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About Wallowa County chieftain. (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Or.) 1943-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 28, 2019)
IT’S FOOTBALL TIME! Football practice starts and Wallowa County teams look toward the upcoming season | A9 Enterprise, Oregon 135th Year, No. 20 Wallowa.com Wednesday, August 28, 2019 $1.50 Fiber optic internet comes to Enterprise Service to 20 downtown blocks slated for spring 2020 By Ellen Morris Bishop Wallowa County Chieftain One of the technological speed bumps that rural communities nationwide face is getting faster, usually fi ber-optic, Internet service. But for Enterprise, the onramp to the Internet superhighway is only about 6 months away. EONI (Eastern Ore- gon Net Incorporated) will be offer- ing fi ber optic service to a growing number of its customers beginning in the spring, 2020. Service is planned initially for only about 20 blocks of downtown Enterprise, but will be expanded over time to include as much of the community as possible. “We are just mapping out the areas and technical details right now,” said EONI spokesman Jeff Crews. Enterprise librarian Denine Rauten- strauch discovered the arrival of fi ber optic Internet by serendipity. She faced a dilemma. As part of the Sage library system—a group of 75 public and college libraries in eastern Ore- gon, the Enterprise Public Library had to upgrade to a new online sys- tem that would coordinate her circu- lation, interlibrary loans, and connec- tions with other libraries in the system. But her Internet service seemed to be too slow to handle the new tasks. “It just couldn’t provide the speed— the amount of data—that I needed to operate effi ciently,” she said. “And I thought we had maxed out the capac- ity, so that was that.” Not one to give up hope, Rauten- strauch contacted EONI, which the library had used for almost 20 years. Was there any way at all to get faster service? There was: a fi ber optic cable that runs right in front of the century-old Carnegie-built Enterprise Public library. EONI laid that particular fi ber optics cable about fi ve years ago as part of providing a fast connec- tion between the Enterprise schools and the Wallowa County Educa- tion Service District in downtown Enterprise. “When we did that project, we ran fi ber optic line through downtown, Crews said. “At the time that was all we did with it.” See Internet, Page A7 Ellen Morris Bishop Enterprise librarian Denine Rautenstrauch (left) learns the intricacies of the new Sage library software from Sage library systems manager. The new system requires a fast Internet connection, which will be provided by the library’s new fi ber optic cable connection. HeRe, tHeRe bE dRaGoNs Photos by Ellen Morris Bishop Dragons in the Wallowas 20 member women’s team paddles in Saturday heats. Annual dragon boat races attract teams from across Oregon By Steve Tool and Ellen Morris Bishop Wallowa County Chieftain D ragons dominated Wallowa Lake over the weekend of Aug. 24-25. Not myth- ical creatures, but dragon boats, human powered watercraft participating in a sport that originated in China more than 2500 years ago. The use of dragon boats for racing probably originated in southern central China along the banks of the Yangtze River. Dragon boat rac- ing was an important part of the ancient Chi- nese agricultural society, celebrating the sum- mer rice planting. Today, the International Dragon Boat Federation formulates rules and manages the annual international champion- ship competition. See Dragons, Page A6 LEFT Dragons in the Wallowas team captain Kelly Jenson shows off the seven medals that she and her team won. ABOVE Dragons in the Wallowas team members celebrate another successful 7 Wonders Cup with a joyous dance at the award ceremony. Microhydro plant provides power for Wallowa Lake community Provides electricity to off set costs of pumping water and sewage By Steve Tool Wallowa County Chieftain Steve Tool Joseph City Administrator Larry Braden and Levi Tickner check out the plumbing and pump facilities in the new microhydro power plant at Wallowa Lake State Park through the observers “interpretive window.” On Friday, August 23, Wallowa County, Pacifi c Power, Wallowa Resources, and the Energy Trust of Ore- gon held a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the region’s newest hydroelec- tric project: a 22 kilowatt micro hydro facility located within Wallowa Lake State Park. The water source for both Wallowa Lake State Park and the Wallowa Lake com- munity is a spring located about 650 feet above the lake on the south fl ank of Chief Joseph Mountain. It provides about 0.5 cfs of water to the community year-around, and is cared for and distributed by the Wal- lowa Lake County Service District. While much of the water system is gravity fed, the district also operates a water pump station and is respon- sible for sewage, includ- ing the sewer lift station and See Electricity, Page A7