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In SPORTS, A6
Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
August 31, 2021
Local • Home & Living • Sports
IN THIS EDITION:
$1.50
Sheriff :
Mandates
not his
job to
enforce
QUICK HITS
Good Day Wish
To A Subscriber
A special good day to
Herald subscriber Andrew
Bryan of Baker City.
BRIEFING
OTEC giving away
energy-effi cient
light bulbs
Oregon Trail Electric
Cooperative will give away
a free fi ve-pack of LED
lightbulbs, valued at $25,
on Wednesday, Sept. 1 and
Thursday, Sept. 2 at each
of its offi ces.
The cooperative’s head-
quarters are at 4005 23rd
St., just south of Pocahon-
tas Road.
The free bulbs use at
least 75% less energy and
can last 25 times longer
than incandescent bulbs,
according to a press
release from OTEC.
“As a member-owned
cooperative, we work hard
to teach our member-own-
ers the value of energy
effi ciency,” said Joe Hatha-
way, OTEC’s communica-
tions manager.
Baker City seeks
candidates for
Council vacancy
The Baker City Council
is seeking candidates to
fi ll the vacancy created by
the resignation of Coun-
cilor Lynette Perry. To be
eligible, candidates must
be registered Oregon vot-
ers who have lived within
the Baker City limits for at
least a year.
More information is
available at www.bak-
ercity.com or by calling
541-524-2033.
WEATHER
Today
73 / 33
Sunny
Wednesday
76 / 36
Sunny
The space below is for
a postage label for issues
that are mailed.
Baker
falls to
Vandals
By JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Samantha O’Conner/Baker City Herald
Sunny skies welcomed students to Brooklyn Primary School for the fi rst day of classes on Monday, Aug. 30.
Ready for class
Baker City to ex-
 Baker students return downtown
press their opposition to the
mask mandate for schools.
Julie Davis, mother of a
to their classrooms
third grader, said her son
combating COVID-19 could
be  challenge.
August has been the
worst month of the pandem-
ic in Baker County, in terms
Jan. 25, 2021, and to a full was excited for the fi rst day of total cases.
By SAMANTHA O’CONNER
When classes started
of classes.
soconner@bakercityherald.com four-day schedule on April
“I think it’s very impor- Monday, 23 Baker students
A bright sunny Monday 12, 2021.
were quarantining, as was
tant they’re in person, for
On Monday morning,
morning greeted students
one school employee, said
students arrived at Brook- sure,” Davis said.
on the fi rst day of classes
Lindsey McDowell, the
Jody Colton, grand-
lyn with new backpacks
for Baker schools.
and smiles, waving to class- mother of a second grader, district’s public Informa-
Parents and grandpar-
mates, friends and teachers. agreed, saying, “It’s perfect. tion and communications
ents escorted students to
In-school is very important. coordinator.
“I think that they need
Brooklyn Primary, which
“We are excited about
They want to be here, they
it,” said Tammy Mercado,
has classrooms for fi rst,
the school year and grateful
need to be here, learning.”
grandmother of Brooklyn
second and third graders.
that we have been able to
Mark Witty, Baker
second grader Makaiah
The adults said they
School District superinten- start in person,” McDowell
were excited to see students Gray.
wrote in an email to the
dent, said last week that
As was the case during
start the 2021-22 year with
in-person classes last school he was “looking forward to Herald. “There is so much
in-person classes.
year, students and staff will a new school year starting good planned for the upcom-
A year ago, Baker stu-
ing year!”
dents were still learning by be required to wear masks with students in person.”
Phil Anderson, principal
Witty said the district
computer from home due to indoors. Masks aren’t
at South Baker Intermedi-
required during recess, PE will employ most of the
the pandemic, which also
ate, which has fourth, fi fth
classes and other outdoors same tactics to stem the
prompted distance learn-
and sixth graders, said
spread of COVID-19,
ing during the spring term activities.
Monday afternoon that it
including masks, daily
Some parents, though
2020.
had been “a pretty typical
pre-class health checks
glad to have students in
Elementary students,
fi rst day of school.”
for students, and frequent
classrooms, don’t like the
in grades K-6, returned to
“I don’t have the at-
sanitation.
mask requirement.
in-person classes for a full
The district reported 36 tendance numbers in front
“I think it’s great they’re
four-day weekly schedule
of me but the students who
in school but they shouldn’t staff or students testing
on Oct. 14, 2020.
positive during the 2020-21 enrolled, I would say most of
Middle school and high have to wear masks. It’s
them arrived today and are
school year.
dumb,” said Lane Gray,
school students began at-
in school,” Anderson said.
