BAKER CITY HERALD • SATuRDAY, JAnuARY 22, 2022 A3
LOCAL
Race
Wolves
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Ellie May, the lead dog, is
at the front of the team and
responsible for heeding the
musher’s commands, such
as for turns.
To round out her team of
five dogs for the Eagle Cap
Extreme, Kaaen borrowed
dogs from two other veteran
mushers, Bino Fowler of
Bend and Craig Anderson
of Enterprise.
Kaaen said that sort of
cooperation among mush-
ers has been one of the
more gratifying parts of the
experience.
“I was really impressed by
how much of a community
the mushers are,” she said.
“They help each other even
though it’s a competition.”
She said veteran mushers
gave her advice during the
first 11-mile leg of the route,
from Ferguson Ridge to Salt
Creek Summit.
As the only competitor in
the Junior race, Kaaen said
she was pretty much alone
during the 11-mile run back
to Ferguson Ridge.
She started the race at
12:52 p.m. and arrived at
Salt Creek Summit at 2:12,
covering the 11 miles, most
of it uphill, in 80 minutes.
“You can get going pretty
fast,” she said. “Definitely a
lot faster than I could run
by myself.”
After a 14-minute rest at
Salt Creek Summit, Kaaen
and her team made the trip
back to Ferguson Ridge in
96 minutes.
Although the second leg
was mainly downhill, Kaaen
said her average speed was
lower because a dog she
borrowed from Craig An-
derson had a toothache and
a fever, so the dog rode in
the sled.
Looking out for the dogs
is a vital part of sled dog
racing, and Kaaen said the
The committee also
awarded money to several
ranchers who reported lost
or missing cattle that they be-
lieve were killed by wolves, or
loss of weight due to possible
wolf harassment.
• Lee Wright, $27,980 for
loss of value of cattle that
didn’t gain as much weight
as expected. He applied for
50 pounds of lost potential
weight on 400 head. This is
full amount requested.
• Deven Thompson, $20,400
for four missing calves, 10
missing cows and one missing
bull (full amount)
• Stan Gulick, $13,200 for
17 missing dry cows and 12
calves (full amount)
• Lee Wright, $2,320 for two
heiferettes, each about 860
pounds, found dead, but not
confirmed as wolf kills (full
amount).
• Carlton Andersen, $2,550
for three missing calves (full
amount).
The committee also had
$13,500 for work designed to
deter wolves, money that the
county has to spend by Jan.
31, 2022, or return to the state
(30% of the county’s allotment
from the state must go to non-
lethal prevention activities).
The committee approved
the following amounts, all for
hiring “range riders” — em-
ployees who travel in areas
where cattle are grazing to try
to deter wolves.
• Deward and Kathy
Thompson, $9,800 (requested
$18,775). The Thompsons’
cattle were attacked multiple
times by Lookout Mountain
wolves last year.
• Barry and Shella DelCurto,
$1,450 (requested $10,975).
• Deven Thompson, $1,400.
• Colby Thompson, $500
(requested $1,425).
• Warnock Ranches (Jeanne
Warnock), $350 (requested
$720).
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Sofie Kaaen of Baker City stands at the helm of her dogsled
Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022, before beginning the 22-mile juniors
Eagle Cap Extreme Dog Sled Race at Ferguson Ridge Ski Area
outside of Joseph.
veterinarians who work at
the event have great advice.
She said mushing, despite
its obvious differences from
cross-country, also bears
some similarities.
That was especially true at
the start, with the compet-
itors gathering, and during
her return leg when she was
by herself. Cross-country
runners often have a similar
experience, at least at times
during a race.
“Out on the trail it’s kind
of just you and the dogs,”
Kaaen said. “It was peaceful
and nice.”
The weather was eclectic.
“It was a little foggy, then
County
we had a little sun, and
snow and rain — a little bit
of everything,” Kaaen said.
She said on Thursday eve-
ning, Jan. 20, that she prob-
ably wouldn’t be able to do
the second 22-mile stage on
Friday, Jan. 21, not with one
dog unavailable.
“That would be a lot for
four dogs to do,” she said.
Now that she’s actually
strapped on a numbered bib
and guided a team in an of-
ficial race, Kaaen said her
enthusiasm for mushing has
only grown.
“I definitely want to do
it again next year,” she said.
“I’ll be more prepared.”
slightly more than half of the
county area.
