Wallowa County Chieftain
News
wallowa.com
March 21, 2018
A5
No wheat; Enteprise flour mill shuts down
OUT OF THE PAST
Compiled by Hanna Brandt
100 YEARS AGO
Mar. 21, 1918
A brilliant light was seen
moving just above a hill-
top in lower Leap on Satur-
day night. It was spotted from
W.A. Elmer’s home and was
thought to be an air ship, high
in the sky and flying over the
valley headed north.
The Joseph flouring mill
has been forced to discontinue
its 24-hour a day run due to
a lack of milling wheat. The
government has 40,000 bush-
els of milling wheat lying in
Joseph warehouses and last
week, F.D. McCully sent a
telegram to Sen. Charles N.
McNary to see if it is pos-
sible to get this for the mill.
The reply stated that the mat-
ter has been brought to the
attention of the proper author-
ities connected with the food
administration.
Notice is hereby given
that the city ordinance forbids
chickens to run at large after
the first of March. All own-
ers of chickens are warned to
observe this ordinance.
70 YEARS AGO
Mar. 18, 1948
Joseph Blackeagle, a
descendant of Chief Joseph,
expressed to a tribal committee
at the Lapwai Nez Perce Indian
Reservation here today that
Chief Joseph’s remains should
be allowed to rest in peace in
the land of his exile, but that a
memorial should be raised in
his homeland, on the shores
of Wallowa Lake. Blackea-
gle, secretary of the Nez
Perce Tribal Committee, told
the group that “it isn’t neces-
sary to disturb Joseph’s grave;
the important thing rather is
to erect a suitable monument
on Wallowa lakeshore so that
all tribes and all Americans
may visit this shrine marking
the heroic struggle of Joseph
to protect his people and his
homeland from conquest.”
Mr. and Mrs. Norman
McClain have sold their 160-
acre Prairie Creek Farm about
two miles east of Joseph to Mr.
and Mrs. Bob Thompson of
Baker City. The Thompsons
have three children, two of
school age.
At the 17th Annual Insti-
tute of Dairying held in Pull-
man last week, Elmer Lay of
Raven Foods Inc. won first
in the grading and scoring of
cream and third in milk qual-
ity judging.
substantial headway.
The Wallowa County Cho-
rus will make its first spring
concert presentation at the
high school gym in Wallowa.
Augmenting the program will
be selections by four local high
school contestants who will
compete for a scholarship to be
awarded by the membership of
the chorus.
A sudden freeze on Mon-
day night in Imnaha likely
spelled doom for the apricot
trees whose blossoms had just
fully opened.
50 YEARS AGO
A plan is being devel-
oped to guide stewardship
of the Eagle Cap Wilderness
on the Wallowa-Whitman
National Forest for the next
5-10 years. Eagle Cap Dis-
trict Ranger Lloyd Swanger
said, “Human activities and
impacts are increasing, espe-
cially in some popular areas
such as the Lakes Basin. Our
Mar. 25, 1993
Mar. 21, 1968
Negotiations were carried
out in La Grande between the
management of Boise Cascade
Corporation and the officers of
the union in an effort to reach
an agreement to end the strike
that has idled the sawmill in
La Grande. The meetings were
broken off recently without
Call center will create
up to 18 new jobs
Bronze Antler in Joseph
sold to Alaskan couple
A Virtual Eligibility Call Center will be
established in Enterprise and will employ 8-18
individuals. The new service will be located
inside the Litch Building at 104 Litch Street
in Enterprise.
Call center employees will determine a call-
er’s eligibility for coverage under the Oregon
Health Plan.
Job postings are on the State of Oregon Jobs
Page: search Medical Eligibility, and apply
under Multiple Sites rather than a specific city.
“We’re in a pretty good position with our
current technical ability,” said Child Welfare
Supervisor Shelley Straughan, who works at
the Litch Building. “Baker and La Grande are
also being included in the call enter expansion,
but Wallowa County appears to be getting the
biggest number of new hires.”
THERE IS a new taxidermist in town. JR
Rymut, 31, who has a background in museum
exhibit fabrication in Missouri, Arizona and
Washington, is available to create museum
quality mounts for local hunters and taxidermy
fans.
JR received a fine arts degree from the
Rhode Island School of Design, and stud-
ied taxidermy and tanning in Montana. That
led to work in one of the most esteemed taxi-
dermy studios in the country, and collaboration
on the largest and most eye-catching installa-
tions on display at the Safari Club International
Convention.
Rymut’s studio, Echo Taxidermy, is at the
corner of Depot and Main Street where he is
currently creating an octopus for a museum
diorama.
Because of an extensive background in
museum dioramas, Rymut is particularly adept
at creating pedestal mounts and life-size instal-
lations with realistic backgrounds for your
mounted game.
Rymut is at 541-625-0176 or visit echotaxi-
dermy.com.
LAST SEPTEMBER, Bill Finney and
Heather Tyreman heard a knock on the front
door of their bed and breakfast, The Bronze
Antler, in Joseph and outside stood two
Alaskans.
Mike and Raylene O’Conner, of Seward,
were vacationing in Joseph and had struck up a
conversation about their goal of establishing a
mainland business base. They were directed to
Bill and Heather.
One look inside the Main Street house with
its antiques and art, and the O’Conners were
charmed. Further examination showed that
charm was combined with luxurious amenities
for guests. It’s not for nothing that The Bronze
Antler is listed as a Select Registry B&B.
