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About Wallowa County chieftain. (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Or.) 1943-current | View Entire Issue (April 1, 2015)
A4 Opinion wallowa.com April 1, 2015 Wallowa County Chieftain EPD review brings need for openness E nterprise city government was prudent in its decision to hire an expert to review current functioning of the Enterprise Police Department. With the recent resignation of chief Wes EDITORIAL Kilgore, who served in the The voice of the Chieftain post for 13 years, the city has a somewhat rare opportunity to undertake such an evaluation when circumstances are least burdensome to employees: at a time of transition, and when there’s one job fewer immediately at stake. Currently the department has only three full-time employees, but that’ll bump back up to four if the city hires a new chief. Michele Young, the city’s administrator, says the Oregon Association Chiefs of Police (and no, there’s not an “of” missing from that), the organization the city has turned to for advice and referrals, doesn’t even recommend hiring an interim chief until the city has results back from its planned departmental review. Fortunately, that review, to be conducted by someone the association recommends, shouldn’t take longer than several days to complete, once it begins. 7KHSRVVLELOLW\RIFRXUVHORRPVWKDW(QWHUSULVHRI¿FLDOV will learn the city hasn’t been getting the most bang for its public safety buck. If such is the review’s outcome, it’s easy to imagine a lively debate ensuing, especially if it appears WKHHDVLHVW¿[LVWRVFUDSWKHFLW\GHSDUWPHQWDQGEHHIXSWKH FRXQW\VKHULII¶VRI¿FH But we get ahead of ourselves with these imaginings. Not only are we not there yet; “there” we might never be. Regardless of whether the upcoming assessment spotlights the EPD as a wise bargain or a troubling waste, however, ZHKRSHFLW\RI¿FLDOVDQGWKHLUFRQVXOWDQWVWULYHPLJKWLO\WR educate the public well on this issue at every juncture. For starters, we’ll want to know something about any important yardsticks that are applied to reach judgments about the police department. For example, the Center for Public Safety Management (CPSM), an entity under the umbrella of the International City/County Management Association (ICMA), FRQFHUQVLWVHOIZLWKSXEOLFVDIHW\VWDI¿QJPRGHOVDQGDSSOLHV what it calls its “Rule of 60” in evaluating police departments. The rule stresses the desirability of having approximately 60 SHUFHQWRIVZRUQRI¿FHUVDVVLJQHGWRSDWURO Is the Rule of 60 the most appropriate evaluative tool for a very small department? Search us, but whatever the tool the city’s hired expert deems most useful, we’d like to understand exactly how it works and why, exactly, it should be prominently factored into any decisions. And while we’re issuing this request for helpful spoon- feeding from the city’s hired gun, we should add that it’s imperative the city itself takes pains to clearly draft and communicate any price comparisons between city police services and whatever might be on offer from the sheriff’s RI¿FHDVVXPLQJWKDW¶VVROLFLWHGDQGZHUDWKHUDVVXPHLWZLOO be). What if the county’s policing service appears the better buy, EXWQRWE\DZLGHPDUJLQ"+HUH¶VZKHUHWKHUHDOO\GLI¿FXOWSDUW could begin — the self-searching, the probing of less tangible values. 7KLVFRXOGWXUQLQWRDGLI¿FXOWVORJ(YHU\RQHSOHDVHNHHS all channels open. Correction Former Enterprise police chief Wes Kilgore’s March 23 letter resigning his position as chief stated his decision was “due to personal reasons.” Our March 25 story incorrectly quot- ed that as “personal problems.” The letter’s complete text is as follows: Dear Mayor Lear: I hereby resign from my position as Chief of Police ef- fective March 23, 2015. I regret that I must leave my position at the Enterprise Police Depart- ment due to personal reasons. Despite my departure I hope we can keep an amicable profes- sional relationship. I sincerely appreciate the opportunities I have been afforded at the Enter- prise Police Department. I wish the department the best of luck in continuing to be as strong as ever. Respectfully, Wes Kilgore USPS No. 665-100 P.O. Box 338 • Enterprise, OR 97828 Of¿ce 29 1W )irst St., Enterprise, Ore. Phone 27 • )ax 2392 Wallowa County’s 1ewspaper Since 88 Enterprise, Oregon M EMBER O REGON N EWSPAPER P UBLISHERS A SSOCIATION P UBLISHER E DITOR R EPORTER R EPORTER N EWSROOM ASSISTANT A D S ALES CONSULTANT G RAPHIC D ESIGNER O FFICE MANAGER Marissa Williams, marissa@bmeagle.com Rob Ruth, editor@wallowa.com Stephen Tool, stool@wallowa.com Rocky Wilson, rwilson@wallowa.com Rich Rautenstrauch, rrautenstrauch@wallowa.com Brooke Pace, bpace@wallowa.com Robby Day, rday@wallowa.com Cheryl Jenkins, cjenkins@wallowa.com P UBLISHED EVERY W EDNESDAY BY : EO Media Group 3HULRGLFDO3RVWDJH3DLGDW(QWHUSULVHDQGDGGLWLRQDOPDLOLQJRI¿FHV Subscription rates (includes online access) Wallowa County Out-of-County 1 Year $40.00 $57.00 Subscriptions must be paid prior to delivery See the Wallowa County Chieftain on the Internet www.wallowa.com facebook.com/Wallowa | twitter.com/wcchieftain POSTMASTER — Send address changes to Wallowa County Chieftain P.O. Box 338 Enterprise, OR 97828 Contents copyright © 2015. