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About Baker City herald. (Baker City, Or.) 1990-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 4, 2020)
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2020 BAKER CITY HERALD — 3A L OCAL B RIEFING Jared Miller on SDSU dean’s list BROOKINGS, South Dakota — Jared Christo- pher Miller of Baker City was named to the dean’s list for the fall 2019 semester at South Dakota State University. Miller earned a perfect 4.0 GPA. 50 TH A NNIVERSARY Diaper drive extended through February The Rachel Pregnancy Center has extended its Diaper Drive at the request of several participating churches. The drive, which began on Sanctity of Life Sunday (Jan. 19) will continue through February, said Vera Grove, Rachel Center director. The Center’s days of operation will be changing in February to Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (closed for lunch each day). The offi ce, at 2192 Court Ave., is closed Mondays and Fridays. More information is available by calling the Center at 541-523-5357 during operating hours. Students helping Joseph School Brooklyn Primary School is having a coin drive fun- draiser for Joseph Charter School, which sustained damage in a fi re in January. Beginning Feb. 10 and running through the end of the month, each student is challenged to bring a quarter (or any coin) to add to the collection jar located in the hallway. Proceeds and any sentiments from students will be delivered to Joseph. Bob and Laurel Goodrich The Goodriches Bob and Laurel (Woodworth) early January to mark the milestone. Goodrich of Baker City celebrated their The Goodriches owned Far West Con- 50th wedding anniversary Jan. 31 with a crete from 1982 to 1994 and have owned private family party in Baker City. Saf-T-Store Storage since 1994. The couple also traveled to Mexico in The couple’s children are Nathan BUS Continued from Page 1A Community Connection’s transportation options have continued as Baker City goes without a taxi service. Baker City is asking people interested in starting a taxi service to call City Hall at 541-523-6541. Hayes said one of the grants he is working on is for the Statewide Transportation Improvement Fund (STIF), a new tax-funded program that started May 1, 2019. According to Oregon.gov, the Oregon transit tax is a state payroll tax equal to one-tenth of one percent. The transit tax is the sole revenue source for STIF. “This is a brand new, this was for expanding services of transportation,” Hayes said. “It all had to be expansion, it can’t be to replace (existing vehicles).” Hayes said the goal is to not only add buses to the fl eet, but also to expand Community Connection’s transportation program to provide curb-to-curb service for residents who have mo- bility issues and can’t get to the current spots where the Trolley stops. The new service could take riders to a doctor’s ap- pointment, a local store, or “anywhere you want to go in the community.” Hayes said Community Connection already takes patients to see physicians outside Baker County. People who are covered by Medicaid or the Oregon Health Plan, or who are veterans, can have the costs paid. “It’s really a pretty good deal,” Hayes said. “I don’t think you can even drive to Boise round-trip for $50.” Community Connection’s other services include: • In Baker City, the trolley runs from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. • Baker to La Grande commuter service; call 541- 523-6591 for information •Dial-a-Ride from Haines/ Keating areas on Tuesdays and Fridays, $2 one way. Call 541-523-7433 •Baker City to Hunting- ton to Ontario shopping/ appointment bus Thursdays, $5 round trip. Call 541-709- 5777 • Sumpter to Baker City Searchers help free snowmobile A Baker City snowmobiler who was the subject of a Friday night search in the Marble Creek area west of Baker City returned home safe with some help from the Search and Rescue Team. Kern Morrison of Baker City was HALFWAY “Some of these microclimates can be diffi cult to fi gure out.” Continued from Page 1A Meteorologists call this situation a temperature in- version because it inverts, or reverses, the typical tempera- ture profi le, which is that air grows colder the higher you climb. (There’s a reason glaciers typically form on mountains rather than in valleys.) Pine