BAKER CITY HERALD • THURSDAY, MARCH 10, 2022 A5
THE NORTHWEST
Realtors to conservatives living in liberal areas: Try Idaho
“People are tired of out-
of-control crime and forced
SANDPOINT, Idaho —
masking,” Chabot said.
Linda Navarre moved to
Idaho has been the fastest
Sandpoint, Idaho, from
growing state in the nation
Cleveland in 1978, when the
for five years running, grow-
town consisted of people in
ing 2.9% in 2021, mostly from
the timber industry and hip-
in-migration.
pies “and they all got along.”
But the influx of people to
Now she barely recognizes
places like Idaho has made it
the small resort community
harder for some long-time res-
near the Canadian border
idents. People struggle to find
that is quickly growing as
housing in Sandpoint, with
people disenchanted with big
many houses sold the same
city life move there. Many are
day they are listed, after bid-
conservatives fed up with lib-
ding wars, Cameron said.
eral politics in blue states.
Ted S. Warren/Associated Press
Many of those homes are
“The division gets wider
A pedestrian walks past a mural in downtown Sandpoint, Idaho. Real
converted into vacation rent-
and wider,” Navarre said, add- estate companies are pitching areas of Idaho as attractive to conserva- als, which tightens the market
ing many of the new arrivals tives fed up with places like Seattle. The mayor here in Sandpoint isn’t for people who live in the area,
are changing the civility of
Cameron said.
sold on the idea, nor are others.
the community. “My concern
Carolyn Knaack, associ-
ate director of the Lake Pend
is there are so many people
ing themselves to people on
with integrated ballistic and
Oreille Waterkeeper conserva-
who are not nice.”
the right, saying they can take defensive capabilities.”
tion group, has lived in town
Sandpoint is a four-season them out of liberal bastions
Todd Savage, whose Black
for a year.
resort town built along the
like Seattle and San Fran-
Rifle Real Estate firm is part
She said the confluence of
shores of scenic Lake Pend
cisco and find them homes in of Flee The City, said in a brief
the coronavirus pandemic and
Oreille. It had 7,300 residents places like rural Idaho.
email exchange that his busi-
in the 2010 Census, but grew
Sandpoint-based Flee The ness is booming, thanks to “in- politics “has created a divisive-
ness among folks.”
21% in the decade to about
City is a consortium of four
sane” left wing politics.
“I’ve been applauded and
8,900 in the 2020 Census.
businesses which specialize in
One of the bigger players
belittled for wearing a mask,”
In addition to the natural
selling property to conserva- among right-leaning real es-
she said. “I have friends who
beauty, “people come here
tives in northern Idaho and
tate companies is Conserva-
because it’s a red state,” said
western Montana. The com- tive Move, based in a suburb of refused to get vaxxed.”
Savage was asked if it was
longtime resident Gail Cam- pany calls itself “a real estate Dallas. Founder and chief ex-
desirable for people to segre-
eron, 67.
firm for the vigilant.”
ecutive Paul Chabot said blue
To capitalize on that trend,
Flee the City has partnered states have only themselves to gate themselves by political
ideology.
a growing number of real es- with a company that provides blame for driving out conser-
“I don’t agree with the term
tate companies are advertis-
“sustainable homes designed vatives.
BY NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS
Associated Press
Snowpack in the Klamath Basin sat
at 60% of normal as of Monday, which
prompted the declaration.
“It is already clear from snowpack
and streamflow numbers: this will be
another difficult year,” Brown said on
Twitter. “I am committed to dedicating
state resources to help.”
Central and southern Oregon are
entering a third consecutive year of
drought, according to Larry O’Neill, a
climatologist at Oregon State University.
Klamath County has been particu-
larly hard hit. Some residents have seen
wells run dry as groundwater recedes.
Contentious fights have also occurred
over how to allocate the water in Upper
Klamath Lake, which is needed by farm-
ers, ranchers and two species of endan-
gered fish that are cultural mainstays of
Indigenous people in the region.
The county also was home to one of
the largest wildfires in Oregon history last
year. Climate scientists have long said that
drought and heightened wildfire risk will
become more frequent and more severe as
climate change continues to push global
temperatures up.
Republican Party chair quits, cites party ‘wickedness’
someone within the party
deploying tactics that have
harmed his physical and spir-
itual health. He wrote that he
can no longer “survive expo-
sure to the toxicity that can
be found in this community.”
Party Vice Chairman Her-
man Baertschiger told the
News Review he would step
in the role of acting chair un-
til Heard is replaced.
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keep his legislative seat.
He had been absent from
the Capitol for most of the
session. Heard has also made
it a practice to vote against
bills, even those he agreed
with, to protest the Capitol
being closed to the public
during the pandemic.
Heard’s letter encour-
aged his party colleagues
to “guard” their “hearts
against the wickedness” that
exists within the Republi-
can Party.
His letter did not name
any names but mentioned
GU
SALEM (AP) — The chair
of the Oregon Republican
Party is stepping down.
Oregon Public Broadcast-
ing reports state Sen. Dal-
las Heard told the party in
a letter he will leave Friday,
March 11, due to “communist
psychological warfare tactics”
he believes are being used to
“destroy anyone of true char-
acter.”
Heard, who was kicked
out of the Oregon state Sen-
ate during the recently con-
cluded legislative session for
refusing to wear a mask, will
TE
1
R GU
’S
2036 Main St., Baker City • 541-523-6284 • ccb# 219615
KLAMATH FALLS (AP) — Oregon
Gov. Kate Brown has declared a state
of emergency in Klamath County as
southern Oregon remains in an ongoing
drought that shows no sign of letting up.
