COFFEE BREAK
B6 — THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD
SATuRDAY, JAnuARY 29, 2022
Niece still hasn’t paid back loan for legal bill
after that, another one for $500.
The retainer was $2,600. My
niece has been steadily employed
for the last two years, yet I have
received no further payment. I
regret that I didn’t set up a formal
repayment plan, but I never
dreamed she’d default on the loan.
Her mother told me she is
saving up to buy a house and,
apparently, she has money to
spend on friends and others.
I never told her parents that I
loaned her the money, and I have
no idea if she ever did, although
I assume she hasn’t. I’m torn
between approaching my niece to
remind her that the loan has not
yet been repaid and risk damaging
DEAR ABBY: Several years
ago, my adult niece, with whom
I am very close, found herself in
some legal difficulties and needed
an attorney. At the time, due to
some medical issues, she wasn’t
working and could not afford the
attorney’s retainer, so I offered to
lend her the money. I told her she
could repay me once she began
working again.
Nine months later she sent me
a check for $500 and, two months
the relationship we have, or suck
it up and accept that I’ll never see
the money.
Because of the pandemic, my
husband has been out of work for
many months. While we are not
desperate, the money she owes me
could be put to good use. Please
advise. — GOOD DEED IN
THE MIDWEST
DEAR GOOD DEED: Meet
with or contact your niece to ask
her for the money she still owes
you and, when you do, explain
that your husband hasn’t worked
in many months and you need it.
Agree upon a repayment plan.
However, if she reneges again,
DO discuss it with her parents.
ried first. Time is running out on
the likelihood of developing a
new relationship this late in the
process. What’s a girl to do? —
WONDERING IN OHIO
DEAR WONDERING: The
“girl” should ask her boyfriend of
six years if he wants to be mar-
ried to her. If the answer is yes,
and he wants to be a father, her
problem will be solved. However,
if the answer is no — and she can
afford it — she should proceed on
her path to motherhood without
him. Someone may come into her
life later who would love to be a
husband and a dad. And, if not,
she will have fulfilled her biolog-
ical imperative.
Perhaps they can “encourage”
their daughter to do the right
thing. There must be a reason they
didn’t front her the money for her
legal problem. Let’s hope it wasn’t
because she stiffed them, too.
DEAR ABBY: A female rel-
ative wants to have a child. She
is 30. However, her significant
other of six years hasn’t proposed.
She feels her biological clock is
ticking — loudly. What would
you suggest family advise her to
do?
I feel that a woman who wants
a child should have one if she can
afford to, regardless of whether
or not she’s married. But I under-
stand her preferring to be mar-
Walla Walla hunter remembers the era of the hunting hound
By EMRY DINMAN
Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
WALLA WALLLA —
On a cold January morning,
the snow from a recent
storm largely melted, Brian
Hergert sat inside the living
room of his cozy Walla
Walla home, surrounded by
houseplants in every corner
and furnishings he’s fash-
ioned out of antlers and
animal hides.
In a few hours, he would
be headed to his property
out in the country, ready
to be back in nature after
staying home for a few
days. Outside, two coon-
hounds, Maisie and Tracker,
howl at newcomers and
passing cats before curling
up again for a nap inside
their chain-link kennel.
An avid hunter, Hergert
has been running hounds
since the early ‘80s. Before
the practice was largely
banned by voters more than
a decade later, his hounds
often helped him hunt big
game predators, including
cougars, in the Blue
Mountains.
“We used to take, in a
good year, I’d kill six, seven
cats,” Hergert said. “It was
nothing to take out 40, 50
cats out of the Blues from
here to Dayton between me
and my friends.”
In 1996, however, Wash-
ington state joined Oregon
in outlawing the use of
hounds to hunt or pursue
black bear, cougars or bob-
cats, with some excep-
tions. That initiative, which
also largely criminalized
the use of bait to attract
black bears, was approved
by Washington voters by
a comfortable margin,
marking what many saw as
a sea change for hunters in
the state.
Management of large
Greg Lehman, Walla Walla union-Bulletin
Brian Hergert on Jan. 13, 2022, talks about a huge cougar skin on his living room wall in Walla Walla that
scored highly with Boone and Crockett.
predators has remained
politically contentious in
the decades since, often
flared by increased human-
cougar interactions, live-
stock predation and rare but
high-profile fatal attacks.
But recently, debate over
what to do with cougars in
the Blue Mountains in par-
ticular has increased for a
different reason: dwindling
elk populations.
The Blue Mountain elk
herd is estimated to consist
of around 3,500 animals,
according to reporting by
the Lewiston Tribune, well
below the population objec-
tive of 5,500 currently set
by the Washington Depart-
ment of Fish & Wildlife.
The herd’s calves also
often are not surviving to
maturity.
A 2021 study by the
Washington Department
of Fish & Wildlife moni-
tored 125 elk calves with
radio collars — by mid-No-
vember, only 11 still were
known to be alive. While a
number of factors such as
a recent harsh winter and
drought have contributed to
the high mortality rate, cou-
gars are believed to have
accounted for 54 of those
deaths.
