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About The Baker County press. (Baker City, Ore.) 2014-current | View Entire Issue (April 17, 2015)
8 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS FRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2015 Local American Legion sees more changes Prescribed burns begin • New leadership, more membership participation sought at local post BY MEGHAN ANDERSCH Meghan@TheBakerCountyPress.com Despite a few recent changes at the Baker City American Legion Post 41, the Post is still active assured Commander Bill Bishop. To help pay ex- penses, the Post is renting out half of their building to the new Gamer Haven game store. The store lease is month to month with a 60-day notice pe- riod, in case the Post again needs use of the space in the future. Bishop explained the Post was in trouble about a year and a half ago and he was asked to step in as Commander. The Post was in danger of losing its charter and was placed on probation. Bishop said that danger is still there, due to the low member participation. Constitution and bylaws allow for American Legion posts to have a bar for the enjoyment of members and the Baker City Post did op- erate a bar for the purpose of income. However, the enterprise began to cost more money than it was making, so the Executive Board closed it down. Bishop explained that they may open the bar again in the future, but it would depend on member support to keep it open. Meanwhile, the Post continues to hold regular meetings. Sons of the Le- gion meet the first Wednes- day of the month and the Post meeting is the first Thursday of the month. Bishop explained that there has been very little mem- ber participation. He said the Post cannot fully function without members taking part as there are things that need Meghan Andersch / The Baker County Press Post Commander Bill Bishop and Sons of the Legion Commander Curtis Calder standing at the front of the meeting room. membership approval in order to happen. Sons of the Legion Commander Curtis Calder added, “We have members. I’m disap- pointed that they don’t come and help us so that we can help them. It’s about the Post and the good we can do for the community.” Calder said with the lack of manpower and commit- ment, the Post can’t run its programs and could lose its charter. Bishop has received sev- eral calls asking about sell- ing items in the Post, such as the pool table lights, but assured nothing is for sale. He explained that permis- sion to sell items must come from members and be voted upon. The Executive Board was able to approve disposal of some old duct work, getting it hauled away by the junk man, but that was not sold. There is still assistance available for veterans. Bishop spoke of funds at the national level to assist veterans and their families who are facing homeless- ness or medical emergen- cies. The need is verified at the local level and an application for assistance sent in to the national of- fice. There is also assis- tance provided at the State level for veterans needing help with the VA process or claims. Calder and Bishop said there are other programs they can do or have been involved in, and would like to be again, but they do not have sufficient member involvement. For example, the annual veterans’ picnic that was alternately hosted by the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars is now mainly being done just by the VFW. Bishop said it is the same with the Memorial Day service at the cemetery. Calder said last year they had a free Thanks- giving dinner, which was quite successful and fed 60-65 people. He said luckily a few of the mem- bers in attendance saw that he was overwhelmed with the work and jumped in to help. The Post does offer overflow seating on Friday nights for the Gamer Haven Friday Night Magic events. Calder explained the store gets pretty busy so he opens up the American Legion side of the building so the kids can come in and sit at the tables or play pool. Some concessions are available as well. Bishop said the future of the Post is up to the members and this is a club for them. He explained that he would like to hand off the responsibility of being Commander to someone, but there is not anyone for him to hand it off to at the present. He explained that he was asked to step in due to his experience at the local and district level, and only did so because he did not want to see the Post lose its charter. Bishop added, “We live in a democratic society, and if you don’t want Bill Bishop as commander, come and vote me out in June!” Accident stalls I-84 traffic for hours BAKER CITY, OR – The Whitman Ranger District in cooperation with the Vale District BLM will begin implementing prescribed burning program following warmer and drier conditions. Prescribed fire managers are planning to implement hazardous fuel reduction burns beginning at many project sights. Prescribed fire is a major component of the Coh - sive Wildfire Strategy to meet the goals of restoring and maintaining resilient landscapes and creating fire adapted communities. Prescribed burning is done to reduce dead and down fuels, selectively thin understory trees in dense forested stands, stimulate fire tolerant plant species, enhance forage and browse, reduce the risk of large stand-re- placement fires, create strategic fuels breaks in the urban interface, and restore fire under controlled conditions as a disturbance factor in these landscapes. Prescribed burns can range from tens to thousands of acres in size. Prescribed burns often are accomplished with combined resources of local rural fire departments, contractors, and State and other federal fire agencies. The Whitman District plans to burn approximately 1500 in the Dooley Mt. Area and South Fork of the Burnt River over the next 7 days. Forest Service and coopera- tor personnel will do the burning. For more information about the Whitman prescribed burning program, you may contact Willy Crippen at 541-523-1306 or Steve Hawkins at 541-523-1262, or visit the forest web site at http:// www.fs.usda.gov/goto/Fire-Aviation to view the spring 2015, burn unit maps. Whitman Ranger District (WRD) – 541-523-4476 (Baker, Halfway, and Unity). The WRD plans to conduct prescribed burning on 1,500 acres this week, which may include: • Mile 9 (320 acres) – 5 miles west of Unity, OR • Moonshine (295 acres) – Trail Cr. And Denny Cr.-12 miles south of Baker City, OR • Sundry (950) – Dark Canyon/ Pine Cr.-16 miles south of Baker City. Ladies bridge winners Ladies Day at the Quail Ridge is every Wednesday, April though mid-October. Ladies play golf, have lunch, then there is party bridge for ladies. This month’s winners are: April 1, 2015 Bridge winners: 1st Carmen Ott; 2nd Judy Karstens; 3rd Della Steele. April 8, 2015 Bridge winners: 1st Joan Colton; 2nd Jean Heizer; 3rd Glenda Cole. Baker City man arrested in Boise 22-year-old Devin Pow- sey of Baker City man was arrested Tuesday after, ac- cording to the Ada County Sheriff’s Office in Idaho, he wrecked his vehicle and then elbowed an officer in the face in the middle of a foot chase. The Boise Police De- partment says the incident started at 3:12 a.m. Tues- day when witnesses saw a driver speeding and run- Photo courtesy of The ning multiple red lights— Ada County Sheriff’s Department eight or nine of them in a row—heading west on Devin Prowsey. Main Street in Boise. He soon lost control of the vehicle and crashed near Whitewater Boulevard. When officers checked on Powse , they say he bolted. Officers caught up to the man in short orde , but he al- legedly elbowed one of them in the face in an attempt to escape. A passenger, a 15-year-old boy in the vehicle, was taken to the hospital with serious, but non-life threatening injuries. Powsey has been charged with felony aggravated DUII and battery on an office , resisting officers, and providing alcohol to a minor. Width restrictions announced Photos courtesy of Shiela Dolby. Bottom right photo courtesy of Carmen Nelson. An semi accident on I-84 eastbound 13 miles west of Huntington may have occurred around 9 a.m. but traffic remained snarled until well into the afternoon. Several Baker County residents reported being stuck between two and three hours. No fatalities were reported. Beginning April 27, 2015, I-84 eastbound and west- bound between MP 330 and MP 343 will be restricted to 12 feet 00 in. in width between the hours of 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. The width restriction is necessary to facilitate a paving project on this section of I-84. The estimated date of completion is July 31, 2015.