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is prohibited. Able pranksters preceded us If anyone encourages you to do some- thing today, anything at all, remember that it’s more than likely an April Fools’ joke, so just do the opposite. I don’t fall for any of those tricks. If I get bills in the mailbox April 1 — boop — right into the paper shredder. The ol’ fake bill on convincing-looking paper trick, eh? With return envelope, postage paid and every- thing, huh? Very elaborate ruse, whoever you are. Nice try, but save it for some- body who’s at least a little gullible. I was born at night, but not last night. Last year this fake bill gag went so far that they even shut off my power a week later to make it seem more convincing. The tradition of playing practical MRNHVRQWKH¿UVWGD\RI$SULOGDWHVEDFN to Mesopotamian times, when a court jester named Kugel is said to have placed DQLQÀDWHGR[HQEODGGHUXQGHUWKHWKURQH cushion of Roman emperor Constantine, LQ WKH ¿UVW UHFRUGHG XVH RI ZKDW LV QRZ known as a whoopee cushion. The result was so popular among those in atten- dance that the event was commemorated the following year on the same day with further acts of mischief. Sadly, Kugel lived the rest of his life in chains and did QRW SUR¿W IURP IXWXUH VDOHV RI QRYHOW\ oxen bladders. I did some research in the Chieftain archives for memorable pranks played KHUHLQWKH:DOORZDV7KH¿UVWUHFRUGHG practical jokes in the area were played by a dedicated local trickster named Coy- ote, whose exploits are remembered in VRPHRIWKHYHU\¿UVW³2XWRIWKH3DVW´ features. AND FURTHERMORE Jon Rombach Barn lowerings were an elaborate prank enjoyed by early Wallowa Valley residents. Community members would coordinate to lure a farmer into town un- der some pretense, then work together quickly to disassemble a barn while the farmer was away. Another popular gag among early Grande Ronde and Wallowa Valley set- tlers was to sneak onto a neighbor’s farm under cover of night and move a haystack EDFNRXWLQWRWKH¿HOGDQGSODFHLWQHDW- ly in rows. This practice was known as “har-har-vest,” but was eventually out- lawed by the Territorial Governor in the late 1800s after an Elgin area farmer did not see the humor in this little bit of fun, resulting in what became known as “The April 2nd Battle of the Pitchforks.” In the mid-1920s the local chapter of the Loyal Order of the Water Buffa- lo, Lodge 26, advertised Wallowa Lake Monster rides, departing from the pad- dlewheel dock at the north end of Wal- lowa Lake. Rides on the Wallowa Lake Monster cost two bits for adults, but kids got to ride for free. The joke was that two bits was only for a one-way ride. If you wanted to come back to shore you had to pay another two bits. A picnic lunch and pie social was provided by The East Moraine Grange Auxiliary and proceeds KHOSHG ¿QDQFH WKH ¿UVW VFXOSWXUH DORQJ the dirt and boardwalk Main Street in Joseph. Bronze was not available at the time due to rationing, so the foundries had to retool and cast the sculpture in D ¿UHKDUGHQHG PL[WXUH RI ORFDO FOD\ horsehair and Mazama ash. The sculp- ture was controversial at the time, as it depicted a cowboy wearing short sleeves, which some thought was immodest. Also, the dog in the sculpture was not fol- lowing commands, which some residents felt did not represent Eastern Oregon in the best light. A wealthy San Francisco banker later purchased the sculpture for the garden of his mansion on Telegram Hill. The house and grounds are now a museum and the sculpture, “Sit, Boy, Sit.” is still on display and available for public viewing. Visitors to The Wallowa County Mu- seum can see photographs of the 1938 April Fools’ Day prank when a group of loggers packed mule strings carrying barrels of beet juice from the local sugar UH¿QHU\ XS WR WKH ULGJH DWRS 0RXQW -R- seph and dumped the contents, turning the slopes pink. Bears could be seen lick- ing the snow for several weeks afterward. Wallowa County has a rich tradition of April Fools’ Day practical jokes, and some that weren’t useful at all. Keep the tradition going and see if you can pull a fast one today that’s good enough to make it into future editions of “Out of the Past.” Jon Rombach is a local columnist for the Chieftain. He wasn’t really born at night. That was just a joke. News consumers’ habits shifting By Rocky Wilson 2Q PRVW GD\V ,¶P FRQ¿GHQW WKDW P\ Internet research skills exceed those of my 93-year-old father who neither owns, has owned, or ever wants to own a com- puter. But, today, the difference between my skills and his are not so great. My goal was to research and write a sublime column on which sections of newspapers people most like to read, but was halted in my tracks. In technological jargon, if you don’t