LOCAL
A2 — THE OBSERVER
TODAY
On Oct. 7, 2001, the war
in Afghanistan started as
the United States and Britain
launched air attacks against
military targets and Osama
bin Laden’s training camps in
the wake of the September 11
attacks.
In 1765, the Stamp Act Con-
gress convened in New York
to draw up colonial grievances
against England.
In 1849, author Edgar Allan
Poe died in Baltimore at age 40.
In 1910, a major wildfire dev-
astated the northern Minne-
sota towns of Spooner and Bau-
dette, charring at least 300,000
acres; some 40 people are
believed to have died.
In 1949, the Republic of East
Germany was formed.
In 1954, Marian Anderson
became the first Black singer
hired by the Metropolitan
Opera Company in New York.
In 1985, Palestinian gunmen
hijacked the Italian cruise ship
Achille Lauro in the Mediterra-
nean. (The hijackers shot and
killed Leon Klinghoffer, a Jew-
ish-American tourist in a wheel-
chair, and pushed him over-
board, before surrendering on
Oct. 9.)
In 1991, University of Okla-
homa law professor Anita Hill
publicly accused Supreme
Court nominee Clarence
Thomas of making sexually
inappropriate comments when
she worked for him; Thomas
denied Hill’s allegations.
In 1992, trade represen-
tatives of the United States,
Canada and Mexico initialed
the North American Free Trade
Agreement during a ceremony
in San Antonio, Texas, in the
presence of President George
H.W. Bush, Canadian Prime Min-
ister Brian Mulroney (muhl-
ROO’-nee) and Mexican Presi-
dent Carlos Salinas de Gortari.
In 1996, Fox News Channel
made its debut.
In 1998, Matthew Shepard, a
gay college student, was beaten
and left tied to a wooden fen-
cepost outside of Laramie, Wyo-
ming; he died five days later.
(Russell Henderson and Aaron
McKinney are serving life sen-
tences for Shepard’s murder.)
In 2003, California voters
recalled Gov. Gray Davis and
elected Arnold Schwarzenegger
their new governor.
In 2004, President George W.
Bush and Vice President Dick
Cheney conceded that Saddam
Hussein had no weapons of
mass destruction as they tried
to shift the Iraq war debate to a
new issue, arguing that Saddam
was abusing a U.N. oil-for-food
program.
Today’s Birthdays: Retired
South African Archbishop and
Nobel Peace laureate Desmond
Tutu is 90. Author Thomas Kene-
ally is 86. Comedian Joy Behar
is 79. Former National Secu-
rity Council aide Lt. Col. Oliver
North (ret.) is 78. Rock musician
Kevin Godley (10cc) is 76. Actor
Jill Larson is 74. Country singer
Kieran Kane is 72. Singer John
Mellencamp is 70. Rock musi-
cian Ricky Phillips is 70. Russian
President Vladimir Putin is 69.
Rock musician Tico Torres (Bon
Jovi) is 68. Actor Christopher
Norris is 66. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma is
66. Gospel singer Michael W.
Smith is 64. Olympic gold medal
ice dancer Jayne Torvill is 64.
Actor Dylan Baker is 63. Actor
Judy Landers is 63. Recording
executive and TV personality
Simon Cowell is 62. Rock musi-
cian Charlie Marinkovich (for-
merly with Iron Butterfly) is 62.
Actor Paula Newsome is 60.
Country singer Dale Watson is
59. R&B singer Toni Braxton is
54. Rock singer-musician Thom
Yorke (Radiohead) is 53. Rock
musician-dancer Leeroy Thorn-
hill is 52. Actor Nicole Ari Parker
is 51. Actor Allison Munn is 47.
Rock musician Damian Kulash
is 46. Singer Taylor Hicks is 45.
Actor Omar Miller is 43. Neo-
soul singer Nathaniel Rateliff
(Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night
Sweats) is 43. Actor Shawn
Ashmore is 42. Actor Jake
McLaughlin is 39. Electronic
musician Flying Lotus (AKA
Steve Ellison) is 38. MLB player
Evan Longoria is 36.
