TUESDAY
BAKER GIRLS 4TH, BOYS 5TH AT HOME CROSS-COUNTRY MEET: PAGE A5
In SPORTS, A6
Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
October 5, 2021
Local • Home & Living • Sports
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Good Day Wish
To A Subscriber
A special good day
to Herald subscriber Sel
Mastrude of Baker City.
BRIEFING
By JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Public hearing
set on request to
convert church
into home
The Baker City Planning
Commission will have a
public hearing Wednesday,
Oct. 20 at 6 p.m. at City
Hall, 1655 First St., to con-
sider an application from
Bruce Smith for a condi-
tional use permit to con-
vert the New Beginnings
Fellowship Pentecostal
Church of God, at 1820
Estes St., into a dwelling.
The property, on the north
side of Estes between the
Powder River and Dewey
Avenue, is in the central-
commercial zone.
More information about
the application is avail-
able by calling Madison
Brossett at 541-523-8219 or
by emailing mbrossett@
bakercounty.org.
County Commission
meets Wednesday
The Baker County Board
of Commissioners will
meet Wednesday, Oct. 6 at
9 a.m. at the Courthouse,
1995 Third St. Agenda
items include the county’s
share of money from the
American Rescue Plan, au-
thorizing the sale of county
property in the East Pine
Creek area near Halfway,
and an updated COVID-19
mask policy.
WEATHER
Today
78 / 39
Sunny
Wednesday
59 / 28
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
Kindergartner Wyatt James takes a break from his snack to read from his new book during a StORytime
event at the Baker Early Learning Center Thursday, Sept. 30.
Stories in the sunshine
 Health care
workers read stories
to kindergartners
sponsored by the Early Learning Hub.
Students from Baker Early Learn-
ing Center and Pine Eagle School
lounged in the grassy fi eld near the
Baker Early Learning Center (in the
North Baker School building) to hear
several stories — “The Kissing Hand,”
By LISA BRITTON
followed by three Mo Willems books
lbritton@bakercityherald.com
featuring Elephant and Piggie.
Dr. Nathan Defrees, a stethoscope
Visiting readers included Defrees,
looped around his neck, chuckles at the
Dr. Lily Wittich, Sarah Lindsey,
antics of Gerald and Piggie.
Jasmine McCauley, and Valerie Potter
His audience of kindergartners
giggles too, then quiets as he continues — all from St. Luke’s EOMA — and
Nancy Staten, director of the Baker
the story of “My Friend is Sad” by Mo
County Health Department.
Willems.
“Who are our heroes? Doctors and
Defrees and other health care work-
nurses,” said Angela Lattin, BELC
ers in the community were invited
principal.
to be guest readers at the annual
After storytime, the students each
StORytime event with local kindergar-
ten classes on Thursday, Sept. 30. It is received a T-shirt emblazoned with
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
Dr. Nathan Defrees, a physician
at St. Luke’s EOMA, was a guest
reader during StORytime at the
Baker Early Learning Center on
Thursday, Sept. 30.
“Class of 2034,” an Elephant and Pig-
gie book of their choice, a toothbrush
and an orange.
Wolves kill calf north of Richland
 ODFW also
confi rms wolf
attacks on cattle
near Ukiah
Partly sunny
By JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Full forecast on the back
of the B section.
No wolf attacks on cattle
have been reported in the
Lookout Mountain country
of eastern Baker County
since state wildlife workers
shot and killed three wolves
from the Lookout Mountain
pack, including the breeding
male, on Sept. 17.
But wolves have killed
cattle elsewhere in North-
eastern Oregon during the
past two weeks, including in
Baker County.
In the Ukiah area
of Umatilla County, the
Oregon Department of Fish
and Wildlife (ODFW) has
The space below is for
a postage label for issues
that are mailed.
Baker
runs by
Nyssa
land grazing pasture in the
southern Wallowa Moun-
tains near Eagle Creek on
Sept. 28.
According to an ODFW
report, a hunter found the
calf’s carcass on the morn-
ing of Sept. 28 near the
Amalgamated Mine, along
Paddy Creek about 17 miles
northwest of Richland.
ODFW biologists exam-
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife/Contributed Photo
ined the carcass and found
OR-10, a female pup from the Walla Walla pack,
more than 30 pre-mortem
photographed in 2011.
parallel tooth scrapes on the
outside and back of the calf’s
authorized a rancher, or the Ukiah Valley, one on Sept.
left hind leg above the hock,
rancher’s designated agent, 25, the other on Sept. 28.
Three calves died and
as well as similarly sized
to kill up to two wolves on
fi ve others were injured, ac- tooth scrapes on the right
the rancher’s property.
cording to ODFW. The calves hind leg.
