FRIDAY, JANUARY 20, 2017
THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 5
Local
Sumpter’s new mayor sworn in Man arrested
BY MEGHAN ANDERSCH
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Meghan@TheBakerCountyPress.com
Sumpter City Council
met in regular session on
January 17th. The meet-
ing was rescheduled from
the 10th due to a power
outage.
Cary Clarke was sworn
in as Sumpter mayor.
Clarke had been serving
as interim mayor and was
elected to the position by
write in vote in Novem-
ber’s elections. Councilors
Samantha Rowan and Rob-
ert Armbruster were also in
attendance.
Utility Manager Report
Clarke stated Utility
Manager Jeff McKinney
could not be at the meet-
ing as he was busy getting
water going for five or six
residents with frozen pipes.
Clarke asked that residents
don’t shut their water off
just because it’s warmed
up. He said there is frost
down in the ground and he
has personal knowledge
that one of the pipes frozen
today is five-feet deep.
Fire Department
Report
Jim Sheller reported one
medical call out and one
standby for Lifeflight. He
stated they have had three
call outs for Lifeflight and
crews haven’t been able to
fly to any of them. Land-
ing spots have been identi-
fied, including a spot on
Highway 7 by the gravel
pit. The recent request for
Lifeflight was cancelled
as they couldn’t fly due to
weather.
Sheller reported Fire
Chief Kurt Clarke has been
in town this week clearing
out fire hydrants. Some
along the highway were
buried ten feet back in
snow banks. Cary Clarke
said he observed a couple
out early one morning
walking their dog and
clearing out hydrants with
a shovel. He said if any-
one noticed a hydrant that
had been missed, please
call City Hall.
Rowan suggested, “or
adopt the hydrant,” and
clear it out.
Planning Report
LeAnne Woolf reported
that at their December 15,
2016 meeting, the Com-
mission discussed pos-
sible repercussions of the
marijuana ordinance.
They also discussed the
results of the marijuana
survey and some recall
petitions being so close to
50/50 and the ramifications
for knowing the true goals
of the citizens of Sumpter.
The Commission
discussed goal 10 of the
comprehensive plan and
the draft of the “Ready,
Set, Go” portion of the
evacuation plan.
In their January 5, 2017
meeting, they discussed a
piece in the Local Focus
speaking to a local hazard
mitigation plan coming
from the comprehensive
and evacuation plans.
They reviewed the 2010
census, which showed
of 307 dwellings, 119 or
38.8% are lived in on a
permanent basis.
LUBA Appeal
Clarke stated that Ordi-
nance 2016-3 passed last
month had an appeal filed
against it with LUBA,
due to wording restricting
marijuana businesses from
being within 1,000 feet of
a park.
Clarke said he consulted
with City attorney Dan Van
Thiel this week.
Van Thiel advised letting
the ordinance go through
the LUBA process, which
Meghan Andersch / The Baker County Press
Cary Clarke being sworn in as mayor by City Recorder Julie McKinney (center).
Councilor Samantha Rowan looks on from left.
would include submitting
all information on how the
ordinance was put together,
why, and the reasoning
behind it.
Van Thiel said he feels
good about the ordinance
but did not want to go to
Salem and represent the
City as he didn’t think they
should pay him to drive
to Salem, spend the night,
and go to court.
He said he would put all
the information together
and they could represent
themselves as well as him
doing it.
Meanwhile, the OLCC
has issued licenses to two
businesses, the Coughie
Pot and the Nugget.
Clarke asked if the Coun-
cil wanted to repeal the
ordinance and start over or
let it go through the LUBA
process.
He explained the Coun-
cil wasn’t trying to restrict
where the marijuana busi-
nesses could be with the
ordinance, but were trying
to stop it completely.
He said he feels the way
the ordinance as presented
to LUBA is different from
how he represented it.
Vern Hollopeter asked
if Van Thiel could recom-
mend an attorney in Salem
that would represent the
City in this matter. Clarke
replied that would put off
making the decision.
Jody Hallett asked
where the concerns about
meth users and thefts are
coming from. He stated
they have been in Hunting-
ton for the last year with
no problems of the sort.
He said typical stereotypes
are untrue. For example,
he stated the majority of
their customers are 50+
years old. He said he
would rather be in a room
of stoners than drunks.
