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About Baker City herald. (Baker City, Or.) 1990-current | View Entire Issue (July 23, 2020)
LOCAL & STATE THURSDAY, JULY 23, 2020 PANHANDLE COUNTY Continued from Page 1A “We were excited,” said Huff, who’s in her second year as president of the Pine Valley Fair Association. But as the number of COVID-19 cases began to rise in Oregon, and Gov. Kate Brown set a limit of 10 people at- tending indoor social gatherings, Huff’s optimism confronted reality. Last week the Fair Association’s board of directors and members, about 20 people in all, met in Halfway to discuss the situation. Huff said the consensus was clear. The Association voted to cancel the fair and rodeo. The youth livestock show and sale will happen on Sept. 6, probably as a virtual event in which kids will record videos of the animals they have raised, and bidding done online. Krischele Whitnah, the livestock superintendent, said she’s still working on the details of that event. Huff said the impediments to putting on the fair and rodeo were insurmount- able. The main challenge with the rodeo is a lack of volunteers, she said. Huff said she had talked with orga- nizers of the Haines Stampede Rodeo, which took place July 3 and 4. She said the changes made in Haines due to the pandemic, including sanitiz- ing the bleachers, would not have been possible in Halfway. “We were going to be short of volun- teers anyway,” Huff said. The reason, she said, is that many veteran volunteers are older than 60, in the higher-risk group for severe compli- cations from the virus. The obstacle for the fair is the limit on the number of people who can attend an indoor event, Huff said. With just 10 people allowed in the exhibit hall — some of whom would be staff — the event just isn’t practical, she said. “It’s just not going to work,” Huff said. In addition to the specifi c challenges with the rodeo and fair, Huff said an overriding concern was the possibility that a child could become infected while participating in the fair. “How would we feel if some kid got sick,” Huff said. “We own the grounds. There is a liability issue.” Although the decision to cancel the fair and rodeo seemed unavoidable, that’s not to say it was an easy one to make, Huff said. “It just breaks my heart,” she said. “I was holding on. I hated to think we wouldn’t have fair time. It was a big letdown, and we didn’t take it lightly. It wasn’t a snap decision. Nobody’s happy with it.” The matter is intensely personal for Huff. She grew up in the Pine Valley and has missed only one fair in her 58 years Kathy Orr/Baker City Herald fi le photo, 2007 Michelle Williams won a blue ribbon in the market class for her sheep dur- ing the 2007 Baker County Fair in Halfway. — when her daughter was seriously injured in a car crash. “It’s an important thing to me,” Huff said. “I just love fair time.” And she’s already preparing for the fair’s return in 2021. “We’re looking forward to celebrating 100 years next year,” Huff said. Youth livestock show and sale For dozens of youngsters this is the culmination of many months of toil, and hundreds of dollars of investment, in raising a steer, hog, sheep or other animal. Whitnah, who has been involved in planning the show and sale for several years, said that at a minimum there will be a virtual show and sale on Sept. 6, probably in the afternoon, with de- tails to be announced. “We promised that to the kids,” Whit- nah said. “We’re not just going to leave them hanging.” She expects the number of market animals to be similar to previous years, with about 150 for sale. That includes a few more goats than in the past few years, as well as one turkey, a fi rst for the Halfway fair, she said. Whitnah said most kids acquired their fair animal before the pandemic started — as far back as last fall in the case of some steers — so they had no reason to expect the 2020 show would be any different. Whitnah said she would still like to put on a limited version of a live event so kids could show their animals before judges, always a big part of the fair. But it’s not clear whether that will be possible. Judges, at least, should be available, Whitnah said, because the Oregon State Fair has been canceled. As disappointing as the situation is, Whitnah said the changes also give youths a real-world example of the vagaries of the livestock industry. “It’s a learning opportunity for kids, which is one of the underlying goals,” she said. “They’re defi nitely learning about market risk.” Whitnah said the industry will set a fl oor price for animals by the Friday before the sale. “Kids are going to get at least that base amount,” she said. Whitnah said that although she understands the pandemic has had a major fi nancial toll on many people, both locally and across the state and nation, she also has seen Baker County residents show their generosity when the recipients are kids. “Baker County as a whole steps up to support kids and agriculture,” she said. Besides which, the sale is a chance for residents to buy “good quality meat to fi ll their freezers,” Whitnah said. H EART TO H EART Changes hard to recognize until later BAKER CITY HERALD — 3A What about the philosophi- cal and social advances? Ahh. One thing we seem to forget Here we have an entirely is that for each generation different situation. The intel- there is amazement at how lectual evolution of humanity folks got by with so little in is every bit as complex as the the past. The truth is, each change from a sharp rock to a generation has the most jet airplane. This makes for an recent ideas and technology involved subject, the discus- in their time. Let’s look back sion of which can go on for for a moment ... decades. Transportation can We fi nd people live in the advance in the ability to age they are in, not really able move people. Remember, to imagine accurately what the fi rst big advance was reality is in a different age. fi nding a