In order to earn extra money for Valentines, my sister Alma and I offered to throw wood into basement for a neighbor. The box end pieces were smooth and easy to grasp without gloves. We each earned 15 cents.

Armed with new riches, we went immediately to the F.W. Woolworth store on Main Street. As we entered the store we spied Valentines on our left. We only glanced at the unaffordable chocolate hearts on the right.

Valentines were spread loosely in a flat bin, kept in place by a smooth glass bumper. As we stood at the counter sorting Valentines and making decisions, we felt the heat of one single overhead light diffused by a green metal shade.

We pondered the small slick Valentines priced two for a penny. These would be fine for classmates, but we reserved a double fold for teacher. We hoped she would  like the apple and slate design.

Masculine designs featuring sailboats and football figures would definitely be given to Billy, Bobby and Tommy, while feminine designs of  dolls and cats were chosen for classmates Betty, Jean and Dorothy. Other Valentines had general subjects.

Student Richard Baird helps keep the displays organized at ‘Marla’s Mall ‘ at Baker High. (Baker City Herald/Kathy Orr)

She died of breast cancer on Jan. 19, 2007, at the age of 45.

But Cavallo’s memory and influence continue to linger in the space where she taught for nearly 20 years.

These days that room, in the back of the small gym across the hall from the high school’s large gymnasium, houses the Youth to Youth program that works to create a positive climate for students on campus and in the community.

Another element was added to the room during the holiday season, which will stand as a memorial tribute to Cavallo.

Known as “Marla’s Mall,” the room is filled with a collection of clothing, accessories and even personal hygiene items donated to the school for free distribution to students and their families.

The concept of the clothing center in honor of the late physical education/health teacher came about in conversations between several of Cavallo’s friends and fellow teachers.

Kim Virtue says the idea started as a “community brainstorm” session. Virtue teaches students in the BHS Learning Opportunity Center, an in-house alternative program to help students who’ve fallen behind in their work gain the credits they need to graduate.

Cynthia Newman is surrounded by beautiful art every day — and as an artist herself, that’s a pretty good place to be.

Newman is the new community art director at Crossroads Carnegie Art Center. Her position was created from two grants — one from Trust Management and one from the Oregon Community Foundation (Dant Family Fund and Robert W. Chandler Fund).

“They’re the ones who came up with the money for us to try this the first year,” said Ginger Savage, Crossroads executive director.

Savage said she wanted to create this position soon after she began her job, which included overseeing the monthly art shows.

“I knew nothing about hanging art,” she said.

Fortunately Newman does, which frees Savage up to focus on the business part of Crossroads — policies, procedures, volunteers and book work.

“We are ultimately an art organization,” Savage said. “For us to take the next step as a regional art organization, we needed someone with the art credentials.”

But Travis Bloomer figures winter has barely begun.

He hopes so, anyway.

He is quick to note that he’s talking about winter in the mountains, lest anybody accuse him of rooting for their valley gardens to remain snowbound until April.

Bloomer works for the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service in Baker City.

One of his duties is to keep track of the mountain snowpack.

Which, besides being fun to ski or snowmobile on, is the source of the water that irrigates the county’s crops and slakes the thirst of everything from cattle to coyotes to, well, you.

So far, Bloomer is not especially pleased with what this winter has delivered.

“Those (snowpack) values up there in the Elkorns are lower than we’d like,” he said Monday. “But I’m an optimist, and it’s still pretty early in the winter.”

Now, more than a year and a half after the 24-year-old soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad, a new scholarship in her honor will help a Central Oregon Community College student work toward his or her own medical career.

This fall, the college will be one of more than 50 institutions around the country that will offer a scholarship in the name of a member of the military killed in Iraq or Afghanistan. The effort is organized by the Yellow Ribbon Support Center, an Ohio-based organization founded by the father of a soldier who died after being captured in Iraq in 2004.

Ellis, a 2002 graduate of Lakeview High School, attended COCC for two years before joining the Army. She was on her second deployment to Iraq with the 2nd Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) when she was killed in May 2008.

Ellis’ parents, who live in Baker City, were recently notified that Jessica had been selected for one of the scholarships, which are given in honor of one fallen member of the military from each state.

