Landowners along Brownlee Reservoir whose homes, sheds or fences encroach on Idaho Power property within 8 feet of the high water line will have to move the structures or pay a $100-per-year lease fee starting this year.

Gil Green, senior real estate specialist with Idaho Power, said the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ordered the removal of mobile homes and other movable structures off the property along Brownlee Reservoir purchased by the power company decades ago for erosion control, wildlife habitat and public access, as part of its operating license for Brownlee Dam.

Brownlee, Oxbow and Hells Canyon dams are part of the Hells Canyon Complex of hydroelectric projects with a combined capacity to generate more than 1,166,900 kilowatts of electricity.

Construction of Brownlee Dam and power plant was completed in 1959, forming a 58-mile-long reservoir on the Snake River. 

Green said Idaho Power has been communicating with landowners for several years about encroaching buildings, but a July order from FERC is the strongest edict yet calling for the removal of those structures.

That order says Idaho Power would be considered out of compliance with its operating license for Brownlee Dam if the company fails to deal with the problem, Green said.

Through negotiations with landowners and consultations with FERC officials, Green said Idaho Power has come up with a plan to pay landowners $30 per square foot for easily movable structures such as mobile homes, sheds and outhouses.

At Tuesday’s Baker City Council meeting, councilors will consider a resolution revising rules of procedure for City Council meetings.

Even though the resolution confirms the existing practice of holding Council meetings on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month, City Manager Steve Bogart had to step in and advise councilors to refrain from meeting last Thursday, without prior public notice required by state law.

That meeting was cancelled upon Bogart’s advice and the Council is considering Resolution 3407 at Tuesday’s meeting to revised procedural rules for future Council meetings.

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. at Baker City Hall, 1655 First St.

The proposed resolution says agenda items should be presented to the city manager before noon on Wednesday before the Tuesday Council meeting or be delayed until the next Council meeting.

A series of investigations by members of the Baker County Drug Task Force have culminated in the arrest of 14 people.

Oregon State Police Sgt. Ty Duby said in a press release issued Friday that investigators identified one of the suspects, Rodney Alen Rookstool, 49, of John Day, as a major supplier of methamphetamine in Baker, Grant and Crook counties during the fall of 2009. The narcotics team targeted Rookstool and others receiving drugs from him as the investigation proceeded, Duby said.

Police used information received during a series of undercover drug purchases to secure warrants to search Rookstool’s person, home and vehicles.

On Jan. 4, police stopped Rookstool near North Powder just after he’d left the freeway, Duby said. During a search of his vehicle, detectives seized  about a fourth of a pound of methamphetamine and about a half a pound of marijuana, Duby said. Police also seized a .45-caliber handgun and $1,900 cash.

Christine Dillon, 46, of Bend, who was traveling with Rookstool on Jan. 4 was cited and released on a charge of possessing methamphetamine.

Additional search warrants were served at Rookstool’s John Day home in January. Police seized $25,000 in cash, thousands of dollars worth of stolen property and a small amount of methamphetamine, Duby said.

As part of the ongoing investigation and based on evidence gathered during the searches, Rookstool has been indicted by grand juries in Baker and Grant counties on nearly 40 felony charges ranging from methamphetamine trafficking to possession of stolen property, Duby said.

The Stones opened their first drive-through coffee place in 1995 in a trailer at the Lube Depot parking lot. Next week they’ll open their sixth coffee shop. Jason Stone takes his shift with the roasting process in Baker City. (Baker City Herald/S. John Collins)

Buoyed by stronger than expected sales during the recession of 2009, Scott and Diana Thatcher, owners of Thatcher’s Ace Hardware, and Beverly Calder of Bella Main Street Market are making plans to open new stores in La Grande this spring and summer.

While the Thatchers and Calder are expanding to the west, Sorbenots coffee owners Jason, Phil and Andrea Stone are opening their newest Sorbenots coffee shop next week at 10901 W. Franklin St. in Boise.

