Page 4C
LIFESTYLES
East Oregonian
Saturday, April 21, 2018
MALHEUR: County newspaper bucks a trend
Continued from 1C
when he took over the Cowboys,”
Caldwell recalled. “He said,
‘We’re going to turn this thing
around. We’re not going to be a
sleepy weekly. We’re going to be
a powerhouse.’”
Caldwell remembers feeling a
tad dubious, but willing to follow
the lead of his new boss. No
rookie, Caldwell has more than
20 years of experience as reporter,
editor and combat correspondent
who was published all over the
world. The 51-year-old had been
working as a successful freelancer
when he was invited to fill in after
the paper’s only reporter at the
time, John Braese, fell gravely
ill. When Braese returned months
later, Caldwell was offered a full-
time job. He embraced it as a way
to learn at the knee of a two-time
Pulitzer finalist.
“From the very beginning he
said to us, ‘We’re going to be the
best there ever was,’” Caldwell
said. “We needed to get on board.
So we did.”
Caldwell remembers turning
in stories “that would have flown
anywhere else” and getting them
handed back.
“The first three months were
the equivalent of basic training,”
he said. “I’ve learned more in a
year and a half under Les than I’ve
learned in my entire career.”
In early 2017, the news team
uncovered a story of a man who
had faked insanity to avoid
prison for kidnapping. After
release from the Oregon State
Hospital (despite reservations
by a state psychiatrist), Anthony
Montwheeler kidnapped and
stabbed his ex-wife to death in
his pickup. A Vale man died in a
collision during the police pursuit
of Montwheeler. In the course of
the Enterprise investigation, Zaitz
pressed the state psychiatric board
to provide 218 exhibits presented
at Montwheeler’s Psychiatric
Security Review Board evaluation
hearing. Oregon Attorney General
Ellen Rosenblum ordered the
release of records. But instead of
providing them, the board sued
the Enterprise, which responded
by crowdsourcing the $20,000
needed for defense and hiring an
attorney. The board relented after
Gov. Kate Brown argued “no one
requesting public records should
be at risk of being sued by a state
agency.”
Zaitz encapsulated several
months of investigation into the
story, “Deadly Decisions.” Inves-
tigative Reporters and Editors this
month awarded its FOI (freedom
of information) Award to the
Enterprise team of Zaitz, Braese
and Caldwell. The honor marked
the first time in the 20-year history
of the award that the national
news organization honored a
community newspaper.
As another perk of the paper’s
investigative success, Pro Publica
is financing a full-time reporter for
a year, so the team can ramp up
its investigations. The arrival of
Jayme Fraser bumps the number
of reporters to three.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
The Malheur Enterprise is a small weekly newspaper located in agricultural town of Vale west of Ontario.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Les Zaitz had planned on retiring from The Oregonian to his
ranch outside of John Day before he and his wife, Scotta Callister,
bought the weekly newspaper the Malheur Enterprise, in Vale.
The Malheur Enterprise newsroom, from left, Pat Caldwell, John
Braese, Jayme Fraser and Les Zaitz discuss the merits of a story
involving Facebook on Monday in Vale.
Braese, the only holdover from
the previous owner, marvels at the
metamorphosis of the Enterprise.
He remembers the days he shared
a tiny hallway-shaped space in a
former Idaho Power pay station
with three staff members.
“Basically four of us were
within 10 feet of each other.
You could reach out and touch
everybody,” Braese said. “There
were times I’d announce I have a
phone interview to do and please
everybody be quiet for the next 10
minutes.”
Braese did the best he could,
Zaitz said, covering sports,
attending meetings, rewriting
press releases and keeping in
contact with the Tacoma-based
former music critic that owned
the paper at the time. But it was a
and hoping it gets better down the
road.”
The Enterprise strategy seems
to be working. The newspaper is
nimble enough to pivot quickly
if readers respond negatively to
something.
“I wondered if we could be in
some small way an inspiration for
others to not give up,” Zaitz said.
“Yeah, newspapers are losing
resources, but good Lord, if I can
do it in Vale, then you can’t come
to me and complain you don’t
have enough resources in Pend-
leton, Bend, Cincinnati, Orlando.”
Overseeing it all is Zaitz, who
keeps his reporters cranking. The
first thing Caldwell does when he
gets up every morning is check his
email for messages from Zaitz,
some sent hours earlier.
losing battle.
These days, based out of a
bigger building, the reporters don’t
waste time covering meetings,
rather developing their sources
enough to know in advance what
may happen. They concentrate
on stories about issues, such as
a recent series on the foster care
system.
“It’s truly amazing in an era
where we see dailies cutting staff
and reports of massive layoffs
at this paper or that paper that
a weekly in such a small area
has taken such a new direction
in newspapers and is not only
remaining stable, but actually
expanding,” Braese said. “Truth-
fully, we’re the model that maybe
the Post and the Times might be
looking at, rather than laying off
“I don’t want to say he’s like
a mad scientist, but he’s got
these ideas coming all the time,”
Caldwell said. “He’ll be like, you
know that guy did this and I bet
it’s connected to this and we need
to call these people and those
people.”
Zaitz may retire — someday.
