BUSINESS & AG LIFE
THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 2021
THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD — 3B
California utility charged in 2019 wildfi re
LOCAL BUSINESS BRIEFS
By DON THOMPSON
Baker County residents join national beef group
Associated Press
BAKER CITY — Three Baker County residents
are new members of the American Angus Association.
Kimberlee Kerns of Baker City and Kyle and
Alysha Dennis of Halfway have joined the national
breed organization, which has its headquarters at St.
Joseph, Missouri.
The American Angus Association, with more than
25,000 active adult and junior members, is the largest
beef breed association in the world. Its computerized
records include detailed information on over 19 mil-
lion registered Angus.
SACRAMENTO, Calif.
— A California prose-
cutor fi led 33 criminal
charges Tuesday, April 6,
against troubled Pacifi c
Gas & Electric for a 2019
wind-driven wildfi re offi -
cials blamed on the utility,
accusing it of injuring six
fi refi ghters and endangering
public health with smoke
and ash.
The company denied that
it committed any crimes
even as it accepted that its
transmission line sparked
the blaze.
The Sonoma County dis-
trict attorney charged the
utility with fi ve felony and
28 misdemeanor counts in
the October 2019 Kincade
Fire north of San Francisco.
The blaze burned more
than 120 square miles and
destroyed 374 buildings.
The 33 charges include
recklessly causing a fi re
with great bodily injury to
six fi refi ghters, named only
as John Does #1-#6. Among
the fi refi ghters injured were
a member of an inmate fi re
crew and at least two out-
of-state contractors, one of
whom suff ered second- and
third-degree burns to his
legs and torso.
Fire offi cials said a
PG&E transmission line
sparked the fi re, which
destroyed hundreds of
homes and caused nearly
100,000 people to fl ee.
The utility said it hadn’t
seen the report or evidence
gathered by state fi re inves-
tigators, but it will accept
the fi nding that its trans-
mission line caused the fi re
“in the spirit of working
to do what’s right for the
victims.”
“However, we do not
believe there was any crime
here,” the company said in
a statement. “We remain
committed to making it
right for all those impacted
Antone Creek Lodge makes state’s getaway list
UNION COUNTY — Travel Oregon, the state’s
tourism promotion department, included Antone Creek
Lodge on its recent list of “Cottagecore Getaways in
Oregon.”
Antone Creek Lodge off ers fi ve small cabins for rent
about nine miles from Anthony Lakes Mountain Resort,
making the site in the Elkhorn Mountains the closest
accommodations to the resort.
The lodge is about 30 miles west of La Grande or
about 30 miles east of Baker City. Antone Creek Lodge
provides access to hiking, biking, fi shing and other
lake activities at Anthony Lake Campground from July
through September.
Noah Berger/Associated Press, File
In this Oct. 27, 2019, photo, fl ames from the Kincade Fire consume a winery in Healdsburg, California. A California
prosecutor has charged troubled Pacifi c Gas & Electric with starting a 2019 wildfi re. The Sonoma County District
Attorney on Tuesday April 6, 2021, charged the utility in the October 2019 Kincade Fire north of San Francisco.
and working to further
reduce wildfi re risk on our
system.”
It thanked fi refi ghters,
including those who were
injured, and said it was
grateful that no one died.
The company serves
more than 16 million people
across much of Northern
California. PG&E Corpora-
tion Chief Executive Offi cer
Patti Poppe said in her own
statement that she came to
the company in January
to “make it safe again in
California. We will work
around the clock until that
is true for all people we are
privileged to serve.”
The charges and related
enhancements accuse the
company of destroying
inhabited structures and
emitting air contaminants
“with reckless disregard
for the risk of great bodily
injury” from toxic wild-
fi re smoke and related par-
ticulate matter and ash,
thereby endangering public
health.
They allege that the
utility failed to main-
tain services and facili-
ties including transmis-
sion lines, one of the
numerous related misde-
meanor charges.
It’s the latest in a series
of similar problems for the
utility.
PG&E’s alleged crim-
inal negligence in the
Sonoma County wildfi re
occurred while the com-
pany was still mired in a
bankruptcy triggered by a
series of deadly infernos
that were ignited by the
utility’s crumbling equip-
ment during 2017 and 2018.
The most lethal in Butte
County wiped out the entire
town of Paradise in the
deadliest and most destruc-
tive wildfi re in California’s
recorded history. It culmi-
nated in PG&E pleading
guilty to 84 felony counts of
involuntary manslaughter
last June.
