BAKER VOLLEYBALL AVENGES LOSS TO WEISER, TOPS MAC-HI: PAGE 5A
WEDNESDAY
Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
October 2, 2019
IN THIS EDITION:
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To A Subscriber
A special good day to
Herald subscriber Tom Van
Diepen of Baker City.
BRIEFING
Local • Business & AgLife • Go! magazine $1.50
Offi cers Participate In Active Threat Training At Brooklyn Primary School
Police Preparation
City burn ban lifted
The Baker City Fire
Department has offi cially
lifted all burning restric-
tions effective today, Fire
Chief John Clark has an-
nounced.
Residents should note
that a burn permit is still
required for any open
burning, including fi re pits
and burn barrels in Baker
City. Additionally, burn
barrels must meet specifi c
construction requirements,
he stated.
WEATHER
Today
57 / 32
Partly sunny
Thursday
61 / 34
Partly sunny
Full forecast on the back
of the B section.
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.
Haines
man
still
missing
■ Searchers have
been looking for
Andy Dennis since
Sunday in the
Wallowa Mtns.
By Jayson Jacoby
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Money available for
emergency food,
shelter programs
Baker County will
receive $8,734 from FEMA’s
Emergency Food and Shel-
ter Program. Organizations
providing these services
to Baker County residents
can request an application
for funds from Joe Hayes
at Community Connec-
tion of Baker County, 2810
Cedar St., Baker City, OR
97814. Please call 541-
523-6591, extension 11, or
email your request for an
application to joe@ccno.
org. Applications can be
mailed in, emailed back or
dropped off. The applica-
tion deadline is Friday, Oct.
18 at 4 p.m.
Lacy Churchfi eld,
left, and Hailey
Zikmund go up for
a block Monday
S. John Collins / Baker City Herald
Kyle Ebeling, left, Baker County Sheriff’s Offi ce corrections deputy, and Becky Monahan, Baker County
Parole and Probation deputy, head down a hall at Brooklyn Primary School while instructing frightened
students to stay safely in a bathroom during a training exercise.
By Chris Collins
ccollins@bakercityherald.com
Brooklyn Primary School became
an eerie scene of chaos and violence
Friday and Saturday afternoons as
shots rang out in the hallways and
teenagers fell to the fl oor with wounds
sustained by the gunfi re.
The good news is the wounds
weren’t real and neither was the
gunfi re.
The shots came from pistols and
rifl es loaded with plastic silicone bul-
lets, known as “simunition” rounds
and used for training.
And the injuries were described
on tags hung around the necks of the
volunteers who helped bring a greater
degree of realism to the scenarios
played out both afternoons.
A group of teenagers, who also were
joined by a few adults on Friday, fi lled
the empty school with shrieks of ter-
ror as they ran aimlessly through the
hallways seeking safety and crying
out for help for themselves and their
injured friends. It was all a part of
“active threat” scenarios conducted
during training brought to Baker City
by offi cers with the state Depart-
ment of Public Safety Standards and
Training.
Baker City Police, Baker County
Sheriff’s Offi ce and Oregon State
Police offi cers were joined by others
from agencies in Union and Umatilla
counties for the exercises. Dispatchers
also participated along with EMTs
and paramedics from the Baker City
Searchers are navigating
a section of the steep and
snowy Wallowa Mountains
for the fourth
straight day
looking for
signs of a
Haines man
who went
Dennis
missing while
hunting deer
over the weekend.
The search for Andrew
Dean “Andy” Dennis, 60, is
focused on the area around
Crater Lake, near East
Eagle Creek about 32 air
miles northeast of Baker
City.
Ground crews are work-
ing along with two heli-
copters in the quest to fi nd
Dennis, who relatives say is
very familiar with that area.
See Search/Page 6A
$164K grant
means city
can build
accessible
playground
■ Construction
could happen in
May 2020
By Jayson Jacoby
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
S. John Collins / Baker City Herald
Law enforcement moves down the hallway past wounded students
toward the shooter’s room. Volunteer Naomi Woodward, center, is
among those waiting for help.
Fire Department.
The volunteer victims were recruit-
ed to provide added realistic confusion
to scenes that police and emergency
responders likely would encounter
should an actual school shooting or
other active threat take place in the
community.
“Any time we can get the commu-
nity involved it adds to the training,”
said Jim de Sully, regional training
manager for the DPSST in Salem.
See Training/Page 6A
S. John Collins / Baker City Herald
Student volunteers at
Friday’s training include,
second from left,
Sydney Younger, Naomi
Woodward, center,
and Lincoln Nemec, at
back. Jim de Sully of the
Department of Public
Safety Standards and
Training is second from
right, with Lance Wood-
ward, Baker City Police
school resource officer,
foreground right.
Baker City’s plan to build
a playground accessible
to children of all abilities
received a major boost
recently when a state board
approved a $164,000 grant.
The grant from the Or-
egon Parks and Recreation
Department will cover
more than half the project’s
estimated cost of $281,000,
said Joyce Bornstedt, the
city’s technical administra-
tive supervisor.
“It’s very exciting,” Born-
stedt said Tuesday of the
state grant that puts the
city on track to build the
new playground at Geiser-
Pollman Park in the spring
of 2020.
Karla Macy of Baker
City is also enthusiastic.
Her 3-year-old son,
Augustus, has spina bifi da,
and Macy has been promot-
ing the city’s fundraising
campaign for the all-inclu-
sive playground addition at
Geiser-Pollman.
See Play/Page 2A
TODAY
Issue 62, 26 pages
Business ...........1B & 2B
Calendar ....................2A
Classified ............. 4B-8B
Comics ....................... 9B
Community News ....3A
Crossword ........5B & 6B
Dear Abby ............... 10B
Horoscope ........5B & 6B
Letters ........................4A
Lottery Results ..........2A
News of Record ........6A
Obituaries ..................2A
Opinion ......................4A
Sports ........................5A
Weather ................... 10B
FRIDAY — GETTING IN ONE LAST DAY-HIKE IN THE ELKHORN MOUNTAINS