LOCAL
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2021
COUNTY
Continued from Page 1A
Shelly Cutler will be following
the commissioners discussion
March 3 with trepidation.
Cutler is executive director
of the Baker County Chamber
of Commerce. The Chamber,
operating under the organiza-
tion Baker County Unlimited,
has the current contract to run
the visitor center on Campbell
Street near Interstate 84.
Cutler said she’s concerned
that commissioners could decide
to cancel that contract. The
county, using the tax paid by
guests and motels and other
lodging establishments, gives
the Chamber about $77,000 per
year to operate the visitor center.
If the contract ended, Cutler
said, the loss of revenue would
make it diffi cult, if not impos-
sible, for the Chamber to put
on Miners Jubilee in July. The
event was canceled in 2020 due
to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cutler expressed the same
concern last winter when com-
missioners were preparing
to award the visitor services
contract to either the Chamber
or to Anthony Lakes Mountain
Resort, which also submitted a
proposal in December 2019.
After deciding not to award
a new contract in February
2020, commissioners have twice
extended the contract with the
Chamber. The most recent ex-
tension, approved Jan. 6, 2021,
continues the contract through
April 30, 2021.
In the written contract
amendment, commissioners
stated that they “would like to
continue current services until a
new contract for Visitor Services
is in place.”
That probably won’t happen
for several months. Commission-
er Mark Bennett said he wants
the county to hire a consultant
to help commissioners draft a
new request for proposals for
the visitor services contract, a
process that would take a fair
amount of time. The county has
yet to hire a consultant.
Commissioner
Bruce Nichols said
on Friday morning,
Feb. 26, that he
believes the county
needs some sort of
Nichols
visitors center oper-
ating consistently,
and that he wouldn’t support
ending the current contract
without a way to continue to
assist visitors.
In the meantime, Anthony
Lakes general manager Peter
Johnson has urged commission-
ers to announce a time frame for
fi nishing a request for proposals
and moving ahead with award-
ing a new contract.
In a Jan. 9, 2021, email to
Bennett and Nichols, Johnson
called on the commissioners
to “simply follow through and
release the new RFP as rec-
ommended by County legal
counsel and as stated in County
bylaws.”
Johnson noted in his email
that although county bylaws
state that the visitor services
contract is to be awarded every
six years, the current contract
with the Chamber of Commerce
has been extended.
“We do have some concerns
on how ethical that is,” Johnson
wrote.
An attorney representing
Anthony Lakes, Rebecca Knapp
of Enterprise, sent a letter on
Feb. 1 to Andrew Martin, the
county’s attorney, regarding the
visitor center issue.
In his Feb. 16 response to
Knapp, Martin wrote that
“The County is currently in the
process of hiring a consultant to
perform an analysis and provide
recommendations as to what
Baker County needs from a
Visitors Center.”
In a Feb. 19 email whose
recipients included Bennett and
CHARGES
abuse involving a girl younger
than 14, court documents
state. That crime took place in
Continued from Page 3A
Gonyer, who was living at
February 1998.
Gladstone at the time, was
Gonyer also pleaded no-
sentenced to 75 months in
contest to two more counts of
prison after pleading guilty to fi rst-degree sexual abuse in
one count of fi rst-degree sexual Clackamas County, accord-
BAKER CITY HERALD — 5A
Nichols, Johnson, the Anthony
Lakes general manager, wrote
that Martin’s response “gives us
much more concern than simply
the Visitor Service contract.
It gives us serious concern as
Baker County residents and tax
paying citizens.”
Johnson quoted excerpts
from Martin’s letter, including
this sentence: “The process of
attempting to create a new RFP
(request for proposals) has re-
vealed that there is no directive
or any formal guidance iden-
tifying what a Visitors Center
should or needs to provide to
best support Baker County and
its tourism industry.”
Johnson questioned whether,
given the lack of guidance in the
current visitor services contract,
the county can justify continu-
ing that contract with the
Chamber of Commerce.
“I can assure you that I per-
sonally would not have a job if
I started issuing contracts with
no idea of where the dollars
were going or what was ex-
pected of them,” Johnson wrote.
In his letter to Anthony
Lakes’ attorney, Martin, the
county’s attorney, wrote that the
county intends to wait to issue
a request for proposals until
it has “an accepted defi nition,
purpose and expectations for a
Visitors Center in Baker County
that can be clearly articulated to
interested bidders.”
