Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Baker City herald. (Baker City, Or.) 1990-current | View Entire Issue (March 26, 2022)
OUTDOORS B1 The story of the stumps IN THIS EDITION: LOCAL • OUTDOORS & REC • SPORTS LOCAL A2 SPORTS A5 Museum open house April 1 Baker loses last 2 in Arizona Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com City buying replacement for burned sewer truck QUICK HITS ————— Good Day Wish To A Subscriber A special good day to Herald subscriber Jerry Yencopal of Baker City. BRIEFING ————— Baker Relief Nursery plans open house on March 30 The Baker Relief Nurs- ery, 1925 16th St., will be celebrating its fi rst year of operation during an open house on Wednesday, March 30, from noon to 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. For more information call 541-523-5054 or email at info@bakerreliefnursery.org. March 31 last legal day to use studded tires Oregon’s legal studded tire season continues through March 31. Starting April 1, it’s illegal to drive a vehicle equipped with studded tires. Drivers with studded tires on their vehicles after the March 31 deadline can be charged by law enforcement with a Class C traffi c violation. Lenten Retreat at St. Francis de Sales Cathedral St. Francis de Sales Cathedral Parish is present- ing a Lenten Retreat with Fr. Bailey Clemons, starting with Stations of the Cross on Friday, April 1 at 5 p.m. and continuing on Saturday, April 2 from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. If you would like to attend, call the St. Francis parish offi ce at 541-523-4251 or email to offi ce@sfdsc.org. SATURDAY, MARCH 26, 2022 • $1.50 BY SAMANTHA O’CONNER AND JAYSON JACOBY Baker City Herald Shared Hope/Contributed Photo Linda Smith, founder of Shared Hope, a group that fights human trafficking, speaks at a rally. WALKING FOR AWARENESS Baker City event will raise money to combat human trafficking Baker Sports Complex. The Complex is north of the Baker High School track. Access is via Fifth Street. Registration starts at 9 a.m. that day, and the event begins at 10 a.m. Participants can pre-register at walk-for-awareness.ticketleap. BY LISA BRITTON com/registernow. lbritton@bakercityherald.com A community event this spring Entry is $30 with a shirt (register in Baker City will help raise aware- by April 14 to guarantee shirt size), ness about the issue of child sex or $10 without a shirt. trafficking, and raise money to A family can register for $25. combat the problem. Shirts will be sold at the event Baker County Soroptimists are for $25. sponsoring the inaugural Walk for All proceeds will be donated to Awareness, a 5K walk or run, on Shared Hope International, which Saturday, May 14, starting at the was founded in 1998. This orga- nization aims to end sex traffick- ing by raising awareness about the problem, provide services to sur- vivors of sex trafficking, and help states improve laws for this crime. Shared Hope representatives will be at the Walk for Awareness, as well as local law enforcement. Local cheerleaders will be selling hamburgers. “We want everyone to be a part of it and help fight this fight,” said Sheryl Blankenship of Baker City, who is spearheading the event with her daughter-in-law, Macey Blankenship. See, Walk/Page A2 WEATHER ————— Today 66/40 Partly sunny The Baker City Council has dealt with the most immediate effect of a March 16 fire at the city’s public works shops, approving the pur- chase of a new sewer jetter truck for $87,000. The fire, which started in the engine com- partment of the city’s former sewer jetter truck, destroyed the truck and caused extensive dam- age to the building in which it was stored. Michelle Owen, the city’s public works di- rector, told councilors during their Tuesday, March 22, meeting that the city used the jetter truck, a 1998 model, to clear sewer lines on a daily basis, so replacing it quickly is important. Owen said that if the city ordered a brand new truck, it probably wouldn’t arrive for at least a year. Instead, city officials searched online for a used model and found a 2012 truck, which is similar to the burned truck, in Kansas City, Missouri. “The issue is that in fact there aren’t very many of these for purchase,” Owen said. She said the city’s insurance will pay an estimated $40,000 of the cost of the replace- ment truck. The rest of the money will come from the city’s equipment fund. Owen didn’t have an estimated date for when the new truck will arrive. Fee schedule approved During Tuesday’s meeting councilors also approved a resolution