2A — BAKER CITY HERALD
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 1, 2020
SOLAR
Continued from Page 1A
B AKER C OUNTY C ALENDAR
FRIDAY, JAN. 3
■ First Friday Art Shows: Baker City art galleries are open
late to showcase the month’s new artwork; opening times
vary between 5:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. at Crossroads Carnegie
Art Center, Peterson’s Gallery and others.
MONDAY, JAN. 6
■ Haines Fire Protection District Board: 7 p.m. at the
Haines Library.
TUESDAY, JAN. 7
■ Local Community Advisory Council (LCAC): 1 p.m. to
2 p.m., at the Community Connection meeting room, 2810
Cedar St.; lunch will be provided.
WEDNESDAY, JAN. 8
■ Baker School Board: Work session, 5 p.m., Council
Chambers in Baker City Hall, 1655 First St.
■ Lower Powder River Irrigation District Board: 6 p.m.
at Barley Brown’s, 2190 Main St.
FRIDAY, JAN. 10
■ Live Music by Keith Taylor: Ragtime piano, 4:30 p.m. to
5:30 p.m., Crossroads Carnegie Art Center, 2020 Auburn
Ave.; no charge; continues most Fridays.
T URNING B ACK THE P AGES
50 YEARS AGO
from the Democrat-Herald
January 2, 1970
Former Baker City Fire Chief Babe Transue, 68, retired
from city employment Wednesday following 29 years of
service.
25 YEARS AGO
from the Baker City Herald
January 2, 1995
Sen.-elect Greg Walden, R-Hood River, who has been
chosen to represent sprawling District 28 in the Legis-
lature, introduced himself to Baker County constituents
Friday.
10 YEARS AGO
from the Baker City Herald
January 1, 2010
Hikers and horseback riders who travel trails through
the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest will have reason to
rejoice in 2010.
And in 2011.
After the snow melts this spring the Wallowa-Whitman
will embark on its most ambitious trail-maintenance cam-
paign in many years.
ONE YEAR AGO
from the Baker City Herald
January 2, 2019
Luke Gibson will start work Jan. 28 as executive director
of the Baker County YMCA.
Gibson, 39, of Sheridan, Wyoming, has been the youth
and adult sports director for the YMCA in Sheridan for the
past 14 years.
His experience and emphasis on fundraising were part
of the reason he was chosen for the Baker County posi-
tion, said Lindy Petrik, who has served as interim director
for the Baker County YMCA since early October.
Petrik replaced Heidi Dalton, who served as CEO for six
years.
Petrik will return to her role on the YMCA board of direc-
tors when Gibson takes over.
Gibson, who earned a bachelor’s degree in business
administration, also served as a city councilor in Sheridan,
which has a population of about 17,000.
Prior to interviewing for the Baker County YMCA posi-
tion, Gibson had never visited Baker City. He grew up in
Gooding, Idaho, about a four-hour drive from Baker City.
O REGON L OTTERY
MEGABUCKS, Dec. 30
2 — 11 — 32 — 33 — 35 — 38
Next jackpot: $8.1 million
MEGA MILLIONS, Dec. 31
30 — 44 — 49 — 53 — 56
Mega 11
Next jackpot: $60 million
WIN FOR LIFE, Dec. 30
17 — 18 — 54 — 73
PICK 4, Dec. 31
• 1 p.m.: 1 — 1 — 9 — 3
• 4 p.m.: 1 — 9 — 9 — 9
• 7 p.m.: 7 — 0 — 9 — 3
• 10 p.m.: 6 — 1 — 8 — 0
“When you build something
from scratch, the fi rst time
you take it out things will
start breaking,” Spaugh said.
“It’s worth it, a trial by fi re.”
Creating the car, she said,
allows students to put theo-
ries learned in classrooms to
work on a real-world project.
“The learning happens
when you’re designing, build-
ing, testing,” she said.
She learned a lot about
how cars work.
“I had a decent idea of how
it worked in a gasoline car,”
she said. “This showed me
how it works in an electric
car, down to the nitty-gritty.”
Heading Down Under
To compete in the race,
Spaugh and her teammates
took a term off school. She
arrived in Australia on Aug.
28 to arrange transportation,
food and other logistics of
supporting a team through
the middle of the continent.
The rest of the team ar-
rived Sept. 4. They spent the
remainder of that month
testing and tweaking their
solar car while camping in
the Outback.
Growing up in Eastern Or-
miles at 55 mph.
The team had fi ve rental
vehicles — several to haul
supplies and one outfi tted
with antennae to collect data
transmitted from the solar
car.
