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About Baker City herald. (Baker City, Or.) 1990-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 30, 2019)
MONDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2019 BAKER CITY HERALD — 7C YEAR IN REVIEW JUNE ■ High Temperature: 88, the 12th • Low Temperature: 32, the 22nd SWAT Team Called In Wednesday Afternoon To Arrest Robbery Suspect Standoff Ends Safely • Total Precipitation: .71 (avg.: 1.29) Motels reopen ■ Super 8 and Motel 6 had been closed since Monday due to fire safety code violations By Jayson Jacoby jjacoby@bakercityherald.com The two motels in Baker City closed Monday due to fire safety code violations reopened Thurs- day after fixing the problems, Baker City Fire Chief John Clark said. Clark closed the Super 8 motel and Motel 6 on Monday after inspecting the buildings and finding multiple violations, including the disabling of the alarm system at Motel 6 and the partial dismantling of the sprinkler system at the Super 8. A complainant, whom Clark has declined to name, reported the violations to the Fire De- partment Monday morning. Clark said this morning that the family that owns both mo- tels brought in two contractors this week, one of which worked about 16 hours on Thursday, to fix the problems. He allowed both motels to reopen Thursday evening. E.O. Media Group plans to buy Herald By Kathleen McLaughlin WesCom News Service S. John Collins / Baker City Herald SWAT members arrested Brent Alexander Breshears, 28, at approximately 3 p.m. Wednesday. By Chris Collins ccollins@bakercityherald.com JUNE 28 — Baker City Police had hoped to make a routine arrest before dawn Wednesday when they approached an apartment house where a man they held an arrest warrant for had reportedly been staying. Instead, Baker City Police Sgt. Wayne Chastain said he received a call from the night-shift offi cers at about 3 a.m. telling him they had confi rmed that the subject of the war- rant, Brent Alexander Breshears, 28, was in an apartment at 1701 Fourth St., but Breshears they were not allowed inside to arrest him. The actual tenant at the apartment,Tamara Fine, 46, refused to let the offi cers enter with- out a search warrant. “So they backed out of the establishment, set up a perimeter and started making phone calls,” Chastain said. During the night, Fine left the apartment through a window and police let her go. “She wasn’t the primary focus,” Chastain said. In the meantime, Breshears had barricaded himself inside Fine’s basement apartment in the fourplex building and refused to communi- cate with police. JUNE 5 — Two Oregon media companies want to buy most of Western Communica- tions’ community newspapers for a combined price of more than $1.1 million, according to motions fi led Tuesday in bankruptcy court. The East Oregonian Com- pany, known as EO Media Group, would pay $775,000 for The Observer in La Grande and the Baker City Herald. Country Media Inc., which owns newspapers on the Oregon Coast and in Montana and North Dakota, would pay $350,000 for the Del Norte Triplicate in Crescent City, California, and the Curry Coastal Pilot in Brookings. The proposed buyers have requested hearings on June 27 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Portland, according to mo- tions fi led Tuesday. Closings would occur days after the court orders the sales. Competing bids may be submitted no later than June 21. “Both of them are really good fi ts,” Western Communications Chairwoman Betsy McCool said of the proposed buyers. “I wish them all luck. I’m hoping they’ll serve their community and employees well. I have no doubt that they will.” Saddled with debt from its Bend headquarters building, Western Communications fi led in January for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Police chief leaving Addison settles ■ Dustin Newman returning to Polk County Sheriff’s Office JUNE 17 — Baker City Police Chief Dustin New- man will be returning to the Polk County Sheriff’s Offi ce in Western Oregon where he worked for 14 years before moving to Baker City in 2014. Newman has been Baker City’s police chief for the past year. His last day will be July 8, Baker City Manager Fred Warner Jr. said this morning. Warner said he planned to meet with Newman, 43, Newman this morning to discuss the police department’s staffi ng. Warner appointed Newman as interim chief on May 11, 2018, and removed the interim title about a month later. Warner said the police department is fully staffed, although Newman, who served as lieutenant before being appointed as chief, has not replaced his former posi- tion. When Newman started as chief he had to fi ll three vacancies. County officials: Smith issue is money, not work By Jayson Jacoby jjacoby@bakercityherald.com JUNE 12 — Baker County Commission Chairman Bill Harvey and Commissioner Bruce Nichols say their deci- sion to not extend the county’s contract with economic developer Greg Smith is based on declining revenue, not on Smith’s performance as the county’s contractor over the past several years. Both commissioners also said they were not concerned about potential confl icts of interests based on Smith’s contracts as an economic developer with adjacent coun- ties, or his service as a state legislator. The Baker County Eco- nomic Development Council, which advises Harvey, Nichols and the third commissioner, Mark Bennett, voted Thurs- day not to renew Smith’s $96,000-per-year contract when the new fi scal year starts July 1. The reason, both Harvey and Nichols said on Monday, is that revenue from a tax col- lected from guests at motels and other lodging establish- ments has dropped substan- tially over the past fi scal year. That lodging tax revenue is the source of the money for Smith’s contract. The contract, which took effect July 1, 2018, was slated to continue through June 30, 2022. The contract includes a clause allowing either party to cancel the agreement with 60 days written notice. That clause also allows the county to end the deal if “funding from federal, state or other sources is not obtained and continued at levels suffi cient to allow for the purchase of the indicated quantity of services.” lawsuit for $155K By Chris Collins ccollins@bakercityherald.com JUNE 14 — Baker City’s insurance company will pay former local journal- ist Brian Addison $155,000 to settle a lawsuit he fi led against the city and its former police chief in 2015. The settlement was fi nalized Wednes- day in U.S. District Court in Pendleton. The lawsuit, which had been scheduled to go to trial in August, was dismissed with prejudice, which means the mat- ter cannot be brought before the court again. The city and Addison will be responsi- ble for their own costs and attorney fees, the stipulated agreement states. In signing the agreement, City Man- ager Fred Warner Jr., former police chief Wyn Lohner and Addison agreed to re- lease all parties from any further liability in the matter. Addison did not reply to a request for a comment in time for this story. Addison, who formerly worked as a Gregg Hinrichsen Insurance Agency Inc. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there! At State Farm, you get a competitive rate and an agent who is dedicated to helping you get the coverage that's right for you. Nobody takes care of you like State Farm along with Gregg, Jo, Shay & Michelle. 1722 Campbell, Baker City 541-523-7778 32 Years reporter for The Record-Courier newspa- per, alleged in the lawsuit that the City and Lohner had retaliated against him after he wrote an editorial criticizing the police department. The editorial was published in 2008 in The Record-Courier, a longtime weekly newspaper that has since ceased operation. Addison’s lawsuit sought monetary damages to be determined at trial on claims that the City and Lohner retali- ated against his freedom of speech rights by harassing him for what he had writ- ten in the editorial. Addison stated his belief that the police department’s use of its drug-detecting dog during the Class 1A state basketball tournament at Baker High School was a violation of constitutional protection against unreasonable search and seizure. In his lawsuit, Addison claimed that the City and Lohner interfered with his job opportunities, defamed him and deprived him of due process because of what he had written. Thatcher’s Hardware 21 years ...and still going strong! 2200 Resort Street, Baker City • 541-523-3371 Mon-Fri 7-6 • Sat 8-6 • Sun 9-5