The lethal take permit
were all about six months
“The location, size,
expires Oct. 31, when two
old and weighed between
number and direction of
wolves have been killed, or
450 and 550 pounds.
tooth scrapes are consistent
when the rancher’s cattle
with wolf attack injuries
are moved from that area,
on calves,” according to
whichever happens fi rst.
Baker County
the report.
ODFW biologists con-
ODFW biologists also
fi rmed two separate attacks confi rmed that wolves killed
by wolves on private land in a 400-pound calf on a public
See, Wolves/Page A3
Washington man killed, his father hurt, in crash
Baker City Herald
A Washington man died Friday af-
ternoon, Oct. 1, and his father was hurt,
when the motorcycles they were riding
went off Highway 7 near Mason Dam
and crashed.
David Anderson IV, 35, of Gig Harbor,
was riding a Honda VTX 1800 motor-
cycle, according to Oregon State Police.
Anderson died at the scene.
His father and riding companion,
David Anderson III, 65, also of Gig
TODAY
Issue 63, 14 pages
Harbor, was taken by Life Flight to
the hospital.
He was in fair condition Monday
morning, Oct. 4 at Saint Alphonsus
Medical Center in Boise.
The elder Anderson was riding an
Indian Roadster motorcycle, according
to OSP.
Both men were riding east on High-
way 7 near Milepost 34 when they both
failed to negotiate a curve and rode off
the highway.
Calendar ....................A2
Classified ............. B4-B6
Comics ....................... B7
Community News ....A3
Crossword ........B5 & B6
Dear Abby ................. B8
Milepost 34 is near Mason Dam, just
before the highway descends the grade
below the dam.
According to an OSP report, based
on witness statements and evidence on
the highway, the riders had sped up to
pass other vehicles just before a sweep-
ing turn to the right. Both motorcycles
overturned, ejecting the riders.
According to witnesses, the motor-
cycles did not collide with each other
during the crash.
Home ....................B1-B4
Horoscope ................. B6
Letters ........................A4
Lottery Results ..........A2
News of Record ........A2
Obituaries ..................A2
THURSDAY — GO! MAGAZINE ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE
The number of new
COVID-19 cases in Baker
County dropped for the second
straight week.
The number of tests has
also continued to decline, and
the test positivity rate has
dipped only slightly.
For the week Sept. 26
through Oct. 2, the county
reported 69 new cases.
That compares with 86
cases for the week Sept. 19-25
and 139 cases for Sept. 12-18
— the most for any week
during the pandemic.
The totals for the previous
two weeks:
• Sept. 5-11 — 128
• Aug. 29-Sept. 4 — 80
Baker County also set
a record with six COVID-
19-related deaths during
September, and for total cases,
at 465. The previous record
for monthly cases was 300, in
August 2021.
The total of 69 new cases
for the week ending Oct. 2
was the lowest weekly total
since Aug. 22-28, when there
were 59 cases.
Although the county’s
weekly case totals have
dipped since the mid-Septem-
ber peak, so has the number
of COVID-19 tests conducted
in the county.
Weekly testing totals:
• Sept. 26-Oct. 2 — 296
(this number is preliminary;
typically some tests aren’t
added to tally for several days)
• Sept. 19-25 — 382 tests
• Sept. 12-18 — 580 tests
• Sept. 5-11 — 479 tests
• Aug. 29-Sept. 4 — 295
tests
The county’s positivity rate
peaked at 26.5% for the week
Sept. 5-11.
The rate dropped to 23.5%
the following week, and to
22.2% from Sept. 19-25.
Numbers aren’t fi nal for
the most recent week, Sept.
26-Oct. 2, but the preliminary
test positivity rate is 21.3%.
Burglary
investigation
continues
By JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
The Baker County Sher-
iff’s Offi ce continued on Mon-
day, Oct. 4 to investigate a
Sept. 30 burglary on Atwood
Road east of Interstate 84.
Baker County Sheriff
Travis Ash said on Monday
morning that the focus was
identifying the suspect who
drove a Ford F150 pickup
truck to Jim Rex’s home at
42140 Atwood Road and
then apparently fl ed on foot
when Rex arrived home on
the afternoon of Sept. 30.
Ash said on Friday, Oct.
1 that police had identifi ed a
potential suspect.
Three people from the
sheriff’s offi ce are working on
the case, Ash said.
Ash said the license
plates on the truck aren’t
for a Ford pickup.
See, Burglary/Page A3
Opinion ......................A4
Sports .............. A5 & A6
Weather ..................... B8