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IN THIS EDITION: LOCAL • HOME & LIVING • SPORTS
TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2022 • $1.50
City talks
limits on
psilocybin
shrooms
QUICK HITS
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Good Day Wish
To A Subscriber
A special good day to Herald
subscriber William Johnson of
Baker City.
BRIEFING
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Entries sought for
Miners Jubilee parade
There’s still time to enter a
fl oat in the Miners Jubilee pa-
rade, which happens Saturday,
July 16.
The theme is “Honoring
Our Heritage.” The entry fee is
$25. Find a registration form at
minersjubilee.com.
Floats must check in by 9
a.m. at Baker Middle School.
The parade starts at 11 a.m.
For more information, call the
Baker County Chamber at 541-
523-5855.
Miners Jubilee Fun
Run/Walk July 16
The Miners Jubilee Fun Run
and Walk, a fundraiser for the
Baker High School track and
fi eld and cross-country teams,
is set for 8 a.m. on Saturday,
July 16. The event includes
10K and 5K runs, and a 5K
walk. Cost is $25 per person, or
$10 for those 10 and younger.
The course starts at Kicks
Sportswear, 1801 Main St.,
and runners and walkers who
aren’t pre-registered can sign
up at Kicks starting at 7 a.m. on
July 16.
Volunteers needed to
help at library book sale
Friends of the Baker County
Library need volunteers to help
sort books and to work as ca-
shiers during the book sale July
14-17. Volunteers can sign up
at the library, 2400 Resort St.,
or by calling Jen at 541-519-
7828.
WEATHER
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Today
96/57
2020 measure allowed
use of ‘magic mushrooms’
for therapy but not retail;
cities, counties can ban use
BY JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Clayton Franke/Baker City Herald
A protester holds a sign supporting Roe v. Wade, the recently overturned Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion,
during a walk on Saturday, July 9, 2022, on Main Street in downtown Baker City.
Residents protest
Roe v. Wade reversal
BY CLAYTON FRANKE
cfranke@bakercityherald.com
See Mushrooms / A3
A group of about 20 people
walked through downtown Baker
City on Saturday, July 9 in protest
of the Supreme Court’s recent de-
cision to reverse 50 years of fed-
eral abortion rights for women.
The June 24 decision over-
turned Roe v. Wade, a 1972 Su-
preme Court case ruling that
guaranteed abortion as a constitu-
tional right.
The High Court’s decision,
which means individual states will
determine regulations, if any, over
abortion, has spurred protests
across the country.
Emily Simko, 32, of Baker City
organized Saturday’s event and led
the group from Central Park to
Geiser-Pollman Park and back.
Simko led chants of “keep your
bans off our bodies” and “my
Clayton Franke/Baker City Herald
Fern Bruck (center, with hat) and Morgan Hall, both 16 walk through Geis-
er-Pollman Park on Saturday, July 9, 2022, with a group supporting abortion
body my choice.”
“We had a lot of cars driving by
and people in town giving us sup-
port, clapping and giving thumbs
up,” Simko said. “I think it went
really well.”
Simko is a founding member
of the Baker Community Justice
Project, a group that has hosted
several social activism events
since its inception in 2020.
See Protest / A2
Sunny
Wednesday
87/53
Storms possible
Full forecast on the back
of the B section.
The space below is for a postage label
for issues that are mailed.
Baker City councilors will discuss
during their meeting Tuesday, July 12
whether to ask city voters to ban the
production, processing and therapeu-
tic use of psilocybin, the psychoactive
ingredient in “magic mushrooms,”
within the city limits.
Councilors will meet at 7 p.m. at
City Hall, 1655 First St.
The psilocybin issue arises from
Measure 109, which Oregon voters ap-
proved in November 2020.
The measure legalizes the use of
psilocybin, in designated “service cen-
ters,” for purposes such as treating
people 21 and older who are suffering
from psychological trauma, addiction
and other ailments.
The measure does not allow the re-
tail sale of psilocybin, which makes it
different from marijuana.
County updates park ordinance
Commissioners hope to
curb disruptive behavior
County preps
for westside
earthquake
aftereffects
BY CLAYTON FRANKE
cfranke@bakercityherald.com
People who live west of the Cas-
cades, where seismologists say a mas-
sive earthquake is looming, have been
preparing for the damages the great
quake will cause.
Those in Northeastern Oregon, how-
ever, might not be so seismically inclined.
“The Big One,” a product of the
Cascadia Subduction Zone off of the
Oregon coast — could cause unprece-
dented damage along the coast, where
a catastrophic tsunami is likely, and in
the Willamette Valley.
But emergency management offi-
cials say it’s time, regardless of its dis-
tance from that quake’s epicenter, for
this part of the state to prepare, too.
BY SAMANTHA O’CONNER
soconner@bakercityherald.com
Police will be able to cite peo-
ple for trespassing in Baker County
parks if they fail to comply with park
rules based on a change to the parks
ordinance that county commission-
ers approved last week.
The ordinance applies to the coun-
ty’s larger parks, Hewitt and Hol-
comb, adjoining parks on the Pow-
der River arm of Brownlee Reservoir
a few miles east of Richland. Those
are the only parks where overnight
camping is allowed.
The rules also affect county prop-
erties open from dawn to dusk,
including the Hells Canyon Infor-
mation Wayside and East Pine near
Halfway, Wingville Cemetery in
See Quake / A3
S. John Collin /Baker City Herald, File
Holcomb Park is on the north shore of the Powder River arm of Brownlee Reservoir
about three miles east of Richland. Baker County owns and operates the park along
with its neighbor, Hewitt Park.
Baker Valley, and the Bishop Springs
Rest Area along Highway 86 near
Richland.
Doni Bruland, the county’s parks
coordinator, said the parks ordinance
hadn’t been updated since 2005, and
in the ensuing years there have been
occasional problems with some park
visitors.
“After that many years, I felt that it
was necessary to also update the or-
dinances to deal with those changes,”
Bruland said.
HELLS CANYON OVERLOOK
— A 64-year-old Hermiston man
was stabbed to death at the Hells
Canyon Overlook in southeastern
Wallowa County on Friday, July 8,
according to a press release from the
Wallowa County Sheriff’s Office.
TODAY
Issue 26
12 pages
Dan Ridling got into an alterca-
tion with an Albany man and was
stabbed in the torso, Sheriff Joel Fish
said Monday, July 11. Ridling died at
the scene.
“They got in an altercation in the
parking lot,” Fish said. “It was a fight
between two guys and he ended up
stabbed.”
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BY JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
The Hells Canyon Overlook is
along Forest Road 3965, which leads
east from Road 39, also known as the
Wallowa Loop Road.
Road 39 branches off Highway 86
about 10 miles east of Halfway. The
overlook is about 21 miles north of
Highway 86.
Sunshine and seasonably toasty
temperatures are forecast for Miners
Jubilee, and Shelly Cutler’s outlook for
Baker City’s signature summer festival
is also bright.
“I think it’s just going to be a great
weekend,” Cutler said on Monday
morning, July 11. She’s executive di-
rector of the Baker County Chamber
of Commerce, which organizes Min-
ers Jubilee. The festival is set for Friday
through Sunday, July 15-17.
Cutler said Geiser-Pollman Park
will be loaded with vendors, including
food booths, through the weekend.
The National Weather Service is
forecasting sunshine this weekend,
with high temperatures in the low
90s on Friday and Saturday, cooling
slightly to the upper 80s on Sunday.
See Stabbing / A3
See Jubilee / A3
See Parks / A3
Hermiston man stabbed to death in Hells Canyon
BY BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
Enthusiasm
abounds over
Miners Jubilee
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