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About Wallowa County chieftain. (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Or.) 1943-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 21, 2019)
OPINION Wallowa County Chieftain A4 Wednesday, August 21, 2019 A big step to make a dream come true S ometimes destiny comes call- ing. That’s what seems to be happening at the Wallowa County Humane Society this week. Suddenly, instead of moving to ade- quate, but smaller, remodeled quar- ters sequestered in an alley, they have found themselves front and center at the EM&M Building, and about to embark on a serious business ven- ture that will benefi t the human com- munity as well as our furry friends: a thrift shop to complement Sorop- timist. One kindly Soroptimist thrift shop volunteer said, “We are happy for them, and we are really looking forward to cooperating. But do they know how much work this is?” Even better than a thrift shop, someday, a DOG WASH! No more soapy battles in the bathtub, or dances around the lawn with a hose. Soon there will be a chance for Wallowa County’s dogs to experience the joys of a nice, civilized warm-water scrub- bing, and many Wallowa County homes to become (more or less) fur- free(r) zones. dogs, and their of the Hooray! people could go This growth for exercise and a comes not as a romp. There are fl uke, and not as a random chance. some drawings, some tentative sketch Carol Vencill, Denise Clevenger, maps. And lots of lists. and the rest of the Wallowa County The vision, inspired by Best Friends Humane Society board and vol- Animal Shelter in Kanab, Utah, is unteers have been thinking, plan- not entirely clear yet, but it is emerg- ning, and cogi- ing. Admittedly, tating over the the Best Friends ‘THE REASON A LOT OF idea of a “sanc- model may be tuary” for years. a bit expansive PEOPLE DO NOT RECOGNIZE With the help for a start. The OPPORTUNITY IS BECAUSE of NEOEDD, Kanab, Utah shel- IT USUALLY GOES AROUND they’ve started to ter owns 3700 focus their col- acres and leases IN OVERALLS LOOKING lective minds on another 17,000 LIKE HARD WORK.’ what a “sanctu- acres of federal Thomas Edison ary” would be. A and state land place outside of that is mostly red- town, with a house or other structure rock desert. About 30,000 people visit that could serve as an offi ce and stor- every year to meet (and adopt) some age. Perhaps a barn that could house of the 1600 animals, and tour the kennels for stray and adoptable dogs, facilities, which include DogTown, and quarters for kitties. Perhaps a pas- CatWorld, HorseHaven, PiggyPara- ture and shelter for rescued horses and dise, and BunnyHouse. It is more than other livestock. And defi nitely room a sanctuary. This vast no-kill shelter for a very large fenced area where on the brink of Grand Canyon country VOICE CHIEFTAIN To my leftie friends… T o my “leftie” friends… My politics have generally moved left since I wore an “I Like Ike” button in the run-up to the presiden- tial election of 1952. We’d just moved from Minnesota to Southern California, and my family in both places and the mil- itary families of many of my California schoolmates liked Ike. My mother, who voted Republican but was more interested in her church, was my fi rst political tutor. She was insistent on “justice,” whether it was the fair treatment of the missionized Africans that we learned about in church or the sibling squabbles in our house. She had some problems with Catholics (did they really “worship” Mary?), and Mormons (were they a lat- ter-day cult?), but in California we actually met and knew Catholics and Mormons, and I think her strong belief that we are all God’s children turned her. She held on to her Lutheranism, but grew more generous to people who looked and believed differ- ently, eventually growing fond of a Turk- ish Moslem I once roomed with. I graduated high school in 1960 and soon got John Kennedy’s message that doing for the country was more import- ant than the country doing for me. My best high school friend went to Mississippi to register voters in 1963. Later that year, when Kennedy was assassinated, a cou- ple of college friends quit school to join the Peace Corps. In 1965, with civil rights movements in full swing and Vietnam a rising glimmer, I joined the Peace Corps, and spent most of the next fi ve years in Turkey. *** One of the fi rst people I met when I LETTERS to the EDITOR MAIN STREET Rich Wandschneider moved to Wallowa County in 1971 was Gardner Locke, who had gone from the WW II Marine Corps in the Pacifi c to the Hanford nuclear plant, and then moved to Joseph, where he ranched and taught. Gardner and Tappy had us to dinner to talk about the Peace Corps soon after we arrived, and shortly after that, in a window of time when the Peace Corps accepted volunteer families, they were off to Ecua- dor. Back in Joseph, Gardner was the anchor as an unlikely group of skiing friends put together the run at Fergi. Gardner once told me that I had never left the Peace Corps. I took it as the big- gest compliment I’d ever had, and told him that he’d been in the Peace Corps before it was invented. But as Gardner and I and many oth- ers—Democrats and Republicans, Cath- olics and agnostics—in this small place built ski runs, reclaimed ties with Nez Perce people with the Homeland Project, formed a board and friends group to build and equip a “doctor’s house” for OHSU residents and, eventually, a new hospi- tal, and grew a slew of non-profi ts—Wal- lowa Resources, Building Healthy Fami- lies, Safe Harbors, Fishtrap, Divide Camp, the Josephy Center, etc.—and gave suc- cor to community building Lions, Sorop- timist, 4-H, granges, and Rotary, my lefty cohorts in cities and suburbs borrowed an alternative strategy from the right—radical individualism. It might have started with Ayn Rand’s Fountainhead and Barry Goldwater’s call for a robust individualistic economics, Ronald Reagan’s “government is the prob- lem,” and Milton Friedman’s free mar- ket approach to everything, but it was cer- tainly fueled by the “do your own thing” of the 70s left. Soon a shared right-left theory claimed that if we each followed our bliss—lived our dreams on the left or made as much money as we could on the right—the world would be a better place. Community got lost. Hollywood made fun of it with “greed is good,” but left and right both kept push- ing it. The economic winners on the right have used their power to appoint judges and curtail voting rights of old black and Native communities and the growing Lati- nix population, and to make sure that wealth continues to create more wealth and is easily moved to the next generation. Winners on the left have often focused on environmental issues, laudable actions for the