2A — BAKER CITY HERALD
TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2020
B AKER C OUNTY C ALENDAR
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22
■ Baker County Board of Commissioners: 9 a.m.;
Commission meetings will be streamed live. A link will be
available on the county’s website, www.bakercounty.org
THURSDAY, APRIL 23
■ Baker School Board: 6 p.m.; details of how the public will
access the meeting will be announced later.
TUESDAY, APRIL 28
■ Baker City Council: 7 p.m., City Hall; details of how the
public will access the meeting will be announced later.
T URNING B ACK THE P AGES
50 YEARS AGO
from the Democrat-Herald
April 21, 1970
An alternate access route from the Highway I-80N inter-
change into the city of Baker was proposed Monday night by
City Manager Vern Jacobson at a special meeting of the city
council.
Jacobson said the city had heard nothing but opposition
to its plan to widen Campbell Street east of Main Street.
25 YEARS AGO
from the Baker City Herald
April 21, 1995
A Baker City rancher believes a pack of domestic dogs
killed one of his Angus calves late Tuesday or early Wednes-
day in a pasture south of Campbell Street and just west of
21st Street.
10 YEARS AGO
from the Baker City Herald
April 21, 2010
The recycling business has gotten a lot more colorful the
past year or so.
More megabytes, too.
Since Oregon’s “E-Cycles” program started on Jan. 2,
2009, Baker Sanitary Service has added TV sets, computers
and monitors to its traditional list of lower-tech recyclables
such as corrugated cardboard, milk jugs and magazines.
The Baker City company has collected about 20 tons of
discarded electronic devices during the past 16 months.
ONE YEAR AGO
from the Baker City Herald
April 22, 2019
Baker Sanitary Service is asking the Baker City Council
to approve the company’s fi rst general rate increase for
garbage collection in 12 years.
Councilors will discuss the request, but are not slated to
make any decisions, during their regular meeting Tuesday
at City Hall, 1655 First St.
The evening starts with a work session at 6 p.m., during
which councilors will talk about efforts to reduce the fi re
danger in the city’s watershed. That will be followed by an
executive session (closed to the public) at 6:45 p.m., fol-
lowed by the regular public meeting at 7 p.m.
Baker Sanitary is requesting a residential rate hike from
$16 per month to $19 for homes with a single roll cart
emptied weekly. That’s an 18.75% increase, and it would
be the fi rst such increase since 2007.
The yellow bag option for customers who generate little
waste would remain at $7 per month.
O REGON L OTTERY
MEGABUCKS, April 18
8 — 11 — 15 — 17 — 31 — 45
Next jackpot: $3.2 million
POWERBALL, April 18
4 — 44 — 46 — 56 — 63 PB 19
Next jackpot: $29 million
MEGA MILLIONS, April 17
13 — 35 — 39 — 46 — 55
Mega
14
Next jackpot: $164 million
WIN FOR LIFE, April 18
35 — 53 — 73 — 77
PICK 4, April 19
• 1 p.m.: 1 — 4 — 0 — 6
• 4 p.m.: 6 — 4 — 8 — 8
• 7 p.m.: 9 — 1 — 7 — 4
• 10 p.m.: 0 — 5 — 5 — 1
LUCKY LINES, April 19
4-7-12-14-19-22-27-32
Next jackpot: $33,000
S ENIOR M ENUS
■ WEDNESDAY (April 22): Chicken-fried chicken, potatoes
and gravy, broccoli-blend vegetables, rolls, cottage cheese
with fruit, cinnamon rolls
■ THURSDAY (April 23): Barbecued pork ribs, au gratin
potatoes, green beans, rolls, pea-and-onion salad, lemon
bars
■ FRIDAY (April 24): Cheeseburgers with trimmings, potato
wedges, corn, fruit cup, tapioca
■ MONDAY (April 27): Chicken ala King over a biscuit,
peas, fruit, brownies
■ TUESDAY (April 28): Meat lasagna, caulifl ower, garlic
breadsticks, green salad, ice cream
Senior Center, 2810 Cedar St., 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.; $4.50
donation (60 and older), $6.75 for those under 60. Due to
the coronavirus crisis, meals must be picked up; there is no
dining on site.
Dozens gather at state Capitol
to protest virus restrictions
SALEM (AP) — Dozens
of people protesting Oregon’s
stay-at-home order drove
around the state Capitol on
Friday, horns blaring, and a
lawmaker asked the governor
to ease restrictions for medical
procedures for non-coronavirus
patients.
The protest at the Capitol in
Salem was one of several hap-
pening across the country this
week as conservatives push
back against virus-related
restrictions meant to slow the
spread of the coronavirus.
