FEBRUARY 2–9, 2022
INSIDE
WWW.GOEASTERNOREGON.COM
The Big
Read
features
‘The House
on Mango
Street’
page 8
Join
A drum
circle
PAGE 7
Listen
Music show
at EOU
PAGE 12
Watch
‘Pride@
Prejudice’
PAGE 14
Keith Dannemiller/Contributed image
“The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros is the featured
book for The Big Read, which kicks off virtually Feb. 16, 2022.
Go! Magazine
Arts and entertainment
magazine
IN THIS EDITION: LOCAL • BUSINESS & AG LIFE • SPORTS
SPORTS A5
SPORTS A5
Baker boys beat
Nyssa, 62-40
Nyssa ends Baker
girls’ streak, 58-48
Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
QUICK HITS
—————
Good Day Wish
To A Subscriber
Surprise
snowstorm
snarls
freeway
traffic
A special good day to
Herald subscriber Robert
McKim of Baker City.
BRIEFING
—————
Brooklyn Primary
throws taco fundraiser
Brooklyn Primary School is
again organizing a Taco Tues-
day fundraiser in February in
place of its traditional taco
feed event organized by the
school’s PTO.
Throughout the month,
four restaurants will donate
a percentage of proceeds
every Tuesday to Brooklyn.
Participating businesses are
D&J Taco Shop, El Erradero,
Delicioso Mexican Restau-
rant, and MC Taco Bus.
Brooklyn students are sell-
ing raffl e tickets throughout
the month ($1 each, six for
$5, or 25 for $20). Tickets
will also be sold by a PTO
member every Tuesday from
4 p.m. to 6 p.m. in front of
TEC Copiers, 2019 Main St.
Raffl e winners will be drawn
Feb. 24.
Sneak peek of Oregon
Trail Experience Feb. 8
at Heritage Museum
The Baker Heritage
Museum’s monthly lecture
on Tuesday, Feb. 8, features
Barbara Mahoney and her
talk “The Salem Clique:
Oregon’s Founding Brothers.”
The event starts at 6 p.m. at
the museum, 2480 Grove St.
At 7 p.m., there will be a
celebration of Oregon’s birth-
day with treats and a sneak
peek at the new Oregon Trail
Experience exhibit designed
by the National Historic Ore-
gon Trail Interpretive Center.
WEATHER
—————
Today
31/17
Partly sunny
Wednesday
30/16
Afternoon snow
Full forecast on the back
of the B section.
FEBRUARY 3, 2022 • $1.50
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
Beverly Calder, center, held a “Give More” fundraiser in December 2021 at BELLA shops in Baker City and La Grande to support
three organizations, including the Baker Relief Nursery. She presented a replica check on Jan. 26, 2022, to Kim Mosier, left, chair
of the relief nursery board of directors, and RaeAnn Butler, right, program coordinator.
Fundraiser benefits
Baker Relief Nursery
cording the OARN, are:
• Keeping children safe
in their homes.
• Reducing the number
of children in foster care.
• Reducing stressors for
families.
BY LISA BRITTON
lbritton@bakercityherald.com
RaeAnn Butler plans to
hang the larger-than-life
check on the wall of the
place it supports — the
Baker Relief Nursery.
“We are so grateful,”
Butler said, holding the
giant replica of the $5,399
donation from BELLA.
Butler is the program co-
ordinator for the Baker Re-
lief Nursery, which was one
of three organizations to re-
ceive donations from BEL-
LA’s “Give More” campaign
in December 2021
Throughout that month,
customers at the BELLA
shops in Baker City and La
Grande were given one nut
for every $10 they spent.
Each nut represented $1.
Customers then dropped
the nuts into a stocking for
their chosen organization
— Baker Relief Nursery,
Baker City Quiet Zone, or
La Grande’s Angel Fund.
“We got an incredible re-
sponse,” said Beverly Calder,
owner of the BELLA shops.
In addition to donating
10% of the month’s sales,
BELLA held a raffle for
two $200 shopping sprees,
with ticket sales benefiting
the cause in each store that
received the most nuts.
In Baker City, raffle
profits went to the Relief
Nursery.
Baker Relief Nursery/Contributed photo
The Baker Relief Nursery classroom includes hands-on activi-
ties, books and toys.
Calder said customers
at both stores supported
organizations in the neigh-
boring county.
“Our La Grande store
customers dropped 1,513
nuts into the Baker City
Relief Nursery stocking,
and I wouldn’t be surprised
if they started an effort to
get a similar program go-
ing in La Grande,” she said.
“We introduced the con-
cept to thousands of peo-
ple.”
Funding for the Baker
Relief Nursery is a pub-
lic-private partnership
— of the annual operat-
ing cost, 30% is provided
through the Oregon De-
partment of Education,
30% by grants, and 40% by
private donations.
By statute, a 25% cash
match is required from the
local community.
Baker Relief Nursery
The Baker Relief Nurs-
ery opened in the spring of
2021 at 1925 16th St.
The start of relief nurs-
eries dates to 1976 when
women of the Junior
League of Eugene created
a childcare center “in re-
sponse to a growing crisis
of child abuse and neglect,”
according to the Oregon
Association of Relief Nurs-
eries (OARN).
The model, which is
now replicated by relief
nurseries across Oregon,
was to provide respite care
and support to families.
The key outcomes, ac-
The program
Butler works closely
with local agencies to en-
sure families know about
the relief nursery. Fami-
lies can be referred to the
program, or self-refer,
Butler said.
