A6
News
wallowa.com
2015
Continued from Page A1
“I welcome his
development enthusiastically.”
— Wallowa Lake Lodge
owner Marc Zwerling, in
response to the Lake Wallowa
Lodge LLC offer.
The Historic Wallowa
Lake Lodge was poised for
a change in ownership in
early July following the death
of co-owner Steve Larson.
Surviving owners Marc and
Nancy Zwerling listed the
property at auction with NW
Realty Marketing with a
minimum bid of $2,750,000
on the 8.46-acre, lakefront
property with a bidding
deadline of July 29.
James Monteith, director
of Wallowology — an
educational project of Eastern
Oregon Legacy Land Funds
— soon found a group of
local investors interested in
preserving the history and
ambiance of Wallowa Lodge
by keeping it in the family,
so to speak. The group is
dedicated to keeping the land
around the lodge open and
preserving the local wildlife
habitat.
Marc Zwerling was open
to the idea and agreed to
accept 10 percent down and
take the lodge off the market
until Jan. 31, 2016, giving the
new Lake Wallowa Lodge
LLC time to raise the $2.5
purchase price. The group
raised the down payment in
less than two weeks and the
drive for investors was on.
By early December the
group announced that the
LLC had secured $1.1 million
toward a $3.5 million goal that
includes reserve funds. Loan
and conservation easement
options bring the critical
investment amount needed
down to around $1 million.
The race to meet that Jan.
31 deadline is in the ¿nal
stretch, with the fate of a true
jewel of Wallowa County
hanging in the balance. Stay
tuned.
Just say ‘no’
“(At) the end of the day I
have to make a decision based
on what I think the majority
of the people in the county
would have us do. I think in
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December 30, 2015
The Chieftain
Volunteers help spruce up Enterprise Cemetery.
this instance it’s clear that
the majority of the people in
Wallowa County would want
us to opt out.” — Wallowa
County Commissioner Mike
Hayward
Measure 91, allowing the
recreational use of marijuana,
became law in Oregon on
Nov. 4, 2014, but did not go
into effect until July 1, 2015.
In June, Gov. Kate Brown
signed Measure 3400 into law,
allowing counties (or a city
located in a county) in which
at least 55 percent of voters
rejected Measure 91 to adopt
an ordinance prohibiting
licensing of retail or medical
dispensaries — and every
government entity that took
up the matter this year did just
that.
Rules and regulations
controlling licensing, policing,
and taxing of all aspects
of the marijuana business
remained up in the air until
the Oregon Liquor Licensing
Commission released
a 78-page preliminary
document in October.
According to Wallowa
County Commissioners,
even after that document was
released, legal counsel for
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the Association of Oregon
Counties advised counties that
the document is not complete.
Many counties eligible to
opt out began to exercise that
option, often citing confusion
over the rules and regulations.
Another concern was the
question of law enforcement
responsibilities, potential for
increased crime or accidents
on the road, and the potential
danger of easier access for
children.
Sixty-one percent of
Wallowa County voters said
‘no’ to legalization. After
much discussion every city
in the county chose to opt out
and on Dec. 16 the county
also chose to opt out.
So for now, it remains
perfectly legal to possess,
use and grow marijuana
in Wallowa County. But
don’t expect to be able to
legally purchase it anywhere
within county lines for the
foreseeable future.`
Help wanted
“A member of one of the
partner agencies in Wallowa
County described the (Police)
Department’s leadership as
‘lacking ethics, role modeling
and showing favoritism’ —
which really sums up the
¿ndings (of this review).” —
Oregon Association Chiefs of
Police Agency Review
In March, Enterprise
Police Chief Wes Kilgore
resigned after 13 years, citing
personal reasons.
Within a week city of¿cials
were laying the groundwork
for conducting a detailed
review of the department
and had contacted Oregon
Association Chiefs of Police
for assistance.
In the interim, Sgt.
Michelle Bloker, the highest-
ranking and longest-serving
of¿cer, began handling some
of the administrative tasks.
She left the force on medical
leave shortly thereafter and
then also resigned.
The department, when
fully staffed, has four full-
time of¿cers. Of¿cer George
Kohlhepp assumed leadership
of the half-staffed force, but
was not promoted.
By the end of May, a
review team of three regional
police chiefs — from
Pendleton, La Grande and
Baker City — had conducted
the review and issued a
report, but the city cancelled a
public meeting to discuss the
27-page report and held the
document without comment
until late June. It was released
after City Attorney Roland
Johnson redacted portions
relating to personnel issues
involving Kilgore.
The document slammed
the Enterprise Police
Department and outlined
multiple ways in which it
fell short of professionalism,
stating at one point:
“Unfortunately, the Enterprise
Police Department has a
protracted history of accepting
mediocrity.”
The city began an
immediate effort to bring the
department up to snuff and,
with the assistance of the three
chiefs who conducted the
review, narrowed their search
for a new chief to three top
contenders.
Those men visited the
county and were introduced
to the public Oct. 1. By
mid-October the city council
had made an offer to James
Episcopo, a police lieutenant
and 27-year law enforcement
veteran from Brook¿eld
Village, Ill.
Episcopo made
arrangements to return
to Wallowa County for
physical and psychological
tests necessary for hire but
abruptly cancelled those
plans when the police chief
of his Brook¿eld Village
force suddenly resigned and
Episcopo was asked to stay as
interim chief. Eventually, he
was named acting chief.
