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Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityheralckcom
July 9, 2014
>N>H>saD>i'>oN: Local • B usiness @AgLife • Go! magazine $ <
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QUICIC HITS
Good Day Wish To A Subscriber A special good day to Herald subscriber Ron Lay ofTelocaset.
Oregon, 5A LA GRANDE — A wildfire near Fox Hill Road north of La Grande Saturday night was caused by illegal fireworks being set off in the area.
By Pat Caldwell
Button and Johnson, along with Councilors The Baker City Council removed Kim Mosier and Mike Richard Langrell from the mayor's slot Downing, voted in favor Tuesday night during its regular session ofthemotion to depose Langrell. at City Hall. On a 4-3 vote the council rescinded Langrell, along with Langrell Langrell's title and then, in a separate Councilors Dennis Dorrah and Roger Coles, votedno. move, chose Councilor Clair Button as mayor and Councilor Barbara Johnson as vice mayor. See Langrell/Fbge 6A
• After 4-3 vote, Langrell will remain as a city councilor; Clair Button is elected as mayor
pcaldyyell©bakercityherald.com
BRIEFING
Clear Creek Musical Festiyal concludes Friday The Clear Creek Music Festival concludes this Friday, July11, with a concert featuring new compositions written during the festival by Nathan Berry and lan Guthrie. The music starts at7 p.m. atthe PineValley Presbyterian Church. Cello, voice, and piano performances showcase the students from across the country who have been studying and refining their art in Halfway for the last two weeks. The second half of the program is the world premiere of Blaise Ferrandino's cantata written for the festival, "Fern Hobbs and the Land of the Setting Sun," performed by festival faculty, students, the Clear Creek Kids, and the Festival Community Chorus. The Clear Creek Music Festival is supported in part by grants from the Leo Adler Community Fund, the Baker County Cultural Coalition'Oregon Arts Commission, the Meyer MemorialTrust and donations.
Open house for EOU transfer
students Eastern Oregon University will have an open house Thursday, July 17, for students planning to transfer to the university in La Grande.The open house will be from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at EOU's office in the Ellingson Lumber Co. building at 3000 Broadway St. in Baker City. Interested students can also connect with an adviser on Google Hangouts between noon and 1 p.m.on these dates:July 10,22and30;Aug.12,14, 20,26and 27; and Sept. 11 and 23.To participate, call 541-289-2841 and provide a Gmail address. For more information call 1-800-452-8639 or visit www.eou.edw' transfer.
WEATHER
Today
89/49 Chance of storms
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COUNTING VOTES Voting YES on motion to depose Richard Langrell as mayor: Clair Button, Barbara Johnson, Kim Mosier, Mike Downing Voting NO on motion: Langrell, Dennis Dorrah, Roger Coles
Aerial
City Council InspectsWatershedNearEIKCreeK
spraying curbed
gs.8 f Ii Ongo
skeeters By Jayson Jacoby r
llacoby©bakercityherald.com
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S. John Collins / Baker City Herald
New fencing around the Elk Creek diversion dam in the Baker CityWatershed, and last summer's cryptosporidium outbreak, are issues discussed by City Council members, staff, news reporters and others who attended Monday's meeting in the mountains about 10 miles west of town.
By Pat Caldwell pcaldyyell©bakercityherald.com
To label Monday's tour by Baker City Council members and city officials of the Elk Creek watershed diversion point as anti-climactic might be an overstatement but the expedition did put to rest some lingering questions regarding fence work around the area. Ostensibly the tour was about dispelling criticism oflack of progress on a city-built fence around the area where the city diverts water from Elk Creek into its supply pipeline. But the excursion also centered on demonstrating that city leaders consider the safety of the town's water to be vital.
The Elk Creek fence issuesprouted into a flash-point matter last month after Mayor Richard Langrell assertedportions ofthe fence were in disreKee pair. At the time, City Manager Mike Kee avowed that city crews had been working on the fence area since last autumn and huge swaths of it were, in fact, rebuilt. Monday's half-day tour showcased portions of a newly-built fence that protects the Elk Creek diversion on three sides. Elk Creek is one of several streams the city taps in its watershedand itbecame the epicenter
ire estross aer i o m e By Chris Collins ccollins©bakercityherald.com
Members of the Fine family counted their blessings and mourned their losses as they watchedfi refi ghtersmop up the remains of their charred home Tuesday morning. Allan Fine had just left for work at his job at Marvin Wood Products about half an hour before the fire department was dispatched to 1130 Broadway St. at about 5:30
Thursday
T ODAY
90/50
Issue 26, 32 pages
of concern last summer during the city's crypto crisis.Onewa tersample acquired from Elk Creek during the crisis contained levelsofcrypto sufficient to trigger sickness. Cattle had crossed the fence and entered the watershed near Elk Creek. A few samples of cattle feces were tested but did not contain crypto. Kee said the tour was important notonlyforelected leadersbutto illustrate to the public that the city staffison top oftheissue. "All I want people to know is, yes, we are working on it," he said Monday.
A recent aerial spraying of pesti cide seems tohave pared Baker City's mosquito population. Matt Hutchinson, who manages the Baker Valley Vector Control District, said this morning that his mosquito traps have been nabbing far fewer skeeters since the aerial spraying June 20 that covered floodirrigated fields just north of town that are prime bugbreeding grounds. Another measure is the number of phone calls he receivesfrom residents tired of swatting and scratching. Hutchinson said he's getting one or two calls per day, compared with four or five per day before the spraying. iThe number, by the way, is 541-523-1151. Hutchinson urgesresidents to leave
a message.) The pesticide handled adult mosquitoes, Hutchinson said. His ultimate goal, though, and the focus of his efforts, is to kill the insects' larvae before they can hatch. To that end, the current lull in flood irrigation makes his task easier. "There's definitely a lot less water right now," Hutchinson said.
See Fence/Fbge 8A
See Skeeters/Page 8A
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a.m. Allan, 32, said the house had been his home for the past 20 years. He shared it with his 62-year-old mother, Virginia.
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See FirelPage 8A S. John Collins/ Baker City Herald
Virginia Fine embraces Spook, one of three cats that survived a fire that destroyed the family's home Tuesday morning.
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