2A — BAKER CITY HERALD
TUESDAY, MARCH 2, 2021
B AKER C OUNTY C ALENDAR
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 3
■ Baker County Board of Commissioners: 9 a.m. at the
Courthouse, 1995 Third St. Due to COVID-19 occupancy
limitations, the public is encouraged to attend by using
the Zoom link on the County’s website, https://www.
bakercounty.org/online/meetings.html.
T URNING B ACK THE P AGES
Samantha O’Conner/Baker City Herald
50 YEARS AGO
from the Democrat-Herald
March 1, 1971
Low gas sales have prompted a “price war” among
Baker’s service stations. However, whether the “war” is go-
ing to make money or increase business is doubtful.
25 YEARS AGO
from the Baker City Herald
March 1, 1996
Despite having the fewest seats for spectators, and
despite hosting schools with fewer students than other
high school basketball tournaments in Oregon, the Class
1A tourney in Baker City attracts several thousand fans
every year.
And on Saturday nights, when championship games
are played, Class 1A fans usually come closer to fi lling the
Baker High School gym (and in 1994 did fi ll it) than their
counterparts at the fi ve other tournament sites.
The statistics are particularly surprising because com-
pared with teams from larger schools, 1A squads have
much smaller populations — of both students and commu-
nity members — from which to draw fans.
10 YEARS AGO
from the Baker City Herald
March 2, 2011
The Siletz Valley Warriors haven’t played in the boys
state basketball tournament since Gerald Ford was presi-
dent.
They have quite the compelling excuse, though, for the
36-year drought that ended this afternoon when the War-
riors ran onto the court at Baker High School.
For 24 of those years Siletz Valley didn’t have a basket-
ball team.
Didn’t have a high school, come to that.
Which makes it sort of diffi cult to put together a squad.
ONE YEAR AGO
from the Baker City Herald
March 3, 2020
Weeks before coronavirus began to hog headlines
worldwide, the new illness was the main topic of conver-
sation among local hospital offi cials.
This is the seventh straight week in which offi cials from
the Saint Alphonsus Health System, which includes the
Baker City hospital, have been convening for phone con-
ferences at least twice per week to “prepare to respond
to potential patients in our region,” said Kathryn Dudley,
safety offi cer for Saint Alphonsus.
The health system also operates hospitals in Ontario,
Nampa and Boise, as well as about 70 health clinics in
Eastern Oregon and Idaho, Dudley said.
As of Monday afternoon there had been three con-
fi rmed cases of coronavirus in Oregon (none in Baker
County) and none in Idaho.
Dudley said Saint Alphonsus offi cials have taken an
aggressive approach in bracing for the potential arrival of
the virus in the area.
O REGON L OTTERY
MEGABUCKS, Feb. 27
2 — 6 — 15 — 17 — 23 — 24
Next jackpot: $2.5 million
POWERBALL, Feb. 27
2 — 28 — 31 — 44 — 52 PB 18
Next jackpot: $123 million
MEGA MILLIONS, Feb. 26
11 — 15 — 37 — 62 — 64
Mega
5
Next jackpot: $43 million
WIN FOR LIFE, Feb. 27
3 — 17 — 29 — 41
PICK 4, Feb. 28
• 1 p.m.: 3 — 2 — 9 — 8
• 4 p.m.: 3 — 0 — 7 — 8
• 7 p.m.: 5 — 5 — 9 — 2
• 10 p.m.: 9 — 6 — 1 — 4
LUCKY LINES, Feb. 28
3-8-10-14-20-21-26-31
Next jackpot: $28,000
S ENIOR M ENUS
■ WEDNESDAY: Baked ziti, zucchini and tomatoes, garlic
bread, pasta salad, pudding
■ THURSDAY: Breaded pork loin, mashed potatoes with
gravy, green beans, roll, broccoli-bacon salad, brownie
■ FRIDAY: Barbecued pork ribs, baked beans, corn,
cornbread, potato salad, apple crisp
■ MONDAY (March 8): Pork tips with gravy, fettuccine
noodles, roll, peas and carrots, macaroni salad, lemon
squares
■ TUESDAY (March 9): Chicken cordon bleu, rice pilaf,
Capri vegetables, roll, ambrosia, cheesecake
Public luncheon at the Senior Center, 2810 Cedar St., 11:30
a.m. to 12:30 p.m.; $4.50 donation (60 and older), $6.75 for
those under 60. Meals must be picked up; no dining on site.
