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About Wallowa County chieftain. (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Or.) 1943-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 12, 2016)
A4 Opinion wallowa.com October 12, 2016 Wallowa County Chieftain Good sports all around at local schools s we ind ourselves in the middle of a particularly contentious election year, examples of the ugly side of humanity abound. The negativity and unbridled allegiance to self-interest can be nauseating. If you’re looking for a calming counterbalance, an oasis of civility, might we recommend attending a local high school sports event? Doesn’t matter which one you choose. Pick a team, pick a sport and go. We guarantee you’ll encounter fans who cheer on their teams — win, lose or disaster. Voice of the Chieftain You’ll see coaches who conduct themselves with class, who rarely raise their voices with oficials and who face reporters with at least half a smile, no matter their team’s performance — coaches who instill that same humility and class in the young athletes whose lives they help shape. And you’ll come across countless examples of young adults who can restore your faith in our society’s future, not just those on the court or ield, but in the stands as well. Each week we try to attend as many events as our busy schedules allow, and we’re always struck by the exceptional — and genuine — sportsmanship displayed at local schools. During a very physical football game between Joseph and Cove on Friday, players on both teams were congratulating their opponents with “Great hit, man” and “Way to make a play, 54.” At one point late in the game, with the outcome no longer in doubt, a rugby-like scrum developed as Cove attempted to power into the end zone from just a few yards out. A mass of players for both teams pushed head-to-head in a show of brute force. Then the whistle blew, ending the play, and from the sidelines you could hear a player yell out, “Man, that was fun!” In early September, when a football team from Notus, Idaho, visited for a game at Wallowa, they brought a truckload of potatoes from their local FFA for the Wallowa fans to take home. And it’s not uncommon to see concession workers at any of our three high schools assembling free to-go packages for opposing teams’ long bus rides. These are just a few examples. There are many more, most of which go unnoticed. It’s not that Wallowa County has a monopoly on good sportsmanship. We occasionally hear the muted grumblings of parents who believe their kids aren’t getting enough playing time, but that’s to be expected. We’re certain, however, that this level of sportsmanship is unique to small towns. You’re far more likely to see the ugly side of youth sports at a rivalry game in an urban setting than you are in towns where you don’t just drive home afterward without seeing the opponents again, at least for another year or so. Small-town communities tend to stick together more and depend on one another. As we watch so-called adults acting like children in the media, it might do us some good to take a lesson from the next generation — you can defeat an adversary without humiliating them, and you can congratulate them with a smile when they get the best of you. A EDITORIAL — Scot Heisel USPS No. 665-100 P.O. Box 338 • Enterprise, OR 97828 Ofice: 209 NW First St., Enterprise, Ore. Phone: 541-426-4567 • Fax: 541-426-3921 Wallowa County’s Newspaper Since 1884 Enterprise, Oregon M eMber O regOn n ewspaper p ublishers a ssOciatiOn P UBLISHER E DITOR R EPORTER R EPORTER N EWSROOM ASSISTANT A D S ALES CONSULTANT O FFICE MANAGER Marissa Williams, marissa@bmeagle.com Scot Heisel, editor@wallowa.com Stephen Tool, stool@wallowa.com Kathleen Ellyn, kellyn@wallowa.com editor@wallowa.com Jennifer Powell, jpowell@wallowa.com Cheryl Jenkins, cjenkins@wallowa.com Periodical Postage Paid at Enterprise and additional mailing ofices 1 Year $40.00 $57.00 Subscriptions must be paid prior to delivery See the Wallowa County Chieftain on the Internet www.wallowa.com facebook.com/Wallowa | twitter.com/wcchieftain POSTMASTER — Send address changes to Wallowa County Chieftain P.O. Box 338 Enterprise, OR 97828 Contents copyright © 2016. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is prohibited. Volume 134 Just got back from a trip with my younger brother Billy. Being trapped in a vehicle with him for six days can be trying but we had a great time. About a month ago I got the urge to visit the old country (Saskatchewan), where we were both born. I thought of taking my wife but wisely called my brother instead. The idea of the trip was to take Mom and Dad’s ashes up and scatter them on the old homestead where they got their start. Like here, the ranches often retain the name of the original homesteaders. Dad eventually acquired adjacent home- steads — the Cleveland, the Graham and the Tommy Bell Ranch — to add to his holdings. The Cleveland was where he and Mom got scattered. Dad was smart enough to retain the mineral rights on that place. It has three oil wells across the road from it. Part of the reason for the trip was to see if we could get a few on it. Billy congratulated me on the great idea of the trip and the good sense to leave our wives at home, since they had no interest in who or what we would want to see. He occasionally would laugh and comment on how miserable they would make the trip and how they would take our good time out on the prairie and kill it. About every hour or so he would turn to the empty back seat and yell “we’ll OPEN RANGE Barrie Qualle stop at the next rest stop and you will just have to hold it” or “I don’t know how far Havre is; we’ll get there when we get there so shut up and enjoy the scenery.” Brave talk when Linda was 1,000 miles away. Then he would laugh and congrat- ulate himself on traveling unattended. I noticed Billy had a baggie full of baking soda and a measuring spoon for his heartburn. I worried whether Canadi- an customs would suspect it was cocaine and think we were confused smugglers going the wrong way. We cleared cus- toms with no search and were at the old ranch an hour later. Our trip down mem- ory lane was very enjoyable, made even more fun with Billy occasionally yelling at the unoccupied back seat. The coun- try looked very prosperous since rainfall, cattle, wheat and oil had been so good the last few years. With those markets headed south there will probably be some bargains