After a comedy routine by Whit Deschner that kept the crowd in stitches, Jimmy Chan’s restaurant was named Business of the Year and Jeff Nelson was named Volunteer of the Year Thursday night at the annual Historic Baker City Inc. awards.

“Whit Deschner was hysterical. He kept us all laughing. He warmed the crowed up. He was a highlight of the evening,” said Ann Mehaffy, HBC executive director.

Other HBC awards included the Community Partnerships Award presented to the Baker Economic Resource Alliance; the Physical Improvements Award went to Larry and Rosemary Abell for their work on The Pythian Castle; the Downtown Success Story Award went to Dick and Marge Haynes of the Short Term Gallery; and the Stepping Up to the Plate Award went to Terry and Dan McQuisten, owners of the Eltrym Theatre.

The free event starts Friday with a tour of all 16 lodging businesses within the Baker City limits. The tour, organized by the Baker County Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau, leaves from the armory, 1640 Campbell St., at 1 p.m. and returns at 5 p.m.

“Business owners of other lodging entities, restaurants, gift and clothing shops, service stations and tourist attractions can train their employees to be our visitors’ No. 1 information source, keeping visitors busy shopping and touring and encouraging them to stay another day,” said Ann Mehaffy, program director for the Historic Baker City Inc., which is one of the sponsors for the Resource Fair.

After the lodging tour there will be hors d’oeuvres, networking and informational booths at the armory from 5:30 to 7 p.m, followed by keynote speaker Maurizio Valerio, community development coordinator for Rural Development Initiatives.

Students will compete in more than 60 business-focused contests during the conference, which begins today at the Doubletree Lloyd Center and Oregon Convention Center. During the three-day conference, students also will  hear from keynote speakers, support the March of Dimes, FBLA’s national service partner, attend leadership and career-focused workshops and elect a new team of state leaders.

Top contest finishers will advance to the national Leadership Conference at Nashville, Tenn., this summer.

“The State Business Leadership Conference is an amazing opportunity for students,” Bailey said in a press release. “I left my first SBLC a better leader and excited for school and community service.

“Inbound marketing” as a tool for developing and expanding business marketing contacts and opportunities, is the topic for first PubTalk of 2010.

The PubTalk meeting is scheduled for 5 p.m. Wednesday, April 7, at the Crossroads Carnegie Art Center, 2020 Auburn Ave.

Jake Jacobs of the Small Business Development Center and the Baker City/County economic development team, said the use of social networking tools has proven to be a valuable new method of marketing products and services.

This meeting topic is derived from the 2010 book “Inbound Marketing” by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah, Jacobs said.

You won’t find Guido guarding the front door, but inside the Baker City Cafe, there’s a taste of Italy on the new dinner menu to go along with the house favorite clam chowder and the Hog Gobbler Grinder.

New owners Matthew Clark, Brian Olson, Josh DeCarl and Debbie Fisher purchased the Baker City Cafe Feb. 1.

And although they’ve kept the cafe’s successful lunch menu, they’re now open for dinner Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings until 10 o’clock.

“We had been talking with Josh and his wife about opening a restaurant when we got a call from Brandi Ulrey (the cafe’s former owner) saying she was moving out of town in three weeks and had to sell the restaurant,” said Olson, who along with Clark owns the Clark and Company furniture and home decorations store on Broadway Street.

“Brandi had a job offer in the Tacoma area — one that she couldn’t pass up,” Olson said. “We paid a fair price — fair market value.”

The bill takes effect in January 2013.

“This is a huge win for credit unions. It will open the door for public entities and offices to do financial banking at credit unions,” said Julie Zaccone, manager of Baker City branch of Old West Federal Credit Union.

House Bill 3700, which the House passed last week, now goes to Gov. Ted Kulongoski for his signature.

The Senate approved the legislation by a 24-6 vote, and the House by a 44-12 margin.

Both of Baker County’s legislators — Sen. Ted Ferrioli, R-John Day, and Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-Ontario — voted for the bill.

Zaccone said the $250,000 deposit limit has made it difficult for credit unions to attract public agencies such as school districts, cities and counties.

Banks aren’t subject to the deposit limit.

Jerry Johnson straps himself into an ATV equipped with the Pro-Tec Safety System he designed at his Baker City shop. Johnson, who moved here five years ago, hopes to convince the Consumer Products Safety Commission to mandate ATV manufacturers install such devices, which are designed to protect riders during rollovers. (Baker City Herald/S. John Collins)

Johnson, owner of Pro-Tec ATV in Baker City, said he and his wife, Nadejda Johnson, have a patent pending on an ATV safety system that he believes could create hundreds of manufacturing jobs in Baker City, save thousands of lives and prevent thousands of injuries to children and adults across the country.

“The next big step is for the Consumer Products Safety Commission to mandate the safety systems to be installed on ATVs,” Johnson said, just as the agency required seat belts in cars starting in the 1960s.

He said he’s made his case to officials with the CPSC, and he thinks they’re taking seriously his call for mandatory ATV rollover protection.

“We’ve got to the point where they are calling me now,” Johnson said.

He said there’s about 14 million ATVs in use today across the United States and millions more around the world. About 1 million new ATVs are built and sold annually.

Johnson told those attending Walden’s town hall meeting that he believes if the CPSC mandates ATV rollover protection there would be so much demand for his Pro-Tec system from the seven major ATV manufacturers that he could put hundreds of people to work building them in Baker City.

And even then “we couldn’t keep up with the demand,” he said.

Chamber Director Debi Bainter said many businesses experienced a slow start in 2009, but ended up beating their 2008 sales figures.

“June through August were strong tourism months with high visitor numbers at the Chamber of Commerce and up at the National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center,” Bainter said.

Gift shops at both the Interpretive Center and the Chamber of Commerce had banner sales months through September, and business didn’t slow until snow began to fall and visitor numbers dropped, Bainter said.

“I have heard from more than one business that (2009) was their best year yet,” Bainter said.

“Baker County’s (non-seasonally adjusted) unemployment rate has not risen above 10 percent during this recession, proving our mix of retail and manufacturing businesses are appropriate,” Bainter said.

“Maintaining attractive and vibrant towns and cities — and preserving their history — has always been part of our character. Today, we add a new way of making it part of the mission of state government,” Kulongoski said prior to signing the executive order.

The order directs state agencies to strive to locate offices in historic downtown areas when it fits with the agency’s mission and is economically feasible.

The order also encourages state agencies to schedule meetings and conferences in historic downtown buildings.

“When we re-use historic buildings, we preserve their landmark qualities for the next generation. Historic buildings are non-renewable resources that should be conserved just as passionately as our natural resources,” Kulongoski said.

He said the order is also designed to give an economic boost to historic downtowns.

“Through the Oregon Main Street program — which is managed by our State Historic Preservation Office — we are partnering with local communities to rebuild downtowns, not just as tourist attractions — but as real centers of commerce and government,” Kulongoski said.

Roger Roper, deputy state historic preservation officer, said the Historic Preservation Office is the lead agency charged with implementing Kulongoski’s executive order.

Roper said the order seeks to simplify the site selection process so agencies will call the historic preservation office in the initial stages of selecting sites.