C ONTACT THE H ERALD
1668 Resort St.
Open Monday through Friday
8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Telephone: 541-523-3673
Fax: 541-833-6414
Publisher
Karrine Brogoitti
kbrogoitti@lagrandeobserver.
com
Jayson Jacoby, editor
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Advertising email
ads@bakercityherald.com
Classifi ed email
classified@bakercityherald.com
Circulation email
circ@bakercityherald.com
ISSN-8756-6419
Serving Baker County since 1870
Published Tuesdays, Thursdays and
Saturdays except Christmas Day by the
Baker Publishing Co., a part of EO Media
Group, at 1668 Resort St. (P.O. Box 807),
Baker City, OR 97814.
Subscription rates per month are
$10.75 for print only. Digital-only rates
are $8.25.
Postmaster: Send address changes to
the Baker City Herald, P.O. Box 807, Baker
City, OR 97814.
Periodicals Postage Paid
at Pendleton, Oregon 97801
Copyright © 2021
More than 450 people were inoculated against COVID-19 on Friday, Feb. 26, in the Baker High School gym.
VACCINE
Continued from Page 1A
Friday’s clinic helped boost Baker
County’s vaccination rate, per 10,000 resi-
dents, to the sixth-highest among Oregon’s
36 counties. As of Monday, March 1, Baker
County’s vaccination rate was 1,662 per
10,000 residents.
The county has now offered the vaccine
to residents age 80 and older who wanted
to be inoculated, and many of those attend-
ing Friday’s clinic are between 75 and 79,
said Nancy Staten, director of the Baker
County Health Department.
“We’re working through our waiting list,”
Staten said. “People can sign up on our
Baker County COVID website and there’s
that questionnaire, which is a smart sheet,
and get on the list.”
The website is www.bakercountycovid19
.com/
Staten said Health Department employ-
ees will phone people who
sign up to schedule appoint-
ments.
Staten said the Health
Department continues to
work with its vaccination
Staten
partners — Saint Alphonsus
Medical Center-Baker City,
the Pine Eagle Clinic in Halfway and, soon,
the Bi-Mart pharmacy in Baker City — to
administer the vaccine.
Pharmacies at the Safeway and Albert-
sons grocery stores in Baker City have also
received vaccines.
Staten said the county has received 500
first doses for this week, along with 100 sec-
ond doses. The county will distribute some
of the first doses to its vaccine partners this
week. That gives residents more options, for
O BITUARY
COVID-19 Vaccinations
in Baker County
FIRST DOSES
• 1,648 — 9.8% of county residents
SECOND DOSES
• 1,147 — 6.8% of county residents
TOTAL
• 2,795 — 16.6% of county residents
Source: Oregon Health Authority, data as of March 1
which day they get the vaccine, than if the
county keeps most of its doses for a one-day
clinic such as Friday’s event.
“It’s taking all of us (vaccine providers) to
get people vaccinated,” Staten said.
Due largely to the clinic at BHS, Friday
was by far the busiest day for inoculations
in Baker County, with a total of 724 doses
recorded for that day, according to the
Oregon Health Authority (OHA).
(That might not represent the actual
number of doses given on that day, as
vaccine providers have up to 72 hours to
report inoculations.)
The previous one-day high was 452
doses given on Jan. 26, with 361 adminis-
tered on Feb. 12.
To accommodate the larger numbers
on Friday, Staten said the county enlisted
help from about 69 people, compared with
about 50 people who helped with the Feb.
12 clinic.
“It’s going well,” Staten said. “We have
a great community and people want to
volunteer and people want to help and
I think this gives people hope. I’m very
proud of our community. I’m very proud of
our people.”
BLIZZARD
Continued from Page 1A
Tawni Smith
Haines, 1956-2021
Tawni Smith, 64, of
Haines, died on Feb. 5,
2021.
There were no public
services.
Tawni was born on
May 10, 1956, at Walla
Walla, Washington, to
Bing Potter and Jan
Potter.
She is survived by her
sister, Dixie; her half-
brother, Jerry Row; her
nephew, Jerry Row Jr.;
her best friend, Sandy
Row; and her friends,
Darlene Butcher, Cat
Manrow, Clifford Smith,
Mike, Emma, Trish,
Linda and Charlie.
She was preceded in
death by her brother, Ed-
die Potter Row.
