Local paraglider first to
traverse Hells Canyon. A10
Enterprise, Oregon
”
www.wallowa.com
Issue No. 17
August 12, 2015
$1
UNFORTUNATELY, THE ENTERPRISE POLICE DEPARTMENT HAS A PROTRACTED HISTORY OF ACCEPTING MEDIOCRITY.
Oregon Association Chiefs of Police Executive Resources Agency Review
Enterprise Police review slams leadership
By Kathleen Ellyn
Wallowa County Chieftain
Kilgore
The department that eats up
37 percent of Enterprise’s gen-
eral fund has not been a good
buy for a long time. That’s the
finding of the 27-page report by
the Oregon Association Chiefs
of Police Executive Resources
Agency Review, commissioned
by the Enterprise City Council
after the resignation of former
Chief of Police Wes Kilgore on
March 23, 2015.
The recently released docu-
ment details a history of “me-
diocrity” and includes some
pointed comments from the
three chiefs of police who
conducted the review in early
May: Chief Brian Harvey of
La Grande; Chief Wyn Lohner
of Baker City and team leader
Chief Stuart Roberts of Pendle-
ton.
Although the document
praises the officers current-
ly on staff and makes a point
of exempting them from criti-
cism, it is critical of the way in
which Kilgore, chief of police
from 2002 to 2015, ran the de-
partment. Comments run from
“there is no excuse for such
complacency” to “lacking in
ethics, role modeling and show-
ing favoritism.”
See REVIEW, Page A7
Joseph Junior Homemaker award winner does it all with
council
adds
Evans
TALENT TO SPARE
By Steve Tool
Wallowa County Chieftain
The Joseph
City Council
voted Tyler
Evans as a
new member
at its Aug. 6
meeting at the
Joseph Com-
Evans
munity Cen-
ter. Joseph
resident Olivia Williams was
also up for the position, but
Evans won the vote by a 3-2
margin. The resignation of
council member Liza Butts
created the opening.
Evans is originally from
Pendleton, but grew up in the
Portland area.
See EVANS, Page A7
Resident
asks county
to inÀ uence
dam owners
By Rob Ruth
Wallowa County Chieftain
Wallowa County commis-
sioners are weighing a proposal
from Wallowa resident Rocky
Wilson to help them inÀ uence
Wallowa Lake Dam owners’
decisions on funding the dam’s
repair.
Two of the three commis-
sioners — Susan Roberts and
Mike Hayward — have pre-
viously offered supportive re-
marks for a private investment
strategy that the Associated
Ditch Companies (ADC), the
dam’s owner organization, al-
ready is pursuing to pay for re-
habilitation.
Kathleen Ellyn/Chieftain
Alisha Melville, 8 (and about to turn 9) strikes a pose that shows how a homemaker juggles her many skills. In her right hand is her blue-ribbon
full wheat bread and in her left is her Best of Show quilt, behind her on the table are the many other entries that won blue ribbons. Alisha won six
blues and two Best of Shows in quilts, preserves, baking and edible flower arrangement (for her green onion praying mantis) and took the Junior
Homemaker Award. Alisha says canning is her favorite domestic art because she enjoys the steps of processing. She declined to share the ‘secret
recipe’ for her blue ribbon chocolate cake. She is the daughter of Heather and Kurt Melville of Enterprise.
See DAM, Page A7
Cemetery’s friends halfway to goal
By Rob Ruth
Wallowa County Chieftain
Enterprise
Cemetery’s
supporters say they’re now
roughly halfway to their fund-
raising goal for purchase and
installation of an underground
irrigation system, expected to
cost around $90,000.
Friends of Enterprise Cem-
etery, a grassroots group that
was formed last year by people
who were unhappy with the
cemetery’s unwatered condi-
tion since 2011, mailed more
than 600 letters this spring
appealing for donations. The
effort has also included web-
based crowdfunding through
gofundme.com. Friends also
has a Facebook page.
Ella Mae Hays, one of the
A sign at the
top of the
entrance lane
to Enterprise
Cemetery
invites people
to join the
restoration
effort led
by the
relatively new
grassroots
group that
has already
raised over
$41,000 for an
underground
irrigation
system.
TO DONATE:
Call Sondra Lozier
541-426-3229
group’s founders, says the
Friends account for irrigation
contains $41,017 as of Aug.
11, marking a ¿ fth consecu-
tive month of brisk donation
activity. She said Friends re-
ceived 18 separate donations
by April 11, 12 more by May
11, a whopping 133 from
May 12 to June 11 (a spike
reÀ ecting the mass-mailed
appeal), 29 more by July 11,
and 21 from July 12 to Aug.
11.
See CEMETERY, Page A7
Rob Ruth/Chieftain