A10
WEDNESDAY
July 13, 2016
Pay to play
proposed
for portion
of Snake
Wallowa County Chieftain
Ellen Morris Bishop/For the Chieftain
The Dragons in the Wallowas dragon boat club benefited from another killer workshop thanks to Rick and Colleen McLaughlin of the
200-member Golden Dragons race club in Portland. The team showed such improvement in a short time that the McLaughlins have
committed to a third workshop before the Aug. 27 races. In this photo, Colleen is in the front of the boat and Rick is tiller.
UP FOR THE CHALLENGE
Local dragon boat squad ups its conditioning as out-of-towners plan August visit
By Kathleen Ellyn
Wallowa County Chieftain
T
he Dragons in the Wallowas dragon
boat club continues to grow and is
looking for even more members as
they prepare for the Aug. 27-28 race
event on Wallowa Lake.
According to race coordinator Michael
Lockhart, 11 teams from around the North-
west have submitted entry forms.
“I expect more,” Lockhart said. “But
we’re a going concern at this point.”
The gathering will feature four separate
events, two each on Saturday and Sunday.
Saturday’s races will be a traditional four-
lane, 500-meter race and a similar 250-me-
ter race. On Sunday there will be a second
four-lane, 500-meter race and two identical
250-meter serpentine one-lane courses.
The serpentine course is an original
Wallowa County invention that Lockhart, a
former organizer of ski races, conceived of
as a “water slalom.”
“The dragon boat community is really
excited about that,” Lockhart said.
Most of the competing teams arriving
from Portland, Vancouver and other cities
will have years of experience, so the brand-
new Dragons in the Wallowas have their
work cut out for them. Fortunately, Wal-
lowa County team members have exhibited
better-than-usual fi tness levels for begin-
ners, according to workshop coach Colleen
McLaughlin, head coach of “The Golden
Dragons” of Portland. Nevertheless, the
practice sessions for the local Wallowa club
must show rapid improvement in technique
and condition if they hope to be competitive
by late August.
“It’s a very ambitious goal,” McLaughlin
said.
For that reason the club has decided that
regular Tuesday and Thursday evening prac-
tices can no longer accept “try it, you’ll like
it” new paddlers unless their fi tness level is
already very high.
Two new paddlers of high fi tness levels
came out for their fi rst time recently and
did well, so if you’re in good shape, don’t
hesitate to come on a Tuesday or Thursday,
said head coach Nicole Bellows.
Forest managers would like to charge a
special recreation permit fee of $5 to $10
per passenger for people who travel on the
Wild and Scenic portion of the Snake River.
The proposed fee would be per-person,
per-trip and would be collected from all
boaters and passengers. The fee also would
include individuals using outfi tter/guide
services on the Wild and Scenic portion of
the Snake River. The area subject to the pro-
posed fee is the Snake River beginning at
Hells Canyon Dam to Cache Creek Ranch
(approximately 70 miles).
Employees of outfi tters and guides
would not be subject to the fee during
working hours, nor would travel by private,
noncommercial boat to any private land in-
holding; or any person who has right of ac-
cess for hunting or fi shing privileges under
specifi c provisions of treaty or law.
The $5 to $10 fee would be used to im-
prove maintenance of developed facilities
and historic sites used for recreation, ex-
pand interpretation, address health and safe-
ty concerns and provide extra river patrols.
In 2004, Congress passed the Federal Lands
Recreation Enhancement Act which allows
the Forest Service to keep 95 percent of fees
collected at certain recreation sites and use
these funds locally to operate and maintain
and improve these sites.
Deputy District Ranger of the Wallowa
Mountains Offi ce Jake Lubera said the ser-
vice was having trouble keeping up with
normal operations and hoped the fee would
help provide a stable funding source.
“With this proposed investment from
those who use the river, we will be able
to maintain the sites to the level and qual-
ity that people expect and invest in other
needs such as education and safety,” Lu-
bera said.
