TUESDAY, MARCH 30, 2021
BAKER CITY HERALD — 3A
VACCINE
Continued from Page 1A
North Powder has new fire station
By Phil Wright
The (La Grande) Observer
NORTH POWDER — The
North Powder Rural Fire Pro-
tection District welcomed the
fi rst day of spring, Saturday,
March 20, with an open house
of its new fi re station. Dozens
of people attended the event
— which included free ham-
burgers, sodas and desserts —
and liked what they saw.
“This is nice” became a com-
mon refrain.
The new two-story build-
ing stands on 2 acres at 710
E St., North Powder, about
600 yards from the previous
station’s site. Among the most
eye-catching elements inside
are barnwood wainscoting
that adds a rustic touch to the
decor and the large sliding
door between the big appa-
ratus bay and the conference
room. There’s also a second
fl oor overlooking the bay that
provides recreation space.
Fire Chief Colby Thompson
and Assistant Chief Casey
Martin were stoked about
the new digs. The project to
build this fi re station began
in 2017, they said, out of
sheer necessity.
“We literally did not have
room in the old structure,”
Martin said.
Holding meetings and
trainings was a challenge,
Martin said, because the
quarters were so cramped.
And as The Observer
reported in January 2018,
the vehicles inside the old
building left little room for
fi refi ghters to hustle and get
into protective gear.
The former building also
was too small to house the
department’s big equipment,
including its bulldozer and
5,000-gallon tank water
truck. That and other equip-
ment remained outside.
The crew had to drain the
tank each winter, Martin
said, to protect hoses and
pumps, and having the
heavy equipment outside
meant they could have been
Janet Van Diepen
of Baker City said she
might visit her daughter
after receiving her second
dose.
“She hasn’t let me
come visit her during this
whole thing. But other
than that, I haven’t really
made any lifestyle chang-
es,” Van Diepen said.
Wiley and Carmen
Harding from Hunting-
ton said they also don’t
really plan on making
any changes.
Delton and Lita Towell
also intend to keep to the
lifestyle they’ve had dur-
ing the pandemic.
NEW CASES
Continued from Page 1A
Phil Wright/The (La Grande) Observer
The North Powder Rural Fire Protection District’s new fi re station at 710 E St., North
Powder, is ready for service Saturday, March 20.
The department paid a good
chunk of that with its own
building fund, which it had
been adding to for many years,
Thompson said. Grants from
local and regional organiza-
tions also helped cover the
tab, as did donations from
numerous businesses and
residents. Martin stressed this
was key to the money end of
the project.
“That was a big part of the
process with trying not to
increase the tax rate for the
district,” he said.
Alex Wittwer/The (La Grande) Observer
A general contractor over-
Residents celebrate the opening of the North Powder
saw the construction of the
Rural Fire Protection District’s new fi re station.
building, and the department’s
own members shouldered
targets for vandalism.
“That tank truck right now their share of work, includ-
While that never material- is full,” Martin pointed out. “So ing installing interior walls.
ized, he said, it was a constant there’s 5,000 gallons of water Martin said the children of
concern.
ready to go.”
fi refi ghters chipped in, often
But the new building
The all-volunteer depart-
with the cleanup.
provides 11,500 square feet
ment consists of 20 locals,
“They’ve really been a big
of space, Thompson said,
serves an area of 172 square
part of this also,” he said,
about four times as much as
miles and receives funding
adding that getting youth
the former, and has wide bay for operations from its taxing involved has the benefi t of
doors to accommodate the big district.
piquing interest in the next
equipment. The dozer and wa-
The project for the new
generation of fi refi ghters for
ter truck both were on display building cost a little more than the North Powder Rural Fire
inside the new station.
$1 million.
Protection District.
But the increase in cases since March 22 has pushed
the monthly fi gure to 2.6 per day, slightly higher than
in February.
The county’s weekly totals over the past month or so:
• March 22-28 — 33 cases
• March 15-21 — 8 cases
•March 8-14 — 16 cases
• March 1-7 — 16 cases
The rising trend coincides with the start of the new
two-week measuring period, which the Oregon Health
Authority (OHA) uses to determine the risk level, and
associated restrictions on businesses and activities, for
each of Oregon’s 36 counties.
Baker County, by dint of recording 24 new cases dur-
ing the previous measuring period — March 7-20 —
dropped to the lowest of the four risk levels on Friday,
March 26.
But in the fi rst eight days of the current measuring
period — March 21-April 3 — the county already has
too many cases to qualify for the lowest risk.
If the county fi nishes that period with between 30
and 44 new cases, it would move to moderate risk
starting April 9. That change has relatively minor
effects on restaurants and bars — they would have to
close at 11 p.m. rather than midnight — and outdoor
recreation events would have a capacity of 150 people
rather than the current 300 under the lowest risk.
If the county has at least 45 new cases, but fewer
than 60, during the two-week period ending April 3, it
could jump to high risk.
