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About Baker City herald. (Baker City, Or.) 1990-current | View Entire Issue (May 5, 2022)
MAY 4–11, 2022 Explore Museum opens Read ‘The Dreamers’ Listen Jazz concert PAGE 3 PAGE 6 PAGE 14 WWW.GOEASTERNOREGON.COM A morning chorus Ladd Marsh Bird Festival is May 13-15 Page 8 Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group A pair of Canada geese waddle up a hill in Ladd Marsh on March 3, 2022. See geese and many more species during the 2022 Ladd Marsh Bird Festival May 13-15. INSIDE LOCAL A2 SPORTS A6 Go! Magazine Enjoy birdwatching in Go! Library celebrates Free Comic Book Day on Saturday Baker tennis team tops Four Rivers “The food is fresh, locally sourced and unbelievably delicious. Their IPAs are distinct and clearly not copy-cats of each other or anyone else making NW IPAs.” - Yelp Review, Bend. Oregon 1219 Washington Ave • La Grande, OR 97850 www.sideabeer.com IN THIS EDITION: LOCAL • BUSINESS & AG LIFE • SPORTS Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com THURSDAY, MAY 5, 2022 • $1.50 Trial delayed for man accused of sex abuse QUICK HITS ————— Good Day Wish To A Subscriber A special good day to Herald subscriber Jim DeMastus of Baker City. BRIEFING ————— Art show, open house May 6 at Baker Early Learning Center Baker Early Learning Cen- ter, 2725 Seventh St., will have an art show, art sale, live music and open house on Friday, May 6, from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. A free family meal and cookies will be available until 6:30 p.m. This event is sponsored by the BELC Advisory Coun- cil. Proceeds from the art sale will support child care scholarships. This coincides with the First Friday art walk in Baker City. Other participating plac- es are Crossroads Carnegie Art Center, Royal Artisan, Churchill School, Sweet Wife Baking, Sunn Juice + Decor, White House Art and Design, Ruffl ed Feathers Boutique and Cody’s General Store. City begins testing fi re hydrants The Baker City Public Works Department started its annual fi re hydrant test- ing and water line fl ushing Monday, April 25, and the campaign will continue for about two to three weeks. This work is done each year to fl ush sediment from the water system and ensure all hydrants are functioning properly and are delivering water at the correct pressure and volume. WEATHER ————— Today 60/42 Showers Wednesday 60/40 Periods of rain Full forecast on the back of the B section. The space below is for a postage label for issues that are mailed. Bill David Gonyer, 75, is undergoing chemotherapy and recently suffered a heart attack FIREFIGHTERS GO DOOR TO DOOR to urge residents to oppose plan to cut BY JAYSON JACOBY jjacoby@bakercityherald.com their concerns to city councilors as soon as possible. Johnson’s enthusiasm after talking with supportive citizens was damp- ened considerably later on Tuesday, when he attended a meeting of the Baker City Budget Board and watched as the board, which consists of the seven city councilors and seven com- munity members, approved a budget for the coming fiscal year that includes the cessation of ambulance service and loss of six firefighter/paramedics (see related story below). The budget board’s decision isn’t final — the City Council has until June 30 to formally approve the budget for the fis- cal year that starts July 1. But Johnson said a closer deadline — June 3 — could well decide the fate of the fire department. That’s the deadline Baker County has set for responses to its request for pro- posals for providing ambulance service to the Baker Ambulance Service Area. That includes Baker City and about two-thirds of the rest of Baker County. The Baker City Fire Department is the current ambulance provider for that area. The county’s request for proposals calls for a minimum 5-year contract. “If the city does not put in a proposal (by the June 3 deadline), then it’s pretty much a done deal, we’re a sinking ship,” Johnson said. He called the budget board’s vote Tuesday night “another setback.” The trial of a Baker County man accused of sexually abus- ing a child has been moved from next week to late November 2022, almost three years after he was arrested. Bill David Gonyer Gonyer, 75, is being treated for cancer, and he suffered a heart attack in March 2022, ac- cording to an April 27 motion from his attorney, Damien Yer- vasi of Baker City. “During this chemotherapy regime, moving forward with the trial undermines his treat- ment and could cause prejudi- cial harm to his health,” Yervasi wrote in the motion. “It also forces him to choose between going to trial and forgoing a po- tentially lifesaving treatment or failing to appear and facing the legal consequences.” Gonyer, who is accused of 15 separate crimes that carry man- datory minimum prison sen- tences were he convicted, was scheduled to go to trial May 9 in Baker County Circuit Court. Baker County District At- torney Greg Baxter said on Monday, May 2, that he was prepared for trial but that he understands Gonyer’s health problems. In an April 27 motion in response to Yervasi’s motion, Baxter wrote that although he did not object to the motion to delay the trial, “the victim, her family, law enforcement, and I all wish that this case could go to trial in May. See, Firefighters/Page A3 See, Trial/Page A3 ambulances, reduce staff Jayson Jacoby/Baker City Herald Casey Johnson, a Baker City firefighter/paramedic, knocks on the door of the Baker City home Tuesday morning, May 3, 2022. Johnson, who was joined by Ron Morgan, a district vice president for the Oregon State Firefighters Council, was talking to residents about a city proposal to have the city fire department cease ambulance services Sept. 30, 2022, and cut about half of the firefighting staff. Karl Koenig, a retired firefighter from Happy Valley, near Portland, and president of the Firefighters Coun- aker City firefighters were cil, told the assembled firefighters that the goal was to distribute 1,500 leaflets joined by a few dozen by noon. of their colleagues from Casey Johnson, a Baker City fire- fighter/paramedic and president of the around Oregon to go door to union chapter that represents fire- door with the message that the local fighters, said on Wednesday morning, city’s plan to stop operating