Merry Christmas
Letters
to Santa!
INSIDE
Page B1
Enterprise, Oregon
www.wallowa.com
Issue No. 36
December 23, 2015
$1
County offi cially rejects marijuana sales
By Kathleen Ellyn
Wallowa County Chieftain
Wallowa County Com-
missioners have voted unani-
mously to opt out of licensing
marijuana businesses.
Following recent similar de-
cisions by the cities of Joseph,
Enterprise and Wallowa, the
commissioners’ move makes
the county effectively “dry.”
The decision was an-
nounced Dec. 16 during the
fi nal public meeting on the
subject. That meeting was
Omnibus
a boost
for local
land trust
medical marijuana and the
ability of local residents to get
the product.
At the Dec. 16 meeting
Commissioner Susan Roberts
gave a lengthy report on her
fi ndings. After talking to sev-
eral medical facilities in Wal-
lowa County she found that
there were none that could
write prescriptions because
they were either a federally
designated medical facility or
were seeking the federal des-
ignation — and marijuana re-
mains a controlled substance
at the federal level.
Roberts said some people
have been able to acquire a
legal synthetic product for
medical uses, but its effi cacy
was debated.
See BAN, Page A9
GIVING
SEASON
By Steve Tool
Wallowa County Chieftain
Last week’s passage of
the $1.1 trillion omnibus bill
averts a government shut
down for nearly a year and
may aid a local land trust in
helping preserve the East
Moraine of Wallowa Lake.
Wallowa Land Trust, a lo-
cal land preservation entity,
was slated for a $3.1 million
grant through the Land and
Water Conservation Fund
(LWCF) that would help the
trust purchase land critical
to the moraine’s preserva-
tion. The omnibus will fund
the LWCF for the next three
years.
The LWCF is not funded
by taxpayers, but through
fees the federal government
accrues through oil drilling
and gas leases.
The grant is disbursed
through a Forest Legacy
Grant under the auspices of
the LWCF.
Wallowa Land Trust Ex-
ecutive Director Kathleen
Ackley said her organization
has put in considerable time
trying to secure the grant,
including sending a letter of
interest to the Forest Legacy
Program in May 2014.
The trust was invited to
submit an application, which
required completion by Octo-
ber 2014. Along with others,
the application was reviewed
in Salem by the state’s stew-
ardship coordinating com-
mittee.
The trust’s application
ranked No. 1 in the state and
was given the green light to
compete at the national level,
where it ranked 10th.
While the land trust took
the lead in submitting the grant,
Ackley credited The Wallowa
Lake Moraines Partnership —
preceded by two well-attend-
ed public meetings during
which proponents and oppo-
nents presented their argu-
ments to the commissioners.
The commissioners had
taken an extra week to further
investigate issues concerning
By Kathleen Ellyn
Wallowa County Chieftain
I
t should be a beautiful Christmas in Wallowa
County for just about everyone.
Dozens of individuals, agencies, clubs, per-
formers and more have been donating both money and food
items to the Wallowa County Food Bank, the Elks Christ-
mas Drive and the Tree of Giving program to make sure no
one goes without this season.
The generosity is so fulsome in Wallowa County it’s hard to
mention every aspect, so we’ll start with a few notables and apolo-
gize in advance to those who didn’t get special mention.
• Community Bank chose to make the Wallowa County Food
Bank their giving project this year and matched
money raised (and deposited in a Community Bank
account) at 50 cents on the dollar, up to $500 per
branch. According to Marketing Manager Leah John-
son, the Wallowa Branch collected $2538, plus the $500
max bank match, which gives Wallowa Food Bank
about $3038.
See GIVING, Page A9
Kathleen Ellyn/Chieftain
Enterprise High School students (left to right) Paul Stangel and
Adrian Widener help pack the Christmas dinner boxes for the Elks.
See BILL, Page A9
Kathleen Ellyn/Chieftain
Andrea Butterfield donned a Santa hat and full Christmas togs to help pack Elks Christmas dinner boxes. (Right) Adajia Latta, double
checks the packing.