BAKER CITY HERALD • TUESDAY, JUNE 28, 2022 A3
LOCAL
Water
Continued from A1
Last year, after a record heat
wave in late June, the city went
on alert status for its water
supply on June 28, and en-
acted stage 2 of the water cur-
tailment ordinance on July 2.
Stage 2, also known as
“warning status,” restricts res-
idents to using city water (it
doesn’t affect private wells) to
irrigate lawns or gardens only
between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m.,
when evaporation declines.
Although the ordinance al-
lows the city to cite and fine
residents who fail to comply,
city officials emphasized last
summer that they didn’t in-
tend to do so, and no citations
were issued.
But starting in early April
and continuing into the second
week of June, a series of storms
brought significant amounts of
rain — and in many instances
snow — to higher elevations of
the watershed.
That trend has kept wa-
tershed streams and springs
flowing well. The storms also
helped fill Goodrich Reservoir
high in the Elkhorns, which
holds about 200 million gal-
lons of water and is an import-
ant source of water for the city
later in the summer, when the
stream volumes drop.
“We’ll have our water that
we typically use there (from
Goodrich) for August, so that’s
great news,” Owen said.
Currently the city is primar-
ily using water from Marble
Springs, one of the primary
sources in the watershed,
which ranges from Elk Creek
in the south to Goodrich
Creek at the north end.
“We have it at Marble, we
have it at Elk Creek, and we
have it at Goodrich if we need
it. We have the well if we need
it,” Owen said. “At this mo-
ment, things look good.”
She had hoped to have two
wells available to supplement
the watershed sources this
summer.
A 654-foot-deep well was
drilled in 2020 at the east
end of the parking lot at the
city-owned Quail Ridge Golf
Course, but supply chain is-
sues slowed construction on
the well house and installation
of piping and controls. That
work is happening now, and
the well should be available
later this year.
The city’s existing well,
which was drilled in the late
1970s, is available. That well is
augmented by water from the
watershed. During the winter
and early spring, the city di-
verts tens of millions of gallons
of water from the watershed
into the well, a process known
as Aquifer Storage and Recov-
ery. In 2009 Baker City was the
first Oregon city to receive a
state permit to use that tactic.
The city’s water supply will
also benefit soon when work-
ers wrap up this year’s seg-
ment of a long-term project to
replace the aging, leak-prone
concrete water supply pipeline
in the watershed with PVC
and ductile iron.
Once that’s done, the city
also be able to tap Salmon and
Little Salmon creeks.
Owen doesn’t think the city
will need to enact the water
curtailment ordinance in early
July as it did last year.
But the restrictions might
be necessary later in the sum-
mer.
She noted that most of
Baker County remains in a
drought, although its sever-
Trapshooting
Continued from A1
“I am extremely proud of
them all,” Kimball said. “A lot
of the kids shot personal bests
and overall had a good time.
We are all looking forward
to working hard next year to
make sure we bring home the
No. 1 team trophy.”
Twenty-one of the 23 Baker
team members who qualified
for state competed in Hills-
boro. Kimball said Skye Smith
and Anthony Betts were un-
able to attend.
Bulldogs competed in nov-
ice, junior varsity and varsity
categories.
Boys varsity
(Scores are out of 100 total
targets)
• Jimmy Sullivan Jr., tied 4th,
96.
• Gage Hatfield, tied 7th, 93.
• Conner Norton and Seth
Holden, tied 16th, 90.
• Alex Wise, tied 34th, 86.
• Ryan Brown, Jaxon Ford,
Jack Heriza, tied 57th, 84.
• Ethan Morgan and Samual
Nelson, tied 77th, 81.
• Alexander Jaca, tied 82nd,
80.
ity has declined over the past
month or so due to the per-
sistent cool, damp weather.
As of June 21, according
to the U.S. Drought Moni-
tor, 4.3% of the county (in the
southwest corner, not in Baker
City) is in extreme drought.
Most of the county is in either
moderate drought (53.1%)
or is abnormally dry (12.7%),
which is the lowest of the
five-category drought rating
system.
The northwest corner of
the county, which includes the
city’s watershed and much of
Baker Valley, is rated as abnor-
mally dry.
