BAKER CITY HERALD — 3A
THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 2021
Cemetery cleanup set
Invasive weed of the week
By Jeffrey Pettingill
The Enemy
Blue mustard (Chorispora
tenella)
Defense
Annual plants are very
easy to control, the problem
is that there are usually lots
of them. Early discing will
kill the plant, but new seeds
germinate after you plant
your desirable species. Live-
stock will eat it, until the
grasses emerge, then they
will forage on the grasses
and let the mustards grow.
be replaced starting April
27. Items that are left and
that the contractor has
to move will be stored,
except perishable items,
until Nov. 1, 2021.
A copy of the cemetery
rules is available at www.
bakercity.com, and more
information is available by
calling 541-524-2047.
MUSIC
The Strategy
This is an annual mustard
that grows very early in the
year. This plant germinates
in the late fall or late winter.
It grows to a height of 12
inches. Once it matures it
produces purple fl owers
with four petals (as with
all plants in the mustard
family). Each plant produces
hundreds of seeds that form
in a long pea looking pod
that hangs from the plant
and opens up by splitting
into two shells to expose the
seed.
Attack
Since this plant grows ear-
ly in the year it gets a jump-
start on the other plants for
the needed moisture and
nutrients. It usually invades
disturbed areas and grows
thick enough to be a carpet
of purple fl owers. It is also
a problem for dryland grain
growers and has been know
to taint the milk of dairy
cows. Once the plant dies it
continues to shade germinat-
ing seeds of desirable plants
and has caused fi res to occur.
Baker City’s mainte-
nance contractor, Grass
Masters, will be doing the
spring cleanup at Mount
Hope Cemetery, including
removing deteriorated
decorations and fl owers,
from April 12-26.
The city is asking peo-
ple to remove those items
before April 12. They can
Continued from Page 1A
Rich Old/Contributed Photo
Blue mustard producers purple fl owers with four petals.
2,4-D is good early, and
then a light application of
Sulfonylurea herbicides (Es-
cort, Telar, Harmony xtra,
etc) will literally “smoke”
the weeds for the season.
Roundup will be weak un-
less you put the 2,4-D in
with it, but only do this if
you are going to reseed the
site. As with bur butter-
cup this is one of the fi rst
broadleaf weeds that we see
in the early spring, so get
control of them early so they
will not bother you in the
early summer.
Jeffrey Pettingill is the weed
control supervisor for Baker
County. He encourages people
with noxious weed questions
to call him at 541-523-0618
or 541-519-0204. He also
encourages people to like the
Jeffrey Pettingill/Contributed Photo
Baker County Weed District’s Blue mustard is among the broadleaf weeds that bloom
Facebook page. early in the spring.
“I’m a big gardener, and it was too dry in Tucson,”
she said.
Alaska, by contrast, had abundant water, but a short
growing season.
Now Sarno is looking for a location in Baker City to
serve as her Music Garden where she can teach music
as well as gardening and cooking skills.
She teaches violin, viola, piano, guitar, ukulele, man-
dolin, songwriting, music theory, and composition.
“I can play pretty much anything with strings,” she
said.
Her genres include Celtic, folk, country, jazz, spiri-
tual, classical, rock, bluegrass, worship and pop.
She said she composed music for the PBS docu-
mentary fi lms “Rewilding Kernwood” and “Arctic
Daughter.” She’s served as fi ddler for country, jazz
and bluegrass bands,
“I’ve had so much fun
and plays piano
for ensembles and
playing music with other
background music for
musicians. I want to pass
social gatherings.
that on.”
In more than 50
years of instruction,
— Lillianne Sarno
she said she’s had
students from ages 4
to 84 and welcomes beginners, intermediate, and ad-
vanced musicians. She also coaches advanced students
in music ensembles and bands.
“I’ve had so much fun playing music with other
musicians. I want to pass that on,” she said.
Her students may choose to read music, play be ear,
or both.