setting fees for the fiscal year starting July 1, 2022. The resolution includes increases of 3.75% for water and sewer rates for residential and commercial customers. The city staff proposed that increase, which is half the amount of the federal consumer price index increase of 7.5% as of January 2022. The base monthly bill for a typical residen- tial service will increase from $46 to $47.73. The base rate includes three units of water (one unit is about 750 gallons). The cost for each additional unit will increase from 97 cents to $1.01. The residential sewer rate will rise from $29.06 per month to $30.15. See, Truck/Page A2 Sunday 70/42 Mostly cloudy Monday 59/40 Rain showers early Full forecast on the back of the B section. The space below is for a postage label for issues that are mailed. Shared Hope/Contributed Photo Baker City grapples with ambulance costs, revenue BY JAYSON JACOBY AND SAMANTHA O’CONNER Baker City Herald Baker City Manager Jonathan Cannon is proud of the ambulance service that the city’s fire department provides within the city limits and in about 70% of Baker County outside the city. But pride and profes- sionalism, he said, don’t pay the bills. Cannon said on Thurs- day, March 24, that al- though he will consider all possible options, he believes “there’s some pretty big hurdles” to overcome for the city to be able to continue oper- ating ambulances. The tallest of those ob- stacles, he said, is money. The city isn’t collect- TODAY Issue 133 12 pages Cannon Guyer Alderson Classified ....................B2-B4 Comics ..............................B5 Community News.............A2 ing enough from its am- bulance billing to cover its costs, Cannon said. That’s been the case for more than a decade, but Cannon said he is con- cerned that the shortfall is increasing, and along with it a growing burden on city property taxpay- ers that is neither fair nor sustainable. Although Baker County has been giving money to the city for am- bulance service for the past four years, Cannon said the amounts aren’t enough. The city doesn’t receive property tax dol- lars from outside the city limits to support ambu- lance operations. On Tuesday, March 22, the City Council, after hearing a presentation Crossword ...............B2 & B4 Dear Abby .........................B6 Horoscope ..............B2 & B4 from Cannon, voted 6-0 to no- tify Baker County commissioners, who have the legal responsibility to ensure there is ambulance service in the city and elsewhere in the county, that the city intends to dis- continue its ambulance operation Sept. 30, 2022. If that happens, the county would need to find another ambulance provider to replace the Baker City Fire Department. Under Oregon law, the county has the sole author- ity to choose ambulance services. Baker City does not have the option, at this point, of providing ambulance services only within the city limits because the current service area includes much of the rest of the county, and the provider must cover the entire area. The county has not proposed a smaller service area including Baker City only. See, Ambulance/Page A3 Jayson Jacoby ..................A4 Lottery Results .................A2 News of Record ................A2 Baker City recognized as Tree City USA for the 37th straight year Just 5 cities in Oregon can boast longer runs Baker City Herald Baker City’s run as a Tree City USA is clos- ing in on four decades. The Arbor Day Foundation has announced that Baker City has achieved the Tree City USA designation for the 37th straight year. To qualify, a city must create a tree board or department, adopt a tree care ordinance, spend at least $2 per resident each year on community forestry work and have an annual Arbor Day observance and proclamation. City officials are planning an observance for later this year. The city is also sponsoring a poster contest for students from kindergarten through sixth grade. Baker City’s tree projects over the past de- cade or so include replacing flowering plum and cherry trees that were dying along Main and Broadway streets in the downtown his- toric district, and having arborists examine all the trees in the city’s largest park, Geis- er-Pollman. Just five Oregon cities have been Tree Cities longer than Baker City: Salem (46), Portland (45), Eugene (43), Sunriver (42), and Rogue River (39). Opinion .............................A4 Outdoors .................B1 & B2 Senior Menus ...................A2 Election 2022 ..................A6 Turning Backs ..................A2 Weather ............................B6