LOCAL & STATE
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2020
STORM
COVID-19
Continued from Page 1A
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Police closed the
eastbound lanes about
9 a.m. The eastbound
freeway reopened
around 2 p.m.
Oregon Trail Electric
Cooperative reported a
weather-related outage
that affected about
1,100 customers in
the Haines and North
Powder areas around 9
a.m. Friday.
OTEC crews had
restored power to their
customers by 10:45
a.m.
The temperature had
warmed to 38 degrees
by 3 p.m. at the Baker
City Airport, where the
snow had changed to
rain.
Kassien said he under-
stands COVID-19 is poten-
tially dangerous, and he said
he “religiously” wears a face
mask where it’s required, such
as patronizing other busi-
nesses.
But he said he is “incred-
ibly frustrated” that the latest
restrictions affect restaurants
and other businesses, even
though Brown, as well as state
health offi cials, have empha-
sized that the biggest culprits
in the recent surge in cases
are private social gatherings
such as parties.
Kassien said he also fi nds
the state’s approach inconsis-
tent in that restaurants are
severely limited in their opera-
tions, while grocery stores and
other retail outlets only have
to reduce their capacity to
75%.
“All of us small businesses
are paying the price,” Kassien
said. “It will affect Baker in the
most negative way. People are
going to lose jobs right before
the holidays. The long-term
effects from the shutdown are
so detrimental to the economy
of Baker County.”
In addition to the restrictions
on businesses (see boxed story
at right), Brown said she was
telling individual Oregonians to
limit social events to six people
and that she had ordered the
Oregon State Police to begin
working with local law enforce-
ment to limit social gatherings
and use their discretion to en-
force as citation, fi ne or arrest
of a Class C misdemeanor.
Brown had said earlier this
summer that she would not
be “the party police” and send
MANAGER
we’ve always loved the area.”
Ashworth said they had always
Continued from Page 1A
talked about moving to Baker City
Ashworth traveled from Alpine,
after their kids were out of school.
Wyoming, McClure from Monmouth,
“The city of Baker appeals to us
and Cannon from Saluda, North
as a start,” he said. “As far as the city
Carolina. The three arrived in Baker manager position, the opportunity to
City on Wednesday, and on Thurs-
be a city manager is of high interest
day each had individual tours of city to me. It’s about being able to help a
facilities, including the police and
community, be part of a community,
fi re departments, said Robin Nudd, and help strengthen the community
the city’s human resources director. and that’s something that’s very
important to me.”
Steve Ashworth
He has worked in the public sec-
Ashworth said he is interested in tor for most of his career and has a
the job for several reasons, one of
strong belief in working as a public
them a personal link to Baker City. servant.
“My wife and I have a connection
Ashworth has been employed as
with the city of Baker,” Ashworth
the executive director of Parks and
said. “Her grandmother lived here
Recreation at Jackson, Wyoming,
and she grew up visiting her grand- since November 2009.
mother in the city of Baker and
“I’d like to be able to lead the
SCHOOLS
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The two principals pro-
claimed the fi rst three days of
in-person classes a success for
three separate student groups
at each of the schools.
This week, three-fourths of
the students got the chance
to reunite with classmates,
sit together for lunch (at a
distance) and make up for
time spent apart since school
was closed in March due to
the coronavirus pandemic.
The remaining one-fourth
of the students at each school
(those who will routinely
meet for in-person classes
on Wednesdays) will return
to their schools one day a
week beginning Nov. 18. The
Wednesday groups got the
fi rst week off because there
was no school on Nov. 11
because of the Veterans Day
holiday.
Mitchell and Flanagan
greeted each of the three
student groups with an as-
sembly on Monday, Tuesday
and Thursday outlining the
protocols designed to keep
them safe.
“So far it’s gone great,”
Mitchell said Thursday morn-
ing just after fi nishing his
third assembly.
Flanagan echoed Mitchell’s
enthusiasm for the return of
students to his school.
“It’s been so much fun to
have the kids around,” he
said. “The kids are enjoying
in the school gymnasium
— including in the balcony
“lunch with a view” overlook-
ing the gym, in the bleachers
or at tables placed on the gym
fl oor, Flanagan said.
Students at both schools
are separated into two lunch
groups. At the middle school
that means 30 to 40 students
in each group, Flanagan said.
Because space is plentiful
in the gymnasium, paw-print
stickers have been placed
around the area designating
spots that one student may
occupy while eating. The dis-
tance between each student
space is more than the 6-foot
social distancing requirement
and therefore contact tracing
will not be an issue, Flanagan
said. The system allows the
students more choice of where
to sit during the lunch period
each day.
The middle schoolers
understand their respon-
sibility for helping protect
themselves, their classmates
and the school staff, Flanagan
said.
“Obviously the kids are
being really respectful of
the policies and protocols in
place,” he said. “Staying in
Continued from Page 2A
“Oregonians voted for Republican
legislators because they want their
voices to be heard at the table, to
address the challenges facing our
state, including the underlying
weakness in our economy and its
impact on families, communities,
schools and safety net services,” said
Rep. Christine Drazan, the leader
of the minority Republicans in the
House.
