COFFEE BREAK
Saturday, July 28, 2018
East Oregonian
Page 5C
OUT OF THE VAULT
Descendants fulfill Chief Joseph request
Youthful misunderstand-
ing and misplaced pride
caused a lifetime of regret
for a man who had the
chance to make the final
years of Chief Joseph’s life
happier. His descendants
rectified the error after his
death in an attempt to bring
together two cultures histor-
ically at odds.
It began in 1877, when
Chief Joseph and his band
of Nez Perce had led the
U.S. Army a merry chase to
within 30 miles of the U.S./
Canada border, where the
tribe was attempting to find
sanctuary from a govern-
ment determined to seques-
ter the Nez Perce to a res-
ervation in Oklahoma, far
from their ancient home-
land in the Wallowa Valley
in northeast Oregon. The
battered tribal band finally
surrendered with Chief
Joseph’s vow to “fight no
more forever.”
An aide de camp to
the general who finally
stopped Chief Joseph’s
flight, Charles Erskine Scott
Wood, kept a diary through-
out the running battle, and
came to respect the Nez
Perce chief. Wood’s efforts
helped bring Chief Joseph
and other Nez Perce tribal
members back to the Pacific
Northwest, though not to
their original lands. The two
men struck up a friendship
and, in 1889, Wood asked if
his son Erskine could spend
a summer on the reserva-
tion near Nespelem, Wash.
Erskine was taken in to
Joseph’s own teepee, and
given the Indian name Yel-
Young Chief Joseph
low Porcupine.
In 1893, at the age of 14,
Erskine Wood returned to
the reservation for a second
summer. His father, want-
ing to thank the chief for his
generosity, directed Erskine
to ask the chief if there was
anything he could do to
repay him. When Joseph
said he wanted a stallion,
Erskine was stunned.
“I looked on Joseph as
such a great man,” Erskine
wrote in his diary. “... I
revered him so that I though
his request for a stallion was
too puny — was beneath
him. I thought he ought to
ask if my father could do
anything to repair the great
wrongs done him, perhaps
get him back a portion of his
Wallowa Valley or some-
thing like that. ...”
The request went unan-
swered, and the next year
Erskine went off to school,
and the stallion was forgot-
ten. Then Chief Joseph died,
and Erskine was consumed
by guilt. “A fine stallion
which would have upbred
Joseph’s herd of ponies
would have been a wonder-
ful thing for him,” he wrote.
“But just because I exalted
him so high, I deprived him
of it. ...”
When Ken Burns’ 1996
documentary “The West”
ended with Wood’s story of
a promise unfulfilled, the
Wood family was galva-
nized into action. Erskine
Wood Jr.’s daughter Mary
met with representatives
of the Nez Perce tribe, and
Keith Soy Red Thunder,
Chief Joseph’s great-great-
grandson, was selected to
receive the gift that had been
promised, but never given,
on behalf of his tribe.
The three-year-old Appa-
loosa stallion was purchased
from a Utah ranch after a
nationwide search, financed
by $22,000 in donations
from the Wood family and
their friends. On July 27,
1997, the Wood family and
Nez Perce tribal members
gathered at Wallowa Lake to
commemorate the gift.
Tribal member Lucinda
Pinkham, who lived near
the Lapwai Nez Perce res-
ervation in Idaho, said she
hoped the gift would bring
members from the three Nez
Perce reservations together
as one people. Bobbi Con-
ners, a Nez Perce living on
the Umatilla Indian Reserva-
tion near Pendleton, echoed
her statement. “We’ve had
enough that has caused us to
be divided,” Conners said.
Red Thunder told those
gathered that the horse sig-
nified more than just a
promise fulfilled, but a way
to unite “white man and red
man.”
“We need occasions like
this to bring our people
together,” he said.
