Wallowa County Chieftain
News
wallowa.com
February 11, 2015
A3
A Sky Trak
forklift holds up
a tree dislodged
by last week’s
wind storm at
The Country Inn
motel on West
North Street in
Enterprise.
Rich Rautenstrauch/
Chieftain
Rich Rautenstrauch/Chieftain
Highway 82 & Lake Street, Joseph.
Wind storm downs lines, topples trees
By Rob Ruth
Wallowa County Chieftain
A strong wind storm
that whipped into the valley
Thursday night grew espe-
FLDOO\ ¿HUFH GXULQJ )ULGD\¶V
early morning hours, knock-
LQJ RXW QHDUO\ HYHU\RQH¶V
electricity, toppling scores of
trees, and otherwise dealing
damage to many roofs.
From early Friday morn-
ing until late that night, Wal-
lowa County Sheriff Steve
Rogers and two deputies
spent much of their day keep-
LQJWKHSXEOLFIURPLGHQWL¿HG
hazards and checking out
new reports of wind-related
incidents — “from downed
power lines to downed trees
all day,” Rogers said. “Try-
ing to make sure people were
OK.”
Although trees were felled
and roofs were damaged
throughout the county, the
highest concentration of inci-
dents occurred in and around
Joseph, where a power pole,
transformer and line went
down at the E. Pine/N. Lake
intersection; Joseph Char-
ter School suffered broken
windows, damaged football
bleachers and possibly other
damage as well; and the ro-
deo grounds sustained a more
serious blow still.
“The rodeo grounds were
GDPDJHG SUHWW\ VLJQL¿FDQW-
ly,” Rogers said. He said the
damage affected approxi-
mately 100 feet of fence on
the back of the grandstands
RQWKHDUHQD¶VQRUWKVLGHDQG
the Hospitality Room, where
wind “took all the doors out”
of that metal structure.
According to the locally
maintained
josephoregon-
weather.com website, the
maximum recorded wind
speed in Joseph on Feb. 6 was
62.1 mph at 6:01 a.m., and the
maximum gust, at 4:59 a.m.,
reached 86.3 mph.
As evidence that winds
were strong everywhere,
though, Rogers cites the dam-
age to roadside signage. “All
WKH KLJKZD\ VLJQV ZHUH ÀDW-
tened up Highway 82,” he
said. “Some snapped off.”
3DFL¿F 3RZHU VSRNHVPDQ
Tom Gauntt roughly estimat-
ed the outage affected 4,000
to 5,000 service meters when
it was most widespread,
sometime between 2 and 3
a.m. At that time, he said, the
This vehicle
on Mill
Street in
Joseph took
a direct hit
when a tree
fell during
Friday’s wind
storm.
Rich Rautenstrauch/Chieftain
Rich Rautenstrauch/Chieftain
The metal fence backing one set of grandstands at the Chief
Joseph Days Rodeo Grounds was a casualty of Friday’s wind,
and the nearby Hospitality Room (not pictured) lost all its doors.
outage encompassed “pretty
much every place in the coun-
ty, except for Imnaha,” which
receives its electrical feed
from Idaho Power facilities.
3DFL¿F 3RZHU UHSRUWHG
electricity restored to all its
local customers around noon
on Friday.
On the school athlet-
ics front, the wind storm
scrubbed a junior high school
wrestling tournament that had
been scheduled for Friday in
Joseph, and caused Joseph
and Wallowa high schools to
reschedule their Friday night
basketball matchup in Joseph
to Tuesday, Feb. 10.
Business has of course
been brisk for local tree
services during the days of
cleanup following the storm.
Jack Walker, who operates
-RVHSK ¿UP ([HFXWLYH 7UHH
Care with brother Brian
Walker, said Monday that
FDOOVWRWKH¿UPWRGHDOZLWK
Chocolates,
Romantic Reads,
Jewelry,
Mushy Cards
everything your
Valentine will love
available at
T HE B OOKLOFT
Thank You
I would like to thank
my many friends and
relatives in the county
for all of the phone
calls, cards and flowers
while I have been
recovering from my
third heart surgery.
Thanks so much,
Bonnie Sasser
& Family
Portland, Oregon
NEW LOCATION!
121 West Main Street
Enterprise, OR 97828
541-426-3177 www.wheatlandins.com
Across from the courthouse in Enterprise
107 E. Main • 541.426.3351
downed trees had already
totaled an estimated 30 to
40, and more were coming
in. Jack Walker said it all
amounted to “an early jump
VWDUW´ WR WKH FRPSDQ\¶V QRU-
mal operating season.
