BAKER CITY HERALD • TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2022 A3
LOCAL/SPORTS
BAKER TENNIS
Cunningham takes 2nd at regionals
Cunningham advanced to
the championship match by
beating Creed Russell of Stan-
field, 6-0, 6-0, and then beat-
ing Trinidad Mendoza of Riv-
erside, 6-1, 6-2, both matches
on Friday, May 13.
In Saturday’s championship
match against Nyssa’s Dawson
Richard, Cunningham lost in
straight sets, 6-3, 6-1.
Plummer, who advanced to
the state tournament for the
second straight year, beat Cali
Johnson of Sherman in her
opening match on Friday. In
the semifinals later on Friday,
Plummer lost a close match
to Ontario’s Laken Herrera,
7-6, 7-5.
In Saturday’s third-place
match, Plummer beat Nyssa’s
Mary Esplin, 7-5, 6-4.
The doubles team of Smith
and Jacoby won their open-
ing match on Friday in three
sets over Abby Colby and
Krysten Smith of Condon,
6-2, 3-6, 6-0. In a semifinal
match later Friday, Smith
and Jacoby went three sets
again but lost to Vale’s Brenda
Ramirez and Elise Seals,
4-6, 6-3, 6-2. Ramirez and
Seals went on to win the re-
gional title.
In Saturday’s third-place
match, Smith and Jacoby lost
to Riverside’s Marta Barajas
and Italia Rodriguez, 6-3, 7-5.
ISO ratings are in part what
insurance companies use to
Continued from Page A1
determine fire risk for Baker
City residents.”
The proposed budget for
Cannon wrote that even
the fiscal year that starts July
if the city no longer operates
1, 2022 — a budget the City
ambulances, LifeFlight would
Council has until June 30 to
continue to provide air trans-
adopt — is based on the fire
portation to patients.
department ending ambulance
“Many of our citizens use
service Sept. 30. The loss of an LifeFlight,” he wrote in the
estimated $1 million annually newsletter. “LifeFlight is a pri-
in revenue from ambulance
vate ambulance company that
billing, and the fact that most in our area provides air ambu-
of the fire department calls are lance transportation. They do
for ambulances rather than
a fantastic job and save many
fires, would force the city to lay lives. I am unaware of any
off six firefighter/paramedics. changes by Baker County to
Although members of the
this vital service.”
firefighters’ union and other
Other topics Cannon ad-
critics of the city’s proposal to dressed in the newsletter:
• Collecting ambulance bills.
drop ambulance service have
Cannon wrote that the city
said the staffing cuts could
does pursue past due accounts
lead to higher homeowner
through collection agencies,
insurance rates, Cannon dis-
using Cam Credits. Since
putes that contention.
In the newsletter he writes: 2007, the city has submitted
“Our initial discussions with more than $2 million in past
due bills for collection. The
the officials providing ISO
city’s collection recovery rate is
ratings to fire departments
9%, compared with a national
in the state indicate that we
average of 11.1%, according to
are not likely going to see a
Cam Credits, Cannon wrote.
change to our ISO ratings.
• How ambulance costs have
affected city’s budget.
Cannon wrote that although
the city “has not made exten-
sive and obvious cuts to its
budget directly attributable
to ambulances. What the city
has done over the years, is
as expenses continue to in-
crease, the city is forced to
trim its budget. This means
skipping projects which
need to be completed, and
foregoing necessary mainte-
nance and upgrades on fa-
cilities. The fire department
needs a roof, replacement
fire trucks, SCBA bottles,
and more. The police need
important technology up-
dates. Finance needs mod-
ernized software and a new
cash register. The entire city
needed new data servers and
up-to-date software licenses.
City Hall needs to repair
and fix its foundation and
install fire escapes. The list
goes on. Projects and equip-
ment mentioned have been
either perpetually postponed
or simply ignored because
funding is not available.”
Baker City Herald
Baker’s Danny Cunning-
ham placed second at the re-
gional tennis tournament, a
two-day event that concluded
Saturday, May 14, at the Ash
Grove courts near Baker High
School.
Cunningham is one of four
Bulldogs who qualified for
the Class 4A/3A/2A/1A state
tournament Friday, May 20,
and Saturday, May 21, at Or-
egon State University in Cor-
vallis.
