LOCAL
A2 — THE OBSERVER
TuESday, July 12, 2022
Wallowa
County
may get
federal
land
TODAY
In 1543, England’s King Henry
VIII married his sixth and last wife,
Catherine Parr.
In 1812, United States forces
led by Gen. William Hull entered
Canada during the War of 1812
against Britain. (However, Hull
retreated shortly thereafter to
Detroit.)
In 1862, during the Civil War,
President Abraham Lincoln signed
a bill authorizing the Army Medal
of Honor.
In 1908, comedian Milton Berle
was born Mendel Berlinger in New
York City.
In 1909, the House of Repre-
sentatives joined the Senate in
passing the 16th Amendment to
the U.S. Constitution, allowing for a
federal income tax, and submitted
it to the states. (It was declared rat-
ified in February 1913.)
In 1965, the Beach Boys single
“California Girls” was released by
Capitol Records.
In 1967, rioting erupted in
Newark, New Jersey, over the
police beating of a Black taxi
driver; 26 people were killed in the
five days of violence that followed.
In 1974, President Richard
Nixon signed a measure creating
the Congressional Budget Office.
Former White House aide John
Ehrlichman and three others were
convicted of conspiring to violate
the civil rights of Daniel Ellsberg’s
former psychiatrist.
In 1984, Democratic presiden-
tial candidate Walter F. Mondale
announced his choice of U.S. Rep.
Geraldine A. Ferraro of New York
to be his running-mate; Ferraro
was the first woman to run for vice
president on a major-party ticket.
In 1991, a Japanese professor
(Hitoshi Igarashi) who had trans-
lated Salman Rushdie’s “The
Satanic Verses” was found stabbed
to death, nine days after the nov-
el’s Italian translator was attacked
in Milan.
In 1994, President Bill Clinton,
visiting Germany, went to the
eastern sector of Berlin, the first
U.S. president to do so since Harry
Truman.
In 2003, the USS Ronald Reagan,
the first carrier named for a living
president, was commissioned in
Norfolk, Virginia.
In 2016, with hugs and hand-
shakes, Bernie Sanders endorsed
Hillary Clinton for president during
an appearance in Portsmouth,
New Hampshire.
Today’s birthdays: Singer-mu-
sician Christine McVie is 79. Actor
Denise Nicholas is 78. Fitness guru
Richard Simmons is 74. Singer
Walter Egan is 74. Writer-producer
Brian Grazer is 71. Actor Cheryl
Ladd is 71. Gospel singer Ricky
McKinnie is 70. Country singer
Julie Miller is 66. Gospel singer
Sandi Patty is 66. Actor Mel Harris
is 66. Actor Buddy Foster is 65.
Rock guitarist Dan Murphy (Soul
Asylum) is 60. Actor Judi Evans is
58. Rock singer Robin Wilson (Gin
Blossoms) is 57. Actor Lisa Nicole
Carson is 53. Olympic gold medal
figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi
is 51. Actor Anna Friel is 46. R&B
singer Tracie Spencer is 46. Actor
Alison Wright is 46. Sen. Kyrsten
Sinema, D-Ariz., is 46. Actor Steve
Howey is 45. Actor Topher Grace
is 44. Actor Michelle Rodriguez is
44. Actor Kristen Connolly is 42.
Country singer-musician Kim-
berly Perry (The Band Perry) is 39.
Actor Natalie Martinez is 38. Actor
Bernard David Jones is 37. Actor
Ta’Rhonda Jones is 34. Golfer Inbee
Park is 34. Actor Melissa O’Neil
is 34. Actor Rachel Brosnahan is
32. Olympic gold medal gymnast
Jordyn Wieber is 27. Nobel Peace
laureate Malala Yousafzai is 25.
CORRECTIONS
The Observer works hard to be
accurate and sincerely regrets
any errors. If you notice a
mistake in the paper, please call
541-963-3161.
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By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
Wallowa County Chieftain, File
A building at the Maxville townsite in northern Wallowa County is observed by teachers and students in 2015. The building has been
dismantled and will be reconstructed in the spring of 2023, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the former logging town. The
Maxville Heritage Interpretive Center in Joseph was awarded a $10,000 grant in July 2022 to help get the Maxville site on the National
Register of Historic Places.
Maxville, history center win parks grants
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
WALLOWA COUNTY
— Two sites in Wallowa
County are soon to be the
recipients of grants from
the Oregon Parks and
Recreation Department,
it was announced Friday,
July 1.
The Maxville Heri-
tage Interpretive Center
in Joseph requested and
received a $10,000 grant,
with $10,000 matching in
in-kind support and funds
raised to get the Maxville
site east of Wallowa on the
National Register of His-
toric Places. The money
will help cover the cost of
the nomination process.
