SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2021
BAKER CITY HERALD — A3
LOCAL & REGION
Manufacturing, hospitality among worst hit industries
By JAYSON JACOBY,
SAMANTHA O’CONNER and
ALEX WITTWER
EO Media Group
Tyler Brown’s family owns
one restaurant in Baker City
that hasn’t served a meal
since before the first CO-
VID-19 case was confirmed in
Baker County.
But the Browns’ chal-
lenges to keep enough work-
ers to run their two other
restaurants are so daunting
that they can’t begin to plan
the reopening of the closed
business.
That’s the Sumpter Junc-
tion restaurant, off Campbell
Street near Interstate 84. The
Browns closed the restaurant
in March 2020. Inside rest
the memories of customers
who once frequented the
restaurant, told quietly by a
single butter knife resting on
the edge of a booth table.
A newsstand is stacked
high with Baker City Herald
issues blaring the headline
“Coronavirus Closures.”
They’re dated March 14,
2020. It was three days before
Gov. Kate Brown banned
dining inside restaurants. It
was the last paper delivered
to Sumpter Junction.
During much of the rest of
that year, and continuing into
2021, the number of custom-
ers at Baker County’s various
restaurants was limited due
to the county’s COVID-19 risk
level.
Those restrictions meant
it wasn’t feasible to reopen
Sumpter Junction, Tyler
Brown said.
Risk levels and restau-
rant limits ended June 30,
but Brown said it remains a
struggle to keep a sufficient
workforce to operate Barley
Brown’s Brew Pub and Tap
House, separate establish-
ments, both owned by the
family’s Windmill Enterprises
LLC, on Main Street in down-
town Baker City.
In fact, Brown said the situ-
ation has worsened in the past
month or so since the governor
required people to wear masks
in most public indoor settings,
including restaurants.
Brown said he has lost a
couple employees who simply
refuse to continue working
while required to wear a mask
throughout their shift.
“I know it’s frustrating for
everyone,” he said.
Wearing masks isn’t the
only thing that discourages
workers, Brown said.
It’s also stressful for
employees to enforce the man-
date with customers, some of
whom refuse to comply.
“It definitely wears on
(employees),” Brown said.
In addition, Brown said he
recently had four employees,
all of whom are fully vaccinat-
ed, test positive for COVID-19.
Although none had severe
symptoms, they had to miss
work for 10 days, which forced
a reduction in his restaurants’
hours.
The surge in COVID cases
driven by the more contagious
delta variant has affected
other restaurants in Baker
City.
Dairy Queen, for instance,
posted a sign on its window
stating that the restaurant
would be closed for two weeks,
starting Sept. 3, due to staff-
ing shortages resulting from
COVID-19. Dairy Queen is
slated to reopen, with regular
hours, on Sept. 18.
Some employers have
attributed the workforce
shortage to expanded federal
unemployment payments.
But even though those
benefits ended in early
September, Brown said he’s
not optimistic that this will
result in an influx of potential
workers.
The scarcity of workers has
had an obvious effect on the
restaurant sector, with many
businesses, in Baker City and
elsewhere, reducing hours,
and in many cases closing
altogether on some days.
Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group
Restaurateur and business owner Tyler Brown poses for a photo inside Sumpter
Junction, one of his restaurants, on Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2021. The restaurant has
been closed since March 2020 following statewide shutdown orders that shuttered
businesses across the state to fight the pandemic. Sumpter Junction has yet to
reopen due to a lack of workers.
County saw an increase of
3%, or 10 workers during the
same time period, and Uma-
tilla County saw the largest
total decrease of employment
in the sector, losing 180 jobs
from July 2019 to July 2021.
Across all industries in
Eastern Oregon, leisure and
hospitality saw the biggest
decrease in employment
from July 2019 to July 2021,
dropping 8.2% from its 2019
levels for a total loss of 570
jobs. The second hardest hit
industry was manufacturing,
which saw a 6.6% decrease
along the same time period for
a total loss of 570 jobs as well.
