SATURDAY
SEEKING THE SOURCE OF A GRAND(E) RIVER: OUTDOORS & REC, PAGE B1
Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
July 31, 2021
Local • Outdoors • Sports • TV
IN THIS EDITION:
QUICK HITS
Good Day Wish
To A Subscriber
A special good day to
Herald subscriber Andrew
Bryan of Baker City.
Oregon, A3
COVID-19 vaccination
rates drop signifi cantly
outside of the Portland
metro area, according to
results of an Oregon Val-
ues and Beliefs Center sur-
vey. The online survey of
Oregon residents showed
the three counties making
up the Portland area had
a 77% vaccination rate. In
the survey, 42% of those
surveyed said they had
not received a COVID-19
vaccine.
$1.50
Permit Allows Up To 4 Wolves From Lookout Mountain Pack To Be Killed
State Issues
Wolf Kill Permit
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Keller Williams Four
Rivers real estate has wel-
comed its three Baker City
agents: Shannon Down-
ing, Kristen McAdams and
Jeff Anderson.
Bennett, who is chairman of the
county’s wolf committee, sent the
written request on behalf of himself
and the two other commissioners,
Bill Harvey and Bruce Nichols, on
Tuesday, July 27.
This is the fi rst lethal take permit
ODFW has issued since June 2018,
for a wolf pack in Wallowa County,
said Michelle Dennehy, a spokesper-
son for the agency.
The same day Or-
egon Gov. Kate Brown an-
nounced that students and
staff in schools will have to
wear masks when classes
start this fall, a new Face-
brook group was created in
Baker County as a forum
for people who object to the
mask mandate.
The group is called “Bak-
er City Parents Against
School Mask Mandates.”
It was started on Thurs-
day, July 29, 2021, and by 2
p.m. on July 30, the group
had 811 members.
It’s a private group,
meaning people who want
to post comments or to read
others’ comments have to
request admission from the
group administrator.
Brown announced the
mask requirement Thurs-
day morning, citing a recent
surge in cases driven by the
delta variant.
See Wolves/Page A3
See Masks/Page A6
BRIEFING
The Baker County
Garden Club will meet
on Wednesday, Aug. 4 at
10:30 a.m. for the annual
auction and meeting at the
Daugherty home, 995 J St.
Please bring auction items
from your garden or extra
items from home, along
with a sack lunch and
beverage.
WEATHER
■ New Facebook
group opposes
mandate that
students wear
masks this fall
By Jayson Jacoby
Local, A3
Baker County
Garden Club’s
annual auction,
meeting set for
Aug. 4
Group
fights
school
masks
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife/Contributed Photo
A trail cam photo from May 30, 2021, of one of the two yearling wolves in the Lookout Mountain pack.
County, killing two animals and
injuring two others.
The Oregon Department of Fish
The permit also allows ODFW
and Wildlife on Thursday, July 29
employees to kill wolves from that
authorized a Baker County ranch-
pack. The permit expires Aug. 21, or
ing couple, or their designated
when cattle are removed from the
agents, to kill up to four wolves from area where the attacks have hap-
the Lookout Mountain pack, not
pened, whichever comes fi rst.
including the pack’s breeding male
Baker County Commissioner
and female.
Mark Bennett asked ODFW Direc-
Wolves from that pack have
tor Curt Melcher earlier this week
attacked the ranchers’ cattle four
to allow the killing of wolves from
times since July 13 in eastern Baker the Lookout Mountain pack.
By Jayson Jacoby
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Today
89 / 62
Showers likely
Shrine organizers planning for busy weekend
Sunday
■ Football game fundraiser for Shriners Hospital in Portland, parade, return after 2020 cancellation
79 / 60
By Lisa Britton
Showers, storms
lbritton@bakercityherald.com
Monday
81 / 51
Partly sunny
The space below is for
a postage label for issues
that are mailed.
Randy Guyer expects a larger
crowd than normal for this year’s
East-West All-Star Shrine Football
Game festivities following the can-
cellation of the 2020 event.
“I think we’ll have an even better
turnout,” he said.
Everything happens on Saturday,
Aug. 7.
And it all benefi ts the Shriners
Hospital for Children in Portland.
The parade, which starts at
11 a.m., will be livestreamed by
EOAlive — see it online at https://
eoalive.tv/.
Guyer said more community
parade entries are needed to comple-
ment the Shrine clubs that, in the
past, have brought creative vehicles
such as motorized bath tubs or tiny
ATVs.
Parade entries need to be submit-
ted by today.
For information, contact Guyer
at randy@guyercpa.net or 541-
519-8866, or Fred Warner at
fwarner6196@gmail.com or 541-519-
6704.
Parade line up is at 10 a.m. Satur-
day, Aug. 7.
Gridiron Tailgate
The Baker County Cattlewomen
and Baker County Livestock As-
sociation will serve up a steak and
pancake breakfast to kick off the
sixth-annual Gridiron Tailgate and
Grill in Geiser-Pollman Park.
Kathy Orr/ Baker City Herald File, 2019
Baker’s Justin Miller, No. 20, at lower right in red jersey, attempts to
tackle the West’s Cooper Blodgett during the East-West Shrine All-Star
See Shrine/Page A2 Football Game in August 2019 at Baker Bulldog Memorial Stadium.
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ISSUES FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR BAKER COUNTY THROUGH MONDAY, AUG. 2
Sizzling July could have a soggy conclusion
fl ood watch for Baker County,
in effect from Saturday
What’s likely to be the
afternoon, July 31, through
hottest month on record at
Monday afternoon, Aug. 2.
the Baker City Airport might
A watch means that condi-
conclude with a very differ-
tions conducive to fl ash fl ood-
ent sort of record-breaking
ing are possible, but fl ooding
event.
is not imminent.
A very soggy one.
The Weather Service notes
The National Weather
that fl ash fl ooding is more
Service has issued a fl ash
likely in steep terrain and
By Jayson Jacoby
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
TODAY
Issue 35, 12 pages
Classified ............. B2-B4
Comics ....................... B5
Community News ....A3
on areas recently burned by
wildfi res, which denude the
ground of vegetation that
soaks up rain and slows the
fl ow of water.
An infl ux of monsoon
moisture from the Southwest
could trigger torrential down-
pours — including potential
thunderstorms — through-
out the weekend.
Crossword ........B2 & B4
Dear Abby ................. B6
Horoscope ........B3 & B4
“Increasing monsoon mois-
ture and an unstable airmass
will result in showers and
thunderstorms with heavy
rain and high rainfall rates,”
the Weather Service noted in
the fl ash fl ood watch.
The potential for heavy
rain is highest on Sunday,
according to the Weather
Service.
Jayson Jacoby ..........A4
News of Record ........A2
Obituaries ..................A2
Opinion ......................A4
Outdoors ................... B1
Senior Menus ...........A2
If the forecast proves out,
the storms could threaten
three daily rainfall records at
the Baker City Airport.
The daily records:
• July 31 — 0.27 of an
inch, 1994
• Aug. 1 — 0.66, 1976
• Aug. 2 — 0.25, 1968
See Soggy/Page A2
Sports ........................A6
Turning Backs ...........A2
Weather ..................... B6
TUESDAY — STATE TO CONSIDER CHANGES TO ELK ARCHERY HUNTING