THURSDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2021
BAKER CITY HERALD — A3
LOCAL & STATE
Pendleton to join Baker in GOL
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Pend-
leton Athletic Director Mike
Somnis knew about six weeks
ago the Bucks were destined
to drop from 5A to 4A and join
the Greater Oregon League.
The executive board of
the Oregon School Activities
Association made that fi nal
Monday, Dec. 13, when it ap-
proved the last recommenda-
tion of the Classifi cation and
Redistricting Committee. The
decision will bring changes to
several leagues throughout
the state starting with the
2022 fall season.
“I think everyone is excited
and ready to make the move,”
Somnis said. “We have been
very competitive at the 5A
level. The reality of it is, with
Hermiston going to the WIAA,
and Hood River going to 5A
and to the Northwest Oregon
Conference, if we stayed, we
would be in the Bend league.
It will be a seamless fi t.”
Pendleton will join GOL
teams La Grande, Baker City
and Ontario. McLoughlin is
moving down to the 3A East-
ern Oregon League.
La Grande and Baker are
ecstatic that Pendleton is join-
ing their league.
“We are very pleased to
have Pendleton in our league,”
La Grande AD Darren
Goodman said. “It will help
strengthen our league. Ev-
eryone will have to raise their
game, for sure.”
“The GOL will defi nitely be
more competitive now,” Baker
AD Buell Gonzales added.
“The issue with the schedul-
ing is still there with just four
teams. Losing Mac-Hi and
gaining Pendleton, our league
is more competitive and
balanced. We didn’t want to
lose La Grande. This worked
out the best for everyone
involved.”
Pendleton is one of a hand-
ful of local teams the redis-
tricting affects.
In addition to Mac-Hi
moving to 3A, Irrigon will drop
down to the 2A Blue Moun-
tain Conference, and Pilot
Rock will drop to the 1A Old
Oregon League with Griswold
and Nixyaawii.
The Mac-Hi, Irrigon and
Pilot Rock moves benefi t the
schools, which have recently
seen enrollment drop.
Schools at the 3A level will
have an enrollment of 146 to
310 in grades 9-11, while 2A is
75 to 145, and 1A is under 74
students.
At the 4A level, enrollment
is 311 to 607. Pendleton will
be one of the largest schools in
the division with 588 — larger
than any school in the Greater
Oregon League by more than
100 students. Only St. Helens
and Crook County are larger.
While travel will be re-
duced for Pendleton, the hunt
for nonleague games begins
now.
The GOL athletic directors
will meet in Baker City on
Thursday, Dec. 16, to discuss
standard operating proce-
dures, schedules and the like.
“We are hitting the ground
running,” Somnis said. “For us,
it has been a long, long time
since we have been connected
to these schools. In 5A and 6A
we have scheduling meetings.
It’s a collaborative effort. I’m
not sure how it is in 4A. Being
at a small school before, it was
a free-for-all. In the past, we
haven’t played 3A schools. It’s
a different world we are step-
ping into.”
Goodman and Gonzales
know the challenges of sched-
uling nonleague games, which
can be upward of 14 games or
more for basketball, volleyball,
soccer, baseball and softball.
“We have to work hard for
those games,” Goodman said.
“If you have teams that are
good, it’s easier to get those
games. Sometimes people
don’t want to travel that far.
Some are good about hosting
a game and coming here the
next time. It can be challeng-
ing.”
Gonzales said Pendleton
could help open up avenues
for new nonleague opponents.
“If they can open us up to
some new travel destinations,
that would be great,” he said.
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian, April 2021
Baker’s Gabe Gambleton, left, tries to elude Pendleton’s
Zaanan Bane on April 2, 2021, at Pendleton. The two
teams will become league opponents starting in the fall
of 2022.
Adding Pendleton to the
GOL has benefi ts, according to
Goodman.
“You want your teams to
be prepared to go into the
playoffs,” Goodman said. “You
want to challenge them so
they will be ready. We have
always had a little rivalry
with Pendleton. Instead of
friendly rivalries, now they
mean something.”
Gonzales said he likes that
Pendleton can offer junior
varsity and freshman teams
to play, and they have swim-
ming, which adds another
team to their league.
“On the competitive level,
we match up well,” he said.
“It will be good for the region.
They were very competitive
in baseball and softball, and
they are a good 5A football
team. I think they will
continue to dominate at that.
Baker is going to have to step
up their game.”
Work session set on proposed ‘constitutional county’ resolution
should get people behind, and that
we should come out to Salem and
lobby it,” Brown said.
