A2 BAKER CITY HERALD • THURSDAY, JANUARY 6, 2022
Local
TURNING BACK THE PAGES
50 YEARS AGO
from the Democrat-Herald
January 6, 1972
Canyon City’s Jim Sproul dominated the winner’s circle in
the Sumpter Valley Days snowmobile races, capturing four
fi rsts and a second.
25 YEARS AGO
from the Baker City Herald
January 6, 1997
Workers hope to reopen one lane of Highway 86 between
Halfway and Oxbow to local traffi c only by Tuesday afternoon.
The highway, which has been blocked by slides and
washouts since early New Year’s Day, remained offi cially
closed today.
“I let the school bus through this morning, but we had
to help it with a cat (tractor),” said Mike Barry, operations
coordinator for the Oregon Department of Transportation and
project manager for the repair work.
10 YEARS AGO
from the Baker City Herald
January 6, 2012
Sister Kay Marie Duncan smiles at the reason she sought
a position with Pathway Hospice.
“I needed a job,” she says.
They asked her to be volunteer coordinator and chaplain
for both offi ces in Baker City and Ontario.
“From no job I went to four,” she says.
This month she retired after 10 years with Pathway.
“A great 10 years,” she says.
It was more than just a job — she’s spent countless hours
visiting and praying with patients diagnosed with a terminal
illness.
ONE YEAR AGO
from the Baker City Herald
January 7, 2021
Volunteers draped in medical garments were prepped and
ready to go at noon Wednesday outside Baker High School as
residents lined up in their vehicles to get a free COVID-19 test.
The event, which ran from noon to 5 p.m., was the second
in Baker City.
During the fi rst free testing clinic, on Dec. 16, 130 people
were tested. Two of those were positive for COVID-19. The
total of tests given Wednesday wasn’t available by press time.
Evelynn Spivey, 68, of Baker City, said her main motivation
to get tested was to rule out the possibility that she’s carrying
the virus.
“The assurance of not being COVID positive, and being
safe for myself and my family and extended members,” Spivey
said.
Baker City resident Celinda Linscott, who works at a health
care facility, also said she was looking for reassurance.
“I just want to make sure that I don’t have it. I have been
around a lot of people and it’s just a preventative mostly,”
Linscott, 41, said.
She said she was impressed with how she was able to get
through the entire process with ease.
“It was super easy, quick and not an issue at all,” Linscott
said.
Though Spivey shares similar sentiment as far as the
process, she believes improvements could be made on
describing the testing location.
“Several folks were a bit confused on where to go,” Spivey
said.
Jason Yencopal, Baker County’s emergency management
director, said another free testing clinic is scheduled for Jan.
20, also from noon to 5 p.m. in the same parking lot at the
northwest corner of the BHS campus.
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SENIOR MENUS
FRIDAY: Chicken cordon bleu with hollandaise, mixed
vegetables, rolls, applesauce, cheesecake
MONDAY: Chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes with gravy,
carrots, rolls, pea-and-onion salad, cookies
TUESDAY: Herb baked chicken with gravy, rice pilaf, rolls,
carrot-raisin salad, brownies
WEDNESDAY: Turkey a la king over a biscuit, mixed
vegetables, fruit cup, cinnamon rolls
THURSDAY: Chicken broccoli fettuccine, zucchini and
tomatoes, garlic bread, three-bean salad, bread pudding
Public luncheon at the Senior Center, 2810 Cedar St., from
11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.; $5 donation (60 and older), $7.50
for those under 60.
CONTACT THE HERALD
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Telephone: 541-523-3673
Fax: 541-833-6414
Publisher
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ISSN-8756-6419
Serving Baker County since 1870
Published Tuesdays, Thursdays and
Saturdays except Christmas Day by the
Baker Publishing Co., a part of EO Media
Group, at 2005 Washington Ave., Suite 101
(P.O. Box 807), Baker City, OR 97814.
Subscription rates per month are $10.75
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Postmaster: Send address changes to
the Baker City Herald, P.O. Box 807, Baker
City, OR 97814.
