i Record-Courier
THURSDAY, JUNE 30,2016
U-Haul Trucks, Trailers Pull
into J&M Country Store
Weekly Live Music at Powder River Pavilion in Geiser-Pollman
Park in Baker City. Brady Goss is currently on tour across
America. Talented songwriter, singer, pianist, guitarist - impres
sive, and unique improvisational style on piano and truly remark
able vocals.
Amazing stage performance with the energy and excitement of
Jerry Lee Lewis http://eaglecapmediaproductions.com/brady/
CD's will be available at the concert. This week's music
sponsor- Baker County Cultural Coalition.
Baker County Has
a Fishy Problem
On Thursday, June 23, during a special session of the Baker County
Commission, Commissioners Bennett and Kerns were brought up to speed
on a very fishy and expensive dilemma facing Richland’s Hewitt-Holcomb
Park. The problem: pumps designed to relocate park wastewater (including
refuse from the fish cleaning station) were failing. Affluent was backing
up into the system, rather than being dispersed into the drain field. It was
causing a complete failure and a very big mess.
For the week prior, Karen Spencer, Department Head for the Baker
County Parks Department, had worked endless, difficult hours with
numerous electricians, plumbers, contractors, and a representative from
Idaho Power to locate the problem. There had been little success. Costs
were climbing.
Commissioners were asked to approve two resolutions that would trans
fer $30,000 from the county’s contingency fund to the Baker County Parks
Fund to help pay for emergency repairs.
“To give a heads up, we have had to pump the tanks so many times,
we’ve had to change motors, completely, and we have new floats in,” said
Commission Chair Bill Harvey. “We are still in the middle of it. We are
struggling, greatly, and they are giving it everything they got.”
Harvey shared with Commissioners that he had been in contact with
Spencer every day since the problems started. “I am in contact with Karen,
daily. Our main goal is to get it fixed.”
Harvey continued, “We have some bills associated with it and that is
what this transfer is to address.”
Commissioner Mark Bennett expressed concerns that approving such a
transfer could alter next year’s opening fund balance.
“Don’t get me wrong, we need to fix this,” said Bennett. “But we don’t
want to start the new fiscal year eating too much money out of our opening
fund balance. We are right up against the line. We may have to throttle
back all expenditures to get that thirty, forty, possibly fifty thousand dollars
that we will need back into that fund.”
County Administrator Christina Cook acknowledged that $30,000 may
not be enough to solve the problem. Three days prior to the Commission
meeting, the County had already expended $20,000.
Bennett again shared his interest in fixing the problem, but was con
cerned that if spending in other departments was not slowed down, Baker
County could get to November and run out of money, “We need to make
sure we keep ourselves solvent by managing the situation responsibly.”
“I’m still holding my breath with the law enforcement discussions, and
that might be positive, or we might have a bigger discussion” said Bennett.
“We need to start talking about a plan about how we manage the financial
aspects of this issue, and I think our next meeting would be a good time to
do that.”
Commissioners agreed it was the prudent course to monitor the financial
aspects of the situation and encouraged pulling back on expenditures that
were not absolutely necessary.
Throughout the past week or so, the wastewater has been pumped from
the holding tanks and dumped into the Richland sewer lagoon. This served
as the only way to remove the affluent and allow the park to stay open.
With the holiday weekend approaching it was not a popular option to
consider closing a park down that is referred to as “Fisherman’s Paradise.”
More ironic that it was the fish cleaning station that served as the potential
culprit for the shut-down.
On Friday, Commissioner Tim Kerns traveled to Hewitt-Holcomb Park.
“Someone needed to go out there and get an eye on things,” said Kerns.
Kerns, however, did not go alone. Kerns contacted Dan Axness, a Baker
County native who has a Masters in Engineering and has worked exten
sively in the area of irrigation engineering. He now works for Idaho Power
Company.
As luck would have it, Axness was headed to the area for the weekend.
Upon his' arrival, Kerns found people “working like crazy.” Alex
Sackos and numerous other contractors had changed pumps, installed new
back-flow valves, and done everything they could think of to address the
problem. They too, understand closing the park would cause serious chal
lenges.
