FEBRUARY 16–23, 2022
WWW.GOEASTERNOREGON.COM
‘Litt le Women’
OPENS AT BMCC
Jennifer Colton/Contributed image
Blue Mountain Community College and Friends of the Elgin Opera House present
“Little Women: The Broadway Musical” Feb. 24-26 and March 3-5 in Pendleton.
Karen Taylor, left, and Carly Elder are seen here at rehearsal Feb. 7, 2022.
PAGE 8
Learn
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INSIDE
SPORTS A6
Go! Magazine
Arts & entertainment magazine
Baker High to host district basketball tournament
IN THIS EDITION: LOCAL • BUSINESS & AG LIFE • SPORTS
Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2022 • $1.50
School
board
chooses
3 finalists
to replace
Witty
QUICK HITS
—————
Good Day Wish
To A Subscriber
A special good day to
Herald subscribers Larry and
Pam Morrison of Baker City.
BRIEFING
—————
Two local students on
dean’s list at University
of Idaho
MOSCOW, Idaho — Two
local students were among
those named to the dean’s
list for the fall 2021 semes-
ter at the University of Idaho.
Samuel Hamilton of Baker
City, who is majoring in
business, and Alonda Ibarra
of North Powder, who is
majoring in psychology and
communication, as well as
culture, society and justice,
earned a GPA of at least 3.5
while taking a minimum of
12 graded credits.
‘Night at Old Auburn’
scheduled Feb. 26
The Baker Heritage Muse-
um is bringing back its an-
nual “A Night at Old Auburn”
fundraiser on Saturday, Feb.
26 at the Baker Elks Lodge,
1896 Second St.
Dinner begins at 6 p.m.,
followed by gambling games
and bingo at 7 p.m. Tickets
for dinner are $40. Entrance
tickets (no dinner) are $15.
Tickets are available until
Feb. 18 at the Baker Heri-
tage Museum, 2480 Grove
St., Monday through Friday,
10 a.m.-3 p.m. These can
also be purchased online at
www.friendsofbakerheritage-
museum.com.
Those who wish to sup-
port the museum but not at-
tend the event can purchase
dinner tickets and pick up
the meal that night.
WEATHER
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Today
38/16
Partly cloudy
Wednesday
41/19
Mostly sunny
Full forecast on the back
of the B section.
The space below is for a postage label
for issues that are mailed.
Baker City Herald
Samantha O’Conner/Baker City Herald
Baker City has cited Lucas Gwin for violating the city’s property maintenance ordinance more than half a dozen times over the past
seven years related to accumulations of trash and other items at 1975 Birch St.
City explores options
for ‘nuisance’ property
Owner appeals court
ruling for home where
trash, odors, mice
have prompted
neighbor complaints
BY JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
The owner of a home in east Baker
City that’s the first property in town
to be deemed a “chronic neighbor-
hood nuisance” under a city ordinance
due to accumulations of trash and
other factors is appealing the Jan. 11
judgment from Justice of the Peace
Brent Kerns.
Lucas Buddy Lee Gwin owns the
home at 1975 Birch St., at the corner of
Birch Street and Washington Avenue.
Baker City’s code enforcement offi-
cer, Brian LaFavor, cited Gwin, 33, on
Dec. 9, 2021, under the city’s property
maintenance ordinance, 97.01.
Four times in the past four years,
most recently in April 2021, Baker City
paid to remove trash and other debris
from Gwin’s property.
But Ty Duby, Baker City Police chief,
said that not long after that work, items
started to accumulate again on the
property, and the city received multiple
complaints from residents in the area.
In March 2019 the City Council,
motivated in part by the city’s previous
efforts to clean up Gwin’s property, ap-
proved a revised version of the prop-
erty maintenance ordinance that adds
the chronic neighborhood nuisance
designation.
Duby said that revised ordinance
was not added to the roster of ordi-
nances on the city’s website.
However, he said residents who live
near Gwin pointed out to Duby that
the ordinance had been revised, and
that it gives the Baker County Justice
Court Judge the authority to block
people, including the owners, from
properties deemed chronic neighbor-
hood nuisances.
After LaFavor cited Gwin on Dec. 9,
2021, the city asked Justice of the Peace
Brent Kerns to declare the property as a
chronic neighborhood nuisance.
In an order dated Jan. 11, 2022,
Kerns wrote that as of Jan. 5, Gwin’s
property was a chronic neighborhood
nuisance. Kerns also wrote that the
home is “unsafe.”
Kerns determined that the con-
dition of the property met six of the
seven criteria in the revised ordinance,
including that the property does not
have city water and sewer service and
that it has a history of property main-
tenance code violations.
The property has not been closed to
entry.
Gwin filed an appeal to Kerns’ ruling
in a document dated Jan. 19, 2022. The
appeal was filed in Baker County Cir-
cuit Court, where it is pending.
Gwin declined to comment on the
situation.
Although the city’s 2019 update
to the property maintenance ordi-
nance states that people, including the
owner, can be banned from entering
properties deemed chronic neighbor-
hood nuisances, City Manager Jona-
than Cannon said he’s not convinced,
since there is no precedent locally, that
the city can legally enforce that aspect
of the ordinance.
