A2 BAKER CITY HERALD • SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 2022
Local
TURNING BACK THE PAGES
50 YEARS AGO
from the Democrat-Herald
June 25, 1972
A land exchange program for public benefi t and to
simplify administration has been launched by the State of
Oregon and the Bureau of Land Management.
Scope of the land exchange program encompasses
nearly all of Eastern Oregon, where state lands are
intermingled with BLM lands.
25 YEARS AGO
from the Baker City Herald
June 25, 1997
A Baker City man on Tuesday urged the City Council to
install stop signs or take other steps to slow traffi c on the
Indiana Avenue hill.
David Densley, who lives on 11th Street near the east
crest of the hill, said it is much more dangerous now
than it was during the winter, when the city closed the
hill to traffi c because vehicles have trouble climbing the
16-percent grade when the street is snow- or ice-covered.
10 YEARS AGO
from the Baker City Herald
June 25, 2012
About a dozen fi refi ghters stopped a probable lightning-
sparked wildfi re near Sumpter on Sunday evening that,
though relatively small, spread more quickly than crews
expected for the fi rst weekend of summer.
The Larch fi re burned about four acres on a ridgetop
about four miles west of Sumpter, said Willy Crippen, fi re
management offi cer for the Wallowa-Whitman National
Forest’s Burnt-Powder Fire zone.
ONE YEAR AGO
from the Baker City Herald
June 26, 2021
A heatwave that’s underway this weekend and
will extend well into next week could break multiple
temperature records in Baker City, including one that’s
stood for more than half a century.
The intrusion of scorching air from the desert
Southwest might also make this June the hottest on record
here.
Based on forecasts from the National Weather Service,
the hot spell is likely to break daily high temperature
records on at least four consecutive days, starting Monday,
June 28.
Sunday’s record is in jeopardy as well.
Here are the daily records from June 27 through July 1,
and the forecast highs at the airport:
• June 27 — record high, 99 (2015), forecast high, 98
• June 28 — record high, 99 (2015), forecast high, 100
• June 29 — record high, 98 (1976), forecast high, 104
• June 30 — record high, 95 (2008), forecast high, 104
• July 1 — record high, 97 (2013), forecast high, 102
But this heatwave isn’t threatening daily records only.
If the forecast proves accurate for either June 29 or 30,
and the temperature eclipses 102 on either day, that will
set a new all-time heat record for June.
Since 1943, the temperature has topped 100 degrees
at the airport on just two days during that month. Those
happened to be consecutive days in June 1961, when the
temperature reached 102 on June 17, and 101 on June
18.
June 1961 claims another steamy superlative that
could be erased next week.
Helped considerably by those two triple-digit days, June
1961’s average high temperature was 84.1 degrees — the
hottest on record for the month.
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PICK 4, JUNE 23
LUCKY LINES, JUNE 23
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Next jackpot: $18,000
SENIOR MENUS
MONDAY (June 27): Chicken strips, potato wedges, mixed
vegetables, rolls, fruit cup, cookies
TUESDAY (June 28): Meatloaf, mashed potatoes with gravy,
corn, rolls, three-bean salad, brownies
WEDNESDAY (June 29): Pork roast, stuffi ng with gravy, baby
carrots, rolls, applesauce, birthday cake
THURSDAY (June 30): Chef salad, cheesy breadsticks,
tapioca, fruit cup
FRIDAY (July 1): Beef stew, broccoli, biscuits, green salad,
peach crisp
MONDAY (July 4): Closed for Independence Day
Public luncheon at the Senior Center, 2810 Cedar St., from
11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.; $5 donation (60 and older), $7.50
for those under 60.
CONTACT THE HERALD
2005 Washington Ave., Suite 101
Open Monday through Friday
8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Telephone: 541-523-3673
Theater
Continued from A1
The film was originally
scheduled to be released in the
summer of 2020.
It was one of several major
movies postponed due to the
pandemic. The lack of new
releases, combined with ex-
tended closures of theaters
and occupancy limits even
when they reopened, devas-
tated the industry.
The Eltrym was closed for
much of 2020, and it had to
limit the number of patrons
for a few months after reopen-
ing in March 2021.
