BAKER CITY HERALD • TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2022 A3
LOCAL & STATE
Kathy Orr/Baker City Herald, File
Students and other fans will gather at Baker High School this week
for the Class 1A state boys and girls basketball tournaments. All
ticket sales will be online for the first time.
Tickets
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Sumpter Valley Railroad/Contributed Photo
Weathered roofs have been replaced at Sumpter Valley Railroad’s McEwen Depot. The SVRR season starts the weekend of May 14-15.
Roll
SVRR will also offer short runs July 16
and 17, which is the weekend of Miners
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Jubilee in Baker City.
The staged train robberies return as
She said the No. 19 engine will be out well, and now the robbers have a new
of service until July, and the season starts name — the High Country Outlaws.
with the No. 3 wood-burning Heisler.
“They are back once a month and will
“We’re so honored to be a part of the
start in May,” Svaty said.
community and welcome folks from near
The first “robbery” is set for May 29.
and far,” Svaty said. “The snow is quickly
A few special events are already set in
melting and we’ll start the season work
the schedule. Hunter Noack will return
on tracks soon.”
June 25 and 26 to present “In a Land-
The Sumpter Valley Railroad, a re-
scape” — a full piano concert he plays
stored narrow-gauge railway, runs be-
outdoors. Tickets must be purchased
tween McEwen Depot, just south of
through inalandscape.org.
Highway 7 west of Phillips Reservoir, and
Svaty said a wine and cheese train,
the depot in Sumpter near the dredge.
which was new in 2021, returns Sept. 3.
The season starts May 14 and 15 with This night train, for ages 21 and older,
leaves McEwen at 6 p.m. and features
one full run each day at 2 p.m.
After that, most weekends will feature items from The Cheese Fairy and Cop-
runs on Saturday and Sunday, at 10 a.m. per Belt Winery.
“That ended up being a great success
and 1 p.m.
last year and loved by all,” Svaty said.
Svaty said the holiday weekends that
Another special event returning is a
coincide with Sumpter flea markets —
full moon train on Sept. 10, with depar-
Memorial Day, Fourth of July and La-
bor Day — will again feature short runs ture at 7 p.m.
Looking way ahead into October, the
from Sumpter to the river and back. The
SVRR will offer three fall foliage trains
Oct. 21-23. There will be no full-day
photographer’s special this year.
“Which is disappointing, but it will
be back in 2023 bigger and better,”
Svaty said.
Special Halloween trains will happen
Oct. 28 and 29.
“The High Country Outlaws will also
be a part of Halloween on Saturday to
add more fun and excitement,” Svaty
said.
When the cold sets in, the trains
switch to the diesel engine. Although still
tentative, trains are scheduled for Nov. 25
and 26.
December brings a night train on Dec.
9, then day trains Dec. 10 and 11.
“After a disappointing break down in
2021, we realized it’s easier to run diesel
than keeping the steam trains from freez-
ing up and causing damage,” Svaty said.
The 2022 is schedule to change —
check the website for confirmation and
to purchase tickets, www.sumptervalley-
railroad.org.
Updates are also posted on Facebook.
Convoy
Veluscek said he’s looking
forward to the trip.
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“I wish it had happened ear-
lier,” he said. “I just want to see
The protest comes after the
as many people stand up and do
U.S. Centers for Disease
something. It’s been too long.”
Control and Prevention an-
Joining the convoy will be
nounced on Feb. 25 that it was country music singer Jessie
no longer recommending in- Leigh, an Estacada native who
was flying back from Nash-
door mask mandates.
“It’s all peaceful. It’s all legal,” ville to join the protest, along
Veluscek said “They pulled
with carrying a special Ameri-
permits or rented huge areas,
can flag given to her by a close
venues where they can park
friend that she hopes will in-
along the way of these routes.
spire people on the road.
It’s almost a humanitarian ef-
“The goal and mission is to
fort. They’re saying when we
have this particular flag used
get to D.C., let’s spread the love. for unity and to be touched
Let’s try to take care of people.” by as many Americans as pos-
sible and to unify people,”
she said. “Despite what side
of the aisle, it doesn’t matter.
We’re all Americans. We’re all
human, and we all stand to-
gether. And for at least a mo-
ment, we can stand under the
flag and sing a song together.”
Leigh said a break in her
schedule is what allowed her
to join the convoy.