Valley also has a nearby source of cold air in the towering Wallowas, since chilled air tends to drain, as water through a funnel, down into the valley, especially on clear, calm winter nights, Breidenbach said. All valleys are susceptible to temperature inversions, but Breidenbach said inver- sions typically persist longer in relatively small valleys, such as Pine Valley. It takes wind to end an inversion — to “scour out” the cold air and replace it with warmer air, he said. In a broader valley such as Baker Valley, winds that accelerate into the valley as they descend from surround- ing higher ground can more easily spread out and displace the trapped cold air, Breiden- bach said. Baker Valley’s higher eleva- tion compared to Pine Valley’s also contributes to this ten- dency, he said. Because wind speeds generally increase the higher you go, a valley at 3,400 feet is more likely to have its temperature inver- sion ended by winds — what meteorologists call “mixing out” — sooner than a lower — Jay Breidenbach, warning coordination meteorologist, National Weather Service offi ce in Baker City valley where the winds don’t reach as early. (Eagle Valley, though lower than Pine Valley, is oriented in such a way that it’s more susceptible to south and west winds, which most often push cold air out of valleys.) The second factor that helps explain Pine Val- ley’s prolifi c snowfalls is its proximity to the Wallowas. That range, is large and high enough that when moisture- laden Pacifi c storms sweep in from the west, the air is forced to rise and cool, and because the colder air is the less water it can hold in vapor form, the sodden clouds dis- gorge much of their moisture. Pine Valley is close enough to the Wallowas that a signifi - cant amount of the moisture that douses the peaks spills into the valley. And because the temperature is often below freezing during winter due to the aforementioned inversion effect, what falls is more likely to be snow than rain, Breidenbach said. The infl uence of the Wal- lowas is even more blatant at Cornucopia, the old gold- mining ghost town about 9 miles northwest of Halfway. Although Cornucopia’s eleva- tion of 4,900 feet is still mod- est for the Wallowas, where more than two dozen peaks Community Choir practice begins Goodrich and his wife, Molly, of Joseph; Daniel Goodrich and his wife, Sara, of Bend; and Benjamin Goodrich and his wife, Adrianne, of Bend. The Goodriches also have six grandchildren. shopping/appointment bus Fridays, $5 round-trip. Call 541-894-7771 In addition to adding buses to its fl eet, Community Connection hopes to build a bus shelter before June 2021, Hayes said. Possible sites for the shelter are D Street at the Leo Adler Parkway, Saint Al- phonsus Hospital, Oak and B streets, and Main Street and Court Avenue. Community Connection is also working on a request for bids for adding 1,300 square feet to its offi ce at 2810 Cedar St. Community Connection has allocated $100,000 for the project, and received $50,000 from the STIF pro- gram as well as grants from private foundations. reported overdue by his snowmobil- ing partner Denis Apple, a Sheriff’s Offi ce press release stated. Apple called 9-1-1 to report that Morrison had separated from him in an attempt to reach the summit. When Morrison failed to return top 9,000 feet, the annual snowfall there, measured from 1909 to 1972, was 244 inches — more than 3fi times Halfway’s average. Baker City, of course, is also close to a major mountain range — the Elkhorns, where Rock Creek Butte reaches 9,106 feet. But there are differences between Baker City and Halfway that have dramatic effects on snowfall in the two places, Breidenbach said. Baker City is a bit farther from the mountains than Halfway is, and as winds from passing storms descend the Elkhorns the air, through compression, warms. This warm air can hold more moisture, and by the time the air reaches Baker City, even though the distance is just 6 miles or so, the effects of compression can drastically reduce the amount of pre- cipitation, Breidenbach said. That helps explain why the Elkhorns have the opposite effect that the Wallowas have on Pine Valley — forming a rain (and snow) shadow that extends over much of Baker Valley. The importance of proxim- ity to the mountains is easily enough illustrated by