State Rep. Cheri Helt, a
moderate Republican from
Bend, credited Gov. Brown for
imposing the stay-at-home
order and social distancing.
But she said in a letter it’s
time to “slowly and carefully
begin lifting regulations that
have essentially shut down
access to health care and
medical procedures in Central
Oregon for anything unrelated
to COVID-19.”
Helt noted that the order
has affected the health care
industry and patients who
must wait for procedures.
Some hospitals in Oregon
have seen revenue decline as
much as 60% in a month, said
Becky Hultberg, CEO of the
Oregon Association of Hospi-
tals and Health Systems.
Organizers said the Salem
rally was aimed at getting
their constitutional rights back
and getting Oregonians back
to work, KEZI-TV reported.
Brown issued an order for
Oregonians to stay home start-
ing March 23 and banned non-
essential gatherings and travel
after crowds descended on the
state’s beach towns and hiking
trails the previous weekend.
Brown said on April 14 that
she won’t reopen Oregon’s
economy or ease restrictions
until she sees a declining rate
of active virus cases and public
health data suggesting a
return to normalcy is safe.
Also on Friday, Brown
signed an executive order to
prevent creditors or debt col-
lectors from garnishing federal
coronavirus aid bill payments.
“Many Oregonians, through
no fault of their own, are strug-
gling to pay their bills, their
rent, or even buy essentials
like groceries and prescrip-
tion drugs,” Brown said in a
news release. “These recovery
checks were meant to pro-
vide relief, not reward debt
collection agencies for preying
on Oregonians who have lost
their livelihoods due to the
COVID-19 pandemic.”
REOPEN
conference the governor said
her decision on easing the
executive order would depend
on several conditions, includ-
ing slowing the growth of
new COVID-19 cases, having
capacity at the local hospital
to handle a possible surge
in virus cases, increases in
testing capacity and supplies
of personal protective equip-
ment, creating a system for
tracking people who might
have been exposed to the
virus, and ensuring effective
ways to quarantine people
who have tested positive.
During a Saturday inter-
view with Oregon Public
Broadcasting’s Dave Miller,
the governor said the gradual
reopening of businesses she
mentioned during her April
14 press conference could be
done “county by county.”
“My top priority right now
is to protect the health and
safety of Oregonians,” Brown
told Miller. “But we also have
to balance that, at some level,
with people’s livelihoods.”
Bennett said he hopes the
governor will give counties
more details about minimum
standards they would need
to meet to possibly qualify
for reduced restrictions,
including reopening of some
businesses.
According to the frame-
work the governor’s offi ce
released on Thursday, restric-
tions wouldn’t be eased in
a county without a recom-
mendation letter from the
county’s public health offi cer,
a letter from the CEO of the
hospital listing the inventory
of personal protective equip-
ment and hospital bed capac-
ity, and a vote of the county
commissioners certifying the
hospital capacity and protec-
tive equipment inventory.
That said, Bennett is
confi dent that the county
will put together a compre-
hensive proposal that makes
a compelling case for why
restrictions that might still be
appropriate in the more popu-
lated counties west of the
Cascades is no longer war-
ranted in some rural areas
east of the mountains.
“I think we’re going to have
a good plan,” Bennett said.
The county’s situation —
no confi rmed cases, but a
testing rate that’s below both
the state and national aver-
ages — is a potential obstacle
in persuading the governor,
he acknowledged.
But Bennett believes it’s an
obstacle the county can clear.
“We do need more test-
ing — we’re fl ying somewhat
blind in this area,” he said.
As of Monday the county
reported testing 61 residents
— 51 tests were negative,
and the results from 10 oth-
ers were pending.
That’s a rate of about
3.6 tests per 1,000 county
residents. Oregon’s average
is about 8.6 tests per 1,000
residents, and the national
average 10.46 per 1,000.
But Bennett notes that
the county’s relatively low
number of tests also refl ects,
in part, that few people with
symptoms severe enough to
meet the Centers for Dis-
ease Control and Prevention
threshold for testing have
been evaluated at Saint Al-
phonsus Medical Center and
St. Luke’s Eastern Oregon
Medical Associates in Baker
City.
Bennett acknowledged
that “there are people out
there that are probably in-
fected but asymptomatic.”
“That’s why we have to
encourage people to shelter
in place and practice social
distancing,” he said.
That will be a major
component of the county’s
proposal to the governor, Ben-
nett said — and specifi cally
how social distancing could
be maintained in restaurants
and bars were they allowed
to reopen their dining rooms
rather than be limited, as
they have been since March
17, to takeout and delivery
options.
“The food industry will be
our toughest one,” Bennett
said.
