A2
News/Announcements
wallowa.com
July 20, 2016
Wallowa County Chieftain
O BITUARIES
F IVE G ENERATIONS
Julie Ann White
July 23, 1966 to July 16, 2016
Courtesy photo
A local family recently enjoyed a gathering of five generations: Elvira Engeldorf Sims, far right, her son Dennis
Engeldorf, center, granddaughter Rashana Strong, great-grandson Terran Hatch, front, and great great-grandson
Kaiden Hatch.
Environmentalists shut
out of forest litigation
By Mateusz Perkowski
Capital Bureau
Environmental and fi sh-
ing groups will be shut out
from high-stakes litigation
over Oregon’s forest man-
agement policies, according
to a judge’s order.
Linn County Circuit
Court Judge Daniel Murphy
has denied a request by sev-
eral non-profi t organizations
to intervene in the lawsuit,
which seeks $1.4 billion
from Oregon on behalf of
multiple counties.
“Passionate
concern
about something does not
qualify an applicant for in-
tervenor status,” Murphy
said in the ruling.
The proposed intervenors
included the Wild Salmon
Center and its policy director
for Oregon and California,
Robert Van Dyk, as well as
the Association of Northwest
Steelheaders,
Association
of Northwest Guides and
Anglers and Pacifi c Rivers
Council.
Linn County fi led a com-
plaint against the State of
Oregon earlier this year, ar-
guing that 15 counties turned
over 650,000 acres of their
forestlands in the early 20th
Century to the state in ex-
change for promises of future
revenues.
In addition to Linn Coun-
ty, Benton, Clackamas, Clat-
sop, Columbia, Coos, Doug-
las, Josephine, Klamath,
Lane, Lincoln, Marion, Polk,
Tillamook, and Washington
counties turned timberland
over to the state.
Oregon
has
since
breached that contract by en-
acting a “greatest permanent
value” forest policy rule that
prioritizes wildlife, water and
recreation over logging, cost-
ing the counties $1.4 billion
in past and future timber rev-
enues, the complaint said.
The non-profi t groups ar-
gued they should be allowed
to intervene in the case be-
cause they have an interest in
Recent lightning activity
across the Blue Mountains
has sparked several news
fi res, according to a USFS
press release issued Tuesday
morning.
Both lookouts and aerial
reconnaissance have report-
ed a total of eight new light-
ning-caused fi res across the
Wallowa-Whitman National
Dwane Marshall Burch
July 31, 1939 to July 5, 2016
Dwane Marshall Burch was born July 31, 1939, in Oklaho-
ma City, Okla. He passed away July 5, 2016 in Sun City, Fla.,
with his wife and son by his side.
Dwane was a very successful businessman in Enterprise and
Wallowa County. He was the owner/operator of Burch Plumb-
ing & Heating, Burch Enterprises and the Last Gate Ranch. He
had the honor of being nominated as “Tree Farmer of the Year”
by the State of Oregon. Upon his retirement in 1997 he and wife
Shirley moved to Sun City.
He was preceded in death by his parents, his beloved grand-
mother and grandfather and brother Charles Michael Burch.
Survivors include his wife of 50 years, Shirley Renee’ (He-
fl ey) Burch; brothers William Lewis Burch and Gregory Lynn
Burch (both of Celina, Tenn.); children Shelly Marie (Burch)
Bell (Durant, Okla.) and Marshall Scott Burch (Durant, Okla.);
seven grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.
A celebration of life will be held from 2-4 p.m. Sunday, July
31 in the dining room at Eagle’s View Inn, 1200 Highland Ave.
in Enterprise.
D EATH N OTICES
James May
James May died July 18 at his home in Lostine at age 74. A
complete obituary will be published at a later date.
Barbara Prince
Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press
Linn County Circuit Court Judge Daniel Murphy has denied a request by several non-profit
organizations to intervene in the lawsuit filed on behalf of 15 counties that seeks $1.4
billion from the State of Oregon for allegedly insufficient timber harvests from state forests
Barbara Prince died July 18 at her home in Enterprise at age
81. A complete obituary will be published at a later date.
Elizabeth Thompson
forest health and Linn Coun-
ty was effectively trying to
increase logging in state for-
ests.
However, the judge has
held their participation is
unnecessary in the litigation,
which is focused on wheth-
er Oregon has violated con-
tractual obligations to maxi-
mize timber revenues for the
counties.
“Therefore the applicants
have no unique ability to
offer evidence to the court
concerning the breach of
contract issues,” Murphy
said.
Intervenor status would
have given the non-profi ts
the full rights of defendants
in the litigation. The judge
also said they wouldn’t be
allowed to submit friend-
of-the-court briefs on legal
issues in the case.
These arguments would
focus on “consequences to
third parties” of any poten-
tial ruling that shouldn’t be
considered in a breach of
contract dispute, he said.
Linn County opposed the
proposed intervention of the
non-profi t groups because
they could stand in the way
of a possible settlement deal
or challenge a ruling favor-
able to the counties.
“All they were seeking
to do is be obstructionists,”
said John DiLorenzo, an at-
torney for Linn County.
The role of the court
in this case is to resolve a
contractual dispute, not to
“micromanage” the state’s
forest management policy,
DiLorenzo said.
To that extent, the
non-profi t groups have no
more interest in the lawsuit
than any other member of
the public, he said.
