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DUCKS ROLL PAST BEAVERS, ADVANCE TO PAC-12 TITLE GAME: SPORTS, A5
In SPORTS, A6
Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
November 30, 2021
Local • Home & Living • Sports
IN THIS EDITION:
$1.50
QUICK HITS
Bear attack
injures man
in Sumpter
Good Day Wish
To A Subscriber
A special good day to
Herald subscriber Alice
Surber of Baker City.
By JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
BRIEFING
BHS soccer,
football players
named to all-
league teams
Baker football and soc-
cer players were named
to all-star teams for the
Greater Oregon League.
GIRLS SOCCER
• First team
Anna Belding
• Second team
Skye Smith, Brooklyn
Jaca
BOYS SOCCER
• First team
Silas Carter
• Second team
Diego Quintela, Aldo
Duran, Wyatt Hawkins,
Zack Morrison
FOOTBALL
• First team offense
Alex Ritter (lineman)
Gauge Bloomer (running
back), Malaki Myer (return
specialist)
• First team defense
Alex Ritter (lineman),
Gauge Bloomer (line-
backer), Jaxon Logsdon
(defensive back)
• Second team offense
Jaden Martin (line-
man), Malaki Myer (wide
receiver), Hudson Spike
(wide receiver and kicker)
• Second team defense
Malaki Myer (defensive
back), Tate Powell (line-
backer)
WEATHER
Today
48 / 35
Mostly sunny
A different
sort of inn
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
Owner Mackenzie Warner, left, with her brother-in-law, Adam Crowell, who manages the Blue Door Inn
bed and breakfast in Baker City.
 Baker City native Mackenzie
Warner and her husband reopen the
Blue Door Inn bed and breakfast
we just did an update.”
“To make it feel more
When Mackenzie War- modern,” said Adam Crow-
ell, Mackenzie’s brother-
ner’s wedding guests had
in-law, who lives in Baker
trouble fi nding a place to
stay in Baker City in 2020, City and manages the
property.
it got her thinking about
The house, at 2324 First
hotels, motels, and other
St., was already set up as a
places to stay.
“I think there’s a need,” bed and breakfast.
“It’s a perfect inn,”
she said of local lodging
Mackenzie said.
options.
The Blue Door Inn of-
Then, months later,
fi cially reopened to guests
Warner got a text — sev-
on Sept. 20, 2021.
eral texts, in fact — from
“We’re trying to make
her mom, Cammy Warner
it an awesome place for
of Baker City, saying that
the Blue Door Inn was for people to stay in Baker,”
Mackenzie said. “And we
sale.
just love this house.”
Mackenzie and her
It was built in 1920, and
husband, Saam Arzang,
expanded in 1930. She has
bought the historic house
the original blueprints, and
in July 2021.
“We spent August fi xing plans to have those framed
and on display.
it up,” she said. “Every-
Although Mackenzie
thing was in great shape —
COVID
cases drop
slightly
Blue Door Inn/Contributed Photo
The Elkhorn Suite is one of three suites at the Blue
Door Inn bed and breakfast in Baker City.
and Saam live in San
door and their room.
Francisco, they come north
But, he emphasizes, he’s
often — she estimates
only a call away if guests
they’ve spent six months of have a question.
the past year in Baker City.
Also, instead of gath-
ering with others in the
dining room for a morning
A diff erent sort of inn
meal, coffee is provided in
The Blue Door Inn
each suite and breakfast
is not a traditional bed
baskets are delivered to
and breakfast. Adam, the
manager, lives off site and their door in the morning.
guests are provided with
a unique code for the front
See, Inn/Page A2
Mostly sunny
Surplus of Christmas spirit
Full forecast on the back
of the B section.
By SAMANTHA O’CONNER
soconner@bakercityherald.com
The space below is for
a postage label for issues
that are mailed.
Baker County will have
an eventful Christmas
season, with a variety of
holiday-themed events
planned across the county
over the next few weeks.
Saturday, Dec. 4 will
be one of the busier days,
culminating in the annual
Baker County Chamber
of Commerce Christmas
parade in downtown
Baker City, followed by the
lighting of the community
Christmas tree in Court
Plaza between Main and
Resort streets.
The parade, with the
theme “Miracle on Main
Street,” will start at 5 p.m.
Shelly Cutler, executive
director of the Chamber
of Commerce, encourages
people to sign up for entries
in the parade.
Cutler said entrants of-
ten wait to sign up, but she
encourages people to do so
as early as possible so she
can be certain there will be
enough fl oats to have the
parade.
Last year’s parade was
TODAY
Issue 85, 14 pages
S. John Collins/Baker City Herald, File
The 2017 Christmas parade included Meagan
Paoletti portraying Cindy Lou Who in a Grinch-
themed fl oat by the city of Baker City.
canceled due to the pan-
demic.