Compared to the rest of the
state in regards to employ-
ment, however, the leisure and
hospitality industries were in
far less dire straits in Eastern
Oregon — Oregon overall
saw nearly a 20% decrease in
employment within the sector;
far above any other industry
with regards to job losses.
Other Eastern Oregon
counties didn’t fare much bet-
ter. Union registered a 10.3%
drop in leisure and hospitality
workers since July 2019. Mal-
heur County, which borders
Idaho and remained open for
much of the pandemic, saw a
9.75% decrease in the sector,
while Umatilla County saw
a 6.8% drop, beating out the
regional average. Surprisingly,
Hungry for workers
Wallowa County saw only a
Among Eastern Oregon
marginal decrease from its
counties, Baker County
July 2019 numbers; it lost just
saw the largest percentage
decrease of workers employed 10 jobs.
Unsurprisingly, the
in the leisure and hospitality
industry, dropping nearly 17%, manufacturing jobs lost aren’t
or 120 workers, between July affected by seasonal employ-
2019 and July 2021. Harney
ment changes normally seen
in the leisure and hospitality
industries. Still, manufactur-
ing in Eastern Oregon lost
200 jobs from the start of the
pandemic in March 2020.
Morrow County saw an
8.4% decrease in workers in
the manufacturing industry
since July 2019; a drop of 160
workers. Not to be outdone,
Umatilla County registered a
neat 10% decrease of workers
within the same sector, within
the same time period, num-
bering 340 lost jobs. Baker
and Union counties saw a 5%
decrease in the sector during
the same period, correspond-
ing to 30 and 70 workers lost,
respectively.
At Behlen Mfg. Co.’s plant
in Baker City, where 110
employees weld and other-
wise assemble gates, panels,
troughs and other livestock
equipment, maintaining a full
workforce during the pan-
demic has been “challenging,”
said Stacy Delong, the plant’s
human resources manager.
Only 30 jobs were lost in
the Baker County manufac-
turing industry from July
2019 to July 2021, represent-
ing a 5% decrease.
However, Delong said
Behlen, a Nebraska company
that opened its Baker City
factory in 1996, has been
“fairly successful recruiting
new applicants the last couple
of months.”
Among the company’s
techniques was setting up an
electronic reader board on
Campbell Street, Baker City’s
busiest thoroughfare, advertis-
ing a job fair at the factory on
Aug. 18.
“We found that to be suc-
cessful,” Delong said.
She said she hopes that the
end of the federal unemploy-
ment payments will persuade
more people to apply for jobs
at the Baker City plant.
Behlen’s goal is to add
about 40 workers, to a total of
150, by the end of 2021.
“Our approach has been to
broaden community outreach
through communication and
to best utilize our current ad-
vertising resources and simply
engaging current employees
to encourage friends and
family to apply,” Delong said.
“Fortunately, Behlen Country
offers excellent benefits and
competitive wages. This does
give us slight edge over other
employers not able to offer
such benefits. We are not there
yet, there is a lot of work to do.”
Delong said demand for
the company’s products has
continued to increase, “and
we don’t foresee any kind of
decline anytime in the future.”
Out of woodwork
Another of Baker City’s
larger manufacturing employ-
ers is Marvin Wood Products.
The company, which
employs about 170 workers at
its factory, would like to hire
about 30 more employees,
plant manager Sandi Fuller
said in June of this year.
To entice people to apply for
jobs, Marvin Wood Products
earlier this year boosted its
entry level wage to $17.73 per
hour, plus a 50-cent bonus for
people who accept rotating
shifts, and other incentives
including signing bonuses of
$500 and up to $1,500 to help
people move to Baker City.
Shelly Cutler, executive
director of the Baker County
Chamber of Commerce,
said she has recently heard
“positive feedback” from some
businesses that have strug-
gled to retain their workforce,
although she said she doesn’t
know of any local restaurants
that are fully staffed.
Cutler cautions that she
believes the county is in the
“very early stages of recovery.”
She is optimistic that the
cessation of federal jobless
benefits, combined with higher
wages and incentives some
businesses are offering, will
entice people to re-enter the
workforce.
