THURSDAY
PHILOMATH ENDS BAKER VOLLEYBALL SEASON: SPORTS, PAGE A6
NOVEMBER 3–10, 2021
WWW.GOEASTERNOREGON.COM
Music
returns to
McKenzie
Theatre
PAGE 8
Explore
First Friday
art shows
Read
‘Eminent
Oregonians’
Listen
Tunesmith
Night
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Alex Wittwer/The Observer
Jillian Newman, right, rehearses “All Together Now” with her fellow EOU students.
The show is set for Nov. 12 and 13 at McKenzie Theatre.
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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
www.sideabeer.com
GO! Magazine
Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
November 4, 2021
IN THIS EDITION:
Local • Business & AgLife • Go! magazine
Red Cross
seeks
donors for
blood drive
QUICK HITS
Good Day Wish
To A Subscriber
T H E TO W N S T H AT
A special good day to
Herald subscribers Dan and
Renece Forsea of Richland.
DROWNED
BRIEFING
Benefi t dinner,
auction set for
Anthony Leggett
NORTH POWDER — A
dinner and auction has
been set for Thursday, Nov.
11 to help with medical
expenses for Anthony
Leggett and his family as
he recovers from a severe
case of COVID-19. The
fundraiser is set from 6
p.m. to 8 p.m. at the North
Powder fi re station. Auction
items can be dropped off
at AmeriTitle in Baker City.
Call Wendy at 208-850-3803
or Eris at 541-403-4694 with
questions.
Leggett, who is married
with fi ve children, contract-
ed COVID-19 in August and,
after collapsing at his home
on Aug. 22, was taken to
Saint Alphonsus Hospital in
Boise. He was initially para-
lyzed from the neck down
and was on kidney dialysis.
He will soon be transferred
to an ICU physical therapy
facility in Boise.
By JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
By LISA BRITTON
lbritton@bakercityherald.com
Bob Reinhardt’s master’s thesis is growing
into a full-fl edged endeavor that he says will
take years to complete.
Probably until he retires.
“It’s a long-term project,” he said.
It’s also a project that involves a Baker
County village that disappeared.
Reinhardt’s work started 15 years ago
at the University of Oregon when he began
researching the old town
of Detroit, along the North
Santiam River in the Cascade
foothills east of Salem.
Detroit disappeared be-
neath its namesake reservoir
after a dam was built in the
early 1950s.
Reinhardt
While studying the history
of Detroit, Reinhardt discovered more towns
that had the same fate — including Robinette,
at the eastern edge of Baker County.
“I had advisors who said there are dozens of
these places in the American West,” he said.
Reinhardt learned more about the topic
during a stint as executive director at the Wil-
lamette Heritage Center in Salem.
“It gave me the opportunity to return to the
topic,” he said.
He’s now in his fi fth year at Boise State
Baker County residents have
been generous recently in donating
blood, but Jake Reines said there’s
plenty of room for more.
Reines, a representative for the
American Red Cross, said about
40 appointments are available for
donors for a blood drive on Tuesday,
Nov. 9 in Baker City.
“Tuesday has not fi lled up like I
thought it would,” Reines said.
Next week’s blood drive is a
two-day event — Monday, Nov. 8 and
Tuesday at the Nazarene Church,
1250 Hughes Lane.
Monday’s drive will run from
noon to 6 p.m., and Tuesday’s ap-
pointments are available from 9 a.m.
to 3 p.m.
To schedule an appointment
online, go to redcrossblood.org. Do-
nors can also call Myrna Evans, the
Baker City blood drive coordinator,
at 541-523-5368.
Reines said the Red Cross added
a second day in part because two
October blood drives in Baker City,
one at the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints and one at Baker
High School, had such good turnouts.
The drive at the church yielded
55 pints of blood, and the BHS event
collected about 50 pints, Reines said.
“Overall we are seeing more
donors at Baker City drives,” Reines
said. “That’s why I felt comfortable
adding a second day.”
The Red Cross’ goal is to collect
130 pints during the two-day drive
in Baker City, Reines said.
Donors and others participating
in blood drives are required to wear
face masks, regardless of their vac-
cination status.
Reines said false claims distribut-
ed on social media, that people who
are vaccinated against COVID-19
can’t donate, haven’t seemed to
diminish interest among donors.