Sarah Plummer finished
third in regionals in singles,
and Baker’s girls doubles team
of Maya Smith and Olivia
Jacoby placed fourth.
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
When kids at Melody’s Playce day care reach kindergarten age, Melody Brooks celebrates with a gradu-
ation ceremony. The last such event was held May 5, 2022, and the graduates were joined by older chil-
dren who had also stayed at the day care.
Melody
tion is Wednesday lunch box
days, when all the kids bring a
Continued from Page A1
special lunch from home.
“I get them a lunch box
“They come to my door on when they’re one,” she said.
weekends — I get after hour
And then there’s GI Joe Day.
teeth pulling,” she said with a
“We get all dressed in camo,”
laugh.
she said.
Beth Shirtcliff, whose sons
Toys and books are stored
Spencer and Payton stayed at in special drawers or plastic
Melody’s Playce, appreciated
bins. The kids, she said, know
Brooks’ help with teeth.
the routine of cleaning up after
“She is definitely the master they play, with everything back
of pulling teeth,” Beth Shirtcliff in its right place.
said. “Even after my youngest
And they can all recite “The
was no longer attending day
Pledge of Allegiance” by age 2.
care with Melody, I called her
She knows day care is hard
up and took him over to pull a to find, and hopes others will
tooth. I couldn’t do it.”
decide to open a business to
Matt Shirtcliff remembers
fill the need.
showing up at his boys’ base-
“I’d have at least 27 on my
ball game at the same time as waiting list,” she said.
Brooks.
Crowell said the closing of
The boys ran to give her a
Melody’s Playce will leave a
hole in Baker City.
hug first.
“What I think is extraordi-
“They loved their Melody.
nary is the impact that she has
They still do. And she still
had on this community,” she
loves them,” Beth said.
Spencer is now 20, and Pay- said. “I grew up in this com-
munity and still remember
ton turns 19 in June.
the kids who were ‘Melody’s
kids’ when I was growing up.
Special days
Another Miss Melody tradi- She has helped raise and shape
Ambulance
countless members of this
community.”
Peter Fargo, whose children
stayed with Brooks, echoed
that sentiment.
“I can’t imagine raising
our kids in Baker City with-
out Melody Brooks,” he said.
“While the importance of
quality child care cannot be
overstated for working par-
ents, Melody takes her vo-
cation to a whole different
level — making the kids (and
parents) part of her family,
teaching life skills and building
good character.
“She has given these gifts to
generations of Baker kids, leav-
ing a legacy that will last gen-
erations more. We are grateful
that we and our kids could be
part of Melody’s family.”
As for the youngsters who
spent the final week at Melo-
dy’s Playce, Brooks knows they
will be just fine on their next
adventure.
But she will never forget.
“There’s an ache in my
heart,” she said. “Kids are resil-
ient, they move on. I’m the one
left with a lonely heart.”
Drought
the weather turning damp
over the past month, the
number of calls from water
rights holders has dropped
significantly.
In Oregon, water is doled
out based on the date on
each individual right — land-
Watermaster’s office sees
owners who have the oldest
rights will keep receiving wa-
effect from recent rains
Marcy Osborn, Baker
ter when others have water
County watermaster, said the shut off.
irrigation season started early.
Osborn said she and other
She said her office started
workers in the watermaster’s
receiving requests for water
office respond to calls from
in early April, about a month people with water rights,
earlier than usual, following
checking the priority date on
a winter with a below-aver-
the right, the volume in the
age snowpack and much drier stream for which the right
conditions in the valleys than exists, and then adjusting
is typical.
headgates to divert the water
But Osborn said that with
as needed.
Conditions worsened
through much of 2021 how-
ever. The year ended with 5.37
inches of precipitation at the
Baker City Airport — slightly
more than half of the annual
average of 9.83 inches.
Continued from Page A1
County Commissioner
Mark Bennett, who also owns
a cattle ranch near Unity,
in the southern part of the
county, said on Monday, May
16, that one of the largest po-
tential benefits of the gov-
ernor’s drought declaration
is that it allows farmers and
ranchers more flexibility in
where they divert irrigation
water for which they have a le-
gal right.
This is the second straight
year Baker County commis-
sioners, and Brown, have de-
clared a drought disaster in
the county.
