TUESDAY
UTAH ENDS DUCKS’ BID FOR COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF BERTH: PAGE A5
In SPORTS, A7
Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
November 23, 2021
Local • Home & Living • Sports
IN THIS EDITION:
$1.50
QUICK HITS
Good Day Wish
To A Subscriber
A special good day to
Herald subscriber Jerry
Dowdy of Baker City.
Health and home
BRIEFING
Everyone is invited to
have a free Thanksgiving
dinner on Thursday, Nov.
25 from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. at
the Calvary Baptist Church,
Third and Broadway
streets.
CASA of Eastern
Oregon is again inviting
local youth to decorate a
gingerbread house and
enter it to win prizes. To
participate, decorate a
gingerbread house (home-
made or store-bought)
and submit it to 1780 Main
St. (former location of
The Little Bagel Shop) on
Friday, Dec. 3, between 10
a.m. and 3 p.m.
The base needs to be
12 inches by 15 inches
or smaller. The house
and decorations must be
edible. Please include the
child’s name and age on
the base. Winners will be
displayed after 4 p.m. on
Dec. 3.
Entries can be picked
up on Dec. 10 between 10
a.m. and 3 p.m. Any not
claimed will be thrown
away. Each entry will
receive a prize, and special
prizes will be awarded in
these age groups: 2-4; 5-7;
8-10; 12-15; and 15-18.
For information, or to
get an entry form, call Sue
Richard at 541-519-7227.
WEATHER
Today
43 / 20
Rain or snow
Wednesday
41 / 25
Mostly cloudy
The space below is for
a postage label for issues
that are mailed.
County
gives 245
vaccine
doses
By JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Free Thanksgiving
dinner planned
CASA gingerbread
house contest
returns this year
Badgers
on to the
state final
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
At Sunn Juice + Decor, owner Kristen Anderson has stocked products — linens, towels, soaps and more
— that are eco-friendly, fair trade, and created by small businesses.
 Kristen
Anderson’s new
business combines a
juice bar with home
decor and more
and taught culinary arts at
Baker Technical Institute for
the past four years.
Opening a place like
Sunn, she said, has been an
idea for a while.
“It’s always been a dream
of mine,” she said.
By LISA BRITTON
Her interest in opening
lbritton@bakercityherald.com
a juice bar comes from the
Kristen Anderson is
combining some of her most year she lived in Miami.
“There were juice bars on
favorite things at her new
Baker City shop, Sunn Juice every corner,” Anderson said.
Her store is divided into
+ Decor.
two distinct sections.
(Sunn is a Norwegian
On the south side is a
word meaning “healthy,
wholesome and sound.” It is long counter and menu
for various juices, smooth-
pronounced “soon.”)
ies, bowls and shots (as
She began work on her
in, wheatgrass shots and
store in June 2021, and
ginger/turmeric shots).
opened Oct. 20. The busi-
She said her offerings
ness is at 1917 Main St. in
are chosen for traits such
downtown Baker City.
as high antioxidants, super
Anderson brings a
foods, and anti-infl ammato-
culinary background to
ry properties.
her newest endeavor. She
attended culinary school,
has catered for 15 years,
See, Sunn/Page A3
See, Vaccine/Page A3
Driver cited
for going
142 mph
on freeway
Baker City Herald
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
Kristen Anderson opened Sunn Juice + Decor in
October. Her shop is a combination of offerings
— one half is where she prepares food items such
as smoothies and juice shots, and the other side
features products for “bath, body, bed and home.”
Sunn is located at 1917 Main St. in Baker City.
Police struggle to fi ll openings
plicant and ask the person
Duby, who worked for
25 years for Oregon State to apply for the job.
The Baker City Police
Police before joining the
Add law enforcement
Department is not
offi cers to the growing list Baker City Police
alone in the strug-
in 2019, recalls a
of professions feeling the
gle to fi nd qualifi ed
time when posi-
brunt of a labor shortage
applicants.
tions brought in
and facing hiring woes.
“I’ve been with
hundreds of appli-
Police departments in
the City of La
Baker City, Pendleton and cations for a single
Grande for 28
La Grande have had little opening, giving
years, and 20 to
luck fi nding applicants for police departments
Duby
25 years ago we
a wide variety
their open positions re-
would see 150 applications
cently, and the police chiefs of potential applicants
for one opening for a police
to choose from. Those
are fl ummoxed about the
offi cer position — and that
numbers have dwindled
reasons why.
has been trending in what
over the past year — and
“We’ve had zero appli-
I feel is a negative direc-
cants,” said Ty Duby, Baker Duby personally has had
tion for a long time,” said
to actively pursue an ap-
City Police chief.
By ALEX WITTWER
EO Media Group
La Grande Police Chief
Gary Bell.
