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Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
December 19, 2020
Local • Sports • Outdoors • TV
IN THIS EDITION:
$1.50
Tracking
animals at
the dredge
Case
rate
drops
a bit
Harvest Church Serves Free Meals Every Thursday Evening
The Dinner Rush
INSIDE TODAY
New issue of Pulse
magazine includes a
story about two Baker High
School athletes coping with
the cancellation of sports
due to the pandemic.
By Jayson Jacoby
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
QUICK HITS
Baker County’s number
of new COVID-19 cases has
dropped slightly over the
past two weeks.
But the rate of new infec-
tions remains above what
it was until the last week of
October.
For the seven-day period
Dec. 11-17, the county re-
ported 32 new cases.
That compares with 34
cases for the previous seven-
day period (Dec. 4-10) and
49 cases for the week before
that (Nov. 27-Dec. 3).
Case investigations
conducted by the Baker
County Health Department
show that parties and other
private gatherings continue
to be a source of some of
the infections, said Nancy
Staten, the department’s
director.
The surge in cases over
the past eight weeks — 265
of the county’s 384 cases, as
of Thursday, or 69%, have
been reported since Oct. 26
— has put Baker County in
the extreme risk category
under state standards.
That subjects the county
to the tightest restrictions,
including on restaurants,
through at least Dec. 31.
Good Day Wish
To A Subscriber
A special good day to
Herald subscriber Francis
Mohr of Baker City.
BRIEFING
Herald won’t
publish Dec. 26
In observance of the
Christmas holiday, the
Baker City Herald will
not publish an edition on
Saturday, Dec. 26.
“It’s a chance to give our
employees an opportunity
to spend an uninterrupted
holiday with their fami-
lies,” said Andrew Cutler,
regional editor for the EO
Media Group, which owns
the Baker City Herald. “But
we will beef up our Dec.
24 edition.” That expanded
issue will include addi-
tional comics and puzzle
features.
WEATHER
Today
39 / 36
Partly sunny
Sunday
42 / 35
Rain showers
Monday
44 / 31
Rain showers
The space below is for
a postage label for issues
that are mailed.
Chris Collins/Baker City Herald
Pastor Matt Diaz, who coordinates children’s programs at Harvest Church in Baker City, pours salsa that will
be part of the free meal the church served on Thursday, Dec. 17.
years ago. He coordinates the church’s
children’s programs.
Each Thursday just as the workday
Pastor Brad Phillips, 52, the church’s
is winding down for most Baker City lead pastor for the past eight years,
residents, the kitchen at Harvest
rotates with Diaz to supervise the meal
Church is warming up.
delivery program. Phillips’ son, Braden,
Volunteers and staff gather about 4 and his wife, Jenna, also have joined
p.m., as they’ve been doing throughout the church staff after moving to Baker
the coronavirus pandemic, to prepare City from Alaska about six months ago.
free meals for community members.
Braden is the church’s youth pastor.
In the beginning, from March until
This week, Diaz and his reliable
about September, the church served
troop of volunteers prepared tacos for
250 meals each Thursday, said Pastor 170 people, most of whom drove by
Matt Diaz.
the church for curbside pickup of the
The 39-year-old moved to Baker
meal. Of that total, 50 were delivered
City with his wife, Mandy, and their
to homes throughout the community,
four sons (ages 9, 7, 4 and 2) about two including 17 to 20 that go to residents of
By Chris Collins
ccollins@bakercityherald.com
Elkhorn Village each week, Diaz said.
Diners were provided a clamshell
carryout container filled with two tacos
and all the trimmings, and a side serv-
ing of chips and salsa.
Three gallons of salsa and multiple
bags of chips were needed to fill that
portion of the order, Diaz said.
Kenny Bain, 62, a church deacon,
is on hand each week to help with the
cooking. He was the man behind the
staple of Thursday’s taco meal — 38
pounds of hamburger cooked to a turn
with just the right amount of taco
seasoning.
See Meals/Page 3A
See COVID-19/Page 5A
‘A beautiful life’: Remembering Virginia Kostol
Their bond stayed
strong until the very
When Jessie Ritch became ac-
end.
quainted with Virginia Kostol she
Ritch said she played
knew straight off that theirs would
cards with Virginia on
not be an ordinary friendship.
Sunday, Dec. 13, and
This, Ritch sensed, was a relation- spoke with her on the
Kostol
ship she would always treasure.
phone about 4:30 that
“Virginia was one of those people
afternoon.
who, when you fi rst form a friend-
Virginia, who has lived in Baker
ship, you just know how special that City since 1953 and over the decades
person is going to be in your life,”
amassed a long record of community
Ritch said on Thursday, Dec. 17. “She service, died that night in the North
was just such a joy to be around. We Baker City home where she lived for
hit it off right away.”
all those years.
By Jayson Jacoby
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
She was 94.
Ritch, 80, said her sadness at los-
ing her friend was tempered by the
knowledge that Virginia’s daughter,
Cris, had arrived two days earlier for
a visit.
“I just feel so thankful that Cris
was there,” Ritch said.
Virginia moved to Baker City
with her husband, Carl Kostol, a
physician. The couple had married
in 1949. Carl died in March 2018 at
age 95.
Ritch, who attended school in
Baker City, lived in Richland for
17 years and in Central Oregon
for many years before returning to
Baker City in 2006. She said she
knew of Virginia long before they
actually met.
Virginia was involved in a variety
of activities in Baker City, includ-
ing organizing American Red Cross
blood drives, and serving on the
Baker School Board, the Education
Service District board and with the
Baker County Historical Society and
The Salvation Army auxiliary.
See Virginia/Page 5A
ELKHORN WILDLIFE AREA
The elk arrive,
with appetites
By Jayson Jacoby
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Dan Marvin chuckles as
he lampoons the way Rocky
Mountain elk sometimes
act.
Marvin knows how tough
these animals are.
During winters when
sub-zero temperatures and
snowdrifts deep enough to
bury cars conspire to kill
hundreds of mule deer in
TODAY
Issue 95, 12 pages
Northeast Oregon, most of
the elk make it through, a
bit undernourished, maybe,
but otherwise hale.
Yet Marvin fi nds it amus-
ing that when a couple of
snowstorms arrive earlier
than usual, while jack-o-
lanterns still sit on some
porches, the elk turn up,
looking for a free meal.
S. John Collins/Baker City Herald File Photo
See Elk/Page 5A Rocky Mountain elk munch alfalfa at the Elkhorn Wildlife Area during a past winter.
Classified ............. 2B-4B
Comics ....................... 5B
Community News ....3A
Crossword ........2B & 4B
Dear Abby ................. 6B
Horoscope ................. 3B
Jayson Jacoby ..........4A
News of Record ........2A
Obituaries ..................2A
Opinion ......................4A
Outdoors ................... 1B
Senior Menus ...........2A
Sports ........................6A
Turning Backs ........... 2B
Weather ..................... 6B
TUESDAY — DRIVING GUIDE TO LOCAL CHRISTMAS LIGHT DISPLAYS