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About Wallowa County chieftain. (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Or.) 1943-current | View Entire Issue (March 13, 2019)
A10 NEWS Wallowa County Chieftain Wednesday, March 13, 2019 Fire: Pipe-thawing project caused housefi re Continued from Page A1 Ellen Morris Bishop Enterprise volunteer fi refi ghter Gary Gassett (right) prepares to help fi ght the fi re at 107 Greenwood in Enterprise Thursday night, while Zane Anderson checks to make sure that his SCBA (self-contained breathing apparatus) is working properly. Both departments responded because volun- teer fi refi ghters are a van- ishing breed in 21st cen- tury rural America. “We just can’t do it on our own anymore,” Karvosky said. “We don’t have the num- ber of volunteers we need to be sure there’s an ade- quate number of fi refi ghters who can respond when the call comes. We depend on mutual automatic aid.” So any fi re in Wallowa County will trigger a response from two or even all three departments. “The lack of volunteer fi refi ghters is a national epi- demic,” Karvoski said. Kar- voski has followed the tra- vails of rural volunteer fi re departments across the U.S. for several years. “In Penn- sylvania,” he said, “within the last decade, the number of volunteer fi refi ghters has dropped by about 100,000.” “In the last decade Enter- prise has had between 16 and 26 fi refi ghters,” Kar- voski said. “Right now we are back at 22. We have great volunteers, but peo- ple have to put their fami- lies fi rst. So we tend to lose volunteer fi refi ghters when families grow.” While Enterprise’s equipment is in good shape, including two fi re engines purchased in 1998, Kar- voski is hoping that FEMA will come through with a $350,000 grant. The funds would allow the depart- ment to purchase a new ten- der truck and replace their 30-year-old “extraction” equipment, AKA Jaws of Life. “If we get the grant, the city would have to pro- vide a fi ve percent match- ing grant,” Karvoski said. “But I think they can afford that.” Hamilton is happy that the volunteers came to her aid so quickly, saving her house. The back wall is black, parts of the bathroom are scorched, the stairway to the second fl oor sustained damage and the house has a very smoky bouquet. But despite the damage, said Hamilton, “I am very fortu- nate that all these men cared so much.” Council: Joseph rejects variance by unanimous vote Continued from Page A1 Ginsel added that when the city came out to the site for a sewer and water question, it was noted that the setback was not compliant with the permit, which was why the variance was requested. He also said rectifying the prob- lem would be a burden to the Saturnos, and he couldn’t see where it was harming anyone. “We’re just hoping we can get this variance and move forward,” Ginsel said. An employee of Lowell Lewis, the contractor, also testifi ed that Lewis said he asked then city recorder, Sandra Patterson for the zone permit, and she said she didn’t have it. The employee said that Lewis staked out the foundation where it made the most sense to him and the ranch manager previous to Ginsel had approved it. One audience member from Enterprise spoke in favor of the variance, say- ing the Saturnos were trying to provide valuable renting units in the city. Fierce public opposition was then aired by seven resi- dents in the area. Complaints ranged from concern that the Saturno parties hadn’t acted in good faith from the start, the smell of the mobile home and accusations that on-site workers had willfully driven equipment over and dam- aged adjacent properties and even attempted to illegally tap into a neighbor’s sewer line, which resulted in fi l- ing an incident report and the county issuing a cease and desist order. Also concerning for opponents of the variance was the restricted access for Emergency Services. Monte Zollman, who lives next door, wondered why the contractor didn’t bother to fi nd out the setbacks before he poured the foundation. Steve Tool/Chieftain Joseph City Council fi reworks — An employee of contractor, Lowell Lewis, Doug Saturno Ranch manager, Bruce Ginsel, and attorney Rahn Hostetter listen to criticism and angry letters from Joseph citizens at a March 7 council meeting. Saturno requested a variance for a home that he placed on a lot he owns in Joseph. The city rejected the variance by unanimous vote. He also said the original per- mit designates a new home and that the mobile home was clearly used and in poor a condition. He added that he knew of several land use laws that were broken and had provided explanations and photos to the city. More than one person noted that the city does not allow for variances if the hardship is self-imposed. Also that the mobile home dimensions are larger than those applied for on the per- mit. Mayor Sajonia also read a number of letters in opposition. Hostetter had nothing to add during the opportu- nity for rebuttal but Gin- sel said that he wasn’t con- vinced that fi re truck access was impeded and that the sewer line incident wasn’t germane to the hearing. He added that the mobile home would get remodeled. Lew- is’s employee said the neigh- bor’s sewer wasn’t broken and the fi re truck access was legal on the property. Mayor Sajonia said that she noted the zoning permit cited a new home, which the present mobile home was not. Also that the home did not match the square footage listed on the permit and the actual size of the lot also dif- fered from the permit. Addressing the