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About Wallowa County chieftain. (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Or.) 1943-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 15, 2018)
WALLOWA COUNTY FAIR 2018 ‘Cheers, steers, and volunteers’ | Page A7 AT RIGHT Montana Post of Wallowa gives her steer Blue Bear a thorough cleaning, including a vacuum job, at the county fair. New Sport ‘Nose Work’ Coming To Wallowa County Page A10 Enterprise, Oregon Issue No. 17 Wallowa.com August 15, 2018 $1 Sojonia raises stink over Joseph bathrooms Administrator hiring process moves ahead By Steve Tool Wallowa County Chieftain The city’s public bathrooms were the sub- ject to discussion again at the Joseph City Council meeting Aug. 9. Council member Teresa Sajonia said that the bathrooms remained in filthy condition after the council ordered the public works employees to make cleaning a priority. The restrooms are located at the corner of East Wallowa Avenue and North Lake Street. She noted that the city’s utility clerk Crystal Bronson had created a signoff sheet for the public works crew to complete, and the sheet was signed daily. “I made a point of stopping by on the way here, and they’re not getting cleaned. There is no way in two-and-a-half hours that hap- pened,” Sajonia said. See STINK, Page A9 HOT TIME AT THE FAIR Sisters Page Freels, back, and Cara Freels of Lostine were part of the opening class in sheep judging at the fair Thursday. T he barn door has closed on a hot and dry Wallowa County Fair 2018. Temperatures during the three primary live- stock showing days –– Wednesday, Thursday and Friday –– topped out at 104 degrees. In contrast, high temps during last year’s fair week reached 91 and in 2016, the highs were in the 80s. The heat didn’t stop the action; however, it may have slowed it a bit. The fair wrapped Saturday evening with the traditional livestock auction. More than 160 animals were entered, the larg- est block being market swine. Temperatures were in the 80s by Saturday night with a gusty northwest wind. Lodging tax boost heading toward ballot Wallowa County is moving forward with a plan to place an increase in the transient lodging tax for specific hoteliers. The issue will appear on the Nov. 6 gen- eral election ballot, “Shall Wallowa County Transient Lodging Tax be increased three percent in unincorporated areas to bene- fit the sheriff’s department and fairgrounds operation?” The county collects a voter-approved lodging tax of five percent, paid by tourists, business travelers and other visitors. The tax is divvied up 20 percent to Wal- lowa County Health Care District Emer- gency Services, 10 percent to Wallowa County Search and Rescue, 5 percent to Wal- lowa County Solid Waste Program, 15 per- cent to county projects recommended by the board of commissioners. See TAX, Page A8 More photos on Page 7 of this edition, on Facebook and at wallowa. com. Herinckx, Knifong earn top honors By Kathleen Ellyn Ban on publicly- funded abortion on Nov. 6 ballot Wallowa County Chieftain By Paris Achen Homemaker of the year accolades for best fair entries For the Chieftain M arietta Herinckx, 71, of Enterprise started a marathon of creativ- ity for a shot at Senior Homemaker of the Year at the Wallowa County Fair the day after the 2017 fair ended. She knew what she was in for. “I had friends who had done it in past years, and I pretty much kept it in focus this year,” Her- inckx said. It was intense. The winner of the coveted prize, which is a bit of money and a lot of bragging rights, must have the most ribbons in four cat- egories: horticulture, food preser- vation, baked goods and textiles. Competitors also enter other cate- gories, but wins there don’t count toward Homemaker of the Year. Herinckx’s plan was simple: keep on top of it and make multi- ple entries for every category. She got off to a good start. Marietta Herinckx of Wallowa won it walking away this year. She took Senior Homemaker of the Year at the Wallowa Coun- ty Fair with 182.5 points — more than three times more points than the next competitor. She did it by entering 93 different items including the peppermint cook- ies and Cosmos floral arrange- ment and the quilt behind her. “I started canning things in season immediately,” she said. “Then, I froze fruit for jam, thinking I could can in the winter.” But even when the plan is Photos by Kathleen Ellyn/Chieftain Kennison Knifong, 16, of Enter- prise, won Junior Homemaker of the Year at the Wallowa Coun- ty Fair for the second time. He entered dozens of items, in- cluding this Best of Show lat- tice crust cherry pie. good, some leaning into the finish line tape was necessary. “I made the jam last week!” Herinckx said. See HONORS, Page A8 A constitutional amendment to ban publicly-funded abortion in Oregon has qualified for the statewide general election. The Stop Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act — which will likely be called Measure 106 — had just enough valid signatures to secure a place on the ballot.“We are really excited because we have been work- ing at this since 2012,” said Brooks resident Marilyn Shannon, one of the initiative’s three chief sponsors. “We had a lot of road blocks.” The measure would prohibit the use of public funds to pay for abor- tions, unless medically necessary or required by federal law. “This does not outlaw abortions,” Shannon said. “It just does not allow public money to pay for it.” The state spent around $1.9 million in 2017-18 for abortions paid under the Oregon Health Plan, the state’s version of Medicaid, according to the Oregon Health Authority.
