The Baker County press. (Baker City, Ore.) 2014-current, February 17, 2017, Image 4

The Baker County press., February 17, 2017, Page 4, Image 4

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Newspaper Page TextFRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2017 4 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS Opinion / Local — Editorial — A no-brainer There are some issues that cross the conservative-liberal political aisle en- tirely, and shouldn’t be politicized at all if a person has any common sense. Sadly, such issues often are anyway. The removal of 54 jobs from Baker County is one of those issues. No matter which way you analyze the situation, whether in terms of performance or services offered to taxpayers, or in cost savings for those same taxpayers, moving jobs from the private sector in a rural area where they are vitally needed into the already bloated public sector in Salem, makes no sense. Unless your goal is to expand gov- ernment. Or to unionize more positions. Both of which have just been achieved by taking those 54 posi- tions away from Chaves Consulting’s Oregon Health Plan (OHP) call center and moving them west. Those positions will now be in- creased in number and ﬁlled at double the cost. In addition, those same positions were set up with full beneﬁts in the private sector here in Baker City. Now that those former employees here are uninsured and without income, where will that expense fall? To taxpayers just as soon as those folks have to ap- ply to the Oregon Health Plan them- selves. That’s another added layer of expense we haven’t seen addressed elsewhere. The irony ... While Brown had OHP had no legal obligation to extend the Chaves’ con- tract, we believe an obligation to do so was most certainly there to tax-paying constituents all over Oregon. “We must bust open the doors of opportunity so that individuals can ﬁnd good paying jobs right where they live,” is the oft-quoted line from Brown’s inauguration speech. We dare you to match your actions to your words, Governor Brown. Sadly, we don’t see that happening. —The Baker County Press Editorial Board — Contact Us — YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS The Baker County Press President Donald Trump PO Box 567 Baker City, Ore. 97814 202.456.2461 fax Open Monday-Thursday for calls 9 AM - 4 PM Open 24/7 for emails 202.456.1414 Whitehouse.gov/contact US Sen. Jeff Merkley 503.326.3386 503.326.2900 fax Merkley.Senate.gov Phone: 541.519.0572 TheBakerCountyPress.com US Sen. Ron Wyden 541.962.7691 Wyden.Senate.gov Kerry McQuisten, Publisher Editor@TheBakerCountyPress.com US Rep. Greg Walden Wendee Morrissey, Advertising and Sales Wendee@TheBakerCountyPress.com 541.624.2402 fax David Conn, Advertising and Sales David@TheBakerCountyPress.com Published weekly every Friday. Subscription rates per year are $29.95 all areas, e-mail delivery. $39.95 print issue, home delivery, Baker City city limits only. $49.95 print issue, mail delivery, outside Baker City city limits only. Payment in advance. A division of Black Lyon Publishing, LLC 541.624.2400 Walden.House.gov Oregon Gov. Kate Brown 503.378.3111 Governor.Oregon.gov State Rep. Cliff Bentz 503.986.1460 State Sen. Ted Ferrioli 541.490.6528 Baker County Commissioners Bill Harvey; Mark Bennett; Bruce Nichols 541.523.8200 Copyright © 2014 -2017 541.523.8201 — Obituaries — David “Grant” Young Baker City, 1956-2017 David ‘Grant’ Young, age 60, died Jan. 25, 2017, at his home in Richland, Grant Oregon, Young surrounded by his loving family and devoted friends. A Funeral service will be held February 18, 2017 at 2:00 p.m. at the Nazarene Church in Baker City, im- mediately followed by a reception at the Baker City Elks Lodge. Pastor Katy Nicole and Gene Bunyard will ofﬁciate. Grant Young entered this world of deep lakes and happy hunting grounds on June 7, 1956, in Moscow Idaho. He was the ﬁrst of three children born to his par- ents, David Wayne Young and Judith Ann McCanse. Grant graced Haines Ele- mentary and Baker middle and high schools with his many antics; graduating in 1974. He earned his Bach- elor of Arts in Geography from Eastern Washington State College in 1978. Grant met and fell in love with his wife, Carol Lee Yeoumans, in January 1984. They were mar- ried on the bridge over the outlet stream at Anthony Lakes on July 28th the same year. Together they raised one child, Brandon Allen Young. In October, 2009, they welcomed their beloved daughter-in-law, Jessica Brooke Ewing, to their family. They were blessed with little Emmet Walker Young on October 26th, 2014, and their joy knew no bounds. Grant’s professional life was spent at two vocations, Farming and Land Use Planning. Many of his happiest early years were spent farming in the Haines and North Powder regions of Eastern Oregon; a labor of love for Grant. He transitioned to Land Use Planning in 1993; working for Coos, Baker, and Curry Counties, the City of