• g
•
• •
4R
•
•
g
•
•
•
•
•
) r'~ i
- J
Classes
w x r -
Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityheralckcom
January 28, 2015
>N >H>s aD>i'>oN:Local • B usiness @AgLife • Go! magazine $ < QUICIC HITS
Good Day Wish To A Subscriber
BaKerConnty'sNewestRnralFire ProtectionAssociation
for yoLlng artists
EASTERN OREGON MINING AND AGG REGATE DEVELOPMENT SUMMIT IN BAICERCITY
A special good day to Herald subscriber Betty Kuhl of Baker City.
BRIEFING
Pops and Pies concert Thursday at Baker High
• Lookout-Glasgow Rangeland ProtectionAssociation has first meeting
The annual Pops and Pies Concert is set for 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 29, at Baker High School. The concert will feature Gary Evans from Everett, Wash., on trumpet and flugelhorn and the Baker High Symphonic Band. Tickets are $5 each or $20 for a family and include the concert and dessert. Band instructor Jeff Sizer said the concert will include a "Salute to Leroy Anderson," legendary composer and arranger for the Boston Pops, Sousa's rousing "Semper Fidelis," and selections from the Musical"Oliver." Student soloists Tobin Brown, Parker Turk and Aria Carpenter also will perform.
By Jayson Jacoby llacoby©bakercityherald.com :ia
Mining plays a major role in Baker County's distant past, and its future might not be as bleak as the industry's relatively moribund present suggests. The prospect for a mining revival here and elsewhere in Eastern Oregon was a key theme during a five-hour summit that brought miners, legislators, economists and others to Baker City Tuesday afternoon. About 100 people attended the freeEastern Oregon Miningand Aggregate Development Summit at the Baker County Events Center. Baker County Economic Development organized the event, which was co-sponsored by the Eastern Oregon Mining Association, Oregonians in Action and the Oregon Concrete and Aggregate Producers Association.
Bentz, Ferrioli to
talk with locals during session State Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-Ontario, and state Sen. Ted Ferrioli, R-John Day, will speak with Baker County residents the firstThursday of each month during the 2015 Oregon legislative session. Bentz and Ferrioli will have webinars from 7 a.m. to 7:45 a.m. at the Baker County Events Center, 2600 East St.
Long-term care insurance seminar Feb. 12 A talk about "LongTerm Care Insurance: How to Pick the Best Policy and Mistakes to Avoid" will be presented at1 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 12, at Community Connection, 2810 Cedar St. in Baker City. Topics include: What is Long-Term Care insurance? Who should buy it? When is the best time to buy it? What mistakes should you avoid when shopping for Long-Term Care insurance? This monthly series about topics relating to elder care are sponsored by the Baker County Long Term Care Coordination Team.
WEATHER
Today
44/25 Mostly cloudy, patchy fog
Thursday
4 2l24 ~ ~ Mostly cloudy, patchy fog
SeeMininglPage 2A S. John Collins/ Baker City Herald file photo
The Radio Tower fire burns toward lnterstate 84 in July 2014.
The approximately ldillen©bakercityherald.com 1,000-square-mile districtenKEATING — Baker County's compasses an area that extends from the Oregon Trail Interprenewest rural fire protection group had its first meeting tive Center east to Richland Monday night at the Keating and between Highway 86 and Fire Hall. Interstate 84. The district A group oflocal ranchers and includespropertiesthatarenot landowners in the Keating Val- part of another fire protection ley and Little Lookout Moundistrict. The "Glasgow" in the tain area formed the Lookoutnew distri ct'sname refersto Glasgow Rangeland Protection Glasgow Butte, a prominent Association iLGRPAl to be a peak southwest of Richland. first line of defense against The LGRPA was approved by fires on their rangelands in the the Oregon Board of Forestry — which supervises all matters dry sagebrush country east of Baker City. of forest policy in Oregon — in By Joshua Dillen
July. Dick Fleming, secretarytreasurer of the LGRPA, said in past years communicating about new fires in the area has been spotty atbest. sWe have primarily communicated by smoke signals," he said.'When someone sees a column of smoke, it's time to load up the cat and other equipment and headoutto the fi re." The group has informally fought fires in the area for years, Fleming said. See FirelPage 6A
i gets'clean'auditreyon By Joshua Dillen ldillen©bakercityherald.com
Baker City is in great shape financially in spite of a $2 million loan to build its new water treatment plant. CPA Bob Seymour of Guyer and Associates delivered the annual financial report to the City Council Tuesday evening. The audit covers the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2014. Seymour said that prior to taking out the loan for the water treatment plant last July, the city had been debt-fiee for the previous 12 months. "That is a rare occurrence that the city has
no debt to outside parties whatsoever," Seymour said."I thought that was a very notable accomplishment." He cited the city's $5.7 million in assets, which includes buildings. 'That is an outstanding amount of assets for a city of this size," Seymour said. In summarizing the 66-page audit, Seymour concluded that the accounting firm had found no significant problems in the city's financial records. 'That's the best you can get. That's a clean opinion," Seymour said. SeeCotmcil I Page 6A
Wolf recovery gives ranchers more options By Katy Nesbitt VVesCom News Service
ENTERPRISE — Oregon is moving to Phase II of its wolf recovery plan after wildlife biologists documented seven breeding pairs in 2014,a big step toward removing wolves from the state'sendangered speciesliston theeast sideofthe state. The number ofbreeding pairs drives the recovery of wolves in Oregon. Moving from Phase I to Phase II requires that four or more breedingpairsbedocumented forthreeconsecutive years. To qualify as a breeding pair, two or more pups must survive until the end of the year in which they were born. Todd Nash, a Wallowa County rancher and the Oregon Cattlemen's Association's wolf committee chair, said he was happy for the move to Phase II. "Phase I was a train wreck for us. We were very restricted with what we could do," he said."Now we have a right to shoot a wolf if it is chasing our cattle, under certain circumstances. Under Phase II, two confirmed depredations by ODFW allows them to use lethal control, though we still have to participate in nonlethal measures." SeeWolves I Page8A
Hells Canyon QamRoadto re-ogenFridaymorning OXBOW — Idaho Power Company plans to re-open Hells Canyon Road at 9 a.m. Friday, after partial removalofa rock slide thatblocked the road north of Hells Canyon Park last week. A single lane will be open, with
T ODAY Issue 111, 26 pages
flaggers on hand to guide vehicles through the slide area, Brad Bowlin, Idaho Power Co. spokesman, statedin a pressrelease.Travelers should expect delays, and are urged to use extreme caution in the canyon, especially in the slide area,
he said. No one was injured in the slide, which happened Jan. 20 about three miles north of Hells Canyon Park on the Idaho side of the Snake River. The slide was about 60 yards
long and included numerous large boulders. Crews worked through the weekend to clear the road. Some of the boulders on the road were so large, they had tobeblasted to make them small enough to remove, Bowlin said.
Business... ........1B & 2B Comics.......................3B DearAbby..... ............SB News of Record... .....3A Senior Menus...........2A Calendar....................2A C o m m u nity News ....3A Hor o scope........BB & 7B O b i t uaries..................2A Sp o r ts ........................5A Classified............. 4B-7B C r o ssword........BB & 7B L o t t ery Results..........zA Opi n i on......................4A We a t her.....................SB
Full forecast on the back of the B section. 8
•000
•000
51153 00102
•000
o