THURSDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2021
BAKER CITY HERALD — A3

EOU being cautious about booster requirements
By ANDREW CUTLER
The (La Grande) Observer
LA GRANDE — Ofﬁ cials at East-
ern Oregon University are keeping
their options open about instituting
COVID-19 booster shot requirements
amid a sharp national spike in coro-
navirus cases driven by the highly
transmissible omicron variant.
Tim Seydel, EOU’s vice president
for university advancement, said the
university in La Grande is not yet re-
quiring boosters but has been having
conversations about a requirement,
especially in light of the University of
Oregon’s Twitter announcement Dec.
20 that it would require booster shots
as omicron reached Oregon, saying
students, faculty and staff should get
the extra dose “as soon as they are
eligible.”
“Our focus probably right now is
continuing to watch what’s happen-
ing, monitoring the situation, and
recommendations from health ofﬁ -
cials statewide and of course, locally,”
Seydel said. “There’s no requirement
POWER
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behalf, has “contacted the
Respondent several times to
request access to survey, test,
and sample the Property.
Respondent has not granted
Idaho Power access to the
Property.”
Berg said the company
needs access to the properties
to do a variety of surveys.
According to the court
petitions, this work is needed
“to ensure the proposed path
complies with federal and
EFSC (Oregon Energy Facility
Siting Council) permitting and
siting requirements, including
MANAGER
Continued from A1
The mandate applies to
health care workers, including
the city’s ﬁ reﬁ ghters, who also
operate ambulances.
Ultimately, the city didn’t
have to make any cuts in
its ambulance service, as af-
fected employees were either
vaccinated or received an
exemption.
“I mean, the whole vaccine
mandate and the challenge
of how do we manage that
with our ﬁ re department, the
ambulance service, that was
a little nerve-wracking at the
potential of that reducing our
ability to provide service like
we need to,” Cannon said.
In addition, the City Coun-
cil in August directed Cannon
to consult with attorneys re-
garding a possible lawsuit the
city might ﬁ le challenging the
governor’s executive orders.
The city ended up not ﬁ ling
a suit, but Cannon said the
directive was his responsibility
as the city no longer has a full-
time attorney on staff.
“I guess any time a local
government wants to take on
a lawsuit like that, normally
OMICRON
Continued from A3
The U.S. Centers for Dis-
ease Control and Prevention
reported Monday that just
under 62% of all Americans
— over 205 million people
— have had two shots of the
Pﬁ zer or Moderna vaccine
or one shot of the Johnson &
Johnson vaccine. While 66
million people have had a
booster shot, another 66 mil-
lion remain totally unvacci-
nated. Both ﬁ gures are about
22% of the population.
The numbers are shifting
toward more protection, with
the CDC reporting an aver-
requires all of EOU’s on-campus staff
and students to be fully vaccinated
for COVID-19 or to have an approved
religious, philosophical or medical
exemption. Seydel said on-campus
vaccination rates for employees and
students is 75-80%. The school has
spent the holiday break reminding
students and staff to be safe if they
Oregon Public Broadcasting/Contributed Photo were traveling.
“When we start up again, all
Students walk on the Eastern Or-
unvaccinated students, if they can’t,
egon University campus during
don’t have proof, then they’ll get
the 2021 fall term.
tested,” he said. “And then we’ll
right now for students or employees continue monitoring them and our
to have a booster as we start with our employees. If they’re vaccinated we
winter term. We’re going to continue already have their proof. And then if
they’re unvaccinated, then we’d have
to monitor to see how the situation
them continue to do their weekly or
evolves.”
Seydel said with so many moving daily health checks.”
As the omicron surge unfolds
parts and differing projections, East-
ern Oregon ofﬁ cials continue to meet nationwide, Seydel said Eastern
on a weekly basis with the Center for Oregon does not anticipate a change
Human Development to stay abreast in on-campus activities.
“Eastern put protocols in place
of COVID-19’s impact locally.
and worked to have students in class
The school instituted a vac-
on campus, even at limited capacity,”
cination mandate in October that
that it does not conﬂ ict with
any protected resources.”
The petitions list the fol-
lowing surveys and inspec-
tions that Idaho Power wants
to do on each of the ﬁ ve
parcels:
• Pygmy rabbit survey
(2022)
• Rare plant inspection
(2022)
• Wetlands inspection
(2022 or 2023)
• Terrestrial visual encoun-
ter survey (2022)
• Raptor survey (2022)
• Noxious weeds survey
(2022)
• Land survey (2022)
• Appraisal ﬁ eld visit
(2022)
“Because construction on
the B2H project is scheduled
to start as early as 2023, Idaho
Power must begin surveying,
testing, and sampling the
Property in 2022,” each of the
four petitions states.
