2A — THE OBSERVER
SaTuRday, MaRcH 6, 2021
LOCAL/REGION
Today in Pandemic cancels Class 1A state basketball tourneys
History
By JAYSON JACOBY
Baker City Herald
Today is Saturday, March
6, the 65th day of 2021. There
are 300 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN
HISTORY:
On March 6, 1857, the
U.S. Supreme Court, ruled
7-2 that Scott, a slave, was
not an American citizen and
therefore could not sue for
his freedom in federal court.
ON THIS DATE:
In 1475, Italian artist and
poet Michelangelo was born
in the Republic of Florence.
In 1836, the Alamo in San
Antonio, Texas, fell as Mex-
ican forces led by General
Antonio Lopez de Santa
Anna stormed the fortress
after a 13-day siege.
In 1853, Verdi’s opera
“La Traviata” premiered in
Venice, Italy.
In 1944, U.S. heavy bomb-
ers staged the first full-scale
American raid on Berlin
during World War II.
In 1962, the Ash Wednes-
day Storm hit the mid-Atlan-
tic coast, causing 40 deaths
and more than $200 million
in property damage.
CORRECTION
The Thursday, March
4, 2021, story “Back in
the game” misstated
information about the
La Grande High School
girls soccer schedule.
The LHS girls team had
its first game March 2,
sweeping Four Rivers
9-0 in Ontario. The girls’
first home game was
March 4 against Pend-
leton, and the team plays
at home again Tuesday,
March 9, against Ontario.
BAKER CITY — Kathy
Taylor is supposed to be
exhausted right now.
She should be rushing
from one task to another
this week, with scarcely a
spare moment to rest.
Taylor wishes that were
so.
For more than a quarter
century, the first week of
March has meant one thing
for Kathy and her husband,
Rick — basketball.
Specifically, the Class
1A state basketball girls
and boys tournaments at
Baker High School. It’s the
culmination of the season
for Oregon’s smallest high
schools, the week when
players from towns, some
of which lack a single
traffic signal, try to win
one of those glossy tro-
phies carved in the shape
of the state.
Kathy Taylor has been
co-director of the annual
tournaments, which Baker
County Tournaments has
run since 2017. But she
and her husband have vol-
unteered to help with the
events since 1994.
The tournaments them-
selves have an even longer
legacy at BHS. The boys
tournament has taken place
there every year since 1974,
and the girls tournament
moved to Baker City in
1977.
Then came the
pandemic.
And with high school
basketball not scheduled to
start in Oregon until May,
Kathy Orr/Baker City Herald File
The bleachers in the Baker High School gym aren’t packed as usual this week with en-
thusiastic basketball fans from Oregon’s smallest high schools. Due to the pandemic, the
annual Class 1A state girls and boys basketball tournaments, a Baker City tradition since
the 1970s, were canceled.
and no state tournaments
planned, 2021 will be the
year of the asterisk.
“I feel lost,” Kathy
Taylor said on Tuesday
morning, March 2. “It’s like
there’s something I’m sup-
posed to be doing but I’m
not.”
Taylor said the Oregon
School Activities Associa-
tion, which oversees prep
sports in the state, told her
in December the tourna-
ments wouldn’t happen in
2021.
An OSAA official said,
however, the organization
has no plan to move the
tournaments from Baker
City.
And Taylor wants
nothing more than to return
to her usual hectic introduc-
tion to March in 2022.
“I’m hoping we get back
to some semblance of what
we call normal,” she said.
A year ago the situation
seemed normal only with
the benefit of hindsight.
The 2020 Class 1A tour-
naments took place as
scheduled from March 4-7
(as did the Class 2A events
in Pendleton, and the Class
3A tournaments in North
Bend).
But the pandemic,
though scarcely begun, had
an effect.
Portable handwashing
stations were set up out-
side the BHS gym. The
Baker School District used
a misting system to disin-
fect the gym and other parts
of the high school each
day. Yet the tournaments
happened.
“It seems like ages ago,”
Taylor said of the 2020
tournaments. “We were
fortunate. The community
came together really well to
make it happen.”
