APRIL 6–13, 2022
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MAT TIEL INSIDE
makes a concert stop
in BAKER CITY
Mattiel/Contributed image
This artwork graces the cover of Mattiel’s
newest album, Georgia Gothic. The band plays
April 13, 2022, at Churchill School in Baker City.
Go! magazine
Arts and entertainment magazine
IN THIS EDITION: LOCAL • BUSINESS & AG LIFE • SPORTS
QUICK HITS
—————
Good Day Wish
To A Subscriber
Baker Heritage Museum
will host "Durkee Stories,"
a conversation with Gary
Bloomer, on Tuesday, April
12, at the museum, 2480
Grove St. Doors open at
5:30 p.m. and the pre-
sentation begins at 6 p.m.
Attendance is free.
Bloomer, a long-time
Durkee rancher, will share
stories about the town's
history and the Opal Mine.
SPORTS A5
Bulldogs power
past Nyssa, 15-0
Boys split matches
in Ontario
Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
Mad
about
A special good day to
Herald subscriber Robert
McKim of Baker City.
BRIEFING
—————
‘Durkee Stories’ event
April 12 at Baker
Heritage Museum
SPORTS A5
Local students on
Oregon State honor roll
CORVALLIS — Six Baker
City students, and one from
North Powder, were named
to the scholastic honor roll
for the winter 2022 term at
Oregon State University.
To be eligible, students
must earn a GPA of at
least 3.5 and have at
least 12 hours of graded
course work.
The Baker City students:
Calli N. Ward, senior, sociol-
ogy; Anna C. Carter, soph-
omore, marketing; Reno R.
Hammond, junior, public
health; Ryan He, freshman,
kinesiology; Jesse J. John-
son, senior, chemistry; Erik
L. Ruby, senior, art.
Isaac T. Colton, a senior
from North Powder majoring
in construction engineering
management, also was
named to the honor roll.
WEATHER
—————
Today
66/36
Mostly sunny
Friday
62/29
Rain showers
Full forecast on the back
of the B section.
The space below is for a postage label
for issues that are mailed.
BY JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
March
Month that usually boosts snowpack
mainly had the opposite effect
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
The snow line on Hunt
Mountain, which rises
above Baker Valley,
has receded over the
past few weeks.
THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2022 • $1.50
M arch was
a failure in the
mountains.
The month that forms the
bridge between winter and
spring typically inflates the
snowpack around Northeast-
ern Oregon, a vital source of
water for agriculture, recre-
ation and fish and wildlife
habitat.
But the 2022 version was
more akin to a punctured bal-
loon.
And it wasn’t exactly burst-
ing at the seams when March
began.
The water content of the
snow — a more relevant statis-
tic than snow depth in predict-
ing summer water supplies —
dropped during the month at
13 of 17 measuring sites.
Last year was more typical,
with 11 of those sites report-
ing a higher water content on
the last day of March than on
the first.
This year, every snowpack
station had a water content be-
low average as April arrived.
And all but one had less water
content this year than at the
same time a year ago.
See, Snowpack/Page A3
Resident: County competing with businesses
BY JAYSON JACOBY AND
SAMANTHA O’CONNER
Baker City Herald
Joe Hill supports Baker
County’s efforts to control
noxious weeds.
But he doesn’t want to
compete with the county in
the marketplace.
Hill, who owns businesses
that cater to farmers and
ranchers who have noxious
weeds on their properties,
objects to the Baker County
Weed District renting weed
sprayers and selling herbi-
cides, both of which are new
programs this year.
“I just don’t want them
selling in direct competition
to businesses,” said Hill, who
owns J&D Hill Farms and
Joe Hill Consulting LLC.
He believes the county, by
adding sprayer rentals and
herbicide sales, would com-
pete with at least 16 busi-
nesses.
Hill said he’s most con-
cerned about the county sell-
ing herbicides because as a
government entity it might
be able to buy products at a
lower rate than he and other
private businesses can.
Jeffrey Pettingill, the coun-
ty’s weed control supervisor,
said the addition of rental
sprayers and herbicide sales
is not intended to compete
with private companies.
The goal, Pettingill said, is
to give landowners another
option if they want to control
weeds on their property and
to make that possible when
a contractor might not be
available.
To that end, the county
has bought two 200-gallon
sprayers, one on a trailer and
one that can be placed in a
pickup truck bed. Pettin-
gill said the city used grant
money from the Oregon
Watershed Enhancement
Board, as part of the county’s
multiyear effort to improve
sage grouse habitat, to buy
the sprayers, which cost
$7,000 each.
The county is offering
those sprayers for rent, at
$40 per day. The county
also had three other smaller
sprayers, designed to be car-
ried on all-terrain vehicles,
that were bought earlier. One
rents for $30 per day, the two
others for $20.
