SATURDAY
BAKER GIRLS BASKETBALL, WRESTLING TEAMS IN ACTION: SPORTS, A5
In SPORTS, A5
Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
December 11, 2021
IN THIS EDITION:
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$1.50
Two county
residents
die after
contracting
COVID-19
QUICK HITS
Good Day Wish
To A Subscriber
A special good day to
Herald subscriber John
Anderson of Baker City.
BRIEFING
By JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Ladies Golf and
Bridge Christmas
lunch set Dec. 15
The Quail Ridge Ladies
Golf and Bridge Associa-
tion is hosting a Christmas
lunch, free for all past, pres-
ent and future players. The
lunch will be Wednesday,
Dec. 15 at 11:30 a.m. at the
clubhouse, 2801 Indiana
Ave. Please call Dianne at
541-519-4703 to confi rm a
seat.
Dielman to speak
at Baker Heritage
Museum Dec. 14
Local historian Gary
Dielman will be the
featured speaker at the
next monthly lecture series
held at the Baker Heritage
Museum, 2480 Grove St.
His talk begins at 6 p.m.
Tuesday, Dec. 14.
Baker County
YMCA plans fi rst
Tinsel Trot Dec. 18
The Baker County YMCA
is planning the fi rst Tinsel
Trot fun run and walk on
Saturday, Dec. 18, rain,
snow or shine. The event
starts at 11 a.m. at Geiser-
Pollman Park. Same-day
registration begins at 9:30
a.m. Register online at
www.bakerymca.org.
WEATHER
Today
38 / 31
Snow likely
Sunday
41 / 28
Rain showers
Monday
42 / 26
Rain showers
The space below is for
a postage label for issues
that are mailed.
Baker
rally falls
just short
Samantha O’Conner/Baker City Herald
Residents from the Hope House, a Marsing, Idaho, facility that provides a home to children from failed
adoptions, sang Christmas carols during the Baker Rotary Club meeting Monday morning, Dec. 6, at the
Baker Tower.
House of
Hope
“We’ve always felt that sharing our
faith in the simplest way, by our lives,
was going to be the best way to let
people know about us,” she said.
Jay Multanen, a member of the
Boise Sunrise Rotary Club, said the
Hope House is his favorite charity.
“It is a group home in Marsing,
Idaho, and it’s a home for children to
come to,” said Multanen, who attended
the Baker Rotary Club’s meeting. “So
these are children who have fallen
through the cracks of the federal foster
care program. Many of them have come
from multiple failed adoptions and they
end up at the Hope House.”
Hope House is home to about 80
residents, including 25 of high school
age, as well as some adults who are not
able to live on their own.
Omicron variant
surveillance
Baker City is one of 40
Oregon cities where OHA is
testing sewage for the new
omicron variant of COVID-19.
The agency started testing
sewage samples in September
2020, and the program, which
includes Baker City, helped
identify the presence of the
delta variant in the state ear-
lier this year.
The most recent Baker City
sample tested was collected on
Nov. 16, according to OHA.
The agency has been testing
samples from Baker City on a
weekly or biweekly schedule.
Earlier this year, samples of
sewage in Baker City showed
sustained increases in the con-
centration of the delta variant
starting in early August. That
coincides with a surge in infec-
tions caused by that variant,
which is much more contagious
than previous variants.
Cases in Baker County
rose from 91 in July to 300
in August, and peaked in
September with 465.
See, Hope/Page A3
See, COVID/Page A2
Baker Rotary Club welcomes
residents, staff from the Hope
House, an Idaho facility that
provides a home to children
from failed adoptions
so there was an in-born desire for kids
to have an actual address,” Velvick said.
“So when I was 31, I was fi nally able to
The Baker City Rotary Club
get that started.”
welcomed guests from Idaho’s Hope
According to the Hope House’s mis-
House Home for Children at the club’s
sion statement, it provides “a home for
meeting Monday afternoon, Dec. 6 at
children who are emotionally impaired,
the Baker Tower.
developmentally disabled, and/or come
The Hope House choir sang
Christmas carols as well as the facility’s from disrupted adoptions or dysfunc-
tional families.”
theme song, “Every Child (Deserves a
There is no charge for children
Home).