Hollopeter said he has
been told by people in
Huntington that marijuana
customers make purchases,
go park down side streets,
smoke what they’ve
bought, and then go down
the freeway.
This started a discussion
about Sumpter’s lack of
law enforcement presence.
Clarke sated he talked to
Sheriff Ash a month ago
about this issue and they
can put the money from
State revenue sharing
toward having more police
presence.
Jenny Long stated there
is the potential of a class
action lawsuit against the
City, due to legitimate
businesses being held
up when they have spent
money and gone through
the proper procedures to be
in business.
She stated the proper
process for the City to take
with notices to landowners
and public hearings is not
overly long, with 35 days
required for notice to the
State and notices to land-
owners required 20 days
before the public hearing.
Clarke made a motion to
repeal the ordinance and
not go through LUBA.
Motion passed with two in
favor and Clarke against.
Ban on Marijuana Initia-
tive
Hollopeter stated that
as chief petitioner of this
initiative he feels he repre-
sents the 44 who signed it
and must give them a voice
on how the matter was
handled by the City.
He said City Recorder
Julie McKinney intention-
ally and illegally changed
the initiative and submit-
ted it to the Baker County
Clerk. Also, the initiative
has not been adopted or
rejected by City Council.
Clarke stated he was the
first to sign the petition and
that he did not think that
McKinney had intention-
ally done wrong.
Clarke said “municipal
law is crazy” with a person
at one agency contradict-
ing the person sitting at the
next desk.
He said he spoke with
Cindy Carpenter at the
County Clerk’s office the
day after the initiative was
submitted and she said it
was all good to go.
McKinney stated every-
thing had been handled and
fixed earlier in the day, she
didn’t know the initiative
had to go before Council,
and she apologized. She
explained that all the text
on the submitted materials
was in the title box so she
was trying to improvise the
summary.
Motion to send in
the 802 Notice of City
Measure Election passed
unanimously. Motion
to adopt the initiative to
be put on the ballot also
passed unanimously.
Council input
Clarke asked that resi-
dents be patient with snow-
plowing. He said streets
in Baker are not nearly as
nice as Sumpter’s.
He said snow in front of
driveways is just part of
plowing—snow comes off
the blade. He said Sumpt-
er is out of plow money
and he doesn’t know what
they’re going to do to buy
fuel.
Armbruster mentioned
upcoming Elected Essen-
tials training.
Public input
Myrna Clarke said that
Baker City has an “adopt-
a-hydrant” program.
People clear out and take
pictures with the hydrant
and shovel. Monthly there
is a drawing for $25 at
a local business. Clarke
said she knows a couple
firemen and one woman
who have been digging out
hydrants on the weekends
and it would be nice to
have others who could
help.
Sheller reported the
snowmobile club has been
hard at work grooming
trails.
They have 1100 miles
on the Cat already and are
having a hard time keeping
up the trails with all the
snow, with 20 more inches
expected this week. The
club maintains four hun-
dred miles of trails. The
annual poker run is coming
up February18th.
Kathy Vinson, Book-
keeper, brought two
proposals to Council. She
is retiring in June and sug-
gested the City hire Guyer
and Associates.
They have a payroll
expert who could handle
payroll, quarterlies, and
W2s. She stated they take
classes every year and are
up on all the laws.
Armbruster asked for
quantitative data to com-
pare normal cost per year
for these services as they
have been done and the
proposed cost in hiring
Guyer.
A special meeting was set
for January 24 at 9 a.m.
Vinson also requested
that Council appoint Julie
McKinney as budget offi-
cer. Council approved this
unanimously.
Vinson mentioned need-
ing five citizens to round
out the budget committee.
All must be registered vot-
ers who reside within City
limits.
Vinson confirmed the
street fund is broke. She
said Dave Lindley is hop-
ing they can get money
from the emergency fund
for snowplowing.
If the City has to take an
interfund loan from water
or sewer reserves, that will
require doing a supple-
mental budget with a plan
on paying back the loan.
McKinney said a $900 per
month gas tax populates
the street fund as there are
no street fees for Sumpter.
Vinson explained about
$260 comes out of the fund
monthly for streetlights
and shop electricity.
Fuel for the grader and
plow and payroll also
come out of the fund.
She recommended
starting a reserve fund for
streets.
A Facebook page under the name Bullseye Communi-
cations states, “Welcome to Bullseye Communication—
home of 39 Courier / Statesman, Chieftan and other
positive news Facebook newspapers touching the United
States, New Zealand and Canada! Our flagship paper is
the West Richland Courier, based in Washington State -
enjoy!”
