A2 BAKER CITY HERALD • SATURDAY, JANUARY 15, 2022
Local
TURNING BACK THE PAGES
50 YEARS AGO
from the Democrat-Herald
January 15, 1972
La Grande was enjoying Friday night’s game, a dramatic
change from their fi rst encounter — but the fun screeched
to a halt 10 minutes into the fray. That’s when Baker used
its spoiler to help lash the Tigers, 53-35. The Bulldogs’
spoiler was 6-1 sophomore guard Rick Scrivner, who
scored 14 points.
25 YEARS AGO
from the Baker City Herald
January 15, 1997
Karen Yeakley is Baker City’s new mayor.
Yeakley, 47, a Baker City native who was elected to the
City Council as a write-in candidate in 1992, is the fi rst
woman to serve as the city’s mayor.
She was elected for a two-year term by a 6-0 vote at
the council’s meetng Tuesday evening. She was the only
nominee.
“It’s an honor; I’m willing to do it and happy to do it,”
Yeakley said after presiding over her fi rst meeting as
mayor.
10 YEARS AGO
from the Baker City Herald
January 16, 2012
Bowen Valley Archery recently introduced a
computerized video simulator for people who want to
practice their aim year-round.
Called TechnoHunt, this indoor simulator shows an
archer various animal scenes and allows the person to aim
and shoot.
Owner Allen Jensen describes TechnoHunt as similar
to being inside a movie theater. Professional wildlife
photographers captured images of the animals.
“It has a big, 10-foot Kevlar screen,” he said. “And the
videos of animals were shot all over the world.”
ONE YEAR AGO
from the Baker City Herald
January 16, 2021
The city of Halfway is using a $1.5 million federal block
grant to build a new station for the Pine Valley Rural Fire
Protection District.
Halfway received the Community Development Block
Grant in 2019 from the U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development (HUD).
In an email to the Herald, Lisa Dawson, executive
director of the Northeast Oregon Economic Development
District (NOEDD) wrote that the city has contracted with
the District to prepare the environmental review for the
construction project.
The new 7,800-square-foot station, which will replace a
structure built in the 1960s, will be built in the northwest
portion of a two-acre property the Fire District owns in
Halfway, adjacent to the Pine Valley Fairgrounds and near
Pine Haven Cemetery.
Dawson wrote that construction is slated to start this
summer, and that the project should take about a year to
fi nish.
She said the Pine Valley station, which will include fi ve
equipment bays with room for the Department’s vehicles
and equipment, will be similar in size to one built recently
in Richland for the Eagle Valley Fire Protection District.
The current fi re station can’t accommodate all the
equipment, and it’s also ineffi cient to heat, Dawson wrote.
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SENIOR MENUS
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CONTACT THE HERALD
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Open Monday through Friday
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Telephone: 541-523-3673
Fax: 541-833-6414
Publisher
Karrine Brogoitti
kbrogoitti@lagrandeobserver.com
Jayson Jacoby, editor
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
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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
for print only. Digital-only rates are $8.25.
Postmaster: Send address changes to
the Baker City Herald, P.O. Box 807, Baker
City, OR 97814.
Periodicals Postage Paid
at Pendleton, Oregon 97801
Copyright © 2022
Reward of $16,500 in killing of wolf
WALLOWA COUNTY CHIEFTAIN
WALLOWA COUNTY
— Conservation groups an-
nounced Thursday, Jan. 13, that
they are offering a $16,500 re-
ward for information that leads
to an arrest and conviction in
an illegal wolf killing last week
in Wallowa County.
A 2-year-old collared female
wolf was found dead south-
east of Wallowa and reported
just after 10:30 a.m. on Jan. 8.
Oregon State Police reported
the killing on Jan. 11. The
wolf, designated OR-106, was
found on Parsnip Creek Road
in the Sled Springs game man-
agement unit. OSP said the
wolf had dispersed from the
Chesnimnus Pack in northern
Wallowa County.
“Illegally killing Oregon’s few
wolves out of hatred or spite
must stop,” Kelly Peterson, Or-
egon senior state director at the
Humane Society of the United
States, said in a press release.
“The death of OR-106 at the
hands of a poacher is heart-
breaking and infuriating, es-
pecially after eight of Oregon’s
wolves were illegally poisoned
and killed just last year. While
this reward cannot bring back
these iconic animals, we hope
it brings these cruel actors to
justice and helps to put an end
to the illegal slaughter of our
wolves once and for all.”
In addition to the Humane
Society, the Center for Bio-
logical Diversity, Predator
Defense, Western Watersheds
Project, Cascadia Wildlands,
Oregon Wild, Speak for
Wolves and Northeast Ore-
gon Ecosystems are pledging
funding to the reward.
The killing is among more
than 30 poaching incidents
in Oregon since wolves were
Oregon State Police/Contributed Photo
A 2-year-old female wolf was fatally shot in Wallowa County last week.
reintroduced, according to
Stephanie Taylor, president of
Speak for Wolves.
