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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (March 23, 2022)
SIX - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, March 23, 2022 Lexington woman echoes Lexington logo with home grown “Jack Rabbit Candle Company” By Hannah Finch Last summer, Julie Baker of Lexington taught herself how to make can- dles, and thus Jack Rab- bit Candle Company was born. After creating her business later in the fall, Julie says she was lucky to have her candles take off with the holidays, and ever since she has found suc- cess selling her homemade candles in Eastern Oregon. “I really didn’t intend to have a business with it,” Julie says. “I’ve just always been interested in learning new things and trying different things, so I started making some can- dles at home and testing them. I either gave them away or used them myself, because I like to burn them myself all the time.” Julie has spent many nights in her kitchen, where she makes all of her candles herself, experi- menting. “I’d say I’ve learned a lot through trial and error, such as adding fragrance at the correct temperature, and making sure the wax is not too hot when you pour it.” “As I was giving away the ones I was testing and still figuring everything out, people started asking me about them,” Julie says. “So that’s what got me thinking ‘Oh, people are interested in this.’” Julie has sold her can- dles in some holiday ba- zaars here around town and in surrounding coun- ties. “I do have some re- tailers interested here, but so far I haven’t committed to anything yet. I’m trying to slow down and do the business stuff correctly be- Julie Baker holding one of her nine ounce Honeysuckle candles. fore I get too far along,” Ju- lie says. “I do have candles in the Condon Chamber of Commerce currently. I want to be selling locally.” Julie is not only about selling locally, but buying locally as well. “All my fragrance oils are made in the USA, which I try to stick to as much as I can.” Julie says her most popular scents are Pear and her Leather Shop fragrance. “Everything is all natural,” Julie explains. Jack Rabbit Candles are soy candles with cotton wicks. Julie explains how soy candles burn cleaner than candles of other wax- es and don’t put as many chemicals in the air. Soy candles also don’t get quite as hot, which enables them to hold their fragrance and burn for longer. Julie makes all of her candles in small batches. She says she does it this way because it improves the quality of each candle. Right now, Jack Rabbit Candles come in 12 ounce jars (with two wicks), nine ounce jars, and five ounce tins. “One other thing I’ve started that’s been a good opportunity is working with Reinventing Rural,” Julie explains. “They have a group of us from Eastern Oregon and they’re having weekly classes with us, helping us on how to set up a business, how to market, and walking us through the different steps. That’s been really cool. I’ve been ex- cited to get to be a part of that.” Living in Lexington and having grown up in Heppner, Julie says she al- ways thought it was cool that the jackrabbit was the Lexington school mascot. “It just seemed like a fit for the candles,” she says. When asked what she enjoys most about her craft, Julie answered with “Honestly, I think it’s re- ally relaxing. Melting the wax and putting the can- dles together is stress re- lieving, and it’s calming and fun to create, too.” Julie Baker in her kitchen, where she makes all of her candles. She hopes for a studio space in the future. “I’ve been really ap- preciative of everyone’s support,” Julie says. To learn more about Julie and her candle company’s mis- sion, please visit her web- site and Facebook page. Port of Morrow, BMCC announce partnership to offer new training at Boardman campus The Port of Morrow has announced a new part- nership with Blue Moun- tain Community College to offer free noncredit classes and forklift train- ing. Classes will be located at the BMCC Workforce Training Center and open to the public. Participants do not need to be regis- tered as a BMCC student to attend. New courses include Microsoft Word and Ex- cel as well as computer applications for beginners. BMCC is also offering a new language learning platform you can access remotely. In addition, the new forklift simulator is avail- able for training during regular business hours. The simulator is available in multiple languages and provides a safe and free training environment for anyone interested in build- ing additional skills. All course schedules have been set through May and include evening and morning class times. Bilingual options are avail- able in English and Span- ish. More information and the link to register can be found online at https:// www.portofmorrow.com/ workforce-training/home. “We have heard from employers and job seekers that there is a need for short term bilingual training,” says Director of Workforce Development Kalie Davis. “We are excited to partner ESTATE SALE for Eddie Gunderson with Blue Mountain Com- munity College to make these opportunities easily accessible and free.” “This partnership with the Port of Morrow offers some really exciting op- portunities for local res- idents. We at BMCC are excited to welcome new students into the building to learn new or refresh ex- isting skills, all at no cost to them.,” says BMCC Workforce Training Cen- AMAZON -Continued from PAGE ONE duce that same amount of revenue as an offset com- ing to the district with no gain in funding for local education. “I talked to Dirk Dirksen (Morrow County School Super- intendent) and he said it would affect the equaliza- tion formula,” Russell said if the money was given directly. “I hate to see it just be a pass through and just go back to Salem and not be a benefit locally,” he added. Gorman said he was not sure how money given to the districts would affect equalization, saying the districts already get money directly from both the CREZ and the SIP. “I don’t know if would affect equalization.” He said the schools have gotten SIP and enterprise