Two private companies, Med
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Transport Inc. of North Powder
Baker City Manager Jon
and Metro West Ambulance
Cannon attended the meeting. Inc. of Hillsboro, submitted
“We have provided this ser- bids for providing ambulance
vice since before the
service in the area in
2018 (RFP — request
2019, but the county,
for proposals), which
in early 2020, put on
the county released,”
hold the process of
Cannon said. “And
potentially awarding a
after the RFP was re-
new 10-year contract.
leased, Baker City has
Cannon told com-
continued to provide
missioners that in
ambulance services
2021, the Baker City
Bennett
in your Baker ASA.
Fire Department,
We are pleased to be
which responds to
your provider.”
fires as well as medi-
As prescribed by
cal calls, responded to
state law, county
approximately 2,050
commissioners estab-
calls for an ambu-
lish ambulance ser-
lance. Around 20%
vice areas and choose
of those were outside
Cannon
their allowed pro-
the Baker City limits
viders.
but elsewhere in the
The Baker City Fire De-
1,600-square-mile service area.
partment is the longtime pro-
The statistics come from
vider for an area that includes Baker County Dispatch Center
the city as well as much of
records, Cannon said.
Baker Valley and other parts
“Each year, for the last five
of the county. The service area years, we’ve seen a consistent
is about 1,600 square miles,
growth of 100 or more inci-
dents per year,” Cannon said.
“So, this is a significant growth
for the Baker ASA. We antic-
ipate that we will cross more
than 2,200 incidents in this
year, 2022,” said Cannon.
Ambulance revenue, not in-
cluding FireMed memberships,
brought in about $877,000 to
the city for the 2019-20 fiscal
year. That equates to about 38%
of the fire department’s bud-
get for the current fiscal year,
which ends June 30, 2022. The
rest comes from city property
taxes, Cannon said.
“Right now, with these rising
incidents, currently the ambu-
lance service for Baker ASA is
coming off of the city taxpay-
ers,” Cannon said. “It costs us,
right now, right at two million
dollars to run it.”
He said if the number of am-
bulance runs continues to in-
crease, the city will need to hire
more employees.
“We’re working real hard to
pursue whatever grants and
funding sources we can get,”
Cannon said.
He told commissioners that
the city wants to continue
COVID
Baker County’s vaccination
rate remains the fifth-lowest
among Oregon’s 36 counties,
with 55.3% of residents 18
and older having had at least
one dose.
Among those who are
fully vaccinated, including a
booster dose, Baker County
residents 65 and older have
the county’s highest rate, at
42.3%. The statewide average
for that age group is 58.9%.
The booster dose rate
for other age groups in the
county:
• 50 to 64 — 24.6% (state-
wide average, 41.7%)
• 20 to 49 — 11.8% (state-
wide average, 29.4%)
• 18 to 19 — 11.1% (state-
wide average, 18%)
• 12 to 17 – 3.1% (statewide
average, 14.3%)
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For the week Jan. 9-15,
there were 55,612 cases state-
wide, and 10,570 were break-
through cases.
The breakthrough case rate
of 19% is the state’s lowest
since early September.
The statewide breakthrough
case rates for the five weeks
prior to Jan. 9-15 ranged from
31.3% to 46.5%.
Baker County’s break-
through case rate also de-
clined over the most previous
week, to 31.8% for Jan 9-15.
The rates for the previous
two weeks were 38.5% and
41.4%.
According to OHA,
throughout the pandemic,
3.2% of people with break-
through infections have been
hospitalized, and 0.8% have
died.
The average age of vacci-
nated people who have died
is 81.
Testing and vaccinations
Baker County mirrored Or-
egon as a whole in seeing an
increase in COVID-19 testing
over the past week.
Baker County had 394 tests
for the week of Jan. 2-8, and
595 from Jan. 9-15.
The percentage of those
tests that are positive has also
risen, from 20.6% from Jan.
2-8 to 28.6% from Jan. 9-15.
Partial results for the cur-
rent week, Jan. 16-22, showed,
as of Jan. 20, a test total of 336
and a positivity rate of 34.2%.
New At The Library
Patrons can reserve materials in advance online or by
calling 541-523-6419. Recently, Baker County Library
has added 15 new bestsellers, six audiobooks, 26
children’s books, and 113 other new books, includ-
ing 65 that are available online. See everything new
to Baker County Library District at wowbrary.org.
