LOCAL & STATE
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2020
Brown 13th in steer wrestling
By Jayson Jacoby
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Jesse Brown’s fi rst time competing on
professional rodeo’s biggest stage didn’t
end as well as it started, but the Baker
City steer wrestler said the experience
only whetted his appetite.
“It didn’t go as I had it planned but a
cool experience,” Brown wrote in a text
message to the Herald on Monday, Dec.
14. “Ready to make it back there next
year.”
Brown, 28, qualifi ed for the National
Finals Rodeo by fi nishing 15th in the
world rankings this season. The top 15
competitors in each event qualify for
the National Finals, which usually take
place in Las Vegas but
were moved this year to
Arlington, Texas, due to the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Brown competed on 10
straight nights, Dec. 3-12.
Brown
In the fi rst round Brown,
the fi rst bulldogger to
compete, brought down his steer in 3.9
seconds and ended up the round tied for
fi rst, earning a $20,872 check.
After fi nishing out of the money in
the second and third rounds, on Dec. 6
Brown posted another 3.9-second run,
fi nishing tied for second and winning
$18,192.
After six rounds Brown’s aggregate
time was fi fth, putting him in contention
for the $70,000 prize for lowest overall
time.
But Brown said he made a few mis-
takes in the subsequent rounds that cost
him.
“Gotta get in the practice pen and
gym and come back better,” he wrote in
the text.
Brown, a 2011 Baker High School
graduate, played football at Washington
State University before transferring to
Montana State University and taking
up rodeo full time.
He ended up 2020 ranked 13th in the
world in steer wrestling, with season
earnings of $88,558.70.
BMS employee tests positive
The superintendent stated
that 160 students in kinder-
The Baker School District
garten through sixth grade
has announced that a Baker
have been temporarily quar-
Middle School staff member
antined from Oct. 14, the date
has tested positive for CO-
they returned to in-person
VID-19.
instruction, up to Monday, Dec.
As a result, three BMS staff 14, with 7 of those students
members will be quarantined, testing positive for the corona-
Superintendent Mark Witty
virus.
stated in a press release. Staff
Another 52 employees have
members will return at vari-
been quarantined since July 1,
ous times based on quarantine with 17 of those quarantines
times recommended by the
having been directed by the
Baker County Health Depart- school district, he said. As of
ment. All will return for in-
Monday, six of those people
person instruction after winter were determined to have had
break, Witty said.
confi rmed cases of COVID-19.
By Chris Collins
ccollins@bakercityherald.com
“Contact tracing has
confi rmed all positive cases
resulted from exposure outside
of the school environment,”
Witty stated in the press
release.
Witty said he and other
regional school leaders are
continuing to advocate that
the Jan. 4 deadline for lifting
the “safe harbor” standing of
schools in sparsely populated
counties of fewer than 30,000
people continue after the Jan.
4 return to classes. The safe
harbor standing has allowed
students to return to in-person
classes despite a steady rise
in the number of positive CO-
VID-19 cases in the county.
“I am optimistic that we will
get a waiver of that date,” Witty
said Monday. “But I don’t have
it in front of me yet.”
Witty said he expects to hear
from the Oregon Department
of Education by Wednesday
whether those schools will be
able to continue with in-person
classes in the new year despite
the surge in county cases.
“We’re working diligently
with state leaders to tell our
story,” Witty said. “I think it
demonstrates that we can stay
in school safely.”
North Powder man cited for drunken
driving after being injured in crash
he was taken for treatment on
charges of driving under the
A North Powder man who
infl uence of alcohol, reckless
was hospitalized Saturday
driving and reckless endanger-
night with injuries sustained
ing, Trooper Timothy Schuette,
in a one-vehicle crash on High- wrote in his daily media log.
way 30 is alleged to have had a
Schuette said he was
blood-alcohol level of 0.30% in dispatched to a report of a
his system, nearly four times
possibly impaired driver who
more than the 0.08% limit
nearly hit the reporting party
allowed by Oregon law.
by driving in the wrong lane of
Ruben Alipio, 29, was cited travel about 6:30 p.m. at mile-
at Saint Alphonsus Medical
post 36, about 5 miles north of
Center in Baker City where
Haines on Saturday.
