TUESDAY, MAY 4, 2021
BAKER CITY HERALD — 3A
Police warn of
pills, drugs laced
with fentanyl
Jon Hanley/Submitted photo
One panel of Jon Hanley’s mural at Old Pine Market in Halfway depicts how horses have been used in agriculture
in the Pine Valley of eastern Baker County.
MURAL
Continued from Page 1A
Hanley drew 10 different
scenes that incorporate the
local scenery and various
uses of horses, from providing
transportation for the Native
Americans to logging, agricul-
ture, mining, rodeo and more.
“We could have incorpo-
rated 40 more horse scenes,”
he said.
The mural is about 30 feet
long, with each era blending
into the next.
“I wanted to do something
that tells a story and how
integral horses were to daily
life,” he said. “I’ve never done
anything quite like it. I hope
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
people love it as much as I
Jon Hanley, who has made a career as a political cartoonist, is creating several murals in
loved doing it.”
Halfway as well as making a cartoon-style map of the area from Hells Canyon to Sparta.
His second mural at the
market will be in the entry-
way and depict how the build- “I wanted to do something that tells a story and how
“It makes a souvenir for
ing and town looked in 1906.
years to come,” Hanley said.
integral horses were to daily life,” he said. “I’ve never
This is the fi rst map
Decades as a cartoonist
project where he’s spent
done anything quite like it. I hope people love it as
Hanley lives in Pocatello,
extensive time in the area,
much as I loved doing it.”
Idaho, but grew up in La
which has helped him collect
— Jon Hanley
Grande.
history of the area.
That was where, at age
“I’ve met all the old-timers
Another venture includes — we can sit down and talk
15, he began his journey as a cartooning. I won all my car-
political cartoonist.
tooning awards doing (Ron- cartoon-style maps of towns. about history,” he said. “Pine
He fi rst drew cartoons for ald) Reagan and (Mikhail)
So far he’s mapped 92 places Valley has been really hospi-
the weekly Eastern Oregon Gorbachev.”
and this year he’s focusing
table. Everyone has been so
Review, then freelanced for
on Halfway.
From his time at college,
sweet.”
The Observer during high
The map will cover about
he developed a certain ap-
It was time to map Half-
school, from 1976 to 1979.
proach to political cartoons. 30 miles from Hells Canyon way, he said, because he’s
“That was my foray into
to Sparta.
“We were conscientious
already completed similar
professional illustrating,” he that the editorial cartoons
“It will incorporate the
projects across Eastern Or-
said.
history of the area, and be
made an impact, made a
egon including Baker City,
He became a full-time
fi lled with trivia,” he said.
difference. I’ve always done
La Grande, Joseph, Weiser,
cartoonist while attending
The map measures 11
that,” he said. “It’s been a
and Ontario.
Portland Community Col-
good career. I’ve enjoyed it.” inches by 7 inches, and will
Although he has a few
lege.
be folded into a brochure
trips planned back to Po-
Other artistic ventures
He’s drawn cartoons of
size. Although one side is a
catello, he will stay with fam-
Along with the cartoons,
every president from Nixon
highly stylized depiction of
ily in Halfway this summer
Hanley’s work includes
to now.
businesses and landmarks, until the map is fi nished.
murals and set painting for the opposite side has a more
“It’s delightful,” Hanley
He’s also scheduled to paint
live theater.
said. “I’m bipartisan in my
traditional map of the area. a mural in La Grande.
MAYOR
Continued from Page 1A
McQuisten, who was elected to
the City Council in November 2020,
took offi ce in January 2021 and
was elected mayor by a vote of the
council.
She drafted Resolution 3881 in
consultation with City Manager Jon
Cannon and the city’s attorney.
“I want this to pass so that we
can stand together with you guys
and make a very loud statement
that will hopefully spread across the
state,” McQuisten said during the
March 23 council meeting. “If we can
get the media and other cities and
other counties to listen to this and
do something similar, that’s our only
shot as far as I can see of getting the
state and Salem to listen to us.”
The resolution blames Brown’s
executive orders during the pan-
demic for pushing “businesses to the
brink of permanent closure, creating
a fi scal emergency and a devastated
local economy.”
The resolution also contends that
the governor’s orders, including
“Between the messages, the calls, and the emails, I am just about
physically unable to respond to them all at this point. It has
been overwhelming. I have heard from people, citizens, county
commissioners, other mayors, it’s been all over the state ... it’s
primarily on the west side I’m hearing from people.”
Three fatal drug overdoses in Baker City in the past
six months were tied to counterfeit opioid pills laced
with fentanyl, a powerful painkiller, local offi cials said
in a press release on Monday, May 3.
The joint release was from the Baker County Narcot-
ics Enforcement Team and New Directions Northwest
Mental Health and Crisis Response Partners.
The fentanyl-laced pills are sometimes called “blues”
or M30’s,” according to the press release.
“While we recognize there are a variety of reasons
for drug use we want to remind the public that we
will actively pursue and prosecute individuals and/or
organizations that continue to distribute dangerous
narcotics to community members,” said Lt. Ty Duby of
the Baker City Police. “We also want to remind folks
that one can be held criminally liable for a death if they
were the supplier of that substance.
“Our team currently sees methamphetamine and
heroin, laced with fentanyl, as the number one drug
problem in the Baker City area,” Duby said. “We do see
pill use in the form of Oxycodone pills. We also have
seen locally the blue pills that are most likely manu-
factured in Mexico made to look like oxy 30’s and they
also have some fentanyl mixed in.”
Although Baker City Police offi cers and Baker City
Fire Department paramedics carry Narcan, which
can prevent overdoses by blocking the toxic effects of
opioids, during the past year one person who was saved
by Narcan was found dead two days later from another
overdose, according to the press release.
“We want individuals who use heroin or oxy 30 pills
to know what’s truly in it,” Duby said. “Information on
the street and lab tests are showing that more often
than not the heroin also contains a certain amount of
fentanyl. In the last six months Baker City Police have
responded to three known overdose deaths involving
suspected heroin containing fentanyl. We are seeing
certain individuals repeatedly overdosing.”
According to the press release, fentanyl is a synthetic
opioid that’s up to 50 times more potent than heroin.
Even amounts as small as two milligrams — the size
of two grains of table salt — is a fatal dose for most
people.
New Directions Northwest CEO Shari Selander said
members of its Mobile Crisis Response Team, which
works with emergency responders during overdoses
and other crisis events, have seen an increase during
the pandemic in people feeling hopeless.
“Yet, rather than seeking help, which is available,
some are self-medicating, and unfortunately, check-
ing out,” Selander said. “We need to end this. We need
to get people the help they need, when they need
it. Either through crisis response, in the moment of
an event, along with the use of Naloxone (Narcan),
or medical detox and crisis stabilization, or through
prevention, with mental health services, and/or group
therapy.”
Selander said a communitywide effort is needed to
spread the word about the dangers of pills and drugs
containing fentanyl.
New Directions Northwest has naloxone/Narcan kits
available for free. Selander urges anyone who needs
help with drug addiction to call New Directions at
541-523-7400. A 24-hour crisis hotline is also available
by calling 541-519-7126. If an overdose is suspected,
911 should be called immediately to obtain medical
assistance.
“There is no shame in seeking help, we have profes-
sionals within our community that can make a dif-
ference, we want to save lives, and everyone matters,”
Selander said. “We are fortunate to live in a community
that cares and supports each other, so make a call
when red fl ags are raised.”
Signs and symptoms of an overdose
You can identify an opioid overdose by a combination
of three symptoms known as the opioid triad. The triad
consists of:
• Pinpoint pupils
• Unconsciousness
• Respiratory depression
Additional signs and symptoms:
• Unresponsiveness
• Awake, but unable to talk
• Body is very limp
resolution, including comments from
McQuisten.
The momentum grew rapidly after
that, she said.
“There were posts on some very
large online groups such as Timber
in Unity with 65,000 members, Open
— Kerry McQuisten, Baker City mayor
Oregon posted it, and from there it
just went crazy,” McQuisten said.
face mask mandates, “are actively
related to the pandemic.
McQuisten was interviewed on
creating division and unrest with
She said she has lost count of how the Lars Larson radio program on
the increased potential of physical
many people she has spoken with
Thursday, April 29.
violence within our community as
about the resolution.
She said The Blaze, an online
those of one opinion are encouraged
“Between the messages, the calls, media source started by conservative
by it to impose their opinions over
and the emails, I am just about
commentator Glenn Beck, also pub-
the free will of those of another in a physically unable to respond to them lished a story last week about Baker
physical way ...”
all at this point,” McQuisten said. “It City’s resolution, and that accelerated
McQuisten said she’s hearing
has been overwhelming. I have heard national interest in the topic.
from people across Oregon, including from people, citizens, county com-
“From the Blaze article, that’s
other mayors and elected offi cials,
missioners, other mayors, it’s been
where Fox host Pete Hegseth — he’s
that Baker City is being seen as an all over the state. And it’s not just on going to be moving from Fox and
epicenter of freedom.
the east side of the state, it’s primar- Friends to hosting Fox News Prime-
On Monday, May 3, Stan Pulliam, ily on the west side I’m hearing from time this whole coming week — and
mayor of Sandy, Oregon, announced people.”
Pete actually saw the Blaze article
that a lawsuit would be fi led in
McQuisten said response to the
and it had a link to my mayor’s Face-
federal court on behalf of several
resolution was relatively slow for
book Page,” McQuisten said. “So, he
businesses and individuals, the
the fi rst few weeks after councilors
checked all of that out and then he
Heart of Main Street and Oregon
approved it.
asked the Fox booking manager if he
Moms Union, challenging Brown’s
But on April 28, PJ Media
could get in touch with me if I would
authority to issue executive orders
published an online story about the
like to interview with him.”
See Fentanyl/Page 5A
Although the city’s resolution
acknowledges that the city can nei-
ther legally ignore state mandates
nor protect from state sanctions any
businesses that fl out the rules, Mc-
Quisten said she hopes the recent
attention to the resolution will lead
to changes in state restrictions.
“That was the intent of the reso-
lution,” she said. “The fi rst purpose
was to give our citizens a voice. And
the second purpose was to hopefully
trigger a snowball effect across the
state because right now we’re not
being heard. If you ask a question of
the governor that doesn’t fi t in with
the lockdown, it’s ignored. I mean,
fl at out ignored. Correspondence
that people are sending, ignored.
Requests for data are ignored. We
just had a historic letter signed by
27 of our 36 counties, 80 county
commissioners, and instead of
listening to that feedback from
all of these counties, she said ‘no,
you’re wrong and I’m right’ and
we weren’t even considered. So
hopefully this resolution continues
to put the pressure on so she has to
hear us.”