“Technically we’re still in a
drought,” Owen said. “We’re
just not in extreme or excep-
tional. So, that’s good. We
don’t want to be extreme or
exceptional.”
City officer uses taser to stop fleeing suspect
Water use rises along
with the temperature
The cool spring also sup-
pressed the city’s thirst.
Daily water use had been
averaging around 2 million
gallons per day, Owen said,
which is typical for fall, winter
and spring.
But as temperatures rose
last week — it was the warm-
est week of the year, with daily
highs topping 70 degrees on
five straight days — daily con-
sumption rose to around 4
million gallons.
“That’s pretty common, you
know, when the weather gets
warmer,” Owen said.
Last June wasn’t common,
both in terms of temperature
and water use.
With a record-breaking
heat wave the last week of
the month — including 103
degrees on June 29, the hot-
test June day on record at the
Baker City Airport — city
residents were going through
about 5 million gallons per
day.
That rate, Owen said last
year, was not sustainable based
on the city’s water supply.
The city used 45% more wa-
ter in June 2021 than it did in
June 2020.
That heavy use led to the
city enacting phase 2 of the
water curtailment ordinance
and prompted Owen to talk
about the possibility of the city
moving to phase 3 for the first
time ever. Under that stage,
all outdoor watering with city
water is banned.
But the city’s water use
dropped by 23% in August
2021 compared with July, and
the city never advanced to
stage 3.
Although Owen is more op-
timistic today than she was a
year ago, she continues to em-
phasize the need to conserve
water.
“I think, in general, we are
fairly wasteful of our water,”
she said. “And I just think it’s
a habit. There’s habits you can
get into in conserving water.”
Educating at the school
level for young kids to develop
helpful habits is the best, such
as shutting off the water while
brushing their teeth.
“I’m still going to continue
to push that,” Owen said.
The city’s annual Consumer
Confidence Report, which
was mailed to water custom-
ers recently, includes a list of
water-saving tips. The infor-
mation is also available on the
city’s website, bakercity.com.
That report, which the city
is required to send yearly, also
includes the results of water
quality testing the city does
throughout the year.
Lifeguards
• Joseph Zikmund, tied 90th, 77.
• Chris Schuh, 96th, 74.
• Matt Rabourne, 97th, 73.
Boys junior varsity
• Connor Martin, tied 5th, 86.
• Remington Benson, tied
9th, 85.
• Jose Armenta, tied 13th, 84.
• Ryan Hansen, tied 22nd, 81.
• Ethan Whiting, tied 30th, 77.
BY JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
A Baker City Police officer used his
taser to subdue a man who fled and
jumped over a fence into a residential
backyard while being arrested on Satur-
day, June 25 as a suspect in a burglary.
Markus Damian Dethloff, 32, of Baker
City, was arrested at about 11 a.m. at 1723
Madison St., according to a report from
officer Koby Essex.
Dethloff, who was not hurt, was taken
to the Baker County Jail.
He is charged with third-degree escape,
second-degree criminal trespassing, and
was also held on a Union County Circuit
Court warrant on a charge of failure to
appear.
The incident started a little before
11 a.m. when Essex, who was in his pa-
June 20 saw 140 users of the pool, who
can range in age from 93 years to six
months.
Some are here for their first time in the
water; others have logged more laps than
they’ll ever know.
But Moe and Koby Myer, CEO of the
Y, are worried about the pool.
They need lifeguards.
“We lose five” lifeguards over the next
few months, Moe said.
One family is moving, and other life-
guards will be heading back to college to-
ward the end of summer.
This means she’ll lose swim instructors
too, because lifeguards fill the dual role
of teaching youngsters how to swim and
making sure all swimmers are safe in the
pool.
Moe needs one lifeguard for every 25
swimmers.
A typical open swim brings 65 people,
which means at least three lifeguards are
needed to keep an eye on the pool, plus
one to work at Sam-O’s front counter.
And they have to rotate every 15 min-
utes — this is necessary, Moe said, for a
break from sitting in the humid heat.
What’s it take to be a lifeguard?
Moe doesn’t mince words about the
certification to become a lifeguard.
“It’s not an easy test,” she said.
First, a candidate must be at least 15,
and pass three tests to even qualify for the
training:
• Swim 300 continuous yards (the pool
is 25 yards).
