SATURDAY
BAKER GIRLS BASKETBALL TEAM HAS A NEW COACH: SPORTS, PAGE A8
In OUTDOORS, B1
Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
November 13, 2021
IN THIS EDITION:
Local
•
Outdoors • Sports
•
TV
$1.50
QUICK HITS
Good Day Wish
To A Subscriber
A special good day to
Herald subscriber Marge
Murphey of Baker City.
BRIEFING
FULL
THROTTLE
Baker County
Seniors to meet
Tuesday, Nov. 16
Baker County Seniors
Inc. will have its annual
meeting Tuesday, Nov.
16 from 2:30 p.m. to 3:30
p.m. at the Senior Center,
2810 Cedar St. Everyone is
invited. More information
is available by calling 541-
523-6591.
Mary Jo Carpenter,
president of Baker County
Seniors Inc., said the or-
ganization was formed in
1977 and has worked with
Community Connection
of Baker County to sustain
programs for seniors
citizens. Baker County
Seniors Inc. owns the Se-
nior Center at 2810 Cedar
St., which is operated by
Community Connection
through an agreement.
Today
See, Veterans /Page A6
See, Mayor/Page A5
VIRTUE FLAT — Cole Hauter twists the
throttle and his motorcycle suddenly races up
a rock-strewn slope that looks like a fi ne place
to fall down.
The rear knobby tire fl ings a stream of dirt
more than 20 feet in his wake, the sort of brown
fountain a grenade explosion might spawn.
In a few seconds Hauter has disappeared,
the only evidence of his presence the banshee-
like rasp of the Yamaha YZ450FX’s 450 cc
single-cylinder engine echoing through the
sagebrush gullies.
His progress through the contorted terrain
at this off-highway vehicle riding area east of
Baker City is so rapid that it confuses the eye.
WEATHER
See, Baja/Page A3
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
56 / 39
Partly sunny
Sunday
56 / 37
Tribute to veterans
Mostly cloudy
By JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Monday
58 / 30
Mostly cloudy
The space below is for
a postage label for issues
that are mailed.
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
Duncan Pierce speaks during the Veterans Day
ceremony Thursday morning, Nov. 11 outside the
Baker County Courthouse in Baker City.
By SAMANTHA O’CONNER and
JAYSON JACOBY
Baker City Herald
As a chilly drizzle dripped from the fl ags and the
war memorial outside the Baker County Courthouse,
Duncan Pierce talked about another November morn-
ing, this one 103 years in the past.
It was the day, Pierce said, when “the guns fell silent
and the bells tolled to mark the end of World War I.”
That milestone of Nov. 11, 1918, prompted the
creation of the commemorative day known fi rst as
Armistice Day and now as Veterans Day.
About 60 people gathered in the damp on Thursday
morning for a ceremony that started at the traditional
hour of 11 a.m.
By JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Bisnett Insurance is
hosting a pet supply drive
to benefi t Best Friends
of Baker through Dec. 17.
Donations of kitten and
cat food (wet or dry), dog
food, and cat litter can be
brought to Bisnett at 2001
Main St. (corner of Main
Street and Washington
Avenue).
Resident:
Mayor
shouldn’t
vote on
vacancy
A Baker City resident has asked
the City Council to publicly discuss
whether Mayor Kerry McQuisten
should recuse
herself from voting
on motions to fi ll
the one vacancy on
the City Council
because one of the
candidates contrib-
uted fi nancially to
McQuisten
McQuisten’s guber-
natorial campaign.
Susan Bland addressed council-
ors during their meeting Tuesday,
Nov. 9, noting that twice the Council,
with six members since Lynette
Perry resigned in August due to
health reasons, has deadlocked on
3-3 votes.
There are two candidates for the
position — Thomas Hughes, and
former councilor Randy Daugherty.
Although Bland didn’t mention
Hughes by name, he, unlike Daugh-
erty, has contributed to McQuisten’s
campaign, according to Oregon
campaign fi nance reports.