“Karen was working her heart out,” exclaimed Kerns. “It was a tough,
dirty, smelly job, but she did whatever she needed to do to keep things
flowing.”
For now, the problem seems to have been addressed. Kerns has been in
contact with Axness several times since the visit, and believes Idaho Power
can be helpful in looking at options that will prove beneficial in the long
run.
“’Frankly, I think things just started to wear out, and the fish grindings
are very hard on the system” said Kerns. “They are a problem but if we
don’t have a working grinder we will have those dam things thrown every
where.”
Kerns believes Hewitt-Holcomb Park plays an important role in the
County’s economic and recreational opportunities.
“We need to make the system more user friendly,” said Kerns. “We
can’t close this outfit down, but we are working our Parks Director to
death. Something has to change.”
Photo from Baker
County Website
Hewitt-Holcomb
Park
U-Haul Company of Oregon
is pleased to announce that
J&M Country Store has signed
on as a U-Haul neighborhood
dealer to serve the Huntington
community.
J&M Country Store at 40 W.
Washington St. will offer U-
Haul trucks, trailers, towing
equipment, support rental
items and in-store pickup for
boxes.
Hours of operation for U-
Haul rentals are 6 a.m.-6 p.m
Tuesday-Sunday. After hours
drop-off is available for cus
tomer convenience.
Reserve U-Haul products at
this dealer location by calling
(541) 869-2007 or visiting
https://www.uhaul.com/Loca-
tions/Truck-Rentals-near-
Huntington-OR-97907/012147
/ today.
J&M Country Store owner
Jack Helm is proud to team
with the industry leader in do-
it-yourself moving and self
storage to better meet the
demands of Baker County.
U-Haul and J&M Country
Store are striving to benefit the
environment through sustain-
S p OJAY S t ?
ability initiatives. Truck sharing
is a core U-Haul sustainability
business practice that allows
individuals to access a fleet of
trucks that is larger than what
they could access on an indi
vidual basis.
Every U-Haul truck placed in
a community helps keep 19
personally owned large-ca
pacity vehicles, pickups, SUVs
and vans off the road. Fewer
vehicles means less traffic
congestion, less pollution, less
fuel burned and cleaner air.
J&M Country Store is a
great place to become U-Haul
Famous®. Take your picture in
front of a U-Haul product, send
it in and your face could land
on the side of a U-Haul truck.
Upload your photo through In
stagram using #uhaulfamous,
or go to www.uhaulfamous.
com to submit photos and
leam more.
Shirley Randall Generational Book of
Ladies Hair
By Sherrie Kvamme of the Hells Canyon Journal
Shirley Randall of Eagle Valley has a family
heirloom that is both unique and beautiful. The
fragile pages are filled with snippets of hair from
lady family members.
“My great grandfather Robert Turner’s sister
passed it on. Mary Stillwell passed it down to
Kate Jackson, who was my grandfather Bob
Turner’s sister. Then she passed it onto an aunt
of mine, and she passed it on to my
parents, and then I got it,” explained Shirley.
“The Turners came over on the Mayflower, My
great-grandfather was married three times, and
this book comes through the last family. The
only reason I have any of this history is that one
of
the
children
from
the
second
family called me because she found my name
in my father’s obituary in Ontario, and she called
me. She is the one who produced what informa
tion I do have. Kate made me a
journal of the family, too. The hair book was
started in the late 1800s.”
When Shirley received the book, it was in dis
repair,
and
the
leather
was
totally
“perished.” The sewn pages were broken at the
stitching and had separated into several de
tached pages. Shirley found a woman who spe
cialized in book restoration to see what she
could do. The restoration included work on the
binding and reinforcement of the spine edge.
New endpapers in a Renaissance style were
added, as well as a new hinge. Covers were cut
of Davey book board, slightly thinner than usual
so
the
book
would
have
some
flexibility. Then the boards were covered with
Kennet cotton binding cloth (a 100 percent
starch-filled cotton book cloth), and ribbon ties
were added to aid in keeping the volume closed.