• Rescue a 10-pound brick from the
bottom of the deep end, then swim while
holding it out of the water for 20 yards —
Police
Continued from A1
In that scenario — which Cannon
emphasized is only one of multiple pos-
sibilities, all of which will be considered
— Duby said calls to the emergency dis-
patch center would be forwarded to the
city police department’s on-call super-
visor, who would then decide, based on
the circumstances, whether to call in an
officer to respond.
In an email to the Herald on Monday
morning, Cannon wrote that although
there is “no plan to have zero coverage in
the city between the hours of 3 a.m. and
7 a.m.” — meaning that police would re-
spond to calls but wouldn’t necessary be
on patrol — “we may need to consider
different variations of coverage at tar-
geted hours of the day. Heavier coverage
during peak hours and lighter coverage
at other hours of the day. What this looks
like is yet to be determined.”
Duby said maintaining 24-hour pa-
trols has been a constant challenge since
he started with Baker City Police, as a
lieutenant, almost three years ago.
Duby, who formerly worked for Or-
egon State Police, has been chief for the
past year.
Even when the department is fully
staffed based on its current budget, with
eight patrol officers, it can be difficult,
due to vacations, illnesses and other ab-
sences, to keep two officers on patrol
around the clock, Duby said.
The city has six patrol officers now.
A seventh officer is at the state train-
ing academy and will be available to start
work in August, Duby said.
The city is also advertising for a patrol
officer vacancy. Another current patrol
officer is scheduled to go to the training
Kimball expressed gratitude
for his crew and faculty sup-
port.
“I want to thank everyone
that has supported us from
day one,” he said. “All coaches
— Wayne Paxton, Chad
Hurliman, Bob Whitnah and
David Blair really stepped up
this year.”
Kimball said Baker, La
Grande and Wallowa trap
clubs are planning a winter
league to start in early 2023.
“It is separate from the USA
Clay Target League and is a
great warmup for the season,”
he said.
• Lumber
• Plywood
• Building Materials
• Hardware
• Paint
• Plumbing
• Electrical
And much more!
the home.
Essex wrote that before deploying his
taser, he checked to see where Deth-
loff would land if the effects of the taser
caused him to fall.
Essex confirmed that Dethloff would
land on grass, after which the officer used
the taser.
Essex wrote that he used the feature
that delivered a five-second burst from
the device. Both probes struck Dethloff,
and he fell. Regan handcuffed Dethloff,
who was checked by an EMT/paramedic,
as the police department policy requires
when a taser is deployed.
Essex wrote that Dethloff had 3.4
grams of methamphetamine, which is
considered a “user amount” in Oregon
and is subject to a citation but not a crim-
inal charge.
Open Swim Schedule
Continued from A1
Boys novice
• Charlie Boulter, 4th, 81.
Girls junior varsity
• Riley Hurliman, tied 4th, 71.
trol car, saw Dethloff walking west near
the 1500 block of Campbell Street. Essex
wrote in his report that he knew Dethloff
was a suspect in multiple cases, and when
he asked dispatch to check, he confirmed
the Union County warrant.
Essex said he stopped Dethloff and an-
other man in the 1700 block of Madison
Street. Baker City Police Sgt. Michael Re-
gan also arrived.
Essex wrote that Dethloff asked if he
were being arrested.
Essex said that he said yes, after which
Dethloff sprinted away, running across the
front yard of the home at 1723 Madison.
Dethloff then leaped over the fence
separating the front and backyards.
Essex wrote in his report that he was
concerned Dethloff, having already tres-
passed on the property, might try to enter
Sam-O Swim Center, 580 Baker St., of-
fers open swim from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Monday through Friday, and 7:30 p.m. to
9 p.m. on Monday and Wednesday.
Cost is free for Y members. Nonmember
cost is $4 for ages 18 and younger, or $5
for adults.
She also welcomes volunteers to help
with swimming lessons.
“I use a lot of volunteers,” she said.
To be eligible, a volunteer must be 14
years old and pass a background check.