On- tario and ﬁnally the State of Oregon. Grant served as a Director of The Union County SCS and President of The Wheat Growers League during his farming years. Grant had many loves; his family, hunting, ﬁshing and the great outdoors. He was a loving and de- voted husband, father and grand-father. He passed his hunting prowess on to his son, and others who expressed an interest in learning. Grant was a ﬁsherman of extraor- dinary skill and patience and spent endless hours on rivers and streams attend- ing the great church of nature God provided. Grant was an avid reader and faithful follower of war documentaries and Fox News; his knowl- edge of which he would generously share at 5 a.m. with guests sleeping over in his living room. Grant was an animated joker and storyteller, punctuating the facts with his well-known laugh and racy language, for emphasis. The Grant Young family lived in many communi- ties in Oregon but always considered Eastern Oregon their home. They purchased their re- tirement home in Richland, Oregon, the summer of 2015 and looked forward to many years watching game and enjoying beauti- ful sunrises and sunsets from their sunroom in the Eagle Valley. Grant was preceded in death by his grandparents and parents. Grant is survived by his wife, Carol Lee, son and daughter-in-law, Brandon and Jessica Young, his only grandchild, Emmett Walker Young, siblings Mark and Bonnie and their families, numerous extended family members and, lastly, his faithful Yor- kie companions, Maximus and Odysseus. Memorial contributions may be made to Youth Hunter Education Chal- lenge (YHEC) through Gray’s West and Co. Pio- neer Chapel, 1500 Dewey Ave., Baker City, OR 97814. To light a candle for Grant or leave a condo- lence for the family, please visit: www.grayswestco. com. SEE OBITS PAGE 12 — Obituaries — Annie Perkins Baker City, 1932-2017 Annie Perkins, 84, passed away Sunday morning, February 12, 2017 at Annie her home on Perkins Chandler’s Lane, Baker City, Oregon. She had requested to not have a ser- vice or memorial. Annie was born in the town of Komiza, on the is- land of Vis, off of the coast of Croatia on December 16th, 1932 (Croatia was previously within the country of Yugoslavia). Her birth name was Anka Felanda. Her father was Frane (Frank) Felanda and mother was Anka Stano- jevic. The family immi- grated to the Los Angeles area prior to WWII (her father) and following the war (her mother, her brother, and herself). Annie graduated high school in San Pedro, California. This is a large Croatian community and was immigrated to by her father and his family (Felanda was changed to Felando) because of com- mercial ﬁshing opportuni- ties including sardines, tuna and any types of ﬁsh that were caught by sein- ing nets. San Pedro was heavily into this industry with dozens of boats and canneries close by. In fact, the town of Komiza has a world wide reputation for ﬁshermen and their skills to use nets in shallow wa- ter where other ﬁsherman are fearful of losing and/or damaging their equipment. One of the ﬁshing families from Komiza (with a small population of only a few hundred people) started the Star Kist cannery in the San Pedro area. Her future husband, Eugene Brent Perkins, Jr, was stationed at the Army base in San Pedro (Fort McCarther) during the Korean War. He and some of his Army buddies were very fond of dancing and started attending weekend dance clubs. Annie also loved dancing and was in a dance group that loved both modern dancing along with folk dancing from her Croatian culture. Her Croatian group and other friends attended the same dance club where she met Eugene. He started to dance with her and became an exclusive dance partner- ship when both were at the club. Their dancing became a life-long passion. They were married January 18th, 1953 in San Pedro. Eugene’s discharge from the Army was at the same time and he brought her back to the Perkins homestead ranch (started in 1874) near Baker City after the wedding. In her honor, the ranch was incor- porated in 2004 with the name of Komiza Ranch. Her legacy is primarily in the providing, protec- tion, and love of her fam- ily. She was particularly skilled in the art of cook- ing. She learned to cook almost any kind of cuisine just by her ability to detect the techniques and spices necessary for each type of culture. In other words, she did not use recipes. She could put a complete meal together within a matter of an hour or two and for any number of guests. Her skills were veriﬁed by hav- ing people remind her of a meal that they might have had over 30 years earlier and could even remember what was served. Eugene and Annie also amazed many people with their graceful and skilled danc- ing for over 50 years. Annie is survived by four children: Gary, Shirley (Dinger), Frank, and Steve Perkins, 10 grandchildren: Nathan, Nicole (Lyon), Re- becca, and Mathew Ding- er; Alisa (Perkins) Boulter, Steven Perkins; Natalie