BAKER CITY HERALD • TuEsDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2022 A3
LOCAL
2 years later, Taste of Baker
makes a triumphant return
Samantha O’Conner/Baker City Herald
Ideal weather helped attract people to the Taste of Baker event on Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022.
“It was great to see
a lot of people out
again on the streets,
milling around, and
eating good food.”
— Jenny Mowe, a former Baker
City Downtown board member
Samantha O’Conner/Baker City Herald
Downtown Baker City was bustling on Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022, as the
Taste of Baker returned after a two-year hiatus.
“I think everybody wanted
to see it come back,” she said.
Demand was so high that
some vendors ran out of cer-
tain items quickly.
Live music by Chris John-
son and Nancy Ames added
to the festive atmosphere on
Fire
Store
Continued from A1
Continued from A1
An MD-87 jet air tanker dropped
retardant on the fire, and two he-
licopters dropped water. Aircraft
costs for even a one-day fire can run
into the tens of thousands of dollars.
The fire didn’t damage any struc-
tures, and there were no evacua-
tions.
Meyer said two or three engines
patrolled the fire during the day
over the weekend.
“There is still some heat in some
of the heavier pockets of fuels,” he
said. Some of those pockets are in-
side control lines, and with warm,
dry weather forecast to continue all
week, Meyer said it’s possible the
fire could produce small amounts
of smoke.
He also noted that although
nights are chillier than during the
summer, and the period of peak
sunlight a couple hours shorter, the
fire risk remains.
“Fuels are still extremely dry out
there,” Meyer said. “Just because
it gets cold at night doesn’t mean
there’s not a risk of fire. We just hav-
en’t gotten that good shot of rain to
moderate things.”
Stauffer said People
Helping People works with
a variety of community or-
ganizations.
“We help with the
(Housing and Urban De-
velopment), we help with
the jails, we help with the
corrections, we do com-
munity service, we have
volunteers and we also
work with Shelter from the
Storm, DHS, churches, care
organizations,” she said.
“We work with veterans,
homeless people, recovery
employment opportunities,
local businesses, Commu-
nity Connection and East-
ern Oregon University and
we also work with the DHS
and the CHD and the care
programs.”
The Baker City store’s in-
ventory includes a variety
of clothing, furniture and
jewelry.
Stauffer and her staff are
still setting up for receiv-
ing donations and will an-
McCarty
Continued from A1
McCarty, 56, was arrested at
his Ben Dier Lane home, near
Pine Creek, on Sept. 26. He
was released from the Baker
County Jail after posting 10%
of the $25,000 bail.
McCarty is scheduled
to enter a plea on Nov. 8 at
1:45 p.m. in Baker County
Circuit Court.
The Baker County grand
jury issued a secret indictment
on Sept. 22 charging McCa-
rty with one count each of
aggravated first-degree theft,
first-degree criminal trespass-
ing and second-degree theft.
In a brief filed Oct. 4, Baker
County District Attorney Greg
Baxter outlines the sequence
of events that led to the indict-
ment and McCarty’s subse-
quent arrest.
Baxter filed the brief with
Baker County Circuit Court
Judge Matt Shirtcliff in sup-
port of Baxter’s proposal that
McCarty, as a condition of his
release, not be allowed to come
within 50 feet of the cabin.
The Sanderses bought the
property, including the cabin,
in December 2002. The cou-
ple have made annual prop-
erty tax payments since then,
according to assessor’s office
records.
In 2016, Brad Royal, who
owned the parcel just west of
the Sanders property before
— Debbie Henshaw, Baker City resident
who supports a recall
Recall
BY SAMANTHA O’CONNER
soconner@bakercityherald.com
One of Baker City’s favorite
events returned this year af-
ter a two-year hiatus: Taste of
Baker.
Main Street downtown was
bustling with people lining
up to sample the tasty wares
from a variety of restaurants
on the sunny and unseason-
ably balmy Saturday afternoon
of Oct. 8.
Some lines even overlapped,
such as the lines for Mulan
Garden Restaurant and AJ’s
Corner Brick.
The Main Event was not shy
of long lines, either.
It was a welcome sight to
residents, visitors, and mem-
bers of Baker City Downtown
(BCD), which organized the
showcase of local food options.
“I think it was a great event.
It was great to see a lot of peo-
ple out again on the streets,
milling around, and eating
good food,” said Jenny Mowe,
a former BCD board member
who is in charge of the orga-
nization’s promotions com-
mittee.
Mowe has received a lot
of great feedback from busi-
nesses and participants.
She said they are still look-
ing at token sales but they are
seeing high numbers, possibly
the highest on record.
“I’m really happy that the
BCD board stepped up and
helped us run it and get ev-
erything organized and get
sponsors this year,” Mowe
said.
She thanked the sponsors
for making the event happen
again, after it was canceled in
2020 and 2021 due to the pan-
demic.
Mowe said she was also
grateful to the businesses that
helped get the word out and
get a menu together.
“The people have the right to
petition their government for a
redress of their grievances.”
