
gins at Schoolhouse Commu
nity Center
Saturday, Feb. 13 - SVBMSC
Poker Run registration contin
ues and card-gathering begins;
Outhouse Races after cards
turned in
Saturday, Feb. 13 - Sumpter Val
ley Railroad Board Meeting,
Baker City, 10 a.m.
Tuesday, Feb. 16 - Sumpter Vol
unteer Fire Department, City
Hall
Tuesday, Feb. 16 - Powder River
Rural Fire Department, Mos
quito Flats station, 6:30 pm (fire Snowbanks Surrounding US Post
nearby. A common cause of chim
ney fires is burning trash in a
stove or fireplace.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Churches
The LDS Family History Cen
ter, 2625 Hughes Lane is open
Sunday morning services are
held at St. Brigid’s in the Pines at
Auburn and Bonanza in Sumpter
on the first and third Sundays of
the month at 11 a.m. followed by
a coffee ‘hour.’ Weekly services
at McEwen Bible Fellowship in
clude Sunday School at 9:45 a.m.,
Morning Worship at 11 a.m., and
Wednesday evening prayer at
6:45 p.m.
Deadline
News and calendar items re
ceived by Sunday evening will be
included in the Sumpter column
the following week. Send in news
and/or photos with captions of
guests, births, group meetings,
any special occasion.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
The Baker Rural Fire District
meets the 3rd Tuesday of every
month at 7 p.m. at the Pocahontas
Fire Station, with the exception of
May and June when they hold their
budget meeting at 6 p.m. with the
regular meeting following at 7 p.m.
Tuesday 1-4 p.m.; Wednesday
10-1 p.m. and 5:30- 8:30 p.m.;
Thursday 10-1 p.m.; Friday 1-4
p.m. and by appointment.
(Phone 541-523-2397 during
regular hours or 541-524-9691
any time) Consultants help
everyone use Ancestry.com;
Find My Past; Heritage Quest
Online and other family history
websites free of charge.
The North Powder Rural Fire
Protection District meets the
second Wednesday of the month at
7 p.m. at the Rural Fire Building, 340
"E" Street, North Powder.
Burnt River Irrigation District
meets the second Tuesday of every
month at 1 p.m. at the office of
Silven, Schmeits & Vaughan. 1950
Third Street in Baker City.
HELP WANTED
BAKER SCHOOL DISTRICT 5J is
currently accepting applications for
a Special Education teacher at
South Baker Intermediate. For a
complete description of the position
go to www.baker.k12.or.us or
contact the employment division.
You may also call 541-524-2261.
LIVESTOCK
Celebrate Recovery: Hurts,
Habits, and Hangups; Tuesdays at
6:15 p.m. in the Family Life Center,
1250 Hughes Lane, Baker City.
Angus Bulls - EPD Records
available, yearlings, two year olds,
replacement heifers and bred
cows. Bill Clonts, Bar A Angus,
541 -519-8579 bclonts@thegeo.net
(tfn)
Veterans Safe Zone: Veterans
Support Group; 1 st and 3rd Monday
of every month at 6 p.m. in the left
wing of the Nazarene Church, 1250
Hughes Lane, Baker
Office 97877 / Submitted photo
PUBLIC MEETINGS
The Oregon Department of Consumer and
Business Services, Division of Financial Regu
lation announced Jan. 28,2016 (three days be
fore the deadline to enroll in a health plan) that
it has issued an order of supervision to Moda
Health Plan, Inc., because of concerns over its
financial condition. At the same time, the
department will begin working with Moda to
transfer its individual market plans to* another
carrier.
Eastern Oregon CCO, which serves Oregon
Medicaid members and is owned by Moda,
serves 48,000 Medicaid members. No one on
Medicaid is losing coverage. School district em
ployees statewide are covered by Moda, with
Doug Dalton, Chief Financial Officer of Baker
School District, stating it's too soon to know the
implications until the matter plays out a little
more.