Bell’s department is
having only slightly better
luck hiring, with nearly 15
qualifi ed applicants vying
for two positions open at
the La Grande Police De-
partment, but those appli-
cation numbers are still a
far cry from their previous
numbers. To make matters
more diffi cult, the number
of law enforcement offi cers
retiring or resigning has
increased, Bell said.
See, Police/Page A3
School superintendent search begins
agency after retiring — is
possible for members of the
Oregon Public Employees
The Baker School Board
Retirement System
hopes to hire a new
(PERS). They can begin
superintendent in
to receive their pension
March 2022.
benefi ts while still receiv-
The board dis-
ing a salary from a public
cussed a timeline
employer.
for its superin-
In announcing his
tendent search
decision
in June 2021,
during its meeting
Witty
Witty said he was willing
Thursday evening,
to work up to two more years
Nov. 18.
as superintendent.
Mark Witty, who has been
Under the schedule the
superintendent since July
board approved Thursday,
1, 2015, retired through the
the school district will
Oregon Public Employees
solicit comments from the
Retirement system on July
public, through an online
1 of this year but agreed to
survey running through Nov.
continue working.
30, about what residents
This arrangement — con-
consider the most important
tinuing to work for a public
By JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
TODAY
Issue 83, 16 pages
Calendar ....................A2
Classified ............. B2-B5
Comics ..............B6 & B7
The Baker County Health
Department administered
245 doses of COVID-19
vaccine during a drive-thru
clinic Friday, Nov. 19, the
highest one-day total in the
county in more than seven
months.
The clinic ran from 9 a.m.
to 3 p.m. on East Street near
the Baker County Event
Center.
The most recent day
when more COVID-19 vac-
cine doses were given in the
county was April 9, the last of
several large-scale clinics at
Baker High School. On that
day, 631 doses were given
overall in Baker County, most
of those at the BHS clinic.
qualifi cations for the new
superintendent.
The survey is available at
https://www.surveymonkey.
com/r/BakerSD2021.
The district plans to start
advertising the job Dec. 14,
with a closing date of Jan. 28,
2022.
The schedule also includes:
• Feb. 9-10, 2022 — inter-
views with candidates.
The interview teams
would include school board
and budget committee mem-
bers, representatives from the
district’s administrative, cer-
tifi ed (teaching) and classifi ed
(nonteaching) staff, as well as
student leadership.
Community News ....A3
Crossword ........... B2-B5
Dear Abby ................. B8
See, Chief /Page A3
Home ................B1 & B2
Horoscope ........... B2-B5
Letters ........................A4
A Boise man was arrested
and charged with reckless
driving on Interstate 84 near
Baker City Thursday evening,
Nov. 18, after an Oregon State
Police trooper’s radar clocked
the man’s car at 142 mph.
Justin Martin Brunner, 24,
was cited and released, accord-
ing to an OSP report.
Trooper Justus Gray wrote
that he was driving westbound
about 6:41 p.m. on the freeway
near Milepost 312, about eight
miles southeast of Baker City,
when he “observed headlights
rapidly approaching in my
mirrors.”
“My rear radar checked the
vehicle’s speed at 142 mph in
the posted 70 mph zone,” Gray
wrote. “The vehicle then made
an unsignaled lane change and
passed me on the right without
slowing down.”
Gray stopped the vehicle,
a 2013 Toyota (Scion) FR-S
coupe. Gray cited Brunner for
speeding and failing to carry
proof of insurance as well as
reckless driving.
Herald to publish expanded issue Nov.
23; e-edition only on Thanksgiving
In observance of the
Thanksgiving holiday, the
Baker City Herald will not
publish a print edition on
Thursday, Nov. 25.
Because the Herald is
delivered by mail, an issue
published on Thanksgiv-
ing couldn’t be distributed
that day.
“It’s a chance to give our
employees an opportunity
to spend an uninterrupted
holiday with their fami-
lies,” said Andrew Cutler,
regional editor for the EO
Media Group, which owns
the Herald.
An e-edition only
paper will be published on
Thanksgiving and will be
available to paid subscrib-
ers through the Herald’s
website, www.bakercity-
herald.com.
To make sure you are
subscribed to the e-edition,
follow these steps:
• Go to www.bakercity-
herald.com/users/forgot,
enter your email address
and click I’m not a robot,
then Reset Password.
• An email will be sent to
you with a link — click on
the link.
• A website will pop
up to enter your new
password.
• You’re all set.
For questions or prob-
lems, call our customer
service line at 800-781-
3214.
Lottery Results ..........A2
News of Record ........A2
Obituaries ..................A2
Opinion ......................A4
Sports .................. A5-A7
Weather ..................... B8
INSIDE TODAY — GO! MAGAZINE ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE