THURSDAY, MAY 20, 2021
BAKER CITY HERALD — 3A
Five counties
moving to low risk
Invasive weed of the week
By Jeffrey Pettingill
The Enemy
Poison hemlock (Conium
maculatum)
The Strategy
Poison hemlock is a bien-
nial plant that grows up to
12 feet tall. This is the most
toxic of all the plants that
we have growing in the area.
The plant hosts white fl owers
(don’t mistake this plant for
wild parsley or wild carrot).
This plant is easy to distin-
guish as the stems have a
purple striping up and down
them that the other plants
do not. The leaves are fern-
like and pinnately divided
and resemble Grandma’s
end table doilies. This plant
hosts a white taproot which
when viewed in cross-section
resembles thick walls with
hollow chambers.
Rich Old/Contributed Photo
Poison hemlock usually grows along waterways, and can reach 12 feet in height.
through the bamboo-like
stems (although they don’t
turn woody) and obviously
few or no animals can feed
Attack
on it to help control it.
This plant inhabits the
All parts of this plant are
riparian areas along streams poisonous to livestock and
and ditches or even where
humans; in fact the extract
there are subsurface waters
of this plant was used to
near roadways. It can become execute Socrates of ancient
very thick once the plants
Greece. People have been
become established. As the
killed by the plant when they
plant matures it blocks out
mistakenly put it in a salad.
sunlight and robs the soil
Defense
of valuable nutrients and
There is one insect, a
water. Wildlife cannot travel
COUNTY
moth, that defoliates this
plant (available from the
County Weed District).
Mechanically digging up the
plants can be effective in the
fi rst few years of establish-
ment. Cover your hands with
latex or nitrile gloves then
apply your leather gloves
and get to removing. Use
herbicides such as 1 ounce
per acre of Escort XP or
Telar XP, and on outer side
of irrigation ditch banks, 3.3
ounces per acre of Opensight
is best, but remember not to
development as well as for operating
the visitors center.
Continued from Page 1A
The county can keep up to 5% for
Most recently, commissioners
administrative costs.
extended that contract, which is for
Commission Chairman Bill Harvey
about $77,000 per year, through Aug.
abstained from voting on the motion
31, 2021.
Wednesday.
On Wednesday, May 19, commission-
During a work session on May 12,
ers Mark Bennett and Bruce Nichols
the three commissioners had argued
voted for a motion, pending Martin’s
over the lodging tax issue.
decision about extending the Chamber
Bennett and Nichols took the posi-
of Commerce contract, to have another tion that when commissioners voted
attorney who’s also working for the
on March 3 to extend the visitor center
county, Kim Mosier, draft a request for contract to Aug. 31, that the six-mem-
proposals (RFP) to help the county fi nd ber work group formed, three each ap-
a contractor to oversee the lodging tax pointed by the county and Baker City,
system review.
would solicit opinions from tourism
That would include scheduling public businesses to help guide a new RFP for
meetings and gathering input from
operating the visitor center.
business owners in the visitor indus-
But Harvey, who was one of the
try, and potentially writing additional
county’s representatives on the work
RFPs for the visitor center as well as
group, said it wasn’t possible to do that
the other legs of the lodging tax stool,
and have an RFP ready before the
tourism marketing and economic devel- contract extension ends Aug. 31.
opment.
Bennett, though, on Wednesday
The current lodging tax ordinance,
reiterated his point from May 12, that
which dates to 2006, requires that the commissioners need input from busi-
county spend 70% of the revenue for
nesses that depend on visitors.
tourism marketing, and 25% for eco-
“I believe that we can’t build a
nomic development.
roadmap or any guidance until we hear
The county has separate contracts
what everybody is thinking about out
for tourism marketing and economic
there,” Bennett said. “The RFP for the
SCHOOLS
optimistic that voters would
recognize how school district
Continued from Page 1A
offi cials responded to the mes-
The levy will raise prop-
sage voters sent in rejecting
erty taxes within the district, the 2018 measure by propos-
which includes Baker City
ing a much smaller bond that
and much of Baker Valley, by will be repaid in fi ve years
about 66 cents per $1,000 of
rather than 30.
assessed value over fi ve years.
“We did the best we could to
The district’s most recent
listen and learn from the last
bond measure, a $48 million
bond, to take that and go back
proposal that would have
to the drawing board,” he said.
allowed the district to build a “What we came up with was a
new elementary school, was
result of community member
soundly defeated, with more
involvement.”
than twice as many no votes
Hawkins said he’s eager for
— 4,725 — as yes votes —
residents to see the improve-
2,185.
ments that the bond money
That measure was on the
will help to pay for.
general election ballot in No-
“I’m excited for the public
vember 2018. Voter turnout
to see what these dollars are
was much higher in that
going to look like,” he said.
election, with about 8,512 bal- “We’re going to make the most
lots returned (72.4% turnout) of this bond. I think it’s a re-
compared with 5,927 ballots
ally good opportunity to gain
returned in Tuesday’s special that community trust.”
election (47.2% turnout).
In other races on Tuesday’s
Hawkins said he was
ballot:
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Jeffrey Pettingill is the weed
control supervisor for Baker
County. He encourages people
with noxious weed questions
to call him at 541-523-0618
or 541-519-0204. He also
encourages people to like the
Baker County Weed District’s
Facebook page.
consultant, that will include listening
sessions with the community and the
visitor services center, engagement
with the visitor services industry.”
He said the idea is to build on the
efforts of the six-member work group,
which met several times in March and
April and drafted an RFP for operat-
ing the visitors center, anticipating
the need to put the RFP out in time to
allow the county to receive and review
proposals before Aug. 31.