When members of the local Aglow International describe what they witness at meetings, the organization’s name seems perfect.

They’ve seen, many times, a woman attend who they describe as a “candle with barely a flicker.”

“By the time they leave, they’re glowing,” says Linda Shelton. “They know they’re loved. And those relationships grow stronger.”

Aglow is a “transdenominational organization of Christian women” that is now in 172 nations on six continents.

The local Aglow leadership team includes Stephanie Barger, Lola Sevey, Helen Sargent, Terri Reed and Shelton.

Aglow, they say, is changing.

For one, they are encouraging men to join the monthly meetings.

Aglow, Barger said, partners with Christian men’s groups including Promise Keepers and Full Gospel Businessmen.

At the international Aglow conference in Kentucky in October, these women learned about the three mandates that are the current focus.

Landowners and producers from throughout Baker County convened last Tuesday at the Sunridge Inn for the Baker County Soil and Water Conservation Districts’ annual awards dinner.

The event pays tribute to landowners and partners who have helped improve natural resources throughout the county.

The event brought together people from throughout the state to socialize and discuss conservation practices that have been employed over the years.

The event started with a video presentation showcasing what the districts and their partners accomplished in 2009, including  juniper management, stream restoration, cross fencing and outreach.

Five awards were given by the four Soil and Water Conservation Districts. Each of the SWCDs presented an award to the landowners they selected for the Conservationists of the Year.

Rep. Greg Walden, who represents Baker County in Congress, spoke in Baker City Sunday. (Baker City Herald/Kathy Orr)

“The real problem is government. They are telling us our business and they pass regulations to impose their agenda,” said Judy Price of Baker City.

Walden, whose scheduled 10:30 a.m. arrival was delayed about 90 minutes due to the weather, said some environmental regulations passed during the past 20 years wound up doing more harm than good. He cited damage done to forest health by logging restrictions, as well as industries that have left the country and are making products in China, India and other countries with less stringent environmental regulations and lower wages.

America’s $11 trillion national debt, financed mostly by China, Japan and other foreign countries, is the net effect of the combination of excessive government regulation and government growth in the face of a shrinking national economy, Walden said.

To emphasize his point to the 50 or so people attending the meeting at the Geiser Grand Hotel, Walden compared the nation’s fiscal crisis to a horse race in which the horse is the private-sector economy and the jockey is the government.

“If the jockey is heavier than the horse, you’re not going to win many races that way,” Walden said.

To rein in government spending, Walden said he has proposed and will continue to propose a balanced budget amendment to force the government to live within its means.

The City Council, meeting in a special session Friday, approved a contract with Bogart, Mayor Dennis Dorrah said.

The city will pay Bogart $90,000.

Former manager Steve Brocato, whom the Council fired June 9, 2009, was making $96,816.

Bogart replaces Tim Collins, a former longtime city attorney who has worked as interim manager since last June.

Bogart’s contract does not include severance pay, Dorrah said.

The Council voted unanimously on Jan. 26 to hire Bogart.

He served as the city’s interim manager from October 2004 through November 2005.

A Baker County native, Bogart graduated from Baker High School in 1969.

What the ballot title for Measure 67 didn’t tell voters is that the measure, one of two voters endorsed, includes a gross receipts tax on C Corporations, a change that Bob Black, owner of Black Distributing in Baker City, contends is like a back door sales tax.

Based on the history of Oregon voters soundly rejecting sales taxes, Black said he believes voters would also have rejected Measure 67 if the gross receipts provision was included in the ballot title and more fully explained.

He also blames public employee unions, which spent more than $4 million for the Yes on Measures 66 and 67 campaign, which he believes misled voters by portraying Measure 67 as a minimal increase in corporate filing fees from $10 to $150.

“They lied to the people. It’s a value added tax. It’s a sales tax,” Black said.

During a town hall meeting Sunday in Baker City, Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., read a comment made by Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, published in The Oregonian, that after voters passed both Measure 67 and Measure 66, which raises income taxes on higher-earning Oregonians, he was planning to send recruiters to Oregon to lure businesses and investors away from the Beaver state.

“I fear for the future of this state,” Walden said.