A8 SUNRISE IRON DISPLAYING MORE ANTIQUE TRACTORS . Enterprise, Oregon www.wallowa.com Issue No. 15 July 29, 2015 $1 Grazing permittees to FS: Plan needs work By Kathleen Ellyn Wallowa County Chieftain The truth is on the ground. That was a phrase that was repeated several times during the Monday night gathering of grazing permittees and For- HVW6HUYLFHRI¿FLDOVODVWZHHN The statement referred to the disconnect ranchers saw between what was really hap- pening in the forests on graz- LQJ DOORWPHQWV DQG WKH ¿QG ings and tone of the Proposed Revised Land Management Plan for the Blue Mountains National Forests. The message apparently got through with Forestry of- ¿FLDOVSURPLVLQJWRDGGUHVVD Kathleen Ellyn/Chieftain A cow and calf on the Scott McClaran grazing allottment. number of issues raised in the discussion and to change the anti-grazing bias in the lan- guage of the plan to better re- ÀHFWWKHUROHRIZHOOPDQDJHG City moves forward on hiring chief By Kathleen Ellyn Wallowa County Chieftain The City of Enterprise is moving forward to hire a new Chief of Police. That was the decision made at the special meet- ing Tuesday night in a vote of four to two. Councilor Jenni Word was out of town, but was able to participate in the discussion over the phone before the connection was lost. She was not able to re-establish connection in time to vote. The councilors who opposed the move, Dave (OOLRWWDQG%LOO&RI¿QZDQWHGPRUHWLPHWRLQYHV tigate alternative contracts to make sure they were spending tax money on the best deal. “I’m not in favor of moving forward without getting everything on the table,” Elliott said. “I think we’re putting the cart before the horse,” VDLG&RI¿Q³:HKDYHQ¶WHYHQEHJXQWRQHJRWLDWH with the county on what they can do for us.” Other councilors, however, had done some pri- vate investigation of how the process worked in other small towns and felt sure there would be no savings. “It is my understanding that we will not remote- ly get the service we want (from the county),” said Councilor Laura Miller. Word, participating by phone, said that she had personally talked to Wallowa County Sheriff Steve Rogers and “he is not excited about taking on the contract.” Mayor Steve Lear advised that the county would simply look at the money available and make a bid in line with that. “Whatever our budget is, is what it will cost,” Lear said. Furthermore, said Councilor Stacey Karvoski, by moving to the county as a police force, the city would lose control of their police force and be un- DEOHWR¿UHRURWKHUZLVHGLVFLSOLQHOHDGHUVKLS Councilors in favor of moving forward at once DOVRDUJXHGWKDWWKHWZRRI¿FHUVOHIWRQSDWUROGH served good leadership immediately. ³2XUWZRRI¿FHUVKDYHGRQHDFRPPHQGDEOHMRE without adequate support,” Word said. Lear called a city police force “a foundation” of a good city, “like a good school system,” he said. See CHIEF, Page A5 grazing plans. Oregon House Dist. 58 Rep. Greg Barreto, county commissioners Susan Roberts and Mike Hayward, members of the coun- ty’s Nation- al Resource Advisory Committee (NRAC), for- est and range- land rangers Montoya DQG RI¿FLDOV and more than two dozen permittees at- tended the meeting. The dis- cussion was open, frank and well-ordered. The July 20 meeting was called to give permittees the chance to respond to the near- ly eight pounds of documents that constitute the Draft Envi- ronmental Impact Statement and Proposed Revised Land Management Plan for the Blue Mountains National For- ests. The county commission- ers and their NRAC advisors had already submitted a coun- ty plan and numerous letters during the comment period on the plan. Many permittees read that compendium closely, and re- sented the tone of the tome and the sheer volume of what they say is bad science and bad data. “(As permittees) you’re overwhelmed with data,” said third-generation rancher Mack Birkmaier. “If it wasn’t for our good county court and National Resource Advisory Committee who will, thank