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Friday, March 3, 2017 • Volume 4, Issue 9
Another solar eclipse
meeting held in Baker City
BY EILEEN DRIVER
Eileen@TheBakerCountyPress.com
“The 2017 monumental
massive solar eclipse event
is what we are here to talk
about,” was the welcome
by Craig Farley of the
Regional Solutions Offi ce
of Oregon to the assembled
city, county and state agen-
cy representatives at Baker
City Hall last Wednesday.
This group has come
together to identify and
hopefully meet the chal-
lenges brought about by
the solar eclipse coming
August 21, 2017. Their
monthly meetings, all held
at the Baker City Hall
council chambers, will
continue through August
with the hopes that the
outcome will be a smooth,
well orchestrated event.
A report on statewide
marketing by Travel
Oregon’s Linea Gagliano
reported that they are pre-
paring an Eclipse
Visitor’s Guide, which will
include preparedness, wild-
fi re and safety information
as well as inspirational
itineraries and information.
The message of the guide
will be, “Don’t just come
to Oregon for the eclipse,
but come see Oregon,” ac-
cording to Gagliano.
Travel Oregon is plan-
ning to print 50,000 copies
of the guide, which will
be distributed along with
50,000 eclipse glasses all
over the state.
They also will be holding
a press conference along
with the state days before
the event with weather and
cloud forecasts.
Eastern Oregon Visitors
Association representatives
Alice Trindle and Eliza-
beth Farrar reported that
most lodgings within the
path of totality are booked
and outlying communities
are starting to get inquiries
for lodging as well.
Submitted Photo.
The path of totality across eastern Oregon.
SEE ECLIPSE PAGE 8
Intro to Law Enforcement
courses offered
Hearing
ahead in
Safeway
injury suit
BY TODD ARRIOLA
Todd@TheBakerCountyPress.com
Samantha O’Conner / The Baker County Press
School Resource Offi cer Lance Woodward stands in the BHS library where he will begin teaching classes
this month.
BY SAMANTHA O’CONNER
Samantha@TheBakerCountyPress.com
Offi cer Lance Woodward of the Baker City Police
Department will begin teaching an Introduction to Law
Enforcement four-part course beginning Friday, March 3
at the Baker High School library.
All students are welcome to the courses.
Woodward is fi nalizing the courses to have explanations
about the different branches of law enforcement. His goal
is to educate students who are interested in pursuing a
career in law enforcement.
This is the fi rst year these classes have been offered.
Woodward and a variety of other community organiza-
tions were approached by the 5J School District about
helping with their Friday school. They tried to enlist
community support and draw expertise from community
partners. Woodward hopes to continue doing Introduction
to Law Enforcement classes in the future.
Woodward’s fi rst class will be about police functions
and law enforcement. He will discuss the differences
between city policing, county policing, and being a state
trooper. He will discuss the function of the police and
what they do on a daily basis.
The second week, he is planning to bring in the Baker
County Corrections Department so they can talk to the
students about corrections and what that looks like.
“We, as police offi cers, can arrest people,” Woodward
explained. “And then, after we arrest somebody, if it’s a
custody arrest we take them to jail—so that whole correc-
tions aspect.”
He is hoping corrections will talk about the distinction
between county corrections versus state corrections. In
Baker, they have the county jail, where they take most
people and they also have the Powder River Correc-
tional Facility. If an offender has done something serious
enough, they might get time at a state penitentiary or state
jail. Woodward hopes they will discuss the state level cor-
rections as well.
For the third week, he is planning to have someone
from the District Attorney’s (DA’s) offi ce speak. As the
ones who read the cases, decide if the cases are strong
enough to fi le charges on and if they will stand up in a
court of law, the D.A.’s offi ce is part of law enforcement.
The D.A.’s Offi ce will talk about their side of opera-
tions and how they relate to law enforcement. Woodward
explained that the DA’s offi ce does not always take things
to trial as people will plead out before the trial happens.
On Wednesday, March 8, 2017, a pre-trial hearing
is scheduled in Baker County Circuit Court Case No.
16CV19166, Sherry Stroy vs. Safeway, Inc., Muffrey,
LLC, Payless Drug Stores Northwest, Inc., and AB Ac-
quisitions, LLC, in which Stroy seeks an amount totaling
over $600,000, for economic and non-economic damages,
as a result of injuries due to a fall she said occurred in
June 2014 in the Safeway parking lot.
Stroy, represented by attorney David Auxier of Fruit-
land, Idaho-based Coughlin & Leuenberbger, P.C., fi led
the lawsuit on June 16, 2016, initially against all four
defendants, because, according to the complaint, “...
Defendant AB Acquisitions, LLC (the parent company of
Albertsons) owns Safeway...Defendant Muffrey, LLC...
owns the real property leased by Defendant Safeway...De-
fendant Payless Drug Store shares portions of the parking
lot at issue, in this case with Defendant Muffrey, LLC,
and Defendant Safeway.”
She claims that she had parked her vehicle in a park-
ing space reserved for disabled permit holders, with her
husband, in front of the Safeway store, at 1205 Campbell
Street, on June 28, 2014, during business hours, with a
permit displayed within the vehicle. Upon exiting, on the
way to the store, “...she caught her foot on the parking
block immediately in front of the vehicle. The parking
block had steel protruding out of the top of it, which Mrs.
Stroy caught her foot on, causing her to fall,” according
to the complaint.
As a result of this fall, Stroy claims she sustained a
transverse intra-articular fracture through her proximal
ulna, together with a comminuted displaced radial head,
and neck fracture of the elbow; a fracture to her right or-
bital bone, and her right maxillary sinus wall; a traumatic
brain injury, manifested by a subarachnoid hemorrhage;
and cuts and abrasions. Stroy claims that the injury to her
elbow, and the traumatic brain injury resulted in perma-
nent impairment.
Stroy claims that the defendants were negligent in one
or more of the following: “In failing to provide an unob-
structed path from the parking space to the Safeway store;
By failing to protect against the danger posed by the
parking block in general, and by the protruding piece of
steel in particular; By failing to warn of the unreasonable
hazard presented by the parking block in general, and the
protruding piece of steel in particular.”
Economic damages were sustained in the amount of
$120,503.69 as a direct result of the fall, Stroy claims,
and she seeks an additional $485,000, for present and
future pain and suffering, inconvenience and interference
with her normal and usual activities, and loss of enjoy-
ment, plus costs and disbursements incurred in the case.
SEE LAW ENFORCEMENT PAGE 9
SEE SAFEWAY LAWSUIT PAGE 4
Friday
Scattered snow then scattered rain/snow
showers. Highs in the upper 40s. Chance of
precipitation is 40%. Friday Night: Mostly cloudy
with scattered showers. Lows near freezing.
Saturday
Scattered rain/snow showers. Highs in the mid
40s. Chance of precipitation is 60%. Saturday
Night: Rain/snow showers. Lows near 30.
Sunday
Scattered snow showers. Highs near 40.
Chance of precipitation is 40%. Little to no ac-
cumulation expected. Sunday Night: Scattered
snow showers. Lows in the upper 20s.
Your weekend weather forecast for Baker County.
Our forecast made possible by this
generous sponsor:
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE
Sumpter replaces attorney
City Council approves 911 contract
“So I was thinking...” by Jimmy Ingram
Offi cial weather provider for
The Baker County Press.
Behind the scenes at Casino Night
Man arrested on meth charges
Commissioners hear small biz update
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