LOCAL & STATE
BAKER CITY HERALD — 5A
UNIQUE FUNDRAISER WILL HAPPEN SEPTEMBER 21 AT CHURCHILL SCHOOL
Baker’s School District’s
Outdoor School moves
to Anthony Lakes
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2019
Great Salt Lick has new site
poem (this year’s theme): fi rst,
$100; second, $75
Whit Deschner really wants salt
• Best Forgery: fi rst, $100;
licks.
second, $75
And not just any old salt licks,
• People’s Choice: $100
but ones sculpted into artistic forms
All entries need the name of the
for the 13th-annual Great Salt Lick
person submitting and the name
contest and auction.
of the block, as well as the name
This year’s event will be held at
and species of animal that licked
Churchill School, a location change
the block, name of ranch, and
from previous years to accommodate
category.
the crowd.
Entry forms are available at
“It just gets bigger,” Deschner said
whitdeschner.com.
Submitted photo
of the event.
Salt blocks can be submitted
Artistic salt licks will be auctioned
The Great Salt Lick contest is
at Richland Feed and Seed or
Saturday, Sept. 21. Viewing and judg- Sept. 21 in Baker City to raise money Oregon Trail Livestock Supply in
for Parkinson’s disease research.
ing begins at 5:30 p.m. Food will be
exchange for a new block.
prepared by women from Recovery
Entries can also be taken to
Village, and beverages will be avail-
All proceeds raised from the auction Churchill, but those will not receive a
able from Barley Brown’s and Copper go to the Parkinson’s Center at Oregon replacement.
Belt Winery.
Health and Science University. Since
So far, the block submitted from far-
The live auction to sell all the licks
it began, this event has raised nearly thest away is one created in Scotland.
starts at 7 p.m. with auctioneer Mib
$140,000 for Parkinson’s research.
The Great Salt Lick contest has
Dailey.
Deschner, 65, was diagnosed with
appeared on NPR, OPB’s Oregon Art
The offi cial deadline to submit an
Parkinson’s 20 years ago.
Beat, and the front page of the Orego-
entry is Saturday, Sept. 14. However,
Deschner has secured $1,000 in
nian. It’s been featured in a Ripley’s
Deschner said the unoffi cial deadline prize money from local sponsors. Here Believe it or Not book called “Odd is
is the day of the event.
are the categories and corresponding Art” and National Geographic Kids
But he’d like entries early to be
prize money:
“Weird But True.”
logged into the contest and be avail-
• General: fi rst, $150; second, $100;
Most recently, a story appeared in
able for viewing next week from 11
third, $75; fourth, $50
the Smithsonian Magazine’s web page.
a.m. to 6 p.m. in Churchill’s art gallery.
• Best General Poem with Block:
For more information about the
Blocks from past events will also be on fi rst, $100; $75 second
contest, contact Deschner at 541-519-
display.
• Best “Expose Yourself to Salt Lick” 2736.
By Lisa Britton
For the Baker City Herald
WATER
Continued from Page 1A
“The EPA’s release of the
fi nal rule, which abolishes the
Obama-era rule, is welcome
news across rural Oregon,”
said Walden, a Republican
who represents all of Oregon
east of the Cascades.
Baker County Commis-
sioner Mark Bennett, who
also owns a cattle ranch near
Unity, said the 2015 rule was
a “phenomenal overreach” of
the government’s authority to
regulate water use.
“It wasn’t practical,” Ben-
nett said.
He said ranchers already
MEMORIES
Continued from Page 1A
Johnson recalled how his
phone was ringing off the
hook with calls from friends
and family members con-
cerned for his safety as a
member of the military.
“It was a rough day on the
job,” he remembers.
After completing his
military service, Johnson
trained to be a paramedic and
fi refi ghter.
While working as a reserve
fi refi ghter with a Central
Oregon department, he
participated in an observance
of 9/11 with a ceremony that
included reading the names
of the fi refi ghters and law
enforcement offi cers who died
on Sept. 11, 2001. A bell was
rung in honor of each of them.
He says he has made it a
point to take a moment every
year on Sept. 11 to pause and
refl ect on that day and those
who sacrifi ced their lives in
service to others.