LOTTERY
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Lucky Lines
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4 p.m.: 5-7-7-3
7 p.m.: 8-4-6-3
10 p.m.: 4-9-8-5
THuRSday, OcTOBER 7, 2021
NORTHEASTERN OREGON WOLVES
NEWS BRIEFS
Two wolves can be killed after calf deaths
Union County tallies
12 new COVID-19
cases in latest report
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
UKIAH — Oregon
wildlife officials have
authorized killing up to
two wolves in the Ukiah
Valley south of Pendleton
where eight calves were
attacked in a three-day
span.
The first depredation
report came on Sept. 25,
when a ranch hand dis-
covered one dead and six
injured calves in a 200-
acre private pasture. All
were about six months
old and weighed between
450 and 550 pounds. Two
of the injured livestock
were later euthanized.
Another calf was also
found dead on Sept. 28 in
the same pasture. In each
case, the animals had
pre-mortem bite marks
suggesting they were
attacked by a predator.
Their injuries consisted
of tooth scrapes, punc-
tures and tears that were
consistent with wolves.
The Oregon Depart-
ment of Fish and Wildlife
issued a permit on Oct.
1 allowing the rancher to
kill up to two wolves on
a portion of the private
land, located in the Hep-
pner and Ukiah wildlife
management units.
The permit is
restricted to shooting
wolves from the ground,
and expires Oct. 31, when
the two wolves are killed
or when the cattle are
removed from the area —
whichever comes first.
While ODFW has
chalked up the depre-
dations to wolves, the
agency does not know
which pack caused the
injuries.
The Ukiah Pack,
which roams parts of
southern Umatilla and
Union counties, was not
in the area, according to
GPS collar data.
ODFW is now mon-
itoring the nearby Five-
mile Pack to see if it is
using territory farther
east than biologists origi-
nally thought.
In addition, the agency
says recent public reports
have indicated a new
Oregon department of Fish and Wildlife/Contributed Photo, File
Oregon wildlife officials have authorized killing up to two wolves in the Ukiah Valley south of
Pendleton where eight calves were attacked in a three-day span.
group of wolves within
10 miles southeast of
where the depredations
happened.
“ODFW has identi-
fied an initial area around
the presence of the dep-
redating wolves in the
Ukiah Valley area to
address associated risk
to livestock,” the agency
said in a statement.
“ODFW staff are moni-
toring the region to con-
firm resident activity
by new wolves as well
as confirm the current
movements of the Five-
mile Pack.”
Under the state’s Wolf
Conservation and Man-
agement Plan, wolves in
Eastern Oregon may be
subject to lethal control if
they have two confirmed
depredations in a nine-
month period.
The plan also stip-
ulates that ranchers
must be using appro-
priate non-lethal deter-
rents before lethal control
may be considered. Prior
to the first depredation,
ODFW says the rancher
had removed dead animal
carcasses from the land-
scape to avoid inadver-
tently luring wolves to
the pasture, and was con-
tinually monitoring the
health of the cow herd.
After the first depreda-
tion, the rancher has had
employees stay with the
cattle each night, adding
a human presence to fur-
ther prevent wolves from
returning.
Already this year,
ODFW has issued three
permits to kill wolves for
“chronic depredation” in
Eastern Oregon.
The agency shot
two wolf pups from
the Lookout Mountain
Pack in Baker County in
August, and then killed
three more wolves from
the pack — including the
alpha male — in Sep-
tember after livestock
depredations did not stop.
ODFW also approved
killing one wolf from the
OR-30 group after the
predators attacked two
calves and five sheep in
June and July near Mea-
cham. That permit even-
tually expired without
any wolves being shot.
Rodger Huffman, a
Union County rancher
and co-chairman of the
Oregon Cattlemen’s
Association wolf com-
mittee, said ranchers have
long been frustrated with
the state’s management
of wolves. He said the
number of depredations
confirmed by the agency
is lower than the actual
losses producers face.