and Brian Perkins; Jeffrey Perkins; Logan Perkins; and 9 great grandchildren: Maxwell and McKenzie Lyon, Charlie, Bentley, and Jacob Boulter, Brynn Dinger, Sawyer, Ruby, and Joel Perkins . Annie was preceded in death by her husband Eugene (March 2011), both of her parents, her brother in 1968, and one granddaughter, Jessica Perkins in 2008. She will be missed by friends from all walks of life, relatives (Euro- pean and USA), children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, etc. Her giving nature, Annie child- hood stories and incredible meals will always remain in people’s memory. Online condolences may be shared at www.tamispi- nevalleyfuneralhome.com. Charles “Chuck” Allen Rohner Baker City, 1937-2017 Charles “Chuck” Al- len Rohner, 79, died February 11, 2017 at St. Alphonsus Medical Cen- Chuck Rohner ter, in Baker City. There will be a celebra- tion of life at the Eagles Lodge – 2935 H St, Baker City, OR on Saturday, Feb- ruary 18 at 2 p.m. Please bring your best story to share. Chuck was born March 4, 1937 to Charles F. and Charlotte “Lottie” M. Rohner in Baker, Oregon. He lived in Baker City all of his life except when he was 8 years old and the family moved to Port Orford, Oregon. He lived with his uncle & cousins and stayed at the ﬁshing lodge “The Castaway” that they owned for a year. He attended the Wing- ville School until it was closed and then attended the Baker schools until he graduated in 1955. Chuck married Roberta Graham and together they had 3 daughters. After 13 years, they divorced. He later married Brenda “Cookie” Shankle and together they share a daughter. They also divorced after Letter to the Editor Policy: The Baker County Press reserves the right not to pub- lish letters containing factual falsehoods or incoherent narrative. Letters promoting or detracting from speciﬁc for-proﬁt business- es will not be published. Word limit is 375 words per letter. Letters are limited to one every other week per author. Letters should be submitted to Editor@TheBakerCounty- Press.com. Advertising and Opinion Page Dis- claimer: Opinions submitted as Guest 13 years. He found his true love when he met Wilma Shankle and her 3 boys. Though they never married, they had been together for 35 years and were still going strong. He always said “why ruin a good thing?” Chuck’s life revolved around the petroleum industry. He worked at the truck stop on the S.E. Side of Baker and then bought the service station “Phil- lips 66.” He later bought the Bulk Plant until he sold them both and then went to work at Humbles until he retired in 1999. He was a lifetime member of the Elks Lodge and was a member of the Eagles since 1972. He also belonged to the Wingville Grange until it closed and then transferred to the Haines Grange. Chuck was happiest when he was out in his wood shop building furni- ture, cars, toys and signs of all kinds. If he had a Cheshire cat grin on his face you knew that he was up to no good or some silly raunchy joke was going to pop out of his mouth. He loved to see the embarrassment on your face. He loved to play Shufﬂeboard, dance – which all of the women loved to dance with him, and visit with his many friends. He was in the National Guard in Baker for 8 years. He loved to play marbles, (aggravation) he always had to have the black ones and loved to kick your butt. He was never really en- thused that he lost, but he took losing in stride. Chuck is survived by his lifetime friend and partner of 35 years Wilma Shankle, his daughters Cheryl Guzman of Baker City, Lynnette Hazzard of Pasco, Wa, Dawna Cara of The Dalles, Or and his stepson Randy Shankle, 10 grand children, Gro- ver White of Riverside, Ca, Miguel Guzman of Baker City, Cody Brown, Brittney Hazzard, and Beau Hazzard of Pasco, Wa, Trevor Shankle, Alan Shankle, Kayla Davis, Sarah Shankle, Janelle Shankle and Chelsy Groat of Baker City, Shara Pow- ers and Christie Postema of The Dalles, Ore. and 13 great grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents- Charles and Charlotte Rohner, Brother - Orville Rohner, three sisters – Doris Hunt, Bonnie Gard, and Fannie Jacobson; Sons Rod Shankle, Rick Shankle and his daughter- Debra Rohner. For those who would like to make a memorial dona- tion in memory of Chuck the family suggests the (Eagles) Max Baer Heart Fund through Tami’s Pine Valley Funeral Home and Cremation Services PO Box 543 Halfway Oregon, 97834. Online Condolenc- es may be shared at www. tamispinevalleyfuneral- home.com. Opinions or Letters to the Editor express the opinions of their authors, and have not been authored by and are not necessarily the opinions of The Baker County Press, any of our staff, management, independent contractors or afﬁliates. Advertisements placed by political groups, candidates, businesses, etc., are printed as a paid service, which does not constitute an endorsement of or fulﬁllment obligation by this newspaper for the products or services advertised.