September 01, 2010 10:57 am
August 30, 2010 10:40 am
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The question has crept into conversations across America for more than a month:
Is it appropriate for Muslims to construct a building — described
almost invariably as a mosque, although it also includes a community
center — two blocks from ground zero in Manhattan?
The problem with this question is that it’s the wrong question.
Here’s what we ought to be asking ourselves:
Is it appropriate for any group that condemns Islamic terrorists in
general, and the Sept. 11 attacks in particular, to construct a
building two blocks from the site of the deadliest of that day’s
atrocities?
We suspect a significant number of people would give a different answer to the latter question than to the former.
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August 27, 2010 11:43 am
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Almost two years ago, 2,448 Baker City voters picked Milo Pope to represent them.
On Tuesday evening Pope let them down.
He failed to attend the regularly scheduled City Council meeting.
Not because he was out of town or otherwise unavailable.
By his own admission, Pope, who’s an attorney, chose instead to attend a private gathering at his law office.
Pope also acknowledged, in a telephone interview with the Herald, that he regrets his decision.
He said he hasn’t made a habit of missing Council meetings, nor does he intend to.
We’ll take Pope at his word.
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August 25, 2010 12:52 pm
Inmates at Baker City’s Powder River Correctional Facility have done a
variety of worthwhile tasks over the past 20 years, ranging from
fighting wildfires to landscaping the library and other public spaces.
But the latest job assigned to Powder River inmates, though perhaps not
the most important, certainly warms our hearts like no other.
Through a program started by New Hope for Eastern Oregon Animals,
prisoners will help train abandoned dogs, many of which were abused or
neglected.
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August 20, 2010 08:27 am
Perhaps the most noteworthy thing about two recent cases in which Baker
City juveniles are accused of vandalism sprees is that the incidents
seemed, well, noteworthy.
They’re conspicuous because they’re rare.
And they’ve been rare for more than a decade.
In 1998, the Baker City Police Department handled 620 juvenile crime cases.
The next year the total plummeted by almost half, to 343.
In the past few years there have been fewer than 100.
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August 18, 2010 02:01 pm
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For an outfit that goes through more red ink than Hallmark during
the pre-Valentines Day rush, Congress seems to have little compunction
about spending $10 billion.
Yet, troubled though we are about the near-absence of fiscal restraint in Washington, D.C., we’re also pragmatic.
Which means we recognize that the latest example of federal largesse
— the $10 billion Edujobs bill passed last week — should benefit Baker
County.
Oregon’s share of the money, which is supposed to prevent school
districts from laying off teachers and principals, is estimated at $117
million. The Baker School District stands to get about $421,000,
according to the state.
The District should use that money to ensure that the 2010-11 school
year, which starts Aug. 30, will not end prematurely, nor will the
district schedule furlough days, if the state cuts its payments to
school districts.
The former happened in 2009, when the Baker School Board ended
classes five days early due to declining support from the state, which
supplies more than half the school district’s income.
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August 13, 2010 10:23 am
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Baker City councilors have had their disagreements recently, but they proved Tuesday that they can carry out the public’s business in an admirably efficient manner.
And a very vital piece of business at that.
We’re encouraged by the straightforward — and cordial — way in which the Council went about finding a new city manager.
On Tuesday, just six weeks after Steve Bogart told councilors he would resign Sept. 23, they voted unanimously to offer the job to Mike Kee, Ontario’s police chief and a former Baker City resident.
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August 11, 2010 01:52 pm
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At least one thing, it appears, defies the worst recession.
The commitment that Baker County residents and businesses have for our community’s kids.
As proof of our admittedly bold claim we offer these statistics from
the 4-H/FFA livestock auction that took place Saturday, during the
Baker County Fair.
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August 09, 2010 10:49 am
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Making a big difference in a little kid’s life can be a simple matter.
As simple as tossing a carton of crayons or a plastic ruler into your cart during your next shopping trip.
The annual Project Back to School campaign started today.
The idea is as basic as it is vital.
Residents donate school supplies — everything from pens and pencils
to glue sticks — and The Salvation Army distributes the items to
students before classes start Aug. 30.
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August 06, 2010 11:03 am
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If you spend much time poking around in the Elkhorn Mountains near
Baker City you’re apt to get a misleading impression about Oregon’s
abundance of mountain goats.
The majestic mammals are indeed plentiful in the Elkhorns. The
population there numbers about 400, according to the Oregon Department
of Fish and Wildlife.
But with the exception of the nearby Wallowas, which harbor most of
the rest of Oregon’s estimated herd of 800 goats, the state’s other
major mountain ranges have few goats or none at all.
It has not always been so.
Based on historical records and the more recent opinions of wildlife
biologists, the consensus is that mountain goats as late as the 1800s
lived in parts of the Blue and Wallowa mountains, as well as the
Columbia River Gorge and the Cascades as far south as the Three
Sisters, near Bend.
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