Gwendolyn Trice,
executive director of the
center, said Wednesday,
July 6, that the grant
should arrive any day.
It will pay for the writer
of the nomination to the
national register, she said.
The center has finally
purchased the 240-acre
site that includes Max-
ville. Trice said the center
closed on the site June 10.
Maxville, which
existed as a company log-
ging town from 1923-33,
Wallowa County Chieftain, File
The Wallowa History Center — housed in the old ranger’s office
at the historical Bear-Sleds Ranger Station in Wallowa — in July
2022 was awarded a $20,000 Oregon Department of Parks and
Recreation grant to help restore the building.
was at one time the largest
town in Wallowa County,
according to the Max-
ville website. It was home
to Black loggers at a time
when Oregon’s constitu-
tion included a provision
excluding Blacks from the
state. Maxville had a pop-
ulation of about 400 res-
idents, 40 to 60 of them
Black, the website says.
Trice’s father, grand-
father, uncles and cousins
came from Arkansas
to work as loggers in
Maxville.
She said the main lodge
has been dismantled and
will be rebuilt at the site
in the spring, which will
be the 100th anniversary
of the establishment of
Maxville.
“We’ve been working
on it and now it’s a
reality,” she said.
Trice said archaeolog-
ical students from around
the region have been
working on the site before
any reconstruction work
is done.
“We’re making sure
were doing the due dili-
gence before we rebuild,”
she said. “We want to
honor all the (archaeolog-
ical) processes before we
turn any soil.”
In addition to the resi-
dents of the logging town,
archaeology connected to
the Nez Perce and Con-
federated Tribes of the
Umatilla, which were
the original inhabitants
of the area, also is being
considered.
The Wallowa History
Center in Wallowa also
requested and received a
$20,000 grant to repair the
exterior of the old rang-
er’s office at the histor-
ical Bear-Sleds Ranger
Station in Wallowa. The
office now hosts the his-
tory center. The center
also will have $22,250 in
matching funds.
No one was available
at the center to discuss the
grant.
The two were among
14 applicants from across
the state that combined
requested $215,466,
received $200,000 and
had $366,830 in matching
funds.
For more about the
grant program, visit www.
oregonheritage.org or
contact Kuri Gill at kuri.
gill@oprd.oregon.gov or
503-986-0685.
Summer coronavirus surge in Union County
Commissioners say no restrictions are
planned after county lands on CDC high
community spread list in early July
By ISABELLA CROWLEY
and DICK MASON
The Observer
LA GRANDE —
Union County remains in
the highest tier of commu-
nity spread for COVID-19
after the Centers for Dis-
ease Control and Preven-
tion’s weekly update on
Thursday, July 7.
Seven Oregon coun-
ties dropped to low levels
of community spread,
according to data released
July 7. A week ago, the
agency showed no Oregon
counties at low level, 12 at
medium and 24 at high.
The CDC monitors
levels of COVID-19 to
help communities decide
what prevention steps to
take based on the latest
data. Levels can be low,
medium or high and are
determined by looking at
hospital beds being used,
hospital admissions and
the total number of new
COVID-19 cases reported
in an area.
During the month
of June a total of 147
coronavirus cases were
reported in Union County
to the Oregon Health
Authority. This month,
24 cases have been
reported as of July 6.
For any county in the
high tier, the CDC rec-
ommends wearing a mask
while indoors in public,
staying up to date with
COVID-19 vaccines
and getting tested if you
have symptoms. Addi-
tional precautions may be
needed for people at high
risk for severe illness.
However, Donna Bev-
erage, chair of the Union
County Board of Com-
missioners, said the board
does not plan to reimpose
restrictions for COVID-19.
Beverage does
encourage people to exer-
cise caution and to use
the free COVID-19 test
kits that are available
throughout Union County,
including at Grande
Ronde Hospital and the
Center for Human Devel-
opment in La Grande.
Union County Com-
missioner Paul Anderes
said the rise in COVID-19
numbers in Union
County is something he is
watching closely.
“They are concerning
but not alarming,” he said
of the reported cases.
During the La Grande
City Council meeting on
July 6, Councilor Gary
Lillard asked Union
County Commissioner
Matt Scarfo if the county
had any plans regarding
the recent surge in
COVID-19 cases.
Scarfo said that when
coronavirus numbers
started to spike, he con-
sulted with CHD and the
hospitals to ensure there
are adequate resources in
the county.
“Yes, our cases are up,
but we have 52 ICU beds
available in our region.
