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October 20, 2014
iN mis sonioN: Local • Home @Living • SportsMonday QUICIC HITS
PORTER CLINE
OregonllepartmentOfFdncationlssnes Report CardsIo Schools
Good Day Wish To A Subscriber A special good day to Herald subscriberAnnabell Hirsh of Baker City.
Nation, 6A CHICAGO — Rarely one to leave anything to chance, President Barack Obama is playing it by ear this week as his administration's response to the Ebola scare continues to evolve. Obama's schedule is a work in progress, in a departure from the normal practice in which the president's schedule is previewed days in advance. The blank slate reflects the White House's attempt to stay nimble, leaving Obama room to maneuver amid a public health crisis that has been anything but predictable.
By Chris Collins ccollins©bakercityherald.com
School report cards released by the Oregon Department of Education last week, as they have in the past, cause Superintendent Walt Wegener to scratch his head. Wegener questions the value of the reports, with there ever-changing methods
and standards. ''We still have l' recovered from the 2010-11 change in cut scores ithe scores at which W e gener students are deemed to have met state standards, which were raised that year).
That said, Wegener noted thereportcards show district math scores lagging behind the stateaverage and 11thgradewriting scoresbelow the stateaverage asw ell. He noted that otherwise, m ost Baker schoolsreceived Level 3 and Level 4 ratings, with the exception of the charter schools and Eagle
Cap, the district's innovative Level5 schoolsarethetop 10 percentofOregon schools, accordingto the statereport. Level4 schoolsfallbetween 44 percent and 90 percent of schools; Level 3, 15 percent and 44 percent; Level 2, 5 percent and 15 percent; and Level 1, the bottom 5 percent
Baker High School Royalty Rolls In
Write-ins without ' r.' after Warner won't count
Zombie-themed film fest fundraiser
WEATHER
Today
71 /40 Showers late
By Jayson Jacoby llacoby©bakercityherald.com •
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Voters who write in Fred Warner Jr. for Baker County Commission chairman won't have their vote count for him if they leave out the "Jr." as part ofhis name. CountyClerk Tami Green said she posed the question to state elections off icials aftershe learned some voters intended to write in Warner on the Nov. 4 ballot. See Write-InsIPage8A
Weather will
Kathy Orr /BakerCity Herald
Baker High School Homecoming events include the presentation of the queen's court at halftime during the football game against Mac-Hi Friday night. Kate Averett, left, and Michelle Lehman toss waves and kisses toward spectators as the two princesses arrive by car. Michelle Freese was Homecoming queen.
finally feel like
Fire SeasonReuiew
iervseasonstraine resources By Pat Caldwell For the Baker City Herald
The 2014 fire season began slow but gained momentum and quickly evolved into one of the more intricate campaigns in recent memory. "I'd say the season was a complex fire season," Carol Connolly, m edia manager for the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center in Portland said. The 2014 season eventually consumed a large amount of resources, Connolly said. ''We may not have hit recordsin terms ofacres burned but we certainly were pushed to our limits as far as resources," Connolly said. The Northwest Interagency Coordination Center functions as a central logisti-
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rated a Level 1 school), is still evolving,"Wegenersaid. Jerry Peacock has been named principal and assumed responsibilities for directing the new Baker Technical Institute this year as well. SeeGradeslPage 8A
ELECTION 2014
BRIEFING
The Eastern Oregon RegionalTheatre is having a zombie-themed fundraiser on Thursday, Oct. 30, at the Iron Gate Theatre. They will be showing a double feature of Bela Lugosi's "White Zombie" and the classic "Night of the Living Dead" at 4 p.m. and then again at 8 p.m. Tickets are $2 and available at the door. Refreshments are available for purchase as well. This local theatre company has provided Baker County residents with many opportunities to experience live theatre in its twelve season history. "We produce five to six shows per season," says Board President Kelly Brickman. "Every year we try to pick a variety of shows, from dramas to comedies, musicals, as well as children's shows and family favorites." For this fundraiser, the theatre is trying something new-classic horror movies. "We wanted to show classic movies and decided this first try would be something Halloween themed," Brickman said. Iron Gate Theatre is located on the second floor of the Basche-Sage Mall, on the corner of Main and Broadway. For more information about Eastern Oregon RegionalTheatre, please visit their website bakerlivetheatre.com and like them on Facebook.
of schools.
"Eagle Cap, iwhich was
high school.
TO D A T Issue 68, 20 pages
cal site, to route firefighting resources throughout Oregonand Washington. Connolly said the Northwest was fortunate this year because the rest of the nation, for the most part, did not encounter a severe fire season. "Other states were not having huge fires so the competitionforresources was minimal," she said. Partnership between federal, state and local agencies also paid dividends she said. "Normally in our region we have 11 Hot Shot crews. We had 36 Hot Shot crews in Oregon and Washington. We had people coming in from Montana, Illinois, Georgia, and other eastern states. We needed their resources," she said. At one point in July, Con-
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nolly said, 12,000 firefighters manned lines across Washingtonand Oregon as more than 90,000 acres burned.One Oregon fi re, the Buzzard Complex blaze northeast of Burns, traveled 12 miles in four hours. ''We had fires in all corners of the state of Oregon," Connolly said. Still, Connolly said, the seasondid notreach itsfull potential. "Itcould have gone a lot worse," she said. The Wallowa-Whitman National Forest's fire season was prettyclose to average, with 99 lightning fires, fewer than in 2013 i124l but above the 10-year average of 86. The number ofhumancaused fires, though, was below average, at 16, compared with a 10-year average of 25.
M ost of theforest'slarger fires this year were in the Eagle Cap Wilderness or Hells Canyon. The 2014 fire campaign, though, has pretty much wound down over the past couple of weeks, although conditions remain abnormallydryin much ofOregon. One notable success, Connolly said, was the fact no firefighters died battling blazes in the region during the summer. ''We had no firefi ghter fatalities in Oregon and Washington which is a huge success obviously. Our No. 1 resources at risk on any fire is, of course, our firefighters," Connolly said. About 1.25 million acres were scorched during the season, she said.
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fall By Jayson Jacoby llacoby©bakercityherald.com
Baker City's balmy autumn will be taking a break this week. For a few days, anyway. The recent warm spell should peak today with a high temperature of about 71. That's 12 degrees above average. But forecast ersfor the National Weather Service say a potent cold front will barrel into Baker County from the west late today or early Tuesday. This will bring rain showers to most of the county, possibly an inch or two of snow to the mountains above 7,000 feet, and push Tuesday's high temperaturebelow average. That's happened on only one other day since summer's end. See FallIPage2A
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