OUTDOORS B1
SPORTS A6
Braving the chill to fi sh for yellow perch
Cove squeaks past Pine Eagle in quarterfi nals
IN THIS EDITION: LOCAL • OUTDOORS & REC • SPORTS
QUICK HITS
—————
Good Day Wish
To A Subscriber
A special good day to
Herald subscriber Patti Hall
of Baker City.
BRIEFING
—————
Halfway poker run set
for Feb. 20
HALFWAY — The Panhan-
dle Snowmobile Club’s annu-
al poker run, a 25-mile route
with bonfi res at each stop, is
set for Sunday, Feb. 20.
There will be a $4,000
payout — $1,600 for fi rst,
$1,000 for second, $800 for
third, $400 for fourth and
$200 for fi fth. Each hand is
$5, with no limit. Sign in is
Sunday, Feb. 20, from 9 a.m.
to noon at the Halfway Lions
Hall. Payout will be at 6 p.m.
at the Halfway Lions Hall.
Sno-park permits are
required at the Clear Creek
Sno-Park.
More information is
available by calling Jason
Harriman at 541-742-6641;
Mary Herold at 541-742-
6446, or Whitey Bloom at
541-742-7277.
‘Night at Old Auburn’
scheduled Feb. 26
Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2022 • $1.50
Motorcycle Rally canceled again
decision to cancel the event.
And unlike the cancella-
tions in 2021 and 2020, the
pandemic isn’t the lone issue.
Two other concerns this
year, Dukes said, are a ma-
Mark Dukes, a partner in
jor construction project to
High Desert Harley-Davidson build more than 300 wheel-
of Meridian, Idaho, the deal-
chair-accessible curb cuts,
ership that organizes the rally, including on Main Street, a
said in a phone interview on
focal point for the rally, and a
Wednesday, Feb. 16, that mul- shortage of employees at his
tiple factors contributed to his motorcycle dealership.
Organizer plans to return in 2023,
and Chamber director says other
major events scheduled for 2022
BY JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
For the third straight sum-
mer one of Baker City’s sig-
nature events, the Hells Can-
yon Motorcycle Rally, will
not happen.
POND TO
POOL TO
STATE B
TITLES
Dukes said he doesn’t have
enough workers to both or-
ganize the rally in Baker City
and operate the dealership.
“I don’t want to go up there
and not have a great rally,”
he said.
Although the omicron wave
of COVID-19 has passed, and
infection rates are plummet-
ing, Dukes said there is still
an element of uncertainty that
matters with an event such as
Baker High School senior
Brianna Stadler hopes to cap her
high school career with her 5th
and 6th state championships
BY JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
rianna Stadler’s journey to the
top ranks of Oregon high school
swimmers started in a mill pond.
No crystalline water.
No eye-watering tang of
chlorine in the air.
No lanes precisely
marked by strings of plas-
tic floats.
Perhaps most import-
ant, no heater.
Just a patch of chilly wa-
ter in the remote moun-
tains of Northern Cali-
fornia, a place where logs
once floated, pending
The Baker Heritage Muse-
um is bringing back its an-
nual “A Night at Old Auburn”
fundraiser on Saturday, Feb.
26 at the Baker Elks Lodge,
1896 Second St.
Dinner begins at 6 p.m.,
followed by gambling games
and bingo at 7 p.m. Tickets
for dinner are $40 and avail-
able at www.friendsofbaker-
heritagemuseum.com.
their appointment with
the saws.
The sodden logs were
gone but there was Bri-
anna, making her first
strokes through the water.
She was, as best as she
can remember, 6 or 7.
Brianna wasn’t paddling
about the pond for fun.
Or at least not only for
fun.
See, Brianna/Page A3
Baker City
negotiating
contracts
with 2 of 3
unions
BY SAMANTHA O’CONNER
soconner@bakercityherald.com
Baker City Manager Jonathan
Cannon said negotiations are
ongoing with two of the three la-
bor unions representing city em-
ployees.
Separate
unions represent
police, fire and
public works
employees, and
the city has con-
tracts with each.
Cannon
The city also
has about 15
employees, including Cannon
and department heads, who aren’t
represented by a union.
Open house
set to review
design for new
Middle School
cafeteria
Today
46/26
Rain or snow
Sunday
36/21
Baker City Herald
Snow showers
would be up to you,” Mosier
said.