Less than a week later,
high school sports in
Oregon were postponed.
Later they were canceled
for the rest of the spring.
The Baker girls basket-
ball team was unable to
defend its 2019 Class 4A
state title.
And now, almost a year
later, the pandemic con-
tinues to thwart traditions
across the state.
Taylor said the absence
of the tournaments affects
Baker City in multiple
ways. The economic losses
are the most obvious.
Taylor said the 2020
tournaments drew about
9,500 spectators over the
four days. As always, a
significant percentage of
those fans were visiting
Baker City, staying in local
motels, dining at local
restaurants and shopping at
local stores.
But as a longtime volun-
teer, and now co-director,
Taylor said she also feels a
personal sense of loss.
She will miss seeing
some of the people from
across Oregon that she has
come to know over the
years.
“There are relationships
that have been built,” Taylor
said. “You’ve watched
these kids grow up, it’s like
family when they come
back (for the tournaments).
That personal connection
has been lost.”
GRH employees reach out to seniors La Grande City Hall
is open to the public
By DICK MASON
The Observer
LA GRANDE —
Grande Ronde Hos-
pital employees recently
extended hands of assis-
tance to many La Grande
seniors they may never
meet.
The hospital’s
employees, as part of their
Share the Love program,
donated almost 400 items
and sent 200 signed cards
to the residents at Post
Acute Rehab, Wildflower
Lodge and Grande Ronde
Retirement Residence. The
items included large-print
word search puzzles, cross-
word puzzles, craft kits,
art supplies, socks and tis-
sues. The cards delivered
messages of kindness and
support.
The GRH Employee
Activities Committee col-
lected and prepared the
donations over the course
of two weeks. Committee
member Stephanie Roy
said it was particularly
important at the time to
reach out to the seniors
because the COVID-19 pan-
demic prevented visitations
at assisted living centers.
Move comes as Union County drops
into moderate risk for COVID-19
The Observer
Grande Ronde Hospital/Contributed Photo
Hundreds of donations fill a room in February 2021 at Grande Ronde Hospital, La Grande.
Hospital employees collected the items as well as greeting cards for residents at assisted
living facilities in La Grande.
“With COVID-19 we
thought it was important
to share love with individ-
uals who have not been
able to see loved ones reg-
ularly,” said Roy, GRH’s
administrative services
coordinator.
Roy, Jon Rankin of
GRH’s maintenance staff
and Jaimie Bingham, a
certified medical assis-
tant, delivered the items
to the assisted care cen-
ters. Bingham and Felicia
Shanks, both on the GRH
Activities Committee, sug-
gested the idea for the
Share the Love effort,
which used nine drop boxes
at Grande Ronde Hospital
and its clinics to collect the
items. The outpouring of
support struck Roy.
“This shows that GRH
employees are full of care
and want to give back to
the community,” she said.
Lucy Thompson, the res-
ident program director at
Wildflower Lodge, said the
donations were a hit.
“Our residents are so
grateful,” she said.
Thompson said she
knew the items were
coming but the number of
donations surprised her,
and the art and craft sup-
plies are especially pop-
ular. She said Wildflower’s
residents love them.
LA GRANDE —
The city of La Grande
announced the reopening
of city hall.
The reopening of the
building and its offices
at 1000 Adams Ave. in
La Grande comes as
the state moved Union
County into the mod-
erate risk level for
COVID-19,
As of Wednesday,
March 3, city hall is
open Monday through
Friday from 8 a.m.
to 5 p.m. with new
entrance and exit pro-
tocols in place, the city
announced in a press
release. to minimize foot
traffic, the public can
enter only through the
west side of the building
where the wheelchair
accessible ramp is. To
exit the building, use the
back door. People who
need to use the wheel-
chair ramp may exit via
the west-side door.
In addition, the fol-
lowing public health
restrictions are in place
in the city hall:
• Anyone older than 5
who enters the building
must wear a mask.
Masks are available at
the entrance.
• If you are unable or
refuse to wear a mask for
any reason, do not enter
the building. Instead,
call the number on the
door and someone will
meet you outside of the
building to assist you.