Martin’s letter continues:
“This does not mean that the
current Visitors Center will sim-
ply continue to operate indefi -
nitely. The lack of direction and
defi nition of what is expected
and needed on Baker County is
equally problematic for the cur-
rent Visitors Center. Although
I do not believe that your client
has any actionable grounds to
pursue a lawsuit, your points
about the delay and frustration
for your client are well taken
and I have shared them with the
Commissioners.”
ing to the court records. The
second count in the case took
place in February 1998 and
involved a boy younger than
14. The third count, involving
another girl younger than 14,
happened in March of 1991.
Gonyer received a second
SUSPECT
Continued from Page 2A
Lira is accused of taking items from
the home belonging to Taylor and
Cassaro.
The kidnapping charges allege that
Lira forced a third victim, Tamesha
McCardy, to go from one place to an-
other without her consent.
The coercion charges allege that Lira
compelled McCardy in three instances
not to engage in conduct she knew she
had a legal right to engage in, such as
telling someone what she knew or had
seen, under threat of harm. In another
instance, she allegedly was compelled
to engage in behavior she knew she
had a legal right to abstain from, such
as lifting up her shirt, by threat of
harm. Taylor was the victim in one
count of coercion.
The menacing charge accuses Lira of
placing McCardy in fear of “imminent
serious physical injury by holding a
saw up to her neck,” the indictment
states.
Second-degree robbery and second-
degree kidnapping are Ballot Measure
11 crimes that each carry mandatory
minimum sentences of 70 months in
prison.
In seeking the court’s approval of
lowering Lira’s bail amount, Moon
stated that the parties are negotiating.
He stated that his client has no
criminal history and would benefi t
from participating in an Alterna-
tive Incarceration Program with the
Department of Corrections. Lira would
not be eligible for the program unless
he settles the outstanding warrants in
Coos County, Moon stated in the court
records.
In addition to no prior criminal
convictions, Moon noted that Lira has
a long work and academic history. He
earned an associate degree at South-
western Community College in Coos
Bay, and a bachelor’s degree from the
University of Oregon in 2013, where he
majored in Spanish and Latin Ameri-
can studies.
Moon said Lira had enrolled in a
master’s degree/teaching program at
the University of Oregon in January
2020. He had been awarded a $10,000
75-month sentence for the
1998 crime involving the boy,
that ran concurrently (at the
same time) as the fi rst sen-
tence. He was sentenced to 18
months in prison, which ran
consecutive to the 75-month
prison term (one after the
scholarship to help fund his education.
Moon stated, however, that Lira
had a substance abuse problem that
began in adolescence. Lira turned to
drugs and alcohol when he became
overwhelmed by stress tied to personal
problems and responsibilities at his
parents’ restaurant, according to Moon.
Moon stated that Lira’s mother
traveled to California to care for his
grandmother when she contracted
COVID-19. His grandmother eventu-
ally died from the virus. And Lira’s
father traveled to Mexico, leaving Lira
in charge of both restaurants.
Moon stated in the court records that
his client dropped out of the master’s
degree program and “had mental
breakdowns.”
Lira started living on the streets of
Coos Bay, Moon said. Friends who were
worried about him contacted one of his
childhood friends who lives in Baker
City and his friend drove to Coos Bay
to pick Lira up and bring him to Baker
City.
Lira had been in Baker City about
a week when the crimes are alleged to
have happened, Moon said.
Aiden Porter Lang, who was indicted
on the same charges Lira is facing,
was sentenced to a year in jail and
fi ve year’s probation upon release, in
December.
In a plea agreement with the Dis-
trict Attorney’s offi ce, Lang, 24, pleaded
guilty to fi rst-degree burglary, coercion
and menacing. The other charges were
dismissed as part of the plea agree-
ment.
If Lang’s probation is revoked dur-
ing the fi ve-year period, he will be
sentenced to 6 years and 8 months in
prison, as required by the agreement.
Lang’s probation also could be revoked
if he fails to testify at any hearing in
other cases of parties involved in the
crimes, including at trial, the agree-
ment states.
At a Monday hearing in Baker
County Circuit Court regarding Lira’s
case, Shirtcliff granted Moon’s motion
to postpone a trial that had been set for
March 16-18, 2021.
Lira is scheduled to appear in Baker
County Circuit Court for a status check
hearing at 11:15 a.m. April 4.
other) for the third crime. He
also was ordered to complete
10 years’ post-prison supervi-
sion upon release from prison.
The 75-month prison terms
are mandatory minimum
sentences under Oregon law.
The 18-month sentence was
based on the law prior to the
enactment of Ballot Measure
11, which was approved by Or-
egon voters in 1994, according
to the court record. Ballot Mea-
sure 11 established mandatory
minimum sentences in Oregon
for 16 violent and sex crimes.
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