Applicants sought for OTEC scholarships

Oregon Trail Electric Cooperative assured Grant County residents Thursday that the cooperative’s planned power outage scheduled Friday, Dec. 3, from 10 a.m. to 1 pm in the Fall Mountain area would not affect residential members or businesses.

According to OTEC communication manager Joe Hathaway, the purpose of the outage is to move power lines to a new underground distribution system to reduce the likelihood of weather-related outages this winter.

While OTEC notified those who would be affected by the outage, Hathaway said OTEC is taking extra steps to mitigate any fears that residents might have and wants to assure members that only communication facilities in the Fall Mountain area, including the KJDY radio station in John Day, would be impacted by the outage.

Hathaway said those with questions can call 541-523-3616.

This article has been updated from its original version to note Oregon Trail Electric Cooperative’s communication manager Joe Hathaway’s correct title and that the cooperative previously notified affected members in the Fall Mountain area.