I NSIDE THIS WEEK :
Theatre group seeks permanent home
Enterprise, Oregon
Police,
dog nail
alleged
drug
dealer
Wallowa.com
Issue No. 51
April 5, 2017
Chieftain names new editor
By Wallowa County Chieftain
Wahl
Experienced journalist Paul Wahl has
joined the Wallowa County Chieftain as
the newspaper’s editor.
Wahl and his wife recently moved to
the area from western Colorado. He has
spent more than three decades in commu-
nity newspaper.
“I was the original John Boy Walton ...
I wanted to be a writer,” said Wahl. “I have
had amazing opportunities to practice
journalism at newspapers large and small
and look forward to what comes next here
in Wallowa County.”
Wahl replaces Scot Heisel, who left in
December for a position with the Lewiston
Tribune. Interim editors Steve Forrester,
Tim Trainor and Gary West led the news-
paper in the intervening months.
Contact Wahl via email at editor@wal-
lowa.com or by calling 541-426-4567.
H ISTORY
T
he Chieftain traces its beginnings
to 1884. In 2000 it was acquired
by the company now known as EO
Media Group, which also includes the East
Oregonian in Pendleton, the Blue Mountain
Eagle in John Day, and eight other regional
newspapers.
By Steve Tool
Wallowa County Chieftain
Law enforcement exe-
cuted a drug search warrant
March 30 at the home of Ste-
ven Dale Strong, 46, 600 W.
Greenwood St. lot 2 in Enter-
prise.
Strong was arrested and
subsequently charged with
Unlawful Manufacture of
Marijuana, Unlawful Manu-
facture of a Cannabinoid Ex-
tract, Unlawful Possession of
Methamphetamine, Unlaw-
ful Delivery of Methamphet-
amine and Commercial Drug
Offense Methamphetamine.
Police transported Strong
to the Wallowa County De-
tainment Center to await
arraignment in Wallowa
County Circuit Court Friday,
Wearing an AC-DC T-shirt,
Strong was not represented
by an attorney.
Judge Russell B. West
provided paperwork for a
court-appointed attorney. Re-
becca Frolander served as the
prosecuting attorney.
When the subject of bail
arose, Frolander asked for
$500,000 bail as per statute.
2017
See STRONG, Page A18
County
loses chunk
of federal
funding
By Steve Tool
Wallowa County Chieftain
Kathleen Ellyn/Chieftain
By not doing anything,
the U.S. Congress may have
managed to cut off the head
of Secure Rural Schools fund-
ing. SRS, as it is commonly
known, was a program de-
signed to provide payment to
counties affected by loss of
timber revenue because of a
curtailment of logging on fed-
eral lands. It provided a signif-
icant portion of the county’s
general budget, particularly
that of the road department, as
well as money for schools and
the sheriff’s offi ce to a more
limited extent.
With the failure to act,
funding reverted back to a
1908 act that requires the U.S.
Forest Service pay respective
counties 25 percent of their
revenue from timber sales
within the county.
See FUNDS, Page A18
$1
Jerry Hustafa prepares to abandon his craft before running over the photographer at the edge of the race area during the 2017 Fergi Fest Lawn
Chair Races.
NOT MUCH SNOW, BUT PLENTY OF
GOOD TIMES AT 2017 FERGI FEST
By Kathleen Ellyn
Wallowa County Chieftain
I
t was April Fool’s Day, and the
weather may have tried to make a
fool of the friends of Fergi Fest –
but you just can’t make a fool of
foolishness.
So what if the racecourse at the Lion’s
Club owned Fergusun Ridge Ski Area outside
of Joseph was snow at the top and grass at the
bottom. And who cares if the course ended in
mud around the fi nish line (the porch area of
the clubhouse). Having a racecourse that was
mostly grass limited events, but nobody was
bothered. The ski golf competitions for kids and
adults went on and a demonstration lawn chair
race livened the afternoon.
Fergi Fest is much more about friends meet-
ing friends, and the lack of events didn’t really
slow the celebration. There was beer, there was
a potluck, there was great music by Matt Harsh-
man and Friends, and there were lots of ski bud-
Kathleen Ellyn/Chieftain
dies to catch up with.
And the “dog park” atmosphere thrilled the Just about half of the adult ski golf competitors are pictured. All were male this year and decided
against the skis, given that the last half of the course was grass and mud. They took some
many dogs that attend Fergi Fest.
Scott Miller won the adult ski-golf. Second ribbing from veterans who wore skis no matter what the course condition.
place went to Levi Stubblefi eld whose fi nal shot
of the tennis ball/golf ball onto the porch that took a dive out of his runaway sled rather than about that win, since Rombach, in second place,
hit JoAnn Frioli right in the head. She did a dra- run down the photographer and ended up push- kept his behind in the chair for most of the way.
matic fl op for effect, but no serious damage was ing his sled the remainder of the way down the
“I thought that was a good strategy,” Rom-
done.
hill. There was some good natured disagreement bach said.
Mateo Mazariegos, 9, of Portland won the
kid’s golf.
No lawn chair racers showed this year, cor-
rectly assuming that the snow was too far gone,
but Lion’s Club President Jerry Hustafa, dragged
page
two “veteran” lawn chair sleds out of storage
and talked John Rombach into racing him.
Hustafa was declared the winner after he
10