Wallowa County Chieftain
News
wallowa.com
August 30, 2017
HONORED
HOUSING
Continued from Page A1
Continued from Page A1
the Upper Imnaha as a man
who was willing to help any-
one in any way he could.
“He and Debi are involved
in many county groups and
activities that benefi t both
youth and adults,” she said.
Debi works as the OSU
county extension agent in
charge of Home Economics
and 4-H.
Stockgrowers Past Pres-
ident Rod Childers took the
microphone next and sur-
prised Cynthia and Dan and
Shari and Joe as he completed
the “trifecta” of awards.
He teased Cynthia and
Dan, the youngest of the War-
nock boys, by recounting how
they met (through Enterprise
rancher Mark Dawson).
“Then,” Childers said,
“Cynthia went down to
Madras and was feeding for
an outfi t for a winter and got
her head banged up pretty
good and came back and mar-
ried Dan. We’re not real sure
what happened there.”
The duo made a go of
ranching in the Imnaha Can-
yon on leased land after that,
built their herd with addi-
tional purchases of cattle from
Lyman Goucher, and now
have a nice set-up.
Both are frequent support-
ers and volunteers in events
that support 4-H, FFA and
their community.
In addition to all of her
volunteer positions, Cyn-
thia works for the Wallowa
County Soil and Water Con-
servation District.
Stockgrowers Past Pres-
ident Phillip Ketscher (cur-
rent president of the Wallowa
County Ag. Resource Foun-
dation) then took the stage
and praised Shari and Joe, the
eldest of the Warnock boys,
for their lifelong work in cat-
tle. Joe Warnock took over
the family ranch in 1984 after
his father, Grant, had a heart
attack.
“Joe was just in his early
20s,” Ketscher said, empha-
sizing the responsibility Joe
shouldered at an early age.
Joe married Shari in 1988
and they have two children
(Bodine 1991 and B.J. 1994)
and are now awaiting their
fi rst grandchild. Ketscher’s
daughter Emily is married to
B.J. Warnock.
“In addition to raising
great cattle they raised two
excellent kids they can be
ing units that accept those
vouchers. Cities and coun-
ties thought they had plenty of
housing for individuals using
vouchers, but the situation has
changed since any compre-
hensive housing assessments
— or similar studies — were
completed.
Some apartment complexes
that accept those vouchers
include Leisure Way and Lei-
sure Way Too in Wallowa; Park
Street and Mountain Crest in
Enterprise; and Pineview Apart-
ments in Joseph.
Community
Connection
has applications for multiple
assistance programs for those
qualifying.
However, individuals who
qualify may wait up to two
years to get into a voucher pro-
gram in Wallowa County, be it
HUD or another program, Hib-
bert said.
“The majority of what I see
are people coming in on pro-
grams through the state or
on Social Security,” she said.
“Most of the people I see in pro-
grams are going through what
I call generational poverty. It’s
a lifestyle, it’s what they’ve
grown up in.
“Less than half of our appli-
cants are working half-time or
more. If they take an entry-level
position, it will put them over
the amount allowed for them
to have subsidy or food stamps.
They will actually go backward,
fi nancially, if they take a full-
time job. So, making changes
to support themselves and their
families — there are just so
many barriers.”
Individuals who qualify may
also use HUD vouchers for sin-
gle-family homes, but often
housing in the county rents for
more than HUD will pay, and
if the rent is cheap enough, it
is likely the home doesn’t meet
HUD housing standards.
“If a family with three chil-
dren looks to move in, an
affordable subsidize apartment
Kathleen Ellyn/Chieftain
The Warnock family was honored at the Stockgrowers Banquet on Aug. 19 as Cattlemen
of the Year. From left are mother Barbara Warnock, Charlie and Debi, Shari and Joe, and
Dan and Cynthia.
