SPORTS A5
OUTDOORS & REC B1
TUESDAY
Baker beats Fruitland
Snow drifts create a frozen desert
High school sports roundup
IN THIS EDITION: LOCAL • OUTDOORS & REC • SPORTS
BRIEFING
—————
Baker County seeks
volunteers for
committees
Baker County is seeking
volunteers to serve on several
committees, boards and
commissions.
Anyone interested must
submit a volunteer form.
Forms are available online at
www.bakercounty.org/com-
missioners. More information
is available by calling the
county commissioners’ offi ce
at 541-523-8200 or by email-
ing Heidi Martin at hmartin@
bakercounty.org.
Home Builders group
off ers scholarships
The Northeast Oregon
Home Builders Association is
offering two $1,500 schol-
arships to help educate and
train individuals in a profes-
sion related to the building
industry.
Applicants must currently
be a senior enrolled in high
school, enrolled as a college
student or in a qualifi ed
apprenticeship program. The
students must be a resident
of Umatilla, Morrow, Union,
Baker, or Wallowa County
and have an interest in or
intend to pursue a career in
the construction profession.
Scholarship application forms
are available at:
• www.neohba.com
• www.columbiabasinstu-
denthomes.org
• Local high school coun-
seling offi ces
Deadline for application is
April 15, 2022.
WEATHER
—————
Today
32/16
Partly cloudy
Sunday
28/13
Mostly sunny
Monday
29/14
Increasing clouds
Full forecast on the back
of the B section.
The space below is for a postage label
for issues that are mailed.
Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
JANUARY 8, 2022 • $1.50
‘We serve’
Baker City
Lions Club
continues
projects amid
declining
membership
Officials
optimistic
that omicron
effects will be
less severe
BY LISA BRITTON
lbritton@bakercityherald.com
The Lions go about string-
ing lights, working in a co-
ordinated way that shows
they’ve done this many,
many times.
And as they unwind
strings and test to make sure
the bulbs glow, they catch
up on each other’s lives and
ask how other members are
doing.
Decorating several struc-
tures at Geiser-Pollman Park
for the holiday season is just
one community service proj-
ect of the Baker City Lions
Club.
The local Lions club was
founded in August 1929. The
national organization started
to 1917. It went international
in 1920.
“We do a lot of things
for the community and the
kids,” said Jeff Nelson, cur-
rent president of the Baker
City club. “The Lions are
wonderful — they have a
good time, they enjoy it, and
they enjoy each other.”
Nelson has been a mem-
ber for about 18 years.
Gregg Hinrichsen joined
about 30 years ago.
“It’s a very positive, ener-
getic group of people who I
enjoy spending time with,”
he said.
Steve Fiddler joined about
seven years ago.
“I was a good friend of
someone who was a mem-
ber and he talked me into it,”
Fiddler said. “It’s been a lot of
fun. The commitment of the
core group is really dedicated
to the community.”
But this club, like many
service organizations, is try-
ing to do the same projects
with fewer members.
Today’s membership is
about 35.
“Compared to 52 about
two years ago,” Nelson said.
And of those 35, about 14
actively participate in meet-
COVID
cases
surge
BY JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
Baker City Lions Debby Ray, left, Jeff Nelson and Steve Fiddler decorated the gazebo at Geiser Poll-
man Park with lights on Dec. 2, 2021.
ings and committees.
Blake Marlia, who joined
the Lions about 18 years ago,
is worried about the declin-
ing membership.
“The biggest thing is to
figure out the next genera-
tion — how to inspire them
to help out,” he said.
He saw the Lions Club as
a good way to volunteer in
Baker City.
“I wanted to be involved
in the community,” he said.
“This was an easy way to do
that. It’s a good avenue for
people to volunteer.”
And he likes the company.
“They’re fun,” he said of
his fellow Lions.
One of their more visible
club projects — and fund-
raiser — is serving breakfast
on Saturday and Sunday of
Miners Jubilee every July.
In 2021, the Lions recruited
extra help from the Kiwanis
Club and a local volleyball
team.
Other projects include
serving dinner at Commu-
nity Night Out every Au-
gust, tending burn barrels
and providing hot cocoa at
the tree lighting in Decem-
ber, and various projects
along the Leo Adler Me-
morial Parkway, such as the
exercise zone near Kirkway
and H streets and the me-
morial park just north of
Broadway Street.
Nelson said the summer
of 2022 will see the addition
of a memorial wall in that
park to honor Lions who
have passed away. The club
is working with Natural
Structures.
The surge in COVID-19
cases has arrived in Baker
County, but local officials say
they’re optimistic that because
the new omi-
cron variant
is less viru-
lent than ear-
lier strains,
there won’t
be a repeat of
the rapid rise
in hospital-
Staten
izations and
deaths that
followed pre-
vious surges.
