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About Wallowa County chieftain. (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Or.) 1943-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 3, 2018)
A4 Opinion wallowa.com October 3, 2018 Wallowa County Chieftain More Wallowa County traditions falling to T raditions are as much a part of Wallowa County as the mountain, the hayfields and herds of cattle. Last week, Shannon McNerney, Executive Director at Fishtrap, called me to let me know they are getting ready to break tradition. Fishtrap’s signature Summer Fishtrap Gathering of Writ- ers will move from the Wallowa Lake Methodist Camp where it has held forth for the past 31 years. Summer of 2019, the event will move to the Paul Wahl Wallowa Lake Lodge. Fishtrap will be taking over the entire grounds for the week, setting up its big tent, utilizing the rooms and cabins and more. Shannon said Fishtrap leaves the camp with no hard feelings. “It was a business decision,” she said. Bottom line, well ... the bottom line for Fishtrap. Costs will be reduced in the new venue and the experience of writ- ing on the shores of Lake Wallowa will be enhanced. “Fishtrap is grateful for our long relationship with the Wallowa Lake Methodist Camp,” Shannon added. “They have been an important and valuable part of our work to pro- mote clear thinking and good writing in and about the west for more than 30 years.” This past summer, we had another tradition-break when Chief Joseph Camp announced its relocation to Fergi Ski Area. We have heard recently that there’s a possibility it may be moving back to the Buhler Ranch, where it was held for decades before the pending sale of the ranch last year, which caused the camp board to relocate. Speaking of Fergi, Wallowa County recently approved $10,000 to update the ski lift safety system there. The lift is operated by the Joseph-Enterprise Lions Club and Eagle Cap Ski Club. Fergi is another one of those beloved Wallowa County spots where tradition is as important as ever. Fergi is subject to yet another Wallowa County tradition, mercurial winters. Some years there’s too much snow, some years too little. Who knows what this coming winter will bring, but skiers for sure are hoping for lots of snow. Last week, we reported on another Wallowa County tradi- tion coming to an end. MidValley Theatre Co. will be vacat- ing its only home, the old Lostine gymnasium in Lostine, as the church that owns the facilities makes new plans for it. It will be difficult for a lot of fans of the theatre to imagine productions being anywhere else, but as theatre aficionados say, “the show must go on.” I’ve worked with many community theatre groups over the years, some of which had nice dedicated performance spaces and others that had to strike deals with churches, schools and wherever for space. Both can be made to work; however, there’s no denying that having a home of your own is a big plus for a theatre company. In this instance, MidValley will be creating the next chap- ter in its long tradition of fine community entertainment. It was Heraclitus, the pre-Socratic Greek philosopher, who said, “the only thing that is constant is change.” To paint a word picture, he also said, “no man ever steps in the same river twice.” I’m often told that people in Wallowa County “hate change,” but I have observed that change that makes sense is embraced and welcomed by most. I think what Wallowa County residents dislike is “change for the sake of change.” I’m not a big fan of that myself. WAHL TO WALL LETTERS to the EDITOR Walden lied on health care issue As an American with Crohn’s Disease, I was deeply disturbed by Greg Walden’s hypocrisy in both authoring and supporting the GOP’s healthcare reform bill after claiming to care about people like me. The GOP bill would have removed health coverage from 20 million Americans including many patients right here in Wallowa County. If my coverage had been removed, I couldn’t have afforded the $36,000 per year medication that keeps me healthy and alive. We have cancer patients in our community who would have had to have stopped life-giving therapies if that bill had passed. People we know could have died. To me, the worst part is that Walden wrote and voted for this bill after assuring voters in multiple town halls and Q & A sessions that he would oppose a bill that removed health coverage from his constituents. Not only is he willing to risk the lives of his constituents, he’s willing to lie to their faces about it. How can the citizens of Eastern Oregon be represented in Washington when our representative isn’t truthful and doesn’t respect the lives of his constituents? It’s time for Walden to go. I support Jamie McLeod-Skinner for Oregon’s Second Congres- sional District. Bjorn Hansen Joseph See LETTERS, Page A5 Give me back my Tamarack I just got stumped. Couple weeks back I found two premium tamarack firewood trees in the woods. Right off the road but somewhat hidden. A rare and precious bonanza. I could already feel the warmth from those larch rounds, cheerily cracking away in my woodstove. O, they were so toasty. So very toasty. Yeah, so I go back out to tip these prime specimens over and cart them home but find instead two very recently-created stumps. You ever read Shel Silverstein’s “The Giving Tree?” Remember that draw- ing at the end where the old guy is sitting on the stump all sad and morose? I could describe my state of mind upon encoun- tering these stumps, but it’ll be a real time- saver for both of us if you go pull your child’s copy of Silverstein from the book- shelf and flip to that page. Ol’ Shel sure could draw. The worst part –– aside from tamarack of this caliber being exceedingly rare, and complications associated with dehydration from shedding bitter tears –– the worst part is that I am 98-percent sure I know exactly where those larch are now. Oh, yes. While exiting this patch of forest after locating the prized larch trees, I passed an acquaintance going into the same neck of the woods, and this particu- lar gentleman I know to be an active and avid wood-gathering enthusiast. I strained a face muscle trying to smile and wave as we passed. Then I shivered ever so slightly, as a shadow of doubt, fol- lowed by dread, slowly crept across my happiness. Public land. Early bird gets the beau- AND FURTHERMORE Jon Rombach …The worst part is that I am 98-percent sure I know exactly where those larch are now.” — Jon Rombach tiful, perfectly-dried cord and a half of standing fuel. I know how it works. First come, first blah-blah-blah. But, oh, how