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About Wallowa County chieftain. (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Or.) 1943-current | View Entire Issue (July 10, 2019)
OPINION Wallowa County Chieftain A4 Wednesday, July 10, 2019 The future of the East Moraine is the future of Wallowa County, too I t was heartening to see the bright green sign inviting hikers and passers-by to contribute to the Campaign for the East Moraine. It’s about time that the people who live here, who know what the term “green gate” means, and who have so often made the respectful pilgrimage to the moraine’s top, now have avenues to contribute what they can afford so that future generations can experi- ence the same access that we enjoy today. This is a working landscape beloved by working people. It’s good that we can all be part of its conser- vation. And while both the Campaign for the East Moraine and Wallowa Resources’ Ben Boswell Memo- rial Fund donation portals have been around for awhile, they were not widely known. A publicly accessible, conserved and sustainable working landscape, especially one that residents and vis- itors can easily explore and under- stand, provides an invaluable educa- tional opportunity. There is, for some people, a misapprehension that pub- lic lands (and even open, pri- of the vate lands) are some sort of park. What better way to educate misin- formed, and sometimes naïve visitors than to proudly explain and showcase the East Moraine’s carefully managed private past and its future as a sus- tainable source of food and fi ber for the community. Explaining, in fact, emphasizing, this to visitors as well as those of us who live here, is critical to the future of rural communities. The member organizations of the Wallowa Lake Moraines Partner- ship also want to connect the coun- ty’s schools with the moraines, especially the biologically and geo- graphically diverse Yanke property. To have an 1800-acre outdoor labo- ratory for environmental studies and natural resource management would likely be a dream come true for agri- culture, natural resource and science programs. Finally, a group of Portland edu- cators who work mostly with high school students visited Wallowa Lake and the moraines last week. Among VOICE the questions they asked was one about “what kind of environmen- tal justice issues Wallowa County faces.” “Environmental justice” is a nebulous term, but broadly it includes equitable distribution of environmen- tal risks and benefi ts; fair and mean- ingful participation in environmental decision-making; recognition of com- munity ways of life, local knowledge, and cultural difference; and the capa- bility of communities and individu- als to function and fl ourish in society. Wallowa County has a great diversity in incomes, and, increasingly, cul- tural diversity. A century ago--when neighbors knew neighbors, and vis- itors were less abundant--access to the entire landscape, including the moraines, was pretty easy to come by. You asked your neighbor or sim- ply went, based on long-time mutual understandings. But today, as pat- terns of ownership change, private land owners are rightly more cau- tious about granting access. It seems increasingly important to ensure that residents who can’t afford to purchase CHIEFTAIN Know your cows, get your priorities straight S ometimes you have a column due and absolutely no ideas to write about. That’s when a lot of random thoughts with no continu- ity might have to do. It’s good to have a passion for something, even if it is team rop- ing. Being interested in something enriches it for you. My Grandfather was interested in a lot of things and knowledge was one of them. Driving around the countryside one day he pointed to a herd of cattle in a fi eld as we were going by. He asked me what I saw in the fi eld. My response was “cows.” That’s it? he replied. That’s all you see? He seemed disappointed. “Can you expand on that a little and tell me all you know about those cows,” he went on. “Black ones,” was all I could come up with. His look bordered on disgust. I went on the defensive and asked what he saw. He began, “For one thing, I see no cows, that is a herd of steers. They are Angus that originated in Aber- deen Scotland and they are primarily a beef breed so you know that place isn’t a dairy. If they had red bodies and white faces they would probably be Herefords that originated in Her- efordshire, England; if they were all white probably Charolais that came from France. “All of those are beef breeds. Now if you see a herd of black and white cows with big bags they are probably Holsteins and they are dairy cattle. You want to stay away from girls that have Holsteins. “Why don’t you want to be around girls that have Holsteins, you ask? Well that means they own a dairy and a dairy is nothing but work milking cows twice a day seven days a week and 365 days a year. You never get OPEN