“This house — it’s amazing,” said Mike
O’Conner. “To bring this place up to this level
of quality — we just couldn’t imagine.”
Last week the O’Conners signed papers,
and The Bronze Antler will soon be under new
25 YEARS AGO
responsibility is to ensure that
natural processes dominate the
wilderness and human impacts
are secondary. The updated
stewardship plan will help us
do this.” Public meetings will
be held to identify issues and
areas of concern.
The Enterprise High
School choir received a “one”
rating at the Eastern Oregon
District Small Schools Music
Association Choir Festival in
La Grande. For receiving the
top rating, EHS’s 43 choir stu-
dents earned the right to partic-
ipate in the state choir festival
in Corvallis under the direc-
tion of music instructor Randy
Morgan.
The “best portrait of a
group” and “best portrait of a
man” honors went to Walter
Klages of Futuristic Photog-
raphy last week at the annual
Professional Photographers
of Oregon awards banquet in
Portland. Walter and his wife
Joy have lived in Enterprise
since 1962.
Chieftain archives
High fashion in Wallowa
County. Do you recognize
the model in this photo? We
believe it was taken at an
event at the Enterprise Elks
Lodge perhaps at a fashion
show.
BOOK BATTLE
BIZ BUZZ
Kathleen Ellyn
Paul Wahl/Chieftain
Jacob Losby reads questions to second-grade contestants in the finals of the Joseph
Charter School Battle of the Books March 15 at the school. Participants included, from left,
Lilly Wee, Kooper Grovery and Rhys Leavitt. Around 150 adults turned out to dine on chili
and watch the children compete. The event was organized by Angela Gorham. “The kids
had so much enthusiasm throughout the school leading up to the battle,” Gorham said.
“They carried the books around with them everywhere, even the lunch room.”
Kathleen Ellyn/Chieftain
Innkeepers of Wallowa County and creators
of The Bronze Antler B&B, Bill Finney and
Heather Tyreman, left, and new owners Mike
and Raylene O’Conner.
management.
Bill and Heather, who have a background
in the military, said that after 18 great years
in Wallowa County, they were ready for a bit
more footloose adventure.
Of course, they’ll be back regularly, and
they’re not leaving soon. Bill and Heather will
continue managing the B&B while the O’Con-
ners, who have a seasonal Wilderness Hos-
tel on Resurrection Bay in Alaska, go back to
manage that over the summer.
The O’Conners expect to be back in Wal-
lowa County in six months, and then the deci-
sion of how to manage the B&B will be made.
The O’Conners also had a coffee shop in
Seward and their artistic, musical and liter-
ary entertainment was similar to what Wallowa
County has to offer.
“The night we went into Fishtrap Fireside,
we found like-minded people,” Raylene said.
“We were really impressed with the Josephy
Center, too.”
The O’Conners are looking forward to the
300 days of sun they’ll get in Wallowa County
in comparison to the 60 days of sun they had
in Seward.
While the O’Conners are visiting and get-
ting the paperwork lined out, Bill and Heather
have introduced them to the Grande Ronde
Symphony Orchestra, the Oregon East Sym-
phony and the Wallowa Valley Orchestra
(Heather plays oboe and English Horn in those
orchestras) and the Grange.
All that’s left now is to get these folks on the
Dragon Boat team. It might happen. Raylene
was on crew in college, and both are kayakers.
Chieftain parent company creating ‘TOO’
Veteran Eastern Oregon
newspaper executive Kath-
ryn Brown has been named
publisher of The Other Ore-
gon, a rural affairs maga-
zine being developed by EO
Media Group.
The Other Oregon is a
quarterly magazine targeting
the wider concerns of nonur-
ban Oregonians. Stories will
be reported from a rural per-
spective. The magazine will
offer deep dives into rural
issues, profiles of interesting
rural figures and lifestyle fea-
tures on rural Oregon culture.
It will premier this fall.
“There is a tremendous
need for rural Oregonians
to communicate more effec-
tively with those in positions
of power in the urban centers
of the Willamette Valley,”
Brown said. “The Other Ore-
gon can help the state’s deci-
sion-makers understand rural
Oregon’s vast natural and
human resources and how
they can support efforts to
improve economic opportuni-
ties in communities through-
out the state.
“I’m excited to lead this
effort, and feel that our com-
pany is uniquely positioned
to take on this challenge, with
our long-standing presence
in many rural communities
on the coast and in eastern
Oregon.”
Joe Beach, editor and pub-
lisher of the Capital Press,
will serve as the magazine’s
editor.
Brown currently serves
as the publisher of the East
Oregonian, a daily newspa-
per in Pendleton owned by
EO Media Group. Though
she will maintain an office
in Pendleton, Brown will
step down to work full-time
on The Other Oregon once a
replacement is named.
At the East Oregonian, she
will be replaced by a regional
publisher and revenue direc-
tor who will also be respon-
sible for the operations of the
Hermiston Herald, the Blue
Mountain Eagle and the Wal-
lowa County Chieftain.
Brown will also assume
the title of vice president
of EO Media Group, and
will remain secretary of the
EO Media Group board of
directors.
EO Media Group is a
company owned by Brown
and members of the Forrester
family. It also owns the Cap-
ital Press, Chinook Observer,
The Daily Astorian, the Sea-
side Signal, the Cannon
Beach Gazette and Oregon
Coast Today.
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