Berg said Idaho Power
typically sends three letters
to each property owner before
ﬁ ling petitions in court.
“We prefer to work
directly through landowners,
and we encourage people
(who are respondents in
court ﬁ lings) to contact us as
soon as they can,” Berg said.
“We much prefer to handle it
out of court. We don’t want to
force the issue in court.”
Berg said the owners of
he said. “That really worked well for
our students, and we want to keep
doing that.”
Seydel said the school has been
successful in keeping case counts low
this fall, an indication that EOU’s
protocol is working and that students
are making sure to monitor them-
selves.
“If they’re not feeling good, they’re
getting over to our Student Health
Center and getting tested,” he said.
Seydel said Eastern Oregon
will continue to hold vaccine clinics
during the winter term to further
encourage the extra shot. During
two recent clinics held on campus,
approximately 80 booster shots were
given, according to Seydel.
“We’ve had four clinics already,
and we’re planning to hold another
one in January. And at the last one,
we had just a lot of booster shots,
which again is another really good
indicator,” he said. “We had a lot of
students and employees going in to
get their booster.”
about 65% of the private land
in Baker County that are
along the line’s proposed route
have given Idaho Power access
for surveys and inspections.
Of the remaining 35%,
most have not responded to
the company’s requests, he
said.
Two property owners have
denied access to their land,
Berg said.
He declined to say whether
either of those property own-
ers is among the ﬁ ve that are
the subject of the company’s
current court petitions.
The petitions seek access to
the properties through Oregon
Revised Statute 772.210,
which states that power com-
panies can “enter upon lands
for the purpose of examining,
locating and surveying the line
thereof and also other lands
necessary and convenient for
the purpose of construction of
service facilities, doing no un-
necessary damage thereby.”
That law also enables
power companies to acquire
real property for the purpose
of building and maintaining
transmission lines.
The petitions ask a judge
to grant Idaho Power access
to the ﬁ ve properties, as well
as a judgment for “Idaho
Power’s costs and disburse-
ments incurred herein and
for any other relief the court
deems appropriate.”
I think you’d have your city
attorney attack that but a
number of years ago the city
decided to go with a contract
attorney as opposed to having
somebody in house, so who
else is it going to fall on but the
city manager?” Cannon said.
He said he was happy to
do what the council asked,
despite his concerns.
“You know, honestly, it’s a
tough thing for a city to try
to ‘sue the governor’ or ‘sue
the state’, especially a city
our size, we just don’t have
the resources to do that sort
of thing,” he said. “It made
me a little nervous on the
long-term ramiﬁ cations of
that but I did the best I could
with that.”
Cannon said he’ll let others
decide whether it’s a good
thing the city didn’t ﬁ le a suit.
“I did what I was asked.
As a city manager, that’s your
job — the council says, ‘hey,
get this done’, you go, ‘OK, I’ll
ﬁ gure that out,’” Cannon said.
He noted that other legal
challenges were ﬁ led against
the governor’s mandates. None
thus far has been successful.
Although taking on a
task typically delegated to an
attorney posed a new chal-
lenge, Cannon is no stranger
to the myriad roles that can
confront a city manager.
In Saluda, with a much
smaller population and bud-
get than Baker City’s, he was
also responsible for public
works, zoning and other areas
for which Baker City has
administrators.
“I don’t want anything to
imply that I get to sit back
here and watch everybody
else work, that’s far from the
truth,” he said. “But it is nice
because we’re able to do a lot
more and tackle a lot more
projects because other people
are working on it. So, in some
ways the change from the
smaller city to a bigger city is
a lot easier. In other ways, it’s
more challenging because you
have more things to navigate.”
In the midst of a turmoil
that has affected all segments
of society over the past two
years, Cannon said he has
also been working with coun-
cilors on a variety of projects
and goals.
“We’re looking hard in our
budgets, catching up our audit,
and improving processes
across the whole city,” he said.
He emphasized that there
has been “a lot of good things
that have happened” in his
ﬁ rst year here, including re-
organizing the budget process
and beginning a “deep dive”
on the needs of IT, personnel,
and other areas.
Cannon said he has focused
on making sure the work en-
vironment at City Hall and in
other departments is positive.
Another emphasis is on
making sure all departments,
including police and ﬁ re, have
the equipment they need to
best serve citizens.
“We’re making headway on
those regards and, so, we have
a long ways to go but a lot of
good things have happened
even with all the challenges,”
Cannon said.
Cannon said he and his
family, which includes his wife
and their three children, have
been welcomed to Baker City,
and the people here are kind
and generous.
“I just am grateful for the
opportunity to be here. People
have been so kind and wel-
coming,” he said.
