OPINION
Wallowa County Chieftain
A4
Wednesday, July 24, 2019
Clearing the trail along the urban-rural divide
VOICE of the CHIEFTAIN
F
or the Wallowa Mountains
Hells Canyon Trails Associa-
tion and their partners, clearing
trails of downed trees and encroach-
ing brush is an arduous task, and also
a labor of love. It’s time devoted to
giving back, and paying forward. And
importantly, a time to engage deeply
with forest, river, wildlife, and each
other.
Around 4 p.m. on Saturday, the trail
crew and mules headed back to Red’s
Horse Ranch after removing big trees
that lay across the trail, clearing rocks
and trimming prickly underbrush. We
were sweaty and tired, thirsty and hot.
But we were happy. More than 60
trees cleared from the trail, along with
innumerable rocks, sticks and debris
cast aside.
A young woman ran up the trail
toward us, phone in hand, white
cords leading to a set of earbuds. We
moved off the trail for her. She smiled,
slowed a tad, and asked crew member
Jan Keil, who was carrying a hand-
saw and a pair of large pruning shears
“Catch anything?” And then she was
gone.
We wondered, silently at fi rst and
then in collective amazement, how
she could have mistaken Jan’s tools
for fi shing gear. Perhaps, like many of
us, she simply saw what she expected,
regardless of the reality. And we also
wondered whether she had an inkling
of why the trail was now perfectly
manicured for running—no logs to
leap, rocks to twist ankles, or under-
brush to scratch legs.
The larger question is: How con-
nected was she to the landscape? Did
she see grand fi rs and Doug fi rs and
Ponderosa pines? Or just “pine trees.”
Did she witness two generations of
fi re-scarred trunks or even wonder
whether this forest, a place choked
with ladder fuels, was fi re-prone? Was
it a run through an ecosystem? Or was
it just a jaunt through a recreational
template that might as easily have
been a holodeck on the Starship Enter-
prise. We’ll never know. We didn’t
have a chance to ask.
This, of course, conjures up the all-
too familiar problems of the urban-ru-
ral divide and the supreme diffi culty
of getting increasingly urban (though
not urbane) legislators at all levels to
see and to understand, let alone fund,
the urgent needs of rural America.
Because it’s not just us who need the
forests and the river and the Minam
Trail. It’s also the folks with earbuds
and Nikes.
At dinner our conversation turned
toward the work of the day, then the
forest, then preserving historic Red’s
Horse Ranch. Our small cadre of vol-
unteers ran the political gamut from
staunch conservative to wooly-minded
liberal in their lives at home. But
here we were unifi ed by the needs of
the landscape, and the hard, fulfi ll-
ing work of clearing trail. Where land-
A holiday expedition with four Marys
O
ccasionally, some of the women who
are about my age from our family
back in Boston embark on a “cous-
ins’ holiday.” This year, their sense of adven-
ture brought them outside New England all
the way to our bed & breakfast here in Wal-
lowa County.
The four travelers were my sister and
three cousins, who all happen to share the
name Mary, in one form or another. So to
keep everything straight, they add middle
names. My sister Mary Kate was accompa-
nied by cousins Mary Beth, Mary Anne, and
Eileen Marie – who now calls herself Mary
Eileen sometimes, just for fun!
They all arrived in Portland on a Saturday
amidst a considerable brouhaha regarding
Mary Anne’s missing checked luggage —
which the airline eventually agreed to com-
pensate her handsomely for on a daily basis
until it arrived (four days into their trip.) But
Mary Anne made the best of it by buying
some new clothes on airline dollars in Port-
land and later here in Joseph.
On Sunday, the ladies drove east through
the Columbia Gorge, and they marveled at
the scenery, especially in the canyon along
the Wallowa River, before they pulled into
La Laguna for a tasty dinner that evening
in Enterprise. Contentedly fed, they arrived
at their home away from home at our house
in Joseph, which is also known as Belle
Pepper’s Bed & Breakfast. Mary Kate and
Mary Beth already knew my wife Pep-
per from various trips back east or out here,
but Mary Anne and Eileen were meeting
her for the fi rst time, and everyone hit it off
immediately.
We plotted a little itinerary that eve-
ning, but we amended it the next morning
when clouds settled in. So the ladies’ adven-
tures started with a walking survey of Joseph
before the eye-opening foundry tour at Val-
ley Bronze. I joined the cousins for an excur-
sion to Imnaha right after that, and they were
struck by the change from mountains and
pastures to rugged canyon landscape in a
mere thirty mile drive.