Johnson joined the Baker
City Fire Department two
year ago this December. He
was promoted to lieutenant
in May.
Because of staffi ng limita-
tions, he knew an elaborate
ceremony wouldn’t be possible
in Baker City, but he wanted
to do something more memo-
rable this year, he said.
“I wanted to make it a little
shorter, but to have a profes-
sional observance as much as
possible,” he said.
As it has a tendency to do,
time passed quickly by and
Johnson didn’t realize until
Sunday night that Patriot
Day (the designation given to
Sept. 11) was just three days
away. He worked until 2 a.m.
putting together Wednesday’s
program and delivered it to
Chief John Clark on Monday.
Johnson said Clark approved
the plan and then distributed
the outline for the memorial
service throughout the com-
munity.
Clark explained how differ-
ent elements of Wednesday’s
have a strong incentive to
protect water.
“Clean water is valuable for
what we’re doing,” he said.
Walden said uncertainty
with how broadly the 2015
rule could be applied con-
tributed to his constituents’
concerns.
“They worried that the
intermittent stream or irriga-
tion ditch would be subject
to burdensome new federal
regulation,” Walden said.
The 2015 rule, published in
the Federal Register in June
of that year, makes it clear
that intermittent streams
tributary to navigable streams
are defi ned as “Waters of the
United States” and subject to
Clean Water Act regulation.
The rule reads, in part, “All
tributary streams, includ-
ing perennial, intermittent,
and ephemeral streams, are
chemically, physically, and
biologically connected to
downstream rivers...”
As for ditches, the 2015
federal rule states that certain
ditches are not subject to
federal regulation under the
Clean Water Act.
“The agencies add exclu-
sions for waters and features
previously identifi ed as gener-
ally exempt (e.g., exclusion for
certain ditches that are not
located in or drain wetlands),”
ceremony refl ected what was
happening on the ground the
day of the 2001 attacks.
“Dispatch had a big tie-in
that day and today,” Clark
said Wednesday after the
ceremony.
Dispatch airwaves were
enlisted to ensure that
Wednesday morning’s ceremo-
ny began at 8:45 sharp (the
actual attack began a minute
later in the Eastern time zone
18 years ago, but Johnson
said he adjusted the schedule
to the Pacifi c Time Zone to
accommodate Wednesday’s
audience).
He expressed his apprecia-
tion to the law enforcement
offi cers who came to join the
ceremony and especially the
efforts of Baker County Un-
dersheriff Jef Van Arsdall and
the dispatch crew who helped
pull it all together.
“Without the undersheriff
and the dispatch coordina-
tion it wouldn’t have been the
same,” Johnson said.
Corrina Jacobs, lead dis-
patcher at the Baker County
Dispatch Center, spoke over
the radio airwaves at the fi re
station to pay tribute to those
who died in the Sept. 11, 2001,
attack.
Reading from a script, she
provided this record of the
sacrifi ces made on that day:
“On this day 18 years
ago, September 11, 2001, on
American soil, hijackers initi-
ated the deadliest terrorist at-
tack in human history. 2,977
people lost their lives. Of
those, 343 fi refi ghters and 72
law enforcement offi cers gave
their lives in the line of duty.
“The evacuation signal you
are about to hear marks the
time of the fi rst airplane strik-
ing the North Tower of the
World Trade Center, at 8:46
Eastern Standard Time.”
The silence of the solemn
ceremony then was interrupt-
ed by the blast of the airhorn
evacuation signal followed
by three rings of the fi re bell
three times, a tradition that
recognizes those who have
gone home for the last time.
Jacobs ended her role in the
ceremony with this state-
ment:
“This is the last alarm for
the 343 fi refi ghters and 72
law enforcement offi cers of
9/11/2001. Last alarm.”
After a brief pause, she
continued:
“The last alarm for the 343
and 72 has now ended. They
have gone home. May we
never forget their sacrifi ce.
Dispatch clear at 8:47.”
About a dozen fi refi ghters
and law enforcement offi cers
from city, county and state
agencies stood in forma-
tion and saluted as the fi re
station’s fl ag was lowered to
half-staff by fi refi ghters Cam-
eron Kiyokawa and Andrew
Snodgrass, who also served as
bell ringers.
