LOCAL/REGION
2A — THE OBSERVER
THuRSday, apRil 29, 2021
Today in Wallowa County fisherman pulls in a big one
History
By RONALD BOND
Today is Thursday, april 29, the
119th day of 2021. There are 246
days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN
HISTORY:
On april 29, 1992, a jury in Simi
Valley, California, acquitted four los
angeles police officers of almost
all state charges in the videotaped
beating of motorist Rodney King;
the verdicts were followed by
rioting in los angeles resulting in
55 deaths.
ON THIS DATE:
in 1913, Swedish-born engineer
Gideon Sundback of Hoboken, New
Jersey, received a u.S. patent for a
“separable fastener” — later known
as the zipper.
in 1967, aretha Franklin’s cover
of Otis Redding’s “Respect” was
released as a single by atlantic
Records.
in 1961, “aBC’s Wide World of
Sports” premiered, with Jim McKay
as host.
in 1983, Harold Washington was
sworn in as the first Black mayor of
Chicago.
in 1991, a cyclone began striking
the South asian country of Ban-
gladesh; it ended up killing more
than 138,000 people, according
to the u.S. National Oceanic and
atmospheric administration.
in 2000, Tens of thousands of
angry Cuban-americans marched
through Miami’s little Havana,
protesting the raid in which armed
federal agents yanked Elian Gonza-
lez, 6, from the home of relatives.
in 2008, democratic presidential
hopeful Barack Obama denounced
his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah
Wright, for what he termed “divisive
and destructive” remarks on race.
Searchers
find body of
missing man
in the river
The Observer
UNION COUNTY
— The Union County
Sheriff’s Office reported
it recovered the body
of a man missing since
Monday, April 26.
The sheriff’s office,
its search and rescue
unit and the Baker
County Sheriff’s Office
dive team on Tuesday
removed a vehicle sub-
merged in the Grande
Ronde River near Market
Lane northeast of Island
City.
The driver of the
vehicle was Cecle R.
Defries, 23, who was
dead in the vehicle.
According to the Union
County Sheriff’s Office,
Defries was reported
missing Monday.
Wallowa County Chieftain
WALLOWA LAKE —
A Wallowa County fish-
erman who holds the record
for the largest mackinaw
caught at Wallowa Lake
recently hooked another
whopper.
He also has had recent
success pulling in kokanee,
and said it appears this
will be a good season for
catching large kokanee at
the lake.
It’s been a good start
to the angling season for
Mark Moncrief, a hunting
and fishing guide who owns
Tri-State Outfitters south of
Enterprise.
In a matter of hours
during a fishing trip at the
lake in late March, Mon-
crief — who holds the lake
record for a 36-1/2-pound
mackinaw he reeled in
back in the 1980s, caught
a 35-1/2-pound mack-
inaw and, he said, hauled
in a 33-pounder a couple of
hours later.
“I do really well from
usually about the first
couple week or weeks in
March on,” he said. “We’ve
done good in February. It
depends on the year. On an
average by mid-March on
we’re starting to do good
and consistently catching.
I do really good on the
Mark Moncrief/Contributed Photo
Mark Moncrief holds up a 35-1/2-pound mackinaw he caught recently at Wallowa lake. Moncrief holds the re-
cord for the largest mackinaw caught at the lake, which was just a pound heavier than the one pulled in last
month.
UPDATE ON LOCAL FISHING
Chinook salmon numbers are not expected to be good this year, Kyle Bratcher,
assistant district fish biologist for the Oregon department of Fish and Wildlife,
said in a recent update.
in the report, Bratcher wrote that Hells Canyon opened to spring fishing april 24,
and that he looks for the fishing to improve around the middle of May.
Bratcher also reported that kokanee fishing on the Wallowa lake is turning in fish
that are averaging about 10 inches.
Steelhead fisheries close on Friday, april 30.
macks early like that. We
have a really large average
on our fish. Most macks,
people are catching 5 to 12
pounders. Our average here
is 15 to 18 (pounds).”
With the kokanee, Mon-
Volunteers hold spring cleaning to mark Earth Day
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE —
Spring cleaning took on a
special meaning Thursday
and Friday, April 22-23,
as about a dozen volun-
teers celebrated Earth Day
by holding a “litter patrol,”
cleaning up the Wallowa
County Recycling Center
and holding a recycled art
contest.
The Friends of Wallowa
County Recycling orga-
nized the effort, as nine
members of the Wallowa
County Rotary Club spent
a couple hours Thursday
picking up trash along
Highway 82 from Enter-
prise to Eggleson Corner,
filling 21 bags.
Friends member Randi
Jandt said there were a few
interesting finds among the
trash.