POLITICAL
PHILOSOPHY
John McColgan
Our hearty lunch at the Imnaha Tav-
ern prompted curiosity from my inquisi-
tive cousin Mary Anne regarding all the dol-
lar bills on the ceiling and how they got
there. She received detailed directions from
Cody, one of the new owners – who seemed
intrigued by Mary Anne’s accent but skep-
tical of her ability to follow instructions –
describing exactly how to wrap and throw
her combination of a dollar bill, quarter, and
thumbtack in order to make the little mis-
sile fl y and stick. Darned if that eager stu-
dent didn’t gobble up Cody’s every word
and stick the ceiling on her very fi rst launch
– which delighted Mary Anne, and stunned
the rest of us!
As we began our drive back to Joseph,
we were surprised yet again to fi nd a tree
blown down halfway across the road near
the Imnaha school where no tree had been an
hour before, so we doubled back to the tav-
ern to suggest that someone call 911. A guy
who was having lunch with Cody said qui-
etly, “I have a chain saw,” and we left the
solution to them.
We altered our course and decided to
drive a few miles up the Imnaha River road
as far as Skip and Pam Royes’ cabin so we
could get a taste of that canyon, then we
turned around and headed back through
Imnaha. I bet my cousins a nickel that the
fellow from the tavern would already be at
work helping to take care of the downed
tree. As we passed by, sure enough, there he
was, helpfully clearing the road for his rural
community.
We all shared great meals each morn-
ing, thanks to Pepper’s wonderful cooking,
and the main dishes included cheese quiche,
baked blintz, breakfast burritos, and blue-
berry pancakes, along with all sorts of nutri-
tious side dishes, fruits, juices, and coffee or
tea. On Monday evening, we devoured lasa-
gna, again courtesy of Pepper, and the ladies
also savored the adventures of the day.
Tuesday brought more favorable weather
for a ride up the tram to Mount Howard,
and despite our admonitions to the contrary,
my impish relatives still chose to feed the
ground squirrels at the top, because the lit-
tle critters were just so cute! That afternoon
featured more exploration of the shops in
Joseph, and later a delicious shepherd’s pie
baked by my sister Mary Kate.
Wednesday morning, the cousins visited
the county museum before joining me at St.
Katherine’s hall for the weekly Rotary Club
meeting and lunch, which included an infor-
mative program by Angela Bombaci about
the Tamkaliks celebration in Wallowa. That
afternoon, the four Marys dropped by the
Stein Distillery, where Dan was gracious
enough to give them a little tour. Then they
strolled across the street to visit the Jose-
phy Center and Rich Wandschneider, our
new Rotary Club president this year – which
served as another reminder of what a small,
interconnected world Wallowa County can
be. The ladies’ last full day in Joseph con-
cluded with a lovely dinner for all six of us
at Vali’s, capped off by samplers of their
mouth-watering desserts.
The four cousins from Boston were
amazed that there was such a variety of
things to see and do here in a rural county.
They had a fantastic time on their adventure,
and they accepted one of the well-intended
but backhanded compliments of a local
shopkeeper – that “they seemed so nice and
friendly, for people from back east” — with
grace, and a wry Irish sense of humor.
I hope this account of their visit can help
remind the rest of us of just a few of the
treats that we have around here, if only we
open our eyes and our hearts to enjoy them!
John McColgan and his wife Pepper own
Belle Pepper’s Bed & Breakfast in Joseph.
Oregon Republicans begin effort to recall Gov. Brown
Dirk VanderHart
Oregon Public Broadcasting
SALEM — In response to the recent leg-
islative session, Oregon Democrats have
cheered a wide array of policy proposals they
were able to muscle through with superma-
jorities in the state House and Senate.
Republicans, meanwhile, want to recall
the governor.
The head of the Oregon Republican Party
on Monday took a fi rst step toward forcing
a recall election of Gov. Kate Brown, whose
term expires at the end of 2022.
In a prospective petition fi ling with the
Oregon Secretary of State, Oregon GOP
Chair Bill Currier listed Brown’s support for
a cap-and-trade program to curb greenhouse
gas emissions and a bill granting undoc-
umented immigrants driving privileges
among his reasons for beginning a recall.
Oregon voters overturned a law to give
undocumented immigrants driver’s cards in
2014.
“The people or Oregon deserve and
expect a Governor that honors the will of the
voters and works for the good of all citizens,
not just special interests and politically-mo-
tivated agendas,” Currier wrote.
The document is one of two recall efforts
fi led with elections offi cials Monday — the
fi rst possible day to fi le a recall petition against
Brown. The other was made by Michael
Cross, a Salem resident who is behind a web-
site dedicated to recalling the governor.
In his fi ling, Cross suggests Brown “raised
taxes mercilessly and spends OUR money
recklessly.” Like Currier, he cites driving
privileges for undocumented immigrants
and concerns about the public employees
retirement system as reasons for a recall.
