FROM PAGE ONE
Tuesday, May 4, 2021
ELECTION
Continued from Page 1A
Position 4 also is up for
election, where incum-
bent Pam Glenn is running
uncontested.
Position 5
Beck and Bowles each
grew up in the Grande
Ronde Valley. Bowles is
a 1981 graduate of Union
High School, and Beck is
a 2005 Imbler High School
graduate.
Beck said he is running
because he wants to make
sure the district continues
to address the issues that
parents of Imbler students
are concerned about.
“I want to help our
voices to be heard,” he said.
Beck and his wife, Mary,
are the parents of two chil-
dren who attend Imbler
Elementary School. The
rancher said one of the
school district’s strengths
is its small size, which
results in students getting
more attention. He also is
impressed with the school
district’s faculty.
“We have a great group
of teachers,” said Beck,
who said the same was true
when he was an Imbler
student.
The candidate, who
has a bachelor’s of science
degree in rangeland ecology
and management, said he
wants the school district to
continue to have a strong
vocational program for stu-
dents not going to college.
Beck said he would like
to see the school district
bring in more people, such
as plumbers and welders,
to talk with students about
careers in their fields.
“Vocational skills are
incredibly important,” he
said.
Bowles said he was
inspired to run because he
believes the school district
should continue offering
a strong education pro-
gram that focuses on
fundamentals.
“I want to make sure the
students receive a funda-
mental education and not
one based on social, polit-
ical or social agendas,”
Bowles said.
He said that to receive a
fundamental education is
to be taught both sides of
history. Bowles said it is
important that students are
shown what leaders did cor-
rectly, as well as when they
made missteps.
“We learn from our mis-
takes as much as our suc-
cesses,” Bowles said.
The candidate said he
is impressed with Imbler’s
teachers and parents. He
credited both with caring
deeply about the students of
the Imbler School District.
Bowles has a bache-
lor’s of science degree in
construction management
from Brigham Young Uni-
versity and an associate’s
degree in general students
from BYU-Idaho, for-
merly named Ricks Col-
lege. Bowles and his wife,
Nanette, are the parents of
two children, one is a 10th
grader in the Imbler School
District and the other is an
eighth grader.
Ballots for the mail elec-
tion must be returned to
the Union County Clerk’s
Office by May 18. Ballots
can be mailed in or placed
in ballot drop boxes. Drop
boxes are outside at city
halls in Cove, Elgin, Imbler,
North Powder and Union.
La Grande has outdoor drop
boxes at Cook Memorial
Library and at the Union
County Clerk’s Office. A
third La Grande drop box
is indoors at the Union
County Clerk’s Office.
THe OBseRVeR — 5A
CHURCH
Continued from Page 1A
certainly going before us
and doing things for our
favor. … Most indigenous
groups are ‘the people’ and
we are the people.”
Speaking to the tribal
drummers, who added an
air of Nimiipuu authen-
ticity to the occasion,
Miles said in a motherly
way, “I was telling them
this morning to behave
yourselves. I watched
these boys grow up, so I
always tell them that when
they’re drumming. I am so
very proud of them.”
NPTEC Chairman
Shannon Wheeler, who
headed the tribal dele-
gation in accepting the
property, was particularly
moved by the experience.
“As we think about
this land and our people
moving from here, being
forced off of this land,
and the year of sorrow as
we left,” Wheeler said.
“As the story is told, the
last Nez Perce who left
looked back and thought,
‘We may never see this
land again.’ Think about
that; put yourself in that
place at that time. It’s who
we are as the Nez Perce
people and the tear that
came down their face that
day. We didn’t do any-
thing. All we wanted
to do was live. All we
wanted to do was live in
peace. … So for those
tears of sorrow at that
time — today, if you shed
a tear that’s OK because
they’re tears of joy now
because of the land that is
being gifted back to the
Nimiipuu. The people’s
tears of sorrow on that day
will be tears of joy. That
memory in our blood that
flows to each of us, their
sorrow is felt today. Our
tears of sorrow and joy
today will also be felt by
our ancestors in the past.
That’s what this means
to us today. … Our Nez
Perce people will think
back and look at this day
and remember the Meth-
odist Church and their
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
The former Wallowa united Methodist Church, built in 1910, was
handed over to the Nez Perce Tribe, the original inhabitants of the
land, Thursday, april 29, 2021, during a ceremony between church of-
ficials and the tribe.
kindness in recognizing
that the first people, the
Nimiipuu, and our rightful
position here in this land
here where we stand.”
