A10
News
wallowa.com
SEWAGE
accommodate them in the
Intermediate School build-
ing. All students were back in
class by Tuesday, according to
Pinkerton.
“Teachers will be greeted
students out front as usual
Tuesday morning,” she said.
The K-3 students will be
accommodated in four rooms
that were made available by
consolidating art, science
and counseling in one room
and clearing another room
that wasn’t in use prior to the
emergency.
The school’s insurance
company has been notified and
will be working with the city.
The cleanup was handled
One Call Restoration of La
Grande. Troy Farwell of Far-
well Construction of Enter-
prise is project manager for
further work.
“Our primary objective
is to get it clean and safe for
other workers to come in,”
Tanner Krewson, water resto-
ration technician, said.
One Call Restoration com-
pleted its portion of the work
on Monday. Krewson expected
plumbing and possible asbes-
tos abatement work would be
required.
According to the U.S. Envi-
ronmental Protection Agency
(EPA), approximately 132,000
primary and secondary schools
contain asbestos-containing
materials. Older buildings can
legally have asbestos in the
construction provided it is not
damaged, Krewson said.
The K-3 building has
asbestos under the floor tiling.
If the tiling has been damaged
and tiles must be replaced,
asbestos abatement could be
required.
Lathrop spent a restless
night until 2 a.m. the follow-
ing morning when she sat up
straight in bed and realized
Ryder elections was the culprit.
She went into her office, did
some investigating and con-
firmed her suspicions.
She followed with a call to
Ryder, who accepted responsi-
bility after conducting its own
investigation. Lathrop found
out that BMS also fielded
phone calls from Wallowa
County voters.
Lathrop said she wasn’t sure
what caused the uproar as all
the city council candidates ran
unopposed. One contest that
denotes two candidates is actu-
ally uncontested as one candi-
date left the area after filing.
After admitting its error,
Ryder reprinted the ballots,
and BMS mailed them Oct. 23.
Lathrop said that citizens who
mailed in two ballots because
of the error needn’t worry
about marring the election pro-
cess because the system has
built-in checks and balances to
stop voters from being counted
twice.
have someone with his back-
ground apply in Wallowa
County,” said Wallowa County
Commissioner Susan Roberts.
That background was one of
a pretty high flier in the archi-
tectural world. Goebel had
worked for 20 years design-
ing ever-expanding projects
for a tech firm that eventually
had a huge development on the
waterfront in Seattle.
He’d operated his own
design and build business as a
licensed contractor and com-
bined his many talents to do
everything from 3-D modeling
for clients to lining up the bliz-
zard of permits required in Cal-
ifornia to hiring the contractors
to installing the custom cabi-
nets he had built himself.
He’d worked for a “them-
ing entertainment” company
as the project manager on casi-
nos, theme parks and muse-
ums. He’d had a brief stint
working for Universal Studios
–– a job he did not enjoy.
And finally, he’d designed
children’s museums –– a job
he did enjoy. His last project
was the recently opened Idaho
History Museum in Boise.
But planning director for
a rural county in Oregon now
seems like the perfect career
move to Goebel.
“It’s a huge shift from what
I’d been doing, which was
very urban related, so it’s fun
to see all these other (cultural)
pressures,” he said. “I think
it’s quite exciting. I think the
issues here are very interest-
ing; the nuances of the code
when someone wants to do
something and having to ferret
out how that happens is pretty
fascinating, I think.”
Continued from Page A1
Enterprise Public Works
director Ronnie Neil said the
school maintenance depart-
ment called the city last week
to check the main but no prob-
lem was found in the city pipes.
Custodian Karen Finlayson
called again on Wednesday
and asked if the city could
send a camera down the line,
and Neil referred the school to
a contractor who had a device
equipped with a camera that
could inspect the line from the
school to the street.
Just after lunch on Thurs-
day, the city was called again
as sewage began flowing from
the floor drains and toilets in
the K-3 building.
This time blockage was
found.
“We got a lot of grease and
paper towels out of there and
it did block the main,” said
Neil. “We just jetted the main
to clear it.”
The blockage is believed
to have originated in the High
School and Middle School,
and sewage overflowed in the
K-3 building because it is the
lowest lying building in the
complex.
Students impacted were
held out on Monday as
arrangements were made to
BALLOT
Continued from Page A1
Unaware why the error
occurred, Lathrop originally
thought BMS was the culprit
and the company even initially
accepted the blame, which
Lathrop posted on the county
website.
PLANNER
Continued from Page A1
But while he was in the
courthouse investigating prop-
erties, he saw an advertisement
on the board in the hall.
Everyone was pretty aston-
ished with the turn of events
after that.
“We were a bit surprised to
October 31, 2018
Kathleen Ellyn/Chieftain
A worker from One Call Restoration hauls equipment into the
K-3 Elementary building as cleanup is completed after a sew-
age overflow.
