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
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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.