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.
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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
