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About Baker City herald. (Baker City, Or.) 1990-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 6, 2020)
COMMUNITY THURSDAY, AUGUST 6, 2020 BAKER CITY HERALD — 3A Chamber to reopen Visitors Center By Jayson Jacoby jjacoby@bakercityherald.com The Baker County Chamber of Com- merce’s Visitors Center in Baker City will reopen Friday for the fi rst time in four months, and resume daily operation from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Chamber director Shelly Cutler said Wednesday that she’s “very excited” to reopen the building on the north side of Campbell Street near the Interstate 84 interchange. Cutler said the Visitors Center, which closed at the end of March due to the coronavirus pandemic, has been receiv- ing an average of about 80 phone calls every fi ve days or so during the closure. The Chamber has continued to stock visitors guides and pamphlets outside the center, and Cutler said she and offi ce manager Diane Wroe have had to replenish the supply a couple of times per week. Wroe also spent time at the center July 20-22, and she said a steady stream of visitors came by. “We know people are still traveling, both from inside and outside Oregon,” Cutler said. Baker County commissioners voted Wednesday to authorize the Chamber to reopen the Visitors Center, as recom- mended by the county’s Transient Lodg- ing Tax Committee. SCHOOLS Continued from Page 1A The task force’s name is rather long — Rural Schools Public Health Metrics Review Work Group. But Bennett, who is also Baker County’s incident commander during the coro- navirus pandemic, said the overriding goal, from his per- spective, is simply expressed. He wants to let county health departments and their medical advisers decide whether students in their counties, and at what grade levels, can safely return to their classrooms. That would be decidedly different from the situation as it stands now. Based on the metrics that Oregon Gov. Kate Brown an- nounced July 28, there is no role for local offi cials in decid- ing whether to bring students back to classrooms. Those metrics allow in-per- son classes only if individual counties, as well as the state, meet specifi c targets includ- ing the number of new virus cases weekly, and the rate of positive tests. For most districts, including Baker, the metrics include a maximum weekly rate of new COVID-19 cases of 10 per 100,000 population. Baker County would have to meet that metric for three straight weeks for Baker Schools to qualify for any in-person classes. The district’s proposal, an- nounced last month, is to have in-person classes for students in grades K-6 four days per week, the schedule that’s been in effect for many years. Students in grades 7-12 would be divided into two groups, with each group at- tending in-person classes two days per week and taking the same classes online the other two days. Based on Baker County’s population of 16,134 (from the 2010 Census), the county would fail to meet the metric if it had two or more cases in any single week during that three-week period. Two cases per week equates to a rate of 12.4 cases per 100,000 — exceeding the metric of 10 per 100,000. In addition, Baker County would also have to have a case positivity rate — the percent- age of COVID-19 tests that are positive — of 5% or below each week for three straight weeks. But those two county metrics aren’t the only ones that would have to be met for Baker to allow any in-person classes. The statewide case positiv- ity rate would also have to be 5% or below each week for three straight weeks. Based on current condi- tions, Baker would fail mul- tax raised about $440,000 in the “We know people are still traveling, The previous fi scal year, but the county both from inside and outside budgeted just $300,000 for the fi scal year that started July 1. Oregon. I’m thrilled that we’re The Chamber didn’t receive lodging getting folks coming through taxes while the Visitors Center was and spending money in our local closed, although Cutler said she and businesses.” Wroe volunteered to retrieve phone messages and restock the information — Shelly Cutler, executive director, display outside the Visitors Center. Baker County Chamber of Commerce Payments will resume when the Center reopens, said Bill Harvey, The Chamber receives about chairman of the Baker County Board $76,000 per year from the 7% lodging of Commissioners. tax, which is collected from guests at Cutler said she has talked with motels, bed-and-breakfasts and other operators of visitors centers in other lodging establishments, to operate the counties in the region, many of which Visitors Center. reopened earlier this summer. Cutler said the Visitors Center closed She said she’s glad to be able to at the end of March due to uncertainty meet with visitors and answer their about effects of the pandemic, then in specifi c questions. its early stages. As an example, she said some visi- Another concern was plummeting tors might arrive intending to visit lodging tax collections, the source of the Hells Canyon, but they might not money for the Visitors Center contract. know that Halfway, with its restau- Timothy Bishop, the county’s rants and other businesses, is just a contracted tourism marketing direc- mile or so off Highway 86. tor, told commissioners Wednesday When the Visitors Center is open, that although lodging tax revenue has dropped this year, the decrease hasn’t she and Wroe can give travelers that specifi c information. been as large as he expected. “I’m thrilled that we’re getting folks Although numbers for the current coming through and spending money quarter aren’t in, Bishop estimated that revenue is down 60% from 2019. in our local businesses,” Cutler said. tiple metrics, and the school district would be required to have all students attend online classes only. School offi cials across rural Oregon have asked state offi cials to consider a more fl exible approach. Mark Witty, Baker Schools superintendent, said last week that “we made our point very clear. These metrics don’t make sense in some of our cities.” Those concerns prompted