TUESDAY
BAKER VOLLEYBALL, GIRLS SOCCER TEAMS WIN MATCHES: PAGE 5A
In SPORTS, 5A
Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
March 9, 2021
IN THIS EDITION:
Local • Home & Living • Sports
QUICK HITS
Good Day Wish
To A Subscriber
A special good day to
Herald subscriber Ryan
Chaves of Baker City.
BRIEFING
$1.50
Three Baker City Boys Start Fly-Tying Business
Fooling The Fish
COVID-19
vaccination clinic
set for March 12
The Baker County
Health Department’s next
COVID-19 vaccine clinic
is set for Friday, March
12, at Baker High School.
Appointments are being
scheduled for those who
have signed up on the
County’s vaccine interest
list and are eligible for the
vaccine. To get on the list,
call 541-523-0015 or go to
www.bakercountycovid19.
com. People on the list
will be contacted for an
appointment in coming
weeks as vaccine ship-
ments arrive.
WEATHER
Today
44 / 26
Mostly sunny
Wednesday
47 / 26
Mostly sunny
Full forecast on the back
of the B section.
The space below is for
a postage label for issues
that are mailed.
HARRELL HEREFORD
RANCH, THOMAS
ANGUS RANCH HAVE
SPRING AUCTIONS
Locals
bullish
after
cattle
sales
By Jayson Jacoby
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Soroptimist Club
offering two $1,000
scholarships
Soroptimist Interna-
tional of Baker County
is offering two $1,000
college scholarships for
women graduating from
a high school in Baker
County, or Powder Valley
High School, in 2021 or
within the past fi ve years,
who are continuing their
education at a university,
college or trade school.
The deadline to apply is
April 15. Applications and
details are available on
websites for each of the
eligible high schools, or by
emailing Barbara Stiff at
stiffbarbara7@gmail.com
Baker
falls to
Vale
Lisa Britton/For the Baker City Herald
A trio of Baker City boys, from left, Ty Price, Chase Myatt and Tyler Myatt, have started a fl y-tying business.
Lisa Britton, For the Baker City Herald
The boys talk so fast their voices meld together in a rush of chatter.
Then suddenly all three fall silent as their focus shifts to three small vises on
the table.
In companionable silence they
work, winding string around the
body of a tiny creation they — or a
customer — can cast into a stream
or lake in hopes of catching a trophy
trout.
The three boys are Chase Myatt,
11; Tyler Myatt, 9 (he turns 10 on
Wednesday, March 10); and Ty Price,
10.
Together they have started a busi-
ness called Eagle Creek Custom to
provide hand-tied fi shing fl ies.
The venture started several years
ago with Chase.
“I’ve always been interested in
making fl ies and lures to fi sh with,”
he said.
He’d mainly used a spinning reel.
Then he received a fl y-tying kit as a
Christmas present.
Once he had used those materials,
he checked out a fl y-tying kit from
the Baker County Public Library.
Hooked on the hobby, he started
gathering more materials and teach-
ing himself how to tie different fl ies
See Cattle/Page 2A
2 events
honored
at awards
ceremony
Lisa Britton/For the Baker City Herald
Tying fi shing fl ies requires a variety of material and specialty tools.
from books, a DVD, and YouTube
videos.
His younger brother, Tyler, took
notice. When his friend Ty came over,
the two boys tried their hand at tying
a fl y.
“We basically just wrapped a
feather on a hook,” Tyler said.
Ty went home wanting to learn
more, and found that his parents, Wes
and Jocelyn Price, had a whole stock
of fl y-tying material from years ago.
See Tying/Page 3A
Councilors Will Consider Sending Letter To Gov. Kate Brown
City Council to call on state to
consult locally on restrictions
By Jayson Jacoby
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
The Baker City Council is
planning to send a letter to Gov.
Kate Brown asking the governor to
consider opinions from local residents
when the state is imposing COVID-19
restrictions on businesses and other
activities.
Councilors discussed the issue dur-
ing their meeting on Feb. 23.
They asked Councilor Jason Spriet
to draft a letter to the governor for the
full Council to review.
TODAY
Issue 128, 14 pages
Many bids came in via a
computer screen rather than
from shouts at the sale ring,
but Bob Harrell Jr. was still
pleased to see something
resembling normal in the
beef business.
Harrell said the 42nd-an-
nual bull sale at his family’s
Harrell Hereford Ranch in
Baker Valley on March 1
was successful.
“I thought it went really
well,” Harrell said. “We were
very pleased.”
The turnout, both in
person and online, was espe-
cially welcome after a year
of uncertainty and upheaval
in the cattle market, Harrell
said.
“Ranchers are used to
adversity,” he said. “No one
knew what to expect. But
we’re seeing that life can go
on and we can do business.”
Councilors will talk
about Spriet’s draft let-
ter during their regular
meeting this evening,
March 9, at City Hall,
1655 First St. The meet-
Spriet
ing starts at 7 o’clock.
Spriet’s draft letter
notes that in 2020 the state “Offi ce of
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion was
directed to make Oregon a more equi-
table place for every Oregonian.”
He goes on to write that one
element of that strategy was to have
Calendar ....................2A
Classified ............. 2B-4B
Comics ....................... 5B
Community News ....3A
Crossword ........2B & 4B
Dear Abby ................. 6B
state offi cials work with community
leaders in making decisions.
“We do not currently feel that this
element of the framework is being
realized,” Spriet wrote. “Our commu-
nity is not currently being heard by
our state leadership. We are asking
for a seat at the table, a voice for
our citizens, and an opportunity to
provide input to restrictions that
have a profound effect on our rural
communities.”
See Council/Page 3A
Home ................1B & 2B
Horoscope ................. 4B
Letters ........................4A
Lottery Results ..........2A
News of Record ........2A
Obituaries ..................2A
By Samantha O’Conner
soconner@bakercityherald.com
A pair of Baker City
events that had to adjust
to the COVID-19 pan-
demic were honored during
the Oregon Festival and
Events Association’s online
annual conference Satur-
day, March 6.
Crossroads Carnegie Art
Center’s 2020 Oktoberfest
won the Fundraising Event
of the Year award. The
event, which previously
had taken place inside the
Community Event Center,
was instead a drive-thru
dinner, with a virtual fun-
draiser.
Baker City’s other
award-winner was CASA of
Eastern Oregon’s ginger-
bread home tour, which
won the Innovation Award.
The tour of gingerbread
structures created by local
residents, and displayed at
businesses and other loca-
tions in December, replaced
the annual tour of historic
homes, a holiday season
tradition.
See Awards/Page 3A
Opinion ......................4A
Sports ........................5A
Weather ..................... 6B
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