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Enterprise, Oregon
Issue No. 32
Wallowa.com
November 22, 2017
$1
Daggett seeks county commission seat
By Steve Tool
Wallowa County Chieftain
“Thirty years I’ve been
thinking about it,” said
fourth-generation rancher and
Wallowa County native Diane
Daggett from her office at
Wallowa Mountain Properties
in Enterprise.
A real estate broker, Daggett
is testing the political waters of
Wallowa County, filing to run
for the Wallowa County Board
of Commissioners seat cur-
rently held by Paul Castilleja.
He plans to step down at the
end of his term in 2018.
After graduating from
Joseph High School, Dag-
gett approached Oregon repre-
sentative Bob Brogotti in the
hopes of landing a job with him
upon graduation from busi-
ness school. Instead, he asked
if she’d like to interview imme-
diately, and Daggett went to
work in Oregon House of Rep-
resentatives. She worked her
way up to committee adminis-
trator where she
worked with the
committee chair
to prioritize bills
and work to get
them on the
floor. Her work
Diane
there led to an
Daggett
award for being
the youngest
committee administrator in the
state’s history. She was 20.
“I was able at a very young
age to get a bird’s-eye view of
how state politics works.” She
added that although she val-
ues education and has taken
occasional college courses, she
never earned a degree.
“I have a degree in hard
knocks, and sometimes, practi-
cal experience is really benefi-
cial,” she said.
Daggett married and left
the area in 1980 but returned
in 1988, working a stint as a
bank teller before lassoing the
job of administrative assistant
to the county’s board of com-
missioners. She eventually
became the planning director.
“I have this ability to see
how state government works
and then to see how county
government works,” Daggett
said. “Because I was there with
them, I have a very good sense
of what the job is.”
Daggett’s sense of con-
nection to the county, through
her family heritage and three
children and three grandchil-
dren was a driving force in her
decision to help create Wal-
lowa Resources and take on a
community development role.
“It has everything to do with
my love of this place and our
community, and to sustain the
good that is here,” she said.
As a commissioner, Dag-
gett would like to work on tack-
ling the continuing constrained
budgets.
“Thinking outside the
box on what we’re going
to do with county services
and county needs,” she said.
See DAGGETT, Page A9
16-year-old student
charged with rape
COATS FOR KIDS
By Paul Wahl
By Steve Tool
Wallowa County Chieftain
A 16-year-old Wallowa
County student was arrested
at his school Nov. 13 on a
charge of first-degree rape, a
Measure 11 offense. He was
taken to juvenile detention at
Northern Oregon Regional
Correctional Facilities in The
Dalles.
Although the name of the
alleged offender is public
information, the Chieftain is
choosing not to publish it at
this time.
The defendant, who is
being charged as an adult
because of his age, was
arraigned in Wallowa County
District Court Nov. 14. Judge
Russell B. West presided
over the hearing via confer-
ence call.
West explained the defen-
dant’s rights and the fact he
could spend 100 months in
prison. He asked deputy dis-
trict attorney for her bail rec-
ommendation. Frolander rec-
ommended the minimum for
the crime, $50,000, as well
as a hearing prior to release.
The defendant’s mother said
she could post the bail.
The court scheduled the
release hearing for the next
day, and the defendant’s
mother arrived at the hear-
ing with $5,000 to post bail
Paul Wahl/Chieftain
Marilyn Dalton, financial officer for Building Healthy Families, helps Cedar Haney find a warm coat for the winter Nov.
16 at Wallowa County Headstart in Enterprise. Cedar was one of 20 children to receive a coat, as well as hats and mit-
tens, through a cooperative program funded by the Rotary Club of Wallowa County. The giveaway is part of a broad-
er program to equip as many as 75 children annually with winter wear. Individual Wallowa County Rotarians and local
benefactors donate roughly $2,000 each year to purchase the coats.
for her son. Judge Thomas
Powers presided over those
proceedings.
