TUESDAY
BAKER PITCHERS DOMINANT AS BULLDOGS SWEEP ONTARIO: SPORTS, 6A
Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
April 20, 2021
Local • Home & Living • Sports
IN THIS EDITION:
QUICK HITS
Good Day Wish
To A Subscriber
A special good day to
Herald subscriber Mark
Lepley of Baker City.
Local, 2A
Three people were ar-
rested on a variety of drug
and weapons charges
early Sunday in Baker
City after an Oregon State
Police trooper stopped
their car because the front
passenger was not wear-
ing a seat belt.
City Installs Security Cameras In Two Parks
Eyes In The Sky
ONTARIO — Lawyers
and advocates say that
the sweeping court order
requiring reforms in Snake
River Correctional Institu-
tion’s COVID protocols is a
landmark. The case, they
say, not only raised ques-
tions about the quality of
medical care at the prison
but also exposes problems
endemic to the Oregon
Department of Corrections’
handling of the pandemic.
See Election/Page 3A
Man accused of
assaulting his
mother, tussling
with police
State, 5A
BEND — The udders
appeared to have been
removed with precision
— straight, even cuts, as if
made by a sharp object.
The reproductive
systems had been cut
out cleanly as well, and
without disturbing other
organs.
There was no indica-
tion of predator activity
and perhaps strangest of
all, scavenging animals
appeared to have hardly
touched these six cow car-
casses found in a seven-
day span this year on
ranchland in rural Crook
County.
By Jayson Jacoby
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
WEATHER
Samantha O’Conner/Baker City Herald
61 / 27
Sunny
Baker City recently installed six security cameras in Geiser-Pollman Park (above) and six other
cameras in Central Park, beside the Powder River between Washington and Valley avenues.
By Samantha O’Conner
soconner@bakercityherald.com
Wednesday
67 / 30
Sunny
The space below is for
a postage label for issues
that are mailed.
Ballots for
May election
go in the
mail April 28
The Baker County Clerk’s Offi ce will mail
ballots on April 28 for the May 18 election,
which includes a $4 million bond measure
for the Baker School District and a measure
in Halfway that would allow recreational
and medicinal marijuana businesses in that
city.
Voters in the Baker School District will
decide whether to approve the $4 million
measure, which the district would combine
with a $4 million state grant and $4 million
from the district’s budget to replace heat-
ing, cooling and ventilation systems and
improve security at all schools.
State, 3A
Today
$1.50 Andrew Zellars
Baker City has installed six
security cameras in Geiser-
Pollman Park, the city’s largest
park, and six more cameras in
Central Park.
The latter park is beside the
Powder River between Wash-
ington and Valley avenues.
The cameras are intended
to help prevent vandalism and
other criminal activity in the
parks, said Joyce Bornstedt, the
city’s technical administration
supervisor and parks depart-
ment director.
“They’re pretty amazing,”
Bornstedt said of the cameras.
“They’re going to be a really
valuable tool not only for the
parks department but for the
police department as well as
we’re trying to get a handle on
the unfavorable behaviors and
crimes that are happening in
our parks. We’re excited about
that.”
City Councilor Johnny Wag-
goner Sr., who is the Council’s
representative on the city’s
parks board, told councilors dur-
ing their April 13 meeting that
he’s optimistic that the cameras,
and the closer police scrutiny
they make possible, will reduce
vandalism to playground equip-
ment and the Powder River
Pavilion in Geiser-Pollman
Park, and other items in the two
parks.
A Huntington man was arrested Sat-
urday evening on multiple charges for
allegedly assaulting his mother and then
struggling with police after they were called
to the scene of a disturbance near Hunting-
ton.
William Cody Crews, 46, of 29886 Mal-
heur Line Road, is in the Baker County Jail.
Crews was charged today with fourth-
degree assault and interfering with a peace
offi cer, both Class A misdemeanors, and
harassment, a Class B misdemeanor.
District Attorney Greg Baxter said he is
considering other potential charges against
Crews, including assaulting a police offi cer.
The case will go to a grand jury, Baxter
said on Monday afternoon, April 19.
A press release issued Monday morning
by the Baker County Sheriff’s Offi ce stated
that Crews had been charged with assault-
ing a public safety offi cer.
Baxter said he decided not to include that
charge initially because he couldn’t, for now,
substantiate that Crews “intentionally or
knowingly” harmed a police offi cer.
The incident started with a 911 call at
about 8:49 p.m. Saturday regarding an
“active disturbance” happening at 29886
Malheur Line Road, according to the press
release from the Sheriff’s Offi ce.
That property is owned by Crews’ par-
ents, and Crews lives in a camp trailer on
the property, according to a written report
Sheriff’s Deputy Talon Colton.
See Cameras/Page 3A
See Arrest/Page 5A
BMS, BHS students state champions in FFA
By Samantha O’Conner
and Jayson Jacoby
Baker City Herald
Several Baker Middle School and
Baker High School students were
named state champions after the
recent virtual Future Farmers of
America convention.
Students competed in career
development events via Zoom prior to
the convention, said Nicole Merchant,
agricultural science teacher and FFA
advisor.
“The week of convention Oregon
FFA ran two livestreamed sessions
a day announcing results, keynote
speakers, and retiring State FFA
officer addresses,” Merchant said. “All
in all, the convention worked well
TODAY
Issue 146, 14 pages
although many of my students missed
the experience of a traditional in per-
son convention, which I have to agree
with them. However, Oregon FFA did
a good job offering something for our
students during these unusual times.”
Baker Middle School
Lance Kerns, a seventh-grader,
placed fi rst in the food products and
processing category for his project
studying the effects of different meth-
ods of storing tomatoes.
Kerns said he initially planned
to study the effects on plant growth
of different types of manure before
deciding to compare the longevity
of tomatoes depending on storage
methods.
Calendar ....................2A
Classified ............. 4B-6B
Comics ....................... 7B
Community News ....3A
Crossword ........4B & 6B
Dear Abby ................. 8B
For the project last fall, Kerns
said he stored three
tomatoes in open plastic
containers, and three
in bags. Some were
stored in a cool room
— lower than regular
Kerns
room temperature —
some in a refrigerator
and some at room temperature. He
said he photographed the tomatoes
daily to document their condition.
Kerns said he expected that the
tomato stored in a paper bag in the
refrigerator would fare best.
But he said it turned out that
storage in a cool room was the best
method for preserving tomatoes,
whether kept in a bag or a plastic
Home ................... 1B-3B
Horoscope ........4B & 6B
Letters ........................4A
container, he said.
Tomatoes stored at
room temperature be-
came moldy relatively
quickly, said Kerns,
who is in his fi rst year
Armenta
with FFA.
He was “excited,
very excited” to learn that he had
won the state competition and
qualifi ed for the national competi-
tion, which usually takes place in
the fall.
Jose Armenta placed fi rst in the
plant systems category for his proj-
ect studying pH levels and germina-
tion of grass seed.
Lottery Results ..........2A
News of Record ........2A
Obituaries ..................2A
See Students/Page 3A
Opinion ......................4A
Sports ........................6A
Weather ..................... 8B
THURSDAY — GO! MAGAZINE ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE