SYDNEY KELLER TALKS ABOUT HER FINAL HOME GAME, A BIG BAKER
R WIN: PG. 6A
THURSDAY
Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
cityherald.com
June 17, 2021
IN THIS EDITION:
Local • Business & AgLife • Go! magazine $1.50
Return of Rodeo
Mountain High Broncs
and Bulls is June 26
NORTHEAST OREGON
Local Businesses Struggle To Fill Vacancies
JUNE 17, 2021
www.gonortheastoregon.com
Also Inside:
Petty Fever comes to Baker City
Cale Moon plays Music Review
Woodlands & Watershed Festival
Eagle Valley Day is June 19
Carrie Ryan /Contributed photo
Jobs Go Unfilled
Mountain High Broncs and Bulls
returns to Wallowa County June 26.
GO! Magazine
Your guide to arts,
entertainment and
other events
happening around
Northeast Oregon
By Samantha O’Conner
soconner@bakercityherald.com
QUICK HITS
Good Day Wish
To A Subscriber
A special good day to
Herald subscriber Mary
Brooks of Baker City.
BRIEFING
P.E.O. Chapter
awards four
scholarships
The Baker City P.E.O.
Chapter CJ Foundation
has awarded $500 scholar-
ships to Bailey Cole, Re-
bekah Davis, Hollie Mays
and Kylie Siddoway.
Bailey, of North Powder,
will attend Eastern Oregon
University and major in
multidisciplinary stud-
ies. Davis, of Baker City,
will attend Oregon State
University with a major
in nutrition and minor in
business. Mays, of Baker
City, will attend Carroll Col-
lege in Helena, Montana,
as a pre-med student with
a minor in theater. Siddo-
way, of Durkee, will attend
Texas A&M, majoring
in animal science with a
minor in agri-business.
WEATHER
Today
85 / 47
Sunny
Friday
90 / 52
County
OK’s
Pine Cr.
Road
survey
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
Marvin Wood Products on 17th Street in Baker City is among the local businesses that have had diffi culty
hiring employees over the past several months.
Fuller said that when the pandemic
started more than a year ago, the
Sandi Fuller has worked at the
initial concern was that Marvin Wood
Marvin Wood Products plant in Baker
Products would need fewer workers,
City for almost three decades and she
not more, as the economy was con-
never found it especially difficult to hire
stricted by COVID-19 restrictions.
— Sandi Fuller, plant manager,
employees.
But demand for the company’s
Marvin Wood Products
Until the pandemic.
products rebounded much more
COVID-19 has caused multiple eco-
quickly than it did after the 2008-09
nomic upheavals, and the most pressing
Prior to the pandemic, that task
recession, Fuller said.
current problem is filling vacancies and would have been relatively simple,
By late summer 2020 the market
expanding the workforce, said Fuller,
Fuller said.
had returned to pre-pandemic levels,
who is the plant’s manager and previ-
But attracting employees this year
and the Baker City plant needed to
ously worked as its human resources
has been difficult, she said, despite the
bolster its workforce, she said.
director.
company boosting its entry level wage to
Thus started the struggles.
“This is the most challenging hiring
$17.73, plus a 50-cent bonus for people
Fuller said multiple factors have
environment we’ve had in my experi-
who accept rotating shifts, and other
contributed to the company’s chal-
ence,” Fuller said.
incentives including signing bonuses
lenges at fi nding workers, and she
She’ll mark 29 years with Marvin
of $500 and up to $1,500 to help people acknowledges that it’s not always pos-
Wood Products in September.
move to Baker City.
sible to know why more people aren’t
Fuller said the Baker City plant
“These (incentives) are helping with applying for jobs since she never
employs about 170 workers, and she’d
our recruitment, but we aren’t where we actually talks to those people.
like to hire about 30 new production
want to be yet,” Fuller wrote in an email
See Jobs/Page 3A
employees.
to the Baker City Herald on June 10.
By Jayson Jacoby and Lisa Britton
Baker City Herald
“This is the most challenging
hiring environment we’ve had
in my experience.”
Baker County Commis-
sioners on Wednesday, June
16 took the fi rst step toward
potentially declaring as a
public road a section of Pine
Creek Lane that’s the sub-
ject of a lawsuit in which the
county is the defendant.
Commissioners unani-
mously approved a resolu-
tion “declaring the necessity
for the legalization of Pine
Creek Lane.”
Commission Chairman
Bill Harvey emphasized
that the resolution is a
preliminary action.
“All we’re doing today is
establishing a resolution
that says that we’re going
to put together a survey,”
Harvey said. “We are going
to have public hearings on
anything else after that. And
we will notify the public and
any landowners in the area
that we will be having that
meeting over at the Event
Center so we have plenty of
room for people to come and
give their comments.”
See County/Page 3A
Graduate
to intern
in 2 days
■ Joanna Mann, a
University of
Oregon graduate,
working at the
Baker City Herald
Sunny
By Lisa Britton
Competitors Pass Through Baker City On 4,210-Mile Trans Am Bike Race
The space below is for
a postage label for issues
that are mailed.
lbritton@bakercityherald.com
Crossing America by pedal power
By Joanna Mann
jmann@bakercityherald.com
If you have seen more
bicyclists than usual
zooming down Baker City
streets, chances are they’re
passing through town on
the Trans Am Bike Race,
an annual cross country
race from Astoria to York-
town, Virginia.
Only the most seasoned
and adventurous cyclists
will attempt the 4,210-mile
race, which kicked off at 6
a.m. on June 6.
Taylor Anthony, a
25-year-old from New York
City, is one of the 56 cyclists
competing in this year’s
race. He had planned on
participating last year, but
Joanna Mann/Baker City Herald
the 2020 event was can-
Taylor Anthony, left, is one of 42 bicyclists competing in the 4,210-mile Trans Am
celed due to COVID-19.
Bike Race. He visited with Brian Vegter, right, a longtime cycling enthusiast and
See Pedal/Page 2A race supporter, on Monday, June 14 in Baker City.
TODAY
Issue 16, 22 pages
Business .............. 1B-3B
Classified ............. 4B-6B
Comics ....................... 7B
Community News ....3A
Crossword ........4B & 5B
Dear Abby ................. 8B
Horoscope ........4B & 5B
Letters ........................4A
Lottery Results ..........2A
News of Record ........2A
Obituaries ..................2A
Opinion ......................4A
In just two
days, Joanna
Mann went
from college
student to
newspaper
Mann
intern in the
smallest town
she’s ever lived in.
Mann, 22, received her
college diploma Saturday,
June 12, at the University of
Oregon.
By Monday, June 14, she
began a 10-week internship
at the Baker City Herald as
part of the Charles Snowden
Program for Excellence in
Journalism.
Mann grew up in Las
Vegas.
“It was pretty normal. I
lived in a suburb,” she said.
But she didn’t stay away
from the famous city.
“We’d take advantage of
the shows, concerts, and
restaurants,” she said.
See Internship/Page 2A
Senior Menus ...........2A
Sports ........................6A
Weather ..................... 8B
SATURDAY — PREPARING FOR MINERS JUBILEE, BULLS AND BRONCS