Anderson and Wright both ran on
the platform that they will bring the
voices of residents on the coast to
the Capitol, where they say law-
makers have long “ignored” them.
Although Democrats lost three
seats, observers say it seems the
party will keep their power balance
in the House by 37 to 23 margin by
winning a seat in Bend and in the
Senate 18 to 12.
House Speaker Tina Kotek told
The Oregonian Friday that “the
goal in the House was to defend our
The Oregon Capitol in Salem.
supermajority. And we did that.”
But Democrats missed a rare
opportunity.
If the party was able to gain
enough new seats in the House
and Senate to become a two-thirds
supermajority it would have made
Republican walkouts ineffective as
Gary A. Warner of the Oregon
Capital Bureau contributed to
this story.
Nov. 18-Dec. 2 ‘Freeze’
Among the restrictions in effect statewide during the
2-week “freeze” Nov. 18 to Dec. 2, that Gov. Kate Brown
announced Friday:
• Takeout only from restaurants and bars
• Close all gyms and fi tness organizations.
• Close indoor recreational and entertainment facilities,
including theaters, museums, pools, sports courts and
hosting venues.
• Close outdoor recreational facilities, zoos, gardens,
aquariums, entertainment activities, including pools and
hosting venues.
• Faith-based gatherings are limited to 25 people in-
doors or 50 people outdoors.
• Prohibits indoor visits to long-term care facilities.
• Limits grocery stores and pharmacies to 75% capacity
and encourages curbside pick-up.
• Limits retail stores and retail malls — both indoor and
outdoor — to a 75% capacity and encourages curbside
pick-up.
• Social events limited to six people.
• Requires all businesses mandate work-from-home to
the greatest extent possible and close offi ces to the public.
Association) website and thought
‘wow, that looks like a really nice
place’. And so, I took a chance and
applied and started researching the
city, and just fi nd it charming.”
Cannon has enjoyed his time in
Baker City.
“It’s fantastic. It’s amazing how
beautiful the mountains are right up
here against the city,” he said.
Mayor Loran Joseph said the City
Jonathan Cannon
Council will solicit impressions from
Cannon, who has family in Boise, the councilors-elect and from other
said the area in North Carolina
residents who met the candidates.
where he works as city manager for
The council will have an execu-
Scott McClure
the city of Saluda, population about tive session meeting next week and
McClure said he is impressed by 700, has been growing.
fi gure out how to proceed.
the city and likes its size.
“My family and I said maybe we
“We’ll go over things and come out
“I’m very familiar with the size of need to fi nd somewhere that’s more of executive session to make a deci-
Baker City staff,” he said. “Very full rural like we remember growing up,” sion and will fi nd out more then and
service, I like that. I like having a
Cannon said. “Baker City, I saw it
see where everyone is at and what
lot of services to play with. It’s a nice on the (International City Managers their thoughts are,” Joseph said.
— Skye Flanagan, principal,
Baker Middle School
LEGISLATURE
offi cers to private gatherings to
enforce limit. That’s no longer
the policy, she said.
“Unfortunately we have no
other option,” Brown said.
As of Friday, Baker County
has had 150 residents test posi-
tive for the virus, along with 54
additional “presumptive” cases,
according to the Oregon Health
Authority.
Presumptive cases are
people who have had symp-
toms and close contact with
someone who tested positive,
but have not themselves tested
positive.
Contact tracers from the
county encourages people who
are presumptive cases to be
tested, but can’t require them
to do so.
people and the staff and the city of
Baker to make this even a stronger
community than already it is and
to just build off the great things
that are happening already here,”
Ashworth said.
He said he and his wife had
visited Baker in the summer about 3
weeks before the job announcement
came out.
“We love the community, we love
the historical character, and we also
like the small town kind of comfort
of the community,” said Ashworth.
“It’s been so much fun to have the
kids around. The kids are enjoying
themselves and the teachers are enjoying
talking to the kids.”
themselves and the teachers
are enjoying talking to the
kids.”
Both principals said stu-
dents have been respectful of
the guidelines put in place to
help protect them from the
coronavirus.
“The students are compli-
ant with social distancing
and are wearing their face
coverings,” Mitchell said.
“Lunches have been orderly
and students are sitting in
their assigned seats.”
Mitchell explained that
though the same seating
confi guration will continue
for the term, students had the
choice of where to sit on their
fi rst day back.
The seating chart, which
places two students at each
table for their one day at
school, is designed to provide
for the 6-foot physical distance
recommended to help ensure
student health during the
coronavirus pandemic. The
seating assignments also will
accommodate contact tracing
of students should anyone test
positive for COVID-19 after
attending classes on campus.
BMS students will be al-
lowed to sit where they want
BAKER CITY HERALD — 3A
community; all the historic build-
ings are pretty amazing. I like the
neighborhoods, especially the ones
where people have really taken care
of the historic homes.”