He also said the Meth-
odist Church, the people
involved in the transac-
tion, will go in the history
books alongside others
who will be remembered
for their kindness.
The final pastor of the
church, Kaye Garver, also
was on hand. She said
when the church closed,
the congregation consisted
of but five people, down
from its peak of about 200
in the 1960s-70s.
“We didn’t have the
money to do the needed
repairs and pay the insur-
ance,” she said. “It was a
sad but necessary thing.
The younger people
wanted to move out of the
county. They wanted to go
to the city and everybody
else aged.”
Pastor since July 1,
1999, Garver recalled
coming to the church
somewhat hesitantly.
“When I came here to
interview for the job, I had
my doubts as to whether
or not this was going to
work,” she said. “I pulled
up outside and there was
an angel stained-glass
window and I said, ‘OK,
that’s my sign.’ I walked
in and there were three
people I knew from
church camps over on the
coast and I’m going, ‘OK,
that’s my second sign.’
So this is where God has
led me and the church
has been just fantastic
people.”
Garver recalled how
active the church had
been in the Wallowa
community.
“We’d do a lot of things
with the community.
We’d do … breakfasts on
Memorial Day Weekend
Sunday for the whole
community. We would
do other meals and din-
ners during the year for
the community,” she said.
“On Christmas Eve, ours
was the only Christmas
Eve service in town. We
brought in people from
all denominations for that
Christmas Eve service.”
But she thinks it’s fit-
ting the property goes to
the tribe.
“It’s a joy that,
although we had to leave
that building when it
closed, it’s now going to
the Nez Perce,” she said.
Laurie Day, director of
connectional ministries
for the Oregon-Idaho Con-
ference UMC, confirmed
the desire of the church
to cement its relation-
ship with the Nez Perce in
turning over ownership of
the property.
“The church has a
relationship with the
Nez Perce Tribe and we
checked with them to see
if they would like to have
the building and the prop-
erty because they were the
original inhabitants of this
land,” Day said. “Today
is the ceremony where we
are returning the property
to the Nez Perce.”
She said the cash value
of the property didn’t even
come into play.
“It was not part of our
conversation in returning
the property,” she said.
“It was out of friendship
and it was the right thing
to do. It was not about the
financial. It wasn’t part of
our decision, so it didn’t
factor into it.”
Wheeler, who headed
the tribal delegation in
accepting the property,
and Mitchell agreed there
are no certain plans for
how to use the property.
They said the NPTEC is
expected to meet to make
such plans.
“The building’s old,
so we’re not sure if we’re
going to keep it,” Mitchell
said of the 1910 struc-
ture. “The idea is every-
thing’s sky-high right
now, as far as prop-
erty goes. We do have
a powwow in July here
so we may use this as a
camping ground and let
the folks use the showers
and the bathrooms when
the powwow’s going on.
We usually have it at the
Tamkaliks (the Homeland
Project in Wallowa).”
Miles concluded the fes-
tivities on a solemn note.
“Now I offer a prayer,
in the name of your son,
Jesus Christ, for this gath-
ering that we are in as we
walk and you go before
us that you are leading
into a place of ‘peace that
passeth all understanding.’
As the world goes, we
know there is disunity, but
in this particular occasion,
we are against that and we
rebuke it,” she said. “We
thank you for what is hap-
pening with our brothers
and sisters. We are
grateful. We say all of this
in your son’s name, Jesus,
the Christ, amen.”
MUSEUM
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Wyatt Baum, attorney for the city of Joseph, second from left, talks with
Joseph city leaders Wednesday, april 21, 2021, following an emergency
meeting of the city council. From left are Councilor stephen Bartlow,
Baum, Mayor Belinda Buswell and administrative assistant Jamie Collier.
JOSEPH
Continued from Page 1A
my private life in ways that
I can no longer allow to
continue.”
After a suggestion that
council members be autho-
rized to fill in Braden’s
duties until a new adminis-
trator can be hired, Coun-
cilor Lisa Collier said April
16 she was opposed to the
idea.
“I actually feel that given
the nature of the letter it
sounds like there’s some
harassment from city council
members. I’m not sure that
I’m comfortable with giving
access,” she said.
Others agreed.
“I would concur with
Lisa and it seems like we
need more information,”
Councilor Tammy Jones
said. “There are very clear
roles for a board or a council
and an administrator. It
seems to me that’s where
we need to put some focus
and figure out where are
those boundaries to ensure
that if there are some things
that, as a council, we are
doing that impacts the city
(administrator) unable to do
their job, then that’s kind of
a bigger issue. I agree that
we need to get someone in
to help figure some of those
pieces out, and this is a
really big deal.”
