LOCAL HISTORY
THURSDA Y
DUCKS ADVANCE, BEAVERS OUT OF TOURNEY: PG. 6A
Baker Heritage Museum
opens for the season
NORTHEAST OREGON
MARCH 25, 2021
www.gonortheastoregon.com
Also inside:
ART CENTERS REBOUND
THE BOOK NOOK
MONTH-LONG WRITING WORKSHOP
Lisa Britton/Go! Magazine
A new exhibit at the Baker
Heritage Museum details
the building’s history
GO! Magazine
Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
March 25, 2021
IN THIS EDITION:
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In-person classes to expand
■ High school, middle school students slated to be in classrooms four days per week starting April 12
By Chris Collins
BRIEFING
Quail Ridge Golf
Course opening
Quail Ridge Golf Course
in Baker City will open
for the season on Friday,
March 26. The clubhouse
will be open Friday
through Sunday, 9 a.m. to
5 p.m. The lounge will also
be open Friday through
Sunday, from 11 a.m. to
6 p.m.
When the weather
improves the city-owned
18-hole course will be
open every day.
Face masks are required
in the clubhouse and
wherever social distancing
can’t be maintained.
Operating details and
information about leagues
and tournaments are
available online at Quail-
RidgeBakerCity.com or by
calling 541-523-2358.
Your guide to arts,
entertainment
and other events
happening around
Northeast Oregon
ccollins@bakercityherald.com
Baker School District students
in Grades 7-12 will be returning to
classes four days a week beginning
April 12 if all goes as planned in the
next few weeks.
Superintendent Mark Witty an-
nounced in a press release Tuesday,
March 23 that planning is underway
to return the secondary students
to full-time, in-person learning as a
result of revisions by the Oregon De-
partment of Education to its Ready
Schools, Safe Learners guidance plan.
The updated plan allows 3 feet
of physical distancing for students
in schools under certain conditions,
which include county
COVID-19 case rate
levels for students in
middle school and high
school, the press release
stated. The new physi-
Witty
cal distancing rules
are based on current
research and guidance from the Cen-
Gracie Hardy Back In Her Hometown To Work At Heritage Museum
ters for Disease Control and Preven-
tion. The former rules required 6-foot
distancing.
The new rules also do not require
35 square feet per person room
space as was specifi ed in the former
regulations.
See Schools/Page 3A
Council OKs
COVID-19
resolution
■ Resolution blames
governor’s pandemic
mandates for creating an
‘economic, mental health and
criminal activity crisis’
Red Cross blood
drive March 29
By Samantha O’Conner
soconner@bakercityherald.com
The Baker City Council has approved a
resolution blaming Gov. Kate Brown’s CO-
VID-19 mandates for creating an “economic,
mental health, and criminal activity crisis”
in the city.
Councilors approved Resolution 3881 by
a 5-2 vote on Tuesday evening, March 23.
Mayor Kerry McQuisten and Councilors
Joanna Dixon, Lynette Perry, Johnny Wag-
goner Sr. and Shane Alderson voted in favor
of the resolution, which concludes by stating
that “the citizenry of Baker City are free,
sovereign individuals within a Constitution-
al, Representative Republic, not subjects or
slaves, and will be recognized as such as we
fi rmly stand to represent them.”
Councilors Jason Spriet and Heather
Sells voted no.
The American Red Cross
will have a blood drive on
Monday, March 29, from
noon to 6 p.m. at the Naza-
rene Church, 1250 Hughes
Lane. More information is
available by calling Myrna
Evans at 541-523-5368.
Donors who have received
a COVID-19 vaccine will
need to provide the name
of the vaccine maker when
arriving to donate.
WEATHER
Today
See Council/Page 5A
47 / 28
Rain or snow showers
Friday
Contributed Photo
Gracie Hardy returned to her hometown of Baker City to work at the Baker Heritage Museum.
56 / 16
Mostly sunny
Full forecast on the back
of the B section.
The space below is for
a postage label for issues
that are mailed.
Happy At Home
Duby to take
over as police
chief on July 1
By Chris Collins
ccollins@bakercityherald.com
By Lisa Britton
For the Baker City Herald
G
racie Hardy enjoyed living on the East
Coast, and she liked the idea of working
in a museum in Virginia.
Then the coronavirus pandemic happened.
She is working in a museum — but one back in
her hometown of Baker City.
Hardy is museum assistant and public pro-
grams coordinator at the Baker Heritage Mu-
seum.
She’s not a stranger to this museum — she’s
worked here as a summer intern during college
breaks.
“When I interned here, I realized this place is
really cool,” she said.
Hardy graduated from Baker High School in
2015, and that fall she traveled across the country
to study at the University of Mary Washington in
Fredericksburg, Virginia. She said she had wanted
to move to the East Coast ever since she took a trip
to Washington, D.C., organized by Bill Mitchell, her
social studies teacher at Baker Middle School.
“It was that trip, that opportunity to go to the
Smithsonian,” she said. “I came home and told my
mom I want to live in D.C. I just never let it go.”
The man who has served
as second in command under
Baker City Police Chief Ray
Duman for the past year and a
half has been chosen to replace
him.
Duby
Ty Duby, 51,who like Du-
man is a retired Oregon State
Police offi cer, will replace Duman when he
leaves the post on July 1. City Manager Jon
Cannon announced the hiring during the
City Council meeting Tuesday, March 23.
See Hardy/Page 3A
See Chief/Page 3A
STATISTICS SHOW MORE RESIDENTS VACCINATED, FOR SOME AGE GROUPS, THAN ARE LIVING IN THE COUNTY
County’s COVID vaccine numbers likely inflated
According to the Oregon Health
Authority (OHA), as of Wednesday,
Baker County is doing well, com-
March 24, a total of 8,408 Baker
pared with Oregon’s 35 other counties, County residents — 50% of the total
in vaccinating its residents against
population of 16,800 — had been
COVID-19.
either partially or fully vaccinated.
But probably not as well as the
That’s well above the percentage for
state’s offi cial records show.
any other county.
By Jayson Jacoby
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
TODAY
Issue 135, 22 pages
Business .............. 1B-3B
Classified ............. 4B-6B
Comics ....................... 7B
Community News ....3A
Crossword ........4B & 6B
Dear Abby ................. 8B
Union County, for instance, has
partially or fully vaccinated about 21%
of its residents, according to the OHA,
while Malheur County is at 17% and
Umatilla County at 15.8%.
Baker County’s vaccination rate per
10,000 residents is 4,999, by far the
highest rate of any county.
Horoscope ........4B & 6B
Lottery Results ..........2A
News of Record ........2A
Until this week, Baker County
had ranked second behind Wheeler
County, the least populous county
with about 1,440 residents. Wheeler
County’s vaccination rate, as of
Wednesday, was 3,595 per 10,000.
Obituaries ..................2A
Opinion ......................4A
Senior Menus ...........2A
See Vaccine/Page 3A
Sports ........................6A
Turning Backs ...........2A
Weather ..................... 8B
SATURDAY — LIBRARY HAS AIR PURIFIERS, EXTENDS BROWSING TIME