Cannon’s contract had
an initial annual salary of
$105,000. That was increased
to $110,000 in the budget for
the ﬁ scal year that started
July 1, 2021.
age of just over 1.03 million
shots put in arms every day.
Older adults, who are at a
higher risk of severe illness
from COVID-19, are getting
vaccinated at a higher rate
than the general public. CDC
says 57% of adults 65 and old-
er who have been vaccinated
have also received a booster.
Only 35% of the entire popu-
lation has been vaccinated
and had a booster.
With OHSU forecasting
that the omicron variant
spike will peak on Feb. 9, the
Legislature is considering its
options for the 2022 session,
which begins Feb. 1 and ends
35 days later.
Senate President Peter
Courtney and House Speaker
Tina Kotek issued a state-
ment regarding possible
impacts of Omicron on the
short session:
“The new forecast from
OHSU is concerning. It is too
early to tell what impact the
Omicron variant will have
on the February session. We
continue to consult infectious
disease doctors and public
health experts to keep Or-
egonians safe while ensuring
strong public participation in
the legislative process.”
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“A signiﬁ cant snow-
fall is possible Monday-
Wednesday, even at lower
elevations,” according to the
Weather Service’s forecast
discussion posted Wednes-
day morning, Dec. 29.
The weather shift that
started on Christmas Eve
interrupted what had been
a relatively mild and dry
December.
From Dec. 1-23, the aver-
age high temperature at
the Baker City Airport was
38.7 degrees, about three
degrees warmer than usual.
The temperature topped
40 degrees on 10 of those
days, including 45 degrees
on Dec. 23 — 11 degrees
above average for that date.
But since then the tem-
perature has been above
freezing only brieﬂ y, and
not at all since Christmas
Day.
The low temperature of
2 degrees on Dec. 28 was
the chilliest reading in
2021. It’s possible, though,
that the temperature will
go lower still before 2021
concludes.
With consecutive lows of
5 (on Dec. 27) and 2, the last
week of the year seemed
frigid compared with the
rest of the month, but
neither temperature came
close to threatening the
record lows for those days.
The record low for Dec.
27 is 13 below zero, set in
1994. The record for Dec. 28
is 14 below, set in 2011.
The all-time record low
for Baker City is 39 below
zero, set on Dec. 30, 1978.
Patrons can reserve materials in advance online or by
calling 541-523-6419. In the past week, Baker County Li-
brary has added 20 new bestsellers, one audiobooks, nine
movies, 15 children’s books, and 64 other books, including
50 that are available online. See everything new to Baker
County Library District at wowbrary.org. Materials fea-
tured, and in library collection, does not indicate endorse-
ment or approval of contents by the library. Selections are
based on factors such as demand, public interest, diversity
of viewpoint, community relevance, and others.
FICTION
• “The Christmas Pig,” J. K. Rowling
• “The Death of Jane Lawrence,” Caitlin Starling
• “Flying Angels,” Danielle Steel
• “The Trouble With Peace (The Age of Madness, Vol. 2),”
Joe Abercrombie
• “Elinor: A Riveting Story Based on the Lost Colony of
Roanoke),” Shannon McNear
NONFICTION
• “Hearth: A Global Conversation on Identity, Commu-
nity, and Place,” Annick Smith and Susan O’connor
• “Lightning Down: A World War II Story of Survival,”
Tom Clavin
• “The Weekday Vegetarians: 100 Recipes and a Real-Life
Plan for Eating Less Meat,” Jenny Rosenstrach
• “These Precious Days: Essays,” Ann Patchett
• “They Called Us “Lucky”: The Life and Afterlife of
the Iraq War’s Hardest Hit Unit,” Ruben Gallego and Jim
DeFelice
DVDS
• “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” (Sci-Fi)
• “The Mitchells Vs. the Machines” (Animation)
• “Creed II” (Drama)
• “The man who killed Don Quixote” (Comedy)
• “The Auschwitz report” (Drama)
Thank
The many
expressions
of City,
love ” and
support,
To
our you! 
“extended
family
of Baker
thank
you
given
to
us
during
this
time
of
great
loss,
were
an
for all of your love, prayers, and support. We are
immeasurable
comfort.  of The
Gray’s
West
& to
Co.,
so blessed because
you help
all! from
Also,
thank
you
planning the service.  All the cards, flowers, food, phone
Windy at Gray’s West & Co. for going above and
calls, and memorial contributions were very
beyond and to Rick Gloria for representing a fellow
much appreciated.
veteran!
God is good!
The
of Troy
Rick Stewart
Taylor
The family
family of
excellent service
LOCALLY!
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Continued from A3
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