SATURDAY
MAKING THE FIRST TRACKS ON A SNOWBOUND TRAIL: OUTDOORS, PAGE 1B
Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
October 17, 2020
IN THIS EDITION:
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Good Day Wish
To A Subscriber
A special good day to
Herald subscriber Mary
Stearns of Baker City.
BRIEFING
Baker City ends
burning ban
The Baker City Fire
Department has ended the
ban on outdoor burning,
including burn barrels.
Local • Health & Fitness • Outdoors • TV
$1.50
1 new virus case this week
By Jayson Jacoby
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Baker County’s COVID-19 roller-
coaster continued this week.
Although this ride more resem-
bles the modest sort you’d fi nd at a
county fair than a stomach-churn-
ing monstrosity at Six Flags.
Following a week in which the
county recorded 10 new coronavirus
cases, the highest weekly total in a
month, the county has had only one
new case for the week starting Oct.
11. That case was reported Friday,
and it came after 6 straight days
without a case.
That’s the longest period without a
new case since late June.
The previous week’s total of 10
new cases followed soon after an-
other quiet stretch. The county had
just one new case from Sept. 12-21.
Nancy Staten, director of the
Baker County Health Department,
said she can’t explain the ebbs and
fl ows of weekly cases over the past
month or so. But she’s optimistic that
this past week’s absence of cases
refl ects county residents taking pre-
cautions such as avoiding large social
gatherings.
Baker School District Offi cials Celebrate Return Of In-Person Elementary Classes
Senior needs plan
to be presented
Community Connection
of Northeast Oregon Inc.
will have a public hearing
(Zoom and phone) to pres-
ent the results of its Senior
Needs Assessment for the
Area Plan on Monday, Oct.
19, at 1 p.m. To access the
meeting on Zoom, go to
www.ccno.org/publicmeet-
ing for the link.
The Area Plan is an
overview of senior servic-
es that Community Con-
nection provides and the
service delivery systems
for the next four years.
Community members are
encouraged to attend.
WEATHER
Today
63 / 34
Mostly sunny
Sunday
60 / 40
A few showers
Monday
66 / 35
Mostly cloudy
Full forecast on the
back of the B section.
The space below is for
a postage label for issues
that are mailed.
Record
number
of ballots
mailed
By Jayson Jacoby
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Fair board to meet
Tuesday, Oct. 20
The Baker County
Fair Board will have its
monthly meeting on
Tuesday, Oct. 20, at 6 p.m.
at the Fair offi ce, 2600 East
St. Social distancing will
be followed.
See Virus/Page 6A
Keating Elementary School photo
Keating Elementary students Clara Jonas, front, and background, left to right, Freya Gifft, Nathan Cook and
Gage Clark returned to their classroom in the school east of Baker City on Wednesday.
‘Most Fun Thing’
By Chris Collins
ccollins@bakercityherald.com
A review of the fi rst 2 days of
in-person classes for Baker School
District elementary students brought
celebratory exclamations from School
Board members, administrators and
teachers Thursday night.
Students in preschool through
sixth grade returned to their teach-
ers, classmates and school buildings
on Wednesday and Thursday. And
kindergartners were welcomed to
newly remodeled classrooms at the
Baker Early Learning Center, at the
site of the former North Baker School
Building.
Superintendent Mark Witty admit-
ted he had to step out of a classroom
during his tour of the District on
opening day because he was tearing
up at the sight of the children return-
ing to school.
“I take my hat off to every single staff member. This
has been an amazing challenge of organization and
structure.”
— Mark Witty, superintendent, Baker School District
“This is the most fun thing I’ve
done in 6 months,” Witty said in his
report to the Board Thursday night.
“I take my hat off to every single staff
member. This has been an amaz-
ing challenge of organization and
structure.”
On Wednesday, Witty visited
Brooklyn Primary School, which
serves Grades 1-3; South Baker
Intermediate School, Grades 4-6;
Haines School, preschool through
Grade 6; Keating School, preschool
through Grade 6 (no third-graders
are enrolled at the 20-student school
at this time); Eagle Cap Junior and
Senior High School; and the Baker
Early Learning Center.
