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About Wallowa County chieftain. (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Or.) 1943-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 13, 2017)
ENTERPRISE STUDENTS PRESENT CHRISTMAS PROGRAM – PAGE 6 Enterprise, Oregon Wallowa.com Issue No. 35 December 13, 2017 $1 Enterprise City Council balking on library district By Kathleen Ellyn Wallowa County Chieftain Isaiah Brooks was one of several elves who rode on the Main Street Motors pa- rade Saturday evening. The event was the culmination of a two-day celebration of En- terprise Winterfest. Winterfest wonderland Enterprise lights up for holiday celebration Photos by Paul Wahl, Chieftain editor More photos on page 5 and at wallowa.com Delaney Hayes of Enterprise spent a few minutes telling San- ta what she wanted for Christmas on Saturday at the En- terprise Winterfest celebration. Events included chestnuts roasting on an open fire, a chili feed and food and wine, among others. Adult rape charges dismissed By Steve Tool Wallowa County Chieftain The case against a 16-year-old boy charged as an adult with the Measure 11 offense of first-degree rape was dismissed by Judge Russell B. West in Wallowa County Circuit Court on Dec. 6. The dismissal came at the request of Wallowa County Deputy District Attorney Rebecca Frolander after “missing” evidence affecting the case was found in the sheriff’s office. The defendant, whom the Chieftain has not named, is still being charged with sex abuse in the second degree as a juvenile. Bail money in the case was returned to the defendant’s parents, and his release agreement was renegotiated. The Chieftain will continue to update this story. Just how a library district would impact operations at Enterprise City Library is still a question for city coun- cil members. The discussion created some heat on a cold winter night when the coun- cil met Monday. The Enterprise library committee, composed of Librarian Denine Rauten- strauch, Micah Agnew and Mayor Stacy Karvoski, pre- sented thoughts on the mat- ter Dec. 11 and the discus- sion that followed revealed some strong resistance to the district. Mayor Karvoski said the library committee was attempting to “get all our ducks in a row” with regard to what the city was willing to provide if the district pro- posal were approved. “What we’re looking for is for the city to vote on some type of proposal like this so ... Enterprise will already have a handle on what our proposal is for our building,” Karvoski said. The city intends to main- tain control and ownership of the building. The city library commit- tee proposed allowing the district free rent in addition to a donation of $7,500 to put toward the cost of heat and lights. The idea of allowing free rent was a way to show “where we put our money is what we value,” said coun- cil member Agnew. “If the district passes, we go down to paying less than 10 per- cent of our current $130,000 expenditure.” Councilors Larry Christ- man and Chris Pritchard are opposed to the idea. The other tenant of the build- ing, North East Oregon Eco- nomic Development Dis- trict pays rent, and Pritchard See LIBRARY, Page A9 thinkstockphotos.com Library PAC pledges to be myth-busters By Kathleen Ellyn Wallowa County Chieftain Wallowa County resi- dents don’t fully understand everything the county will lose if the county library closes and a library district is not formed. “One of the things that you hear is that if you vote ‘no.’ you will still have all your services at the Enter- prise Library — well, no, that’s not true, because all of the children’s pro- graming that up until now has been provided by the county library will not be there,” said Enterprise City Librarian Denine Rautenstrauch. Rautenstrauch spoke at a meeting of library sup- porters Tuesday part of a Political Action Committee that will educate Wallowa County in advance of the May vote to create a library district. “There’s only me and I’m there 32 hours a week,” Rautenstrauch added. “With- out (county librarian) Susan Polumsky’s assistance, it’s not possible for me to pro- vide all that programming.” Among the strategies is handouts to answer com- mon questions, which will be improved continually as the campaign moves forward and more feedback from citi- zens is received. Right now the default vote for a library district is “no” for folks who are unin- formed, according to vol- unteer coordinator Angela Bombaci. “As long as people have this misunderstanding that nothing will change, not changing always seems safer than change,” she said. “The unknown is really scary,” agreed temporary co-chair Kim Weatherrite. “At the onset ... there was so much unknown that it was really scary. As we’ve devel- oped more of a plan, (the library district) has become a more feasible option that is easier to embrace.” See PAC, Page A9 Disaster averted in Wallowa fire Quick thinking leads to limited damage at Back-Achers By Kathleen Ellyn Wallowa County Chieftain It was a community effort that saved Back-Achers early Monday morning. Wallowa Fire Chief John Campbell received a phone call from school bus driver Tonya Starmer of Wallowa at approxi- mately 7:40 a.m. Dec. 11. Smoke was billowing out of the Back-Achers busi- ness on the Truck Route Road in Wallowa. Campbell leapt into his fire gear and gathered the troops. When both of the Wallowa Volunteer Fire Department trucks arrived on the scene, the view was alarming. Black smoke was pouring from under the eaves of the 9,000-square- foot building, which houses a resale and discount business owned by Ben and JoAnn Deal. A large area of the building contains lumber. “We put in a call for assis- tance from Lostine and Enter- prise right away,” said Camp- bell. “We didn’t know what we had and given the size of that building — we had mutual aid from Lostine and Enterprise.” Bus driver Starmer had called Mason Hafer and Travis Goebel after calling Campbell, so several volunteers beat the fire trucks to the scene. Hafer and Goebel discovered the cause of the smoke — a burn- ing forklift in the lumberyard portion of the building. Next door across the rail- road track at the Tanzey Forest Improvement wood lot, Butch Tanzey and his employee B.J. Arborgast were warming up the equipment to start woodcutting and “B.J. looked across and said ‘Holy Cow, look at that!’” Tanzey recalled. “Black smoke was boiling out. We grabbed our fire extinguishers and ran over there and gave them to the See FIRE, Page A10 Kathleen Ellyn/Chieftain Wallowa City Fire Chief John Campbell examines the fork lift that caused all the drama at Back-Achers in Wallowa early Monday morning.