Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Baker City herald. (Baker City, Or.) 1990-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 25, 2019)
WEDNESDAY BAKER GIRLS, BOYS SOCCER TEAMS TOP NYSSA TUESDAY: PAGE GE 5A Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com rcityherald.com September 25, 2019 IN THIS EDITION: Local Business & AgLife Go! magazine • QUICK HITS Good Day Wish To A Subscriber A special good day to Herald subscriber Kathy Tucker of Baker City. Local, 6A • $1.50 Pilot Travel Centers Proposing To Replace Baker Truck Corral Truck Stop Change? A Washington man remains in custody today accused of an early Friday crime spree in the Haines area in which he report- edly threatened one of his victims with a gun and a knife. Michael David Tatro, 36, of West Richland, Wash- ington, is being held on 20 charges. Bail has been set at $283,500. soconner@bakercityherald.com Baker City Council members on Tuesday discussed City Manager Fred Warner Jr.’s proposal to retire from the state’s pension Warner system Dec. 31 but continue to work for about a year under a new contract. Councilors didn’t make a decision, but Mayor Loran Joseph said he would meet with Warner to draft a pro- posal for the full Council to consider at a later meeting. Baker City Police selling unclaimed property Friday Methodist Church autumn bazaar scheduled Oct. 5 The Baker United Meth- odist Church has scheduled its annual autumn bazaar for Saturday, Oct. 5. The event will be from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the church at 1919 Second St. The bazaar will offer houseplants, second-time- around items, baked goods and preserves, holiday gifts and decorations and sev- eral collectibles including Avon and railroad items. A homemade cinnamon roll and coffee are $2. WEATHER Today 69 / 37 Partly sunny Thursday 76 / 46 Partly sunny The space below will be blank on issues delivered or sold from boxes. The space is for a postage label for issues that are mailed. Council to mull Warner proposal By Samantha O’Conner BRIEFING The Baker City Police De- partment’s only yard sale of unclaimed property will take place Friday starting at 8 a.m. in the back lot at the Police Department, 1768 Auburn Ave. Baker’s Jorge Duran in action Tuesday against Nyssa S. John Collins/Baker City Herald Pilot Travel Centers has applied for a permit to demolish the Baker Truck Corral and build a new travel center, including a convenience store, Arby’s restaurant and gas pumps, on the 8.9-acre property on Campbell Street just west of Interstate 84 at the 304 interchange. structure covering 10,688 square feet, according to the application. America’s largest truck stop Because the proposed structure is company has applied for a permit to smaller than 15,000 square feet, and demolish the Baker Truck Corral and because a travel center is an allowed build a travel center on the nearly use in the general-commercial zone, 9-acre property on the south side of the Planning Department can ap- Campbell Street beside Interstate 84. prove the application and the matter, Pilot Flying J of Knoxville, Tennes- known as a Type II review, does not see, is the applicant. go before the city Planning Commis- The company owns more than 750 sion, said Eva Henes, a senior plan- travel centers in 44 states and six ner at the planning department. Canadian provinces, according to its A notice was sent about two weeks website. Its Northeastern Oregon ago to property owners in the area, locations are at Stanfi eld, La Grande and the department didn’t receive and Ontario. any public comments, Henes said. According to the application the Planning department offi cials are company fi led with the Baker City- working on a staff report, and Plan- County Planning Department, the ning Director Holly Kerns will decide new travel center would include whether to approve the application. an Arby’s restaurant with a drive- That could happen by early October, through, a convenience store, drivers’ and the decision would be subject to lounge and public laundry, 10 fuel appeal for 14 days, Henes said. stations for passenger vehicles and Projects that involve a subjective seven diesel stations for trucks. decision, such as a conditional-use The restaurant, store and other permit, go to the planning commis- services would be in a one-story sion, Henes said. By Jayson Jacoby jjacoby@bakercityherald.com But Type II projects are more straightforward, with the main issue being whether the project complies with zoning rules and other regula- tions. Ryan Robinson of Pilot Flying J said Tuesday that the company has not bought the Baker Truck Corral property. Robinson said the company is looking at options for the property but does not have a signed agree- ment. The application lists Kurt Miller as the property owner. He is the registered agent for DC & KM LLC, the Oregon company listed as the property owner on Baker County Assessor’s Offi ce records. According to those records the current truck stop building is 10,314 square feet — slightly smaller than Pilot Flying J’s proposed structure. The Truck Corral was built in 1975, according to the Assessor’s Offi ce. The market value of the property, including land and buildings, is listed on tax records as $2,188,770. See Council/Page 3A MOSQUITOES TRANSMIT THE VIRUS 2 people contract West Nile By Jayson Jacoby jjacoby@bakercityherald.com Two Baker County resi- dents recently contracted the West Nile virus from mosquito bites, offi cials an- nounced Tuesday in a press release. The people were not identifi ed. Nancy Staten at the Baker County Health Department declined to give the gender or age of the two people, or say what part of the county they live in due to privacy concerns. See Virus/Page 3A Remote-Controlled Traffi c Devices Keep People Away From Traffi c OTEC Ready to meet ‘Roboflagger?’ bills to rise $4 By Samantha O’Conner soconner@bakercityherald.com Drivers passing through construction zones in the future will be increasingly likely to see a machine rather than a person guiding traffi c. But there will be a human fl agger nearby. One way to reduce the danger to fl aggers from careless drivers is the use of “robofl aggers” or AF- ADs — Automated Flagger Assistant Devices. Flaggers or other construction workers operate the devices remotely, usually through a computer tablet, but they do so while they’re at a safe distance from the road, said Alex Olsen-Smith, 38, who oper- ated two of the devices recently along old Highway 30 as it leads south out of Baker City toward Inter- state 84 during a utility line installation project. The robofl aggers include a signal light, sign and traffi c arm that drops when a lane is closed. “So, instead of having a body fl agger out here standing here with a stop/slow paddle, potentially getting hit, now we have a mechanical device that stands there and does the same thing,” said Smith, who tested the AFADs with his wife, Miranda Stoneman Olsen-Smith, 24. According to the U.S. Department of Transpor- tation Federal Highway Administration website, 20,000 workers are injured in road construction zones yearly. See Flagger/Page 3A TODAY Issue 59, 24 pages Business ...........1B & 2B Calendar ....................2A Classified ............. 4B-8B S. John Collins / Baker City Herald Video cameras document drivers who fail to heed the signal from a robofl agger device. Comics ....................... 9B Community News ....3A Crossword ........6B & 7B Dear Abby ............... 10B Horoscope ........6B & 7B Letters ........................4A Lottery Results ..........2A News of Record ........3A Obituaries ..................2A Residential customers of Oregon Trail Electric Co- operative will pay $4 more per month for their service starting Nov. 1. The Baker City-based power cooperative will see its wholesale costs through the Bonneville Power Administration, which sup- plies all but a tiny fraction of OTEC’s power, rise by 3.97%, according to a press released issued Monday afternoon. For the cooperative’s 22,000 residential members in Baker, Union, Grant and Harney counties, the $4 increase will show up in the “delivery charge” section of the monthly bill. That charge will increase from $29.50 to $33.50. See Bills/Page 6A Opinion ......................4A Sports ........................5A Weather ................... 10B FRIDAY — BAKER CITY WOMAN OPENS PRIVATE INVESTIGATION FIRM