Baker City Herald Daily Paper 07-08-15

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Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com

July 8, 2015

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Hells Canyon Motorcycle Rally returns to Baker City this weekend; plus Kiss tribute

band performs

With BaKer City's WaterSupplylow, ResidentsAreCuttingBacK

Good Day Wish To A Subscriber A special good day to Herald subscriber Janet Addison of Baker City.

BRIEFING

Library book sale, auction starts 3uly 16 The Friends of the Baker County Library's annual summer book sale and silent auction of collectible books will start next week at the library, 2400 Resort St. The book sale and auction open Thursday, July 16, at 5 p.m. with an open house. Admission is free, and refreshments will be served. The sale and auction will continue for the next two full weekends, as well as the week between. Dates and times are: • Friday, July17, and Saturday, July 18, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. • Sunday, July 19, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. • Starting Monday, July 20, during regular library hours — 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday throughThursday (July 20-23); 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday, July 24; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, July 25; and noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday, July 26. New books will be added daily.

Smart Driver

course Thursday The AARP Smart Driver refresher course will take place Thursday at the Baker County Senior Center, 2810 Cedar St. in Baker City. Volunteer instructor Mark Freeman will teach the class, which runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with a lunch break. Cost is $15 for AARP members with a card, and $20 for nonmembers. The course is open to drivers of all ages. Participants can register by calling 541-5191407. They should arrive at the Senior Center on Thursday no later than 8:45 a.m. The course will cover topics including: • Defensive driving skills • Proven safety strategies • How to stay current with the latest driving technologies • How to manage and accommodate age-related changes in vision, hearing and reaction time Many people who take the course could be eligible for multi-year insurance discounts.

WEATHER

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By Chris Collins ccollins©bekercityherald.com

A Baker City man died Tuesday morning at his Pine Creek home west of Baker City of an apparently selfinflicted gunshot wound. Harry Williams, 61, of 15367 Pine CreekLane,shot himselfinanoutbuildingon his property, police said. The incident began when Williams fled fiom Oregon State Police detectives who arrived at his home about 11:30 a.m. Tuesday to interview him regarding allegations of sexual abuse, Sheriff Travis Ash stated in a pressrelease.

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See FleeslPage 3A

S. John Collins/BakerCity Herald

Baker City officials have asked residents to limit lawn and garden watering with city water to every other day. Since the city made the requestThursday, water use has dropped by about a million gallons per day.

By Joshua Dillen

Owen said even though copious rains Or to use a different analogy, the during the second half of May helped early melting of the snowpack was to fill Goodrich Reservoir to its akin to a savings account that's been 200-million-gallon capacity, the wet emptied before all the bills are paid. In years when the snowpack is weather didn't help the watershed's ability to deliver water throughout deeper and melts more slowly in the the summer. watershed, which is in the Elkhorn "It took away our snowpack," Mountains about 10 miles west of Owen said."That is a huge factor in town, the streams and springs prothe watershed's ability to provide vide water throughout the summer. water to the city. It was kind of a double-edged sword." See Water/Fbge 7A

ldillen©bakercityherald.com

A meager snowpack that all but vanished in the wake of May's rains is part of the reason Baker City residents might be required to reduce their water use before the end of the summer. Those May rains weren't as beneficial for the city's watershed as one might expect. Public Works Director Michelle

Harveynothayyywithlegislature By Pat Caldwell For the Baker City Herald

Baker County Commission Chairman Bill Harvey doesn't mince words regarding the performance of the Oregon Legislature during the past few months. "I'm not happy with the legislation they've shoved down our throats," Harvey said last week. The Legislature ended its 2015 ses-

sion on Monday. to lower the carbon"intensity" of their Harvey's discontent fuels by 10 percent. The bill bitterly revolves around a numdividedthe Legislature,butitpassed, ber of decisions by the and Gov. Kate Brown signed into law Democrat-dominated in May. Legislature, especially Another heavily debated bill, exbills regarding gun rights Har v ey panding the requirements for backand the carbon fuels ground checks for gun purchases, also initiative passed by lawmakers. became law. The carbon-fuels initiative — Senate Bill 324 — requires fuel distributors See Harvey/Fbge 8A

Cooler, maybe damp for riders Baker City's run ofhot, dry weather might be ending. Just in time for several thousand visitors to roll into town without a roof over their heads. N ot that theprospect of coolertemperatures and possiblethunderstorms deters the Hells Canyon Motorcycle

Rally. sThunderstorms will be welcome — it'll give the bikers achance to cooloffn said Steve Folkestad, co-founder and organizer of the rally. See RallyIPage 8A

DroughtfoilsEagleCanWilderness fire nolicV • With the fire danger high, Forest Service managers decidedtofight,rather than monitor, a blaze in the wilderness By Jayson Jacoby llacoby©bakercityherald.com

The early onset of severe fire danger has convinced U.S. Forest Service fire managers to try to douse, rather than merely monitor, a lightning-sparked blaze in the Eagle Cap Wilderness. But the risk that the Dennis Creek fire, near the Minam River about 15 miles east of Union, would grow rapidly if left to its own devices isn't the only reason officials have treated this blaze differently compared with a few dozen fires that lightning ignited in the Eagle Cap over the previous 20 or so years. See Fire Policy/Page 8A

Today

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Photo by Nathan Goodrich

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The Dennis Creek fire in the Eagle CapWilderness, grew rapidly last week, but work by air tankers and helicopters has limited the fire's spread over the past few days.

Chance of storms

Thursday

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Issue 26, 34 pages

Business .............. 1B-3B Calendar....................2A Classified............. 5B-9B

C o m i cs....................... 4B Dear Abby............... 10B C o m m u nity News ....3A Horoscope........7B & SB C r o ssword........7B & SB Letters........................4A

N e w s of Record........2A Se n i or Menus ...........2A O b i t uaries..................2A Sp o r ts ........................7A Opi n i o n......................4A We a t h er................... 10B

Chance of storms 8

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Baker City Herald Daily Paper 07-08-15 by NorthEast Oregon News - Issuu