10 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS
FRIDAY, JULY 31, 2015
Local
Sumpter recall petitions
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Patton’s statement in
support of a recall is, “Fail-
ure to abide by the City
Charter and Ordinances.”
The petition was turned
in to Sumpter City Hall,
stamped received by
Sumpter City Recorder
Julie McKinney, and
submitted to Baker County
Clerk Cindy Carpenter.
After verification of
signatures on the recall
petition, the public officer
must resign or submit a
statement of justification.
This statement will be
printed on the ballot and
a recall election is held
“within 35 days of the ex-
piration of the resignation
period.”
Per the Oregon Secre-
tary of State website (sos.
oregon.gov/elections/
Pages/recall.aspx), for
public officeholders, other
than state representatives
or senators, a prospective
recall petition may be filed
only after the officeholder
has completed the first six
months of their current
term.
The chief petitioner has
90 days from the date the
prospective petition is filed
to gather and submit for
verification the appropriate
number of signatures (the
number required is “15
percent of the total votes
cast for governor, at the
last election in the public
officer’s district”).
Carpenter verified the
signatures on the recall
petition and Findley was
given the opportunity to
respond or resign.
As she stated in
Sumpter’s July City
Council meeting, covered
exclusively by The Baker
County Press, Findley
declined to resign.
Her response to the peti-
tion states, “The allega-
tions against me are false.
The individuals initiat-
ing and supporting this
recall cannot point to one
example of my knowing or
intentional disregard of the
City Charter or ordinances.
I am new in the position of
Mayor and have had much
to learn in a short time.
Along the way, I may have
stumbled, but never inten-
tionally. With the excep-
tion of my husband, Coun-
cilor Armbruster, the other
members of the Council
and staff have made almost
no effort to help me learn
the ropes. The reason is
because they want to keep
things the same as before
and continue to support
their favorites, disregard
the niceties of the law, and
take undisclosed actions,
all with your money. It
has been and will continue
to be my intent to work
with the community in an
open, fair and account-
able manner. I intend to
apply those standards not
only to myself, but also
to all those involved with
the City, even though they
may not like it. If you
want to return to the world
of cronyism and financial
irresponsibility, recall me.
If you want truth, fair-
ness, accountability and
openness, vote ‘no’ on this
recall.”
The decision now goes
to Sumpter voters.
“Please think before
you vote,” said Findley.
“Sumpter is worth far more
than the egos of a handful.
Help me bring some sanity
to the situation.”
McKinney stated ballots
will go out around August
6th.
Then, three prospective
petitions to recall City
Councilors Ada Oakley, G.
LeAnne Woolf, and Toni
Thompson were filed on
July 24th.
The prospective petition
to recall Oakley was filed
by Chief Petitioner Melissa
Findley.
Findley’s statement
in support of a recall is,
“Councilor Oakley has
contributed virtually noth-
ing to the administration of
the City and by blindly fol-
lowing staff and Council’s
requests she has allowed
and voted for increases
in City water and sewer
charges to cover their mis-
management of the City.
She has consistently com-
plained about the smallest
matters, but offered no
solutions to the greater
problems facing the City.
She has been vehemently
against recording of City
meetings even though that
procedure is clearly legal
and is designed to foster
honesty and transparency
in the conduct of City
business and give a truthful
reference source for the
creation of accurate, unbi-
ased and clear minutes of
the proceedings. The fact
that she increased the size
and changed the nature
of her residence without
the appropriate building
permits reveals her lack of
respect for the rule of law.”
Donald McKinnon is
the Chief Petitioner on the
prospective recall petition
on G. LeAnne Woolf.
His statement in support
of recall is, “Councilor
Woolf has consistently
displayed a disregard for
compliance with public
purchasing law, costing the
City unknown thousands
in the procurement of sup-
plies, repairs and services.
