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About Wallowa County chieftain. (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Or.) 1943-current | View Entire Issue (March 4, 2015)
Wallowa County Chieftain News wallowa.com March 4, 2015 A7 WHITTLE: Not all assignments good BOND: Company ups proposed levy intake Continued from Page A1 Whittle credits his artist fa- ther for indirectly helping him pursue photography. “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, and once I did, it was all over.” Graduating Brooks on the WDLOHQGRIWKHPP¿OPHUD Whittle quickly adapted to GLJLWDO SKRWRJUDSK\ ¿QGLQJ that the instant access to pho- tos largely eliminated the stress of waiting to see the quality of a photo shoot. “Once I bought P\ ¿UVW '6/5 GLJLWDO VLQJOH OHQVUHÀH[FDPHUD,JUHZLQ- credibly rapidly as a photogra- pher,” Whittle said. 2QH RI :KLWWOH¶V GH¿QLQJ photography jaunts included a WULSWR6SDLQ³6SDLQZDVDQHZ door for me as far as travel, street photography, documen- tary and photojournalism. I hit the streets with my camera and just started shooting whatever caught my eye.” Because of his membership LQ WKH 'HODZDUH DQG &DGGR American Indian tribes, Whit- WOHDOVR¿QGVKLPVHOIGUDZQWR photography of Native Ameri- FDQWULEHVZKLFK¿JXUHSURPL- nently in his website. As much as he loves pho- tography, Whittle gets his share of unpleasant assign- ments. “The worst was this contract I took for a week and a half as a K-Mart photographer during the holiday season be- cause money was short. After the week and a half, I thought, ‘I’ll do anything but this.’ It re- ally saps your creative spirit,” Whittle said. His jobs come through lo- cal word-of-mouth and scan- ning craigslist and other sites as well as sending out queries to various publications. “Out- side,” “Backpacker,” “1859” and other publications publish his work regularly. He credits a former Oregonian outdoor and travel editor with honing his ZULWLQJ FKRSV DQG H[SDQGLQJ Continued from Page A1 Courtesy photo/Joe Whittle An example of Whittle’s photography of the local area. his potential market. When asked about his fa- vorite photo, Whittle laughed. “I can’t decide on a favorite DQ\WKLQJ LQ P\ OLIH H[FHSW the Wallowas are my favorite place to photograph. There’s a lot of the world I haven’t seen, but this is the most beautiful.” Whittle generally spends four months a year working as a backcountry ranger for the 86)6 GXULQJ VXPPHU LQ KLV beloved Wallowas and Hells Canyon. “It’s a great supple- ment job for what I love doing anyway, which is spending time back there,” Whittle said. As his daughter is now JURZQ DQG DWWHQGLQJ 6WDQIRUG University, Whittle looks to H[SDQGKLVKRUL]RQV³,¶GOLNH to get a staff gig with a nice publication doing photojour- nalism. It’s really my number one love as far as photography goes,” he said. The bond issuing company also suggested a small proper- W\WD[LQFUHDVHWRVHUYHDVUHY- enue backup in case too many of the city’s utility customers failed to pay their bills, includ- ing the fee for streets, leaving the city short of funds to pay its bondholders. 6FKZDE VDLG WKH SURSHUW\ WD[ FDYHDW ZRXOG SURWHFW WKH city from dipping into general funds in case of a shortfall and also make the bond more at- tractive to potential investors. 6DQGV DVNHG 6FKZDE IRU D timeline on issuing the bonds and getting street work start- ed if the levy passed. Without WKHSURSHUW\WD[FODXVHUHSOLHG 6FKZDE WKH SURFHVV FRXOG take as long as two years. If it’s included, however, it could begin as early as June or July. 6FKZDE VDLG VKH SODQQHG WR ZRUN RQ WKH ¿JXUHV WKH IRO- ORZLQJGD\WRJLYHDGH¿QLWLYH answer. The mayor said he planned to ask for a $1.3 million levy as it still worked out to about $11 per month as a transporta- tion utility fee. He added that the council needed to consider placing two items on the ballot: imposition of the transportation utility fee, and the issuance of general obligation bonds to be repaid by the transportation XWLOLW\ IHH RU WKH SURSHUW\ WD[ backup. 6FKZKDE VXJJHVWHG PDN- ing it very clear to voters that property owners would only EHSD\LQJWKHDGGLWLRQDOWD[LI there were a shortfall in trans- portation utility fees collected. &RXQFLORU 6KDURQ 1HZHOO VDLG -RVHSK FLWL]HQV VKH NQHZ GLG QRW VXSSRUW SURSHUW\ WD[ increases for any reason. “This is a gamble. When people hear WKHZRUGSURSHUW\WD[DQGNQRZ what government is capable of doing — I can’t vote for it.” “I think we’re at a stand- VWLOO´ VDLG 6DQGV ³,I ZH JR ahead with this, it’s gonna be a helluva sales job to convince people it’s basically $11 a PRQWKDQGWKDWWKHSURSHUW\WD[ is just an insurance policy for the bondholders. Or we could go through all of this and come up short again – or we say it’s an unsolvable problem and live with it.” The council followed with a discussion about writing an ordinance to shut off the water of people who do not pay their transportation utility fees. City UHFRUGHU 'RQQD :DUQRFN VDLG the city typically sends out 20 late notices per month to water users with one to four users per month getting their water shut RII IRU QRQSD\PHQW 6DQGV said he planned to look through records to ascertain the month- ly delinquency rate and see if the city could still pay the bond service with only the fee reve- nue. The