Schuette said the witness
stated that the suspect vehicle
was “driving erratically and
swerving, crossing lines and
varying speed.” The vehicle
was traveling north toward
North Powder when it crashed.
Schuette stated that shortly
after the complaint was re-
ported, dispatch received a call
about a single vehicle crash.
Schuette stated in his report
that he identifi ed the vehicle
as the same one involved in
the complaint.
Alipio was extricated from
the vehicle by emergency re-
sponders and taken by Baker
City ambulance to the Saint
Alphonsus Emergency Depart-
ment, Schuette said.
Schuette was assisted at the
scene by the Baker County
Sheriff’s Department, Oregon
Department of Transportation
and personnel from the Baker
Rural and Baker City fi re
departments.
VACCINE
months to administer the vac-
cine to high-priority residents,
including people 65 and older
or who have medical condi-
tions that put them at higher
risk for having severe effects
from the virus.
There is no schedule for
making vaccines widely avail-
able to Oregonians who aren’t
in a high-risk group.
But when vaccines are
distributed in large quantities
for the general public, Staten
said the Baker County Health
Department will be ready to
administer shots rapidly.
During the 2009 H1N1
pandemic, for instance, the
health department could give
up to 300 inoculations per day,
Staten said.
She believes the county pos-
sibly could exceed that fi gure
by scheduling drive-thru vac-
cinations and having multiple
places to administer shots.
“We know how to do that,”
Staten said. “We’ve done that
for years.”
By Chris Collins
ccollins@bakercityherald.com
cy distribution, can be stored
at the Health Department,
Continued from Page 1A
Staten said.
That’s a much lower tem-
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown
perature than is required for said on Friday, Dec. 11, that
other vaccines, and the Baker she expects about 100,000
County Health Department
Oregonians to be vaccinated,
doesn’t have freezers that
with either the Pfi zer or
cold, said Nancy Staten, the
Moderna vaccines, by the end
department’s director.
of 2020.
Neither does the Baker
The highest priorities for
City hospital, said Dr. Steven the initial round of inocula-
Nemerson, chief clinical
tions, in addition to hospital
offi cer for Saint Alphonsus
and other health care work-
Health System.
ers, will be emergency medical
The Ontario hospital does responders and residents
have the ability to prop-
of long-term care facilities,
erly store the Pfi zer vaccine, Staten said.
Nemerson said during a tele-
Both vaccines require two
conference with journalists on separate shots, she said.
Monday afternoon.
The second shot of the
The second vaccine likely
Pfi zer vaccine is recommend-
to be approved, however, is a ed 21 days after the fi rst, and
different matter.
the interval between the two
That vaccine, created by
Moderna shots is 28 days.
Moderna and still awaiting
Oregon offi cials have said
federal approval for emergen- they expect it will take several
EXTREME
Continued from Page 1A
The statistics, he said, tell
the tale.
Based on OHA standards,
Baker County, which was one
of 25 of Oregon’s 36 counties
in the extreme risk category
starting Dec. 3, will remain at
that level if its two-week total
of new cases exceeds 60, or
its test positivity rate for that
period is greater than 10%.
OHA will determine the
county’s risk level based on
its number of new cases, and
positivity rate, for the period
Nov. 29 through Dec. 12.
Based on reports from the
Baker County Health Depart-
ment, the county had 81 new
cases during that two-week
period, meaning the county
would remain in the extreme
risk category at least through
Dec. 31.
The county’s positivity
rate wasn’t available, but the
number of new cases alone
would put the county in the
extreme risk level.
“The numbers continue
to be high,” Bennett said on
Monday morning, Dec. 14.
OHA will review county
statistics again on Dec. 29,
and decide whether any coun-
ties will have a change in risk
status starting Dec. 31.
So long as Baker County
remains in the extreme risk
category, indoor restaurant
dining will be prohibited.