Ian Crawford/Baker City Herald
Rows and rows of clothing racks offer a variety of choices at the
People Helping People thrift store, now open at 2017 Main St.
in Baker City.
nounce when they’re ready
to handle donors.
“The most interesting
donation is someone’s false
teeth,” she said.
Stauffer says her faith
was a driving factor in es-
tablishing thrift stores in
the area, fostering com-
munity wherever she feels
needed, and though she
McCarty challenges county’s
road legalization resolution
David McCarty’s attorney has filed a petition
seeking a judicial review of Baker County’s resolu-
tion designating as public a segment of the Pine
Creek Road that runs across his property.
County commissioners approved that resolution
Aug. 17.
Its purpose is to ensure the public can travel on
the road through the property McCarty bought in
September 2020.
Soon after buying the land, McCarty installed
a locked gate at the eastern end of his property.
Joelleen Linstrom, who lives with McCarty, said he
allowed people who called a phone number posted
on the gate to walk or ride horses on the road.
In a separate legal action, the lawsuit McCarty
filed against the county in April 2021 is still active.
McCarty is asking for either a declaration that the
disputed section of the Pine Creek Road crossing
his property is not a public right-of-way, or, if a jury
concludes there is legal public access, that the lim-
its of that access be defined and that the county
pay him $730,000 to compensate for the lost value
of the land based on the legal public access and
for other costs he has incurred as a result of the
selling it to McCarty in Octo-
ber 2021, had an attorney send
a letter to the couple claiming
that an extension of the porch
on the Sanders cabin had en-
croached on his property.
The property owners didn’t
settle the matter, according to
Baxter’s brief, but he contends
that the episode demonstrates
that Royal “knew that the
cabin was on Sanders’ prop-
erty” but that an extension of
Main Street, which was closed
to traffic during the two-hour
event to make it easier for peo-
ple to get from side to side and
to mingle.
“I’ve always really loved
this event and would hate to
see it ever not happen,” Mowe
said. “It killed us to not have
it the last two years, but it’s
back now and it’s such a great
event.”
didn’t have a handy count
of how many attended the
opening day, she says it
was a positive experience
and counted each one as a
blessing.
“We all just enjoyed ev-
ery moment of it,” she said.
The shop will be open
Tuesdays through Satur-
days, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
county’s actions.
In the petition that McCarty’s attorney, Janet K.
Larsen of Portland, filed Oct. 6, Larsen writes that
the county “exceeded its jurisdiction” in designating
as public a section of Pine Creek Road.
That section is about 1.5 miles. Larsen writes in
the petition that for more than half that distance,
the road the county deemed as public is “com-
pletely distinct from any previously established or
described right-of-way. The County instead unlaw-
fully appopriated a private road construction by one
of the petitioner’s predecessors in title. This private
road did not appear in available aerial photography
and mapping until the 1980s.”
Larsen points out that when county commission-
ers tried in the fall of 2020 to prove that the Pine
Creek Road was public, they cited an 1891 survey.
That route has been “physically abandoned” and is
not the same as the current road, Larsen wrote.
“The County purported to legalize a County Road
that was inconsistent with its own available histori-
cal records,” the petition states.
Larsen also wrote that the county has failed to
respond to McCarty’s requests for public records “di-
rectly relevant to the history of the roads in the area,
including any petition or resolution for the creation
of the road.”
the porch might have crossed
the property boundary.
Baxter writes in his brief
that the deed and other doc-
uments filed when McCarty
bought the property from
Royal last year have “no men-
tion of a cabin, or any other
structure,” on the parcel that
McCarty bought.
In the spring of 2022, James
Sanders visited his cabin and
found that the lock on the
— Jayson Jacoby
front door had been cut, ac-
cording to Baxter’s brief. Sand-
ers also found a sign stating:
“No Trespassing — McCarty.”
Sanders called the Baker
County Sheriff’s Office, and
Deputy Chad Mills investi-
gated.
According to Baxter’s brief,
in a recorded phone call on
June 3, McCarty told Mills
that he “had the property sur-
veyed and that the cabin is on
Henshaw said the lawsuit
is “immature and childish,”
Continued from A1
and she vowed to continue
The plaintiffs are repre-
to help Husk gather signa-
sented by attorney Vance
tures.
Day.
“I will continue to stand
According to the lawsuit, up for what’s right for the
the false statement in the
citizens of this city,” she
recall petition is the same in said.
the petitions for McQuis-
Henshaw said she’s con-
ten, Dixon and Waggoner.
cerned that the lawsuit
The petitions each state
could discourage people
that the councilor in ques-
from signing the petitions.
tion “has directly
Henshaw said
sanctioned the dis-
she considers this a
solution of the pro-
First Amendment
fessional fire de-
issue.
partment in Baker
“The people have
City, destroying the
the right to peti-
network of public
tion their govern-
safety that has been
ment for a redress
Dixon
in place for more
of their grievances,”
than 100 years.”
she said.
