Baker City Herald 01-19-15

Page 1

• g

In Home/Living

/ ~ J'

-J

w j

r -

Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com

January 19, 2015

>N >H>s aD>i'>oN: Local • H ome @Living • Sports Monday $ <

Cupcake creativity

Interstate closed Satnrdayafter mnltiwehicleaccident

QUICIC HITS

Good Day Wish To A Subscriber A special good day to Herald subscriber Gordon Colton of Baker City.

BRIEFING

Wolf depredation committee to meet 3an. 21 The Baker County Wolf Depredation Compensation Committee will be meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 21, at 3 p.m. in the Commission Chambers of the Baker County Courthouse, 1995Third St. The committee will discuss grants.

By Joshua Dillen ldillen©bakercityherald.com

Living life at a slower pace isjustoneofthe attractions that led new Fire Chief Mark John to Baker City. John is from Anahiem, California, and is excited about living in a rural area. 'There's a very rich history here and that's

OLCC wants to

hear opinions about legal pot The Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) will host a community "listening session" Jan. 22 in Baker City as the agency begins to implement the recreational marijuana law passed by voters in November. The event will start at 11:30 a.m. at the Baker City Armory, 1740 Campbell St. Under the new law, possession of recreational marijuana becomes legal on July1 of this year. The OLCCmust begin accepting applications for commercial licenses next January, with retail stores to open by late 2016. Learn more at http://marijuana. oregon.gov/

Trail Tenders plan volunteer social for 3an. 22 TrailTenders Inc. at the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Baker City is sponsoring a volunteer social Thursday, Jan. 22, at1 p.m. at the Center, five miles east of Baker City off Highway 86. Join TrailTenders volunteers for a behindthe-scenes look at what is available for anyone interested in volunteering. There will be a short presentation, living history performance, refreshments and sharing of information on different aspects of what is offered for volunteers at the Interpretive Center. More information is available by calling 541523-1832 or at www. trailtenders.org.

WEATHER

Today

33/20 Partly cloudy

Tuesday

33/15

appealing," he

S. John Collins/ Baker City Herald

Don O'Grady says he thanks the Lord for keeping him and his co-worker, Chris Combs, safe as trucks and autos crashed all around them Saturday morning on lnterstate 84 east of Baker City. By Chris Collins ccoffins©bakercityherafd.com

Don O'Grady and Chris Combs walked away unharmed from a scene that found them caught in the middle of a massive pileup that closed the eastbound freeway lanes from Pendleton to Ontario Saturday. The vehicle they were traveling in was wedged in by the wreckage of twisted trucks,semitrailers and passengervehiclesfrom about 5 a.m. to 4 p.m. Combs drove his 2006 Dodge Durango away without a scratch about 4 p.m., leaving the two men to wonder how they'd been so lucky. "The good ol' Lord was looking out for us," O'Grady said Sunday back at his home in Haines after another day on the job at Ash Grove Cement's Durkee plant. Oregon State Police saidat least26 trucks and semitrailers were directly involved in the crash that started at 4:54 a.m. And between 50 and 70 vehicles were either knocked around or blocked in by other wrecks. One eastbound lane was opened at 10:30 p.m. Saturday. Cleanup is continuing today. Twelve people were treatedforinjuriesatSt.Alphonsus Medical Center in Baker City. Six were taken by ambulance and six others were brought by private parties, police said. One patient later was transferredto Oregon Health & Sciences University in Portland with serious injuries and another was taken with serious injuries to St. Alphonsus Medical Center in Boise. Two were transferred to Grande Ronde Hospital in

r-

said."The qualJohn ity oflife here is significantly better. The pace is very brisk (in Anahieml.n John has been on the job for two weeks. He was hired in December. He has more than 30 years of experience in emergency services. Twenty-eight of those years were spent at the Anaheim Fire Department in California. He was employed as a paramedic, firefighter, fire captain and battalion chiefforhislastfouryears there.

~-1

See Chief/Page 8A

ns Ia

S. John Collins/ Baker City Herald

Not far behind O'Grady and Combs, is the pickup truck, center, belonging to Joe Patton, another Ash Grove Cement Co. employee. La Grande for treatment, police said. Information about their conditions was not available in time for this story. Although two ofthe trucks were carrying hazardous materials, neither was found to be leaking, police said. Some fuel was spilled on the highway, which required cleanup. The westbound freeway was closed at Ontario about 9 a.m. Saturday to allow emergency workers to get through to the site. It was reopened at 3:30 p.m. Saturday. Nearly every driver who came through once the westbound lanes were reopened was using cellphones or iPads to photograph the wreckage, O'Grady said. The crash drew attention from state, regional and national media. The Oregonian newspaper reported the story of Kaleb Whitby, 27, of Tri-Cities, Washington, who miraculously escaped injury when his pickup truck was nearly flattened between two trucks. For the two Ash Grove mechanics, the day began like most others in their yearsoftraveling the road

Chamber presents 2014 awards Baker County residents were honored at the annual Baker County Chamber of Commerce Awards Banquet Saturday evening at the Baker Elks Lodge. Here are the winners for 2014:

Up and Coming/Young

S. John Collins/ Baker City Herald

Chris Combs, driver of the Dodge Durango, center, and passenger Don O'Grady bide their time Saturday morning. They were able to leave the scene about 4 p.m. together. They left Baker Saturday's experience left O'Grady with a new respect City at about 5 a.m. and headed toward Durkee for the dangers involved in where they are working the daily commute. "This was a real eye-openseven days a week to make repairs during a routine er for me," he said.r We drive shutdown. it all the time and — knock O'Grady, 54, has worked on wood — we've never had at the plant for 18 years and a mishap." Combs, who lives at North And in all the years he's Powder and celebrated his been on the freeway, he's 42nd birthday Sunday, has only been held up one other worked there for 12 years. time — for five minutesTheir third carpool when a camp trailer being towed by a pickup truck partner, Cory Baeth of Baker City, an electrician at caught fire. the plant, took the day off Saturday to coach a YMCA SeeCrash/Page 8A basketball team.

Leader Travis Cook, 29, of Keating and owner/operator of Keating Vineyard and Copper Belt Winery was an Eagle Scout, volunteers with the Keating Rural Fire Department and is a youth leader at his local church. The Baker County native is a graduate of Baker High School and Oregon State University. Patti Pickard and Leita Seiber nominated Cook for the award. 'Travis is a very dedicated young man with great leadership abilities," stated Pickard in her letter to the chamber. Legacy Woman of the Year Ann Mehaffy is a former directorofHistoric Baker City and is currently a real estate broker. SeeChamber/Page 5A

Mostly cloudy Full forecast on the back of the B section.

T ODAY Issue 107, 16 pages

Cafendar....................2A Classified.............4B-7B Comics.......................3B

C o m m u nity News....3A Hom e . ...............1B & 2B Ne w s of Record........2A Se n i o r Menus...........2A Cr o s sword........5B &7B Hor o scope........5B &7B Obi t u aries..................2A Sp o r t s ..................BA-SA De a r Abby.................SB L o t t ery Results..........2A Op i n i on......................4A We a t her.....................SB

8

•000

•000

51153 00102

•000

o


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.
Baker City Herald 01-19-15 by NorthEast Oregon News - Issuu