Wallowa County Chieftain
News
wallowa.com
February 28, 2018
Slot machines coming to
county, not Enterprise
OUT OF THE PAST
Compiled by Hanna Brandt
100 YEARS AGO
Mar. 1, 1918
A new law passed by state
legislators will require every
school district in Oregon to
conduct school for at least
eight months out of the year.
The old requirement made the
minimum six months; that has
been the extent of the term in
many rural districts.
A meeting of all per-
sons interested in putting on
a horse show in Enterprise in
early spring has been called
at the courthouse. Proponents
John O’Malley and John M.
Fruitts hope to put on a one-
day exhibit with no prizes and
free admission.
The Joseph High School
debaters advanced another
step last Friday when they
defeated La Grande in the
state contest. They had pre-
viously won the Wallowa
County championship.
70 YEARS AGO
Feb. 26, 1948
There will soon be slot
machines in most Wal-
lowa County towns, accord-
ing to plans which are now
under way. The machines
have already gone up in
Wallowa and Joseph and
will be installed in Lostine,
Imnaha, Flora and other suit-
able “spots,” according to
local operators. Enterprise is
still holding out against the
machines, but official senti-
ment in their favor is said to
be gaining.
The state game commis-
sion reports that 855,944
Chieftain Archives
Do any of our readers know who these three amigos are? This photo was not dated and had
no identification on the back. If you know, email editor@wallowa.com.
fish were released in the
Union-Wallowa
County
watershed in 1947. This com-
pares with a state total libera-
tion of 18,376,874 fish.
Twelve registered Here-
ford bulls consigned to the
fifth annual Tri-County Her-
eford Breeders sale at La
Grande on Tuesday by N.B.
Sandlin & Son brought an
average of $650 per head, for
the best showing made by any
consignor to the sale. Most
bulls at the sale sold between
$200 and $450 with very few
going over the $400 mark.
50 YEARS AGO
Feb. 29, 1968
A fashion show was held
by the Craft and Fabric Shop
at the Lostine gym. Around
200 enjoyed the clothing
exhibits made from materials
carried by the shop.
The Enterprise Lions
Club is planning to sponsor
a performance by the Grande
Ronde Symphony Orches-
tra in Enterprise this fall. The
orchestra director, Bob Groth,
said that the featured number
of the concert will be a piano
concerto with Gail Swart,
soloist.
Water content in the snow
over the high Wallowa Moun-
tain area is considerably
below the measurements at
this time last year, according
to a survey made this week by
Ted Grote and Don Baldwin
who flew to seven stations in
Grote’s helicopter. The snow
depth here at the foot of Eagle
Cap Mountain is 16 feet with
a water content of five feet
nine inches.
25 YEARS AGO
Mar. 4, 1993
Approximately 60 hogs
died in a fire early Tuesday
morning that destroyed a large
old barn on property leased
by Diane and Mike Shetler
six miles east of Joseph. “My
grandfather built that barn
about 50 years ago,” said
Diane, noting the property,
including the barn, was owned
by her father, Horace Daggett.
Representatives of the Ore-
gon Parks Division will host a
public meeting on March 15
to present information to the
community about the new
day use fee scheduled to take
effect this spring at Wallowa
Lake. The park officials intend
to discuss the financial diffi-
culties that prompted the new
day use fee as well as how the
fee will be implemented.
Seven women will be play-
ing 11 characters in the musi-
cal “Quilters,” presented by
Wallowa Valley Players and
directed by Louise Kienzle.
Cast in the lead as the mother
is Patty Pangburn, and as her
daughters (and other roles)
Genevie Thomas, Tammy
Crawford, Susan Davis, Lauri
Jenson, Dawn Brumm and
Heather Bowlers.
LETTERS
Continued from Page A4
Remembering
the old days at
Joseph High
I lived in Joseph from the
end of WWII (1945) until
I graduated from Whitman
College in 1958, and then
went into the U.S. Army for
two years.
I never lived in Wallowa
County again as my 30 year
career with General Mills
moved Marlene, the kids
and me many times, and I
ended up retiring from GMI
in 1990 and moved “out
West” to California.
However, I have always
called Joseph home as my
parents, Ted and Eunice
Newton, as well as my sis-
ter, Shirley Jennings, who
passed away this last March,
all lived up there and are
now all buried up there in
the Prairie Creek Cemetery.
