Lexington passes on
town-wide security
cameras
50¢
VOL. 143
NO. 18 8 Pages
Wednesday, May 3, 2023
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Baker named May Day Grand Marshal
which wasn’t around yet.
They first lived in a tent
where the Green Feed
building is now, before
moving out to Wilson Creek
near the sawmill.
They later moved from
there down Rhea Creek to
farm. He remembers that
his father bought 10 milk
cows, and it was his job to
take care of them.
Lexington man Ed Baker
is the Grand Marshal of
“I had to milk them
the May Day Parade. This
morning and night,” he
year’s theme is “Flowers and says. It was a big job to do
Flags.” -Contributed photo
by hand, but it wasn’t his
only job growing up. He Ed Baker in the U.S. Army in the 1950s. -Contributed photo
By Andrea Di Salvo
When Lexington was also worked for Floyd Jones
1940s would eventually ington State for a while, as
planning for this year’s from the age of 12 or 13,
be replaced by a Class A well as southern California.
“Flowers and Flags” May
Commercial Driver License In California, he transport-
Day celebration, it was
(CDL) with endorsements ed personnel ranging from
difficult to think of a better
for tankers and hazmat officers to new recruits.
grand marshal than Lexing-
trucks.
“I took care of all the
ton man Ed Baker. Baker,
In 1949 he was part of officers coming in from
93, has deep roots in Lex-
the crew that built the Rug- World War II,” he says.
ington and a love for the
gs grain elevator. It was an- Officers were transported
American flag that few can
other tough job, mixing the a few at a time in Jeeps.
surpass.
cement that the workmen New soldiers he transported
“He has always had
raised up by hand to build to training 18 at a time in
a heart for service, in one
the massive walls. It was a heavy military 6x6 trucks.
form or fashion,” says Lex-
job that seems staggering There were several training
ington Mayor Juli Kennedy.
to the 21-century mind, but fields, including some in
Those who have lived
Baker took it in stride.
unexpected places.
in South Morrow County
“We opened it up in
“Where you see the big
for a few decades will re- Baker with son, Patrick, and
1950,” he says proudly. Hollywood sign,” Baker
member a time when the holding daughter, Maggie,
“We had it ready to go.”
gestures with his hands to
red, white and blue unfurled when they were children
He
joined
the
U.S.
indicate the iconic hillside
down the main streets of in Lexington. -Contributed
Army
in
December
of
1952.
Lexington and Heppner photo
-Continued to PAGE TEN
He was stationed in Wash-
for every holiday. Baker mowing the yard, haying
was instrumental in plac- and doing other jobs around
ing those flags, as well as a the farm.
He also attended Hep-
mainstay in the American
pner
School for a time—
Legion color guard in pa-
“The
old
building,” he says,
rades throughout the region.
referring
to the 1913 build-
His story didn’t begin
ing
that
used
to sit near the
in Lexington. He says he
current
elementary
school.
was born in a house on the
In
1947
he
got
his
edge of Bend in 1930, while
chauffeur
license,
a
precur-
his father worked on the
sor to the modern driver’s
roads in that area.
“Dad, he had his horses license. He worked at Pio-
out there building the road,” neer Caterpillar in Heppner
and says that’s where he
he recalls.
Much of Baker’s life was devoted to serving in the American
The family moved to learned to be a mechanic, Legion. He worked diligently to decorate local towns with
the Heppner area in 1938 working on Caterpillar and American flags on national holidays and faithfully marched
when his father got work John Deere machinery. in the Legion’s color guard in parades and events through-
in a sawmill—not Kinzua, The chauffer license of the out the area. -Contributed photo
Health district board raises CEO spending authorization
By Andrea Di Salvo
After extensive discus-
sion last week, the Mor-
row County Health District
Board approved a resolu-
tion raising the Chief Ex-
ecutive Officer’s spending
authorization from $10,000
to $25,000.
The health district pre-
viously had a spending limit
of $10,000 for the CEO.
Any amount above that
needed to be brought before
the health district board for
pre-approval.
“That’s been in place
for a very, very, very long
time,” MCHD CEO Emily
Roberts told the board at
the April 24 meeting, “and
it’s never been increased
or COLAed or adjusted for
inflation, which means that
nearly everything comes to
the board for approval for
expenditures.”
Roberts said that was
challenging because it
delayed the process for
things like smaller con-
tracts, short-term staffing
and repairs.
The new resolution
also included language re-
quiring board approval for
contracts and agreements
that will exceed $100,000
cumulatively, whether or
not they meet the initial
threshold for procurements.
Previous wording had re-
quired board approval for
contracts that exceeded
$10,000 cumulatively.
Board member Aaron
Palmquist at first requested
that the resolution include
language stating that the
expenditures must be in-
cluded in appropriations, or
budgeted. He said he want-
ed that language because of
history in the health district
and other government juris-
dictions where people had
wanted to spend money
with no strings attached.
“If it’s not appropri-
ated, it binds the district
because we gave her autho-
rization,” he said, referring
to Roberts. “If it’s 20,000
and it’s not budgeted, she
can go spend like a drunk
sailor. We can say, ‘Well,
she’s not going to do it.’
Well, then let’s make it so
that it protects her and the
district.”
“I’ve said before, get
off the 10,000 and give her
more,” he added, “but it’s
got to be budgeted.”
