50 YEARS AGO

from the Democrat-Herald

May 15, 1971

Bishop-elect Thomas J. Connolly will be ordained as the new Bishop of Baker in ceremonies June 30 at St. Francis Cathedral.

25 YEARS AGO

from the Baker City Herald

May 15, 1996

A suggestion for parents: pack an extra sandwich or two when you take the kids to Geiser Pollman Park for a picnic this summer.

The Baker City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to buy a new playground toy that has enough activities to keep children busy for hours.

10 YEARS AGO

from the Baker City Herald

May 16, 2011

Record-setting rain Sunday pushed several Baker County streams to near flood stage, and in at least one case slightly above.

No major flooding was reported, though, and county officials had received only one report of road damage, on Cracker Creek Road about three miles of Sumpter.

“We’re doing pretty well, but we’re set up to get a lot more water,” Baker County Roadmaster Ken Helgerson said this morning.

ONE YEAR AGO

from the Baker City Herald

May 16, 2020

Lawyers representing a Baker City church and other plaintiffs on one side, and Oregon Gov. Kate Brown on the other, spent 3 hours Thursday morning making their case to Baker County Circuit Court Judge Matt Shirtcliff regarding the governor’s legal authority to continue restricting Oregonians’ activities as part of the effort to control the spread of coronavirus.

The plaintiffs, including lead plaintiff Elkhorn Baptist Church of Baker City, are seeking a preliminary injunction that would block Brown from continuing to enforce executive orders related to the pandemic.

They were represented in Thursday’s hearing by Ray Hacke of Salem, an attorney with the Pacific Justice Institute, and Kevin Mannix of Salem, a former state legislator.

Mannix represents a group of intervenors, including Bill Harvey, chairman of the Baker County Board of Commissioners, who joined the lawsuit in support of the plaintiffs.

Shirtcliff on Thursday granted Mannix’s motion to add the intervenors to the lawsuit.

Brown was represented by two attorneys from the Oregon Department of Justice, Marc Abrams and Christina Beatty-Walters.

They are asking Shirtcliff to not only reject the motion for a preliminary injunction, but to dismiss the lawsuit.

At the conclusion of the hearing Shirtcliff said he would issue a written ruling “possibly tomorrow (Friday) but more likely early next week.”

“I will work as hard as I can and as quickly as I can,” Shirtcliff said. “These are important issues.”

Much of the argument during Thursday’s hearing centered on the question of whether the state laws Brown has invoked during the pandemic place time limits on the executive orders she has issued which restrict certain activities.