The Oregon Health Authority is also working
with the Public Employees' Benefit Board and
Oregon Educators Benefit Board partners to
minimize any potential impacts to their mem
bers. There are 1,100 PEBB members and
42,000 OEBB members enrolled in Moda health
plans.
An order of supervision allows the department
to have a representative on site and in control
of all financial decisions to ensure that con
sumers are protected. The order prohibits Moda
from issuing new policies or renewing current
policies in the individual market, and from
adding new groups. The order also requires the
company to obtain sufficient capital and present
a business plan to DCBS that clearly demon
strates that it can operate in sound financial con
dition going forward. The supervision order is
available
at
http://www.cbs.state.or.us/
external/ins/ admin_actions/actions_2016/in-
surer_2016/financial_2016/other_2016/16-13-
001.pdf.
The department took this action because of
Moda's excessive operating losses and inade
quate capital and surplus. Capital and surplus
is the amount a company's assets exceed its
liabilities. The required minimum increases as
the company assumes more insurance risk.
"Our primary goal is to ensure consumers are
protected," said Patrick Allen, director of the
Department of Consumer and Business
Services. "We will continue to work closely with
the company to find a sustainable path going
forward while minimizing risk to consumers."^
The order became effective late in the day on
Jan. 27; however, Moda's insurance policies
may still have appeared on HealthCare.gov
through the end of open enrollment, which
ended Sunday, Jan. 31. DCBS advised con
sumers who were shopping for plans to choose
a carrier other than Moda. In the event that Ore
gonians already enrolled with Moda need to
switch plans, there will be a special enrollment
period. In the meantime, Moda policyholders
can continue to access medical services and
get their claims paid.
DCBS, which also runs the Oregon Health
Insurance Marketplace, will keep Moda
customers apprised of new developments and
actions they may need to take.
As of Sept. 30, 2015, Moda enrolled a total of
about 244,000 Oregonians in the commercial
market, including 95,000 in the individual
market, 16,000 in the small group market, and
129,000 in the large group market. Moda also
has members in the associations and trusts
market.
Consumers with questions should call the
DCBS Division of Financial Regulation's con
sumer advocates at 1-888-877-4894 (toll-free).
Staff will be available to answer calls until 8 p.m.
More information can be found on the division's
website at http://www.oregon.gov/DCBS/lnsur-
ance/insurers/regulation/Pages/moda-
faqs.aspx.
The Division of Financial Regulation is part of
the Department of Consumer and Business
Services, Oregon's largest business regulatory
and consumer protection agency. Visit
www.dcbs.oregon.gov and www.insurance.
oregon.gov.
Postal Particulars
with Krista Dennis
Can you imagine living in a town
with a “Main Street” that 33 miles
long?
Well there is such a town, Island
Park, Idaho which is known as the
longest Main Street in America. I
was able to correspond with the
Postmaster there, Joyce Farrar.
She was kind enough to give me
a little history and information
about her famous “Main Street”.
Farrar said, “The most interest
ing thing about our Main Street is
how it came to be. Island Park has
many separate little towns that are
known by their own names.
Starting in the south of what is
officially Island Park and heading
north, the most important of these
are: Last Chance, Ponds, Elk
Creek, Macks Inn, The Village
Crossroads, Henry’s Lake Sta
tion, and Wild Rose. They all, of
course, had their own bars. This is
how it was explained to me when
I first moved here: When they
decided to make Island Park a
town, you had to be in the city
limits to have a liquor license. So,
when they were drawing up the
city limits, they made sure to
include all the bars that existed at
the time. And that, my fellow
postmaster, is why our Main
Street is so long.”
The city was incorporated in
1947, is only 500 feet in most
locations and 33 miles long. Her
office delivers to all of the
addresses on “Main Street” and
even goes over the pass into West
Yellowstone. How lucky to drive
in such beautiful surroundings.