Cannon said there is a “delicate bal-
ance” between protecting private prop-
erty rights, including the ability for the
owner to even enter the property, while
also ensuring that the property owner’s
use isn’t harming neighbors.
As an alternative, Duby said the city
plans to pursue a different legal ave-
nue — potentially declaring the home
an unsafe structure.
Duby said the city’s building official
can declare a building unsafe and thus
not inhabitable.
Duby said he plans to present an af-
fidavit to Baker County Circuit Court
listing the reasons he believes Gwin’s
home is unsafe to occupy, and ask
Judge Matt Shirtcliff to grant an ad-
ministrative search warrant to allow
the city to determine the condition of
the home.
Ultimately, he said, the city could
board up the home to prevent entry.
Access to the property would still be
open to allow for the removal of de-
bris, he said.
See, Nuisance /Page A3
Local residents will have a
chance next week to meet the
three finalists to replace Mark
Witty as superintendent of the
Baker 5J School District.
The school board, along
with employees from the dis-
trict and members of the dis-
trict’s budget committee and
bond oversight committee, in-
terviewed candidates last week.
During an executive ses-
sion meeting on Tuesday,
Feb. 15, the board chose Erin
Lair, David Marshall and
William Schidbach as the
three finalists.
The trio will return to Baker
City for a second set of inter-
views next week.
See, School/Page A3
Utah man
sentenced for
2021 high-
speed chase
BY JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
A Utah man who led an Or-
egon State Police trooper on
a high-speed chase last spring
and then tried to elude on foot
was sentenced on Monday,
Feb. 14, after pleading guilty to
three charges in Baker County
Circuit Court.
Clayton Ted Snell, 37, of
Sandy, Utah, pleaded guilty to
fleeing or attempting to elude
a police officer, which is a
Class C felony, as well as mis-
demeanor charges of reckless
driving and driving under the
influence of intoxicants.
Judge Matt Shirtcliff sen-
tenced Snell to 20 days in jail
and 18 months of supervised
probation, and suspended his
driver’s license for one year.
Snell also was fined $1,000
for the DUII conviction.
Two other counts, one for
fleeing or attempting to elude,
and one for criminal mischief,
were dismissed in a plea agree-
ment with the district attor-
ney’s office.
See, Chase/Page A3
5 file for county commission positions
3 seeking
chairman job, 2
file for part-time
position
BY SAMANTHA O’CONNER
soconner@bakercityherald.com
The list of candidates is get-
ting longer for Baker County
Commissioner positions on the
May 17 primary election ballot.
So far three people are seek-
ing to replace Bill Harvey as
chairman of the three-mem-
ber Baker County Board of
Commissioners. Harvey, who
is the only full-time commis-
sioner, is not seeking reelec-
tion, and his current four-year
term ends Dec. 31, 2022.
The three registered candi-
dates for Harvey’s job — Po-
TODAY
Issue 117
28 pages
Witham
Justus
sition 3 — are all Baker City
residents.
Joe Johnson filed on Jan. 11,
Dan Garrick on Jan. 26, and
Shane Alderson on Feb. 7.
Two people are vying to re-
place Commissioner Mark
Bennett, who holds the part-
time Position 2.
Bennett’s term also ends this
year, and he, like Harvey, is not
seeking reelection.
Christina Witham of Baker
City was the first to file, on
Dec. 2.
Business .................B1 & B6
Classified ....................B2-B4
Comics ..............................B5
Alderson
Kody Justus, who lives in
Baker Valley, filed for Posi-
tion 2 on Feb. 7.
The deadline for candi-
dates to file for either com-
mission position is March 8
at 5 p.m. Information about
filing is available from the
Baker County Clerk’s Of-
fice in the Courthouse, 1995
Third St. The phone number
is 541-523-8207.
In both of the commis-
sion races, if one candidate
receives more than half the
Community News.............A2
Crossword ...............B2 & B4
Dear Abby .........................B6
Johnson
Garrick
votes in the May 17 primary,
that candidate would be
elected.
If none of the candidates
receives more than half the
votes, the top two candidates
would advance to a runoff
in the Nov. 8, 2022, general
election.
the Republican primary for
the third commission posi-
tion in 2016.
(Voters later approved
a measure making county
commissioner positions
nonpartisan, so there are
no longer Republican and
Democratic primaries.)
Justus lost that race by just
40 or so votes.
Position 3 candidates
Johnson is a dispatcher
with the Baker County Sher-
iff ’s Office.
Garrick, a former member
of the Baker 5J School Board,
is a self-employed builder
and general contractor.
Position 2 candidates
Alderson, a Baker City
Witham owns Oregon Sign
Council member, owns Ba-
Company in Baker City.
boon Creek Outfitters in
Justus, who is a rancher,
ran against Bruce Nichols in Baker City.
Horoscope ..............B2 & B4
Lottery Results .................A2
News of Record ................A2
Opinion .............................A4
Senior Menus ...................A2
Sports ...............................A6
Sudoku..............................B5
Turning Backs ..................A2
Weather ............................B6