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About Wallowa County chieftain. (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Or.) 1943-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 13, 2016)
Wallowa County Chieftain wallowa.com News January 13, 2016 Fire damages home near lake Two dogs killed in blaze; family not on property By Steve Tool Wallowa County Chieftain 7wo GoJV are con¿rmeG GeaG after a ¿re GeVtroyeG the home of the Bollman family Thursday afternoon south of Wallowa Lake. Units from the Joseph, Wallowa and (nterprise ¿re departments as well as Wal- lowa County Emergency 6erYices, the 6heriff¶s of¿ce and Oregon State Police re- sponded to the blaze at 84611 Ice Creek Ln. Both a neigh- bor and an on-duty UPS truck driver reported the blaze to 911. As smoke billowed from the double-wide manufac- tured home with a steel build- ing shell, ¿re¿ghters manned Steve Tool/Chieftain Firefighters attack the blaze that caused extensive damage to a home on Ice Creek Lane south of Wallowa Lake on Thursday. Two dogs lost their lives in the blaze. with hoses and chainsaws slogged through a foot of snow and attacked the blaze. While the ¿re¿ghters ap- peared to gain the upper hand on the blaze relatively quick- Militia says it has opened government files at refuge Leader says documents will help Hammond arson case BURNS, Ore. (AP) — The leader of a small, armed group occupying a national wildlife refuge in southeastern Oregon said Monday he and his follow- ers are going through govern- ment documents stored inside refuge buildings. Ammon Bundy told report- ers the documents will be used to “expose” how the govern- ment has discriminated against local ranchers who use federal land for cattle grazing. Bundy said the documents would also help secure the re- lease of Steven and Dwight Hammond, two area ranchers convicted of arson who re- turned to prison last week to serve longer sentences. The Hammonds’ case set off the occupation of the Burns-area refuge on Jan. 2. Bundy said his group is not accessing government com- puters at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, including per- sonnel ¿les. After the news conference, the group drove in a convoy to a ranch near the refuge and tore down a stretch of govern- ment-erected fence. The goal, according to the armed men, was to give the rancher ac- cess to the range that had been blocked for years. It’s not clear where the fence was located or which rancher sought the group’s help. The refuge is administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Spokesman Jason Holm said because the docu- ments and ¿les at the refuge may have personally identi¿- able information, the agency “is taking necessary steps to ensure employee and family safety.” The agency strongly con- demned the destruction of the fence and said the action un- dermines hard-earned conser- vation impacts achieved in the area. “Removing fences, dam- aging any Refuge property, or unauthorized use of equipment would be additional unlawful actions by the illegal occupi- ers,” Fish and Wildlife said in a statement. “Any movement of cattle onto the Refuge or other activities that are not specif- ically authorized by USFWS constitutes trespassing.” ly, damage to the home was extensive according to Enter- prise Fire Department Capt. Gary Gassett. “I don’t want to call it a total loss, because I hav- en’t been through the whole house, but what I saw was pretty bad,” Gassett said. Joseph Fire Department Chief Jeff Wecks said ¿re crews responded quickly to the scene. “It looked like it was going for a little bit be- fore we got there, but we got right on top of it and knocked it down pretty fast,” he said. Con¿rming Gassett’s es- timation of the home being a total loss, Wecks said, “There was extensive smoke and wa- ter damage and ¿re damage to the front half of the building. The outside steel structure didn’t get touched.” He add- ed that the cause of the ¿re is yet undetermined although suspected to be electrical. Wecks con¿rmed that none of the Bollman family were on the property at the time of the blaze. Felon gets 14 months for ¿rearm possession By Steve Tool Wallowa County Chieftain At a Jan. 6 Wallowa County Circuit Court appearance, John- son Errol Ngirarois Jr., 35, of Enterprise was sentenced to 14 months in prison and two years of probation for a charge of fel- on in possession of a ¿rearm, a Class C felony. Ngirarois previously was convicted of felony assault II in Tillamook County in 2012. Judge Brian C. Dretke hand- ed down the sentence, the result of an Oct. 6 trial during which a 12-person jury convicted Ngi- rarois on the charge. Ngirarois appeared via tele- phone from Coffee Creek Cor- rectional Facility in Wilsonville. Wallowa County Stockgrowers Assn. Invites YOU to the 8th Annual EducationAL SEMINAR & Scholarship Dinner-Auction! WHEN? WHERE? WHO? A5 Wednesday, January 20, 2016 Cloverleaf Hall in Enterprise Livestock Producers and Interested Public WHAT? 2:00 p.m. Free presentation "Plowing up the Past in the Imnaha Basin" by Lesley Morris, PhD Assistant Professor of Rangeland Sciences, OSU Agriculture and Natural Resources program at EOU 5:30 p.m. Doors Open for Scholarship Dinner & Auction 6:00 p.m. Prime Rib Dinner Prepared by Apple Flat Catering $20 for 13 & Older - $10 for ages 6-12 - Free for ages 5 & Under Proceeds go towards College Scholarships for Wallowa County Youth! Any questions or interest in donating an item may be directed to Katie Howard (425) 248-5227 The Wallowa County Agricultural Resource Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization. Donations for education are tax deductible.
