THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 3
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2017
Business / Agriculture
Compassion Center offers
its first free clothing day
BY SAMANTHA
O’CONNER
Samantha@TheBakerCountyPress.com
On Saturday, September
16, the Northeast Oregon
Compassion Center held a
Free Clothing Day in the
Family Life Center, part of
the Nazarene Church.
The Compassion Center
is in the same building as
the Nazarene Church and
they are not a part of the
Church.
“We get so many dona-
tions that it’s overwhelm-
ing our normal boutique,
that there’s not enough
room to be able to sell it,”
explained Brenda Rilee,
one of the organizers for
the event. “They sell it for
a very reasonable price,
like a $1.50 for shirts I
think. So really, really,
inexpensive but they’re
just getting overwhelmed
and we have so much.
“And our community,
the people that truly need
it, will come on a free day
and that’s what they need.
If they need clothes, this
is a great opportunity, a
Saturday when everybody
can make it, so that’s really
what inspired it, seeing
people that need it.”
This is the first year they
have held a Free Clothing
Day.
Leticia St. Cyr, the other
organizer for the event,
explained that someone
donated the racks most of
the clothes were hanging
on.
They had clothes on
tables as well as the hang-
ers, they had two larger
trailers usually used to haul
The citizen said that in
2015 and 2016, the Craw-
fords had actually complet-
ed two separate additions
to their 1,068 square foot
home, originally built in
1920, which is located
outside the Halfway City
limits. Kitzmiller said,
of receiving reports from
citizens, “People are
sometimes conflicted--they
don’t want to be a ‘tattle
tale’ necessarily, but at
the same time, they want
people to be safe.”
Kitzmiller said that she
saw no indication there
were any structural permits
issued for the Crawfords’
address since 2009 (the
electronic archive goes
back that far), property
which they owned since
December 11, 2012, but
there was one electri-
cal permit for a service
upgrade, originally pulled
(applied for) in 2014, and
approved in August 2015.
Kitzmiller said, “Nor-
mally, when you’re build-
ing a house, or doing an
addition to a house, you
have to address all four
components: structural,
electrical, mechanical,
and plumbing (depending
on the structure). Plus,
you have to get a zoning
clearance to change the
footprint...”
At the same time
Kitzmiller initiated her
investigation, ID No. 124-
17-000219-INV, she sent
Baker City Building Of-
ficial Ken Hall and Baker
County Planning Director
Holly Kerns emails, advis-
ing them of the report.
Friday, September 15, 2017 — Eastern Oregon
Prices trended generally steady. All prices
reported today are 2017 crop, unless otherwise
noted. Sporadic rain showers and thunderstorms
in hay growing areas have increased rain damaged
hay availability. Fires and smoke throughout the
state have slowed movement of hay due to high-
way closures and fire mitigation. Retail/Stable type
hay remains the largest demanded hay. The export
market demand has increased as compared to prior
reports.
Tons Price Range Wtd Avg
Alfalfa / Orchard Mix Large Square Good
200 125.00-125.00 125.00
USDA Market News Service—AMS.USDA.gov
— Cattle Market Report —
Wednesday, September 18, 2017
Vale, Oregon
Cattle sold through the auction: 834
Steer Calves
300-400# Bulk 154.00-170.00 Top 171.00
400-500# Bulk 137.00-171.00 Top 176.00
500-600# Bulk 142.00-158.00 Top 159.50
Samantha O’Conner / The Baker County Press
The Compassion Center utilized the gym at the Nazarene Church and distrib-
uted free clothing from there last Saturday.
wood, was filled with totes
of clothing.
They had everything
from sweaters to shirts,
pants, shoes, dresses,
men’s dress clothing, and
much more.
“We have everything,”
said Rilee. “Everything!
It’s amazing.”
“We still have enough
clothes to fill the Compas-
sion Center a couple of
times, this was just extra,”
explained St. Cyr. “The
community has donated it
all to the Compassion Cen-
ter, so, we’re going to turn
around and donate it back
to the community.”
They came up with the
idea about three months
ago and put it together
with a couple of weeks’
worth of work.
They originally planned
to have the clothing
outside of the Compas-
sion Center on tarps, but
the wind was blowing that
morning and they were
concerned the clothes were
going to be blown away.
“They have a food bank
over there,” explained
Rilee. “They have the
clothing room and the
clothing room is their
main, to provide income
for them, to be able to give
it out.
“They have people who
come in for food weekly,
daily, they have people
that come in for clothing,
they provide for people—
there’s people who will
be traveling through who
run out of gas, and they’ll
ask for gas vouchers and
there’s a process and,
through that, how that has
to happen, there’s people
that are kicked out of their
homes, and women who
are abused, and they come
through MayDay, and
they come over and they
provide that service to
them too.
“We try to work as a
community with all the
other establishments.
There’s a few other ones
that are out here in our
community that they work
together with.”
Planning Commissioner investigated
CONTINUED FROM
PAGE 1
— Weekly Hay Report —
Hall requested the address,
35850 West Carson Lane,
be added to the list of
medium priority “drive-
bys” to determine whether
there were any obvious
additions. The address
wasn’t considered a higher
priority, since the work had
reportedly already been
completed.
Hall tried to perform
the initial drive-by on
three separate occa-
sions—April 3, June 20,
and June 22—but, ac-
cording to Kitzmiller, the
Department’s workload for
inspections was too large,
especially in June, and she
and Hall agreed that Hall
would make another drive-
by attempt this fall, since
the work was reportedly
already completed and
covered.
On Tuesday, September
12, Kitzmiller called the
Planning Department, and
was told by Senior Planner
Eva Henes, who immedi-
ately recognized the own-
ers’ last name, that there
had been no zoning or
land use permission either
applied for or approved,
for any additions on the
property.
