A6 BAKER CITY HERALD • THuRsDAY, ApRIL 28, 2022
VOTERS GUIDE
Baker County Commission, Position 2
Kody Justus
Christina Witham
Question 1: Biographical information:
half. The fire department will lose the ability to
Question 1: Biographical information:
if a tax levy will be necessary, I sincerely
Name, age, occupation, educational back-
enter burning buildings, essentially making it
Name, age, occupation, educational back- hope that a tax levy can be avoided but this
ground, etc.
impossible to stop a fire on Main Street where
ground, etc.
is an ongoing and ever-changing situation.
Kody Justus
the buildings are connected.
Christina Witham, 52
Question 4: List and discuss your top 3
Age: 51
It is clear to me the city manager is not in-
Owner at Oregon Sign Company, LLC
goals were you to be elected:
Occupation: Cattle rancher
terested in providing ambulance service. I,
Graduated BHS
1. Continue to support the progress
Educational background: Gradu-
personally, would like to see a county-
Question 2: Current or past political or that has been made on the access issues
ated Baker High School 1989; Future
wide EMS/Fire District formed. This
public service experience:
throughout our public lands and to pro-
Farmers of America leadership; De-
would allow the fire/EMS crosstrain-
No past political office.
mote the use of natural resources.
partment of Public Standards and
ing to continue to be used outside
I have worked extensively with
A healthy forest equals a healthy
Training; Basic Corrections at West-
of the city’s management. A tax levy
local groups on the Blue Mountain
community. We need to keep our
ern Oregon University at Monmouth;
could be assessed to the district and it
Forest Plan Revision to retain pub-
“open” forest open and accessi-
American Lands Council Seminar
would have its own board of directors,
lic access to our county, WWNF
ble for all uses of our natural re-
with Utah State Representative Ken
which would eliminate the current
and other public roads, lands and
sources. Timber harvesting and
Justus
Ivory on the transfer of public lands;
negotiating between two governing
natural resources for now and for
grazing will not only create rev-
Attorney Fred Kelly Grant’s Coordi-
bodies. However, that requires time
future generations.
enue but decrease fuel loads that
to develop and put on a ballot. To keep the fire
I served as President, Vice Presi-
nation seminar 101.
lead to devastating forest fires. We
Witham
department intact, it will require a willingness
dent and other chairs in past years
Occupational background: 1989-92 US
need access to fight fires, access to
as a member of Soroptimist Inter-
Army, served in Germany and Kuwait; former from Baker City to continue ambulance ser-
grazing allotments, mining claims,
national of Baker County.
correctional officer; former state brand inspec- vice past the 9/30/22 deadline they have de-
hiking trails, huckleberry and mushroom
Question 3: What are your thoughts
tor; ranch operations including, management, clared.
patches, firewood cutting, recreation and
Question 4: List and discuss your top 3
about the current discussion between com- peace of mind to name a few. We know that
budgeting, hiring, and ownership.
goals were you to be elected:
missioners and Baker City regarding am- our military veterans benefit from having
Question 2: Current or past political or
My top 3 goals are as follows:
bulance service, in particular the possibil- access and we definitely need to unlock
public service experience:
• Securing individual rights of each person
ity of asking voters to approve a property
Previous elected Precinct Committee Per-
locked gates.
tax levy to raise revenue for the service?
son; Previous Vice-Chair of Baker County Re- within Baker County. I believe that is the sole
2. Building a stronger economy for busi-
reason government exists. In the Declaration
I believe that Baker County is doing their nesses, ranchers, communities and families.
publican Party; Previous Baker County Nat-
of Independence, it is stated that “to secure
best to find a resolution to this unfortunate
ural Resource Advisory Committee member;
Supporting each and every one of our ru-
situation. Coming from a business back-
Member of Forest Access for All; and Member/ these rights, governments are instituted.”
ral communities is first and foremost. Each
• The Baker County budget. Every dollar
ground, I don’t see how a city can run in
Volunteer Agape Christian Center.
of our small communities throughout the
the red for multiple years, depend on out-
Question 3: What are your thoughts about spent in the county budget was first secured
county has unique challenges and needs
side sources for funding, not change up the that have to be addressed. Identifying the
the current discussion between commission- as payment from a private citizen. We need
business plan/budget/accounting and ex-
ers and Baker City regarding ambulance ser- responsible spending and living within our
voids in our economy from the bottom up
means. What is done individually can be ac-
pect to be rescued at the last minute as the would help to rise up small business, give
vice, in particular the possibility of asking
city appears to have done. When an RFP
voters to approve a property tax levy to raise complished corporately.
ranchers better options, higher employ-
• Transparency within Baker County. Confi-
goes out to ambulance services, we know
revenue for the service?
ment rates and healthier families. I encour-
dence in our governing bodies is at an all time
that they have to meet or exceed the cur-
My thoughts about the current discussion
age the idea of a beef kill/processing plant
rent expectations asked of the BCFD ambu- introduced to me by Bill and Dawn Simp-
low. The way back is through transparent ap-
between commissioners and Baker City re-
lance service. An ambulance service can be son of Elkhorn Custom Meats. We have to
plication of our procedural process. I encour-
garding ambulance service is as follows:
profitable and we do not know at this time make sure that ranchers have water and any
age public involvement at every stage.