Witty acknowledged
tending classes one day per father of a second grader.
that, at least at the start
On Aug. 19, a group
week on Nov. 9, 2020, mov-
of the new school year,
ing to two days per week on of protesters gathered in
See, School/Page A3
Baker man hurt in ATV rollover
Baker City Herald
Baker County Sheriff’s Offi ce/Contributed Photo
Volunteers from the Baker County Sheriff’s Offi ce
Search and Rescue Team set up a rope system to
move Verle Cote up a steep slope.
TODAY
Issue 48, 14 pages
Classified ............. B4-B6
Comics ....................... B7
Community News ....A3
A Baker City man was
hurt Saturday afternoon,
Aug. 28, when the ATV he
was riding rolled down a
steep slope in the Wallowa
Mountains northeast of
Baker City.
Verle Cote, 67, was
taken by ambulance to Saint
Alphonsus Medical Center
in Baker City, according to a
press release from the Baker
County Sheriff’s Offi ce.
Cote was in fair condition
on Monday morning, Aug.
30, according to a hospital
spokesman.
The accident was reported
at 2:34 p.m. on Saturday. It
happened off Forest Service
Road 67 near Boulder Park,
along Eagle Creek.
The caller told the
dispatcher that the terrain
was steep and that recover-
Crossword ........B4 & B5
Dear Abby ................. B8
Home ....................B1-B3
ing the injured rider would
likely require a technical rope
rescue team.
The Baker County Sher-
iff’s Offi ce’s Search and Res-
cue Team was activated at
2:44 p.m., and fi ve volunteers
traveled to the site along
with sheriff’s deputies.
Police learned that Cote
was riding a 2021 Can Am
ATV along Phillips Ditch
when it rolled down a bank.
Search and Rescue vol-
unteers set up a rope system
and were able to pull Cote
up the bank where he was
treated and taken by side-by-
side to the ambulance, about
three miles from the accident
site.
The Sheriff’s Offi ce was
assisted by the U.S. Forest
Service and Eagle Valley
Ambulance, according to the
press release.
Horoscope ........B4 & B5
Letters ........................A4
Lottery Results ..........A2
News of Record ........A2
Obituaries ..................A2
Opinion ......................A4
Baker County Sheriff
Travis Ash has joined the
ranks of Oregon county sher-
iffs who have written letters
addressing
Gov. Kate
Brown’s
recent
mandates on
face masks
and vac-
cinations for
Ash
some public
workers.
But Ash’s letter, which was
posted on Sunday, Aug. 29 to
the Baker County Sheriff’s
Offi ce Facebook page, is dif-
ferent in content and in tone
from the letters that some of
his colleagues have written.
Ash, for instance, doesn’t
contend that Brown’s
executive orders are uncon-
stitutional, as Union County
Sheriff Cody Bowen claims in
an Aug. 13 letter.
Although Ash doesn’t
address the constitutional
issue, he writes in the fi rst
paragraph that his stance
on state mandates on masks
and vaccinations has not
changed:
“The Baker County
Sheriff’s Offi ce has not and
will not be enforcing mask
or vaccine mandates,” Ash
wrote. “We are not responsi-
ble for enforcement of Oregon
Health Authority rules.”
Ash, like Bowen and some
of the other sheriffs who have
written letters, writes that he
“is in favor of local control.”
See, Sheriff/Page A3
Bacteria
ravages
bighorns
By JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
A bacterial infection
continues to wreak havoc on
lambs in Baker County’s two
bighorn sheep herds.
A state wildlife biologist
said offi cials will continue to
strive, through annual test-
ing, to identify adult sheep
that constantly shed the
bacteria, and then eutha-
nize those animals to try to
protect the herds.
“They’re not faring well
at all,” said Brian Ratliff,
district wildlife biologist at
the Oregon Department of
Fish and Wildlife’s (ODFW)
Baker City offi ce. “But I
think there’s a very good
possibility that with enough
effort, and some luck, we will
get through this.”
The effort could take four
to fi ve years, Ratliff said on
Monday morning, Aug. 30.
Biologists fi rst became
aware of the problem in
February 2020, when dead
bighorns were found near
the Snake River Road at the
See, Bighorns/Page A3
Senior Menus ...........A2
Sports .............. A5 & A6
Weather ..................... B8
THURSDAY — SPECIAL SECTION PREVIEWS HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL SEASON