THURSDAY
AGRITOURISM ENTERPRISES ARE INCREASING ACROSS THE STATE, BUT MAY FACE CHALLENGES, B1
AUGUST 11–18, 2021
WWW.GOEASTERNOREGON.COM
Grassroots
Festival
AUG. 14, UNION
Cruise
Show and Shine
PAGE 3
History
Dr.
Balthasar
PAGE 7
Music
Wheatstock
PAGE 14
The Observer, fi le
Grassroots Festival returns to the streets of Union Aug. 14.
Go! Magazine
Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
August 12, 2021
IN THIS EDITION:
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Good Day Wish
To A Subscriber
A special good day to
Herald subscriber Catherine
Smothers of Baker City.
State/Nation, A5
Eleven state lawmakers
on Thursday will begin a
politically Herculean task
with historically small odds
of success: Draw 96 new
political districts in 46 days
that will be used beginning
with the 2022 election.
The six Democrats and
fi ve Republicans on the
House and Senate redis-
tricting committees are set
to receive block-by-block
U.S. Census data chock full
of population and demo-
graphic changes since the
last map-making 10 years
ago.”
Sports, A6
As Russell Wilson and the
Seattle Seahawks walked to
the line of scrimmage to run
out the remaining two min-
utes of clock, boos rained
down on the team from the
15,758 fans in attendance at
Lumen Field.
“That was great,” head
coach Pete Carroll remarked
afterward.
After all, it was the fi rst
time fans have been able
to watch the Seahawks per-
form in any fashion inside
Lumen Field since the end
of the 2019 regular season.
All nine of Seattle’s home
games last season came
without fans in attendance.
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Face masks to be worn indoors starting Friday, Gov. Brown says
By GARY WARNER
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — Gov. Kate Brown on
Wednesday, Aug. 11, ordered face masks
worn indoors in public places by every-
one age 5 and over beginning Friday.
At a Wednesday morning press call,
Brown said the highly contagious delta
variant was pushing the virus spread to
the point that each infected person was
infecting eight others.
“Moving forward, for the immediate
future, masks will be required for all
indoor public settings,” Brown said.
The mandate applies to adults and
children older than 5. On public transit,
also includes children older than 2.
Brown also urged, but did not man-
date, wearing masks in crowded outdoor
situations. She also urged private com-
panies and other organizations to enact
their own indoor mask policies.
Brown’s order came the day after the
Oregon Health & Sciences University’s
infectious disease experts forecast the
state could see over 1,000 COVID-19
patients per day in hospitals by early
next month. Oregon would be about
500 staffed beds short of needs for all
patients if the rate hit its projected peak
of Sept. 7.
Dr. Dean Sidelinger, the state
epidemiologist, said this “fi fth wave” of
COVID-19 to hit the state in the past 18
months was different than earlier spikes.
More than half the population is vac-
cinated, but the “relentless” delta variant
was spreading rapidly through the esti-
mated 1.2 million Oregon residents who
are not inoculated. That group includes
children under 12 for whom there is no
federally approved vaccine as yet.
OHA has reported patients arriving
at hospitals are younger, sicker, require
more care and stay longer.
“The COVID-19 situation is dire,”
Sidelinger said, with the delta variant
“far outpacing even the grim scenarios in
our latest reported projections.”
Oregon will become the third state,
along with Hawaii and Louisiana, with a
statewide mask mandate.
Cases spike locally
Nearly 130 Baker County residents
have tested positive for COVID-19 over
the last two weeks with 68 the fi rst week
and 62 the next.
Continuing this pattern, this week
See, Masks/Page A3
Heat Stroke
vs. Heat
Exhaustion
TRAIL
TENDERS
moves
downtown
Tips and tricks for
battling the worst heat
wave the northwest has
seen for a while
Nonprofi t adjusts with
Oregon Trail Interpretive
Center closed for
extended period
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
The Oregon Trail Shop offers traditional trail
items, such as bonnets, along with modern
Oregon-themed decorations.
“We’re so excited,” said Kate Dimon,
president of the Trail Tenders.
If you’ve always wanted a pioneer
The shop is at 2015 Main St. A soft
bonnet, it’ll soon be easy to fi nd one.
opening is set for Sept. 1.
The Trail Tenders, the nonprofi t
The gift shop provides revenue for
group that supports the National His-
the Trail Tenders, who in turn support
toric Oregon Trail Interpretive Center,
the center, such as funding special
are bringing their gift shop to downtown performances and programs.
Baker City.
The center has been closed since
Nov. 17, 2020, due to the coronavirus
pandemic. However, this summer has
included outdoor performances, as well
as programs in Geiser-Pollman Park
most Saturdays at 5 p.m.
Now center staff are storing artifacts
to prepare the center for an energy-
effi cient renovation beginning March 1,
2022.
The work is expected to take two
years.
“We are the custodians of many
non-renewable artifacts held in public
trust,” said Wayne Monger, manager of
the Bureau of Land Management’s Vale
District, which operates the Interpre-
tive Center. “They must be carefully
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald protected and stored to prevent loss,
The popular Penny Pincher ma-
damage or degradation.”
chine — a fundraiser for the Trail
Monger said last week in a press
Tenders — has been relocated
release that this process is at a stage
to the new Oregon Trail Shop on where the Center has to stay closed
Main Street in Baker City.
while the work continues in preparation
By LISA BRITTON
Baker City Herald
for the renovations that start in 2022.
