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Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityheratd.com
September 4, 2015
iN mis aonioN: L ocal • Health@Fitness • Outdoors • TV s < QUICIC HITS
PowderRiverPauilionlledication Sundayat Geiser-PollmanParK
Good Day Wish To A Subscriber
There is no school Monday in observance of Labor Day. Government offices and most banks also will be closed for the day. The Baker City Herald office also will be closed Monday, but the newspaper will be published and delivered as usual. Baker School District students will attend classes Tuesday through Friday next week to make up for Monday's missed day of school.
By Joshua Dillen ldillen©bakercityherald.com
BRRHHH! Record
cold this morning in Baker City
Today
65/37 a ; a, Chance of showers
Saturday
54/29 Showers likely
Sunday
66I31 Mostly sunny Full forecast on the back of the B section.
S. John Collins/BakerCity Herald
The pavilion in Geiser-Pollman Park has been a dream of a group of Baker City residents for many years.
Baker County Commissioners discussed the county's Natural Resources Plan iNRPl for much of their Wednesday meeting. Commissioners approved a draft version of the plan Aug. 19. Although Commissioner Mark Bennett said he believes the content of the plan is adequate, he doesn't think it's ready to be adopted atthe next Commission meeting on September 16. "I appreciate all the work that wentinto it," Bennett said."I agree withit totally; it's just that now it needs refinement." Bennett said the NRP needs editing and wording changes. He also said the Natural Resources Advisory
Committee iNRACl — which By Lisa Britton
developed the NRP — doesn't have the authority to address energy development, which is induded in the plan. He also suggested the county add stronger languge in parts of the plan. "Itisn't a criticism... We need to remember that — very possibly — this document will be in court," Bennett said.'We want it to be sharp, dear and concise." SeeCounty IPage 3A
For the Baker City Herald
A dream almost 10 years in the making will be dedicated Sunday. A small group of citizens came together in 2006 with the idea of bringing a bandstand back to GeiserPollman Park in Baker City. Many of those people will be on hand at 1:30 p.m. Sunday to dedicate the Powder River Pavilion. The structure's first concert starts at 2 p.m. with big band music by the Blue Yesterdays, followed by various musicians taking the stage at 4:30 p.m. The pavilion is located in the middle of Geiser-Pollman Park. The
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donations and grants, and construction began in the spring following a ground-breaking ceremony in April. Phyllis Badgley and Al Durgan, founders of the committee, both dug a shovel into the ground that day. These two have fond memories of the original bandstand, which was located in the northwest corner of the park. It was demolished in 1972 during a project to widen Campbell Street. ewe referredtoitasthe bandshell," Badgley says, "because of the oval rounded design. The music wafted out over the wooden benches where the audience sat to listen." "That old bandstand, from my point of view, was very important," said Durgan, whose father and brothersallplayed drums in performances at the bandshell.
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$250,000 project was funded by
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The old bandstand at the park was demolished in 1972 when Campbell Street was widened. Doug Smurthwaite, who was part of the original committee, saw the bandshell from a musician's perspective. "I played in it once. I was 12 or 13," says Smurthwaite, 84."It was quite a deal for a young kid." He — with his tenor saxophone — will join the Blue Yesterdays at Sunday's concert. The new pavilion is located near the center of the park, where the sidewalksconverge.Itwasdesigned by Larry Abell of Baker City and built by Sid Johnson & Co. All the
concrete was donated by Triple C Redi-Mix. A good portion of the funds was required before seeking grants, and part of the fundraising came from weekly summer concerts in the park called the Powder River Music Review. Musicians would donate their time to play, and the committee sold commemorativebricksto be partof the final construction. Soroptimist International of Baker County was the nonprofit partner. SeePavilionIFbge 2A
State GrantProgramHelpsStart-UpBusinessesinPortlandMetro Area
errio isaVsrura areas e out By Pat Caldwell For the Baker City Herald
Correction:A story on Page 2 of the Aug. 28 issue of the Baker City Herald contained the wrong date for the next Baker School Board election. The election will be on May16, 2017.The person appointed to fill the unexpired term of Richard McKim will serve until June 30, 2017, when McKim's term would have expired, said County Clerk Cindy Carpenter.
Cnunty
ressurce plan
Labor Day closures
WEATHER
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A special good day to Herald subscriber J.P. Ingram of Haines.
Summer still has a couple weeks to assert itself, but this morning it felt positively autumnal in Baker City. The temperature dipped to 29 degrees at the Baker City Airport. That's a record low for Sept. 4. The previous record low of 30 degrees was set in 2011. It's also the lowest temperature since May 10, when the low at the airport was 25. We weren't the coldest place in the state, though. Crow Flat, an automated weather station in northern Harney County near Highway 395 between Seneca and Burns, recorded a low of 15 degrees. Ukiah dropped to 22, and Seneca and Meacham both reported 25 degrees.
Anew railroad
A prominent Republican state lawmaker wants to know why the governor's office will inject several hundred thousand dollars forPortland-area start-up businesses while he believes rural Oregon continues to struggle. Sen. Ted Ferrioli, the John Day legislator whose district
TO D A T Issue 51, 20 pages
includes Baker County, said this week that the plan announced by Gov. Kate Brown's office last month to
bit more bipartisan and show a little more impartiality," Ferrioli said. He has called on Brown to
earmark $250,000 through
allocate $500,000 for rural
Business Oregon, the state's economic development agency to help finance metro area start-up businesses, sends the wrong message to rural areas. "Helping start-ups is a greatidea but let's be a little
and suburban areas. Chris Pair, a spokesman for Brown, said similar initiatives for rural Oregon are alreadyin the planning stages. 'There is a similar program, the mechanics of it are
the same. We are planning on launching it this fall," he said.
The $250,000 grant will help finance the new Indusive Startup Fund. The Startup Fund, crafted by the Portland Development Commission, will be available for investment in Portland-area businesses being startedby women and people of color.
poison Balm Cr. Reservoir • Goal is to get rid of illegally introduced fish and restock with rainbow trout By Jayson Jacoby llacoby©bakercityherald.com
State wildlife officials are preparing to kill the fish in Balm Creek Reservoir later this month, the first step in a campaign to rid the Baker County reservoir of illegally introduced warm-water species and revive its rainbow trout population. The reservoir, in the southern Wallowa Mountains about 22 miles northeast of Baker City, is the first of several lakes and ponds where the Oregon Department of
Fish and Wildlife iODFV9 plans to spread rotenone, a fish-killing chemical, this fall. The Balm Creek project is tentativel y setforSept.29, according to ODFW.
See FerrioliIBge 6A
SeeFish IPageGA
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