50YEARS AGO

from the Democrat-Herald

December 20, 1968

The 6 a.m. temperature at Anthony Lakes was 6 degrees above zero this morning with overcast skies and some fog, no wind. There are 56 inches of base snow and 3 inches of new snow.

25YEARS AGO

from the Baker City Herald

December 20, 1993

A range management reform proposal trotted out last summer by the government was the main topic Saturday at a private meeting with Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt.

10YEARS AGO

from the Baker City Herald

December 19, 2008

A study looking at alternatives for bringing irrigation water to land served by the Smith Ditch advanced this week with the approval of a $22,500 grant from the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board.

ONEYEAR AGO

from the Baker City Herald

December 20, 2017

SUMPTER — One rural fire department has lost a longtime volunteer firefighter.

But he’s still around.

The department also gained a new firefighter, but not the living kind.

Before 83-year-old Don Perkins retired early this month after 20 years with the Powder River Rural Fire Department as a volunteer, and 25 years with Baker City Fire Department before that, the Powder River department added a new fire engine to the fleet at its Mosquito Flats Station just east of Sumpter.

Wes Morgan, Powder River fire chief, said one of Perkins’ co-workers from Baker City described Perkins as a “fire-eating son of a gun,” when he was a young firefighter.

Perkins, who was born in Baker City and raised on a ranch north of town, said he has always had a passion for firefighting. That’s what motivated him to volunteer with the Powder River department after he retired from Baker City.