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MEAT OF THE UPLAND BIRD HUNTING SEASON BEGINS TODAY: PAGE B1
In SPORTS, A5
Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
October 9, 2021
Local • Outdoors • Sports • TV
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BRIEFING
Fun run/walk set
Oct. 16 to benefi t
BHS cross-country
The inaugural Okto-
berfest 5K fun run/walk,
a benefi t for the Baker
High School cross-country
teams, is set for Saturday,
Oct. 16. The event is in con-
junction with Crossroads
Carnegie Art Center’s
drive-thru Oktoberfest
dinner and virtual auction
that day.
The run/walk will start
at 8 a.m. at Central Park,
along the Leo Adler Me-
morial Parkway between
Washington and Valley
avenues, and end at the
Baker County Fairgrounds.
At the midway point, along
Hughes Lane, participants
will pick up as many pota-
toes as possible and carry
them to the fi nish line,
where the spuds will be
donated to the Northeast
Oregon Compassion Cen-
ter for its food boxes.
Costumes are encour-
aged. Registration will
start at 7 a.m. at Central
Park on the day of the
event, or go to https://one.
bidpal.net/21oktoberfest.
Living
with
polio
Baker City Herald
Gloria Schott was diagnosed with
the disease 75 years ago today
By LISA BRITTON
lbritton@bakercityherald.com
A virus changed Gloria
Schott’s life.
Not the virus that has so
dramatically affected society
today, but one of many years
ago — a virus that mostly
affected children and is now
nearly eradicated from the
world.
Schott was diagnosed
with polio when she was 3 ½
years old.
“On Oct. 9, it’ll be 75
years. I lived instead of died,”
she said.
Schott was living with
her family in Weiser, Idaho.
She’s heard stories of how
her illness began.
“I’ve been told it was
my uncle’s birthday and
I wouldn’t eat ice cream.
Shortly thereafter I started
to fall,” she said.
Her parents took her to
the local doctor.
“He immediately diag-
nosed me,” she said.
And immediately isolated
her.
Schott was admitted to
St. Luke’s Hospital in Boise
on Oct. 9, 1946.
Her parents were not
allowed to see her. She said
her mom got a job at the
Table Rock Cafe in Boise,
and would come to the hospi-
tal after work to peer at her
daughter through a crack in
the door.
Schott remembers want-
ing her mother. She would
call out: “Mother, mama,
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
Gloria Schott on her front porch in Baker City on Oct.
5, 2021. Schott was diagnosed with polio 75 years
ago, on Oct. 9, 1946.
where are you? I need you!”
“And she was standing
right there,” she said.
Schott had contracted the
type of polio that caused pa-
ralysis. When she regained
some movement, the hospi-
tal staff would put her on the
fl oor and let her explore.
“I did the army crawl,”
she said.
She distinctly remem-
bers crawling down the hall
and into a room fi lled with
patients in iron lungs — a
tube-like machine that
provided breathing support
for polio patients suffering
paralysis of the diaphragm.
“The whole fl oor was
polio,” she said.
Schott had heard the
voice of a patient through
her wall — the voice was
deep and raspy, and she re-
ferred to it as “my boyfriend.”
But when she crawled in
there, and lay beneath the
iron lung to see the patient’s
face, she discovered that
her “boyfriend” was in fact a
teenage girl.
See, Polio/Page A3
COUNTY TO AWARD CONTRACT FOR OPERATING VISITOR CENTER IN BAKER CITY
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Committ ee gives A. Lakes proposal slight edge
By JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Baker County’s Transient
Lodging Tax Committee met
Thursday morning, Oct. 7, to
review the two proposals for
operating a visitor center in
Baker City, and the com-
mittee, which advises the
Baker County Board of Com-
missioners, gave a narrow
edge to the proposal from
Anthony Lakes Outdoor
Recreation Association.
The other proposal is
from the Baker County
Chamber of Commerce
(under the Baker County
Unlimited umbrella), which
had the previous visitor
center contract.
The Board of Com-
missioners, who have the
fi nal say on awarding the
contract, will meet Thursday,
Oct. 14 to discuss the com-
mittee’s recommendation.
Two of the three commis-
sioners, Bruce Nichols and
Commission Chairman Bill
Harvey, attended the com-
mittee’s meeting Thursday.
The new contract will
continue through Jan. 1,
2024.
The previous visitor
services contract, for about
$77,000 per year, expired
Aug. 31.
The Chamber of Com-
merce has continued to
operate its visitors center at
490 Campbell St., near the
freeeway, since.
Money for the contract
comes from the tax that
guests at motels, bed and
breakfasts and other lodging
establishments pay.
County commissioners
initially were slated to award
a new contract in early 2020.
The same two groups —
the Chamber and Anthony
Lakes — were the only ap-
plicants then as now.
The lodging tax commit-
tee, as well as the county’s
Economic Development
Committee, both recom-
mended commissioners
award the contract to An-
thony Lakes.
But commissioners
decided to postpone a deci-
sion, and the contract with
the Chamber to operate the
visitor center was extended
several times over the next
20 months or so.
October, the county reported
51 new cases, an average of
7.3 per day.
