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.