WEDNESDAY
BLAZERS, BEAVERS LOSE; OREGON DUCKS HOLD OF MEMPHIS: PAGE 5A
In LOCAL, 6A
Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
November 13, 2019
IN THIS EDITION:
QUICK HITS
Good Day Wish
To A Subscriber
A special good day to
Herald subscriber Steven
Ritter of Baker City.
Community, 3A
Carmen Ott wants to
fi nd a loving home for
every dog that comes her
way, but sometimes that’s
not the hardest part.
Just getting the dog can
be the bigger challenge.
Local • Business & AgLife • Go! magazine $1.50
Baker City Council Agrees To Explore Potential Train Quiet Zone
Whistle Worries
BRIEFING
Pet supply
collection drive
under way
PayneWest Insurance
is having a pet supply
collection drive for Best
Friends of Baker through
Dec. 13. People can drop
off adult dog and cat food
(wet or dry), dry kitten and
dry puppy food, kitty litter
and kitten milk replace-
ment powder and nursing
bottles at PayneWest, at
2001 Main St. (corner of
Main Street and Washing-
ton Avenue).
Garden Club meets
November 20
The Baker County
Garden Club will meet
Wednesday, Nov. 20 at
10:30 a.m. in the back
meeting room at the Com-
munity Connection Senior
Center, 2810 Cedar St.
Members will be planting
paperwhites, so please
bring containers. They
will also be discussing the
upcoming bazaar. Lunch is
$4.50 for seniors, $6.75 for
non-seniors.
WEATHER
Today
54 / 26
Partly sunny
Thursday
56 / 25
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.
More on
Hells
Canyon
crash
Former
owner
charged
with
theft
from
business
By Chris Collins
ccollins@bakercityherald.com
S. John Collins / Baker City Herald fi le photo
A Union Pacifi c freight train passing by South Baker Intermediate School.
of the group promoting a quiet zone,
Neighbors for a Safer, Quieter and
More than 50 people who support
Healthier Baker City, presented a
a proposal to stop freight trains from slideshow explaining what a Quiet
blowing their whistles at crossings
Zone is, and listing ways that train
in Baker City made their case to the whistles can affect people. They
City Council Tuesday night.
focused mainly on students at South
Councilors voted 6-0 to direct city
Baker Intermediate School, which is
staff to fi le a notice of intent to apply next to the railroad tracks.
for a Quiet Zone designation.
Anna Fargo, who’s also a member
There is no cost to fi le the notice of of the group, discussed the health ef-
intent, and it doesn’t obligate the city fects of train whistles. They can reach
to fi le an application.
110 decibels, she said, and the World
Dennis Dougherty and Peter Fargo, Health Organization recommends
Baker City residents and members
54 decibels “to avoid adverse health
By Samantha O’Conner
soconner@bakercityherald.com
impacts” and “44 (decibels) at night
for good sleep.”
Quiet Zone advocates submitted
a petition signed by more than 230
residents, as well as several letters in
support of the proposal.
Carrie Folkman, owner of Moun-
tain View RV Park on Hughes Lane,
submitted a letter and she also spoke
to councilors Tuesday. In her letter,
Folkman wrote that some of her
guests, in online reviews, wrote that
they were bothered by train whistles.
See Whistles/Page 6A
Council sells industrial land
A former Baker City man
was arraigned Tuesday
in Baker County Circuit
Court on charges of steal-
ing money from Beehive
Homes of Baker City, which
he co-owned for about 3fi
years.
Jeremy
Gale Thamert,
48, of Prinev-
ille, has been
charged with
two counts of
Thamert
fi rst-degree
theft.
The case is being han-
dled by Deputy Attorney
General Kurt Miller, who is
serving as a special deputy
district attorney for Baker
County.
Thamert and his former
wife, Traci, were business
partners with Robert Whit-
nah and his former wife,
Krischele Whitnah.
See Arrest/Page 3A
By Samantha O’Conner
soconner@bakercityherald.com
Sumpter
employee
hearings
Friday
The Baker City Council
agreed Tuesday to sell
14.28 acres in the Elkhorn
View Industrial Park to
Simplot AB Retail Inc.,
which plans to build a
fertilizer storage and dis-
tribution plant on the site.
The company will not
be producing fertilizer on
the property, said Paul
Simpson, an operations
manager for Simplot.
S. John Collins / Baker City Herald
Simplot is buying 14.28 acres in the Elkhorn View Industrial Park. This view is east
See Council/Page 6A across the city-owned parcel, with Marvin Wood Products in the background.
Retired Army Chaplain And Iraq War Veteran Speaks At The Courthouse
Witness to the horrors of war
By Samantha O’Conner
soconner@bakercityherald.com
A bright Monday morn-
ing greeted a group of vet-
erans, their families, and
civilians who gathered
outside the Baker County
Courthouse for a Veterans
Day ceremony.
The event took place
in front of the monument
that has plaques listing
Baker County veterans
who were killed during
wartime.
Duncan Pierce, com-
mander of the Baker
American Legion Post
41, played a portion of
Reveille, led an opening
prayer, and introduced
guest speaker Army
Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Perry
Schmitt, retired, who
served in Iraq.
See Veterans/Page 3A
TODAY
Issue 80, 22 pages
S. John Collins / Baker City Herald
At the Veterans Day service Monday morning, Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Perry Schmitt
(retired) from Salt Lake City, spoke about the tragedies of war he witnessed
personally during his tours in the Desert Storm confl icts.
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The Sumpter City
Council has rescheduled
for Friday a public meet-
ing during which three city
employees on paid leave
since this spring will have
a chance to defend their job
performance.
The hearings were origi-
nally scheduled for Nov 7.
Sumpter City Recorder
Julie McKinney and Public
Works Director Jeff McKin-
ney (who is Julie McKin-
ney’s husband) have been
on paid leave since June 14,
and assistant city recorder
and bookkeeper LeAnne
Woolf has been on paid
leave since May 14.
Sumpter Mayor Greg
Lucas said Woolf’s hearing
will start at 2 p.m., followed
by the McKinneys, who
will go before the Council
separately.
Each employee chose to
have the discussion take
place during a public ses-
sion, rather than during
an executive session that’s
closed to the public as
Oregon law allows.
Lucas said it’s possible,
but not certain, that the
Council will take action on
the three employees’ status
following the hearings.
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FRIDAY — PREVIEWING BAKER’S PLAYOFF FOOTBALL GAME AT BANKS