SATURDAY
PAC-12, MOUNTAIN WEST ANNOUNCE THEY’LL PLAY FALL FOOTBALL: PG. 6A
In OUTDOORS, 1B
Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
September 26, 2020
Local • Sports • Outdoors • TV
IN THIS EDITION:
QUICK HITS
Good Day Wish
To A Subscriber
A special good day to
Herald subscriber Francis
Mohr of Baker City.
BRIEFING
State proposes to
allow ATVs in part
of Sumpter
SUMPTER — A state
ATV committee is accept-
ing comments about a
proposal to allow ATVs
on a 1.25-mile section of
Highway 410 in Sumpter.
The committee will have
a public conference call
Tuesday, Sept. 29, from 6
p.m. to 7 p.m. to explain
the proposal.
If the plan is approved,
ATVs would be allowed to
legally ride on the highway
from Sawmill Gulch
Road, near the south-
ern Sumpter city limits,
through town to Cracker
Creek Road, where the
highway leaves Sumpter
en route to Granite. The
highway is the main route
through Sumpter, which is
about 28 miles northwest
of Baker City. A network
of forest roads popular
with ATV riders starts
near Sumpter. To listen to
Tuesday’s conference, dial
213-929-4212 and enter ac-
cess code 737-001-453.
To view the event,
go to https://attendee.
gotowebinar.com/regis-
ter/130487151101232395
The ID code is 541-091-
211.
$1.50
Some Baker students
could return on Oct. 12
By Chris Collins
ccollins@bakercityherald.com
If Baker County residents can
continue to avoid the coronavirus for
the next couple of weeks, younger
Baker School District students
might be able to return to their
classrooms by Oct. 12.
The Baker School Board agreed to
proceed with that plan for preschool
through sixth-grade students after
discussing the situation during a
work session Thursday night.
Director Katie Lamb, whose
husband, Dr. Eric Lamb, is the
Baker County public health offi cer
and thus involved in determin-
ing whether the school district is
meeting state requirements for in-
person classes, recused herself from
commenting on the issue during
Thursday’s session.
62 / 39
Showers possible
Sunday
64 / 32
Partly sunny
Monday
70 / 36
Mostly sunny
The space below is for
a postage label for issues
that are mailed.
See Schools/Page 5A
County
will
discuss
gated
road
Neighbors Form Baker County’s First ‘Firewise Community’
By Jayson Jacoby
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Lisa Britton / For EO Media Group
A sign at the intersection of Pocahontas Road and Pine Creek Lane, about 10 miles northwest of Baker City,
marks the boundary of the Spring Creek Firewise Community, the fi rst to be designated in Baker County.
The area includes about 125 properties in the forested area at the base of the Elkhorn Mountains. Many
residents have taken steps to reduce the risk of fi res on their properties.
WEATHER
Today
The ‘other’
side of the
mountain
Bracing For Blazes
By Jayson Jacoby
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Gayle Combs can see the danger
simply by looking out her windows.
Trees.
Towering ponderosa pines, some
of them.
Fields of grass and clumps of
shrubs desiccated by a summer of
drought.
And only a bit farther away the
Elkhorn Mountains loom 5,000 feet
above the western edge of Baker
Valley, covered with a dense conifer
forest.
The dead trees stand out, rusty
red among the dark green back-
ground.
Combs and her husband, Bret,
have lived along Pine Creek Lane for
11 years.
The attributes that brought the
couple to this corner of the valley,
and that prompted the construction
of many dozens of homes nearby in
the past few decades, are obvious.
The views could grace the glossy
cover of a real estate guide. To the
northwest, across the green and
tawny patchwork of fecund fi elds,
the Wallowas, snowy for more than
half the year, dominate the skyline.
At night the lights of Baker City
twinkle, a comfortably distant but
still convenient 10 miles away.
White-tailed and mule deer, elk
and other wildlife range the pine
woods that extend more than a mile
into the valley, following the courses
of Pine, Spring, Goodrich and Gee
creeks.
But this idyllic scene is not with-
out potential problems.
See Firewise/Page 3A
The Baker County Board
of Commissioners will dis-
cuss a mountain road blocked
recently by a locked gate
when they meet Wednesday
morning, Sept. 30.
A property owner installed
the gate across the Pine
Creek Road about 2 miles
west of Pocahontas Road.
The road passes through pri-
vate property for more than
2 miles and is an access route
to public land, as well as to
Pine Creek Reservoir.
Commission Chairman
Bill Harvey and Commis-
sioner Mark Bennett said
earlier this week that Pine
Creek Road is a county road
that must stay open to the
public. Both said the county
had asked its attorney to look
into the matter.
Commissioners will
meet in an executive ses-
sion, closed to the public,
Wednesday at 9 a.m. at the
Courthouse, 1995 Third St.
After that executive session
commissioners will convene
in an open session that the
public can attend. Residents
are encouraged to attend
remotely, via a link available
at www.bakercounty.org/
webexmeetings.html.
See County/Page 3A
Drive-thru flu
shots starting
By Lisa Britton
For the Baker City Herald
Getting your fl u shot is easy this year — you don’t even
have to get out of your car.
Saint Alphonsus Medical Center-Baker City will start
a drive-thru fl u clinic on Monday, Sept. 28. It will be open
Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 4
p.m.
The location is behind the physician clinic, just off
Midway Drive. It is the same area where the hospital has
offered respiratory evaluations since March. If no one is
outside, call the number on the banner (541-524-7961).
“Patients can come up and get their fl u shot,” said Tonya
Roth, the hospital’s executive director of operations. “In this
pandemic, we’ve learned how to meet patients where they
need care. We’re making it easy.”
Lisa Britton / For EO Media Group
Chelsea Graves, left, sits in her pickup truck and receives a fl u shot from Dailon Sher-
man at a drive-thru clinic at Saint Alphonsus Medical Center-Baker City. The clinic will
See Flu Shots/Page 3A run Monday through Friday starting Sept. 28.
TODAY
Issue 59, 12 pages
Classified ............. 2B-4B
Comics ....................... 5B
Community News ....3A
Crossword ........3B & 4B
Dear Abby ................. 6B
Horoscope ........3B & 4B
Jayson Jacoby ..........4A
News of Record ........2A
Obituaries ..................2A
Opinion ......................4A
Outdoors ................... 1B
Senior Menus ...........2A
Sports ........................6A
Turning Backs ...........2A
Weather ..................... 6B
TUESDAY — COFFEE CORRAL OPENS NEW LOCATION IN BAKER CITY