way to travel faster This is inescapable since each than walking — running. In of us have a frame of reference some cultures the people are defi ned by all we know of our capable of running for long time, our early years up to our distances, the Tarahumara tribe of Mexico is one such example. Once you can reach outside your own physicality, say by climbing upon an ani- mal such as a camel, horse, or perhaps an elephant, the concept of travel suddenly changes. Once animals were a reliable source of energy for carrying one person it was not long before vehicles were attached to the beasts so more could ride at the same time. Think of the Egyptian chariot or later, the horse and buggy — which my grandmother and grandfather’s generation used until the automobile was developed. Trains did exist in their day but were still small potatoes compared to the ad- vances just over the horizon. So there we have a chance to contemplate the technologi- cal advances which probably started with the discovery of the use one could get from a sharp rock. present moment. To experience a change similar to my early years you might try this: Use your telephone only to make and receive calls, no texting or mes- saging or voice mail. Scary! Then leave it at home. That was how our phones worked. If someone called and we weren’t home — we didn’t answer so we didn’t talk. There were no answering machines so no left messages and defi nitely no such thing as cellular. The phone had a wire connected to it. It was a fairly short wire so the phone lived in one place, such as the living room. Later, when a family could afford it, there might be an extension phone in the kitchen. If you wanted to call a friend for an after school get-together, you dialed and hoped their big sister wasn’t on the phone. If she was, you would get a busy signal. You had to wait awhile and try again. Or you might just get on your bicycle and ride to your friend’s house. Likely when you got there the sister would still be on the phone, gabbing away. It is hard to imagine how much things change until the change is behind you. Rick Rienks Baker City COVID-19-related issues. Bennett said the Health Continued from Page 1A Department’s current Commissioners on location, in a leased Wednesday morning ap- 3,200-square-foot building proved making an offer of on Pocahontas Road near $500,000 for the build- Saint Alphonsus Hospital, ing at 2200 Fourth St. isn’t large enough to ac- New Directions North- commodate the staff. west owns the building, “New Directions was constructed in 1970, and willing to help the Health offers several services Department out (by selling there, including substance the building at a reason- abuse and mental health able price), and programs. I think it’s going to be New Directions is mov- a good thing for Baker ing all its operations into County,” Commissioner a new building on 13th Bruce Nichols said. Street near the Baker The larger space would County Sheriff’s Offi ce allow the county to hire and the Powder River Cor- an additional registered rectional Facility. nurse, Bennett said. The 5,000-square-foot In other business building has a real market Wednesday, commis- sion- value of $515,000, accord- ers approved a new, 2-year ing to the Baker County labor contract with Local Assessor’s Offi ce. 503 of the Service Employ- The offer commission- ees International Union, ers approved Wednesday which represents most call for a $150,000 down county employees except payment and paying the those in the sher- iff’s offi ce balance over 10 years at and emergency dispatch 3% interest. center, elected offi cials and “This year is an op- supervisors. portune time for Baker The contract is similar County to do it,” Commis- to the previous 3-year pact, sioner Mark Bennett said which expired June 30. of the proposed purchase. The new contract One reason, Bennett includes 2% annual pay said, is that the county re- raises for employees. ceived money through the Employees who use their federal CARES act, which personal vehicles for work Congress approved in will receive 35 cents per late March to assist with mile, up from 30 cents. L OCAL B RIEFING BLM increasing fi re restrictions on the Vale District starting Friday VALE — The Bureau of Land Management’s Vale District Offi ce announced that additional fi re restric- tions, including bans on campfi res and cross-country vehicle travel, will take effect Friday, July 24. These restrictions will apply to all public lands, camp- grounds and recreation sites administered by the Vale District, including the Malheur Resource Area, Baker Resource Area, the 500-acre National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center site, and Bureau of Reclamation lands within Vale District boundaries. Although campfi res, woodstoves and barbecues using charcoal briquettes are prohibited, stoves and heaters that use liquifi ed or bottled gas are allowed, provided they are in an area cleared of fl ammable ma- terial for at least 10 feet in diameter.Smoking outdoors is permitted only within areas barren of all fl ammable materials for at least a 6-foot diameter, aboard boats on rivers and lakes, or inside a motor vehicle. JUDGE DENIES REQUEST TO WAIVE SIGNATURE REQUIREMENT FOR THE GROUP MOVE OREGON’S BORDERS Group that wants to add 17 counties to Idaho still has to collect signatures PORTLAND (AP) — A federal judge has denied a petition to bypass state-required signatures to qualify as a ballot measure its proposal for 17 counties, includ- ing Baker, to divorce from Oregon and become part of Idaho. U.S. District Judge Michael J. McShane ruled Monday that the group Move Oregon’s Border was not “reasonably diligent” in attempting to collect signa- tures, even amid the unusual limitations due to the coronavirus pandemic. See Border/Page 6A Open for dining in 6 am to 12 am Daily Take out and Catering is Available. 515 Campbell Street Baker City 541-523-4318 Visit the store for Baker’s best Gifts
