LOCAL A2
SPORTS A5
SPORTS A6
La Grande man hurt
in fall from rocks
Baker track teams
win district titles
Baker baseball drops
pair at La Grande
IN THIS EDITION: LOCAL • HOME & LIVING • SPORTS
QUICK HITS
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Good Day Wish
To A Subscriber
A special good day to
Herald subscriber Sigrid
Johnson of Baker City.
Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
Governor
declares
a local
drought
emergency
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
Melody Brooks has closed her day care after 51 years of
caring for children — 47 of those years in Baker City. Here,
during their last week at Melody’s Playce in May 2022, she is
surrounded by, from left, Karson Swanlund, Hank McAdams,
Conn McDowell, Dax Layton, Hattie Crowell and Amzie Lutz.
BRIEFING
—————
Groups urge residents
to attend school board
meeting
Baker County United is
planning its monthly free-
dom rally at the Baker 5J
School District offi ce, 2090
Fourth St., on Thursday, May
19, at 5 p.m. The group is
urging people to attend the
school board meeting, which
starts at 6 p.m. to ask ques-
tions about the district’s
spending priorities, including
the board’s recent decision
to buy two homes to house
foreign students attending
Baker High School through
the district’s Oregon Interna-
tional School program.
A local parent, Heather
Dallstream, is also urging
residents to attend the
board meeting and learn
about district priorities.
Baker County Garden
Club meets May 18
The Baker County Garden
Club will meet on Wednes-
day, May 18, at 10:30 a.m.
at the Eagle Cap Nursery,
45328 Mother Lode Road
in the Keating Valley. Those
who want to carpool should
meet at 9:30 a.m. at the
Baker County Library, 2400
Resort St. Please bring a
sack lunch. New members
are always welcome.
WEATHER
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Today
67/39
Mostly sunny
Wednesday
63/37
Rain showers
Full forecast on the back
of the B section.
The space below is for a postage label
for issues that are mailed.
TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2022 • $1.50
BY JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Miss Melody
is retiring
Melody Brooks has operated
a day care for 51 years, 47 of
those in Baker City
She continued her business in Sa-
lem after moving there in 1974.
In 1975, she moved to Baker City,
he youngsters line up
into a house on Third Street.
around the black rug cov-
There was a day care next door, and
one
across the street.
ered with white polka dots,
“They knew people who needed it,”
toys clutched in small hands, ready for she said.
She’s had several homes over the
Melody Brooks to say “go!”
years — from Third Street to Valley
When she does, the kids toss their
Avenue, then to Colorado Street.
toy in the hopes it lands squarely on a
She’s been in her place at the north
white dot.
end of Cedar Street near Hughes Lane
None does.
for 30 years — a home she remodeled
Each child scrambles to get their
into the perfect place for a day care
toy, then lines up again for an-
with the help of her husband, Clyde.
other chance.
Brooks said 270 children have been
This game, called “Peg on a Polka
in her care over the last 51 years.
Dot,” is well-known to all the kids who
“I can name every day care kid,”
have come to Melody’s Playce.
she said. “They’re like your own kids.
But after this week, there won’t be
They stay so many years, then I get
tossing of pegs.
their siblings.”
These kids won’t shriek with glee as
Or, in some cases, twins.
they take a turn down the slide.
“Melody cared for Afton and Ryker
The table will be empty, no pre-
for 10 years,” said April Albert. “In
schoolers coloring a bear brown or
those 10 years she nurtured and
practicing their address.
taught them with loving discipline.
No 3-year-old Hattie Crowell look- Through her consistency she had
ing across the room and saying “Miss them kindergarten ready.”
Melody, you beautiful!”
After 51 years in the day care busi- Not just day care
ness, Brooks is retiring.
Twenty years ago Brooks added pre-
“I’m going to miss it,” she said Tues- school into her offerings for ages 2-3
day, May 10. “Every generation of kids and 4-5.
— I love them. That doesn’t go away.”
If she had a baby in her care, he
Brooks started her day care in 1971 or she sat on Brooks’ lap while she
when she lived in Sacramento near a
taught.
military base.
“Those little ones learn so fast,” she
“Everyone needed day care so
said.
badly,” she said.
As a certified day care, she has
BY LISA BRITTON
lbritton@bakercityherald.com
T
cared for children from babies up to
age 12. The school age kids mostly
came after school.
“The big kids help take care of
the little ones,” she said. “They learn
to nurture.”
Albert said her twins looked for-
ward to being the “big” kids.
“She created a family unit where the
kids helped each other and looked for-
ward to being the big kid when it was
their time,” Albert said. “I will forever
be grateful for the time we had with
her and Clyde.”
As her day care kids aged toward
kindergarten, Brooks would break
out tiny purple caps and gowns for
a graduation.
On May 12, all of her current kids
“graduated” for the last such ceremony
at Melody’s Playce.
“Melody has loved my kids from the
moment they walk in the door — or,
in Hattie’s case, the moment she was
born,” said Courtney Crowell, mom of
Hattie and Hazel. “She’s provided such
a wonderful foundation for my chil-
dren, and she and Clyde have become
like family to us.”
Wiggly teeth
Her games aren’t the only part her
day care kids will remember.
“I’m famous for pulling teeth,” she
said.
She’s so good that many kids
would let only Miss Melody pull a
wiggly tooth.
