LOCAL A2
LOCAL A3
SPORTS A6
Bentz has big lead in
campaign fundraising
Scenes from Miners
Jubilee 2022
Big changes for Baker’s
2022 football schedule
IN THIS EDITION: LOCAL • HOME & LIVING • SPORTS
A WET SPRING
Much needed rains a boon for
farmers and ranchers
BLACK LOGO
The
Blue Mountain
HERMISTON
EAGLE
HERALD
Grant County’s newspaper since 1868
REVERSE LOGO - COLOR BAR CAN CHANGE
REVERSE LOGO - COLOR BAR CAN CHANGE
COMING THURSDAY
A 30-page special section
focusing on the farming and
ranching industry will be includ-
ed with the July 21 issue. Topics
include how a damp spring
helped ease the drought and im-
prove prospects for wheat, hay
and other crop yields, a benefi -
cial trend that’s being offset by
escalating costs for diesel and
other production expenses.
TUESDAY, JULY 19, 2022 • $1.50
Toasty July supplants cool, damp spring
Weather since
solstice has been
close to average
SUMMER 2022
Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
BY JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Summer might have
seemed a trifle tardy arriving
in Baker County, but it seems
to have settled in and is show-
ing no intention of leaving
soon.
Last week was the warmest
of the year here.
And after a one-day hiatus
on Monday, July 18, thanks to
a dry cold front, the heat was
forecast to return, and linger
for at least another several
days.
From July 12-17, the tem-
perature reached at least 90
degrees on five of the six days
at the Baker City Airport, in-
cluding 98 on July 12, the hot-
test day so far in 2022.
In June, by contrast, there
was only one 90-degree day.
It was the third straight
month with temperatures
cooler than average.
Through its first 17 days,
July has been almost exactly
average.
The average high tempera-
ture for that period at the air-
port was 85.2 degrees, very
slightly below the long-term
July average of 85.4 degrees.
The month is on pace to
be the coolest July since 2016,
when the average high was
82.4 degrees.
A special good day to Herald
subscriber Bruce Clark of Baker
City.
BY CLAYTON FRANKE
cfranke@bakercityherald.com
BRIEFING
—————
County commissioners
to meet Wednesday
WEATHER
—————
Today
92/49
Sunny
Wednesday
94/50
Sunny
Full forecast on the back
of the B section.
The space below is for a postage label
for issues that are mailed.
See Weather / A3
Survey
will help
scientists
predict
quakes
QUICK HITS
—————
Good Day Wish
To A Subscriber
The Baker County Board
of Commissioners will meet
Wednesday, July 20 at 9 a.m. at
the Courthouse, 1995 Third St.
Commissioners will have a
public hearing on a proposed
ordinance that would ask
county voters to ban psilocybin
manufacturers and service cen-
ters in unincorporated parts of
the county and inside the Unity
city limits.
Other agenda items include
updates from Brent Kerns of
the Federal Natural Resource
Advisory Committee and Ginger
Savage of the Baker County
Cultural Coalition, purchase of
HVAC equipment for the Baker
County Jail, and authorization
to sell a parcel of foreclosure
property on Taggert Lane.
Last year’s average high of
92.3 degrees was the hottest
July on record at the airport,
where records date to 1943.
After the abnormally cool
and damp spring — May was
almost six degrees cooler than
average, and April almost
seven degrees — July’s tem-
peratures might feel torrid.
A ton of
Clayton Franke/
Baker City Herald
trouble
Jackal Crenshaw,
left, back turned,
and Danny Newman,
center, watch a
bull rider during
the competition
Saturday, July 16,
2022, at the Baker
County Fairgrounds.
Bullfighters put themselves between the bull
and the rider
BY CLAYTON FRANKE
cfranke@bakercityherald.com
Jackal Crenshaw’s job is to insert all 165
pounds of himself between one ton of en-
ergetic bull and the person who was, until
recently, on its back.
In bull riding, the action begins when
the chute, or pen, opens and the bull
bucks into the arena.
The ride ends when the competitor,
even if he has made it the full eight sec-
onds, has to get off the bull and, for at least
a few seconds, becomes defenseless.
Protecting the rider during that perilous
period is something that Crenshaw said,
about half an hour before he’s ready to start
his daring act, “is not supposed to be done.”