Powers essentially fol-
lowed the terms of release
recommendations of Fro-
lander and the county’s
juvenile department. Those
terms included a no-con-
tact order, curfew and wear-
ing a GPS bracelet. He will
not be allowed to attend the
same school as the alleged
victim.
The family was not rep-
resented by an attorney,
but the defendant’s mother
said she planned to file for
a court-appointed attorney.
The father of the accused,
who was in The Dalles at the
Northern Oregon Regional
Correctional Facilities where
his son was incarcerated,
said over telecom that the
release agreement’s curfew
stipulations were unclear
as to whether his son could
continue to compete on the
school’s wrestling team.
Amanda Decker of the
county’s juvenile depart-
ment said that issue would
be addressed while working
with the school to form an
education plan. The defen-
dant was released into his
father’s custody from the
detention facility with a pre-
liminary hearing scheduled
Nov. 24.
Courtesy photo
Bluegrass legend Del McCoury will perform at OK Theatre
in downtown Enterprise Nov. 30.
Bluegrass legend McCoury
PAC to support ‘yes’ vote on library district launches to appear at OK Theatre
By Steve Tool
April and he expects a
By Kathleen Ellyn
Wallowa County Chieftain
The political action com-
mittee formed to support a
“yes” vote on the formation
of a library district next May
began work with a small group
of individuals in the Enterprise
Library basement.
Angela Bombaci of Lostine
volunteered to take on the job
of volunteer coordinator and to
begin forming a group to call
the 800 or so who originally
signed the petition to preserve
the county library.
The Wallowa County Board
of Commissioners voted this
spring to defund the library to
help fill a budget gap, prompt-
ing the ideas of forming a
district.
Autumn Wilburn, who
has been leading much of the
effort, said she is stepping
aside but volunteered to act as
treasurer.
Jill Dougherty will begin
collecting endorsements for
the measure; Kim Witherrite
will be working on develop-
ing a media campaign; county
librarian Susan Polumsky and
city librarian Denine Rauten-
strauch will help condense
11 pages of information into
talking points. Several others
volunteered for positions that
will “firm up” in the coming
week.
With Wilburn’s resignation,
the group has no chairman.
However, the group has been
advised their “chairman” can
be a “to do list,” if no indi-
vidual steps up.
That advice and more
came from “Every Library,”
a national nonprofit dedi-
VOLUNTEER YOUR TIME
Wallowa County Chieftain
Anyone interested in
volunteering to help
is invited to contact
Autumn Wilburn at
autumnwilburn@
hotmail.com and attend
the next PAC meeting,
6-7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec.
7, at Building
Healthy Families,
When it comes to the
time-honored tradition of
bluegrass music, you won’t
find many stars that shine
brighter than Del McCoury.
The bluegrass luminary and
Grand Ol’ Opry member is
making an appearance with
his band at the OK Theatre
on Nov. 30.
Theater owner Darrell
Brann said landing a living
legend is a dream come true.
“I didn’t think it would be
possible,” Brann said, “But
once we had the O’ Connor
band (band of famed violin-
ist Mark O’Connor) and they
were with the same booking
agency at the time, it opened
the door for us.”
Brann added this show
has been in the works since
See LIBRARY, Page A9
cated exclusively to polit-
ical action at the local level
to preserve libraries. They
train, coach and consult
with library communities for
free.
Feasibility researcher and
budget officer Ruth Metz,
who worked on a contract
basis, also continues to work
pro bono with the group.
sellout.
McCoury, 79, a Pennsyl-
vania native, has tried and
true bluegrass roots going
back to the ‘50s. While oth-
ers pursued Elvis, McCoury
found himself captivated
by the sounds of Bill Mon-
roe and the Bluegrass Boys.
Monroe is considered the
father of bluegrass.
McCoury was able
to join his idol’s band in
1963, replacing guitarist
Jimmy Martin, which meant
musicianship changes for
McCoury as he had formerly
played banjo.
McCoury and the fiddle
player left Monroe’s band for
California when he received
an invitation to join The
Golden Gate Boys, who also
See MCCOURY, Page A16