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About Wallowa County chieftain. (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Or.) 1943-current | View Entire Issue (March 4, 2015)
¡¡££¡££¦¡¤§¡£¡Ŋ¡¦န - page A5 www.wallowa.com Enterprise, Oregon March 4, 2015 $1 For Joe Whittle, life is ONE BIG PICTURE By Steve Tool Wallowa County Chieftain M any Wallowa County people know resident Joe Whittle. The question is, what do they know him for? Whittle wears a lot of hats, including photographer, U.S. Forest Service ranger, adventure/wilderness guide, contributor to outdoor mag- azines ... the list goes on. Whittle’s life appears enviable, and when asked about this, he laughed. “I try to make it look good for social media. You’ve got to get around a little bit.” Kidding aside, it doesn’t take long to realize Whittle loves what he does, and his life may be nearly as idyllic as it appears. A Wallowa County native, Whittle graduat- ed from Enterprise High School and worked in Chico, Calif., before attending Blue Moun- tain Community College in Pendleton and subsequently attending Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, Calif. He graduated in 2000 with a bachelor’s de- gree in advertising photography. During these years, Whittle’s then- wife gave birth to a daughter, Mia, who Whittle calls “the greatest gift of my life.” A quick look at Whittle’s website (www. MRHZKLWWOHSKRWRJUDSK\FRP FRQ¿UPV KH learned his Brooks lessons well with photos ranging from the pastoral to big city nights. “I dabble in a lot of different types of pho- tography. I majored in advertising because the plan was to make a good living,” Whittle said. An unexpected divorce immediately after graduation led Whittle to Seattle to start pur- suing advertising photography, but after six months he returned to Wallowa County to be Joe Whittle takes a near his daughter again. break from hiking “The big aspirations for a glorious career in in the Wallowas. WKH DGYHUWLVLQJ SKRWRJUDSK\ ¿HOG WXUQHG LQWR bartending, working on the tramway and about Courtesy photo every odd job you can think of in Wallowa County,” Whittle said with a laugh. He added that the odd jobs paid the bills as he built his photography career from the ground up. “ See WHITTLE, Page A7 I really wanted to be an artist like my dad, but I could never get the images in my head on paper, so I decided to try photography C HIEFTAIN WA L L O WA C O U N T Y Wallowa County’s Newspaper Since 1884 Volume 132 Issue No. 46 © 2015 EO Media Group Rocky Wilson/Chieftain Wallowa County Commissioner Susan Roberts with two miles of turbo-fladry on rolls. At best, Roberts says, fladry can slow interaction between wolves and livestock. Payment for indirect wolf losses may not be made By Rocky Wilson Wallowa County Chieftain Wallowa County Commis- sioner Susan Roberts says she expects “two really irate (live- stock) producers” will speak WKHLUPLQGVZKHQWKH\¿QGRXW how little federal and state mon- ey is being made available to reimburse cattle and sheep rais- ers in Wallowa, Baker, Union and Umatilla counties for losses attributed to wolves in the past year. While a total of $3,920 is coming for four wolf depreda- tions in Wallowa County that ZHUH FRQ¿UPHG E\ WKH 2UHJRQ Department of Fish and Wildlife 2'): SD\PHQWV IRU PRVW indirect losses apparently won’t EHPDGHXQOHVVWKH2UHJRQ'H SDUWPHQWRI$JULFXOWXUH2'$ intercedes. Since March 2014 in Wallowa County, indirect losses that should be reimbursable total DQGWKH¿JXUHIRU%DN er County is even higher. Although much more federal and state money, a maximum of $106,000, is available for pro- active investments in non-lethal deterrence measures, livestock million to cover the streets, but producers who put their animals we’ve got bond costs, etc. etc,” RXWWRSDVWXUHDQGUHFRUGVLJQL¿ Sands said. cantly fewer returns at season’s He added that now the com- end — a phenomenon associat- pany handling the bond has ed with growing wolf numbers expanded the proposed levy — aren’t guaranteed any reim- intake to $1.265 million to cov- bursement money. er those costs and suggested a Roberts sent her annual wolf levy total of $1.3 million for a depredation reports for Wallowa cushion even if the city didn’t &RXQW\ WR WKH 2'$ ODVW ZHHN issue a bond for the entire DQG H[SHFWV D ¿QDO GHWHUPLQD amount. tion about how that agency will See BOND, Page A7 disperse funds in mid-April. Roberts, who declined to name the two producers she believes are being hit hardest by the lack of funding to reimburse indirect wolf kills, was nonetheless ani- mated in describing the predica- ment they face. She estimated maybe nine or in snow. more livestock producers in the Sheriff Steve Rogers said county have stock in wolf-pa- Fox suffered from several trolled territory and have main- medical conditions including tained excellent livestock re- a chronic lung disease. The cords over at least the past 10 VKHULII¶V RI¿FH EHOLHYHV WKH years, qualifying them to seek death occurred from natural indirect wolf-loss payments. causes. Fox was taken to Boll- See DOLLARS, Page A7 man’s Funeral Home. Joseph council revises street repairs bond By Steve Tool Wallowa County Chieftain The Joseph City Council held an emergency meeting on Feb. 24 to revise several portions of the street repair bond levy set for the May bal- lot. Along with Mayor Dennis Sands and city recorder Don- na Warnock, council members George Ballard, Pearl Sturm and Sharon Newell attended the meeting. Katie Schwab, of Wedbush Securities, attended by conference call. Mayor Sands opened the meeting explaining to Schwab and the council that the word- ing of the bond proposal need- HG ¿QDO UHYLVLRQ LQ RUGHU WR IXO¿OO WKH SXEOLF QRWLFH WLPH requirement. Among needed changes is a slight increase to the proposal’s $1.2 million outlay. “I originally said $1.2 Man dies walking away from vehicle stuck in snow The Wallowa County Sher- LII¶V 2I¿FH UHFHLYHG D SXEOLF report of a deceased man on Upper Imnaha Valley Road near Forest Service Road 39, on the afternoon of Sunday, March 1. Sheriff’s Deputy Joe Reeves and Enterprise Police 'HSDUWPHQWRI¿FHU7-0LOOHU answered the call. The deceased man was LGHQWL¿HG DV :LOOLDP /HH Fox, 78, of North Powder. Upon investigation, the two RI¿FHUV GHWHUPLQHG )R[ KDG apparently walked some nine miles with a cane from where his pickup had become stuck Numbers continue to rise By Rocky Wilson Wallowa County Chieftain Counting wolves is far from an exact science, KHQFHWKH2UHJRQ'HSDUW ment of Fish and Wildlife 2'): SUHVHQWV ³PLQL PXPWRWDO´¿JXUHVPHDQ ing the count most recent- ly announced Feb. 24 for 2014 was for wolves “ver- L¿HG E\ GLUHFW HYLGHQFH´ and likely falls short of actual wolf numbers. Statewide, the annu- al “minimum count” has steadily risen from 14 in 2009 to 21, 29, 48, and 64 until, in numbers released last week for the year 2014, the “minimum total” KDGUHDFKHGZROYHV2I that total, nearly 50 most commonly roam the wilds of Wallowa County. The largest of the six known packs here, at least at the beginning of the year, was the Wena- ha Pack in northern Wal- lowa County that had 11 wolves. Wolves, some tracked because they’ve been equipped with radio col- lars, can travel long dis- tances in short periods of time. Wallowa Coun- ty Commissioner Susan Roberts said one collared wolf was in Baker Coun- ty one day, then traveled through Wallowa County and was in the state of Washington three days later. Shortly thereaf- ter, she said, and the same collared wolf had returned to the south- ern reaches of Wallowa County. See NUMBERS, Page A7