BAKER BOYS SOCCER TEAM ROUTS FRUITLAND FOR FIRST WIN: PAGE A6
SEPTEMBER 15–22, 2021
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Painted
Sky Center
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Former Senator
writes fi rst
book
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Jenny
Don’t and
the Spurs
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‘Fan-favorite’
designation
energizes
SAGE Center
PAGE 8
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The Christmas Light Show was the only event held in 2020 at
the SAGE Center in Boardman. Now fully reopened, the facility
is resuming many activities and special event planning.
“The food is fresh, locally sourced and unbelievably delicious.
Their IPAs are distinct and clearly not copy-cats of each other or
anyone else making NW IPAs.” - Yelp Review, Bend. Oregon
1219 Washington Ave • La Grande, OR 97850
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GO! Magazine
Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
September 16, 2021

QUICK HITS
Good Day Wish
To A Subscriber
A special good day to
Herald subscriber Kenneth
Schuh of Baker City.
Region, A5
Jessica Gomez wants
to be Oregon’s next gov-
ernor, and as she travels
the state she’s hearing a
lot about how little there
is of a vital resource.
Water.
BRIEFING
Nighttime delays
on Highway 86
Saturday and early
Sunday morning
Drivers planning to
travel on Highway 86
between Baker City and
Oxbow between 10 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 18 and
5 a.m. Sunday, Sept.
19 should expect pos-
sible 20-minute delays
as a wide trailer travels
west on the highway
after hauling an electri-
cal transformer earlier in
the week.
Eagles past
presidents plan
dinner Friday
The Eagles Past Presi-
dents Club is having a
dinner on Friday, Sept. 17
from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at
2935 H St. in Baker City.
The menu includes chick-
en fried chicken, mashed
potatoes and gravy, corn
and a dessert for $10.
Eagles members and their
guests are welcome.
WEATHER
Today
67 / 31
Sunny
Friday
79 / 46
Mostly cloudy
The space below is for
a postage label for issues
that are mailed.
Local • Business & AgLife • Go! magazine

