Lisa Britton/For the Baker City Herald Mike Horner, an orthotics technician at the Shriners Hospital for Children in Portland, works on a prosthetic for a patient. Children choose the design they want on their prosthetics.

For the Baker City Herald

PORTLAND — The name “Shriner” easily brings up images of men in funny red hats who are always quick to smile.

And they’re pretty entertaining in a parade, too.

Coming around a bend on a curvy road in the hills of Southwest Portland, that image of a man in a fez is suddenly there, preserved forever in stone — a Shriner cradling a child in his arms.

This is the first glimpse of the Shriners Hospital for Children, the first indication that this place is different.

Walk through the entrance and a “ping” fills the air — around the corner is an ever-moving pinball-type feature, put in this waiting room to entertain the kids.

This is, after all, a hospital for children — one of 22 Shriners hospitals located in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

By Chris Collins

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A new name has been added to the bylines of the Baker City Herald this summer.

It belongs to Devan Schwartz, who is spending 10 weeks with the Herald through the Charles Snowden Internship program, sponsored by the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication. This is the 10th year the Herald has participated in the Snowden program.

In the first half of his internship, Schwartz has profiled Rob and Dianne Ellingson, this year’s Fair Family. He told Caleb Johnson’s story as Johnson prepared for his last bull ride before the hometown crowd during Miners Jubilee.

By Chris Collins

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Petitioners seeking the recall of two school board members submitted signatures to the Baker County Clerk’s Office for verification Monday.

The group, led by chief petitioner Kerry McQuisten of Baker City, is seeking the recall of Lynne Burroughs, board chair, and director Mark Henderson.

Recall supporters contend that the two directors overstepped their authority when they voted to censure their fellow board member Kyle Knight this spring.

By Terri Harber

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Negotiations held July 24 in Eugene between legal representatives for Baker City and Stephen Brocato, who was fired as city manager in June 2009, didn’t result in Brocato’s lawsuit against the city being settled, said Mike Kee, current city manager.

The case is scheduled to go to trial Oct. 22 at 9 a.m. in the federal courthouse in Pendleton, with Judge Michael W. Mosman presiding.

The trial is expected to last four days, according to court records.

Brocato filed the multimillion-dollar suit in June 2010.

A judge later dismissed most of the complaints Brocato listed in the lawsuit, and he voluntarily withdrew others.

One point remains: Brocato’s claim that the city and City Council members Dennis Dorrah, Clair Button, Aletha Bonebrake and Beverly Calder deprived him of his liberty through false statements that harmed his reputation and prevented him from obtaining adequate employment.

Terri Harber/Baker City Herald This new wooden sign at the corner of Washington Avenue and Third Street helps people find the Baker County Courthouse.

By Terri Harber

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People looking at the Baker County Courthouse might notice a recent addition at the edge of the courtyard: a new sign near the corner of Washington Avenue and Third Street. 

It’s a wooden, two-sided sign supported by posts made from pressure-treated wood. The sign is accented with a bed of seasonal flowers beneath it.

Photo by Kathy Orr / Baker City Herald

Success stories abound in the fight against cancer.  The Survivor Lap during the Relay For Life at Baker High School allows survivors to reflect on their experiences and to have some fun. The relay was held Saturday evening through Sunday morning as a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. Baker City Relays have raised more than $500,000 since the event began in 2005.

By Katy Nesbitt

The (La Grande) Observer

ENTERPRISE — A Wallowa County calf found Thursday afternoon was confirmed Friday morning to have been wounded by wolves.

The calf might have to be euthanized later today due to the extent of its injuries.

Luke Morgan of the Grouse Creek Ranch said he moved cattle about a mile up a road near the Imnaha River between noon and 1 p.m. Thursday. About 5 p.m. a calf came back to his cow camp bawling and injured with his mother cow behind him, said Rod Childers, Oregon Cattlemen's Association wolf committee chairman.

S. John Collins / Baker City Herald Little Mill Creek cascades from higher reaches in the watershed through cool, lush vegetation to provide clean water for Baker City residents.

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Welcome to peak water use season in Baker City, when as many as 9 million gallons flow from our faucets each day as if by magic.

You turn on the tap and what do you find? Water, like anywhere else.

But Baker City water has a path like few others, and a history like no other.

Almost every nearby waterway snakes toward the Columbia and the Pacific Ocean, even the Powder River running through town.

The Northwest is a region geographically highlighted by humidity west of the Cascades and aridity east of them. Yet Baker City, located east of the Cascades and the Elkhorns, a subrange of the Blue Mountains, has water.

Lots of water.

By Jayson Jacoby

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Baker County’s best-known ghost town has been livelier than usual this summer.

Sumpter’s history, which mixes a rich legacy of gold mining with anecdotal tales of various hauntings, has proved irresistible to the ever-growing arena of reality TV.

A crew is producing a multi-episode series in and around Sumpter this summer that combines the area’s historical and supernatural attributes, said LeAnne Woolf, a Sumpter city councilor.

The working title of the series is “Ghost Mine,” she said.

A member of the film crew told city councilors this month that the series is tentatively scheduled to air this November, on Syfy (formerly the Sci-Fi Channel), Woolf said.

“It’s been quite a summer,” she said.

By Chris Collins

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Superintendent Walt Wegener will focus on leading  the Baker School District through a new process for evaluating its teachers in the coming year as required by a state law that takes effect in July 2013.

After a nearly day-long planning session Tuesday,  the Baker School Board agreed that Wegener should shift his priorities to ensure the district complies with Senate Bill 290, passed by the 2011 Legislature.

The law requires the state to adopt performance standards to help school districts make employment decisions “including continued employment, compensation and career advancement” for teachers and administrators based on student, school and district performance data.

In earlier goal-setting sessions, Wegener had been directed to focus on leading district administrators in realigning the curriculum to comply with state standards.