LOCAL A2
LOCAL A5
Arbor Day poster
contest winners
Prairie City sawmill
to reopen in early July
Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
IN THIS EDITION: LOCAL • OUTDOORS & REC • SPORTS
Work begins
on major curb
ramp project
QUICK HITS
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Good Day Wish
To A Subscriber
A special good day to
Herald subscriber Pat Wunz
of Baker City.
BRIEFING
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Rainy forecast moves
BHS graduation indoors
With a 90 percent chance
of rain forecast for Saturday
afternoon, June 4, Baker
High School offi cials have
decided to move Saturday’s
commencement indoors,
to the BHS gymnasium,
2500 E St. The ceremony
starts at 2 p.m. Commence-
ment normally takes place
outdoors, in Baker Bulldog
Memorial Stadium.
Baker County Garden
Club to meet June 8
The Baker County Garden
Club will meet Wednesday,
June 8 at 10:30 a.m. at
3345 Kirkway Drive. Please
bring a chair and a sack
lunch. New members are
always welcome.
Haines Fire Protection
District to meet June 13
HAINES — The Haines Fire
Protection District will have
its monthly board meeting
June 13 at 6:45 p.m. at
the main fi re station, 816
Cole St. All residents of
the district are welcome to
attend. The budget for the
next fi scal year will be the
fi rst order of business.
WEATHER
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Today
62/49
Rain showers
Sunday
65/43
Rain, possibly heavy
Monday
62/38
Morning showers
Full forecast on the back
of the B section.
The space below is for a postage label
for issues that are mailed.
SATURDAY, JUNE 4, 2022 • $1.50
BY IAN CRAWFORD
icrawford@bakercityherald.com
A major project to upgrade more than 300 curb
cuts to improve access for people in wheelchairs is
underway in Baker City.
The Oregon Department of Transportation
(ODOT) has budgeted $11.8 million for the work,
which is slated to continue into November.
ODOT’s Vicki Moles, accompanied by project
designers and representatives from the contractor,
Wildish Standard Paving Co. of Eugene, attended
a public open house on the project Thursday after-
noon, June 2, at Baker City Hall.
See, Ramp/Page A3
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
Bailee Wirth, center, a fifth grader at Keating Elementary School, won first place for grade 5 in the state of Oregon
with her essay on the theme “The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.” The American History Essay Contest is sponsored
by the Daughters of the American Revolution. Presenting Wirth’s prize on Wednesday, June 1, 2022, were DAR
members, from left, Wilma Johnson, Diane Naglee, Betty Milliman, Joan Smith and Joy Leamaster.
Keating student
pens a special essay
Fifth grader Bailee Wirth’s essay about
the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was
judged the best in Oregon
BY LISA BRITTON
lbritton@bakercityherald.com
K
EATING — Bailee Wirth takes a breath and
starts reading, her words taking the audience
back more than 100 years to a time of war.
The reason for her essay was
to commemorate the 100th
anniversary of the dedication
of The Tomb of the Unknown
Soldier in Arlington National
Cemetery.
Wirth begins in first person,
as if she had a brother who went
missing in World War I.
Then she shifts to explain the
history and significance of the
tomb, which was established in
October 1921.
Wirth is a fifth-grader at Keat-
ing Elementary School. Every
year, Keating students enter the
American History Essay Contest
sponsored by the Daughters of
the American Revolution.
On Wednesday, June 1, Wirth
was presented with a first place
award for Oregon fifth graders.
She also got a medal, and $100.
Members of the DAR Lone
Pine Tree Chapter, which is
based in Baker City, arrived at
the school, dressed in their sig-
nature red jackets, to present the
award to Wirth.
“We’re really proud of her,”
said Betty Milliman, chapter
regent.
As the DAR representatives
gathered in the classroom, Keat-
ing principal and head teacher
Amanda Wilde explained
the visit.
“Our special friends are here
to celebrate a very special young
lady,” she said.
Keating students in grades 5
and 6 enter the DAR essay con-
test, which has a different theme
every year.
