OUTDOORS B1
STATE A5
SPORTS A6
Returning to a
mountain meadow
President Biden
stops in Portland
Baker baseball
battles La Grande
IN THIS EDITION: LOCAL • OUTDOORS & REC • SPORTS
QUICK HITS
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Good Day Wish
To A Subscriber
A special good day to
Herald subscriber Dudley
Frost of Baker City.
BRIEFING
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Rotary Club raffl e
tickets for sale
The Baker City Rotary
Club is selling raffl e tickets
through May 16 for the
chance to win three prizes.
Grand prize is $4,500
of AAA travel. This never
expires and can be used to
travel to the destination of
your choice. Second prize
is a condo for a week in
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, plus
$1,000 for travel expenses.
Third prize is a $500 gift
certifi cate at Best Buy.
The drawing will be held
May 21, and winners don’t
need to be present to win.
Money raised supports
the Rotary Foundation and
local projects such as the
annual Easter egg hunt, the
Baker County Community
Literacy Coalition, schol-
arships for local kids, and
providing bike helmets to
kids in Baker County.
Tickets are $10 each and
can be purchased from Ro-
tarians, as well as at Grocery
Outlet and Safeway in Baker
City, or by calling Ken Krohn
at 541-519-5952.
Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
SATURDAY, APRIL 23, 2022 • $1.50
City, county officials mull ambulance options
Fire union president disputes city
manager’s claim that city can’t
afford to continue ambulance service
spends to operate ambulances
and what it collects from bills.
Baker City Council mem-
The city estimates that
bers and Baker County com- shortfall will be about
missioners met Wednesday $581,000 for the fiscal year
evening, April 20, to discuss that ends June 30, 2022.
the ambulance crisis, but
The annual gap between
without reaching any con-
what the city spends to operate
clusions about a potential
ambulances, and what it col-
solution.
lects from bills, averaged about
City Councilor Dean Guyer $731,000 for the previous five
said the two-hour meeting at fiscal years.
the Courthouse basically con-
The situation, along with
firmed for him that neither
projections that the shortfall
the city nor the county can af- could surpass $1 million an-
ford to fully make up the dif- nual beginning with the fiscal
ference between what the city year that starts July 1, 2022,
BY JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
prompted City Manager Jon-
athan Cannon to recommend
that councilors, during their
March 22 meeting, send a no-
tice to Baker County that the
city planned to end its ambu-
lance service Sept. 30, 2022.
Councilors voted unani-
mously to do so.
If the city follows through, it
would force the county, which
by Oregon law is responsible
for choosing ambulance pro-
viders, to find a replacement.
That likely would be a private
ambulance service, two of
which submitted bids to the
county in 2019. County com-
missioners are preparing to
send out a request for propos-
als for ambulance service.
After soliciting bids in
2019, the county put on hold
the process of awarding a
new contract for the Baker
ambulance service area,
which includes Baker City
and about two-thirds of the
rest of the county.
The Baker City Fire De-
partment, a dual purpose
department that responds
to fires as well as ambulance
calls, has continued to be the
provider for that area, albeit
without a contract.
The county is giving the city
$100,000 for the service this
fiscal year, and commissioners
have offered $150,000 for the
next fiscal year.
The state law requires
counties to ensure there is
ambulance service, but coun-
SACRED
GROUND
ties are not legally obligated
to pay for it.
City’s financial fears
The letter that the City
Council voted unanimously to
send to the county on March
22 reads, in part: “Baker City
finds itself unable to demand
more from its taxpayers to
provide a service that is the
state-mandated responsibility
of Baker County. Currently,
there is not a significant and
stable funding source avail-
able to Baker City which fully
covers the cost of the Am-
bulance Service without city
taxpayers heavily subsidizing
the service for Baker County.
See, Ambulances/Page A3
Music
festival
coming to
Richland
Inaugural event,
with 5 bands as
well as food and
craft vendors,
May 20-22
BY LISA BRITTON
lbritton@bakercityherald.com
WEATHER
—————
Today
57/27
Sunny
Sunday
63/35
SPRING IS THE SEASON
FOR SPRUCING UP
MOUNT HOPE CEMETERY
Partly sunny
Monday
64/42
Showers
Full forecast on the back
of the B section.
