TUESDAY
ALL ABOUT THE CHROME: MEET LOCAL CLASSIC CAR ENTHUSIASTS, PG. 5A
In SPORTS, 6A
Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
June 22, 2021
Local • Home & Living • Sports
IN THIS EDITION:
QUICK HITS
Good Day Wish
To A Subscriber
A special good day to
Herald subscriber Michele
Edwards of Baker City.
Sports, 6A
Not even a brief power
outage at the Sam-O-
Swim Center could stop
the Baker Bulldogs from
having a strong outing
as they played host to
the district swim meet on
Saturday, June 19.
$1.50
Jackie And Virgil Borger Of Baker Valley Were Married On June 23, 1946
75 Years Together
BHS girls
hoops
finale
City has
chlorine
on hand
■ City doesn’t get
chlorine, which
disinfects water,
from a plant that’s
temporarily closed
By Samantha O’Conner
soconner@bakercityherald.com
BRIEFING
P.E.O. Sisterhood
awards four
scholarships
Chapter AX of the P.E.O.
Sisterhood in Baker City
awarded $4,000 in scholar-
ships to four local women
this year.
Sydney Keller, a 2021
Baker High School
graduate, received the
$1,000 Mildred Rogers
Scholarship, and Keanna
Bingham, a 2021 gradu-
ate of Powder Valley High
School, received the
$1,000 Gertrude Fortner/
Rose Haskell Scholarship.
Chapter AX’s Pat Fessel
Scholarship is given to
Baker County high school
graduates who have com-
pleted at least two years
at an accredited college
or university. This year’s
recipients are Emily Black
and Jayme Ramos. Each
received $1,000.
Chapter AX is the
oldest P.E.O. chapter in
Baker County, having been
established in 1932.
WEATHER
Today
87 / 53
Mostly sunny
Wednesday
92 / 53
Mostly sunny
Full forecast on the back
of the B section.
The space below is for
a postage label for issues
that are mailed.
Joanna Mann/Baker City Herald
Virgil and Jackie Borger will celebrate their 75th wedding anniversary on Wednesday, June 23.
A West Coast shortage of
chlorine, which is used to
disinfect drinking water, is
not having a direct effect on
Baker City for now.
The issue stems from a
recent electrical failure at
the Westlake Chemical plant
in Longview, Washington,
which supplies chlorine to
parts of Oregon, Washington,
Idaho and Northern Cali-
fornia. The plant is expected
to be out of service at least
through the end of June, ac-
cording to the Oregon Offi ce
of Emergency Management.
Baker City obtains its
chlorine from a plant in
Salt Lake City, although the
Westlake Chemical closure
will have ripple effects on
chlorine supplies across the
region, said Michelle Owen,
the city’s public works
director.
Joanna Mann, Baker City Herald
J
ackie and Virgil Borger will celebrate their 75th wedding anniversary on
Wednesday, June 23.
When the couple, who live in Baker Valley near Haines, were married, World
War II had ended less than a year ago.
Harry S. Truman was president.
To celebrate three-quarters of a
century together, Jackie, 94, and
Virgil, 96, were joined this past
weekend at their home by their two
daughters, fi ve grandchildren, 14
great-grandchildren and three great-
great-grandchildre.
“We have boneless pork ribs every
year, and so the whole family looks
forward to that,” Virgil said. “And then
we make umpteen dozen chocolate
chip cookies.”
Virgil’s mother came up with the
cookie recipe more than 100 years
ago. For their 70th anniversary, the
couple baked 35 dozen cookies, which
were gone in fi ve days.
The Borgers’ family visits nearly
a couple of years later when Virgil
returned home on “survivor’s leave”
from his service in the Philippines.
Jackie stood him up on the fi rst
date, but ended up falling for him a
short while later. The Borgers were
married on June 23, 1946, at a Meth-
odist church in Long Beach.
Jackie and Virgil have traveled
to the British Isles, Italy, Brazil and
Hawaii, which is where Jackie was
born. Virgil promised her on their
Not quite high school
wedding day that if she stayed with
sweethearts
him for 25 years, he would take her
Jackie and Virgil met in study hall back to Hawaii. She took him up on
at Jordan High School in Long Beach, the offer.
California.
But they didn’t get together until
See 75 Years/Page 2A
every July. The kids love to attend
the Fourth of July parade in Haines,
and several family members have
birthdays during that month. Jackie
and Virgil have a decoration in their
home that helps them keep track of
all the birthdays and anniversaries in
the family.
“If we live to 120, we could have six
generations,” Virgil joked in an inter-
view at the couple’s home on June 17.
See Chlorine/Page 3A
Unlicensed
contractor
charged
with theft
A Baker City man is
accused of collecting money
from clients
for construc-
tion projects
that he failed
to start or
fi nish.
Hackett
Kenneth
Edward
Hackett, 51, of 2755 Eighth
St., was arrested at 9 a.m.
on Saturday, June 19 in
Baker City on two counts
of aggravated theft and one
count of fi rst-degree theft.
See Charged/Page 3A
Better news for
bighorn sheep
■ More than 100 sheep died in Baker
County in 2020 from pneumonia, but
this year’s lamb crop looks healthier
By Jayson Jacoby
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
A bacterial infection that has killed more than 100 big-
horn sheep in Baker County’s biggest herd over the past
year and a half, including the entire 2020 crop of lambs,
might be waning.
The next several months will be crucial, but Brian
Ratliff, the state wildlife biologist who has been monitor-
ing the Lookout Mountain bighorn herd in the county’s
eastern edge, said there’s reason for optimism.
See Bighorns/Page 3A
TODAY
Issue 18, 12 pages
Calendar ....................2A
Classified ............. 4B-6B
Comics ....................... 7B
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
A group of bighorn rams photographed on June 20, 2020, in the Lookout Mountain
unit in eastern Baker County.
Community News ....3A
Crossword ........4B & 5B
Dear Abby ................. 8B
Home ................... 1B-3B
Horoscope ........4B & 5B
Letters ........................4A
Lottery Results ..........2A
News of Record ........3A
Obituaries ..................2A
Opinion ......................4A
Sports ........................6A
Weather ..................... 8B
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