Although they’d struggled
with
a bug in the electrical
— Sarah Spaugh
system and issues with the
motor controller, Spaugh said
egon, Spaugh is no stranger the car was working great as
to the outdoors. That wasn’t race day approached.
the case with some of her
The Challenge ran from
teammates.
Oct. 13 to Oct. 20. The route
“You have people who had started in Darwin in the
never camped in their lives,” Northern Territory and trav-
she said.
eled the Stuart Highway to
During testing the Stan-
Port Augusta, and then High-
ford team traveled the race
way 1 to fi nish in Adelaide in
course in reverse, from Ad-
South Australia.
elaide north to Darwin. The
The remote nature of
route is approximately 3,000 inland Australia requires
kilometers (1,864 miles).
careful planning for gas stops
“It’s a big experience being and food supplies.
there,” Spaugh said. “Getting
“There’s a stretch where
the car functioning, and fi x-
you go a couple days without
ing it when it breaks down.” a grocery store,” Spaugh said.
During tests the team
The battery fi re that ended
recorded data to determine
the Stanford team’s race is
how much energy the car
still a bit of a mystery. The
uses at various speeds.
students know it was caused
The goal, Spaugh said,
by a short circuit, but they
was “to get the fastest time
will have to wait until the car
possible without running out returns in a few months to
of battery.”
investigate.
On a fl at road with no
“Then we use it to teach
wind, she estimates the Stan- the next generation of team
ford car could go about 250
how to solar car. Or how to
“When you build
something from scratch,
the fi rst time you take
it out things will start
breaking. It’s worth it, a
trial by fi re.”
APPEAL
Continued from Page 1A
Blair said he’s skeptical about Con-
nors’ claim that it’s “virtually impossible”
for Verizon to build a tower anywhere
other than on the parcel the company
proposed.
But in any case that issue is not
within the Planning Commission’s juris-
diction, Blair said.
“It’s not our responsibility to fi nd them
a suitable location for their tower,” he
said.
Connors also cites court decisions as
precedent giving wireless companies “a
considerable amount of discretion” in de-
termining whether a gap in cell coverage
justifi es the construction of a tower.
In the appeal, Connors pointed out
that the proposed site for the tower, a
2.12-acre property owned by Carney
and Deborah Lansford, is in the general
industrial zone.
“The (city’s development code) spe-
cifi cally required Verizon to consider
industrial zoned properties fi rst before
considering other sites for the telecom-
munications tower, which it did in this
“It’s not our responsibility to fi nd
them a suitable location for their
tower.”
— Alan Blair, former longtime
member of the Baker City Planning
Commission who was among 5
commissioners who voted to deny
a conditional use permit to Verizon
Wireless to build a 70-foot cell tower
case,” Connors wrote.
The development code allows Verizon
to build a cell tower of up to 50 feet tall
on the industrial property without a
conditional use permit.
The property is just north of D Street
between East and Clark streets, near
Leo Adler Field and the Baker County
Fairgrounds.
Several people who either testifi ed to
the Planning Commission or submitted
written comments noted that there are
also homes in the area.
Blair, who was a longtime chairman
of the Planning Commission, said he be-
lieves the city should have changed the
zoning of that parcel years ago because
of its proximity to residential neighbor-
hoods.
“To me that’s part of the problem —
there’s no buffer (between the industrial
and residential zones),” Blair said.
In terms of views, Connors writes that
the city’s zoning code “doesn’t preclude
a conditional use merely because it is
visible. Rather, (the code) requires that
the visual impacts be minimized. Verizon
sited and designed the tower in a way to
minimize the view impacts to the great-
est extent possible.”
Connors also reiterated a point that
Verizon made in other documents — that
70 feet “is the minimum height neces-
sary to satisfy the coverage and capacity
objectives and therefore minimizes the
visual impacts to the extent practicable.”
Verizon has also proposed to add green
“branches” to the tower to simulate the
appearance of a tree, something Connors
contends in the appeal “will further mini-
mize the visual impacts of the facility on
the broader landscape.”
Connors writes that the camoufl aged
tower design is “considerably more
expensive” than the unadorned version,
and that the city’s zoning code doesn’t
require such additions to cell towers.
O BITUARY
Betty McClinton
Betty witnessed thousands of planes
heading out to fi ght World War II, as well
Betty Lou Dick McClinton, 89, died
as hearing the sonic boom created by test
Dec. 15, 2019, at Baker City.
pilot Chuck Yeager breaking the sound
Cremation was through Gray’s West
barrier.
for The Neptune Society.
