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
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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.
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