NINE WRESTLERS HEADING FOR STATE
Joseph/Wallowa finishes second in district action | Page 14
Enterprise, Oregon
Wallowa.com
Issue No. 43
February 7, 2018
$1
Joseph grocery store closes
About 15 employees
were furloughed
By Steve Tool
Wallowa County Chieftain
Steve Tool/Chieftain
This sign on the shuttered Mt. Joseph Family Foods in Jo-
seph sounds a hopefully note.
Mt. Joseph Family Foods, Joseph’s
community grocer and butcher, closed its
doors –– at least temporarily –– Feb. 1.
The store had failed twice in the past.
Joseph resident Troy Berglund took over
operations in 2005. A sister store Market
Place Family Foods in La Grande, also
owned by Berglund, closed its doors the
same day. Approximately 15 full and part-
time employees of the Joseph location were
laid off as a result of the closure. Developer
Al Adelsberger owns the property on Main
Street in Joseph.
Marco Rennie, who served as a consul-
tant for Berglund, told the Chieftain late
Tuesday morning that the underlying rea-
son for the store closures was an inability
of wholesalers to provide goods the public
was interested in buying.
2,000+
bicyclists
on their
way
Rennie, an Enterprise resident, has an
extensive background in retail and rural
grocery, including 15 years with Whole
Foods. He came on board at Berglund’s
request last April.
The store was being remodeled. In
recent weeks, the amount of product avail-
able for purchase had declined noticeably.
Rennie said that the situation surround-
ing the La Grande store did not directly
contribute to the demise of the Joseph store.
See GROCERY, Page A10
Kathleen Ellyn/Chieftain
Daniel Delancey, left, and Wallowa High
School STEM instructor Jeremy McCull-
och, right, share technology tips with Sen.
Bill Hansell at Wallowa High School.
Young go-getter
snags state
senator as client
Cycle Oregon
event will
make a
stopover in
Wallowa County in
September
Delancey designs
custom metal signs
By Kathleen Ellyn
Wallowa County Chieftain
A Wallowa High student had a business
experience that would be the envy of any
business owner last week.
Daniel Delancey, 17, sold a custom-de-
signed plasma cut metal sign to Sen. Bill
Hansell. Hansell opened his wallet and
forked over the dough in front of Delanc-
ey’s fellow high school students during an
By Paul Wahl
Wallowa County Chieftain
Get ready for a spandex invasion.
Upward of 2,000 bicycle riders are expected to pedal
into Wallowa County Sept. 9 as part of the Cycle Ore-
gon Classic.
The 383-mile ride begins in Baker City Sept. 8 with
the first stop in Halfway. The next night, the riders will
camp at Wallowa Lake, leaving out the following morn-
ing for Elgin.
The event also rolls through Pendleton for two nights,
coinciding with the Pendleton Roundup.
Cycle Oregon’s premiere event was scheduled to visit
Wallowa County in 2015; however, the Dry Gulch Fire
near Richland prevented riders from coming. They were
rerouted into Idaho, safely out of the reach of the fire.
Businesses had geared up to serve the plethora of rid-
ers and were disappointed by the cancellation. A salmon
feed was planned by the Lions Club and Terminal Gravity
had geared up for the onslaught of riders.
The financial blow was softened somewhat in Febru-
ary 2016 when Cycle Oregon announced it would plow
thousands of dollars of grant funds into the county despite
the cancellation.
Among those grants was $10,000 toward bike-friendly
campsites at Wallowa Lake.
That project could be built and opened in time for this
year’s ride.
“With Nancy’s (McLeod) retirement and then me tran-
sitioning over to here, the project got delayed a bit,” said
See SIGNS, Page A10
Judge West retires
See CYCLES, Page A13
Russell B. West, presiding judge of the
Circuit Court in the 10th Judician district,
has announced his retirement. The district
includes Union and Wallowa counties.
He has served since Jan-
uary 2003 and previously
was Union County District
Attorney 1985-2002.
In a statement released
late Tuesday, West said it
had been an honor to serve
as judge.
“I will miss my staff in West
both Union and Wallowa
County Circuit Courts,” he said. “They all
work so hard and are so dedicated to their
jobs.”
West said he would serve as a senior
judge for five more years, sitting as a judge
pro tem for 35 days each year.
“As a senior judge, I will be filling in for
judges who are ill or who are on vacation or
at trainings,” West said.
Meeting the need: Fundraiser for wellness center a hit
$350,000 raised for
construction project
By Kathleen Ellyn
Wallowa County Chieftain
Angie Lunde has lived through a variety of
mental health challenges. Her mother’s struggle
after her father’s death; her son’s depression and
eventual suicide; and her own difficulty in deal-
ing with these tragedies.
But there is hope, and it’s okay to seek help.
That’s the story she shared with nearly 100 who
attended the first-ever “Hearts for Health” fund-
raising event Feb. 4 at Wallowa Lake Lodge,
sponsored by Wallowa Valley Center for
Wellness.
The event raised $352,121 toward the con-
struction of an integrated health services com-
plex to be located across from Wallowa Memo-
rial Hospital. It will combine all types of care
from traditional medical, dental and mental
health care to acupuncture, massage and envi-
ronmental medicine.
Lunde, a board member of Winding Waters
Health Clinic and former case manager for
those with developmental disabilities, shared
how doctors are often the first avenue of discov-
ering there is something is wrong.
As an example, each year Winding Waters
Clinic patients have a well-being survey, she
said, and 164 individuals reported thoughts of
suicide last year.
“I have an absolute passion that those 164
people have follow-up with mental health ser-
vices,” Lunde said. “Thirteen years ago, our
19-year-old son took his life. I sometimes won-
der if someone had asked him that question
when he was younger ...”
The integrated health clinic will provide the
“warm hand off” from one health care profes-
sional to another, providing whole person health
support to address such issues.
See NEED, Page A9
Ellen Bishop/For the Chieftain
Angie Lunde spoke of her experiences with mental health
issues at the “Hearts for Health” fundraising event Feb. 4 at
Wallowa Lake Lodge, sponsored by Wallowa Valley Center
for Wellness. Her husband, Nick, was at her side.