Although PG&E’s
then-chief executive Bill
Johnson appeared in court
to enter the guilty pleas
before some of the sur-
viving families of those
killed in Butte County, no
one from company went to
prison. Instead, the com-
pany paid the maximum
penalty of $4 million.
PG&E emerged from
bankruptcy protection
shortly after those guilty
pleas after negotiating a
series of settlements to
cover the damages caused
by its fraying grid. Those
settlements included a
$13.5 billion fund for wild-
fi re victims that recently
started distributing some of
the money to help people
rebuild their lives.
The Sonoma County
wildfi re also raised the
hackles of a federal judge
overseeing PG&E’s ongoing
criminal probation for a
2010 explosion in its nat-
ural gas lines that blew
up a neighborhood in San
Bruno, a suburb south of
San Francisco.
U.S. District William
Alsup, who has repeatedly
lambasted PG&E for its
shoddy maintenance of its
equipment, is currently con-
sidering ordering proposed
changes that could result
in the utility being forced
to turn off its power lines
even more frequently than
it has in recent years during
dry and windy conditions
to reduce the chances of
causing more deadly fi res.
Let Your
Production seeks young adult actors for summer fi lm
NEW ORLEANS — A casting call for a road trip
movie that will fi lm in Central Oregon in the summer is
seeking teens and young adults ages 18-25 of all back-
grounds, ethnicities and walks of life.
Bill and Turner Ross are directing the untitled movie,
which will follow four teen friends as they set off on an
adventure across the Pacifi c Northwest to chase down
their own version of the American dream. The produc-
tion encourages individuals, groups of friends, siblings
and couples to audition, and acting experience is not
necessary.
The Ross brothers fi lmmaking style is a hybrid of
fi ction and nonfi ction, and the production company is
seeking people who connect with the story to play them-
selves, including daredevils, fearless outcasts, misfi ts
and strong personalities.
Auditions will be April and May, and the project will
fi lm for eight weeks over June and July. The production
will pay for all roles and cover all travel costs.
To apply for an audition, submit your name, age,
hometown and a photo or selfi e to www.cargobuhl.com/
submit, or text to Jesy at 504-233-0016.
For more information, call Jesy or email cargobuhl-
casting@gmail.com.
— EO Media Group
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BAKER HIGH SCHOOL
To place your order, contact Devi Mathson today!
541-963-3161
lesschwab.com
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114 Self-Help
Group Meetings
114 Self-Help
Group Meetings
AL-ANON, Cove. Keep coming
back. Mondays, 7-8pm. Calvary
Baptist Church. 707 Main, Cove.
CELEBRATE RECOVERY
NARCOTICS ANONYMOUS
541-805-2229
neo-na.org
AA MEETINGS
Wednesday Nights, 7-8:15pm.
Fort Union Grange Hall, corner
of McAlister & Gekeler Lanes.
For more info, call 541-786-1222
AL-ANON Attitude of Gratitude.
Wednesdays, 12:15-1:30pm.
Faith Lutheran Church.
12th & Gekeler, La Grande.
541-786-2051
Drug Problem? We can
help!
Narcotics Anonymous
Phone: 541-805-2229
www.neo-na.org
T.O.P.S.
Meets every Tuesday Morning
8:30 a.m.-10 a.m.
LDS Church in Island City.
Fragrance Free Group
Calvary Baptist Church
Third & Broadway
Baker City, OR
EVERY THURSDAY
6:15 - 8:00 PM
DO YOU HAVE....
HURTS, HABITS
and/or HANG UPS?
12 Step Biblical Support
Harvest Church
3720 Birch St. Baker City
Thurs., 6:30 - 8:30 PM
LA GRANDE NOW HAS A
GAMBLERS ANONYMOUS
MEETING!
Every Friday Night @5pm, 2107
Gekeler Ln, LG, Church of Christ
basement. For more info please
call 971-219-8411
NARCOTICS ANONYMOUS
Goin’ Straight Group
Meetings:
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Start at 8 PM
Episcopal Church Basement
2177 1st Street, Baker City
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PEOPLE with PARKINSON’S
Caregivers, Family, Friends
SUPPORT GROUP
Contact Judith at
208-855-9199
Meetings resume @GRH
when restrictions ease.
AL-ANON FAMILY GROUP
(Support for family & friends of
Alcoholics)
Tuesday evenings
Joseph Methodist Church
(basement on northside)
Joseph, OR
6-7pm. Contact 541-398-1398
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