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About The Baker County press. (Baker City, Ore.) 2014-current | View Entire Issue (March 10, 2017)
10 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS Local CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9 Kevin John Lemmon He was able to live at home with his family until the early 1970s at which time he started living in various facilities that of- fered care for developmen- tally disabled persons. Two of the programs that Kevin was in while living in Pendleton were the Nova and Horizon projects. He spent several years in the Bungalow Care Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. Kevin spent his last few months at Chrysalis Care Center in St. George, Utah. The family appreciates the care given Kevin by these facilities. Kevin enjoyed life the best he could. His favorite things were being with family, riding bicycles, playing basketball, danc- ing, hiking, tossing fi rewood into a truck , and riding a motorcycle (minus the engine, etc) by propelling it with his legs. He enjoyed cowboy boots, ties, sun glasses, hats, and milk shakes. Kevin had a keen memory for remembering people he had met and had not seen for a period of time. He enjoyed socializing with other people. He enjoyed participating in Special Olympics and proudly wore all of his medals. He was preceded in death by his mother, Mona Jean Lemmon, father, Richard Lemmon, brother, Jeff Lemmon, and broth- ers-in-law, Mike Jackson and Steve Frazier. Kevin leaves behind his step-mother Dona Lem- mon, brothers Andrew Lemmon (Cathy), and Scott Lemmon (Kathy); sisters Rhonda Gardner (Gil) Elaine Fresh (Ste- phen), Diana Lemmon, and Jolene Simpson (John) and 47 nephews and nieces. A Memorial service was held at Metcalf Mortuary in St. George February 18th. A graveside service will be held for Kevin at Mt. Hope Cemetery in Baker City, Oregon at a later date. Coles Tribute Center in Baker City is in charge of funeral arrangements. To light a candle for Kevin or to leave a condo- lence for the family, please visit: www.colestribute- center.com. Fred Eugene Palmer Baker City, 1928-2017 Fred Eugene Palmer, 88, of Baker City, Oregon passed away at home on FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 2017 — Obituaries — March 6, 2017, from complica- tions of prostate cancer and advancing Fred age. Coles Palmer Tribute Cen- ter has been entrusted with the arrange- ments. Fred was born in Port- land in 1928 to Lowell (Elt) and Eugenia Palmer. They lived in Sandy, Or- egon where Fred’s father was a teacher at the two room Cottrell School. In 1936 Fred, his parents, and two younger sisters Pa- tricia and Janis moved to Baker City, where Elt had secured a teaching position in the high school. He also served as the school wrestling coach. This was deep in the Great Depres- sion and Fred had vivid memories of tough times and cold winters endured without adequate clothing. In 1946 Fred graduated from Baker High School. With an eye on getting col- lege support from the G.I. bill, Fred joined the Navy and served in California for two years. He then attended Reed College and graduated with a degree in Sociology. He married his fi rst wife Ruth (Betty) Belsey in 1950. After graduation Fred and Betty moved to Tulare County, California, where they were social services case- workers. Two years of this was all they could tolerate, and after extensive shoe- string travel in Europe, Fred entered Oregon State as a Microbiology major. He earned his degree and then attended Scripps In- stitute of Oceanography as a PhD candidate in Marine Microbiology. After earn- ing his Master’s degree he had a disagreement with his major professor and left Scripps for a research position at the University of Washington in 1960. Fred met his current wife, then Linda Graves, when they were both working at the university. They became friends while joining many anti-Vietnam war protests. They married in 1976, became parents to their son Michael in 1983, and moved to Baker City in 1984. This began what Fred considered the happi- est period of his life: rais- ing a young son, building a log home with his wife, and living a rural life. Fred enjoyed farming alfalfa in the summers and doing fi eld work for the UW as a research scientist in the winters until he retired. The most intensely important thing in Fred’s life was his family. But he was also a man with many diverse interests and an enduring curiosity about all things. He was passion- ate about the outdoors, spending eight college summers as a Forest Service fi re lookout in the mountains around Baker. Five of those summers were spent on Mt. Ireland, for which he felt a spiritual attachment. Fred’s father’s family were Jordan Valley ranchers and Fred visited there throughout his life, and especially enjoyed ex- ploring the upper Owyhee canyon lands. Other major interests included a lifelong enthusiasm for photography, fl ying small airplanes, progressive politics, and reading books of every conceivable type and subject. Fred loved animals almost as much as his family, and in fact considered his dogs, cats and