MARCH 2–9, 2022
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INSIDE
Wee Bit o’ Ireland
returns to Heppner
PAGE
8
Tammy Malgesini/EO Media Group, File
A trio of leprechauns wander the streets of Heppner
during a past Wee Bit o’ Ireland celebration. After a
two-year hiatus, this year’s event includes activities
on March 11-13 and March 18-19.
SPORTS A5
Go! Magazine
Arts and entertainment magazine
IN THIS EDITION: LOCAL • BUSINESS & AG LIFE • SPORTS
QUICK HITS
—————
Good Day Wish
To A Subscriber
Baker claims league’s top coach and player
Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
February Failure
A special good day to
Herald subscriber Valerie
Omann of Baker City.
Snowpack stalled
during driest
February on record
BRIEFING
—————
Crossroads to
celebrate International
Women’s Day
Crossroads Carnegie Art
Center, 2020 Auburn Ave.
in Baker City, will celebrate
International Women’s Day
on Tuesday, March 8, with
special events.
From 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.,
local lacemakers from
Charmed Needles in Ontario
will give demonstrations,
and the “Habitat” Studio Art
Quilt Associates traveling
exhibit is on display.
The art center will also
accept donations to support
women artists in Peru who
were featured during the July
2021 “Picturing Paradise” ex-
hibit sponsored by ConVida.
Crossroads is open from
10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday
through Saturday. Informa-
tion is also available online
at www.crossroads-arts.org
and Facebook.
Joyce Badgley
Hunsaker to speak at
Heritage Museum
BY JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
I
Jayson Jacoby/Baker City Herald
Cold weather contributed to these fanciful ice sculptures near
Phillips Reservoir on Feb. 26, 2022, but a persistent high-pressure
pattern prevented storms from moving inland and adding to the
mountain snowpack.
n a county plagued by drought, the
phrase “driest February on record”
sounds about as pleasant as a fork
screeching across a chalkboard.
“Below average snowpack” isn’t exactly
melodic, either.
That February was particularly parched
might seem implausible considering the
soggy piles of slush soaking Baker City this
week.
But those rapidly melting bergs are largely
the products of snow that fell in late Decem-
ber and early January.
Since then — and particularly during Feb-
ruary — a persistent high pressure pattern
has shunted away most of the Pacific storms
that typically bring precipitation to our re-
gion during winter.
“A bubble, or dome, or whatever you want
to call it,” is how Mark Ward, a frustrated
Baker Valley farmer, describes it.
“All the storms go around us,” Ward said in
a phone interview on Wednesday morning,
March 2.
See, Snowpack/Page A3
American Freedom Convoy Rolls Through Baker City
Joyce Badgley Hunsaker
will give a talk titled “From
Bloomers to Briefcases:
Women’s Legacies in Cre-
ating Community” for this
month’s lecture series at the
Baker Heritage Museum, in
partnership with the Ameri-
can Association of University
Women (AAUW).
The event is at 6 p.m.
Tuesday, March 8, at the
museum, 2480 Grove St.
WEATHER
—————
Today
54/29
Rain or snow late
Wednesday
42/30
Partly sunny
Full forecast on the back
of the B section.
The space below is for a postage label
for issues that are mailed.
THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 2022 • $1.50
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
Several dozen vehicles parked on the sides of the Exit 302 overpass above Interstate 84 on Wednesday morning, March
2, and along the shoulders on both sides of the overpass, and people congregated along the guard rails to greet the
American Freedom Convoy, a group of several vehicles traveling to Washington, D.C., to join other convoys protesting
vaccine and mask mandates. A couple of airplanes also flew over, one decorated with an American flag.
March
Madness:
Books,
not hoops
Younger readers will
choose the winning
books in event at
Baker County
Public Library
BY LISA BRITTON
lbritton@bakercityherald.com
March Madness has hit the li-
brary, but it’s all about books, not
basketball.
Middle Grade March Mad-
ness started this week at the Baker
County Public Library. Missy
Grammon, youth services special-
ist, has created a bracket pitting
books against each other.
The genre of “middle grade” is
geared toward readers who are
ages 8 to 12.
