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BAKER BOYS (PAGE A5), GIRLS (PAGE A6) HOOPS TEAMS BOTH SWEEP PAIR
Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
December 14, 2021
Local • Home & Living • Sports
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A special good day to
Herald subscriber Earlinda
Crider of Baker City.
Sports, A5
NYSSA — With defend-
ing state champion Gauge
Bloomer leading the way
with a fi rst-place fi nish
at 195 pounds, the Baker
wrestling team placed sev-
enth out of 21 teams at the
Calhoun Classic Friday, Dec.
10 and Saturday, Dec. 11.
The Elk Arrive
 Snow or no, the
animals instinctively
know when state-run
feeding sites are
closed to the public
By JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Elk don’t need calendars.
Dan Marvin is convinced of
that.
He can’t vouch for the animals’
ability to recognize, say, Christmas
or Independence Day or any other
holiday observed by humans.
But elk certainly know when
December arrives.
Some elk, anyway.
See, Elk/Page A3
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.
Longest Night
service Dec. 21 at
First Presbyterian
WEATHER
Today
34 / 10
Snow showers
Wednesday
27 / 22
Snow showers
The space below is for
a postage label for issues
that are mailed.
Two killed
in separate
crashes
Baker City Herald
BRIEFING
The FIrst Presbyterian
Church, 1995 Fourth St.,
will have an online Service
of the Longest Night on
Tuesday, Dec. 21, viewable
at 6:30 p.m. The First Pres-
byterian Church’s version
of the service seeks to help
people embrace even the
most diffi cult emotions and
be grounded in the love
of God. The service will be
available at https://www.
facebook.com/fi rstpres-
baker or on YouTube at
YouTube channel http://fi rst-
presbaker.blogspot.com/p/
recorded-services.html.
Macey Moore
S. John Collins/Baker City Herald, File
Rocky Mountain elk munch on alfalfa hay during a previous winter at the Elkhorn Wildlife Area feeding site
along Anthony Creek west of North Powder.
Storm raises hopes for ski season start
frozen rather than liquid.
With winds in the upper
atmosphere coming from the
Winter remains more
southwest, the mountains,
of a rumor than reality in
Baker City, but a weekend notably the Elkhorns, inter-
cepted most of the moisture,
storm fulfi lled its forecast
according to the National
in the mountains.
And although city dwell- Weather Service.
Snow showers fell
ers will have to wait to
construct the season’s fi rst periodically in Baker City
snowman, skiers and snow- on Saturday, Dec. 11, but
boarders are getting close to almost none accumulated.
Yet just 10 miles or so
making their fi rst runs at
to the southwest, on the
Anthony Lakes Mountain
other, windward side of a
Resort.
shoulder of the Elkhorns,
The potent storm was
the storm dropped a few
a perfect illustration of the
inches of snow.
rain shadow phenomenon,
although in this case the
precipitation was generally
See, Ski/Page A3
By JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
BELLA to
donate
to local
groups
By LISA BRITTON
lbritton@bakercityherald.com
zens from the free exercise of
their religion or the right to
freely assemble as guaran-
teed in the 1st Amendment.”
• “Orders depriving its
citizens of life, liberty or prop-
erty, without the “due process
of law” as guaranteed in the
5th Amendment.”
• “Registration of per-
sonal fi rearms under any
circumstances as guaranteed
under the 2nd Amend-
ment nor the confi scation
of fi rearms without prob-
able cause, due process, and
constitutionally compliant
warrants issued by a local or
state jurisdiction.”
The resolution also lists
several other issues ad-
dressed in the Bill of Rights.
Every “kerplunk” that
echoes in a BELLA store this
month means one more dollar
for a local charity.
In December, the shops
— one in Baker City and one
in La Grande — are raising
money for three organizations
chosen by the staff.
“They’re three organiza-
tions we’ve supported for a
long time,” said owner Beverly
Calder.