am- May 4, that the firefighters distributed to 1,500 fliers and talked to about bulances and cut the firefighting 1,200 800 residents. staff by about half poses a threat Johnson said that after walking through neigborhoods across the to public safety. city, the firefighters reconvened at On Tuesday morning, May 3, off-duty Crossroads to talk about what they firefighters in groups of two fanned out had heard. across the city to talk with residents and “The overarching theme was, ‘we leave leaflets on doorknobs. support you guys,’ ” Johnson said. The laminated fliers read: “Baker However, he said he was concerned City: Your safety is at risk! Firefighters that some residents, though they said protecting our community will be cut by they opposed the proposal to cur- 50%. We need your help to keep Baker tail ambulance service and cut the City safe.” fire department staff, also believed On the opposite side of the flier the they would have a chance to vote on contact information for Baker City the matter. Council members is listed. Although city and county officials Tuesday’s canvassing of Baker City have discussed the possibility of asking neighborhoods was coordinated by the voters to approve a property tax levy Oregon State Firefighters Council. to raise money for ambulance service, About 40 firefighters, from cities in- that likely wouldn’t happen before May cluding Pendleton, La Grande, Herm- 2023 — too late to prevent the city from iston, Portland, Salem, Clackamas and dropping ambulance service and the re- others, gathered at Crossroads Carne- sulting cuts in staff. gie Art Center to don yellow T-shirts Due to this apparent confusion, provided by the Firefighters Council, Johnson believes Tuesday’s event was collect handfuls of leaflets and get an even more important because fire- assigned neighborhood. fighters urged residents to express BY JAYSON JACOBY jjacoby@bakercityherald.com B City budget board OKs plan with fire cuts Board members expressed concern with cutting ambulance service, laying off 6 firefighters Budget board chairman Randy Daugherty, who is also a former city councilor, said in an Some members of the Baker interview on Wednesday, May 4, that although he dislikes the City Budget Board expressed prospect of the city dropping concerns about the city’s plan its ambulance service, with the to stop operating ambulances likely result that Baker County Sept. 30, 2022, and lay off six will choose a private provider, firefighter/paramedics, but he doesn’t believe it’s the budget the board, after two evenings board’s duty to suggest policy of meetings, approved the changes such as the ambulance proposed budget, with those service, or to significantly over- changes, on Tuesday, May 3. haul the proposed budget. The board, which consists Those are tasks for the City of the seven city council- Council, Daugherty said, and ors and seven city residents, started reviewing the budget if a majority of councilors were to tell Cannon to prepare a on Monday, May 2. The City Council has the new proposed budget that re- final say on the budget, and is tains ambulance service, and required by state law to adopt a avoids the layoffs in the fire spending plan by June 30. The department, Cannon “would new fiscal year starts July 1. have to find a way to do that.” BY SAMANTHA O’CONNER AND JAYSON JACOBY Baker City Herald TODAY Issue 150 28 pages Business ...........................B1 Classified ....................B2-B4 Comics ..............................B5 City Councilor Johnny Wag- goner Sr. said the ambulance issue will be on the agenda for the Council’s next meeting, May 10. Daugherty said he believes the city could revise the budget to maintain ambulance ser- vice, and an intact fire depart- ment, for one more fiscal year. But he believes that would put the city in a precarious fi- nancial position a year from now. Daugherty pointed out that $700,000 of the revenue included in the proposed $7.8 million general fund for the next fiscal year — the general fund includes both the fire and police departments — is federal COVID-19 relief that the city won’t receive in fu- ture years. “I’m concerned like every other citizen in this town,” Daugherty said. He said he believes Baker County, which by state stat- ute is responsible for ensuring Community News.............A2 Crossword ...............B2 & B4 Dear Abby .........................B6 there is ambulance service in the county — although the law doesn’t require the county to pay for the service — needs to contribute more than the $150,000 that the county is currently offering to give the city for the upcoming fiscal year, a $50,000 increase from the current fiscal year. Daugherty suggested a fig- ure in the range of $250,000 to $300,000 from the county for the new fiscal year. He said it’s not reasonable to expect city property owners to “foot the bill” through their taxes for ambulance service not only within the city limits, but in about two-thirds of the rest of the county that consti- tutes the Baker Ambulance Service Area. Shelly Cutler, who is one of the seven citizen members of the budget board, said she is bothered that the city is talking about installing a new sprin- kler system at Quail Ridge Golf Horoscope ..............B2 & B4 Lottery Results .................A2 News of Record ................A2 Opinion .............................A4 Senior Menus ...................A2 Sports ...............................A6 Course given the proposed cuts to the fire department. The proposed budget in- cludes a $120,000 transfer from the general fund to the golf course fund for the com- ing fiscal year. “That boggles my mind that we’re having that same conversation that we’re going to remove that ambulance and those folks that are coming to your rescue, but we’re going to find the money for a sprinkler system for the golf course,” Cutler said. In explaining why the city is proposing to curtail am- bulance service — the City Council set the date as Sept. 30, 2022, in a notice it sent to the county on March 22 — Cannon said the city con- tinues to spend more money every year operating ambu- lances than it collects in am- bulance bills. See, Budget/Page A3 Sudoku..............................B5 Turning Backs ..................A2 Weather ............................B6