SATURDAY
COMPELLING DOCUMENTARY EXPLORES OLYMPIANS’ MENTAL HEALTH: A7
October 16, 2021
Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
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IN THIS EDITION:
$1.50
Good Day Wish
To A Subscriber
A special good day to
Herald subscriber Dick
Micka of Baker City.
By SAMANTHA O’CONNER
soconner@bakercityherald.com
BRIEFING
Woodland owners
planning fi eld tour
WEATHER
Today
66 / 36
Sunny
Sunday
66 / 40
Sunny
Monday
54 / 30
Partly sunny
Full forecast on the
back of the B section.
The space below is for
a postage label for issues
that are mailed.
Baker ties
La Grande
County to
award visitor
center contract
to Chamber
QUICK HITS
The newly revitalized
Northeast Oregon chapter
of the Oregon Small
Woodlands Association is
planning a free fi eld tour
at the Defrees Ranch in
Sumpter Valley on Oct. 30.
Although admission and
lunch are free, participants
are required to register
online at https://beav.es/
UYC. The link also includes
directions to the Defrees
ranch and other details.
The tour will run from
8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Members
of the Defrees family will
talk about their ranch,
which includes expanses
of second-growth pon-
derosa pine forests. Other
speakers will include Jana
Peterson of the Oregon
Department of Forestry,
Misty Beals from the
U.S. Natural Resources
Conservation Service, and
an employee from the
Oregon Department of
Fish and Wildlife.
The tour will be out-
doors, rain or shine, and
includes moderate walk-
ing, of about a tenth of a
mile, over uneven terrain.
In SPORTS, A8
Old building’s
new life
Jayson Jacoby/Baker City Herald
From left, Bob Moon, Shannon Moon and Kyra Rohner look over historic photos and information that
local historian Gary Dielman assembled for the Baker Loan and Trust Building at the corner of Main and
Broadway streets. The Moons and Rohner, who is Shannon’s daughter and Bob’s stepdaughter, bought the
110-year-old building in 2018.
Renovation of 110-year-old downtown
structure in Baker City a family affair
The trio — Kyra is also
an attorney, in practice with
her stepfather — initially
intended to start with the
convinced that the fi rst
By JAYSON JACOBY
second fl oor of the building.
stage of renovation for the
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Once they saw the ceiling, historic Baker City building The structure, with an exte-
rior that features Pleasant
they had bought must be
they were sure.
Valley tuffstone as well as
the fi rst fl oor.
The real ceiling, that is.
granite, was assembled, in
“When we discovered
Not the nondescript
less than a year, to replace a
how beautiful the ceilings
dropped ceiling of acoustic
structure destroyed in a Jan.
were, we couldn’t do any-
tiles and fl uorescent lights,
thing but restore this space,” 26, 1910, fi re that devastated
the sort of anonymous and
Bob Moon, a Baker City at- half a block on the west
arguably ugly feature you
torney, said while sitting in side of Main Street between
would expect to see, but
his offi ce in the Baker Loan Broadway Street and Wash-
scarcely notice, in any of
ington Avenue.
thousands of offi ce buildings. and Trust building at the
(A story in the Jan. 27,
Once that banal addition southwest corner of Main
1910, issue of The Evening
had been pulled down, and and Broadway streets.
Telegraph, a Portland news-
“To me it’s just a work
the 110-year-old, decora-
paper, described the fi re,
of art.”
tive pressed tin ceiling 16
That revelation changed which started in the base-
feet above the fl oor was
revealed, Bob and Shannon the renovation schedule the ment of the Weil Mercantile
Company’s store, as the
Moon and Kyra Rohner — new owners had planned
after buying the building in “most destructive fi re Baker
Shannon’s daughter and
City has ever known,” with
Bob’s stepdaughter — were September 2018.
losses exceeding $300,000, of
which only a bit more than
one-third was insured. The
loss equates to about $8.3
million today, adjusted for
infl ation.)
But once they had seen
that tin ceiling, they decided
to start with the fi rst fl oor.
Bob said the offi ce space
was “a complete disaster”
when they acquired the
building.
But the challenge of
renovating the structure
wasn’t nearly as daunting
as it would have been if not
for fortunate familial con-
nections.
Shannon’s son and Kyra’s
brother, Josh Rohner, is proj-
ect manager for Sid Johnson
& Co. in Baker City.