That would cut indoor dining at restaurants and
bars from the current 50% of capacity to 25% or 50
total people, whichever is fewer, and the limit per table
would drop from eight people to six.
The current four-level system has been in place since
early December.
Jonathan Modie, a spokesman for the OHA, said
state offi cials are “continually examining our approach
to controlling the spread of COVID-19 in Oregon,
including the county risk level framework, based on
updated research and current spread.”
Modie said there is no timeframe for changing the
system.
Environmental groups oppose dam removal plan
■ Coalition backs removing dams but not in exchange for a 35-year moratorium on related lawsuits
BOISE (AP) — A coalition
of 17 environmental groups
is speaking out against a key
part of a sweeping plan to
remove the lower Snake River
dams to save salmon and
steelhead.
The groups said in a letter
to Democratic senators in Or-
egon and Washington that the
35-year moratorium on fi sh-
and dam-related lawsuits
included in Idaho Republican
Rep. Mike Simpson’s proposal
in exchange for dam removal
was too high a price to pay,
the Idaho Statesman reported
Saturday.
A years-long ban on
lawsuits will make federal
and state laws on clean water
standards and species protec-
tions harder to enforce, the
groups said in the letter to
Washington Sens. Patty Mur-
ray and Maria Cantwell and
Oregon Sens. Jeff Merkley
and Ron Wyden.
The groups urged the law-
makers to oppose the proposal
“as written,” but said they
generally support the idea of
breaching the dams and help-
ing impacted communities.
The letter argues that the rea-
son salmon aren’t yet extinct
get wheat and other grains to
market, and to help communi-
ties like Lewiston.
To address what some in
the region see as the “slippery
slope” of dam removal, the
— David Moskowitz,
concept includes a 35-year
executive director of
moratorium on ESA, Clean
The Conservation Angler
Water Act and National Envi-
ronmental Policy Act lawsuits
on the Snake River is because on most of the remaining
of lawsuits to protect their
dams in the Columbia River
habitat under environmental Basin and it would extend
laws that were enacted after federal licenses at those dams
the dams were already built. for 35 years.
“The Clean Water Act and
It would also set up
the Endangered Species Act
regional watershed partner-
are critical to protecting wild ships between agricultural
salmon and protecting water interests, conservation groups
quality, and when you are
and Native American tribes
removing the enforcement
aimed at improving water
of those for many years, you
quality. Farmers participating
could actually be doing more in the voluntary partnerships
harm than the dams are
would be shielded from Clean
causing,” said Kurt Beardslee, Water Act lawsuits for 25
executive director of the Wild years.
Fish Conservancy.
Some environmental
Simpson last month re-
groups such as the Idaho
leased his $33 billion legisla- Conservation League, Trout
tive concept to breach the
Unlimited and the Save Our
dams and mitigate affected
Wild Salmon Coalition sup-
industries and communities
port Simpson’s proposal. But
through a wide range of in-
the congressman has also
vestments. It includes funding faced stern criticism from
to replace power produced
agricultural groups, state
at the dams, to help farmers
legislators and county com-
“We don’t support the
status quo even though
we are opposed to this
proposal as written.”
missioners from both Idaho
and Washington.
Todd True, an attorney
from the environmental
law fi rm EarthJustice who
has represented many of
the salmon advocates who
support Simpson’s concept,
said he sees it as the type of
comprehensive proposal that
could help save the fi sh. But
he sees Simpson’s proposal as
a starting point instead of a
fi nished product.
“It’s not perfect. There are
diffi cult issues that it raises.
We are ready to have the
hard conversations to fi nd
a way forward and resolve
those issues,” he said. “The
limits on access to the courts
is one of the diffi cult issues.”
David Moskowitz, execu-
tive director of The Con-
servation Angler, one of
the groups that signed the
letter, said while his group
opposes Simpson’s proposal,
the groups agree it can be im-
proved and hope the senators
from Washington and Oregon
do so. For example, he said it
might be possible to narrow
the litigation moratoriums.
“I think the Oregon and
Washington delegation
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“I think we might be re-
laxed a little bit,” Delton
said.
“We’re glad to get the
second one,” Lita said.
Common side effects
for people who have had
their second dose include
pain and swelling at the
injection site, fever, head-
ache, chills, muscle pain,
joint pain, and nausea/
vomiting. According to a
handout given to people
at the clinic Friday, most
side effects last less than
24 hours. Side effects
tend to be more notice-
able after the second dose.
Staten said that means
the vaccinated person’s
immune system is re-
sponding to the vaccine.
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should be able to really work
on the positives that are there
and on the things that are too
broad right now, like this liti-
gation prohibition,” he said.
Moskowitz took them to
task for leaving it to an Idaho
Republican to try to save the
fi sh.
“Where are the creative
Democrats? Plenty of their
constituents support making
a change and don’t support
the status quo, and we don’t
support the status quo even
though we are opposed to this
proposal as written.”
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Richard Haines
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cell 541-403-0724
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