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About The Baker County press. (Baker City, Ore.) 2014-current | View Entire Issue (July 24, 2015)
FRIDAY, JULY 24, 2015 THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 5 Local Travel Management Woman gets 7 years in murder- for-hire plot Brian Addison/ The Baker County Press Members of Baker County Travel Management Committee discuss the county’s travel management policy during the July 21st meeting. From left to right are Bill Harvey, chair of the Baker County Board of Commis- sioners; Doni Bruland, chair of the Baker County NRAC; and committee members Chuck Chase, Wanda Ballard, and Alice Knapp. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 For most of the past decade these roads have been a topic of great concern both for the local people and also for the federal land management agency tasked with manag- ing the national forest lands. The United States Forest Service (USFS) has been working on a Travel Management Plan in the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest (WWNF) for the past eight years and continues to work on this task today. A large portion of the WWNF sits within the boundary of Baker County. Since 2007, when the USFS tried to enact new travel regulations in the WWNF proposing a new closed forest policy with blanket road closures, a great majority of the residents in Baker County have consistently protested any USFS plan to close forest roads. The local majority, as measured by the number of comments received by the USFS, continues voicing a strong opinion that the WWNF should remain open to motorized access. The voice of this local majority has strengthened during the past several years and culminated last fall in the election of an open for- est access advocate, Bill Harvey, to lead the county as the head of the Baker County Board of Commis- sions. Harvey ran on the prom- ise of working to keep the forestlands within Baker County open to motorized access and he has enacted several strategies during the past several months to work toward that end. Harvey has formed the Baker County Travel Man- agement Committee as an extension of the county’s Natural Resource Advi- sory Committee (NRAC). The Travel Management Committee was formed to concentrate on keeping the forest road system in the county from closure by the USFS and to come up with recommendations to pass onto the NRAC for protecting the road system. The Travel Management Committee met on July 21 to complete a narrative of recommendations protect- ing county owned rights- of-way and motorized access in the local forest- lands. The committee has passed that narrative onto the NRAC as the NRAC works on a the Baker County Natural Resource Plan. The NRAC meets on Tuesday, July 28th at 3 p.m. to consider the recom- mendations from the Trav- el Management Committee and to decide whether to accept the recommenda- tions for inclusion in the county’s Natural Resource Plan. Once final recom- mendations for the Natural Resource Plan have been made, a draft of the plan will be sent onto the three- member Baker County Board of Commissioners for the final decision on whether or not to accept the committee recommen- dations. Travel Management Committee recommenda- tion report. The recommendations for maintaining open ac- cess to the forest put forth by the Travel Management Committee center on sev- eral main themes. First, the plan focuses on protecting rights-of-way belonging to the county. These locally owned rights-of-way are protected from closure by the USFS under a law referred to as “Revised Statute 2477 (RS 2477),” according to Har- vey. These RS 2477 routes are the transportation routes traditionally built and used for purposes of commerce such as timber roads, livestock trails, and mine to market routes. In the past, residents of Baker County have put together a RS 2477 inventory map to identify these routes. Harvey and the Travel Management Committee view these roads as vital to the economic future and well-being of the county. “It is the policy of Baker County that roads provid- ing access for the use and enjoyment of public lands shall remain open and be accessible as needed,” begins the proposed Baker County Travel Manage- ment Policy. “Specifically, there will be no net loss to access. Proposed road closures affecting access to or on public lands in Baker County shall be discussed on a case-by-case basis, and shall be individually justified.” The county proposes to protect these rights-of-way from closure by the USFS through a process of coor- dination with the federal agencies. The coordination process allows the county to work on a government- to-government basis with the federal agencies during land management projects on lands within Baker County, according to Harvey and land use lawyer Fred Kelly Grant. Grant has been hired by the county to guide the coordination process. Harvey and Grant recite law that allows the county to coordinate with the fed- eral agencies and requires federal agency land man- agement planning projects to remain consistent