SATURDAY
BAKER GIRLS ROUT HOMEDALE, IDAHO, IN BASKETBALL OPENER: PAGE A6
Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
December 4, 2021
IN THIS EDITION:
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Good Day Wish
To A Subscriber
A special good day to
Herald subscriber Mark
Ferns of Baker City.
BRIEFING
Baker City Police
hosting Angel Tree
The Baker City Police
Department is hosting,
in partnership with The
Salvation Army, an Angel
Tree decorated with gift
tags in the front entrance
of the Police Department
at 1768 Auburn Ave. Angel
Tree gift tags are special
wished-for items given
during the holiday season
to children in need within
our community.
If you would like to pick
up an Angel Tree gift tag
and purchase the gift for
a local child, you can then
return the unwrapped gift
to the Police Department.
The last day to turn in a
gift is Friday, Dec.17.
For more information,
call Phoebe Wachtel at
541-524-2014, extension
603, or Susan Bland with
The Salvation Army at 541-
523-5853.
Garden Club
meeting Dec. 8
The Baker County
Garden Club will meet
Wednesday, Dec. 8 at
10:30 a.m. at the Loennig
home, 1638 Broadway St.
There will be a brunch,
and members will plant
amaryllis and paperwhite
bulbs.
WEATHER
Today
50 / 28
Partly sunny
Sunday
38 / 24
Cloudy
Monday
37 / 13
Rain showers
The space below is for
a postage label for issues
that are mailed.
Local
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Outdoors • Sports
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TV
$1.50
Wanting her son back
Melissa Fulfer
talks about her
18-year-old son
Joshua’s mental
health issues
Melissa Fulfer/Contributed Photo
The Fulfer family in December 2020, from left: Joshua, Darren, Melissa and
Hannah.
during his incarceration,
including, as Melissa puts
it, “acting crazy.”
“He’s actually going to
get treatment now,” she
said.
And although Melissa
said offi cials at the state
hospital told her there
might not be an available
bed for Joshua for a month
or two, she found out early
Friday morning, Dec. 3,
that Joshua was en route
to Salem.
But even as she hopes
that Joshua, with profes-
sional help, will get better,
Melissa laments the ordeal
that her family has gone
through this year.
She wishes that her
son had been required to
undergo treatment sooner.
Melissa said Joshua’s
condition has deterio-
rated during his time in
jail — and most notably
since he was confi ned to
an individual cell in late
September.
“Prior to that he didn’t
seem as disturbed,” she
said.
She said she last visited
him at the jail on Sept. 23.
Melissa said Joshua’s
older sister, Hannah,
who’s 20, called the jail on
Thanksgiving, hoping her
brother could call her.
It didn’t happen.
OSP says
eight wolves
killed with
poison
The (La Grande) Observer
Melissa Fulfer/Contributed Photo
Melissa Fulfer with her son, Joshua, then 17, in
December 2020.
‘Taxing’ situation for
jail staff
Baker County Sheriff
Travis Ash, whose duties
include overseeing the jail
at 3410 K St. in Baker
City, said that although he
can’t talk specifi cally about
Joshua Fulfer, he agrees
with Melissa that the jail is
not a suitable place for the
long-term incarceration of a
person with mental health
problems.
“We’re not set up to deal
with the extreme mental
health issues,” Ash said on
Wednesday, Dec. 1. “But
we’re at the mercy of the
state hospital. We’re just
waiting for the state hospi-
tal to call with an opening.”
See, Joshua/Page A3
their ranch business near
Baker City.
The possibility that
“Until that’s paid off,
USDA would forgive their we’re just trying to sur-
farm loans seemed like
vive,” James said. “The goal
a godsend for James and
was to grow. Unfortunately,
Kathryn Dunlap.
while you’re growing, it’s
But shortly after hear-
very diffi cult.”
ing of the agency’s new
Though they wouldn’t
program, the Dunlaps
have taken out debt they
learned they didn’t qualify couldn’t pay back, the
— only farmers from racial Dunlaps found it troubling
they’d been excluded from
minorities were eligible.
the loan forgiveness pro-
“It kind of blew our
gram for being white.
minds,” James said.
“If they want to offer a
The couple has taken
program, it should be avail-
out about $280,000 in
able to everyone,” he said.
loans from USDA’s Farm
Service Agency for cows
and equipment to expand
See, Lawsuit/Page A5
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press
Kathryn and James Dunlap with their daughter,
Evelyn, at the family’s ranch near Baker City. The
couple has fi led a lawsuit over being excluded
from a USDA loan forgiveness program for
minority farmers.