compar- ing snow depths at the base of the Elkhorns and in Baker City. Although the elevation difference is only about 600 feet, snow at places such as Marble and Rock creeks can be 2 feet deep when there’s little or no snow in Baker City. The base of the Elkhorns is basically the same sort of microclimate as the Pine The Baker Community Choir has started rehears- als for its spring concerts. Rehearsals will be every Monday at 7 p.m. in the choir room at Baker High School, 2500 E St. Cost is $15 per person. No experi- ence is necessary and no auditions required. Singers in high school and older are welcome. Middle School students can join if accompanied by a parent or guardian. Haines Elementary School chili feed Feb. 7 The annual Haines Elementary School Chili Feed and Raffl e is scheduled Friday, Feb. 7. The event, billed as the school’s largest fundraiser of the year, will be from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the school. Money raised at the event is used to help pay for technology in classrooms and to support assemblies and fi eld trips that enhance the students’ educational experiences, a news release stated. Items raffl ed during the evening are donated by local businesses and community partners. To donate, call Chelsea Blatchford, PTCO president, at 541-519- 2017. Tickets are pre-sold by Haines students and also will be available at the door. The cost is $2 per ticket, three for $5, seven for $10, or $20 for 15 tickets. Win- ners do not have to be present to collect their prizes. Dinner tickets are $5 for adults (11 and older), $4 for children (ages 4-10), and free to children younger than 3. For more information or to purchase tickets, call Haines Elementary School at 541-524-2400. after several hours, Apple called the dispatch center. Baker County Sheriff’s Of- fi ce Search and Rescue members responded to the Marble Creek area about 6:47 p.m. When searchers found Morrison, they discovered his snowmobile was buried in more than 5 feet of snow. After the search and rescue team dug his machine out of the snow, Morrison was able to ride the snow- mobile down the mountain on his own. Snowfall Varies Widely In Region In general, annual snowfall amounts increase with elevation. But there are exceptions in Northeastern Oregon due in part to microclimates created by the region’s diverse and in cases extreme topography. SITE Baker Airport Halfway Cornucopia La Grande Enterprise Elgin ELEVATION 3,396 2,600 4,900 2,750 3,750 2,680 YEARLY SNOW 26.9 inches 69.3 inches 244.1 inches* 19.9 inches 41.6 inches 41.9 inches *records from 1909-1972 Valley — close enough to share in the mountains’ snow bounty, but not far enough from the peaks to languish in their snow shadow. The trouble for forecast- ers such as Anderson is that the sophisticated computer weather models they use lack the resolution, as it were, to account for microclimates such as the Pine Valley. Anderson, who has worked at the Weather Service offi ce in Boise for several years, said he came to understand this limitation in the models, and to adjust forecasts ac- cordingly. Even so, because the Weather Service doesn’t gen- erate a specifi c forecast for an area as small, and sparsely populated, as Pine Valley, forecasts that rely largely on models will still sometimes call for rain in Halfway even when Anderson knows it’s likely to be snow. “Some of these microcli- mates can be diffi cult to fi gure out,” Breidenbach said. Baker County’s Pine Valley isn’t the only such anomaly in the mountainous West, where the dramatic topography complicates weather fore- casting. The same mountain range can confound even the cleverest computer models by making some areas soggy while creating rain-shadowed near-deserts in others. He said the institutional knowledge among forecasters at the Boise offi ce, concerning such places as Pine Valley, is passed to new employees so they, too, will recognize when the models might be leading them astray. JAN 31-FEB 6 ELTRYM HISTORIC THEATER 1809 1st Street, Baker City www.eltrym.com BAD BOYS FOR LIFE R FRI: (4:00) 7:00 SAT & SUN: (1:00) (4:00) 7:00 MON-TH: 7:00 1917 R FRI: (4:10) 7:10 SAT & SUN: (1:10) (4:10) 7:10 MON-TH: 7:10 DOLITTLE PG FRI: (4:20) 7:20 SAT & SUN: (1:20) (4:20) 7:20 MON-TH: 7:20 ( )Bargain Matinee Show Times: 541-523-2522 Offi ce: 541-523-5439
