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About Wallowa County chieftain. (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Or.) 1943-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 29, 2018)
Wallowa County Chieftain News wallowa.com August 29, 2018 A9 Goebel-Burns named interim county treasurer She will stand for election in November By Kathleen Ellyn Wallowa County Chieftain Kathleen Ellyn/Chieftain Interim Wallowa County Treasurer Ginger K Goebel-Burns Ginger Goebel-Burns is juggling two jobs these days. The new interim Wallowa County Treasurer (and candi- date for the permanent Trea- surer position) is still working for the Wallowa County Road Department as administrative assistant — a job she has held for 15 years. “I start at the road depart- ment at 6 a.m., come here to the treasurers office at 8 a.m., work till afternoon and go back to the road department,” Goebel-Burns said. She’ll continue to do dou- ble duty until the Novem- ber elections, at which point a new full-time treasurer will be elected. “If I win the election, I’ll be staying here as treasurer. If I lose, the road department gets the loser back,” Goeb- el-Burns said. “It’s a win/win for everybody. I love the guys I’m working with on the road department, I’m just looking to do something different before I retire.” Goebel-Burns has been handling accounts for a long time. She graduated from Wal- lowa High in 1979 and after three years of college, decided she wanted the work world and began her career with Rick Bombaci at Blue Mountain Computers in Enterprise — doing a bit of everything. From there, she took her first job with the county in 1992 as the Wallowa County accountant when the late Laura Jean Locke left the position. She and her husband of 25 years, Marc Burns, married in 1993. She stayed as Wallowa County accountant until the day before her daughter Katelynn was born in March of 1994. After she left, Jackie Fleming of Enterprise took the position. Goebel-Burns then went back to work in 1995-96, working for Silver Creek Financial in Lostine and stayed there until 1999. Then, the county called again. The Board of Com- missioners asked her to fill in again as Wallowa County accountant after Jackie Flem- ing left the post. Goebel-Burns remained in the interim position until Gail Tally was hired in 1999. Goebel-Burns and her hus- band owned and operated Goebels Service in Wallowa 2001-12, and Ginger did the accounting. But she was working two jobs back then, too, as she had joined the Wallowa County Road Department when the late Maxine Mackin retired in 2003. Back in the courthouse, she and Tally became close friends and continue to lunch together every week even as Tally moved on to the comp- troller job at Wallowa County Grain Growers. “Ginger is going to do great as interim treasurer,” said Tally. Commissioners are equally pleased that Goebel-Burns is willing to take on two jobs at once when the county is feel- ing a pinch. “She’s been a longtime employee of the county and knows our system quite well,” said County Commissioner Susan Roberts. “As an interim she will be able to step in and take control of the treasurers office with minimum getting- up-to-speed. It will be an easy transition.” NOVEMBER 2018 ELECTION Two file for commissioner seat; Daggett, Walters enter the race Deadline for challengers for Dunn seat is Sept. 4 By Kathleen Ellyn Wallowa County Chieftain The untimely death of Wallowa County Commissioner- Elect Bruce Dunn has left can- didates scrambling to file before the state-man- dated Sept. 4 deadline. Potential candidates have expressed dis- comfort at the process moving forward before proper grieving period. The original deadline for application was Aug. 28 but was extended by a week at the request to the Secretary of State by commissioners. As of Aug. 24 two candidates had filed for the position: Diane Daggett of Enterprise and Cliff Walters of Joseph. Daggett said she had made the decision to file after much encouragement from the com- munity. She had received 1,218 votes in her ear- lier run against Dunn in the May 15 Oregon Pri- mary. Dunn took the position with 1,869 votes. Daggett, a Wallowa County native, is a founding broker for Ruby Peak Real Estate. She has been a rancher; was Wallowa Resources founding executive director; was director of Applicants step up for city council, mayor positions the Wallowa County Land Use Planning and Building Dept.; and served as Wallowa County Administrative Manager for Wallowa County Board of Commissioners. Walters, of Joseph, is retired from United Airlines and Oregon Department of Corrections and operates Chris’ Forest Products of Joseph with his wife, Christine. The business sells for- est byproducts such as redwood, cedar and barkdust. He has been a resident of the