City councilors will start planning the city’s financial future Tuesday evening.

They will have some help.

The seven councilors will be joined by the seven other members of the budget board for the work session that starts at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 1655 First St.

The session is open to the public.

The seven other members — all appointed by the City Council — advise councilors on matters related to the budget.

The City Council, however, has the final say in adopting the spending plan.

The agenda for Tuesday’s work session calls for a general rather than specific discussion.

This is necessary, since the city staff won’t complete the proposed budget until mid May. That budget will cover the 2010-11 fiscal year, which starts July 1.

The budget board’s first official meeting, during which members will review that proposed budget line by line, is scheduled for May 19.

First Lutheran Church

1734 Third St.

• Feb. 17 — Prayer vigil from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Ash Wednesday Service at 7 p.m.

On Wednesdays through Lent, from Feb. 24 to March 24, a soup supper will be offered at 6 p.m., followed by a midweek Lenten service at 7 p.m.

• March 28 —  The Passion of Our Lord Service at 11 a.m.

• April 1 —  Maundy Thursday Service at 7 p.m.

• April 2 — Good Friday Service at 7 p.m.

• April 4 — Easter Breakfast at 9:30 a.m., followed by the Resurrection of Our Lord Service at 11 a.m.

United Methodist and First Presbyterian churches

On Feb. 17, Baker United Methodist and First Presbyterian churches will have a joint Ash Wednesday service, beginning at 7 p.m. at the Methodist Church, 1919 Second St.

Brian Vegter of Baker Loves Bikes volunteered to clean up and repair both of the bikes prior to the raffle held Feb. 5.  

“The bikes took several hours to bring back to life, but were riding  smooth as butter by the time I finished,” he said.

New cables were installed and fine tuning to the brakes and gears was done on both bikes.

Plastic bags in various sizes are one of the main products produced at Step Forward Activities in Baker City. From left are Tim Smith, Bill Selves, Maelene Brisco and in background is Dorothy Graham. (Baker City Herald/S.John Collins)

“We now have a bag that will dissolve and fade away to vapor in just 60 days,” said Gene Button, executive director at Step Forward Activities in Baker City. “These biobags clearly are our future.”

Step Forward Activities is a nonprofit corporation that employs 47 full-time staff who operate five group homes for people with developmental disabilities,

Step Forward also has a manufacturing plant in Baker City that provides jobs to residents of the group homes and others with developmental disabilities in manufacturing, packaging and shipping trash bags, recycling ink and toner cartridges for computer printers, and other ventures.

“We just bought the bag manufacturing machine (last) Monday from Green Bay, Wisconsin. That will be dedicated to biobags,” Button said.

Sales of standard trash bags will continue as usual, with biobags available for a slightly higher price to city, county and state agencies, as well as businesses and individuals.

Overall, the state’s ag sales, including crops and livestock, totaled $4.1 billion, a drop of almost 15 percent compared with 2008.

It was the biggest one-year decline since 1976, according to a report released this week by Oregon State University.

Baker County farmers and ranchers, meanwhile, recorded a minuscule increase, less than half of 1 percent, in gross sales in 2009 — $66 million compared with $65.9 million.

Average prices dropped for three of the county’s four biggest agricultural commodities: beef cattle, alfalfa hay and wheat.

Baker County’s agricultural sales in 2009 were led, as usual, by beef cattle.

Ranchers sold beef cattle worth $41.5 million in 2009.

That was up about 3.8 percent from 2008’s total of $40 million in sales, according to the OSU report.

Both years’ totals fell short of the two previous years, however. Gross sales amounted to $47.5 million in 2007, and $42.9 million in 2006.

To make sure this is the case, the schools and Baker County Health Department work together to determine which children need shots, or need their records updated.

The deadline is always the third Wednesday in February — Feb. 17 this year. The date is known as Exclusion Day, when all children who need immunizations are pulled out of school and sent home until their shots are current.

“That’s the absolute cut-off time that parents have to get documentation that their children are up-to-date,” said Stacy de Assis Matthews, school law coordinator at the Oregon Public Health Immunization Program.

