A6 — BAKER CITY HERALD
SATURDAY, JULY 31, 2021
SPORTS
MASKS
Ex-Duck Duarte 13th pick in NBA Draft
By Michael Marot
AP Sports Writer
INDIANAPOLIS — First, the Indiana
Pacers played it safe. Then they took a
big swing Thursday night.
They will soon fi nd out if they hit a
home run on draft night 2021.
After selecting the oldest player in the
draft, 24-year-old shooting guard Chris
Duarte of Oregon with the No. 13 overall
pick, Pacers president of basketball
operations Kevin Pritchard acquired the
rights to 6-foot-11 center Isaiah Jackson
after Washington selected the Kentucky
star at No. 22.
“Chris is someone who’s really grown
the last two years at Oregon. I think
he’s got very good versatility, great work
ethic, great toughness, got a great story
to get to where he’s at tonight,” Pacers
general manager Chad Buchanan said.
“We think he (Jackson) has a bright
future.”
Details of the trade were not imme-
diately available, though The Athletic
reported Indiana dealt backup point
guard Aaron Holiday and the 31st pick,
acquired earlier from the Milwaukee
Bucks. Washington acquired the 22nd
pick from the Los Angeles Lakers as
part of the Russell Westbrook deal.
While Duarte and Jackson are both
expected to come off the bench as
the Pacers try to make it back to the
Justine Casterlin/Getty Images-TNS
Oregon’s Chris Duarte (5) brings the ball up the court against USC during a
Sweet Sixteen game in the NCAA Tournament at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in
Indianapolis on March 28, 2021.
playoffs, they come from vastly different
backgrounds.
Duarte was born in Montreal and
moved to the Dominican Republic before
heading to rural New York for his fi nal
two high school seasons.
Initially, he committed to Western
Kentucky but instead wound up star-
ring for two seasons at Northwest
Florida State, where he was chosen the
National Junior College Athletic Asso-
PROTECTION
Lawmakers pushing the mea-
sure, backed by trappers and the
Continued from Page A3
powerful ranching sector but heav-
“Wolves remain completely ab-
ily criticized by environmental ad-
sent from suitable habitats or peril- vocates, often said the state can cut
ously close to extinction in many
the number of wolves to 150 before
western states, and the handful
federal authorities would take over
of states surrounding Yellowstone
management. They said reducing
National Park are now driving the the population would reduce attacks
larger populations toward extinction on livestock and boost deer and elk
— endangered species listing — by herds.
ramping up wolf killing and strip-
A primary change in the new law
ping away hunting and trapping
allows the state to hire private con-
regulations in Montana, Idaho, and tractors to kill wolves and provides
Wyoming,” said Erik Molvar, execu- more money for state offi cials to
tive director of Western Watersheds hire the contractors. The law also
Project.
expands killing methods to include
In May, Idaho Republican Gov.
trapping and snaring wolves on
Brad Little signed a measure
a single hunting tag, using night-
lawmakers said could lead to kill-
vision equipment, chasing wolves on
ing 90% of the state’s 1,500 wolves
snowmobiles and ATVs and shoot-
through expanded trapping and
ing them from helicopters. It also
hunting. It took effect July 1.
authorizes year-round wolf trapping
ciation national player of the year before
landing with the Ducks.
“I’m just grateful for those people who
helped me to get here, my coach, every
coach I played for,” Duarte said. “I’m just
grateful for those people and I’m just
really excited and happy.”
The Pacers liked his story — and his
experience, thinking he could make an
immediate impact on a veteran team
that already has all fi ve starters under
on private property.
The state Department of Fish and
Game reported in February that the
wolf population has held at about
1,500 the past two years. The num-
bers were derived in part by using
remote cameras.
About 500 wolves have been
killed in the state in each of the last
two years by hunters, trappers and
state and federal authorities carry-
ing out wolf control measures.
