FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 2016
THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 5
Opinion / Local
— Letters to the Editor —
Democrats voting for Nichols is a positive
thing
To the Editor:
As the upcoming election process unfolds it is interest-
ing to read letters to the editors in our local papers. Usu-
ally the authors draw on their own experiences to convey
support or opposition of a candidate. Other times the
letters are written in ways that display the writer’s anger
or frustration over the process or what they perceive to be
a fight between “us” and “them.”
One writer recently suggested that the reason the
Democrats did not submit a candidate for Baker County
Commissioner is that some Democrats (or former Demo-
crats) are now supporting Bruce Nichols. How wonder-
ful is that? To know that some of our Democratic friends
and neighbors can now support a man like Bruce Nichols
is great. They recognize that men of his caliber, honesty,
integrity, and life experiences make him the man to sup-
port that they did not, in this instance, find in their own
ranks. It is not that Mr. Nichols has changed in character
or beliefs. He is still a very strong supporter of our con-
stitution and will not swerve in his defense of it. He will
execute sound judgment in all his dealings whether the
circumstances are pleasant or not, whether the outcome
is pleasant or not, or whether the establishment wants to
hear it or not.
So here is my letter to the editor and when all is said
and done my hope is that the “us” and “them” folks
become “we.” We can vote, we can choose, we can go
through this election process without anger and we can
unite to elect Bruce Nichols as Baker County Commis-
sioner.
Anita Nelson
Baker City
Nichols has supported the Shriners
To the Editor:
Bruce is a super candidate for the commission. He
is familiar with local businesses, Ranchers, Farmers,
Schools, budgets and accounting in all types of opera-
tions that need his talents. Bruce is locally raised, edu-
cated and works as a Certified Accountant.
He graduated from Baker High School and has lived
most of his life in Baker County.
He has directed several people to donate some of their
large and small funds and time to the East West Shrine
Game held in Baker City each year. Which are then
passed on to the Shriner Hospital for Children in Port-
land.
He has been a large supporter of the Baker County
Shrine Club and the fundraisers that we do for the benefit
of getting kids who need specialized treatment, care and
travel; to receive the care they need at no charge to them,
yes I mean at no charge. Any of the children who go to
our hospital are not charged for any of their care and
operations.
Bruce is always cordial and courteous to whoever
might ask for his input in everyday problems that might
come their way.
Bruce is a Certified Public Accountant and the person
we need as a County Commissioner that will keep all of
us in Baker County better advised to help us and let us
know what is happening with the County budgets and
financing.
Vote for Bruce Nichols for Baker County Commission-
er, position number 1, for results and confidence.
Dick Kirby
Baker City
Law enforcement consolidation
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Consolidation of County
and City law enforcement
has been tossed around
locally in years past.
Baker City Police Chief
Wyn Lohner said in an
interview Tuesday, “This
idea comes up every
couple of years and shows
an ignorance regarding
how local law enforce-
ment works. At one point,
Vern Hull, a Lieutenant
here who left back in 2004,
studied the issue on a
broad scale and determined
that if consolidating the
Sheriff’s Department and
the City Police is solely
an effort to save money, it
simply doesn’t work.”
Lohner said typically
larger entities in terms of
force, such as a county,
absorb law enforcement
management for smaller
entities, such as rural
towns without proper fund-
ing to maintain a police
department. Such is not
the case between Baker
County and Baker City.
He said, “And con-
solidating two agencies
will save no money when
there’s no crossover
between the two—no
duplication. And there isn’t
here. The only possible
area might be the time a
Sheriff’s deputy spends
serving civil subpoenas
within the City limits.
Past that, there just isn’t
duplication. That means in
order to save money, posi-
tions would have to be cut.
We can’t cut positions and
maintain the same level of
service to the community.”
Quality of service is
foremost in Lohner’s mind.
He said, “Right now
we have a City Manager
who supervises the Police
Chief. The City Council
oversees the City Manager.
The Council is answerable
to the local citizens. This is
the only system in which,
on a day-to-day basis, the
citizens have direct input
into the law enforcement
services they receive.”
But what if the plan
was to move the Sheriff’s
Department under the aus-
pices of the City Police?
“I can’t see how that
would be done,” said
Lohner. “There are state
statues and a County struc-
ture protecting that. What
would be the proposition?
To reduce the Sheriff just
to overseeing the jail and
civil?”
Lohner also pointed out,
“If we turned over our
department’s infrastruc-
ture, our fleet, etc., we
would never get it back.