RANGE Barrie Qualle time off and if you hang around with a dairy girl you could end up married to her and ruining your life.” Grandpa had never steered me wrong and later when girls became somewhat interesting I remembered his advice and avoided Holsteins, Jerseys, Guernseys and Portuguese girls. Back to having a passion for something. Over the years my pas- sions have changed. At one time playing softball was at the top of the list. This waned when gambling in the form of team roping took over. The two things both had in com- mon was they were mostly sum- mer time events and summertime is when you drink a lot of beer. Soft- ball required much less of an invest- ment. A glove and uniform. Team roping required a horse, trailer, pickup, credit card and an ability to lie to your wife about entry fees and winnings. Wives can be passion and joy kill- ers in a lot of ways if encumbered with too much information. A job can also take your good time out in the forest and kill it. Jobs also are a great inconvenience in that they take up a large amount of your time and are usually boring. I never needed a job, I just needed the money. I watched an interview with Drew Carey who has made a lot of money in Hollywood. The inter- viewer asked Drew if making mil- lions had brought him happiness. Drew answered that it doesn’t matter how much money you have, nothing makes you happier and is more rewarding than sitting around and having a few beers with your friends. I agree but would like to try hav- ing a lot of money for a while. I think lots of money does provide a lot more choices. Another random thought popped up the other day. I was reading where several candidates are in favor of giving descendents of slaves repa- rations. It seems to me they should have thought of that while there were still some living slaves. A few years ago congress gave reparations to Japanese who had been placed in concentration camps during WWII. My thoughts were that though it was wrong to place them in camps, they were treated well. My thoughts contrasted that with my uncles who barely survived the Bataan Death march and spent 42 months in a Japanese POW camp. They were fed garbage and not enough of it. They were beaten reg- ularly and forced to work in a Zinc mine 12 hours a day. If they were sick and couldn’t work their inade- quate food ration was halved. They suffered terribly. When they were fi nally liberated they came home and went to work and didn’t bitch. Our government and the Japanese government have never offered reparations to them. Government needs to take a look at their priorities. I think the best thing we could do for all the people stacked up on our borders would be to help them straighten out their home country so they want to live there instead of here. In the mean time they should stay there in Canada. property on the moraine can still take their children to see this astounding place, and that such places remain part of the community. One more thing we have to remember is this: Sustainable natu- ral resources in a working landscape means just that. Sustainable. The grasses that fl ourish on the east and west moraines are still dominantly native bunch grasses. Their deep roots are essential to holding the soils on those steep slopes in place. Invasive plants are fairly minimal. Sustain- able means “causing little or no dam- age to the environment and therefore able to continue for a long time” and “able to be maintained or continued.” So if we are to tout this working land- scape as an example of sustainable natural resources, we must ensure that those resources, bunchgrass forests and wildlife, are maintained at no less than their present abundance, health and resiliency, and improved over time. But that shouldn’t be a problem. The East Moraine has been managed that way for a long time in the past. And we can manage it that way for a very long time in the future. LETTERS to the EDITOR Fairgrounds for Fireworks? Me and the kokanee are swimming a little easier now that the EPA has decreed the Lake free of the herbicide Agent Orange. But I did — mid-backstroke — overhear Mama Merganser remark to her handsome drake: “Now if we could just get rid of those loud, leaky, loathsome power boats and jet skis ...” Her clutch of chicks peeped up in agreement. “And would it kill the two-leggeds to pack out their litter?” queried a passing osprey. Perhaps in 2020, in lieu of Shaking the Lake, we might consider Giving it a Break. Wouldn’t the Fairgrounds — with its spectator seating and copious parking — be a bet- ter venue anyway? Added bonus: the fi re brigade is mere minutes away. C. M. Sterbentz Enterprise, Oregon Legislators allow Boquist to work in the Capitol By Aubrey Wieber and Claire Withycombe Oregon Capital Bureau State Sen. Brian Boquist will have to alert offi cials before he arrives to work in the Capitol so additional state troopers can be put on duty — steps in reaction