BY SAMANTHA O’CONNER
soconner@bakercityherald.com
The space below is for a postage label
for issues that are mailed.
S
pring is the busiest season at Baker City’s
Mount Hope Cemetery.
Each year, usually start-
ing around April 1, the
city’s maintenance con-
tractor spends about two
weeks focusing on the
cemetery, in the city’s
southeast corner off South
Bridge Street.
The goal is to have the
expanses of grass lush and
green in time for Memo-
rial Day weekend.
“We do a big clean up
here in the spring so we
are more prepared for
Memorial Day when we
have probably the largest
number of visitors,” said
Michelle Owen, the city’s
public works director.
Prior to the clean up,
the city asks people to
temporarily remove
flowers and other deco-
rative items from graves
and headstones, as cer-
tain items, particularly
loose ones, can make the
job tougher for workers
with riding lawnmow-
ers, string trimmers and
other equipment.
“It just gives us an op-
portunity to kind of take
things off the graves and
then we can do a once
over and trim around
things and do some of
that clean up work,”
Owen said.
This year, for instance,
the city sent out a notice
asking people to remove
such items by April 1.
The clean up campaign
was set from April 1-15,
and starting April 16, res-
idents were again invited
to return flowers and
other items to graves.
The city’s contractor,
HnT Lawn Care Inc. of
Baker City, collected items
that hadn’t been removed
before April 1. Those that
weren’t perishable, such
as flowers, or in poor con-
dition, will be stored at
the cemetery, where peo-
ple can claim them, until
Nov. 1, 2022.
See, Cemetery/Page A3
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
The grass is beginning to green up, despite an
abnormally chilly spring, at Baker City’s Mount
Hope Cemetery on Thursday, April 21, 2022.
Booking the bands was the first
step.
After all, musicians are the back-
bone of a music festival.
“We’ve had those in place for a
while,” said Sara Artley of the Eagle
Valley Locals, who are organizing
the first Chautauqua Music Festival
in Richland.
The event is happening May 20-
22 at Eagle Valley Grange Park.
Featured bands are Tiller’s Folly,
Juni Fisher, The Wasteland Kings,
Carter Junction, and JJQ (Jenni, Jon
and Quinn).
“We’re all huge music lovers,” Art-
ley said of the organizers. “We feel
like Richland is this hidden gem —
we have a lot going for us.”
In addition to music, Artley said
30 vendors are confirmed for the
weekend.
“We’d like to get another 20,” she
said.
Offerings so far will include food
stands — barbecue, gourmet hot
dogs, coffee, desserts — as well as
artisans.
She said a “local crafter’s booth”
will be available to those who have
local products but not enough sup-
ply for their own stand.
Interested vendors can request an
application by emailing Chautau-
quaVendors@gmail.com.
The Schedule
The festival begins Friday, May
20. Vendors open at 3 p.m., and Car-
ter Junction plays from 3:30 p.m. to
5 p.m.
The Wasteland Kings follow at
5:30 p.m., and Juni Fisher finishes
the day from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Saturday gets an early start with
breakfast at the Eagle Valley Grange
from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Vendors will be open all day, and
the music starts at 2 p.m. with JJQ,
followed by Carter Junction at 4 p.m.
and Juni Fisher at 6 p.m.
Headliner Tiller’s Folly takes the
stage at 8 p.m.
Saturday finishes with a campfire
jam from 10:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.
Artley said Saturday also includes
six 30-minute slots throughout the
day for open mic sessions.
“People can come do poetry or
music,” she said.
See, Festival/Page A3
TODAY
Issue 145
12 pages
Classified ....................B2-B4
Comics ..............................B5
Community News.............A2
Crossword ...............B2 & B4
Dear Abby .........................B6
Horoscope ..............B2 & B4
Jayson Jacoby ..................A4
Lottery Results .................A2
News of Record ................A2
Opinion .............................A4
Outdoors ..........B1, B2 & B6
Senior Menus ...................A2
Sports ...............................A6
Turning Backs ..................A2
Weather ............................B6