SATURDAY JAZZ ROUT TRAIL BLAZERS: PG. 5A HEALTH, 2B BICYCLING BOOM In OUTDOORS, 1B Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com April 10, 2021 IN THIS EDITION: QUICK HITS Good Day Wish To A Subscriber A special good day to Herald subscriber Connie Brown of Haines. Local • Health & Fitness • Outdoors • TV $1.50 Prime turkey time Wolf hit, killed by vehicle ■ Adult male wolf from Cornucopia pack was hit on Highway 86 near Richland, likely early Thursday Oregon, 3A By Jayson Jacoby PENDLETON — For the second year in a row, Pendleton Bike Week is canceled. The organizers behind the motorcycle rally made the announcement on the event’s website. jjacoby@bakercityherald.com An adult wolf from the Cornuco- pia pack in eastern Baker County was hit and killed by a car on Highway 86 near Richland either late Wednesday night or early Thursday, April 8. Several motorists reported the dead wolf, starting around 6:30 a.m. Thursday, said Brian Ratliff, district wildlife biologist at the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) offi ce in Baker City. The wolf was hit near Milepost 36, about fi ve miles west of Rich- land. Ratliff said he doesn’t know who hit the wolf. No one has reported doing so. The dead wolf, a male weighing 95 pounds, was born in the spring of 2019 along with two other pups, Ratliff said. That litter elevated the group of wolves to pack status. Although the wolf did not have a tracking collar, Ratliff said a GPS signal from a collar fi tted to a female wolf in the Cornucopia pack, also part of the pack’s spring 2019 litter, showed that that wolf, early Thurs- day morning, was near the point on the highway where the male wolf was killed. See Wolf/Page 3A BRIEFING Virtual book fair benefi ts Baker Early Learning Ctr. Cycling Classic returns Baker Little League Prepares To Start Season May 1 Baker Early Learning Center is holding a virtual Scholastic Book Fair from April 8 through April 20. BELC earns 25% of the book sales. All proceeds will be added to the school’s playground fund. To purchase books, fol- low these steps: Through Google, search for Scholastic Book Fairs. Click on: Find a Fair. Search for Baker Early Lrng Center. Purchase books from the online store or the virtual fair. For quicker access, go to https://bookfairs.scholas- tic.com/bookfairs/cptoolkit/ homepage.do?method=ho mepage&url=bakerearlylr ngcenter Information is also posted on the Baker Early Learning Center’s Face- book page. WEATHER By Lisa Britton lbritton@bakercityherald.com Brian Cimmiyotti says bicy- clists are ready to race again, and he’s looking forward to putting on the Baker City Cycling Classic this summer. “I think there’s a pent-up demand,” he said. Cimmiyotti took over as race director in 2020, but that event was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year’s race is set for June 25-27. See Bicycles/Page 6A Jayson Jacoby/Baker City Herald More than 100 volunteers gathered at Wade Williams Field on April 3 to prepare the park, owned by the Baker Elks Lodge, for the upcoming Baker Little League season. Today 46 / 20 Mostly sunny Sunday 53 / 21 Mostly sunny Let’s Play Ball! Monday 56 / 26 Mostly sunny Full forecast on the back of the B section. By Corey Kirk, Baker City Herald When the calendars fl ip from April to May, for the fi rst time in two years Wade Williams Field and the softball complex on 17th Street will echo with the sounds of bats on balls and the sight of parents watching the games. COVID related death reported By Jayson Jacoby jjacoby@bakercityherald.com A 75-year-old Baker City man who died on April 3 is the 13th county resident to die after testing positive for COVID-19, the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) reported Friday, April 9. See COVID/Page 3A The space below is for a postage label for issues that are mailed. The Baker Little League, which canceled the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is set to return May 1. Jason McClaughry, Baker Little League president, said preparation for the 2021 season started not long after the diffi cult decision to cancel the 2020 schedule. “The fi rst thing we do every year is to work on getting new board mem- bers or fi lling the board to help run league operations for the next year,” McClaughry said. One of the board’s bigger challenges, not surprisingly, was work- ing closely with the Or- egon Health Authority and the Baker County Health Department to McClaughry ensure this long-await- ed season can be played safely. “Putting a procedure and protocol together for how we are going to get kids back on the fi eld, and doing it safely with all the expectations that we have these days,” McClaughry said. McClaughry recognized that this offseason, following the 2020 cancellation, was not going to be like previous ones. “Before, we would be looking at putting teams together, register- ing players, looking at equipment purchases, and uniforms; we’ve been having to look at other things under the current COVID-19 pandemic restrictions and guidelines on how we would operate a season,” he said. By Samantha O’Conner See Little League/Page 2A release, any Brooklyn students who are quarantined because they were A fourth employee at Brooklyn Pri- in close contact with the teacher — mary School has tested positive for being with six feet for 15 minutes or COVID-19, the Baker School District more during a 24-hour period — will reported Thursday morning, April 8. be able to use the District’s distance The District announced on April learning platform while quarantin- 2 that one Brooklyn employee, and ing. two substitute teachers, had tested Students in the teacher’s class positive. started distance learning Thursday According to Thursday’s press as a precaution, but no students have jjacoby@bakercityherald.com TODAY Issue 142, 14 pages Calendar ....................2A Classified ............. 3B-6B Comics ....................... 7B Community News ....3A Crossword ........3B & 6B Dear Abby ................. 8B soconner@bakercityherald.com tested positive, said Lindsey McDow- ell, the District’s public information and communications coordinator. As was the case with the three other workers, the teacher who most recently tested positive was infected outside the school, based on an in- vestigation from the Baker County Health Department, McDowell said. One of Baker County’s major summer events — three of them, actually — are slated to return in 2021 after being casualties of the CO- VID-19 pandemic in 2020. The trio of outdoor fl ea markets at Sumpter, the historic town about 28 miles west of Baker City, are scheduled for four-day runs around Memorial Day, the Fourth of July and Labor Day weekends. See School/Page 3A See Sumpter/Page 3A Fourth school employee tests positive By Jayson Jacoby Sumpter’s three flea markets planned Horoscope ........4B & 6B Jayson Jacoby ..........4A News of Record ........2A Obituaries ..................2A Opinion ......................4A Outdoors ..........1B & 3B Sports ........................5A Turning Backs ...........2A Weather ..................... 8B TUESDAY — BAKER VS. LA GRANDE IN SEASON’S FINAL FOOTBALL GAME