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About The Baker County press. (Baker City, Ore.) 2014-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 14, 2015)
CAREER COLUMN: What it’s like to be a ... Baker City Fire Chief. PAGE 8 OPINION: Kevin Starrett of Oregon Firearms Federation discusses SB941. PAGE 4 The Baker County Press TheBakerCountyPress.com 75¢ All local. All relevant. Every Friday. Friday, August 14, 2015 • Volume 2, Issue 33 Inside the first GOP presidential debate • A VIEW BEHIND THE SCENES BY KERRY McQUISTEN News@TheBakerCountyPress.com The GOP’s fi rst presi- dential debate was held August 6 at Cavaliers Sta- dium in Cleveland, Ohio. With ten top-polling candidates on stage, the gathering was not without controversy—and also not without eastern Oregon representation. Cove’s Rep. Greg Bar- reto and wife, Chris, who also serves as his legisla- tive assistant, fl ew from Oregon to attend, as did Oregon Republican Party (ORP) Chair Bill Currier and ORP’s National Com- mitteeman Solomon Yue, all of whom have spent time in Baker City on mul- tiple occasions. Rounding out the group from Oregon was ORP’s National Com- mitee woman, Donna Cain. “It was loud and noisy, but great!” said Chris Bar- reto. “We couldn’t ask for better seats. We had a great view of the candidates, Fox News, and the audi- ence.” Yue is a member of the RNC Primary Presidential Debates committee. “My committee suc- ceeded in two ways,” said Yue. “First, we limited total debates to 11—fi ve in 2015 and six in 2016— and second, we increased the fi rst debate audience size to 24 million for the fi rst time in both parties’ primary debate history.” Yue added, “However, we couldn’t reduce the number of total debate par- ticipants (on the stage).” The candidates in the 5 p.m. primetime debate were: Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Mike Huckabee, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Chris Christie, and John Kasich. The mod- erators were Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly, and Chris Wallace. SEE DEBATE PAGE 8 Submitted Photo. Cove’s Rep. Greg Barreto (right) meets candidate John Kasich before the debate aired. How Portland’s Metro affects eastern Oregon • POTENTIAL BALLOT INITIATIVE ADVOCATES FOR LOCAL CONTROL OF LAND PLANNING ISSUES BY KERRY McQUISTEN News@TheBakerCountyPress.com Brian Addison / The Baker County Press The Cornet Fire, visible from Hwy. 7, created a level-three evacuation for Stices Gulch and other areas of the county, sending residents out of their homes. Baker County burns SEE METRO PAGE 5 Sumpter shakeup • TWO LARGE FIRES IGNITE ON DOOLEY, DOWN BURNT RIVER CANYON BY BRIAN ADDISON and KERRY McQUISTEN Brian@TheBakerCountyPress.com A fast-moving thunderstorm moved through Baker County August 10th, and left in its wake several pre- sumed lightning-sparked fi res, two of which grew into large fi res in the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest in- cluding the Cornet Fire initially 19 miles south of Baker City and about seven miles east of Hereford. The Cornet Fire was fi rst listed as a fairly small affair, charring about 243 acres on August 10th, but exploded over the next 24 hours reaching around 15,000 acres by Thursday and fi lling Baker Valley with dark smoke and threatening structures. At the same time, the Windy Ridge fi re down Burnt River Canyon fl ared to over 10,000 acres, sandwiching Bridgeport Valley between the two fi res. By 1 p.m. Wednesday, residents of Stices Gulch on Dooley Mountain were evacuated, their homes and safety in immediate danger. This was the fi rst of many county evacuations to come—more than two dozen homes early on. The Cornet Fire was considered “extreme fi re behavior with uphill runs and group torching,” according to the Blue Mountain Interagency Dispatch Center. SEE BAKER COUNTY BURNS PAGE 12 Friday Smoky. Sunny and not as hot as the rest of the week. Highs in the upper 80s. Lows in the upper 40s. Saturday Sunny and cooler still. Highs near 80. Mostly clear at night with lows in the upper 40s. Sunday Sunny and warming up again. Highs in the mid 80s. Mostly clear with lows in the mid 40s. Les Poole, a planning commissioner from Gladstone, is on a tour of his old stomping grounds in eastern Oregon. His purpose? To collect signatures on a petition for a statewide ballot initiative in 2016, which will focus on local control of land use and transportation planning. Poole, along with chief petitioner, Eugene Schoen- heit, and others, hopes to combat former governor John Kitzhaber’s “Regional Solutions,” a concept now picked up by current Governor Kate Brown, which would mirror Portland Metro’s controversial model across other areas of Oregon—including eastern Oregon. • RECALL PETITIONS MOVE FORWARD IN PROCESS, ONE COUNCIL MEMBER RESIGNS DURING MEETING BY MEGHAN ANDERSCH Meghan@TheBakerCountyPress.com Submitted by Suzan Ellis Jones The Cornet Fire crests with fl ames visible from Bridgeport at the foot of Dooley Mountain at the home of Ann Racey, burning down to Hwy. 245. Your weekend weather forecast for Baker County. Our forecast made possible by this generous sponsor: Offi cial weather provider for The Baker County Press. More recall elections will proceed in the City of Sumpter, as recall petitions on Council members Toni Thompson, Ada Oakley, and G. LeAnne Woolf were turned in and signatures verifi ed by County Clerk Cindy Carpenter this week. Ballots will be mailed August 26th and are due back by 8 p.m. on September 15th. The Chief Petitioner on the petition to recall Oakley is Sumpter Mayor Melissa Findley. Her statement in demand of recall states that Oakley has contributed virtu- ally nothing to City Council, voted blindly for sewer and water rate increases, opposed recording City meetings, and changed the nature and size of her residence without the proper building permits. SEE SUMPTER SHAKEUP PAGE 5 ALSO IN THIS ISSUE Marijuana business delays plans Blue Mountain Oil upgrades Family dives into 4H fair Sumpter City Council coverage Pot ordinance read, kennel denied Heisler locomotive turns 100 Page Page Page Page Page Page 3 3 7 9 10 12
