A2 BAKER CITY HERALD • TUESDAY, JANUARY 11, 2022
Local
BAKER COUNTY CALENDAR
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 12
Baker County Board of Commissioners: 11:30 a.m.
special session at the Baker County Event Center at
the Fairgrounds, 2600 East St. Commissioners will
discuss a proposed “constitutional county” resolution.
Commissioners will also have a work session at 5 p.m.
at the Courthouse, 1995 Third St., to discuss the North
Baker Transportation Improvement Plan.
TURNING BACK THE PAGES
50 YEARS AGO
from the Democrat-Herald
January 10, 1972
The city council passed a motion last night to sign
a resolution to authorize the mayor and city recorder to
sign an agreement with the state highway commission to
construct a traffi c light at 10th and C streets. The city will
pay one-quarter of the $7,000 project which will amount to
two lights, one on each side of the street.
25 YEARS AGO
from the Baker City Herald
January 10, 1997
Last week’s fl oods and mudslides caused an estimated
$443,000 in damage in Baker County.
That preliminary tally doesn’t include damage to
Highway 86 between Halfway and Oxbow, or to Idaho
Power Company property in Hells Canyon, said Rena’
Morrow, the county’s program manager for emergency
management.
10 YEARS AGO
from the Baker City Herald
January 11, 2012
Jerry Welch isn’t used to seeing the parking lot of his
business, Halfway Motels, empty during the second week
of January.
Empty of cars and of snow.
The absence of the latter has a lot to do with the
former.
“The lack of snowmobiling is kind of killing us,” Welch
said Tuesday. “Usually every weekend our parking lot is full
and cars are lined up along the street.”
ONE YEAR AGO
from the Baker City Herald
January 12, 2021
Four of Baker City’s six newly elected city councilors will
be sworn in this afternoon on the front steps of City Hall,
three hours before their fi rst offi cial meeting begins.
The two others are slated to be sworn in during the
meeting this evening.
Councilors Johnny Waggoner Sr., Shane Alderson,
Joanna Dixon and Kerry McQuisten will be sworn in at 4
p.m. on the front steps at City Hall, 1655 First St.
Councilors Heather Sells and Jason Spriet will be sworn
in at the start of the Council’s regular meeting starting at 7
p.m., also at City Hall.
Spriet is the lone incumbent among the six councilors
elected on Nov. 3.
The six will join incumbent Lynette Perry to comprise
the seven-member City Council. Perry is in the middle of a
four-term term and was not up for reelection.
The four councilors who will be sworn in this afternoon
requested that option so their family and friends could
attend since it will happen outside.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, attendance inside City
Hall is limited, and people are required to wear face
masks.
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SENIOR MENUS
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
FRIDAY: Chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes, mixed
vegetables, rolls, ambrosia, cookies
MONDAY (Jan. 17): Closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day
TUESDAY (Jan. 18): Baked ham, candied yams, mixed
vegetables, rolls, fruit cup, cheesecake
WEDNESDAY (Jan. 19): Meatloaf, red potatoes, peas, rolls,
pasta salad, cinnamon rolls
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
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Jayson Jacoby, editor
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ISSN-8756-6419
Serving Baker County since 1870
Published Tuesdays, Thursdays and
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(P.O. Box 807), Baker City, OR 97814.
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Copyright © 2021
Officials mull future of John Day Police Dept.
City suspended
police operations
Oct. 12, 2021, due
to lack of money
BY BENNETT HALL
Blue Mountain Eagle
JOHN DAY — After a two-
month stalemate, discussions
have finally begun between
city and county officials about
how to fill the void left by the
shutdown of the John Day Po-
lice Department in mid-Oc-
tober.
A day after the City Coun-
cil’s Oct. 12 vote to suspend
operations of the financially
strapped police department,
City Manager Nick Green
went to a session of the Grant
County Court to propose a
fund exchange: The city would
give the county $300,000 a
year from its general fund for
law enforcement services if the
county would give the city an
equal amount from its road
fund for street improvements
in John Day.
To date, there has been
no formal response from
the county, while the Grant
County Sheriff ’s Office bears
the burden of policing John
Day with no budget support to
hire additional staff.
Meanwhile, the issue of
law enforcement funding
has continued to fester. It
came up again at the Dec. 14
meeting of the City Council,
which must decide whether
to accept a $375,000 federal
policing grant and reconsti-
tute the city’s police force or,
if the grant terms allow, pass
the money on to the Sheriff ’s
Office.