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at Pendleton, Oregon 97801
Copyright © 2021
School
Continued from A1
On Monday, Jan. 3, the Ore-
gon Department of Education
and Oregon Health Authority
(OHA) suggested schools either
cease extracurricular activi-
ties or require students to wear
masks, as they do during classes
(see related story below).
It is a suggestion but not a
mandate, with the decision left
to local officials.
Witty said he met the morn-
ing of Jan. 5 with the Baker
County Health Department to
discuss the situation.
Baker County reported 17
COVID-19 cases on Tuesday,
Jan. 4 — the highest one-day
total in three months, since 18
cases were reported on Oct. 6.
The OHA also reported that
a 78-year-old Baker County
man died Nov. 28 after testing
positive on Oct. 28. It was the
county’s 37th COVID-19-re-
lated death, and the first re-
ported since Dec. 10. The man
had underlying conditions.
With the much more conta-
gious, but less virulent, omicron
variant likely the dominant
strain of the virus across Oregon,
case numbers are rising rapidly.
Baker County reported 37
cases during the first four days
of January, after reporting 106
for the whole of December.
The number of Oregonians
hospitalized due to COVID-19
remains less than half of the
record set during the delta
variant surge in September.
Witty said the school dis-
trict’s goal hasn’t changed.
“Our primary goal remains
to keep kids in school as much
as possible and to have as
many extracurricular events as
we can,” he said.
Witty acknowledged, how-
ever, that achieving that goal
could be difficult, and for a va-
riety of reasons.
“We’re going to be chal-
lenged,” he said.
In classrooms, the number
of teachers and other staff who
are missing work has increased
this week, in some cases due to
COVID-19 infection or expo-
sure, and in other cases due to
other illnesses.
As many as nine employees
at South Baker Intermediate
School, which houses grades four
through six, have been out this
week, from a staff of about 45.
At Baker High School, nine
workers, out of a staff of about
62, were out on Tuesday, Jan. 4.
“So far we’ve been able to get
by, but that might not always
be possible,” Witty said.
He encourages staff and stu-
dents to continue to follow the
familiar precautions, including
wearing masks, washing their
hands frequently and maintain-
ing distance when possible.
But the most vital thing, Witty
emphasized, is that people who
feel ill need to stay home.
He said he understands that
people often feel compelled to
go to work, or school or sports
practice, even when they don’t
feel well.
But with the virus remaining
prevalent, that dogged attitude
could backfire if an employee
or student ends up spreading
the virus.
“That could be the very thing
that shuts us down,” Witty said.
“We need everybody’s help.”
He also pointed out that in
terms of sports, Baker’s sched-
ules depend not only on what
happens here, but also the sit-
uation in other counties and
school districts.
If other schools have COVID
issues, they might need to cancel
or postpone games, Witty said.
The OHA also reported that
a 78-year-old Baker County
man died Nov. 28 after testing
positive on Oct. 28. It was the
county’s 37th COVID-19-re-
lated death, and the first re-
ported since Dec. 10. The man
had underlying conditions.
Schools asked to halt extracurricular
activities as COVID cases surge
BY COURTNEY VAUGHN
Oregon Capital Bureau
As Oregon’s education and health agen-
cies warn that the omicron variant of
COVID-19 may have crippling impacts on
schools, the agencies recommended the
pause of extracurricular activities.
In a school health advisory Monday,
Jan. 3, the Oregon Department of Educa-
tion and Oregon Health Authority called
the need for layered mitigation strategies
like vaccinations, boosters, frequent hand
washing, masks and distancing at schools
“more critical now than at any other time
during this pandemic.”
The state agencies are asking schools to
either pause extracurricular activities or
keep the same rules in place that are fol-
lowed during the school day, like wearing
masks.
The use of diagnostic testing and vacci-
nations is also recommended, if sports or
other group activities continue.
“If schools and other organizations pro-
ceed with extracurricular activities, espe-
cially as these activities move indoors and
individuals are unmasked, they should ex-
pect rapid transmission of COVID-19 that
will prevent students from participating
in in-person learning due to isolation for
those that contract COVID-19 and lengthy
quarantines for those that come into close
contact with infected individuals,” the
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
Baker’s Sydnee Pierce dribbles against a
Fruitland player on Dec. 15, 2021, in the
Baker gym.
health advisory message warns. “This risk
should be clearly communicated to fami-
lies participating in these extracurricular
activities.”