“When poachers get away
with breaking the law, it only
leads to more poaching and
lawlessness,” Danielle Moser,
of Oregon Wild, said in the
release. “This is a result of
wolves losing their endan-
gered species protections cou-
pled with a culture of poach-
ing permissiveness. For far
too long, poachers have been
emboldened by those who ex-
cuse and celebrate their crimi-
nal acts without fear of conse-
quences.”
The shooting comes on
the heels of the poisoning of
wolves in Northeastern Ore-
gon in 2021, the release noted.
In addition to the amount
offered by the conservation
groups, The Oregon Depart-
ment of Fish and Wildlife’s
Turn in Poachers division is
offering a potential $300 re-
ward for information regard-
ing illegal wolf killings.
Those with information
may contact Oregon State
Police Sgt. Isaac Cyr through
ODFW’s Turn in Poachers
(TIP) hotline at 800-452-
7888, *OSP via mobile, or
via email to TIP@state.or.us
between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.
Monday to Friday.
Deputy district attorneys in short
supply in Northeastern Oregon
Baker County
alone in having
a full staff
BY ALEX WITTWER
EO Media Group
LA GRANDE — Counties
across Eastern Oregon have
struggled over the past few
years to hire attorneys to pros-
ecute criminal charges, and
officials believe a variety of fac-
tors, including uncompetitive
salaries, have contributed to the
vacant positions.
Wallowa County is bereft of
a deputy district attorney for its
already strained staff.
Morrow County and Grant
County each have just their dis-
trict attorney to handle cases.
Umatilla County has just five
prosecutors — including the
district attorney — instead of
the normal 10 attorneys.
Union County seems to have
fared better, but even its office
is down one deputy district at-
torney.
Only Baker County has a
fully staffed prosecution team.
Every other county in North-
eastern Oregon has positions
open for deputy attorneys.
Those positions have been
hard to fill, and in some cases
have been left open for at least
three years.
Grant County District At-
torney Jim Carpenter has had
an open position since 2018
— except a brief period when
a prosecutor fresh out of col-
lege worked for a short stint
The paper chase
Data from the Oregon State
Bar during the past decade
show the number of examinees
per year steadily dropping —
approximately 12 less attorneys
each year pass the bar based
on a simple linear regression
model. The exam has not be-
come more difficult over time,
but people are taking fewer at-
tempts to pass it.
And in 2020 the pandemic
ushered in a “diploma priv-
Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group, File ilege,” which allowed newly
Reed West, Union County deputy district attorney, sits in the Union
graduated law students to by-
pass the bar entirely and re-
County Courthouse during arraignments on July 20, 2021.
ceive their license — a first for
before leaving to become a lo-
Likewise, Wallowa County
Oregon. But even then, only
cal public defender. Carpenter District Attorney Rebecca Fro- 343 attorneys were minted in
remains the county’s sole pros- lander has had an open posi-
Oregon that year. It was the
ecutor.
tion for three years. She was
lowest admission numbers
“Following his departure,
the deputy prosecutor there
since 1972 when just 310 attor-
I had no confidence that I
before she was elected as dis-
neys passed the bar exam.
would be able to find a re-
trict attorney.
Lower numbers alone don’t
placement,” Carpenter wrote
“From 2018 up until we re- make shortages — they need
in an email, “especially know- vamped the position in the fall to be coupled with a higher
ing that areas such as De-
of 2018, I received two appli-
number of lawyers retiring or
schutes and Multnomah,
cations,” Frolander said, “but
leaving the field. And that is
which pay much better than
before I could even get them
exactly what is happening. Ac-
northeastern counties can,
interviewed they took jobs
cording to a 2017 economic
had numerous openings and I across the state.”
survey released by the Ore-
would not be able to complete
For a long while after Fro-
gon State Bar, nearly 20% of
with them for quality appli-
lander became district attor-
respondents said they had
cants.”
ney in 2012, grants funded the planned on retiring within the
Carpenter had an agreement deputy district attorney posi- next five years — or by 2022.
with Grant County that he
tion in Wallowa County. But
Additionally, the average age of
would serve as county coun-
it sat vacant for an extended
practicing lawyers was 47 ac-
sel in return for funding for a period, and that grant money cording to the survey.
deputy district attorney posi- had to be returned and the job
tion; before then, the role was left unfilled.
See, Prosecutors/Page A3
funded through a grant. Un-
able to locate a suitable attor-
ney to fill the role as deputy,
he resigned from his position
as counselor in February 2020.
News of Record
DEATHS
Rex Schoorl: 86, of Vale, died Jan. 9,
2022, at his residence in Pioneer Place
Assisted Living. Arrangements are
under the direction of Gray’s West &
Co. Pioneer Chapel. To leave an online
condolence for Rex’s family, go to
www.grayswestco.com.
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
FIRST-DEGREE BURGLARY,
HARASSMENT: Alyssa Renee Owens, 26,
Baker City, 5:24 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 13,
on Foothill Drive; cited and released.
PAROLE VIOLATION: Jason Charles Taylor,
42, Baker City, 3:02 p.m. Thursday, Jan.
13, at the Courthouse; jailed.
CONTEMPT OF COURT: Joseph Palmer,
41, Baker City, 8:32 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 11,
in the 1500 block of Campbell Street;
cited and released.
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