Hells Canyon Motorcycle Rally Hits Baker City This Weekend
By Debby Schoeningh
The 10th annual Hells Canyon Motorcycle Rally (HCMR) will be held June 12-15. It begins in Baker City Friday.
Last year a fellow Hells Canyon Rally Rider, Timothy Hunt of Haines, lost his life in an accident on Highway 30 between Baker City and Haines. Hunt was killed Nov. 15, 2008, when a car collided with his motorcycle about five miles northwest of Baker City. This year’s Rally will pay tribute to him.
Reg Madsen of La Grande with Biker’s Fighting Cancer said the club will have about 100 riders attending the Rally this year. Bikers Fighting Cancer, based in Bellingham, Wash., is a non-profit organization formed in 2002 to raise funds for children with cancer.
Steve Brocato Terminated as Baker City’s City Manager
By Candie Campbell
A four-to-three vote at Tuesday’s City Council Meeting resulted in the termination of City Manager Steve Brocato.
Mayor Dennis Dorrah had asked Brocato for his resignation earlier in the day at the request of Councilor Clair Button. Button was unavailable for comment.
Councilor Aletha Bonebrake accompanied the Mayor to Brocato’s office where his request was denied.
In the standing-room-only City Council Chambers, tensions mounted to the point where Dorrah warned that those causing outbursts would be removed. A large majority of the people present in the audience were city employees who came to show their support for Brocato that included yelling threats and insults at the Council.
Councilors Clair Button, Aletha Bonebrake, Beverly Calder and Mayor Dorrah voted in favor of Brocato’s removal and Councilors Andrew Bryan, Sam Bass and Milo Pope opposed it. Councilor Pope threatened to sue every one of the Councilors who voted to remove Brocato.
Brocato Surprised By Council’s Actions
By Debby Schoeningh
Steve Brocato said he isn’t bitter about being fired, but he is disappointed in the City process.
“I received good reviews from the Council in their evaluation just four weeks ago,” he said. “The process was a travesty and very hypocritical— a political power thing that has been brewing for quite awhile.”
Of the councilors and mayor who voted to terminate his position he said, “Beverly Calder made a power play to Dennis Dorrah’s benefit to Aletha Bonebrakes’s detriment and to Clair Button’s bewilderment.”
Brocato said the criticisms that were made against his job performance during the evaluation included that he did not interact with the public enough and that he lobbies too much.
Local Car Dealers Still Open For Business In Spite Of Recent Auto Manufacturer Bankruptcies
By Debby Schoeningh
Local dealers are still sifting through the financial wreckage of the auto manufacturers, but are for the most part driving forward.
Randy Daugherty, owner of Baker Garage signed a contract to continue his franchise dealership with General Motors and sent it Fed-ex to the company Tuesday morning.
"There's still a GM dealer in Baker City and we're open for business," said Daugherty. “We weren’t in the group of 1,100 that received termination notices from GM in May.”
Daugherty said he has no idea what criteria GM used to close some of the dealerships because most of them, including Baker Garage, are independently owned, pay taxes and own their own buildings.
“When GM builds a vehicle we pay for it,” he said. “It’s not costing them much to have us. Anything they supply including brochures and special tools needed for repairs, we have to pay for.”
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