“We have these open dates
on the schedule and they
reached out to ask if we would
be the caretakers of the flag on
this convoy,” she said.
American Freedom Con-
voy is an offshoot of several
other protests across the nation
against vaccine and mask man-
dates due to the COVID-19
pandemic. The convoy follows
weeks after truckers in Ottawa,
Canada, shut down commerce
and traffic in the city.
A separate convoy, The
People’s Convoy, already has
started driving toward Wash-
ington, D.C., and is scheduled
to reach Indianapolis by Tues-
day, March 1.
The American Freedom
Convoy is scheduled to arrive
at Peoria, Illinois, on Satur-
day, March 5. Afterward, the
convoy will rendezvous with
other truckers participating
from across the nation.
COVID
when there were 20 cases.
In addition to the number
of cases, Baker County’s rate
of positive tests, and its num-
ber of new cases per 100,000
population have both dropped
substantially and are near the
statewide average.
The county’s test positivity
rate dipped from 13.2% the
previous week to 7.1% from
Feb. 20-26.
The statewide test positivity
rate for that week was 6.1%.
Baker County’s new case
rate per 100,000 population
last week was 136, down from
236.5 the previous week (and
a peak of 1,076 for the week
Jan. 16-22). The statewide rate
last week was 131.
Bennett said he feels dif-
ferently about the current
situation compared with the
significant drop in cases that
happened during the late
spring and early summer of
2021, and again during the fall
after the delta surge.
The biggest difference, Ben-
nett said, is that the level of
herd immunity, through vacci-
nations and natural infection —
the latter boosted significantly
by the much more contagious,
but less virulent, omicron vari-
ant — is considerably higher.
He encourages people to
pick up free COVID-19 testing
kits — they’re available online
and at the Health Department
by calling 541-523-8211.
Although home test results
don’t need to be reported, they
can be helpful in letting peo-
ple know when they should
quarantine, Bennett said.
He also recommends peo-
ple continue to heed the ad-
vice to stay home if they feel
ill, regardless of whether they
take a COVID-19 test.
Baker County’s first
COVID-19 case was reported
on May 6, 2020.
As of Sunday, Feb. 27, the
county has had 3,178 cases,
as well as 46 COVID-19-re-
lated deaths, including four
during February.
Mark Bennett, a Baker County
commissioner and the county’s
incident commander through-
Continued from Page A1
out the pandemic.
hospitals who were positive for
Although Bennett empha-
COVID-19.
sized that it’s still important to
The decline in
try to protect those
omicron-related se-
who are most vulner-
vere cases acceler-
able to the virus, in-
ated and the date was
cluding people with
moved last week to
compromised im-
March 19. But on
mune systems, he said
Thursday, Feb. 24,
the statistics, both at
OHSU issued a fore-
the county, state and
Bennett
cast showing Oregon
national levels, show
would dip below the
that “the corner has
400-mark by March 12. The
been turned it appears.”
next OHSU forecast is due
After the omicron wave
March 3.
crested in Baker County the
week of Jan. 16-22, with 183
Baker County’s case numbers
cases reported, the weekly
total has dropped for five
continue to plummet
The Baker County Health
straight weeks.
Department reported 23 new
During that period the
cases for the week Feb. 20-26.
weekly figure has plummeted
That’s the lowest weekly total by 87.6%.
in more than two months.
Last week’s total of 23 cases
It’s also the third-lowest since was the fewest since 22 cases
July 2021, just before the delta the week of Dec. 12-18.
variant became the predomi-
Only one other week has had
nant source of cases.
fewer cases in the county since
“It’s really uplifting,” said
July 2021 — Oct. 31-Nov. 6,
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Buell Gonzales Jr., ath-
letic director for the Baker
School District, said ticket
sales were online only for
the Class 1A state football
championship game in No-
vember between Powder
Valley and Adrian at Baker
Bulldog Memorial Stadium,
and for Baker’s state volley-
ball match.
He said the system
worked well.
Online ticket buyers can
Winter
Continued from Page A1
Hardly conducive to short-
sleeve shirts.
February’s chill continued
a trend that dates to Christ-
mas Eve.
Since then, the tempera-
ture at the Baker City Airport
has reached 40 degrees on
just five days (and barely got
to that threshold on three of
the five).
