A3
Cemetery’s supporters working
to return it to its former glory.
www.wallowa.com
Enterprise, Oregon
May 13, 2015
$1
Armed man disappears into woods
By Kathleen Ellyn
Wallowa County Chieftain
The tiny community of
Imnaha remains on alert after
an armed man allegedly threat-
ened to shoot his girlfriend, her
son and law enforcement and
then disappeared into the Hells
Canyon National Recreational
Area near remote Imnaha River
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arms and 300 rounds of ammu-
nition.
The man, Scott Fouste, 53,
remains at large at press time.
Wallowa County Sheriff’s
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911 call from Shirley Scott, 63,
of Imnaha River Woods at ap-
proximately 5:30 p.m. Monday,
May 11.
Scott allegedly reported that
Fouste had threatened her and
her grown son, Jason Scott, 41,
with a gun, had attempted to
gain entry by cutting a door with
a chainsaw, and had then retreat-
ed to the woods armed with a
.22, a shotgun, a .357 Magnum,
and approximately 300 rounds
of ammunition. Scott said she
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ing several gunshots.
Wallowa County Sheriff
Steve Rogers said that he imme-
diately began calling for back-
up, even as he and his deputies,
available Oregon State Police
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Department of Emergency Ser-
vices raced toward the location,
nearly 65 miles east of Joseph
via the Imnaha Highway.
Oregon State Police SWAT
team responded from a training
conference in Bend but were
slowed by rain and dangerous
driving conditions. They arrived
on the scene within four hours,
Rogers said, but a requested
armored vehicle was still hours
behind.
“I knew this was going to be
ugly and I wanted to use their ar-
mor to pull up to the door of the
house and pull the victim out,”
said Rogers.
Rogers had set up a com-
mand post at Sheep Creek Hill
approximately 7 miles east of
Joseph, where he still had cell
phone service.
See FUGITIVE, Page A7
LOVE A PARADE
MULE DAYS GRAND MARSHALS HAVE DONE EVERYTHING BUT THIS
T
C HIEFTAIN
WA L L O WA
C O U N T Y
Wallowa County’s
Newspaper Since 1884
Volume 133 Issue No. 4
© 2015 EO Media Group
Wallowa County
Chieftain
daughter of a logger and a recent college graduate.
Peggy studied to qualify as both a veterinary assistant
and dental assistant. The two met on a blind date, but
it soon became clear that they were each the love of
the other’s life.
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in Enterprise.
Dennis started shoeing horses and became famil-
iar with mules and that was the beginning of their
mule passion.
The couple had two children, Charlie and Josi
Jean, and added mules to the mix in 1984.
See MULES, Page A7
See MONEY, Page A5
Kathleen Ellyn/Chieftain
“Grandfather Brennan” may be known for his acting
chops outside the county, but within the county he is
best remembered as a tremendous supporter of Joseph
business and instrumental in the development of
Chief Joseph Days.
Dennis was born in Enterprise in 1951, went to
school in Joseph and split his “free” time as a youth
between calving season on Lightning Creek in the
spring and hay season in the valley in the summer.
His best memory of growing up in Wallowa
County was being on the 12,000-acre ranch 20 miles
south of Joseph.
He went away to college at Lane Community Col-
lege where he studied machinist and welding tech-
nology and then headed off to a job in Prineville.
That’s where he met his future wife, Peggy, the
By Kathleen Ellyn
The Hells Can-
yon Mule Days
Board of Directors
announced the win-
ners of the Max
Walker Memorial
Scholarships at the
annual dinner May
6, giving $1,000
checks to Anna
Rinehart, daughter
of Joe and Karen
Rinehart; Calli Mill-
er, daughter of Alan
and Cheri Miller;
and Cody Irish, son
of Michele Chapin
and Jeff Irish.
Committee mem-
bers faced their usu-
al trial of picking
just three winners,
said Scott Lathrop.
Lathrop crumpled
the notes containing
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the awards, saying,
“Any of the appli-
cants was great and
I wish we had the
money to award all
of them. These kids
we’ve awarded de-
serve this award, but
the thing that sticks
out for me is how
good of kids we
have in this county.”
A
total
of
$29,000 in schol-
arships have been
granted since 2005
and are named in
honor of one of
Wallowa County’s
premier mule skin-
ners, Max Walker.
Newly appointed
2015 Mule Days
Grand Marshals
Peggy and Dennis
Brennan let their
mules, Ben and
Moses, in on the
good news.
he 2015 Mule Days Grand
Marshals, Dennis and Peggy
Brennan, are synonymous with
Mule Days, having served in
almost every capacity over the
years. Both currently serve on
the Board of Directors.
“If you watch Dennis and
Peggy with mules you know
that knowledge is vast,” said board member Scott
Lathrop.
They’re also Wallowa County “royalty.”
Dennis is a fourth generation Wallowa County
rancher on his mother Florence Whitman’s side and
the grandson of local rancher and multiple Os-
car-winning actor Walter Brennan on his father’s side.
Max
Walker
Memorial
awards
given
Enterprise PD review underway
By Kathleen Ellyn
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — Police
chiefs from Pendleton, La
Grande and Baker City met in
Enterprise May 8-10 to look at
budgets, contracts, policy and
procedures regarding the han-
dling of evidence and “basical-
ly anything that has to do with
delivery of law enforcement
service,” said Pendleton Police
Chief Stuart Roberts.
Roberts is leading the assess-
ment being made by the team of
chiefs.
The chiefs constitute an
Agency Review Team, provided
by Oregon Association Chiefs
of Police (OACP) as a service
to the city.
Kathleen Ellyn/Chieftain
Police chiefs, from left, Brian Harvey of La Grande, Wyn Lohner
of Baker City and Stuart Roberts of Pendleton confer over
their findings as they study the policing needs of Enterprise.
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ings, which have not yet been
submitted to the council, was a
recommendation that Enterprise
City Council start the process of
advertising for a new chief of
police. This process is expect-
ed to take several weeks, and
city counselors were assured
they would not be locked in to
a decision to hire before they
have time to review all of their
options. A second recommen-
dation for immediate action was
to call a community meeting
that would allow the Agency
Review Team to speak directly
with the public about the pro-
cess. The council approved both
recommendations at the regular
city council meeting May 11.
The review team is now
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document to present to the city
council.
The city council request-
ed the review after the March
23 resignation of Police Chief
Wes Kilgore, who had served as
chief since 2002.
In addition to losing Kilgore,
the city also temporarily lost the
services of Sgt. Michelle Bloker,
who was out on medical leave.
The disarray led the council
to rethink the whole policing
issue.
It also seemed a good time to
look the books over and make
sure job descriptions and expec-
tations were clear.
“We want an orderly, disci-
plined police department that
will provide the community
with the service they deserve,”
said Mayor Steve Lear.
See REVIEW, Page A7