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In OUTDOORS, 1C
Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
June 20, 2014
IN mis aonioN: Local • Heajth@Fitness • Outdoors • TV QUICIC HITS
Rescuers hone their skills
VeteransIliscnssIlevoluinoSitnationlnlrap
Good Day Wish To A Subscriber A special good day to Herald subscriber Gary Nichols of Baker City.
BRIEFING
Tra5c deiays during Cycling Ciassic 3une 27-29 The Baker City Cycling Classic will take place June 27-29. Motorists can expect delays on Friday afternoon, June 27, on Highway 30 in Baker City and Haines, Highway 237 between North Powder and Union, and Highway 203 from Union through Medical Springs and on to Interstate 84. Racing begins at1:30 p.m. and will conclude around 6 p.m. that day. On Saturday, June 28, two races will take place. The first starts at 8:30 a.m. at the Nazarene Church, 1250 Hughes Lane, and heads out to Highway 30, where riders will pedal north to Davenport Road, then to Chandler Lane and to Old Oregon Trail road, finishing about a mile from Highway 86. There will be a detour for northbound traffic on Highway 30 at Hughes Lane, via Chico Lane. The detour will be in effect from 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. The second stage on Saturday is theTour d'Town Criterium and Kids Races in downtown Baker City, scheduled from1 p.m. to 7 p.m. There will be parking restrictions on Main, Valley, First, Second, 10tlV Broadway, Court and Washington from Saturday morning through 8 p.m. Saturday. The Baker City Police Department andYMCA will host the Kids Bike Rodeo from11 a.m. to 1 p.m., with the Kids Races starting at1 p.m. It's free and open to ages 4-15(see story on Page 8A for more information). On Sunday, June 29, drivers can expect delays on Highway 203 and the Anthony Lakes Highway. The final stage of the race will end at Anthony Lakes. The annual Cycling Classic, put on by Baker Loves Bikes, donates more than $5,000 each year to Baker High School and local volunteer groups. More information is available at www.bakercitycycling.org.
WEATHER
Today
74/37 Mostly sunny
Saturday
74/38
• Chairman Fred Warner Jr. talks aboutgoalsforfinal months ofhis term By Pat Caldwell pcaldyyell©bakercityherald.com
The Baker County Board of Commissioners passed the 2014-2015fi scalyearbudget Wednesday. ''We are all set for next year," Baker County Board of Commissioner Wamer Chairman Fred Warner Jr. said. W arnersaidtheboard rati-
fied a $27.3 million budgetincluding $9.5 million in the general fund — with another
$600,000 in contingency. Pat Caldwell /BakerCity Herald
Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles assigned to Baker City's Fox Company, 3rd Battalion, 116th Cavalry prepare to escort a convoy at Joint Base Balad, Iraq, in this December 2010 photo. The Baker City Guard unit spent a year in lraq as part of Operation New Dawn. By Pat Caldwell pcaldyyell©bakercityherald.com
Iraqi Shiite leader calls for new government
"Yeah, itirritates me. I don't want tofeel likeitwas a waste."
La Granderesident Todd Gorham doesn't follow the news out of Iraq. — Todd Gorham, who served in BAGHDAD (AP) — The spiriAt least not any more. Iraq in 2004 and 2010 tual leader of Iraq's Shiite majorWhen Brian Cole, also a La Grande ity called for a new, "effective" resident, talksabout Iraq,heexudes Iraqi Army and images of refugees an indifferent outlook, regarding the government Friday, increasing fleeing the fighting conjured up aspressure on the country's prime situation through a lens of complex pectsofthelastdaysoftheVietnam minister as an offensive by geo-pohttcs. War when the government of South Sunni militants rages on. Baker City Councilor and Vietnam Vietnam was overthrown by a multiGrand Ayatollah Ali alWar veteran Clair Button doesn't pronged North Vietnamese Army Sistani's comments at Friday spend much time reading or viewing offensive in thespring of1975. TV news about the current situation prayers contained thinly veiled Gorham, who works for Boise criticism that Shiite Prime Minin Iraq either. Cascade in La Grande, devoted more ister Nouri al-Maliki, in office The three men — though sepathan two years ofhis life to Iraq as since 2006, was to blame for a member of the region's Army Narated by age and distance — share a the nation's crisis over the blitz common link: All three participated in tional Guard unit, the 3rd Battalion, by the al-Qaida-inspired Islamic 116th Cavalry Regiment. The battaltwo of the more controversialAmeriState of Iraq and the Levant. ion deployed to Iraq twice — in 2004 can wars since the end of World War II. Button served as an infantryman and again in 2010 — and Gorham inVietnam, and Coleand Gorham journeyed with the unit to the warformer renegade members of Saddam torn country on both deployments. served in Iraq. The American ground combat Hussein's old Ba'ath Party — quickly Now, he said he doesn't pay that phase in Iraq concluded at the end of seized a number of key northern Iraq much attention to the news on Iraq, 2011 andsincethen Iraq faced varied cities and then turned south, pushing mainly because the current situation levels of instability. Two weeks ago sparks troubling questions about pastfeeble IraqiArmyresistance to that instability metastasized as a advance within miles of Baghdad, the America's eight-year experience there. rag-tag, al-Qaida breakaway band of nation's capital. "I guess I try to shield myself fiom On Thursday, President Barack guerillas known as the Islamic State it because I don't want to know. But, ofIraq and theLevant began amasObama announced he would dispatch yeah, it irritates me. I don't want to 300 military advisers to the nation feel like it was a waste," Gorham, who sive onslaught across the northern is now retired fiom the military, said. part of the country. but no ground combat troops were The guerillas — who are rumored slated to be deployed. The early picture of a crumbling to be allied with Sunni tribes and See Frustrated/Bge 8A
"I think the budget board
did a really good job of analyzing all of the different departments,"Warner said. Warner is entering into his final six-month stint as the board of commissioner's chairman. See Warner IPage8A
Police warn of jury duty Sca111 By Jayson Jacoby llacoby©bakercityherald.com
Baker City Police are warningresidents about arecent scam in which several local residentsreceived phone calls claiming they have arrest warrants or have missed jury duty. The caller then asks for money to pay off the warrant or penalty for missing jury duty. This is in no way legitimate. Law enforcement agencies do not call people and ask them to wire money. SeeScamlPage 5A
IlOW OC Ill
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Snow continues to block a section of the Elkhorn Drive Scenic Byway between Anthony Lakes and the North Fork of the John Day River. The 106-mile paved route, also known as Forest Road 73, is a popular summer drivingtour thatcirclesthe Elkhorn Mountains west of Baker City. Earlier this week snow was about 2 feet deep near
Grande Ronde Lake, said Dan Ermovick, recreation program manager for the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest. The road is open to Anthony Lakes, and on the west side of the Elkhorns it's open from Granite to the North Fork John Day River bridge. Ermovick said he expects the entire route will be open in early July.
U.S. Forest Service photo
Snow still covers sections of the Elkhorn Drive Scenic Byway northwest of Baker City. This photo was taken near Elkhorn Summit, about two miles west of Anthony Lakes.
Partly sunny
Sunday
T ODAY
80/40
Issue 18, 24 pages
Mostly sunny
Calendar....................2A C lassified............. 1B-6B Comics.......................7B
Co m m u n ity News ....3A Hea l t h ........................ SC O b i t uaries..... C r o ssword........2B & 4B Ja y son Jacoby..........4A Opi n i o n De a r Abby.................SB N e w s of Record........2A Ou t d o ors......
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Sp o r ts ........................6A T e l e vision .........3C & 4C W e a t her ..................... SB
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