Materials featured, and in library collection, does
not indicate endorsement or approval of contents
by the library. Selections are based on factors such
as demand, public interest, diversity of viewpoint,
community relevance, and others.
• “Greek Myths: A New Retelling,” Charlotte Higgins
• “Invisible,” Danielle Steel
• “Kaleidoscope,” Brian Selznick
• “The Last Story of Mina Lee,” Nancy Jooyoun Kim
• “A Man of Honor (Emma Harte #0.5),” Barbara Taylor
Bradford
• “The Paris Dressmaker,” Kristy Cambron
• “Where the Drowned Girls Go (Wayward Children.
#7),” Seanan McGuire
FICTION
• “Armageddon 2419 AD,” Philip Francis Nowlan
• “Criminal Mischief (Stone Barrington, #60),” Stuart
Woods
• “Dead by Dawn (Mike Bowditch Mysteries, #12),”
Paul Doiron
DVDs
• “Dear Evan Hansen” (Musical)
• “The French Dispatch” (Comedy)
• “The Jesus Music” (Documentary)
• “The Last Duel” (Action)
• “No Time to Die (Bond #25)” (Action)
providing ambulance services,
as it has for decades.
Cannon suggested the city
and county negotiate a con-
tract under which the city
can continue to provide am-
bulance service, and city
and county officials could
later mutually agree on any
changes needed in services for
the entire service area, includ-
ing outside the city limits.
“It makes clear the scope of
services which you can rely on,”
Cannon said of his proposal.
He said a new contract also
provides a potential avenue for
the city to “come to the table
and discuss solutions for your
other ambulance service areas,”
where the county might need
further assistance from the city.
Cannon said the contract
should also outline how the
county would contribute
money for ambulance services
outside the Baker City limits.
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife/Contributed Photo
A trail cam photo from May 30, 2021, of one of the two yearling wolves
in the Lookout Mountain pack.
In addition to awarding
money for 2021, the committee
agreed to use money from its
current year allocation to buy
four radio receivers, at an esti-
mated cost of $5,000 to $6,000,
that would allow ranchers to
keep track of the movements of
wolves that ODFW has fitted
with tracking collars.
The committee also decided
to allocate $30,000 for range
rider deployments.
Both county and state of-
ficials have advocated for the
state to give counties more
money to compensate ranchers
for wolf-related losses.
Rep. Bobby Levy, a Repub-
lican from Echo, in Umatilla
County, plans to introduce
a bill, when the Legislature
convenes Feb. 1, allocating $1
million for the compensation
program for the next two-year
budget cycle.
During 2020 the Oregon
Department of Agriculture,
which administers the wolf
compensation program, dis-
tributed $130,164 among 12
counties, including Baker. That
was just 37% of the amount
requested. In 2019 the state
awarded $251,529, or 58% of
requests.
Bennett said last fall that
he “wholeheartedly” supports
Levy’s bill.
Biologist gives update on
county wolves
Brian Ratliff, district wild-
life biologist at ODFW’s Baker
City office, gave the commit-
tee an update on wolf packs
around Baker County.
“The Pine Creek pack is no
more,” Ratliff said, referring to
a pack in eastern Baker County
that killed four head of cattle
and injured seven others in the
Halfway and Pine Valley area
during the spring of 2018.
He said some wolves from
that pack had migrated to
Idaho, where there is sport
hunting of wolves, unlike in
Oregon. Just a few wolves
have been confirmed recently
in that part of Baker County,
and not on a regular basis.
“The Pine Creek Pack that
caused a bunch of problems in
years past are not there,” Rat-
liff said.
In that pack’s absence, the
Cornucopia pack is still active
in that area.
The Keating pack, which
consists of at least 10 wolves,
has four wolves fitted with
tracking collars.
Ratliff said he’s targeted
pups for collars because they
stay longer with the pack, so
their location is a better indi-
cation of where the bulk of the
pack is roaming.
The Keating pack killed a
herding dog in the Keating
Valley earlier this month.
Ratliff said the Lookout
Mountain pack, following
the killing of eight wolves
last year, is officially down to
two wolves. He has had re-
ports from people who saw a
third wolf in the area, but that
hasn’t been confirmed.