• People in the
building must maintain
6 feet from each other,
including when waiting
in line.
The finance and water
office will continue to
provide services over
the phone as well as in
person. Water/sewer
payments may be made
online at www.cityofla-
grande.org.
New four-wheel drive ambulance conquers winter weather
By ELLEN MORRIS BISHOP
For the Wallowa County Chieftain
WALLOWA COUNTY —
Neither snow, nor freezing rain,
nor fog, nor gloom of night stays
Wallowa County’s emergency
medical providers from the swift
completion of their life-saving
rounds. Their new $300,000 four-
wheel drive, high-tech ambulance
is ready to reach and safely trans-
port critical care patients through
the worst of Wallowa County’s
weather.
“It’s what we’ve needed —
very reliable ambulance to trans-
port critical-care patients, espe-
cially to regional hospitals
including Lewiston, Walla Walla
or Tri-Cities, and especially in
bad weather,” said Tim Peck, Wal-
lowa Memorial Hospital’s emer-
gency service director.
Although the hospital has two
other 4x4 ambulances, this one
greatly enhances transfer capa-
bility in extreme weather, Peck
said. The ambulance, which went
into service Feb. 1, has deliv-
ered on transporting emergency
patients to regional hospitals for
critical care.
“We’ve already been through
some difficult storms both going
and coming. That includes a
trip on Cabbage Hill in near-
whiteout conditions,” Peck said.
Ellen Morris Bishop/For the Wallowa County Chieftain
Wallowa Memorial Hospital’s new ambulance shows off its lights on
Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2021. It may look like any other ambulance on the
road, but its four-wheel drive, high-tech capabilities and its ability to
navigate roads in bad weather elevate it above the rest.
“And we’ve taken it over Tollgate
and down Buford and up Rat-
tlesnake grades in some of the
heaviest winter weather we’ve had
this season — sometimes led by
ODOT plows to ensure everyone’s
safety.”
The new medical capabili-
ties include a neonatal transport
system, which is an enclosed cap-
sule that creates a warm environ-
ment for the newborn, Peck said.
“The new ambulance would
be used if the crews responded
to a precipitous home birth or
other locations outside the hos-
pital,” Peck said. “The Baby-
Pod’s warmer and other features,
including openings for use of IV
and a ventilator, keep the infant
warm and secure.”
The ambulance meets the
needs of critical care transport,
including IV therapy, mechanical
ventilation and blood work.
The new blue-and-white
vehicle has the chassis, drivetrain
and engine of a Chevrolet K4500
4x4. But that’s where the resem-
blance to an ordinary truck ends.
This ambulance has a comput-
er-controlled hydraulic suspen-
sion called a “liquid spring” that
levels out bumps, adjusts vehicle
height automatically for road con-
ditions, and can be raised and
lowered with a manual control as
well.
“The crews keep remarking
on the smooth ride and ease of
driving — some say it drives like
the ‘family van,’ but it’s truly
been an important upgrade to
patient care as well as safety for
everyone onboard,” Peck said.
There’s a built-in electric gen-
erator that provides ample elec-
tric-system support, including a
standalone heating/cooling system
with UVC light that helps kill
airborne viruses, which is espe-
cially important now, Peck said.
The compartment configuration
was designed to meet the needs
of critical care transport, with
added safety features for patient
and crew members. For example,
the seat belts and shoulder har-
nesses for the EMTs allow them to
stretch forward and move to treat
the patient while remaining safely
belted.
Local fundraising efforts cov-
ered the cost of the ambulance.
The Wallowa Valley Health
Care Foundation led the charge,
including the Healthy Futures
Dinner Auction in 2019 and a
$20,000 grant from the Lewis and
Clark Valley Health Care Foun-
dation, which raised more than
$152,000 with a matching grant
from the Murdock Charitable
Trust for $152,000. The ambu-
lance itself, including the major
equipment, cost just in excess of
$300,000.
“We feel very fortunate to
serve in a community that sup-
ports our mission with equipment
that provides safety for the patient
and crew, as well as allows the
crews to provide the highest levels
of prehospital care possible,” Peck
said. “Without community sup-
port, our mission would struggle.”