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About The Baker County press. (Baker City, Ore.) 2014-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 2, 2015)
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2015 THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 5 Local Fuji TV in Baker City CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 In fact, the star of the show will be allowed only a one-night stay before being hurried back to the airport—only then learn- ing the true premise of the show. While many details of the production were top secret, the show will most certainly involve hidden cameras, a few tricks, and a hopefully a ghost sight- ing or two. Nakajima said this trip was his first to Oregon and Baker City. “Gorgeous,” he said. “I can feel the history and a magic in the city.” Meanwhile, as crews worked to wire the suite in which the infamous spirit of the “Lady in Blue” has been reported, Sidway sat with Rich Newman, a multi-published author with the Llewellyn pub- lishing house. From Memphis, Ten- nessee, but with plans to move to Oregon, Newman has been investigating the paranormal for over a decade, he said, and has published multiple books, including one featuring the Geiser Grand. He is also a filmmaker whose first f - ture film, a documentary called “Ghosts of War,” was released in 2011. “I love history,” said Newman with a slight southern accent. Newman had recently been involved in a production for the Discovery Channel at the famous Orpheum Theater. “I’ve found that at these haunted locations, about 30 percent of the people are comfortable with calling them haunted, and 70% aren’t. Not officiall . I’ve most recently been at some haunted Civil War sites— including a 1834 home. It seems to me that the history and the stories of the hauntings so often go together,” Newman said. “I agree,” Sidway said. “The two are so related.” From there, Los An- geles-based production coordinator, Yudai Ishihara entered the room and pro- vided translation services for director Yosuke Na- kashima and Sidway. Ishihara has lived in the U.S. for 10 years, he said, though originally from To- kyo. This production, his 45th, also marked his first trip to Oregon and definit - ly his first adventure inside the hotel. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Kerry McQuisten / The Baker County Press L-R: Production coordinator Yudai Ishihara stands next to director Yosuke Nakashima after establishing the backdrop for one of the filming sites inside the hotel. “The goal,” said Lorrie Harvey, “is to tell the story of how decisions have affected people, property, animals, trees and air quality in a catastrophic way with regard to wildfires and public land management. The production was paid for by undisclosed private funding, she added, not through any organized group. In addition to standard camera equipment, Hart also utilizes a drone to capture aerial views of burn areas. Said Bennett, “My wife and I work diligently to be good stewards of the land that we have been entrusted with, yet across the fence our neighbor (the federal government) because of national policy, has land that is covered with Juniper, invasive weeds, ladder fuels, dead trees and is a risk to our efforts to have a healthy vibrant landscape. Since the lands are public lands we should stress that all citizens should insist that the same level of stewardship be applied to all our lands.” After gathering initial footage, Hart plans to return from his home base in Utah to Baker City to finalize the doc - mentary and fill in any holes The final product will be roughly 15 minutes long and the audience is meant to be far-reaching—including legislators of all levels along with Federal, State and local government staff, and environmental groups. Bennett concluded, “As to the documentary—what a great opportunity to tell our message to those who really need to hear it. Chicago, New York, the metro areas, etc. Otherwise we are preaching to the choir.” More information on the final video and how it can be viewed will be made available at a later date. NRAC plan approved CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Kerry McQuisten / The Baker County Press L-R: Paranormal author Rich Newman and Barbara Sidway, Geiser Grand owner, discuss the rich history of the hotel. “So far it looks beauti- ful,” he commented. “Now hopefully we can see some ghosts.” Standing beneath one of the Geiser Grand’s crystal chandeliers, Ishihara said he was usually on the other side of interviews, and then he and the director had an entertaining discus- sion in Japanese regarding answering questions and appearing in photos. “I’m not used to this,” Ishihara said with a laugh, before advising the director to tuck away his cell phone for a photo. Fuji Television is a major client for Ishihara’s Los Angeles-based employer. When asked about his de- cision to reside in the U.S., he said, “I thought if I wanted to know how mov- ies are made, I would go to the place—Hollywood.” Early Tuesday evening, the camera crew inter- viewed a segment with Sidway, then awaited the arrival of their actor, whom they would monitor and film that night and the fo - lowing day. With almost 1,500 employees and a valuation in the billions of dollars, Fuji Television is based in Minato-ku, Tokyo. The company was founded in 1959, and has 13 offices around the globe, includ- ing three within the United States. Located on Main Street in Baker City, the Geiser Grand Hotel has been fea- tured on the hit SyFy show “Ghost Mine” as well as in various print media such as “Sunset Magazine,” “The New York Times,” and “Newsweek.” More information can be found at www.geisergrand.com. “Mysteries of the