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About Baker City herald. (Baker City, Or.) 1990-current | View Entire Issue (April 21, 2022)
APRIL 20–27, 2022 Listen Hillstomp in concert Celebrate Earth Day Join Cattle Barons PAGE 3 PAGE 4 PAGE 7 WWW.GOEASTERNOREGON.COM A DIFFERENT TAKE ON SHAKESPEARE PAGE 8 Lisa Britton/Go Magazine Lesley Gaunt, left, and Christy Johnson practice lines for “Women Playing Hamlet,” which opens at Eastern Oregon Regional Theatre in Baker City on Friday, April 29. INSIDE SPORTS A6 SPORTS A8 Go! Magazine Shaking up Shakespeare Baker track teams dominate 5-team meet Baker girls golf team places second Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com IN THIS EDITION: LOCAL • BUSINESS & AG LIFE • SPORTS DREADED DROUGHT CONTINUES Phillips Reservoir, depleted by more than a year of drought, was holding just 10% of its capacity at the end of March. The reservoir, along the Powder River about 17 miles southwest of Baker City, supplies irrigation water to more than 30,000 acres in Baker Valley. Jayson Jacoby/EO Media Group Spring 2022 The Blue Mountain EAGLE INSIDE TODAY’S ISSUE ————— Special section focuses on the farming and ranching industry in NE Oregon, focusing on concerns about the ongoing drought, and rising production costs. Residents urge county to KEEP PINE CREEK ROAD OPEN Nineteen people speak during a public hearing BY JAYSON JACOBY AND IAN CRAWFORD Baker City Herald QUICK HITS ————— Good Day Wish To A Subscriber A A special good day to Herald subscriber Margaret Bootsma of Baker City. BRIEFING ————— Presentation on human traffi cking April 25 AAUW will sponsor a pre- sentation about human traf- fi cking on Monday, April 25, at 6:30 p.m. at the Baker High School library, 2500 E St. This talk is open to the public. Kristen Campbell will be the presenter. She is the operations and program director for In Our Backyard, a human traffi cking aware- ness group. THURSDAY. APRIL 21, 2022 • $1.50 Contributed Photo, File David McCarty installed this gate, which is some- times locked, across the Pine Creek Road at his property boundary during the fall of 2020. The road passes through property that McCarty owns. During a public hearing on April 19, 2022, a group of local residents who enjoy visiting the area urged Baker County commissioners to pre- serve public access to the road. More Inside Response from represen- tatives of landowner David McCarty on Page A3. total of 19 Baker County residents took their turn at a lectern and told county commissioners why the Pine Creek canyon west of Baker City is such a wonderful place to visit and why they believe the county should strive to ensure the public has access to the road and therefore to large swathes of public land it leads to. The speakers, whose personal experiences in the Pine Creek area date back more than half a century in some cases, were among those who attended a public hearing called by com- missioners on Tuesday morning, April 19, at the Baker County Events Center. Commissioners were soliciting public comments regarding the county’s effort to declare as a public right-of-way the road that follows Pine Creek to its source at Pine Creek Reservoir, high in the Elkhorn Mountains. Although the road passes through private property for about two and a half miles, the reservoir itself is part of the Wal- lowa-Whitman National Forest, as is much of the surrounding alpine area that’s popular among hunters, anglers and hikers. A herd of mountain goats lives near the reservoir, and an un- official trail crosses a ridge and leads to Rock Creek Lake, the largest (35 acres) and deepest (about 100 feet) in the Elkhorns. The county’s campaign to formalize public access on the road was prompted by a civil lawsuit that a Pine Creek landowner, David McCarty, filed against the county almost a year ago, on April 30, 2021. See, Hearing/Page A3 BHS baseball ‘Pink Night’ for breast cancer awareness The Baker High School baseball team will have its Pink Night, to raise aware- ness about breast cancer and honor those affected by it, on Monday, April 25., when the Bulldogs play Hep- pner/Ione at 5 p.m. at the Baker Sports Complex. 