“It’s actually kind of a neat deal, with the economy slumping like it is, that all three of us (local businesses) are able to branch out,” said Scott Thatcher. “I think that’s very encouraging.”

“Basically for Diana and I, this is our 12th year here in Baker City, and we have been successful here,” Thatcher said. “We’re not ready to slow down. It is a challenge for us, something to keep the blood flowing.

“Fortunately, with the kind of business we are in, when the economy gets sluggish, people tend to fix things instead of buying new. We are in the fix-it business.”

You’ll be able to load up on locally grown fresh fruit and vegetables both Wednesdays and Saturdays this summer.

Last month, the Baker City Farmers Market board voted to drop Saturdays and instead have one market per week on Wednesday afternoons.

The board revisited that decision Wednesday night with the help of comments from vendors and the community.

Directors voted to keep Saturdays and to renew an effort to recruit more vendors.

The original reason for paring down to one market was that in 2009 the Saturday market didn’t draw enough vendors to pay the market manager.

At this week’s meeting, four vendors committed to a full season on Saturdays, making that a viable market.

Workers from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife collared two wolves on Feb. 12, and a third on Feb. 13 in the Imnaha wildlife unit east of Joseph.

“The wolves were in good body condition and the capture went well,” said Russ Morgan, ODFW wolf coordinator.

The operation effort began with workers in helicopters firing tranquilizer darts to temporarily immobilize the wolves, said Michelle Dennehy, a spokeswoman for ODFW.

She said the crew was fortunate in that one of the collared wolves is thought to be the alpha, or dominant, male in the Imnaha pack.

That wolf, one of the two collared on Feb. 12, weighs 115 pounds.

The state has filed a second charge of furnishing alcohol to a minor, and four counts of third-degree sexual abuse involving a 17-year-old girl against former Baker County Commission Chair Brian Cole.

Cole, 47, of 17507 Deer Park Loop, was charged with the six Class A misdemeanors in a district attorney’s information filed in Baker County Circuit Court Friday.

The sexual abuse charges accuse Cole of having sexual contact with a person under 18, the legal age of consent in Oregon.

All six counts involve the same 17-year-old girl, according to court records.

In a letter filed in Circuit Court Tuesday, Cole’s attorney, Bob Moon of Baker City, wrote that Cole has waived his right to be formally arraigned on the charges. Moon asked the court to enter a not guilty plea on Cole’s behalf and to set the case for trial.

Baker City Police on Tuesday arrested a teenage boy suspected of burglarizing two eastside homes late last year while the residents were inside.

Cody Nelson, 16, of 1992 Plum St., was arrested at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday at his home, Sgt. Kirk McCormick said. Nelson was taken to The Dalles where he is being held in detention on two counts of first-degree burglary, a Class A felony.

 At a Wednesday hearing in Baker County Juvenile Court, Judge Greg Baxter ordered that Nelson be held at The Dalles until the next detention review hearing Feb. 25, said Bryan Dalke, Juvenile Department counselor.

The tusks and other animal bones were found during the excavation of local farmland Jan. 20.

‘‘A heavy equipment operator working for a local construction company was excavating about 15 feet below the original ground surface when he noticed white in the brown sand,’’ said professor Jay Van Tassell of Eastern Oregon University’s geology department. ‘‘When he stopped to investigate, he found a large white bone.’’

The undisclosed site is in the southern portion of the valley. A small piece of one mammoth tusk has been sent out for radiocarbon dating. Van Tassell and his peers estimate the fragment is 15,000 years old. Results should be back in a few weeks.

The construction crew attempted to safely remove the fossils from the area.

‘‘The crew did the right thing by stopping the bulldozer and realizing this was important,’’ Van Tassell said.

The bones were taken to EOU where they were identified by Van Tassell as the tibia of an ice age mammoth.

This recent scene is from the foothills of the Wallowa Mountains north of Halfway, looking southeast across the fog-bound Pine Valley and across the Snake River to the mountains of Idaho. (Baker City Herald/Lisa Britton)