Readers can vote for their fa-
vorite book each week, and on
each Tuesday Grammon will an-
nounce the winners that moved to
the next round.
Voting will be held through the
library’s Facebook page as well as
in person — simply ask to vote at
the front desk at the library, 2400
Resort St., and then drop the to-
kens in the container near the
book you want to win.
Extra tokens are given to those
who check out books during the
program.
Here’s the lineup for the Sweet
Sixteen:
• “A Wolf for a Spell” by Karah
Sutton vs. “Root Magic” by Eden
Royce
• “Manañaland” by Pam Muñoz
Ryan vs. “King and the Dragon-
flies” by Kacen Callender
• “When You Trap a Tiger” by
Tae Keller vs. “Class Act” by Jerry
Craft
• “Echo Mountain” by Lauren
Wolk vs. “Alone” by Megan E.
Freeman
• “City of Ghosts” by Victo-
ria Schwab vs. “Small Spaces” by
Katherine Arden
• “City of the Plague God” by
Sarwat Chadda vs. “Armari and
the Night Brothers” by B.B. Alston
• “Too Bright to See” by Kyle
Lukoff vs. “The Beatryce Proph-
ecy” by Kate DiCamillo
• “Song for a Whale” by Lynne
Kelly vs. “The Blackbird Girls” by
Anne Blankman
See, Books/Page A3
Sumpter RV park owner angry about graffiti
Jon Patterson believes his tussles
with the Sumpter City Council are
connected to the damage
Convention Center.
Patterson said they found
The owner of a new RV
the graffiti when they returned
park slated to open this
to Sumpter Feb. 20 after travel-
spring in Sumpter believes re- ing to Idaho to pick up siding
cent graffiti painted on signs for their business office.
at his business is connected to
“It was a childish disgusting
his tussles with the Sumpter
act and many Sumpter res-
City Council over permitting idents are as sick about it as
and utility charges.
we are,” Jon Patterson wrote
Jon Patterson said he and
on the Whistle Stop Facebook
his wife, Rebecca, are offering page. “I truly hope this act of
a $500 reward for information hatred & vandalism doesn’t
leading to the arrest and con- discourage anyone from com-
viction of whoever painted a ing to Sumpter to enjoy the
diagonal line across the sign
outdoors whichever manner
for their park and the words
they choose.”
“Pig Boy” on a concrete bar-
Patterson said he plans to
open the 50-space RV park
rier below the sign.
The couple, who moved to May 1. The park, which
Sumpter from the Echo area would be a “dry camp” — no
water or sewer connections
in 2019, own Whistle Stop
at each site — would remain
RV Park and Powder River
BY JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
TODAY
Issue 123
28 pages
Business ...........................B1
Classified ....................B2-B4
Comics ..............................B5
Jon Patterson/Contributed Photo
Jon Patterson, owner of the Whistle Stop RV Park in Sumpter, found
this graffiti on his sign in late February.
open through about Nov. 1,
depending on the onset of
winter weather.
Patterson said the con-
Community News.............A2
Crossword ...............B2 & B4
Dear Abby .........................B6
ference center, which could
also host weddings and other
events, would open later and
be available year-round.
Horoscope ..............B2 & B4
Lottery Results .................A2
News of Record ................A2
Opinion .............................A4
Senior Menus ...................A2
Sports ...............................A5
Both the park and
conference center are on a 20-
acre parcel the Pattersons own
at the south end of Sumpter, at
the junction of the Sumpter-
Granite Highway and Sawmill
Gulch Road. The Powder
River runs through the
property, as do the Sumpter
Valley Railroad tracks.
Patterson believes there is a
need for another RV park in
Sumpter, in addition to the ex-
isting Sumpter and Gold Rush
parks.
He said his park has larger
spaces, at 1,500 square feet,
and offers a different sort of
experience given the lack of
hookups for trailers.
“It’s like camping out in the
mountains,” Patterson said.
He said the Whistle Stop RV
park is a dry camp because he
doesn’t want to increase the
burden on Sumpter’s water
and sewer system.
See, Sumpter/Page A3
Sudoku..............................B5
Turning Backs ..................A2
Weather ............................B8