THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2021
HOMELESS
“The way I look at it, you have the right to sleep (on public
property), but that doesn’t mean you can collect all this stuff and
have it strewn about on public property and sidewalks. It’s not
fair to the neighbors, and it’s not fair to the city.”
Continued from A1
The notice, placed on a barricade,
states that “personal property must
be removed from this location prior
to 11-22-2021. The City of Baker
City may remove all personal prop-
erty remaining within 1,500 feet of
this Notice between 11-22-2021 and
11-23-2021.”
The notice also lists the police
department’s phone number, stating
that people can call the department,
within 30 days, to retrieve any items
removed.
On Wednesday afternoon, some
of the items had been moved from
where they were the previous day,
although remaining on either the
sidewalk or the street. The shopping
carts had been moved 100 feet or so
the north, and were parked on the
street beside the curb near the inter-
section of Fifth and Madison streets.
The sidewalk was mainly clear. A
mattress was propped against the
security fence that Holman installed
between the sidewalk and his
property.
Duby said that if he talks with
Moudy-Koos again, he will offer her
a tent and sleeping bag.
“We’re being accommodating if
she chooses to be homeless,” Duby
said.
But he said he doesn’t believe
that the shopping carts crammed
with items “have anything to do with
staying dry and warm.”
— Ty Duby, Baker City Police chief
Bay City Council, on the southern
Oregon Coast, adopted in August.
The Baker City Council has
discussed the situation and the
city’s potential options, Mayor Kerry
McQuisten said.
“Failed legislation from Salem
has put several laws on the books
regarding homelessness and drug
use that are actually creating this
problem for our city and every city
across the state,” McQuisten wrote
in a message to the Herald.
The Coos Bay ordinance allows
camping on some public property,
but only between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m.
The ordinance bans camping in city
parks and on public property in
high-density, medium-density and
small-lot residential areas.
The Coos Bay World newspaper
reported in August that Coos Bay
Police Chief Chris Chapanar told
city councilors that the ordinance
was a balance between the court
ruling that allows the homeless to
camp and the city’s right to manage
the time, manner and place that
camping is allowed.
“One of the biggest facts to
consider is without an ordinance,
municipalities will have no way to
lawfully regulate such activities,”
Chapanar said.
The Coos Bay ordinance, which
took effect in September, allows
Another city’s response
people to use tents, tarps, sleeping
Duby said he doesn’t know
bags and other temporary shelters
specifically when he’ll propose an
from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. The ordinance
ordinance to the City Council.
also allows people to sleep in cars
But he said it will likely be mod- parked on most public property dur-
eled after an ordinance that the Coos ing those hours.
PHARMACIES
Continued from A1
The agency’s other pro-
gram more directly addresses
the staffing shortages that
have plagued pharmacies,
as the state will pay tempo-
rary pharmacists to bolster
workforces.
However, Owens said the
temporary staffing program is
available only to independent
pharmacies. Corporate-owned
pharmacies, including the
three in Baker City — at the
Safeway, Albertsons and Rite
Aid stores — are not eligible
for the program, Owens said.
The larger chain pharma-
cies are eligible for the vaccine
payments, however.
Owens said OHA doesn’t
have data yet on how many
pharmacies have applied for
the supplemental payments.
He said the pharmacy
staffing shortages have been
exacerbated by the closure of
more than 35 Bi-Mart phar-
macies, including the one in
Baker City, earlier this month.
(The Bi-Mart stores them-
selves remain open.)
The bigger culprit in the
pharmacy crisis is the limited
reimbursements that phar-
macies receive from what are
known as pharmacy benefit
managers (PBMs), said Brian
Mayo, executive director of
the Oregon State Pharmacy
Association.
If those reimbursements
were “fair,” pharmacies would
be able to hire more employees
and lines would be shorter,
Mayo said.
Baker City customers have
recently had to wait two or
three hours, in some cases, to
pick up their prescriptions.
Those delays are not ac-
ceptable, Mayo said.
“Many community phar-
macies across Oregon are 5 to
14 days behind filling prescrip-
tions because they can’t keep
up with the demand,” he said.
“When somebody needs a
medication they can’t wait two
weeks. Patient safety is a huge
issue at this point.”
Mayo said the Oregon
State Pharmacy Association
has been warning for years
that low reimbursements to
pharmacies by PBMs are a
problem.
