ROYAL CAFE HISTORY SERIES: PAGE A5
SATURDAY
In OUTDOORS, B1
Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
November 27, 2021
IN THIS EDITION:
Local
•
Outdoors • Sports
•
TV
$1.50
Insurance
issue cancels
gun show
QUICK HITS
Good Day Wish
To A Subscriber
A special good day to
Herald subscriber Russ
Canham of Baker City.
BRIEFING
CASA gingerbread
house contest
returns this year
CASA of Eastern Oregon
is again inviting local
youth to decorate a ginger-
bread house and enter it to
win prizes. To participate,
decorate a gingerbread
house (homemade 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.
At Keating,
KIDS ARE
THE COOKS
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
WEATHER
Today
48 / 33
Partly sunny
Sunday
51 / 30
Partly sunny
Monday
47 / 29
Rain showers
Full forecast on the
back of the B section.
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
The space below is for
a postage label for issues
that are mailed.
By SAMANTHA O’CONNER
soconner@bakercityherald.com
Students at Keating Elementary School helped prepare a Thanksgiving meal on Monday, Nov. 22.
 Students at the K-6 school
prepared their Thanksgiving feast
Paisley Churchfi eld, left, waits patiently as Asher Blair adds
gravy to her plate. All students at Keating Elementary helped
make the meal, and the sixth graders served it to their
schoolmates.
By LISA BRITTON
lbritton@bakercityherald.com
KEATING — Making fresh
butter takes some work.
Just ask Clara Jonas.
“We had to shake it really
long,” she says.
Clara barely fi nishes her sen-
tence before Ava Mason chimes
in.
“A long, long, long time,” she
says.
Clara takes up the story again.
“I kept switching hands — I
got so tired.”
Clara and Ava are fi rst graders
at Keating Elementary School, in
the Keating Valley about 15 miles
northeast of Baker City.
On Monday, Nov. 22, they
and their schoolmates made a
Thanksgiving feast from scratch.
Keating School, with students
from preschool to grade 6, has an
enrollment of 25 this year.
Not too long ago, this week
of Thanksgiving would see the
school full of children and adults
for the annual holiday meal
prepared by the PTO for the
students and local residents.
But COVID restrictions af-
fected the community event in
2020, and this year as well.
See, Keating/Page A3
Turkey Trot draws a crowd
By SAMANTHA O’CONNER
soconner@bakercityherald.com
Seasonably chilly
temperatures just above
freezing didn’t dissuade
more than 300 people from
gathering in downtown
Baker City on Thanksgiving
morning to raise money and
food to help local residents.
And run or walk 3.1
miles before they sat down
to their own holiday feasts.
The 14th-annual Turkey
Trot raised more than
$5,000 and 1,600 pounds
of food for the Northeast
Oregon Compassion Center.
“There were at least 300
people that registered,” said
Brian Vegter, who with his
TODAY
Issue 84, 14 pages
wife, Corrine, organizes the
annual fundraiser. “It was
fun to have it back in person
again.”
Last year, due to the pan-
demic, competitors completed
the course on their own
schedule.
On the women’s side, win-
ners were Kirsten Holden,
Hailey Keller and Isabelle
Gee.
Due to a clock problem,
the runners’ times weren’t
available.
In the men’s category,
Justin Ash crossed the
fi nish line fi rst in a time of
17:25. He was followed by
Quentin Jensen and Thad-
deus Pepera.
Calendar ....................A2
Classified ............. B2-B4
Comics ....................... B5
The hunt
begins
The annual Gun and Knife Show
in Baker City, a Thanksgiving week-
end staple for many years, has been
canceled this year — and it wasn’t due
to the pandemic.
Ray Illingsworth, who puts on the
event, said the culprit this year is a
liability insurance issue.
The 2020 show was canceled due to
COVID-19.
“My insurance company that I’ve
used in the past informed me Monday
afternoon last week that they were
going to require all vendors to have per-
sonal liability insurance,” Illingsworth
said.
He said there are no gun shows that
require that, and he doesn’t know of
anybody in the industry that does.
“We scrambled trying to fi nd some-
body else to issue insurance and just
could not get it done in the time that we
needed to have it done by,” Illingsworth
said.
After searching for two days for
other insurance, he said he had to pull
the plug for this year’s show, with sad-
ness.
“The community was looking
forward to it. Not just the local Baker
City, but I’ve been getting calls out of
the Pendleton, Wallowa, John Day, all of
those areas,” he said. “It was going to be
basically well supported by Northeast
Oregon because they haven’t had that
opportunity here in two years. It’s a sad
day for our area.”
Illingsworth said he plans to look
into the insurance issue.
“We’re going to fi ght back and see if
we can’t get back next year,” he said.
Burglary
suspect faces
more charges
By JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
A Baker City man arrested earlier
in November and accused of stealing
items from outside Baker City homes
and from unlocked vehicles has been
indicted on two new charges, includ-
ing felony identify theft.
A Baker County grand jury
indicted Brendon Michael Smith, 27,
for identity theft and second-degree
theft, a Class A misdemeanor, on
Nov. 18.
See, Charges/Page A3
Contractor
charged with
felony theft
By JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Samantha O’Conner/Baker City Herald
Walkers and runners gathered on Main
Street in downtown Baker City on
Thursday morning, Nov. 25 for the annual
Turkey Trot fundraiser for the Northeast
Oregon Compassion Center.
Community News ....A3
Crossword ........B2 & B4
Dear Abby ................. B6
Horoscope ........B3 & B4
Jayson Jacoby ..........A4
News of Record ........A2
A Baker County grand jury has
indicted a Hermiston building contrac-
tor on felony theft charges for failing to
do work for a Baker City couple after
they paid him $150,000 this spring as
the fi rst installment on the construction
of their home.
James A. Cavan, 41, is charged with
aggravated fi rst-degree theft, a Class B
felony.
The grand jury issued the indict-
ment on Nov. 18.
Jeff and Angie Skillicorn hired Ca-
van to build a home and shop on their
property in Baker Valley, Baker County
District Attorney Greg Baxter said.
Opinion ......................A4
Outdoors ..........B1 & B2
Senior Menus ...........A2
See, Theft/Page A3
Sports .............. A6 & A7
Turning Backs ...........A2
Weather ..................... B6
TUESDAY — BAKER’S CHRISTMAS SCHEDULE FEATURES LONG LIST OF EVENTS