Large shrubs cleared from around Baker Courthouse

BY TERRI HARBER
BAKER CITY HERALD

The Third Street side of the Baker County Courthouse is beginning to appear slightly different — and in what most consider an aesthetically pleasing manner.

Two tall arbor vitae were removed last month. The old shrubs were about 40 feet tall with poorly shaped tops and had been there for decades.

One of the shrubs also had tangled itself around an old street light.

The light fixture now is free of arbor vitae debris. It and other old streetlights dotting the perimeter of the Courthouse are set to be relighted next week, said Vince Woods, facility maintenance director for Baker County.

Removing the tall shrubs brings more light into the courtyard on Third Street and allows the monuments in front of the building to be more visible — especially the cannon and fountain.

And “it’ll allow the public more access to come through that area,” Woods said. “It really opens everything up and looks much nicer.”

People have been making positive remarks about how that side of the Courthouse looks from the street now, he said.

Digging up the shrubs and relighting it and some other old street lights will improve safety and security around the Courthouse. People leaving work during winter evenings do so in darkness, Woods said.

County commissioners wanted to see whether anyone objected to the removal of the bushes before allowing workers to proceed about three weeks ago.

It was pretty much a noncontroversial act.

Local historian Gary Dielman was thrilled when the tall bushes came down. He inspected the stumps and counted the number of rings contained in both. One had 80 rings and the other had 85 rings, he said.

“It appears that the trees were in place long before the dedication of the war memorial,” Dielman reported.

The war memorial with its eternal flame now burning for soldiers in the Middle East was erected during the 1950s. The shrubs were much older.

It was unclear why the shrubs were aligned in such a way. They didn’t seem to frame any specific Courthouse features, Woods and Dielman said.