have the proper key words you ain’t going nowhere, and my research on the subject went nowhere. Well, that’s not entirely true because I GLG¿QGZKDW,ZDVORRNLQJIRUUHJDUGLQJ newspapers published in Australia, but such wasn’t my intent. In days arrears when I co-owned a weekly newspaper, I learned (probably DW D QHZVSDSHU FRQIHUHQFH DQG GH¿QLWH- ly not on the Internet) that the most-read section of newspapers was letters to the editor. I was hoping today to discover some important cultural trend, or para- digm that would indicate where our so- ciety might be heading — possibly even listing obituaries as the most-read section JABBERWOCK II — but my way-too-lengthy, repetitious quests to punch the appropriate trigger on my computer proved fruitless. So, instead, let’s see what Australia has to say. As a journalist, albeit one working maybe 8,500 miles away from Australia, the popularity of general news and sports as the two most-read newspaper sections Down Under sounded great, as those are two topics I most cover. The survey I perused, taken from a year-long study that included more than 21,000 Australian participants, differenti- ated between newspaper readership during weekdays and readership on weekends, and the results were telling. Where cover- age regarding holidays and travel was the fourth most popularly read newspaper sec- tion during the week, it was the most-read section on weekends. Business news, not even ranked in the top 10 during weekends, claimed the No. 5 spot during the week. Then again there was the section on real estate that ranked No. 7 on weekends when people could have been seriously contem- plating a move, yet real estate didn’t even hit the charts during the week when those same people likely were buried in work to make such potential moves possible. Next behind general news and sports, plus holidays and travel on weekends of course, were editorial and opinion, and let- ters to the editor. But maybe the biggest trend-changer in the newspaper world is not what sections are being read, but instead how the news is being delivered. Look around, and the overall number of newspapers in the U.S. and elsewhere is shrinking. And those that choose to remain in business in a highly competitive market are having to adapt to survive. Although many hard-core individuals still contend that holding reading materi- al in one’s hands remains the way to go, such, at an ever-increasing rate, seems to be losing favor. More and more newspaper readers are turning to the Internet and smart phones to access news stories they have an interest in. See JABBERWOCK, Page A µ/RFDO¶IRRGHYHU\ZKHUHDQGXQGH¿QHG Local food is great. What’s not to like? Anyone would agree with the state- ment that buying from the farmer down the road is a good thing. But during the past decade or so, since the advent of the term “locavore,” we have found that “local” is in the eye of the beholder. While some consum- ers assiduously measure “food miles,” others care only whether the food was grown within their state. Still other con- sumers consider “local” to be a synonym IRUDUHJLRQ²WKH3DFL¿F1RUWKZHVWWKH West Coast or even just the West. Others believe “local” equals “Product of the U.S.” And so it goes. That’s why we watched with interest as the Washington House of Represen- tatives passed a bill calling for a “food policy forum” whose job it would be to promote “local” food. One legislator stated that local food who work those long hours and create a high-quality product. They just don’t do COMMENTARY it on a smaller scale,” he said. Seasonality is another issue. Unless \RX OLYH LQ &DOLIRUQLD WU\ ¿QGLQJ D OR- will make people slimmer and healthier. cally grown strawberry in January. Other And, we should add, it’ll help them than what’s available from a greenhouse, locally grown strawberries — or many jump tall buildings in a single bound. The lone advantage of food grown other types of produce — are available near the consumer is a smaller fuel bill only a portion of the year, usually late IRUWKHWUXFN%H\RQGWKDWLW¶VGLI¿FXOW summer and fall. Some fresh fruits and to see how food grown across the region vegetables store well and are available is any better, or worse, than any other year-round, but the list is short. In the meantime, a cornucopia of pro- food. Rep. Vincent Buys, the ranking Re- duce, products and meats are available, publican on the House Agriculture Com- no matter what season it is, at the neigh- borhood grocery store. It is part of a mittee, summarized our thoughts. “To somehow imply our large-scale “food system” that offers a vast selection agriculture products are unsafe or not of fresh produce and meats at reasonable as ... high quality as some of the locally prices and is the envy of the world. The Capital Press, based in Salem, produced agriculture products, I think, does a disservice to the state, and I think is a sister publication to the Wallowa is offensive to a lot of those farmers County Chieftain.