The situation in the county
has improved somewhat over
the past month or so.
Since early April, a series of
storms has brought significant
amounts of rain and mountain
snow to Baker County and the
rest of Northeastern Oregon.
During April, 1.26 inches
of precipitation was recorded
at the Baker City Airport. It
was the first month since May
2020 with more than an inch,
and the wettest month since
February 2019, when the total
was 1.92.
The pattern, which is fore-
cast to persist for at least the
next week, has slightly eased
the severity of the drought in
Baker County.
On April 5, the U.S.
Drought Monitor placed 84%
of Baker County in extreme
drought, the second-worst
category in the five-level rat-
ing system, which ranges
from abnormally dry to four
drought ratings — moder-
ate, severe, extreme and, the
worst, exceptional.
As of May 10, the amount of
Jayson Jacoby/Baker City Herald
This image taken from a drone on Sunday, May 15, 2022, shows Mason Dam, at left, and Phillips Reservoir
severely depleted by drought. The reservoir, about 17 miles southwest of Baker City, is holding about 12%
of its capacity.
land in Baker County rated as
being in extreme drought had
dropped from 84% to 62%.
That swath included most of
the central part of the county,
including Baker Valley.
Almost the whole of the
rest of the county is in severe
drought, mostly in the eastern
and western parts. A sliver at
the far northwest part of the
county — less than half of one
percent of the county — was
rated as moderate drought.
That area is in the moun-
tains and doesn’t include any
farmland.
Bennett said rain and snow
over the past month or so
has spurred the growth of
grass both in valleys and in
forests where many ranchers
have allotments to graze cat-
tle during the late spring and
summer.
But Bennett said he re-
mains concerned that live-
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will diminish late in the sum-
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That would exacerbate the
shortage of hay resulting from
the 2021 drought, and the re-
sulting high prices.
Despite recent storms,
drought ratings in Baker
County are worse now than
they were a year ago.
In the second week of May
2021, just 16% of the county
was in extreme drought —
compared with the current
62% — with most of the rest
in severe drought.
The northeast part of the
county, including the Pine
Valley around Halfway, was
rated as abnormally dry, but
not officially in drought, a
year ago.
Celebration of Life
Linda Koplein
Jan. 20, 1949 - Sept. 14, 2021
May 21st, 2022 • 1 PM - 4 PM
Baker City Elk’s Lodge
Please bring memories, smiles and laughter.
Luncheon will follow
Estrella “Lisa” Simmons
May 20, 1944 - May 10, 2022
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With profound sadness, we
announce the passing of Estrella
“Lisa” Simmons, our loving and
devoted mother, wife, grandmother
and friend to all whose lives she
touched. On May 10, 2022, she
left us at Saint Alphonsus Medical
Center in Boise. She was in her 78th
year.
Born in Lapinig, Samar,
Philippines, on May 20, 1944, “Lisa” met her loving
husband, Delo Simmons, in the Philippines and moved to
Baker City, Oregon, USA, to start their family.
Estrella “Lisa” was the beloved wife of Delo Simmons,
a loving mother of Jody Larkin, Reynaldo, Laila, Emily,
and Renato, and a caring grandmother of Holly Larkin
and the rest of the 20 grandchildren in the Philippines.
She lived a full life as a wonderful wife, mother,
grandmother, friend, and dedicated employee. She loved
playing bingo with her friends, gardening, and collecting
antique furniture like vases. She also loved collecting
jewelry pieces and making personalized jewelry that she
enjoyed. Her lovely memories would always live on with
us.
Her love, sweet smile, laughter, and care will be dearly
missed by all.
We are going to miss everything about you. We thank
you for your infinite love and care for each of us.
A visitation will be held May 18, 2022, from 10 a.m.
to 2 p.m. at Gray’s West & Co. Pioneer Chapel, 1500
Dewey Ave. Her funeral service will be May 18 at 2 p.m.,
at Gray’s West & Co.
Memorial contributions may be made in honor of
Lisa to a charity of one’s choice through Gray’s West &
Co. Pioneer Chapel, 1500 Dewey Ave., Baker City, OR
97814.
To leave an online condolence for the family of Lisa,
please visit: www.grayswestco.com.