The Monday, March 7, declaration
directs state agencies, including the Or-
egon Department of Agriculture, Ore-
gon Water Resources Department and
the Water Resources Commission, to
provide assistance to water users in the
region and to seek federal resources to
help residents and wildlife, The Orego-
nian/OregonLive reported.
N
BOISE — Idaho Gov. Brad
Little says he will lift the state’s
public health emergency di-
saster declaration on April 15,
just over two years since it was
put in place because of the
coronavirus pandemic.
Little made the announce-
ment Tuesday, March 8, say-
ing it came after weeks of
thoughtful deliberation with
stakeholders.
“We’re hopeful the recent
decrease in COVID-19 cases,
hospitalizations, and deaths
means we are on a downward
trend with the pandemic,”
Little said in a statement.
“The April 15 timeframe
provides an important bridge
for hospitals and other
healthcare providers to plan
for the transition.”
The rate of new coronavi-
rus cases has dropped signifi-
cantly in Idaho over the past
two weeks, according to a tally
by Johns Hopkins Univer-
sity. Still, one out of every 219
residents tested positive for
COVID-19 in the past week,
making the state second in the
country for new cases per cap-
ita. Coronavirus-related hospi-
talizations have also dropped
dramatically statewide.
Emergency declarations
serve as a legal foundation that
allows government officials to
streamline the response to di-
sasters. Such declarations can
make the state eligible for in-
creased federal and state fund-
ing, allow red tape and regu-
lations to be lifted for a more
nimble disaster response,
and create the framework for
emergency orders to be issued
for things like social distanc-
ing, business closures and
mask mandates.
Some other states have
also lifted COVID-19-re-
lated emergency declara-
tions in recent weeks, though
many are still in place across
the U.S. Oregon Gov. Kate
Brown announced last
month that her state’s emer-
gency declaration would be
lifted on April 1. Washing-
ton state’s disaster declara-
tion remains in place, though
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee
said the state’s indoor mask
mandate would lift the same
day as Oregon’s: March 12.
Little first issued a “pro-
active emergency declara-
tion” for the pandemic on
March 13, 2020, noting that
the coronavirus had been de-
tected in neighboring states
and accurately predicting
that Idaho cases would soon
be identified.
A little over a week later,
with a major coronavirus out-
break underway in Blaine
County, Little increased the
urgency of the state’s response
by signing an “extreme emer-
gency declaration.” That dec-
laration was accompanied by
a stay-home order requiring
residents to isolate at home
when possible, limiting gath-
ering sizes and temporarily
closing some businesses like
hair salons, bars and conven-
tion centers.
Those steps were lifted
and replaced with lighter re-
strictions over the next sev-
eral weeks and months. Lit-
tle never issued mask orders,
though some local govern-
ment entities did. He touted
his lack of statewide mandates
when announcing that the
emergency declaration would
be lifted.
“I kept Idaho open, banned
vaccine mandates, never is-
sued mandates for vaccines or
masks, and successfully chal-
lenged Biden’s overreaching
vaccine mandates in court,”
Little said.
Some Idaho lawmakers
have pushed legislation that
would end the disaster decla-
ration without the governor’s
sign-off. The Idaho House
voted on Monday in favor of
a resolution ending the di-
saster declaration. If the res-
olution passes the Senate, it
could end the declaration be-
fore April 15.
Governor declares drought state
of emergency in Klamath County
15 % & 10 %
2
BY REBECCA BOONE
Associated Press
to California,” Russell said.
“They are selling fear is what
they are doing.”
The National Association of
Realtors does not keep records
detailing if any of its members
market themselves by political
ideology, spokesman Quin-
tin Simmons said. And not all
real estate agents are members
of the Realtors. So it’s tough to
determine if the trend of tar-
geting conservative customers
is widespread.
The Western States Center,
a human rights group based in
Portland, is keeping an eye on
right-leaning real estate firms,
said member Kate Bitz.
“It’s just the latest of sev-
eral waves of politically moti-
vated relocation to the inland
Northwest,” Bitz said.
Indeed, in past decades a
variety of extremist groups,
most prominently the Aryan
Nations, sought to create a
white homeland in northern
Idaho because of the region’s
small number of minorities.
“People in the United
States relocate all the time,”
Bitz said. “What concerns us
is when white nationalists
and anti-democracy actors
relocate to the region with the
aim of organizing, recruiting
and seizing control of local
institutions.”
RD
Idaho COVID-19
disaster declaration
ends in April
‘segregate,’” he wrote. “Folks
simply ‘vote with their feet’ re-
lating to issues such as crime,
taxes, homeschooling, gun
laws, mask and vaccine man-
dates, Orwellian laws and out
of control tyranny in the sanc-
tuary states.”
Not everyone is a fan of
what Savage and conservative
realtors are doing in Sand-
point and elsewhere.
Mayor Shelby Rognstad, a
Democrat, worries real estate
firms that serve only conser-
vatives “pushes Idaho more
and more into a playground
for extremism.”
“It doesn’t bode well for our
sense of community here,”
said Rognstad, who is mount-
ing a campaign for governor.
“It’s a challenge to civility.”
Barbara Russell, who lives in
nearby Bonners Ferry, Idaho,
expressed similar concerns.
Bonners Ferry feels like it’s
been overrun with white na-
tionalists, said Russell, who
owns a dance studio in the
town of 2,600 residents.
“What they are doing is pre-
paring for war,” Russell said of
new arrivals, who often carry
guns when in town.
“New people are moving
in and they go to City Coun-
cil meetings and tell people
who grew up here to go back
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