Commissioner Bruce Nich-
ols said the commissioners hav-
en’t had time to look over Can-
non’s proposal and wanted to
take time to go over the ambu-
lance service area and also get
input from Jason Yencopal, the
county’s emergency manage-
ment director.
“The concept is good,” Nich-
ols said.
Commissioner Mark Bennett
said the county, in addition to
working with Baker City, needs
to address ambulance needs
elsewhere in the county, includ-
ing Huntington.
“The incorporated cities are
autonomous and they are equal
to Baker City, so we can’t say
Haines, Sumpter, Unity, Hun-
tington, that’s up to whatever
they do,” Bennett said.
County officials discussed
in 2019 the possibility of ask-
ing voters to approve a ballot
measure that would impose
a fee to raise money for am-
bulance services outside the
Baker City limits.
Bennett expressed con-
cerns, though, about going to
the taxpayers or budgeting for
something that does not have
a finite number.
Cannon said the city is in-
terested in being a part of
the discussion about provid-
ing ambulance services in
the Huntington area or other
parts of the county.
“If it’s useful to the county,
we’re open to having that dis-
cussion,” Cannon said.
Bennett said he appreciated
the work that had gone into
Cannon’s proposal, and he
thinks it’s a good starting place.
Cannon will bring more in-
formation to the commission-
ers at a later meeting.
“We’ll be ready to keep
these discussions rolling first
of February,” he said.
Rodney Lewis Loennig
April 16, 1955 - December 22, 2021
Rodney Lewis Loennig, loving father,
brother, uncle, and friend died Wednesday,
December 22, 2021, in Baker City, Ore-
gon. He was 66 years old.
Rodney was born April
16, 1955, in Baker, Oregon,
to parents Frank Loennig
and Marjorie Marie Loen-
nig. After graduating from
North Powder High School,
he moved to Eugene and ob-
tained an associate’s degree
in Electronics from Lane
Community College while
living with his grandfather.
It was while attending
North Powder High School
that Rodney accompanied a
friend to visit his family. The
family happened to be the home of Sher-
ry’s parents, his friend introduced Rodney
to his cousin, Sherry Cairns, at her home
in Baker. The two began dating shortly af-
terwards. Though they were apart for two
years he did not let his move to Eugene
stand in their way. While Rodney worked
to obtain his degree as well as work full
time he would make the long drive back
to Baker, in his ‘66 Volkswagen named
“Cookie” to see Sherry on the weekends.
The month after Sherry graduated Baker
High School, they were married July 27,
1975.
The newlyweds moved to Creswell, Or-
egon, where Rodney honed his skills with
electronics before taking on a position at
Peace Health Hospital in 1979 where he
would fashion a 35-year career. He started
humbly enough calibrating blood pressure
cuffs and the voltage on electronic equip-
ment. As the hospital grew and acquired
more complex machines Rodney earned
the opportunity to become a Radiographic
Service Technician which saw him flying
all over the United States from North Caro-
lina to New Jersey, Wisconsin to California
to be trained on how to service and repair
the hospitals’ X-ray and radiation therapy
machines along with anything else that
seemed to fit into his job description.
During this time Rodney and Sherry
welcomed their two daugh-
ters, Lisa and Cassie. Though
living in the Willamette Val-
ley, they would often take
their children most summer
and winter vacations back to
see family and friends in the
Baker Valley and surround-
ing areas.
Once Rodney retired in
September 2016, he returned
to his family’s land outside
of North Powder and began
to prepare it to be a perma-
nent home for he and Sherry,
who joined him once she retired the fol-
lowing year.
Rodney enjoyed spending time with his
family and friends. He took great pride in
making breakfast, “Papa’s Famous Pan-
cakes” for his wife, his daughters, and their
families when they came to visit. His love
for building and electronics never left and
he would often find amusement in racing
his own modified remote-control cars to
the delight of his daughters and grandsons.
Most days during Rodney’s retirement
he would often partner with his brother
Gerald to help work the timber on their
neighboring properties, reminiscing about
shared memories while making new ones.
In addition to Sherry and their children,
Lisa Loennig-Tinker (Noah Tinker) and
Cassie Loennig, Rodney is survived by
two grandsons, Aiden Tinker and Dylan
Ritz, his brothers, Derry and Gerald, and
sister, Helen, along with 3 nieces and 4
nephews.
A celebration of life will be planned for
early summer.
Online condolences may be made to
the family at www.lovelandfuneralchapel.
com.