BUSINESS: Wisdom House holds open house, ready for business . PAGE 3 The LOCAL: Pine-Eagle Charter School’s homecoming . PAGE 5 Baker County Press TheBakerCountyPress.com 75¢ All local. All relevant. Every Friday. Friday, October 9, 2015 • Volume 2, Issue 41 Government transparency the topic of ORP tour • CORRUPTION, WASTE AND DELAYS DISCUSSED BY KERRY McQUISTEN News@TheBakerCountyPress.com “Power does not check itself,” said Anne Ma- rie Gurney, Chair of the Oregon Republican Party’s (ORP’s) Government Transparency Committee. Gurney brought the party’s Transparency and Listen- ing Tour to Baker City Tuesday night. The meeting, held at the Sunridge Inn, featured ORP Chair Bill Currier and State Representative Cliff Bentz, and was attended by a small group of local residents. Among those in the audience were several Precinct Committee People from the party at the county level, Baker County Commission Chair Bill Harvey and ORP Treasurer Ken Taylor. Rep. Greg Barreto, origi- nally scheduled to attend, was held up by an ear- lier engagement in Union County, which ran over. Currier said the tour was focused on discussing “waste, corruption, collus- tion and secrecy,” par- ticularly in the wake of the scandal involving former Governor Kitzhaber and live-in girlfriend Cylvia Hayes. Topics of interest tossed out to the audience began with the ease, or in most cases, the diffi culty receiv- ing public records requests. “I’m working on a stone- wall,” Gurney said. “The agency won’t call me back. It’s simple information. Or they send me a really big bill for a ream of paper... The public needs access to their government.” Gurney said the idea of pushing for transparency isn’t a new one. In fact, one Oregon Democrat led a similar tour in 2010. Kerry McQuisten / The Baker County Press Anne Marie Gurney, Chair of ORP’s Government Transparency Committee, introduces ORP Chair Bill Currier. SEE TRANSPARENCY PAGE 5 Training officials meet at PD Chandler Herefords inducted in Hall of Fame Kerry McQuisten / The Baker County Press DPSST Director Eriks Gabliks, center, leads the discussion in the training room at the Baker City Police Department. Brian Addison/ The Baker County Press Sixth generation Chandler Herefords rancher Duane Chandler pictured here with one of his prized bulls. Chandler Herefords enters its 126th year of continuous operation. The Chandlers have recently been inducted into the National Hereford Hall of Fame. • FAMILY TO TRAVEL TO MISSOURI TO ACCEPT AWARD THIS MONTH BY BRIAN ADDISON Brian@TheBakerCountyPress.com Chandler Herefords enters its 126th year of operation this year ranking it as the oldest continuously managed Hereford cattle operation in the nation. The longevity and tradition of producing award-winning cattle have recently earned the Chandlers an induction into the National Her- eford Hall of Fame, and the family plans a trip to Kansas City, Missouri this October to accept the award. The Chandlers have called Baker Valley home since Charles Chandler I, wagon-master, arrived here in 1862 when the discovery of gold fi rst brought settlers to the county. By 1889, Charles began the ranching operation on land several miles north of Baker City branding his fi rst Hereford with the same brand that has now been passed down through six generations of the Chandler family. During the past 125 years, the Chandler Herefords op- eration has maintained supremacy in the industry evolv- ing from horse-pulled wagon trains to computer statisti- cal programs and high-tech marketing techniques. Friday Saturday Sunday Mostly sunny and warm, highs in the low to mid 80s. Partly cloudy and cool at night with lows in the mid 40s. Your weekend weather forecast for Baker County. Our forecast made possible by this generous sponsor: Sunny to start with increasing clouds late in the day, high near 80. Cloudy with a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. Chance of precipi- tation is 20%. Lows in the mid 40s. Mostly cloudy and much cooler, highs near 70. Partly clear, lows near 40 at night. BY KERRY McQUISTEN In the early days, top cowhands loaded select Chandler Herefords cattle aboard rail cars pulled by steam-powered locomotives and toured the cattle shows all across the nation. “Wherever the tracks would take them,” said six- generation ranch manager Duane Chandler. The hands traveled in custom modifi ed rail cars with cattle on the bottom and human living quarters above. Tours covered the southern and northern portions of the nation, Duane explained. The cowhands would return after a six-month tour with a carload of awards and, one can only imagine, a vast depth of stories to tell. Chandler Herefords quickly gained a reputation as one of the best breeding operations in the nation and the cash awards from winning shows were enough to fi nancially support the cattle and the employees on the long tours. In 1917, and then again in 1958, Chandler Herefords received the National Championship Car Load, the high- est honor a breeder can achieve and an acknowledgement of superior practices in genetics and animal husbandry . The goal of a breeder is consistent, high-quality calves and the carload award goes to the producer who shows the most uniformity among a carload, 15 head, of their cattle. Because of their understanding of select genetics, the Chandlers were recognized, from 1910 to 1960, as the most dominant Hereford ranchers in the nation. SEE CHANDLER HEREFORDS PAGE 3 Offi cial weather provider for The Baker County Press. • LISTENING TOUR FOCUSES ON WHAT WORKS AND DOESN’T WORK IN OREGON LAW ENFORCEMENT TRAINING News@TheBakerCountyPress.com This was the week for “listening” tours in Baker City. On the same day as the Oregon Republican Party’s listen- ing/transparency tour, The Department of Public Safety Standards and Training (DPSST) also sent some of its leadership team across the state, visiting with constitu- ents, i.e., members of local law enforcement agencies and others, on its 2015 Listening Tour. Baker City was just one stop. Among other things, DPSST coordinates the 16-week training academy, which offi cers must complete in order to be certifi ed. The two-hour meeting was held in the training room at the Baker City Police Department (BCPD) on Auburn, hosted by Baker City Police Chief Wyn Lohner and Lieutenant Dustin Newman, with Deputy Will Benson of the Baker County Sheriff’s Offi ce and Chris Galiszewski from 911 and the Greater Bowen Valley Fire Department, as well as private investigator Dennis Beyer present. Other attendees aside from several DPSST staff in- cluded representatives from the Malheur County Sheriff’s Department and the Nyssa Police Department. DPSST Director Eriks Gabliks of Salem led the discus- sion. “These aren’t our programs. They’re yours,” he said. “We’re just the stewards of them.” SEE POLICE TRAINING PAGE 8 ALSO IN THIS ISSUE Taste of Baker Sam-O-Swim committee County Commissioner coverage Community Connection vanpool Sumpter volunteers meet Homemade Goodness: Pumpkin! Page 5 Page 8 Page 9 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11