In addition to lessons, she offers summer day camps
that include music activities, as well as lessons on gar-
dening and making Italian-style food from scratch.
“The kids not only have fun in the kitchen together,
but lay down habits they will keep their whole lives,”
she said.
She is ready to offer lessons now, although she is still
searching for the perfect place for her Music Garden,
which would include space to teach music, garden, and
cook.
“I haven’t found my Music Garden yet,” she said.
Those interested in lessons, or with suggestions for a
location, can contact Sarno by phone at 907-756-3356
or email at lindisarno@gmail.com.
The cloudy future of political redistricting
By Gary A. Warner
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — The fuzzy fu-
ture of Oregon politics east of
the Cascades went public last
week — no diagrams, charts,
data — really nothing tan-
gible at all to show how new
legislative and congressional
districts will be drawn.
“We don’t have any maps,”
said Rep. Andrea Salinas,
D-Lake Os-
wego, chair
of the House
Redistricting
Committee. “We
don’t have any
Salinas
numbers from
the census.”
Salinas and her Senate
counterpart, Sen. Kathleen
Taylor, D-Milwaukie, said
they were making a good
faith effort to hold the legally
required 10 public hearings
on new political maps.
Maps that don’t exist — at
least, not yet.
The hearings are collateral
damage from the constitu-
tional car crash headed to the
Oregon Supreme Court.
The once-a-decade process
of rebalancing populations in
legislative and congressional
districts is a smolderingly hot
political wreck. Any fi x isn’t
expected earlier than autumn.
These are not normal
times
Like so many things over
the past year, COVID-19 is
the main problem.
EO Media Group/File
The Oregon Capitol in Salem.
In normal times, the U.S.
Census counts people every
decade, in years that end in
zero.
The Oregon Legislature gets
detailed Oregon data by April 1
of the following year. Lawmak-
ers have until the end of their
session on July 1 to get maps
of 30 Senate, 60 House and
either fi ve or six congressional
districts to the governor.
If they can’t agree on a redis-
tricting plan, the secretary of
state takes over the mapmak-
ing with an Aug. 15 deadline.
But these are not normal
times.
COVID-19 crippled the
census count. The Legislature
received no data. No maps are
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being drawn for the governor.
There’s no dispute for the
secretary of state to resolve.
The census offi cials in
Washington, D.C., have been
saying sorry for months. But
given all the upheaval in their
work, they now say data to
draw districts won’t get to Or-
egon until Sept. 30. That is six
months late, and well beyond
constitutional and statutory
deadlines.
To employ an overused term
during the current pandemic,
the situation is “unprec-
edented.” Translation: Nobody
knows what to do because it’s
never been done before.
Adding to the drama: The
offi cial population numbers
are expected to earn Oregon
a sixth congressional seat,
its fi rst in 40 years. The
new district will have to be
shoehorned into the existing
congressional map.
Proposing a ‘back to the
future’ solution
The Legislature has a “back
to the future” solution. It’s
asking the Oregon Supreme
Court to set the deadlines
aside, reset the clock, and give
lawmakers another shot at
redistricting when the data ar-
rives in the fall. A special ses-
sion of the Legislature would
meet to approve the work.
Secretary of State Shemia
Fagan supports the idea.
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lature to draw
districts using
alternative
data to the U.S.
Census. The
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explicitly
demand redis-
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with the census
numbers.
But it always
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The Legislature wants up
to 90 days after the data ar-
rives to create the maps.
Fagan does not support
that timeline.
Pushing
redistricting
into December
would be cutting
things close,
Fagan
Fagan has said.
Any hitch and
there could be no maps when
candidates are supposed to
start fi ling for the offi ces in
January 2022. As the state’s
offi cial election referee, she
might have to step in.
House Speaker Tina
Kotek, D-Portland, and Sen-
ate President Peter Courtney,
D-Salem, fi led a petition with
the Oregon Supreme Court
this week to stop Fagan from
drawing her own maps.
Fagan wants the Legis-
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