zone money in the past. “They receive other large sums of money other than tax money and somehow they get around their equalization,” he add- ed. On how to spend the $11 million, Doherty asked if the money came to the county as tax mon- ey “or is it just an $11 mil- lion check written to the county?” Doherty said he talked to both the Oregon Department of Revenue and the county assessor, and both said it was not considered tax money. “It will be up to commission- ers to determine how it is spent,” Doherty said. He added that Gorman’s email message to commissioners said Amazon’s “gift pay- ment arrived today. This is something they don’t have to do, they are not obligat- ed to pay,” Doherty relat- ed. “If it is strictly a gift (the Amazon windfall), and I believe it is a gift, I think we should write a check to every registered voter in the county to the tune of about $1,800,” he said. Short of writing everyone a check, Doherty suggest- ed another plan for the Amazon windfall would be to update the health build- ing in Boardman, buy city hall in Heppner and move county offices there and then fix the “dilapidated” courthouse building. He also suggested paying the county finance people and nurses more money. “We continue to do this. When we get a dime in, we con- tinue to give it out then we wonder why we are ser- vicing all these additional things that are coming in all the while. If it is go- ing to come in as a gift it should go out as a gift,” he emphasized. Russell asked if Doherty’s argument was to make sure every taxing district in the county got a share of the windfall. Doherty answered simply “Yes”. In making the case to spread the money around the county, even to districts that would not have re- ceived it normally, Doherty said the entire county has been affected by Amazon locating here so the entire county should share in the money. “We know that the entire county is affect- ed whether it is the rising rates that UEC (Umatilla Electric Co-op) charges because it is now buying power on the open market, or it’s the B2H (Board- man to Hemmingway ID) line they desperately need so they can have more of these Amazons.” He said the Amazon data facilities use large amounts of pow- er from UEC and will need more in the future when additional planned data fa- cilities are built, forcing up power bills even more. He said Amazon is the reason for the need to build the B2H line. In answer to the argu- ment the B2H power line is being built mainly to feed Amazon server facilities with power, Russell point- ed out that the B2H line was put on the fast track the first year of the Obama administration. “It’s been around for 15 years and predates the data centers by 10 years, so to keep throwing that out there that the data centers that have come to North Morrow and Umatilla counties are the reason for the B2H is not fair,” Russell said. Doherty Morrow County Republicans to meet April 5 The Morrow County Re- publicans will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 5, at the Bartholomew Building in Heppner, Oregon. PCPs and anyone interested in the county Republican Par- ty are invited to come and join the discussions. Coun- ty Clerk, Bobbi Childers, will be present to tell us about the election process in Morrow County and an- swer questions from those in attendance. Plans will be made for upcoming events related ter Director Anne Morter. to the primary and mid- “We are thrilled to have the term elections. There will Workforce Training Center be the regional training hub for Morrow County residents.” DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5PM Birthright of Morrow County is seeking volunteers. We are a pregnancy resource 810 Hep-Spray Hwy April 1st & 2nd from 8am to 3pm. center located on Willow Street of Heppner. 2 or 3 hours a week. Misc.household items, furniture, fridge, Weekly volunteers and subs need- shop tools/items, sewing machine, etc... ed. If interested, please call: 541-676-0530. All priced to sell! said Amazon may not have been the reason B2H was started, but it is the reason it is now being built. Doherty also said Am- azon and Umatilla Electric Co-op (UEC), and one other entity he refused to name, had traveled to Sa- lem in an effort to thwart his recent appointment to the Energy Facility Siting Council (EFSC), which decides where power lines and energy facilities are built. “I can tell you that the governor appointed me to the EFSC and there were three entities that went down there (to Salem) and lobbied to get me off, Robert Echenrode, (Gen- eral Manager and CEO of UEC), I won’t say who was the third one was, and Amazon. Why was Ama- zon down there lobbying? Because they were scared to death that I would get in there and shut down the B2H line,” he said. In the future when they come to the county and ask us to do something nice for them, that is going to be an in- teresting conversation,” Doherty said. Russell said there were others that also did not want Doherty on the siting council. “There are other groups that lobbied against your appointment to EFSC, because I was called,” Russell said. “And some of those groups talked to me. Renewable Northwest is one of those. Their concern was you have been vocal on every energy project already and they didn’t think you were going to be fair and unbi- ased because of your vocal outbursts on every energy project.” While the commission did vote to spread the Ama- zon funds more around the whole county, they appar- ently will revisit the matter at their Wednesday March 23 meeting. That meeting is after the Gazette-Times deadline so will be report- ed in next week’s newspa- per. be several opportunities to meet the candidates over the coming months. A Can- didate’s Forum is planned for Thursday, March 24, 2022, 6pm at the Pendleton Convention Center. The Republican Party is open to individuals who are interested in conser- vative ideals and values, according to the news re- lease. The Republican Par- ty platform may be found at https://oregon.gop/ For more information on the Morrow County Republi- cans contact mocoreps@ gmail.com