council followed with a vote to increase the bond total to $1.3 million with a trans- portation utility fee of $11 per month and a measure to issue a general obligation bond of $1.3 million payable by the trans- portation utility fee with prop- HUW\WD[HVOHYLHGRQO\LQFDVHRI an anticipated shortfall in fees. The motion passed, 3-1, VXSSRUWHG E\ 6DQGV %DOODUG DQG6WXUPZKLOH1HZHOOYRWHG against it. DOLLARS: Some payments could fall through cracks Continued from Page A1 <HWVKHVD\VRQO\WKUHH¿OHG for such potential funding in Wallowa County within the last year. 5REHUWV VXJJHVWHG WKH RWKHU KDOIGR]HQRUVRPLJKWQRWZLVK WR VKDUH FRQ¿GHQWLDO LQIRUPD- tion, especially since monetary reimbursements could be small RUQRQH[LVWHQW$PRQJWKHIRXU direct-loss victims due to be re- imbursed from the $3,920 total is the Went Operation on Crow Creek, which lost 23 sheep in one wolf attack May 30, two calves in separate incidents in the Chesnimnus area, and one calf near Imnaha. The funding breakdown for non-lethal measures includes a PD[LPXPRIIURPWKH federal government, which will be matched dollar-for-dollar by WKHVWDWHIRUHDFKGROODUVSHQW and $40,000 of that total already has been requested by the coun- ty to hire range riders during the QH[WPRQWKV ,Q \HDUV SDVW VDLG 5REHUWV about $15,000 of non-lethal deterrence money went to pur- FKDVH¿YHPLOHVRIWXUERÀDGU\ ²ÀDSSLQJUHGSODVWLFÀDJJLQJ ZLWKHOHFWULFDOZLULQJ6KHVDLG WKH ÀDGU\ ZDV RQO\ PLQLPDOO\ effective in protecting livestock from wolves, however. 6KH LQGLFDWHV WKH RQO\ ZD\ any or all of the $33,200 of in- direct wolf losses suffered here, and more elsewhere, could be UHIXQGHGLQLVLIWKH2'$ redirects some of the state mon- ey it was going to use for the NUMBERS: More in state, RI¿FLDOVD\V dollar-for-dollar match on the feds’ non-lethal spending. $FFRUGLQJWR5REHUWVLQGL- rect livestock losses to wolves are calculated by using herd histories for the previous 10 years, establishing a base per- centage of livestock that are brought back in after being WXUQHGRXWIRUJUD]LQJ7KHUH- after, if the percentage of re- turning cattle is lower than usual, the producer should be eligible for some reimburse- ment. 5REHUWV SRLQWV RXW WKDW LQ- direct losses steadily have in- creased in tandem with the rise of the wolf population here. 2'):¶V ODWHVW DQQXDO ZROI population report for Oregon, UHOHDVHG )HE UHSRUWHG D minimum total of 77 wolves in Oregon compared to a min- imum total of 14 wolves at the conclusion of 2009. 5REHUWV VD\V VKH KDV FRQ- ferred with the Oregon Cattle- men’s Association on the issue of funding producers’ indirect Overwhelmed? Is the weight of day to day stress getting too much to bear? ORVVHV 6KH KDV DOVR VSRNHQ with two state legislators and has drafted proposed state legislation that would provide WD[FUHGLWVIRUWKHORVVHV&XU- rently, producers approved for direct loss compensation have WKH RSWLRQ RI UHFHLYLQJ WD[ credits in lieu of cash reim- bursements, but no such option is available for indirect losses, ZKLFK RIWHQ UHÀHFW GHSUHGD- tions occurring in remote areas ZKHUH 2'): FRQ¿UPDWLRQ isn’t feasible. New Dinner Specials Sunday Brunch 11-2 Big Screen TV Open 11am-10pm, Wed-Sun HIGHWAY 82, LOSTINE 541-569-2246 Stay Connected On Facebook NOW SCHEDULING APPOINTMENTS FOR ENERGY ASSISTANCE Community Connection has funds available for utility payment assistance in Union, Wallowa, Baker and Grant counties. Please contact your local office of Community Connection for more information or to schedule your appointment. Funds are limited. Are your work and family relationships suffering? Union Baker Wallowa Grant I can help! 1504 Albany La Grande, OR 2810 Cedar St Baker, OR 702 NW First St. Enterprise, OR 142 NE Dayton John Day, OR 541-963-3186 541-523-6591 541-426-3840 541-575-2949 A few sessions can make a big difference. Jeff Harman, MA., LPC Professional Counseling In A Private Setting www.jharmancounseling.com To schedule an appointment call Jeff Harman (541) 426-3067 Preferred Provider for Regence Blue Cross, ODS, Cascade Centers and many other private insurance and employee assistance programs. Gambling Problem? Superior selection of interior and exterior doors that are resilient and high quality Continued from Page A1 Although not listed as Wal- ORZD &RXQW\ ZROYHV 5REHUWV says the collared leader of the Umatilla Pack recently was LGHQWL¿HGDVEHLQJDW'XJ%DU ZKHUH WKH ,PQDKD DQG 6QDNH rivers join, and later was seen at the Joseph Canyon Viewpoint DORQJ+LJKZD\6KHFRQWHQGV WKDW WKH LGHQWL¿HG =XPZDOW Pack has no collared wolves, meaning livestock producers within that pack’s general ter- ritory virtually are defenseless against wolf depredation. Signs & Symptoms Find OrePac Interior & Exterior Doors with Prefinishing available at • Deterioration of work performance • Problems in concentration • Missing deadlines and important activities • Frequently borrowing money • Gambling to escape boredom, pain or loneliness • Lying to loved ones about gambling • Trying to win back money lost If you or someone you care about is experiencing a gambling problem, HELP IS AVAILABLE It's Free – It's Confidential – It Works. Call today: Wallowa Valley Center for Wellness 541-426-4524 • Or 1-877-My-Limit (24 hour Helpline) 207 SW 1st, Enterprise, OR 97828