JAN. 26–FEB. 2, 2022
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The
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Arts and entertainment guide
La Grande wrestlers best Bulldogs
PAGE 8
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
Carrie Caselton Lowe assists student Quinton Robinson, 12, with a nature weave during
Art Center East’s after-school program at Pete’s Pond in La Grande on Tuesday, Oct. 14,
2021. In this issue, art center directors across Eastern Oregon talk about how they’ve
adjusted offerings during the pandemic.
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IN THIS EDITION: LOCAL • BUSINESS & AG LIFE • SPORTS
Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
JANUARY 27, 2022 • $1.50
Man accused
of breaking
into Baker
City home,
pointing gun
at woman
QUICK HITS
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Good Day Wish
To A Subscriber
A special good day to
Herald subscriber Craig
Valentine of Baker City.
BRIEFING
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Local students on
dean’s list at EOU
LA GRANDE — More
than a dozen Baker County
students are among the 565
named to the dean’s list for
the fall 2021 term at East-
ern Oregon University.
To qualify, students must
maintain a GPA or at least
3.5 on a 4.0 scale while
completing at least 12 hours
of graded courses.
Baker City students on the
dean’s list: Bryan Ames, Koe-
di Birmingham, Renee Blin-
coe, Boston Colton, Henry
Hoelscher, Hannah Johnson,
Julia Krohn, Hayden Paulsen,
Savannah Potter, Jayme Ra-
mos and Mitchell Stephens.
Also earning dean’s list
honors are Samuel Pointer
of Haines, Madison Morgan
of Halfway, and Sydney
Saunders of Richland.
Public hearing set
on North Baker
transportation plan
The Baker County Plan-
ning Commission will have a
public hearing on Feb. 8, to
discuss proposed revisions
to the county’s compre-
hensive plan related to the
Northern Baker Transporta-
tion Improvement Plan.
That plan covers proposed
changes to Cedar Street,
Hughes Lane, 10th Street
and Pocahontas Road.
The public hearing is
scheduled for 5 p.m. at the
County Courthouse, 1995
Third St.
WEATHER
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The space below is for a postage label
for issues that are mailed.
BAKER CITY HERALD
A Baker City man was ar-
rested Tuesday, Jan. 25, on
charges that he kicked in the
front door of a Baker City
home, pointed a handgun at
the woman who lives there
and threatened to kill her if
she called 911.
Tyler Joseph Anders, 32,
is charged with first-degree
burglary, which is a Class
A felony, unlawful use of a
weapon, a Class C felony, and
several other felony crimes.
See, Arrest/Page A3
Jayson Jacoby/Baker City Herald, File
A train crosses Auburn Avenue in Baker City.
Council votes 4-3 to
pursue quiet zone
BY SAMANTHA O’CONNER
soconner@bakercityherald.com
The Baker City Council
voted 4-3 on Tuesday eve-
ning, Jan. 25, to apply for a
railroad quiet zone in the
city, a controversial idea that
opposing councilors say
should be decided by voters.
The proposal, submit-
ted by the Council’s newest
member, Dean Guyer, who
was appointed on Dec. 14,
2021, calls for the city to
seek a quiet zone through
the Federal Railroad Ad-
ministration (FRA).
There are 967 quiet zones
across the nation, according
to the FRA. There are 13 in
Oregon, including Pendle-
ton, which has had a quiet
zone since the 1970s, and La
Grande, where the quiet zone
took effect in December 2019.
Guyer voted for the pro-
posal to seek a quiet zone,
joined by Councilors Shane
Alderson, Heather Sells and
Jason Spriet.
Mayor Kerry McQuis-
ten and Councilors Joanna
Dixon and Johnny Wag-
goner Sr. voted against the
Train crews would still
proposal.
trigger their warning whis-
McQuisten and Dixon
tles at their discretion — if,
both talked about an ini-
for instance, they saw a vehi-
tiative petition that would
cle or pedestrian on or near
ask city voters to
the tracks.
amend the city char-
An October 2017
ter to prohibit the
report from the
city from enacting
Government Ac-
a quiet zone unless
countability Office
voters approve such
— the official audi-
a plan.
tor of federal pro-
Dixon, who is the
grams — concluded
chief petitioner,
that analyses in
Guyer
said that if voters
2011 and 2013 by
chose to add that
the Federal Railroad
clause to the charter,
Administration
it would “halt any
“showed that there
ongoing efforts to
was generally no
establish a railroad
statistically signif-
quiet zone effective
icant difference in
immediately.”
the number of acci-
Dixon said she
dents that occurred
Dixon
hopes to get the
before and after
charter change mea-
quiet zones were
sure on the May 22, 2022,
established.” The FRA stud-
ballot.
ied 359 quiet zones in 2011,
and 203 more in 2013.
What’s a quiet zone?