All who knew her will
miss her. We love you,
Tawni, her friends said.
N EWS OF
R ECORD
That station is near the
junction of Highways 26 and
7, about 50 miles southwest
of Baker City.
But it was the other ingre-
dient that makes a blizzard
— gusting wind — that made
Friday’s storm so noteworthy.
“It was unlike anything
we’ve seen,” Gangler said.
Gangler said John Burke,
a plow driver who’s in his
22nd winter plying the
storm-prone Blue Mountains,
told him he could remember
only one storm during his
career comparable to Friday’s
tempest.
For about two hours start-
ing around 7:30 a.m., the
section of Highway 7 from
Austin Junction to Sumpter
Valley was hit by a blizzard
that reduced visibility to,
well, basically zero, Gangler
said.
Burke radioed in an esti-
mate of “maybe 20 feet.”
Gangler, who later went
out in another plow to help
Burke, said “you couldn’t see
the plow at the front of your
truck.”
“My husband and I got our
COVID protection at the high
school yesterday. I am a retired
pediatric nurse practitioner
so have some experience with
immunization clinics. My hat
is off to whoever planned and
organized this one. We were in
and out in less than 20 minutes.
It took only minutes for us to
be seen at the various stations
and was exceedingly well run.
Congratulations.”
— Iva M. Mace
Staten said she’s not aware of anyone
having severe reactions to the vaccine.
Those who receive a dose have to wait
for 15 minutes so nurses can monitor
them for any problems.
Janet Van Diepen, who received her
fi rst dose Friday, said she was glad to be
inoculated. She has some reservations
about the second dose, as some people
have reported more serious reactions,
including soreness on the arm in which
the shot is administered.
“I’m OK with it, doing my part,” Van
Diepen said.
Nurse Stacy Bingham said Friday
morning that she had already adminis-
tered more than 30 doses.
“We’ve been busy and consistent which
is really nice. It’s nice to see people in the
community come out for this,” Bingham
said.
Gangler’s crew is responsi-
ble for about half of Highway
7 — from Austin Junction to
the Sumpter Valley Railroad
crossing.
Often the worst sections
are the two mountain passes,
Larch Summit near Sumpter
Valley, and Tipton Summit
about 8 miles from Austin
Junction.
But during Friday’s bliz-
zard the storm was most
fi erce in Whitney Valley,
about 33 miles southwest of
Baker City, Gangler said.
On that stretch, where the
highway runs between the
meadows along the North
Fork of Burnt River and
Camp Creek, the wind and
snow created a whiteout — a
situation where the lack of
visual references means driv-
ers are, almost literally, fl ying
blind.
Conditions were similarly
atrocious from Whitney Val-
ley to around Larch Summit,
a distance of about 5 miles,
Gangler said.
At times Friday morning,
Gangler said, the wind was
whipping the light, powdery
snow to the point that the
plows were less effective than
DEATHS
Steven M. ‘Steve’
Haney: 61, of Echo, a
former Baker City resident,
died on Feb. 20, 2021, at his
home. A family gathering
will take place. You can
share memories of Steve
with his family at burns
mortuary.com. Burns
Mortuary of Hermiston is in
charge of arrangements.
William F. Davis: 82, of
Nampa, Idaho, and formerly
of North Powder and La
Grande, died on Feb. 26,
2021, at his home. All Valley
Cremation in Nampa is in
charge of arrangements.
POLICE LOG
Baker City Police
DRIVING UNDER THE
INFLUENCE OF INTOXI-
CANTS: Angela Theresa
Emmons, 35, of Baker City,
12:16 a.m. Saturday, in the
2200 block of Second Street;
cited and released.
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usual, since some of the snow
their blades pushed along
ended up back on the road
anyway.
“We probably shouldn’t
have been out there,” he said
of the snowplow drivers.
“Much less the traveling
public.”
The conditions were so
dangerous that ODOT issued
a public notice urging drivers
to avoid Highway 7 as well
as Highways 245 (Dooley
Mountain) and 26.
Gangler said the wind
made it diffi cult to estimate
how much snow actually fell
during the storm, which in
places continued into Satur-
day morning, Feb. 27.
“We might have had a foot
in one place and fi ve feet in
another,” he said.
An automated snow-mea-
suring station at Tipton Sum-
mit recorded 3 inches of new
snow between 7 a.m. and
9 a.m. Friday, and 8 inches
between 3 a.m. and 4 p.m.
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