There are two exemptions parents can claim for why their children aren’t immunized — religious reasons or medical reasons.

In this case, “religion” is “any system of belief, practices or ethical values,” de Assis Matthews said.

In Baker County, there are 89 students with a religious exemption, and two with medical, said Becky Sanders, nursing supervisor at the health department.

Lloyd “Bud” Pohl, 89, of 2845 Hughes Lane, No. 2, and Leonard “Bus” Pohl, 91, of 1830 Church St., were reported missing about 1 p.m. Wednesday by Leonard’s daughter, Sherry Swafford, Police Chief Wyn Lohner said.

Searchers also talked with Lloyd’s wife, Donna.

Lloyd Pohl walked out to Highway 7 near Union Creek Campground about 11 a.m. Thursday and was picked up by a passerby who saw him standing by the road waving his hat, Lohner said.

The brothers had driven Old Auburn Road west to Union Creek Road, and they were about a mile north Highway 7 Wednesday when Lloyd’s 1992 Ford Explorer became high-centered after it slid off a groomed snowmobile trail, Sheriff Mitch Southwick said Thursday afternoon, after the men had returned home safe.

The Union Creek Road is not plowed during winter, and the Old Auburn Road is kept open for vehicles to a point about a mile west of the state’s elk-feeding station.

Oregon turned 150 last year, and the entire state joined the celebration, prompting quite a few news stories.

While cruising the Oregon 150 Web site for information, I noticed a link where people could share “My Oregon Story.” I clicked through and noticed that none was from Eastern Oregon.

As a native of Baker, I’m always quick to give voice to our side of the state.

So I opened a submission box and, in about five minutes, typed up a story about my love of the Elkhorn Mountains, and my favorite spot on westbound I-84 each time I’d get my first glimpse of them when returning home from college.

I attached a photo, titled it “My Mountains,” hit send and didn’t give it a second thought.

Well.

About a month later, we got a late-night phone call from my brother-in-law, who lives in Salem and had heard part of my story read on the radio.

My husband, Jayson, answered the phone, and he couldn’t quite follow because I hadn’t told him about the story I’d submitted. Also, I didn’t know there was any chance of it being used for Oregon 150 programs.

Parents are invited to learn some new ways of helping their pre-readers and children who are already reading during a workshop Thursday night in the Baker High School library.

The program, designed for parents of kindergartners and  4-year-old preschoolers, is scheduled from 5:30 p.m. to 7p.m., Susan Yen, Baker School District Parent Involvement coordinator, said in a press release.

Parents will learn how to help their children develop fine motor skills needed for writing, using scissors and coloring, Yen said. Information also will be presented about the programs at the Baker County Library and parents will learn hands-on reading activities they use to help their children at home.

It’s time for a smorgasbord in our discussion of motivation.

To wrap things up, let’s look at a variety of factors which, with some analysis, would lead us back to where we started, with needs and drives.

But this time we’ll just quickly examine several tools that you can use to help yourself or others get motivated toward those goals you want to achieve.

Momentum

A major factor I see in my own motivation is momentum. In science, I remember studying inertia: an object in motion tends to stay in motion, and an object at rest tends to stay at rest. I’ve got to be honest, when I’m on the couch, inertia seems to be at work. I need a little boost to get me started; then I can be productive.

I’ve seen the same phenomenon in the classroom, especially at the beginning of the day and after lunch. Many teachers use energizers to get the class moving. These are usually simple, fun activities that get the brain and body in motion.

Parents can do the same thing. Before asking your children to start a big project like cleaning their bedrooms, give them something quick and easy. If they’re watching TV, the first step is to turn it off; it seems to act as a general anesthetic, making that initial action almost impossible.It

Level of Difficulty

You might be thinking that simple things are more motivating, and that seems to be true in getting started. But over the long haul, it’s hard to stay energized with things that are too easy. Activities with a bit of a challenge tie in with our need to feel competent and productive, so things that are either too easy or too hard can reduce motivation. As we work through problems, often with help, we gain confidence and pride, resulting in more motivation to keep going.