LOCAL/REGION
2A — THE OBSERVER
Today in
History
Today is Saturday, april 24, the
114th day of 2021. There are 251
days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN
HISTORY:
On april 24, 1980, the united
States launched an unsuccessful
attempt to free american hostages
in iran, a mission that resulted in the
deaths of eight u.S. servicemen.
ON THIS DATE:
in 1877, federal troops were
ordered out of New Orleans, ending
the North’s post-Civil War rule in
the South.
in 1960, rioting erupted in Biloxi,
Miss., after Black protesters staging
a “wade-in” at a whites-only beach
were attacked by a crowd of hostile
whites.
in 1962, the Massachusetts
institute of Technology achieved
the first satellite relay of a television
signal, between Camp parks, Califor-
nia, and Westford, Massachusetts.
in 1967, Soviet cosmonaut
Vladimir Komarov was killed when
his Soyuz 1 spacecraft smashed into
the Earth after his parachutes failed
to deploy properly during re-entry;
he was the first human spaceflight
fatality.
in 1974, comedian Bud abbott,
78, died in Woodland Hills, Calif.
in 2005, pope Benedict XVi
formally began his stewardship of
the Roman Catholic Church; the
former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger
said in his installation homily that as
pontiff he would listen to the will of
God in governing.
in 2009, Mexico shut down
schools, museums, libraries and
state-run theaters across its
overcrowded capital in hopes of
containing a swine flu outbreak.
in 2013, in Bangladesh, an
eight-story commercial build-
ing housing garment factories
collapsed, killing more than 1,100
people.
Briefs
Crash kills one
in Wallowa County
WALLOWA
COUNTY — Oregon
State Police reported one
person died Wednesday,
April 21, in a crash in
Wallowa County.
Troopers and emer-
gency personnel at
3:59 p.m. responded to a
single-vehicle crash on
Highway 82 near mile-
post 48, according to
OSP. Preliminary inves-
tigation revealed Thomas
Stumpf, 74, of Netarts,
was driving a Ford
pickup eastbound when
it left the road and rolled.
Stumpf died at the scene.
The Wallowa County
Sheriff’s Office, Wal-
lowa County Department
of Emergency Services
and the Oregon Depart-
ment of Transportation
assisted at the scene.
LHS blood drive
nets 38 units
LA GRANDE —
Another chapter was
added to a lifesaving La
Grande High School tra-
dition Thursday, April 22.
An American Red
Cross blood drive was
conducted at La Grande
High School and col-
lected 38 units.
The total is consistent
with what the school has
drawn at blood drives
for at least the past nine
years, during which two
blood drives have been
conducted annually, said
LHS science teacher Pat
Des Jardin.
“The main focus of
the blood drive is to pro-
vide LHS students with
a chance to donate. The
hope is that they have a
good experience with us
so they will continue to
donate as long as they
can in the future because
the need for blood is con-
stant,” Des Jardin said.
LHS teachers and
staff make time to donate
during hectic work days,
Des Jardin said.
“This often means
that they are finishing
their donation, and then
rushing off to class to
teach or work with stu-
dents,” Des Jardin said.
The student leader
of the blood drive
was Lauran Rinker, a
member of La Grande
High’s National Honor
Society chapter, whose
members chair the blood
drive. Rinker led both of
LHS’s blood drives this
school year.
— The Observer
SaTuRday, apRil 24, 2021
CJD court earns long-awaited honors
By ELLEN MORRIS BISHOP
For the Wallowa County Chieftain
JOSEPH — After a year marked
by the cancellation of Chief Joseph
Days in 2020 due to COVID-
19, Chief Joseph Days officially
awarded a triple crown of equal
honors to its Honor Court for the
75th Anniversary Chief Joseph
Days.
The coronation took place Sat-
urday, April 17, in the CJD Thunder
Room.
Casidee Harrod, Brianna Micka
and Destiny Wecks will share the
role of queen and all other associ-
ated duties equally. The three made
up the 2020 court, but were never
officially crowned. Instead, they
agreed to serve as a co-equal honor
court, staying on as a court for the
2021 Chief Joseph Days.
They are looking forward to
reigning over the rodeo and other
festivities July 27 to Aug. 1 in
Joseph.
“It’s been really nice,” Harrod
said. “It’s been a lot more relaxed,
and a lot less stress. It’s fun.”
“We’re really happy to do this,”
Micka said. “It’s worked out really
well, and we’ve formed some really
deep friendships.”
“In normal years,” Wecks said,
“we’d have just finished the riding
competition. We’d be stressing
about, ‘Did I ride hard enough? Did
I speak well enough?’ But today,
we just got together and we were
laughing and listening to music.
