WALLOWA LAKE — The annual New Year’s Day Wallowa Lake Polar Bear Plunge is set for 10 a.m. Jan. 1, 2019 in the county park at the north end of Wallowa Lake. According to organizers, this is the best opportunity in Wallowa County for a fresh start to 2019. Participants are reminded to arrive on time and to bring a dry towel and plenty of fortitude.

Cove City Council meets Jan. 2

COVE — The City of Cove’s regular council meeting has been changed to Jan. 2, 2019, because of the New Year’s Day holiday. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. at Cove City Hall, 504 Alder. Proposals to be discussed include a City of Cove right of way permit, sidewalk ordinance and a snow and ice removal plan.

Internet outage affects OTEC member services

BAKER CITY — According to a Dec. 27 press release, a nationwide Century Link outage is causing Oregon Trail Electric Cooperative services to experience intermittent interruptions in communications. The services affected include online payments, off-site payment kiosks, payments on prepay accounts and OTEC’s mobile app. OTEC’s outage map and outage hotline are also experiencing issues due to the outage. The release stated as of Thursday, OTEC did not have an estimated time of restoration from Century Link. OTEC’s service area covers approximately 7,500 square miles of Northeast Oregon. The cooperative provides electric service to municipalities and rural areas in Baker, Grant, Harney and Union counties.

Registration is open for free computer classes

LA GRANDE — Training & Employment Consortium, a part of WorkSource La Grande, 1901 Adams Ave, offers free computer instruction year round. These classes are open to the public at no charge. Registration prior to the first day of the class is required. Call Glenna at 541-963-7111 ext. 248 to register or for more information. Registration is now open for the following January classes:

Introduction to Computers (one-day class), Jan. 7

Introduction to Microsoft Word (one-day class), Jan. 3

Intermediate Word (four-day class), Jan. 8, 10, 15, 17

QuickBooks (four-day class), Jan. 22, 24, 29, 31

All classes are held from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. Auxiliary aids and services are available upon request to persons with disabilities. This program is funded in whole or in part with public funds from the U.S. Department of Labor, Oregon Department of Community Colleges and Workforce Development and the Eastern Oregon Workforce Investment board.

Union County seeks committee member

LA GRANDE — A position on the Union County Transient Tax Discretionary Fund Advisory Committee is open. This committee reviews applications for discretionary funds generated through transient tax dollars and provides recommendations to the Union County Commissioners. Meetings are usually short and are held on an as- needed basis. For more information call 541-963-1001 or visit the Union County Commissioners office at 1106 K Ave., La Grande.

UC Democrats make plans for 2019

LA GRANDE — The Union County Democrats will meet at 6 p.m. Jan. 2, 2019, at Umpqua Bank, 1215 Adams Ave., La Grande. The focus of the meeting will be scheduling and planning the budget for 2019.