The recommendation comes as school
sports, music and theater performances
have fully resumed, with in-person specta-
tors at live events.
In the same advisory, the state agencies
simultaneously advocated for a “shorter”
seven-day quarantine period after expo-
sure to the coronavirus, to keep students
and educators in the classroom as much as
possible.
This is different from the recently up-
dated Centers for Disease Control and Pre-
vention guidelines for shorter quarantine
periods. The state agencies said they are
consulting with the CDC to find out what
the new guidance means for schools.
Under current directives, if a student
or staff member shows symptoms of
COVID-19 or is a close contact of some-
one infected, they must stay home. A new
test-to-stay protocol slated to take effect
this month would allow them to return to
school on the eighth day of quarantine, as
long as they test negative five to seven days
after exposure.
“As Oregon fully experiences the impacts
of the omicron variant over the next several
weeks, student access to in-person instruc-
tion is under serious threat,” the health
advisory states. “While early data indicate
that the Omicron variant may result in less
severe disease than previous variants, it is
increasingly clear that the omicron variant
spreads much more quickly and easily than
all previous variants.”
The OHA and ODE are urging school
districts to partner with healthcare provid-
ers to offer vaccine clinics and encourage
eligible students to get their shots.
Snowbound cattle rescued in Wallowa County
BY BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
IMNAHA — An investiga-
tion is ongoing into possibly
neglected cattle — many of
which had young calves — in
deep snows on U.S. Forest Ser-
vice land in the Upper Imnaha
area, Wallowa County Sher-
iff Joel Fish confirmed Friday,
Dec. 31.
Fish stated in an email the
investigation was started after
learning the magnitude of the
situation Dec. 19.
“Wallowa County is moving
toward seizing the Dean Ore-
gon Ranch cattle for neglect,
and we are investigating possi-
ble criminal charges,” Fish said
in the email.
Fish said the sheriff’s office
is “assisting with the retrieval
of the cattle on the Forest Ser-
vice grazing permits on the
Marr Flat C&H Allotment. We
have had deputies on snowmo-
biles assisting since that date.”
There have been numerous
volunteers helping in the res-
cue efforts, as confirmed by
county Commission Chair-
man Todd Nash and volun-
teers with the Wallowa County
Humane Society.
Social media alert
One of the first widespread
alerts came in a Facebook post
by Craig Stockdale, who was
one of the first to discover the
cattle on the 200 Road south of
Salt Creek.
“I just came upon them
snowmobiling,” Stockdale said
Jan. 1.
He said the post mobilized
rescuers — both those out
finding the cattle and those
with facilities to care for the
rescued livestock — and he has
since taken it down.
Kathy Gisler Reynolds, a
volunteer with the Humane
Society, shared a post of the
cattle Dec. 29. Photos posted
on Facebook showed a cow up
to its neck in snow and unable
to move.
“I was alerted to it yesterday
by the ranchers who have been
out there trying to save them,”
Reynolds said Dec. 30.
She listed several people who
were involved in rescuing and
caring for the cattle and their
calves, calling some of them
“heroes.”
“Some were too weak to
even move,” she said of the cat-
tle, adding that although rescu-
ers were able to retrieve calves,
a number of the adult cows had
to be euthanized.
Stockdale and Anna Butter-
field, who with her husband,
Mark, ranches northeast of
Joseph, confirmed the cattle
are on the Bob Dean Oregon
Ranch managed by B.J. War-
nock.
Dean lives in the Deep South
and Warnock was not at liberty
to provide contact information.
The ranch
Warnock issued a statement
on the situation by email Jan. 2.
“I am not aware of any plans
or attempts to seize any assets,”
he said.
He also described the situ-
ation.
“Dean Oregon Ranches
cows were all purchased in
Oregon and Washington and
began arriving on Dean Or-
egon Ranches property Oc-
tober of 2020 and continued
arriving through July of 2021.
The cows were a mixture of
spring and fall calvers,” War-
nock said.
See, Cattle /Page A3
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