When the center is closed, no visitors
are buying memorabilia in the gift shop.
“That’s why it was imperative we
made the decision to come downtown,”
Dimon said.
The shop’s inventory has been
moved to the new space, as well as some
new Oregon-themed items and a section
dedicated to Native Americans.
Favorite attractions remain, Dimon
said, pointing out the box of polished
rocks and the “penny pincher” machine
that makes souvenir coins.
Beginning in September, the
Oregon Trail Shop will be open Tuesday
through Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
In addition to sales, Dimon said their
goal is to be a resource for town visitors
who may not know about the Interpre-
tive Center, which is located fi ve miles
east of Baker City.
She hopes to also bring awareness
to the Trail Tenders, which is in need of
board members and volunteers.
“We’re at a place where we can
revamp who we are,” Dimon said.
When the center reopens in two
years, she hopes the Trail Tenders keep
a presence in Baker City.
By ANN BLOOM
For the Baker City Herald
Elvis Presley may have felt his
temperature rising to 109 if he’d been
living in Wallowa County a few weeks
ago during our unprecedented heat
wave.
This summer has seen hot tem-
peratures like no other. The mercury
soared into the triple digits on several
consecutive days in heat wave after
heat wave. Heat advisories and red
fl ag warnings have become part of
our everyday vocabulary. Wildfi res in
Oregon have made the national news.
This is the time of year when heat
related illnesses such as heat stroke
and heat exhaustion are on everyone’s
mind from medical personnel to vet-
erinarians, from parents to pet owners.
Whether you have two legs or four legs,
you and your pet are susceptible to the
heat and its effects. But what exactly is
a heat related illness? Here is what to
look for in heat-related illnesses, how
to treat and how to prevent them.
Diff erent illnesses
First, heat stroke and heat exhaus-
tion are different. But both are serious
medical conditions. Heat stroke is a
life-threatening illness and requires
immediate medical attention. It hap-
pens when the body gets too hot and is
characterized by confusion, dizziness,
rapid pulse, throbbing headache,
extreme thirst, nausea and vomiting,
having deceptively cool skin, and a
high body temperature. It most often
occurs when people exercise too much
or are overly active during hot weather
without drinking enough fl uids.
According to Theresa Russell,
Family Nurse Practitioner at Wallowa
Memorial Medical Clinic, the key factor
for heat stroke is a body temperature
of 104 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. At
See, Trail/Page A3
See, Heat/Page A3
City Council discusses Visitor’s Services Request for Proposal
wouldn’t be crossover for the budget.
“The other thing that was kind of
Baker City Council will be sched-
concerning was this tosses, basically, the
uling a joint work session with the
evaluation and selection back to TLTC
Baker County Commissioners to
and one of the discussions that had hap-
discuss the Request for Proposal (RFP) pened with Chair Harvey and the three
for the Visitors Services Contract.
of us in that work group was we did not
Councilors discussed the RFP at
want to repeat the same mistakes that
their regular session Tuesday evening, we went through last time,” said Mayor
Aug. 10, voicing their concerns.
Kerry McQuisten.
Councilor Shane Alderson, who is
She said they had discussed putting
on the Transient Lodging Tax Com-
together a separate committee of county
mittee, explained they are looking at
and city to deal with them this time.
complete separate budgets for the Visi-
“We need to do something to make
tors Service Center and if they want
this process professional and neutral,”
to host an event, they would come to
said McQuisten.
the TLTC to request grant money to
Councilor Joanna Dixon expressed
be budgeted for the event so there
wanting people who are not involved in
By SAMANTHA O’CONNER
Baker City Herald
TODAY
Issue 40, 32 pages
Classified ................... B2
Comics ....................... B5
Community News ....A2
Crossword ................. B2
Dear Abby ................. B6
Horoscope ................. B2
events to go through the scoring process
in the RFP so there is no bias.
Councilor Lynette Perry said she
thinks it is much cleaner having the Visi-
tors Center be its own entity being paid
for by the TLT.
Dixon said when they had been in
the city-county work group, they had
anticipated getting the RFP done and
out so Visitors Services was funded. Once
the RFP was out, they would go back
and “tear TLT apart.”
“Do we need the marketing sub-
committee? Economic development
shouldn’t even be in TLT. Do we want
marketing and Visitors Services under
Samantha O’Conner/Baker City Herald
A joint work session has been
scheduled between the Baker City
Council and the Baker County
Commissioners to discuss the Re-
quest for Proposal for the Visitors
Services Contract at the Visitors
See, Council/Page A3 Center, shown here.
News of Record ........A2
Obituaries ..................A2
Opinion ......................A4
Business .................... B1
Senior Menus ...........A2
Sports ........................A6
Turning Backs ...........A2
Weather ..................... B6
SATURDAY — ABANDONED MINE PERFECT FOR HORROR MOVIE, IN OUTDOORS