the creation of the work group late last week. Bennett said Baker County’s representa- tives in the state Legislature, Sen. Lynn Findley, R-Vale, and Rep. Mark Owens, R- Crane, pushed to form the group. Members have had several remote meetings since, Bennett said. He said that he and the other local offi cials who are members have urged the state to exempt rural districts from the statewide metric, arguing that it’s unfair to pos- sibly punish schools in coun- ties such as Baker for a high percentage of positive tests in, say, Multnomah County. The statewide metric, as of today, would disqualify Baker schools from offering in-per- son classes because the most recent weekly case positivity rate was 6.1%. But Baker would also fail to meet the county-specifi c metrics. In the most recent week tallied, ending July 25, Baker County had nine new CO- VID-19 cases. That equates to a rate of 55.8 per 100,000 population, well above the metric’s limit of 10. The county hasn’t had three straight weeks with a case positivity rate of 5% or below since June. Bennett said his goal, and it’s an idea he said the work group has discussed at length, is to exempt rural districts such as Baker from the county metrics and instead allow county health depart- ments and medical advisers to decide how schools can proceed. Those local offi cials would still use the COVID-19 case numbers and case positivity rates in their deliberations, Bennett said. The difference is that they would be allowed to analyze those data and decide whether the overall situation in the county would allow at least some students to safely return to their classrooms. As a hypothetical, Bennett noted that Baker schools could not allow any in-person classes if Baker County had as few as two new cases in one week. But if the county health department’s investigators determined that both those cases were members of one household, and that they had no direct contact with a student or school district staff member, those two posi- tive cases might not justify banning the school district from offering some in-person classes, Bennett said. He said he has complete confi dence that the Baker County Health Department and the county’s medical review team, led by county health offi cer Dr. Eric Lamb, if allowed to decide on the mat- ter of in-person classes, would make responsible decisions. “I feel really comfortable that they will always be on the side of protecting the students, school staff and the community,” Bennett said. He said the task force has focused on the issue of giving county offi cials authority that they lack under the metrics- based system the governor announced. Bennett said the fi ner de- tails of what that might mean for individual counties or dis- tricts ultimately depends on whether the governor agrees. For instance, he said it’s impossible to say whether Baker School District might be able to roll out its plan of completely in-person classes for K-6 and the half-time, hybrid model for grades 7-12, or whether it might even be feasible to allow students at all levels to be in classrooms every day. Bennett said he will learn more when the task force meets this morning. He expects state offi cials to announce early next week whether the original metrics will be changed, or whether the governor will agree to let county offi cials make deci- sions about schools. ARREST Continued from Page 1A Clawson and Evee Collard, 19, of Baker City, were walking by the house at 2339 East St., commonly known as the Coe residence, Duby said. The two men, who were both wearing masks, re- portedly jumped Clawson and dragged him into the backyard of the house and robbed him of two cellphones, about $500 in cash, a wallet contain- ing his identifi cation, an Umpqua bank card, an orange Casio watch and a Smith and Wesson pocket knife. Clawson sustained minor injuries, Duby said. None of the stolen prop- erty has been recovered. A reward of up to $200 is being offered for informa- tion about the robbery or the return of the items. Duby said Clawson es- pecially is seeking return of the wallet because of its sentimental value and the items it contained. Anyone with more information about the rob- bery is asked to contact the Baker City Police at 1768 Auburn Ave. or call 541-523-3644 and ask for Detective Shannon Regan or Lt. Ty Duby. Both McMurdo and Prowell are known to hang out at the house where the robbery hap- pened, Duby said. “They’re both known by us to frequent that place, and the one (at 1226) Washington,” he said. “Those are the two main fl op houses in the com- munity right now.” Duby said the houses attract transients and criminal activity. Gary Kramer is the owner of the Washington Avenue house. Kramer’s adult son is the only person who should be living at that address, Duby said. Six transients and people with warrants for their arrest were cited or issued trespass notices at the Washington Avenue house as part of an opera- tion conducted by the nar- cotics enforcement team the week of July 27. Collard also is known to frequent both houses and was cited on a charge of trespassing at the Kramer house on July 28. That same day Prowell was cited at the Baker County Parole and Probation Of- fi ce on a warrant charg- ing him with possessing methamphetamine on Jan. 16, 2020. Duby credits the renewed efforts of the Baker County Narcotics Enforcement Team for leading to the arrests of McMurdo and Prowell on the robbery charges and other arrests that have been made this summer. “I think the last couple of months we’ve had more contact with people committing drug crimes and other crimes than we have in the last several years,” he said. “I attribute that to the task force and being back out on the street and not having to rely on the uniformed offi cers.” Patrol offi cers spend their days going from one call to another and don’t have the time to follow- up on long-term cases by tracking down witnesses and gathering evidence, Duby said. Regan formerly was the department’s only detective and her time was occupied with major crimes, leaving her little time to do follow-up as well, Duby said. 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