COVID
Continued from A1
Case counts dropped sub-
stantially through autumn,
with 168 during October, 143
in November, and 106 during
December (the fewest since July
2021).
But over the past 10 days
or so, with the omicron vari-
ant, which experts say is much
more contagious but less viru-
lent than delta, as the dominant
variant, case counts have risen
significantly across Oregon.
With 103 cases during the
first nine days of January, Baker
County has nearly reached the
total for December’s 31 days.
The Oregon Health Author-
ity (OHA) has not reported any
COVID-19-related deaths in
Baker County residents during
January.
The death toll during De-
cember was three, following
four deaths in November, five
in October and six, the most
in any month during the pan-
demic, in September.
Nancy Staten, director of the
Baker County Health Depart-
ment, is encouraging residents
to be vaccinated, including re-
ceiving a booster dose. Every-
one age 12 and older is eligible
for a booster.
Staten pointed to data show-
ing that people who are fully
Steven Mitchell/Blue Mountain Eagle, File
A sign in John Day supports voting to approve a five-year levy to fund
the John Day Police Department. The Aug. 17, 2021, ballot measure,
which required a double majority, failed due to low turnout even
though it got more yes votes than no votes.
A number of councilors
voiced their frustration with
the county’s silence on the
fund exchange proposal, while
Sheriff Todd McKinley urged
both sides to come to the table
and discuss how to pay for law
enforcement services going
forward.
“I think these two bodies
are going to have to solve it,”
McKinley told the council,
“and that’s what they were
elected to do.”
Shortly after the meeting,
the sheriff reached out to the
county’s elected leadership.
“I sent an email to the com-
missioners and the judge and
just said, ‘Come on, guys,
we’ve got to get moving on
this,’” McKinley told the Eagle.
vaccinated are less likely to be
hospitalized or have severe
symptoms if they’re infected
with the omicron variant.
Omicron is causing a higher
percentage of breakthrough
cases — infections in fully vac-
cinated people — than delta
did.
The Health Department,
with assistance from OHA, has
scheduled a drive-thru vacci-
nation clinic on Thursday, Jan.
13, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at
the Baker County Fairgrounds,
2600 East St. (north of Camp-
bell Street).
The clinic is open to every-
one age 5 and older, and all
three vaccines — Moderna,
Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson
— will be available.
Paperwork can be printed
and completed in advance at
bakercountycovid19.com un-
der “vaccine information.”
People who can’t attend
the Jan. 13 clinic can call the
Health Department at 541-
523-8211, or their health care
provider to ask about an ap-
pointment to receive a vaccine.
Baker County, as has been
the case for more than two
months, has the fifth-lowest
vaccination rate among Ore-
gon’s 36 counties, with 55.1% of
residents 18 and older having
had at least one dose.
The statewide average is
81.1%.
News of Record
FUNERAL PENDING
Janice Gyllenberg: A celebration of
Janice’s life will take place Saturday, Jan.
22, at 1 p.m. at the Baker City Church
of the Nazarene, 1250 Hughes Lane.
Friends are invited to join the family
for a dinner reception immediately
following the service at the Family
Life Center adjacent to the Nazarene
Church. For those who would like to
make a donation in Janice’s memory,
the family suggests the Nazarene
Compassion Center either online at
http://neoregoncompassioncenter.org
or through Tami’s Pine Valley Funeral
Home, P.O. Box 543, Halfway, OR 97834.
Online condolences can be shared at
www.tamispinevalleyfuneralhome.com.
POLICE LOG
Baker City Police
Arrests, citations
PAROLE VIOLATION: Jeremy Jay Jones,
49, 8:04 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 8, at Auburn
Avenue and First Street; jailed.
PROBATION VIOLATION: Kimberly Ann
Kirby, 24, Baker City, 6:10 p.m. Friday, Jan.
7, in the 800 block of Elm Street; jailed.
Baker County Sheriff’s Office
Arrests, citations
DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF
INTOXICANTS: Kaleb Edward White, 39,
Haines, 2:16 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 9, on the
Anthony Lakes Highway.
DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF
INTOXICANTS: Shalon Diane Braswell, 43,
Washington, 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 8, on
Interstate 84, Milepost 300 eastbound.