She also has little regard
for the public meeting
laws and administration of
City staff. She is one of
the main reasons there is a
lawsuit pending against the
City, unnecessarily costing
the voters thousands of
dollars in legal fees. Most
recently she has joined
with Toni Thompson,
President of the Council
and Councilor Ada Oakley
and tried to call an illegal
meeting with the intent to
undermine the position of
the Mayor and take over
her powers, all without
public disclosure.”
The last prospective pe-
tition was filed by Timothy
W. Peters to recall Coun-
cilor Toni Thompson.
His statement in support
of recall reads, “Councilor
Thompson, appointed to
fill a vacant seat, voted for
herself, along with Coun-
cilors Woolf and Oakley
to take the long-standing
authority over City staff
from the Mayor and give
it to herself. In addition
she has, as President of
the Council, tried to take
over the City government
and exclude the Mayor
from participation in deci-
sions. Her history is one
of working in the shadows
and bending the truth to
suit her needs and those of
her favorites. She doesn’t
even own property in the
City, but wants to make
all sorts of decisions that
affect those of us who do.
Most of the City’s financial
and legal dilemmas can
be traced directly back to
her years of self-serving
activities in the City. Her
interest in City government
is one of self-promotion
and not the general welfare
of the citizens.”
McKinney explained
the three petitions to recall
City Councilors are still
circulating. When they are
turned in, she will stamp
them as received by the
City and send them on to
Carpenter for verification
of signatures.
Once the verification
process is complete, the
Councilors will also have
the opportunity to resign
or give a statement of
justification to be provided
to Sumpter voters.
Tigard youth group helps homeowners
BY GINA K. SWARTZ
Gina@TheBakerCountyPress.com
For the past several
years every summer, mem-
bers from the youth group
at Southwest Church of
Christ, based out of Tigard,
visit Baker City for a
week at the end of July to
provide help the elderly or
those in need.
This year is no exception.
Richard Shannon, one of
the organizers of the group,
is expecting a very busy
and full week with a num-
ber of different projects on
the agenda.
The group is divided
into several teams that
work on different projects
throughout our community
for the week they are here.
Projects are decided
upon around Labor Day
when representatives from
the group make a trip to
Baker City to look for and
evaluate projects.
An energetic and enthu-
siastic team arrived to help
out Barbara Sherman who
lives on the corner of Col-
lege and D Street.
The group is painting
Sherman’s house and will
be putting up railings on
her front deck as well as a
ramp to make things safer
and easier for her.
The deck, built with the
help of Sherman’s niece,
Jody, will not be replaced
just modified and was
proving a bit difficult for
the teams to work with eat-
ing up drill bits.
Sherman said with a
smile, “We were ama-
teurs—we didn’t build it
right.” Sherman said she
is “just thrilled” with the
help. “It’s absolutely great.
I’ve had so many stop or
drive by and tell me how
nice it looks.”
The work done mostly
by the kids is overseen by
adult crew leaders and is
provided free of charge to
the recipient.
Crew leaders for this
team are Walt Murfin, Lau-
ren Smith, and in his first
year David Godfrey who
joked that he is not a vol-
unteer but a “voluntold” as
he is told when he has been
volunteered for something
else to do.
Sherman was “nomi-
nated” to receive help
from the group by one of
last year’s recipients who
“just wanted to pay it for-
ward, do a good deed for
someone else who really
needed it. It helped me out
so much!”
That recipient did not
want to be identified but
Sherman knows who it was
as she gave permission to
have her name submitted
to the group for consider-
ation.
Sherman said, “One day
she just knocked on my
door and told me what she
wanted to do. I said yes!
I’d really like to thank
her.”
Natalee Riley, 16, who is
on her second trip to Baker
City said, “She (Sherman)
told us this house is 115
years old and hasn’t been
painted since in the 90s.
She has lived here for over
Log loader
takes a roll
Submitted by Donn Christy.
A log loader turned over near the intersection of
Anthony Lakes Highway and S. Rock Creek
Monday.