He admitted that if he won the
state lottery, he might use it to
buy more newspapers. His wife
doesn’t expect him full-time at the
ranch any time soon.
“It’s been a great ride for him,”
Callister said. “He loves a chal-
lenge and he’s having so much
fun. He’s not good at retirement.”
———
Contact Kathy Aney at kaney@
eastoregonian.com or 541-966-
0810.
Wine and waterfalls in the Columbia River Gorge
By SALLY CARPENTER HALE
Associated Press
HOOD RIVER — The Columbia
River Gorge is a marvel of nature
known for spectacular waterfalls,
scenery and hiking. But it’s also
famous in the world of wine.
The region’s geology has
given rise to a wine industry that’s
growing in both number and repu-
tation, with more than 40 wineries
within a 40-mile stretch. In 2004,
the Columbia Gorge was designated
an American Viticultural Area, a
wine grape region distinguished by
geographic features.
Here’s a look at the gorge, the
wine region and wineries, along
with what visitors need to know
about the wildfire that made head-
lines last year.
The Gorge, the falls
and the fire
The gorge is an 80-mile-long
canyon with dozens of waterfalls
spilling down towering cliffs. The
most famous is Multnomah Falls,
620 feet high.
The Columbia River cuts
through the gorge on its way to
the Pacific Ocean, forming the
boundary between Oregon and
Washington through the Cascade
Range mountains north of Mount
Hood and past heavily forested
hillsides and huge boulders.
Interstate 84 on the Oregon
side of the river and Highway 14
on the Washington side offer easy
access to trailheads, viewpoints and
rugged parks. The windy gorge is
also a favorite spot for wind- and
kite-surfers.
A wildfire burned more than
20,000 acres of the gorge last fall.
But little evidence of it can be
seen from the road, aside from a
very few scorched trees cut down
just east of Multnomah Falls.
The lower viewing platform at
the falls has reopened, though the
trail to the upper platform remains
closed. Elsewhere, Horsetail and
Wahkeena Falls are also closed
and not expected to reopen until
at least this summer, but others
like Latourell Falls are open. An
updated list of the status of hiking
trails and recreational areas can be
found here: https://www.fs.usda.
gov/recmain/crgnsa/recreation.
The wine region
Many of the wineries are clus-
tered around Hood River, an hour
east of Portland. Wine tasting in the
region is a relaxing contrast to the
Willamette Valley south of Port-
land, where traffic and crowded
tasting rooms can detract from the
experience. Tasting fees are compa-
rable, $10-$15 per person.
Wine tasting was our mission one
day while in Portland for a reunion
show by my husband Rick’s rock
band. We rented a party bus and
its tiny main street, including the
Everybody’s Brewing pub, with an
outside deck and a view of Mount
Hood across the river in Oregon.
The wineries
AP Photo/Sally Carpenter Hale
Oregon’s Columbia River Gorge is known for spectacular waterfalls
but it’s also famous for wine, with more than 40 wineries in 40
miles, including Cathedral Ridge Winery (above). The Columbia
Gorge is a designated American Viticultural Area, a wine grape
region distinguished by geographic features.
filled it with 16 people — college
buddies from around the country
and local friends and family.
With a soundtrack of classic
garage rock, we headed across the
Columbia and east on Highway
14, past Wind Mountain, Dog
Mountain — known for its spring
wildflowers — and Beacon Rock
State Park. We saw the Bonneville
Dam, which generates enough
electricity to power half a million
homes. We passed the Bridge of
the Gods, a steel truss cantilever
bridge that leads to Cascade Locks,
Oregon.
Nearby Stevenson, Washington,
is home to Skamania Lodge, a
resort that features 254 guest rooms,
two restaurants, a golf course, an
outdoor zipline and aerial park,
and onsite hiking trails. Stevenson
also offers many restaurants and
watering holes, such as the Walking
Man Brewery, to those just passing
through.
Deeper into the gorge, we
passed through White Salmon,
Washington, a popular spot for
whitewater rafting and kayaking
on the White Salmon River. Whim-
sical street art and restaurants line
At COR Cellars, in Lyle, Wash-
ington, we were treated to a lovely
view of Mount Hood. The winery,
founded in 2003 by Luke Bradford,
produces 10 wines just west of the
boundary between the Columbia
Gorge and Columbia Valley AVAs,
and uses grapes from both regions.
COR has won acclaim for its
cabernet franc, malbec, cabernet
franc rose and Alba white, a blend
of gewurztraminer and pinot gris.
We especially liked the 2015 cab
franc. Picnicking is welcome in the
courtyard garden.
Next, we headed back west and
crossed the Columbia to Hood River
for lunch. The town has a huge beer
scene — Full Sail, pFriem and
Double Mountain among the brew-
eries — but that tour would have
to wait for another day. We settled
in at Solstice Wood Fire Cafe and
sampled some unusual and deli-
cious pizzas, including a cherry and
chorizo pie and one made with local
cremini mushrooms.
Of Hood River’s 15 wineries,
we chose two: Viento Wines and
Cathedral Ridge Winery. Viento’s
winemaker, Rich Cushman, is a
Hood River native who founded the
winery in 2007.