See BOATS, Page A16
See RIVER, Page A16
Little Buckaroos ride again at CJD rodeo
By Kathleen Ellyn
Wallowa County Chieftain
The Chief Joseph Days Ro-
deo will host the Little Buck-
aroo Rodeo for special needs
individuals for the second year
on Wednesday, July 27 in the
Harley Tucker Arena. This year
there will be no age limit on
competitors. There is no admis-
sion fee, either.
“They just need to be dis-
abled in some way to be part
of this,” said organizer Debbie
Scudder of Enterprise. “I think
this is going to be quite an out-
reach to people with disabilities
in our community.”
Scudder is prepared for up to
25 competitors in the event.
“The fi rst 25 that show up
will participate,” she said. “This
year Sports Corral supplied belt
buckle awards for all competi-
tors.”
Sports Corral also supplied
stick horses, hats and more for
the event and are sponsoring
the event along with the Chief
Joseph Days board of directors.
A volunteer cowboy or cow-
girl accompanies every compet-
itor, and the CJD royalty again
will help out. Volunteers are
usually very happy to step for-
ward because the “job” is so
much fun, Scudder said.
See RODEO, Page A16
Kathleen Ellyn/Chieftain
2015 CJD Queen Addie Kilgore shows the Hall twins of Pilot
Rock how to run the barrels on stick horses during last year’s
Little Buckaroo event.
Kathleen Ellyn/Chieftain
Katie Hall of Pilot Rock gives bull riding a try.
Two-day invitational a success despite weather
In regards to the weather, golf-
ers who signed up to play in the 2nd
annual two-day invitational tourna-
ment last weekend at Alpine Mead-
ows lucked out Saturday with omi-
nous clouds but only a spatter of rain
and a barrel of sunshine. On Sunday
the same fellows weren’t so lucky ...
the black sky opened with barrels of
rain and not a spatter of sunshine.
Although the 32 golfers who
played the two-man best ball format
Saturday were disappointed with
weather conditions that caused the
Sunday game cancellation, they de-
parted for home earlier than planned
Rochelle Danielson
in an understanding, happy mood
with prize payouts awarded to six of
eight teams in each fl ight, and dou-
ble amounts in skins.
Saturday Team Winners:
First Flight Gross: 1. Logston/Al-
len, 68; 2. Boggs/Neyer, 68; 3. Corn/
Griggs, 68. (Determined by handi-
cap and pops)
First Flight Net: 1. L Homan/G
Oveson, 70; 2. D Johnson/B Ables,
73; 3. Jolma/Rosbarsky, 74.
Second Flight Gross: 1. J Har-
mon/J Stoffel, 74; 2. D Duquette/M
Gibbs, 75; 3. H Talbott/F Cornett,
77.
Second Flight Net: 1. D Ander-
son/J Cornett, 81; 2. J Kissinger/P
Kissinger, 85; 3. Lynn/Beck, 87.
Greg Corn won KP (closest to
pin in one shot) on No. 1/10, 5’ 7”;
Patrick Lynn, KP No. 4/13, 10’ 7”;
Gordy Jolma, longest putt No. 8/17,
24’ 3”.
Only two-person teams were
rewarded, but there were excel-
lent single scores recorded. For in-
stance, M. Griggs had low gross for
the fi rst fl ight and fi eld with a 73.
And Howard Talbott had low gross
for the second fl ight of 79.
Saturday was a day of good golf.
Entry handicaps ranged from low
“one” handicap to high in the low
20s. Birdies were numerous, and
our hometown boys scored well.
Lance Homan birdied Nos. 5, 11, 16
and 18. Marvin Gibbs, Nos. 6 and 8.
Bill Ables, No.s 6, 14 and 15. Dean
Duquette, No. 14. Jeff Stoffel, Nos.
8 and 18. Dick Anderson, No. 7.
Terry Decker No. 14. Paul Kissing-
er, formerly of Enterprise, Nos. 1
and 12.
“The course is in excellent
shape,” said one player from the
Montoga/Martinez team of Wal-
la Walla. “It is beautiful out there,
and we have had a good round and
a good time.”
Chef Sherri Currie served a bar-
becue ribs dinner at the clubhouse
Saturday evening.
Rochelle Danielson is an Alpine
Meadows member who resides in
Enterprise.