COVID
SURGE
TAXES
HOSPITAL
Council
vacancy
hits voting
deadlock
By SAMANTHA O’CONNER
soconner@bakercityherald.com
The six current members of
the Baker City Council tried to
fi ll the one vacant seat on the
Council Tuesday, Sept. 14, but it
didn’t quite work out.
Two candidates — Randy
Daugherty and Thomas Hughes
— each received three votes.
See, Council/Page A3
 Saint Alphonsus treating
more patients, who are younger
and mostly unvaccinated
By JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Dr. Dave Richards
concedes that he questioned,
earlier in the pandemic,
whether all healthy people
should be vaccinated against
COVID-19.
He wasn’t sure he would
be inoculated.
But after treating patients
during the dramatic increase
in infections in Baker County
over the past six weeks or
so, Richards, who is medical
director for the emergency
department at Saint Alphon-
sus Medical Center-Baker
City, has no lingering doubts.
“This is simple — get
vaccinated,” Richards, who is
vaccinated, said during an in-
terview on Friday, Sept. 10 in
the emergency department
at the Baker City hospital.
“It’s a slam dunk.”
Richards said he’s
convinced, nine months after
vaccines became available,
that they are safe.
“We’ve got good data on
the vaccines,” he said.
As for the benefi ts of
vaccination, Richards said
County
settles road
lawsuit
Jayson Jacoby/Baker City Herald
Dr. Dave Richards, left, medical director for the
emergency department at Saint Alphonsus Medical
Center-Baker City, and Ashley Dunten, a registered
nurse at the hospital, in the emergency room at the
hospital on Friday, Sept. 10.
his experience since late July,
when Baker County’s case
numbers began to rise along
with the patient load at the
hospital, has been unequivo-
cal.
“We don’t see sick people
that have been vaccinated,”
he said. “You can still be
the highest among Oregon’s
36 counties and the county’s
Baker County matched its highest rate during the pan-
demic. The statewide
daily record of 37
case rate per 100,000
COVID-19 cases
during that week was
on Tuesday, Sept.
329.3, according to
14 as September
the Oregon Health
continues at a pace
Authority (OHA).
that would top
Baker County’s test
August’s monthly
positivity rate for Sept.
record of 300 cases.
Bennett
5-11 was 26.5%, third-
The 37 cases
highest behind Gilliam
Tuesday pushed
September’s total through 14 (33.3%) and Lake (30.8%).
The statewide test positivity
days to 244.
rate was 12%.
August had a daily aver-
Baker County Commis-
age of just under 10 cases.
September’s daily average sioner Mark Bennett, who
has served as the county’s in-
so far is 17.4. September al-
ready has the second-highest cident commander through-
out the pandemic, said on
total cases of any month
during the pandemic, topping Wednesday, Sept. 15 that his
December 2020’s total of 196. biggest concern is hospital
Baker County’s case rate capacity.
Idaho public health
per 100,000 population was
765.9 for the week Sept. 5-11, offi cials said Tuesday that
the Boise area might begin
rationing health care soon.
“That’s a very bad place to
be in,” Bennett said.
His concern is that Baker
County residents who have a
health emergency — includ-
ing heart attacks, accidents or
other issues that don’t involve
COVID-19 — won’t be able to
be transported to a Boise hos-
pital that has a higher level
of care than Saint Alphonsus
Medical Center-Baker City.
“There may not be space
for you,” Bennett said.
He urges residents to stay
home if they feel ill, even if
they don’t think they have
COVID-19.
That includes parents of
children.
Bennett said he recently
talked with the parent of a
child in the Baker School
District who kept the child
By SAMANTHA O’CONNER
and JAYSON JACOBY
Baker City Herald
home even though the child’s
symptoms were initially mild.
The symptoms worsened,
although Bennett said that
when he last talked to the
parent the results of a CO-
VID test hadn’t arrived.
The family also kept the
child’s siblings home, Ben-
nett said.
He acknowledged that
keeping children home from
school can be a hassle for
working parents, but he ap-
preciates the “abundance of
caution” the family showed.
People who stay home
can reduce the spread of the
virus in the community, Ben-
nett said.
“Erring on the side of cau-
tion is probably the best step,”
he said. “We can’t get a handle
on (the virus) otherwise.”
Baker County Commis-
sioners voted 2-1 on Wednes-
day, Sept. 15 to approve a
settlement in the lawsuit the
county fi led more than 2 1/2
years ago to force a landowner
in the eastern part of the
county to unlock a gate block-
ing public access to a dirt road.
Under the settlement, the
county will pay the landowner
$125,000 for a “permanent
undisputed right of way” on
the road in question.
The county also agrees in
the settlement to fi ll potholes
and grade the section of road
through the private property.
Larry Sullivan, a Vale
attorney, fi led the lawsuit on
the county’s behalf on Feb. 7,
2019.
The defendants — Timber
Canyon Ranch LLC, Kenne-
rly Ranches LLC and Forsea
River Ranch LLC — are
represented by Charles F.
Hudson of Portland.
The road in question con-
nects the Lookout Mountain
Road to the Snake River
Road, in the upper Connor
Creek area.
In 2017, Todd Longgood
and the Dennis Omer Hansen
Revocable Living Trust
bought property in the area
and installed a locked gate
across the road.
County offi cials objected to
the road closure, and eventually
chose to sue.
See, COVID/Page A5
See, Suit/Page A5
infected, and you might have
a few rough days, but you’ll
probably be fi ne.”
That’s not necessarily the
case, though, with people
who are not vaccinated and
who contract COVID-19, said
See, Hospital/Page A3
COVID cases still on the rise
By JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Your weekly guide
to arts and
entertainment
events around
Northeast Oregon
Barbara’s blooms brighten path
where Sigrid Johnson ap-
proached Prowell.
“Sigrid came over and said
Barbara Prowell isn’t quite
‘Do you need help watering?
sure what prompted her to
Yes!’” Prowell said. “I was so
plant the fl owers along the
Leo Adler Memorial Parkway. glad when she volunteered.”
Then Johnson asked her
It was in 2001, she says,
the spring after her husband, friend Jerri Wickert to help.
“She’s roped me into a lot
Richard, passed away on Sept.
over the years,” Wickert said,
27, 2000.
smiling at her friend.
“I needed something to
And these two are recruit-
do,” she said. “I thought ‘I’ll
sprinkle a few seeds and see ing others to help care for the
blooms if they are out of town.
what happens.’”
“It takes a village,” John-
That patch still brightens
son said.
the pathway today, near
Prowell said she’s had
where it crosses Campbell
some help over the years —
Street.
her grandchildren helped
Now, at 88, Prowell is
water, and friends would
ready to retire from tending
check the patch if she was
the fl owers.
gone. Recently, Tom Clements
It was during a meeting
at the Baker County Library rebuilt the split rail fence that
By LISA BRITTON
lbritton@bakercityherald.com

Issue 55, 32 pages
Business .................... B1
Classified ............. B2-B4
Comics ....................... B5
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
Barbara Prowell, right, has tended this fl ower garden
along the Leo Adler Memorial Parkway for nearly
20 years. She’s now handing the task over to Sigrid
Johnson, left, and Jerri Wickert.
lines the bed of fl owers.
For many years Prowell
brought water from her own
house.
“I remember her hauling
Community News ....A3
Crossword ........B3 & B4
Dear Abby ................. B6
big buckets of water,” Wick-
ert said.
One day, Brandon Svitak,
who owns nearby Baker
County Heating & Cooling,
Horoscope ........B3 & B4
Letters ........................A4
Lottery Results ..........A2
News of Record ........A5
Obituaries ..................A2
Opinion ......................A4
noticed her carrying jugs of
water and offered to let her
use the water at his building.
That has eased the water-
ing chore immensely, Prowell
said.
Every year she would
care for the fl owers from May
through September. Many re-
seed, and she adds new seeds
every year as well.
Varieties include sunfl ow-
ers, cosmos, daisies, bachelor
buttons, poppies, and blanket
fl ower.
“I love fl owers,” Prowell
said.
And she can’t name a
favorite.
“I like them all.”
Wickert will soon install
signs designating the patch as
“Barbara’s Flower Garden.”
Senior Menus ...........A2
Sports ........................A6
Weather ..................... B6