53/30 Rain showers Friday 54/31 BY JAYSON JACOBY jjacoby@bakercityherald.com Brian Johnson figured he might finish his career as a firefighter/paramedic with the Baker City Fire Department. He already had four years with the department. And he loves the commu- nity. But in the span of just a cou- ple weeks, Johnson had fin- ished his final shift in Baker City and was working more than 300 miles away, in Cowlitz County, Washington. He was still doing the job he loved. Just not in the place he wanted to be doing it. See, Firefighter/Page A3 County passes constitution resolution BY SAMANTHA O’CONNER soconner@bakercityherald.com Baker County commission- ers voted 2-1 on Wednesday, April 20, to pass a resolution “re-affirming the constitu- tional rights of Baker County citizens,” four months after a local group asked commis- sioners to approve a similar, but more comprehensive, document. Jayson Jacoby/Baker City Herald, File, 2017 The Pine Creek Road, in the Elkhorn Mountains northwest of Baker City, climbs to an alpine zone that includes views of Rock Creek Butte, upper right, at 9,106 feet the tallest peak in the range. Before it reaches this point the road runs through private property, and the owner, David McCarty, in 2021 filed a civil law- suit against Baker County contending there are no records show- ing the road is a public right-of-way. See, Resolution/Page A5 Cloudy The space below is for a postage label for issues that are mailed. Brian Johnson said uncertainty about future of ambulance service forced his decision Proponents of original version object to changes WEATHER ————— Today Firefighter laments having to leave Baker City Kids meet Baker City’s canine cop Friday Academy program includes a visit with Capa BY IAN CRAWFORD icrawford@bakercityherald.com Local elementary students in the Fri- day Academy program had the chance to meet Capa, the Baker City Police De- partment’s drug-detecting dog, on Fri- day morning, April 15. The students gathered at Geiser-Poll- man Park to meet not only Capa, but also his handler, Sgt. Wayne Chastain. “Why do we need dogs?” Chastain asked the students. After a few odd guesses and anec- dotes, he eventually gestured to his own nose in an overt hint. “Yes! Their nose! A dog’s sense of smell is five million times stronger than ours,” Chastain said. The students learned about K9 train- ing, the importance of Capa’s sense of smell when detecting drugs, and as well how other dogs are trained for finding contraband in jail, chasing down perpe- TODAY Issue 144 58 pages Business .................B1 & B2 Classified ....................B4-B6 Comics ..............................B7 Ian Crawford/Baker City Herald Sgt. Wayne Chastain of the Baker City Po- lice Department is the handler for Capa, the department’s drug-detecting dog. trators and otherwise keeping the com- munity safe. One by one the children were invited to gently pet Capa, a German shepherd and Belgian Malinois mix, as he bus- ied himself gnawing on a braided toy, which by the end of the session was leaning toward replacement. “See that? This was new this morn- ing,” Chastain said. Community News.............A2 Crossword ...............B4 & B6 Dear Abby .........................B8 Accompanying the Friday Academy students were several chaperones, as well as Robin Maille, family and com- munity health mentor for the Oregon State University Extension Service in Baker County, which arranged the event, and Katie Hauser, OSU Exten- sion’s 4-H program coordinator. OSU’s outreach specifically sets out to help students in need of additional sup- port in matters of classwork and per- sonal skills, as well as giving them extra- curricular experiences such as museum visits and even yoga classes. “Students are invited based on aca- demic needs, and we provide a delicate balance of academics and fun to keep kids coming, said Angela Lattin, direc- tor of the Baker Early Learning Center. Meeting every week, Friday Acad- emy largely consist of kids from second through fourth grade, although the pro- gram isn’t limited to those grades. Kids enrolled are usually recom- mended by their teachers. The program runs through May 13, with a final trip for the school year a guided tour of the campus at Eastern Oregon University in La Grande. Horoscope ..............B4 & B6 Lottery Results .................A2 News of Record ................A2 Opinion .............................A4 Senior Menus ...................A2 Sports ......................... A6-A8 Girl Scouts donate $500 each to Best Friends of Baker and Rachel Center BY IAN CRAWFORD icrawford@bakercityherald.com Over the past year, members of Girl Scout Troop No. 50042 in Baker City conducted cookie sales and other fundraisers for their annual donation drive. On Thursday, April 14, den mother Linda Snyder over- saw a ceremony during which head Scouts Becky Snyder and Penelope Simmons presented $500 donations to two lo- cal groups. The donation meeting started with the Pledge of Al- legiance, followed by the Girl Scout’s Oath, with as many as 10 attending in the basement of the Baker Elks Lodge. The space is also shared by the local Boy Scouts. See, Scouts/Page A3 Sudoku..............................B7 Turning Backs ..................A2 Weather ............................B8
