LOCAL: Main Street Business Program
discussed in meeting. PAGE 8
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Friday, March 10, 2017 • Volume 4, Issue 10
City holds interim
Budget Board meeting
BY GINA K. SWARTZ
Gina@TheBakerCountyPress.com
Tuesday night the Budget
Board for the City com-
prised of City Councilors
and appointed community
members met.
As the bell rang at 6 p.m.
Rosemary Abell, Vice
Mayor, called the meeting
to order in the absence of
Mayor Mike Downing.
Julie Smith, City Recorder,
called roll with Councilors
Loran Joseph and Adam
Nilsson present.
Absent were Councilors
Dan McQuisten and Arvid
Andersen.
For the Budget Board
present were Jeff Petry,
Debra Bainter and Vern
Hull.
Budget Board members
absent from the meeting
were Ryan Chaves and
Andrew Bryan.
Councilor Jim Thomas
and Budget Board member
Kim Mosier arrived after
the roll call.
City Auditor, CPA Kent
Bailey was also present for
the meeting.
City Finance Director
Jeanie Dexter then took
over facilitating the meet-
ing.
She began by welcom-
ing all that were present
and explained the purpose
of this meeting. “This
is considered an interim
budget meeting, not the
formal and ‘legal’ budget-
ing meetings that will take
place in May,” she said.
“This meeting has pa-
rameters of things we can
discuss, things we can’t
discuss. It is not meant to
be a meeting where we talk
about what we are going to
do in the upcoming year’s
budget. In fact, we are pre-
cluded legally from talking
about that type of specifi c
information.”
SEE INTERIM
BUDGET BOARD
Gina K. Swartz / The Baker County Press
Baker City Finance Director Jeanie Dexter, center,
facilitates the meeting.
PAGE 5
Ribbon-cutting draws
crowd on Main Street
Wolf
accidentally
poisoned
Samantha O’Conner / The Baker County Press
Friends, family, customers and fellow small business owners from up and down Main Street gathered to
attend the ribbon-cutting at The Sycamore Tree, now under new ownership.
BY SAMANTHA
O’CONNER
Samantha@TheBakerCountyPress.com
March 1st through 4th,
The Sycamore Tree held a
launch party to celebrate
its 29th anniversary and
new ownership.
Owners held a ribbon-
cutting March 3rd. They
had daily door prizes, tast-
ings, and a raffl e drawing
for a $100 gift card.
Josey Gaslin became the
offi cial new owner of the
business effective January
1st and this is the fi rst busi-
ness she has owned.
Gaslin grew up in Baker
City and loved The Syca-
more Tree.
“All through middle
school and high school
I just knew when I got
older I wanted to have a
store like the Sycamore
Tree,” Gaslin explained.
“I went off to Newberg to
Friday
Wolf OR48, a Shamrock Pack adult male, was found
dead on Feb. 26 on private land in northeast Oregon after
an unintentional take by the US Department of Agricul-
ture’s Wildlife Services.
The wolf died after encountering an M-44 device, a
spring-activated device containing cyanide powder. The
device was in place as part of Wildlife Services opera-
tions to control coyotes and prevent coyote-livestock
confl ict on private land in northeast Oregon.
“The death of this wolf shows the risk involved when
wolves are in areas where Wildlife Services conducts
these types of operations,” said Doug Cottam, ODFW
Wildlife Division administrator. “This is a situation we
take seriously and we’ll be working with Wildlife Servic-
es with the goal of preventing it from happening again.”
ODFW and Wildlife Services are evaluating the inci-
dent and discussing how to prevent unintentional capture
or take of wolves while addressing livestock damage
problems.
“Wildlife Services’ specialists care about wildlife and
work hard to prevent the unintentional take of animals
when addressing human-wildlife confl icts,” said Dave
Williams, state director for USDA Wildlife Services in
Oregon. “We have begun an internal review of this inci-
dent to see if any changes to our procedures are neces-
sary.”
Wolf OR48 was collared on Feb. 10 of this year in Wal-
lowa County and was part of the Shamrock Wolf Pack.
At the time of collaring, he weighed over 100 pounds and
was estimated to be just under two years old. Wolf OR48
was not the breeding male of the pack.
Baker City
man arrested
on meth charges
Samantha O’Conner / The Baker County Press
Josey and Rob Gaslin (center) cut the ribbon held by Baker City Mayor Mike
Downing (left) and Baker County Commission Chair Bill Harvey (right).
go to college and, over in
the Portland area, it’s just
too overwhelming to even
think about opening up a
little shop like this with
all of the big retailers to
Mostly sunny and mild. Highs in the upper 50s.
Friday Night: Partly cloudy with lows near 30.
compete with.
“So, my husband, my
family and I moved back
to Baker in 2008 and I was
raising my kids and just
never had the opportunity
to really think about open-
ing up a store or anything.”
SEE RIBBON-CUTTING
PAGE 3
Your weekend weather forecast for Baker County.
Our forecast made possible by this
generous sponsor:
Saturday
Mostly cloudy with scattered showers. Chance
of precipitation is 30%. Highs in the mid 50s.
Night: Mostly cloudy with scattered showers.
Chance of precipitation is 30%. Lows near 40.
Sunday
Mostly cloudy with scattered showers. Chance
of precipitation is 40%. Highs in the mid 50s.
Lows in the mid 30s.
On March 3, 2017 at approximately 10:40 a.m. the
Baker City Police Department (BCPD) conducted traffi c
stop on Cedar near Hughes Lane Baker City, OR. The ve-
hicle that was stopped was part of an ongoing drug inves-
tigation. During the traffi c stop, K9 Capa was deployed
and alerted to the presences of controlled substances.
Subsequently, BCPD offi cers located over four ounces
of methamphetamine, other drug paraphernalia and cash.
The driver and lone occupant, Steven Whitney, was ar-
rested at the scene and lodged at the Baker County Jail.
This investigation is ongoing and further arrests are
likely.
Steven Whitney (7/16/1966) 820 Campbell Street Baker
City, OR 97814
1 count of unlawful delivery of methamphetamine
1 count of unlawful manufacturing of methamphet-
amine
1 count of unlawful possession of methamphetamine
1 count of attempting to bribe police offi cers
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE
So I was thinking... by Jimmy Ingram
Pushback against 5-day school week
Offi cial weather provider for
The Baker County Press.
High School art winners
8 breeding wolf pairs identifi ed
Richland man arrested
Homemade Goodness by Eileen Driver
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