Pettingill said he would
prefer that landowners buy
herbicide from private sup-
pliers rather than the county.
He said he doesn’t expect
the county will sell much
herbicide — less than $3,000
per year.
See, Competition/Page A2
Subdivision proposed in south Baker
Baker City Herald
A Baker Valley couple
has proposed a six-lot sub-
division on a low-density
residential-zoned parcel in
the southern part of Baker
City at the base of the sage-
brush foothill.
Eva and Dan Henes, own-
ers of Eagle Eye Ventures
LLC, have applied with the
Baker City/County Planning
Department to sell lots in
a subdivision south of Col-
orado Avenue and west of
South Foothill Drive.
The nearly 5-acre prop-
erty, which the Heneses own,
would include six building
lots ranging from 0.61 of an
acres to 1.08 acres.
Dan Henes said he and his
wife bought the parcel about
three and a half years ago as
an investment.
With the current high de-
mand for housing, he said
they decided this is an op-
portune time to try to de-
velop the property.
TODAY
Issue 138
28 pages
This aerial photo shows the location of a proposed six-lot
subdivision in south Baker City.
“The demand is there,
and we want to increase the
supply a little,” Henes said.
He said two pipelines,
one carrying natural gas
Business .................B1 & B2
Classified ....................B2-B4
Comics ..............................B5
and one carrying oil, cross
the property, and the re-
quired setbacks from those
lines make it a challenge to
subdivide.
Community News.............A2
Crossword ...............B2 & B3
Dear Abby .........................B6
That’s one reason the
proposed lots are larger
than typical residential lots,
Henes said.
If the Baker City Plan-
ning Commission approves
the subdivision, Henes said
he and his wife likely would
start offering the lots for
sale soon.
The proposed subdivi-
sion is one of three items
for which the Baker City
Planning Commission has
scheduled a public hearing
on Wednesday, April 20,
at 6 p.m. at ity Hall, 1655
First St.
The two other applica-
tions:
• A request from the Baker
Elks Lodge, 1896 Second St.,
for a conditional use permit
to replace an existing sign
with an electronic reader
board.
• A request for a condi-
tional use permit to build a
1,728-square-foot accessory
building at 306 Second St.
Horoscope ..............B2 & B3
Lottery Results .................A2
News of Record ................A2
County
offers
$150,000
to continue
ambulance
service
BY JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Baker County Commissioners
voted 3-0 on Wednesday, April 6,
to offer to contribute $150,000 to
the Baker City Fire Department
for ambulance services in the fis-
cal year that starts July 1, 2022.
But commissioners were skep-
tical, based on recent conversa-
tions between county and city
officials, that that amount would
be enough to persuade the city
to withdraw its notice that it will
cease ambulance operations on
Sept. 30, 2022.
If that happens, commission-
ers, under Oregon law, would
be required to find a replace-
ment, likely a private ambu-
lance company.
See, Ambulance/Page A2
Wild
weather
week: From
chill to heat
and back
BY JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Spring, the most tempestuous
of seasons, will careen from one
extreme to another over the next
several days in Baker County.
The span could break a tem-
perature record or two.
It started on Wednesday morn-
ing, April 6.
In the wake of Monday’s pow-
erful cold front, skies cleared,
winds weakened and the tem-
perature plummeted to 12 de-
grees at the Baker City Airport.
That broke the previous re-
cord low for April 6 of 15 degrees,
which was set just last year.
The average low for the date
is 29.
But the unseasonable chill was
quickly replaced by mild air un-
der a high pressure ridge.
High temperatures on Thurs-
day, April 7, and Friday, April 8,
were forecast to climb well above
average, into the mid or upper
60s, according to the National
Weather Service.
No records are in jeopardy on
those days, though.
The record high for April 7
is 80 degrees and the record for
April 8 is 82. Both were set in
1996.
The balmy spell won’t persist,
however.
The National Weather Service
forecasts another strong cold
front to sweep through Friday
night.
The front might bring rain
showers to the valleys and snow
to the mountains.
It definitely will usher in
much chillier air. High tempera-
tures are forecast to plunge by
about 20 degrees from Friday to
Saturday.
And Sunday will be colder
yet, with a high in Baker City of
about 40 degrees. That would
be the lowest high temperature
on record for April 10 (the cur-
rent record is 41 degrees, set in
1941).
No more record low tempera-
tures are forecast, though, with
lows dipping only into the 20s.
The record lows for the next
several days are all in the teens.
Opinion .............................A4
Senior Menus ...................A2
Sports ...............................A5
Sudoku..............................B5
Turning Backs ..................A2
Weather ............................B6