“We have a wolf man-
agement and conserva-
tion plan, and conserva-
tion has clearly been the
first and highest priority,”
Huffman said. “We’re just
asking very respectfully
that at least management
be 50% of the equation in
this.”
Environmental groups,
on the other hand,
staunchly oppose killing
wolves and continue to
fight to overturn the fed-
eral government’s decision
to take wolves off the list
of endangered species.
On Sept. 15, the
Biden administration
announced it would
review the status of gray
wolves in the northern
Rocky Mountains, which
could potentially restore
endangered species pro-
tections in Idaho, Mon-
tana, Wyoming and the
eastern one-third of
Oregon and Washington.
Oregon’s minimum
known wolf population is
173 as of the most recent
count at the end of 2020.
Balloon Tree Pack kills 12 ewes near Elgin
The Observer
LA GRANDE — A wolf pack
in Union County north of Elgin has
killed 12 ewe sheep and injured two
guard dogs protecting sheep over
the past week or so, according to
the Oregon Department of Fish and
Wildlife.
The attacks are attributed to the
Balloon Tree Pack, according to
ODFW investigations.
That pack’s breeding pair pro-
duced pups for the first time in 2020,
with at least three surviving through
the end of that year.
Attacks on sheep come
at end of September
An employee of a sheep rancher
found three dead adult ewes on Sept.
29 on a private, timbered pasture,
according to ODFW.
Officials from ODFW and from
the federal USDA Wildlife Service
agency arrived on Sept. 30 and found
four more dead ewes.
Wildlife Service employees then
found three more dead ewes on Oct.
1, and one dead and one injured ewe
on Oct. 4. Workers euthanized the
injured ewe that day.
All the sheep were in the same
pasture. Officials estimated the sheep
were attacked the night of Sept. 28.
ODFW employees examined
seven sheep carcasses on Sept. 30,
three on Oct. 1 and two on Oct. 4.
All had pre-mortem wounds, with
tissue trauma up to two inches deep
and tooth scrapes consistent with
wolf attacks on sheep, according to
ODFW reports.
Guard dogs attacked early
morning of Oct. 1
On the morning of Oct. 1, a sheep-
herder found two injured Kangal
guard dogs on an industrial timber-
land grazing allotment.
The herder told ODFW
employees that at about 2 a.m. on
Oct. 1 he heard an apparent fight
between his guard dog and an
unknown predator, with barking
and growling.
Biologists examined both guard
dogs.
One had a six-inch-long area of
matted blood on its throat and the
left side of its neck that was drip-
ping blood. The dog was agitated and
could not be held for further exam-
ination, according to an ODFW
report.
Mayor opening will remain unfilled for now
North Powder City
Council to leave
position open until
at least November
By DICK MASON
The Observer
NORTH POWDER
— The North Powder
City Council will not
decide how it will select
a new mayor at least until
November.
The city council
decided unanimously on
Monday, Oct. 4, to wait
until at least its November
meeting to decide which
approach it will take
regarding the selec-
tion of a new mayor. The
council is seeking a suc-
cessor to Mike Wisdom,
who resigned as mayor
on Monday, Sept. 13,
after serving the position
for more than two years.
Wisdom said he stepped
down because he did not
believe he was on the
same page as members of
the council on the direc-
tion the city should be
taking.
North Powder City
Recorder Beth Wendt
said the council has two
options in finding a suc-
cessor for Wisdom —
elect a council member to
serve as mayor or invite
North Powder residents
to apply for the position.
Should the latter option be
pursued, the city council
would appoint an appli-
cant to serve as mayor
after interviewing all
candidates.
The city asked com-
munity members inter-
ested in serving as mayor
to send a letter indicating
this, in its monthly news-
letter that went out last
week.
The city also asked
residents to respond if
they are interested in
serving on the council if
a vacancy is created by
promoting a councilor to
mayor. To date nobody
from outside the council
has expressed an interest
in serving as mayor or in
filling a possible council
vacancy, Wendt said.