Oregon can’t re-write its
regulations without approv-
al from legislators or state
agencies, so the non-profi ts
would have the opportunity
to infl uence that process re-
gardless of the lawsuit’s out-
come, DiLorenzo said.
Ralph Bloemers, attorney
for the non-profi ts, said he’s
disappointed they’ve been
excluded from the case be-
cause a possible remedy for
Oregon would be to increase
logging to the detriment of
his clients.
The groups offered a dif-
ferent perspective than the
State of Oregon because
they don’t believe its forest-
lands are being managed in
compliance with the federal
Endangered Species Act or
Clean Water Act even un-
der current logging levels,
Bloemers said.
Several timber groups are
currently footing the legal
costs for Linn County, which
makes them represented in
the litigation, he said.
The non-profi t groups
haven’t yet decided wheth-
er to appeal the denial of
their intervention request,
Bloemers said.
Lightning sparks new forest
fi res in Blue Mountain region
Wallowa County Chieftain
Julie Ann (Keffer) White, 49, of La
Grande passed away unexpectedly at her
home July 16, 2016.
Julie was born July 23, 1966 in Spring-
fi eld, Ore., to Gail and Janice (Gipson) Kef-
fer. She resided in Springfi eld, Enterprise,
Klamath Falls, Portland and La Grande.
She attended Springfi eld High School
freshman and sophomore years and Enter-
prise High School junior and senior years.
She participated in basketball, cheerlead-
ing and track and fi eld. After graduating, she earned her bach-
elor’s degree in dental hygiene through the Oregon Institute of
Technology. She married Sean White on Aug. 15, 1987.
Julie was employed as a dental hygienist. She was an out-
standing art student at Enterprise High School. She was the FFA
sweetheart, and the senior prom queen. Julie was an amazing
mother, wife, daughter, sister, teacher and friend. She enjoyed
gardening, landscaping, woodworking, fi shing, mushroom and
huckleberry picking, rafting, hiking, playing cards, all arts and
watching her children play sports. She was a member of the
American Dental Hygienists’ Association and Oregon Dental
Hygienists’ Association.
Julie is survived by her husband Sean; children Connor of La
Grande and Haley of La Grande; parents Gail and Janice Keffer
of Joseph; siblings Deborah Johnson of Prineville, Ore., Ingrid
Bornstedt of La Grande and Mark Keffer of Enterprise; and four
nieces and three nephews.
A viewing will be held from 5-7 p.m. Friday, July 22 at
Loveland Funeral Chapel. A celebration of life will be held at
2 p.m. Saturday, July 23 at the Nazarene Church in La Grande.
In lieu of fl owers, memorial contributions can be made to
support scholarships for dental hygiene students in memory
of Julie White to the Oregon Tech Foundation, 3201 Campus
Drive, Klamath Falls, OR 97601. Or visit https://alumni.oit.
edu/donate and enter Julie’s name.
Online condolences may be made to the family at www.
lovelandfuneralchapel.com.
Forest and the Northeast Or-
egon Department of Forestry
protection areas.
The largest of the re-
ported fi res, being called
the Warm Springs Fire, was
contained at approximate-
ly 18 acres in size and was
burning 16 miles Southwest
of La Grande in the vicinity
of Spool Cart Campground.
The fi re burned in a mix
of grass and timber. The fi re
was contained on Monday
afternoon with the help of
the Union Interagency Hot-
shot Crew and four engines.
The other reported inci-
dents have all been held to
under a half acre at this time.
Additional
hold-over
fi res are possible as the
warm, dry conditions con-
tinue throughout the week.
Isolated thunderstorms
and increasing winds are
expected over the next two
days.
Visit the Blue Mountain
Interagency Dispatch web-
page at www.bmidc.org or
contact a local Oregon De-
partment of Forestry or For-
est Service offi ce for more
complete information.
Additional Blue Moun-
tain Fire information can be
found at: http://bluemoun-
tainfi reinfo.blogspot.com.
Elizabeth “Betty” Thompson of Enterprise passed away at
her home on July 17, 2016 at age 66. A complete obituary will
be published at a later date. Bollman Funeral Home is entrusted
with arrangements.
About Obituaries
News obituaries are a free service of the Wallowa County
Chieftain. The paper accepts obituaries from the family or fu-
neral home. Information submitted is subject to editing.
Weather
Forecast
Courtesy of Weather Underground. www.wunderground.com
High Low Conditions
July 21
84
48
Clear
July 22
78
45
Clear
July 23
83
47
Clear
July 24
87
51
Clear
July 25
85
50
Clear
July 26
85
50
Clear
Phases of the moon
July 26
Aug. 2
Aug. 10
Aug. 18
1st Quarter
Full Moon
Last Quarter
New Moon
WALLOWA COUNTY SUNRISE AND SUNSET JULY 20-26
(from the U.S. Naval Observatory)
WED
THUR
FRI
SAT
SUN
MON
TUES
July 20
July 21
July 22
July 23
July 24
July 25
July 26
Rise: 5:21 Rise: 5:22 Rise: 5:23 Rise: 5:24 Rise: 5:25 Rise: 5:26 Rise: 5:27
Set: 8:30 Set: 8:29 Set: 8:28 Set: 8:27 Set: 8:26 Set: 8:24 Set: 8:23