See, Renovate/Page A3
Veterinary student honored
Alexandra Colton of North
Powder is one of 18 students
to win $5,000 scholarship
a love for animals, from working with
calves on our ranch during calving
season,” said Colton, a 2014 graduate
of Powder Valley High School.
Colton, 25, earned a bachelor’s de-
gree in animal sciences at Oregon State
By JAYSON JACOBY
University. She’s in her fourth and fi nal
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
year at OSU’s veterinary school, on
Even before she was tall enough
pace to graduate in June 2022.
to look a heifer in the eye, Alexandra
That pace is decidedly hectic.
Colton knew what she wanted to do
“I am typically at the hospital
when she grew up.
anywhere from 10 to 12 hours a day
A couple decades later, Colton is
close to achieving her goal of becoming during the week,” Colton said.
But Colton recently received a
a veterinarian.
fi nancial boost, and national recogni-
More specifi cally, a veterinarian
who specializes in keeping beef cattle tion, when she was picked as one of 18
veterinary students to receive a $5,000
and dairy cows healthy.
scholarship from Merck Animal Health.
Colton, who grew up on her fam-
The company awards the scholar-
ily’s FC Colton Ranch near Wolf
ships to students who are interested
Creek, northwest of North Powder,
said she just fi ve when she decided on in beef or dairy veterinary medicine.
Recipients were honored during
what would be her ideal career.
the American Association of Bovine
“As long as I can remember I had
TODAY
Issue 68, 14 pages
Calendar ....................A2
Classified ............. B2-B4
Comics ....................... B5
Community News ....A3
Crossword ........B2 & B4
Dear Abby ................. B6
Alexandra Colton/Contributed Photo
Alexandra Colton, a Powder Valley
High School graduate, is in her
fi nal year of veterinary school at
Oregon State University.
Practitioners (AABP) annual confer-
ence Oct. 7-9 in Salt Lake City.
Horoscopes ......B3 & B4
Jayson Jacoby ..........A4
News of Record ........A2
The Baker County Commis-
sioners voted unanimously on
Thursday, Oct. 14 to give notice
that they intend to award a
new contract to the Baker
County Chamber of Commerce
to operate a visitor center in
Baker City.
The Chamber, operating
under the Baker County
Unlimited corporation, had
the previous contract as well.
It operates a visitor center
at 490 Campbell St., near
Interstate 84.
Commissioners had been
scheduled to meet Thursday
morning to consider two
competing proposals, from the
Chamber of Commerce and
Anthony Lakes Outdoor Recre-
ation Association.
But early Wednesday
afternoon, Peter Johnson, An-
thony Lakes general manager,
emailed a letter to commis-
sioners announcing that the
organization was withdrawing
its proposal.
Johnson’s letter reads, in
part:
“We have been persistent
in seeing this process through
with the goal of enhancing Bak-
er County Visitor Services to
better serve our small commu-
nities. Unfortunately, actions
and statements over the past
few months and specifi cally this
past week by Baker County
and its affi liates has moved us
to withdraw our proposal for
Visitor Services. It has become
evident that any contractual or
other agreement or relationship
with Baker County can only be
considered a liability to ALORA
and its enterprises.”
In a phone interview with
the Herald on Wednesday
afternoon, Johnson declined
to elaborate on the references
in the letter to “actions and
statements.”
See, County/Page A3
Council adds
to COVID
emergency
resolution
By SAMANTHA O’CONNER
soconner@bakercityherald.com
The Baker City Council on
Tuesday, Oct. 12 approved a
resolution that expands the
scope of the resolution coun-
cilors adopted in March 2020
proclaiming a local “public
health, mental health and
economic emergency” in the
city due to the pandemic.
The revised resolution adds
another type of emergency —
“access to health care provider.”
That addition is related
to Oregon Gov. Kate Brown’s
mandate that health care
workers including emergency
responders, school employees
and volunteers, and many
state workers be vaccinated or
have an approved medical or
religious exception if they’re to
continue working.
The deadline for some
workers, including health care
and school workers, is Oct. 18.
See, Award/Page A3
Obituaries ..................A2
Opinion ......................A4
Outdoors ..........B1 & B2
TUESDAY — MAKING THE CREEPY SUMPTER DREDGE EVEN SPOOKIER
See, COVID/Page A3
Sports .............. A7 & A8
Turning Backs ...........A2
Weather ..................... B6