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.
Since Duby joined the
Baker City Police Depart-
ment as lieutenant in
October when he retired
from the Oregon State
Police, he has been work-
ing to revive the narcotics
enforcement team.
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208-939-9456