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About The Baker County press. (Baker City, Ore.) 2014-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 14, 2015)
FRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 2015 THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 7 Local Fair life on the edge of town • FAMILY MOVES FROM NORTH CAROLINA TO THRIVE AT LOCAL FAIRS Blue Mountain Oil upgrades BY SUNNY WERNER Sunny@TheBakerCountyPress.com Four years ago when Bobbi and Jason Sullivan moved to Baker, they and their children had no idea that they would be taking blue ribbons and winning championships at local county fairs. They were living in North Carolina at the time. Jason had received a mili- tary retirement and, like many military families, they were a long way from home. Bobbi was born in Baker. Jason is from Florida. The Sullivans have six kids: Morgan, Aaron, Logan, Katelyn, Kyle and Johnathon. When Donna Kanyid, longtime Baker resident and Bobbi’s aunt, offered them work as ranch hands they decided that would be a great way to move back to where they had a large extended family. With six kids, keeping food on the table and shoes on their feet is always challenging. Working for Donna and gradually build- ing their own backyard farm became their goal. Four years later, all six kids have several entries in every fair, each year: Union, Baker and Halfway. They are able to rent a large lot right across the road from their home to run their sheep and goats. The pigs live on Donna’s ranch, just a few blocks away. A common sight among local residents is to see the kids leading sheep or goats back and forth between The Sullivan kids with their 4H sheep. their home and the Kanyid ranch. The chickens and other fowl live in the Sullivan’s backyard. All six kids, from Mor- gan, 15, to Johnathon, 5, have many animal chores throughout the day. Family Rule is that if the animals have not been fed, you don’t get fed. The children have all learned to be responsible, along with the skills and lessons all farm kids learn: animals take constant work, you will get muddy and dirty and tired but taking care of your animals fi rst is Rule One. Jason and Bobbi believe that the work their children do is helping them to learn important life lessons. “They have learned to be responsible,” said Bobbi, “along with learn- ing about working so you can pay bills, that you keep going even when you don’t want to.” Along with the family’s little farm, keeping their garden producing (Mor- gan got Grand Champion Reserve on her Fair entries for Horticulture), their work as ranch hands for their “Aunt Donna,” and Bobbi’s “regular work” at Step Forward, the family keeps busy. Sunny Werner / The Baker County Press CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 Sunny Werner / The Baker County Press Katelyn Sullivan shows off her wagon full of fl owers. Bobbi is the organizer for their 4H group. Morgan is President. Morgan had to provide all needed support to their twelve 4Hers at this year’s Baker County Fair as Bobbi had surgery Monday of Fair week. All the entries from the group ribboned, at either second place or higher. Morgan herself was Grand Champion on her Market Doe, in addition to her many other awards. As though their responsi- bilities weren’t enough, the Sullivan Family also takes a little “ petting zoo” to visit the elders at Settler’s Park, helps an older lady with her yard, and “pays forward” every chance they get. They love to grow enough in their vegetable garden that they can give to Salvation Army, so their clients can have fresh veg- etables. They put together care baskets for people they know are in need. As Bobbi said, “We couldn’t get by without the wonderful help we’ve had from so many people. We like being able to keep that going, when we can give to others.” Elk damage watch part deux antelope (all of which I saw together in one of the fi elds last year) away from prime harvesting spots every two to three hours each night, pos- sibly risking losing them all if they THE OUTDOOR COLUMN migrate when bow By Todd Arriola season starts. Around this same time Call me last year—almost exactly crazy, but that’s an odd the same time—elk began pursuit to undertake as a taking extensive, damag- hunter. A brief side note: ing, buffet-style tours of I won’t be able to hunt the several alfalfa fi elds in the antelope—just the deer and South Sumpter Wildlife the elk, when it‘s legal to Management Unit, prompt- do so. ing me to be enlisted to This particular pur- chase them out, several suit, however, has, as its times each night during the reward—signifi cantly hay growing season. As less damage caused to the this article goes to print, I alfalfa, since an ever- will probably have begun expanding herd of elk can Elk Watch Part Deux, or wreak havoc on not only How I Tortured Myself the crop fi elds, but also Nightly Until Bow Season the fences surrounding Started. them. I witnessed both of I’m not saying this isn’t these issues last year, and an excellent scouting op- I can assure you that most portunity for the upcoming farmers and ranchers won’t General Deer/Elk Bow sit idly by as their potential season, August 29 through profi ts are consistently September 27, in that eaten away. area. I’m just saying that The fence damage was it involves almost a month apparent as each new day of chasing deer, elk, and arrived, something I fully Todd Arriola / The Baker County Press Jeremy and Ashlee Yerrick pose by their newly upgraded pumps. expect to see again this time. Regular height, barbed-wire fencing is common in the fi elds