GO! INSERT
SPORTS A6
SPORTS A6
Previewing Taste of
Baker’s return
Baker girls soccer
tops Weiser
Bulldog volleyball
sweeps Vale
IN THIS EDITION: LOCAL •BUSINESS & AG LIFE • SPORTS Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2022 • $1.50
QUICK HITS
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Good Day Wish
To A Subscriber
A special good day to Herald
subscriber Dave Boucher of
Baker City.
BRIEFING
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Libraries as First
Amendment
sanctuaries event set
for Thursday
The Baker County Public
Library will host a community
discussion, “Libraries Are First
Amendment Sanctuaries: FAQ
on How the Constitution Keeps
Censorship in Check” on Thurs-
day, Sept. 29 at 6:30 p.m. at
the library, 2400 Resort St.
Perry Stokes, library district
director, will lead the discus-
sion, which will include common
misconceptions about the First
Amendment, censorship trends
in the country, and Supreme
Court decisions that guide
library policies. Participants
will also be invited to register
for a “Banned Books Club”
the library plans to launch in
October.
Powder River clean up
set for Saturday, Oct. 1
The Powder Basin Watershed
Council is partnering with North
7 Brewing in Baker City and
SOLV to coordinate a volunteer
clean up along the Powder
River through Baker City on
Saturday, Oct. 1. Volunteers will
meet at Geiser-Pollman Park at
10 a.m. The event will continue
until 1 p.m. Volunteers can
register at www.solveoregon.
org. Snacks and water will be
provided. All volunteers will
receive a free drink certifi cate
from North 7 Brewing. More
information about the Powder
Basin Watershed Council is
available at www.powderbasin-
watershedcouncil.org.
Kenneth Anderson beside the grave of Audie Murphy, a highly deco-
rated soldier during that war who later became an actor, at Arlington
National Cemetery.
Photos by Dave Cross/Contributed Photo
A sailor talks with Kenneth Anderson, a World War II Navy veteran from Baker City, at the World War II
Memorial during his Honor Flight trip to Washington, D.C.
Highest Honor
Kenneth Anderson, a World
War II veteran from Baker City,
toured Washington, D.C. on an
Honor Flight
BY JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
In the whole of his 95 years,
Kenneth Anderson had never
experienced a moment like it.
He clutched a wreath.
He was preparing to place it
on the Tomb of the Unknown
Soldier at Arlington National
Cemetery.
The silence marking the
solemnity of the ceremony
was interrupted only by the
soft shuffle of the soldiers as
they went about their precise
movements.
“It was an impressive mo-
ment,” said Anderson, a
WEATHER
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Chance of showers
Kenneth Anderson visits the World War II Memorial in
Washington, D.C.
World War II veteran from
Baker City.
But hardly the only one on
a trip that Anderson will al-
ways cherish.
He was among 29 veterans
— and one of just two who
served during World War II
— who traveled to Washing-
ton, D.C., last week as guests
of the Honor Flight program.
The nonprofit organization
provides all-expenses-paid
trips to the nation’s capital for
military veterans.
“I was very honored to be
picked,” Anderson said on
Tuesday morning, Sept. 27.
“I’m very proud and thank-
ful. I know why they call it an
Honor Flight. It was some-
thing special.”
Anderson, who grew up in
Duluth, Minnesota, enlisted
in the U.S. Navy in Novem-
ber 1944, just before his 18th
birthday.
He moved to Baker City in
1989.
He had never been to the
nation’s capital.
Anderson was accompa-
nied on his Honor Flight by
Dave Cross, who lives just
across the street from Ander-
son’s home.
Kenneth Anderson at the Lincoln
Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Kenneth Anderson at the World
War II Memorial in Washington,
D.C.
“I was very honored to be
picked. I’m very proud and
thankful. I know why they
call it an Honor Flight. It
was something special.”
already booked, the organiza-
tion made room for Ander-
son, since World War II vets
— the youngest of whom are,
like Anderson, well into their
90s — have first priority.
Cross, who went along as
Anderson’s guardian, drove
Anderson to Redmond on
Sept. 20. They, along with 28
other veterans, each of whom
also had a guardian, spent
Sept. 22 and 23 touring Wash-
ington, D.C. They returned to
Redmond on Saturday, Sept.