“We do have a lot of work done, it’s
collecting our work, putting it together
in a package because there’s work the
work group just did, there’s the work
the (county lodging tax committee has)
done, there’s the 2018 marketing plan,
all of this is more a compilation,” Ben-
nett said.
During the commissioners’ work
session on May 12, and a meeting that
evening with members of the city/coun-
ty work group, there was a discussion
about potentially extending the Cham-
ber of Commerce’s contract to operate
the visitors center until March 2022.
Commissioners initially planned
to award a new contract in February
2020. The county received two propos-
als, one from the Chamber and one
from Anthony Lakes Mountain Resort.
Baker School Board
In the one contested race,
for position 3, Jessica Dough-
erty received 1,819 votes to
defeat Koby Myer, who had
1,747 votes.
Travis Cook was the only
candidate for position 4 on
the board.
Idaho border measure
In a countywide measure,
voters decided to require
Baker County commission-
ers to meet three times per
year to discuss a proposal to
include 18 Oregon counties,
including Baker, as part of
Idaho. For the state border
to actually move, however,
would require the approval
of both the Oregon and Idaho
legislatures, and of Congress.
The measure received
3,336 yes votes and 2,469 no
votes.
The measure requires com-
missioners “to discuss how to
promote the interests of Bak-
er County in any negotiations
regarding relocating the state
borders of Idaho to include
Baker County,” according to
the ballot title.
Library district levy
extension
By a wide margin, county
voters extended the Baker
County Library District’s tax
levy for fi ve years. The mea-
sure passed by 3,947 votes to
1,711.
Halfway marijuana
measure
Voters in the eastern Baker
County town rejected a mea-
sure that would have allowed
marijuana businesses, includ-
ing dispensaries, growing and
processing operations, within
the city limits.
A total of 119 voters op-
posed the measure, with 51
voting in favor.
Jay & Kristin Wilson, Owners
2036 Main Street, Baker City
541-523-6284 • ccb#219615
FROM
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By Mark Miller
Pamplin Media Group
Five Oregon counties — including Washington
County, the state’s second-most populous — will move
to the most permissive risk category for the spread of
COVID-19 this Friday, May 21.
Gov. Kate Brown announced Tuesday afternoon,
May 18, that at least 65% of residents age 16 and
older in Benton, Deschutes, Hood River, Lincoln and
Washington counties have received at least one dose
of a COVID-19 vaccine, and that those counties have
also fulfi lled her requirement to submit an “equity
plan” to demonstrate how they’ll improve vaccination
rates among demographics that are lagging behind the
general population. Because of that, Brown said, those
fi ve counties can move to the “lower risk” designation
— clearing the way for larger gatherings and more
business activities.
Washington County has been in the “high risk”
category because its COVID-19 case counts have been
above 100 per 100,000 residents in recent weeks. That
limits indoor dining capacity to 25% at most restau-
rants, limits gymnasiums and other indoor recreation
and fi tness establishments to quarter-capacity as well,
restricts stores to half-occupancy, and puts a 15% cap
on the number of spectators at outdoor sporting events,
among other restrictions. Residents of “high risk” coun-
ties are also asked not to gather in groups larger than
eight people, or six people for indoor gatherings.
“Lower risk” signifi cantly relaxes those limits.
Indoor dining and exercise are allowed up to 50% of
maximum occupancy, stores can welcome up to 75%
of their normal maximum occupancy, and outdoor
venues like Ron Tonkin Field in Hillsboro can fi ll up to
half of their available seats.
Data released earlier Tuesday by the Oregon
Health Authority showed Deschutes, Lincoln and
Washington counties were a little short of the 65%
threshold Brown set earlier this month for COVID-19
restrictions to be relaxed. But Brown said Tuesday
afternoon that once the state factored in vaccine
doses administered at federal facilities and vaccina-
tion events, those three counties cleared the bar.
Multnomah County is also at the 65% threshold,
Oregon Health Authority data shows. But the county
has not yet submitted an equity plan. Portland-based
Willamette Week reported Monday, May 17, that the
state’s most populous county plans to wait at least one
more week before it applies to move to “lower risk.”
Baker County stays at high
risk through at least May 27
Although the rate of new COVID-19 cases in
Baker County has dropped to its lowest level in
more than three months, the county will remain at
the high risk level at least through May 27, Baker
County Commissioner Mark Bennett said Wednes-
day, May 19.
That includes the most severe restrictions on
business and events, since the extreme risk level is
no longer an option for any counties.
In counties at high risk, restaurants and bars
can have indoor dining up to 25% of capacity or 50
total people, including diners and employees.
Bennett said that although the county’s number
of cases over the most recent two-week measur-
ing period — 40 cases from May 2-15 — would
move the county down to the moderate risk level,
the county’s test positivity rate, at 8.9%, keeps the
county at high risk. To drop to moderate risk the
positivity rate would have to drop below 8%.
Bennett said he has asked the Oregon Health
Authority why it still uses test positivity rates to de-
termine risk levels, given that far fewer people are
being tested compared with the winter and early
spring. Baker County’s weekly test total dropped
from 236 from May 2-8, to 146 tests from May 9-15.
Bennett said that as of Wednesday morning he had
not received a response.
The state sets risk levels based on two weeks of
data. Baker’s numbers dropped substantially for
the latter of the two weeks, however — from 27
cases between May 2-8, to 12 from May 9-15. For
the 10-day period May 9-18, the county had 15 new
cases, the fewest in a 10-day period since Feb. 4-13,
when there were 13 new cases.
— Jayson Jacoby, Baker City Herald
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