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About Baker City herald. (Baker City, Or.) 1990-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 24, 2020)
THURSDAY LOOKING BACK AT A MOST PAINFUL WEEK IN THE NFL: SPORTS, PAGE 6A Now ng!! Showi NORTHEAST OREGON SEPTEMBER 24, 2020 www.gonortheastoregon.com & s: big Screen ll sma GO! Magazine Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com September 24, 2020 IN THIS EDITION: QUICK HITS Good Day Wish To A Subscriber A special good day to Herald subscriber Greg Mitchell of Baker City. Sports, 6A CHICAGO (AP) — Hall of Famer Gale Sayers, who made his mark as one of the NFL’s best all-purpose running backs and was later celebrated for his enduring friendship with a Chicago Bears teammate with cancer, has died. Local • Business & AgLife • Go! magazine $1.50 Travel Plaza Set To Open At Farewell Bend, Where Truck Stop Closed In 2011 Freeway Fixture Augustena Cook receives $750 from Livestock Producers WEATHER Today 69 / 41 Rain showers likely Friday 68 /43 Rain showers possible Full forecast on the back of the B section. The space below is for a postage label for issues that are mailed. POWDER RIVER CORRECTIONAL FACILITY Prison avoids virus ■ No inmates at the minimum- security facility in Baker City have tested positive BRIEFING Augustena “Gussie” Cook of Baker County has received a $750 schol- arship from the Baker County Livestock Produc- ers Foundation. Cook recently earned an associate of science degree at Blue Mountain Community College. She is working toward a career as an Oregon State Uni- versity Extension Service agent. She is transferring to Eastern Oregon Univer- sity to pursue a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Sci- ence through the Oregon State University partner- ship program with EOU in La Grande. The Foundation was cre- ated by the Baker County Livestock Association and the Baker County Cattle- women. Your guide to arts, entertainment and other events happening around Northeast Oregon By Jayson Jacoby jjacoby@bakercityherald.com Lisa Britton/For the Baker City Herald A travel plaza, part of the TravelCenters of America chain, is slated to open this fall at Farewell Bend. By Jayson Jacoby jjacoby@bakercityherald.com A retail void dating back nearly a decade along a remote section of Inter- state 84 could be fi lled soon. A new truck stop, including res- taurants and a convenience store but not a motel, is nearing completion at Farewell Bend, along the Snake River about 50 miles southeast of Baker City and about 4 miles from Huntington. The Huntington Travel Plaza, part of the national TravelCenters of America network, could open as soon as Oct. 21, said Deep Singh of Vancou- ver, Washington, whose family, along with three other business partners, plans to buy the business. Tina Arundel, director of communi- cations for TravelCenters of America in Westlake, Ohio, wrote in an email to the Herald that “we look forward to opening a TA travel center in Hunting- ton, Oregon. We plan to open in late October.” Singh said his family, which owns three gas stations in the Portland area as well as convenience stores, has been aware of the 40-acre property for a couple of years. The former truck stop at Farewell Bend, which included a motel, closed in May 2011 and the buildings were later removed. The business had opened in the 1970s. Huntington offers the only fuel and food on the 73-mile stretch of freeway “I think it’s very helpful to have a brand like TA. That brand will help bring in customers for us.” — Deep Singh, whose family will operate the Huntington Travel Plaza at Farewell Bend between Baker City and Ontario. Singh said he started talking in late spring this year with Amin Alibhei of Atlanta, who manages the company that owns the property, which is in Malheur County just south of the Baker County border. The property sold in October 2019 for $775,000, according to the Malheur County Assessor’s Offi ce. It previously sold, in June 2013, for $450,000. Singh said his family and partners, which he didn’t name, will buy the property as soon as the truck stop is fi nished, and then operate the busi- ness. He said the travel plaza will be his family’s biggest business venture. Singh said some of his partners have experience in running truck stops. He said he believes it will be benefi - cial to be a franchise of TravelCenters of America. “I think it’s very helpful to have a brand like TA,” Singh said. “That brand will help bring in customers for us.” Tom McLay uses the word “lucky” a couple of times but McLay, superintendent at the Powder River Correc- tional Facility in Baker City, gives a lot more credit to McLay conscientious people than to good fortune for keeping COVID-19 out of the minimum-security prison. “The success of Powder River Correctional Facility is a testament to the com- munity, of all the residents in Baker County working together,” McLay said on Wednesday. The Oregon Department of Corrections lists Powder River, which opened in 1989 at 3600 13th St., as “Tier 1” in the agency’s COVID-19 status. See Prison/Page 3A BAKER SCHOOLS Lisa Britton/For the Baker City Herald The travel plaza will include a truck See Travel Plaza/Page 3A stop, fuel pumps and restaurants. Parents urge 5J to bring students back By Jayson Jacoby and Chris Collins Offi cers Execute Search Warrant At Property Near Highway 86 Baker City Herald Police recover stolen bicycles By Chris Collins ccollins@bakercityherald.com The Baker County Sheriff’s Offi ce and Baker City Police Department re- covered bicycle parts and an estimat- ed 50 stolen bicycles in various states of assembly from a property near the Baker City Airport on Tuesday and arrested a man living on the property on unrelated warrants. The incident started when the Sher- iff’s Offi ce received an anonymous complaint about children playing in hazardous conditions on property at 42901 W. Airport Road. Shebb Robert Bassman, 32, lives at the address, said Baker City Police Chief Ray Duman. Duman said Bassman was not cited Tuesday, but he is a suspect in the thefts and appeared to be operating “a bike chop shop.” See Thefts/Page 2A TODAY Issue 58, 24 pages Baker County Sheriff’s Offi ce / Contributed Photo The Baker County Sheriff’s Offi ce and Baker City Police Department found bicycles and bicycle parts on a property near Highway 86. Business .............. 1B-3B Calendar ....................2A Classified ............. 4B-6B Comics ....................... 7B Community News ....3A Crossword ........4B & 6B Dear Abby ................. 8B Horoscope ........4B & 6B Letters ........................4A Lottery Results ..........2A News of Record ........2A Obituaries ..................2A Jamie Agard hates to drive past Brooklyn Primary School because she hates to hear her son weeping. Jaxon Agard is a third- grader. And like his classmates, the 8-year-old sees his teacher, and his friends, not in person but on a computer screen. Jamie rates the online version of classes the Baker School District debuted Sept. 8 as a vast improve- ment over the system the district had to hastily set up this spring when the coronavirus pandemic closed schools. But better, in her estima- tion, is still not nearly good enough. See Schools/Page 5A Opinion ......................4A Sports ........................6A Weather ..................... 8B INSIDE, 2A — BAKER CITY COUNCIL DISCUSSES NUISANCE PROPERTIES