“The harms we have
warned of have now come
true,” he said.
The Pharmacy Associa-
tion is urging elected officials
to take immediate action on
reforming the PBM system.
The organization also is
asking Oregon to exempt
prescription drugs from the
state’s Corporate Activities
Tax, which the Legislature ap-
proved in 2019 and which took
effect Jan. 1, 2020.
The Pharmacy Association
has some high-level backing
in its effort to reform the PBM
system.
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden,
D-Ore., recently sent a letter
to Chiquita Brooks-LaSure,
administrator of the Centers
for Medicare and Medicaid
Services, a federal agency,
citing both PBM reimburse-
ments and the fees charged by
PBMs and by Medicare Part D
prescription plans as contrib-
uting to pharmacy closures.
“I am deeply concerned
that the rise of these fees has
contributed to the permanent
closure of 2,200 pharmacies
nationwide between Decem-
ber 2017 and December 2020,”
Wyden wrote in his letter to
Brooks-LaSure.
Wyden is calling on the
Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services to review
pharmacy closures in the
U.S. over the past five years,
including the nature and effect
of PBM payment practices,
and to use the agency’s au-
thority to regulate their fees.
Mayo said the current situ-
But the ordinance prohibits
people from storing camping equip-
ment, including tents, tarps and
sleeping bags, on public property
from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The Coos Bay World reported
that Coos Bay City Manager Rodger
Craddock, responding to residents
upset that the city was allowing
homeless to camp on public property,
said: “It’s not that we’re allowing it.
It’s already allowed under state law.
We don’t have a choice. This gives us
a tool to regulate it.”
A growing problem
Duby said the city’s homeless
population seems to have increased
over the past few years, based on
his own observations and from what
he’s heard from other police officers
and from the public.
This summer the police depart-
ment received multiple complaints
from residents about people camping
beneath the bridges along the Leo
Adler Memorial Parkway, Duby said.
City workers installed barriers
to prevent people from setting up
camps beneath some bridges, he
said.
Duby said a couple tents have
also been pitched near the Powder
River south of Wade Williams Park.
Holman, who is renovating the
former Baker House, said that
when he talked with Moudy-Koos,
telling her that her possessions were
on private property, she was “very
emotional.”
“It’s a traumatic thing for her,
and it’s unfortunate,” Holman said.
ation, with lines of customers
snaking through some stores,
is frustrating for pharmacy
employees.
“The pharmacists, techni-
cians and interns are working
as fast as they can,” Mayo
said. “In many cases, they
are being forced to continue
working without required
breaks and voluntarily work-
ing longer unrecorded hours
so they can provide care to
their customers. They want to
help the patients. That’s why
they chose this profession, but
it feels like things are getting
out of control.
“We must improve working
conditions in pharmacies for
the sake of patient safety and
pharmacy staff member well-
being,” Mayo said.
He said Oregon Gov.
Kate Brown’s mandate that
health care workers, including
pharmacists and pharmacy
technicians, be vaccinated or
receive a medical or religious
exception, has had a “minimal”
effect on the current staffing
shortages.
He said most pharmacy
employees are vaccinated.
According to the OHA, as
of Nov. 1, 88% of Oregon phar-
macists were vaccinated, and
83% of pharmacy technicians.
The OHA report does not
break down the vaccination
rate by county, nor does it list
how many pharmacy employ-
ees have received exceptions.
The vaccination rate for all
licensed health care workers
in Baker County — including
doctors, dentists, nurses and
others — was 72% as of Nov.
1. That’s the 11th-lowest rate
among Oregon’s 36 counties.
Statewide, 83% of health care
workers are vaccinated.
“I hope she can find shelter.”
However, he said he was “pretty
perturbed” earlier this month when
he saw that someone had put items
in the dumpster he pays for on his
property.
Not long after, when the items
were moved to the sidewalk, includ-
ing tarps placed over the top of the
security fencing he installed next to
the sidewalk, Holman said he decid-
ed to send an email to city councilors,
City Manager Jon Cannon, Baker
County commissioners and Duby.
Holman wrote in his email that
he has removed more than 150,000
pounds of cement board, wood,
tile and other materials from the
building.
“My question to all of you is what
can the County/City/State social ser-
vice agencies do to get this woman
as well as the other homeless I am
seeing off the streets of Baker City
to preserve their lives and also send
the appropriate response that we are
not going to allow Baker County to
become a mini-Portland,” Holman
wrote. “I moved from Portland just a
year ago and the crime and lawless
camping all over the city has caused
livability in the city to plummet.”
