LOCAL A2
SPORTS A5
SPORTS A6
Photos from a snowy
Easter egg hunt
Baker baseball
sweeps Ontario
Baker boys 2nd, girls
3rd at Pendleton
Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
IN THIS EDITION: LOCAL • HOME & LIVING • SPORTS
TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 2022 • $1.50
Baker
man
arrested
after
vehicle
chase
DREADED
DROUGHT
CONTINUES
Phillips Reservoir, depleted by more than a year
of drought, was holding just 10% of its capacity
at the end of March. The reservoir, along the
Powder River about 17 miles southwest of Baker
City, supplies irrigation water to more than
30,000 acres in Baker Valley.
Jayson Jacoby/EO Media Group
Spring 2022
The
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
COMING THURSDAY,
APRIL 21
—————
Special section focuses on the
farming and ranching industry in
NE Oregon, focusing on concerns
about the ongoing drought.
Baker City Herald
QUICK HITS
—————
Good Day Wish
To A Subscriber
A special good day to
Herald subscriber Mark Ferns
of Baker City.
BRIEFING
—————
Free fi rewood permits
available soon
Beginning May 1, the Wal-
lowa-Whitman National Forest
will offer free personal-use
fi rewood permits, with a limit
of 10 cords per household,
per year. Permits will be avail-
able at local Forest Service
offi ces and through a variety
of local vendors, which can
charge a $2 processing fee.
BHS baseball ‘Pink
Night’ for breast cancer
awareness
The Baker High School
baseball team will have its
Pink Night, to raise aware-
ness about breast cancer
and honor those affected by
it, on Monday, April 25, when
the Bulldogs play Heppner/
Ione at 5 p.m. at the Baker
Sports Complex.
Baker players will wear
pink uniforms and hats.
Everyone is invited to attend
and to also don pink clothing.
WEATHER
—————
Today
50/28
Partly sunny
Wednesday
Young artists leave a
LEGACY
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
Penelope Sanchez, a
kindergartner at the Baker
Early Center, chose red and
black for her tile.
BY LISA BRITTON
lbritton@bakercityherald.com
indergartners are very particular
about their colors.
Especially when their masterpieces will be pre-
served, for years to come, on the wall of their school.
On Tuesday, April 12, Penelope Sanchez carefully
placed tiny red tiles in the shape of a “P,” then sur-
rounded it with black.
Then she held up her masterpiece.
“I picked vampire colors,” she said with a grin.
Fellow kindergartner Silas Roberts made his “S” in
blue, surrounded by red.
“Like Superman!” he said.
This month, under the guidance of volunteer An-
drea Stone, kindergarten classes at the Baker Early
Learning Center created individual tiles featuring the
first letter of their name.
See, Learning/Page A3
53/33
See, Arrest/Page A3
COVID
remains
quiet in
county
Kindergartners
create colorful tiles to
decorate the Baker
Early Learning Center
K
A Baker City man was arrested
Saturday morning, April 16, after
leading police on a vehicle chase
that officers ended due to unsafe
speeds on wet, slushy roads.
Rudy Saarheim, 35, was ar-
rested about 10:41 a.m. after
returning to the 2900 block of
Seventh St., where the chase
started. He is accused of reckless
driving, attempting to elude and
third-degree escape.
A report of a restraining or-
der violation started the inci-
dent on a snowy morning when
about three inches of snow fell
in Baker City.
Baker City Herald
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
This mosaic, created by the 2021 kindergarten students,
is displayed on the east side of the Baker Early Learning
Center on Seventh Street. This year’s version will be in-
stalled next to this one.
The recent modest increases in
COVID-19 cases in Oregon and
the nation has not happened in
Baker County.
Nationally, daily cases have
risen over the past few weeks
from about 29,000 per day to
about 37,000.
More than 85% of those con-
firmed cases are the highly con-
tagious BA.2 strain, according to
The Associated Press.
In Oregon, the daily rolling av-
erage, based on totals from the
previous seven days, rose from
from 288 on April 2 to 421 on
April 14.
See, COVID/Page A3
Afternoon showers
The space below is for a postage label
for issues that are mailed.
County
Baker Tower owner to turn office
officials to
space into short-term rental housing discuss
ambulance
situation
from the term “transient
lodging,” which is included
The owner of the Baker in his application to the
Tower, also known as Ho- Baker City/County Plan-
tel Baker, plans to turn un- ning Department, which
used office space on the
department staff approved.
fifth floor of the 10-story
Transient is sometimes
structure into short-term
used as a synonym for
rental housing.
homeless, but the word,
Patrick Rhea, who owns when used to describe a
the historic building at the type of housing or lodging,
northwest corner of Main also means temporary quar-
Street and Auburn Avenue, ters, including motel rooms.
said he’s renovating the
The tax that guests in
space to meet residential
motels, bed and breakfasts
standards.
and vacation rental homes is
Rhea said he’s aware
called the “transient lodging
that a recent post on a lo-
tax” in many jurisdictions,
cal Facebook group, along including Baker County.
with comments to it, raised
The planning depart-
the question of whether
ment approved Rhea’s gen-
the space would be used as eral proposal with a two-
housing for homeless res- year timeline during which
idents.
he would need to obtain a
Ian Crawford/Baker City Herald
That’s not the case, Rhea building permit and pay for Patrick Rhea, who owns the Baker Tower, plans to transform un-
said, but the confusion
city inspections before rent- used office space on the fifth floor of the 10-story building into
seems to have stemmed
ing the residential spaces.
short-term rental housing.
BY IAN CRAWFORD
icrawford@bakercityherald.com
TODAY
Issue 143
14 pages
Classified ....................B4-B6
Comics ..............................B7
Community News.............A2
Crossword ...............B4 & B6
Dear Abby .........................B8
Home & Living ............B1-B3
Horoscope ..............B4 & B6
Lottery Results .................A2
News of Record ................A2
Baker City Herald
The Baker City Council and
Baker County Commission-
ers will have a joint meeting on
Wednesday, April 20, to discuss
the ambulance situation that af-
fects both the city and much of
the rest of the county.
The meeting is set for 6 p.m. at
the Courthouse, 1995 Third St.
Residents can attend in person or
watch the meeting on Zoom. For
the link, go to www.bakercounty.
org/online/meetings.html.
The purpose of the meeting
is to discuss the notice the City
Council sent to the county on
March 22, stating that the city
Opinion .............................A4
Senior Menus ...................A2
Sports ..................... A5 & A6
See, Council/Page A3
Sudoku..............................B7
Turning Backs ..................A2
Weather ............................B8