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About Wallowa County chieftain. (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Or.) 1943-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 30, 2017)
INSIDE THIS EDITION 2017-18 EXPERIENCE THE WALLOWAS Enterprise, Oregon Wallowa.com Issue No. 20 August 30, 2017 $1 D RAGONS Ellen Bishop/Special to the Chieftain The Dragons in the Wallowas mixed team turns in another blistering time at the 2017 Seven Wonders Cup Drag- on Boat Races on Wallowa Lake Aug. 26-27. Denny Kolb is at the tiller. TAKE SILVER Women’s team takes three silver medals in Seven Wonders Cup By Kathleen Ellyn Wallowa County Chieftain T he Dragons in the Wallowa roared, and roared, and roared last weekend. They turned in blazing times both days of the second annual Seven Wonders Cup dragon boat races on Wallowa Lake — and they did it while doing double duty. The Wallowa team had decided to fi eld two boats this year, a mixed team and a women’s team. With just 26 Wallowa County racers, that meant that 80 percent of the women were com- peting on both teams. The roster was bolstered by two top “orphans” who helped fi ll the boat, Tessa Fennimore of Salem and Ruth Fox of Salem, who come in as orphans for the team at the Portland races in June as well. The two boats ran a combined total of eight races the fi rst day and six the second with the See DRAGONS, Page A8 Interest in addressing Wallowa County housing issues grows Working groups are beginning to take shape By Kathleen Ellyn Wallowa County Chieftain On July 18, some 40 land- lords, tenants, builders and interested citizens gathered at the Jose- phy Center for a brown bag lunch to NO PLACE talk about the LIKE HOME housing situ- Housing Challenges in Wallowa County ation in Wal- lowa County. Since then the discussions have continued, through a series of articles in the Chief- tain and private conversations throughout the county. “I don’t know who rubbed this thing raw, but it turns out that housing is a huge issue on all kinds of fronts in Wallowa County,” said Josephy Center brown bag luncheon organizer Rich Wandschneider. Wandschneider organized a second meeting Aug. 22 with Jeanette Hibbert, emer- gency heating, food and hous- ing specialist with Community Connection in Enterprise as moderator. Hibbert kicked off the dis- cussion by explaining the dif- ference between assisted and low-income housing and expanding the public’s under- standing of voucher programs. According to Hibbert, the need for assisted hous- ing and HUD vouchers is still keen in the county despite the existence of hundreds of hous- See HOUSING, Page A9 By Kathleen Ellyn The most anticipated agricultural award of the year, the Wallowa County Stockgrowers Cattlemen of the Year Award, went to an entire family this year. The award was presented Aug. 19, to the Imnaha-based Warnocks: Debi and Charlie, Cynthia and Dan, and Shari and Joe. — Mike Lockhart. event organizer BACK TO THE BOOKS Paul Wahl/Chieftain Enterprise Elementary School instructor Mishelle Williams begins orientation with her second graders minutes after the school year began Monday morning. Joseph children also reported for classes Monday. Wallowa schools were in session last week. Warnocks honored as Cattlemen of the Year Wallowa County Chieftain Paul Wahl/Chieftain “Orphan” Ruth Fox takes a selfie with her adopted team during the second annual Seven Wonders Cup Dragon Boat Races on Wallowa Lake on Aug. 19. In the dragon boat world, orphans are on hand to help out any team. Ruth is from Salem. I want to thank everybody who made this thing grow to what it is now.” Stockgrowers Vice President Cyn- thia Warnock made the fi rst presenta- tion to her brother- and sister-in-law Charlie and Debi, not knowing that she and husband Dan were next up to accept the triple award. Cynthia Warnock praised lifetime cattleman Charlie, who operates and manages Bragg Investments Ranch on See HONORED, Page A9 Support for Lostine Corridor project strong in Wallowa County This is the latest in an intermit- tent series of stories on the Los- tine Corridor Public Safety Project. By Steve Tool Wallowa County Chieftain The Lostine Corridor Public Safety Project, a U.S. Forest Service fi re mitigation plan for the forests along a stretch of the Lostine River Road, has supporters and detractors. A lawsuit on the part of two con- servation groups hoping to stop the project is moving forward. Local groups such as Wallowa Coun- ty’s Natural Resources Advisory Com- mittee, of which Wallowa Resources is a part, stand behind the project both as a public safety project and as an See PROJECT, Page A8