So, I’m really looking at
the hospitals right now,
and how we can help
this, but the spread is
there,” Scarfo said. “I’ve
seen it a lot worse, but
everyone, like I’ve said
from the very beginning,
if you have symptoms
stay home. I think that’s
the best thing I can say to
anybody right now.”
IN BRIEF
Six La Grande businesses
apply for URA funding
LA GRANDE — The Urban
Renewal Agency and Urban
Renewal Advisory Commission
will meet for a joint special ses-
sion to allocate project funding on
Wednesday, July 13.
Six project proposals were sub-
mitted for consideration, according
to Timothy Bishop, La Grande’s
economic development director.
Proposals were submitted by the
Bohnenkamp Building, Country
Financial, Evermine Label Com-
pany, Front Office Solutions,
Smokehouse Restaurant and The
Local Kitchen.
“I’m super excited about the
quantity and quality of projects
applying for funds,” Bishop said.
“Last year, only two applied for
funding and one pulled out due to
rising costs.”
The adopted budget for the pro-
gram allocates $350,000 for projects
not located within the La Grande
Business and Technology Park and,
across the six proposals, a total of
$399,453 was requested.
Each project will be assessed
by staff on a scoresheet. Points are
awarded for a variety of different
categories, including return on
investment, private investment to
public dollars and business viability.
Once the proposals are evaluated
and ranked, the available funding
will be allocated to projects starting
with the highest ranked proposal
and working down the list. Proj-
ects will receive the full amount of
funding requested until the program
budget is exhausted.
The special session will be open
to the public at La Grande City Hall,
1000 Adams Ave., with the meeting
set to begin at 6 p.m. July 13. The
meeting will also be streamed on
the La Grande Alive website at
(www.eoalive.tv/city-events) and
the Eastern OregonAlive.TV Face-
book page (www.facebook.com/
EOAliveTV).
— The Observer
ENTERPRISE — The Wal-
lowa County Board of Commis-
sioners heard a brief presenta-
tion from Wayne Monger of the
federal Bureau of Land Man-
agement in Vale who discussed
possibly divesting the BLM
of its minimal holdings in the
county.
Monger, who is relatively
new to the position, said at the
Wednesday, July 6, meeting he
wished to become known to the
board. He said he will be imple-
menting a quarterly report from
his district.
He emphasized that fire
season has started, mentioning
a 4,000-acre blaze that burned
north of Vale.
“Just be aware, it is coming,”
he said of the fire season.
Monger said
his district covers
about 5.1 mil-
lion acres, and
Commissioner
Todd Nash said
the BLM holds
less than 30,000
Nash
acres in Wallowa
County.
However, sev-
eral parcels are
in key places
and Commission
Chair Susan Rob-
erts told Monger
Roberts
that if the BLM
wishes to divest
itself of some of
its holdings in the
county, the county
or private land-
owners might
be interested in
Hillock
purchasing it or
accepting a donation of the land.
“We’ll have to look at parcels
we’d consider for disposal, so if
you have any suggestions, by all
means,” Monger said.
“We do,” Roberts said.
“There aren’t very many acres
in Wallowa County and they’re
located in spots that are more
conducive to private ownership,
if we can get that — or county
ownership — so if you need to
dispose of parcels, the county
would like to offer.”
Roberts and Monger agreed
they would keep in touch over
possible transfer of ownership.
Nash said his main concern
is along the Minam River down
to Troy.
“The use of it has ramped
up considerably,” he said, “that
being a wild and scenic river
and everything reverts back
to BLM, but there really isn’t
a presence of BLM here in the
county. I’m like Commissioner
Roberts in that either you need
to have a presence and help us
through some of the concerns
that arise or wash your hands
of it.”
Roberts said the county has
a permanent easement with
BLM for Wildcat Road that the
agency has land along.
Commissioner John Hillock
agreed, saying county access is
crucial.
“The last time there was a
flash flood, we couldn’t get in to
do work on the road,” he said.
Roberts said the easement
that has since been arranged is
the solution to that access.
The commissioners also:
• Approved a resolution to
declare certain property surplus
and sell it at a minimum cost.
“It also prohibits us from
selling dangerous things, haz-
ardous things and prevents us
from purchasing them ourselves
or getting our best friend to buy
it and then give it to us,” Roberts
lsaid with a laugh.
• Initiated the process to
obtain a $20,000 grant from
the Wildhorse Foundation for
a therapy K9 for Community
Correction.
• Hired Gavin Collier as a
juvenile tracker — sort of a
modern-day truant officer —
with the county’s Department
of Youth Services; accepted
the resignation of Brooke Lan-
german as a 911 dispatcher
because she took another posi-
tion; and acknowledged the
retirement of William Moore as
a custodian.