World” is set to air sometime in January 2016. Vandals harm plants along river for second time Last week The Baker Count Press ran a story about the volunteer effort along the river, which included trash pickup and the replacement of shrubs and plants that had been previously vandalized. Over the course of the past week, the new plants have also been vandalized. The following is a state- ment from Anna Morgan, Outreach Coordinator for the Powder Basin Wa- tershed Council: "In an effort to serve the community and enhance the region’s water quality, the Powder Basin Wa- tershed Council holds an annual fall-time cleanup Documentary filmed event. “This year’s event took place along the Leo Adler Memorial Pathway and focused on two areas of community interest: clean- ing up the Powder River and restoring riparian areas and bank stabilization by planting native plants. “The day turned out to be a huge success! In fact the volunteer base was seven times its historical size and included commu- nity groups like the Baker City Girl Scouts, Cove Girl Scouts, La Grande Girl Scouts, Baker Technical Institute and Wells Fargo Volunteers! Students rang- ing from four years old to eighteen years old donated their enthusiasm and hard work and in three hours ac- complished pulling out 650 pounds of garbage from the Powder River! “In addition to the forty plus bags of garbage, students planted 32 native plants including mock orange, red osier dogwood, and golden wax currents intended to provide shade for the river, bank stabili- zation, habitat for riparian critters, and reduce runoff into the Powder. “Unfortunately over the course of the week the Powder Basin Watershed Council was notified that these plants were vandal- ized. “ It is unfortunate, not only because of all the hard work and time volunteered by community members has been degraded, but also because this is the second incident of vandalism to native plantings along the pathway. The authorities have been notified and the incident is being investigated, however, the Powder Basin Watershed Council would like to ac- knowledge the effort of the community and thank them for their stewardship. “The next river cleanup will take place in Spring 2016." Subscribe today! Visit www.TheBakerCountyPress.com and sign up now! Harvey replied, “Yes, Ma’am, they did.” Braswell felt that element had not been explained to the committee. She also indicated that all members are not “up to par” in the committee and added, “Quite frankly, I think many are confused.” Braswell also told the Commissioners that the Natural Resources Plan in front of them was not sent out to all the committee members, including her. Although she had obtained a copy, she claimed she requested the document be sent again and her “request was ignored.” She felt elements of the plan were not clear or hadn’t been discussed thoroughly enough. She also questioned how revisions and additions to the plan discussed at the last meeting could have possibly been updated in a copy of the plan that was sent out only minutes after that meet- ing. When asked if she had any specific issues to point out Braswell said, “Just that we have not seen a copy of this as a group and we have not been able to vote on it as a final draft as a group.” She went on to sa , “The Natu- ral Resources Plan, as it sits, in my opinion and in the opinion of several others, is not a document that would be worthy of using in front of a Federal agency or any other government agency for that matter.” Harvey asked Braswell if she fully understood what a Natural Resource Plan was. She stated in substance that she indeed did. Harvey went on to explain, “It is not a document; it’s a guiding principal laid out in a format to follow in discus- sions that are decided upon by the Commissions. It’s not something that has to be decided on ahead of time; it’s an ongoing process.” Braswell advised that the Committee was led to believe that this was a document that needed to be done and done correctly as fast as possible. Being correct was of utmost importance because it would difficult to amend late . Harvey said that in the beginning, the Commission- ers suggested there be a comprehensive plan. Since then it was discovered that it is very difficult to put it into a comprehensive plan and not necessary. Harvey told Bras- well he had explained that at a meeting but was unsure of whether or not she was at that meeting. The purpose of the plan is to have a working document to work with Federal and State agencies ongoing to formulate deci- sions and move forward with plans. He likened the plan to a set of blue prints. Harvey said, “I can guarantee you after 35 years in construction the set of plans you start with are not what you end up with.” Braswell acknowledged that point of view with Harvey stating he appreciated that. Braswell again reiterated that if the document was taken to a State agency with the grammatical errors and such it would not be taken seriously as submitted by profession- als. Chuck Chase spoke next. He said, “This is an ongoing document. It can be changed and modified along the wa . I urge the Commissioners to accept this as a whole and not be too picky. We, the NRAC committee, can delve into it more and will probably start at our next meeting.” Numerous others in the room spoke in regard to the document most in agreement to support the document. Ramona Creighton told the commission that everyone needed to start working together more, and that she felt it had become an “embarrassing thing” and it was dysfunc- tional, citing political views as a possible reason. “This needs to stop. Get this going. Change what you need to change and quit this nonsense. Thank you.” SEE NRAC PAGE 7