Hope House founder Donnalee Vel- to live at the Hope House, which is
vick told Rotary Club members that the licensed by the Idaho Department of
Education.
home, in Marsing, is designed to give
Hope House is a nonprofi t, faith-
children a place where they feel safe,
are healthy, and know they are valued. based organization that accepts no
local, state or federal money, except
“For me, 49 years ago, I was one of
what is paid as benefi ts to its resident
the kids,” Velvick said.
She said she grew up in an orphan- children.
Velvick said the facility is Christian-
age for a while and then lived with
based, but emphasizes what it offers to
many different foster families.
“They were all very kind to me and children.
By SAMANTHA O’CONNER
soconner@bakercityherald.com
‘All I wanted to do was help him’
kneeling on the tracks near
a trestle across the Powder
Amber Gabiola said she River southeast of Wade
begged her younger broth- Williams Park.
Amber, who is four
er, Michael, to seek help for
years older than
his drug addiction
her brother and
and mental health
grew up with him
problems.
in Baker City,
“I was in tears,”
doesn’t believe
Amber said. “He
her brother was
would say he didn’t
suicidal.
need help.”
But she said
Now it is too
Myers-
that Michael,
late.
Gabiola
through the combi-
Michael Steven
Myers-Gabiola, 30, of Baker nation of drug use and his
City, was hit and killed by a mental issues, sometimes
freight train in Baker City felt he was “invincible.”
“I’ve seen him in one of
the evening of Nov. 14.
those moods,” Amber said.
Baker City Police said
She thinks he might
the train crew reported
have knelt on the tracks
that Myers-Gabiola was
By JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
TODAY
Issue 90, 12 pages
Calendar ....................A2
Classified ............. B2-B4
Comics ....................... B5
that evening because he
was confused or intoxicat-
ed, or both.
But she fi nds it “hard to
believe” that her brother
intended to end his life.
This, of course, is a ques-
tion Amber will never be
able to answer defi nitely.
But about one thing she
is sure.
Her brother needed
help, but that help, due
to his own stubbornness
and to limitations in the
criminal justice system,
was elusive.
“It takes a lot of work to
succeed, and I don’t think
that’s something that my
brother wanted to do,” Am-
ber said. “My brother got
Community News ....A3
Crossword ........B2 & B4
Dear Abby ................. B6
Two more Baker County
residents have died after
testing positive for COVID-19,
the Oregon Health Authority
(OHA) reported this week.
A 62-year-old Baker County
woman died Dec. 1, after test-
ing positive for COVID-19 on
Nov. 16, the Oregon Health
Authority (OHA) reported on
Wednesday, Dec. 8.
And the state agency
reported on Friday, Dec. 10 that
a 67-year-old Baker County
man had died Dec. 7 at Saint
Alphonsus Medical Center in
Boise after testing positive on
Nov. 17. He had underlying
medical conditions.
OHA has not confi rmed
whether the woman had
underlying medical conditions.
The agency did not report
whether she died in a hospital
or elsewhere.
They are the 34th and 35th
county residents to die after
testing positive for the virus,
and the fi rst two deaths during
December.
away with so much stuff,
many years of probation.
The justice system swept
him under the rug.”
Amber has personal
experience with addiction.
She was cited in 2015
for possession of metham-
phetamine. Amber pleaded
guilty to the charge in July
2016 and was sentenced
to fi ve days in jail and 18
months probation.
In 2016 she entered a
detox center in Pendleton
to overcome her addiction.
Amber said she was
motivated by the possibility
that she would lose custody
of her son, who is now 8.
Driver
shortage
could
slow snow
removal
By DICK MASON
The (La Grande) Observer
LA GRANDE — A short-
age of road maintenance
employees could create delays
in snow removal this winter
in Eastern Oregon.
“Fewer people will be run-
ning plows. Anytime you have
fewer operators it means
that work will take longer,”
said Oregon Department of
Transportation spokesperson
Tom Strandberg.
See, Michael/Page A3
Horoscope ........B3 & B4
Jayson Jacoby ..........A4
News of Record ........A2
Obituaries ..................A2
Opinion ......................A4
Outdoors ..........B1 & B2
See, Snow/Page A3
Sports ........................A5
Turning Backs ...........A2
Weather ..................... B6
INSIDE, PAGE B1 — DEER, ELK DISEASE CONFIRMED IN WESTERN IDAHO