THURSDAY, AUGUST 5, 2021
OBITUARIES
Continued from Page A2
Emmett Soden
Formerly of Baker County, 1936-2021
Washington, and Teresa (Wade)
King of Coulee City, Washington;
honorary son, Darrell Schadler of
Moses Lake; his stepsister, Susan
Taxter of Spokane Valley, Wash-
ington; his stepbrother, Ron (Roni)
Schuh of Kettle Falls, Washington;
his sister-in-law, Dorothy Walker of
Ephrata; his brother-in-law, Keith
(Rhonda) Walker, and sister-in-law,
Vicky Walker, all of Moses Lake; his
grandchildren, Samantha Walters,
Logan Silva, Ashley Silva, Tyerell
(Brianna) Silva, Vaughn Walters,
Jennifer (Bob) Schneider, Sarah
King, Kaitlin (Tanner) Hernandez;
and many great-grandchildren, and
children he took under his wing.
Emmett was preceded in death
his his parents; his sister, Marie;
his stepfather, Lawrence Schuh; his
mother-in-law, Marie Halverson,
and father-in-law, Raymond (Alice)
Walker.
In lieu of fl owers, donations can
be made in memory of Emmett to
the Heart Association, MS Society
or by becoming an NRA member.
BAKER CITY HERALD — A3

State to consider changes to archery elk hunting
Many units could
switch from general
to controlled
hunting in 2022
The Commission decided last
year to change buck deer archery
hunting from a general season
to a controlled season in Eastern
Oregon starting in 2021. But com-
missioners postponed a decision on
elk hunting.
ODFW offi cials have cited
multiple reasons for proposing the
By Jayson Jacoby
shift from general to controlled
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
The Oregon Fish and Wildlife archery seasons.
One is the increasing number of
Commission is slated to decide
Friday, Aug. 6 whether to change archery hunters over the past few
decades. ODFW said the number
elk archery hunting seasons to
controlled hunts for most areas in of archers hunting elk in Eastern
Northeastern Oregon starting in Oregon rose from about 12,300 in
1995 to about 18,500 in 2019.
2022.
And due in part to improve-
Most archery seasons in the
ments in technology, which allow
region now are general hunts,
hunters to make longer kill shots,
meaning there’s no limit on the
archery hunters have higher suc-
number of tags sold.
cess rates.
In controlled hunts, by con-
But because the archery
trast, hunters have to apply for
seasons have remained general
a limited number of tags, and a
seasons, with no limits on how
computer doles them out.
many tags are sold, ODFW’s lone
Rifl e hunts are controlled
tool to limit hunting to protect
hunts, but archery seasons have
mainly retained the general sea- deer and elk herds has been to cut
son status since 1979. Seven units the number of tags for rifl e hunts,
which are controlled hunts with
in the Blue Mountains already
limited tags awarded through the
have controlled archery seasons
lottery system.
for elk.
In choosing which units to pro-
pose the change from a general
to a controlled archery season,
ODFW offi cials considered the
current elk populations in those
units, as well as hunter density
and hunter displacement, which
are based on a public survey of
hunters done in 2020.
Units where the bull ratio
— the number of bulls per cows
— have not met the state’s goals
in three out of fi ve years are pro-
posed to change from general to
controlled archery hunts in 2022.
ODFW also looked at units
where a high percentage of
branch-antlered bulls are killed
during the general archery
season, leaving relatively fewer of
those mature bulls available dur-
ing the rifl e seasons in the fall.
Under the proposal commis-
sioners will consider Aug. 6, a to-
tal of 13 units and three subunits
would move from the current
general season to a controlled
hunt.
Units that would move to con-
trolled hunting in 2022 include:
• Snake River
• Starkey
• Ukiah
• Heppner
• Desolation
• Northside
• Murderers Creek
• North Sumpter
• Ochoco
• Silvies
The Lookout Mountain and
South Sumpter units would
remain general seasons for elk
archery hunters.
Five units in and around the
Eagle Cap Wilderness would be
combined to create an Eagle Cap
Zone controlled hunt.
Those units are:
• Minam
• Imnaha
• Pine Creek
• Keating
• Catherine Creek
Tag allocations for the Eagle
Cap Zone hunt would be based on
“available harvestable surplus”
and on the hunter distribution
during the current general ar-
chery season for those fi ve units.
ODFW is also proposing a
second hunt for the Eagle Cap
Zone, limited to traditional ar-
chery equipment.
Community enjoys a night out in the park
By Samantha O’Conner
soconner@bakercityherald.
com
2020 was a diffi cult year
for everyone and resulted
in many local events being
canceled.
Happily, this year the
Community Night Out
was able to take place
and had a larger turnout
than most had expected
Tuesday evening, Aug. 3 in
Geiser-Pollman Park.
With live music by
Barefoot and Bonafi de at
the Powder River Pavilion,
and many booths from
local organizations, people
were able to mingle for
a fun evening, although
heavy rain interrupted the
latter part of the event.
“It’s great to have Com-
munity Night Out,” said
Ginger Savage, executive
director at Crossroads
Carnegie Art Center.
“It looks like it’s been a
pretty good crowd, looks
like everybody’s having a
good time. It’s not as big as
normal years but it looks
like lots of fun.”
Among the booth
vendors, JoLynn Moore
and Marilyn Spicer with
the Baker City Elks Lodge
Trailer, which encourages
youth to stay away from
drugs, were excited to see
everyone out and hav-
ing fun.
“This is my fi rst time
with community night here
in Baker and I just love it,”
Moore said.
“It’s about my third
time, I brought the drug
trailer here when we had
this before and I really
missed it,” Spicer said. “It
was like the whole com-
munity just had a day-long
depression, you know? It’s
really exciting to see every-
one. A much better turn
out than I expected.”