See, Melody/Page A3
City adds ambulance database to website
cords Law, for documents.
The newsletter also includes Can-
Baker City Manager Jonathan
non’s answers to what he said are
Cannon has added a page to the
some common questions he has re-
city’s website that includes links to
ceived recently.
dozens of documents related to the
Interest in the subject has in-
city’s ambulance service.
creased dramatically since March 22,
Cannon, in his weekly newsletter when the City Council, after review-
released Friday, May 13, wrote that
ing a report from Cannon, voted to
he asked the city recorder
notify Baker County that the
to create the page.
city intended to discontinue
From the city’s home
ambulance service Sept. 30,
page — www.bakercity.
2022.
com — click on the link
The city fire department
for “Baker City Ambulance
has for many decades been
Service Information Page.”
a dual-role agency, respond-
The database also has
ing to fires and ambulance
links to recent and histor-
calls.
Cannon
ical information about the
Under Oregon law, Baker
Baker City Fire Depart-
County, not the city, is re-
ment, Baker County’s pending Re-
sponsible for choosing ambulance
quest for Proposals (RFP) for the
providers.
Baker Ambulance Service Area, and
The Baker City Fire Department
a variety of city financial records re- is the current provider for the Baker
lated to ambulance service.
Ambulance Service Area, which in-
In the newsletter, Cannon wrote
cludes the city and about two-thirds
that several citizens have asked him of the rest of the county, including
about the ambulance situation, and
Baker and Sumpter valleys.
the city has received multiple re-
The county’s three other ambu-
quests, under Oregon’s Public Re-
lance service areas cover the Eagle
BY SAMANTHA O’CONNER
soconner@bakercityherald.com
TODAY
Issue 3
12 pages
Classified ....................B2-B4
Comics ..............................B5
Community News.............A2
Crossword ...............B2 & B4
Dear Abby .........................B5
Home & Living ........B1 & B2
and Pine valleys, and the Hunting-
ton area.
In the newsletter, Cannon wrote
that even if Baker City ends its am-
bulance service Sept. 30, the county
is obligated to find a new provider.
To that end, county commission-
ers recently released a request for
proposals (RFP) from potential am-
bulance operators.
The Baker City Council decided
May 10 to submit a response to the
county’s RFP. Councilors discussed
that response during a work session
May 11.
In the newsletter, Cannon wrote
that he will be “working over the
next two weeks to prepare a sub-
mission” that councilors will review
during their May 24 meeting.
He also wrote that even if the city
does stop operating ambulances, “the
Fire Department is not going away.
It will still exist and it will still have
adequate staff to respond to fire calls.
The department will still be able to
perform life-saving rescues in struc-
ture fires.”
See, Ambulance/Page A3
Horoscope ..............B2 & B4
Lottery Results .................A2
News of Record ................A2
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown has
declared a drought emergency in
Baker County, granting a request
that Baker County commissioners
made on April 28.
Commissioners
initially approved
a drought disas-
ter resolution on
April 6.
On Friday, May
13, Brown issued
an executive order
Brown
declaring a drought
emergency in
Baker and three
other counties —
Wallowa, Wheeler
and Douglas.
“Baker, Doug-
las, Wallowa, and
Wheeler counties
Bennett
are facing historic
challenges from drought conditions
that are creating hardships for the
people, farms, ranches, communi-
ties, and ecosystems of the region,”
Brown said in a press release. “I am
committed to doing everything pos-
sible to make state resources avail-
able to provide immediate relief and
assistance to water users through-
out Baker, Douglas, Wallowa, and
Wheeler counties.”
The drought order gives the Or-
egon Water Resources Department
more flexibility in allocating water,
reviewing requests for wells and re-
ducing state fees.
Drought declarations can also make
property owners in the county eligible
for financial aid and other assistance
from the state and federal government.
See, Drought/Page A3
Youth hurt
when arrow
splinters
Baker City Herald
A Baker City boy sustained a mi-
nor injury to his arm on Friday eve-
ning, May 13, when a splinter broke
off the carbon fiber arrow he was
shooting in a yard.
According to a press release from
Baker City Police, the initial report,
from around 5:51 p.m. in the 900
block of Elm Street, was of a juvenile
male with an arrow in his arm.
Police, along with paramedics
from the Baker City Fire Depart-
ment, responded and found that the
boy had not been shot by an arrow,
but rather injured by the splinter
from the arrow. He was taken by
ambulance to the Saint Alphonsus
Medical Center-Baker City.
Police learned that the boy was
alone, shooting a “kids-style” com-
pound bow at a cardboard target in
a backyard, when the arrow broke.
“The reported injury was deter-
mined to be accidental due to me-
chanical failure and we wish the
injured juvenile a speedy recovery
from the minor injury suffered,” the
press release reads.
Baker City Police also pointed out
that shooting any type of bow and
arrow, including crossbows, is illegal
within the city limits.
“Baker City Police have re-
sponded to past reports throughout
the city over the years where arrows
that have been accidentally released
or have missed their intended tar-
gets with the potential to cause se-
rious or fatal injures to neighbors
around them,” according to the
press release.
Opinion .............................A4
Senior Menus ...................A2
Sports .............. A3, A5 & A6
Sudoku..............................B5
Turning Backs ..................A2
Weather ............................B6