applicants, Mayor Sajonia said, “this is a blatant question here. Is this an ‘ask for forgiveness’ issue? It does come across this way.” Ginsel said they were asking for forgiveness, but it wasn’t pre-planned. He said he wasn’t aware of the set- back issue and that Saturno wasn’t previously aware of the foundation problem. “It happened,” he said. “We found out it was wrong, and we can’t change it.” In response to a ques- tion from Pearl Sturm about the sewer line incident, city recorder Belinda Buswell testifi ed that city worker Dennis Welch went to inves- tigate after a complaint. He found that the contractor on site had dug a trench from the mobile home to the Zoll- man property and had dam- aged the line. Buswell went out to the site and took pic- tures around the property and asked how the home was put there as it did not meet setback requirements. She returned to the offi ce to fi le an incident report. She also mentioned that while talking to Ginsel of the incident, she noted that the Saturnos had not fi led paperwork to access sewer and water hookups. “So why are you digging toward any sewer without having any paperwork?,” she asked. “Would you please present it to me?” Ginsel only possessed the zoning permit. The applicants failed to convince the mayor or the rest of the council as to the purity of their motives. After reading the requirements to issue a variance, the council wasted no time in shooting down the variance by unani- mous vote. In other council news: Despite having received the most write-in votes in the November 2018 election for a council seat position, Joseph resident Garrick Asplund didn’t receive a single vote from council members for either of two open seats on the council. The body voted unanimously to place Kathy Zacharias and Lisa Collier to the seats. Collier is the daugh- ter-in-law of council member Tanya Collier. The council voted unan- imously to spend about $80,000 to purchase a soft- ware program to consoli- date utility billing. The pro- gram also does payroll, direct deposit, legal consult- ing and will consolidate the city’s entire budget. The cost includes training for city employees. The council members also unanimously approved an OLCC license for “The Gold Room,” a restaurant to be located at 100 N. Main St. Sajonia also introduced newly hired city administra- tor, Larry Braden. Ellen M Bishop Rachael Nutter talks with a customer about the origin of this table at the center of the restaurant that is made from the long boards of a local cattle chute. Restaurant: ‘Made from scratch’ is their credo Continued from Page A1 held. “I wish they all could talk,” Nutter said. “It’s fun when people come in and say “wow—this plate is just like the one’s my grandmother had.” Like the china, the tables all have past his- tories as well. The color- ful, chrome-banded din- ing sets have all seen prior service—one in Lamm’s home. The gleaming dark wooden table near the restaurant’s center was hand-made from the boards of an old cattle chute by Lamm’s husband, Clay- ton. He also constructed the three “cricket” tables, each of which sequesters a 2-foot-long Steve Arment cricket carving that sup- ports the polished wood table-top. The Blythe Cricket’s dome-like ceil- ing is made of blue pine sourced from Wallowa. The shingle-siding came from a small mill in Idaho. Why the name Bly- the Cricket? “Blythe” is actually my middle name,” Lamm said. “But it also means ‘happy.’ We want to be happy, and we want our customers to be happy. The Cricket part? Both Lamm and Nutter started using the word “cricket” as a verb when they ran their cater- ing business. “You know, Nutter said, “to cricket means to be really active and get things done. We called ourselves the Cricket Sisters because we were always busy.” In the future, The Bly- the Cricket plans to offer wine, beer and cocktails, as well as possibly music on the patio or inside their spacious restaurant. They may expand their “by res- ervations only” Italian dinner offerings, which are proving popular as well. Happy and active seems to be their destiny as well as their name. BARGAINS OF THE MONTH ® While supplies last. YOUR CHOICE 4.99 True Value® 10 lb. Black Oil Sunflower Bird Seed L 106 118 1 True Value® 20 lb. Wild Bird Seed L 501 727 1 M-F 8AM-6PM • SAT 8AM-5PM • SUN 9AM-3PM Sale Ends 3/31/19 THANK YOU The Rotary Club of Wallowa County wishes to thank the following businesses, agencies, and individuals for their help in making its March 5, 2019 Shadow Day another huge success. Through their cooperative efforts, 57 high school juniors were able to explore a local career in an area of interest. Schools Enterprise High School, Joseph Charter School, Wallowa High School Businesses/Agencies 6 Ranch • Abe’s Aviation • Daggett Properties • Double Arrow Veterinary Clinic Enterprise High School • Enterprise Flower Shop • J-Creative • Jane Glesne • KWVR BTO Logging • Miller Plumbing • Moonshine Glass • Mountain View Medical Group Olive Branch Family Health, Inc. • Pioneer Portraits • Roots Salon • Serenity Salon • The Vault Tim Newton • TLC Hair Care • USDA Forest Service • Wallowa County Juvenile Department • Wallowa County Sheriff/ Enterprise Police Department • Wallowa ESD Technology Center • Wallowa Head Start • Wallowa Memorial Hospital • Wilson Saddlery Winding Waters Clinic • Winding Waters River Expeditions Drivers Blake Carlsen • Cammie Hale • Debbie Wahl • Dick Burch • Evelyn Swart • Gretchen Piper John McColgan • Mike & Linda Koloski • Ralph Swinehart • Rich Wandschneider • Sherri Kilgore