My understanding is that Baker City has
$800,000 of expenses attributed to the ambu-
other resources needed to produce. Support
lance service in the current year and $900,000
our downtowns and small businesses by
The Baker County Clerk’s Office mailed ballots on Wednesday, April 27, for the May 17 primary. Ballots
in receipts from ambulance billings. That in-
shopping local. Sell local, buy local and we
must be returned by 8 p.m. on election day. However, ballots that are returned by mail, and postmarked by
cludes money from the county. In essence, the
all thrive.
8 p.m. on May 17, will be counted if they get to the clerk’s office no later than seven days after the election.
ambulance service is running at a net zero or
3. Listening and coming to you with a
Two of the three Baker County Board of Commissioners positions are on the ballot. Neither Bill Harvey,
breaking even. The city manager has made
common sense approach.
commission chairman and the only full-time commissioner, nor part-time Commissioner Mark Bennett, is
projections, that because of population growth,
I am here for you, I am your voice, I
seeking reelection this year.
the increase in call volume will require the
will listen. I know that I will need to come
Both positions are four-year terms.
city to hire three more staff and buy an addi-
alongside, learn and then support our
Three people are seeking to replace Harvey, in Position 3 — Shane Alderson, Dan Garrick and Joe John-
tional ambulance, thus creating a million-dol-
county employees and I am looking for-
son. All are Baker City residents.
lar shortfall. This estimation seems unrealistic
ward to it. Our nation as a whole is di-
There are two candidates for Bennett’s Position 2 — Kody Justus, who lives in Baker Valley, and Christina
considering our housing constraints. The real
vided, our state is divided and we, as Baker
Witham of Baker City.
loser in all this is the city fire department. By
County, need to stay united. We need to
In both races, if one candidate receives more than half the votes in the May 17 primary, that candidate
discontinuing ambulance service, the Baker
talk to our neighbors as close to middle
would be elected to a four-year term starting Jan. 1, 2023.
If none of the candidates receives more than half the votes, the top two candidates would advance to a
City Fire Department will lose six staff because
ground as possible. We need to solve issues
runoff in the Nov. 8, 2022, general election.
the current EMS staff are crosstrained as fire-
and come together in order to be stronger,
fighters. This move cuts the fire department in
better together.
SPORTS
BAKER BASEBALL
Baker rallies to beat Heppner/Ione, 11-8
three RBIs, pounded a triple that
scored two runs and pushed
Baker was breezing to a non- Baker’s lead to 11-8.
Relief pitcher Connor
league baseball win on Monday,
April 25, at the Sports Complex Chastain, who replaced Hayden
until Heppner/Ione decided not Younger with two outs in the top
of the sixth, set the Mustangs
to play the hapless victim.
down in order in the top of the
After falling behind 4-0 and
7-3 early in the game, the Mus- seventh to end the game.
Baker coach Tim Smith said
tangs took advantage of a few
Baker miscues to score five runs he was happy with Baker’s re-
in the top of the sixth inning and silience after squandering the
early lead.
take an 8-7 lead.
“We talked about it between
It was a brief lead.
(the top and bottom of the sixth
The Bulldogs, coming off a
thrilling 2-1 come-from-behind inning),” Smith said. “We kind of
win over Philomath on Saturday, had a chip on our shoulder. They
April 23, and determined not to responded well, and took the
squander the momentum from game back over.”
that victory, rallied in the bottom
He also credited Chastain with
of the sixth to regain the lead.
preventing the Mustangs from
And unlike the earlier lead,
mounting a last-inning rally.
this was one Baker wouldn’t re-
“We really like Connor in that
linquish.
relief role,” Smith said. “He came
Hudson Spike and Jaxon
in and threw strikes and kept the
Logsdon started the rally with
ball down.”
singles.
Baker started fast on a mild
Spike scored on Logan Ca-
Monday evening when the Bull-
pon’s sacrifice fly to tie the score dogs donned pink uniforms
at 8.
to help raise awareness about
Cole Hester followed with a
breast cancer.
double that scored Logsdon and
Baker took a 1-0 lead after one
gave Baker a 9-8 lead.
inning on Logsdon’s RBI double.
Then, with two outs, Kai
The freshman went 4 for 4 with
Ogan, who went 3 for 3 with
2 RBIs.
BY JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Jayson Jacoby/Baker City Herald
Baker’s Kai Ogan bats against La Grande on April 20, 2022. Ogan went 3 for 3 with 3 RBIs, including
a key two-run triple, in Baker’s 11-8 come-from-behind win over Heppner/Ione on Monday, April 25,
2022, at the Sports Complex.
Hepp./Ione 0 0 3 0 0 5 0 — 8
Baker
1 3 3 0 0 4 x — 11
Wilkins, George (5) and
Proudfoot. Capon, Younger
(4), Chastain (6) and Logsdon.
Baker extended the lead to
4-0 in the second inning when
Younger hit a two-run single and
Logsdon drove in another run
with a single.
