50 YEARS AGO

from the Democrat-Herald

June 12, 1971

Baker County residents can find room for optimism in a decision this week by the Oregon Public Utilities Commissioner, Sam Haley, to suspend for three months a decision regarding the proposed Cal-Pac rate increase.

In a letter to William Quigley, master, Baker Pomona Grange and a board member of a local producers organization objecting to the increase, Haley said “the commissioner finds that good and sufficient cause exists to further investigate the propriety and reasonableness of the proposed rates.”

25 YEARS AGO

from the Baker City Herald

June 12, 1996

The Baker City Council on Tuesday pledged its support for a proposed sports complex north of Baker High School.

Councilors also voted 5-0 (Mayor Larry Griffith and Councilor Bill Gwilliam were absent) to donate irrigation water for the planned complex, which includes two full-sized baseball fields, two Little League baseball/softball fields, and three football/soccer fields.

10 YEARS AGO

from the Baker City Herald

June 13, 2011

A white skeleton holding a scythe, crossed out in red, and marked with the words “never give up.”

This is the symbol of the Bikers Fighting Cancer organization.

Members of the group participated in the Hells Canyon Motorcycle Rally this weekend.

ONE YEAR AGO

from the Baker City Herald

June 13, 2020

The Oregon Supreme Court concluded that Baker County Circuit Court Judge Matt Shirtcliff erred in his May 18 ruling that Gov. Kate Brown exceeded her legal authority in restricting businesses and social gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic.

The state’s highest court on Friday issued a ruling ordering Shirtcliff to vacate his decision granting a preliminary injunction to a group of plaintiffs, including Elkhorn Baptist Church in Baker City, who sued the governor May 6.

The Supreme Court issued a temporary stay on Shirtcliff’s ruling later on the day he made that decision, so the governor’s executive orders, which limit business activity and the size of public gatherings, among other things, have remained in effect over the past few weeks pending the Supreme Court’s ruling.

The lawsuit itself can continue, as the Supreme Court’s ruling was limited to Shirtcliff’s granting of a preliminary injunction.

Shirtcliff agreed with the plaintiffs’ contention that because Brown, in issuing several executive orders since March, invoked the state’s public health emergency law, chapter 433 of the Oregon Revised Statutes, those orders were constrained by the 28-day limit prescribed in that law.

The governor’s lawyers, meanwhile, argued that the governor’s executive orders were not subject to the 28-day limit because Brown, in her initial March 8 declaration of an emergency related to the coronavirus, cited a different, more general, emergency law, chapter 401, which has no time limit.

Six justices participated in the Supreme Court decision. Chief Justice Martha Walters did not.