McQuisten said in July 2021
that the theater’s reveue had
dropped 94% during the pan-
demic.
That made the Eltrym eligi-
ble for a federal grant.
McQuisten also submitted
written testimony in support
of a bill in the Oregon Legis-
lature that would have offered
grants to theaters. That bill
didn’t pass, however.
In her letter to the Legisla-
ture, McQuisten wrote: “We
are determined to survive this
pandemic. It has been a year,
though, and we are now be-
ginning to make payments on
(loans). In effect, we’ve taken
out loans to pay loans. All the
while, we’ve been doing our
best to adapt to provide a safe
environment for our guests by
investing in air scrubbers for
our HVAC and devoting more
staff time to cleaning.”
A little more than a year
later, buoyed by the blockbust-
ers and the prospect of more
to come, McQuisten is seeing
the industry turn from diving
to thriving, even with compe-
tition from online streaming
services.
“I’ve always had confidence
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Published Tuesdays, Thursdays and
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Baker Publishing Co., a part of EO Media
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(P.O. Box 807), Baker City, OR 97814.
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Copyright © 2022
“We’ve been having our busiest June since 2004. We
were hoping to get to 80% of our sales projections,
but we’re far over that for the month of June. It’s
been really uplifting for everybody.”
— Terry McQuisten, Eltrym Theater owner
in the industry, we saw what
happened with streaming and
it never really hurt us,” Mc-
Quisten said. “What people
get out of the theater is getting
out of the house and getting
an experience.”
McQuisten said she was
concerned about whether the
movie industry, after shifting
to streaming services during
the first stage of the pandemic,
would return to a more tradi-
tional release schedule.
“What I didn’t have con-
fidence in is what the movie
studios would do with their
streaming, like Disney+,” she
said.
McQuisten’s business isn’t
immune to inflation, but
thanks to the grant and to the
recent influx of moviegoers,
she hasn’t had to raise ticket
prices.
“We haven’t changed prices
since before the pandemic,” she
said, although she noted that
supply chain issues have been a
problem.
“It has me chasing down
popcorn bags online, they’re
actually pretty difficult to
find,” she said.
McQuisten said her next
move might involve lending
space for public art.
She’d like to have custom
posters installed in the show-
case displays on the south side
of the building, and she’s also
interested in having a mural
painted by a local artist.
The art would likely com-
plement the Banksy “Movie
Mouse” anonymously sten-
ciled on the alley wall on the
west side of the Eltrym 13
years ago.
OREGON
Crime lab error led to incorrect
blood alcohol levels in DUII cases
“I think the concerning
thing about this is, this
was going on for almost
two years? That’s so
many cases.”
BY GARRETT ANDREWS
The Bulletin
Hundreds of Oregon DUII
cases were given incorrect
blood alcohol levels, accord-
ing to a discovery by the state
crime lab, which said the lev-
els were off by fractions of a
percent due to incorrectly cal-
ibrated equipment.
Law enforcement officials
say the errors show a defen-
dant’s blood alcohol level as
slightly lower than it actually
was. The legal limit for blood
alcohol content in Oregon is
0.08% for drivers.
The faulty equipment af-
fected 652 cases in Oregon,
according to a June 17 email
to law enforcement agencies
around the state from Brian
Medlock, the director of the
Oregon State Police forensic
services division.
“This letter is to inform you
of a number of analytical re-
ports that contained incorrect
blood alcohol values for work
performed from July 14, 2020,
through March 22, 2022,”
Medlock wrote.
Medlock said on March 22,
OSP employees identified an
error in the calibration of an
instrument in the Portland
crime laboratory. The calibra-
tion error was corrected the
next day.
According to the email,
all casework that utilized the
Portland instrument between
July 14, 2020, and March 22,
2022, was reprocessed by OSP
— Bryan Donahue, Oregon
defense attorney and DUII
specialist
Garrett Andrews/The Bulletin file
In this December 2021 file photo, Bend officer Zach Childers enters in-
formation into an Intoxilyzer breath test machine at the Bend Police
Department. The Oregon State Police crime lab said incorrectly cali-
brated equipment led to incorrect readings of blood alcohol content
in hundreds of cases.
using the correct calibration
parameters.
