Wallowa County Chieftain wallowa.com THE SCENE Entertainment December 28, 2016 MCNEIL S MILES ON WHEELS Continued from Page A1 Subway of Enterprise employee Chris Gomes poses with his new three- wheeled bicycle, an early Christmas gift from a collaboration between Santa Claus and Wallowa Grain Growers employees. Gomes said he couldn’t wait to start using the new bicycle. The Oregon State Police gifted Gomes the star on his shirt, which identifies him as a junior trooper. Friday, Dec. 30 • “Final Friday” Open Mic Night, 7 p.m. at Stockman’s Lounge Friday, Jan. 6 • Open mic, 7 p.m. at Terminal Gravity Thursday, Jan. 12 Big Read Kickoff, 7 p.m. Fishtrap, Enterprise Friday, Jan. 13 • Bart Budwig and Marshal McLean, 7 p.m. at Terminal Gravity Saturday, Jan. 14 Wallowa County Gamblers Snowmobile Club Annual Pok- er Run, Salt Creek Summit Tunesmith Night, 6 p.m. Featuring Marshall McLean, Bart Budwig and Kory Quinn at Stockman’s Lounge Wednesday, Jan. 18 Eagle Cap Extreme sled dog race, 9 a.m. vet check in Joseph and 1 p.m. vet check in Enterprise. Followed by community potluck at the Joseph Civic Center. Thursday, Jan. 19 Eagle Cap Extreme sled dog race, start at 1 p.m. at Fergi Ski Area Please submit Enter- tainment Calendar event information to editor@ wallowa.com Steve Tool/Chieftain Enterprise �ish hatchery expands OUT OF THE PAST Compiled by Cheryl Jenkins Items of interest from the pages of The Chieftain from this week in years past. 100 YEARS AGO Dec. 28, 1916 December 27, 1916, may be set down as one of the memorable cold days in En- terprise and Wallowa county. The minimum temperature was not abnormal for mid- winter. This was 20 below zero, a temperature reached nearly every winter. But the maximum was the lowest re- corded since this paper began keeping check on the weath- er. The thermometer rose only to 6 degrees above zero in the whole day. A striking illustration of the increase in population of this community was afford- ed at the railroad station last Saturday. The waiting room was overcrowded and many persons stood on the platform when the train came in. Agent Rice found he had sold ex- actly 100 tickets for the out- bound train. J. F. Bruce has rented the Miller building on River street, opposite the front of the courthouse, and is moving his harness store to it, from his old location at Main and West 1st streets. The building has windows at the front and rear and also a skylight. Advertisement: Don’t Kill Your Wife — let our machines do your dirty work and raise you in your wife’s estimation from a mud image to one of the gods. Eagle Cap Laundry. 70 YEARS AGO Dec. 26, 1946 Improvements calculated to increase the capacity of A7 Wallowa County Chieftain archives Freighting to Imnaha. the Enterprise fi sh hatchery from less than a million fi sh to over 2 million are getting underway, according to Supt. Ralph Kay. The Wallowa Cougar bas- ketball team will make a tour during the vacation. They will leave December 27 and return January 1. While away they will play Boardman, Fossil, Heppner and Ione. An estimated 800 to 1000 persons visited the new dis- play rooms of the Joseph Sales Co. at Joseph Saturday when the company held Open House. Local merchants are still a bit groggy under the effects of one of the heaviest Christmas buying seasons here in many years. Customers armed with an abundance of cash, and out to buy larger and more expensive gifts than they usu- ally seek, crowded the stores throughout December. Having in mind the recent coal shortage, and remember- ing the lovely big wood-burn- ing fi replace in their home, Dee Walker selected his wife’s Christmas present this year with great care. He was seen coming out of the Mar- shall-Wells store with the fi n- est over-sized wood saw that money could buy. 50 YEARS AGO Dec. 29, 1966 Tuesday word was re- ceived that the Flora post offi ce will be closed and that the mail will be delivered on a star route. Long distance charges will be eliminated at 11:01 p.m. Thursday, December 29, on calls between Wallowa and Lostine and between Wallowa and Enterprise, West Coast Telephone dis- trict manager Dale Rongey said this week. The new ser- vice will increase the number of telephones available to Wallowa customers on a lo- cal call basis from about 500 to more than 1500. The Wallowa County Jay- cees went on their annual Christmas lighting inspection on Wednesday evening, De- cember 21. The outstanding