OUTDOORS B1
WORLD A5
SPORTS A6
Meeting snowshoe
hares in the Elkhorns
Russia pledges not to
start war in Ukraine
Powder Valley
beats Griswold
IN THIS EDITION: LOCAL • OUTDOORS & REC • SPORTS
QUICK HITS
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Good Day Wish
To A Subscriber
A special good day to
Herald subscriber Mindy
Sherrieb Baker City.
BRIEFING
—————
Morgan Stone earns
academic honors
WALLA WALLA, Wash. —
Morgan Stone of Baker City
earned academic distinction
for the most recent semes-
ter at Whitman College. To
qualify, students must com-
plete at least 12 credits with
a GPA of at least 3.5.
Baker County Garden
Club to meet Feb. 2
The Baker County Garden
Club will meet Wednesday,
Feb. 2 at 10 a.m. at the Senior
Center, 2810 Cedar St. Dave
Cowan will give a class on
lawn care. Lunch is $5 for 60
and older, or $7.50 for those
younger, or you can bring your
own lunch. New members are
always welcome.
Public hearing set
on North Baker
transportation plan
The Baker City Planning
Commission will have a
public hearing on Feb. 16,
at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 1655
First St., to discuss proposed
revisions to the city’s com-
prehensive plan related to
the Northern Baker Trans-
portation Improvement Plan.
That plan covers proposed
changes to Cedar Street,
Hughes Lane, 10th Street
and Pocahontas Road.
WEATHER
—————
Today
26/13
Mostly sunny
Sunday
29/20
Cloudy
Monday
33/17
Partly cloudy
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
Two
COVID-
related
deaths
reported
‘A life-
changing
experience’
Baker City’s Kerry McQuisten
talks about her campaign to
become Oregon governor
“My campaign is steadily
gaining traction,” said Mc-
Kerry McQuisten has
Quisten, who is Baker City’s
met many thousands of Or- mayor, elected to that posi-
egonians during her cam-
tion by her fellow Baker City
paign to be the state’s next Council members in Janu-
governor, a blur of faces
ary 2021. “I’m reaching out
and handshakes and fo-
across the whole state.”
rums and events in each
of the 36 counties in the
Amassing the miles
10th-biggest state.
McQuisten didn’t antici-
But one face remains espe- pate how familiar her favor-
cially vivid in her memory.
ite oil change place would
And she suspects that it al- become.
ways will be.
She doesn’t know pre-
McQuisten, a sev-
cisely how many miles she
enth-generation Baker
has driven since she declared
County resident who is seek- her candidacy in late June of
ing the Republican nomina- 2021.
tion in the May 22 primary,
“I didn’t even start pay-
was in Tygh Valley, near The ing attention until I was at
Dalles, for the Wasco County 10,000 miles,” McQuisten
Fair in late August.
said with a chuckle.
An older gentleman ap-
She’s been changing the oil
proached.
in her car every three or four
He was wearing a cap
weeks.
identifying him as a military
“The people at the oil
veteran.
change place know my first
The man pulled out his
name now,” she said. “They
wallet, reached in and ex-
didn’t before.”
tracted the only bill tucked
McQuisten, 49, said those
in the folds.
miles are at least as import-
It was a $5.
ant, and perhaps even more
He handed the bill to Mc- so, than the dollars her cam-
Quisten, insisting that she
paign has accumulated.
take it.
Although she acknowl-
“Something has to change edges that advertising is vi-
in Oregon,” the man told her. tal to any candidate — she’s
“I will never forget it,” Mc- bought space on 11 bill-
Quisten said in an interview boards, is planning TV ads
on Wednesday, Jan. 26.
and also uses social media
That moment in the
as a platform — McQuisten
wheat country of Wasco
said there is no substitute
County, one of so many in
for meeting people, shaking
seven months of campaign- their hands and listening to
ing, continues to inspire
their concerns.
McQuisten.
“That’s how you excite
It’s not the amount of the your base, and you have to
donation, of course.
do that with Republicans,”
But that brief conversa-
she said. “You have to have
tion, and the man’s insistence that grassroots support. I’m
that she accept his modest
meeting an awful lot of peo-
contribution, convinced her ple.”
then, and reminds her still,
McQuisten, who grew up
that some of her fellow Ore- on a cattle ranch in Baker
gonians believe she can help County, graduated from Wil-
to fix some of the problems lamette University in Salem
that she — and they — be-
and also lived for a year or so
lieve are plaguing the state.
in Wilsonville, said she had
BY JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
BY JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Kerry McQuisten/Contributed Photo
Kerry McQuisten stands outside Mahonia Hall, the Oregon gov-
ernor’s mansion in Salem. McQuisten, a Baker County native, is
seeking the Republican nomination for governor in the May 22,
2022, primary.
table electoral foundation,
McQuisten believes.
“The more Kate Brown
mandates, the worse it gets
for the Democrats,” McQuis-
ten said.
And although Brown can’t
run for reelection due to
term limits, McQuisten con-
tends that the Democratic
nominee, whoever that is,
will be linked to Brown’s leg-
acy, to the benefit of the Re-
publican on the November
A unique opportunity for a general election ballot.
