TUESDAY
BAKER MIDDLE SCHOOL EMPLOYEE TESTS POSITIVE FOR COVID-19: PAGE 3A
In SPORTS, 6A
Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
December 15, 2020
Local • Home & Living • Sports
IN THIS EDITION:
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Good Day Wish
To A Subscriber
A special good day to
Herald subscriber Travis
Bloomer of Baker City.
BRIEFING
COVID-19 testing
event Wednesday
$1.50
County ready for vaccine
By Jayson Jacoby
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Doses of the nation’s fi rst approved
vaccine for COVID-19 were sched-
uled to arrive today at Saint Alphon-
sus Medical Center in Ontario, and
some of those will be given to employ-
The Oregon Health
Authority has scheduled a
free COVID-19 testing clinic
for Wednesday, Dec. 16, in
Baker City.
The event will take place
from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in
the parking lot of the Baker
City Church of the Naza-
rene, 1250 Hughes Lane.
People do not need
to have symptoms to be
tested, said Nancy Staten,
director of the Baker
County Health Department.
Test results likely will be
available within three to
fi ve days, Staten said.
The test is the PCR type,
which Staten said is more
accurate for people who
are infected but don’t have
symptoms.
This will be the fi rst time
the state agency has put
on such a testing event in
Baker City, Staten said.
According to the OHA
website, residents need to
register online to schedule
an appointment and print a
voucher. Only people with
appointments are guaran-
teed to be tested, accord-
ing to OHA.
More information is
available at https://www.
doineedacovid19test.com/
BakerCity_OR_2976.html
ees at Saint Alphonsus in Baker City
by Friday.
The initial inoculations will be
given to health care workers who
treat or are potentially exposed to
COVID-19 patients, according to
Oregon offi cials.
The Baker County Health Depart-
ment, meanwhile, is waiting for the
arrival of the second vaccine, the fi rst
shipments of which could arrive by
the end of the year.
The Oregon Health Authority
(OHA) announced Monday that 975
doses of the Pfi zer-BioNTech SE vac-
cine were slated to arrive today at the
Ontario hospital. Distribution of that
vaccine is restricted because its stor-
age temperature is 94 degrees below
zero Fahrenheit.
■ Commissioner
says his wife was
ill, and he isolated
himself though he
had no symptoms
By Jayson Jacoby
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
S. John Collins/Baker City Herald, File
Beef cattle gather in a pasture below the Elkhorn Mountains in a previous winter.
Today
Snow showers
likely
Wednesday
41 / 30
Rain showers
and drizzle
Full forecast on the back
of the B section.
Full Calendars
For Meat Cutters
At Baker County Custom Meats,
Woodcock said they were able to turn
This time of year, Jana and Del
venison into ground meat or sausage,
Woodcock usually look forward to
but hunters had to bone the animals
a bit of a break as business slows
themselves because the business
— Kevin Silveria, owner,
down.
was too busy processing beef.
Valley Meat Service in Wallowa,
They own Baker County Custom and Stafford’s in Elgin
In addition to the local increase,
Meats in Baker City.
both Woodcock and Silveria have
In 2020, though, that break is not Meats doesn’t have an opening for
seen customers from outside the
meant to be.
butchering until April.
area, such as Washington and West-
“We are slammed. All the butcher
“And we have stuff scheduled to
ern Oregon.
shops around are slammed,” Jana
October of next year,” Woodcock said.
In one instance, Woodcock said a
Woodcock said.
Silveria is booked until Febru-
woman who lives west of the Cas-
Kevin Silveria, who owns Valley
ary. And although his volume is up, cades couldn’t buy enough meat for
Meat Service in Wallowa and Staf-
his customer base hasn’t increased
her large family, as some stores had
ford’s in Elgin, is busier than he’s
much.
severely limited supplies.
ever been since he started in the
“It’s the same ranchers, but they’re
So she drove east to stock up.
business 17 years ago.
selling more beef off the ranch,” he
Paige Hines, who owns Hines
“I’ve never seen a year like this — said.
Meat Co. in La Grande and Pend-
and I never want to see another like
He’s not sure the rush will slow
leton with her husband, Jake, also
this,” Silveria said with a chuckle.
down any time soon.
noticed people buying more. Paige
As the pandemic progressed last
“I really don’t think so,” he said. “I Hines suspects this trend was
spring and through the summer,
think people buying it off the ranch sparked by limited meat supplies at
Woodcock said local cattle ranchers
are fi nding out how good these beef grocery stores.
were butchering twice or three times and hogs are.”
“I think it drove people to getting
the number of animals as usual.
With their regular work ramped
an animal in the freezer,” she said.
This spring, COVID-19 outbreaks up, the butcher shops didn’t accept
Hines Meat started seeing an in-
at several large meat-packing plants much wild game from hunters this
crease last April, and now is booked
across the country caused the plants year. Processing deer and elk is usu- through March 2021. Their schedule
to closure temporarily, leaving ranch- ally a staple of the fall for butchers.
is already full for June 2021 as well.
ers with limited options.
“This is the fi rst time in 17 years
See Meat/Page 2A
Right now, Baker County Custom that I didn’t cut game,” Silveria said.
By Lisa Britton
For the Baker City Herald
The space below is for
a postage label for issues
that are mailed.
See Vaccine/Page 3A
Bennett
says he
might
have had
COVID
Pandemic Contributes To Busy Year For Butcher Shops
WEATHER
31 / 28
Stanford
rallies past
Beavers
TODAY
Issue 93, 14 pages
“I’ve never seen a year like
this — and I never want to see
another like this.”
Calendar ....................2A
Classified ............. 4B-6B
Comics ....................... 7B
Community News ....3A
Crossword ........4B & 6B
Dear Abby ................. 8B
Home ................... 1B-3B
Horoscope ........5B & 6B
Lottery Results ..........2A
News of Record ........2A
Obituaries ..................2A
Opinion ......................4A
Baker County Commis-
sioner Mark
Bennett said he
knew CO-
VID-19 was a
dangerous virus
even before it
entered his own Bennett
household.
That experience, which
he said happened about a
month ago, only heightened
his concern.
Bennett has served as the
county’s incident commander
— in effect, the lead elected
offi cial in the county’s re-
sponse — since the pandemic
started in March.
Bennett said he knew
three of the four county
residents who have died due
to the virus.
He also has a cousin who
died from COVID-19.
See Bennett/Page 3A
County
likely to
stay in
extreme
risk group
By Jayson Jacoby
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
The Oregon Health
Authority (OHA) is likely to
announce today that Baker
County will remain in the
extreme risk category for the
spread of COVID-19, mean-
ing the county will be subject
to the most stringent state
restrictions through at least
New Year’s Eve.
That’s what Mark Ben-
nett, Baker County com-
missioner and the county’s
incident commander during
the pandemic, expects.
See Extreme/Page 3A
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