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About Wallowa County chieftain. (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Or.) 1943-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 25, 2019)
OUTLAWS TAME PANTHERS Enterprise, Oregon Enterprise notches its fi rst grid victory of the season in a big way | A9 Wallowa.com 135th Year, No. 24 Wednesday, September 25, 2019 $1.50 Wheat harvest draws to close Prices down, but tariff eff ect debatable By Bill Bradshaw Wallowa County Chieftain Bill Bradshaw Ripe, hard white spring wheat falls to the header of a combine driven by Tim Melville east of Enterprise on Sept. 16 as he gets in one of his last fi elds on Cornerstone Farms Joint Venture, a family farm run by Melville and his sons. The last of Wallowa County’s more than 10,000 acres of wheat has fi nally been harvested. Most farmers agree wheat prices are down, though that is attributed to a variety of causes. Tim Melville grows hard white spring wheat on his farm just east of Enterprise. The crop is mostly used for bread. “There’s too much wheat in the world,” Melville said “The main thing is supply and demand … you pay a farmer to grow it, and you get too much.” He said part of the problem for Amer- ican farmers over the past 10 years is an increase of wheat grown in the Black Sea region and in Brazil. “When you’ve got overproduc- tion, the tariffs aren’t the big prob- lem,” he said. “What people don’t realize is we grow some peas and they’re way down,” he said. “But that’s because of tariffs by India on crops just to protect their local farmers and keep the price high for them.” Son Kevin Melville agreed, though he put some of the blame on the trade dispute with China. “(Prices) are down a bit because of the trade war with China, but not as bad as for corn and soybeans,” he said. “The tariffs aren’t helping so people go buy somewhere else, like from Canada,” Tim Melville added. But it’s not always about just getting a better price for grain buy- ers. The Melvilles emphasized the better quality of U.S. grain. “People will buy from other places, but the quality is not as good,” Tim Melville said. “When people can’t buy the quality they want from other places, they’ll buy here.” Trevor Collins, who has about 200 irrigated acres of dark northern spring wheat along Elk Mountain See Wheat, Page A7 Bowlby Building gets a new lease on Life Renovations include the Dutli Building next door By Ellen Morris Bishop Wallowa County Chieftain It’s been a long, slow process, but Bowlby Building owners Bill Warnock and Michele Starr are happy with their progress toward renovating the historic stone structure in downtown Enterprise, and grateful for all the help they’ve received from the community. Warnock and Starr purchased the building in November 2017. That was a month after the rear wall collapsed. Many people thought the building unsalvageable, but Warnock and Starr had a differ- ent idea. Born in Wallowa County, Warnock is a fi fth-gen- eration native. He and Starr make their home in Ver- mont for about 8 months of the year, where War- nock practices as a naturopathic physician. But in the summer, they return home to Wallowa County. They plan to move back on a full-time basis once Warnock is able to retire from his practice in about 3 years. But right now, most of their incomes are being poured into saving this landmark structure. “This building is a historic place,” Warnock said. “It’s part of the county’s past. We didn’t want to lose it.” Historic or not, in October 2017 about half of the entire rear wall of the tall two-story building col- lapsed. That wall was added to the otherwise sturdy building probably in the 1930’s. Up until then, Warnock said, the Bowlby Building had an ample “backyard” that included outhouses and places to tie up one’s horses. The reason for the wall’s collapse according to stonemason and Bowlby-stone expert Dave Mel- ville is that what appeared to be a single, solid, thick wall was actually two walls—an inner one and an outer one, separated by a wooden frame. In the fall and winter, water from the roof would seep into the space between the two walls, soak into the wood, and freeze, exerting pressure on the walls, and split- ting them apart. Finally, the walls just crumbled. “When we bought it, the ceiling and the roof were sagging, and the building was just not in good repair. We had to gut it out. Now we are building ADA-certifi ed bathrooms. Installing insulated dou- ble-pane windows. Making it as energy effi cient as possible. If you are going to restore something, why not go all the way,” See Bowlby Building, Page A7 CLOCKWISE, FROM ABOVE Bill Warnock, Michele Starr, and their granddaughter, a 7th generation Wallowa County native. The upstairs of the Bowlby Building was once the Masonic Hall. This view looks south through what was once a window in the original back wall. Stonemason Dave Melville puts the fi nishing touches on the restored back side of the Bowlby Building. The new edifi ce includes double pane windows and new electrical panels to go with the all- new wiring inside the building. The lighter- colored stone and mortar reveal the area where the building’s back wall collapsed. Ellen Morris Bishop Climate strike hits Enterprise as part of worldwide protests By Ellen Morris Bishop Wallowa County Chieftain On Friday, Sept. 20, an estimated 4 million people worldwide walked out of classes and off their jobs to demand that governments and corporations take action to limit climate change. Many were students in high school and college. (Portland public schools and many other educational institutions provided excused absences to students who participated in the strike.) Altogether the strike engaged people in 150 nations. It was timed to occur just days before the U.N. Climate Summit met in New York. Enterprise was among the more than 2000 sites world- wide that hosted a strike. About 30 people gathered at the Wallowa County Court- house Fountain of Honor to share concerns and ideas, listen to talks about cli- mate change and its effects, and feel solidarity with other protesters and strik- ers around the globe. Most walked, carpooled, or rode a bike to get there. Like their fellow, far- fl ung protesters, they car- ried signs that called for action on climate issues. They included “We are all in this together”, “Save our planet”, and “Denial is not a policy.” “I’ve got two kids and I want them to have a future,” said Joseph resident Ben- jamin Curry. “They are the representatives of the future across the world. My con- cern is that there’s a poten- tial that climate changes will eventually lead to the collapse of civilation. They may not be able to have a long and fruitful life in a healthy environment.” Curry is also worried about a future where raising crops will be more diffi cult due to droughts and other adverse and extreme weather. He also pointed out that shifting climates would lead to the migration of people because its no longer sustainable to Ellen Morris Bishop Benjamin Curry leads climate strikers on a walk around downtown Enterprise. live in increasingly hot and dry places like the Middle East, Arizona and Mexico. “Things are going to change radically,” he said. Tia Hatton of Bend, Ore., carried a sign that read, “Denial is not a policy.” At See Strike, Page A7