Baker County Commissioners
He said the proposed resolution is
have scheduled a work session for
Jan. 12 to continue a discussion about Baker County United’s effort at the
county level to do that same thing.
a proposed “constitutional county”
“We are merely asking you com-
resolution that local residents submit-
ted to commissioners and are urging missioners to double down on the lib-
erty that we already are afforded in
them to approve.
The work session will be at 1 p.m. the Constitution and Bill of Rights,”
Brown said.
at the Courthouse, 1995 Third St.
Brown addressed a fl ier that
On Wednesday, Dec. 15, commis-
Baker County United distributed in
sioners heard from proponents of
the resolution, which states, among October, urging county residents to
other things, that “all actions by the oppose Gov. Kate Brown’s COVID-19
vaccine mandate for health care
federal government and its agents
workers by refusing to pay their
will conform strictly and implicitly
with the principles expressed within property taxes and instead setting
the money aside.
the United States Constitution,
“This was done in support of those
Declaration of Independence, and the
emergency services, not against
Bill of Rights.”
The group promoting the resolu- them,” Brown said.
He said he has collected $2,500
tion is Baker County United.
from supporters to ensure that
Jake Brown of Halfway spoke
adopting the resolution wouldn’t cost
fi rst to commissioners, saying he
the county any money.
once attended a town hall meeting
Commissioner Bruce Nichols
with U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz who told
said the county respects the rights to
the audience that if they wanted
individual freedoms. He noted that
to champion the causes that really
the county was actually violating the
meant something to them, they
governor’s executive order requir-
needed to stop complaining to him
ing people to wear masks in public
about it.
“He basically said that we should indoor spaces, as commissioners
weren’t wearing masks during the
pull an effort together, that we
By SAMANTHA O’CONNER
soconner@bakercityherald.com
meeting. Of the 30 or so people in the
audience, only a couple of those were
wearing a mask.
One of those is Gary Dielman of
Baker City.
He was escorted from the room by
Sheriff Travis Ash after repeatedly
asking Commission Chairman Bill
Harvey about the lack of compliance
with the mask mandate.
Dielman described the meeting as
a “super spreader event.”
Carrie Matthews of Baker City,
talking about the proposed consti-
tutional county resolution, said it is
time to take a stand.
“There is an emergency legislative
session now that is trying to change
history forever, telling us what to
wear, what to inject into our bod-
ies, who we can or cannot assemble
with, and blatantly violate our lives,
liberties, and happiness,” Matthews
said, describing the situation as
“slavery and involuntary servitude.
We cannot stand one more day, one
more minute, or one more second of
this tyranny.”
She encouraged people to write
letters, email, or testify in opposition
to the OHA proposed rules before
Jan. 24.
“If we become a constitutional
county now and pass further resolu-
DOSES
month, so we waited 30 days
until after we got our fl u shot
to get this one. We’re good.”
Continued from A1
Macy Eisland, who was
with two friends who de-
At the drive-thru clinic
On Monday morning, Dec. clined to comment, said they
each had a booster shot.
13, Becky and Bruce Litke
“We’re from Portland and
were among those who took
our friend has property out
advantage of the opportu-
nity for inoculation from the in Sumpter and so we were
just in town,” Eisland said.
comfort of their car.
The couple both got their “We were like, it was going to
booster dose of the Moderna take at least three hours and
two weeks waiting time in
vaccine.
Portland to get it so we were
“We’re elderly, we just
like, we’ll just drive through
want to stay healthy and
here. Very painless.”
we’ve been around a lot of
people we knew who became
sick that didn’t get their
COVID-19 case trends
shots, and died,” Becky Litke
For the fi rst 14 days of
said. “Several people. And
December, Baker County
so, we’re just not ready to
reported 49 cases, an average
die yet. We would have got-
of 3.5 cases per day.
ten our booster earlier, but
That would be the lowest
we didn’t get our last shot
monthly rate since July,
until the end of March and
when the daily average was
then we got our fl u shot last 2.9.
36th death reported
in county
The OHA reported on
Wednesday, Dec. 15 that a
71-year-old man from Baker
County who tested posi-
tive for COVID-19 on Nov.
13 died Dec. 10 at Saint
Alphonsus Medical Center in
Nampa, Idaho.
The presence of underly-
ing conditions had not been
confi rmed.
It was the county’s third
COVID-19-related death
during December.
causing some concern.
“It was a little nerve
wracking for a while,’’ Rether-
Continued from A1
ford said.
The cause of the accident
Fortunately, the railroad was
contacted and the train, which remains under investigation.
