S. John Collins / Baker City Herald Students come to Paul Hoelscher for materials, ideas and opinions about their work.

For the Baker City Herald

Paul Hoelscher never stops moving during the hour — he rustles up paper and paints, he praises creativity, he lends inspiration.

The projects are as diverse as the kids — intricate painting, bold sports posters, an American flag colored with markers, a tornado sketched with charcoal, a “giant fortune-teller thing.”

“It’s whatever we have to use to make what they want to make,” Hoelscher says.

“You can spend the first day trying 40 different things to find something you like,” he tells a student new to class.

This is ArtSpeak, a program founded in 1987 to serve underprivileged and at-risk children in the community.

The inspiration came from a dance program funded by the Juvenile Services Commission for female juvenile offenders.

The instructor was Debbie Friedman, who offered a safe, creative place for teenage girls struggling with drug and alcohol abuse, physical abuse, criminal and violent behaviors and early parenthood.

By Chris Collins

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About a fourth of Baker County voters already have marked their ballots and cast their votes in the 2012 General Election, Baker County Clerk Tami Green said this morning.

Nearly 23 percent of the 10,304 ballots sent out had been returned by Friday, Green said. Those that came in over the weekend had not been counted in time for this report.

Voters have until 8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 6, to submit their ballots to the Clerk’s Office, but they should not plan to mail them in after Thursday, Nov. 1, Green said. Instead, after that date voters should plan to drop ballots off at any of these voting sites before 8 p.m. on election day:

By Terri Harber

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Board members of Best Friends of Baker Inc., a pet rescue group, met Thursday evening and decided they would have to temporarily cease finding homes for dogs and cats.

The nonprofit corporation doesn’t have enough volunteers for this activity, according to officials with the group.

Kelly Tanzey, president of Best Friends, described it as “a temporary break.”

Members should receive letters of explanation soon. So will area government officials and others with whom the group associates.

The eastbound lanes of Interstate 84, which were closed for several hours Thursday morning after three trucks crashed on an icy stretch near Baker City, re-opened about 1:30 p.m.

The eastbound freeway was initially closed about 5:30 a.m. at the site of the truck crashes, near Pleasant Valley about 14 miles east of Baker City.

Later in the morning the eastbound lanes were closed at La Grande, and then at Milepost 216 just east of Pendleton, to prevent traffic from backing up. 

At about 5:30 a.m. a commercial truck pulling a semi-trailer traveling eastbound near milepost 318 lost control and jackknifed. A second commercial truck pulling a trailer struck the rear of the first trailer. A third commercial truck pulling two trailers collided with the first truck before continuing down the road and coming to rest partially off the freeway. No drivers were injured. 

For updates on road conditions, check www.tripcheck.com or call 511 (cell) or 1-800-977-6368. 

S. John Collins/Baker City Herald Some of instructor Kelly Thibodeaux's fiddles are decorated with paintings, like this tiger face appearing to watch every movement of Haines Elementary student Goldie Ewing.

For the Baker City Herald

HAINES — Out of sight, it sounds like you’re standing in a meadow on a summer night, surrounded by crickets and frogs.

Very loud crickets and frogs.

Peek around the corner and you see the source of the sound — a bunch of kids sawing away at pint-sized fiddles.

All the students at Haines Elementary — grades kindergarten through six — are learning fiddle basics from Kelly Thibodeaux, an artist-in-residence.

By Chris Collins

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In a second attempt to gather enough valid signatures to force a recall election of two Baker School Board members, petitioners submitted the minimum number needed Monday to Baker County Clerk Tami Green.

The recall committee submitted 918 signatures seeking the recall of Lynne Burroughs, school board chair, and 918 for the recall of director Mark Henderson, Green said.

The group, led by chief petitioner Kerry McQuisten of Baker City, has until Nov. 7 to continue to collect signatures, Green added. 

In their first effort, petitioners fell just three short of the 913 valid signatures needed to place a measure on the ballot to recall Burroughs and 13 short of the 913 needed to recall Henderson.

The petitioners originally submitted 1,066 signatures calling for the recall of Burroughs and 1,059 for Henderson’s recall by the July 30 deadline.

By Chris Collins

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A million-dollar lawsuit filed more than two years ago by former Baker City manager Steve Brocato against the city, four City Council members who fired him in 2009, and a community resident, has been dismissed, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court.

The agreement was signed Oct. 7 by Kimberlee C. Morrow, attorney for the defendants, and Shelley Russell, who represented Brocato in the lawsuit filed on May 24, 2010.

A trial in the case had been set to begin today in U.S. District Court in Pendleton.

According to the court order, the action was dismissed “with prejudice,” which means it cannot be brought to court again, and with no costs awarded to either party.

If, however, the agreement is not “consummated” within 60 days, the order of dismissal will be set aside, the court record states.

Current Baker City Manager Mike Kee said the city, and the four councilors named as defendants, have signed off on the agreement. The paperwork next will be sent back to the court and signed by the judge.

By Jayson Jacoby

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A truck hauling a corrosive liquid along Interstate 84 sprang a leak Thursday night, closing the freeway for several hours and forcing some North Powder residents to evacuate as a precautionary measure.

An Oregon State Police trooper from La Grande was treated and released at Grande Ronde Hospital after possible exposure to the substance, said OSP Sgt. Kyle Hove.

No other injuries were reported.

“I got woken up out of a dead sleep,” said Jim Hebert, whose wife, Bonita, is mayor of the town of 440 in Union County, about 20 miles north of Baker City.

Jim Hebert said members of the North Powder Rural fire department arrived about 10 p.m. and said that residents within half a mile of the leaking truck were urged to evacuate.

Lisa Britton/For the Baker City Herald Virginia Hendersen eagerly awaits Bookmobile driver Steve Kunze’s visits.

For the Baker City Herald

A bag stuffed to the brim with books and audiobooks sits beside the door at Elkhorn Adult Foster Home, a silent sign that this is a day for books.

On this, the second Wednesday in October, Bookmobile driver Steve Kunze arrives with another bag full of reading material for the residents.

Caregiver Pam Peyron listens for the crunch of gravel, a telltale sign of the Bookmobile’s arrival.

It comes twice a month, on the second and fourth Wednesdays.

“The library contacted me at the first of the year,” Peyron says. “It’s been an exceptional program for us.”

One of her residents, Virginia Hendersen, has always been an avid reader. Her sight is now affected by macular degeneration, so she reads by listening to audiobooks.

“She burns through five to seven a week,” Peyron said.

This is when she praises Kunze, who she said makes sure to bring a variety of books.

“He gets them from all over,” she said. “And he gets (the same) books for the night nurse so she can discuss the book with Virginia."

By Jayson Jacoby

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A popular Forest Service road in the Wallowa Mountains of northern Baker County re-opened this week after being closed by flood damage for almost 2fi years.

A combination of heavy rain and snowmelt in June 2010 washed away several sections of the Eagle Creek Road, Forest Road 77.

The gravel road has been closed since then between Tamarack Campground and the East Eagle Creek Road, a stretch of about five miles.