Forcing a recall election is not easy in
Oregon. To do so, supporters of the two
efforts would need to collect 280,050 valid
signatures from Oregon voters — nearly
twice the amount required to force a vote on
amending the state constitution.
Under Oregon rules, the two groups have
90 days to collect those signatures, assum-
ing documents initiating a petition are “com-
plete and correct.”
“I would describe it as a tall order,” Cur-
rier told OPB. “A very challenging task.”
If either effort were successful, Brown
would have fi ve days to fi le a statement of
justifi cation. A recall election would be held
within 35 days after that.
Currier said his party had made the deci-
sion just recently to pursue a recall. He
believes that a number of contentious issues
supported by the governor and other Demo-
crats this year have created the potential for
a coalition that could bounce her from offi ce.
“The political landscape changed dramat-
ically toward the end of the session,” Cur-
rier said. “All of these groups, even though
there’s not much overlap between them,
combine to represent well over a half million
voters. And there’s an incredible opportunity
to harness that energy and direct it toward
the change that they want.”
In the document initiating the recall
effort, Currier also made explicit mention of
Brown’s threat, after the failure of the cap-
and-trade bill, to implement new greenhouse
gas regulations via executive order.
“She has threatened to usurp legislative
power with executive orders to implement
her failed legislation, deciding single-hand-
edly what is best for Oregon,” Currier wrote.
“This is not the Oregon way.”
The governor’s offi ce did not immedi-
ately respond to a request for comment.
Local legislators, Rep. Greg Barreto
(R-Cove) and Sen.Bill Hansell (R-Athena),
also did not immediately respond to requests
for comment.
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.
scape is the heart of the community,
and a part of your life and family, then
keeping it safe is paramount.
The New York Times printed a col-
umn this week titled “Hey, college
graduates: don’t miss rural America.”
Its author, Samuel Abrams, is a visit-
ing scholar at the conservative Amer-
ican Enterprise Institute. The gist of
the piece was simply that “Americans
in rural areas are meaningfully con-
nected to their communities,” and in
fact more so than most urban locales.
Those strong community connections
bridge political divides that are not
as wide or as unfathomable as many
urban people believe. It’s why we
clear trails together. It’s why we have
a successful opioid treatment pro-
gram. It’s what we are. “Rural Amer-
ica is not ‘fl yover country’” for the
young and the urban, Abrams con-
cludes. “It is a dynamic part of our
nation.” And it has some lessons that
our more urban, earbudded and Nike-
shod friends might fi nd useful.
LETTERS to the EDITOR
Tool article RE McKee
Big Sheep campground
misleading
The news article by Steve Tool,
“McKee withdraws Big Sheep camp-
ground application”, in the Chieftain’s
July 17 edition is misleading and disin-
genuous. Mr. Tool states there were “about
one dozen had fi led letters in opposition”
when in fact there were in excess of 50
letters in opposition; Mr. Tool says that
McKee purchased about 825 acres of land
but McKee only purchased 262 acres of
that total; Mr. Tool further states “McKee
withdrew that application when faced with
opposition at the June Planning Commis-
sion meeting” it was the May 28 meeting
(not June) and McKee couldn’t have faced
any opposition because he did not attend
the May 28 meeting, instead McKee sent
an email to the Planning Department at
8:50 am that morning requesting a post-
ponement and asking that his email be
read at the meeting that night; and fi nally
Mr. Tool states “The plan called for ini-
tial development of six sites with addi-
tional sites being added as market condi-
tions indicated” however McKee’s April
15 CUP application states “Our intent is
to test out 6 spots initially …and slowly
and methodically add spaces in a calcu-
lated way” but when McKee was asked by
the Planning Department to provide more
details in his April 15 plot map McKee’s
updated May 16 plot map showed a total
of 31 potential campsite locations. If Mr.
Tool had taken the time and initiative to
visit the Planning Department to read all
of their documents associated with this
CUP he could have avoided these errors.
Rodney and Linda Botts
Joseph
Firearms storage
measure planned
for 2020 ballot
Jonathan Levinson
Oregon Public Broadcasting
SALEM — Oregon-based gun safety
group State of Safety Action fi led an ini-
tiative petition Thursday to put a safe fi re-
arms storage law on the November 2020
ballot.
The group got a late start in 2018 and
missed a deadline to get its initiative on
the 2018 ballot. During this year’s leg-
islative session safe storage legislation
was part of the omnibus gun bill that was
bargained away by Gov. Kate Brown in
order to coax Republican Senators back
to work and vote on an education fund-
ing bill.
The safe storage law would require
gun owners to lock up their fi rearms
when not in use and report stolen guns
within 24 hours or be held liable for any
damages.
State of Safety Action president
Henry Wessinger said the group is pre-
paring for a ballot initiative but is still
optimistic the legislation will be taken
up in the 2020 legislative session.
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