Guyer said he has received
In a quiet zone, freight
messages insulting him per-
trains are not required to
sonally and asking why he
sound their whistles when ap- was voting on the quiet zone
proaching a street crossing.
issue given that he was ap-
pointed rather than elected.
The city charter makes no
distinction between coun-
cilors who are elected and
those who are appointed in
terms of their voting on mo-
tions before the Council.
Guyer read aloud from a
letter he received from Ly-
nette Perry, who resigned in
August 2021 due to health
reasons. Guyer replaced
Perry on the Council.
In her letter, Perry ex-
pressed her support for a
quiet zone, citing health ef-
fects among other factors.
“One of the most import-
ant things needed to heal and
return to health is getting
enough sleep and good rest,”
Perry wrote. “This cannot be
done if you live in an area,
like I do, where the sound
waves carry the sound of the
train horns at multiple hours
throughout the night.”
Guyer’s appointment as
a councilor tilted the vot-
ing balance in favor of the
quiet zone.
See, Quiet/Page A3
Idaho Power
files more
petitions
seeking
access to
private land
Company wants to
survey property as
part of B2H power
line project
BY JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Attorneys representing
Idaho Power Company last
week filed four more civil peti-
tions in Baker County Circuit
Court asking a judge to order
property owners in the county
to allow the company to survey
their land as part of the compa-
ny’s Boardman to Hemingway
power transmission line plan.
Idaho Power, working with
PacifiCorp of Portland, hopes
to start building the 293-mile,
500-kilovolt line as early as 2023.
Idaho Power is represented
in the civil petitions by Timo-
thy Helfrich and Zach Olson of
the Yturri Rose firm in Ontario.
In December the attorneys
filed civil petitions seeking
access for five Baker County
properties.
See, Power/Page A2
Project to protect watershed from fire proceeds
Wallowa-Whitman
hopes to start
work in 2023
BY JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
The Wallowa-Whitman Na-
tional Forest continues to plan
a project designed to reduce
the risk of a wildfire spreading
through Baker City’s watershed.
“This is an important project
for the people of Baker City,”
said Kendall Cikanek, Whit-
man District ranger. “Protect-
ing people’s drinking water is
right at the top when you’re de-
fining high-value areas.”
The 10,000-acre watershed
is on the east slopes of the
Elkhorn Mountains west of
Baker City. Almost the en-
tire area is managed by the
Wallowa-Whitman. The wa-
tershed is closed to public
entry to protect water qual-
ity, although the city allows
big game hunting, with a
TODAY
Issue 109
28 pages
Jack Myers/Contributed Photo, 2019
Lightning strikes in the Baker City watershed in August 2019.
permit, when the fire danger
isn’t high.
In addition, one road open
to the public — Forest Road
6510, which climbs to Marble
Creek Pass — bisects the wa-
tershed.
Business .................B1 & B2
Classified ....................B2-B4
Comics ..............................B5
Both Forest Service and
Baker City officials have for
more than a quarter century
sought to reduce the risk of
wildfire in the heavily for-
ested watershed.
City officials worry that a
Community News.............A3
Crossword ...............B3 & B4
Dear Abby .........................B6
large blaze could cause ash and
mud to pollute the streams
and springs that the city di-
verts into its water supply
pipeline. The watershed sup-
plies almost all of the city’s
drinking water. The city has
one supplementary well —
which is fortified with water
from the watershed — and a
second well is scheduled to
come online later in 2022.
A fire, in addition to forc-
ing the city to rely on other
water sources for a period,
could also lead to the city
needing to build a water fil-
tration plant, which would
likely cost more than $10
million.
(The city doesn’t mechani-
cally filter its drinking water.
The water is disinfected with
chlorine and with ultraviolet
light to protect against bacte-
ria and parasites such as giar-
dia and cryptosporidium.)
“The Baker City water-
shed is a major asset to the
Home ......................B1 & B2
Horoscope ..............B2 & B4
Lottery Results .................A2
News of Record ................A2
Opinion .............................A4
Senior Menus ...................A2
City of Baker City and our
community,” said Michelle
Owen, the city’s public
works director. “We are part-
nering with the U.S. Forest
Service to make the water-
shed less susceptible to a cat-
astrophic wildfire. Removing
excessive fuels and provid-
ing for fire breaks along the
pipeline road are really the
City’s top priorities and in
line with the City Council’s
goals. This type of a project
has been discussed for many
years and it’s great that there
is finally some real progress
being made.”
There hasn’t been a large
fire in the watershed for
more than a century, but
such a blaze likely is overdue,
based on a study of fire scars
on old trees in the watershed
conducted by researchers
from the University of Wash-
ington in the mid-1990s.
See, Watershed/Page A3
Sports ...............................A6
Turning Backs ..................A2
Weather ............................B6