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About Wallowa County chieftain. (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Or.) 1943-current | View Entire Issue (March 25, 2015)
2015-16 W ALLOWA C OUNTY C HIEFTAIN VISITOR GUIDE -- Find it inside today’s issue! www.wallowa.com Enterprise, Oregon March 25, 2015 $1 Only one contested race in upcoming May election ning for a single position. That will be the race for po- VLWLRQ 1R IRU WKH (QWHUSULVH $PRQJ VSHFLDO GLVWULFW Cemetery District where incum- positions to be voted upon May bent George Hill is being chal- 19 by Wallowa County’s elec- lenged by Pat Willis. They seek torate, only one will feature a four-year term. Lee Bollman more than one candidate run- UHVLJQHG IURP SRVLWLRQ 1R By Rocky Wilson Wallowa County Chieftain Joseph Library to stage fashion show WKHUHDQG3HUU\'DYLVKDV¿OHG WRFRPSOHWHWKH¿QDOWZR\HDUV of Bollman’s unexpired term. Other than that single race, as explained by Wallowa Coun- ty Clerk Dana Roberts, height- ened interest in the election might come regarding four po- VLWLRQVZKHUHQRRQHKDV¿OHG In such situations, says Roberts, write-in votes will determine who, if they agree to serve, will assume duties in those positions. See ELECTION, Page A7 ‘It’s not a runaway department.’ - Mayor Lear Police department UNDER REVIEW By Steve Tool Wallowa County Chieftain Preparations are well un- derway for the much-antici- pated Joseph Public Library fashion show, to be held $SULO LQ (QWHUSULVH DW WKH OK Theatre. The show is a fundraiser for the library’s proposed expansion. Sally Brandt, chair of the Joseph Library board, is ex- cited about the April 2 enter- tainment lineup. “We have Jon Rombach as emcee for the show, and he loves to ad-lib, so it’ll be awesome. Jon also asked 'DYH 1HOVRQ PDQDJHU RI The Dollar Stretcher, to participate. Dave is a great straight man to Jon, and it VKRXOGEHYHU\HQWHUWDLQLQJ´ Brandt said. The fashion show in- cludes fun skits celebrating great works of literature. The library board and members of Soroptimist International of Wallowa County (who are providing the costumes) went through a number of the costumes with an eye to the literary theme. “We’d look and see a Cinderella costume and then maybe see an Agatha Christie/Miss Marple. I don’t want to give away all the skits, but we’ll have long and short ones and even ones ZLWKDXGLHQFHSDUWLFLSDWLRQ´ Brandt said. Wallowa Land Trust gifts Wyden ty, which has a population of approximately 7,000, hosts at least 700,000 tourists per :DOORZD/DQG7UXVW([HF year. “We wanted the senator utive Director Kathleen Ack- to have a visual that represents ley and Conservation Direc- what we’re doing in trying to tor Julia Lakes attended U.S. protect this incredible land- 6HQ 5RQ:\GHQ¶V 0DUFK scape. He has been a very La Grande town hall meeting strong supporter of protection to gift Wyden a David Jensen IRUWKHPRUDLQHV´$FNOH\VDLG :\GHQ VXSSRUWHG WKH photograph of Wallowa Lake. Ackley said Wyden is a strong million Forest Legacy Grant supporter of preserving rural from the Land and Water lands, including Wallowa Lake Conservation Fund, current- ly up for reauthorization by and its moraines. “We brought the picture Congress. The grant can help because we wanted to give the WLT purchase a large part the senator a very visual re- of the lake’s moraine proper- PLQGHU RI 1RUWKHDVW 2UHJRQ ty, currently privately owned, We’re kind of remote out here to preserve it for future gen- and part of the issue we face erations. “Sen. Wyden has is isolation, particularly from publicly stated he wants to see decision-makers who spend the program reauthorized and the vast majority of their time said he will do everything in on the other side of the state or his power to see it does. This even on the other side of the is an incredible opportunity country. We don’t always have for us and we wanted to pub- the population to make our licly thank him for helping in preserving the moraine and YRLFHVKHDUG´$FNOH\VDLG Wallowa Lake and the mo- RWKHU UXUDO ODQGV´ $FNOH\ raines make up a large part said. of tourism incentives for the See WYDEN, Page A3 county. Ackley said the coun- By Steve Tool Wallowa County Chieftain ([FKDQJHVWXGHQWV enjoy County stay