and hills, and it can turn into a tangled mess on the ground each night between dusk and dawn, ready for a frustrated hazer to reas- semble in the morning. With a good water source and food available in the same spot or spots every night, I can’t exactly blame the elk for choosing the easy, all-you-can-eat meal. I received an “offi cial okay” from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) last year to haze (chase away) the elk (and the deer and the antelope, in my case), with a one-page document that was meant to be shown to any interested (nosy) neighbor or other party, who may have had an is- sue with the hazing. No, permission wasn’t needed from ODFW to push the herds out of the private fi elds nightly, but inform- ing the agency of the dam- age being caused and any associated details, like the growing herd size, meant that a pattern was docu- mented, and that appropri- ate steps were being taken to resolve the issues. I played a bit of “musical tags” last year, turning in my regular bow season elk and deer tags to ODFW in order to get a damage con- trol tag for a cow elk, and a Land Owner Preference (LOP) tag for a doe deer. This time, I’ll make it easy on myself (and everyone else) by sticking with the regular bow season deer and elk tags. By the way, damage control tags for elk aren’t diffi cult to get, but I’ve seen the number of the same type of tags issued last year for deer, and the list was very short. One of the benefi ts of running around in the dark (in an ATV) is seeing all the animals in addi- tion to the deer, elk and antelope, on their nightly adventures. I saw badgers, coyotes, porcupines and rabbits the last time, but I only managed to harvest two porcupines and two badgers. This time, who knows. Sometimes, the animals aren’t the only ones who improve their methods. Speaking of improve- ments, many of my nightly runabouts and other jour- neys this year and beyond will involve company of the best kind, overwhelm- ing evidence for which has been shown, in my humble opinion, that the female is truly the better half—it’s not sexist if you criticize your own gender, is it? Good luck with your adventures! He said, “We work until the job is done. As long as it takes. We have taken two four-day weekends in the last 13 months,” explaining that a typical work week averages 60 to 70 hours. The couple will be looking to hire an ad- ditional fuel delivery truck driver, Jeremy said. Currently, he handles most of the deliveries, while Ashlee handles accounting and other paper work, and oc- casionally some deliveries. The Baker City facility is the bulk location for a variety of lubricating oils the company sells, as well as several different fuel types (the highest percentage of bulk sales is for off-road diesel fuel), bought at “extreme wholesale” and sold at wholesale, Jeremy said. “We feel we can in- crease our business, and stay extremely price competitive, and at the end of the day, we can sleep better at night, and the customer is getting a better deal.” Fuel prices are posted daily for the Baker City, North Powder and Haines locations (unconventional for a card lock system, Jeremy said), and the pump areas are lighted 24 hours a day. Jeremy explained that, “Having a clean product is very important for us,” speaking about the process to inspect and clean each storage tank at the Baker City facility. He also explained that, among other work completed, about 200 feet of piping was installed for each of the several tanks at the same location, linking them with the card lock pumps. Jeremy said, “The City’s been great to work with on this project, and the contractors who helped, the local talent pool. We relied heavily on the local talent, and that was a great way to meet people, and get this fi nished product the way it works the best.” The local talent included Bell, owner of Powder River Electric, recipient of the fi rst tank of fuel from the card lock pumps at the Baker City location on Monday; H & H Lock and Key; Stainless Steel Plus, Inc.; Challenger Company; M & L Excavation; Triple C Redi-Mix, Inc.; Century Link; Britt Sand & Gravel; Natural Structures; Oregon Sign Company, and many others, Jeremy said. “The people from the community have just been awe- some. Outdoor opportunities are pretty much endless. We have great mountains, if you go to the east or west,” Jeremy said, speaking about the warm reception from locals, and the appeal of the area. “I have a lot of pride in my work. Customer service is big for us. I genuinely care about our customers, and that they don’t run out of fuel,” Jeremy said. More information, including details about fuel pump card lock applications/accounts, can be found at blue- mountainoil.com, or by calling the Baker City offi ce, 2885 13th Street, at 541-523-4779. Benjamin Nelson indicted on sex abuse charge On August 6, 2015, Benjamin Evan Nelson (born 4-26-88) formerly of 1201 Reservoir Rd. Baker City, Oregon was arraigned on a Grand Jury Indictment on one count of Sexual Abuse in the First Degree. The crime is alleged to have occurred in June of 2013 and the victim was known to Nelson. Nelson is currently being held in the Multnomah County Jail. Nelson has been charged in Multnomah County with multiple child sexual abuse charges includ- ing Sodomy in the First Degree and Unlawful Sexual Penetration in the First Degree. In the Baker County case, bail was set at $100,000. Nelson has an entry of plea hearing scheduled in Baker County on September 14, 2015. Do you read The Baker County Press every week? Why not change that habit into a subscription!? See Page 11.