FLY-IN to serve breakfast, aviation history .
Page A9
Enterprise, Oregon
www.wallowa.com
Issue No. 16
August 5, 2015
$1
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By Steve Tool
Wallowa County Chieftain
The Phillips Creek Fire,
the cause of limited visibility
in Wallowa County on Mon-
day when its size was at 1,100
acres, grew overnight and
was reported at 1,538 acres
by Tuesday morning. The
blaze, which started Aug. 1,
is located seven miles north-
west of Elgin and burning on
Umatilla National Forest and
state-protected private lands.
As of Tuesday, the ¿ re
was 2 percent contained with
no estimated date for full
containment.
The ¿ re is being fought
by an inter-agency team led
by the U.S. Forest Service,
which has deployed 276 per-
sonnel divided into 10 crews,
as well as two helicopters and
11 engines. Fire management
agencies transitioned to a
Type 2 Incident Management
Team late in the day on Aug.
3.
See FIRE, Page A7
BOB FERGISON: Investors take
Kathleen Ellyn/Chieftain
Two Adirondack chairs with a view through the big fir trees
to Wallowa Lake and the moraines beyond await the new
owners of Wallowa Lake Lodge.
BROAD STROKES
ON LIFE’S CANVAS
Steve Tool/Chieftain
Bob Fergison isn’t afraid to display his sense of humor during a discussion about art in his apartment.
By Steve Tool
Wallowa County Chieftain
D
apper: adjective (typically
for a man) neat and trim in
dress, appearance, or bear-
ing. Dapper is a word that
easily comes to mind when you meet
local artist Bob Fergison.
In nicer weather, you can see the
82-year-old Fergison in the vicinity
of the EM&M building wearing his
%ULWLVKÀDWFDSDWDUDNLVKDQJOH
generally in the company of several
women and his dog, Shorty. Fer-
gison adores women and the feeling
appears to be mutual.
In celebration of the artist’s 82nd
birthday, Fergison’s friend and fellow
”
I DON’T COMPOSE PAINTINGS. I JUST START. A
LOT OF CREATIVITY OCCURS ON THE CANVAS.
Bob Fergison
DUWLVW0LNH.RORVNLZLWKWKHKHOS
of the Zeise family yoga studio in
What: Exhibit
Enterprise, is throwing a one-man
Where: 105 E. Main, Enterprise
exhibition for Fergison at 105 E. Main
Street on Aug. 7 from 4-8 p.m. and
When: Aug. 7, 4-8 p.m.
Aug. 8 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Private
Aug. 8, 11 a.m.-7 p.m.
viewings are available by calling 206-
450-1439.
)HUJLVRQDQG.RORVNLDUHROG
Fergison hopes for more suc-
friends, and the two have occasionally cess than he had at two previous
SDLQWHGWRJHWKHU³0LNHDQG,JREDFN shows which had a combined at-
DORQJZD\V2XUIULHQGVKLSKDVÀRXU tendance of about 150 people.
ished over the years and produced a
See FERGISON, Page A7
lot of good art,” Fergison said.
lodge off market
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Wallowa County Chieftain
Out back of the Wallowa
Lake Lodge on your way to the
lake sit a couple of nice Adiron-
dack chairs just waiting for the
new owners of the lodge. Take
a seat.
The Wallowa Lake Lodge
has been taken off the market
and the new owners could be
local investors who buy into the
newly formed Lake Wallowa
Lodge, LLC.
The group made an all-cash
offer of $2,750,000 with de-
posit and no contingencies last
week. That offer was accepted,
and the LLC now has until Jan-
uary 2016 to come up with the
balance.
Lake Wallowa Lodge, LLC
is a partnership of local inves-
tors, individuals with a love for
and history with the lodge, and
Eastern Oregon Legacy Lands
Fund. The new LLC is spear-
headed by James Monteith of
Joseph.
The LLC was thrown to-
gether in fewer than 10 days
when a discussion at a party
at the Joseph of¿ ce of Wal-
lowology, the education arm of
Eastern Oregon Legacy Lands
Fund, revealed that persons
with an interest in keeping the
lodge in local hands were will-
ing to actually put up money.
“It’s pretty amazing what
people did,” Monteith said.
See LODGE:, Page A7
For blues fest
19, jam moves
By Steve Tool
Wallowa County Chieftain
Music is coming to Jo-
seph’s City Park, and not just
any music. This music fea-
tures a dominant 7th tonality
and is easily distinguishable
from any other genre after
hearing only a few bars. It’s
the blues. The 19th annual
Bronze Blues and Brews Fes-
tival featuring top-notch blues
music as well as cast bronzes
and the ¿ nest in microbrews is
slated for Aug. 7-8.
Chuck Garrett, president/
director of the festival,
is particularly pleased
with this year’s lineup
and one major change.
“This year, the Friday Night
Jam is at City Park. The park is
easiest because we don’t have
to move any equipment,” Gar-
rett said. He described the jam
as a mini-festival with fewer
beers and minus the headliner
and fourth act. Local musi-
cians can ask to play but are
Steve Tool/Chieftain
Chuck Garrett, director of
the Bronze Blues and Brews
Festival, is already psyched
for this year’s festival, now
in its 19th year.
not guaranteed a spot.
This year’s acts include
headliners Royal Southern
Brotherhood, followed by the
Sultans of Slide, Roseland
Hunters, Polly O’Keary and
the Rhythm Method, the duo
Ben Rice and Lucy Hammond,
and Franco Paletta and the
Stingers.
See BLUES, Page A8
Joseph Branch Railriders thrive in year two
By Steve Tool
Wallowa County Chieftain
Joseph Branch Railriders, a lo-
cal business specializing in Joseph
Branch Railroad tours in pedal-driven
cars, is thriving in its second season
at 304 N. Main St. in Joseph. JBR
owners, Kim and Anita Metlen, are
pleased with their success. The cou-
ple originally owned Mountainworks
Bike Shop in La Grande.
“Things are going well this year.
In our opening year last year, our
best day was maybe 42 people, but
we’ve expanded this year,” Kim Me-
tlen said. The business expanded in
2015, with a new journey: a 26-mile,
round-trip tour from the conÀ uence
of the Minam and Wallowa rivers to
the town of Wallowa. Still on offer
is JBR’s original journey, a 13-mile
round trip from Joseph to Enterprise
and back.
“We’re running basically full pret-
ty much every day. That amounts to
Steve tool/Chieftain
Joseph Branch Railriders employees, from left, Haley Rygg and Kagan
Coehn, enjoy a Saturday morning on the job, making sure the railriders are
in working order.
60-70 passengers,” Metlen said. The
business is also contributing to the lo-
cal economy, hiring three employees
for the season.
In a show of Old West resource-
fulness and ingenuity, Metlen in-
dependently designed, and with the
help of Barreto Manufacturing in La
Grande, built the special rail units,
simply called railriders. JBR owns 18
of the vehicles.
Each tour is guided by employees.
“We’re there to make sure everyone
gets back safely and take care of any-
thing that happens along the way. It’s
like the military: We guide from the
rear,” Metlen said with a laugh. He
added that he follows in a motorized
railrider and can push a few, but not
all, tour participants back if need be.
The Joseph/Enterprise trip is a
two-hour journey while the Minam/
Wallowa trip leaves Minam at 9 a.m.,
arrives in Wallowa at noon, and re-
turns to Minam around 3 p.m.
JBR is open for business from 8
a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday through Mon-
day and will run through the summer,
shutting down operations on Oct. 1.
Metlen added that he and his wife are
contemplating holding a New Year’s
Day run.