As part of the celebration during
the Board meeting, two elementary
school students, Hayden Churchfi eld
of Keating and Fidel Ochoa of South
Baker Intermediate, were honored
from their homes as the District’s
“Promise Students of the Month”
during the livestreamed meeting.
They were honored by their teachers
and principals for their dedication to
learning and for serving as positive
role models for other students.
See Schools/Page 3A
Stefanie Kirby had to use a
bit more muscle than is nor-
mally necessary to amass the
ballots delivered this week to
Baker County voters for the
Nov. 3 election.
Kirby, the county’s clerk
and election offi cial, said
12,249 ballots went to the
post offi ce on Wednesday.
That’s by a substantial
margin the most voters who
have been eligible in any
presidential election in Baker
County’s 158-year history.
The previous record, set in
the 2016 election, was 11,164.
Kirby said the past few
weeks have been hectic in the
clerk’s offi ce at the Court-
house as employees deal with
an infl ux of newly registered
voters.
The deadline to register
for the Nov. 3 election was
Tuesday, Oct. 13.
“We’ve been very busy,”
Kirby said on Thursday.
Baker County’s tally of
registered voters has added
more than 250 names since
summer.
There were 11,995 regis-
tered voters in the county in
July, according to the Oregon
Elections Division.
The county’s population is
about 16,800.
The increase in registered
voters has been driven in
part by Oregon’s “motor
voter” law, which took effect
Jan. 1, 2016.
The law requires the state
to mail a notice to people who
are eligible to vote, but who
aren’t registered, after they
visit a DMV to apply for or
renew their driver’s license.
People who receive the no-
tice have 21 days to respond.
See Ballots/Page 3A
CITY COUNCILORS BALK AT EXCESSIVE FORCE POLICY
Farmers Market
Police policy required for grants
finishes season
the program in Oregon, said
Thursday the Baker City
The excessive force policy
Council can agree not to ap-
the Baker City Council has
prove the policy, but in doing
been asked to approve to allow so, New Directions would not
New Directions Northwest to receive the $1 million funding
receive a $1 million grant to
for its project.
build a Wellness Center is a
“It’s not an Oregon thing, it’s
routine part of awarding fed-
not a Business Oregon thing
eral Community Development and it’s not a new thing,” he
Block Grants.
said. “We don’t have the ability
Nathan Buehler, a spokes-
to waive the federal require-
man for Business Oregon,
ment.”
the agency that administers
The current environment
By Chris Collins
ccollins@bakercityherald.com
By Lisa Britton
For the Baker City Herald
Shaletta Baldwin wasn’t sure what to expect this
year for the Baker City Farmers Market, but she ended
the season, on Oct. 14, pleasantly surprised.
“The market season went surprisingly well,” she said.
“It defi nitely started a little shaky with COVID-19.”
Baldwin is the market manager for both the Baker
City Farmers Market, and the La Grande Farmers
Market.
See Market/Page 6A
TODAY
Issue 68, 14 pages
Classified ............. 4B-6B
Comics ....................... 7B
Community News ....3A
Crossword ........4B & 6B
Dear Abby ................. 8B
Horoscope ................. 6B
Jayson Jacoby ..........4A
News of Record ........3A
Obituaries ..................2A
Opinion ......................4A
Outdoors ..........1B & 3B
Senior Menus ...........4A
in Oregon, which has included
Black Lives Matter demon-
strations and protests over the
past fi ve months, might ac-
count for a few more questions
being asked about the policy
that has been in place since
1990, Buehler said.
He has not heard of any city
in Oregon refusing to adopt
such a policy and thereby
refusing grant dollars.
See Police/Page 3A
Sports .............. 5A & 6A
Turning Backs ...........2A
Weather ..................... 8B
TUESDAY — BAKER FOOTBALL, VOLLEYBALL COACHES TALK PRACTICE