24, where the veterans were
greeted with a ceremony that
included the Ridgeview High
School marching band play-
ing military hymns.
— Kenneth Anderson, 95, World
War II veteran from Baker City
Cross, 61, who served in
the U.S. Army for 27 years
and has lived in Baker City
for three years, learned during
conversations with Anderson
that his neighbor had served
in the Navy during World
War II.
Cross was familiar with
Honor Flight.
This past winter he got in
touch with Honor Flight of
Central Oregon, one of 130
regional hubs for the nation-
wide program. And although
Honor Flight of Central Or-
egon’s one annual trip was
Touring the capital
Anderson said the visit to
Arlington National Cemetery
was an emotional experience.
He said he was awed by the
sight of thousands of white
crosses, all perfectly aligned.
See Anderson / A3
Friday
71/38
Mostly sunny
Full forecast on the back
of the B section.
The space below is for a postage label
for issues that are mailed.
McCarty charged with
theft and trespassing
Charges connected to
claims made in a civil
lawsuit against McCarty
BY JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
David Michael McCarty, who in-
stalled a locked gate two years ago on
the road that runs through his prop-
erty along Pine Creek northwest of
Baker City, has been charged with
aggravated theft in connection with
allegations in a civil lawsuit in which
he is a defendant.
McCarty, 56, was cited by Baker
County Sheriff’s Deputy Chad Mills
at 6:51 p.m. Monday, Sept. 26 at Mc-
Carty’s home on Ben Dier Lane near
Pine Creek.
McCarty is also charged with
first-degree criminal trespassing and
second-degree criminal mischief in a
Baker County Circuit Court warrant.
In late July, two couples who own
property along Pine Creek — James
and Sharen Sanders, and Thomas
and Betty Ann Lager — sued McCa-
rty, claiming McCarty and his part-
ner, Joelleen Linstrom, who is also a
defendant, have infringed on their
ability to enjoy their properties by in-
stalling the gate, setting up cameras
“to monitor the attempted use of Pine
Contributed Photo, File
Creek Road,” and “attempted privat- The Pine Creek Road through David
ization of Pine Creek Road.”
McCarty’s property is extremely rocky
See McCarty / A3
and rough.
State GOP invalidates vote to suspend
Baker County GOP executive committee
BY JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
The Oregon Republican Party has
invalidated a vote by Baker County
Republicans during a July 28 meet-
ing in Baker City to suspend the
county Republican executive com-
mittee for 60 days and investigate
county chair Suzan Ellis Jones.
TODAY
Issue 60
32 pages
Jones and other members of
the executive committee had con-
tended that votes during the July
28 meeting at the Baker County Li-
brary were not official.
The reason, they said, is that there
was not a quorum of the six-mem-
ber executive committee present,
and per the Baker County GOP by-
Business .................B1 & B2
Classified ....................B2-B4
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Community News.............A2
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Dear Abby .........................B6
laws, no decisions could be made.
The bylaws require at least three
executive committee members be
present for any official action to be
taken during a meeting.
Two executive committee mem-
bers, including Jones, attended the
July 28 meeting.
Unity area to
get high-speed
internet thanks
to federal aid
Baker City Herald
A $10.26 million federal grant to Ore-
gon Telephone Corporation, and the same
amount in a federal loan, will help the com-
pany, based in Mount Ver-
non, expand high-speed
internet to parts of south-
ern Baker County and to
parts of Grant and Malheur
counties.
Oregon’s U.S. senators,
Ron Wyden and Jeff Merk-
ley, announced the $20.5
Wyden
million package through the
U.S. Department of Agricul-
ture Rural Development.
“Quality of life in rural
Oregon requires quality
Internet connections that
link children reliably and
quickly to educational op-
portunities as well as small
Merkley
businesses and farms to
their customers,” Wyden said in a press re-
lease. “I’m gratified that Baker, Grant and
Malheur counties will benefit from this
federal investment, and I’ll keep battling to
ensure all of rural Oregon gets the topnotch
Internet access that’s so vital to everyday
commerce and convenience.”
See GOP / A3
Horoscope ..............B3 & B4
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Sports ...............................A6
See Aid / A3
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Turning Backs ..................A2
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