The cost to rebuild after a
failed experiment would be
phenomenal.”
Lohner added, “We work
well with the Sheriff and
share resources when we
can anyway.”
Baker County Commis-
sioner Bill Harvey indicat-
ed that he’d heard Nichols’
idea of law enforcement
consolidation expressed
previously by the candi-
date.
Harvey said, “I don’t see
how that’s going to fly.
The City has a hired police
chief and the County has
an elected Sheriff. These
are two different types of
government to put togeth-
er, and I’d think that would
be extremely difficult. To
me it’s a non-issue.”
Harvey questioned the
economics of the idea in
terms of wondering where
the consolidated staff
would be housed, etc.
“Would we have to build
a new facility? Where
would the money come
from? It would just be very
difficult,” Harvey said. “I
can’t see the County want-
ing to go that way. A joint
County and City entity
would be very difficult. I
would think you’d see one
segment of the population
questioning whether they
were getting the same ser-
vice as another segment.”
Baker County Sheriff
Travis Ash said that with-
out seeing the facts of a
concrete proposal or seeing
a concept written out on
paper, he really couldn’t
comment on how a con-
solidation would work.
“I deal in facts,” he said.
Ash said he could see
possible negatives and pos-
sible benefits. “It wouldn’t
be a little task,” he said.
Ash said he had heard the
idea of the concept tossed
around in years past, but
not recently.
Baker County Sheriff’s
Deputy John Hoopes spoke
in his capacity as a candi-
date for Sheriff.
“As with any idea, I
could see points that are
good and points that are
bad. Overall, I don’t think
this would be a good idea
for many reasons,” said
Hoopes.
Hoopes believes a consol-
idated local law enforce-
ment department could
jeopardize the authority
given to sheriffs under the
Oregon State Constitution.
“The sheriff or police chief
would be acting more in a
chief enforcement officer
role—the sheriff would no
longer have the power to
deputize people because
he would no longer be an
elected official,” he said.
Hoopes continued, “This
would take a committee to
sort through this issue, and
again, we’d be looking at if
that’s worth the money to
study. The idea would be
to save money, but I don’t
see that saving money.”
Hoopes’ thoughts mir-
rored Lohner’s. “When
we look at anything that’s
been consolidated between
the City and County from
911 to Planning to Eco-
nomic Development, if the
City reached the point it
wanted to pay less or have
more control (as in the
current situation with eco-
nomic development), if the
City Police had given up
all its equipment, we could
never go back. The cost
to set up that department
again would be incredibly
high—we’d never be able
to do it.”
Hoopes also posed a
question similar to Har-
vey’s: “Would we need a
new office building for the
sheriff? How would that
work?”
County Commissioner
Mark Bennett also said the
idea isn’t new. “The last
time I actively was a part
of talking about a con-
solidation was back when
Sheriff Speelman was in
office. It just wouldn’t
have saved any money
back then.”
Bennett stated that the
only two reasons he could
think of to consolidate law
enforcement would be if it
was proven to save money
and provide improved ser-
vices. “Doing something
just to do something isn’t a
reason,” he said.
“Right now we have two
excellent law enforcement
agencies,” Bennett said.
He said in the case of the
911 Consolidated Dispatch
effort, the combination
“made fiscal sense.” He
believed the same of com-
bining City and County
Planning where he saw the
previous situation as “two
struggling small depart-
ments.”
But the Sheriff and City
Police? “You’d have to
look at is it saving money.
And we would have to
have a community discus-
sion about this.”
What might be the
benefits of consolidation?
Studies in the late 1990s
and early 2000s indicated
that multi-agency con-
solidations might serve
to promote benefits such
as standardized weaponry
and approaches, improved
employee retention, and
decreased confusion over
jurisdiction.
David Walsh, Chief of
Police, Appleton, Wiscon-
sin, Police Department
cautioned in The Police
Chief Magazine that six
items in his own area
“quickly derailed merger
success: 1. Disagreeing on
goals, 2. Failing to involve
all players, 3. Ignoring
community history, 4.
Incautiously using consul-
tants, 5. Reckless naming,
and 6. Forgetting it’s about
people.”
Walsh added that under
the first point alone, dis-
agreeing on goals, “Elected
officials on both sides of
the municipal line agreed
to three elements as indica-
tors of ‘success.’ They
stated the merger must:
increase the quality of
police service, offer long-
term financial gains for
both entities, and obtain
buy-in from community
stakeholders.