UNAUTHORIZED USE OF A MOTOR
VEHICLE: Brendon Michael Smith, 27,
Baker City, 10:17 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 8, at
the jail, where he was already in custody
on other charges.
• Lumber
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3205 10th Street
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Saturday 8 am - 5 pm
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Some city and county offi-
cials, it appears, were already
thinking along the same lines.
The day after the Dec. 14
council meeting, County
Commissioner Sam Palmer
had a conversation with his
old friend Gregg Haberly, a
city councilor.
“(Haberly) said, ‘Look,
we’ve got to do something,’”
Palmer recalled.
That got the ball rolling.
At Palmer’s request,
McKinley put together a
preliminary funding plan
to provide law enforcement
services to the city of John
Day in addition to patrolling
the rest of Grant County – a
4,500-square-mile area that
the Sheriff ’s Office covers
with just four patrol deputies.
McKinley declined to dis-
close precise dollar figures
until the plan has been re-
viewed by the county’s attor-
ney, but he said the proposal
involves the city transferring
the federal policing grant and
providing enough additional
money to hire three more
deputies and one clerical
worker.
“Those three deputies
would be enough to cover
what needs covered,” he said.
See, Police/Page A3
Douglas (Skip/Skipper) Gail Smith
February 8, 1942 - January 4, 2022
On the afternoon of
January 04, 2022 Douglas
(Skip/Skipper) Gail Smith
passed away at
SCL Hospital in
Miles City, MT.
as a result of
heart failure due
to complications
with COVID-19.
Skip was 79
years old. Skip
was born in the
town of Malta
in Phillips County, MT.
on February 08, 1942. He
was the eldest son of Gail
and Myrtle Smith. He was
raised in Phillips County,
MT on the family farm. He
attended Strater country
school for his elementary
education and attended
public schools in Malta,
MT.
When he was 18, he
joined the US Navy and
was stationed in Imperial
Beach California where
he served as a sonar tech-
nician in the airborne he-
licopter
anti-submarine
warfare unit. In the height
of his military service
aboard the aircraft carrier,
USS Kearsarge, he was
involved in two astronaut
recovery missions for
NASA. While serving in
the US Navy he married
his high school sweetheart
of 59 years, Sharon Zabel,
in July of 1962 in Malta,
MT.
Upon leaving the ser-
vice, he worked for a heat-
ing company in Grand-
view, WA for several years
and then moved back to
Malta, MT where he took
a position as a police offi-
cer. He served there for a
couple of years and then
began his primary career
in the propane heating
business. He worked for
Petrolane for many years
and then went to Taylor
Soil Service in Shelby,
MT and finally purchased
his own propane company,
Eastern Oregon Propane,
in La Grande, OR. After
retiring from the propane
heating business,
he started a new
career in real es-
tate and became
a broker in Baker
City, OR. After
his wife’s retire-
ment from the
Oregon DMV,
they moved to
Miles City, MT
in 2005.
Skip was very involved
with community organiza-
tions during his lifetime.
He was a member of VFW,
Eagles, JC’s, and served as
a Montana JC Senator for
a year until his induction
as an “Exhausted Roost-
er.”
Skip was preceded in
death by his parents, Gail
and Myrtle Smith of Mal-
ta, MT, his brother, Gary
Lee Smith of Miles City,
MT, and a granddaughter,
Megan Lea Sutter of Reed
City, MI. He is survived
by his wife, Sharon of
Miles City; daughter, Lor-
na (John) Days of Miles
City and son, Wesley (An-
gela) Smith of Fairbanks,
AK, his brother Ronald
(Elizabeth) Smith of Miles
City, MT, his sister Lor-
na (Smith/Pray) Humbert
(Jim) of Malta, Mt. He is
also survived by 11 grand-
children, 20 great-grand-
children, 4 great-great
grandchildren and numer-
ous nieces, nephews and
cousins.
There will be a family
and friends service at Ste-
venson and Sons Funeral
Home on Sunday, January
9th, 2022 from 2-4 p.m.
Family condolences and
personal comments can be
sent to stevensonandsons.
com.
Donations can be made
to his favorite charity, St.
Jude Children’s Research
Hospital.
“You’ll love the work we do. I guarantee it.” - JR
225 H Street • East of I-84 • 541-523-3200 • grumpysrepair.com