Issue 87, 12 pages
Calendar ....................A2
Classified ............. B2-B4
Comics ....................... B5
The National Finals Rodeo
is back in Las Vegas, and Jesse
Brown could not be happier.
The Baker City steer wres-
tler competed in his fi rst NFR
last year in Arlington, Texas,
but he said there is something
special about Thomas & Mack
Center.
There must be after Brown
turned in a time of 4.5 seconds
to fi nish in a two-way tie for
fi fth place with Tyler Wagues-
pack in the fi rst round on
Thursday, Dec. 2. Each man
won $5,661 for his efforts.
“It’s way different than Tex-
as,” he said. “Everyone is right
on top of you here. It’s where it
belongs. It was awesome.”
In an October 2021 inter-
view, Brown said he was ex-
cited to compete in Las Vegas.
“I can’t wait,” he said. “It’s
a completely different rodeo.
I think the electricity in that
building — you’re not going to
be able to match that.”
See, Rodeo/Page A5
Baker ranchers join legal batt le over race-
based USDA loan forgiveness program
TODAY
Brown 5th in
fi rst round
at National
Finals Rodeo
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
By JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Melissa Fulfer can’t
drive from her mind the
thought of her 18-year-old
son, Joshua Mark Kelly
Fulfer, alone in a cell in the
Baker County Jail, raving
about demons speaking in
his head.
Such scenes have
plagued her for more than
two months.
“It painted a picture in
my mind that was like the
most horrifi c picture,” Me-
lissa said during a recent
interview.
She wonders when she
will see Joshua again.
Moreover, she wonders
when she will see the kind,
normal young man she
remembers and raised,
a teenager who played
football and basketball and
hung out with friends and
hoped to own motels when
he grew up.
Melissa scrolls through
photos on her cellphone,
stopping on the scene from
Christmas 2020.
She is sitting beside
Joshua.
Both are smiling.
“I hope I can see him
back like he was in that
picture,” Melissa said.
She is more optimistic
about that prospect today
than she has been in
months.
On Nov. 22, Judge Matt
Shirtcliff ruled in Baker
County Circuit Court that
Joshua, due to mental
disorder, is not fi t to assist
in his defense against
assault, criminal mischief
and other charges he faces
from a July 22, 2021, inci-
dent in Baker City.
Shirtcliff ordered that
Joshua be sent to the
Oregon State Hospital in
Salem for treatment. That
order was based in part on
reports from the jail staff
about Joshua’s actions
BAKER CITY STEER
WRESTLER JESSE BROWN
Community News ....A3
Crossword ........B2 & B4
Dear Abby ................. B6
Horoscope ........B2 & B4
Jayson Jacoby ..........A4
News of Record ........A3
Oregon State Police are
asking for the public’s help in
identifying individuals respon-
sible for the poisoning deaths of
eight wolves earlier this year in
Eastern Oregon.
OSP in a press release
reported that Fish and Wild-
life Division troopers received
information in February from
the Oregon Department of Fish
and Wildlife (ODFW) about a
dead, collared wolf. Troopers
responded to the area and found
fi ve dead wolves — three males
and two females. It was later
determined the wolves were
from the Catherine Pack, with
all known members of that pack
present and deceased.
The wolves were southeast of
Mount Harris, in Union County.
Troopers and ODFW person-
nel with the assistance of a
helicopter searched the area for
anything of evidentiary value
and found a dead magpie in the
vicinity of the dead wolves.
The fi ve wolves and magpie
were collected and transported
to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service Forensics Lab in Ash-
land to determine the cause of
death.
Fish and Wildlife troopers
again received information in
March from ODFW personnel
of an additional wolf collar emit-
ting a mortality signal in the
same general location. A search
of the area located a deceased
female wolf, a skunk and a
magpie, all close to the scene.
All animals were collected and
immediately submitted to the
USFWS lab for testing. The
female wolf was dispersing from
the Keating Pack.
Obituaries ..................A2
Opinion ......................A4
Outdoors ..........B1 & B2
See, Wolves/Page A3
Sports ........................A6
Turning Backs ...........A2
Weather ..................... B6
TUESDAY — ANTHONY LAKES STILL WAITING FOR MAJOR SNOWSTORMS