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DECEMBER 1–8, 2021
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Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
December 2, 2021
IN THIS EDITION:
Local • Business & AgLife • Go! magazine
DEQ fi nes
county
$7,400
QUICK HITS
Good Day Wish
To A Subscriber
A special good day to
Herald subscribers Amy
and Nelson Clarke of Baker
City.
 County demolished
building containing asbestos
without survey or permit
Local, A3
With winter just around
the corner, Baker County
Commissioners discussed
the homeless situation in
Baker County and the pos-
sibility of fi nding a building
where people could stay
overnight.
During the Wednesday,
Dec. 1 meeting, Commis-
sion Chairman Bill Harvey
said he called the warming
center in La Grande and
asked operators there about
their center.
BRIEFING
Photos with Santa
on Saturday
The Kiwanis Club of
Baker City is offering the
annual Santa photos
event on Saturday, Dec.
4, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
at the Baker County Event
Center, 2600 East St. There
will be an opportunity to
write Santa a letter before
or after visiting with the
jolly elf.
Cost is $10 per sitting
and includes two 5x7 or
three 4x6 prints. Prints
are normally available for
pickup within 15 minutes.
Proceeds from this event
support the club’s com-
munity service projects,
which focus on supporting
children.
By JAYSON JACOBY and
SAMANTHA O’CONNER
Baker City Herald
Sherrie Kvamme/Contributed Photo
The 2020 lighting contest in Eagle Valley brought in 18 entries, but organizer
Joy Cole said many more decorated but didn’t enter. She’s hoping for even
more participants this year.
Lighting up
Eagle Valley
 Christmas lighting
contest returns to the
valley about 40 miles
east of Baker City
By LISA BRITTON
lbritton@bakercityherald.com
RICHLAND — Joy
Cole’s name fi ts perfectly
with her favorite season.
WEATHER
Today
52 / 28
Mostly sunny
Friday
49 / 29
Partly sunny
Full forecast on the back
of the B section.
$1.50
Your weekly guide
to arts and
entertainment
events around
Northeast Oregon
Sherrie Kvamme/Contributed Photo
Joy Cole is excited about the second-annual
Christmas lighting contest in the Eagle Valley
east of Baker City. Last year’s inaugural event
brightened the community during the COVID-19
pandemic, Cole said.
“I love Christmas,” she
says.
And in the latter part
of 2020, she felt like her
community needed some
cheering up.
“COVID stopped all our
activities,” Cole said. “I was
down because of all the
events we couldn’t have.”
Then, an idea surfaced
when she was chatting with
a friend.
“We were talking about
what we can do to make
people feel comfortable and
give them something to look
forward to,” Cole said.
The fi rst idea: a car cara-
van for Christmas caroling.
“We put the loud speaker
and music in the back of a
pickup,” she said. “It was a
lot of fun.”
See, Lights/Page A3
The Oregon Department of Envi-
ronmental Quality (DEQ) is proposing
to fi ne Baker County $7,400 for failing
to do an asbestos survey before de-
molishing a mobile home in Halfway
that the county acquired through a
property tax foreclosure.
Part of the proposed fi ne involves
the county disposing of material that
contains asbestos in an unapproved
pit on private property near Halfway.
In a Nov. 24 letter to the county’s
attorney, Kim Mosier, the DEQ’s offi ce
of compliance and enforcement man-
ager, Kieran O’Donnell, wrote that
the violations happened in December
2020 when county workers, using
heavy equipment, dismantled the
1970s mobile home at 267 W. Church
St. in Halfway.
The home’s wallboard material was
60% chrysotile asbestos, according to
O’Donnell’s letter.
See, County/Page A3
Two COVID-
related deaths
in county
By JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Two more Baker County residents
have died after testing positive for CO-
VID-19, the Oregon Health Authority
(OHA) reported on Monday, Nov. 29.
The two deaths bring the county’s
death toll during the pandemic to 33.
An 81-year-old woman from
Baker County died Nov. 26 at Saint
Alphonsus Medical Center in Boise.
The woman, who had no underlying
medical conditions, tested positive on
Nov. 19, according to OHA.
A 67-year-old woman who tested
positive on Nov. 2 died on Nov. 27, also
at Saint Alphonsus in Boise. She also
had no underlying medical conditions,
according to OHA.
“Every death leaves a hole in
our community, and I know these
losses can be especially hard during
The space below is for
a postage label for issues
that are mailed.
See, COVID/Page A5
Baker teachers win national award
includes a very long applica-
tion, featuring categories in-
cluding: classroom instruction,
Baker School District
experiential learning, student
teachers Bibiana Gifft
leadership, program market-
and Nicole Merchant have
ing, community partnerships,
received the Outstanding
and professional growth of the
Middle/Secondary Agricul-
agriculture instructors,” Gifft
tural Award for an 11-state
wrote. “We also submit mul-
region for their agriculture
tiple pages of supplemental
education program.
documents (usually photos
The pair traveled to New
and newspaper clippings).”
Orleans on Tuesday, Nov. 30
Merchant, the agricul-
to receive the award on stage
at the National Association
Contributed Photo tural science teacher and
of Agricultural Educators
Baker School District agriculture teachers Bibiana Gifft, FFA advisor for the Baker
Technical Institute at Baker
(NAAE) National Conference. second from left, and Nicole Merchant, second from
High School, said in a written
“We were so proud to be
right, received the Outstanding Middle/Secondary
statement that she and Gifft
announced, especially be-
Agricultural Award during a ceremony Tuesday, Nov.
applied and received the
cause there were some other 30 in New Orleans.
Outstanding Middle/Second-
impressive programs across
ary Agriculture Program for
the state in the running
Gifft, an FFA agricultural year at the state level, is
Oregon in 2020.
as well,” Gifft wrote to the
teacher, said the application arduous.
“After you win your state
Baker City Herald.
process, which started last
“The application process
By SAMANTHA O’CONNER
soconner@bakercityherald.com
TODAY
Issue 86, 32 pages
Business ...........B1 & B2
Calendar ....................A2
Classified ............. B2-B4
Comics ....................... B5
Community News ....A3
Crossword ........B3 & B4
Dear Abby ................. B6
Horoscope ........B2 & B4
Letters ........................A4
Lottery Results ..........A2
News of Record ........A2
Obituaries ..................A2
then you apply the following
spring for the national level,”
Merchant said. “They select
a national winner from each
region and we are in region
1 and there are six regions
in total.”
According to its website,
the NAAE is a federation
of state agricultural educa-
tors associations with more
than 9,000 members. They
are involved in school-based
agricultural education at any
level and state and national
education leadership.
They advocate for agri-
cultural education, provide
professional development for
agricultural educators and
work to recruit and retain
agricultural educators in the
profession.
Opinion ......................A4
Sports ........................A6
Weather ..................... B6
SATURDAY — BAKER CITY COWBOY COMPETES AT NATIONAL FINALS RODEO