BAKER CITY HERALD — 3A
TUESDAY, JUNE 15, 2021
SURVEY
Continued from Page 1A
Invasive weed of the week
By Jeffrey Pettingill
The Enemy
Chicory (Cichorium intybus
L.)
The Strategy
This plant is a perennial,
with milky juice, produced
from a single taproot. The
plant has numerous branches
that start at the base and
produce many blue fl owers at
the axils of the branch. The
fruits are ribbed and tipped
by a crown of small scales.
This plant of the aster fam-
ily will not grow in very dense
patches but will colonize and
take up over half of a pasture.
The plant is undesirable for
livestock, but was originally
brought into the country from
Rich Old/Contributed Photo
the Mediterranean area as a
Chicory is one of the few plants with blue fl owers and milky juice in the stem.
salad add-on and a replace-
ment for coffee. One of just a
few plants that have a blue
(depending upon other weeds
fl ower and milky juice in the
in the fi eld) Milestone at 7.0
stem.
ounces per acre or Opensight,
at the rate of 3.3 ounces per
Attack
acre. Other products do not
Chicory is generally found
work on this plant, and may
along roadsides, ditch banks
cause more harm than good if
and in fi elds that are fl ooded
desirable plants are removed
for irrigation. Once it dies, it
during control methods. This
leaves behind a dry woody
is a unique-looking plant
plant stalk that is diffi cult
so consult with your local
to pull and generally will
County Weed Supervisor for
not burn during spring ditch
proper identifi cation. Check
cleanup. As this plant is
us out on Facebook at Baker
unpalatable for livestock, it
Noxious Weed District.
will continue to colonize until
Rich Old/Contributed Photo
Jeffrey Pettingill is the weed
it becomes a great nuisance.
Chicory is not palatable to livestock and it can rapidly
control supervisor for Baker
The plant will produce hun-
County. He encourages people
dreds of seeds and the seeds take over signifi cant acreage in pastures.
with noxious weed questions
can last for years in the soil.
fi cult to remove. Mechanical the roots will extend down a
to call him at 541-523-0618
Defense
control by digging is effec-
or 541-519-0204. He also
few feet (depending upon the
This plant will establish
encourages people to like the
tive as long as the top three
age of the weed). Herbicides
in disturbed sites and once it inches of the root is removed. of choice are 1.0 ounce per
Baker County Weed District’s
becomes established it is dif- Hand pulling is diffi cult as
Facebook page.
acre of Escort XP, Telar XP or
SENIORS
Other popular activities at the Senior
Center, such as bingo and card games, are
Continued from Page 1A
still not allowed, however.
Hayes said the Community Connection
“I don’t understand why they don’t let
board of directors will discuss the situation us reopen for cards and bingo and things
when it meets June 22.
like that,” Hayes said. “It’s not going to be
“I think that our board has the opportu- 60, 80, 100 people like there is at lunch.
nity to say we’re open for activities, just like There’s going to be 10, 12, 16 in the entire
the YMCA. And we already have a new
building that can spread out and it’s for all
policy that says if you demonstrate that
the activities the seniors usually do here.”
you’ve got your vaccine, you don’t have to
When the Senior Center, at 2810 Cedar
wear a face shield or mask in the building St., does reopen, Hayes said the staff is
for staff and volunteers,” Hayes said.
planning a celebration with balloons, door
In the meantime, as has been the case
prizes, decorations and cake.
throughout the pandemic, Community
“I know my executive director wants
Connection continues to offer carry out
to make a very big splash about it to
meals and Meals on Wheels.
welcome everybody back,” Hayes said. “I
know that our entire organization and all
of our senior centers want to try to make a
splash on the reopening and say welcome
back.”
His excitement is tempered by anxiety,
though.
“I’m really nervous about whether I’m
going to get all of my volunteers back,”
Hayes said.
Volunteers are key to many activities at
the Senior Center, he said.
“We want and need them back and even
if they come back slowly, that would be
fi ne,” Hayes said.
Updates and other information are
available on the Community Connection of
Baker County Facebook page.
Legislature approves bill protecting
homeless campers in public spaces
assists those experiencing
homelessness.
SALEM — The Oregon
“The bill before you will
Legislature gave fi nal passage regulate the time, place, and
Wednesday, June 9 to a bill to manner that public camping
protect homeless campers in can be policed. It will give us a
public spaces.
chance to give the people liv-
The measure, which goes to ing in these conditions a little
Democratic Gov. Kate Brown, dignity, a few more services,
mandates that any city or
and it will give us a chance to
county law must be reason-
show that we believe that the
able if it regulates “sitting, ly- Constitution applies to all of
ing, sleeping or keeping warm us,” Jones testifi ed to a House
and dry outdoors on public
committee in March.
property.”
The bill passed the House
Among those championing on April 15 and the Senate on
the bill was Jimmy Jones,
Wednesday.
executive director of the
Under the measure, a
Mid-Willamette Valley Com- homeless person charged with
munity Action Agency, which violating a ban on camping or
By Andrew Selsky
Associated Press
SAIL S THE GREEK ISLES
E
PRIC
HED
SLAS
loitering would have an affi r-
mative defense against a law
that is not objectively reason-
able. A person experiencing
homelessness may also sue
to challenge the objective rea-
sonableness of a city or county
law, and be awarded attorney
fees if the plaintiff prevails.
Eric Mitton, deputy city
attorney for Medford, testifi ed
that the city supported the
measure because it recognizes
the rights of people experi-
encing homelessness while
also recognizing the rights of
municipalities to reasonably
regulate their public property
so it “remains available to all
for its intended uses.”