And talk about service, because
of the mileage some people have
to travel to receive their mail, that
Post Office calls many of their
customers who have large pack
age deliveries or deliveries need
ing signatures to meet the carrier
along “Main Street”.
It doesn’t matter if you live in
Baker County or Island Park,
ID.... Our Priority is: YOU!
AAUW
to Host
Speaker
from
CASA
AAUW will be holding a
meeting on Saturday, Feb. 6
at the Raffety residence,
1198 D Street, in Baker City.
Coffee will be served at 9
a.m. The program, which
begins at 9:30 a.m., will
feature Mary Collard, the ex
ecutive director of CASA
(Court Appointed Special
Advocates). CASA offers
opportunities and permanent
housing to abused and neg
lected children in the United
States.
Safe Haven: Alzheimer/ Dementia
Caregivers Support Group. Second
Friday of every month at 11:45 a.m.
in the Fellowship Hall (right wing of
Nazarene Church). Lunch will be
provided. 1250 Hughes Lane, Baker
City.
The Haines Fire Protection
District will meet on the first MON
DAY each month at 6 p.m. through
the winter months. Meetings are
held at the Public Library in Haines.
MILES BREEDING SERVICE
A.I., Semen Sales,
Heat Synchronization
Myron Miles, 898-2140 (tm)
MODA Health Plan Placed Under
Supervision by State
The North Powder Cemetery
Maintenance District meets the
fourth Tuesday of the month at 5
p.m. at the Grange in North Powder.
The Medical Springs Rural Fire
Department meeting is the 1st
Thursday of every month, 7 p.m. at
Pondosa Station.
Powder Valley Water Control
District meets the 2nd Monday of
the month at 7 p.m. at 690 E. Street,
North Powder, OR 97867.
HELP WANTED
The Farm Service Agency in
Baker City, OR has immediate
opening for a temporary office
Program Technician position.
Duties include general office
activities
supporting
FSA
programs administered at the
field office level. Applicant must
be reliable, have professional
attitude, and enjoy working with
the public. Individuals interested
in applying need to contact Trent
Luschen (office manager) at
541-523-7121
xl06,
or
trent.luschen@or.usda.gov,, or
3990 Midway Drive, Baker City,
OR 97814. The deadline to apply
is close of business February 8,
2016. FSA is an Equal
Opportunity Employer.
s
'Wore Than Justs Shed*
Top Quality Custom
Storage Buildings
Greenhouses ****
(800) 682-0589
(541)663-0246
10102 S. McAlister Rd., Island City
www. CountrysideSheds. com
Gunsmithing
and Firearm Sales
¥
Edward Frazer .
Owner
A
¥
E. FRAZER
GUNWORKS, LLC
2616 Bearco Loop, La
Grande, Oregon 97850
See the Record-Courier
online:
www.therconline.com
541-663-8000
«
gunworks@frontier.com
Certified & Professional Trained Techs
Repair: Cell Phones, Tablets, Gaming
Consoles, iPhones, & more!
Buying & Selling: Used Cell Phones &
Tablets
10505 W. 1st St, Island City, OR 97850
www.thecellfix.com
Residential &
Commercial Electrical
Ross Bond, Owner
3782 10th Street, Baker City
541-523-2135
CCB# 108407
541-7S6-96SS
Free Estimates
I see JR at
ASE C ertified
Auto, Truck
and Motor Home
AUTOGLASS REPLACED
AND REPAIRED
Free Mobile Service
541-523-3200
225 H Street
Baker City, OR 97814
Grumpy's Repair. Inc.
I
I
Window Tinting
for Curs, Home and Office
|
2975 10th Street, Baker City, OR
TF4
I ,a G rande Off ice 541-963-01132
541-523-5839
Auto * Truck • Motor Home
■
in Baker County
and the good work of the
Baker County CattleWomen and
Baker Livestock Association
2s