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In LOCAL, A5
Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
August 17, 2021
IN THIS EDITION:
QUICK HITS
Good Day Wish
To A Subscriber
A special good day to
Herald subscriber Esa
Murrell of Baker City.
Local, A2
Nine local artists were
picked as winners in a col-
oring contest sponsored
by the New Directions
Northwest FEMA Outreach
Team.
The winners’ posters
were displayed at many
local businesses.
Local • Home & Living • Sports
$1.50
Population Tops 10,000 For First Time In A U.S. Census
Baker City Reaches
Population Milestone
Fire risk
remains
‘explosive’
COVID
surge
on a
record
pace
By JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
BRIEFING
Applications open
for Leo Adler
Community grants
The Leo Adler Founda-
tion is accepting ap-
plications for 2021-22
Community Fund grants.
The application deadline
has been extended to
Sept. 15, 2021. To create
an account, go to www.
leoadler.smapply.io. The
Leo Adler Foundation and
Community Fund provides
annual grants to charitable
organizations that create
high-impact projects to
benefi t the people of Baker
County and North Powder.
Applicant organizations
need not be based in
Baker County or North
Powder, but the project
submission must demon-
strate a direct benefi t to
the community.
Lodging tax
committee meets
on Thursday
The Baker County Tran-
sient Lodging Tax Com-
mittee will meet Thursday,
Aug. 19 from 9 a.m. to 11
a.m. at the Courthouse,
1995 Third St.
WEATHER
Today
Jayson Jacoby/Baker City Herald File, December 2020
For the fi rst time since it was incorporated in 1874, Baker City’s population has surpassed 10,000, according
to the U.S. Census Bureau. The city was home to 10,099 people in 2020.
By JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Baker City has fi nally surpassed
a threshold it had approached, but
never quite cleared, over the past
century and a half.
The city’s population has topped
10,000.
And that’s according to the ulti-
mate arbiter of such matters, the
U.S. Census Bureau.
The federal agency on Thursday,
Aug. 12 released city and county
populations from the once-a-decade
head count conducted in 2020.
The Census pegs Baker City’s
population at 10,099. That’s an in-
crease of 271 people — 2.8% — from
the 2010 Census fi gure of 9,828.
Although the Portland State Uni-
versity Population Research Center,
which makes annual estimates of
city and county populations in the
years between the decennial U.S.
censuses, has in several years put
Baker City above the 10,000 mark,
the city had not reached that level
in an offi cial U.S. Census.
But Baker City, which was
started in 1864 and incorporated in
1874, came awfully close 60 years
ago.
Its offi cial population in the 1960
Census was 9,986.
See, 10,000/Page A3
73 / 45
More mosquitoes infected with West Nile
Mostly sunny
By JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Wednesday
67 / 41
Morning showers
The space below is for
a postage label for issues
that are mailed.
West Nile virus has been
detected in more mos-
quitoes trapped in Baker
County, including a site
about four miles north of
Baker City.
Mosquitoes can trans-
mit the virus to humans
through bites.
No human cases of West
Nile virus have been con-
fi rmed in Oregon this year,
according to the Oregon
Health Authority.
Most people infected with
the virus have no symp-
toms, according to the state
health offi cials, but about
20% will have symptoms
such as a fever, headache,
body aches, vomiting, diar-
rhea or a rash.
In rare cases the virus
can be fatal.
Baker County had more
COVID-19 cases during the
fi rst half of August than in
all but two whole months
since the pandemic started.
From Aug. 1-15, the
county reported 146 cases,
including a weekly record
of 84 from Aug. 8-14, said
Nancy Staten, director of
the Baker County Health
Department.
That surpassed the pre-
vious one-week record of 68
cases from July 25-31.
Even with help from the
Oregon Health Authority,
the surge in cases is mak-
ing it a challenge for the
county to investigate cases,
Staten said.
In a Thursday, Aug. 12
press release, Dr. Eric
Lamb, the county’s public
health offi cer, said “we are
seeing a spike in cases
and hospitalizations that
threatens to overwhelm
hospital capacity.”
The highest number of
cases in any month was
196, in December 2020.
That was the last month
in which vaccines weren’t
available throughout the
month (vaccines became
available in mid-Decem-
ber).
The second-highest total
was in April 2021, with 162
cases.
The numbers dropped
signifi cantly thereafter, to
51 during May — the few-
est since September 2020.
There was a slight increase
to 70 cases during June,
but the daily rate dropped
again during the fi rst three
weeks or so of July.
See, Mosquitoes/Page A3
See, Surge/Page A3
Something’s brewing at Sorbenots
By SAMANTHA
O’CONNER
soconner@bakercityherald.com
The Baker City Sorben-
ots location is getting a
makeover. The coffee shop
at 1270 Campbell St. will
have a new look within the
next few weeks.
“We’re re-doing the siding
and doing a ground level
patio out front and an order
window out there,” said
Philip Stone, Sorbenots
CEO.
The siding will be re-
painted to a dark or royal
blue with the Sorbenots
logo, and the building will
have brown trim.
“We kind of went to a
standard look and feel for
all of our shops,” Stone said.
Sorbenots has shops in
La Grande, Ontario, Herm-
TODAY
Issue 42, 14 pages
Samantha O’Conner/Baker City Herald
The Sorbenots coffee shop on Campbell Street in
Baker City is undergoing a renovation.
iston and Pendleton as well
as Baker City, where the
company started.
Stone said the new patio
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in Baker City will be ADA-
accessible.
Other changes include
moving the drive-thru to
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make more room for cars.
“The idea would be just
to push it back enough that
we can get two or three
cars off of Campbell Street,”
Stone said. “It just makes
it a little too much gridlock
for what we’re trying to do.
I don’t like to see people
hanging out and trying to
get in and out of Campbell
Street.”
The renovations had a
bittersweet moment with
the removal of the Sorben-
ots coffee bush. Stone said
several years ago they had
cut down an old tree and
it kept sprouting up. They
decided one day to shape
the bush into a coffee cup.
“We had to remove it to
extend the drive through
back a little bit,” he said.
“I think people kind of got
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used to having that coffee
bush back there.”
Stone said they have
planted more trees and will
probably turn one of the
older trees into a new coffee
bush in the future.
Stone said the pro-
jected two-week project
has slowed a bit as the
contractor had a workforce
shortage.
“We’re hoping in the next
week and a half, two weeks,
they’ll get reengaged with it
and be done with it,” Stone
said.
He said the goal is to
minimize the effect on
traffi c.
“We usually like to try to
get that done in a shorter
time frame but sometimes
you’ve got to deal with what
you’re given,” Stone said.
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