All cases analyzed after
March 23 are unaffected,
Medlock wrote.
In Deschutes County, two
of the 652 cases were flagged
as having incorrect results,
according to the Deschutes
County District Attorney’s
office.
One is a Bend Police case
with a blood alcohol level
originally tested at 0.147%,
and that was adjusted to
0.146%. The other instance
was a medical examiner’s in-
vestigation where the blood
alcohol level was originally
0.294% and was adjusted to
0.292%.
Every other local blood
alcohol level reading was er-
roneously low by 0.001 or
0.002%.
So far, no known defen-
dant in Deschutes County has
filed a motion to undo a DUII
conviction, District Attorney
John Hummel told The Bul-
letin.
“I’m aware of the issue, and
we are addressing it,” Hum-
mel said. “Fortunately, the
vast majority of erroneous
results were lower than the
person’s actual blood alcohol
level.”
Bend defense attorney and
DUII specialist Bryan Dona-
hue said some of Medlock’s
wording minimizes the prob-
lem of inaccurate test results.
“I think the concerning
thing about this is, this was
going on for almost two
years?” Donahue said. “That’s
so many cases.”
Donahue said his office re-
ceived a notice from OSP that
the agency now sends its drug
testing blood samples to NMS
Labs in Pennsylvania. And
he’s been told OSP now con-
ducts its alcohol blood testing
at its lab in Springfield instead
of Portland.
Donahue said even if the
method is correct, even a
simple device like a scale will
produce an incorrect mea-
surement if not properly cal-
ibrated.
“These forensic toxicolo-
gists come into court and they
testify that their method of
analysis is the quote-unquote
Gold Standard of analysis,”
Donahue said. “But I think
that we’re finding there’s a lot
of tarnish on that gold.”
News of Record
DEATHS
Pamela Lee Haney: 66, of Baker City, died June 21,
2022, at her home. A service will take place later in
Echo. To leave an online condolence for Pamela’s family,
go to www.grayswestco.com.
Leigh Ann Hunter: 41, of Baker City, died June 21,
2022, at her home. To leave an online condolence for
Leigh Ann’s family, go to www.grayswestco.com.
ISSN-8756-6419
Serving Baker County since 1870
Publisher
Karrine Brogoitti
Ian Crawford/Baker City Herald
Eltrym Theater owner Terry McQuisten is considering expanding the mural on the outside wall now occupied
only by “Movie Mouse.”
POLICE LOG
Baker City Police
Arrests, citations
CONTEMPT OF COURT (Baker County Justice Court
warrant): Sharon Lee Beck, 36, Baker City, 1:55 a.m.
OREGON CAPITAL
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Friday, June 24 at Main and Broadway streets; cited and
released.
TELEPHONIC HARASSMENT (Baker County Circuit Court
warrant): Christopher James Bays, 36, Ronan, Montana,
11:16 a.m. Thursday, June 23 at the police department;
cited and released.
DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF INTOXICANTS,
CARELESS DRIVING, DRIVING UNINSURED: Sherri Lynn
Fuller, 51, Haines, 7:36 a.m. Thursday, June 23 in the
2200 block of Resort Street;
CONTEMPT OF COURT (two Baker County Justice
Court warrants): Markus Damian Dethloff, 22, Baker
City, 4:50 a.m. Thursday, June 23 at Madison and Balm
streets; cited and released.
HARASSMENT: Brian Mathew Wendt, 65, Baker City,
12:46 p.m. Wednesday, June 22 in the 1600 block of
Eldon Avenue; cited and released.
Baker County Sheriff’s Office
Arrests, citations
HARASSMENT (domestic): Casey Lyn Lick, 48, Baker
City, 6:02 p.m. Thursday, June 23 on Sumpter Stage
Highway; cited and released.
BAKER COUNTY JUSTICE COURT WARRANT: Keith
Edward Gassin, 47, Baker City, 11 a.m. Wednesday, June
22 on Old Highway 30; cited and released.
BAKER COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT WARRANT (pointing
a firearm at another, recklessly endangering another
person): Whitney Michelle Collins, 34, Baker City,
10:45 a.m. Wednesday, June 22 at the Sheriff’s Office;
cited and released.
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