Outdoor dining is limited to
50 people, with a maximum of
six people, from no more than
two households, per table,
and takeout service is “highly
recommended,” according to
OHA.
Other restrictions for
counties in the extreme risk
category include prohibiting
indoor recreation and enter-
tainment facilities, including
gyms, fi tness centers, theaters
and museums.
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BAKER CITY HERALD — 3A
BENNETT
Continued from Page 1A
And his son-in-law’s
uncle died recently in a
California hospital where
he was being treated for
the virus.
But Bennett’s experience
with COVID-19 became
even more personal in
November when fi rst his
granddaughter, a college
student visiting from Cali-
fornia, and then his wife,
Patti, tested positive.
The Bennetts live on
their cattle ranch east of
Unity, in southern Baker
County.
Mark Bennett said Patti
had severe respiratory
problems, although she
was not hospitalized.
Her condition has im-
proved, but her “lungs still
feel heavy,” Mark Bennett
said on Monday morning.
He said he never had
any symptoms or felt ill.
Nonetheless, Bennett
said he quarantined in
his home for 14 days, as
health offi cials recommend
for people who are close
contacts with someone who
has tested positive.
Bennett said he and
his wife took precau-
tions, including trying to
maintain distancing, while
their granddaughter and
her girlfriend, also a college
student, were visiting.
He said his granddaugh-
ter’s college is closed to
in-person classes, and she
is attending online.
Bennett said he has not
been tested for COVID-19.
He said he assumed that
he could have been infected
about the same time as his
wife was, and as a result he
quarantined for 14 days.
Bennett said that if
he did actually contract
COVID-19, despite his lack
of symptoms, he would no
longer be infectious.
However, he said if he
were tested now he might
test positive. That, Ben-
nett said, would require
that he quarantine again,
even though he wouldn’t
actually be infectious. It
also would add another
case to Baker County’s
total, which has more than
doubled since Nov. 1.
Bennett said he and
several other members
of the county’s incident
command team, including
Dr. Eric Lamb, the county’s
public health offi cer, Nancy
Staten, director of the
county health department,
Jason Yencopal, emergency
management director,
and commissioner Bruce
Nichols, had a lengthy
discussion recently about
whether to accept the
Oregon Health Author-
ity’s offer to have a free
COVID-19 testing event in
Baker City.
Bennett said the team
ultimately decided to ac-
cept the offer. The event
will be Wednesday, Dec.
16, from 11 a.m. to 4:30
p.m. at the Baker City
Church of the Nazarene,
1250 Hughes Lane. More
information is available at
https://www.doineedaco-
vid19test.com/BakerCity_
OR_2976.html
“We do think having
the data (from testing) is
important,” Bennett said.
Increasing testing can,
for instance, identify people
who are infected but don’t
have symptoms. Those
people, especially if, unlike
Bennett, they haven’t been
in close contact with some-
one who they know tested
positive, would have no
reason to quarantine and
thus they might unwit-
tingly infect others.
But higher test numbers
can potentially be a “two-
edged sword,” Bennett
said.
If the testing event
turns up a large number
of positives, that would
make it more likely that
the county will continue to
be rated as an extreme risk
for virus spread, based on
state standards, and thus
subject to the most severe
restrictions on businesses
and other activities.
More positive tests also
puts additional stress on
the county’s case investiga-
tion and contact tracing
teams, Bennett said.
But ultimately, he said,
the incident command
team leaders decided that
it was more important
for the county to have
a clearer picture of the
prevalence of the virus in
the county.
In addition, the state will
supply all the test materi-
als and personal protective
equipment, so the county’s
supplies won’t be depleted,
Bennett said.
Bennett said he’s had
multiple conversations
with county residents who
discount the seriousness
of the virus, in some cases
comparing COVID-19 to
infl uenza.
Bennett said he’s recent-
ly challenged such people
to think about whether
they’ve ever known anyone
who died from the fl u.
“In my 68 years, I can’t
think of anyone,” Bennett
said. “I think (COVID-19)
is more serious than some
think. And we don’t know
the full extent of the com-
plications, how long they’ll
last.”
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