GO! INSIDE
SPORTS A6
OREGON A5
Festivals celebrate
cherries, melons
Seahawks breaking
in new linemen
Hail damages crops
in Union County
IN THIS EDITION: LOCAL • BUSINESS & AG LIFE • SPORTS Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2022 • $1.50
QUICK HITS
—————
Good Day Wish
To A Subscriber
Drazan brings campaign to Baker
A special good day to Herald
subscriber John Tabor Clarke of
Baker City.
She hopes to become first GOP
candidate elected governor since 1982
BRIEFING
—————
Six more batches of
mosquitoes positive for
West Nile virus
Six more batches of mosqui-
toes, all trapped in the Keating
Valley about 15 miles east of
Baker City, tested positive for
West Nile virus. Each group of
mosquitoes generally consists
of about 10 to 50 insects, said
Matt Hutchinson, manager of the
Baker Valley Vector Control Dis-
trict. The six recent positive tests
brings to nine the total number of
mosquito “pools” that have test-
ed positive for the virus since late
July. All nine were trapped in the
Keating Valley. There have been
no cases of infection in people.
Mosquitoes can infect people
with the virus, which causes
no symptoms in many people
and minor illness in some, but
can in rare cases cause lasting
neurological problems or prove
fatal. Hutchinson recommends
residents take precautions
against mosquitoes, including
eliminating sources of standing
water where the insects breed,
wearing long-sleeved shirts and
pants, and using insect repellant.
Mental Health, Alcohol
Drug committees to
meet Aug. 23
The Baker County Local
Alcohol Drug Planning Commit-
tee and Mental Health Advisory
Council Joint Committee will
meet Aug. 23 from noon to
1:30 p.m. at New Directions
Northwest, 3425 13th St.
voting.
“I need you guys to know
this: your votes matter,” Dra-
zan said. “Your votes are
going to make a difference
this year. Every single vote
this year is going to make a
difference. The next gover-
nor of Oregon is not going
to be elected by Multnomah
County.”
Multnomah County,
which includes Portland,
has about 560,000 registered
voters out of almost 3 mil-
BY CLAYTON FRANKE
cfranke@bakercityherald.com
Christine Drazan, who
hopes to become the first
Republican elected as Or-
egon governor in 40 years,
visited the Baker County
Events Center Tuesday eve-
ning, Aug. 16 for a speech to
about 120 people.
In closing her 25-minute
speech to the audience, a
group she described as “the
winning team,” Drazan em-
phasized the importance of
lion registered in the state.
the crowd on Tuesday night
And more than half of
put it.
those voters are reg-
That person also
istered Democrats, a
asked Drazan about
big reason why Or-
the possibility of
egon has not elected
Eastern Oregon be-
a Republican to the
coming a part of
state’s top office
Idaho, an idea the
since Victor Atiyeh,
Move Oregon’s Bor-
who won his second
der group has pro-
four-year term in
Drazan
moted.
1982.
Drazan had said
That’s led people in coun- earlier in her speech that
ties like Baker, where 47% of she had been working with
the 12,800 registered voters
Idaho Gov. Brad Little, also a
are Republicans, to feel “un- Republican, and that she saw
comfortable” with represen- an “incredible” opportunity
tation, as one question from for collaboration between
the states.
“We were having a conver-
sation about what it would
be like to have a partner,
where we could work to-
gether on transportation, on
infrastructure, on agricul-
ture issues,” Drazan said.
But she said voters should
focus on fixing issues in Or-
egon even if they feel disen-
franchised with the state’s
politics.
“I want to fix Oregon, and
I want you guys to be a part
of your home state,” Drazan
said.
See Drazan / A5
Lookout
Mountain
wolves
injure calf
BY JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
Elena Maddy, left, and Chris Bradford are actor/directors with Missoula Children’s Theatre. This week they brought “The Little Mermaid”
to Baker City. Performances will be at 6 p.m. Friday and 3 p.m. Saturday at Baker High School.
Taking
a
WEATHER
—————
show
road
on
the
Today
97/57
Mostly sunny
Performance
Schedule
Friday
92/54
Local youth actors will
perform “The Little Mer-
maid” twice this weekend.
• Friday, Aug. 19, 6 p.m.
• Saturday, Aug. 20, 3 p.m.
Both performances will be
in the auditorium at Baker
High School, 2500 E St.
Admission is $5, or free for
ages 12 and younger who
come with a paid adult.
Mostly sunny
Full forecast on the back
of the B section.
The space below is for a postage label
for issues that are mailed.
Missoula
Children’s Theatre
returns to Baker
City this week
BY LISA BRITTON
lbritton@bakercityherald.com
Chris Bradford didn’t intend to be
an actor.