available from the guys who ex- panded at the top of the market. Head- ing south to Billings we traveled through beautiful cattle country. Billy comment- ed that it was good to see there was still country like that, then turned and yelled at the empty back seat, “I don’t care if you don’t like it, I do”. The trip was a total success and we saw the old ranches, coulees and teepee rings we had played in as kids and vis- ited old friends we will probably never see again. All these things that were dear to us but would have been torture for our wives and, therefore, us. My wife leaves on a solo trip to Cal- ifornia next week to visit her kids and friends. I wonder if she will occasionally yell at the passenger seat, “I don’t care if you are ready to go home. I am having a great time.” While attending the Pendleton Roundup this year I was again struck by the amazing run-in of the lag and queens. When the cannon goes off and a cowboy comes at full gallop with the lag and jumps the fence and slides to a stop, followed by the queens and nation- al anthem, it will make an American out of you. Then the Air Force jets blast by at the end of the anthem and the cowboy with the lag jumps the fence and a full blast leads the rest out. I would dare colin kaepernick to take a knee at that venue. What an ungrateful whelp he is. Columnist Barrie Qualle is a working cowboy in Wallowa County. Thanks for supporting the Enterprise Cemetery project The Enterprise Cemetery Mainte- nance District Board of Directors has formally accepted the irrigation system that was installed over the course of the summer by Hurricane Creek Land- scape & Design. Fully automated, the new system will water roughly 80 per- cent of the 15-acre cemetery, including all of the area platted for grave spaces. System components include 2,300 feet of 3-inch main line, 13,000 feet (almost 2.5 miles) of lateral lines, 43 zone-con- trol valves and decoders, a 5-horse- power booster pump, a programmable commercial-grade controller clock and a master-low control valve and low meter. The master-low control valve and low meter provide the controller with the information and the means to shut down all irrigation in the event of a break anywhere in the system. The total cost of the new system, in- cluding pre-bid design and engineering, was a little more than $140,000. Fund- ing for the project, in round numbers, can be summarized as follows: • Donations to Friends of the Enter- prise Cemetery: $55,000 • Donations to the Enterprise Ceme- tery District: $26,000 GUEST COLUMN Enterprise Cemetery Maintenance District Board of Director • Grant From Paciic Power Founda- tion: $5,000 • Grant from Wildhorse Foundation: $10,000 • Grant from Farm Credit Adminis- tration: $2,000 • Gift from city of Enterprise: $2,000 • Allocation from district general funds (made possible by volunteer la- bor): $10,000 • Re-direction of district reserve for new columbarium: $30,000 • Total Funding: $140,000 Parts of the new system have been in use since late in July, and the new system has been the primary source of cemetery irrigation since mid-August. A small part of the old hand line will be retained to irrigate the area around the shop/ofice building until plans for that area and funding to execute the plans are irm. We plan to demonstrate the new sys- Why no Oregon news on TV? p ublished every w ednesday by : EO Media Group Subscription rates (includes online access) Wallowa County Out-of-County The beauty of unencumbered travel As a subscriber to a satellite TV pro- vider in Wallowa my “local” stations come from Spokane. This provides me with zero information as to what is im- portant in Oregon. If not for OPB radio, not television, I would get no informa- tion concerning what is happening in my state. I have looked to elected oficials and others who I thought were in position to do something to ix this but have only been disappointed. LETTERS to the EDITOR Two questions: • Am I the only person affected by this blackout who cares? • What is it going to take to get this corrected? Roger Eagan Wallowa tem for all who are interested next May coincident with “Groom the Cemetery” day in preparation for Memorial Day 2017. We thank again all of the individuals and organizations who gave to the ceme- tery or to The Friends. We thank the Pa- ciic Power Foundation, The Wildhorse Foundation and the Farm Credit Admin- istration for their generous grants, and the city of Enterprise for their donation of money, materials and expertise. Thanks also to KIE and Ander- son-Perry. Every company probably has a line about “Good Corporate Cit- izenship” somewhere in the mission statement. These two “walk the walk” as well as talk the talk. Both have gone far beyond “good customer support” ex- pectations in providing material support and counsel in both design and installa- tion stages of the project. Considering that fund raising efforts began little more than a year ago, suc- cessful completion of this project is a resounding tribute to the generosity and community spirit of the people of Wallowa County, including those who now live elsewhere but still think of the county as “home.” Letters to the Editor are subject to editing and should be limited to 275 words. Writers should include a phone number with their signature so we can call to verify identity. The Chieftain does not run anonymous letters. Submit a letter in person; by mail to P.O. Box 338, Enterprise, OR 97828; by email to editor@wallowa. com; or via the submission form at the newspaper’s website, located at wallowa.com. WHERE TO WRITE Washington, D.C. U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D — 516 Hart Senate Ofice Building, Washing- ton D.C. 20510. Phone: 202-224-5244. E-mail: wayne_kinney@wyden.senate. gov Web site: http://wyden.senate.gov. U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D — 313 Hart Senate Ofice Building, Washing- ton D.C. 20510. Phone: 202-224-3753. E-mail: senator@merkley.senate.gov. Oregon ofices include One World Trade Center, 121 S.W. Salmon St., Suite 1250, Portland, OR 97204; and 310 S.E. Second St., Suite 105, Pendle- ton, OR 97801. Phone: 503-326-3386; 541-278-1129. U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R — (Sec- ond District) 1404 Longworth Build- ing, Washington D.C. 20515. Phone: 202-225-6730. No direct e-mail be- cause of spam. Web site: www.walden. house.gov/ Medford ofice: 14 North Central, Suite 112, Medford, OR 97501. Phone: 541-776-4646.