Wildlife authorities in Montana,
following new laws, have been look-
ing at changes such as increasing
the number of wolves an individual
can hunt to between fi ve and 10. A
decision is expected in August.
Authorities said this year they
expect the state’s wolf population
to decrease from around 1,150 to
between 900 and 950 following
a particularly successful hunt-
Continued from Page A1
Students and staff wore masks during the previous
school year. But during the Baker School District’s Sum-
mer Academy programs, masks were required only on
buses and other transportation, and in some indoor set-
tings when students from grades K-6 are present.
The Baker School Board is slated to discuss district
protocols when it has a special meeting on Thursday, Aug.
5 at noon.
But Lindsey McDowell, the district’s public information
and communications coordinator, wrote in an email to
the Baker City Herald on Thursday, July 29 that “We will
be following all directives and working closely with the
health department, as we’ve done throughout the course
of the pandemic. The only protocol we’ve relaxed since the
end of the last school year was with regard to face cover-
ings; and with the return to full-time, universal face cover-
ings while indoors at schools, we will simply be returning
to the protocols we had at the end of the last school year.”
The school district has had only one COVID-19 case in
the Summer Academy program.
“We are fortunate to have had only one new positive
COVID-19 case affecting the school district since the
end of May,” Superintendent Mark Witty said in a press
release on Friday, July 30. “As the more contagious Delta
variant spreads and we head into a new school year, we
will be working as closely as ever with the Health Depart-
ment to take into account local conditions.”
Baker County reported 22 new COVID-19 cases on
Thursday, July 29 — the second-highest one-day total, fol-
lowing 19 new cases on Tuesday, July 27. The county had
55 new cases in a four-day period, July 26-29.
The one-day record is 25 cases, on Dec. 28, 2020.
“We’re seeing an increase in cases, and we need to get a
handle on it or we’re going to be in bad shape as a county,”
Nancy Staten, director of the Baker County Health De-
partment, said earlier this week.
ing season. Over 320 wolves were
harvested during the 2020 hunting
season — signifi cantly more than
the preceding eight-year average of
242 wolves per year, according to a
report released by the department
in June.
The petition seeks to protect
wolves in those two states as well as
Wyoming, Utah, Oregon, Washing-
ton, Colorado, California, Nevada
and northern Arizona. The petition
said those states are part of the
range of wolves.
“These wolves are at risk of
extinction throughout all of their
range, and unquestionably are at
risk of immediate extinction in
signifi cant portions of their range,”
the 63-page petition states.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
didn’t immediately respond to a
request for comment.
Oregon Effects
Wolves in the eastern third
of Oregon — east of Highways
395, 78 and 95 — were re-
moved from federal protection
more than a decade ago, with
management authority shifting
to the Oregon Department of
Fish and Wildlife.
If wolves in Eastern Oregon
were returned to federal pro-
tection, state offi cials would no
longer be able to issue kill per-
mits to ranchers, as they did on
Thursday, July 29 for a Baker
County couple whose cattle
have been attacked four times
this month by wolves from the
Lookout Mountain pack.
STILL 1
#
IN CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
Top 100 Critical
Access Hospital
Saint Alphonsus Baker City is proud to
be recognized by Chartis Center for Rural
Health as a Top 100 Critical Care hospital –
five years in a row. Top 100 critical access
hospitals are identified for high-performing
in several areas including, patient satisfaction,
5 YEARS
I N A R OW
-&8#3045*3&47$
#3*%(&45 •
8"-,*/48&-$0.&
reducing risk and high clinical quality while
managing expenses.
L E S S C H WA B WA S R A N K E D # 1 I N C U S T O M E R S AT I S FAC T I O N
F O R A F T E R M A R K E T T I R E R E P L AC E M E N T, 2 Y E A R S I N A R OW
For J.D. Power 2021 award Information, visit jdpower.com/awards
For more information visit SaintAlphonsus.org/BakerCity
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