displays selected in each of the towns were as follows: Jack Coleman, Wallowa; Or- val McArtor, Lostine; W.E. Warnock, Joseph; Vaughn Haggerty and C.A. Winings of Enterprise. Each winner will receive a check for $5.00 from the Jaycees. As the year draws to a close a general feeling of opti- mism prevails as farmers and business men look forward to 1967. The general opinion is that the worst economic con- ditions are behind us. 25 YEARS AGO Dec. 26, 1991 Dennis Brennan of Enter- prise has been named 1991 “man of the year” of the Wal- Happy New Year to all our loyal customers and friends in Wallowa County! lowa County’s search and rescue posse by Sheriff Roger Decker. If a merry Christmas can be captured in boxes, then 109 “Merry Christmases” were delivered Monday morning to doorsteps throughout Wal- lowa County by numerous pickup driving elves as part of the annual Elks’ Wallowa County Christmas Basket program. The red-hot Enterprise Savages scored an 88-41 victory over Stanfi eld and an 85-48 win over Pilot Rock to take championship hon- ors at last weekend’s Pilot Rock Christmas Tournament. Nathan Locke, Lance Ho- man and Tim Martin were All-tourney team selections. The Wallowa County Ju- nior Women’s Club recent- ly donated $750 each to the county EMT association and to the county fair board as part of its 2-year Commu- nity Improvement Project. The goal is to compile information that can lower the risk of accidents and fa- talities, while promoting safe backcountry travel, Prid- more-Brown said. “Oregon has had relative- ly few avalanche fatalities, but the fatalities that have been in Oregon have been clustered in northeast Ore- gon,” he said. One incident happened earlier this year, when Rand — an experienced back- country skier, guide and observer — was killed after being swept 1,200 feet in an avalanche. It was the fourth backcountry skiing fatality in the Wallowa Mountains since 2009. Rand was hired as direc- tor of the Wallowa Avalanche Center in 2015, and his death was a personal blow for ev- eryone, Pridmore-Brown said. The center had high hopes under Rand’s lead- ership, and the tragedy left behind a void for the group’s board of directors to fi ll. “We, as the board of di- rectors, had a very clear pic- ture of where we wanted the center to go and what our mission is,” Pridmore-Brown said. “That was never in doubt.” Enter McNeil, who has spent past seasons as an ob- server for the avalanche cen- ter while guiding backcoun- try trips for Wallowa Alpine Huts. McNeil was already prepping weekly avalanche advisories for the coming season before he was hired. Connelly Brown, owner and operator of Wallowa Al- pine Huts, said the avalanche center plays a critical role in preparing backcountry ski- ers for what to expect on the mountain. Wallowa Alpine Huts has been in business since 1980, renting camps and offering guides for backcountry ski- ers in the Eagle Cap Wilder- ness. Brown said they have forged a symbiotic relation- ship with the avalanche cen- ter, and several of his staff — McNeil included — double as observers. “What the center pro- vides is a resource for de- cision-making about where to go skiing, and what to do when we get there,” Brown said. “That’s part of the ex- perience.” Conditions are already excellent for backcoun- try skiers in the Wallowas, Brown said. A series of storms battered the moun- tains, dumping up to 3 feet of snow at the cabins and 5 feet in basins. Such a strong start has made the snow deep and stable, Brown said. Melissa Webb, hydrol- ogist with the Natural Re- source Conservation Service, said the current snow-water equivalent, or amount of wa- ter contained within snow, is 111 percent of normal for the area, including the Grande Ronde, Powder, Burnt and Imnaha river basins. “We’re always happy to have such a strong early start to the snow season,” Webb said. “Certainly for folks out enjoying the snow, it’s a good start to the year.” Eastern Oregon might not be the most famous back- country terrain, or the easiest to access, Pridmore-Brown said. But it defi nitely has its rewards. “The mountains are truly spectacular,” he said. “We’re just trying to reduce the risk and number of accidents out there.” ——— Contact George Plaven at gplaven@eastoregonian.com or 541-966-0825. Fashioned Values d l O Sales & Service www.main-street-motors.com sales@main-street-motors.com 311 West Main St. • Enterprise 541-426-2100