Members of the Baker
Elks Drum and Bugle Corps
played “Amazing Grace” as
the fl ag was lowered. Buglers
were Gary Timm, who also
is the Baker County deputy
director of emergency man-
agement, on soprano bugle,
and Steve Olsen and Dave
Hinton, playing bass-baritone
bugles.
Johnson called for a mo-
ment of silence and then
brought an end to the offi cers’
hand salute as the ceremony
came to a close.
In talking afterward about
the ceremony, Johnson ex-
tended his gratitude to those
in the audience who took
time to be there on such short
notice on a cool and windy
Wednesday morning.
“I would like to say thank
you to all the community
members who showed up to
pay their respects,” he said.
“That’s why we’re here, is for
them.”
The “may we never forget”
phrase is the message John-
son hopes people took away
from the service.
“It’s very important to
me that we don’t forget —
and don’t let time pass by
— something that changed
our country forever, without
notice,” he said.
For the third time in the past
three years, the Baker Outdoor
School this fall will be moving
to a new location.
The program, which operated
as a day camp experience from
1992 to 2017, was moved to a
three-night residential camp
last year at Camp Elkanah,
west of La Grande. The most re-
cent daycamp rendition before
that was staged at the Elkhorn
Wildlife Area northwest of
Haines.
This year’s program, sched-
uled for next week, will take
place in the Anthony Lakes
area, Dorothy Mason, longtime
Outdoor School coordinator,
stated in a press release.
Mason is phasing out of her
role and Luke Burton is learn-
ing the ropes this year under
her guidance. Burton joined the
staff of South Baker Interme-
diate School on March 4 as a
child development specialist.
The school serves students in
Grades 4-6.
Burton was hired May 1
on an extra-duty contract to
work May through October as
the rule reads. “The agencies
for the fi rst time also establish
by rule that certain ditches
are excluded from jurisdic-
tion, including ditches with
ephemeral fl ow that are not a
relocated tributary or excavat-
ed in a tributary, and ditches
with intermittent fl ow that
are not a relocated tributary,
or excavated in a tributary, or
drain wetlands.”
Curtis Martin, a North Pow-
der rancher who’s also chair-
man of the water resources
committee of the Oregon
Cattlemen’s Association, said
that although he’s pleased
the 2015 rule is repealed, he
the District’s Outdoor School
program facilitator. Burton will
earn $5,000 in that role.
The Outdoor School program
has historically been a rite of
passage for Baker School Dis-
trict sixth-graders.
And because of this year’s
larger-than-usual group of
about 180 students, including
those attending Haines and Ke-
ating elementary schools, some
schedule juggling was required
to accommodate them.
Students will attend camp
for two nights in groups of 90
each and rotate back to school
for the remainder of the week
to attend additional sessions,
Mason said.
Group One will be staying
Monday and Tuesday night,
and Group 2 will be staying
Wednesday and Thursday
nights.
Anthony Lakes Lodge will
provide the place to stay, meals
and logistical support.
“This has been a big effort
to make the transition and we
look forward to watching how it
works out,” Mason said.
doesn’t see that as a fi nal act.
Martin said he hopes the
government will come up with
a clearer defi nition of how
far its enforcement authority
extends.
The debate over the defi ni-
tion of Waters of the United
States also extended to the
division of government power.
In January 2016 Con-
gress passed a resolution to
overturn the 2015 rule based
on lawmakers’ belief that the
rule constituted overreach by
appointed offi cials rather than
elected ones.
President Barack Obama
vetoed the resolution.
In doing so Obama said:
“Too many of our waters have
been left vulnerable. Pollution
from upstream sources ends
up in the rivers, lakes, reser-
voirs, and coastal waters near
which most Americans live
and on which they depend for
their drinking water, recre-
ation, and economic develop-
ment.”
On Feb. 28, 2017, the
month after he was sworn
in, President Donald Trump
issued an executive order
calling for the EPA and Army
Corps of Engineers to review
and potentially repeal the
2015 rule.
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