God, pursue these (issues) with intelligence and science and defend us, we’d be in a lot of trouble.” At issue for the permittees is what they say is the docu- PHQW¶V XQVFLHQWL¿F JHQHUDO ization of grazing as “bad,” the apparent reliance on stud- ies that are decades out of date, and a focus on all the wrong issues. Addressing the double is- sue of tone and bad science, rancher and NRAC member Cynthia Warnock blasted the documents. “It was like you were looking at data from 20 years ago,” Warnock said. See GRAZING, Page A7 ‘RABBITS, RIBBONS & ROSES’ IT’S OUR 2015 FAIR! Courtesy photo Members of the 2015 Wallowa County 4-H Court — from left, Georgia Falk, Deidre Schreiber, and Teagan Miller — will be at the Wallowa County Fair each day of the fair, from beginning to end. Events start this Saturday By Rob Ruth Wallowa County Chieftain ENTERPRISE — What may be Wal- lowa County’s oldest community tradi- tion, the Wallowa County Fair, opens for its annual week-plus stretch of activities on Saturday, Aug. 1. This year’s theme is “Rabbits, Ribbons & Roses.” Showcasing everything from 4-H kids’ animal projects to the best of the home arts from people of all ages, the fair is a fun and rewarding way to expe- rience the products of rural folks’ labors. All activities take place at the Wal- ORZD&RXQW\)DLUJURXQGV7KH¿UVWFRP petition on the fair calendar is Saturday’s 4-H Dog Show, which starts at 9 a.m. The fair wraps up eight days later, with the 4-H/FFA Livestock Sale beginning at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 8. Sandwiched between the Dog Show NYT columnist looks at present, past Joseph Residents have mixed feelings about article By Chieftain Staff As Wallowa County was preparing to enjoy the an- nual Tamkaliks Celebration and the 70th annual Chief Joseph Days that would fol- low a week later, a New York Times column by Se- attle-based writer Timothy Egan was capturing wide- spread attention. The column, published in the Times July 17 and re- published July 20 by the East Oregonian (read it online at tinyurl.com/q3yf3uj), extols Joseph, Oregon, for being de- cidedly unlike a large number of U.S. small towns, which are “unhappy.” Joseph, Egan writes, represents “a labora- tory of hope for small-town America.” He makes that observa- tion, he says, after recently visiting Joseph and compar- ing the way it is now to how the town seemed to him when he visited 17 years ago. Cheiftain archives See COLUMN, Page A7 Liza Jane McAlister of 6 Ranch, Enterprise. and Livestock Sale are numerous other highlights, including: • 4-H Horse Show, starting Sunday at 8 a.m. Grand champion showman class is at 6 p.m. The Horse Show continues Monday and Tuesday at those same times. • 4-H/FFA Livestock entries weigh-in Wednesday from 2 to 6 p.m. See FAIR, Page A5 True-crime writer Ann Rule dies By the Associated Press and the Wallowa County Chieftain SEATTLE (AP) — True- crime writer Ann Rule, who wrote more than 30 books, LQFOXGLQJDSUR¿OHRIKHUIRU mer co-worker, serial killer Ted Bundy, has died at age 83. Rule died at Highline Medical Center at 10:30 p.m. Sunday, said Scott Thomp- son, a spokesman for CHI Franciscan Health. Rule’s daughter, Leslie Rule, said on Facebook that her mother had many health issues, including congestive heart failure. “My mom died peacefully last night,” Leslie Rule wrote. “She got to see all of her chil- dren, grandchildren and great grandchildren.” $QQ 5XOH¶V ¿UVW ERRN “The Stranger Beside Me,” SUR¿OHG %XQG\ ZKRP VKH got to know while sharing the late shift at a Seattle suicide hotline. She has said she had a contract to write about an unknown serial killer before her co-worker was charged with the crimes. Rule, who went to work EULHÀ\ DW WKH 6HDWWOH 3ROLFH Department when she was 21, began writing for maga- zines like “True Detective” in 1969. A biography on her author website says she has published more than 1,400 articles, mostly on criminal cases. See RULE, Page A8