ODDS & ENDS
DEAR ABBY
Teen’s tenuous relationship with dad gets uncomfortable
Dear Abby: My dad has
father. How do I get him to
never really been in the picture.
start acting less like a creep and
He just pops back in and out
more like a father? — Desper-
ately Needing Advice
whenever he wishes and leaves
Dear Desperately Need-
when things get too hard. He
ing: You may wish for a normal
has never had a job or a home
relationship with your father,
since he walked out on my
but from your description, it
mother when I was 7. Recently
Jeanne
never has been. Your father’s
he seems to have settled back
here in town where my siblings Phillips behavior is extremely inappro-
Advice
priate. You might be able to get
and I live, but for some reason,
him to stop “acting like a creep
he maintains contact only with
and more like a father” by telling him
me. I’m 18 and the oldest of three.
Since I have finally forgiven him for in plain English to cut it out. If he per-
all the pain he’s caused, I sometimes sists, avoid him, and do not feel guilty
accept when he invites me out to eat about it.
And if your siblings are female,
or watch a movie. He doesn’t own a
car, so I give him rides when he needs talk to them and warn them about
their father’s impulses — if they don’t
them.
My problem is, he gets very touchy- already know. Hasn’t it occurred to
feely. For example, when I’m driving, you that your father contacts only you
he’ll put his hand on my thigh. Or when because you are no longer a minor?
we’re out together, he’ll hold my hand
Dear Abby: My 43-year-old son
and say, “Pretend to be my girlfriend.” lives with my husband and me because
Of course, I immediately let go of his of medical issues. On weekends he
hand. Then he’ll “playfully” hug me stays over at his girlfriend’s house.
and force me to be close to him.
Occasionally, on weekends he’s not
I don’t know how to tell him he here, I’ll invite people over for dinner.
makes me feel uncomfortable. I have
He says that because he lives here,
recently stopped answering his phone he should be told when people are
calls, but I feel bad because I would coming to the house. I say because he
like a normal relationship with my is not here at the time, and my husband
and I own the house, it’s none of his
business. Who is right? — Lady Of
The House In Illinois
Dear Lady: Your son has a point.
I see no reason to withhold the infor-
mation from him. He is a full-fledged
member of the household. If his con-
cern is that your guests might go into
his room or go through his things, he
may want to lock his door when com-
pany is coming in his absence.
Dear Abby: For the past couple
of years, my husband and I have not
been happy with the service provided
by our dentist. We have been patients
of his for years and recently decided to
switch to someone else. What would
be the best way to approach this? We
are unsure how to diplomatically tell
him that we won’t be going back to
him. We both have upcoming appoint-
ments. — Dental Dilemma
Dear Dilemma: You do not have
to explain why you are leaving unless
you want to do the dentist the favor
of telling him why. All you need to
do is call the receptionist and say you
are canceling the appointments. Your
new dentist can contact the old one
and request your records. You do not
have to pick them up and deliver them
yourself.
DAYS GONE BY
100 Years Ago
From the East Oregonian
July 28-29, 1918
What might have been a serious wheat fire was discov-
ered Sunday evening and extinguished by a member of the
O.M.P. The fire evidently started from a spark from a pass-
ing O-W. R. & N. train about three miles east of Pendleton.
It was discovered by Private C.A. Crabtree, on fire patrol
duty, who undertook to whip it out with his blouse and after
several minutes of strenuous action in which he reports he
even rolled on the burning straw, succeeded in patting it out.
When extinguished the fire had burned over a space of 15 to
20 feet square.
50 Years Ago
From the East Oregonian
July 28-29, 1968
Advancement of Lt. Kenneth Chipman, son of Mr. and
Mrs. Clifford Chipman, to captaincy, Weapons Assembly
Department, U.S. Army, is announced from Oberammergau,
Germany, where Capt. Chipman is an instructor. He has been
in the service for 3 1/2 years. After graduating from officers
training school, Fort Sill, Okla., he spent 13 months in Korea
B I N G O $ 1,000 WILL GO!
d
r
a
v
e
l
u
Bo
www.bingoblvd.com
Mon & Thurs: 10:30 & 12:30
Fri.-Sun. 10:30, 12:30, 6:30, 9:30
SATURDAY EVENING
$
5.00 BUY-IN (6 ON - 5 UP)
DOUBLE PAY PACKS
12:30 & 6:30 SESSIONS
Pull-Tabs and Snackbar
Minimum 10 years old with
parent or guardian.
