A4
Opinion
wallowa.com
April 18, 2018
Wallowa County Chieftain
Lifelong library user chimes in
GUEST
COLUMN
Bonnie Marks
Members of the Chief Joseph Days Rodeo Court of 1958
were on hand for this year’s coronation ceremonies: Jan-
ice Dougherty Burns, left, Judy Begley Lamy and Judy
Stockdale Bothum.
Once a rodeo
queen, always
a rodeo queen
allowa County born and raised folks age well. Have
you ever noticed that?
I was particularly struck by that idea when I met
the 1958 Chief Joseph Days Queen Court Saturday evening.
Janice Dougherty Burns, Judy Begley Lamy and Judy Stock-
dale Bothum kept the crowd in stitches with their presentation on
what it was like in the “old days.”
The three were part of the 13th year of Chief Joseph Days.
From the sound of it, they had a blast. And they appeared ener-
getic enough to
step right back
into their roles in
2018, some 60
years later.
Paul Wahl
It was clear
they had a ton of
fun and enjoyed
every minute of their year in the spotlight. It was my pleasure to
have a chance to meet and chat with them.
W
WAHL TO WALL
L
ibraries are important to our
communities. Not only do they
provide educational, computer and
multi-media resources to people of all ages
and promote a love of reading and learning,
they provide a safe environment for all.
Combining all Wallowa County
Libraries into one service district will
expand and enhance services with
improved efficiency, while providing sta-
ble funding. I fully support the formation
of the library district.
My love for libraries started when my
mother first took me there as a child. We
lived out in the country and didn’t have
television.
Saturday was town day, and at least
twice a month, it included a stop at the
library. I soon had my own library card
and learned to be responsible for the
books I borrowed.
When I was in fourth grade, we
moved into town, living only a block
from the library. I walked to school and
often stopped at the library on my way
home. It was one of my favorite places.
By the end of that school year, we were
moving back to the country.
By junior high, I was using both the
school and public libraries. I became a
library aide and worked my free period
each day at the school library. There I
From early learning
through late in life
learning to the simple
joy of a good read, the
library has something for
everyone.”
learned how to shelve books and help
library users find what they were looking
for. I did everything from entering new
books in the card system and repairing
bindings on well-used books to extend
their life.
When I married Don and moved to
the ranch on Imnaha, we made frequent
visits to the Imnaha Library. To this day,
we continue to use the library on a regu-
lar basis.
Later, I was the librarian at the Imnaha
Library for about four years. It was
rewarding to watch the school students
grow in their ability to read and love of
reading.
Needs change, and what libraries offer
changes to meet those needs. It used to
be just books to check out, then came
story hour, books on tape and videos.
Now there are all those plus computers
for public use, DVD’s, after school pro-
grams, proctoring for on-line college stu-
dents, “Deliver Me a Book” for those
who can’t get to the library and more.
We don’t want to lose any of these ser-
vices, and we will if the Wallowa County
Library closes. We will lose much of the
programming and grant funding for all of
the libraries in Wallowa County.
If it is not approved, those of us who
don’t live in one of the towns with a city
library will no doubt have to pay a hefty
yearly fee for a library card to use one of
the city libraries.
I urge you to consider the value a good
stable library system has for the county.
From early learning through late in life
learning to the simple joy of a good read,
the library has something for everyone.
Please join me in voting “yes” for
Wallowa County Libraries.
Bonnie Marks is a long-time resident
of Imnaha and retired postmaster for the
community.
LAST YEAR, the coronation was the first event my wife
and I attended after arriving in Wallowa County. We didn’t know
anyone, and by the end of the evening, we weren’t completely
sure what we had gotten ourselves into.
This year was entirely different. We knew a large number of
people at the event, some have become good friends over the
past year.
We knew both royalty candidates personally and their fami-
lies. We sat with Del and Brinda Stanley and anyone we didn’t
know, they did.
I did something I haven’t done in a very long time. When we
entered, Debby Short handed me our tickets, and we went inside.
I went to work shooting and interviewing folks, and when it
came time to go through the chow line, those dang tickets were
nowhere to be found.
Debby graciously replaced them and vouched for us. I still
haven’t found those tickets.
WE ALSO attended the Enterprise Education Foundation
“We Love Our Kids” auction on Friday night. Cloverleaf Hall
was packed, and everyone had a good time. Most importantly,
everyone reached deep into their wallets to help support this
amazing organization.
The program listed more than 100 donors. It took some work,
but we managed to walk away with a silent auction item my wife
had her eye on from the moment we walked in the door.
This year a full-blown dinner wasn’t part of the auction; how-
ever, the desserts were a big hit. Our table was served a fresh
fruit tart that was totally delicious.
The foundation is making a difference in the quality of educa-
tion in Enterprise. Kudos to them for their efforts.
LETTERS to the EDITOR
District would unfairly
tax farmers, ranchers
nce again, we are speaking out for landowners who
own a fair amount of taxable property.
Having libraries is a great thing for everyone, but if
the proposed taxpayer-funded library district is approved, then
the landowners will have to carry the tax load one more time.
Raising property taxes is unfair and lopsided. For instance,
if the ballot measure is approved at 65 cents per $1,000 of
assessed valuation, a $300,000 homeowner would pay an
additional $195 annually, a $95,000 homeowner will pay an
additional $61.75 land a rancher or farmer with $1 million in
valuation would pay $650.