with the county’s Natural Re- source Plan, according to Harvey. Where the federal plan strays from the county plan, the federal agency must justify the variation by showing a legal reason, Harvey added. In addition to economic concerns, the Travel Management Committee recommendation report also focuses on recreation and tourism in the forest. “Baker County policy supports a multiple use management approach on public lands as a means of maintaining and enhancing recreation opportunities within the County,” as written in the report. The full approximate three-page Travel Manage- ment Committee report is available at the Baker County Courthouse, Com- missioner’s office. Harvey has schedule a three-day seminar and training class on the process of coordination led by Fred Kelly Grant. The event will bring sev- eral nationally recognized speakers to town and is sponsored through private funding sources but will also require a fee, yet to be determined, to attend. The coordination semi- nar/training is scheduled for August 13, 14, and 15 to be held at the Sunridge Inn. County commission- ers from throughout the region will be invited, said Harvey. More information on the coordination seminar is available at the commis- sioners office. Photo courtesy of the Baker County Sheriff’s Office. Emily Munsell received 7 years for attempting to hire a killer to off her ex-boyfriend. On July 17, 2015, Emily Munsell (dob 08-17-1990) of 1356 Dewey Ave., Baker City, Oregon, was sentenced to seven years in prison. Munsell pled guilty to one count of Criminal Con- spiracy and one count of Solicitation to Commit Murder. Munsell will be on three years of post prison supervision following her release from prison. Munsell was charged with soliciting a family relative to try to find someone to murder her ex-boyfriend on December 26, 2014. That same evening, Munsell agreed with Detective Jay Lohner, acting undercover as a truck driver, to pay Lohner to murder her ex-boyfriend. Mun- sell was arrested later that night. Munsell was sentenced to two years in prison on the Solicitation count and five years in prison on the conspiracy. Both counts ran con- secutive for the seven year sentence. Munsell had filed a notice of intent to rely on a plea of guilty except for insanity at trial; however, that plea was later withdrawn and she entered guilty pleas to the charges. As part of the plea agreement, one count of Solicita- tion and one count of Attempted Aggravated Murder was dismissed. “We ultimately determined that the Conspiracy and Solicitation counts best fit what Munsell did in this case. The victim was pleased with the result of the case and the sentence Munsell received,” said D.A. Matt Shirtcliff. One step closer to a new K9 Benefit dinner scheduled for local man A Fight for Wright Ben- efit Dinner & Auction will be held Sunday, August 2, 5:00-8:00 p.m. at the Thomas Angus Barn. The community is in- vited to join organizers as they fight for an amazing family. Dennis Wright, a longtime member of this community, was recently diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma. Dennis, his wife Kelli and boys Nathan, Eli and Jake have the courage to fight! Friends of the family say they have seen the support they have given to others in the community. and now have the opportunity to give back to the Wrights by raising money to help this family with the many expenses related to Dennis' life-long treatment. The community is invited to a benefit dinner and auction to benefit the Wright Family on Sunday, August 2nd from 5-8 p.m. at the Thomas Angus Barn 42734 Old Trail Road just outside Baker City. Tri-tip dinner, auction, games and live entertain- ment will be just part of the fun. Tickets can be purchased at Coffee Corral and Little Pig for $25/per- son or $75/family. Auction items and prizes include Springfield .45 cal pistol, Coffee for a year at Coffee Corral, Leupold Scope, Beef (cut & wrapped), BHS Fam- ily Sports Pass, and many more items. In addition, an account has been established at Umpqua Bank for Fight for Wright donations. Questions, call Ali Deputy 719-244-3034. Find us on Facebook! www.Facebook.com/TheBCPress Gina K. Swartz / The Baker County Press Turbo smiles for the camera with handler, Officer Weaver, during an interview with The Baker County Press last month. Baker City Police Chief Wyn Lohner says the depart- ment just came a big step closer toward being able to fund a replacement for their now-retired drug-sniffing black lab Turbo. This week, the Sunridge Inn/Best Western in Baker City donated a check for $3,000 to the cause. “The owners have been so supportive,” Lohner said. Lohner credit the Townsend family who own the busi- ness, as well as manager Lisa Jaentz-Wilson for helping make the donation happen. “The Sunridge also donated back when we originally got Turbo,” he added. The Baker City Police Department had previously received $400 from High Desert Harleys, and Lohner estimates that along with various other efforts, they may be up as high as $7,500 total. $10,000 is needed to fund Turbo’s replacement.
