10C — BAKER CITY HERALD
MONDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2019
YEAR IN REVIEW
SEPTEMBER
■ High Temperature: 96, the 3rd
• Low Temperature: 28, the 30th
•
Total Precipitation: .74 (avg.: .57)
2
people
Round Up Record
contract
West Nile
Baker Cowboy Jesse Brown Sets Steer Wrestling Record At Pendleton Rodeo
By Jayson Jacoby
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
SEPTEMBER 25 — Two
Baker County residents
recently contracted the West
Nile virus from mosquito bites,
offi cials announced Tuesday in
a press release.
The people were not identi-
fi ed. Nancy Staten at the Bak-
er County Health Department
declined to give the gender or
age of the two people, or say
what part of the county they
live in due to privacy concerns.
The health department also
didn’t disclose the condition of
the two people and whether
either had been hospitalized.
Ben Lonergan/EO Media Group
Jesse Brown leaps from his horse onto a steer during the steer wrestling event at the 2019 Pendleton
Round-Up. Brown won the event and set a new arena record of 3.7 seconds.
By Jayson Jacoby
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
SEPTEMBER 18 — Cowboys
have been tangling with steers at the
Pendleton Round Up for more than
100 years but Baker City cowboy
Jesse Brown needed less than 4 sec-
onds to make history.
Brown, 27, not only won the steer
wrestling event at the famous rodeo
on Saturday.
In the fi nals Brown brought his
steer down in 3.7 seconds.
His performance broke the Round
Up arena record of 3.8 seconds set in
2002 by K.C. Jones and equalled in
2014 by Casey Martin.
Brown, a 2011 Baker High School
graduate who was competing in his
fourth Round Up, said he was espe-
cially excited to set a record at such
a renowned rodeo — and in the fi nal
round no less.
“It’s a big one,” he said of the Round
Up, which started in 1910. “It’s one
of the most prestigious rodeos in the
world.”
And Brown’s event, steer wrestling,
has been part of the annual Septem-
ber event almost as long, dating to
1911.
Brown, who competed in team
roping at Montana State University
after transferring from Washington
State University, where he played
football, said steer wrestling “fi ts me
the best” among rodeo events.
He’s ranked 25th in the world in
the event.
Brown said his goal for 2020 is to
qualify for the biggest spectacle in
rodeo — the National Finals Rodeo
that happens each December in Las
Vegas.
Although Brown’s 3.7-second time
in Saturday’s fi nals at Pendleton was
an arena record it wasn’t his own
personal best time.
The virus generally causes
mild fl u-like symptoms, but it
can also lead to severe illness
and in rare cases can be fatal.
The most recent confi rmed
human cases of West Nile
virus in Baker County were in
2014, when two women who
live at New Bridge, about 3
miles north of Richland, were
infected. Both women recov-
ered.
This year there have been
fi ve other confi rmed cases of
Oregon residents contract-
ing West Nile virus while in
the state — three in Harney
County and two in Malheur
County.
D.A. to don
judge’s robes
By Chris Collins
ccollins@bakercityherald.com
SEPTEMBER 27 — Oregon Gov. Kate Brown
has appointed Matt Shirtcliff, Baker County
district attorney, to replace the retiring Greg
Baxter as Baker County Circuit Court judge
Nov. 1.
Baxter, who has served as Baker County Cir-
Shirtcliff
cuit Court judge since Jan. 1, 2001, announced
in July that he would retire Oct. 31.
Shirtcliff has been district attorney since 2001 and has
worked for the district attorney’s offi ce since 1994.
Record heat Walden praises water rule repeal
fuels blaze
2015 RULE EXPANDED FEDERAL REGULATION OF WATERWAYS
By Jayson Jacoby
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
By Jayson Jacoby
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
SEPTEMBER 2 — Record heat during the holiday
weekend contributed to the growth of the area’s larg-
est wildfi re, and winds pushed smoke from the blaze
into Baker Valley on Sunday.
The 204 Cow fi re was started by lightning Aug. 9 on
the Malheur National Forest in the extreme south-
west corner of Baker County. The fi re, estimated at
6,700 acres, has also burned south into Grant County.
The 204 Cow fi re is 10% contained.
