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About The Baker County press. (Baker City, Ore.) 2014-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 2, 2016)
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2016 THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 5 Local Festival of Trees takes over EIS for B2H 100 volunteers to pull off project out BY SAMANTHA O’CONNER Samantha@TheBakerCountyPress.com Thursday, December 1 to Saturday December 3, the Festival of Trees will be held in the Baker County Event Center at 2600 East Street. This is the 16th year the Festival of Trees has been held. This year, there are 21 trees decorated and dis- played in the center. Half of the trees are live and the other half are artificial. The live trees are from the Haines Stampede Rodeo Lot. There is a Raffle Tree people are able to bid on during the evenings of the event as well as on Satur- day, which is Family Day. The drawing for the tree will be at the end of Fam- ily Day. The Raffle Tree has pearl earrings and a pear bracelet from J. Tabor Jewelers. Each tree has their own decorators with a head decorator and other volun- teers. Each tree has a sponsor, a business or person, who will have their name or the name of their business on the tree as a type of adver- tisement. The profits made at the event go to the St. Al- phonsus Medical Center, through the St. Alphonsus Foundation. According to Laura Samantha O’Conner / The Baker County Press Misty Anderson, a volunteer, worked on this tree. Huggins, the organizer for the Festival of Trees, the foundation is its own 501C3, a nonprofit, and the hospital is a separate 501C3, but the purpose for the foundation is to sup- port the hospital. Huggins has worked for St. Alphonsus for five years and this is the fifth Festival of Trees she has been part of. “When the foundation raises money, it always goes to the hospital,” explained Huggins. “This year we are raising money for new endoscopic equip- ment. We have a new gen- eral surgeon. His name is Dr. Christopher Liby, he’s been with us little over a year, but he’s bringing some surgeries to Baker City that either have never been done or haven’t been done for several years. “He also works closely with St. Luke’s. One of their doctors is a first assist with him when he does surgery. So we are excited to raise money and get new equipment for him.” Huggins estimated that she had more than 100 volunteers helping put to- gether the Festival of Trees in decorating the building, the trees, helping with the bids, and the event nights. The local prison crew from the Powder River Correctional helped deco- rate the ceiling, the hospi- tal facilities crew helped set up for the event as well. Power's transmission line. They explained that this would be the case, so that a lineman wouldn't have to worry about whether the line was energized, while working on it. Trost asked how many solar farms the company has built, and she was told 25 in the U.S., and 200 globally. She mentioned that community members see geese and pelicans flying through the area often, and she asked about the chances of the birds mistaking the solar farm for a lake, which could re- sult in damage to both the solar panels, and the birds. Desmarais and Davis said that the company hasn't had any issues like that. The meeting was part of Enerparc's intention to be good neighbors, and to keep community members informed about the compa- ny's plans, Desmarais and Davis said. They said they plan to meet with mem- bers of the Baker County Planning Department, and the Baker County Planning Commission, in order to begin the process of mov- ing the project forward. Solar array CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 That operational traffic would be about two trucks per visit, up to four times per year—in addition, construction reclaimed water secured with a water purveyor will be used for dust suppression, of up to 730,000 gallons/2.24 acre-feet; there will be negligible water require- ments (0.10 acre-feet) during operation, with the use of low-mineral content reclaimed water; and no battery storage or other hazardous equipment will be installed. Participation from the community included Moore, who asked what the company plans to do with the solar farm, once the 20-year contract between Enerparc, Inc., and Idaho Power expires, and Desmarais said that it would be easy to disas- semble the equipment. Atkins said that occa- sionally, Idaho Power's transmission line from Vale experiences issues, resulting in a loss of power for community members. She asked if the solar farm would supply power, if that were to