CHIEFTAIN GRIDIRON CONTEST KICKS OFF » PAGE 9
Enterprise, Oregon
Issue No. 20
Wallowa.com
September 5, 2018
ACCIDENTAL
SUCCESS
The life and philosophy of the Stilsons
$1
Appeal
possible
of Lostine
corridor suit
Environmental groups
mulling over options
By Steve Tool
Wallowa County Chieftain
The lawsuit filed by environmental
groups Greater Hells Canyon Council and
Oregon Wild to stop the Lostine Corridor
Public Safety Project received another set-
back Aug. 17.
District Court Judge Michael Simon
upheld the findings and recommendations
of Magistrate Judge Patricia Sullivan, who
determined there was no merit in the suit.
The U.S. Forest Service proposed the cor-
ridor project in order to implement fire mit-
igation treatments along the 11 miles and
2,200 acres skirting Lostine River Road.
The treatments include forest thinning,
removal of hazard trees and some commer-
cial logging.
See CORRIDOR, Page A7
Biomass project
is back on line
Kathleen Ellyn/Chieftain
Downtown businesses
would benefit from
cheaper heating source
Judy and Jim Stilson of Joseph (and Flash). The Stilsons were honored as Cattlemen of the Year by the Wallowa County
Stockgrowers Association.
By Kathleen Ellyn
Wallowa County Chieftain
By Kathleen Ellyn
Wallowa County Chieftain
J
im (1941) and Judy (1947) Stilson
were honored at the Stockgrowers
Banquet last month as 2018 Honor-
ary Cattleman of the Year. As usual,
the story of how Jim and Judy made their
lives in Wallowa County as cattle ranchers
— or in this case, horse trainers and cattle
ranchers — is a tale worth repeating.
So, about that horse named Linoleum.
Story is, Jim went to town one Val-
entine’s Day and Judy was sure he was
going to come home with a brand-new
piece of Linoleum for Judy’s kitchen.
Judy was a farm wife and linoleum was
an acceptable Valentine’s gift.
“We really needed a new kitchen floor,”
Judy said. “I was doing some remodeling.”
Instead, Jim got sucked into a great
temptation — he went to the auction yard.
And he gave in to temptation — and came
home with a horse instead.
“He called her Val because it was Val-
entines Day and tried to convince me she
was my present,” Judy said.
She wasn’t having that, and Jim had to
go back to town and do better, but the horse
stayed and was named Linoleum.
And that story should tell you a lot about
ranch life and Jim and Judy Stilson, particu-
larly their sense of humor.
Jim and Judy grew up fairly near each
other in the Palouse Valley of Washington
and both their fathers, Dean Stilson (and
wife Jean) and Ray Harp (and wife Bea)
were grain farmers.
Jim’s mother, Jean, was a school teacher
and Judy’s mother, Bea, was a farm wife. Jim
and Judy knew one another through friends
and cousins, but “we weren’t impressed
with one another in high school,” Judy said.
Judy went to business college in Spo-
kane and Jim studied general agriculture —
but he didn’t want to be a grain farmer like
his father.
“I wanted to be a cowboy,” he said.
They liked each other a lot better when
A project designed to supply cheap heat-
ing to downtown Enterprise businesses is
back on track.
Kyle Petrocine, program manager for
Wallowa Resources and Community Solu-
tions Inc., has been in discussion with busi-
nesses that could benefit from the biomass
project and recently presented an update to
Enterprise City Council.
Wallowa Resources received an Oregon
Department of Forestry grant to do the initial
design three years ago, but afterward, fluctu-
ations in the price of fuel oil resulted in the
project being shelved.
See STILSONS, Page A7
See BIOMASS, Page A7
Enterprise youth wages battle against rare form of cancer
Undergoing Rife
Frequency Therapy
By Kathleen Ellyn
Wallowa County Chieftain
Boldness may have saved Jalyn
Radford-Wecks’ life. And he’s deter-
mined to keep on being bold in
hopes of saving the lives of other
young men.
In early July, Jalyn, 17, of Enter-
prise discovered a painful lump on
one of his testicles. He had learned
about testicular cancer in health
class at school, and he knew he
needed to tell someone about it.
“He texted me at work, July 5,
and asked if I could come by his
work,” said his mother Vixen Rad-
ford-Wecks. “That’s not normal for
a teenager.”
Jalyn told his mother what the
problem was and asked her to make
him an appointment with a doctor.
“I thought, he really didn’t say
what I just heard,” said Vixen. But he
had said it. She made an appointment
immediately.
The biopsy came back July 12. It
was cancer. It wasn’t the more com-
mon and highly treatable testicular
seminoma cancer, it was a rarer more
aggressive embryonal cancer — a
germ cell cancer.
One-fifth to two-thirds of young
men who are diagnosed find the can-
cer has metastasized.
Back-to-back appointments began.
By July 19, Jalyn was in the hospi-
tal with grandad Monte Radford and
dad Jeffery Wecks at his side when he
went in for surgery to remove his left
testicle.
A few weeks of recovery later,
he was back at OHSU to hear his
treatment options going forward.
Although testing had shown can-
cer cells in the spermatic duct, doc-
tors were not saying the cancer had
metastasized. However, recent blood-
JAMMIN’ AT THE JAM
work results gave cause for concern.
According to the American Can-
cer Society, radiation therapy can
cause an increased risk of getting a
second cancer (outside of the tes-
ticle) later in life, so full radiation
therapy was not an option high on
the list for the Radford-Wecks fam-
ily, though Jalyn now carries two
small “radioactive rocks” in his
pocket as a part of treatment.
See CANCER, Page A8
10th Juniper Jam plays to large
audience at the fairgrounds
By Steve Tool
Wallowa County Chieftain
Blue skies and perfect weather greeted
the 10th annual Juniper Jam at the Wal-
lowa County Fairgrounds Sept. 1. The event
is the premiere fundraiser for the Wallowa
Valley Music Alliance.
The all-day event featured 15 music acts,
all performing original compositions, a pre-
requisite to take the stage. Alliance execu-
tive director Janis Carper said the event was
a tremendous success.
This year’s jam saw several twists. The
songwriter contest fell by the wayside due
to a lack of entrants coupled with the fact
the event proved a time drain.
“There was a lot of work involved,”
Steve Tool/Chieftain Carper said, “and the return was minimal.”
Portland band Anita Lee and the Handsome Three play their unique She didn’t rule out bringing it back in the
blend of psychedelic country at the 10th annual Juniper Jam held at future, however.
the Wallowa County Fairgrounds on Sept. 1.
The festival also included an additional
two hours of music, also with buskers play-
ing at different stations as soon as the gates
opened. Buskers entertain in a public place
for donations.
“It made a nice way to start the day,” she
said.
Carper’s favorite part of the event was
the way the music of each band flowed into
the next act, giving the jam continuity. She
said that feeling can be difficult to achieve,
given variables such as genre, music style,
gender and others.
“I was super pleased that every band
played at just the time it needed to,” she
said.
Kory Quinn was the only act that had
previously played the festival although he
performed with an entirely new band. Sev-
eral performers had also played the jam as
musicians in other bands.
See JAM, Page A7