Baker City Herald Paper 09-05-14

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Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityheralckcom

September 5, 2014

BHS boys SOCCBI

iN mis aonioN: L ocal • Health@Fitness • Outdoors • TV $ < PIBVIBW QUICIC HITS

Good Day Wish To A Subscriber

FishAndWildlife TriesToEntice Mountain GoatsAwayFromCampsites

BAICER CITY COUNCIL EVALUATES CITY MANAGER

A special good day to Herald subscriber Carolyn Lara of Baker City.

BAKER CITY BURN BAN ENDS The ban on outdoor burning inside the Baker City limits ended at 7 a.m. today. The end to the burn ban is due to recent rains and cooler temperatures, Fire Chief Jim Price said in a press release. Residents still need a permit for open burning. Permits are available at the Fire Department on Second Street.

BRIEFING

Powder River, cleanup Sept. 13 Powder Basin Watershed Council will host a clean up along the Leo Adler Memorial Parkway on Saturday, Sept. 13 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. All ages are welcome to participate. Interested volunteers can RSVP for the event by email at pbwcoutreach@qwestoffice.net. For more information, call Meghan Rorick at 541-523-7288, or use the email address listed above.

Utah oNcial to talk about public lands Utah State Representative Ken Ivory will be in Baker City on Saturday, Sept. 13 to conduct a seminar on local control of public lands. The event will be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Sunridge Inn. There will be a no-host lunch. Ivory is head of the American Lands Council and travels extensively to educate the public and elected officials on this issue. His Baker City visit is free and sponsored by the Baker and Union County Republican parties, along with the Eastern Oregon Mining Association. To learn more about Rep. Ivory and the American Lands Council, go to www.AmericanLandsCouncil.org. Seating is limited, so pre-registration is required. To do so call Suzan Ellis Jones at 541519-5035.

WEATHER

Today

79/34 Mostly sunny

Saturday

82/34

By Jayson Jacoby ]]acoby©bakercltyherald.com

The mountain goats that amused and entertained us in the afternoon were a nuisance by dinner, and downright annoying as dusk settled over our camp at Twin Lakes in the Elkhorn Mountains. It was Aug. 1. My daughter Olivia, who's 7, and my father-in-law, Howard Britton, pitched our two tents in a grove of subalpine firs at the northwest corner of the lower, and larger, of this pair oflakes in aglaci er-carved basin about 13m iles west of Baker City. We expected goats. Indeed I hoped that Olivia, who had never watched a mountain goat saunter across a nearly sheer precipice, would geta good look atagroup of these charismatic animals. Thereisnobetterplaceforgoatwatchingin the Elkhorns — probably no better place in Oregon, come to that — than Twin Lakes. Goats daimed this clif-encircled alpinebasi n asa favorite spotsoon after the first batch was transplanted in 1983 along Pine Creek, a few miles to the north. The Oregon Department of Fish and

By Jayson Jacoby ]]acoby©bakercltyherald.com

The Baker City Council convened in a special meeting Thursday evening to evaluate City Manager Mike Kee's performance over the past year, but just four of the seven councilors turned out. Councilors Roger Coles, Dennis Dorrah and Richard Langrell, each of whom has beencriticalattime sof either Kee or members of his management staf, were absent. Mayor Clair Button and councilors Kim Mosier, Barbara Johnson and Mike Downing, meanwhile, spent a little over one hour talking about their impressions of Kee's work. The discussion took place during an executive session, which is closed to the public as allowed under Oregon's Public Meetings Law. After the meeting, Button declined to summarize the four councilors' ratings of Kee.

Wildlife iODFWI released 21goats at Pine Creek fium 1983 to 1986. The animals, which might be native to the Elkhorns although there is not universal agreement among biologists on the matter, have in any case thrived in the mountains. ODFW ofticials, who try to count the goats every summer, have estimated the population in the Elkhorns at as many as 306 animals, in 2012. The numbers have dedined sincethis summer's census turned up 176 goats — but the animals have long been common around Twin Lakes, said Justin Primus, assistant district wildlife biologist at ODFW's Baker City office.

Alex Pajunas/Baker City Herald file photo

Mountain goats are willing photo subjects, but their lack of fear of humans canalso pose a problem when the animals hang around campsites in the Elkhorn Mountains. Moreover, the goats, unlike most other wild animals, rarely flee when

that the goats have learned they have no reason to fear humans.

people approach. The mainreason, Primus said, is

See Goats/IbI,e2A

SeeCouncil IPage 5A

Idaho Power to build new line in the

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Jayson Jacoby/Baker City Herald

Mountain goats cross a rockslide within 25 feet of a campsite atTwin Lakes in the Elkhorns.

EighthGroupOfBaKerCounty Mospuitoes TestsPositive Forkirus

More KeatingskeetershadW.Nile Mosquitoes trapped Aug. 25 in Keating Valley tested positive for West Nile virus. It's the eighth"pool" of mosquitoes in Baker County to be infected with the virus since July 21 ia pool of mosquitoes consists of10 to50insects). All eight pools were trapped in Keating Vailey, said Matt Hutchinson, manager of the Baker Valley

Vector Control District. Hutchinson is responsible for controlling mosquitoes in the 200,000-acre district, which includes most of Baker, Bowen and Keating valleys. Three Richland-area residents have also tested positive for either West Nile virus or St. Louis encephalitis, according to the Oregon Health Authority.

State ofticiais are waiting for testresults fiom the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to determine which of the two mosquitoborne illnesses the Baker Countyresidents contracted, although West Nile virus is much more likely. This summer West Nile virus has been confirmed in mosquitoes in four

other counties besides Baker:

Union i1 pool); Morrow i9 pools); Klamath i1 pool); and Jackson i13 pools). Two horses have been infected with the virus, one in Baker and one in Union. There are four"presumptive" human cases — the three in Baker County and one inMalheur County.

HALFWAY — Idaho Power Company will be building a new power transmission line near Halfway this fall — and it's right next to the existing line. And that existing line will continue to bring power to the area while construction crews are working. r Weare rebuilding the new line right next to the old line, so our crews will be extremely careful and aware of thatenergized line,"Project Manager Brett Flynn said in a press release."It will be important to keep the power on during construction for residents of the Halfway and Richland areas." Flynn said he expects to schedule a few planned power outages during the approximately two-month project.In thosecasescustomers will be notified at least two days in advance. Halfway and Richland areserved by one 69-kilovolt transmission line that is aging and seeing more instances ofbroken equipment and increasedweather-related damage, according to Idaho Power. See Power/Page 5A

Mostly sunny

Sunday

TO D A T

86/38

Issue 49, 20 pages

Calendar....................2A C o m m u nity News ....3A He a rth ...............5C & 6C O b i t uaries..................2A Sp o r ts ........................6A Classified............. 1B-BB C r o ssword........BB & BB J a y son Jacoby..........4A Op i n i on......................4A T e l e vision .........3C & 4C Comics... ....................7B DearAbby.................SB News of Record... .....2A Outdoors..........1C & 2C Weather.....................SB

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