Husk said in a
Husk started the
phone interview on
recall effort this
Monday, Oct. 10
summer, not long
that he had not yet
after he resigned
been served with
as a city firefighter
the lawsuit.
and took a job as a
He said he stands
firefighter in Uma-
McQuisten
by the statement in
tilla County.
the petitions about
To force a recall
the councilors.
election, he would
“Fundamentally
need to collect at
I think that’s true,”
least 680 signatures
Husk said.
from registered
He said he con-
voters who live in
siders the lawsuit
the city. There is a
separate petition
“bogus” and a case
Waggoner
for each councilor,
of the plaintiffs’
but voters can sign
trying to “intimi-
multiple petitions.
date and bully” him.
None of the three coun-
“To me it’s another exam-
cilors who filed the com-
ple of why they’re unfit for
plaint against Husk and
the office they hold,” Husk
Henshaw will definitely be
said.
in office beyond Dec. 31,
He said he believes he
2022, regardless of a recall.
will prevail in the lawsuit.
Dixon and Waggoner
Husk said the campaign
to collect signatures to force are serving terms that end
that day. Waggoner is seek-
a recall election has been
ing reelection in the Nov. 8
going well.
election; Dixon is not.
“The response from the
McQuisten is leaving her
public has been positive so
position in late November
far,” he said.
Each of the plaintiffs also because she is moving out-
side the city limits and as a
alleges that Henshaw made
a statement to a person who result will no longer be el-
igible, per the city
asked for infor-
mation about the
charter, to serve on
recall. The state-
the council.
ment attributed to
Husk was mo-
Henshaw: “Thank
tivated, both in
you for the cu-
changing jobs and
riosity. In a tiny
in pursuing the
nutshell, our city
recall, by the city
Husk
council and mayor
council’s decision
allowed our city
to have the fire de-
manager to dissovle our city partment cease operating
ran gold-standard fire de-
ambulances after Sept. 30 of
partment and ambulance
this year.
service. We no longer have
City Manager Jonathan
enough firefighters on shift Cannon told councilors
to enter a burning bulding,
in late March that he be-
and instead of the excel-
lieves the city can’t afford to
lently dually trained EMT/
continue to operate ambu-
Firefighters, we now have
lances because the cost to
an ambulance service who’s do so is exceeding the rev-
(sic) staff rotates out. ...”
enue the city receives from
Henshaw, like Husk, said
ambulance billing.
her statement is, in her
Baker County commis-
view, true.
sioners, who by state law are
“There are no lies in that
responsible for ensuing am-
I can see,” Henshaw said.
bulance coverage, including
She said the statement is
in Baker City, in early June
one she posted on a Face-
hired Metro West, a private
book page in response to
ambulance provider.
a question about what had
The company has been
prompted the recall cam-
responding to ambulance
paign.
calls since early June.
his property.”
According to the brief, Mc-
Carty told Mills he didn’t re-
call what company had sur-
veyed the property.
Three days later, on June 6,
2022, Mills met with McCa-
rty and again asked about the
surveyor. This time, according
to Mills’ report, McCarty de-
clined to name the surveyor.
In his brief, Baxter writes
that Baker County Asses-
sor Kerry Savage and Shawn
Berry, who works in the asses-
sor’s office, confirmed that the
line between the Sanders and
McCarty properties “has not
been recently surveyed and
that the property where the
cabin is located (tax lot 600) is
still owned by the Sanders.”
McCarty’s attorney, Kyra
Rohner of Baker City, filed a
memorandum on Oct. 5 con-
testing Baxter’s request that
McCarty be restricted from
coming within 50 feet of the
cabin.
In her memo, Rohner notes
that the Sanderses, along with
another couple who own
property along Pine Creek,
Tom and Betty Ann Lager,
filed a civil suit against Mc-
Carty in July 2022. The two
couples contend McCarty has
deprived them of the use of
their properties by installing a
locked gate on the Pine Creek
Road. The lawsuit also men-
tions that McCarty removed
the lock on the Sanders cabin
and replaced it with one of his
own.
Rohner writes that McCarty
“continues to assert his legal
right to the cabin.”
She wrote that James Sand-
ers has acknowledged “he did
not know where the property
boundaries are between his lot
and McCarty’s.”
Rohner cites, as evidence
supporting McCarty’s claim
that the cabin is on his prop-
erty, two maps, both overlaid
on aerial photos, one from
Anderson Perry and Associ-
ates and another from a cell-
phone mapping app. The two
maps show the cabin, or at
least most of it, being on Mc-
Carty’s property.
Rohner also writes that
“Mr. Sanders acted in a man-
ner consistent with not hav-
ing ownership rights in the
cabin when he contacted law
enforcement to retrieve his
personal property from the
cabin.”
Baxter’s brief has a different
explanation, one that doesn’t
imply that the Sanderses aren’t
confident they own the cabin.
Baxter wrote that the couple
“know that if they attempt to
take back physical possession
of the cabin on their own, then
there will likely be a confron-
tation. Instead, they contacted
law enforcement with the
hope that the criminal justice
system would be able to hold
the Defendant accountable.”