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
Paula Moe, aquatics director for the Baker
County YMCA, said more lifeguards are
needed to continue offering swimming
lessons, open swim and other activities at
Sam-O Swim Center. To become a lifeguard,
an applicant must be 15 or older and pass a
prerequisite test to begin the training.
all in less than 1 minute, 40 seconds.
• Tread water for two minutes.
Swimmers who pass those tests can
then begin the 30-hour certification class.
The $350 cost is covered by the YMCA.
Lifeguards must be recertified every
two years, and have in-service trainings
once a month.
“Lifeguards are such a good team,”
Moe said.
Anyone interested in learning more
about the lifeguard process is encouraged
to call Moe at the pool, 541-523-8328.
academy in August.
To maintain 24-hour patrols, Duby
said the department often has to call in
off-duty officers to work overtime.
He said that has contributed to what
Cannon, in his email, described as “an
undesirable turnover rate of officers.”
The department has had an average of
one or two officers resign each year for
more than a decade, Duby said.
Cannon wrote in his email that “some
reasons for this include burnout and the
inability to use accrued leave.”
Duby said that in assessing the staffing
issues, he has looked at switching from
the current schedule, with patrol offi-
cers working 12-hour shifts, to a 10-hour
shift. That could result in the city drop-
ping patrols, but not ending police emer-
gency response, for some period, poten-
tially four hours, each day, he said.
Duby said that as part of his assess-
ment, he asked a department employee
to compile a schedule, for discussion
purposes only, that included the 10-hour
shifts and reduced patrol schedule.
Duby said that conceptual schedule
was inadvertently released as an actual
work schedule, what Cannon described
in his email as “a miscommunication.”
Duby said he takes responsibility for
the mistake.
“That released schedule was then
posted to social media,” Cannon wrote
in his email. “That created an unnec-
essary stir and excitement as knee-jerk
posts are prone to do. We want to calm
the discussion down and bring it back
to where it needs to be, which is a dis-
cussion on how to solve the above-men-
tioned challenges. The above issues need
to be addressed in a slow, methodical
and open discussion with Council.”
That discussion will start during Tues-
About the pool
Sam-O Swim Center opened in 1982.
It is owned by Baker City, and managed
by the Baker County YMCA.
“Without them we wouldn’t have this,”
Moe said, gesturing at the pool where
youngsters were preparing for swimming
lessons. “It’s such a wonderful thing.”
All sessions for summer swimming
lessons are full.
“Swim lessons are in high demand,”
Myer said.
The pool had limited programs during
the pandemic, but operations are back to
normal.
At least, normal in terms of pool users.
“We need lifeguards,” Moe said.
And Myer would like to see swimming
become a regular part of the school cur-
riculum.
“We need the support of the commu-
nity and the schools,” he said. “We need
to rally around the community pool.”
For a schedule of offerings at Sam-O
Swim Center, stop by the pool or go
online to www.bakerymca.org/
sam-o-swim-schedule.
day’s meeting, which is earlier than Can-
non and Duby had intended, since they
have not settled on a list of proposals to
present to councilors.
Duby said he would prefer to maintain
the current 24-hour patrols.
“I think we can all say that’s absolutely
the best,” he said. “But it’s really, really
difficult.”
Councilors react
Mayor Kerry McQuisten said Tuesday’s
presentation from Duby is important.
“So we can separate rumors from fact
in public. I’m clearly not in favor of ANY
gaps in patrol coverage,” McQuisten
wrote to the Herald.
Councilor Johnny Waggoner Sr.
agreed.
“This couldn’t ever pass council,” he
said on Monday morning, referring to
the potential for less than 24-hour pa-
trolling. “It makes no sense. I just want
to know what’s going on.”
Waggoner said public safety is a top
priority for the council, including 24-
hour patrol coverage.
Councilor Shane Alderson said he
would not support reducing patrol cov-
erage.
Councilor Joanna Dixon declined to
comment until she had talked about the
situation with Cannon and Duby.
The council is scheduled during Tues-
day’s meeting to adopt the budget for the
fiscal year that starts July 1.
The budget for the police department
is close to that for the current year, with
the staffing actually increasing slightly,
from 18.68 full-time equivalents to
19.08. Total personnel costs for the com-
ing fiscal year are $2,317,888, compared
with an approved amount of $2,328,757
for the current fiscal year.
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