A8 — BAKER CITY HERALD
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2021
LOCAL
FLAG
COUNTY
Continued from A1
Continued from A1
One of those now hangs
in Baker City Hall, in rec-
ognition of Michael Hoff.
“This town is where
the POW-MIA Flag story
starts,” the organization
wrote in a recent post on its
Facebook page.
Nichols, who was reelected to
a four-year term in 2020, has pro-
posed the possibility of having the
chairman position rotated among
the three elected commissioners
on an annual basis.
That’s the system some other
counties, including Union and
Wallowa, use.
Baker County Commissioners
will have a preliminary discus-
sion of the idea during a work
session Wednesday, Nov. 10 at
1:30 p.m. at the Courthouse, 1995
Third St. Commissioners won’t be
making any decisions.
Nichols said he decided to
broach the subject because both
Harvey and Bennett have terms
that expire at the end of 2022,
and both have said they don’t
intend to seek reelection.
That would potentially result
in the board of commissioners,
The Baker City
connection
Ogawa said her father
attended St. Francis Acad-
emy in Baker City before
graduating from Baker
High School in 1954.
She still has her father’s
BHS diploma.
Michael Hoff attended
Eastern Oregon College
in La Grande for a year or
two before joining the Navy
in February 1957.
“That was his dream —
to fly jets,” Ogawa said.
He earned his pilot’s
wings in 1959 and began
the itinerant life typical of
a Navy aviator.
Hoff met his future wife,
Mary, in Pensacola, Florida.
Ogawa said her mother
grew up in Michigan.
The couple had five
children in seven years.
“We used to joke that
they had a kid at every
base where they were
stationed,” Ogawa said
with a laugh.
Ogawa said her father,
rather than fearing com-
bat, was afraid he would
miss a chance to serve his
country in war.
“He really wanted to do
his part,” she said.
Although Ogawa was
so young when her father
disappeared that she can’t
remember him, she looks
occasionally at photo-
graphs and marvels at
what she sees.
One photo in particular,
taken in September 1967.
In the photo her father
Suzanne Hoff Ogawa/Contributed Photo
This photo taken in September 1967 shows
Michael Hoff holding his infant daughter,
Suzanne and with his three younger sons:
Robert, front, Charles, far left, and Michael,
background.
mother sent to Secretary
of State Henry Kissinger,
seeking information about
Michael Hoff.
About 20 years later,
Ogawa said her family
learned that Michael Hoff
probably died the day his
plane was shot down.
His best friend, who
was the squadron leader,
reported seeing Hoff’s
plane, upside down
and flying just a couple
thousand feet above the
ground. The other pilot
didn’t see a parachute.
Although her father’s
actual fate remains a
mystery, Ogawa said she
strives to focus instead on
What happened to
what her mother accom-
Michael Hoff?
Ogawa said her mother plished — a legacy that is
displayed in thousands of
was never satisfied with
places across the county
the lack of information
in the form of the POW-
about what befell her
husband on that January MIA flag.
Ogawa said she’s thank-
day over Laos.
“She was angry at the
ful for both of her parents.
government,” Ogawa said.
She remembers how
“She just wanted to get
her mother’s efforts, on
answers.”
behalf of her family and
Ogawa believes the lack of so many other families,
of clarity had much to do
brought people solace in
with where her father was the most difficult times.
flying — over Laos, not
“I think it’s beautiful
Vietnam.
how these women and
Ogawa has a Western
families banded together,”
Union telegram that her
Ogawa said.
is holding her, an infant,
while her three older broth-
ers look on.
“I don’t remember my
father but I know I heard
his voice,” Ogawa said.
Ogawa said that
although her father
had relatives in Oregon,
mainly in the Portland
area, she doesn’t believe
he visited Baker City after
joining the Navy.
His name is on the
memorial on the east
side of the Baker County
Courthouse that lists local
residents who have died
in war.
SURVEY
Continued from A1
In response, McCarty, who is
represented by attorney Janet
K. Larsen of Portland, sought
a preliminary injunction that
would block the county from
proceeding with that process.
On July 29, Senior Judge
Stephen P. Forte granted Mc-
Carty a temporary restraining
order that prohibits the county
from continuing that process.
Attorneys from both sides
— the county is represented by
Robert Franz of Springfield —
made arguments during an Oct.
14 hearing before Senior Judge
Russell B. West.
West made his written rul-
ing on Thursday, Nov. 5.
He dissolved the temporary
restraining order that had pro-
hibited the county from survey-
ing part of McCarty’s property.
West also declined to issue a
preliminary injunction based on
McCarty’s contention that the
county has failed to comply with
starting in 2023, having two
of its three members with no
experience in county governance,
Nichols said.
His four-year term continues
through the end of 2024.
“What I would like to see
happen is each January 1st, this
is just my personal thought right
now, that the three commission-
ers pick a chair and begin rotat-
ing that,” Nichols said.
Nichols said the commissioner
chosen to serve as chair for the
year could decline the position.
The two other commission-
ers could also vote to replace the
current chair with a different
commissioner.
Nichols said the rotation
system for the chair would allow
all commissioners to be more fa-
miliar with operating the county.
Although shifting to the rota-
tion system could result in Nich-
ols becoming the chair in 2023, as
he would be the only incumbent,
he said that’s not his goal.
“It may seem like I want the
chair; I really don’t care to be the
chair but I would just to get this
thing started and going in the
right direction,” Nichols said.
He has talked to other coun-
ties and commissioners and found
they are pleased with the rotation
system for choosing the chair.
“I’ve heard nothing negative
about it,” Nichols said.
Nichols ran against Harvey
for the chairman position in the
2018. Harvey won the election
and his second four-year term.
Bennett’s position is approxi-
mately three-quarters time, and
Nichols’ is about half-time.
Bennett’s salary for the previ-
ous fiscal year was $36,156, but
has increased to $55,836 for the
current fiscal year to account for
additional responsibilities during
the pandemic.
Nichols’ salary for the previous
fiscal year was $18,072, and was
increased for the current fiscal
year to $37,224.
his requests for records under
Oregon’s Public Records Law.
West’s decision allows the
county to conduct the survey
giving McCarty at least one
week notice, and complying
with any safety restrictions
related to logging on McCar-
ty’s land.
West ruled that continu-
ing to prevent the county from
pursuing a designation of the
road as public would not be in
the public interest, since doing
so “could potentially exclude the
public for a significant period of
time from important access to
public lands that they may very
well have a right to ...”
West wrote that Forte, the
judge who issued the temporary
restraining order, did so without
notifying the county or giving
the county a chance to respond.
Forte, West determined, did
not have the authority to halt
the county’s effort to declare the
road through McCarty’s prop-
erty as a public right-of-way.
West heard testimony from
several people during the Oct.
14 hearing, including Ken Hel-
gerson, who retired as Baker
County Roadmaster.
Helgerson, who lives near
Pine Creek, testified that he
has traveled the road across
McCarty’s property as a private
citizen, and as roadmaster
he used county equipment to
repair flood damage to the road.
Helgerson said the county
does not have a deeded ease-
ment across McCarty’s prop-
erty, but he testified that he
believes the road is a public
access route through RS 2477,
an 18th century federal law.
As for McCarty’s claims
about the county failing to pro-
vide records under the Public
Records Law, West wrote the
county “has offered substantial
evidence that it has complied
with the records requests ...”
West concluded that it
would not be in the public
interest to grant McCarty a
preliminary injunction based
on McCarty’s claims about the
county failing to comply with
public records requests.
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