“There was one piece of informa-
tion that was not discussed openly,”
Bland said. “One of these candidates
has donated to the mayor’s campaign
for governor, the candidate she voted
for twice, resulting in deadlock twice.”
McQuisten voted for Hughes dur-
ing the Council’s Sept. 14 meeting.
The vote deadlocked when Hughes
and Randy Daugherty each received
three votes.
During the Council’s Sept. 28
meeting, Councilor Shane Alderson’s
motion to appoint Daugherty also
failed by a 3-3 vote.
McQuisten voted against the mo-
tion to appoint Daugherty.
Bland told councilors she was not
suggesting that anyone had “done
anything illegal.” But she contends
that having a council candidate who
has donated to the mayor’s campaign
looks like “pay to play.”
Bland’s husband, Jason Bland, a
member of the city’s budget commit-
tee, last month accused McQuisten of
defaming him.
Jason Bland, who has multiple
sclerosis and sometimes slurs his
words, cited McQuisten telling City
Manager Jon Cannon that she had
voice mails from Bland, and that
she suspected he might have been
intoxicated when he left them due to
the slurred speech.
COLE HAUTER
OF BAKER CITY
TO COMPETE IN
BAJA 1000 RACE,
FULFILLING HIS
LIFELONG DREAM
Pet food collection
drive underway
Fall grass is
green gold
for deer
Commissioners discuss Greater Idaho concept Blood donors
tion, Baker County voters,
in Oregon his entire life
By SAMANTHA O’CONNER looking into the process of
meet the
except his service during the with about 56.5% in favor,
soconner@bakercityherald.com how it would work with
approved a measure that
Baker County Commis- their particular counties if Vietnam War.
challenge
requires commissioners to
“This movement is a
sioners on Wednesday, Nov. they were to become part of
10 had their second discus-
sion of the year regarding
the effort to add most of
Eastern Oregon, including
Baker County, to Idaho.
Commissioners met with
Mike McCarter, president of
Move Oregon’s Border and
leader of the Greater Idaho
movement.
McCarter told commis-
sioners that the proposal is
not about counties seceding
from Oregon but “to start
TODAY
Issue 79, 14 pages
the state of Idaho.”
“Our concern has been
that most of Oregon’s
leadership and it seems the
legislature is dealing with
issues out of Northwest
Oregon and the urban side
of our state and the lack
of input from our state
representatives and state
senators or the fact that
they’re just not listening to
us,” McCarter, 74, said.
He said he has lived
Calendar ....................A3
Classified ............. B2-B4
Comics ....................... B5
movement to try to main-
tain our traditional values
of faith, family, freedom,
independence, and self-
suffi ciency,” McCarter told
commissioners. “And not be
over governed or lorded over
by the government.”
He described Move
Oregon’s Border as a
grassroots movement of
rural Oregonians, with no
corporate support.
In the May 2021 elec-
Community News ....A3
Crossword ........B3 & B4
Dear Abby ................. B6
meet at least three times per
year to discuss the Greater
Idaho proposal. Commis-
sioners had their fi rst such
discussion on July 14.
The measure doesn’t
require the commissioners
to take any action.
McCarter noted that last
week Harney County voters
passed a similar measure,
with 63% support.
By SAMANTHA O’CONNER
soconner@bakercityherald.com
The American Red Cross chal-
lenged Baker County residents, and
they responded.
A two-day blood drive at
the Church of the Nazarene on
Monday, Nov. 8 and Tuesday, Nov.
9 brought in about 130 units of
blood (a unit is about one pint),
said Myrna Evans, the local blood
drive coordinator.
See, Border/Page A6
Horoscope ........B3 & B4
Jayson Jacoby ..........A4
News of Record ........A2
Obituaries ..................A2
Opinion ......................A4
Outdoors ..........B1 & B6
See, Blood/Page A6
Sports ........................A8
Turning Backs ...........A2
Weather ..................... B6
TUESDAY — BAKER MAN TALKS ABOUT ‘MIRACLE’ RECOVERY FROM COVID