happen, and Desmarais and Davis said it probably wouldn't supply power, because the solar farm's supply would be automatically shut down, if there were a loss in power from Idaho Molly Atwater fund releases annual stats Mollie Atwater and Friends Spay/Neuter Fund is in its 11th year of opera- tion and is under the non- profit umbrella of Baker County. It continues to work with the community to reduce the number of unwanted and homeless cats and dogs in Baker County and North Powder by assisting folks with spay/neuter sur- gery costs and providing information on the benefits of spaying/neutering one’s animals. As of November 26, 2016 the Fund has helped 2334 animals: 1798 cats and 536 dogs. In Baker City, for example, inside the City Limits 341 do- mestic dogs, 571 domestic cats and 390 feral cats were helped. In Sumpter, 4 domestic dogs, 14 domestic cats and 1 feral cats were helped. Those numbers respectively were 3, 6, and 0 in Hereford. A full breakdown by city within the county is available. Spaying and neutering feral cats and our pets makes a huge difference in the health and well-being of our community and our animals. Both males and females contribute to un- wanted puppies and kittens being born. Therefore, if these animals had not been spayed/neutered and each had contributed to a litter of six puppies or kittens, then a minimum of 14,004 animals would have needed homes over the last 11 years. The monies raised for this program are spent locally, enhancing both the social and economic well-being of the County. People needing help with spay/neuter surgery costs for their animals can pick up a request form in Baker City from the Animal Clinic or Baker Veterinary Hospital, in Halfway at the Old Pine Market or the Post Office, in Richland at the Post Office, or you can write directly to the address below. People wanting to contribute to the local effort can send their tax-deductible dona- tion to: Mollie Atwater and Friends Spay/Neuter Fund, P.O. Box 402, Baker City, OR 97814. The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Vale District is releasing the Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Boardman to Hemingway (B2H) Project. The Final EIS considers resource impacts across 24 routes organized in six geographic segments, as well as a “No Action” Alternative. A final decision will be issued by the BLM as a Record of Decision (ROD) no earlier than 30 days after the Final EIS is made available. The B2H project is a joint venture proposed by Idaho Power Company, PacifiCorp, and Bonneville Power Ad- ministration for a 500 kilovolt, single-circuit transmission line. The proposed transmission line would go between a proposed Longhorn substation in Morrow County near Boardman, Oregon and the existing Hemingway Substa- tion in Owyhee County near Melba, Idaho. The purpose of the proposed line is to provide additional capacity for energy exchange between the Pacific Northwest and the Intermountain West, depending on regional demand. With the release of the Final EIS begins 30-day notice of availability and a 30-day LUP protest period. There is no formal public comment period for the Final EIS. The Final EIS can be found at: www.boardmantohemingway. com/documents and the BLM’s eplanning site at: www. bit.ly/2dWseZL. The preferred transmission line route was developed in conjunction with cooperating agencies after considering all route alternatives and variations over the six project segments. This route maximizes use of existing utility or infrastructure corridors, avoids or minimizes impacts on resources, and minimizes use of private lands. The deadline for filing a Land-use Plan amendment protest is December 19, 2016. Protests can be submitted by mail: Regular Mail Director (210) Attn: Protest Coordinator P.O. Box 71383 Washington, D.C. 20024-1383 Overnight Mail Director (210) Attn: Protest Coordinator 20 M Street SE, Rm 2134LM Washington, D.C. 20003 18-year-old arrested at high school An 18 year-old female, Makaela Rian Dougherty of 2640 7th Street in Baker City, was arrested Tuesday at Baker High School (BHS) on theft charges. Dougherty was accused of stealing a pair of earphones, a BHS cheerleading uniform, a pair of Nike high tops and an inhaler all from inside the girls locker room. Altogether, the value of the stolen items was some- where in the neighborhood of $625, according to Baker City Police Chief Wyn Lohner. Officer Lance Woodward, who serves as the School Resource Officer, was the arresting officer. Dougherty is housed in the Baker County Jail on a charge of theft in the second degree and had not yet been arraigned at the time of print.