Another Facebook page under the name Bullseye Mar-
keting states that the company is a “Consulting Agency in
West Richland, Washington.”
Inquiries with both the Washington and Oregon Secre-
taries of State show no businesses registered to or affili-
ated with May; however, he did register a now-expired
nonprofit called the Bipolar and Depression Support
Coalition up in Washington state in 2015.
During the busy summer events season, May also pub-
licly discussed plans to reopen the once-beloved, long-
since-closed Grizzly Bear Pizza in Baker City.
On Christmas morning, Baker City Police were called
to a disturbance at the LDS Church on Hughes Lane
in Baker City. The suspicious person was identified
by members of the congregation as May; however, the
suspect had fled by the time police arrived. Congregation
members stated afterward that the suspect had claimed
to be a prophet and they felt threatened—at which point
they locked him outside the building.
Haines fire
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Hampton noted that it was an older home (built in
1925, according to County property records), and, “...they
burn pretty fast ... Everybody did they best they could
under the circumstances, but, unfortunately, an individual
lost his life, and he was an elderly man. It’s just a very
sad situation.”
Hampton knew Christensen, who would have morning
coffee with Hampton regularly, and he said that Chris-
tensen helped maintain the property, including mowing
the lawn, of the Haines United Methodist Church, which
sits directly across Fourth Street, from Christensen’s
former home.
Among the entities noted responding to the fire, Hamp-
ton expressed high praise for the Baker County Sheriff’s
Department. “They did a really good job, and they need
to be commended for that, from the Haines Fire Chief.
Sheriff Travis Ash did a great job, the deputies did a great
job, they saw to our needs, and in trying to keep us safe,
blocking off the streets,” Hampton said.
Kump, who investigated the fire, along with OSP
Arson Investigator Nick Hagedorn, said the fire “...had
originated in the front room, in the wood stove area, and
we do believe that the person living there was doing
something with the wood stove, and something in that
nature caused the fire.” He said he can’t confirm the exact
cause of the fire that burned hot and spread quickly, so
it remains undetermined at this point, because there’s no
way to conclusively prove what happened, but from ob-
servations at the scene, and from speaking to witnesses,
like Hampton mentioned, Kump formed the theory that
the fire was accidental.
Hampton and Kump estimated the loss of the property
in the range of $50,000 to $70,000, they said. This was
based on research on the property (yet to be completed),
and from speaking with witnesses. This topic was dis-
cussed during a briefing following the fire, Hampton said.
“I just really feel that Christensen was doing what he
could to stay warm, and he was just up, and getting the
wood stove going, and whatever occurred, leads to the
origin area—the origin area all comes from the area right
there, in the front room, where the wood stove is,” Kump
said. Though the cause of the fire remains undetermined,
he said that the investigation is closed.
Ash also voiced some praise for the volunteers fighting
the fire, as he noted the extreme cold—thirteen degrees
below zero—during the early morning. “They were just
ice-encrusted, trying to get water going, and running
water on that house...Those guys need to get kudos for
what they do. I think it’s important to realize the sacrifice
they make, to be out there at one-thirty in the morning, in
the freezing cold.”
Evidence could still be seen of that effort this week,
including boot and fire hose tracks in the snow near the
fire hydrant located by the house, on the southeast side,
and icicles formed on items on the property. In honor of
Christensen, someone had placed yellow flowers in the
snow on the Fourth Street side. Many people expressed
their surprise and sadness at the loss, as Christensen was
a much appreciated and generous member of a well-
known family in the community.
Scholarship available
Baker City is once again offering a $1,500.00 scholar-
ship. To be eligible you must be a graduate of a Baker
County High School or a current resident of Baker
County, who will be at least a sophomore in college by
September, 2017.
The Scholarship will be awarded to a student who
is enrolled in a health care profession. The application
for the scholarship can be obtained from the Auxiliary
Gift Shop in the front lobby of Saint Alphonsus Medical
Center – Baker City at 3325 Pocahontas Rd or from a
member of the Auxiliary Scholarship Committee, Peggy
Payton, Chairperson 541-519-8118 or Marilyn Bloom at
541-523-2750.
The applications must be returned to the committee by
April 15th, 2017. The recipient will be notified by May
20th, 2017.