county for 25 years and his two sons, John and Cory Wal- ters, who own In Good Hands Construction of Joseph. Walters has been past president of the Wal- lowa County Board of Realtors; was former shop manager for Summit Ford of Enterprise; and has taught hunter safety courses for 20 years. He describes himself as a “conservative” candidate. He stated he is self-funded and is not taking any donations from any party or other source. “I was just really sick about Bruce passing away and wanted to make sure they got a con- servative voice on the commission,” Walters said. No candidate forums had been planned as of press time. Incumbents running again in Joseph By Kathleen Ellyn Wallowa County Chieftain Interest in open city council posi- tions has been steady in Enterprise, Joseph and Wallowa. Enterprise City Council has three council positions and a mayor’s posi- tion open. Incumbents filed to fill those positions, with Bruce Bliven also running against Ashley Sullivan for council position three. Stacey Karvoski has put in for her second two-year term as Mayor. Jenni Word will run for her second full term as council member. She was initially appointed for two years and has since served a full four-year term. Dave Elliott is seeking his second term. Ashley Sullivan and Bruce Bliven are vying for position three. Sulli- van has served two years since being appointed as a replacement for former councilor Laura Miller. Wallowa City Council has three positions open: mayor and two coun- cil members. Gary Hulse, former fire chief for Wallowa, has filed for the two-year position of mayor. Oran McCrae will try for a full four-year term as council member after having finished out the posi- tion vacated by Red Evans. Joe Town hopes to continue his service as coun- cil member. Joseph City Council has four council positions open. Pearl Sturm, who has served since 2004, filed to continue serving another four years, as has Teresa Sajonia, who has served since 2006. The council position vacated by Kathy Bingham earlier this summer will be filled by appoint- ment and two applicants have volun- teered, according to Mayor Dennis Sands. The fourth position, filled by Michael Lockhart since February, will be opened for applicants at the end of Lockhart’s term in January. Lockhart has indicated he will not run. Gov. Brown throttles up seven-step education policy agenda By Paris Achen For the Chieftain Gov. Kate Brown released her seven-step education policy agenda Aug. 27, components of which will be included in her proposed 2019-21 state budget, her spokeswoman said. “The governor strongly believes that in order to effect change for Oregon’s students, a multi-pronged approach is vital,” said Kate Kondayen, a press secretary in Brown’s office. The press secretary did not answer a question from the Pamplin/EO Media Group about how much the education policy agenda would cost. The governor’s proposed statewide budget is due in late November. At 77 percent, Oregon has one of the worst on-time graduation rates in the nation and one of the shortest school years, according to fed- eral statistics. Oregon Rep. Knute Bue- hler, the GOP nominee for gov- ernor, released his education platform in late June. “After 30 years in elected office, and the last three as governor, Kate Brown has had many opportunities to show that she is capable of fixing our broken schools,” said Mon- ica Wroblewski, communi- cations director for Buehler’s campaign. “Instead, as gov- ernor, she has presided over a public school system that fails to graduate roughly one out of every four kids – one of the worst graduation rates in the country.” Buehler’s plan would “actu- ally solve Oregon’s classroom funding crisis and move our schools from the bottom five to the top five in five years,” Wroblewski said. “He will lead where Kate Brown has failed.” His plan also calls for a min- imum 180-day school year and more access to career-technical education. Buehler, a Bend orthopedic surgeon and state representa- tive for Oregon House District 54, has said he plans to achieve his goal by boosting the state budget for education by at least 15 percent. Get ready for school with our really fun Decomposition Journals T HE B OOKLOFT Across from the courthouse in Enterprise 107 E. Main • 541.426.3351 always open at www.bookloftoregon.com • bookloft@eoni.com BARGAINS MONTH ® BARGAINS OF OF THE THE MONTH While supplies last. While supplies last. YOUR CHOICE 9.99 True Value ® 40 lb. Wild Bird Food L 129 284 1 True Value ® 20 lb. Black Oil Sunflower Bird Seed L 106 363 1 Help is free and confidential 24/7 Visit OPGR.org or call 1-877- 695-4648 (MY-LIMIT) M-F 8AM-6PM • SAT 8AM-5PM • SUN 9AM-3PM Building Healthy Families Wallowa County Prevention 207 E Park St, Enterprise, OR 97828 541-426-9411 Sale Ends 9/30/18