“These indicators were
developed with the hope of
providing realistic expecta-
tions. They were repeat-
edly part of presentations
to the governing bodies,
the community, and the
employees. Yet as soon
as they were stated aloud,
they were often discarded
in favor of more tangible
and immediate goals.”
In 2003 the International
Association of Chiefs of
Police issued a statement
outlining the complications
of law enforcement con-
solidation, which can range
from creating a combined
“metro” unit to mere cross-
deputization.
In regard to the subject
of law enforcement consol-
idation as discussed at the
Halfway meeting, Nichols
declined a phone interview
citing a busy work sched-
ule, and asked for written
questions instead.
Responses to those ques-
tions were not submitted in
time for print.
Robot
Kerry McQuisten / The Baker County Press
Chris Boyd demonstrates how to flip over and then
right the Avatar III.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
The Baker County Sheriff’s Department, Union County
Sheriff’s Department, Baker City Police Department,
and La Grande Police Department comprise the regional
SWAT team—so the benefits of the robot would be re-
gional rather than for just one county or city.
SWAT team commander Sergeant Gary Bell of the La
Grande Police Department was on hand for both demon-
strations. Said Bell, “It’s the piece of equipment that our
regional team is missing right now that would enable us
to accomplish the mission and do it as safe as we possibly
can.”
Dusty Perry, also a sergeant with the La Grande Police
Department, pointed out that one major high-risk incident
can consume the same financial amount as the cost of the
robot, as could one incident in which an injured officer
might need LifeFlighted out of the area due to an injury
that utilizing the robot may have prevented. The robot
when used in other areas has cut down the time dedicated
to high-risk incidents by up to half, in some cases.
The robot, said Boyd, is the same tactical model
utilized by the FBI. In the case of an armed standoff,
the robot “helps formulate the safest decision-making
involved.” With a built-in, protected camera and two-
way communication, the robot could be deployed into a
standoff to communicate and view suspects and victims,
helping determine whether a suspect for example, has de-
cided to comply, not to comply, is armed or not, or even
committed suicide. Thus, law enforcement can more
safely calculate a response to the situation. The robot has
also been utilized to examine suspicious packages.
The robot’s key selling points? Extreme durability and
a bargain price compared to many other models. “It’s rug-
ged,” said Boyd.
The robot has a lifespan of six to seven years, with two
rechargeable batteries included. Since batteries gener-
ally don’t need replaced, the cost to operate is minimal.
In addition with RoboteX fronting the training, meaning
that Boyd only needed to bill out for a plane ticket, the
original $28,000 cost was reduced to $25,000.
Several other robots—different models from vari-
ous companies—were all analyzed and viewed over the
weeks before the Avatar III rose to the top of the team’s
wish list.
According to RoboteX, “The Avatar III enhances ca-
pabilities of first responders by allowing them to quickly
and safely inspect dangerous situations without putting
anyone in harm’s way... It saves lives by keeping first
responders at a safer standoff distance.”
The robot weighs 25 pounds, climbs at a 60-degree
incline and has an operating range up to 300 meters.
Jerry Boyd, Baker County Reserve Commander and
Chris Boyd’s father, said he became involved in the robot
project’s fundraising efforts approximately two months
ago and plans to continue raising funds until the robot is
purchased. The elder Boyd said he first looked for grants,
and quickly found, “There aren’t any.”
The Northeast Regional SWAT Team has taken note of
the success the Baker City Police Department found in
raising funds from the community for Capa, the new drug
dog that replaced retired Turbo.
Tax deductible donations may be made in care of the
Baker City Police Department—SWAT Fund, 1768 Au-
burn Avenue, Baker City, OR 97814.
The Robot will be maintained by the Baker City Police
Department for immediate use by law enforcement agen-
cies (and the SWAT Team) in the region.
Woman shoots
self in leg
After concluding its initial investigation, the Baker
County Major Crime Team has determined that Amanda
Marie Murray, 19, accidentally shot herself in the leg on
April 10, 2016.
The gun was discharged during the disassembly pro-
cess. Murray indicated she was unaware that the gun, a
semi-automatic hand gun, had a bullet in the chamber
during the disassembly process. She is currently in stable
condition. The Baker County District Attorney’s Office is
reviewing the case for potential charges.
The incident occurred around 9 p.m., when the 19
year-old received a life-threatening injury when a single
bullet fired from a .40 caliber handgun struck her in the
left thigh.
There were multiple people inside the apartment at the
time the weapon went off. The incident occurred at 2920
Elm Street, apartment #20.