6A — BAKER CITY HERALD
SATURDAY, JUNE 6, 2020
Baker Little League cancels season
NBA approves
22-team season
starting July 31
By Tim Reynolds
By Corey Kirk
AP Basketball Writer
ckirk@bakercityherald.com
The NBA took a major step toward getting back on
the court Thursday, with the league’s Board of Gov-
ernors approving a 22-team format for restarting the
league season next month at the Disney campus near
Orlando, Florida.
The vote was 29-1, with Portland casting the dissent-
ing vote, said a person with knowledge of the situation.
The person spoke to The Associated Press on condi-
tion of anonymity because the league did not publicly
release voting details.
Teams would arrive at Disney around July 7 and
play an eight-game slate starting July 31 at the ESPN
Wide World Of Sports complex. All teams will stay, prac-
tice and play at Disney and the NBA Finals — which
would have started Thursday if not for the coronavirus
pandemic that caused the NBA to suspend its season
on March 11 — will likely stretch into October.
“The Board’s approval of the restart format is a nec-
essary step toward resuming the NBA season,” NBA
Commissioner Adam Silver said. “While the COVID-19
pandemic presents formidable challenges, we are hope-
ful of fi nishing the season in a safe and responsible
manner based on strict protocols now being fi nalized
with public health offi cials and medical experts.”
The eight-game slate — it’s unclear if they will
be classifi ed as regular season games — will help
determine playoff seeding. From there, the league could
have a play-in tournament for the fi nal spot in the
Eastern Conference and Western Conference postsea-
son fi elds.
“While there is still work to be done, we applaud all
the effort and collaboration that has gone into fi nd-
ing a safe, competitive format,” Orlando Magic CEO
Alex Martins said. “It has always been our feeling that
sports have the ability to bring people together and we
look forward to restarting the NBA season while using
that platform to drive meaningful social impact at this
period of time.”
There are numerous other details to continue work-
ing through, including fi nalizing specifi cs of what the
testing plan at Disney will entail and calculating the
fi nancial ramifi cations of playing fewer games.
Another person, also speaking to AP on condition
of anonymity because the details of the ongoing talks
have not been publicly released, said the NBPA and
the NBA are working on “lengthy” medical protocols.
The details will be shared with teams once those dis-
cussions are completed, which will be long before they
arrive at Disney, the person said.
“The NBA is taking all the appropriate measures,
and working tirelessly to provide a safe environment
for our team and staff,” the Dallas Mavericks said in
statement.
The Baker Little League
board of directors, after weeks
of weighing their options and
hoping to salvage the season,
decided Wednesday to cancel
the season due to the corona-
virus pandemic.
“We are very, very disap-
pointed,” Board President
Jason McClaughry said. “It
is certainly not a decision we
take lightly, and to ultimately
come to this conclusion basi-
cally exhausting everything
that we could.”
Following direction from
Little League International
and state offi cials, the local
board’s main objective is to
keep the kids, coaches and
parents safe. As the state
and the county have slowly
begun to open up once again,
large gatherings like sporting
events are still prohibited.
“That is the absolute fi rst
consideration in this current
situation we fi nd ourselves
in,” McClaughry said.
As the local board tried to
fi nd a way to salvage the sea-
son, other leagues in District
3 canceled their schedules.
That left McClaughry
and other board members
wondering who Baker all-star
teams would be able to play
in a district tournament.
“We certainly monitored
that,” McClaughry said. “We
were looking for interleague
play in those other towns, and
a part of the decision-making
process was to see if there
was going to be enough teams
for the district tournament.”
Another vital piece in this
decision was hearing from the
parents around the league.
A couple of weeks ago, the
board posted a survey on the
Baker Little League Facebook
Photo by Toni Joseph / 2018
Baker second baseman Palmer Chandler gets ready to fi eld a ground ball during a
2018 state tournament game as teammate Isaiah Jones, left, looks on from shortstop.
“We are very, very
disappointed. It is
certainly not a decision
we take lightly.”
— Jason McClaughry, Baker
Little League board of
directors president
page to gauge how many
parents would be comfortable
having their kids compete
this summer.
“Who would be available
to play or would we have
enough kids to fi eld teams to
have meaningful competitive
league,” McClaughry said.
“We had a third of all the par-
ticipants reply to the survey.”
Based on these responses,
the board was able to get a
better sense of what the sea-
son might look like. Although
some parents were open to a
delayed start if it was permit-
ted, their numbers were going
to be too low to build teams.
“One of the board’s primary
concerns was having enough
RESTAURANTS
Continued from Page 1A
Jerry Shaw, owner of the Inland Cafe, also
on 10th Street, said his restaurant has been
busier than he expected, but that that hasn’t
translated to profi t because of the limited
seating and astronomical rise of beef prices
as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
“We’re keeping our head above water,
but we’re not turning a profi t,” Shaw said.
“The cost of beef has skyrocketed. The cost
of prime rib for me has doubled, and other
meat has as well, which is almost hurting us
worse than the limited seating.”