See, Essay/Page A3
Farmers Market debuts at
new Central Park location
BY IAN CRAWFORD
icrawford@bakercityherald.com
Baker City’s Farmers Market
was off to a fresh start for 2022 as
local vendors sold food and crafts
in their new locality at Central
Park on Thursday, June 2.
Vendors were encouraged to
pop up where they felt comfort-
able instead of in specific slots in
the spacious new lot.
The move from the Court
Plaza puts vendors on cool, soft
grass in the city park adjacent
to the Leo Adler Memorial
Parkway the Powder River.
The shade from clouds was
welcome by the 4 p.m. start,
with temperatures in the 70s,
but that gave way to sudden
blasts of wind and rain, making
for drastic rearrangements of
otherwise neat displays.
Within the hour the sun re-
turned, though, and even deliv-
ered a brief rainbow.
Those running the area’s
vending circuits have faced
similar weather turmoil for the
past three weeks.
The market had its staples
of farm-to-table meats, veg-
etables and a slew of famil-
iar participants, featuring art,
soap, houseplants and crafts of
many varieties.
“I do this just to get to know
the community,” said photogra-
pher and retired engineer Ross
TODAY
Issue 11
12 pages
Neighbor says
city shouldn’t
allow shipping
container in
residential yard
Michael Russell contends
neighbors deserve chance
to appeal approval of
40-foot-long container
BY IAN CRAWFORD
icrawford@bakercityherald.com
The 40-foot-long metal shipping container lies in
the front yard at 1620 Valley Ave., less than a block
east of the Powder River.
The container, which is partly covered with barn
siding and has a bright blue door, is about 18 feet
north of the sidewalk on the north side of Valley.
On the opposite side of the street and a couple
houses to the east, at the corner of Valley and East,
Michael Russell sees the container, which is 8 feet
wide, 9 feet high and has 320 square feet of space,
as an eyesore that can also reduce his and his neigh-
bors’ property values.
He also considers its presence, which was ap-
proved by the Baker City/County Planning Depart-
ment in August 2021, as a conspicuous blot on the
city’s development code.
“The site was a beautiful, grassy, wide-open build-
ing lot,” Russell said in a recent interview. “Bot-
tom-line, Baker City code states that any structure
that causes negative economic property value de-
cline and/or de-beautification, like a 40-foot ocean
container, requires at least a Type II approval.”
Instead, when the planning department re-
ceived an application on Aug. 20, 2021, from Kim
Lethlean, who owns 1620 Valley, a 128- by 100-
foot lot in the high-density residential zone, and
the adjacent lot, 1640 Valley, planners designated
it a Type I request.
See, Container/Page A2
Cool spring has
kept mosquito
numbers low
BY JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Ian Crawford/Baker City Herald
Mystikal Willows vendor Cynthia Sexton fighting to rearrange after wind
strong enough to nearly lift awnings left her and other vendors scrambling
for cover during the Baker City Farmers Market on June 2, 2022.
Dickinson, “I like to talk and
get to know people.”
Some artistic booths were
pleased to learn of a secondary
venue opened for the weekend
in the form of a pop-up art show
June 3 and 4 at 2090 Court Ave.
The market will continue well
Classified ....................B2-B4
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into the fall, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
every Thursday.
For more information go to
www.bakercityfarmersmarket.
com/, visit their Facebook page
at facebook.com/bakercityfarm-
ersmarketor or call them at 909-
781-4043.
Jayson Jacoby ..................A4
Lottery Results .................A2
News of Record ................A2
Water and mosquitoes can be a combustible
combination, and this spring has been a decidedly
damp one in Baker County.
But the other element in the equation — tem-
perature — has not been favorable for the blood-
sucking bugs, said Matt Hutchinson, who manages
the local tax-funded district tasked with controlling
mosquitoes.
Although there’s plenty of standing water around
for mosquito eggs to hatch in and grow into larvae,
the chilly temperatures that have prevailed for most
of April and May have slowed the insects’ progres-
sion into biting (in the case of females) adults.
“Mosquito production was a lot lower when it’s
cold like that,” said Hutchinson, who oversees the
Baker Valley Vector Control District.
See, Spring/Page A3
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