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.