10 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS
FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 2016
Local
Commissioners hear
about Hop Heaven
expansion plans
BY TODD ARRIOLA
Todd@TheBakerCountyPress.com
The Baker County Board
of Commissioners held
a special work session,
on Wednesday, April 20,
2016, 9 a.m., in the Com-
mission Chambers, of the
Baker County Courthouse,
with the main topics of
an Industrial Park prop-
erty purchase offer, the
Columbia Basin Helicopter
settlement, and support of
the American Stewards of
Liberty.
Present from the Board
were Commission Chair
Bill Harvey, and Commis-
sioners Mark Bennett and
Tim Kerns. Baker County
Administrative Assis-
tant Shay Sells sat in for
Executive Assistant Heidi
Martin.
Also in attendance were
Baker County Adminis-
trative Service Director
Christena Cook, and Joel-
leen Lindstrom.
The session was called
to order, followed by the
optional Invocation, and
the Pledge of Allegiance,
both recited by Harvey.
There were no previous
meeting minutes to review,
and after Harvey noted two
additions to the agenda, it
was adopted, with a mo-
tion from Bennett, and a
second from Kerns. There
were no comments offered
during Citizen Participa-
City
Council
CONTINUED FROM
PAGE 7
Owen presented an
Aquifer Storage and
Recovery (ASR) Well Use
Report, which is required
tion.
Harvey began the discus-
sion regarding a 2.74 acre
parcel of County property,
in the Industrial Park area,
for which the County has
received an offer to pur-
chase, from Ted and Jodie
Hausotter, owners of Hop
Heaven. The Hausotters
also own Natural Struc-
tures.
Their letter, dated April
20, 2016, detailed Hop
Heaven’s intent to pur-
chase the vacant property,
which is described as Map
No. 09S4007D, Lot No.
407, for $42,180, which is
the assessed value. They
stated that payment could
be made upon acceptance,
and that the offer would
expire in 30 days.
According to the letter,
Hop Heaven would com-
bine its storage facilities,
which are currently spread
over the Northwest in the
hop growing regions, to
one facility in Baker City.
If the offer’s accepted, a
processing facility will
be built this summer, to
be in use by September
2016. The first phase of
the building process, a
4,000 square foot industrial
building (50’ x 80’), will
be set up for packaging
operations, cold storage,
and pellet processing. The
building size will in-
crease with future phases,
including a larger capacity
pelletizer, and more cold
storage.
Hop Heaven started in
2008, selling 200 pounds
of hops, and experi-
enced significant growth,
exceeding 50,000 pounds
currently. “As you can
see, sales continue to grow,
and brewers enjoy the
hops. We are searching for
a home for the company.
With my ties to Baker
County, we would prefer
to stay in the area,” stated
the letter.
The decision was made
to proceed with a formal
purchase agreement for
the property, for the stated
value, with a motion from
Bennett, and a second from
Kerns.
Resolution No. 2016-
1004, Appropriation Trans-
fer Within The Non-De-
partmental Department Of
The County General Fund,
was adopted, with a motion
from Bennett, and a second
from Kerns. According to
the document, $326,748
was transferred from the
Contingency fund, to the
Legal Settlements fund,
previously $0, in order to
settle the Columbia Basin
Helicopter (aka David Mc-
Carty) case. The resulting
balance of the Contingency
fund, previously $674,765,
is $348,017, after the
transfer.
Cook discussed the docu-
ment with the Board prior
each April, in the form of a
public meeting, regarding
anticipated well use, for
the upcoming peak water
demand season.
Owen said she’s always
chosen to hold the meet-
ing during City Council
meetings (she noted, at the
time, there was no atten-
dance from the public).
This requirement is part
of issuance of the Recov-
ery Permit, in 2009.
Per the permit, the City
is authorized to inject
water into the well, from
November 1st, to July
15th.
The City can inject up
to the 200 million gal-
lon capacity, or until July
15th, whichever comes
first. She said this year,
the goal was to inject the
water (200 million gallons
has already been injected,
the maximum) prior to the
Todd Arriola / The Baker County Press
L-R: Commissioners Mark Bennett, Bill Harvey and Tim Kerns.
to approval, stating that
$324,347.94, plus interest,
for a total of $326,748, is
the amount, as of Wednes-
day, owed to the prevailing
party, David McCarty, for
attorney fees and costs,
in the Baker County vs.