6222 W. John Day • Kennewick, WA 99336
509-783-2416 • 1-800-890-6485
“Caution: Participation in gambling activity
may result in pathological gambling behavior
causing emotional and fi nancial harm.”
For help, call 1-800-547-6133
and has been in Oberammergau since last October. His wife
(Cheryl Hanzen) is with him and had the honor of pinning
her husband’s bars for his promotion.
25 Years Ago
From the East Oregonian
July 28-29, 1993
Anita Booth and Gwen Fjeld are both friends and com-
petitors this weekend. Each Pendletonian aspires to become
Mrs. Oregon America. The pageant honoring married
women will open with judges’ interviews Friday. Preliminar-
ies will begin at 9:15 a.m. Saturday, then finals at 7:15 p.m.
in the G. Herbert Smith Auditorium at Willamette Univer-
sity, Salem. Booth, 40, and Fjeld, 31, agreed they are most
anxious about the interviews. Nine judges (as a panel and
individually) will test their knowledge of current events and
ask for opinions. Topics may range from warfare in Bosnia
to distributing condoms. Swimsuit and evening gown com-
petitions also count toward the title race, which involves 11
women this year.
Michigan village
elects cat —
ceremonially —
as mayor
OMENA, Mich. (AP)
— Politics in a small
northern Michigan village
have gone to the cats and
dogs and goats and even
chickens.
Omena’s newly elected
mayor is a feline named
Sweet Tart. Dogs Diablo
Shapiro and Punkin Ander-
son Harder are vice mayor
and second vice mayor.
An election commit-
tee named Harley the goat
press secretary while Penny
the chicken is special assis-
tant for fowl affairs.
The seats are ceremo-
nial. WPBN-TV reports
that the election is a fund-
raiser costing $1 per vote
and brought in more than
$7,000 to the Omena His-
torical Society.
Candidates have to
be animals and live in
Omena, which has about
300 human residents and
is north of Traverse City.
An inauguration and
parade were held Satur-
day. The newly elected
officers will serve three-
year terms.
D’oh! ‘Simpsons’
writer says show
not based in
Massachusetts
BOSTON (AP) — A
veteran writer for “The
Simpsons” says the show
isn’t based in Oregon or
541-567-0272
2150 N. First St., Hermiston
JULY 29 TH - AUG 3 RD
$1.00 OFF
•Watermelon Heaven Smoothie
•Just Carrot Juice
Massachusetts despite sev-
eral references to the states.
The Boston Globe
reports Mike Reiss recently
sat down for a segment on
MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”
to discuss the show and
his new book, “Spring-
field Confidential: Jokes,
Secrets, and Outright Lies
from a Lifetime Writing for
The Simpsons.”
Reiss says the Spring-
field where the show is set
is “nowhere.” He explains
the writers chose Spring-
field as a location because
there are more than 40 cit-
ies and towns that share the
name across the U.S.
Fans have highlighted
references to the Bay
State in the show, includ-
ing Mayor Quimby’s New
England accent and jokes
about Harvard. Reiss is
proud of the success of the
show, whose 30th season
will premiere this fall.
Serving Families
with Care and
Compassion
for 70 Years.
BURNS
MORTUARY
of Hermiston
&
Hermiston
Crematory
685 W. Hermiston Ave.
Hermiston, Oregon
(541) 567-6474
www.burnsmortuaryhermiston.com
CAROLLEEN
LOVELL
Certified Public
Accountant, LLC
50 %
OFF
Reg Retail Clearance Items
30 %
OFF
• Homes • Farms • Commercial • Build to Suit
For listings, visit
www.universalrealtyhermiston.com
Serving the world of Real Estate since 1964
541-567-8303 • 1-800-282-9075
universalrealty@eotnet.net
985 N. First St., Hermiston, OR 97838
Carolleen Lovell, CPA
• Kitchen Timers,
Strainers, Salt & Pepper
Sets & Cooking Utensils
(541) 567-1780
%
Fax: (541) 567-0523
OFF
www.CarolleenLovell.com
20
• Windchimes & Yard décor
• Melissa & Doug
Food & Drink Sets
• Capris & Jeggings
635 S.E. 4th St.
P.O. Box 747
Hermiston, OR 97838