While some have called
for reducing elk hunting in
the area to protect the herd,
the study’s findings have
prompted calls to extend
cougar-hunting season in
the Blue Mountains as well
as for the Fish & Wildlife
to use hounds to hunt the
big cats for management
purposes, which is allowed
under the 1996 law.
For Hergert, calls to
increase cougar hunting are
long overdue.
through the ditches along-
side farm ground out near
Waitsburg and elsewhere,
chasing down raccoons.
“But they’re just kind of
greasy, stinky deals,” Her-
gert said. “But big cats,
they’re good eating.”
It wasn’t long before
Hergert began training
hounds to chase bobcats
and cougars. And if friends
who hunted big cats were
only interested in the pelt,
he’d take the meat and trim
it down with the help of a
butcher his father worked
with as a high schooler.
When Hergert first
started hunting cougars,
anyone could buy the
hunting license and tag and
could use hounds during
the hunt, he said. Later, the
state used a lottery system
to allocate cougar tags, and
Hergert’s name had to be
drawn for him to be able to
harvest a cougar.
Or, as often as not,
another hunter whose
name was drawn that year
would reach out to Hergert,
knowing that he had trained
hunting hounds that needed
Hergert’s hounds
While the veteran hunter
has owned as many as six
hunting dogs at one time,
these days he just keeps
the two: a redtick-treeing
walker mix named Maisie,
and a redtick-bluetick mix
named Tracker.
Hergert grew up hunting
birds with his dad and
brother, and when he began
using hounds, he started
with small game. He had
permission to run his dogs
weather
| Go to AccuWeather.com
Brian Hergert/Contributed Photo
Brian Hergert with his hunting hounds Tracker and Maisie, in the
Blue Mountains recently.
AROUND OREGON AND THE REGION
Astoria
Longview
43/48
Kennewick
37/44
St. Helens
33/46
31/46
Condon
34/46
36/45
SUN
MON
TUE
WED
Mainly clear
Cloudy and
chilly
Sunny to partly
cloudy
Low clouds and
chilly
Cloudy and
chilly
33 17
31 16
29 14
Eugene
3
0
0
36/50
37 29
34 20
32 20
3
1
0
La Grande
24 35 29
Comfort Index™
Enterprise
0
0
0
19 38 28
Comfort Index™
4
31 18
29 21
3
1
1
ALMANAC
TEMPERATURES Baker City La Grande Elgin
NATION (for the 48 contiguous states)
High: 83°
Tamiami, Fla.
Low: -38°
Clayton Lake, Maine
Wettest: 0.82” NASA Shuttle Facility, Fla.
27°
12°
31°
18°
33°
18°
PRECIPITATION (inches)
Thursday
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Normal year to date
0.00
0.38
0.62
0.38
0.62
0.00
1.24
1.48
1.24
1.48
0.00
3.73
2.92
3.73
2.92
AGRICULTURAL INFO.
HAY INFORMATION SUNDAY
Lowest relative humidity
Afternoon wind
Hours of sunshine
Evapotranspiration
45%
S at 8 to 16 mph
6.7
0.05
RESERVOIR STORAGE (through midnight Friday)
Phillips Reservoir
Unity Reservoir
Owyhee Reservoir
McKay Reservoir
Wallowa Lake
Thief Valley Reservoir
2% of capacity
27% of capacity
20% of capacity
36% of capacity
21% of capacity
33% of capacity
STREAM FLOWS (through midnight Thursday)
Grande Ronde at Troy
1530 cfs
Thief Valley Reservoir near North Powder
1 cfs
Burnt River near Unity
15 cfs
Umatilla River near Gibbon
277 cfs
Minam River at Minam
138 cfs
Powder River near Richland
51 cfs
OREGON
High: 63°
Low: 3°
Wettest: none
Tillamook
Meacham
WEATHER HISTORY
On Jan. 29, 1966, the “Blizzard of ‘66”
dumped 12 to 20 inches of wind-whipped
snow from central Virginia through Penn-
sylvania into southern New England. The
storm caused more than 50 deaths.
SUN & MOON
SAT.
Sunrise
Sunset
Moonrise
Moonset
7:17 a.m.
4:55 p.m.
5:30 a.m.
1:50 p.m.
SUN.
7:15 a.m.
4:56 p.m.
6:34 a.m.
3:00 p.m.