I still have many thoughts
about Wallowa County as
my screen saver on my PC
is a lovely picture of Wal-
lowa Lake and my subscrip-
tions to the Chieftain helps
me keep up to date.
This past weekend, I
was showing my grand-
son, Jacob, some of my old
Joseph High School year-
books, and in viewing the
1951 edition (when I was a
freshman), I chuckled at the
autograph of a senior Max
Kiel: “To a Pal” with his
signature.
Max was a good friend,
and I wish I would have kept
in contact with him better
while I was at Whitman Col-
lege. He was killed when I
was a sophomore March 5,
1956, in a terrible accident
while serving our country as
a SeaBee in Antartica.
He and his D8 Caterpillar
plunged into an undetected
estimated 300-foot deep cre-
vasse while running the lead
A5
dozer on a supply train. Two
fellow SeaBees descended
down to the wreck at about
80 feet, but Max was dead
and his body remains there
today 62 years later.
His father, Oscar Kiel,
died before Max, also oper-
ating a logging bulldozer
when he overturned on a
hillside up Alan Canyon out-
side of Lostine, October
1952.
Max and Delwyn Zoll-
man came to the school to
notify Norma who happened
to be in the gym with the
other seniors getting their
senior photos taken.
Supt. Bill Williams had
asked me while I was in
study hall if I would answer
the telephone in his office
for the next hour while he
was in the gym with the
seniors. I was briefed on
what to say on the telephone
and he went to the gym.
Max told me his dad was
killed and he was under-
standably upset. I was told
to go get Norma from the
gym, which I did after I
stopped a kid in the hallway
and asked him to answer the
telephone.
I told Mr. Williams in
the gym why I had vacated
the office, and he obviously
understood, and quickly
found Norma and walked
her to Max and Delwyn,
obviously not telling her
what I knew of events.
It was the most emotional
meeting I’d ever witnessed
to that time when she was
told of her father’s death by
Max; I felt so exceptionally
bad for both, and emotion-
ally drained by day’s end.
Norma, Max, and Delwyn
weren’t just fellow students,
they were good friends.
Both stories are tragic,
and I have never heard of
any other family having a
father and son die in tractor
accidents.
Ed Newton
Folsom, Calif.
Trail association sets annual meeting for March 7
The Wallowa Mountains
Hells Canyon Trails Asso-
ciation will hold its second-
annual membership meet-
ing to welcome new members
and plan for 2018 activities 7
p.m. Wednesday, March 7, at
Toma’s Conference Room, 309
S. River Street, Enterprise.
The meeting is open to all.
The group is dedicated to
improving the condition of the
trails and cultural resources
in the area. It is a member-
ship-based nonprofit formed
Feb. 13, 2017, and has since
grown to over 40 members.
It is part of the Eagle Cap
Partnership, which is a cooper-
ative agreement between East-
ern Oregon University, the U.S.
Forest Service and Wallowa
Resources.
In 2017, the group’s accom-
plishments included conduct-
ing 10 work parties, work-
ing on more than 26 miles of
trail, and amassing more than
1,000 hours of volunteer work.
The work performed on trails
included removing downed
trees, cutting out brush, repair-
ing trail tread and, in some
cases, rerouting trails around
hazards.
“I’m very proud of our
achievements in 2017, with
local folks helping out and hav-
ing fun while clearing trails,”
said Rick Bombaci, an associ-
ation volunteer.
“We’ve had a chance to pro-
vide a public service, get great
exercise and fresh air, see new
country and develop great
teamwork. There’s nothing like
working together toward a com-
mon goal to build community.”
On the agenda for the March
meeting is reviewing accom-
plishments from 2017, dis-
cussing project plans for 2018,
going over training opportuni-
ties, rolling out a new website
and encouraging membership
feedback and participation, as
well as holding elections to fill
three positions on the board.
“Our
association
has
attracted national attention,
and was influential in helping
the Eagle Cap Wilderness and
Hells Canyon complex become
designated as a Priority Trails
Area by the Department of
Agriculture,” said Jim Aken-
son, the group’s board chair. “
We believe this recognition will
pay dividends as we go forward
in time.”
Members are also invited to
attend project planning meet-
ings the first Monday of each
month at noon in the Wallowa
Resources Conference Room.
Info:
info@wmhcta.org,
wmhcta.org or facebook.com/
wmhcta.com.
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