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.
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