The Marion County Board
of Commissioners opposed it,
however, saying the measure
“would limit local control of
the homeless crisis facing
Oregon.”
See Homeless/Page 5A
With that information,
commissioners would seek
to establish Pine Creek
Lane as a county road
under state law.
Commissioner Bruce
Nichols said on Monday
morning, June 14, that
he supports the county’s
efforts to designate Pine
Creek Lane as a county
road over which the public
has a right to travel.
“We defi nitely need that
road open to the public,”
Nichols said.
Chapter 368 of Oregon
Revised Statutes states
that county commissioners
can legalize a county road
“if any of the following
conditions exist:
“1. If, through omission
or defect, doubt exists as to
the legal establishment or
evidence of establishment
of a public road.
“2. If the location of the
road cannot be accurately
determined due to:
(a) Numerous altera-
tions of the road;
(b) A defective survey
of the road or adjacent
property; or
(c) Loss or destruction of
the original survey of the
road.
“3. If the road as trav-
eled and used for 10 years
or more does not conform
to the location of a road
described in the county
records.”
McCarty, who is repre-
sented by Janet K. Larsen
of the Lane Powell law
fi rm in Portland, contends
that the county has failed
to produce documentation
showing that the road
through his property has a
public right-of-way.
According to the lawsuit,
before he bought the
property in September
2020, McCarty reviewed
the title report and other
documents, none of which
showed a public road
through the land.
Soon after buying
the property, McCarty
installed a metal gate,
with a lock, at his eastern
property boundary, near
the edge of Baker Valley.
Joelleen Linstrom, who
lives with McCarty, said
last fall that McCarty
didn’t oppose people hiking
on the road if they asked
for permission, but that
he was concerned because
people had trespassed on
his property and started
campfi res despite high fi re
danger.
On Sept. 30, 2020, the
Baker County Com-
missioners voted 3-0 to
order workers from the
county road department
to remove the lock. That
happened on Oct. 1.
The one document the
county has supplied is
from 1891 and describes
the surveying of a road
along Pine Creek. The
document includes a map
of the route that, based
on the township, range
and sections shown on the
map, appears to follow the
route of the existing road
through the eastern por-
tion of McCarty’s property,
although it doesn’t show a
route through the western
EASTERN OREGON
2021
PHOTO CONTEST
Official Rules:
Photo Contest open now and closes at
11:59 pm Sunday, June 20, 2021.
Staff will choose the top 10. The public can
vote online for People’s Choice from 12:01
am Monday, June 21 through 11:59 pm
Thursday, June 30.
Digital or scanned photos only, uploaded
to the online platform. No physical copies.
Only photographers from Oregon may
participate.
day!
Call to
ar
M 31, 2021
Book by
for Promotion
Per person Cruise
only rate from
$
2699.00 $ 1994.00
inside stateroom
part of the property.
In the lawsuit, McCarty
contends that the 1891
document does not prove
a legal public right-of-way
across his property.
In an answer to Mc-
Carty’s lawsuit, fi led June
7, the county’s attorney,
Robert E. Franz Jr. of
Springfi eld, contends that
the road is a county road
that has “been used by
Defendant and members
of the public since July 10,
1891 ...”
Franz also contends
that McCarty himself, by
using the road before he
bought the property, in
effect acknowledged that
the road is public, and that
he can’t now argue in a
lawsuit that there is no
public right-of-way.
Franz also argues that
because the public has
used the road for decades,
the county has “obtained
title over the lands at
issue where the roads are
located by adverse posses-
sion ...”
Franz wrote in the
response to McCarty’s law-
suit that McCarty, before
he bought the property,
“was advised by Baker
County that the roads
were public roads ...”
But McCarty, in his
lawsuit, contends that the
county has not provided
him documentation that
proves that the Pine Creek
Road is a public route.
In his lawsuit, McCarty
cites two other records
regarding his property,
neither of which mentions
the existence of a public
road across the land.
One is a 1966 transfer of
the property, which has “no
reference to a public road,”
according to the lawsuit.
McCarty also notes that
when the county approved
a subdivision near the
Pine Creek Road in the
early 1970s, county of-
fi cials did not require that
any public road be vacated
in the area.
In his lawsuit, McCarty,
who requests a jury trial, is
seeking either a declara-
tion that the disputed
section of the Pine Creek
Road is not a public right-
of-way, or, if a jury con-
cludes there is legal public
access, that the limits of
that access be defi ned and
that the county pay him
$480,000 to compensate
for the lost value of the
land based on the legal
public access.
McCarty is also seeking
a judgment requiring the
county to pay him at least
$250,000 for “damages
McCarty has incurred to
investigate and respond to
this dispute and to protect
his property rights,” ac-
cording to the lawsuit.
Franz, in his response,
argues that the county
is entitled to have the
lawsuit dismissed because
the suit is not a “plain and
concise statement of the
ultimate facts,” as required
by law, but is “rambling
and redundant improper
pleading of evidence, maps,
opinions, legal conclu-
sions of law, hearsay, false
facts” and “immaterial and
irrelevant facts and conclu-
sions.”
The contest subject matter is wide open but
we’re looking for images that capture life
in Eastern Oregon.
Entrants may crop, tone, adjust saturation
and make minor enhancements, but may
not add or remove objects within the
frame, or doctor images such that the final
product doesn’t represent what’s actually
before the camera.
The winners will appear in the July 8th
edition of Go Magazine; the top 25 will
appear online.
Gift cards to a restaurant of your choice
will be awarded for first, second and third
place.
Find YOUR Why Small Group Travel
AKA: (Baker Valley Travel & Alegre Travel)
541-523-9353 & 541-963-9000
Submit all photos
online at:
bakercictyherald.com/photocontest