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About The Baker County press. (Baker City, Ore.) 2014-current | View Entire Issue (March 27, 2015)
FRIDAY, MARCH 27, 2015 Outdoor Rec / Local THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 7 Locked & Loaded gears up for 2015 off-roading brought us together, but the need to keep our roads open and acces- sible for ev- eryone is our passion. We run respon- sibly on the trails with our families and friends, as well as THE OUTDOOR COLUMN 4x4 clubs from other ar- By Todd Arriola eas, including Well, it looks like Idaho, which Locked and Loaded boosts local tourism, as (L&L), in its sixth year as well as other local busi- a local 4x4 off-road group, nesses that are integral in is all geared up and ready keeping us running. Our for some new adventures. members are local busi- Christina Witham, ness owners, city, state and secretary for L&L, and county workers, ranchers, co-owner of Oregon Sign teachers and many other Company in Baker City professionals, so we know with husband Russ, said how important off-road the group currently has 19 recreation is to our econo- vehicles, mostly Jeeps, in- my and our community.” cluding the Witham’s own It isn’t just about run- 1967 Jeepster Commando ning trails, and having fun (manufactured by Kaiser) with this group. They’ve and 50 members, covering also played a vital role in the spectrum of ages from helping to maintain roads, one newborn baby on up. trails and other areas, par- One of the fi rst questions ticipating in events like the you may ask is, “What “National Go Topless Day” does the name mean?” last May, celebrated by Witham said that “locked” cleaning up forest roads in refers to the lockers on the the Elk Creek and Wash- vehicles, a special differ- ington Gulch areas, for the ential setup, allowing them third year in a row. to go places a standard “Topless” refers to the vehicle couldn’t go. And removal of the Jeep tops, “loaded” is a reference to and celebrating the spring the vehicles being loaded season. This year, the with family, pets and gear. group’s cleanup day is She said, “Our love for scheduled for May 16, but the outdoors and our 4x4s the exact spot is yet to be determined, Witham said. In late February of this year, the group Forest Ac- cess For All (FAFA) was contacted about individu- als with a vehicle stuck in the mountains, and in turn, FAFA contacted L&L, the group shortly thereafter springing into action, according to FAFA. All returned home safely, including Jim Marks and Jimmy Sullivan of L&L, and FAFA publicly thanked the two individuals and the group on their website, adding, “This is a perfect example of how people that are completely sepa- rated from each other in their personal lives made a difference.” Said Witham, “We enjoy traveling long distances as a group to bring about awareness to off-road travel, and to learn about customs, laws, history and commerce in those areas. We have explored as far as the Magruder Trail and Lolo Motorway in Mon- tana, which is rich in his- tory. The Naches Ranger District in the Okanogan- Wenatchee Forest is by far the best-managed, off-road-friendly, fun and challenging forest we have ever been on. From Idaho’s Rogue River to the old mining towns of Florence and Yellow Pine, there is so much to see and do.” She talked about loca- tions closer to home, fac- ing mismanagement and threats of closure, em- phasizing the continuing need to fi ght to keep them Submitted Photo. The Locked and Loaded group is ready to begin rolling the third Saturday of every month on a variety of favorite trails. open and accessible for future generations. “The places I have mentioned in Montana, Idaho and Washington are all man- aged and open for tourism, recreation, agriculture and mining, and the communi- ties that surround them are stronger because of it,” she said. She cited Bennett Peak as an example, among the many areas threatened by the Blue Mountain Forest Plan Revision and the Wal- lowa Whitman National Forest Travel Management Plan, and said, “The reason we will fi ght to keep this peak accessible is the history, including mining, hunting, high mountain hiking and snowmobiling. The economic factors as- sociated with those activi- ties, as well as the overall enjoyment of traveling into such a beautiful place, is reason enough.” Witham said L&L has monthly runs on the third Saturday, and for March, the group’s destina- tion, Washington Gulch to Denny Creek Run, included routes from Poca- hontas Road to Washington Gulch, to Elk Creek, Old Auburn Lane, Union Creek Road, Highway 7, Skyline Road, Denny Creek, and back to Baker City. These were some of the items that were recommended for the run: common sense, GPS, paper map of the area and 4-wheel-drive for the few areas that may be soft. The items the group rec- ommends always having in their vehicles: fl ares, fi rst aid kit, matches, fl ashlight, extra fuel, fi re extinguish- er, tools, spare tire, winch, paper map, GPS, cellular phone, CB, extra clothing, blankets, food and water. “We look forward to bringing the readers of The Baker County Press some off-road destinations and requirements, so that you all may venture into your public lands safely and discover the wonders that await each and every one of you,” Witham said. We’ll highlight some of those destinations in future columns here. You can check out the group’s Facebook page for more information about Locked and Loaded, including details about upcoming events and membership. Good luck with your adventures! Fire prevention Continued from Page 1 “The benefi t to the department is signifi cant. First, it