Wallowa County Chieftain
Humane Society
haunting a hit
By Steve Tool
Wallowa County Chieftain
Wallowa County Humane
Society produced shivers
and screams at its first-ever
haunted house offering, “The
Dark Lord’s Dementors” at
104 N. River St. in Enterprise.
The society modeled the
event on Hogwarts, a school
of witchcraft and wizardry
from the ever-popular Harry
Potter books and films. The
event took place Oct. 27 and
will be return on Halloween.
Society volunteer Jacque-
line Valli conceived of and
orchestrated the event, which
led participants through a
variety of haunted rooms,
including a wizard school.
Graduates received a wand
and their choice of a variety of
Halloween goodies.
The event had a long line
of prospective customers on
Saturday evening as volun-
teer Robin Martin, dressed
as a witch, took tickets and
donations while telling for-
IN BRIEF
Identity theft is
workshop topic
Wallowa County Cham-
ber of Commerce will spon-
sor a seminar, “Six Signs
It’s A Scam –– Identity
Theft Protection,” 10 a.m.
Thursday, Nov. 15 in the
Tomas Conference Room,
309 South River Road,
That enthusiasm has not
gone unnoticed.
“He’s been very diligent
about learning the things he
needs to know,” said Roberts.
He’s getting help fine-tun-
ing his Wallowa-savvy skills
because senior planner Har-
old Black is still working part-
time and can give him the back
story.
“It’s fun,” said Goebel.
“Harold can give me a long
history of ‘how this came
about.’ I’m getting a crash
course on all the requirements
–– and the process and proce-
dures make sense, it’s just the
details that are unique.”
Living in Wallowa County
is also as good as he’d hoped.
“It’s incredible,” he said.
He’s an avid gardener and
looking forward to doing
something on those seven
acres he bought, he enjoys
tunes with a color-changing
crystal ball. Sisters Madison
and Sammy Lee McCleary,
six and three, respectively,
graduated with honors from
the school. Both said that they
not only enjoyed the expe-
rience, they intend to return
next year.
Humane society director
Carol Vencill said the inaugu-
ral event was a huge success
with 90 people attending. She
gave credit for the success to
Valli.
“She knows everything
about Harry Potter, and she
left no stone unturned from
the wands to the food,” Ven-
cill said.
The society more than
exceeded its expectations as it
pre-sold all 40 of its reserved
tickets as well as taking in a
number of donations, which
hadn’t been tallied by press
deadline. She added that feed-
back from attendees was good
and that many intended to
return for the final incarnation
of the haunted house.
Enterprise.
Kevin Jeffries, consumer
liaison with the Department
of Consumer and Business
Services, will be the speaker.
His topics will include how
to spot a scam, how to keep
your personal information
safe and how to protect your
customers from fraud.
The session is open to
chamber members and non-
members. Reservations are
required as space is limited:
541-426-4622.
Kathleen Ellyn/Chieftain
Jack Goebel has been
named planning director for
Wallowa County.
woodworking and can’t wait
to get his cabinet shop out of
Hillock’s storage.
“The commute is quite dif-
ferent; two lanes instead of
seven,” he said.
Thank you to the following businesses for supporting
Newspapers in Education
Their generous support of the Wallowa County Chieftain NIE program
helps provide copies of the newspaper and unlimited access to
Wallowa.com and the e-Edition to schools throughout the community.
Jr. Jason Follett, DMD
541-426-3531
WallowaValleyDental.com
204 Residence St.
Enterprise, OR
“ I don’t think the
benefits would have
been paid if
Greg Walden hadn’t
gotten involved.
Martha
who sought
assistance with
her husband’s
VA benefits.
I’m sure of it.
“ Walden’s record on constituent services is a good one, helping residents
of the 2nd District navigate bureaucracies ranging from the Social Security
Administration to the Bureau of Land Management.”
(The Bulletin, 4/21/18)
PAID FOR BY WALDEN FOR CONGRESS, INC.
541-426-7455
OliveBranchFamily.com
603 Medical Parkway
Enterprise, OR 97828
541-426-4502
WindingWaters.org
205 W. Main St. 541-426-3124
Enterprise, OR 97828 UmpquaBank.com
Heidi’s Gift Shoppe
59974 Mt. Howard Rd., Joseph, OR
541-432-0830
HeidisGiftShoppe.com
What he did for me is
something that can
never be replaced.
Greg Walden is one of
the good ones.”
306 W. North St.
Enterprise, OR
WALLOWA COUNTY
GRAIN GROWERS
541-426-3116
WCGG.biz
911 S. River St.
Enterprise, OR 97828
202 N. Storie St.
Wallowa, OR 97885
541-886-9151
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541-426-2700
1200 Highland Ave.
Enterprise, OR 97828
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