Kari Raffety, owner of The Main Event
Sports Bar and Eatery on Main Street down-
town, said the social distancing requirement
has reduced the capacity from 175 to just 40.
Raffety says that “it’s been absolutely
no issue keeping our tables full, but when
they’re full, that’s all you can have, so it’s
hard for business.”
Raffety said that she’s had to raise prices
because food costs have gone up so much.
She said the community has been very
understanding that it’s something small
businesses have to do right now.
The Main Event has also suffered from the
loss of liquor sales, as seating at bars isn’t al-
lowed unless the bar or counter faces a win-
dow or wall and at least 6 feet is maintained
between parties and staff behind the bar.
Raffety is also worried that local busi-
nesses won’t see the infl ux of tourists this
summer, as some traditional events, includ-
ing the Baker City Cycling Classic later this
month, and the Hells Canyon Motorcycle
Rally in July, have already been canceled.
PORTLAND
Continued from Page 5A
The news came after thou-
sands of protesters gathered
on Wednesday for the sixth
consecutive night in Portland
and remained peaceful. Gov.
Kate Brown on Thursday
ordered all fl ags fl own at
half-staff to honor Floyd, a
handcuffed black man who
died after a white Minneapo-
lis police offi cer pressed his
knee to Floyd’s neck.
The use of armed school re-
source offi cers in educational
settings has been a conten-
tious one.
Beyond their law enforce-
players to ensure that we
could provide programs at all
age levels,” McClaughry said.
Based on all these factors,
board members decided that
they had no other choice but
to cancel this season.
Frustrated as he is about
the turn of events, Mc-
Claughry is thankful for
parents being understanding
about the circumstances.
“I don’t think this decision
was unexpected based on
what our region has been and
other towns making similar
decisions,” McClaughry said.
Now that the diffi cult
decision has been made, the
Baker Little League’s next
objective is to give parents
an opportunity to decide
how they intend to handle
the money they spent for the
season. Parents have these
options:
• They can receive a com-
plete refund
• They can have these fees
roll over to the 2021 season
• They can opt for their
“I think what we saw was the
community rallying around the
businesses that were still open
and protecting them to make sure
they made it through. We saw the
community support that makes you
know why you keep your business in
this town.”
— Jamie Kassien, co-owner,
D&J Taco Shop in Baker City
“We are gearing up for what we can for the
summer,” Raffety said. “Normally this is the
time of year where I’m hiring more people
for those busy weekends, but it sounds like
some of those aren’t going to happen, so
that’s tough.”
Jamie Kassien, co-owner of D&J Taco
Shop on the fi rst fl oor of the Baker Tower,
said he was worried about his business after
his friends in New York had their restau-
rants completely shut down for a full two
weeks.
Oregon decided on a less drastic measure,
however, and Kassien said that during the
fi rst few weeks when the taco shop was
limited to takeout, it had days with more
business than any he had seen since opening
fi ve years ago.
“I think what we saw was the community
rallying around the businesses that were
still open and protecting them to make sure
they made it through,” Kassien said. “We
saw the community support that makes you
know why you keep your business in this
town.”
ment role, the model for school
resource offi cers endorsed by
the U.S. Justice Department
enlists them also as mentors,
informal counselors and edu-
cators on topics ranging from
bullying to drunk driving with
the goal of promoting school
safety.
But critics of the concept
say the offi cers’ presence can
also lead to the criminaliza-
tion of students, particularly
students of color, who may
be labeled as troublemakers
for things such as not paying
attention in class, using a
cellphone or other minor
infractions. In 2015, a school
resource offi cer in South Caro-
lina was caught on video fl ip-
ping a female student to the
fl oor and dragging her across
a classroom after she refused
to surrender her cellphone.
Nationwide, 43% of public
schools had an armed law
enforcement offi cer present
at least once a week in the
2015-2016 school year, the last
time the National Center for
Education Statistics released
data on this topic.
The offi cers work closely
with school administrators,
who are encouraged to reach
understandings with offi cers
that disciplinary issues short
of anything illegal are to be
handled by school offi cials.
money to be treated as a
donation.
Though the 2020 season
won’t happen, this doesn’t
mean Baker Little League
will stop working, Mc-
Claughry said.
Behind the staff of their
dedicated volunteers, they in-
tend to re-evaluate fi nancially
to make sure the organization
is in good standing, and that
fi elds are maintained.
The focus is now on the
2021 season.
“We’ll start planning for
operations next year to make
sure to have everything in
place that we can,” Mc-
Claughry said. “The job won’t
stop for the board, there is
still a lot to do.”
Those parents interested in
Baker Little League’s refund
policy can go to the League’s
Facebook page to fi ll out the
form they posted so they can
handle their money accord-
ingly.
The deadline to fi ll out the
form is July 6.
PREPARE FOR
SUMMER TRAVEL
TIRES, BRAKES,
ALIGNMENT & BATTERIES
-FX#SPT5JSF4WD
#SJEHF4U
#BLFS$JUZ
Z