Cutler also said she has
been sending an increasing
number of relocation pack-
ets to people who might be
interested in moving to Baker
County — including younger
people who would need a job.
Anna Johnson, a senior
economic analyst at Oregon
Employment Department,
wrote that difficult-to-fill posi-
tions were largely unrelated to
the pandemic.
“The phrase ‘no one wants
to work anymore’ was already
a common reason given for
why vacancies were difficult
to fill,” Johnson wrote. “Now,
with lack of applicants and
lack of qualified candidates
still being a major factor in
hiring difficulties, the reason
has expanded to become ‘no
one wants to work anymore…
because of high unemploy-
ment insurance benefits.’ ”
Johnson reported that
between April and June of this
year, only 14% of difficult-to-
fill vacancies had relatively
high jobless benefits reported
as the primary reason employ-
ers had trouble filling job
openings.
Johnson also noted that
leisure and hospitality was the
top industry for the pandemic-
related, difficult-to-fill vacan-
cies. Among the hardest to fill
jobs were restaurant cooks.
Reasons for the vacancies
vary — among those offered
up include lack of child care,
high unemployment benefit
pay and low wages at leisure
and hospitality jobs. According
to the report, the number of
employers citing low wages as
the reason for the vacancies
grew to 15% in spring 2021.
Baker Valley deer death toll rises to 36
By JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
The death toll in deer in
Baker Valley from a disease
spread by midges has risen
to 36 in less than a month.
But a local wildlife
biologist who’s tracking the
outbreak said the arrival of
colder weather will end the
threat, at least until next
year.
“One good freeze is all
we need,” said Brian Ratliff,
district wildlife biologist at
the Oregon Department of
Fish and Wildlife’s (ODFW)
Baker City office.
A hard frost will kill the
bugs that infect deer with a
virus that causes the often
fatal illness, Epizootic Hem-
orrhagic Disease (EHD).
Although EHD can kill
both white-tailed and mule
deer, Ratliff said the disease
usually is most virulent
among white-tails.
And that has proven to
be the case in Baker Valley’s
current outbreak, with 33 of
the 36 dead deer he’s exam-
ined being white-tails.
Ratliff said he has taken
tissue samples from 12 of
the deer, and all were posi-
tive for EHD.
All the dead deer were
found near the western
edge of Baker Valley, in
the area of Pine Creek,
Goodrich Creek, Ben Dier
Lane and Hunt Mountain,
Ratliff said.
White-tailed deer are
common in that part of the
valley, about 12 miles north-
west of Baker City.
Deer can’t spread the vi-
rus to other deer or animals
by direct contact. Midges
carrying the virus can infect
other animals, including
mule deer, elk, pronghorn
antelope, sheep and cattle,
but the mortality rate is
much higher with white-
tailed deer than with other
species, Ratliff said.
The virus poses no threat
to people, cats or dogs. Nor
can people become ill by
eating the meat of a deer or
other animal infected with
EHD.
An outbreak of EHD
killed an estimated 2,000
white-tailed deer in Uma-
tilla County during the fall
of 2019, resulting in the
cancellation of some deer
hunts in that area.
Ratliff said the EHD
outbreak in Baker Valley
won’t affect this fall’s hunt-
ing season, but it’s possible
that tag numbers could be
reduced for white-tailed
hunts in 2022.
The biggest recent
outbreak in Baker County
happened during the late
summer and early fall of
2015, Ratliff said.
He said ODFW didn’t
compile an official death toll
then, but he believes many
dozens of white-tailed deer
died in the county in 2015.
Ratliff said EHD out-
breaks typically start later
in the year, when water
sources are more scarce,
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forcing deer to congregate
in those places and making
them more likely to either
be infected by midges, or, in
the case of deer that already
carry the virus, to spread it
to midges that bit them.
The virus can spread in
both ways, he said — from
infected deer to midges,
and from infected midges
to deer.
That allows the illness
to spread rapidly in cer-
tain conditions.