By Steve Tool Wallowa County Chieftain See LIBRARY, Page A3 C HIEFTAIN WA L L O WA Courtesy photo Oregon U.S. Senator Ron Wyden accepts a David Jensen Wallowa Lake photograph from Wallowa Land Trust Executive Director Kathleen Ackley. Ackley said Wyden is a supporter of preserving the lake’s moraines. C O U N T Y Wallowa County’s Newspaper Since 1884 Volume 132 Issue No. 49 © 2015 EO Media Group Chieftain file photo Sgt. Michelle Bloker, pictured here on Main Street during the September 2014 Hells Canyon Mule Days parade, is currently the Enterprise Police Department’s highest- ranking officer. Police chief resigns; city considers what’s next sibility. ³,W¶V QRW D UXQDZD\ GHSDUWPHQW´ /HDU said. “It’s still functioning, and functioning (17(535,6(²$ZHHNDIWHUIRUPDOO\ ZHOO´+HDGGHG³,DOZD\VIHOWJRRGDERXW DFFHSWLQJ WKH (QWHUSULVH SROLFH FKLHI¶V UHV ZKDWWKHSROLFHIRUFHGLGLQRXUFLW\´ LJQDWLRQFLW\RI¿FLDOVDUHOD\LQJWKHJURXQG Wes Kilgore, whose service as police work for conducting a detailed review of the chief began in March 2002, tendered his res- department, after which the city could pro- ignation by letter on Monday, March 16. ceed with hiring an interim chief. The letter stated he was leaving due to $QG ZKLOH RI¿FLDOV FRQFHGH WKH UHYLHZ ³SHUVRQDOSUREOHPV´DQGJDYH0DUFKDV could lead them to conclude the city would the action’s effective date. be better off without its own department, See POLICE, Page A7 Mayor Steve Lear is downplaying that pos- By Rob Ruth Wallowa County Chieftain Wallowa County’s Amer- ican Field Service USA ex- change students, who are near- ing the end of their nine-month VWD\UHÀHFWHGRQWKHLUWLPHLQ the county in an interview the Chieftain recently conduct- HG ZLWK IRXU RI WKH ¿YH$)6 exchange students along with AFS volunteer Angie Lunde. The students came from places as varied as Italy, Ger- many, Iceland and Argenti- na, but all are from cities of at least 100,000 population. $OODUHÀXHQWLQ(QJOLVKDQG each student said it was en- joyable to stay in Wallowa County. The students inter- YLHZHG DOO DWWHQG (QWHUSULVH High School and are enrolled in grade 12. 7KH¿IWKVWXGHQWFXUUHQWO\ in Wallowa County through the AFS program, Sarah Ab- delayem, 17, of Jordan, at- tends Wallowa High School and is hosted by the Woody and Megan Wolfe family. The Chieftain was unable to reach her to be interviewed for this story. In addition to the AFS program, the Rotary Club of Wallowa County also arranges for other nations’ students to study here. One foreign exchange student is in Wallowa County this school year through Rotary. (UPDQR /DLFL KDLOV IURP Rome, Italy, and Tom and Ann Powers are his host family. Laici’s interest in the program comes from his fondness for WUDYHO +H VSHQW KLV ¿UVW VHY eral months in Spokane before transferring to Wallowa Coun- ty. “I knew this was a different OLIH EXW WKH ¿UVW WZR ZHHNV were very hard, even though I had no expectations. I thought , NQHZ (QJOLVK EHWWHU DQG , couldn’t even speak with any- RQHWKH¿UVWZHHN´/DLFLVDLG Laici fell in love with out- door activities during his stay here. “You can do anything here. You can go for a hike, go and play my favorite sport, which is soccer. You have a lot RISRVVLELOLWLHV´/DLFLVDLG The main difference Lai- ci sees between the relative tranquility of Wallowa County and the hustle of Rome is the amount of time he has for him- self. “In Rome, everything is stressful and fast-paced. I don’t have any time in Rome — here ,KDYHWLPH´/DLFLVDLG Amazing friends and peo- ple are what Laici takes away from his time here. “I feel re- ally changed. This experience allowed me to look at my fu- WXUHLQDZLGHUVHQVH´+HVDLG he plans to return to America in the future. Katharina Rudzio, 16, comes from Hamburg, Ger- many, and arrived in America in August. Her host family is Jared and Michelle Bedard. Hearing of her mother’s expe- riences as an exchange student convinced Rudzio to try for the program as well. “I’ve heard about it since grade school DQGFRXOGQ¶WZDLWDQ\ORQJHU´ Rudzio said. The area’s small popula- tion concerned Rudzio, who worried she’d have nothing to do. “I thought I wouldn’t have many things to do, now I think the opposite with all the out- door stuff you can do — it’s UHDOO\IXQ´ See STUDENTS, Page A7