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wallowa.com
September 21, 2016
Wallowa County Chieftain
PPL grant mixes it up
for Enterprise high class
72 ND C HIEF J OSEPH D AYS COURT
By Kathleen Ellyn
Wallowa County Chieftain
Courtesy of Angelika U. Dietrich
The 72nd Chief Joseph Days court was announced Aug. 21. From left: Maddi Tracy-
Mallory, a junior at Joseph Charter School; Haley Miller, a sophomore at Joseph Charter
School; and Caitlin Robb, a senior at Wallowa High School. The 72nd Chief Joseph Days
queen will be crowned in April.
Let the cake-making be-
gin.
A grant from Pacifi c Pow-
er and Light has allowed the
purchase of four Kitchen Aid
Artisan stainless steel mixers
and a Viking Husqvarna sew-
ing machine for Enterprise
High School’s Family and
Consumer Sciences (FACS)
class.
“The kids are always ex-
cited about new stuff,” said
teacher Tamarah Duncan.
“They’ve certainly noticed
the new mixers.”
Cindi
Aschenbrenner
wrote the grant for the Enter-
prise Education Foundation
with the FACS class specifi -
cally in mind.
“Cindi asked if there was
any need and I told her our
Kitchen Aids were from 1973
and sometimes worked spo-
radically,” Duncan said. She
then shopped for the best
Kathleen Ellyn/Chieftain
Jacob Strampe figures out the mechanics of the newest tool
in the Family and Consumer Sciences class at EHS.
buy on the items she needed
and submitted her fi ndings to
Aschenbrenner and PPL met
the costs: $1,500.
Now the FACS class is
ready to make an apron on
the sewing machine and whip
up a few cakes with the new
Ocean conditions portend uncertain winter weather across West
By Tim Hearden
Capital Press
SACRAMENTO
—
Weather forecasters are back-
ing off their earlier prediction
that La Nina atmospheric con-
ditions would drive weather
patterns this fall and winter.
That means all bets are off
when it comes to how — and
how many — storms will ap-
proach the West Coast, advis-
es Michelle Mead, a National
Weather Service warning co-
ordinator.
The federal Climate Pre-
diction Center had issued
a “watch” for La Niña — a
mixture of atmospheric and
ocean surface temperatures
that tends to steer storms to-
ward the Pacifi c Northwest
and Northern California.
But the center abandoned
the La Niña watch as ocean
surface temperatures dropped
to neutral, portending neutral
oceanic conditions that don’t
infl uence storms in a particu-
lar direction as they approach
the coast.
“(T)here are no strong at-
mospheric signals to indicate
strong correlations to winter
conditions,” Mead said in an
email.
She said people can “get
the dart board out” as winter
outlooks show equal chances
of above-, near- or below-nor-
mal precipitation throughout
virtually the entire West.
For the Central Valley
and much of the West, an
early-season reprieve in the
form of ample rainfall may
be elusive. From December
through April, the Climate
Prediction Center sees a good
chance of wetter-than-normal
conditions only in parts of the
inland Northwest, including
Eastern Washington, north-
eastern Oregon and northern
and central Idaho.
A drier-than-normal win-
ter is expected in Southern
California, while the rest of
the West could go either way,
according to the center’s
long-range models.
The
U.S.
Seasonal
Drought Outlook expects the
drought to persist in most of
California and in Eastern Or-
egon through Dec. 31. The
U.S. Drought Monitor still
shows abnormally dry con-
ditions or moderate drought
throughout the West, with
Central California still rated
as in extreme or exceptional
drought.
For the Golden State, a re-
turn to neutral oceanic condi-
Uptmor a voice for small schools on state boards
By Kathleen Ellyn
Wallowa County Chieftain
Wallowa School Superin-
tendent Bret Uptmor is broad-
ening his infl uence and repre-
senting smaller schools with
service on two state boards.
He has been serving on
the Accountability Record-
ing Advisory Committee for
about 18 months. That board
reports to the Oregon Depart-
ment of Education and was
mandated by the legislature to
work on ways to hold schools
accountable for student suc-
cess and show their work. It
also makes recommendations
on appeals of information
found in school report cards.
A recording issue, for in-
stance, would be if a school
has a 90 percent graduation
rate on their report card be-
cause 10 percent of the class
opted out of the testing. This
is not accurate recording. The
graduation rate may be much
higher, and the recording rules
should be changed to refl ect
the accurate number.
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An example of an appeal
would be one that Wallowa
itself might make — the rules
say that if a school has less
than 40 graduates in a two-
year span the graduation rate
may not be considered in your
school report card. A school’s
graduation rate will show as
zero.
Because of his experience
with smaller schools, Uptmor
was able to argue for a change
in that rule.
“I had a deep interest in be-
ing on the committee because
I could see small schools were
not equitably recognized,” he
said.
While on the board for Ac-
countability Recording, Upt-
mor also heard about a work
committee that meets to deter-
mine how the state determines
a school’s accountability with
regard to the Every Student
Succeeds Act (ESSA).
The work committee met
for three months and their
recommendation was that the
ODE move toward including
a dashboard presentation on
the report cards rather than
only the basic statistics, so
that a parent could look at the
document and see how their
tions after a year-long El Niño
could mean more dry winters
after one good-but-not-great
precipitation season in many
areas.