“There are many things
that are not budgeted,”
Roberts replied, “but when
we need a RAD tech, it’s
very hard to send an email
to five board members and
then have to ratify it later
because I don’t have spend-
ing authority to be able to
sign those contracts.
“And right now, the
way that it’s written, I don’t
have spending authority to
do that,” she added.
MCHD Interim Chief
Financial Officer Nicole
Mahoney pointed out that
adding language about ap-
propriations would not nec-
essarily stop someone with
“bad intentions,” as they
could try to justify expenses
under large categories.
“So what’s to say, well,
the money was there even
though it wasn’t specifically
in place when the bud-
get was inked,” she said.
“There’s a lot of ways you
could interpret that very
broad clause.”
“And I would argue
that the previous resolu-
tion didn’t stop that person
you’re referring to from
spending the money,” Rob-
erts added. “If this is a ques-
tion of transparency, I’m
telling you why I need it.”
Mahoney also pointed
out that a second person
had to sign off on all ex-
penditures.
“I cannot just make ex-
penditures with no one else
knowing,” agreed Roberts.
“That’s not possible.”
“Our chair is in anoth-
er city and travels, and I
travel,” said MCHD board
vice-chair Diane Kilkenny,
who was acting chair in
the absence of chair Marie
Shimer. “This makes it
so she (Roberts) can hire
people in a pinch, or things
that are taking place that
prohibit medical services
from being provided, which
is our main mission.”
Palmquist said he could
support that, but wanted to
be very clear for the record
that the board was being
transparent and “guarded.”
“Those things need to
be forthright and commu-
nicated,” he said. “How
are we going to watch the
By Andrea Di Salvo
The Lexington Town
Council went against a
recent trend at its April
meeting when it decided
not to pursue more securi-
ty cameras throughout the
town.
L e x i n g t o n To w n
Recorcer Veronica Fergu-
son gave a presentation on
Verkada security cameras
at the April 11 meeting.
Verkada is the same compa-
ny Heppner and Ione have
recently entered agreements
with, and the cameras are
also used in several other
communities in the region,
including Arlington. Fergu-
son said she had also heard
that the county was looking
into them for some of its
properties.
“It’s incredible what
this software can do,” said
Ferguson. She added that
she was bringing it forward
so the council and town
could be aware that this was
the direction neighboring
cities were going. “I don’t
necessarily think that we
need these types of cameras
in this town,” she added.
The company gave a
proposal for one indoor
camera for Lexington Town
Hall and four outdoor cam-
eras. Ferguson said, if pur-
chased, the city would own
the cameras, but the compa-
ny would install them.
A community mem-
ber mentioned that similar
public cameras, though
owned by the city or other
entities, are helpful in law
enforcement when they are
able to access the feeds. She
gave the example of when
the Morrow County Sher-
iff’s Office was able to see
video feeds of the Irrigon
skate park when there was
trouble there.
The town already has
cameras at town hall and the
town shop, though Verkada
cameras offer more capabil-
-Continued to PAGE SEVEN
Madison Orem honored
at Ione assembly
Ione senior Madison Orem, Ione volleyball coach Dawn
Eynetich and SFC Joseph Sullivan of the National Guard.
Sgt. Sullivan presented Orem with the OSAA Most Valuable
Teammate award at a recent school assembly. -Contributed
photo
Ione student Madison
Orem was presented with
the OSAA Most Valuable
Teammate award at a stu-
dent assembly on Tuesday,
April 25. Orem is a senior
at Ione High School.
The award is sponsored
by the National Guard. She
was nominated for the hon-
or by Ione head volleyball
coach Dawn Eynetich.
“Madison is an ath-
lete that any coach would
want on their team,” says
Eynetich. “She shows up
with a smile, volunteers
to help do anything, gives
it 110 percent, and is the
biggest fan of all of her
teammates.”
On hand to present the
award from SFC Joseph
Sullivan of the National
Guard.
“ We w e r e e x c i t e d
to hear about an award
co-sponsored by the OSAA
and the National Guard,”
says Ione Schoold Dis-
trict Superintendent Kevin
Dinning. “It is an honor to
have one of our students
recognized at this level for
this type of reason!”
Boardman man arrested in
fatal pedestrian accident
A woman is dead and a
Boardman man in custody
after a fatal vehicle-ver-
sus-pedestrian accident last
Saturday.
Around 10 p.m. on
April 29, Oregon State
Police responded to a vehi-
cle-versus-pedestrian crash
on Hwy. 395, near milepost
4A, in Umatilla County.
The preliminary inves-
tigation indicated a 2014
Ford F150, operated by
Jeffrey Dean Toms, 53, of
Boardman, was traveling
southbound in the slow
lane when it struck a female
pedestrian, 50-year-old An-
gela D. Beshers-Liles, who
was crossing in a non-cross-
-Continued to PAGE TEN walk, unlighted section of
the highway.
Beshers-Liles was pro-
nounced deceased at the
scene by EMTs from the
Umatilla County Fire Dis-
trict #1. The highway was
impacted for approximately
four hours during the on-
scene investigation.
Toms was arrested and
lodged at Umatilla County
Jail on charges of driving
under the influence of alco-
hol, reckless endangering,
and manslaughter II.
OSP was assisted by
Umatilla County Fire Dis-
trict #1, Umatilla County
911 Dispatch Center, Herm-
iston Police Department,
and ODOT.
CALL
541-989-8221
ext 204
for more
information