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Enterprise, Oregon
Wallowa.com
Issue No. 1
April 18, 2018
$1
Wallowa epicenter of state’s wolf population
Livestock depredations have decreased
By George Plaven
For the Chieftain
Oregon wildlife officials counted
at least 124 wolves at the end of 2017,
an 11 percent increase over the year
end total for 2016, according to the
latest annual report released last week.
The survey, which is conducted
by the Oregon Department of Fish
& Wildlife, is not a true population
Bed tax hike
still in play
Additional funds would
go to sheriff’s office,
improving fairgrounds
By Kathleen Ellyn
Wallowa County Chieftain
No decisions have yet been made on
increasing the Wallowa County Transient
Lodging Tax.
County Commissioners discussed the
matter briefly at an April 16 hearing. The tax
brings in around $360,000 per year.
A collection of hoteliers and other inter-
ested parties have now met twice, along with
County Commissioner Todd Nash, to discuss
the idea of raising Wallowa County lodging
taxes to nearly 15 percent.
Nash emphasized that the tax was merely
being discussed and that commissioners had
made no plans or formal proposals.
The idea has been floated in an effort to
come up with funds for both the Sheriff’s
Office and the Wallowa County Fairgrounds.
There are obstacles to raising the tax in
addition to gaining the support of the lodging
community.
Oregon Statue prohibits the use of lodging
tax money for anything but “tourism promo-
tion,” support of “tourism related facilities”
and city and county services.
Can the fairgrounds be considered a “tour-
ist related facility?”
“We don’t know,” said Wallowa County
Commissioner Susan Roberts. “Not enough
research has been done.”
The Association of Oregon Counties has
said they are not aware fairgrounds qualify as
tourist-related facilities. No specific reference
to fairgrounds is found in Oregon Revised
Statutes related to transient lodging tax, but a
decision made by the Oregon Attorney Gen-
eral in 2008 specifically disallows any facil-
ity that is used by the community as much as
by tourists.
Linn County is looking at imposing a
transient tax as a way to help fund tourism
throughout the county and to help support
the Expo Center in the city of Albany — but
the Expo center is “unquestionably a tourist
related facility, a business, and is not a fair-
grounds,” explained Linn County Commis-
sioner John Lindsey.
“We (free) lease that facility to the fair
board for two weeks,” he said. “In Linn
County the fair is an event, not a location.”
The second obstacle is that Wallowa
County ordinance has already earmarked tran-
sient lodging tax money and “fairgrounds”
does not have a notched ear. The allocations
estimate but documents the mini-
mum number of wolves across the
state based on verified evidence
such as visual sightings, tracks and
photographs.
ODFW will present an overview
of the findings at the next Fish and
Wildlife Commission meeting April
20 in Astoria.
“The wolf population continues
to grow and expand its range in Ore-
gon,” said Roblyn Brown, ODFW
wolf program coordinator. “This year,
we also documented resident wolves
in the northern part of Oregon’s Cas-
cade Mountains for the first time.”
Most wolves in Oregon remain
clustered around the northeast cor-
ner of the state, though several packs
and known wolf territory can also be
found in Wasco, Klamath and Lake
counties. Statewide, Oregon now has
12 wolf packs, 11 of which were suc-
cessful breeding pairs, meaning that
at least two adults and two pups sur-
vived to the end of the year.
Wolf reproduction was the high-
est recorded in 2017 since the spe-
cies returned to Oregon, with pups
being born in 18 groups — a 50 per-
cent increase over 2016. Though they
did not meet the definition of a breed-
ing pair, reproduction was confirmed
in the Chesnimnus, Harl Butte, Mea-
cham, North Emily and Shamrock
See WOLVES, Page A8
Schreiber named
CJD Queen 2018
Rylee Goller, left, was named Chief Joseph Days 2018 princess and Deidre Schreiber queen during ceremonies held April 14
in Joseph.
Stock contractor John Growney will be grand marshal
By Paul Wahl
Wallowa County Chieftain
eidre Schreiber was named Chief
Joseph Days 2018 Queen and
Rylee Goller Princess at ceremo-
nies held April 14 in Joseph.
The two raised $55,000 for the rodeo,
which will be held July 25-29 at Harley
Tucker Rodeo Grounds in Joseph.
D
Schreiber is the daughter of Debera
and Charlie Warnock, and Goller is the
daughter of Curtis Goller and Joe and
Linda Estes.
Rodeo stock contractor John Growney
of Red Bluff, Calif., was announced as
grand marshal for the 2018 rodeo events.
Growney, a lifelong rodeo contestant,
started Growney Brothers Rodeo in 1979
with his brother Mike.
In 2000, Growney Brothers was named
the Stock Contractor of the Year by the
Professional Rodeo Cowboy’s Associa-
tion. Growing to produce some of the big-
gest professional rodeos, Tim Bridwell
was added as a partner in 2005, managing
the bucking horse program.
Growney served on the PRCA’s stock
See CJD, Page A8
See TAX, Page A9
County support for wellness center sought
Legislative ‘ask’
being prepared
By Kathleen Ellyn
Wallowa County Chieftain
Wallowa Valley Center for
Wellness is moving forward
with its plan to complete a
$6.8 million integrated health
services building in Enterprise.
Representatives of the non-
profit appeared before Wal-
lowa County Commissioners
this week to request a letter of
support to accompany the $2.5
million request it will present
before the legislature in 2019.
That number was originally $2
million, but prevailing wage
costs raised the ante.
“We’ve been working with
Sen. Hansell and Rep. Barreto
since last summer,” said Chan-
tay Jett, executive director.
Fundraising consultant Mike
Wilson of Westby Associ-
ates Inc of Vancouver, Wash.,
informed commissioners that
a legislative tour of the project
was possible later this summer.
“If there is any financial
capability (by the county) to
offer financial support for this
project, that would be great,
too,” Jett added.
Although foundations are
expected to contribute sig-
nificantly to the cause, “many
foundations won’t lend money
on something that is not
already 50 percent funded,”
said Jett.
We are very
cautious about
asking for money
from the state ....”
— Todd Nash
county commissioner
So, in addition to seeking
state aid, the center plans to
sell its older buildings to raise
money. They have already
sold one building and listed
another, Jett said.
Members of the Wal-
lowa County community also
raised more than $350,000 at
the group’s first-ever fund-
raiser Feb. 4. Wilson contin-
ues to work at securing private
donations.
Winding Waters Clinic
CEO Nic Powers also
appeared to encourage com-
missioners to support the proj-
ect and perhaps lend financial
support, emphasizing that the
integrated care facility was a
need, not a showpiece.
“This is a project Winding
Waters Clinic is committed to
as well,” he said. “We’ve been
talking to the center about
this project for five years.
We’re out of space, and we’re
excited about this integrated
health model. We’ve worked
really hard to make sure there
is community support, so the
Wallowa Memorial Hospital is
certainly supportive, Building
Healthy families, a number of
agencies.”
Commissioners said they
would study the issue.
“For right now, given the
constraints of Wallowa Coun-
ty’s budget, we’d likely hold
off on anything from there,”
said Commissioner Todd
Nash. “We are very cautious
about asking for money from
the state ... and considering the
large amount that we would
be asking from the state ... we
need a little more time to think
about it.”