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Enterprise, Oregon
Wallowa.com
Issue No. 22
September 19, 2018
$1
Push for state funding for clinic begins
Request will be
heard in coming
legislative session
By Paul Wahl
Wallowa County Chieftain
The request to obtain $2.5 million
from the Oregon Legislature to build
an integrated health clinic in Enter-
prise began in earnest last week.
Winding Waters Clinic and Wal-
lowa Valley Center for Wellness, the
primary push behind the project, held
a Capital Request and Discovery Day
Sept. 12.
Guests included Sen. Bill Hansell
and Rep. Greg Barreto, as well as
Sen. Elizabeth Steiner Hayward.
The day began with a luncheon at
Wallowa Lake Lodge, where a pha-
lanx of community representatives
each took a few minutes to express
support for the clinic.
The 17,000 square-foot $7 million
facility to be built on 3.2 acres across
from Wallowa Memorial Hospital
would bring together medical, dental,
childcare and mental health services
under one roof and provide a “warm
handoff” between the two.
“This is a dream that started a
long time ago,” Chantay Jett, execu-
tive director of the Center for Well-
ness told the gathering of nearly 50
people.
Growth in scope of service is also
driving the push for a new facility.
Nic Powers, CEO of Winding Waters,
said the clinic has grown from 27
employees to 62 in recent years and
is accommodating 28,000 patient vis-
its annually. Center for Wellness has
had similar growth.
Providing a multiple of services
in one place is particularly important
to the county’s veteran community,
Wallowa County Veteran’s Service
Officer Ted Thorne told the gathering.
“It’s difficult enough to get them
INTO THE
DRINK
to admit they have a problem, but
then to have to send them to several
locations for treatment makes it even
more difficult,” he said.
Law enforcement representatives,
education leaders, and a number of
individuals who had received help
also spoke. Another emerging theme
was the stigma attached to seek-
ing treatment at the current Wellness
Center.
See CLINIC, Page A7
Enterprise
receives
planning
grant funds
County, city are looking
forward to development
cooperation ahead
By Kathleen Ellyn
Wallowa County Chieftain
The economic growth planning goals of
both the previous Enterprise City Adminis-
trator Michele Young and current adminis-
trator Lacey McQuead received a boost and
a powerful partner.
Enterprise has received a grant that cov-
ers the cost of a consultant from Johnson
Economics to help them bring comprehen-
sive land use plans and public facility plans
up to date. No specific amount for the grant
has been shared.
Young had applied for the grant before
she retired.
“It’s fully funded,” said McQuead. “I
think this would be a really good thing right
now.”
See GRANT, Page A7
$140,000 in:
Industrial Park
in Joseph inches
closer to reality
Primary funding source
was less than expected
By Kathleen Ellyn
Wallowa County Chieftain
Paul Wahl/Chieftain
Enterprise Cross Country runner Devin Greer falls head-first into the fabled Catherine Creek during the 42nd Annual Cather-
ine Creek Scamper Friday near Union. The varsity boys finished third in the event. More sports photos on pages 8, 9 and 16.
Joseph has won $140,000 from Regional
Solutions to be used toward its $650,000
project to bring city water and sewer to the
Joseph Industrial Park.
It was a long and complicated process,
Mayor Dennis Sands said, and it left him some-
what disillusioned. Nevertheless, the basic
funding is enough, when added to other grants
or funds, to begin phase one of the project.
See PARK, Page A7
Nez Perce are leaving a living legacy
In this series of articles, the Chieftain plans to examine the Nez Perce’s presence in the county: how it impacts the county and
what it does to help preserve salmon and fish populations vital to the tribe and to a portion of the county’s tourist industry.
By Steve Tool
Wallowa County Chieftain
T
he Nez Perce Department of Fisheries
building at 500 N. Main St. in Joseph is
about as nondescript as you can find. It’s
not particularly large, but impact of the work
done there in Wallowa County and its fish pop-
ulation is immense.
The scores of local and tourist fishermen
who line the banks of the county’s streams and
rivers would likely not be there without the
agency’s work.
When the Nez Perce left their Wallowa
Valley homeland in 1877, they’d lost nearly
everything –– their homeland, much of their
livestock and eventually, much of their free-
dom. However, under the 1855 and 1863 trea-
ties that hastened the Tribe’s demise, they still
retained hunting, fishing and grazing rights
throughout much of their former lands.
The Tribe eventually established its
Department of Fisheries Resource Manage-
ment that helps ensure that the salmon, which
were and are a staple of the Nez Perce diet
as well as a tremendous part of the Tribe’s
culture and heritage, are protected into the
future, as well as enhancing opportunities for
sportsmen.
The agency’s administrative offices are
in Lapwai, Idaho, and it maintains a number
of field offices in addition to Joseph: Sweet-
water, Orofino, Red River, Grangeville and
McCall. Most of the work is done outside the
boundaries of the 1863 treaty although the
vast majority of work done at the Joseph sta-
tion is completed within Wallowa County.
See NEZ PERCE, Page A18