David McCarty, aka Co-
lumbia Basin Helicopter
case. Cook said the check
for the amount would be
issued the same day of the
session.
Prior to the resolution’s
approval, Lindstrom com-
mented that interest would
be due through Friday,
though the check was is-
sued on Wednesday, since
there would be a delay
in actually receiving the
funds. Cook said she’s
aware of that detail, and
that would be included.
Resolution No. 2016-
1005, Supporting The
American Stewards Of
Liberty Coalition Of
Counties For The Purpose
Of Opposing The BLM
Proposed New Rules
Changes In Planning
2,0, was adopted, with a
motion from Harvey, and
a second from Bennett.
Harvey explained, prior
to approval, that there are
issues with proposed rules
regarding commenting
periods, and County input,
and American Stewards of
Liberty would be an asset,
in assisting with reject-
ing the BLM’s (Bureau of
Land Management) draft
Planning 2.0, and request-
ing the BLM follow the
coordination legal process
instead, including planning
efforts on Baker County
natural resources, as a
stand-alone plan, and not
combined with other plan-
ning of other counties.
Bennett spoke about an
Oregon Military Depart-
ment (OMD) agreement
with the County, regarding
property exchange, in the
National Guard Armory,
and Event Center areas, a
topic previously discussed.
He said the Baker County
Fair Board has asked the
Board to ratify the agree-
ment, and the decision was
made to authorize the deed
transfer, and to ratify the
agreement at a future meet-
ing, with a motion from
Bennett, and a second from
Kerns. The transfer would
include a payment from
OMD to the Fair Board, of
$500,000, for anticipated,
and unanticipated costs,
etc.
irrigation season, to avoid
issues with usage.
The ASR well is used to
help the City meet public
water demand, by provid-
ing additional water when
daily use is very high, in
the heat of the summer,
and when the mountain
water has turbidity (cloudi-
ness, or haziness, affecting
water quality) issues, dur-
ing spring snow melt.
Switching between
injection, and use requires
significant water quality
testing, she said.
Owen said the snow pack
this year, compared to last
year, is much better.
Kee said that City Man-
ager position interviews
are set for May 9, and May
10, 2016, with a social
Meet and Greet, on May
9, 2016, at 5:30 p.m. All
of the four finalists (there
were six originally) have
been notified, he said, and
a press release has been
sent, with their names, and
short bios about each.
Kee said he’s bee work-
ing with Nelson Real
Estate, and the Elkhorn In-
dustrial Park is ready to be
marketed, with lots ranging
in size from over an acre,
to around 16 acres.
Women’s veterans coordinator pays visit
BY SUNNY WERNER
Sunny@TheBakerCountyPress.com
In the state of Oregon,
there are 28,324 women
veterans.
While as eligible to
receive services from the
Veteran’s Administration
as their male counterparts,
the majority of women
who have served in the
military do not identify
themselves as veterans,
and do not apply for the
benefits for which they are
eligible.
Oregon Department of
Veterans’ Affairs has begun
addressing this issue with
the establishment of the
Statewide Veteran Services
Women Veterans Coordi-
nator.
This Coordinator, Eliza-
beth Estabrooks, former
Baker County resident, is
tasked with reaching out to
Oregon’s women veterans,
and developing programs,
which will encourage those
women to avail themselves
of the services and benefits
they are due.
In order to gather infor-
mation to aid in program
development and needs
assessment, Estabrooks is
traveling the State, holding
meetings which she terms
“Listening Meetings.”
Rather than presenting
information on currently
available programmes,
Estabrooks believes her
position as Coordinator
means she should find out,
from the women her office
is slated to serve, what
their needs actually are.
Having the women veter-
ans explain their own bar-
riers to receiving needed
services, talking about
what can happen when
they try to access benefits,
discussing whether current
services meet the needs of
female veterans, all this
information will inform
Estabrooks’ future program
development.