Relief nurseries use a
therapeutic, individual ap-
proach with an emphasis
on social-emotional sup-
port in small class settings.
Right now, the relief
nursery has a toddler class
on Tuesday and Thurs-
day mornings, and an in-
fant class on Wednesday
mornings.
The “classroom” is
stocked with colorful
rugs, books, toys, a play
kitchen and more. A
stroller with six seats al-
lows outdoor adventures
in warmer weather.
“We had it out quite a bit
in the fall,” Butler said.
Enrollment is capped
at eight toddlers and six
infants.
“We had to start a wait
list,” Butler said.
Sections of I-84
closed Tuesday
night and again
early Wednesday
BY JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
A snowstorm that was more po-
tent than predicted dropped about 3½
inches in Baker City in just a couple
hours Tuesday night, Feb. 1, and con-
tributed to two multihour closures of
Interstate 84.
Snow started falling in the after-
noon in the Blue Mountains between
La Grande and Pendleton, and there
were several crashes involving com-
mercial trucks, said Tom Strandberg,
a spokesman for the Oregon Depart-
ment of Transportation.
In many of those cases, the trucks
were not chained up, a problem that
resulted in several freeway closures
earlier this winter.
“It’s definitely a recurring theme,”
Strandberg said.
Commercial trucks with trailers
pose a particular problem because
they’re wide enough that when they
jackknife the combination can block
both freeway lanes, he said.
And if two or more trucks tangle, it
can require several hours for multiple
tow trucks to clear the way.
Both eastbound and westbound
lanes were closed around 7:30 p.m. on
Tuesday, Feb. 1, between Pendleton
and Baker City.
See, Closures/Page A3
See, Fundraiser/Page A3
Samantha O’Conner/Baker City Herald
The space below is for a postage label
for issues that are mailed.
County commissioners all
oppose River Democracy Act
Resolution was
unanimously approved
BY SAMANTHA O’CONNER
soconner@bakercityherald.com
Baker County Commissioners voted
unanimously on Wednesday, Feb. 2, to
approve a resolution opposing the River
Democracy Act, a bill in Congress that
would add about 163 miles of streams in
the county to the federal Wild and Sce-
nic Rivers Act list.
Oregon’s two U.S. senators, Democrats
Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, intro-
duced the River Democracy Act exactly
one year ago, on Feb. 2, 2021.
The resolution notes that the bill,
which is pending in Congress and has not
been voted on, would nearly triple the
river mileage in Baker County under the
Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.
Local streams on the list
The following stream segments in
Baker County are included in the River
Democracy Act, which U.S. Senators
Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley intro-
duced in February 2021.
• Black Canyon, 2.8 miles
• Burnt River, 12.6 miles
• East Eagle Creek, 3.7 miles
• West Eagle Creek, 5 miles
• Bullrun Creek, 2.6 miles
• Middle Fork Burnt River, 6.1 miles
• North Fork Burnt River, 16.2 miles
• South Fork Burnt River, 5.3 miles
• West Fork Burnt River, 3.8 miles
• Clear Creek (Halfway area), 9.1 miles
• East Fork Pine Creek (Halfway area),
4.6 miles
• East Pine Creek, 7.9 miles
• Elk Creek (Halfway area), 8.1 miles
• Fish Creek, 8.4 miles
• Lake Fork Creek, 13.5 miles
• Middle Fork Pine Creek, 1.1 miles
• Pine Creek (Halfway area), 1.3 miles
• Trail Creek (Halfway area), 4.4 miles
• West Fork Pine Creek, 0.5 miles
• Flat Creek, 3.4 miles
• Horseshoe Creek, 2.9 miles
• North Fork Elk Creek, 3.8 miles
• Sheep Creek, 5.2 miles
• South Fork Elk Creek, 1.3 miles
• Swamp Creek, 5.4 miles
• Dutch Flat Creek (Elkhorns), 6.7 miles
• Killamacue Creek (Elkhorns), 4 miles
• North Fork North Powder River (Elk-
horns), 2.5 miles
• North Fork Rock Creek (Elkhorns),
3.3 miles
• Rock Creek (Elkhorns), 5.9 miles
• Van Patten Creek (Elkhorns), 1.6 miles
Firefighters from the Baker City Fire De-
partment and Baker Rural Fire District re-
sponded to a blaze in a home at 1249 Fifth
St. on Monday, Jan. 31, 2022.
Fire damages
home near
South Baker
School
BY JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
A fire caused significant structural
damage to a house near South Baker
School on Monday night, Jan. 31.
The fire was reported about
9:24 p.m. at 1249 Fifth St.
That’s at Fifth and Grace streets,
one block west of South Baker, and
just north of the railroad tracks.
Six firefighters from the Baker City
Fire Department responded, along
with two from the Baker Rural Fire
Protection District, said Cameron
Kiyokawa, a division chief with the
Baker City Fire Department who was
incident commander.
See, Fire/Page A3
See, Act/Page A3
TODAY
Issue 112
28 pages
Business .................B1 & B2
Classified ................B3 & B4
Comics ..............................B5
Community News.............A3
Crossword ...............B3 & B4
Dear Abby .........................B6
Horoscope ..............B3 & B4
Letters ...............................A4
Lottery Results .................A2
News of Record ................A2
Obituaries .........................A3
Opinion .............................A4
Sports ...............................A5
Turning Backs ..................A2
Weather ............................B6