horses important fam- ily members. Fred was preceded in death by his parents, Elt and Eugenia Palmer and his nephew Michael Fox. He is survived by his wife Linda, his son and daughter-in-law Michael and Nicole, his new grand- son Felix, and his sisters Patricia Carmony and Janis Taylor; and also by his nieces Diane Carmony, Debra Kadiyala, Shel- ley Fox-Loken and Kim Lauterbach. At Fred’s request there will be no services. Should friends and family desire, memorial contribu- tions in Fred’s honor can be made to a charity of your choice through Coles Tribute Center at 1950 Place St., Baker City, Or 97814. To light a candle for Fred or to leave a condolence for the family, please visit: www.grayswestco.com. Books from local authors make great gift s! Mary Vinecore writing as Mary Vine County Clerk gives election information Submitted by Cindy Carpenter, Baker County Clerk Every two years voters have the opportunity to participate in the Special District Election, held on the odd-numbered years on the third Tuesday in May. This year Oregon’s Special District Election is May 16, 2017. 1. Will anyone in Baker County receive all the candidates on their Spe- cial District ballot? No. Voters who are registered in the District that will have candidates will have those positions on their ballot to vote for. Example is “Baker County Library” covers the entire County so these candidates will be on every ones bal- lot. For “Baker Rural Fire District” only registered voters who live in that district would have those candidates on their ballot. 2. When are Absentee Ballots mailed? Absentee ballots may be requested anytime by fi ll- ing out an Absentee form before April 16, 2017. All Absentee ballots will be mailed on April 17th, so it would be necessary to be at your absentee address by this date. If you will be out of town and choose to come into the Clerk’s of- fi ce to pick up your ballot, ballots will not be avail- able until March 29, 2017. 3. When will ballots be mailed in Baker County? Baker County ballots will be delivered to the Baker Post Offi ce on Wednesday, April 26th. Voters who do not receive a ballot through the mail by Wednesday, May 3rd should call the Election offi ce at 541-523-8207. Ballots are not forward- able. Therefore, if an elec- tor has moved or changed a mailing address without notifying us it is likely their ballot will be returned to us as undeliverable. It is important that the electors update their voter registra- tion with their current ad- dress or for a name change. 4. Why do some voters receive two ballots? If a voter changes their address close to the regis- tration deadline, they may receive two ballots. Ballot envelopes are assembled for mailing prior to the registration deadline be- cause of volume. Only one ballot will count. The fi rst ballot is inactivated when the second ballot is issued. 5. When are write-in votes tallied? Write-in votes will not be tallied on Election Day. The abstracting process for determining all the various write-in names will begin after Election Day and continue until completed. It is anticipated that those results will be released at the same time the election is certifi ed on June 5th. When there is a candidate listed on a contest, the write-in votes are only abstracted if the total number of write-ins equal or exceeds the votes for the listed candidate. Per OAR 165-007-0030, the Vote by Mail Manual, misspelling or abbre- viations of the names of candidates are disregarded by the Election Board if it cannot be ascertained from the ballot for which the vote was intended. A fi rst initial is not suffi cient, but an abbreviated version of a fi rst name is allowed (example: Bob for Robert). Other notable items and reminders: Last day to register to vote is Tuesday April 25th. To be valid, the voter registration card must be postmarked by April 25th or, go online to oregon- votes.gov . The online reg- istration must be submitted by April 25th by 11:59 pm. Voter registration cards are available at DMV, all city halls and post offi ces. The County Clerk’s offi ce also will always have them in stock. Election Day is Tuesday, May 16, 2017. Ballots must be returned to the election offi ce either through the mail, an of- fi cial drop site or in the County Clerk’s offi ce by 8 p.m. on Election Day. Last day to mail bal- lots is Wednesday, May 10th. If a voter has not mailed their ballot by May 10th they should deliver their ballot to a drop site to ensure their ballot is received by the deadline. Postmarks do not count. Offi cial Baker County drop site locations are list- ed on a fl yer in your ballot envelope and also on the Baker County web site. Go to Bakercounty.org, mouse into Administration then Clerks and the Drop Sites are a selection to read. Public Certifi cation test in Baker County will be held Thursday, May 4th, at 10 a.m., at the County Clerk’s offi ce. The public certifi cation test with the M650 counting machine that will be used to count ballots for the May 16, 2017 Special District Elec- tion. The test is conducted prior to each election. Blacklyonpublishing.com • Amazon.com • Your local bookstore