to his threatening remarks in the closing days of the leg- islative session. The Senate Special Committee on Conduct on Monday also warned the Republican from Dallas not to retaliate against anyone who reported being fear- ful to work in the Capitol because of his statements. He also was directed to not act out against anyone who participates in the ongo- ing investigation into his conduct. The unusual hearing comes on the heels of two statements Boquist made June 19. He reacted to Gov. Kate Brown’s announce- ment she would send state troopers after Republican senators threatened a walk- out. They made good on their threat. In comments on the Sen- ate fl oor in June, Boquist, who maintains state police can’t come onto his prop- erty to arrest him without a warrant, laid into Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem. “If you send the state police to get me, Hell’s coming to visit you person- ally,” he said. Chicken Dinner Road runs ‘afowl’ of PETA, prompts letter of complaint By CAROL RYAN DUMAS Capital Press People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has sent a letter to Caldwell, Idaho, Mayor Garret Nanco- las requesting him to rename Chicken Dinner Road to the more vegan-palatable Chicken Road. It’s a “kinder alternative, one that celebrates chickens as the sensitive and intelli- gent individuals they are, not ones to be abused and killed for dinner,” Faith Robinson, PETA senior strategist, told Capital Press. The organization hoped to encourage the mayor to celebrate chickens and encourage citizens to help chickens “simply by leav- Brad Carlson/Capital Press The northwest corner of Chicken Dinner Road and Idaho Highway 55 between Caldwell and Marsing, Idaho. ing them off their plates,” she said. Chickens feel pain and empathy and form strong bonds with one another, and they shouldn’t be considered “dinner,” PETA said in its letter to the mayor. In addition to a graphic depiction of how chickens are raised and slaughtered, the letter also employed chicken puns to appeal to the mayor. The letter also encour- aged the mayor and resi- dents to “cry fowl” over the sign and “hatch a plan” to change the name. “No road should be named in honor of an act against another being,” she said. Changing the name is a way “to honor these smart and self-aware animals,” she said. The mayor did not return phone calls from Capital Press, but he told the Idaho Press the request was “ridic- ulous” and a waste of his time, adding that the county road isn’t even in the city’s jurisdiction. Gregg Alger, owner of Huston Vineyards, which is Wallowa County’s Newspaper Since 1884 M EMBER O REGON N EWSPAPER P UBLISHERS A SSOCIATION Published every Wednesday by: EO Media Group VOLUME 134 USPS No. 665-100 P.O. Box 338 • Enterprise, OR 97828 Offi ce: 209 NW First St., Enterprise, Ore. Phone: 541-426-4567 • Fax: 541-426-3921 Contents copyright © 2019. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is prohibited. on Chicken Dinner Road, said the request is “amaz- ing to me,” given it’s a little road in the middle of farm country. His fi rst reaction was “Wow, there’re people that got a lot of time on their hands,” he said. His winery uses the Chicken Dinner name on one of its lines of wine, tying the label to local his- tory. The label tells the story of how the road got its name, he said. According to local his- tory reported by the Idaho Press-Tribune in the early 1980s, Morris and Laura Lamb lived on the road, then called Lane 12 in the 1930s. They were friends with Gov. C. Ben Ross and his wife, and Laura invited the Rosses to the Lamb home for a fried chicken dinner. She brought the poor condition of the road to the governor’s atten- tion, and he promised to have it oiled if the county repaired it. After it was repaired and oiled, vandals painted “Lamb’s Chicken Dinner Avenue” on the road, and the name stuck. Alger’s vineyard is across the road from the old Lamb farmhouse. The road’s name is a refl ection of history and what transpired rather than food, Alger said. PETA has made simi- lar requests to other towns, including: Slaughter Beach, Del.; the Tenderloin District of San Francisco; Slaugh- terville, Okla.; and Fishkill, N.Y. Periodical Postage Paid at Enterprise and additional mailing offi ces Subscription rates (includes online access) Wallowa County Out-of-County 1 Year $45.00 $57.00 Subscriptions must be paid prior to delivery General manager, Jennifer Cooney, jcooney@wallowa.com Editor, Ellen Morris Bishop, editor@wallowa.com Publisher, Chris Rush, crush@eomediagroup.com Reporter, Stephen Tool, steve@wallowa.com Administrative Assistant, Amber Mock, amock@wallowa.com Advertising Assistant, Cheryl Jenkins, cjenkins@wallowa.com See the Wallowa County Chieftain on the Internet Wallowa.com facebook.com/Wallowa twitter.com/wcchieftain POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Wallowa County Chieftain P.O. Box 338 Enterprise, OR 97828