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Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityheralckcom
August 15, 2014
iN m is aonioN: Lo cal • Health@Fitness • Outdoors • TV $ QUICIC HITS
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Good Day Wish To A Subscriber A special good day to Herald subscriber Alice Dodge of Baker City.
Oregon, SA A pair of underpasses to move wildlife under U.S. Highway 97 near Sunriver has proved successful in lowering the number of wrecks involving animals.
BRIEFING By Jayson Jacoby llacoby©bakercityherald.com
Oregon Hunters Association Kids Day Saturday The Baker County chapter of the Oregon Hunters Association will have its annual kids day this Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Phillips Park about 10 miles northwest of Baker City. All kids 17 and younger are welcome to attend. There will be several events, lunch will be included, and parents are encouraged to attend. Please bring lawn chairs. To sign up, call 541519-2731. To get to Phillips Park, drive Pocahontas Road west from Baker City and turn left on Pine Creek Lane. Follow it west toward the mountains for 7/10ths of a mile and turn left on Apple Lane.
Community Orchestra to perform Aug. 25 The Baker Community Orchestra will perform on Monday Aug. 25 at7 p.m. in GeiserPollman Park. There is no admission charge and all are welcome. The orchestra, under the direction of Kelly Brickman, will perform the Liberty Bell March by John Philipp Sousa, Themes From 1812 Overture, Pictures At An Exhibition, a medley of songs from "Paintyour Wagon," and more. The Baker Community Orchestra is made up of volunteer community members who have a passion for making music. The orchestra is open to any community member who can play a band or orchestra instrument. There is no audition requirement, just come and play. More information is available by calling Brian Watt at 541-5234662.
WEATHER
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80/55 a ; a, Chance of storms
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and Pat Caldwell pcaldyyell©bakercityherald.com
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Thunderstorms bulled through Baker County in the depths of night and again in the middle of the afternoon Thursday, sparking several new wildfires and dumping more rain than Baker City's storm drains could handle. The afternoon squall also spawned a brief shower of hail. In all, the storms doused the Baker City Airport with almost half an inch of rain, the most in a 24-hour period since mid June. Lightning was also widespread during both storms. A bolt ignited a blaze on Black Mountain, just south of Phillips Reservoir. Firefighters kept the fire to one-tenth of an acre. They had help from a helicopter thatdropped buckets ofwater on the fire. The Forest Service contracted with the Oregon Department of Forestry to stationthe helicopter atthe Baker City Airport, said Willy Crippen, fire management officer for the WallowaWhitman National Forest's Burnt-Powder Fire Zone. The BLM sent crews to a fire on Shasta Butte near the Baker-Malheur county border south of Bridgeport, spokesman Larry Moore said.
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S. John Collins /BakerCity Herald
Cody Kester, 17, grooms his steer he says is the second heaviest to enter the auction ring during Saturday's livestock sale at the fair. The steer weighed 1,462 pounds.
By Chris Collins ccollins©bakercityherald.com
The 77th annual 4-H and FFA Livestock Auction brought record sales for the youngsters who worked hard to prepare theiranimals forthe inal day ofthe Baker County Fair at f Baker City. "It's the highest total auction we've ever had," said Randy Guyer, who's been associ atedwith the sale since 1975, but began keeping records seriously in 1981. Totalsalesforthe 129 animals sold at this year's Aug. 9 auctionwere atabout $245,000 as of Wednesday. That doesn't include the "add-onmoney" from peoplewho didn't make it to the sale — but who want to contribute — that is still
"We've never hadprices like thatsinceI'vebeen here." — Jayne Kellar, co-treasurer, 4-H and FFA LivestockAuction sale committee
coming in, said Jayne Kellar, the sale committee's co-treasurer with Terri Siddoway. Kellar also is the officemanager for the Baker County Extension Service. Guyer, who's also a sale committee member, said the sale total could go
as high as $250,000 onceeverything is accounted for. The second highest auction total was coll ected during the2012 fair when the sale brought in $228,107 for 138 animals, Guyer said.
Last year's sale, at which 144 animals were sold, earned $190,434. Reflecting the strong beef cattle m arket, steersw erea bigpartof the storyforthisyear'srecord total, Guyer said. The animals went for an average of $3.40 per pound, up from lastyear' saverage of$2.17 per poun(l. r We've never had prices like that since I've been here," said Kellar, who's in her eighth year at the Extension Ofltce. Quinn Coomer's 1,367-pound grand champion market steer went for $3.50 per pound. It was purchased by Oregon Trail Livestock and the Haines Stampede. See Record/Fbge 8A
See Storms/Page 2A
Fire SeasonFocnsesOnPacific Northwest, California
ort westremainsnation's ottestssot By Pat Caldwell pcaldyyell©bakercityherald.com
Two months into the summer and with the autumn fast approaching, the regional fire season is in full swing and shows little sign of tapering off any time soon. On Thursday nine major wildfires were reported in Oregon, according to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, while 11 blazes are scorching terrain in California and Washington. Across the region the fire season erupted with a vengeance in early July and gained momentum as August dawned. r We are having, definitely, an unprecedented year in number of fires and number of acres burned. We've really had unrelenting lightning since July 13, just storm after storm," said Jean NelsonBean, an information officer for the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center in Portland. While regionally the fire season is accelerating, the same cannot be said for the nation as a whole.
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S. John Collins / Baker City Herald file photo
See Hottest/Page 8A The McClain fire burned near Oxbow in 2006.
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Issue 41, 28 pages
Calendar....................2A Classified............. 1B-6B Comics.......................7B
C o m m u nity News....3A Hor o scope........5B & 6B Ob i t uaries........2A & 6A Spo r t s ........................7A C r o ssword........5B & 6B Ja y son Jacoby..........4A Opi n i on......................4A T e l e vision .........3C & 4C De a r Abby.................SB N e w s of Record........2A Ou t d o ors...................1C W e a t her.....................SB
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