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) BAKER RUNNING BACK PORTER Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
October 31, 2014
iN mis aonioN: L ocal • Health@Fitness • Outdoors • TV $ < Fall back Daylight saving time ends at 2 a.m. Sunday. Remember to set your clocks back one hour before going to bed Saturday
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BaKerCity'sWlioht WaterTreatmentPlant Nears Completion
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• City's new UVtreatment plant scheduled to go online next month
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DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME ENDS SUNDAY QUICIC HITS
Good Day Wish To A Subscriber
S. John Collins / Baker City Herald
The huge 'B' on a hillside just west of Baker City has a fresh coat of white paint.
A special good day to Herald subscriber Bill Boles of Baker City.
BRIEFING
Walden, Merkley both here Sunday U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., will have a town hall meeting Sunday afternoon, Nov. 2, at the Geiser Grand Hotel, 1996 Main St. in Baker City. The event will be from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. Walden is seeking reelection for a ninth term in Congress. Later Sunday, also at the Geiser Grand, U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, who also is running for another term, will talk with constituents at 8:15 p.m.
By Chris Collins ccollins©bakercityherald.com
VFW needs donations for highway sign The Veterans of ForeignWars is asking members of the community to pitch in to help raise money to pay for highway signs honoring Vietnam veterans. The cost of the signs, which would be placed at the Baker County/ Malheur County line on Interstate 84, is $2,500, said Jerry Hunter, VFW commander, in a press release. Donations may be mailed to VFWAnthony Lakes Post 3048, Veterans Memorial Club, 2005Valley Ave., Baker City, OR 97814. The bill designating the freeway that travels the width of northern Oregon and on into Idaho as the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Highway was signed into law in May of 2013.
WEATHER
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Eleven Baker High School seniors made the long, steep hike up the foothills west of town last Saturday to become part of a longstanding tradition. The students added a new coat of white paintto the giganticletterB thatrepresents their school on the hillside. The number 15 sits below and to the left of the B noting that the new paint was applied by members of the BHS Class of 2015. The project was organized by Maddie Richards,seniorclasspresident. Principal Ben Merrill praised Richards for her leadership skills in organizing the halfday project.
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S. John Collins/ Baker City Herald
Baker City's ultraviolet light water treatment facility nears completion. At lower left is one of three UV reactors with each utilizing 40 UV lamps. Doug Schwin, city engineer, saidThursday each reactor can handle 6 million gallons of water per day. During summertime high peak water use — about 7/2 million gallons per day — two reactors will operate, he said. The third reactor will alternate its operation with the others. The plant's capacity is 12 million gallons per day, Schwin said.
By Joshua Dillen ldillen©bakercityherald.com
In spite ofalack ofcryptosporidium oocysts found in Baker City's water since August of 2013, there is still a full assault against the gut-wrenching organisms. The city's public works department has been using a portable ultraviolet light iUVl purification system in the war against cryptosporidium since March. A new and permanent UV purification plant is almost completed and will be online next month for an initial startup. "UV doesn't technically kill it icryptol, it inactivates it," said City Engineer Doug Schwin. "Basically the UV zaps through it, alters its DNA so it can't reproduce." UV purification systems
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S. John Collins / Baker City Herald
The city's UV plant will be fully automated with all operational information atyour fingertips, according to Doug Schwin, city engineer, third from left. work by deactivating cryptosporidium and other pathogens that are not destroyed by chlorine, which the city also adds to its water. Michelle Owens, the city's
public works director,said that testing for crypto has not been necessary since the temporary UV unit went online.
See Baker 'B'/Page 7A
Missing Idaho teen found in Baker with adult cousin Police have charged a Baker City man with first-degree custodial interference involving his teenage cousin who had been missing from her Mountain Home, Idaho, home for two weeks. Gene Benjamin Kastner, 31, was arrested on the Class B felony charge at 10:19 a.m. Thursday after an interview with Baker City Police detective Jay Lohner, Police Chief Wyn Lohner said in a press release. The investigation began Oct. 17 when officers from the Elmore County, Idaho, SherifFs 0$ce called the Baker City Police Department regarding 16-year-old Melanie Lynn Kaster. They had reason to believe she was in Baker City with Kastner, Lohner said.
See Crypto/ Page7A
SeeMissing/Page 5A
Showers
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Issue 73, 22 pages
Classified 1B-6B Comics....................... 7B
Community News....3A Crossword........3B & 5B Dear Abby ................. SB
Health ...............5C & 6C Jayson Jacoby..........4A News of Record........2A
Obi t u aries..................2A Spo rts ........................ SA Op i n i on......................4A Television .........3C & 4C Out d o o rs..........1C & 2C Weather ..................... SB
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