The city recorder
said the city will try
throughout October to stir
up interest in the mayoral
vacancy and the possible
council opening. To be
eligible to serve as mayor
or as a city councilor,
one has to be a registered
voter and to have lived in
North Powder for at least
a year.
Michael Morse, North
Powder’s mayor pro tem,
is now taking on added
responsibilities as the
city’s acting mayor. Morse
is the city council’s pres-
ident and has served as a
city councilor for at least
a dozen years. He has
lived in North Powder for
20 years and is a retired
chef.
Morse said he is inter-
ested in becoming a can-
didate for mayor.
“I would try to keep
the city moving forward,”
he said.
Vicki Townsend, a
member of the North
Powder City Council, has
also expressed an interest
in serving as mayor,
Wendt said.
SALEM — The Oregon
Health Authority docu-
mented 12 new COVID-19
cases in Union County
and 22 new cases in Wal-
lowa County in its report on
Wednesday, Oct. 6.
The new cases, com-
bined with yesterday’s 10
reported cases, bring Union
County to 3,022 since the
start of the pandemic. Wal-
lowa County currently
stands at 626 cases since the
beginning of COVID-19.
An OHA report from
the morning of Oct. 6 doc-
umented a 74-year-old man
from Union County who
died at Grande Ronde Hos-
pital on Oct. 4, following
a positive test on Sept. 19.
The death marked the 41st
in Union County since the
start of the pandemic.
The latest reports bring
Union County’s case total
to 67 in October, while
Wallowa County is at 44.
Across Oregon, 1,564
new confirmed and pre-
sumptive COVID-19 cases
were reported, in addi-
tion to 1,650 on the report
from Oct. 5. The new cases
bring the state’s total to
338,130 since the start of
the pandemic, while 33 new
reported COVID-19 deaths
on the Oct. 6 report bring
Oregon’s total death toll to
3,900.
The report shows that
there are currently 730
patients hospitalized with
COVID-19 in the state. Out
of 693 total adult ICU beds,
53 are currently available in
Oregon. Of the 4,240 adult
non-ICU beds in Oregon,
319 are currently open.
Whitetail buck
poached in rural
Wallowa County
WALLOWA COUNTY
— A 3x3 whitetail buck
deer was poached along
School Flat Road near
School Flat Lane within the
Sled Springs Wildlife Man-
agement Unit sometime
prior to 8 a.m. Sept. 25.
A local resident noti-
fied Oregon State Police
and wildlife troopers of the
poaching. The buck was
shot with a large-caliber
firearm on private prop-
erty, about 30 yards from
the road, and the entire deer
was left to waste.
Any person with infor-
mation related to this inci-
dent is encouraged to call
the OSP TIP (Turn In
Poachers) reward line at
1-800-452-7888, by cell
at *OSP (*677) or send
an email tip to TIP@osp.
oregon.gov. Reference case
No. SP21274921.
The Oregon Hunters
Association TIP reward
offers preference points or
cash rewards for informa-
tion leading to an arrest or
issuance of a citation for
the unlawful taking, pos-
session or waste of big-
horn sheep, Rocky Moun-
tain goat, moose, elk, deer,
antelope, bear, cougar,
wolf, upland birds, water-
fowl, furbearers, game fish
and shellfish. Cash rewards
can also be awarded for
turning in people who
destroy habitat, illegally
obtain licenses/tags, and
for the unlawful lending/
borrowing of big game
tags.
Nominations open
for chamber board
ENTERPRISE — Nom-
inations are open through
Oct. 31 for the election of
the 2022 Board of Directors
for the Wallowa County
Chamber of Commerce,
according to a press release.
To nominate someone
for the board, download the
form at https://tinyurl.com/
ChamberNoms. Completed
forms may be emailed to
info@wallowacounty.org,
mailed to the chamber at
P.O. Box 427, Enterprise
97828, or submitted at the
chamber office.
For questions about
the nomination process
or to express interest in
serving on the board, call at
541-426-4622.
— EO Media Group