MOON PHASES
New
Jan 31
First
Feb 8
Full
Feb 16
Beaver Marsh
39/57
Last
Feb 23
36/54
Silver Lake
Jordan Valley
17/37
Paisley
26/51
19/48
Frenchglen
22/46
30/57
Klamath Falls
17/50
City
Astoria
Bend
Boise
Brookings
Burns
Coos Bay
Corvallis
Council
Elgin
Eugene
Hermiston
Hood River
Imnaha
John Day
Joseph
Kennewick
Klamath Falls
Lakeview
Hi/Lo/W
48/39/r
53/35/c
28/23/pc
55/43/c
38/25/c
53/40/c
49/34/r
27/18/pc
36/28/c
50/38/r
43/35/c
46/37/sn
44/32/pc
44/36/c
39/27/sn
43/32/i
50/25/pc
45/24/pc
Hi/Lo/W
46/39/r
46/25/pc
33/23/pc
56/40/c
42/16/pc
48/35/c
45/31/r
32/9/c
35/25/s
45/32/c
45/33/s
45/36/c
39/26/pc
39/24/s
34/21/pc
46/33/s
51/16/pc
46/17/pc
22/26
Lakeview
17/45
McDermitt
18/40
RECREATION FORECAST SUNDAY
REGIONAL CITIES
MON.
Grand View
Arock
16/36
20/46
Shown is Sunday’s weather. Temperatures are Saturday night’s lows and Sunday’s highs.
SUN.
Diamond
20/44
Fields
Medford
Brookings
Boise
15/28
34/57
40/55
16/34
24/51
Chiloquin
Grants Pass
Juntura
13/38
22/47
17/49
Ontario
17/29
Burns
Brothers
35/51
Roseburg
Huntington
16/40
Bend
Coos Bay
11/27
21/28
Seneca
31/53
Oakridge
Council
13/29
25/44
30/51
Elkton
THURSDAY EXTREMES
High Thursday
Low Thursday
18/39
John Day
27/53
Sisters
Florence
Powers
13/26
Baker City
Redmond
42/51
38/48
Halfway
Granite
33/49
Newport
37/53
Comfort Index takes into account how the weather will feel based on a combination of factors. A rating of 10 feels
very comfortable while a rating of 0 feels very uncomfortable.
22/45
34/51
35/50
36/52
35 22
3
Corvallis
Enterprise
19/38
24/35
Monument
30/49
Idanha
Salem
TONIGHT
1
Elgin
20/36
La Grande
32/45
Maupin
Comfort Index™
26/40
Pendleton
The Dalles
Portland
Newberg
31/48
Lewiston
31/43
Hood River
26/46
37/50
13 29 20
Forecasts and graphics provided
by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2022
Walla Walla
26/43
Vancouver
33/44
TIllamook
Baker City
authorization from the state.
And in recent years,
the elk that he hunts have
become more inaccessible.
“There were 28 rifle-
hunting permits available
for bull elk in 2018,” Her-
gert said.
“Now there’s one permit
for rifle and one permit for
archery, for the whole area.
It’s really that bad,” he said.
Now, to save the elk pop-
ulations and to increase
opportunities for area
hunters, Hergert argues,
restrictions on hunting cou-
gars need to be relaxed.
But while Hergert and
other individual hunters are
not the only ones calling for
cougar hunting guidelines
to be relaxed in the face of
high elk calf predation, it
is not a proposal without
political challenges and
controversy.
to keep their skills sharp.
Once his hounds found
a cougar’s trail and chased
it, the cougar would typ-
ically climb a tree to try
to escape, unable to main-
tain fast speeds at long
distances. While Hergert
caught up with his dogs,
their baying at the bottom
of the tree kept the cougar
from being able to flee
again.
While the 1996 initiative
to ban the use of hounds for
hunting cougars and other
large predators ended the
recreational sport, it didn’t
end the hunt altogether.
The law provided
for a number of excep-
tions, including for pop-
ulation management or
to kill an animal that had
attacked livestock or threat-
ened public safety, though
hunters generally need
SUN.
City
Lewiston
Longview
Meacham
Medford
Newport
Olympia
Ontario
Pasco
Pendleton
Portland
Powers
Redmond
Roseburg
Salem
Spokane
The Dalles
Ukiah
Walla Walla
MON.
Hi/Lo/W Hi/Lo/W
43/35/sn 47/34/c
44/37/r 44/38/r
35/28/c 36/26/s
57/37/c 55/28/c
51/41/r 47/38/c
48/38/r 46/35/c
29/23/c 37/21/c
40/31/i 47/31/s
46/33/c 41/32/s
45/35/r 44/36/r
57/44/c 50/33/c
53/32/c 45/22/pc
54/43/c 47/33/c
50/35/r 47/34/c
35/27/sn 35/25/c
46/38/r 48/36/pc
41/29/c 36/25/s
40/33/c 41/31/s
Weather(W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain,
sf-snow fl urries, sn-snow, i-ice
ANTHONY LAKES
PHILLIPS LAKE
Cloudy
Cloudy
27
19
36
31
MT. EMILY REC.
BROWNLEE RES.
A p.m. fl urry
Cloudy
32
27
35
27
EAGLE CAP WILD.
EMIGRANT ST. PARK
A little p.m. snow
A p.m. shower
31
19
38
25
WALLOWA LAKE
MCKAY RESERVOIR
P.M. snow, 1-2”
Cloudy
39
27
48
33
THIEF VALLEY RES.
RED BRIDGE ST. PARK
Cloudy and chilly
Cloudy and chilly
29
20
35
29