McClure, a lifelong Oregonian
who has served as city administra-
tor in Canby and city manager in
Monmouth, said he would like to
stay in the state.
school depends on the actions
of all of us here.”
BHS attendance has been
good during the fi rst three
days, Mitchell said. He noted,
however, that
about 20 parents
have decided
to keep their
children at home
rather than
Mitchell
return to the
hybrid system of
rotating to in-person classes
one day a week. At the middle
school, the number is at about
30 families who’ve made the
same choice, Flanagan said.
Some of those families are
concerned about the health of
their children, but also some
students are doing well in the
online setting and families see
no need to disrupt that suc-
cess, the two men said.
But for the most part, stu-
dents are glad to be back at
school, even if only for one day
a week, Mitchell said.
“They’re happy to see their
friends and happy to see their
teachers,” he said.
Mitchell noted that Oregon
has compulsory attendance
laws, which require students
to attend school regularly
either online or in person and
that attendance is monitored
regularly.
“We do expect students to
come to school,” he said.
Mitchell and Chelsea Hurli-
man, BHS assistant princi-
pal, meet weekly with Silas
Turner, school counselor, and
Kati Stuchlik, BHS gradua-
tion coach, to monitor student
progress.
“We meet every Wednesday
and look at the data to see
who is struggling,” Mitchell
said.
The focus on student
progress and well being has
always been a focus for the
school and not something
that just surfaced during the
pandemic, Mitchell said.
Stuchlik’s position as
graduation coach was created
as part of the state’s focus on
dropout prevention, chronic
absenteeism prevention and
graduation rate improvement,
Mitchell said.
As school counselor, Turner
is the initial screener who
identifi es students who might
be having social or emotional
diffi culties. He refers students
who need further services
to Karyn Wallace, a social
worker with New Directions
Northwest.
Prior to the school reopen-
ing for in-person classes,
students in need had been
meeting with Wallace at New
Directions. Now she will be
available for appointments at
the school from 11 a.m. to 4
p.m., Mitchell said.
At the middle school, coun-
selor Katie Rudi and Brianna
Peppers, the school’s student
and family support coordina-
tor, are the two who keep an
extra eye out for students
who might need an additional
boost.
that would have limited religious
exemptions from vaccines.
The next month, Republicans
again did not show up to the Capi-
tol in order to stop a cap-and-trade
bill designed to institute a carbon
tax in state. During that time
Gov. Kate Brown sent state police
to bring the absent Republican
senators back to the Capitol, and
in response some senators fl ed the
state.
Walkouts continued in 2020
when Republicans from both the
House and Senate did not attend
short sessions.
In the wake of the walkouts, hun-
EO Media Group/File Photo dreds of bills failed to advance.
And while some believed that
Republicans would be punished on
Democrats would be able to meet
the ballot for their strategies in the
quorum to vote even if Republicans Capitol, that has not been the case.
were not in attendance.
“Though it seems that the voters
In May 2019, a series of walkouts in the state, overall, disliked the
by Republican senators began to
walkout strategy it didn’t hurt
block a school funding tax. They
Republicans as much as Democrats
returned after Democrats scrapped hoped it would,” Nichols said.
bills on gun control and another
But with the election nearly con-
“They do a great job of
reaching out to kids to help
with whatever needs they
have,” Flanagan said.
New Directions also is
called upon to help when
needed at the middle school
level.
For classroom teachers, one
of the biggest adjustments
they’ve had to make with
the reopening of schools is to
share their focus between an
in-person audience and stu-
dents who are participating in
class online, Mitchell said.
The vocational classes,
such as welding and wood
shop, have an extra chal-
lenge because of the safety
issues involved, especially for
newcomers to those programs,
Mitchell said.
Middle school students,
as they have in the past, are
bused to the high school daily
to participate in vocational
instruction as well as band
and choir classes.
Flanagan expressed pride
in the efforts of his staff to
adjust to the changes that
have come with the hybrid
system of teaching online and
in-person classes simultane-
ously.
“It’s a learning curve for
sure,” he said. “This is the fi rst
week of that — ever.”
But Flanagan is confi dent
that his crew is up for the
challenge.
“They are such troopers and
such gamers,” he said. “They
are taking it all in stride.”
cluded lawmakers are hoping to set
aside party differences to focus on
the immediate needs of Oregonians.
“In the coming session, we will
focus on the basic needs facing
Oregonians who are on the brink
due to the coronavirus pandemic,
wildfi res and other structural ineq-
uities,” Kotek told The Associated
Press. “Basic needs are not partisan
issues, and my hope and expecta-
tion is that everyone will arrive on
opening day ready to work.”
Nichols called the upcoming
legislative session as “one of the
most important moments in Oregon
politics in several generations.”
So what are the odds of further
Republican walkouts?
“It will be much more diffi cult for
Republicans to walk out when relief
for small business, people strug-
gling with health and questions
regarding paths forward with local
and state level debt are at stake,”
Nichols said. “Not taking action is
going to have much higher conse-
quences for their constituents.”