Elena Maddy didn’t intend to be
traveling with Missoula Children’s
Theatre.
But circumstances they didn’t fore-
see has led them both, from opposite
sides of the country, to be on a stage in
Baker City while working for MCT.
“Sort of an accident,” Bradford says
with a laugh as he tells his tale of the-
ater.
He grew up in Bakersfield, Califor-
nia. When he was a freshman in high
school, he decided to see a show.
“I showed up super early — two
hours early,” he said.
The theater director asked if he
could sing.
“Next thing I know, I’m audition-
ing for ‘The Little Shop of Horrors,’ ”
he said.
Bradford graduated from Grand
Canyon University in Phoenix in 2021
with a degree in theater and drama.
This is his first year touring with MCT.
“You learn a lot from teaching kids,”
he said. “It’s been a real growth experi-
ence for me.”
“You learn to adapt,” Maddy added
with a smile.
See Theatre / A3
County deems section
of Pine Cr. Rd. as public
BY SAMANTHA O’CONNER
AND JAYSON JACOBY
Baker City Herald
The Baker County Board
of Commissioners voted 3-0
on Wednesday morning,
Aug. 17, to approve a reso-
lution designating a section
of Pine Creek Road, which
is the subject of two current
civil lawsuits, as a county
road open to the public.
Commissioners approved
the resolution after a brief
public hearing at the Court-
house.
There was applause and
TODAY
Issue 42
34 pages
cheering from the audience
of about 20, which included
several people who live in
the Pine Creek area.
Some of those residents
urged commissioners,
during an April 19 public
hearing, to take action to
ensure the public can travel
the road.
The resolution states, in
part, that “all private gates,
structures, and obstructions”
on the section of road sur-
veyed last year “are hereby
ordered to be removed.”
Commissioner Mark
Business .....................B1-B3
Classified ....................B3-B6
Comics ..............................B7
Bennett emphasized that
although commissioners’
vote was “certainly a step
forward,” the process under
state law includes a 60-day
appeal period.
Bennett said he wants res-
idents to understand that
the gate that property owner
David McCarty installed in
2020 won’t be unlocked or
removed immediately, and
he cautioned people to avoid
taking any action on their
own.
Bennett said he didn’t
Community News.............A2
Crossword ...............B3 & B5
Dear Abby .........................B8
See Pine Creek / A2
Wolves from the Lookout
Mountain pack injured a calf
in a private pasture northeast
of Durkee about two weeks
ago.
A biologist from the Ore-
gon Department of Fish and
Wildlife (ODFW) confirmed
that wolves had wounded
the 5-month-old, 500-pound
calf, according to an ODFW
report released Tuesday,
Aug. 16.
The rancher who owns the
calf found the injured animal
on Monday, Aug. 15
in the Little Lookout Moun-
tain area.
An ODFW biologist who
examined the calf found
more than 50 bite scrapes,
measuring up to 3 inches
long and a quarter-inch wide,
on the calf ’s left and right
hind legs above the hocks.
The bite scrapes were at the
edges of a 4-inch by 4-inch
open wound that was up to
2 inches deep, according to
the report.
The biologist estimated the
calf had been attacked 10 to
14 days earlier.
“The severity, size, and lo-
cations of these wounds are
consistent with injuries to
cattle attacked by wolves,” the
report states.
“This depredation is at-
tributed to wolves of the
Lookout Mountain pack.”
In 2021, after wolves from
that pack killed at least nine
head of cattle and injured
three others, ODFW employ-
ees killed eight of the esti-
mated 11 wolves in the pack.
See Wolves / A3
Chilly spring gave way
to persistent heat
BY JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Remember the cool spring
that persisted right up to the
solstice?
The chilly mornings and
the brisk afternoon winds and
the frequent showers of rain
that well into May occasionally
thickened into snow, fragments
of winter carried along like flot-
sam in a stream?
Probably you don’t remem-
ber those strange days, at least
not with great clarity.
The weather pattern in the
second week of July didn’t so
much shift, which suggests a
modest change, as it lurched,
Horoscope ..............B4 & B5
Lottery Results .................A2
News of Record ................A2
Opinion .............................A4
Senior Menus ...................A2
Sports ...............................A6
like an airplane that plummets
when it hits a patch of turbulent
air, spilling noncomplimentary
drinks over passengers’ laps.
Since then the heat has rarely
relented, and even then it re-
ceded only slightly.
And briefly.
After more than a month
of stifling weather, the spring
might seem as distant and as
indistinct as the last time you
shoveled snow.
Indeed this summer, which
started so unlike its record-set-
ting predecessor, has turned
into a season with rather a lot in
common with the 2021 version.
See Heat / A3
Sudoku..............................B7
Turning Backs ..................A2
Weather ............................B8