FRIDAY, JULY 21, 2017
4 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS
Opinion / Local
— Editorial —
Money down
a rat hole
We were very disappointed with our
local Economic Development Com-
mittee’s recommendation to renew
Economic Development Director Greg
Smith’s contract, via his company,
Gregory Smith and Company, LLC. We
were also disappointed with the Baker
County Commissioners’ vote to accept
that recommendation. Though we do
appreciate the respect they showed to
that Board in listening to their recom-
mendation, our Commissioners hold the
County’s purse strings—and they should
have voted with a resounding no.
We understand the contract includes
an out-clause by which Smith can be
released from his contract on any given
month. Good.
Smith’s company now absorbs $108K
per year from this one local contract
alone. This year’s contract gives him a
$12K raise.
Baker City and Baker County have
dumped hundreds of thousands of dol-
lars into Representative Smith’s efforts
with little to no return over the years.
It only takes a look around our county
to see no new mid- to large-sized com-
panies in our midst thanks to Smith
since he began in 2011. As documented
in a City Council meeting last year,
Smith explained that is where his forte
is supposed to be, and dedicating him-
self to small “Main Street” businesses
really wasn’t within the scope of his
work. Funny. Initially the widespread
belief was that it was.
This is now why, in part, we have
Robin Nudd with the City beginning
Community Development efforts within
our City Limits this year. Nudd lives
here, works here, and is making an ef-
fort. Giving her a chance makes sense.
Keeping Smith in place does not.
Smith’s company offers other ser-
vices, which are also duplicated, such as
budgeting and loan application assis-
tance. The Northeast Oregon Economic
Development District and the loan
officers at any of our local banks offer
the same support and advice. Training
and classes provided are also available
elsewhere in eastern Oregon.
Then there’s what we see as a conflict
of interest issue in that Smith is under a
similar six-figure contract with neigh-
boring Malheur County to provide them
with the same services. That’s right—
he’s trying to place companies with
the competition at the same time as us.
He used to be under the same arrange-
ment with both Wallowa and Umatilla
Counties as well, but we were unable to
verify if those arrangements had been
renewed in time for print.
Smith also recently accepted an Execu-
tive Director position for the Columbia
District Authority (Confederated Tribes
of the Umatilla Indian Reservation,
Morrow County, Umatilla County,
Port of Morrow, and Port of Umatilla)
with a $100K salary. This is a full-time
position, by the way—and not one that
places him logistically anywhere near
Baker County. Or Malheur County for
that matter.
Then there are his responsibilities as
a State Representative when the legisla-
ture is in session, and when he isn’t.
Imagine if the County, instead of
passing along the big bucks to Smith,
instead simply gave out 10, $10,000
grants per year to 10 existing local
businesses to help with expansion? No
strings attached? Or how about five
grants of $20,000 to help five new busi-
nesses open their doors each year?
Can you imagine the sort of business
that could have been created with those
hundreds of thousands of dollars? How
many jobs?
Perhaps then we’d be supporting true
small town entrepreneurial spirit instead
of throwing money down the proverbial
rat hole.
—The Baker County Press Editorial Board
On the hunt for Bigfoot
CONTINUED FROM
PAGE 1
He moved to Baker City
five years ago and, being
new to the area, he needed
to get reports and find out
the history of Bigfoot here.
For five years he did some
exploring by himself and
he needed to get more data.
After setting up his Face-
book page and his website,
his story went viral. His
website crashed from so
many people using it and
he gained over a hundred
followers on Facebook in a
matter of days.
Currently, Violette
explained he has about
25 people who are on his
mailing list who want to go
squatching.
Violette has a Master’s
Degree in Anthropol-
ogy and his focus was on
Native American Studies.
His particular expertise
was how to read Native
American Petroglyphs,
the carvings in stones,
and Pictographs, paint-
ings on stones. His studies
are what interested him in
Bigfoot, as he found every
Native American tribe in
the nation has a Bigfoot
legend.
