SPORTS A5
SPORTS A6
Baker girls hoops beat La Grande and Vale
Bulldog boys rout La Grande, 67-47
IN THIS EDITION: LOCAL • HOME & LIVING • SPORTS
Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
FEBRUARY 1, 2022 • $1.50
QUICK HITS
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Good Day Wish
To A Subscriber
COVID
cases
dropped
slightly
last
week
A special good day to
Herald subscribers Mary
and Keith Romtvedt of
Baker City.
BRIEFING
—————
Lecture, sneak peek of
Oregon Trail Experience
Feb. 8 at Heritage Museum
The Baker Heritage Mu-
seum’s monthly lecture on
Tuesday, Feb. 8, features Bar-
bara Mahoney and her talk
“The Salem Clique: Oregon’s
Founding Brothers.” The
event starts at 6 p.m. at the
museum, 2480 Grove St.
Following the talk, at 7
p.m., there will be a celebra-
tion of Oregon’s birthday with
treats and a sneak peek at
the new Oregon Trail Experi-
ence exhibit designed by the
National Historic Oregon Trail
Interpretive Center.
BAKER CITY HERALD
Jayson Jacoby/Baker City Herald
Public hearing set on North
Baker transportation plan
The Baker City Planning
Commission will have a
public hearing on Feb. 16, to
discuss proposed revisions
to the city’s comprehensive
plan related to the North-
ern Baker Transportation
Improvement Plan.
That plan covers proposed
changes to Cedar Street,
Hughes Lane, 10th Street
and Pocahontas Road.
The public hearing is
scheduled for 6 p.m. at City
Hall, 1655 First St.
Materials that will be used
in the hearing will be avail-
able by Feb. 9 at the Court-
house, 1995 Third St., and
copies can be emailed for
free by emailing tandrews@
bakercounty.org.
WEATHER
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Today
32/12
Mostly sunny
Wednesday
27/13
Light snow
Full forecast on the back
of the B section.
Although little snow has fallen in Northeastern Oregon since the first week of January, cold temperatures have preserved the snowpack
along the Powder River just below Mason Dam, seen here on Friday, Jan. 28, 2022.
Snowpack starts
fast, turns sluggish
Remains close
to average, and
drought severity
has eased a bit
morning of the month, but
that hardly compensated for
the previous three weeks of
placid weather.
Despite the lack of recent
progress, the prospect for a
hefty snowpack to diminish
BY JAYSON JACOBY
the severe drought that has
plagued Northeastern Ore-
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
The mountain snowpack gon remains.
in Northeastern Oregon
The snowpack — the most
sprinted off the line when
important source of water
2022 began.
for irrigation, recreation, fish
But then it got stuck.
habitat and, in places such as
Or mired.
Baker City, for drinking wa-
Or pulled a hamstring.
ter — remains above average
Or whatever term best
in some places.
captures the concept of
Moreover, February and
March often bring the bulk
a nearly complete lack of
of the winter snow, and the
progress.
After prodigious amounts snowpack typically doesn’t
of snow piled up during the reach its annual peak, espe-
first week of January, push- cially at higher elevations,
until April.
ing the snowpack to well
“It’s awfully early,” Wes
above average in many parts
Morgan, manager of the
of the region, a persistent
pattern of stagnation domi- Burnt River Irrigation Dis-
trict in southern Baker
nated thereafter.
A meager storm brought County, said on Monday
morning, Jan. 31. “I’m more
light snow on the final
U.S. Drought Monitor
The drought situation has improved a bit in Baker County since
the start of 2022.
interested in what I’ve got at
the end of February and the
end of March.”
Morgan pointed out that
much of the current moun-
tain snowpack accumulated
during a two-week period
spanning the end of 2021
and the debut of 2022.
“One or two more pe-
riods like that could help
us a whole bunch,” said
Morgan, whose irrigation
district covers the Burnt
River Valley below Unity
Reservoir.