He talked about the danger, and the
exhilaration, while sitting in his Honda
sedan, applying red paint to the tip of
his nose in the minutes before the an-
nual Baker City Bull Riding competition
on Saturday evening, July 16 at the Fair-
grounds arena.
Crenshaw is a bullfighter.
But his job doesn’t involve any fighting,
Clayton Franke/Baker CIty Herald
Bullfighter Jackal Crenshaw waits for the bull riding to begin on Saturday, July 16,
2022, at Baker County Fairgrounds.
in the sense of a physical exchange be-
tween him and the bull.
Although in some cases the bull will
make contact with him — as happened
during Saturday event, when the horn of
one bull “xylophoned” his ribs.
See Bullfighters / A3
Memorial truck, tractor pull July 22
Event honors Mabry Anders, who died
in Afghanistan in 2012, and raises
money for scholarships to local students
Baker City Herald
A truck and tractor pull
that honors a Baker City sol-
dier who died in Afghan-
istan almost a decade ago,
and raises money for college
scholarships in his name, is
returning after a two-year hi-
atus due to the pandemic.
The Spc. Mabry James An-
ders Truck and Tractor Pull
is set for Friday, July 22 at
TODAY
Issue 29
12 pages
7 p.m. at the Haines Rodeo
Arena. Spectator gate opens
at 5:30 p.m.
Admission is $15 for
adults, $8 for ages 5-12.
Event organizer J.R. Streifel
said he’s excited about bring-
ing back the fundraiser,
which started in 2018.
“With the generosity of
the community supporting
all the fundraisers, it’s a great
Classified ....................B2-B4
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Community News.............A2
Memorial Founda-
deal,” Streifel said
tion, a scholarship
on Monday, July 18.
program for Baker
“The community is
County students.
just outstanding on
The truck and
what they support.”
tractor pull is one of
The event, which
several yearly fund-
started in 2018,
raisers for the Foun-
honors Anders, a
Anders
dation, which has
21-year-old Baker
awarded more than
City soldier who was
killed in Afghanistan on Aug. $60,000 in scholarships to lo-
cal students.
27, 2012.
Streifel said many local
Streifel said all proceeds
businesses and organizations
from the July 22 event,
are sponsors for the truck
which will take place on
and tractor pull.
Anders’ birthday, go to the
Spc. Mabry James Anders
See Memorial / A3
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Wildfires and weather
are more frequent threats to
Baker Valley, but scientists
say earthquakes pose a po-
tential risk here as well.
They don’t know a lot
about the level of that risk,
though, compared with
other parts of Oregon.
Jason McClaughry would
like to change that. Mc-
Claughry, who lives and
works in Baker City, is the
geological survey manager
for the Oregon Department
of Geology and Mineral In-
dustries (DOGAMI).
He said the last full-scale
survey of the Baker Valley
was done by the U.S. Geo-
logical Survey (USGS) in
the 1970s, when geologists
had fewer weapons in their
seismological quivers. It’s
not that those scientists were
wrong — these studies ac-
curately describe rock struc-
ture and fault placement,
McClaughry said — but it’s
getting to be “vintage work.”
“Major advances in the
geological sciences in the last
50 years would allow us to
put together a much better
picture and understanding
of faulting, earthquake his-
tory and potential risk in
Baker County,” McClaughry
said.
Since those initial surveys,
more earthquake-prone ar-
eas of the state have taken
priority, leaving geologic
knowledge about Baker City
in the past.
Recent projects include
surveys near the Colum-
bia Gorge and on the south
coast. McClaughry said that
since Oregon is a large state
and USGS has limited staff-
ing, surveying the entire
state is a “long-term pro-
cess.”
Most of the attention on
temblors in Oregon has been
on the Cascadia subduction
zone off the coast, where one
tectonic plate is dipping be-
low another.
Scientists say the subduc-
tion zone has produced mul-
tiple quakes in the past of
around 9.0 magnitude, and
based on historical records,
another quake could happen
any time.
Baker County officials had
a planning exercise in late
June to prepare for the po-
tential effects of that quake,
which likely will cause cat-
astrophic damage along the
coast, due to tsunamis, and
in the Willamette Valley
from severe shaking.
The situation is less dire in
Baker Valley.
See Quakes / A3
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