Mosier said the delegation
of duties among commis-
sioners was established by a
county order when the county,
more than a dozen years ago,
changed the previous term
“county judge” for the chair-
man position, and replaced
“county court” with board of
commissioners.
Mosier said she could re-
search the matter and send a
memo to commissioners.
Bennett said he doesn’t be-
lieve there’s enough time to
draft a measure for the May
ballot.
“I think that to have a care-
fully prepared, articulated move
to the November ballot that
would seem to me to be, that if
you’re going to do this, then you
do it,” Bennett said.
The Baker School District has
scheduled a public open house on
Tuesday, Feb. 22, at Baker Mid-
dle School, Fourth Street and
Washington Avenue, to review
the proposed design for the new
cafeteria/multipurpose building
planned on the BMS campus.
The event will start at 5:30 p.m.
COVID protocols, including face
coverings, will be followed.
The estimated 5,000-square-
foot building is one of the major
projects the district will under-
take with money from the $4
million property tax bond mea-
sure that district voters approved
in May 2021.
It was the first time since 1948
that district voters had approved
a bond measure for school im-
provements.
The district plans to go out
for contractor bids for the BMS
building in July 2022, with con-
struction August 2022 through
March 2023. The budget for the
project is $2.2 million.
The district added the bond
money to a $4 million state grant
and $4 million from the district’s
capital budget for a total $12
million project that has multiple
parts besides the BMS building,
including:
• Replacing heating, cooling
and ventilation systems in all dis-
trict schools — Baker High School
(main gym, small gym and au-
ditorium), Baker Middle School,
South Baker, Brooklyn, Haines,
Keating and Baker Early Learning
Center (formerly North Baker).
See, Commissioners/Page A5
See, Design/Page A3
Monday
32/14
Snow showers
The space below is for a postage label
for issues that are mailed.
See, Rally/Page A5
See, Unions/Page A3
WEATHER
—————
Full forecast on the back
of the B section.
the rally, which takes at least 6
months to plan.
Dukes said the prospect of
partnering with other organi-
zations to coordinate the rally
isn’t feasible in his view, be-
cause they would need to be
familiar with motorcycles and
the motorcycle industry.
Dukes said his goal is to re-
vive the rally in 2023.
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
Brianna Stadler plunges into the pool at Sam-O Swim Center in Baker City on Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022.
Nichols calls for duties to be spread
more evenly among commissioners
Issue could reach
voters in November
bilities back to the board of
commissioners and reduce
the amount that the commis-
sion chair has and put it back
BY SAMANTHA O’CONNER
to the three commissioners
rather than just one and ro-
soconner@bakercityherald.com
Baker County Commissioner Bruce tate that,” Nichols said.
By rotate, Nichols means
Nichols on Wednesday, Feb. 16, rein-
having the chairman posi-
troduced an idea he first broached in
November 2021 about spreading some tion rotate among the three
of the duties of the commission chair- elected commissioners each
year.
man to the two other commissioners.
County Counsel Kim
The chairman, a position now held
Mosier told commissioners
by Bill Harvey, is the lone full-time
commissioner and works as the coun- they have little time to pre-
pare a measure for the May
ty’s chief administrator.
17 ballot. The filing deadline
Nichols and the other commis-
is March 8.
sioner, Mark Bennett, have part-time
Harvey asked Mosier
positions. Nichols’ position is about
half-time, and Bennett’s three-quarters whether the commission
would need to schedule a
time.
Nichols, who was reelected to a four- public hearing before putting
year term in 2020, said Wednesday,
such a measure on the ballot.
Feb. 16, that he wants the county to
“I haven’t seen anything
look into asking voters to change the
that would require public
commissioners’ roles.
hearings before putting it
“I want to put more of the responsi- on the ballot and then that
TODAY
Issue 118
12 pages
Classified ....................B2-B4
Comics ..............................B5
Community News.............A2
Crossword ...............B2 & B4
Dear Abby .........................B6
Horoscope ..............B2 & B4
Nichols
Harvey
Bennett
Jayson Jacoby ..................A4
Letters ...............................A4
Lottery Results .................A2
News of Record ................A2
Opinion .............................A4
Senior Menus ...................A2
Sports ...............................A6
Turning Backs ..................A2
Weather ............................B6