TUESDAY BAKER BOYS BASKETBALL, WRESTLERS HAVE GOOD WEEKENDS: PAGE A5 In SPORTS, A6 Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com December 7, 2021 Local • Home & Living • Sports IN THIS EDITION: $1.50 Utes rout Ducks again QUICK HITS Good Day Wish To A Subscriber of Night lights A special good day to Herald subscriber Jessie Ritch of Baker City. BRIEFING Haines Fire District meets Dec. 13 HAINES — The Haines Fire Protection District will have its monthly board of directors meeting on Monday, Dec. 13 at 7 p.m. at the main fi re station, 816 Cole St. in Haines. All citizens in the district are welcome to attend. COVID-19 safety protocols will be in effect. 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. WEATHER Today 45 / 32 Partly sunny Wednesday 45 / 21 Cloudy Full forecast on the back of the B section. The space below is for a postage label for issues that are mailed. Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald Baker City’s Main Street bustling for annual Christmas parade By SAMANTHA O’CONNER soconner@bakercityherald.com Baker City bustled throughout the day Saturday, Dec. 4, with mul- tiple holiday events including a big bazaar and a Cookie Crawl, culmi- nating in the return of the Baker County Chamber of Commerce’s Christmas parade. The anticipated event was can- celed in 2020 due to the pandemic. But this year, on an unusually mild evening for early December with the temperature around 40 and no precipitation, more than 50 en- tries made their way south on Main Street, lighting the darkness. “I couldn’t be happier with how things turned out,” said Shelly Cutler, the Chamber’s executive director. Entries included trucks and other vehicles festooned with lights, as well as Cub Scouts bearing the American fl ag at the front of the parade, vintage tractors and a variety of other spirited fl oats that earned waves and ap- plause from children and adults who lined both sides of Main Street. See, Parade/Page A3 Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald Waiting for storms  Anthony Lakes Ski Area needs quite a bit of snow to open By JAYSON JACOBY jjacoby@bakercityherald.com When you run a ski area, the term “record high temperature” might as well be one four-letter word. A couple of early fall storms whitened the slopes at Anthony Lakes Ski Area, but that promising start devolved into a period of unseasonably mild tem- peratures, said Chelsea Judy, marketing director for the resort in the Elkhorn Mountains west of North Powder. Although a bit of snow still lingers in sheltered areas, there’s not enough to thrust a measuring stick into it to get a reading, Judy said. “I wouldn’t call it a (snow) base yet,” she said on Thursday morning, Dec. 2. That was just a day after the temperature rose to 54 degrees at the Baker City Airport, breaking the previous record high, for the fi rst day of December, of 53 set in 2013. But Judy points out that at Anthony Lakes, with the highest base elevation (7,100 feet) among North- west ski areas, the transi- tion to full-fl edged winter TODAY Issue 88, 14 pages to open,” she said. “We’re all excited to ski.” Judy pointed out that attendance was up at ski areas across the nation last winter, a trend indus- try offi cials attributed in part to people looking for outdoor activities during the pandemic. On the viral front, Judy said this winter should be different from the last at Anthony Lakes. Barring any new state- imposed restrictions, the plan is to open the lodge as usual this winter and have a normal parking system, she said. Last winter, by con- Jayson Jacoby/Baker City Herald trast, Anthony Lakes encouraged visitors to use A couple inches of snow covered the slopes at their vehicles as a stag- Anthony Lakes Mountain Resort on Sunday ing spot, and although morning, Dec. 5. The ski area, in the Elkhorn Mountains west of North Powder, needs about two restrooms were available, the lodge was otherwise feet of snow for a partial opening. closed. Although face masks can be, and often is, rapid. mountains this week. will be required indoors, Weak storms brought “A couple of good storms” light snow to the area late they will not be mandated can sometimes be enough Saturday, Dec. 4, and again in lift lines, as was the to kick off the ski season, Monday, Dec. 6, and cooler case last winter, Judy she said. temperatures, and a chance said. Typically, Anthony One change from last Lakes needs about two feet for more snow, is forecast winter that will carry of snow to start running the for later in the week as over to 2021-22 is on the lift, although a deeper base well. With snow scarce across Nordic side. is required to fully open all Judy said the mobile Oregon and the Northwest, the downhill runs. Nordic “outpost” — a con- Judy said she expects The weather forecast verted trailer — will again skiers and snowboard- looked promising late last ers will be eager to make be parked in the Elkhorn week, but the National their fi rst runs when the Crest trailhead lot about Weather Service, after a quarter-mile east of the consulting its sophisticated weather allows. lodge, just off the highway. “We’re defi nitely ex- computer models, tempered pecting pretty big num- its initial predictions for signifi cant snowfall in the bers as soon as we’re able See, Ski/Page A3 Classified ............. B4-B6 Comics ....................... B7 Community News ....A3 Crossword ........B4 & B6 Dear Abby ................. B8 Home ................B1 & B3 Horoscope ........B4 & B6 Letters ........................A4 Lottery Results ..........A2 BAKER CITY STEER WRESTLER JESSE BROWN AT NATIONAL FINALS RODEO Brown adds to winnings at NFR By ANNIE FOWLER and JAYSON JACOBY EO Media Group Jesse Brown, professional steer wrestler from Baker City, added to his winnings at the National Finals Rodeo with a fourth-place fi nish Friday, Dec. 3 in the second round of the 10- day event in Las Vegas. Brown, who entered the National Finals ranked second in the world, had a time of 3.7 seconds and won $9,144 in the second round. He was in a two-way tie for fi fth place in the fi rst round on Dec. 2, winning $5,661. Through the fourth round at the National Finals, Brown, a 2011 Baker High School gradu- ate, was in sixth place in the world standings with winnings of $117,163.27 this season. Brown tied for ninth in both the third round on Saturday, Dec. 4 and the fourth round on Sunday, Dec. 5, fi nishing out of the money. Brown had a stout steer dur- ing Sunday’s Round 4. He took his steer down in 5 seconds, but was two places out of picking up a check. “He was pretty full,” Brown said. “He was big. There’s still six nights left and a lot of money.” News of Record ........A3 Obituaries ..................A2 Opinion ......................A4 THURSDAY — GO! MAGAZINE ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE See, Rodeo/Page A3 Senior Menus ...........A2 Sports .............. A5 & A6 Weather ..................... B8