At that time, the council
agreed to seek Baum’s
advice on a potential inves-
tigation over the harass-
ment allegation. But during
the emergency meeting the
council declined to make
public what Baum’s recom-
mendation was.
When asked directly
during the public comment
portion of the open session
whether there would be
an investigation, Buswell
said, “As the presiding
chair, I will say what I’ll
always say regarding what
goes on in executive ses-
sion, and that will be ‘No
comment.’ It’s just about
public meeting laws and
the protection of executive
session.”
Joseph resident Mike
Lockhart wasn’t satisfied
with that answer.
“I’ve had conversations
with several people about
what’s going on with the
investigation,” he said.
“What concerns me is that
you, as representatives of
the electorate, go out and
start soliciting people who
would be interested in the
job. I’d think this would
be a negative hanging over
you. I think it needs to be
gotten out. I’m hoping all
of these (accusations) are
dismissed. That’d be the
best thing in the world that
somebody’s making false
accusations. I think some-
body’s got to take the lead-
ership to put these to bed.”
Continued from Page 1A
two bunches of celery for
25 cents, and 2 pounds of
cranberries for 38 cents.
The Hanford F. Reed
Lumber Co. operated for
several decades until at
least 1953. It was near
where Elgin High School
is today, according to the
book “History of Elgin”
by Bernal Hug. Hanford
F. Reed operated the mill.
He learned about Elgin
in 1905 while attending
the Lewis and Clark
Centennial and Amer-
ican Pacific Exposition
in Portland with his wife
during their honeymoon.
The mill under Reed’s
management moved to
Elgin from Ladd Canyon,
according to Hug’s book.
Other new features
at the museum include
Oregon Trail paint-
ings, historical clothes
and glasses, a bar made
from barn wood and a
Elgin fire chief hat from
decades ago. The hat
complements an old bell
of the Elgin Fire Depart-
ment, which is outside
the entry to the museum.
New features at the site
include a saddle at least
90 years old inside Elgin’s
old jail, which the his-
torical society renovated
more than a year ago. The
jail was opened to the
public for the first time
last fall when the museum
briefly opened after being
closed because of the
COVID-19 pandemic.
The jail was origi-
nally on Seventh Street
Turning 65, paying too
much or want to
compare your options?
alex Wittwer/The Observer
Charlie Horn, a curator at the elgin Museum, sifts through a book of historical photographs in the museum’s
reading room saturday, May 1, 2021.
in Elgin, from 1895 to
1914. The small wooden
building was moved to
an Elgin farm some-
time after the Elgin
Opera House was built.
A jail was put inside the
opera house following
its construction in 1912,
making the older one
unnecessary.
The museum is begin-
ning its third year in its
new location at 180 N.
Eighth St., the former
site of the Elgin City
Hall, which moved to the
former W.C. Construc-
tion office building in late
2018.
The museum was pre-
viously on the second
floor of the Elgin Opera
House. It closed in about
2007 because of space
issues before reopening
in the spring of 2019
after the former city
An Independent
Insurance Agency
hall building became
available.
Steve Oliver, a member
of the Elgin Museum and
Historical Society Board,
said the new location is
better because of the addi-
tional space it provides,
allowing the museum to
have a greater number of
displays.
Oliver and Hopkins
said they credited much
of the success of the
move to the tireless work
of volunteers.
Those who stepped
up in a big way include
Charlie Horn and Dina
Allen, both members
of the museum board.
Horn and Allen, in
March, were honored as
Elgin’s man and woman
of the year by the Elgin
Chamber of Commerce.
The honor saluted the
work Horn and Allen did
in getting the museum
reopened.
Hopkins said among
the museum features
that have been growing
in popularity over the
three years are its reading
room, which includes a
growing number of local
history books and bound
volumes of Elgin’s old
city newspaper, the Elgin
Recorder.
The museum will be
open from 10 a.m. to
4 p.m. on May 9 to cel-
ebrate Mother’s Day.
Its regular hours will
be 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Thursday through Sat-
urday. No admission
will be charged May 9,
but donations will be
accepted.
Admission for the
remainder of the spring
and summer season will
be $2 per person.
Get Trusted, Friendly,
Expert, Medicare
Insurance Help
admin@kereed.net
Nicole Cathey
10106 N. ‘C’ • Island City
541-975-1364
Toll Free 1-866-282-1925 www.reedinsurance.net
Kevin Reed