If all three entities are using the libraries equally, then who
is getting the short end of the stick?
It is more reasonable and fair to have the libraries be
funded by fees paid by those who use them.
U.S. Forest Service charges permit and trail head fees to
those who use the wilderness, and national parks charge a day
or camping fee to fund the use and maintenance.
If the library district tax isn’t approved, then the libraries
will have to charge fees or cut back on some of their services.
Fees may be lower than paying extra taxes.
If the district is approved, then farms and ranches will may
have to cut back on their services or charge more for their
operations because of the increase.
We can’t afford to keep relying on the increase of property
taxes in this county to be the answer to funding every finan-
cial problem that arises.
Casey and Kim Tippett
Joseph
O
It’s women’s month, women’s time
M
arch is always Women’s Month
at the Josephy Center. The art
show features women artists;
there’s a reading night with women writers
and this year the addition of “musical
stories” on Gail Swart’s piano. And then a
final, full-blown women musicians night.
Janis Carper coordinates the con-
cert and gives us her own music. In the
last 15 years, at the Methodist Camp and
Wallowa Lake Lodge, on the stage at the
courthouse, Embers and at the Josephy
Center, Janis has amazed with musical
athleticism.
She plays guitar and mandolin and
saxophone and moves from bluegrass
to jazz at the flick of a fellow performer.
She sings harmony or lead, and smoothly
catches up with guest musicians on fiddle,
piano or accordion.
I had to get that in about Janis, because
she’s a star, a musician herself who is
helping and encouraging others — men
and women — to make music.
Janis set it up, but it was at the Jose-
phy Center.
“Harmony Rising,” a chorus of women
singers who led off the music show, sing
a cappella and get bigger and better with
each performance. This year there were
12 women. They are realtors and forest-
ers, women you’ve seen with fiddle or
guitar, and women who’ve never been on
a stage, women born and raised here and
others new. As a 75 year-old white man, I
am absolutely thrilled to see women take
the stage. Any stage. The first time I saw
it was actually in Turkey when I was a
Peace Corps volunteer. It was 1965, and
I met my first women doctors and engi-
neers in a country pulled into the 20th
MAIN STREET
Rich Wandschneider
century by a man they called Ataturk —
father of the Turks. Ataturk had founded
the modern country in 1923 and immedi-
ately given women the vote and seats at
many tables.
That must have given me courage in
my first Wallowa County job at the Exten-
sion Service. I was in charge of a program
called Neighborhood Youth Corps. Work-
ing with Bob Palmer at the Forest Service,
I sent a crew of 14- to 16-year-old boys
and girls to Billy Meadows for a summer.
Later, we used special programs to put
women on trail crews.
Title 9 came along, and we had girls
basketball teams locally and a rising num-
ber of women in medical and law schools
across the country.
I thought we were on the way to equity,
and we are making progress: my OSU Ag
class at Eastern has been 50-50 men and
women the past four years; most of our
county docs are women; Sales Force is in
the media explaining how deeply rooted
inequality in the workforce is, and how
they are working to change it. And women
across the country — Democrats and
Republicans — are lining up for the 2018
fall elections.
But the backlash is immense. In my
old second country, Turkey, an authoritar-
ian government is chipping away at many
of Ataturk’s reforms, and although women
in academia and writing from abroad are
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VOLUME 134
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Contents copyright © 2018. All rights reserved.
Reproduction without permission is prohibited.
Interim Publisher
Editor
Reporter
Reporter
Newsroom assistant
Ad sales consultant
Office manager
Kathryn B. Brown, kbbrown@eomediagroup.com
Paul Wahl, editor@wallowa.com
Stephen Tool, steve@wallowa.com
Kathleen Ellyn, kellyn@wallowa.com
editor@wallowa.com
Jennifer Powell, jpowell@wallowa.com
Cheryl Jenkins, cjenkins@wallowa.com
speaking out, their in-country presence is
tough.
In our country, many pundits attri-
bute Trump’s presidential victory to the
rise of angry white men, while the cam-
paign videos of Donald Trump boasting
about having his way with women have
helped propel the #MeToo and #TimesUp
movements.
We had another unique event this
women’s month: Rep. Pramila Jayapal
talked to a group of men and women live
from her congressional office in Washing-
ton, D.C. Although she represents a Seat-
tle district in Congress, she is a frequent
visitor to the Wallowas with many local
friends.
Pramila, an immigrant from India at
16, didn’t set out to be a politician, but
rose with the times and Seattle area con-
cerns about race and gender. Our conver-
sation was wide-ranging, and her constant
reminder was that it is women’s time.
The movements — yes, but more
importantly, women are primarily engaged
in issues that concern all Americans:
health care; income disparity; war and
peace. And they are running for office.
Times are changing. Like an increas-
ing number of older white guys, I have a
brown granddaughter, and I want her to
be free of assault, able to work where and
how she wants and to be justly paid for it.
Maybe she’ll run for congress some-
day. Maybe your granddaughter will be
President or Secretary of Defense. Women
have rarely made war. They’ve been busy
raising families and promoting harmony.
Columnist Rich Wandschneider lives
in Joseph.
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