it rankles. I mean, I had the lean on both trees figured out and just how to fall them. Mentally, I already had them arranged in the woodshed back home. They’d get pride of place. I’d burn my old copies of Shel Silverstein first and then break up the furniture and run that through the stove, because these rounds would be just too picturesque to deface with a split- ting maul. This was like finding two Charlie Rus- sell oil paintings propped against two trees I t is amusing that Democrats mounted a “Where’s Walden?” campaign over the Labor Day weekend, targeting U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Oregon. The congressman has come under fire for his habit of holding semi-private, under-the radar appearances in his district, as opposed to more traditional town hall gatherings open to all. The activist group Indivisible held rallies in protest, saying it’s been more than 500 days since Walden last held a town hall meeting. The tactic is also ironic, because the Republican who won the same East- ern Oregon seat in 1980 used a similar strategy. That candidate — a Willamette Valley newspaper owner named Denny Smith — ran television ads that depicted the Post Office box of the incumbent Congress- man Al Ullman — his virtual Oregon residence. Formerly a Baker City real estate bro- ker, Ullman had been the 2nd Congressio- nal District representative for 24 years. He rose to the rank of chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. From that platform in 1980, he mused aloud about a federal value-added tax. Smith seized on that concept as tantamount to a national sales tax. The sales tax is anathema to Oregon voters. Unlike Ullman, Greg Walden sees his Democratic challenger Jamie McLeod-Skinner coming. But he is car- rying a load. The yokes around Walden’s GUEST COLUMN Steve Forrester neck are twofold: One is the colorless political persona he has built; the second is Donald Trump. Walden’s great asset is the Republican margin of registered vot- ers in the sprawling 2nd District, Ameri- ca’s seventh-largest. It is an exceedingly long-odds bet that McLeod-Skinner will upset Walden in the November election. But she has been working hard at connecting with far-flung voters. As a Washington correspondent in the 1980s, I covered Congressman Smith and I met his aide, Walden. I remember viv- idly the week when two Oregon polit- ical novices — Smith and Ron Wyden — showed up in Washington during the spring of 1980. A handicapper would quickly discern that both of these guys, in different ways, had the drive and personal magnetism to be serious contenders. Wyden took out the incumbent Bob Duncan in the Democratic primary and Smith took out Ullman. The current issue of Portland Monthly carries an article titled “The Strange Rise of Greg Walden, Oregon’s Only Republi- can Congressman.” Nigel Duara describes Walden’s “… thick glasses, and familiar air of hey-how-are-ya folksiness.” Writes M eMber O regOn n ewspaper p ublishers a ssOciatiOn Published every Wednesday by: EO Media Group USPS No. 665-100 P.O. Box 338 • Enterprise, OR 97828 Office: 209 NW First St., Enterprise, Ore. Phone: 541-426-4567 • Fax: 541-426-3921 Contents copyright © 2018. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is prohibited. Jon Rombach is a columnist for the Chieftain and warms his log cabin in Wal- lowa County with firewood cut in Wallowa County. Any firewood will do, so long as its larch. Ghost of campaign past revisits Walden Wallowa County’s Newspaper Since 1884 VOLUME 134 out in the woods but not having room to bring them home because your truck was full with lodgepole pine at the time. Then when you go back ... I just ... I can’t even type the rest. I only hope this guy who cut these trees will understand. I promise I’ll bring some Windex and paper towels over next spring to clean the fingerprints and nose smudges off your window –– because there will be nights when the snow is gently falling and I’ll be compelled to trudge the short dis- tance over to your place and bitterly watch my firewood merrily lighting your hearth. That’s not stalking, is it? Trespassing, sure. You got me there. But I’ll try not to trample the azaleas. Can I put a lawn chair outside the window? Too much? Yeah, that’s probably too much. Friends, when life deals you a minor setback and sort of crushes your soul a lit- tle bit, the only thing to do is make lem- onade, or whatever that saying is. I’m not thinking clearly right now. Distracted by this stupid, perfectly-dry lodgepole making noise in my stove, crackling away all merrily and whatnot. Grrrr. Keep it down, lodgepole. I did top off my wood supply for the winter, so I’ve got that going for me, even if it is mainly lodgepole. Eventually, all firewood merges in the woodstove, and BTUs run through it. But, still. I am haunted by tamarack. Those two trees in particular. Publisher Editor Reporter Reporter Newsroom assistant Ad sales consultant Office manager Chris Rush, crush@eomediagroup.com Paul Wahl, editor@wallowa.com Stephen Tool, steve@wallowa.com Kathleen Ellyn, kellyn@wallowa.com editor@wallowa.com Jennifer Cooney, jcooney@wallowa.com Cheryl Jenkins, cjenkins@wallowa.com Duara: “If you walked into an H&R Block looking for last-minute tax help, you would be thrilled to see such a figure.” For all of his 20 years in the House, Walden resembles the House staffer I rou- tinely contacted decades ago. As Duara evokes, Walden is there to help you. One cannot imagine Walden expressing out- rage or disgust. If Walden has mastered one technique, it is the art of saying noth- ing in a convincing manner. He also has been absent at critical moments. When Klamath County was on the verge of an historic compromise on water, Walden acceded to right-wing sen- timent and the deal collapsed. And it was Sen. Wyden, not Walden, who patiently pushed the Forest Service’s economic shot in the arm for Grant County — the 10-year stewardship contract at Malheur National Forest. If Walden has painted a target on his back, it is health care. The 2nd District is dotted with small rural hospitals that have benefited from Obamacare. When Walden moved the repeal of Obamacare out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee that he chairs, he enabled a mortal threat to those Eastern Oregon hospitals. This was a congressman at odds with his dis- trict’s self-interest and welfare. Steve Forrester, the former editor and publisher of The Daily Astorian, is the president and CEO of EO Media Group, which includes The Chieftain. 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