APRIL 20–27, 2022
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Hillstomp
in concert
Celebrate
Earth
Day
Join
Cattle
Barons
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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