“Interesting finds this
year did not include any
Friends of Wallowa County Recycling/Contributed Photo
Volunteers bag trash Thursday, april 22, 2021, during a litter patrol south
of Enterprise. The volunteers picked up 21 bags of trash between Enter-
prise and Eggleson Corner in celebration of Earth day.
checks like last year,” Jandt
said, in reference to a $200
check found during a sim-
ilar effort in 2020. “But
they included a small, new
American flag (still in the
wrapper), an Easter card
from 1982, a large card-
board box (creepily labeled
“Research Mannikans”)
Volunteer fire departments seek new
recruits to protect communities
By PAT CALDWELL
Malheur Enterprise via AP StoryShare
MALHEUR COUNTY
— Small, secluded cities in
rural counties such as Mal-
heur depend on volunteer
firefighters more than urban
areas do, and local volun-
teers are often the first to
arrive on the scene of an
emergency. In some areas,
rural departments provide
the only immediate med-
ical care.
A 2020 National Fire
Protection Association
report showed that while
the number of volunteer
firefighters fluctuated since
the mid-1980s, overall there
is a downward trend in part-
time emergency fire enlist-
ments across the nation.
“We are always looking
for firefighters,” said Jess
Tolman, chief of Vale Fire
& Ambulance.
In Nyssa and Vale there
is no recruiting station to
bring in new volunteers.
Instead, the departments
depend on advertising,
social media posts and
word-of-mouth to get new
people into the ranks.
Often, men and women
will join a local volunteer
fire department because
family members are already
part of the organization.
Tolman said he joined
the Vale volunteer depart-
ment after a friend “talked
me into joining.”
“It has been a fun vol-
unteer job and I enjoy the
service it provides and the
brotherhood of the fire ser-
vice,” he said.
Tolman moved into the
full-time fire chief slot
crief said there has been a
cycle between smaller fish
sizes but higher numbers, or
larger numbers but smaller
fish.
“Last year, I saw the
cycle swing back to a bigger
fish,” he said. “This year,
this early in the year, I’m
catching fish in excess of
20 inches already. They’ll
grow an inch a month after
March.”
Most good-sized
kokanee, he said, are any-
thing in excess of 12 inches,
and he said 18 to 20 inches
is getting into trophy-sized
fish range.
Business has not slowed
down for Moncrief despite
the pandemic, especially
once restrictions were lifted
last year and he was able to
get back on the water.
“When they opened the
county back up I was just
flooded,” he said. “I think it
was the COVID. They were
just bugging out — a lot
of Washington (and) Idaho
people (were here).”
Moncrief isn’t sure if this
year will be as busy as 2020
was for him, but when the
large kokanee start showing
up at Wallowa Lake, more
people make their way to
the water to try to hook a
big one.
“I don’t know if it’ll be
as busy as last year, but the
word is getting out about
these big fish,” he said.
This spring, Moncrief
not only has had a solid run
of catching large fish, but he
and his clients are pulling
them in in large numbers.
“I had two clients out
(from) California. With
three of us fishing we
boated 62 kokanees,” he
said, though he noted he
personally releases almost
all his catches now.
Catching big kokanee,
by the way, is not just a
trait of his — it runs in his
family.
The second-biggest
kokanee pulled in in the
world was one he said his
daughter, Shelby, caught
at Wallowa Lake 10 years
ago — a 27-inch, 9-1/2-
pound whopper.
about a year ago when Todd
Hesse left to take a sim-
ilar position in Rockaway
Beach.
“The training you will
receive with emergency ser-
vices or fire, it will apply to
your personal life. You will
be able to provide safety
and protection to your
family against any kind of
fire situation or medical sit-
uation,” said Tolman.
The shortage is fire-
fighters is more acute as
calls for service increase.
“I foresee the bigger
Vale gets, the more calls we
will have,” Tolman noted.
Tolman said his volun-
teer firefighters are paid
Oregon minimum wage
when they respond to a fire,
and they are required by
law to train 60 hours a year.
Tolman said the ambu-
lance crews also are
volunteer.
He said once a person
joins the volunteer fire
ranks, they must attend
four trainings where they
learn “how to get hoses off
engines and get them used
to spray and water through
the hoses. All of our proce-
dures and SOP and stuff. ...
Once that happens we give
them gear, then we have
our actual online training
course they go through and
once they achieve that they
can go out on calls.”
Tolman said the vol-
unteer department meets
every other Tuesday for two
hours.
“So, four hours a month
we do training for fire,” he
said.
Tolman said the depart-
ment also sponsors spe-
cialized training on some
Saturdays.
For Nyssa Fire Depart-
ment Chief Eric Menchaca,
low numbers are troubling.
“It does concern me. The
more we can have on the
department the more our
chances of having a bigger
turnout increases,” he said.
Menchaca said he uses
social media such as Face-
book and Instagram to seek
new recruits.
“I also have a banner
I hang up at the school
fence,” said Menchaca.
Terry Leighton, Ontario
Fire and Rescue chief, said
his agency’s long-standing
junior firefighter program
made the hunt for volun-
teers easier.
“That has helped us a lot.
We are blessed and have not
had the trouble like some
other places have,” he said.