general public, but especially dear to sailors, skiers, and high-end eco-tourists. Health care gets crushed in the left-right squeeze, and an almost free public educa- tion system is buried. Now winners on left and right send their kids into the expensive higher education system with high tuition payments—and even bribes. In Portland, my liberal friends have decided that policies that would encour- age denser neighborhoods and help solve a housing crisis might hurt property val- ues. Lefty and righty NIMBYs have found their ways into environmentalism and corrections! Some natural ways to beat late summer heat Will Ferguson Washington State University Cranking up the air con- ditioner isn’t the only way to deal with the stifl ing heat that is blanketing much of North America and Europe. Washington State Univer- sity architect Omar Al-Hassawi is an expert at reducing indoor temperatures without the use of electricity. His research blends ancient architectural practices with modern innovations to produce surprising results. Whether you lack an air conditioner or are trying to cut your utility bill, Al-Hassawi can help. Here are a few of his suggestions for beating the heat this summer. Ventilation strategies In a climate like the Inland Northwest where temperatures drop by 30-35 degrees Fahr- enheit at night, natural ventila- tion is an effective alternative to blasting the air conditioning. Opening home windows after sunset and leaving them open until about 10 a.m. the next morning will help fl ush out the heat generated indoors the day before, Al-Hassawi said. Conversely, closing win- dows during the hottest time of the day, from around noon till about an hour before sunset, will minimize heat gain. Proper shading techniques Another useful strategy for keeping home temperatures cool is shading exterior win- dows from the outside instead of the inside with blinds, cur- tains or even foliage. “This acts like a hat for the windows similar to how we use hats to shade and protect ourselves,” Al-Hassawi said. “Exterior shading for windows facing south and west is espe- cially effective.” Home occupants can also wear very light clothing and avoid high heat-generat- ing activities such as intense exercising and cooking meals during the afternoon. A cold shower or placing some cool water in front of a low fl ow fan are also good ways to cre- ate evaporative cooling and reduce indoor temperatures. Al-Hassawi grew up in Iraq where temperatures rarely dip below 110 degrees Fahren- heit in summertime. For hun- dreds of years, people in the region incorporated down- draft and evaporative cooling techniques into their architec- tural designs that harnessed the power of wind and water to keep inside temperatures bearable. “The tests I’ve done show that incorporating this type of cooling system into mod- ern homes, particularly in a place like the Pacifi c North- west, could bring tempera- tures down by as much as 30 degrees,” Al-Hassawi said. “So, if it is 100 F outside you can get 70 F inside.” 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. is a substantial tourist attraction. When the Humane Society moved from their old digs to the new one, a lot of volunteers, including lots of men and pickups, appeared to help transport furnishings from Second Best, and materials from the existing WCHS building on River Street. The new place provides greater potential for earning funds, and a higher profi le. The fact that this opportunity, a step- ping stone to a some-day sanctuary, suddenly manifested itself shows that dreams can come true, even if they do so slowly. “The reason a lot of people do not recognize opportunity is because it usually goes around in overalls look- ing like hard work” (Thomas Edison). Well, when they were moving stuff from Second Best and the old offi ces, it sure looked like most every WCHS volunteer was wearing overalls. We look forward to the new HQ, the thrift store, and clean(er) dogs. And some- day, that sanctuary. “Dreams come true; without that possibility, nature would not incite us to have them,” John Updike. CJD rodeo was perfect! This letter is in response to Mr. O”Ban- ion’s letter from suburban Portland (Gales Creek). Mr. O’Banion had a long list of complaints about the CJD rodeo. I thought the rodeo was wonderful. I hope the orga- nizers and many volunteers do not change a thing. The patriotism and incredible skill of the boys/girls men/women participants made the Saturday night show just per- fect. As I sat in the stands watching it all unfold I felt so grateful to live in our great nation and our great county. I thought to myself that there was not anywhere else in the world I’d rather be at that moment than at the CJD rodeo on a Saturday night in Joseph. Wow! What a blessing to be able to openly honor God, our nation, our fl ag, our veterans and the native Americans who live in this blessed place before any of us cur- rently living. Don’t change a thing at the rodeo!!! God, country, and horses in the shadow of the mountains on a gorgeous summer night!! Mike Harvey Joseph Thanks, Paul and Charlie!! I want to thank Paul and Charlie for tak- ing such great care of our downtown hang- ing fl ower baskets. They look AMAZING! Your dedication and hard work has helped beautify our town and make it look like it’s still alive and well. You two young men are very much appreciated ! Debbie Kellerman Enterprise merchant We need men and women of integrity We once were proud that our country stood for righteousness, justice, liberty and freedom; however, now pride has faded. Greed, irre- sponsibility, and violence have taken the place of the honorable qualities we celebrated about our country. Pride should cause us to force our country to stop taking children from their par- ents and putting them in cages. Pride in our country ought to steer us away from a level of discourse that demeans people, rather than just accept that “times are different now”. True pride in our country would mean that we stop allowing mass murderers to kill dozens of peo- ple at one time, and we would stop providing the means for so many individuals to be mur- dered. Proud citizens would surely not vote for government leaders of questionable rep- utations and of immoral character. Proud cit- izens would not allow Russians to infl uence our elections; and once it occurred, they would ensure that it never happened again. If the United States of America is to sur- vive, we must have courageous men and women of integrity who will “walk the walk” and “talk the talk” with truth and honesty. We need such faithful people in our communities, our government, our media, and the voting booths. They will make us proud. Evelyn Swart Joseph, Oregon 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