(McQuisten thinks Tina
Republican
After so many miles and
Kotek, the former Speaker
so many meetings, McQuis- of the House in the Oregon
ten said she is even more
Legislature, is the Demo-
confident now than she was cratic frontrunner.)
when she started that 2022
McQuisten said she has
presents an opportunity that talked with, and received
Republicans haven’t had in
emails from, many Demo-
Oregon for more than four crats and nonaffiliated voters
decades.
who are troubled by what’s
No member of her party
happening in Oregon.
has been elected governor
She was surprised to re-
since November 1982, when ceive a $25 donation from
Victor Atiyeh won the sec-
an Ontario Democrat who
ond of his four-year terms.
voted for, and formerly sup-
But McQuisten believes
ported, Brown.
that voters are more dissat-
“That’s when you know
isfied with their state’s con- something is really shifting,”
dition under the leadership McQuisten said.
of Democratic governor
She said a few issues have
Kate Brown than at any time come up at virtually all of
since Atiyeh’s tenure.
her campaign events, con-
Brown’s executive orders cerns that seem universal in
during the pandemic, with
the state.
their effects on businesses
Public safety is one of
and schools in particular,
these.
have seriously weakened the
Democrats’ once-indomi-
See, Campaign/Page A3
been to each of Oregon’s 36
counties before she started
her campaign.
But that happened over
decades of normal travels.
Now she has been to every
county in little more than
half a year — and some she’s
visited four or five times, to
meet with residents at infor-
mal events or to participate
in forums featuring multiple
Republican candidates.
City planning pipeline work
Long-term project to replace
water pipeline set to continue
BY SAMANTHA O’CONNER
soconner@bakercityherald.com
Baker City Public Works Department/Contributed Photo, File
Baker City crews install new water pipe in the Elkhorn Mountains in the sum-
mer of 2020. The long-term project to replace old, leak-prone concrete pipe
will continue this summer between Elk and Salmon creeks.
TODAY
Issue 110
12 pages
Classified ....................B2-B4
Comics ..............................B5
Community News.............A2
JANUARY 29, 2022 • $1.50
Crossword ...............B3 & B4
Dear Abby .........................B6
Horoscope ..............B2 & B4
The Baker City Public Works Department will
be busy this summer with the continuation of a
long-term project to replace the city’s main water
supply pipeline.
Michelle Owen, the city’s public works di-
rector, said the pipe for this summer’s project,
which will cover about half a mile, was delivered
recently.
“We’re just going to kind of take off where we
left off last go around,” Owen said.
City crews will start near Elk Creek and move
north toward Salmon Creek.
Those are two of the streams in the 10,000-
acre watershed, on the east slopes of the Elkhorn
Mountains, that the city taps for drinking water.
Owen said the pipe is slated to be installed be-
fore July 1, when the city’s new fiscal year starts.
“We may do a second project that would basi-
cally finish out the mile (north from Elk Creek)
after July 1 but we’re going to see what the bid
numbers come in at,” Owen said.
Two more Baker County res-
idents have died after testing
positive for COVID-19.
The Oregon Health Authority
reported on Thursday, Jan. 27,
that an 82-year-old man who
tested positive on Jan. 22 had
died Jan. 25 at Saint Alphonsus
Medical Center in Baker City.
The presence of underlying
medical conditions has not
been confirmed.
The man was the 41st county
resident to die after testing
positive for COVID-19.
The Baker County Health
Department on Thursday, Jan.
27, reported another COVID-
19-related death, but details
about that death, including gen-
der, age and date of death, were
not available by press time.
Four county residents have
died during January after test-
ing positive.
The number of COVID-
19-related deaths 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.
The Health Department re-
ported 33 new cases on Thursday,
Jan. 27, and 36 the previous day.
For the first five days of the
current measuring week —
Jan. 23-29 — the county re-
ported 134 new cases. That’s
on pace to set a new weekly
record high for the third
straight week.
Previous weekly totals were
183 (Jan. 16-22) and 176 (Jan.
9-15).
With 596 cases in January
through the 27th, the month
has set a new record. The pre-
vious record was 465 cases
during September 2021, the
peak of the surge driven by the
delta variant.
Baker schools continue
in-person
Despite the record number of
cases this month, the Baker 5J
School District has continued to
have in-person classes.
See, COVID/Page A2
Wolves kill
calf near
Keating
BY JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Wolves killed a 500-pound,
year-old calf near Keating late
Monday, Jan. 24, the Oregon
Department of Fish and Wild-
life (ODFW) confirmed after an
investigation the following day.
A rancher found the dead
calf on the morning of Tues-
day, Jan. 25, on a 25-acre pri-
vate pasture near Tucker Creek,
according to ODFW.
Tucker Creek flows into the
Powder River near Keating
School, at the intersection of
Keating Cutoff Road, Keat-
ing Grange Road and Miles
Bridge Road.
Brian Ratliff, district wild-
life biologist at ODFW’s Baker
City office, said on Friday
See, Pipeline/Page A3
Lottery Results .................A2
News of Record ................A2
Opinion .............................A4
Outdoors ................B1 & B2
Senior Menus ...................A2
Sports ...............................A6
See, Wolves/Page A3
Sudoku..............................B5
Turning Backs ..................A2
Weather ............................B6