The organizations are:
• La Grande Angel Fund,
which is a food bank for home-
less youth
• Baker Relief Nursery,
which serves families with
children younger than 6. It is
the 39th certifi ed relief nurs-
ery in Oregon.
• Baker City Quiet Zone,
which seeks to reduce train
whistles and improve railroad
crossings.
BELLA is donating 10%
of December sales to these
causes, and the amounts are
determined by customers.
“We’re going to let the
people decide,” Calder said.
The theme for the month,
she said, is “give more.”
See, Resolution/Page A3
See, BELLA/Page A3
Ian Warner/Contributed Photo
A Nordic groomer works on a trail beside Anthony
Lake on Sunday, Dec. 12. The ski area could open for
the season on Saturday, Dec. 18.
Commissioners to review proposed
‘constitutional county’ resolution
Baker City Herald
A Baker County organi-
zation is urging county com-
missioners to pass a resolu-
tion stating that “all actions
by the federal government
and its agents will conform
strictly and implicitly with
the principles expressed
within the United States
Constitution, Declaration of
Independence, and the Bill of
Rights.”
The proposed resolution,
which also prohibits the use
“of vaccine passports by any
Baker County offi ce, board
or agent,” was submitted by
Baker County United.
Early this fall, Baker
County United distributed
fl iers urging county residents
to oppose Gov. Kate Brown’s
COVID-19 vaccine mandate
TODAY
Issue 91, 14 pages
for health care workers
by refusing to pay their
property taxes and instead
setting the money aside.
The agenda for county
commissioners’ meeting on
Wednesday, Dec. 15 at the
Courthouse, 1995 Third St.,
includes, at around 10 a.m.,
a proposed resolution from
Baker County United, repre-
sented by Carrie Matthews
and Jake Brown.
The agenda item also lists
Bert Ramos, manager for
Lander County, Nevada, and
Art Clark, a commissioner
from that county.
Ramos also is slated to
speak during a meeting this
evening, Tuesday, Dec. 14
at 6 p.m. at the Sunridge
Inn conference room in
Baker City.
Calendar ....................A2
Classified ............. B4-B6
Comics ....................... B7
Two people died in sepa-
rate single-vehicle crashes
on snowy highways in Baker
County over the weekend,
Oregon State Police reported.
The fi rst incident hap-
pened Friday morning, Dec.
10 on Highway 203, the
Medical Springs Highway,
northeast of Baker City.
A passing driver saw an
overturned 1991 Dodge Neon
near Milepost 31, about eight
miles east of Interstate 84
near Salt Creek.
The driver and lone occu-
pant, Gwyn Monroe Adams,
died in the crash, according
to OSP. He lived at Pondosa,
about eight miles north of the
crash site.
The investigation is con-
tinuing.
On Saturday, Dec. 11, at
about 11:30 a.m., Maureen
Welsh, 69, of Harper, in north-
ern Malheur County, died in
a crash on Highway 26 near
Milepost 202, near the Blue
Mountain summit about 10
miles northwest of Unity.
Welsh was driving east
when she failed to negotiate a
corner, and her Ford Excur-
sion left the roadway and
crashed into a tree, according
to OSP. Welsh died at the
scene.
Highway 26 was closed for
about seven hours.
Deputies from the Grant
County Sheriff’s Offi ce, John
Day Ambulance and Oregon
Department of Transporta-
tion assisted state police at
the scene.
The reference to “vaccine
passports” is the new digital
vaccine card that the Oregon
Health Authority is develop-
ing. The purpose is to give
residents a way to store their
vaccination status on their
phone.
In a recent letter to com-
missioners, Curtis Martin, a
North Powder area rancher
and member of Baker
County United, wrote that
the Tuesday meeting with
Ramos involves the idea of
declaring Baker County a
“constitutional county.”
The resolution that
commissioners will consider
states that “the following
abuses will not be allowed
or tolerated within Baker
County,” including:
• “Orders restricting citi-
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