The temperature Saturday reached 96 degrees at
the Baker City Airport, breaking the previous record
for Aug. 31 of 94, set in 1998.
It was the second record high in four days at the
airport. Wednesday’s high of 100 broke the previous
record for Aug. 28 of 98 degrees, also set in 1998.
The heat, combined with low humidities and gusty
winds, pushed the 204 Cow fi re toward containment
lines that crews have established, according to fi re
offi cials.
Some of the smoke also came from fi res that crews
intentionally lit to burn areas between the main fi re
and those containment lines.
Five helicopters are assigned to the fi re. Some of
those are based at the Baker City Airport.
SEPTEMBER 13 — Congressman
Greg Walden and a local rancher and
county commissioners are among those
applauding federal offi cials for repeal-
ing a rule enacted during the Obama
administration that critics contend
could deprive farmers and ranchers of
irrigation water.
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to include not just navigable waterways,
but also their tributaries and some other
adjacent waterways, including ones that
don’t hold water year round.
In a statement Thursday, Walden said
that since 2015 he has heard from farm-
ers and ranchers across Oregon who
fear the federal government, using the
expanded defi nition, could restrict how
they use water.
Warner hopes to retire from PERS but stay on the job
By Samantha O’Conner
socconer@bakercityherald.com
and Jayson Jacoby
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
SEPTEMBER 23 — Baker
City Manager Fred Warner
Jr. hopes to retire at the end
of this year — but he wants
to continue doing the same
job for at least another year.
This possibility exists
through Oregon’s Public Em-
ployees Retirement System
(PERS).
PERS allows certain public
employees to retire and begin
collecting their pension, but
continue to work for a public
agency.
“I don’t want to retire,
I just want to retire from
PERS and keep working as
the city manager,” Warner,
65, said on Friday.
Great Salt Lick auction raises almost $17,000 for Parkinson’s research
SEPTEMBER 23 — Baker
City’s unique fundraising
event for Parkinson’s disease
research, the Great Salt
Lick auction, raised almost
We have been pleased to support:
• Eastern Oregon Museum
• Friends of Baker Heritage Museum
• NFIB Small Business
• Baker Bulldog Boys Basketball
• Schnauzer Service dog for
Iraq War Vet
At issue is the Waters of the United
States rule, and specifi cally how that
term is defi ned.
That defi nition affects how far the
federal government’s authority extends
in enforcing the 1972 Clean Water Act.
In 2015 the U.S. Environmental Pro-
tection Agency and Army Corps of Engi-
neers enacted a rule that broadened the
defi nition of Waters of the United States
Baker Elks
Lodge #338
$17,000 Saturday, the second-
most in its 13-year history.
Whit Deschner, who
started the event, said the
move this year from Cross-
“Elks is a charitable
organization helping the
Veterans and youth of
America”
123 Years
“but we are excited using
its new location, Churchill
School. I don’t think Cross-
roads could have squeezed
this crowd in.”
Former councilor suing county, sheriff
By Jayson Jacoby
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
541-523-3338
1896 Second St.
Baker City
roads Carnegie Art Center
to the Churchill School was
well-timed.
“We’ll miss its old home,
Crossroads,” Deschner said,
SEPTEMBER 13 — A
former Baker City Council
member who pleaded guilty
to criminal mischief in
November 2017 after he was
cited that summer at the
abandoned lime plant near
Huntington has fi led a civil
rights lawsuit against Baker
County and Sheriff Travis
Ash, seeking $1.3 million in
damages.
Adam David Nilsson,
48, fi led the suit in August
in U.S. District Court in
Pendleton. He is demanding
a jury trial.
Nilsson, who is repre-
senting himself, contends
the county and Sheriff Ash
violated his constitutional
rights.
Nilsson claims the county
and Ash violated his rights
under the Second and
Fourth amendments while
serving a search warrant in
August 2017 at the Baker
City home where Nilsson
and his wife, Upekala, live.
Nilsson also claims that
Sheriff’s Deputy Gabe
Maldonado violated his
Second Amendment rights
during the Aug. 1 incident
at the lime plant when
he searched Nilsson for a
handgun for which Nils-
son had a concealed carry
permit.