Although the Red Cross
previously tested donors’ blood
for COVID-19 antibodies, so their
plasma could potentially be used to
treat COVID-19 patients, those tests
aren’t being done now, Reines said.
Pete Basche/Baker County Library Historic Photo Collection
Robinette School classroom. From
left: Charlene Whitely, Joan Robinette,
Loretta Pollard, Petey Basche, Earl
Robinette, Karen Whitely, Linda
Buchanan, Betty Basche.
University, where he is an associate professor
in the department of history.
He has named his project “The Atlas of
Drowned Towns.”
In 2020, he received a “digital project for
public” discovery grant from the National En-
dowment for the Humanities to help “recover
and interpret the history of these towns that
were displaced or disappeared,” he said.
See, Towns/Page A3
Holiday festival and
bazaar set Nov. 20
at Halfway
HALFWAY — A holiday
festival and bazaar is
planned for Saturday, Nov.
20 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
at the Halfway Lions Club.
There will be food, drinks
and fun for all, with kids
games and activities. For
vendor space information,
call Liz McCullough at 541-
742-7892.
WEATHER
Today
57 / 32
Rain showers
Friday
53 / 37
Rain showers
The space below is for
a postage label for issues
that are mailed.
Pete Basche/Baker County Library Historic Photo Collection
A view of Robinette looking south up the Snake River. The town at the eastern edge of Baker County
was inundated by Brownlee Reservoir in 1958.
Mother of missing teen: ‘It’s devastating’
Michelle said Kaitlyn didn’t show
up for a class later in the day.
She hasn’t seen, talked to or had
Michelle Gately just wants to
any contact with her daughter since.
hear her daughter Kaitlyn’s voice.
“I know nothing,” Michelle said.
Even if Kaitlyn says she won’t
“It’s devastating to not have one
come home.
word. I was out until 9:30 last night,
“I just want to know she’s safe,”
Gately, of Baker City, said Wednes- driving around looking for her.”
Baker City Police posted a notice
day morning, Nov. 3, fi ve days after
she last saw her 17-year-old daugh- on the department’s Facebook page
Monday, Nov. 1 asking for informa-
ter, Kaitlyn Rose Gately.
tion about Kaitlyn, describing her as
That was at Baker High School
“missing and endangered.”
on Oct. 28.
Kaitlyn was wearing blue
Michelle said she was at the high
clothing with the Disney character
school to talk with her daughter
about an appointment. Michelle said “Stitch” and was carrying a black
that while she was waiting near the backpack. She is 5-foot-4 inches tall
offi ce, her daughter walked by, talking and weighs about 135 pounds. She
on a cellphone that was not her own. has brown hair with purple tinting
and wears black-framed glasses.
Michelle said she asked her
daughter for the phone, but Kaitlyn
refused to give it to her.
See, Mother/Page A3
By JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Michelle Gately/Contributed Photo
Kaitlyn Gately
TODAY
Issue 76, 32 pages
$1.50
Your weekly guide
to arts and
entertainment
events around
Northeast Oregon
Business ...........B1 & B2
Calendar ....................A2
Classified ............. B2-B4
Comics ....................... B4
Community News ....A3
Crossword ........B2 & B4
Dear Abby ................. B6
Horoscope ........B2 & B4
Letters ........................A4
Motorcycle
riders seek
to help local
residents
 Patriot Hope Riders a
new nonprofi t group
By JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Whether it’s an elderly resi-
dent who needs someone to chop
fi rewood, or a military veteran with
questions about benefi ts, the Patriot
Hope Riders are ready to help.
The newly created organization
of Baker County residents seeks
to “fi ll in the gaps” when it comes
to helping residents, said Joelene
Griffi n of Baker City, one of the
founders.
The nonprofi t’s name refl ects
its members beliefs and interests,
Griffi n said.
“Our motto is basically faith,
family and country,” she said.
“We’re all very patriotic, and most
of us are veterans.”
Lottery Results ..........A2
News of Record ........A3
Obituaries ..................A2
SATURDAY — TAMARACKS BRIGHTEN THE FORESTS OF AUTUMN
See, Riders /Page A3
Opinion ......................A4
Sports ........................A6
Weather ..................... B6