Heppner cut the lead to 4-3
on Toby Nation’s 3-run homer in
the top of the third, but the Bull-
dogs responded immediately
with three runs of their own in
the bottom of the inning.
Thomas Smithson and Hes-
ter both singled, and Smithson
scored on Chastain’s bunt single.
Ogan later hit an RBI single to
boost Baker’s lead to 7-3.
Baker, which improved to
10-8 overall, returns to Greater
Oregon League play on Friday,
April 29, when the Bulldogs
play host to Mac-Hi in a double-
header at the Sports Complex.
First pitch is set for 2 p.m.
Baker, which is 4-2 in the
GOL, swept the Pioneers on
April 6 at Milton-Freewater.
LOCAL
Council
ered recusing himself, given
his lack of familiarity with the
topic. He said he eventually
Continued from Page A1
voted yes because he wasn’t
McQuisten, Waggoner and
sure whether it was proper for
Dixon, who want to let voters
him to recuse himself.
decide on the quiet zone appli-
But after the April 12 meet-
cation, voted no.
ing, Damschen said he com-
Damschen, who became the mitted himself to learning
swing vote on the issue after
about quiet zones and talking
he was appointed in March
to residents about the issue.
and sworn in on April 12, said
He said he spoke with many
in an interview on Wednes-
people he knows as well as
day, April 27, that he changed some who queried him about
his mind, about whether the
the issue. He said he also talked
matter should go to voters,
with some business owners and
based on the estimated 20 to
with one representative from
30 hours of research he did
the local group that is promot-
about quiet zones after the
ing the quiet zone and is raising
April 12 meeting.
money for the upgrades to rail-
road crossings.
Damschen said he didn’t
Damschen said he also
know much about the quiet
spoke with the city manager
zone issue when he was
and public works director in
sworn in at the start of the
La Grande, which qualified for
April 12 meeting. The issue
a quiet zone in 2019, and re-
wasn’t on the agenda, and
searched noise pollution.
when Dixon made a motion
“I came to the realization
to refer the issue to voters,
that it’s (a quiet zone) really go-
Damschen said he consid-
ing to be good for the town,”
Damschen said. “I felt that it
didn’t need to go to the ballot.”
Damschen said he hopes
residents understand that
he changed his mind about
whether the city should refer
the quiet zone question to vot-
ers because of the information
he gleaned from his research
and conversations.
“It’s never the wrong choice
to go back and rethink your de-
cision and make the right one,
or a better one,” he said.
McQuisten, who has advo-
cated for letting city voters de-
cide whether the city applies for
a quiet zone, criticized her four
colleagues for Tuesday’s vote.
“This is what happens when
you have elected officials who
are tone deaf to the majority
of the community, not inter-
ested in the will of the people,
and focused on appeasing a
vocal minority special interest
group,” McQuisten said. “They
know they are making a deci-
sion that most citizens in Baker
City do not want, and I believe
that is their exact reason for
keeping it off the ballot.”
Guyer, who proposed and
voted for the motion at the Jan.
25 meeting for the city to ap-
ply for a quiet zone, with the
provision that the local group
raise the money for crossing
upgrades, said members of that
group talked with him after the
April 12 meeting when, with
Guyer absent, Dixon made the
motion to put the matter on
the Nov. 8 ballot.
Guyer called that decision
“just wrong.”
“It’s wrong for you to allow
people to go ahead and put en-
ergy and effort into it and then
say, no, we’re going to back off,
we’re going to change the rules
to how the game is played,” he
said. “So you’ve got all this en-
ergy and cost involved in the
process and then you pull the
rug out from underneath them
and that’s just not how things
are done, in my book anyway.”
Guyer also said he believes
that Damschen, who voted
in favor of Dixon’s motion on
April 12, “really was not given
enough time to understand the
complexities of the vote and
when it was brought up.”
In other business Tuesday,
the council:
• Voted unanimously to
approve installing signs at
Fourth and Grace streets, near
South Baker Intermediate
School, as part of the Baker
School District’s plan to re-
route buses for picking up and
dropping off students.
The stop signs will be for
southbound traffic on Fourth
Street and for eastbound traffic
on Grace Street. Buses, which
now park on Grace Street on
the north side of the school,
will, starting this fall, turn right
from Fourth onto Carter Street,
one block north of Grace, then
turn left onto Fifth Street and
continue south, using a cur-
rently unopened section of
Fifth Street that will be opened,
to enter the school grounds,
where a new bus lane will be
built. Buses will exit by driving
north on Fourth Street.
Owen, the city’s public works
director, said the district’s plan
is better than another option
which had the potential for
traffic to back up to the east,
onto Dewey Avenue.
The district’s goal is to re-
duce congestion along Grace
Street and in areas north of the
school, where currently both
parents and buses congregate.
Starting this fall, buses will
load and drop off in the school
grounds south of Grace Street.
• Voted unanimously to ap-
prove the first two readings
of an ordinance restricting
camping in city parks and
some other public property.
The ordinance, proposed by
Police Chief Ty Duby, is de-
signed to deal with homeless
people camping.