Kathleen Ellyn/Chieftain
A humble John Williams accepted Honorary Membership
in the Wallowa County Stockgrowers at the Aug. 19, 2017
Stockgrowers Awards Banquet. Left to right: Stockgrow-
er’s President Jill McLaren, Eileen and John Williams.
proud of,” proud father-in-law
Ketscher said.
“Joe is a very good opera-
tor,” Ketscher said, “not only
because he raises good cattle
and takes very good care of
his resource, but he’s smart
enough to have married a
teacher (at Imnaha School),
and that’s real important in
agriculture.”
The Stockgrowers sur-
prised their Honorary Mem-
ber this year as well, bringing
Eileen and John Williams up
for the award.
Rod Childers made the
award, telling the tale of
shooting John Williams the
fi rst time they met (with a toy
dart gun).
“This guy and his wife
have just been phenomenal
in this county,” Childers said.
“He’s been a great friend.”
Williams
is
Oregon
State University Extension
Agent for Wallowa County.
He trained in animal and
rangeland science but he’s
worked extensively in natural
resource issues since coming
to work in Wallowa County.
“John came when we
were doing the habitat
salmon plan, and he was a
big involvement there, we
formed the Natural Resource
Advisory Committee for the
county commissioners and
he played a big part in that,”
Childers said.
“Any issue we’ve had in
the natural resource area if
you went in there and said
‘John, this is what I need,’ if
he didn’t have it, he found it
for you. With the wolf issue,
he’s traveled to Washington
with us and gone to Cali-
fornia, and the states have
asked him to help with the
wolf plan revisions. And
Eileen is right there beside
him, she’s not behind him,
she’s right there with him
working and helping every
day.”
Eileen does “about seven
different things,” husband
John said, later. “At one time,
I counted and it was nine dif-
ferent things, but she’s cut
down a bit.”
Among her volunteer
work is acting as secretary of
the NRAC, secretary of her
church and managing the live-
stock on the home ranch.
A visibly touched Wil-
liams humbly accepted the
award with his wife.
“I appreciate the support
I’ve gotten,” he said. “We
came here in July 25 years
ago and I remember (Past
Stockgrowers President and
County Commissioner) the
late Pat Wortman of Enter-
prise asking ‘will he fi t into
the community?’
“I’ve always tried to fi t in,
and I do feel like it’s a service
that we need to be supplying
to you and not the other way
around,” Williams said.
“I thank you for all the 4-H
and ag support. If there’s any-
way we can make something
happen we try to do it.”
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with three or four bedrooms is
nonexistent,” said Hibbert.
If the family tries to double
up in fewer bedrooms, HUD
will not issue a voucher because
it is considered overcrowding.
If the family fi nds a house with
enough bedrooms but none of
the utilities are included — that
may be considered over the fair
market value and HUD will not
pay.
As a result, one attendee
attested, in the apartment com-
plex where she lives, there
are families paying full price
for a two-bedroom apartment
and crowding in four to fi ve
children.
Janet Pulsifer, manager of
the EM&M building in Enter-
prise said that she accepts HUD
vouchers from around fi ve rent-
ers, but most of the renters in
her 25-unit building are work-
force people working for low
wages and not getting a housing
subsidy. The rents at EM&M
range $450 to $650 for studio to
two-bedroom units.
“I am defi nitely not meeting
the demand,” Pulsifer said. “I
have six people on the waiting
list right now and many more
have called. Even families with
two incomes cannot fi nd an
affordable place to rent.”
Wandschneider cautioned
the group that “this meeting
is not going to solve the hous-
ing crisis,” but by the end of
the meeting, the consensus
was that a committee to for-
mally look into the issue was
needed.
As it turns out, there is a
committee in formation. Pres-
ident of the Wallowa County
Chapter of Rotary Interna-
tional, Stephen Kleiwer, has
begun naming people to a
task force to determine where
Rotary will plug into the over-
all issue of housing. That task
force hopes to meet in early
September.
Wandschnieder plans a
future Brown Bag Luncheon
to discuss other housing issues
and ideas, including allowing
tiny houses to be built in Wal-
lowa County cities.
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