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Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
May 21, 2014
iNmis aomoN: Local • Business@AgLife • Go! magazine 75e QUICIC HITS
Good Day Wish To A Subscriber A special good day to Herald subscriber Merlyn Gath of Baker City.
Results from website survey The new poll question posted on the Herald's websitewww.bakercityherald. com — is: "What are your plans for Memorial Day weekend?" Choices are: Camping, Staying Home, Sumpter Flea Market.
• Harvey'a win denies Warner a fourth term as commission chair; incumbent Mark Bennett wins easily
Commission chairman. Harvey received 58 percent Baker City Herald of the votes to deny Warner a Baker County homebuilder fourth four-year term as the and business owner Bill county's chief executive. Harvey's active campaign Warner, who switched to resounded with Republican the Republican party last voters as he defeated incumyear, ran as a Democrat in his bent Fred Warner Jr. Tuesday threeprevious electoralwins. in the race for Baker County Harvey got 1,752 votes By Jayson Jacoby and Pat Caldwell
Today
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1,752 1,256 votes v otes
Ci 's
Memorial Day ceremony set
WEATHER
Harvey
BaKerCityBudget CommitteeMeets
BaKer'sKindergartenMove
BRIEFING
A Memorial Day ceremony is planned for Monday, May 26 starting at 11 a.m. at Mount Hope Cemetery on South Bridge Street in Baker City. Chaplain Jerry Shaw of VFW Post No. 3048 will give the opening prayer. Dale Dodge of the American Legion will be master of ceremonies. A lunch at the VFW Memorial Club, 2005 Valley Ave., will follow the ceremony. On Saturday, May 24 starting at 8 a.m., small flags will be available for volunteers to place on veterans' graves. Volunteers also are needed to set up the large flags along the Avenue of Flags prior to the Memorial Day service. To help, call Doug Riggs at 541-519-7424. The city's maintenance contractor will be finished with its work at the cemetery by the end ofThursday. Residents can begin decorating graves then. The cemetery gates will be open from 6 a.m. until dusk on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. The cemetery office will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Sunday and Monday to help people locate graves. All flowers, plants and decorations that are deteriorated or that don't comply with the city's rules will be rem oved star tingJune 5. People are encouraged to remove those items before then if they want to keep them. A copy of the cemetery rules is available on the city's website: www. bakercity.com. More information is available by calling 541-524-2046 or 541524-2063.
to Warner's 1,256 in unofficial results from the Baker County Clerk's offtce. The other incumbent county commissioner, Mark Bennett, fared much better, easily winning over his two challengers, Dick Fleming and Gene Stackle. See Election/Fbge 8A
Srtts rtrr as r, "
spending proposal
r.'~„;„s. .t
studied By Pat Caldwell pcaldyyell©bakercityherald.com
S. John Collins/ Baker City Herald
Baker City's general fund took center stage Monday night but streets and water — along with the airport finances and a number of othersmallerbudgetsproved to be the focus Tuesday night as the Baker City Budget Committee began its yearlyreview ofproposed city outlays. The proposed budgets are for the fiscal year that starts July 1. The budget committee reviewed proposed budgets Tuesday night for the cemetery and parks departments, airport, planning department, the hydroelectric plant department, and the community development departmentbefore diving into the street fund.
Modular classrooms for next year's kindergarten students and a cafeteria will be placed in the paved area, plus a section to the right not shown, at Brooklyn Primary School.
SeeBudget/Page 8A
Baker man
gets 3 years By Chris Collins ccollins©bakercityherald.com
Gwen O'Neal is eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Baker School District's youngest students at her school when classes begin next fall. O'Neal is the principal at Brooklyn Primary where preparations are beginning to make way for three modular buildings that will provide theneeded space toadd kindergartners. The school currently houses 336 students in Grades 1-3. Another 111 students are enrolled in kindergarten classes that are now housed in the northwest wing of Baker High School. O'Neal told the Baker School Board during its Tuesday night session that she expects enrollment to remain at about the same level in the coming year. sWe're just excited," she said. "And I want to thank the board for listeningtoourdesire to bring the kindergarten istaff and students) together with their peers." Kindergarten teachers and other elementary staff, including O'Neal, urged the board to move the kinder-
gartners back to Brooklyn. The six half-day kindergarten sessions have been housed at BHS for the past five years after neighborhood schools were reorganized by grade level. O'Neal said work is continuing to develop the "Bronco Boost" program, which will be offered on a voluntary basis for kindergartners who need extra help past the half-day program to improve their reading skills. She noted that there has been some confusion from parents who thought the district was moving to a full-day kindergarten program in 2014-15. That is not the case. The district will, however, offer an extendedday for selected students whose parents agree to allow their children to stay longer to receive more instruction. Brenda Payton, Brooklyn reading specialist, will coordinate the program. One of the three modular buildings will be used for lunch services for all students and free up the gymnasium inside Brooklyn for physical education classes and music classes,which are held on the stage
for attacking woman
in the gymnasium. Another benefit, O'Neal said, is that the lunch tables will fold up and clear space thatcan beused for largermeetings and forpractices to prepare for multi-class musical performancesorforclassroom space for the expanded "Bronco Boost" program. Board Chairman Andrew Bryan said that after a year and a half of wrangling over the decision of where to place kindergartners, directors are committed to ensuring the program's success and asked O'Neal to again note some of the benefits. "Kindergartners are going to learn our systems,be a partofourprogram ... get comfortable where they are," she said."I think it's going to be a greataddition to our program." As the kindergartners move out of the northwest wing of Baker High School, plans are under way to use thespaceforcareer and technical programs through the Baker Technical Institute iBTIl.
A Baker City man has been sentenced to three years in jail after pleading guilty to charges related to an incident at a motel in Baker City earlier this spring. Visiting Malheur County Circuit Court Judge Patricia Sullivan sentenced James Keister, 32,of3265Riverpark Drive, Monday in Baker County Grcuit Court. Keister pleaded guilty to one count of coercion and one count of strangulation,both Class C felonies, and one count of menacing, a Class A misdemeanor, in a plea agreement with the District Attorney's offtce. One count of strangulation and one count ofharassment were dismissed as apartoftheagreement, District Attorney Matt Shirtcliff said in a press release.
SeeBrooklyn/Fbge 8A
SeeMenacing/Page 3A
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Issue 5, 30 pages
Business....................1B Comics.......................4B Dear Abby.... ...........12B News of Record........2A Senior Menus ...........2A Calendar....................2A C o m m u nity News ....3A Hor o scope......9B & 10B O b i t uaries..................2A Sp o r ts ........................6A Classified............6B-11B C r o ssword......9B & 10B L e t t ers........................ 4A O p i n ion...................... 2A W e a t her ................... 12B
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