“Hope-
fully that’s the
case,” Nancy
Staten, di-
rector of the
Bennett
Baker County
Health Department, said on
Friday morning, Jan. 7.
“This variant isn’t as viru-
lent as the delta variant, but if
you have underlying health is-
sues there is still that risk,” said
Baker County Commissioner
Mark Bennett, who has served
as the county’s incident com-
mander throughout the pan-
demic.
“There are still folks that this
(omicron variant) will be really,
really impacting,” Bennett said
on Jan. 7.
Baker County reported 27
cases on Thursday, Jan. 6. That’s
the highest one-day total since
27 cases on Sept. 16, during the
peak of the surge driven by the
delta variant.
There were 17 cases in the
county on both Wednesday,
Jan. 5, and Tuesday, Jan. 4.
See, COVID/Page A3
OREGON LEGISLATURE
Owens
seeks to
curb
the
Warming shelter unlikely this winter governor’s
power
“I think if we raise the bar
to the level where they’ve got
Baker County Commis-
to go and they have to meet
sioner Mark Bennett said
with the officer and they
during a meeting Wednesday, have to show something and
Jan. 5, that he doesn’t think it then we connect them up
will be possible to open a tem- and they have services,” Ben-
porary warming shelter for
nett said.
homeless residents this winter.
He said the goal is to en-
“I don’t see how we could sure people have some pro-
get anything done before
tection from winter weather.
winter’s over,” Bennett said.
Then commissioners and
He said the county lacks
other officials can continue
community support, a de-
the discussion later this year
tailed plan and people to
about potentially opening a
work at a shelter.
warming shelter.
Bennett suggested as an
Bennett and Commis-
alternative that the county
sioner Bruce Nichols voted
supply local police agencies for a motion to provide the
with sleeping bags and tents sleeping bags and tents.
that officers could give, at
Commission Chairman
their discretion, to people
Bill Harvey, who initially
who need them.
proposed the warming shel-
He also said police can
ter on Dec. 1, 2021, did not
encourage homeless res-
vote on the motion.
idents to seek services
“I still believe there should
through agencies such as
be something done on an
New Directions Northwest emergency basis, my own
and the Oregon Depart-
personal opinion obviously,
ment of Human Services.
as far as cold weather con-
BY SAMANTHA O’CONNER
soconner@bakercityherald.com
TODAY
Issue 101
12 pages
Classifieds ........................B3
Comics ..............................B5
Community News.............A2
See, Lions/Page A6
Among the issues Smith
cited are how many people
would actually use a shelter,
the potential that a shelter
could attract people from
outside the area, and pos-
sibly competing with other
organizations that work
to solve the root causes of
homelessness.
“Would it not be better
to coordinate and support
the efforts of those em-
Resident expresses concerns ployed in the endeavor al-
ready?” Smith said. “Why
about fairgrounds
During the commissioners do we not make arrange-
Jan. 5 meeting, Suzi Smith
ments to transport those in
expressed concerns about a
need right now over to the
warming shelter and urged
overnight warming center
commissioners to not pursue that La Grande already has?
opening one in Baker City.
Would a supporting role
“After listening to Bill
with the warming shelter
Harvey’s proposal at the
in La Grande not solve the
Baker City Council work
emergency and also give
session, I’m convinced that us time to better assess the
it’s not necessary, it would
problem and seek solutions
be both expensive finan-
before making unnecessary
cially and detrimental to the mistakes?”
quality of life in Baker City,”
Smith said.
See, Shelter/Page A6
cerns that we have from time
to time,” Harvey said.
After commissioners ini-
tially discussed a warming
shelter Dec. 1, the Baker City
Council had a work session
on Dec. 29.
Baker City Police Chief Ty
Duby said his officers have
been interacting with about
10 homeless people in town
recently.
Crossword ...............B3 & B4
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Letters ...............................A4
Lottery Results .................A2
News of Record ................A2
Obituaries ................... A2-A3
Opinion .............................A4
Outdoors & Rec ...............B1
BY STEVEN MITCHELL
Blue Mountain Eagle
CRANE — A state lawmaker
from Eastern Oregon will look
to trim the powers of state gov-
ernment during an emergency
when the Legislature meets for
a short session in February.
A bill written by Rep. Mark
Owens,
R-Crane,
whose dis-
trict in-
cludes Baker
County,
would amend
Oregon’s
Constitution
Owens
to spell out
when gover-
nors can declare emergencies,
what powers they can exercise
and, more importantly, how
long they can unilaterally keep
them in place.
See, Owens/Page A3
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Sports ...............................A5
Weather ............................B6