The rate of new COV-
September’s total was 465
ID-19 cases in Baker County
during the fi rst week of Octo- cases, a daily average of 15.5.
The previous records were
ber was down by about half
both set in August, with 300
compared with the record-
total cases and an average of
setting pace in September.
The percentage of break- almost 10 per day.
After two consecutive re-
through cases — infections
cord-setting weeks, with 128
in people who are fully
cases from Sept. 5-11 and 139
vaccinated — has more
cases from Sept. 12-18, the
than doubled since mid-
county’s weekly total dropped
September.
But Nancy Staten, direc- in two straight weeks, to 86
from Sept. 19-25, and to 69
tor of the Baker County
Health Department, pointed from Sept. 26-Oct. 2.
With two days left, the
out that vaccinated people
current week, Oct. 3-9, was
who do test positive are
on pace to make it three
much less likely to have se-
vere symptoms or to require consecutive weekly declines
in total cases.
hospital treatment.
“It looks better than it did
“Vaccine is still our best
a few weeks ago,” Staten said.
tool,” Staten said on Friday
During September, 23 of
morning, Oct. 8.
For the fi rst seven days of the 30 days had at least 10
TODAY
Issue 65, 12 pages
Calendar ....................A2
Classified ............. B2-B4
Comics ....................... B5
cases, including eight days
with more than 21 cases.
Two of the fi rst seven days
of October had double-digit
cases — 10 on Oct. 4, and 18
on Oct. 6.
From the start of the
pandemic through Thursday,
Oct. 7, Baker County has
reported 1,940 cases. That’s
about 11.5% of the county’s
population.
County’s 26th and 27th
COVID-related deaths
The Oregon Health
Authority (OHA) reported
on Friday afternoon, Oct.
8, that two Baker County
residents had died in the past
week after testing positive for
COVID-19.
A 70-year-old Baker
County woman died on Oct.
5, after testing positive on
Sept. 23.
Community News ....A3
Crossword ........B2 & B4
Dear Abby ................. B6
A local organization’s cre-
ative way to replace an annual
holiday event thwarted by
COVID-19 has won statewide
recognition.
CASA of Eastern Oregon’s
Gingerbread Tour in Baker
City was named the outstand-
ing promotion during the Or-
egon Main Street Excellence
on Main awards, announced
on Thursday, Oct. 7.
And it wasn’t the only local
winner.
Tom Novak, a Baker City
artist, was also awarded as a
volunteer for his work with
Baker City Downtown, the
promotional group he has
helped since 2017, including
serving, with perfect atten-
dance, on its design commit-
tee.
Baker City Downtown
nominated both Novak and
CASA of Eastern Oregon for
their respective awards.
Gingerbread tour
CASA of Eastern Oregon, a
nonprofi t that helps represent
the interests of children who
are in state care, usually spon-
sors a holiday tour of some of
Baker City’s historic homes.
But the pandemic prompt-
ed CASA to cancel the event
in 2020.
As an alternative, CASA
invited residents to create
gingerbread structures.
See, Awards/Page A2
County
discusses use
of federal aid
By SAMANTHA O’CONNER
soconner@bakercityherald.com
Breakthrough cases
Baker County’s rate of
infections in fully vaccinated
people had been much lower
than the statewide average
during most of the surge in
cases, driven by the more
contagious delta variant, that
started in late July.
Baker County Commis-
sioners on Wednesday, Oct. 6
approved a general concept
for how the county will spend
the $3.13 million it will re-
ceive over the next two years
from the American Rescue
Plan Act.
President Joe Biden signed
the COVID-19 aid bill into law
in March 2021.
Commissioners didn’t dis-
cuss specifi c dollar amounts
for any of the projects; those
budgeting decisions will be
made later. They heard from
several county department
heads about potential uses for
some of the federal money.
Commissioner Mark
Bennett said he, along with
Christena Cook, the county’s
administrative service direc-
tor, and Heidi Martin, the
human resource director, have
worked with department
heads to put together a list of
possible projects.
“We believe that the most
appropriate thing is to use
these funds for long term
benefi ts and enhancement of
livability of the county and
it’s our role as commissioners
to also put forward a vision
and to use these funds,” Ben-
nett said.
See, COVID/Page A3
See, County/Page A3
See, Proposal/Page A3
COVID cases continue to drop
By JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Baker
holds off
Tigers
The presence of underly-
ing medical conditions hadn’t
been confi rmed.
A 71-year-old man from
Baker County died Oct. 4 at
Providence St. Mary Medical
Center in Walla Walla, Wash-
ington. He tested positive on
Sept. 21, and had underlying
conditions.
The deaths were the 26th
and 27th during the pan-
demic in Baker County, and
the fi rst two in October.
Horoscope ........B2 & B4
Jayson Jacoby ..........A4
News of Record ........A2
Opinion ......................A4
Outdoors ..........B1 & B2
Senior Menus ...........A2
Sports ........................A5
Turning Backs ...........A2
Weather ..................... B6
TUESDAY — LOCAL COWBOY PREPARING FOR NATIONAL FINALS RODEO