According to Aydelotte, Or-
was moving slowly, was able
egon requires a local medical
to stop with plenty of dis-
tance to spare but not before examiner to investigate the
cause and manner of death
when the death is unat-
tended.
The accident blocked both
active rail lines until approxi-
mately 8:45 a.m., when one
of the lines was cleared. The
crash did not close I-84 and no
other vehicles were involved.
CRASH
tions, we will be proactive instead of
reactive by telling them not in our
county, not on our watch, or you will
see the inside of the sheriff’s jail.
Plain and simple,” Matthews said.
Bert Ramos, manager for Lander
County, Nevada, which has passed
a similar resolution, also addressed
Baker County commissioners
Wednesday.
Ramos said that by supporting
the Constitution, law enforcement,
emergency medical services and
other local agencies is how “we keep
our communities great.”
Art Clark, who is a commissioner
from Lander County, said he does not
understand why anyone would be
opposed to “ending all this treason.”
Nichols said he is a student of the
Constitution, is married to a teacher,
has a son who is a principal, and is
a veteran who strongly supports the
Second Amendment, which is cited
in the proposed resolution.
“I am not opposed to the course or
the causes that you guys are pointing
out,” Nichols said.
Nichols said he appreciates the
comments from the public, but that
commissioners need to spend more
time studying, and discussing, the
proposal.
“Unfortunately, that’s painful
have had two doses, and 37%
have had a booster dose.
The comparable percent-
ages statewide are 82.5%
and 49.8% (booster).
• 50 to 64: 49.5% have
had two doses, and 18.2%
have had a booster dose.
The comparable percent-
ages statewide are 79.1%
and 27.9% (booster).
• 20 to 49: 39.4% have
had two doses, and 8.2%
have had a booster dose.
The comparable percent-
ages statewide are 76.9%
and 16.8% (booster).
• 18 to 19: 44.9% have
Vaccination percentages
had two doses, and 4.8%
Baker County continues
to have the fi fth-lowest vac- have had a booster dose.
The comparable percent-
cination rate among Oregon’s
ages statewide are 65.6%
36 counties, with 54.7% of
and 5.1% (booster).
residents 18 and older hav-
• 12 to 17: 25.8% have
ing had at least one dose.
had two doses, and 0.7%
Baker County’s break-
down by age group:
• 65 and older: 65.4%
have had a booster dose.
The comparable percent-
ages statewide are 65.3%
and 1.1% (booster).
• 5 to 11: 8.4% (not eli-
gible for boosters).
The comparable percent-
age statewide is 26.3%.
residents live in the 97814
ZIP code, which includes
Baker City, parts of Baker
Valley and the Keating and
Medical Springs areas.
The vaccination rate is
49.3% — 6,089 of 12,348
residents 18 and older hav-
ing had at least one dose.
Other areas:
Vaccination rate by
• 97834, Halfway/Pine
ZIP code
Valley: 461 of 904, 51%
The Sumpter area has
• 97907, Huntington: 220
the highest vaccination rate
in Baker County at 60.6% of of 501, 43.9%
• 97833, Haines: 405 of
residents 18 and older — 171
of 282 — having had at least 740, 54.7%
• 97870, Richland/Eagle
one dose, according to OHA.
The area with the lowest Valley: 271 of 798, 34%
vaccination rate is Oxbow,
• 97905, Durkee: 45 of 85,
at the far eastern edge of
52.9%
the county, where 33 of 216
• 97819 and 97837,
residents 18 and older have Bridgeport/Hereford: 24 of
had at least one dose, a rate 77, 31.2%
of 15.3%.
• 97884, Unity: 59 of 129,
A majority of the county’s 45.7%
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but that’s the way our government
works,” Nichols said.
The proposed resolution states
that “the Baker County Commission-
ers proudly join the Constitutional
Sheriffs and Police Offi cers Asso-
ciation and that the undersigned
commissioners do hereby denounce
any acts or agencies that promote
the aforementioned practices. 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 Indepen-
dence, and the Bill of Rights.”
“If we become a constitutional
county now and pass further resolu-
tions, we will be proactive instead of
reactive by telling them not in our
county, not on our watch, or you will
see the inside of the sheriff’s jail.
Plain and simple,” Matthews said.
“Commissioner Mark Bennett
said a lot of county residents are still
worried about the pandemic.
“I had one lady that just literally
called and talked to me for over half
an hour,” Bennett said. “She was
bawling and she was accusing me
of killing her. And my heart went
out to her. My heart went out that
anyone would be that scared, just
fl at out scared.”
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