In 1950 she married David McClin-
Born to a sweet couple
ton and moved to China Lake in the
from Iowa, Betty Lou Dick
Mohave Desert. She had a unique view
McClinton was born in
of nuclear testing while working at the
Burns, Wyoming, on March
Naval Air Weapons Base.
7, 1930.
Over the next 14 years, Betty had
Betty
Spending much of her
three daughters, raising them in
early childhood in Missouri, McClinton Southern California and the Bay Area of
the family moved West in
California. Always craving the excite-
1941, settling at Riverside, California.
ment of moving, Betty also lived along
Living close to March Air Force Base,
the Central Coast of California, then
Baker City, 1930-2019
Central and Eastern Oregon.
During her life, she worked as a book-
keeper, tax preparer, librarian, police
records clerk, and dispatcher in addition
to volunteering for the PTA, Girl Scouts,
and many grade school functions.
Betty lived her life to the fullest and
had no fear of trying something new.
Among her many accomplishments, she
was a voracious reader, made the best
potato salad, sang beautiful lullabies,
and loved riding roller coasters.
She will be missed by her three daugh-
ters, son-in-law, two granddaughters,
grandson, three great-grandchildren,
and numerous nieces and nephews.
N EWS OF R ECORD
LUCKY LINES, Dec. 31
1-8-11-16-18-23-25-30
Next jackpot: $45,000
S ENIOR M ENUS
■ THURSDAY: Boneless chicken breast with cream gravy,
mashed potatoes, peas and carrots, biscuit, cottage cheese
with fruit, ice cream
■ FRIDAY: Barbecued pork ribs, au gratin potatoes, mixed
vegetables, roll, fruit ambrosia
DEATHS
FUNERAL PENDING
POLICE LOG
Mary Louise Clark: 87, of
Sandy, and formerly of Baker
City, died Dec. 29, 2019, at her
home. Arrangements are under
the direction of Gray’s West &
Co. Pioneer Chapel. To light a
candle in memory of Mary Lou,
or to leave a condolence for her
family, go to www.grayswestco.
com
Wayne Wilson: Memorial
service will take place Saturday,
Jan. 18, at 2 p.m. at the Pine Bap-
tist Church in Halfway. Arrange-
ments are under the direction of
Tami’s Pine Valley Funeral Home
& Cremation Services. Online
condolences can be made at
www.tamispinevalleyfuneral-
Baker City Police
Arrests, citations
INTERFERING WITH A POLICE
OFFICER and UNAUTHORIZED
ENTRY INTO A MOTOR VEHICLE
(Warrant): Tattiana Gabriel McK-
enzie, 26, of 2707 Third St.; cited
and released.
home.com
Public luncheon at the Senior Center, 2810 Cedar St., 11:30
a.m. to 12:30 p.m.; $4.50 donation (60 and older), $6.75 for
those under 60.
Best Friends of Baker
Saturday Market
C ONTACT THE H ERALD
Open EVERY Saturday 8 AM - 2 PM
1668 Resort St.
Open Monday through Friday
8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Telephone: 541-523-3673
Copyright © 2020
Fax: 541-833-6414
Regional publisher
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crush@eomediagroup.com
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Karrine Brogoitti
kbrogoitti@lagrandeobserver.
com
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jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Advertising email
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classified@bakercityherald.com
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not solar car,” Spaugh said
with a smile. “A big thing in
engineering is learning from
your mistakes.”
When the 60-pound battery
pack caught fi re, Spaugh and
her teammates pulled it out
before the car, which is made
of carbon fi ber, could ignite.
“It’s carbon soaked in glue.
It’s pretty fl ammable,” she
said.
The driver evacuated
safely.
“They can get out of the car
in 15 seconds,” she said.
With the disabled car in a
trailer, the team completed
the race route.
Spaugh said many team-
mates had saved money so
they could spend more time
exploring the region. She and
a few others backpacked in
New Zealand. She returned
to the United States in mid-
November.
As she looks ahead at her
master’s degree, Spaugh
talks a lot about math and
physics — concepts that
don’t necessarily come easily
to her.
But she’s not discouraged
by the diffi culty.
“You have to go into math
and physics with the idea of ‘I
am capable of understanding
this. I can do this.’ ”
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Baker County Sheriff
DRIVING UNDER THE INFLU-
ENCE OF INTOXICANTS: River
Henry Colnot, 21, Richland, 2:07
a.m. today on Pine Creek Lane;
jailed.
UNION COUNTY WARRANT:
Brandi Marie Kasinger, 30, 2627
12th St., 8:49 p.m. Tuesday at
the Sheriff’s Offi ce; cited and
released.