Entry forms and other
information are available on
the Chamber’s website at
www.visitbaker.com.
“I’m super excited for
what’s going on this year,”
Cutler said. “I think all of
our clubs and organizations
and business partners,
they’re all pulling out the
stops to make it a great
Christmas.”
Other events set for Dec.
4 include:
Calendar ....................A2
Classified ............. B4-B6
Comics ....................... B7
Noah Beckner barely had
time to recognize the animal as a
black bear before it was swatting
a claw-tipped paw at his head.
He ducked just in time.
The paw, as Beckner puts it,
“nicked” his face.
Beckner, 19, who lives in
Sumpter, said the encounter
with the bear in his front yard,
late on Thanksgiving, left him
with scratches on his cheek and
above one eye, among other
injuries.
During a phone interview
on Monday morning, Nov. 29,
Beckner said the knuckle of the
middle fi nger on his right hand,
the one he used to punch the
bear in the eye, was still sore.
So was his shoulder, where
the bear briefl y bit him.
Beckner said he was wearing
multiple layers of clothing, and
the bear’s teeth didn’t penetrate
his skin.
See, Bear/Page A3
By LISA BRITTON
lbritton@bakercityherald.com
Wednesday
53 / 32
Badgers
fall just
short
• Kiwanis Club’s Photos
with Santa from 10 a.m. to
3 p.m. at the Baker County
Event Center, 2600 East St.
• Baker City Down-
town’s Cookie Crawl,
2-4 p.m.; pick up a box for
$7 at Crossroads Carnegie
Art Center
• Make-and-take
Christmas Crafts for Kids,
2-4 p.m., Crossroads Carn-
egie Art Center
• CASA of Eastern Or-
egon’s Gingerbread House
Tour, downtown.
Community News ....A3
Crossword ........B4 & B6
Dear Abby ................. B8
“It should be a lot of fun
for folks to be able to get out
and do some shopping and
take their kiddos out and
wrap it up with the parade
and hopefully dinner and
make it just a fun day,”
Cutler said.
The Baker County 4-H
Christmas Bazaar will also
happen on Saturday, Dec.
4, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
in the Cockram Arena at
the Baker County Fair-
grounds on East Street
north of Campbell Street.
The bazaar is also set for
Friday, Dec. 3 from noon to
5:30 p.m.
Other events happening
in December include:
• Richland Christmas
Flea Market and Auction,
Dec. 4 at the Eagle Valley
Grange. The fl ea market
starts at 9 a.m., with the
auction at 2 p.m. There will
also be food available, in-
cluding chicken noodle soup,
chili, pies and cinnamon
rolls.
• Richland Tree Light-
ing, Dec. 10 at 6 p.m.
See, Spirit/Page A3
Home ................B1 & B2
Horoscope ........B5 & B6
Letters ........................A4
Baker City Herald
COVID-19 cases in Baker
County declined last week after
reaching a one-month high the
previous week.
For the period Nov. 21-27, the
county reported 37 new cases,
said Nancy Staten, director of the
Baker County Health Department.
There were 46 new cases for
the previous week, Nov. 14-20.
That was the highest weekly total
in the county since Oct. 17-23,
when there were 51.
Totals for the intervening
weeks were 24 (Oct. 24-30), 20
(Oct. 31-Nov. 6) and 24 (Nov. 7-13).
The county has reported 2,179
cases during the pandemic — al-
most 13% of the county’s popula-
tion of 16,800.
With just two days left in No-
vember, the month was on pace to
have fewer cases than any month
since July.
Through Nov. 28, the monthly
total was 126.
There were 168 cases during
October. September set a record
with 465 cases, breaking the
record of 300 during August.
During July there were 91
cases, as the surge driven by the
much more contagious delta vari-
ant didn’t start to boost cases in
Baker County until the fi nal week
of that month.
The percentage of tests that are
positive in the county has risen
over the past few weeks, from 4.6%
the week of Oct. 31-Nov. 6 to 12.9%
the week of Nov. 21-27.
The statewide average for the
latter week was 6%.
Breakthrough cases
For Nov. 14-20, the most
recent week for which statistics
are available from the Oregon
Health Authority (OHA), 10 of
Baker County’s 46 cases were
breakthrough — infections in fully
vaccinated people.
The breakthrough case rate
of 21.7% was up from 16.7% the
previous week (four of 24 cases)
and 10% the week Oct. 31-Nov. 6
(two of 20 cases).
Lottery Results ..........A2
News of Record ........A2
Obituaries ..................A2
THURSDAY — GO! MAGAZINE ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE
Opinion ......................A4
Sports .............. A5 & A6
Weather ..................... B8