He noted that most of the
trees that had fallen had pre-
viously been topped, which
can weaken a tree over time.
“The ones that have been
topped actually have rot in
them,” he said.
Marty Hamilton, owner of
Tree Care North, also based
in Joseph, agreed that topped
trees fared poorly in the wind
storm, and added a couple of
other observations concern-
ing trees that went down Fri-
day.
“One hundred percent
of them are headed to the
north,” Hamilton said, which
meant that any susceptible
tree that was growing imme-
diately south of a structure
or parked car would have
fallen on top of that build-
LQJ RU YHKLFOH ³1LQHW\¿YH
percent of our tree failures
were evergreens,” Hamilton
DGGHG ³DQG ,¶G VD\ DW OHDVW
90 percent of all of them were
spruce trees.” He noted that
VSUXFHV SLQHV DQG ¿UV DUH
“shallow-rooted.”
Hamilton said Tree Care
always open at www.bookloftoregon.com • bookloft@eoni.com
Home | Auto | Ranch | Boats | Motorcycles | RVs
Individual Health Insurance | Life Insurance | Workers Comp
Why brave the elements when
you can pickup your prescription
and over the counter needs
from the comfort of your car ?
Need ibuprofen for your
sick child? Stay in the car and
we will get you what you need!
Hours: 9 AM - 6 PM • Mon
- Fri • 541-426-7455
Give us a call today!
541-426-7455
306 W. North Street, Enterprise
cleanup for use as dryscape
mulch. “We like to see them
recycle them back in their en-
vironments,” Hamilton said.
$QG FKLSV DUHQ¶W WKH
VWRUP¶V RQO\ XVHIXO E\SURG-
XFW³7KHUH¶VJRLQJWREHDORW
RI¿UHZRRGRXWWKHUH´+DP-
ilton said.
FREE PET DENTAL HEALTH SEMINAR
Wednesday, Feb 18, 2015 7 pm – 8 pm
WCHS Information Center 104 N. River Street, Enterprise
Presented by Dr. Jereld Rice, DVM
February is National Pet Dental Health Month!
FREE REFRESHMENTS! FREE ADMISSION!
WCHS is a registered IRS 501 (C) 3 corporation.
www.wallowacountyhumanesociety.org
Don't have enough garbage
to go on service, but
need a place to dump it?
Dump your garbage at our office
418 SE Alamo St, Enterprise during office hours! Pay for the first
(541) 426-3492
nine and the tenth one is FREE!
One punch per can or bag.
Any questions please call our office.
EE
FR
Thank You!
RiverQuest Kids' Horse Camps, Gail Murphey, and Rose
Caslar extend a heartfelt THANK YOU to all of our
friends and donors who made our arena remodel project a
great success. We couldn't have done it without the hard
work of our friends and the support of: Noble Panels,
Northwest Fence Co., JayZee Lumber, and
Eric Carlson Designer Craftsman. We deeply
appreciate your quality products and skilled expertise.
You've made a real difference in the usefulness and
safety of the RiverQuest facility! We're looking forward
to a great year of teaching and riding.
Catch the Bus!
Compassionate | Convenient | Confidential
Try our convenient
drive-through window.
North had been handling
about a dozen calls a day
connected to the wind storm.
³:H¶YHEHHQIRFXVLQJRQWDN-
ing the trees off of houses,
IHQFHV DQG RXW RI SHRSOH¶V
GULYHZD\V´7KH¿UPHQFRXU-
ages people to keep the wood
chips produced during the
Ask about our new
rideshare program or
check it out on the web at
www.drivelessconnect.com
Transportation Services
Wallowa County Public Transportation
(541) 426-3840 • www.NEOTransit.org
• Intercity Transportation to La Grande Monday and Thursday Weekly ~
Cost $5.00 each way. Free access for veterans medical appointments in La
Grande.
• Mealsite Bus ~ providing transportation to Senior Center for lunch
Cost $1.00 round trip.
• Tuesday and Thursday Shopping Bus
provides transportation for shopping and errands
throughout Wallowa County ~ Cost $3.00 from Wallowa/Joseph, $2.00
Enterprise only.
C OMMUNITY C ONNECTION OF W ALLOWA C OUNTY