50YEARS AGO

from the Democrat-Herald

December 28, 1968

R.M. Phipps of Huntington, 81, outgoing Baker County Commissioner, was honored at a reception in the Baker County Courthouse Friday.

25YEARS AGO

from the Baker City Herald

December 28, 1993

Brian Cole has accepted a job as regional development officer with the Oregon Economic Development Department.

10YEARS AGO

from the Baker City Herald

December 29, 2008

Baker County’s improving Web site is an increasingly valuable tool for Judge Lise Yervasi’s Justice Court operation.

Yervasi, elected to the bench in May 2006, told Baker County Commissioners recently that her court was one of the first in Oregon to allow speeders and other traffic law violators to pay their tickets online.

ONEYEAR AGO

from the Baker City Herald

December 29, 2017

Two years after Oregon began allowing drivers in rural counties, including Baker, to pump their own fuel during certain hours, the law is changing to allow self-service fueling around the clock in some cases.

Oregon is one of two states — New Jersey is the other — that generally doesn’t allow gas customers to pump their own gas.

But a law that took effect Jan. 1, 2016, allowed drivers to refuel their tanks between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. in the 18 counties with populations less than 40,000.

During the 2017 legislative session, lawmakers expanded the self-service option — which is optional for stations, not mandatory — to 24 hours a day effective Jan. 1, 2018.

However, stations that allow customers to pump their own fuel must have an attendant available to pump gas from 6 a.m. through 6 p.m. if the station, as most do, also has other retail sales, such as a food store.