It’s been fun. We have some great
memories.”
While COVID-19 has reduced
the number of rodeos across
Oregon and the nation for 2021, the
Ellen Morris Bishop/For the Wallowa County Chieftain
The members of the 75th anniversary Chief Joseph days Honor Court pose for a portrait fol-
lowing their coronation Saturday, april 17, 2021. From left are destiny Wecks, Brianna Micka
and Casidee Harrod.
At the
court will
“We’re really happy to do this. coronation
still repre-
sent Chief
It’s worked out really well, and ceremony,
Joseph
CJD
we’ve formed some really deep 2019
Days in
Queen
a number
Rylee
friendships.”
of events,
Wilcox
— Brianna Micka, member of the Chief Joseph
including
joked
Days Honor Court
upcoming
that she
rodeos in
had been
Asotin,
the lon-
gest reigning queen in CJD history.
Washington, April 23-25, and Rig-
gins, Idaho, May 1-2.
Because the 2020 CJD Rodeo was
“We’re going to try to go to as
canceled, and there was no 2020
many rodeos as possible,” Wecks
coronation, Wilcox’s official title as
said.
CJD queen technically remained
New Greenwood principal
awaits school board OK
Dawn Guentert to
succeed Ryan
Westenskow
By DICK MASON
The Observer
LA GRANDE — Green-
wood Elementary School’s
future is coming into
sharper focus.
La Grande School Dis-
trict Superintendent George
Mendoza announced
Thursday, April 22, that
Dawn Guentert, an educator
in the Umatilla School Dis-
trict, is Greenwood’s next
principal.
Guentert, the principal
of Clara Brownell Middle
School in Umatilla, will
succeed Ryan Westenskow
as principal at Green-
wood, pending school board
approval, on July 1. West-
enskow will step down at
the end of June to become
a school principal in the
North Santiam School
District.
Guentert is finishing
her third year as principal
at Clara Brownell Middle
School and her 14th year in
the Umatilla School Dis-
trict. She was an instruc-
tional coach for students in
kindergarten through 12th
grade for three years and a
high school science teacher
for eight years prior to
becoming Clara Bownell’s
principal.
The educator was a
middle and high school
level science teacher in the
Elgin School District prior
to joining the Umatilla
School District.
Guentert, a La Grande
resident the past 30 years,
has a bachelor of science
degree in biology and a
master’s degree in teaching
from Eastern Oregon
University.
Mendoza said Guentert
believes the key to student
achievement starts with cre-
ating a safe environment
that is built on strong rela-
tionships and support.
“She believes that stu-
dent achievement is a
byproduct of those con-
nections and she looks
forward to building those
strong relationships with
our students, staff, and
families. We look forward
to having her as part of our
school district,” Mendoza
said.
Westenskow, who has
been at Greenwood for six
years, will serve as the prin-
cipal of Sublimity School in
Marion County. Sublimity
School serves students in
kindergarten through eighth
grade.
Greenwood fifth-grade
teacher Missy Rinker cred-
ited Westenskow with doing
an outstanding job.
“He leads the school
with compassion and puts
the needs of kids first,”
Rinker said.
Megan Sherer, another
fifth-grade teacher at
Greenwood, also has words
of praise.
“He is the best principal
I have worked for,” said
Sherer, who has taught for
about half a dozen princi-
pals during her career.
Mendoza said West-
enskow has drawn on excel-
lent people and leadership
skills to do an outstanding
job of leading Greenwood.
intact until she bestowed three
equal crowns to Harrod, Micka and
Wecks on Saturday night.
“This is only the second honor
court in the history of Chief Joseph
Days,” CJD Board President Terry
Jones said. “All three wanted to
come back. They didn’t want to
have the competition, and they all
made sacrifices to be here, espe-
cially the seniors, Brianna and
Casidee. But next year we’ll go
back to a more normal process for
the court.”
Lost Prairie-area silversmith
Larry Bacon was named the grand
marshal of the Chief Joseph Days
celebration. Bacon grew up on the
family homestead at the far north
end of Wallowa County, attending
a one-room schoolhouse for ele-
mentary grades. He crafted his first
pair of spurs at age 13. Although
he also crafts bits, buckles and jew-
elry, he’s best known for making
the spurs awarded to the all-around
CJD champion for the past 30
years.
Jones recognized retiring board
members, including Jeff West,
Diane Witherrite, 25-year member
Doris Noland and 30-year member
Shelley Marshall, and welcomed
new board members Teah Jones,
Jessie Cunningham and Sara
Freels-Tippett.