A title label was added, and the pages were
reinserted between the new covers.
There was a caution associated with the
BLM INITIATES WILD HORSE
RESEARCH IN OREGON
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
Burns (Oregon) District today released its deci
sion to initiate research, in cooperation with Ore
gon State University, to develop and evaluate
safe and humane methods to spay wild horse
mares as a method for managing the growth of
wild horse herds on public lands. The decision
comes on the heels of the BLM's latest annual
population estimate that shows approximately
67,000 wild horses and burros roaming public
lands in 10 Western states. This most recent es
timate is 15 percent -- equivalent to 9,000 addi
tional animals -- more than what was estimated
in 2015. The population of wild horses and bur
ros on public lands is now more than double
what the agency has determined is healthy for
the animals and the rangeland resources on
which they and many other species depend.
The BLM's goal is to manage healthy horses on
healthy rangelands.
Managing the population of wild horse herds
is essential to maintain the health of the animals
and of public lands; With virtually no natural
predators, herds can grow 15-20 percent per
year, doubling in just four years if left
unchecked. Overpopulation on the range can
damage fragile rangeland resources and com
promise animal health. In addition to the on-
range population, the BLM is responsible for the
care of 46,000 unadopted wild horses and bur
ros in its off-range pastures and corral facilities.
It costs nearly $50,000 to care for one un
adopted horse in a corral over its lifetime. The
BLM is tasked with overseeing the protection,
management and control of wild horses and
burros by the Wild Free Roaming Horse and
Burro Act of 1971 (Public Law 92-195).
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS)
found in a June 2013 report there are no highly
Shirley Randall
Hells Canyon Journal photo
restoration in that the book would always be
fragile and would need to be handled with
extreme care to ensure longevity. Pictures do
not demonstrate the fine and intricate work of
the design. In not being able to touch it, one
loses the sense of fragility. It is indeed, a
family heirloom.
Throughout the decades, different lady
family members had fancifully braided the
lengths of hair and curled the shorter lengths,
then placed them on a page of the book in pretty
designs. They enhanced the hair with bits of rib
bon or colorful dried wildflowers. They didn’t
write dates, they just put the hair on the pages
and signed their names. “I think we’ll try to con
tinue adding to it,” said Shirley. We’ve talked
about it, and I think the girls are in favor of it and
want to keep it going. It’s a work in progress,
and I’m pretty sure we won’t let it go.”
effective, easily delivered, and affordable fertil
ity-control methods available across the BLM's
West-wide Herd Management Areas. As a result
of these findings, the BLM aims to develop a va
riety of new population management tools to re
duce the number of animals that must be
removed from the range as well as the number
of animals that must be cared for in off-range fa
cilities. As part of this effort, the decision an
nounced today will initiate three of 21 research
studies and projects with universities and the
U.S. Geological Survey to develop new man
agement tools and improve wild horse and
burro management. Detailed information about
each project has been posted on the agency's
website (http://on.doi.gov/ IWDtWjt).
The three research7 studies announced today
are focused on investigating the safety and ef
fectiveness of three methods of mare fertility
control. The BLM has awarded a research grant
to Oregon State University to conduct the stud
ies, and the procedures will follow an animal
care protocol approved by the university. Li
censed and experienced veterinarians will con
duct
the
procedures
and
provide
post-procedure care. The research will start this
summer at Oregon's Wild Horse Off-Range Cor
ral in Hines, Ore.
The BLM considered the Proposed Action to
conduct the studies and the No Action alterna
tives in Environmental Assessment DOI-BLM-
OR-B000-2015-0055. The BLM has selected
the Proposed Action. Copies of the Environmen
tal Assessment, Finding of No Significant Im
pact, and Decision Record are found on BLM's
planning documents website: https:// eplan
ning.blm.gov/epl-front-office/. To search for a
document, you can use the map to locate Burns
District or click on the "Text Search" tab and
search by state, document type, year (2015),
and program. For further information on the
Spay Research project, please contact the
BLM's Burns District Office at (541) 573-4400.