The warmest day was Jan.
7, when the high was 47. That
was the only 40-degree-plus
day during January.
In February:
• 41 on the 9th
• 40 on the 10th
• 45 on the 11th
• 40 on the 13th
With one day left in the
month, the average high tem-
perature for February at the
airport was 33.3 degrees. On
12 of the 27 days the tempera-
ture didn’t go above freezing.
The 33.3-degree figure is
7 degrees below average for
the month.
And it’s likely to rank
2022, by that measure, as the
sixth-coldest February at the
airport since 1943.
The lowest average high
for the month is 25.9 de-
grees, in 1989.
Based on another statistic,
this February has been even
more historic.
The average low tempera-
ture at the airport, through
choose to download and
print a paper ticket, which
will be scanned at the door,
Gonzales said.
The other option is pa-
perless. The virtual ticket, or
tickets, are downloaded to a
smartphone, and the images
are shown at the door.
Gonzales said he can
help people order their
tickets online from about
8 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. each day
from Wednesday, March 2,
through Saturday, March 5.
Call Gonzales at 541-524-
2606 to set up an appoint-
ment.
Feb. 27, was 11.4 degrees.
That’s 10 degrees below av-
erage.
It’s also the third-lowest av-
erage low for February, trail-
ing only 1989 (3.4 degrees)
and 1985 (9.4).
The major culprit for the
consistent cold is the tem-
perature inversion that has
trapped cold air — chilled by
the persistent snow cover —
near the ground.
That has kept temperatures
well below average in Baker
Valley, and most of the other
valleys in Baker County, this
winter even as temperatures
occasionally rose into the 40s
and even low 50s in the sur-
rounding mountains.
On 11 days in February the
low at the airport dipped be-
low 10 degrees.
Only one of those days set
a record low, however — and
it was, curiously enough, one
of the warmer days.
The low of 9 degrees on
Feb. 24 broke the previous re-
cord of 10, set in 1975.
That record was an anom-
aly, as the warmest record
low for February.
The record low is below
zero on 25 of the 29 days (in-
cluding leap years), includ-
ing from minus 15 to minus
28 on the first nine days of
the month.
The coldest reading this
February was 1 below zero
on Feb. 25. The record low
for that date is 3 below, set
in 1955.
Keith Alden Stubblefield
October 31, 1936 – February 16, 2022
Keith Alden Stubblefield, 85,
of Salem, Oregon, passed away
peacefully in the comfort of his
own home surrounded by family
on Feb. 16, 2022. Keith was born
in La Grande, Oregon, in 1936.
His parents were Harlan and Edna
Stubblefield. For most of his youth,
his family lived in Elgin, Oregon,
where he enjoyed hunting, fishing,
horseback riding and skiing. He even crafted his first
pair of skis himself. His family later moved to Baker,
Oregon, where he met his wife, Cheryl (Culley) Stub-
blefield. They attended high school together and mar-
ried in 1956 in Baker.
Keith had many ambitions vocationally. He earned
his bachelor of science degree from Eastern Oregon
College in 1964 and took his graduate study in crim-
inology at the University of Maryland. In 1964 he
moved his family to Washington, D.C., where he was
appointed research assistant for President Johnson’s
Commission on Law Enforcement and Administrative
Justice. He was later appointed to Correctional Man-
power and Training in Washington, D.C. He held many
executive positions in law enforcement. He served as
deputy administrator of the Law Enforcement Council
of Alaska and administrator of the Law Enforcement
Council of Oregon.
Keith served in the Army Reserve for 38 years as
first sergeant of the 20th PSYOP Company. He earned
his airborne wings in 1966 and participated in training
exercises with allies such as Canada and Germany.
Keith is preceded in death by his wife, Cheryl; old-
est son, Brent; and sister, Joyce Stubblefield. He is sur-
vived by his sisters, Karen Stubblefield Linfor and Mar-
la Houston; daughter, Tami (Alisa) Allen-Stubblefield;
son, Rick (Wendy) Stubblefield; and daughter, Kimber-
ly Stubblefield; as well as seven grandchildren and 11
great-grandchildren.
Keith loved and was loved by many and will be
missed more than words can express.
Services will be at 11 a.m. on March 4, 2022, at
Restlawn Memorial Gardens, 201 Oak Grove Road
NW, Salem, Oregon 97304.