In the fall, the city hired
Jed Stone, a recently retired
Oregon State Trooper with
deep ties to the community, to
bring the number of of¿cers
policing the city up to three.
The City Council also voted
to move ahead with another
round of interviews for police
chief.
In December, the council
upgraded Stone to a full-time
of¿cer, and a new application
Wallowa County Chieftain
deadline for police chief
closed on Dec. 28. A review
of the applicants is expected
to begin in January — nearly
10 months from Kilgore’s
resignation.
Dead-end street
“I think this is a realistic
package that the majority of
people can get behind.” —
Joseph Mayor Dennis Sands
Following the narrow
defeat of a $2.55 million
street repair levy in late 2014,
Joseph leaders in February
forged ahead and hammered
out a resolution to place a
$1.2 million bond levy on
the May ballot. The council
held an emergency meeting
on Feb. 24 and revised the
¿nal tab to $1.3 million, with
a transportation utility fee of
$11 per month and a measure
to issue a general obligation
bond of $1.3 million payable
by the transportation utility
fee with property taxes levied
only in case of an anticipated
shortfall in fees.
“If we go ahead with this,
it’s gonna be a helluva sales
job to convince people it’s
basically $11 a month and
that the property tax is just
an insurance policy for the
bondholders,” Mayor Sands
said at the time. “Or we could
go through all of this and
come up short again. Or we
say it’s an unsolvable problem
and live with it.”
In April, calls for revisions
to the new measure grew.
The potential property tax,
added to make the deal more
appealing to bond holders,
didn’t sit well with many as it
seemed like a potential blank
check should costs soar. But
by April the time to revise the
measure had passed.
It was good news, bad
news in May, as the city
received a $50,000 state grant
toward repairs to Joseph
Street and 1st Street just
before voters soundly rejected
the latest bond measure.
In June, Mayor Sands
presented an offer from
Community Bank in Joseph:
a 20-year loan for the $1.3
million that the city would
repay by implementing a
$13-per-month transportation
utility tax attached to sewer
and water bills.
Although it is not actually
necessary to bring the bank
loan issue up for a public vote,
Sands is reluctant to proceed
without it.
“We could just sit back
and say ‘Fine, you’ve spoken,
See 2015, Page A7
CEMETERY
Continued from Page A1
ACROSS
DOWN
1. Elephant’s name
6. Support
10. Mures River city
14. Bastard wing
15. One was named Desire
17. PGA Tournament prize
19. A way to leave unchanged
20. Unchangeable computer memory
21. Harangues
22. 6th Hebrew letter
23. Well informed
24. Turfs
26. In a way, obeyed
29. Lawyers group
31. Increases motor speed
32. Political action committee
34. Light pokes
35. Struck down
37. Central Philippine Island
38. Japanese sash
39. Afresh
40. Bluish green
41. Inspire with love
43. Without (French)
45. Counterbalance container to obtain net
weight
46. Express pleasure
47. Cheap wine (Br.)
49. Signing
50. ___ compilation, compiling computer
language
53. Have surgery
57. Being trompe-l’oeil
58. Extremely mad
59. Day
60. Small coin (French)
61. Snatched
1. Cry
2. Wings
3. Baseball play
4. Flower petals
5. Drive against
6. Velikaya River city
7. A single unit in a collection
8. Stray
9. Bring back
10. Repented
11. Receipt (abbr.)
12. Expresses pleasure
13. Not wet
16. In a way, takes off
18. Macaws genus
22. “Fast Five” star’s initials
23. Sharpen a knife
24. Oral polio vaccine developer
25. Former CIA
27. Fencing swords
28. Aba ____ Honeymoon
29. Bustle
30. Minor
31. Propel a boat
33. Passage with access only at one end
35. Underwater airways
36. Small, slight
37. Box (abbr.)
39. __ Blake, actress
42. Repents
43. Merchandising
44. Exclamation of surprise
46. With fireplace residue
47. A small lake
48. Bait
49. Tip of Aleutian Islands
50. K____: watercraft (alt. sp.)
51. Norse variant of “often”
52. Adolescent
53. Visual metaphor (Computers)
54. River in Spanish
55. Cowboy Carson
56. Powerful gun lobby
Much of the $75,000
raised so far has come from
private donations. Corpo-
rate donors included 3aci¿c
Power & Light ($5,000) and
Northwest Farm Credit Ser-
vices Association ($2,000).
A grant application to Wild
Horse Foundation also is be-
ing prepared.
With nearly $75,000 in
the bank, the district is within
spitting distance of its initial
goal, but it’s possible a new
goal will be required.
“That ($85,000) looks
like it was a low estimation
and costs will most likely be
$130,000,” said Perry Davis,
chairman of the board for
Enterprise Cemetery Mainte-
nance District. “We are plan-
ning to put out a bid package
early next year. We may or
may not get back a bid we can
afford. If not, we’ll retrench
and continue fundraising.”
The district secured a
$2,000 donation from the
City of Enterprise at the Dec.
11 council meeting. That
money is earmarked for en-
gineering fees so the district
could move forward with the
bid package.
An irrigation systems spe-
cialist is assisting the district
in doing a zone design and
making a materials list. Engi-
neer Brett Moore of Anderson
Perry & Associates will draw
up the ¿nal plans and speci-
¿cations and create a bidding
document, which will then be
reviewed by City Attorney
Roland Johnson prior to be-
ing released for publication.
Donations can be made to
the Friends of the Enterprise
Cemetery through Sondra
Lozier, who can be contacted
at 541-426-3229.