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Art shows opening
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ODOT urges drivers
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Bulldogs, Badgers
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Good Day Wish
To A Subscriber
A special good day to Herald
subscriber Paul Bouchard of
Baker City.
BRIEFING
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OTEC scholarship
applications available
Oregon Trail Electric Cooper-
ative began accepting applica-
tions Nov. 1 for its academic,
trade school and lineman
college scholarships, as well
as for the annual Washington,
D.C., Youth Tour.
These scholarships are
available:
• For the fourth year, four
academic scholarships will be
allocated to the OTEC-EOU Rural
Scholarship program, a part-
nership with Eastern Oregon
University that includes tuition
and all fees for four students
who commit to attending and
graduating from EOU.
• Academic scholarships
of $5,000 for graduating high
school and homeschooled se-
niors, returning college students
and adults planning to start
college.
• A $5,000 lineman school
scholarship, along with $2,500
trade school scholarships.
The deadline for all academic
scholarships is Feb. 28, 2023.
OTEC accepts applications
for lineman school and trade
school scholarships year round.
Details are available at otec.
coop/scholarships.
OTEC also is accepting
applications for the one-week,
all-expenses paid trip to Wash-
ington, D.C., set for June 17-23,
2023. Current high school and
homeschool juniors can apply.
The deadline is Jan. 31, 2023.
Applications and details are
available at otec.coop/dc-youth-
tour.
WEATHER
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Today
39/22
Mostly sunny
Friday
39/35
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2022 • $1.50
BAKER SCHOOL DISTRICT
Board takes new approach on bond projects
Board hires La Grande firm, still has the
goal of building cafeteria at middle school
BY IAN CRAWFORD
AND JAYSON JACOBY
Baker City Herald
The Baker School District
will try a new approach now
that rapidly rising construction
costs have temporarily thwarted
the district’s schedule to build a
cafeteria/multipurpose building
at Baker Middle School.
The estimated $4.5 million
project was the largest the dis-
trict planned to undertake with
money from the $4 million
property tax bond measure that
district voters approved in May
2021.
It was the first voter-ap-
proved measure for district cap-
ital improvements since 1948.
The district combined the
$4 million bond with money
from several other sources for
an overall budget of about $14.5
million for a variety of projects
across the district.
The middle school cafete-
ria, though — the school lacks
such a facility — was one of the
showcase projects that district
officials touted in promoting
the bond measure in 2021.
But when the district so-
licited bids this summer it re-
ceived only one, from Sid John-
son & Co. in Baker City. The
bid was $9.1 million, more than
double the district’s projected
cost.
Accepting that bid would
have left the district unable to
do most of the other work offi-
cials pledged to do when they
asked voters to approve the
bond measure, Erin Lair, the
district’s superintendent, said in
August.
The school board voted
Norm Kolb, longtime accountant for Leo Adler,
reminisces about his childhood, college years and career
“I’ve tried to interpret in my mind what Leo
would do. He wanted to provide opportunities.”
— Norm Kolb, member of the Leo Adler Foundation
BAKER COUNTY
Ballot
return
is at 29%
Moving with jobs — a tough prospect
during the Depression — the next spot
was North Powder where Frank ran a
ranch for one year. The pay was room
and board, plus $1 a day.
Nearly one-third of Baker
County voters had returned their
ballot as of Wednesday morning,
Nov. 2, for the gen-
eral election.
Ballot re-
turn percent-
age was at
29%, County
Clerk Stefanie
Kirby said. That
didn’t include bal-
lots that arrived on Wednesday.
Ballots are due by 8 p.m. on
election day, Tuesday, Nov. 8.
However, for the first time in a
general election (the exemption
debuted with this May’s primary
election), mailed ballots post-
marked on or before Nov. 8 will
also be counted if they arrive at
the clerk’s office within seven busi-
ness days after the election.
Although that’s a new option
for voters, Kirby pointed out that
the more ballots received by Nov.
8, the more complete the results
when the clerk’s office releases a
report not long after 8 p.m. that
day.