gives us the op- portunity to interact with people in the community and share with them not only what we do from a fi re prevention standpoint but what other services we provide. “Inevitably those con- versations occur and they get to know our personnel. “Second, we have the opportunity to observe what potential hazards are in any given structure. The majority of the inspec- tions that we are doing are considered business or mercantile inspections so they are kind of a low level inspection for the most part they are not what we would consider a technical inspection. “When we get to the larger operations, size- able occupancies or care facilities we will actually get the State Deputy Fire Marshall involved in those. Last the benefi t to us is to observe any signifi cant construction features in these buildings that would pose a hazard to us in the event a fi re were to occur,” John said. The information col- lected could be useful in preventing unnecessary devastation should a fi re occur. It is no secret that Baker City has old build- ings, some with little to no protection from the adjoin- ing buildings to stop the spread of a fi re. “A fi re could be po- tentially devastating to business owners and the community in general. A large number, somewhere around 80-90%, of small businesses never open their doors again after a fi re. That can really impact a small community like ours especially if a fi re effects more than one building or business,” said John. An example is Jesup, Georgia where in August of 2014 fi re broke out in a downtown building and quickly spread destroying seven buildings. According to John, Baker City has nearly 400 com- mercial buildings city- wide. Speaking toward the enforcement of the fi re inspections, he added, “At this point in time, there is no punitive schedule we are focusing on positive compliance. We will utilize a worksheet and provide a copy of that to businesses. We will give a timeline to correct the problem and provide assistance if we can. “Many problems can be corrected easily and some may even be things that can be corrected during the inspection.” John continued, “Usually Why advertise with us? • Low rates per column inch & promotional deals • Free color ads as space permits • Friendly, professional sales staff Wendee Morrissey wendee@thebakercountypress. com or call 541.805.1688. David Conn david@thebakercountypress.com or call 541.523.5524 Family owned and operated. Packed with local news! • All display ads are also posted to our Facebook page, which means thou- sands of individuals see your ad from that source alone. We’re the only paper in town that offers this additional service! Gina K. Swartz / The Baker County Press. New Fire Chief Mark John has hit the ground running, reigniting the City’s fi re inspection program. the way the process goes when a violation notice is provided, the violator gets a copy and is required to sign for that copy showing that they have accepted it, it is not an admission of guilt it is just to show they have received that notice and there is a time frame for them to correct the problem. “We will then go back out and re-inspect. If the violation has not been corrected we give them another opportunity, beyond that if the problem is still outstanding there is an enforcement piece were we can actually require them to do that and we can get the State Fire Marshal involved, code enforce can get involved and then we can take some action. I hope it will never get that far. I think most will be receptive, I’m very much aware that not everyone is going to receive this well.” John also addressed the City Council advising them of the implementa- tion of The Fire Safety Program at the March 10 Council meeting. “I just want to warn you that you may get complaints, because our vehicles will be parked in front of businesses but we have no choice, if we get an ambulance call while conducting inspections we have to access to that vehicle,” he said. Recently, Karine John- son, Deputy State Fire Marshall who is based out of Ontario, conducted an eight-hour course for the department and John indicated that he took a refresher course she facilitated on fi re and life safety with other rural Fire Chiefs. Johnson will also be involved in bigger inspec- tions and help with compli- ance. Baker Schools are inspected yearly and fall under the responsibility of Johnson, however John in- dicated he and his depart- ment would likely became involved. John also told the Council during a recent goal-setting session—look for full coverage of that in next week’s issue—that it is his vision to see one member of his department eventually receive some extra training and become a certifi ed Fire Marshall. As it stands now, John acts as the City Fire Marshall. A new certifi ed Fire Marshall would eventually take over inspection duties and keep the program up to date as part of their main duties. Singling out one employee in particular, John gave accolades to Sarah Blair. He said, “She does a great job and has the most training of our personnel to do inspections. She’s our expert.” According to John, only eight inspections com- pleted last year because of time and staff constraints. The need to accomplish more inspections and keep those inspections current is in John’s opinion is great. “In a community this size we are very lucky to have a department like ours, providing the type of services we are able to,” he said. As John points out, there is always room for im- provement. “I don’t know exactly how many we will get to but we will put together a plan so that each of the shifts shares the workload,” he concluded.