An assessment of this
depth takes time, and
as Estabrooks explains,
“Not all women who have
served in the military con-
sider themselves veterans.”
This has led to her adver-
tising the regional Listen-
ing Meetings without using
the term “veterans,” but
instead using “women who
have served in the mili-
tary.”
Estabrooks goes on to
say, “When I am speaking
to a group of women, if I
ask, ‘How many of you are
veterans?’ few hands go
up. But when I say ‘how
many of you served in
the military?’ many more
hands are raised.”
For some reason, prob-
ably because “combat
veteran” used to be a term
only used to describe men,
the word “veteran” seems,
to many to refer to males.
(With recent changes in
policy, women in the mili-
tary are now considered
eligible for combat.)
The position held by both
the Veteran’s Administra-
tion and Oregon Depart-
ment of Veterans’ Affairs
is that the word “veteran”
refers to all individuals
who have served in any
branch of the military at
any time.
The services and benefits
available to veterans have
traditionally been devel-
oped to reflect the needs of
men. With men being the
majority of service people
in the past, that seemed
reasonable. However,
with the rapidly increas-
ing number of women
enlisting over the past few
decades, those “tradition-
al” access points no longer
reflect the needs of many
of the veterans they serve.
Oregon is alone in its
commitment to serving its
veterans. Every county
in Oregon has a Veterans
Services Officer, staffed
by a veteran who is fully
committed to serving the
veterans in their county.
VSOs have access to
resources and information
to assist in application for
benefits, service requests,
and how to receive the full
benefits some veterans are
due. In Baker County, the
VSO is Rick Gloria,
Baker County Veterans
Service Office, 541-523-
8223, Email - rgloria@
bakercounty.org. Gloria is
available by appointment.
On Monday, April 25,
Estabrooks held a “Lis-
tening Session” in Baker
City’s library. Due to a
scheduling snafu with the
library, the date had to be
changed at the last mo-
ment.
Estabrooks reassures
us that she will return and
offer another session in
the near future, with, she
hopes, more women who
have served being able to
attend.
With over 170 women
veterans in Baker County,
Estabrooks intends to gath-
er as much information as
she can. Some of the spe-
cifically women-veteran
related issues she has come
across in her information
gathering include the facts
that, frequently, women
veterans are in low-paying
jobs and usually have
children.
As Estabrooks explains
“when you are afraid of
losing your job, you don’t
ask for time off so you can
go to a VA facility at least
126 miles away. And even
if you could get the time,
it’s likely to be unpaid,
and you still need to pay
for day care while you are
at the VA.” Also are the
issues of sexual assault/
sexual harassment and
bullying, unfortunately not
uncommon in the military.
The recognized term by the
Veteran’s Administration is
“Military Sexual Trauma,”
and is accepted to en-
compass both female and
male victims. Men suffer
from MST at a rate of 7%,
women 22% (Department
of Defence news transcript,
May 1, 2015).
Given that number,
nearly one in four women
in the military have suf-
fered MST. For some of
the victims, other effects
follow; PTSD, other
mental health issues, and
physical outcomes. For
women veterans who have
MST, living in rural areas,
being offered a ride in a
VA bus with male drivers
and mostly male passen-
gers is not an acceptable or
safe option.
The issue of suicide
among veterans has be-
come a national point of
shame. The figures avail-
able tell us that 22 veterans
per day choose to end their
lives. What we now know
is that, of those 22, 14 are
Submitted Photo.
Elizabeth Estabrooks.
women vets.
Two-thirds of the veteran
suicides are women. With-
out available and appro-
priate help, these women
have taken the only way
out they could find.
The numbers of veterans
who suffer from drug-
related issues is another
issue. As in details about
veteran homelessness, the
numbers don’t include the
majority of female home-
less and / or drug using
veterans, because women
tend to not self identify, or
bunk at homeless shelters;
especially if they have
children.
Estabrooks stated, “I
want women vets, women
who were in the military,
to call me if they experi-
ence any problems with
denial of benefits, barriers,
or if think they will be
denied if they try to make
a claim. Call me at 1-800-
828-8801, direct: 503-373-
2188.”