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About The Baker County press. (Baker City, Ore.) 2014-current | View Entire Issue (July 14, 2017)
LOCAL: Sunshine-filled Hells Canyon Motorcycle Rally finishes for year. PAGE 3 The MINERS JUBILEE: Greetings from local businesses! PAGE 10 Baker County Press TheBakerCountyPress.com 75¢ All local. All relevant. Every Friday. Friday, July 14, 2017 • Volume 4, Issue 28 Merkley holds townhall • SPEAKING POINTS: RICH SHOULDN’T HAVE TAX BREAKS, CORPORATIONS HAVE TOO MUCH INFLUENCE, TRUMP SHOULD BE IMPEACHED BY KERRY McQUISTEN News@TheBakerCountyPress.com Senator Jeff Merkley (Democrat) stopped in Baker City on Saturday afternoon to hold a town hall at 4:30 p.m. Only 45 or so attended, among them County Commis- sioners Mark Bennett and Bruce Nichols, Baker City Manager Fred Warner, Jr., 5J Superintendent Mark Witty, and City Council Member Arvid Andersen. Sgt. Mike Regan of the Baker City Police Depart- ment provided security. The crowd was split basi- cally four to one liberal to conservative, and the tone remained calm throughout the event. A number of Halfway residents at- tended. Merkley was introduced by Baker City Mayor Mike Downing, who gave a quick biography of the senator. Merkley then presented a fl ag fl own over the Capitol to the local Lions Club in recognition of their many contributions to the com- munity. An outline of constituent services was a positive fi rst talking point, as citizens are often unaware of what their elected offi cials’ staff are on hand to provide. Those services include having a fl ag fl own over the Capitol Building, nom- inations to U.S. services academies, planning trips to Washington D.C., grant information, and help navi- gating any issue to do with any Federal agency— the Social Security Adminis- tration, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Inter- nal Revenue Service, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, etc. From there, the talking points shifted to those reminiscent of just about all partisan political town- halls—with the fi rst topic being healthcare. Kerry McQuisten / The Baker County Press Senator Jeff Merkley (left) honors the local chapter of the Lions Club. SEE MERKLEY PAGE 4 Ancient technologies explored Bodies found in motels • DECEASED HAD FASCINATING PERSONAL HISTORY, ‘TRAGIC’ DEATH BY GINA K. SWARTZ Gina@TheBakerCountyPress.com On June 5, 2017, Baker County Consolidated Dispatch received a call from The Oregon Trail Motel regarding the death of one of their guests. Detective Jay Lohner initially responded as he does with most death calls. “It was immediately apparent the deceased had been there at least a couple of days,” Lohner said. Once the body was removed, he grabbed a few items that might aid in identifi cation such as a wallet and a few scraps of paper with names and numbers written on them, then shut and taped off the door to prevent anyone from entering until the room had time to dissipate the unpleas- ant odor that decomposition creates. Lohner, along with Code Enforcement Offi cer Mark Powell, returned the next day to begin investigating deeper. SEE BODIES PAGE 5 Samantha O’Conner / The Baker County Press Baylie Stillwell presenting to those attending the Engineer It! event at the Baker County Library. BY SAMANTHA O’CONNER Samantha@TheBakerCountyPress.com Last Thursday, the Baker City Library was one of four Baker County libraries to host a program called “Engi- neer It! Exploring Ancient Technologies.” This event was provided by the University of Oregon’s Museum of Natural and Cultural History in Eugene, led by Baylie Stillwell and Brian Albus. For part of the presentation, Stillwell and Albus brought different ancient Native American technologies such as Fort Rock Style woven sandals, atlatls and darts, obsidian daggers and points, a bone fi sh hook, counting sticks, a clam digging shovel, and many others. Stillwell explained that the ways they know those technologies exist, other than fi nding artifacts, is by oral traditions that have been passed down from generation to generation. They have spoken to different Native Ameri- can tribes who told them how those artifacts were made and how they came to be. Beginning the event, Stillwell discussed different modern technologies that we use today, such as lighting, toothbrushes, trash cans, and recycling cans. The target audience for this event was families with elementary-aged children. Stillwell discussed that technology is anything designed by a person to solve a problem, and worked with the children to engineer a solution to a problem. Working with the children, they worked to fi gure out a way to retrieve an infl ated beach ball from a plastic container without needing to get up to retrieve it. She de- scribed this activity as the process of engineering. One of Friday Mostly clear and hot, highs in the mid 90s. Friday Night: Mostly clear and seasonable. Lows near 60. Saturday Mostly clear and hot, highs in the mid 90s. Saturday Night: Mostly clear and seasonable. Lows in the upper 50s. Sunday Mostly clear and not as hot, highs in the upper 80s. Sunday Night: Mostly clear and a bit cooler. Lows in the mid 50s. the solutions they found was to attach a string to the ball. “There is more than one solution to the problem,” explained Stillwell. “That’s another great thing about engineering is that one thing might work, one thing might not work, and then you improve your design and multiple different things work! So we have more than one solution to the problem and it’s okay to have some failure, you just need improve on your design.” Stillwell also read “Dipnetting with Dad” by Willie Sellars, a story about a father teaching his son dipnetting, the Secwepemc method of fi shing. Throughout the reading, Stillwell asked the children what different types of technology were used in the book. There were three different activity tables available for the children to participate hands on in the engineering process. The fi rst table was building a shelter. The instructions were to build a shelter with only index cards and paper- clips to house three wood people. The structure needed to be six inches tall and could support a beanbag on top. The second table was fi shing for dinner. At that table, the children needed to design and build a fi shing tool that could catch at least two kinds of fi sh. The paper fi sh they needed to catch had paperclips attached to them for the kids to catch with their fi shing tools. They could make the tools out of straws, string, pipe cleaners, paper clips, tacks, toothpicks, tongue de- pressors, and rubber bands. The third table was design a boat with one piece of aluminum foil and they put in pennies one at a time to see how many their boats could hold. The Fire, Weather & Avalanche Center forecast: Our forecast made possible by this generous sponsor: Offi cial weather provider for The Baker County Press. Motorcycle Rally calm for police The 2017 Hells Canyon Motorcycle Rally was rela- tively quiet for Baker City Police Department personnel this last weekend. All investigatory contacts the Depart- ment had were with local citizens. Below is a summary of the law enforcement contacts the Baker City Police Department handled over the Hells Canyon Motorcycle Rally weekend: July 7, 2017 – no criminal complaints July 8, 2017 12:12 a.m. – Public urination Two unknown males reportedly urinated on a car on the corner of Washington and Oak Streets. Offi cer was unable to fi nd suspects. 1:04 a.m. – Disturbance (male v. female) Offi cers contacted two pedestrians in the 1700 block of Resort on a witnessed verbal disturbance. No arrests made. 1:05 a.m. – Driving Under the Infl uence of Intoxicants Mr. Michael Leroy Snyder DOB: 05/24/1958 (1555 17th Street, Baker City, OR) was arrested for DUII after leav- ing the VFW in his vehicle. He was transported to the Baker County Jail where he rendered an adequate breath sample of 0.17% BAC. SEE RALLY PAGE 5 ALSO IN THIS ISSUE Dispatch IGA approved Walden’s fi eld rep visits County mtg. Burn ban enacted Foliage fi re extinguished BCPD’s lost and recovered property Cessna crashes outside Baker City Page Page Page Page Page Page 3 4 5 6 8 10
