50 YEARS AGO

from the Democrat-Herald

July 24, 1971

Baker 13-year-olds downed the Ontario Americans in Babe Ruth tournament play at the Harmon Killebrew field in Payette last night 5 to 4 in a squeaker that had the crowd on its feet. Duffy Miles went the full seven innings to claim the victory for Baker.

25 YEARS AGO

from the Baker City Herald

July 24, 1996

The Baker City Council on Tuesday voted 4-2 to ask the state to paint new lines on Campbell Street from Main Street to the freeway, switching from two travel lanes in each direction to one.

Other changes include adding a 14-foot-wide center turn-only lane and 6-foot-wide bicycle lanes on each side of the street.

Parking would still be allowed at the curb on both sides.

The new paint job is among the projects recommended in the city’s almost-finished transportation system plan. That plan, which David Evans & Associates wrote, will guide the city for the next 20 years.

The city doesn’t know when the state will paint the new lines, City Attorney Tim Collins said.

The Oregon Department of Transportation usually repaints Campbell Street in the spring.

10 YEARS AGO

from the Baker City Herald

July 25, 2011

The first “Conversation at Crossroads” this week will feature a view of recent efforts to improve the health and safety of American soldiers and Afghans.

The speaker is Dr. Daniel Lowe. Lowe, a 1965 Baker High graduate, is a retired surgeon, and his talk is “Lessons Learned in Afghanistan,” a conversation about his experience as a health care systems developer working for the U.S. Department of Defense in Afghanistan.

ONE YEAR AGO

from the Baker City Herald

July 25, 2020

It all started with a modest crop of potatoes and now, 105 years later, the Ward family’s fields in Baker Valley continue to yield their yearly bounty of spuds.

But this year the Ward Ranches’ harvest will include something new.

Something not so tasty as a french fry, to be sure, but valuable in its own way.

The business, still operated by two grandchildren of its founder, Clyde Ward, has been honored as an Oregon Century Farm.

The Oregon Century Farm and Ranch program, which started in 1958, is run by the Oregon Agricultural Education Foundation. The program recognizes families that have worked the same land for at least 100 years.

Ward Ranches is Baker County’s one entry in the 2020 class.

It joins 28 other farms and ranches in the county to receive the Century designation.

“We are blessed and thankful by this heritage and lifestyle that makes us who we are today,” Clyde’s granddaughter, Kathy Ward, wrote in the biography she compiled as part of the family’s application. “Ward Ranches is the result of generations of family working together to make their farm’s legacy live on and thrive.”