Youth 16 or older can
join the junior program,
said Leighton. Usually the
youth who volunteer are
already connected to the
fire department through
family members who cur-
rently serve.
He said his firefighter
roster includes 34 people.
Eight of those, he said, are
full time and 26 are part
time.
Leighton said the
drought in volunteers is a
“national thing.”
“We are so busy now-
adays. We have other pri-
orities and you don’t have
as much community com-
mitment. People also work
a long distance from their
homes now,” he said.
and pages of a quite torrid
letter — or someone’s draft
of their latest romance
novel.”
The recycling center
got to show off a recently
arrived mobile recycling
unit trailer, purchased
with a grant from the
Oregon Department of
Environmental Quality.
On the trailer were
entries in the recycled art
contest where throngs of
people could vote on the
winners, spin a wheel for
prizes and learn about
the county’s recycling
program.
The winners will be on
display soon at the Josephy
Center for Arts and Cul-
ture in Joseph. Everyone
who entered an art piece got
some kind of a prize, Jandt
said.
Local merchants and
individuals donated more
than $1,000 in prizes and
giveaways, she said.
Friends volunteers
cleaned out the recy-
cling centerbuilding, pres-
sure-washed the gummy
plastics room floor, picked
up escaped paper around
the grounds and perimeter,
mounted a new decora-
tive sign and accomplished
News Briefs
other chores, Jandt said.
Mike Harvey was on
hand with his Wallowa
Valley Cleaning Products.
All Harvey’s products have
refillable containers — a
throwback to when we all
used to refill stuff — with
the intention of reducing
plastic waste in the land-
fill. Harvey’s products are
available locally at the Wild
Carrot Herbals in Enter-
prise and Joseph Hardware
in Joseph.
Local merchants kicked
in great prizes and gift
certificates, reminding us
that the best way to reduce
packaging and transpora-
tion waste is to shop local,
Jandt said.
She said even the
weather cooperated for
the efforts at the recycling
center and the litter patrol.
“If only we could have
weather like that every
Earth Day,” she said.
Baker County
commissioner accused of
ethics violations
BAKER COUNTY
— An investigator for
the Oregon Government
Ethics Commission found
a “preponderance of evi-
dence” that Baker County
Commission Chairman
Bill Harvey tried to use his
position to benefit himself,
his son and his son’s busi-
ness and he failed to dis-
close conflicts of interest
last year.
In a report, investi-
gator Susan Myers recom-
mends the Ethics Commis-
sion make a preliminary
finding that Harvey com-
mitted eight violations of
state ethics laws.
The Ethics Commission
was scheduled to review
Myers’ report during its
meeting Friday, April 30,
but Harvey said he had
scheduling conflicts that
day. Myers said the matter
will be added to the Ethics
Commission’s June 11
meeting agenda.
Umatilla National
Forest firewood permits
available May 1
PENDLETON — Per-
sonal-use firewood cutting
permits from the Umatilla
National Forest go on sale
Saturday, May 1, through
Nov. 30. Permits are $5
per cord with a minimum
purchase of four cords and
yearly maximum of 12 per
household.
Local vendors will sell
firewood permits in four-
cord packets with a $2 fee
per packet.
Vendors include:
Ellen Morris Bishop/For the Wallowa County Chieftain
Search and rescue team members and trainees learn techniques for
carrying a Stokes litter and “rescuing” SaR volunteer Kim Braatz on
Sunday, april 25, 2021, at the Mount Emily Recreation area near la
Grande. The exercise was part of the field day training and required for
certification for the nearly 25 new members.
•Walla Walla Ranger
District, 1415 W. Rose St.,
Walla Walla, Washington,
509-522-6290.
•Pomeroy Ranger Dis-
trict, 71 W. Main St.,
Pomeroy, Washington,
509-843-1891.
•Supervisor’s Office,
72510 Coyote Road, Pend-
leton, 541-278-3716.
Permits also are avail-
able directly from the
Forest Service.
For more information
call 541-278-3716, email
r6_umatilla_public_inqui-
ries@fs.fed.us or visit
ubne.ws/firewoodinfo.
Northeast Oregon
counties boost search
and rescue ranks
LA GRANDE — The
search and rescue teams
from Union, Umatilla and
Wallowa counties gained
almost 25 newly certified
members this week fol-
lowing two weekends of
training and practice held
in La Grande and at the
Mount Emily Recreation
Area.
Wallowa County Sher-
iff’s Search and Rescue
gained 11 new team mem-
bers and the Union County
and Umatilla County Sher-
iffs collectively added
more than a dozen to their
certified teams. All SAR
members are volunteers.
The training included
instruction and practice
in basic survival, map
reading and navigating,
knot tying, communica-
tions, tracking and under-
standing the behavior
of people who were
lost. The field exercises
included demonstrations
of search techniques and
team coordination during
rescues.
Experienced volunteers
from Union, Umatilla and
Wallowa counties’ SAR
units provided instruc-
tion and coaching for the
training.
— EO Media Group