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BAKER ROUTS ONTARIO IN HOMECOMING GAME, CAN STILL SHARE GOL TITLE:
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Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
October 21, 2019
IN THIS EDITION:
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Good Day Wish
To A Subscriber
A special good day to
Herald subscriber Margo
Kenworthy of Baker City.
BRIEFING
City seeks
candidates for
Community
Christmas tree
The Baker City Com-
munity Development
Department and Baker City
Downtown are in search
of this year’s 2019 Com-
munity Christmas Tree.
Candidates must meet the
following criteria:
• Within 3 miles of Court
Plaza (downtown Baker
City on Court Avenue
between Main and Resort
streets)
• Maximum height of
40 feet
If you would like to sub-
mit your tree for consider-
ation contact Robin Nudd
at 541-524-2036 or rnudd@
bakercity.com by Nov. 1.
Local • Home & Living • Sports Monday $1.50
Gauge
Bloomer
Elks
Hope For Linda Lodge
hosts
major
event
Linda Peterson Of Baker City Has Been Missing Since March 15
■ Peterson’s daughter and sister say she always tried to help others
■ For the first time in its
123-year history, the Baker
Elks Lodge was the site for a
statewide fall conference
Downtown
trick-or treating
set for Halloween
By Jayson Jacoby
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
The annual Baker City
Kiwanis Downtown Trick-
or-Treat event is set for
Thursday, Oct. 31 from 4
p.m. to 6 p.m. Main Street
will be closed to traffi c be-
tween Auburn Avenue and
Church Street. Businesses
and organizations both
on and off Main Street are
invited to participate. More
information is available
by calling Debbie Poe,
Kiwanis president, at 541-
403-0483.
From their lodges scattered across
Oregon, from the Coast to the high desert
to the mountains and the valleys, the Elks
were all headed to one place — Baker City.
The Baker Elks Lodge No. 33 played host
this weekend to offi cers from 52 lodges who
traveled here for one of Oregon Elks’ two
major annual events.
The three-day event, which started
Thursday, is a training seminar for incom-
ing exalted rulers, said Morgan Brinton of
Baker City, lecturing knight for the Baker
Lodge and public relations chairperson for
the Elks Northeast Oregon District.
See Elks/Page 2A
WEATHER
Widow files
suit in hunting
accident death
Today
52 / 36
Partly sunny
Tuesday
61 / 31
Chance of
rain showers
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.
S. John Collins / Baker City Herald
Mary Lane, left, and Alesia Wilson fi nalize details Thursday with Sheila Baker to set up a
donation collection site at New Directions Northwest at Baker City.
over the investigation of Peter-
son’s disappearance. The team
Alesia Wilson has been miss-
has searched the apartment at
ing her mother, Linda Peterson,
2450 Broadway St. where she’d
since the Baker City woman
been living, and a $2,000 reward
— Mary Lane, talking about
disappeared on March 15.
has been offered to anyone who
her sister, Linda Peterson
Wilson’s aunt, Mary Lane,
provides police with information
tears up at the thought of her
remain clean and sober despite that leads them to Peterson.
last meeting with her older
several successful efforts over
What had been a missing
sister, Linda, the night she went the years. “She had a lot of
person search was transformed
missing.
crappy things that happened to into a full criminal investigation
Wilson and Lane, who are
her in her lifetime.”
with the belief “that there is a
closer in age to sisters — Wilson
But that didn’t stop Peterson strong possibility of foul play,”
is 29 and Lane is 35 — share a from reaching out to help others Shirtcliff said.
love for the 52-year-old Peterson try to overcome similar strug-
Baker City Police offi cer
that is overshadowed by the
gles themselves.
Shannon Regan is leading the
trouble that came with the prob-
And that’s what Wilson and
investigation. Police are continu-
lems Peterson’s addiction and
Lane want to focus on as police ing to follow-up on all informa-
mental illness brought to their
continue their efforts to fi nd
tion that comes to their atten-
lives over the years.
their beloved mother and sister. tion, Police Chief Ray Duman
Wilson is the younger of
The two women are starting
said last week.
Peterson’s two children. Wilson’s a project they’ve titled “Linda’s
While her family members
older brother, Anthony Mail-
Hope,” that will emphasize Pe-
wait for resolution, they have de-
man, lives in La Grande.
terson’s outreach to others.
cided to take action to help those
Lane is the second youngest
“She always wanted to help
who, like Peterson, have found
in a family of six children in
people,” Lane said. “This is our
themselves without food and
which Peterson was second from way of keeping her going.”
shelter and maybe even looking
the oldest.
District Attorney Matt Shirt- for a good book as they try to get
“She had a lot of demons
cliff announced in April that
by on limited resources.
she was running from,” Wilson
members of the Baker County
See Linda/Page 3A
says of her mother’s inability to Major Crime Team were taking
By Chris Collins
ccollins@bakercityherald.com
TODAY
Issue 70, 16 pages
“She always wanted to help
people. This is our way of
keeping her going.”
Calendar ....................2A
Classified ............. 3B-6B
Comics ....................... 7B
Community News ....3A
Crossword ........5B & 6B
Dear Abby ................. 8B
Home ................1B & 2B
Horoscope ........5B & 6B
Lottery Results ..........2A
By Chris Collins
ccollins@bakercityherald.com
The wife of a Baker City man who died
in a February hunting accident near Unity
has fi led a $960,000 wrongful death lawsuit
against her husband’s hunting partner.
Vicki VanCleave of La Grande fi led the
lawsuit Oct. 14 in Baker County Circuit
Court.
VanCleave claims Richard Toubeaux, 71,
of Baker City, was negligent in causing the
death of her 76-year-old husband, George
Sherman VanCleave. He died on Job Creek
Road in the Unity area on Feb. 19.
See Lawsuit/Page 3A
Richland fire
station bids
exceed budget
By Samantha O’Conner
soconner@bakercityherald.com
Baker County Commissioners will have
to re-evaluate their options after the four
bids for building a new fi re station in Rich-
land exceeded the cost estimate.
The county’s budget for the project, which
is funded by a federal grant, is $1,118,700.
See Richland/Page 2A
News of Record ........2A
Opinion ......................4A
Senior Menus ...........2A
Sports .................. 5A-8A
Turning Backs ...........2A
Weather ..................... 8B
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