Findley and Owens, in
their letter to the governor
suggesting a pilot project in
Harney County, wrote that
restaurants and bars could
potentially comply with social
distancing guidelines by al-
lowing customers only in al-
ternating booths and tables,
and sanitizing tables and
chairs after each customer.
The legislators also sug-
gested that beauty shops
and barbers could comply by
limiting the number of cus-
tomers in the business at one
time, and by using sanitizers,
masks and gloves.
Bennett said outdoor seat-
ing at restaurants is another
option that could make it
easier for customers to main-
tain social distancing.
He’s optimistic about the
progress Baker County has
made toward other goals that
Brown cited during her April
14 press conference.
St. Alphonsus Medical Cen-
ter has boosted its capacity to
74 beds, almost three times
as many as its usual capacity,
Bennett said.
Continued from Page 1A
The other counties whose
commissioners signed the
April 13 letter are Deschutes,
Grant, Harney, Jefferson,
Klamath, Lake, Union, Wal-
lowa and Wasco. The letter, on
the stationery of the Eastern
Oregon Counties Association,
suggested a target date of
May 1 for reopening busi-
nesses.
State Sen. Lynn Findley,
R-Vale, and state Rep. Mark
Owens, R-Crane, sent a letter
Friday to the governor asking
her to consider a pilot project
in Harney County that would
allow businesses there to
reopen. Harney County com-
missioners sent a separate
letter to the governor on April
14 asking that restrictions
be “eased slowly in Harney
County by May 1,” according
to Findley and Owens’ letter.
Bennett said Findley and
Owens, who also represent
Baker County in the Oregon
Legislature, have offered to
support Baker County’s case
for easing some of the restric-
tions from the governor’s
March 17 executive order.
Like Harney County, Baker
County has yet to have a con-
fi rmed case of the virus. Three
other counties don’t have
a confi rmed case — Lake,
Wheeler and Gilliam.
Bennett said he had a
phone conference scheduled
Monday afternoon with the
governor’s offi ce during which
he hoped to get a list of spe-
cifi c tasks the county would
need to accomplish to allevi-
ate Brown’s concerns that
reopening businesses could
lead to a surge in infections.
During her April 14 press
O BITUARY
Charlie Robison
that he joined
hunting. He also took great
Hills; his grandchildren,
the Army. Char-
joy in gardening, making
John and Chase Lang; and
Charles “Charlie” Robison, lie spent his
arrowheads and mining sun- his great-grandson, Hudson
80, of Baker City, died April
working career
stone. He loved coaching his Lang.
16, 2020, surrounded by his
in the construc-
grandsons for Little League
Charlie was preceded in
family.
tion business as
and football.
death by his wife, Jaqueline
Per his request there will be a carpenter.
Charlie
Charlie is survived by
Robison.
Robison
no funeral.
Charlie
his son, Frank Robison; his
Online condolences can be
Charlie was born on Feb.
enjoyed the out-
daughters, Jill and Anna
made at www.tamispinevalley
27, 1940, to Charles and Ethel doors, fi shing, rifl e and bow
Robison; his sister, Geraldine funeralhome.com
Robison. He was raised and
Qgmdddgn]l`]ogjco]\g&A_mYjYfl]]al&%BJ
educated in Coquille.
1963 was a signifi cant year
in Charlie’s life. It was the
year that he married Jaque-
line Troyer, and also the year
Baker City, 1940-2020
225 H Street • East of I-84 • 541-523-3200 • grumpysrepair.com
C ONTACT THE H ERALD
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Copyright © 2020
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Regional publisher
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Publisher
Karrine Brogoitti
kbrogoitti@lagrandeobserver.
com
Jayson Jacoby, editor
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ISSN-8756-6419
Serving Baker County since 1870
Published Tuesdays, Thursdays and
Saturdays except Christmas Day by the
Baker Publishing Co., a part of EO Media
Group, at 1668 Resort St. (P.O. Box 807),
Baker City, OR 97814.
Subscription rates per month are:
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Postmaster: Send address changes to
the Baker City Herald, P.O. Box 807, Baker
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N EWS OF
R ECORD
POLICE LOG
Baker City Police
Arrests, citations
VIOLATION OF RELEASE
AGREEMENT: Zachary Ryan
Smith, 24, of Baker City, 11:18
a.m. Sunday, in the 3000 Block of
10th Street; jailed.
DRIVING UNDER THE INFLU-
ENCE OF INTOXICANTS and
PROBATION VIOLATION (Baker
County Circuit Court warrant):
Rhonda Jean Page, 48, of
Haines, 9:18 p.m. Sunday, at 10th
and H streets; cited and released.
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