Henes said to Kitzmiller
that, based on Henes’ expe-
rience around Robert, as he
served as a Planning Com-
mission member, Henes
didn’t think there was an
intentional effort to avoid
the permits. Nevertheless,
Henes told Kitzmiller that
the Crawfords would need
to bring the property into
compliance.
Kitzmiller asked Henes
whether the Planning De-
partment wished to contact
the Crawfords first, or have
the Building Department
handle that, and Henes
told Kitzmiller she would
like Kitzmiller to contact
the Crawfords first, with
a notification letter. The
letter would emphasize
the point that the Building
Department wants to work
with the Crawfords, not
against them.
Kitzmiller would require
the Crawfords to file an ap-
plication with the Planning
Department within 14 days
of that notification, though
she said that the applica-
tion would most likely be
approved without an issue,
in this case.
Kitzmiller was surprised
to learn that Robert is a
County Planning Com-
mission member, having
served in that position
since January of this year,
and re-appointed this
month for a four-year term,
though that played no role
in her investigation. She
was previously unaware of
that appointment, and she
had already initiated an
investigation beginning in
April, based on that citizen
complaint.
On Thursday, September
14, Hall was successful
in completing the initial
drive-by, the additions
were obvious, and he took
photos of the work from
outside the property, which
he’d sent to Kitzmiller
(staff of the Building
Department would first
ask permission from the
property owner to inspect
inside the property bound-
aries).
With just exterior
photos, Kitzmiller said,
the Department could still
estimate the size of the
structure, to determine
the difference between
the original dimensions,
according to the County
Tax Assessor, and the new
dimensions, using com-
parisons of known sizes of
objects in the photos, such
as a nearby vehicle, for
example.
Kitzmiller said, “Here’s
the reality: as a home-
owner, you are absolutely
allowed to do your own
work, but normally, any
addition has to be permit-
ted and inspected, and it
has to receive planning and
zoning approval. That’s
State law, not County law.
The building codes are not
dictated by the City, or the
County–just the zoning
part of it, by the City, or
the County. In their case
(the Crawfords,), it would
be the County.”
She added that the
Building Department can’t
enforce City or County
ordinances, but rather,
building code law. In
referring to the Crawfords’
additions, she said, “This
would be a violation of
building code law.”
Kitzmiller said that the
Building Department could
require the Crawfords to
expose any completed
work (if not already in an
exposed state) in order to
make an inspection, but
alternatively, if there are
any pictures that were
taken while the construc-
tion was taking place,
those could be used, or an
engineer could be hired by
the Crawfords to inspect
and sign off on the work.
SEE PLANNING
COMMISSIONER PAGE 5
Heifer Calves
300-400# Bulk 149.00-162.00 Top 165.00
400-500# Bulk 138.00-155.00 Top 155.00
500-600# Bulk 127.00-143.00 Top 147.00
Yearling Steers
600-700# Bulk 138.00-151.00 Top 151.00
700-800# Bulk 133.00-144.00 Top 148.00
800-900# Bulk 129.00-135.00 Top 136.00
900-1,000# Bulk 113.00-122.00 Top 123.00
Yearling Heifers
600-700# Bulk 127.00-138.00 Top 138.50
700-800# Bulk N/A Top N/A
800-900# Bulk 118.00-127.00 Top 128.00
900-1,000# Bulk N/A Top N/A
Thin Shelly Cows 51.00-62.00
Butcher Cows 63.00-69.00
Butcher Bulls 64.00-79.00
Stock Cows N/A
Younger Heifers 68.00-87.00
Stock Cows Young - N/A
ProducersLivestock.com
541-473-3136
— Log Price Report —
Prices are based on the majority of saw mills in
Northeastern Oregon and Central Idaho. The prices
listed below are a composite prices of various saw-
mills willing to visit with me about this topic.
Ponderosa Pine—small diameter class 8-11 inches
diameter class $250 per mbf. Only one sawmill was
willing to buy small diameter pine at this time.
Ponderosa Pine—medium diameter class 12-17
inches diameter class $300 to $350 per mbf
Ponderosa Pine-large diameter class 18 plus inches
diameter class $380 to $410 per mbf
The Pine prices are still approximately $40 per mbf
below average lumber/log market due to 2017 fire
salvage
Doug Fir & Western Larch—$380 to $420 per
mbf. Normal prices typically ranged between $425
to $475 per mbf.
White Fir-$300 per mbf. Normal prices typically
ranged between $340 to $360 per mbf.
Engelmann Spruce—$350 at one Idaho sawmill,
other sawmills including with White fir prices.
In general, the log prices still impacted from 2015
fire season and fire salvage that resulted. Sawmills
are starting to get log yard inventory in line with
sawmill production needs. With a new Administra-
tion as of 1/20/2017, a more normal economic envi-
ronment should result and hopefully a more healthy
housing situation will result in a better climate for
Northeast Oregon Sawmill and private forest land-
owners.
Courtesy of Arvid Andersen,
Andersen Forestry Consulting
— Precious Metals Report —
Price per ounce, USD
Gold: $1,303.30
Silver: $17.10
Platinum: $939.67
Palladium: $911.73
Bloomberg.com
— Ag Commodities —
Corn: $350.00/bu/USD
Wheat: $449.75/bu/USD
Soybeans: $970.00/bu/USD
Oats: $246.25 bu/USD
Rough Rice: $12.81/cwt/USD
Canola: $492.90 CAD/mwt
Live Cattle: $116.25//lb./USD
Feeder Cattle: $157.28/lb./USD
Lean Hogs: $59.93/lb./USD
Bloomberg.com