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About Wallowa County chieftain. (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Or.) 1943-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 28, 2018)
A10 News wallowa.com February 28, 2018 Wallowa County Chieftain Veteran, writer Van Blaricom leaves indelible mark on Wallowa County By Elane Dickenson For the Chieftain When E.H. “Van” Van Bla- ricom died at the age of 96 this month, Wallowa County not only lost a man who was an outspoken community leader for many year, but also lost one of its last survivors of World War II. Van as he was widely known was a rancher, conser- vative voice, conservationist, bird watcher, avid outdoors- man, Wallowa County Chief- tain columnist and KWVR radio commentator. He considered his war experience the defining time in his life. “I was tested and I passed,” he said in a Chieftain interview when he was 89. He was 20 when he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, fueled by patriotism that only grew stronger with his war experience, which he described as “short but violent.” He survived combat in three major battles in the Pacific before being seriously wounded by a grenade on Gua- dalcanal in December 1942. He didn’t let losing much of his right hand in combat slow him down in his long and pro- ductive life. He felt very for- tunate to come home to marry Betty, the sweetheart he had left behind. She preceded him in death in 2014 after 71 years of marriage. They had already raised their four daughters when they moved from a dairy farming operation in Pasco, Wash., to Wallowa County, where he rapidly carved a deep niche for himself as a cattle rancher on an upper Prairie Creek ranch. Janie Tippett of Lower Prairie Creek knew Van and Betty Van Blaricom well for many years. “Van was very kind, a good guy. He had ideas that not E.H. “Van” Van Blaricom He was intensely interested in the world, and said he was never going to quit writing, learning or living life no matter how old he was. He was quite a guy.” — Janie Tippett everyone agreed with, but he practiced what he preached and was a true American,” she said. She remembered the time 30 or so years ago when she was taking her 4-H club snow camping on the east moraine, and Van volunteered to haul all their gear over waist deep snow to their camping spot in his snowmobile. By morn- ing, it was raining, and Van got stuck in the snow trying to retrieve the group and burned out his snowmobile motor. “He loved the outdoors, hiking, the wilderness. He loved birds, and he had a zest for life,” Tippett said. In recent years when she visited Van at Alpine House, he was always on his type- writer surrounded by books. He gave his final radio com- mentary the week before his death. “He was intensely inter- ested in the world, and said he was never going to quit writ- ing, learning or living life no matter how old he was,” Tip- pett said. “He was quite a guy.” Van’s list of accomplish- ments was long and deep. He was a past president of the Wallowa County Stock- growers, past chairman of the Wallowa County Republican Party, past president of the Wallowa County Rotary Club, past president of the Wallowa County Farm Bureau. In 1990 Van was named Agriculture Leader of the Year by the Wallowa County Cham- ber of Commerce. Other hon- ors through the year included being named Grassman of the Year by the Stockgrowers and Rotarian of the Year. Van helped spearhead the Prairie Creek Riparian Project along Highway 82 just east of Enterprise, which earned the International Rotary Preserve Planet Earth Award. Years earlier Van was active in a local “adopt a stream” pro- gram and had earned acco- lades for organizing a habitat development project at a Zum- walt area pond. One of the reasons Van moved to Wallowa County was his love of fishing, hunt- ing and mountain climbing. Among his achievements was finding an 87-foot circumfer- ence whitebark pine tree up McCully Basin, designated the state’s largest. On his 80th birthday, he climbed the Matterhorn, one of the Wallowa’s highest peaks. In his popular long-time Chieftain column “The Nature of Things,” and later in his radio commentary, “Think About It,” Van said he tried to be the voice of the Depres- sion-era babies of Wallowa County. He made no apologies about being a conservative, but also claimed equal rights as a conservationist. His last columns for the Chieftain, which he wrote until about a year ago, “Bird Watch- ing,” was focused on birds and their habits. During a 2010 interview with the Chieftain, Van pointed out that WWII veterans were then dying at the rate of 1,000 a day and it was important to remember the sacrifices they made to preserve freedom. “I was a young man when the last Civil War veteran died, and in a few years, all of us World War II veterans will be gone,” he said. Van Van Blaricom outlived most of his WWII comrades and left an indelible mark on Wallowa County. Kathleen Ellyn/Chieftain Chief Joel Fish goes over paperwork with Enterprise Po- lice Officer Cody Billings. Now that Billings has graduat- ed from the police academy, the ranks of Enterprise PD are at full force. Billman completes police training By Kathleen Ellyn Wallowa County Chieftain Enterprise Police Offi- cer Cody M. Billman is on the job in Enterprise, hav- ing graduated with the 374th Basic Police Class of the Oregon Department of Pub- lic Safety Standards and Training Feb. 16. Billman, along with 39 other officers and deputies, entered class last October. The 16-week course includes dozens of training areas, such as survival skills, firearms, emergency vehicle opera- tions, ethics, cultural diver- sity, problem solving, com- munity policing, elder abuse, drug recognition and dozens of other subjects. “I’m excited about hav- ing Billman,” said Chief Joel Fish. “He knows a lot about law enforcement because he’s been around the jails and the courts. He won’t take as long to go through field train- ing — we’ll probably be able to accelerate that. He already knows a lot of the people we deal with all the time in Union County, knows them by name and face, so he’s kind of got a leg up on that.” Billman, originally from La Grande Sheriff’s Depart- ment, worked for five years in Union County, beginning as a reserve officer and then as a corporal for the Union County Correctional Facility. Billman replaces Officer Jed Stone who retired. “I’ve got a lot of learning to do, but I love it. I feel com- fortable about it,” said Bill- man. “I love it (here); peo- ple from bigger agencies have not even met their chief. These guys in Enterprise Police Department are all so close. When I come to work, and I’m with these guys, I know who they are, what they do and how they act.” Billman will be out on patrol on his own hopefully by May, Fish said. Fish, himself, has com- pleted his police certifica- tion for Oregon and is nearly through the state managerial certification. “We’re doing good in Wallowa County,” Fish said. “I notice a difference. Some of our drug dealers are in prison, some are on proba- tion, some are back in jail because they can’t do their probation. We’re working on it. We had a little bit larger meth problem when I got here than I thought we had, and it’s the exact same peo- ple that do the stealing and everything else.” Now with Four Locations to Serve You! 603 Medical Parkway, Enterprise Full-Scope Medical, Dental & Behavioral Health Care 541-426-4502 507 S River Street, Enterprise W NO EN! OP Winding Waters Joseph 401 N Main St, Joseph Winding Waters at the Annex 301 West Main St, Enterprise Urgent Care & Long-Term Healing Relationships www.windingwaters.org