Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Wallowa County chieftain. (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Or.) 1943-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 19, 2016)
30th Annual 4-H Radio Auction coming Saturday Enterprise, Oregon A8 Wallowa.com Issue No. 27 THE NEW FACE “ OF AG It’s one of the hardest jobs at the school. See LENDER, Page A9 eginning agriculture teachers from Eastern Oregon schools gathered at Wallowa High School on Oct. 7 to learn how to make “the toughest teaching job at the school” a lot easier. Wallowa was the site for the Eastern Oregon Regional Career and Techni- cal Education (CTE) Consortium Ag Teacher Training in part because of the $480,000 CTE revitalization grant Wal- lowa High School received in 2013 to upgrade its Agricultural Sciences and Technology program. “We relied on the advice of our in- dustry partners in determining what pieces of equipment to buy,” said Wal- lowa High ag instructor Jeremy Mc- Culloch. See FACE, Page A9 Forum introduces candidates By Kathleen Ellyn Wallowa County Chieftain Wallowa County has been fortu- nate this year in that candidates for all open positions except Lostine Mayor have stepped forward. “I believe in the process and I think it’s great we have people who are willing to serve in public offi ce,” said Michele Young, city administrator for Enterprise. “It’s volunteer and it takes a lot of time,” On Thursday the public had an opportunity to meet some of these candidates and put questions to them. Approximately 30 members of the public took advantage of that opportunity and attended the can- didates forum organized by Enter- prise Chapter of Rotary Interna- tional. About 30 others were Rotary members who were putting on the event and candidates for various positions throughout the county, in- By Kathleen Ellyn Wallowa County Chieftain See FORUM, Page A9 B Kathleen Ellyn/Chieftain Innovative firm played key role in Wallowa Lake Lodge agreement cluding Sheriff Steve Rogers, who is running unopposed. Sen. Bill Hansell, Rep. Greg Barretto, Jo- seph Mayor Dennis Sands, County Commissioner Susan Roberts and Commissioner-elect Todd Nash also attended. By Kathleen Ellyn Wallowa County Chieftain Left to right: Chelcee Mansfield of Union High, Jeremy McCulloch of Wallowa High and an unidentified attendee. Lender opening doors for local projects A unique regional lender that played a key role in the Wal- lowa Lake Lodge acquisition last spring recently opened a new of- fi ce in Walla Walla. Craft3, a nonprofi t community Development Financial Institu- tion (CDFI), is hosting an open house Oct. 20 at its new offi ce at 103 E. Main St. in Walla Wal- la that will serve Eastern Oregon and Southwest Washington. Craft3 works to support busi- nesses, nonprofi ts and individ- uals with barriers to traditional lending. Their goal is to support community and ecological proj- ects and they are well known for funding small, family business- es, agriculture, value-added food processing and manufacturing, and retail and tourism projects. In the case of the Wallowa Lake Lodge, a conservation loan from Craft3 was used as a bridge loan to allow the newly creat- ed Lake Wallowa Lodge LLC to purchase and preserve the nearly 100-year-old lodge and surround- ing nine acres before the sales deadline. A portion of the money need- ed for the $2.75 million purchase was intended to come from sell- ing off some of the surrounding land to a group interested in con- servation of the wetlands and fi sh- eries. The LLC group was in con- versation with the Nez Perce tribe on that, but no fi nalized plans had been made, which triggered the need for a bridge loan. The confi guration of the loan was unusual, said Craft3 Senior Business Lender Brad Hunter. “Traditionally we work with land trusts, but this was an op- portunity to do something with a newly formed community invest- ment group,” Hunter said. “It was almost like lending to a start-up.” From the point of view of mak- ing a conservation loan, several factors gave Hunter confi dence that the loan would be paid back: the land did have a high conser- vation value and, as mentioned, conservation plans already were under discussion with the Nez Perce Tribe. Educators gather in Wallowa to share ideas, technology for next wave of teachers LES LINEGAR, 35 YEARS AS AN AG TEACHER October 19, 2016 Friends of NRA banquet raises $100,000 By Kathleen Ellyn Wallowa County Chieftain Few people who attend the Wallowa County Friends of NRA Auction and Banquet on Saturday would describe themselves as “gun people.” They will, however, wax sentimental about their love of the family traditions around hunting, their rural values and the sensibility of carrying a gun in remote areas, as well as proper gun-use training as handed down by grandpar- ents. And they’ll strongly de- fend their Second Amend- ment rights. Given the solid rural back- grounds of most attendees, it may be no surprise that the Wallowa County event sells out year after year — this year in just 10 days. Or that attend- ees spent $18,320 on various raffl es this year. Or that 64 guns were awarded as prizes. But what pleases organizers every year is the tremendous fi nancial success of the event given the small population of the coun- ty. In 2014 the event grossed $82,000. That number jumped to $114,000 in 2015, and this year it grossed close to $100,000. A good chunk of that money comes back to the county. See FRIENDS, Page A18 Kathleen Ellyn/Chieftain Wallowa County Sheriff Steve Rogers (unofficially) advises a winner on the uses and benefits of various firearms on the “Wall of Guns.” Winners of guns from the wall could choose the gun that best fit their needs.