• A FIVE-HOUR JOB SENDS DRIVER BACK
ON HIS WAY SAFELY
BY KERRY McQUISTEN
News@TheBakerCountyPress.com
“I don’t think anyone even had a scratch,” said Donn
Christy, owner of Superior Towing, LLC.
Late Monday afternoon, a log loader took a turn a little
too fast near Rock Creek Lane and the Anthony Lakes
Highway on its way toward Haines.
According to Christy, the loader, owned by Skidgell
Logging, had “tipped onto its left side,” leaking diesel
and perhaps a bit of hydraulic fluid onto the highway.
“There was a little damage to it,” Christy said. But,
after about five hours on the job, his company had righted
the fallen loader, making adjustments to the piece of
equipment that meant it could actually be driven away.
Christy said Steve Ritch Environmental Company—
SREC— was on site to “clean up the mess” and would
return to the scene to finalize that effort so that nothing
potentially hazardous would remain.
High speed chase
ends near NP
Submitted by OSP.
Gina K. Swartz / The Baker County Press
The entire “College and D Street” crew helps to
repair Barbara Sherman’s home at that address.
70 years.”
Sherman said she moved
into the house that was
built in 1900 when she was
only three. “I’ve got the
original deed; it’s in a safe
deposit box.”
Before being repainted
the kids have been busy
scraping and applying
primer. They definitely do
the job right.
The group, being on a
highly visible corner in
Baker City has had a lot
of people stop by and
comment on the work they
are doing that is expected
to take through Friday to
finish.
One person stopped and
asked if they were going
to have any extra time to
provide additional help
and another stopped and
bought the entire team
sodas from McDonald’s.
Crew leader Walt Mur-
fin, a painting contractor in
the Portland area, said he
even had a pastor from a
local church stop and say
he would sure love to get
his youth group involved
in doing similar projects.
Morgan Blackwell, 16,
has been participating for
five years and says the
project is “a lot of fun.”
Not even an injury putting
her in a wheelchair could
stop her from helping with
repairs.
Being in such close
proximity to the high
school, Sherman’s nieces
brought many friends over
throughout the years many
whom still call her “Aunt
Barbara” when they see
her.
This house has a lot of
memories and now it’s
getting some well-deserved
new life.
This mustang’s high-speed run came to an end near
North Powder Tuesday.
On July 28, 2015 at about 10:35 a.m., Idaho State
Police were in pursuit of a Grey 2014 Ford Mustang with
temporary plates westbound on Interstate 84 at milepost
82, west of Mountain Home Idaho.
The pursuit originally started as a driving complaint
reporting reckless driving at milepost 82 and quickly
evolved into a pursuit.
Oregon State Police Troopers from the Ontario Area
Command picked up the pursuit at the Oregon-Idaho line
and attempted to spike the vehicle but were unsuccessful.
The pursuit continued westbound on I-84 with speeds
ranging from 58 MPH and 146 MPH. Troopers went into
slack pursuit once an OSP aircraft was deployed due to
two construction zones on I-84. ODOT was notified of
the pursuit and relayed information to the construction
workers so they could clear their construction zone area
prior to the pursuit reaching their location.
Baker County Sheriff's Office, Baker Police Depart-
ment and Oregon State Police La Grande Area Command
Troopers assisted as the vehicle continued near Baker
City, Oregon. The vehicle was successfully spiked by
an Oregon State Police Trooper on I-84 at milepost 295,
near North Powder. A tactical vehicle intervention was
conducted at milepost 292, near North Powder and the
vehicle was brought to a stop and the operator was taken
into custody without further incident.
The driver was identified as Curtis Alvon Gentry, age
33 years old, of Albuquerque, New Mexico. He was
taken to the Baker County Jail and lodged for Reckless
Driving and Attempt to Elude-Vehicle.
OSP Ontario Area Command Troopers and OSP La
Grande Area Command Troopers were assisted by the
Idaho State Police, Payette County Sheriff's Office,
Ontario City Police, Baker City Police, and Baker County
Sheriff's Office.