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Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
October 28, 2019
IN THIS EDITION:
Local • Home & Living • Sports Monday $1.50
QUICK HITS
Good Day Wish
To A Subscriber
A special good day to
Herald subscriber Mary Sue
Rightmire of Baker City.
Sports, 6A
Baker boys soccer coach
Victor Benites had his
fi ngers crossed Sunday
afternoon, and he wouldn’t
mind if Bulldog fans follow
suit for the next couple
days.
Benites’ team lost 1-0 to
Mac-Hi in its regular-sea-
son fi nale Saturday at the
Baker Sports Complex.
But the Bulldogs’
season isn’t offi cially
over, and that’s where the
superstition comes in.
As of Sunday Baker
(5-5-2 on the season) was
ranked 14th by the Oregon
School Activities Associa-
tion (OSAA), and the top
20 teams advance to the
Class 4A playoffs.
Solar Farm Under Construction Near Baker City
Powering Forward
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.
WEATHER
Today
45 / 16
Partly sunny
Tuesday
36 / 6
Sunny and cold
ccollins@bakercityherald.com
S. John Collins / Baker City Herald
Workers installing frames that will hold solar panels near Sutton Creek Road about six miles southeast of
Baker City.
By Samantha O’Conner
As Baker County Emer-
gency Management direc-
tor, Jason Yencopal’s phone
has been on speed dial to
the county counsel’s offi ce
in recent weeks.
That’s because he’s been
busy making inquiries
and checking the legalities
of procedures needed to
establish a ballot measure
to help fund ambulance
services in the county in
time for the May 2020
election.
Yencopal says a new
funding mechanism is
needed to make up for a
shortfall in providing ad-
equate ambulance service
to all county residents.
See Money/Page 2A
soconner@bakercityherald.com
Construction is nearing completion on Baker
County’s fi rst two solar power farms, the larger
of which is near Sutton Creek Road about six
miles southeast of Baker City.
That array of about 50,000 panels is about
one mile east of the landfi ll and about 7/10th of
a mile south of Interstate 84.
Enerparc Solar Projects LLC of Oakland,
California, is building that solar farm as well
as a second project near Unity, in southern
Baker County.
Construction manager Douglas Stevens said
work on the Sutton Creek project started Aug.
30, and company offi cials expect the farm to be
online around Dec. 15.
“This one is fast-paced,” Stevens said.
Currently, workers are driving in piles — the
metal bars that will hold the solar panels. The
piles have be driven a minimum of six feet into
the ground.
Stevens said he hopes to have the 50,000
panels installed within two weeks. The panels
are on motorized tracks that shift the panels as
the sun moves to maximize power production.
Frightful
frosty
forecast
By Jayson Jacoby
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
In case you haven’t
settled on a Halloween cos-
tume, here’s a bit of advice.
Something fuzzy.
A polar bear, for instance,
would be perfectly appro-
priate attire for trick-or-
treating or any other holi-
day festivity that involves
being outside for more than
a few minutes.
An arctic front is
scheduled to invade Baker
County Tuesday, bringing
temperatures more typical
of January than October.
See Solar Power/Page 3A
Full forecast on the back
of the B section.
See Frosty/Page 3A
S. John Collins / Baker City Herald
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.
County
to ask
voters
for EMS
money
By Chris Collins
BRIEFING
Downtown trick-
or treating set for
Halloween
Baker
girls top
Mac-Hi
Enerparc’s solar farm project includes
Idaho Power Company’s substation
near Interstate 84.
Natural
gas rates
will rise
Cascade Natural Gas cus-
tomers will see an increase
in their rates starting Nov.
1, the Oregon Public Utility
Commission announced
Friday.
The PUC approved a rate
increase of 8.3% for Cascade
Natural gas residential
customers.
The monthly bill of a
typical customer using 62
therms per month would
rise by $3.89, from $46.69 to
$50.58.
The PUC also approved
rate hikes for Oregon’s other
natural gas providers, Avista
Utilities and NW Natural.
S. John Collins / Baker City Herald
Workers continue construction of a solar farm southeast of Baker City
TODAY
Issue 73, 16 pages
Calendar ....................2A
Classified ............. 3B-6B
Comics ....................... 7B
Community News ....3A
Crossword ........5B & 6B
Dear Abby ................. 8B
See Rates Rise/Page 3A
Home ................... 1B-3B
Horoscope ........5B & 6B
Letters ........................4A
Lottery Results ..........2A
News of Record ........2A
Obituaries ..................2A
Opinion ......................4A
Sports .................. 5A-8A
Weather ..................... 8B
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