Kirby said her office received
relatively few postmarked ballots
after the primary election in May.
Voters who haven’t already
mailed their ballot, and who want
to ensure their ballot is part of the
initial results on election night,
should use a drop box or bring
their ballot to the clerk’s office in
the Baker County Courthouse,
1995 Third St.
Kirby said her office mailed bal-
lots to 12,891 eligible voters. That’s
a record high for Baker County.
Ballots were mailed around Oct.
19.
Voters who don’t return their
ballot by mail have multiple op-
tions for dropoff sites.
See Kolb / A3
See Sites / A3
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
Norm Kolb, 90, talks about growing up in Baker City and the progression of his accounting career, which included 31 years as Leo Ad-
ler’s accountant. Kolb was on the original committee for the Leo Adler Trust, which was established with $20 million to provide schol-
arships and grants to Baker County and North Powder.
From logging camps
to dugouts to an office
BY LISA BRITTON • lbritton@bakercityherald.com
The space below is for a postage label
for issues that are mailed.
See Projects / A5
Baker City Herald
Rain
Full forecast on the back
of the B section.
unanimously on Aug. 18 to re-
ject the lone bid.
Lindsey McDowell, the dis-
trict’s public information and
communications coordinator,
said district officials believe Sid
Johnson & Co.’s bid was a re-
alistic reflection of the current
construction market, one that
takes into account supply chain
issues, rising costs and uncer-
tain availability of both materi-
als and labor.
N
orm Kolb starts his story with a phrase that applies to so much of his life: “Timing is everything.”
And on a snowy October morning in Baker City, Kolb, 90, shared stories about decisions and
circumstances that have defined his life — including 31 years as the accountant for Leo Adler, who left
his $20 million estate to benefit Baker County and North Powder for generations to come.
Kolb was born in Baker City in June
1932.
His parents, Frank and Marian, had
married in 1929, right at the start of the
Great Depression.
Kolb’s father worked as a logger near
Sumpter.
“When I was a baby, I was in the log-
ging camps. In tents,” he said.
Then they spent a winter at McEwen,
in Sumpter Valley, again living in a tent,
this time on his uncle’s place.
Supply chain
issue keeps city’s
new well off line
BY SAMANTHA O’CONNER
soconner@bakercityherald.com
A supply chain issue will likely keep Baker
City’s new backup drinking water well off line
until late winter or early spring.
Fortunately, the city doesn’t need to tap
its supplementary water sources during the
winter, when water use is much lower than
in summer. The nearly $2.5 million project is
one of the larger tasks that the city budgeted
for by raising water rates by 10% in 2016, 2017
and 2018. The city drilled the well in 2020 at
the east end of the parking lot for Quail Ridge
Golf Course, 2801 Indiana Ave.
See Well / A3
TODAY
Issue 75
34 pages
Business .................B1 & B6
Classified ....................B2-B4
Comics ..............................B5
New exhibit tells ancient tale
‘Oregon’s Dino Story’ at Baker
County Library this month
BY LISA BRITTON
lbritton@bakercityherald.com
Follow the dinosaur tracks at the
Baker County Public Library and
you’ll discover all sorts of dino facts
this month.
The library, 2400 Resort St., is host-
ing “Oregon’s Dino Story,” a traveling
exhibit from the University of Ore-
gon’s Museum of Natural and Cultural
History.
Libraries applied to host the exhibit,
which started traveling in July.
See Exhibit / A3
Community News.............A2
Crossword ...............B2 & B4
Dear Abby .........................B6
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
William Chanady, who turns 3 in December, plays with the interactive exhibit “Ore-
gon’s Dino Story” on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2022. The traveling display, which came from
the University of Oregon’s Museum of Natural and Cultural History, can be seen
through Nov. 15 at the Baker County Public Library in Baker City.
Horoscope ..............B2 & B4
Lottery Results .................A2
News of Record ................A2
Opinion .............................A4
Senior Menus ...................A2
Sports ..................... A7 & A8
Sudoku..............................B5
Turning Backs ..................A2
Weather ............................B6