Violette has not taken
people out Squatching yet.
He explained that he has
been doing test runs, as
he does not know what to
expect with other people.
“I’m kind of slowly gath-
ering people and taking
them out to get the feel of
how I’m actually going to
run these things,” Violette
explained. “I have a sense
of how I’m going to do
it. My thought is, when
I start getting into the
actual taking groups out,
we’re going to do a Friday,
Saturday, and Sunday
thing. We’re going to go
out on Friday afternoons.
We’re going to get to the
location, I’m going to set
everybody down and we’re
going to go through a little
bit of a training program
where I’m going say, ‘This
is how we do things.’”
Violette explained that
those attending will have
different tasks, such as one
person on sound record-
ings, one on tree knocking,
one on night vision, and
others. He is estimating
that he will be able to take
people out in the beginning
of August.
“We are also trying
to think outside the box
and not do your typi-
cal Bigfooting like most
people do,” said Violette.
“Sure, that’s great, but
there’s been nine seasons
of ‘Following Bigfoot’
and they’ve done the same
thing every episode and
have not found a Bigfoot
yet. So, my thought is to
do things differently, that’s
why the Squatch Pod is
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something different; it’s
using all the technology of
today we can get our hands
on.
“Secondly, I have a
couple other different ideas
that we’re going to be
implementing and I think
that maybe longer term,
that’s why the Squatch Pod
can sit in the woods for 30
days and record constantly
for 30 days, but I think
mine is coverage and time.
“My idea is, I have
a new one, that we’re
going to tether—once I
have enough money to do
this—thermal cameras that
see heat to balloons and
we’re going to have them
in the air but tethered to
the ground, covering an
area from high up above
the trees, so we can get
altitude and film that for
months at a time.
“My other idea is putting
cameras on blinds and
floating them in lakes, so
we can have this thing
that looks like a rock or
island on the water and it
has cameras on it that are
recording for like 30 days
or so, like the Squatch Pod,
floating out in the lake, so
if anything comes to the
shore to get water, we’ve
got it on film from the
lake.”
Violette’s website is
squatchoregon.com for
people to sign up on for
future expeditions.
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Tragedy strikes during parade
CONTINUED FROM
PAGE 1
Suddenly about 20
minutes in, without warn-
ing, the parade came to
an abrupt stop. Confusion
spread quickly as did news
of a young boy falling
from a float.
Baker County Search and
Rescue (SAR) was in the
parade line not far from
the YMCA float. Trained
personnel sprang into ac-
tion immediately working
to save the young boy,
later identified as Dylan
Thomas, who was coin-
cidentally celebrating his
seventh birthday.
Baker County District
Attorney Matt Shirtcliff,
who was riding on the
Baker County Republi-
cans’ float was alerted of
the situation. He jumped
from that float and took off
at a dead run to the scene
unfolding at Court Avenue
and 2nd Street. The parade
was nearly immediately
cancelled.
Facebook began light-
ing up with posts offering
prayers to the family, first
responders and spectators
that witnessed the hor-
rific event, although few
details were available. The
YMCA removed the video
it had posted on Facebook
of their float at lineup only
shortly before.
Baker City Police Chief
Wyn Lohner, who per tra-
dition led the parade, left
the end of the route and
made his way back to the
scene. Reserve Command-
er Jerry Boyd who had
been positioned a couple
blocks away and others
helped clear the remaining
parade floats from down-
town. Over 50 floats had
registered, with around 15
making it to the end of the
route before the tragedy.
Lohner put out a call
for all available chaplains
to respond. Scott Knox
arrived first, with two ad-
ditional pastors not long
behind. Sgt. Mike Regan,
who was off duty watch-
ing the parade, was called
to work, as were officers
from Sgt. Wayne Chas-
tain’s team. Regan and
other officers assisted in
crowd control and keeping
the accident scene clear of
spectators.