In a phone interview Tuesday
morning, Nov. 16, Holman said he
was talked with Duby about the
situation and has responses from
other local officials.
“I was encouraged by all of that,”
Holman said.
He said he’s more concerned
about dealing with the homeless
situation citywide than about the
conditions near his building on Fifth
Street.
“There really needs to be a lot of
thought and attention to this issue
so it doesn’t get out of control,” Hol-
man said.
Local Briefing
Baker City has openings on several
boards, commissions
Baker City is seeking volunteers to
fill vacancies on the following boards and
commissions:
• Public Arts
• Public Works Advisory
• Tree Board
• Planning Commission
To apply, go to www.bakercity.com/
FormCenter/Boards-Commissions-2/
Volunteer-Form-33, complete the form and
click on “submit.”
The city is also eligible for a free web-
site redesign, and it has set up an online
survey to get comments from residents
about the website. To complete the survey,
go to www.surveymonkey.com/r/6KQ7PBB.
Baker City Council seeks volunteers
for council vacancy
The Baker City Council is looking for
volunteers to fill one vacancy on the seven-
member Council.
The Council has been down to six
members since Lynette Perry resigned in
August due to health issues. The person
appointed to replace Perry will serve the
remainder of her term, which ends Dec. 31,
2022. The person would also be eligible to
run for election in November 2022.
To qualify to serve as a councilor, you
must be at least 18 years old, have lived
within the city limits for at least one year,
and be a registered voter.
Volunteers should submit a letter of
interest, fill out the form at https://www.
bakercity.com/documentcenter/view/1948,
and include a list of references. The docu-
ments should be emailed to cityrecorder@
bakercity.gov, mailed to Baker City, P.O.
Box 650, Baker City, OR 97814, or dropped
off at the city manager’s office, Room 207
in City Hall, 1655 First St.
More information is available by calling
the city recorder at 541-524-2033.
HARRELL
Continued from A1
Harrell said he was
“very surprised” to learn of
the honor.
“It’s very humbling,” he
said.
Harrell said he consid-
ers the honor a recognition
of all the work that his
parents and other family
members, along with their
employees, have done over
the decades.
“It’s more of a ranch
award, the way I look at
it, rather than an individ-
ual award,” Harrell said.
“There was a lot of people
who worked awful hard
over the years.”
“We congratulate these
four men for the impact
they have made on the
Hereford breed,” Jack
Ward, AHA chief executive
officer, said in a press re-
lease. “Their dedication to
the breed is inspiring, and
I am honored to induct
them into the Hereford
Hall of Fame.”
Harrell’s ancestors
traveled the Oregon Trail
in a covered wagon in
1870.
His parents, Edna and
Bob Harrell, started the
Harrell Hereford Ranch
along Salmon Creek,
northwest of Baker City, in
1970. The family’s 80-acre
home ranch has expanded
to include several ranches
and a herd of 400 regis-
tered Hereford cows, 400
black baldy commercial
cows, a 1,000-head feed-
lot and 25 quarter horse
broodmares.
American Hereford Association/Contributed Photo
Bob Harrell of Baker City, center, was inducted into
the Hereford Hall of Fame on Oct. 23 at the 2021
AHA annual meeting and conference in Kansas City,
Missouri. At left is AHA DIrector Whitey Hunt, and at
right Mark St. Pierre, 2021 AHA president.
The Harrells’ cattle run
on 8,000 acres of native
range.
Edna Harrell continues
to help at the ranch along
with Bob, his wife, Becky,
and their daughter, Lexie.
Bob Harrell Jr. graduat-
ed from Baker High School
in 1979, attended Oregon
State University for two
years then transferred to
Kansas State University
where he competed on the
livestock judging team and
earned a bachelor’s degree
in animal science.
Harrell served on the
board of directors for the
American Hereford Asso-
ciation from 2006 to 2010.
He also served as chair-
man of the organization’s
marketing committee.
In 2009 the Harrell
Hereford Ranch was
honored as the Beef
Improvement Federation’s
Seedstock Producer of the
Year.
The Harrells’ annual
production sale, the first
Monday in March, brings
ranchers from across the
country to bid on reg-
istered Hereford bulls,
heifers and two-year-old
quarter horses.
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