“Back in this winter, the board
decided we had two choices,” Terry
Jones told the coronation gath-
ering. “We could either cancel this
rodeo for another year, or we could
go ahead and take our chances and
have Chief Joseph Days in 2021.
And that’s what we decided. We’re
full-steam ahead.”
Colorful greeter stands at
Baker Heritage Museum
Bessie the Bovine
welcomes all to
Baker City
By LISA BRITTON
For the Baker City Herald
BAKER CITY —
Friendship and a public
art project are the rea-
sons there’s a colorful
new bovine in front of the
Baker Heritage Museum.
Molly Wilson, who
serves on the Baker City
Public Arts Commis-
sion, is heading a project
to place cow sculptures
around Baker City.
Her friends Cammy
Warner and Diana Brown
knew about the project.
On a trip through Central
Oregon last year, the trio
discovered a large metal
cow at an antique shop in
Canyon City.
Wilson knew it was
perfect.
All it took was a return
trip with a horse trailer,
and some hefting, and
the blank canvas of a cow
came to Baker City.
And there it sat for sev-
eral months, until moving
to the garage of Warner,
who volunteered to put
the artistic touch on the
creature.
“I knew what I wanted
to do. I’d do a little here, a
little there,” she said.
Her husband Fred
helped too. He handled the
details while she focused
on the abstract art aspect.
She used spray paint to
decorate the hide in blocks
of color.
lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
Bessie the Bovine, a colorful piece of public art, took up residence in
mid-april 2021 in front of the Baker Heritage Museum at 2480 Grove
St., Baker City.
“He helped and we got
it done,” she said. “It was
fun.”
The arts commission
wanted the cow placed on
Campbell Street.
Warner serves on the
Baker County Museum
Commission, and the
Baker Heritage Museum
is at Campbell and Grove
streets, just east of Geis-
er-Pollman Park. She talked
to other commission mem-
bers to see if the museum
could host the cow.
The answer was yes.
“I think it catches peo-
ple’s eyes and might draw
them in,” Warner said.
Bessie the Bovine
was placed in front of the
museum in mid-April.
Wilson wants to grow
the herd around Baker
City, but the project
depends on more fund-
raising. She’s also looking
for a source of metal cow
sculptures.
Anyone who would like
to support the project can
take a donation to Baker
City Hall and specify it is
for the arts commission’s
cow project.
For more informa-
tion, contact Robin Nudd
at city hall or email her at
rnudd@bakercity.com.
Telephone pedestals go up in flames, interrupting phone service
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — Three
telephone service pedestals
in the rural Enterprise area
were burned in just seven
days by landowners burning
ditches along roadsides,
temporarily disrupting ser-
vice, said a spokesman with
Ziply Fiber, the company
that owns the pedestals.
“This is an uncommon
volume for such a short
window of time,” said Ryan
Luckin, vice president of
marketing and communica-
tions in an email Thursday,
April 15.
The most recent ped-
estal destroyed was at Hur-
ricane Creek Road and
Dorrance Lane between
Enterprise and Joseph. It
was replaced Monday, April
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Ziply Fiber worker Mark Ralph, left, watches as danny Stubblefield op-
erates a backhoe to dig out and replace a telephone service pedestal
Monday, april 19, 2021, that was burned april 14 by a landowner burning
his ditch at Hurricane Creek Road and dorrance lane south of Enterprise.
19, by a Zipley crew from
La Grande.
Luckin said telephone
customers were quickly
returned to service on
a temporary basis. He
did not know if cellular
towers were affected by the
damage and twas unsure if
cell service was disrupted.
He said it depends on
the extent of the damage,
but he estimated the cost to
replace the pedestal would
be between $1,800 and
$2,000. He said often the
responsible landowner is
billed for the damage, but
that’s evaluated on a case-
by-case basis.
“The most important
thing is to restore service
quickly and keep residents
connected to critical means
of communication,” Luckin
said.
The pedestal is one
that provides telephone
service to customers in
rather remote areas, he
said.
Paul Karvoski, emer-
gency services manager for
Wallowa County, is appre-
hensive over the coming
potential fire season.
“Get ready for summer,”
he told the Enterprise City
Council in his dual capacity
as city fire chief Monday,
April 12.
He also told the council
of numerous incidents of
intentional burns getting
out of control over the pre-
vious few days, including
five from noon to 5 p.m. the
previous Friday.
“Friday afternoon was
very stressful,” he told the
council.
On Thursday, Karvoski
said it appears landowners
need to be more careful
when conducting controlled
burns.
“They’re not doing
their due diligence to keep
it away from the tele-
phone box,” he said.