As the water year draws
to a close, Redding’s 40.49
inches of rainfall for the year
topped its average of 34.32
annual inches, and more rain
in the area was possible late
this week, according to the
National Weather Service.
Fresno’s 14.29 inches since
last Oct. 1 is above its normal
annual rainfall total of 11.4
inches.
But Sacramento will likely
fi nish on Sept. 30 with slight-
ly below-average precipita-
tion, with 16.19 inches for the
season compared to its normal
18.37 inches, according to the
weather service.
The season was largely
capped off with big storms
in March that fi lled Northern
California reservoirs and en-
abled the U.S. Bureau of Rec-
lamation to give full water
allocations to Northern Cali-
fornia farms. But in a majority
of past years when sea surface
temperatures across the equa-
torial Pacifi c remained mostly
average, California’s rain and
snow totals were below nor-
mal, Mead noted.
New water stations
popular in schools
By Kathleen Ellyn
Wallowa County Chieftain
Kathleen Ellyn/Chieftain
Wallowa School Super-
intendent Bret Uptmor.
school was doing in a broader,
more narrative way.
“They could, for instance,
read information on how their
school was doing in maintain-
ing a ‘school climate’ con-
ducive to learning,” Uptmor
said. “The school climate
would include information on
absences, disciplinary issues,
dropouts and more.”
Currently, Uptmor said,
“when you’re telling parents
in a two-page summary how
their school is doing, they
can’t look (at those rows
of numbers) and say, ‘This
school is doing good’ or ‘I
like how they’re handling the
math problem.’”
In just one month of use,
the water bottle fi lling sta-
tions in Wallowa Elementa-
ry and Wallowa High School
have saved the equivalent of
800 water bottles, according
to Superintendent Bret Upt-
mor.
Not only is that better
for the environment, but it’s
better for the kids, who are
clearly drinking more water.
The water stations, which
include a regular drink-
ing fountain, were entirely
paid for through a Soropti-
mist grant in the amount of
$3,140. The grant covered
the purchase and installation
of two stations as well as
two backup fi lters.
Ann Bloom, nutrition
education program assistant
at the Wallowa County Ex-
Kathleen Ellyn/Chieftain
Kody Salmon tests the
coolness of the water
coming out of the new bottle-
filling station at Wallowa
Elementary School.
tension Service, wrote for
the grant on behalf of the
school.
“I know of other places
that have gotten these and
they say they get more use
than you’d expect,” Uptmor
said. “I know Ann was con-
cerned about nutrition and
kids drinking more water,
and I think this addresses
that well.”
Weather
Forecast
Courtesy of Weather Underground. www.wunderground.com
High Low Conditions
57
40
Mostly cloudy
Sept. 23
59
38
Partly cloudy
Dr. Ellen Morris Bishop
Sept. 24
67
42
Clear
Evening Presentation
Sept. 25
72
47
Clear
Sept. 26
76
45
Clear
Sept. 27
67
39
Clear
!
EE
Ancient
Moraines
and the Early Ice Age in the Wallowas
FR
Sept. 22
and the Paciic Northwest
geologist-naturalist-writer-photographer
Thursday, Sept 22nd • 7pm
How–and how long ago–did the Ice Age (Pleistocene) start?
What features did its glaciers and loods produce here?
What lived here during the Pleistocene?
And what mysteries are left to solve?
Moraine Field Trip
Friday, Sept 23rd • 9am - noon
The most ancient moraines of the Wallowas are un-dated, but
may be more than a million years old. Our walk will explore the
geology of these older features, and locate erratics for Oregon
State University to determine an age through Be10 dating.
Meet at Wallowology at 9am. Limit 10 people. Pre-register at 541-263-1663
or come into Wallowology. Sorry no dogs or collecting.
Are you feeling stressed
and overwhelmed?
Do you feel hopeless
or has the joy gone
out of your life?
Are you struggling
to make your
marriage work?
A few sessions
can make a big diference.
Jeff Harman, MA., LPC
www.jharmancounseling.com
508 N. Main • Joseph • Wed - Sun • 10am-3pm • wallowology.org
Sept. 23
Sept. 30
Oct. 9
Oct. 16
1st Quarter
Full Moon
I can help!
Professional Counseling In A Private Setting
N atural H istory Discovery Center
Phases of the moon
To schedule an appointment call Jef Harman (541) 426-3067
Preferred Provider for Regence Blue Cross, ODS, Cascade Centers
and many other private insurance and employee assistance programs.
Last Quarter
New Moon
WALLOWA COUNTY SUNRISE AND SUNSET SEPT. 21-27
(from the U.S. Naval Observatory)
WED
THUR
FRI
SAT
SUN
MON
TUES
Sept. 21 Sept. 22 Sept. 23 Sept. 24 Sept. 25 Sept. 26 Sept. 27
Rise: 6:36 Rise: 6:37 Rise: 6:38 Rise: 6:39 Rise: 6:41 Rise: 6:42 Rise: 6:43
Set: 6:47 Set: 6:45 Set: 6:43 Set: 6:42 Set: 6:40 Set: 6:38 Set: 6:36