New COVID-19 cases
in Baker County dropped
slightly late last week, and the
weekly total, for the first time
this month, was lower than
the previous week.
The Baker County Health
Department reported 15 cases
on Friday, Jan. 28, and 16
cases on Saturday, Jan. 29, the
last day of the reporting week.
The county’s total for the
week Jan. 23-29 was 165 cases.
That’s the third-highest
weekly total during the pan-
demic, but it’s down from
the record-setting weeks of
Jan. 16-22 (183 cases) and
Jan. 9-15 (176).
The county’s rate of positive
tests also appears to be declin-
ing for the first time in more
than a month.
The Oregon Health Au-
thority (OHA) reported the
county’s test positivity rate,
for the week Jan. 23-29, at
24.8% as of Friday, Jan. 28
(the complete weekly statis-
tics weren’t available by press
time).
The positivity rate was
33.2% for the previous week,
Jan. 16-22, the fourth straight
week with an increasing posi-
tivity rate.
Cases in children
According to OHA data,
Baker County has had 96
COVID-19 cases in residents
younger than 18 since Jan. 2.
The county has had a total
of 473 pediatric cases during
the pandemic, out of a popu-
lation of about 3,081 residents
17 and younger.
The county’s pediatric case
rate of 15,354 per 100,000
residents is the 10th-high-
est among Oregon’s counties,
but one of the lower rates in
Northeastern Oregon.
See, COVID/Page A3
5 train
Hatchet proves cars
carrying
invaluable for
stranded hunters grain
derail
The space below is for a postage label
for issues that are mailed.
BY JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Baker County Sheriff’s Office/Contributed Photo
Baker County Sheriff Travis Ash and Marine Deputy Wayne
Paxton rescued three stranded hunters along Brownlee
Reservoir late on Sunday, Jan. 30, 2022.
TODAY
Issue 111
14 pages
Classified ....................B4-B6
Comics ..............................B7
Community News.............A3
With his feet freezing and
the prospect of a long and
snowy winter night ahead with
a bloody elk hide the only shel-
ter, Noah Chaney was never
so glad to hear the rumble of a
boat motor.
Although his affinity for his
brother’s new hatchet was, if
anything, greater still.
Noah, 20, along with his
older brother, Neil Chaney Jr.,
22 (who goes by John), and
Noah’s best friend, Isaac Lo-
gan, 20, were in quite a predic-
ament as the sun went down
on Sunday, Jan. 30, at the east-
ern edge of Baker County.
The trio had started the day
hoping to fill their elk tags
in the steep country above
Crossword ...............B4 & B6
Dear Abby .........................B8
Home & Living ............B1-B4
See, Snowpack/Page A3
Brownlee Reservoir, several
miles southeast of Richland.
Isaac killed a big cow
around 9:30 a.m.
The friends, along with
the Chaneys’ dad, Neil Sr.,
43, of Baker City, came up
with a plan.
They were too far below
their rigs to haul 400 pounds
or so of elk meat up the precip-
itous, snow-covered slopes.
Better, they figured, to take
advantage of gravity to ease
their burden.
Neil Sr. agreed to hike to
the ridge, drive back to Baker
City and haul the family’s boat.
He’d meet the trio on the shore,
more than 1,000 feet below.
Horoscope ..............B5 & B6
Letters ...............................A4
Lottery Results .................A2
See, Hatchet/Page A3
News of Record ................A2
Opinion .............................A4
Senior Menus ...................A2
BAKER CITY HERALD
Five cars on a westbound
freight train derailed Friday
afternoon, Jan. 28, near Baker
City, spilling grain.
The incident happened
about 4 p.m. near Old High-
way 30 about one mile south
of the Milepost 306 inter-
change in south Baker City,
said Susan Stevens, manager
of communications for Union
Pacific Railroad.
The train crew was not
injured, and the railroad re-
sumed normal operations af-
ter several hours.
The case of the derailment
is under investigation, Ste-
vens said.
Sports ..................... A5 & A6
Turning Backs ..................A2
Weather ............................B8