Casey Neske with the
Baker City Fire Depart-
ment experienced her fi rst
Community Night Out.
“It’s actually kind of
interesting to walk around,
see all the different people
out and see what was go-
ing on,” Neske said. “Very
informational and a good
turnout. Especially the
kids, there’s a lot of kids.
They seem to be enjoying
it too.”
Dailon Sherman, sports
and activities director for
the Baker County YMCA,
said she enjoyed the event.
“I think it’s great,” Sher-
man said. “I think it’s really
good for the community to
get out and meet people
and socialize and see what
all we’ve got going on and
what all we offer. It’s kind
of crazy but the kids are
having fun and that’s
what it’s all about.”
Samantha O’Conner/Baker City Herald
Residents gathered at Geiser-Pollman Park on Tuesday evening, Aug. 3, for Community Night Out.
State investigating COVID outbreak tied to Pendleton Whisky Music Fest
Oregon Health
Authority has
linked 64 cases to
the July 10 event
Fiumara said, adding that
more than 25% of people
with presumed cases do not
cooperate with contact tracers.
The total also does not include
people who did not attend the
concert but were infected by
people coming to town.
Cases already were rising
By Bryce Dole
in Umatilla County before
East Oregonian
the 12,000-person event — a
PENDLETON — The
surge health offi cials attribut-
Oregon Health Authority is
ed to the state lifting virtually
investigating a COVID-19
outbreak stemming from the all pandemic restrictions at
Pendleton Whisky Music Fest. the end of June, just as the
The state so far has report- delta variant was reaching
ed 64 COVID-19 cases tied to Oregon. But county health
the music event in Pendleton data shows a “big jump” in
on July 10. Forty-one of those cases between four to six days
after the concert, Fiumara
cases were Umatilla County
residents, according to Uma- said.
“While I am by no means
tilla County Public Health
Director Joe Fiumara. Cases saying all of these cases are
have so far been identifi ed in tied to Whisky Fest,” Fiumara
Umatilla, Morrow, Union and said. “It does seem like that
concert taking place kind of
Wallowa counties, as well as
jump started some additional
Washington state.
spread in the area.”
“This outbreak is the
fi rst one of its size and scope
to be traced to an outdoor
Cases rise after
entertainment event since the concert
lifting of statewide COVID-19
The county now is expe-
prevention measures at the
riencing one of the largest
end of June,” the state said
COVID-19 surges in Oregon,
Friday, July 30.
with 412 cases reported last
The reported cases almost week alone. That’s more than
8% of the state’s total case
certainly are an undercount,
count last week, according to
state data.
The county’s case rate is
by far the highest in Oregon.
Hospitals in Pendleton and
Hermiston reported an uptick
in COVID-19 hospitalizations
last week.
Two Umatilla County
residents who recently tested
positive for COVID-19 died
last week, raising the death
toll to 94, according to the
state.
The concert, however, did
not appear to break any rules.
The state lifted virtually all
pandemic restrictions less
than two weeks before, and al-
though health offi cials voiced
alarm about the delta variant
and cases rising in Umatilla
County, no offi cials publicly
recommended stopping the
event. It likely was the larg-
est event Eastern Oregon
has seen since the pandemic
began.
“It’s a very unfortunate
situation,” said event co-man-
ager Doug Corey. “Hopefully
everybody will improve and
get well. It would be an inter-
esting number to know how
many were vaccinated and
not vaccinated.”
Corey noted he consulted
with county and city offi cials
prior to the festival and
obtained all necessary per-
mits. He said he believes the
event followed all pandemic
guidelines from the state and
Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention. Event orga-
nizers also capped ticket sales
at 12,000 people to downsize,
he added.
Fiumara said he appreci-
ated the reduction, adding
“there could have been more
than 20,000” people.
Corey said he has been in
close contact with state health
offi cials now that the inves-
tigation is underway. State,
county and tribal offi cials are
working together to identify
other cases from attendees,
the state said.
Concerns for
upcoming events
The outbreak and the
ensuing investigation does not
bode well for upcoming events
in Umatilla County, includ-
ing the Umatilla County Fair
and the Pendleton Round-
Up, Fiumara said.
The fair, scheduled Aug.
11-14, typically draws thou-
sands of people. Fiumara
said he expects cases to rise
because of the fair, but he
would not formally recom-
mend against the event
being held because of the
backlash that would ensue.
“I think if you’re trying to
reduce cases, I think cancel-
ing fair would be a way to do
that,” Fiumara said. “And I
think it would be an effective
way to prevent additional
spread. That being said, I’m
not sure all the fallout from
cancelling it would be worth-
while. I think there would be
a lot of pushback.”
State and county health
offi cials agree the best way to
ensure outbreaks don’t result
from large summer events is
by getting more people vac-
cinated against COVID-19.
“Outbreaks like these will
continue to occur if vaccina-
tion rates don’t increase,”
said Rudy Owens, a spokes-
person for OHA.
Less than 40% of Uma-
tilla County residents are
vaccinated against the virus,
according to the Centers for
Disease Control and Preven-
tion.
Fiumara said Gov. Kate
Brown’s offi ce reached out to
the county last week, asking
how offi cials planned to curb
the county’s skyrocketing
infection rates. He noted the
last time Brown’s offi ce made
that move was a week before
the state shut down Umatilla
County.
“The state is watching
things very closely,” he said.
Umatilla County has
reported 9,586 COVID-19
cases since the pandemic
began, according to county
health data.
Jay & Kristin Wilson, Owners
2036 Main Street, Baker City
541-523-6284 • ccb#219615