OSP Trooper Eddie Mer-
cado had the difficult task
of diagramming and photo-
taking to help process the
scene.
A little after noon,
Lohner released the fol-
lowing, “… at about 11:17
hours a seven-year-old
Baker City boy fell off
from a float in the Miners
Jubilee Parade and was
struck by the rear wheels
of a commercial mo-
tor vehicle, killing him.
Although all indications
are that this was a tragic
accident, the Baker County
Major Crime Team, along
with patrol units from the
Baker County Sheriff’s
Office, Oregon State Police
and Baker City Police
Department are working
with District Attorney Matt
Shirtcliff to thoroughly
investigate the incident.
Baker County Public
Safety Chaplains are also
on scene, along with Men-
tal Health workers from
New Directions Northwest.
Prayers are appreciated for
all involved.”
This accident happened
in plain view of countless
parade spectators and chil-
dren on the YMCA float,
including Dylan’s 10-year-
old sister Kaydance.
Witnesses reported
that the chair on which
Dylan sat atop the trailer
wobbled, and when it did,
he lost his balance and fell
off the lowboy and beneath
the tires.
Among those eyewit-
nesses, several stated that
Dylan had passed almost
instantly; however, per
protocol, members of SAR
attempted lifesaving assis-
tance until the ambulance
arrived and transported
the boy to St. Alphonsus,
where he was officially
pronounced deceased.
Sheriff Travis Ash and
Shirtcliff set to work set-
ting up a trauma center for
the public where citizens
experiencing trauma after
witnessing the accident
could go for support.
Shirtcliff said, “I was
in the parade two floats
up from the YMCA float.
When I learned that a child
had fallen from a float and
was in serious condition
I ran to the scene. Mem-
bers of the Baker County
Search and Rescue were
working to try to save
Dylan’s life. I activated the
Baker County Major Crime
Team. This was not done
because there was a crime
but was more of an effort
to get more resources to
the scene.
“Once the primary wit-
nesses were interviewed
we were able to quickly
move from an investiga-
tion to more of a critical
response team to try to get
counseling resources to the
many children and adults
— Contact Us —
who were clearly very
traumatized at the scene.
“Sheriff Ash and I began
bringing witnesses over to
the courthouse where crisis
workers and local pastors
where available to assist
those in trauma. Heidi
Dalton, YMCA Director,
was able to provide names
to us and we were able to
contact families of children
who were at the scene to
see if they would like to
come to the courthouse for
services.
“Counseling services
were provided by Total
Health crisis workers from
New Directions Northwest
and local pastors into the
early evening. The first
responders from Search
and Rescue, the Baker
City Police Department,
the Baker County Sheriff’s
deputies and EMTs were
amazing in their efforts.
Sheriff Ash was instrumen-
tal in helping ensure that
the proper managers and
crisis workers from New
Directions were notified
and available.”
Shirtcliff added, “It was
great to see so many come
together to assist those in
need during this horrible
tragedy. On behalf of the
District Attorney’s Office,
our deepest sympathy goes
out to Dylan’s family and
those touched by his loss.
You will continue to be in
our prayers.”
After the crowds from
the parade route dispersed,
many filtered into Geiser-
Pollman Park where booths
of vendors awaited the
crowds. Many of the ven-
dors described the atmo-
sphere as somber.
Russell Taylor of Baker
City described a touching
scene that unfolded on
the playground: “To the
man from the Elks band
that played TAPS at the
playground today for the
young boy that died during
the parade, that was very
touching and I am sure ap-
preciated by all.”
As the day progressed,
the love the community
has for each other and the
Thomas family unfolded in
various ways.
That evening at the
Baker City Bronc and Bull
Riding, Inc. bull riding
event, over $16K was col-
lected for the family with
donations rounded out by
Baker City Auto Ranch,
Grumpy’s Repair and The
Sunridge Inn. Those funds
were delivered to the fam-
ily that evening.
SEE PARADE TRAGEDY
PAGE 5
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