NEWS
Wallowa.com
Wednesday, February 19, 2020
A7
Dams: Brown says provide ag, community and power infrastructure, then breach dams
Continued from Page A1
viding adequate food (i.e.
salmonids) for the under-
nourished Southern Resi-
dent Orcas whose decline
was addressed in the Inslee
report.
In her letter, Brown
offered to “… increase
interim hatchery produc-
tion of salmon important for
orca forage,” in places such
as the Lower Columbia that
are “outside native salmon’s
“natural production areas.”
She also touted mov-
ing forward on the Flexi-
ble Spill and Power Agree-
ment” signed by both
Oregon and Washington
in late 2018. The agree-
ment calls for fl exible spill
operations that meet three
objectives: provide addi-
tional fi sh benefi ts by
increasing spill; manage
power system costs and pre-
serve hydro system fl exibil-
ity; and retain operational
feasibility.
Specifi cally,
these operations involve
increased spill during cer-
tain times of the day for
fi sh migration and lesser
amounts for the hours when
hydropower production is
needed most, according
to a joint statement by the
signatories.
Brown’s letter has stirred
concern among the east-
ern Washington congres-
sional delegation. In a joint
statement Friday afternoon,
Republican Reps. Dan
Newhouse, Cathy McMor-
ris Rodgers and Jaime Her-
rera Beutler, said, “Gov.
Brown’s position is not
only misguided, it is shock-
ing and extreme.”
Jim Harbeck, head of
the Nez Perce Fisheries
offi ce in Joseph, said “The
Nez Peace tribe has been in
favor of breaching the dams
for years and was one of the
fi rst to call for their removal.
Now there are increasing
voices calling for removal,
and mounting support.”
Brown’s letter stated,
“As identifi ed in your draft
report, collaborative, solu-
tions based discussions
among stakeholders are
needed to facilitate these
discussions. Oregon stands
ready to be an effective
leader and partner in these
efforts.”
Wheat: Burning last year’s crop is Wallowa County farmer’s ‘only option’
Continued from Page A1
Insured under the U.S.
Department of Agricul-
ture’s Multi-Peril Crop
Insurance
program,
McLaughlin said he kept
thorough documentation
from late September that
showed weather and crop
conditions that he was able
to present to the USDA
offi ce in Spokane, Wash.
As a result, he was able to
get the settlement in late
January.
Though declining to
state the exact amount, he
said the settlement staved
off total disaster.
“Considering the condi-
tions of the crop — because
it had a lot of things wrong
with it including a high
moisture content — the set-
tlement was quite substan-
tial,” he said.
Although the high mois-
ture in his wheat would’ve
led to lower prices he
would’ve received, he
doesn’t consider the insur-
ance settlement better than
selling his crop.
“Insurance companies
are not designed to make
you complete,” he said, just
to help avoid a complete
loss and enable growers to
continue onto the next year.
“I’ve been farming for
40 years and never had a
crop fail like this,” he said.
McLaughlin said he had
approached the Wallowa
County Commission last
fall requesting they declare
the county a disaster area
Bill Bradshaw
Most of Alder Slope farmer Erl McLaughlin’s crop of dark
northern spring wheat stood unharvested and covered with
snow in December having not dried out enough to harvest
last fall. He’ll have to burn it in the spring before planting this
year’s crop.
Bill Bradshaw
Bill Bradshaw
Wheat farmer Erl McLaughlin looks over his snow-covered wheat in December that didn’t dry
out enough to harvest last fall. He’ll have to burn it in the spring before planting this year’s
crop.
Alder Slope farmer Erl McLaughlin’s dark northern spring
wheat still stands Wednesday, Feb. 12, after McLaughlin was
unable to harvest it last fall .
because of the weather-re-
latedd harvest conditions.
“That never happened,”
he said.
County
Commis-
sioner Todd Nash, whom
McLaughlin had contacted,
said the commissioners
considered McLaughlin’s
request, talked to other
growers in similar posi-
tions and determined “there
wasn’t a lot of benefi t” in a
disaster declaration, Nash
said.
He said he made contact
with most growers similarly
affected by the weather and
most had gotten their crops
harvested. However, many
got low prices for the grain
due to high moisture con-
tent or having sprouted in
the fi eld. Much of it had to
be sold for feed.
Nash said he didn’t recall
the number of farmers or
acres involved, but said,
“Most of it got harvested.”
He also said he repeatedly
checked with McLaughlin
and other growers to make
sure they got adequate
insurance settlements.
“It was a tough deal,” he
said of the farmers’ plight.
McLaughlin’s grain usu-
ally gets shipped to the Far
East after being trucked
to Burbank, Wash., where
it’s loaded on barges on
the Columbia River and
shipped to Portland.
For this year’s growing
season, McLaughlin said
that as soon as weather con-
ditions permit, he’ll burn
last year’s crop where it
stands. He would have pre-
ferred to turn under the stub-
ble of a harvested crop for
its fertilizer value, which
will be lost by burning.
“But that’s about my
only option,” he said.
But he keeps on keeping
on.
“We don’t dwell on the
past,” McLaughlin said.
“We just keep moving on.”
School: Enterprise hopes to hire a resource offi cer
Continued from Page A1
him a hug.
“It’s great with the
younger kids. By the time
they’re in later elementary
school, it becomes harder”
(to build relationships,) he
said.
That makes it all the more
critical to keep kids from a
path that could lead them to
becoming lawbreakers and
requiring a different rela-
tionship with police.
“I don’t want to have to
be the bad guy,” Fish said.
Erika Pinkerton, school
superintendent and elemen-
tary school principal, as well
as Blake Carlsen, junior-se-
nior high principal, also wel-
come having a regular offi -
cer assigned to the school.
“I would love to have
a school resource offi cer,”
Carlsen said. “I sure hope it
works out.”
He was quite compli-
mentary of Fish and his
offi cers in their presence at
school events.
“I love it when they walk
through our campus; I love
it when they show up at
games, I love it when they
develop relationship with
students and staff,” he said.
“Joel’s just out there meet-
ing with and talking to the
kids.”
As the threat of violence
at schools regularly makes
the news — particularly in
larger, urban areas — Enter-
prise has been fortunate to
have avoided any gun-re-
lated incidents.
There was, however, a
recent incident that sparked
rumors that frightened
people.
Last week, a spe-
cial-needs student report-
edly made a threatening
gesture — forming a gun
with his fi ngers — toward
another student, which
sparked rumors of a “gun
incident” at the high school.
Some even expressed fear at
returning to school because
of the non-incident.
Bill Bradshaw
Enterprise Police Chief Joel Fish talks with Enterprise
Elementary School students during their lunch Thursday, Feb.
13, at the school. Fish is hoping to be able to hire a regular
school resource offi cer with the help of a grant the city is
applying for.
“All of our school pro-
tocols are being followed,”
Carlsen said. “Whenever
there is any kind of an inci-
dent, it does shake up peo-
ple a little bit … no matter
what level of the incident
because we have bad
things, we have evil in our
world.”
“We thought we should
deal with it anyway,” Fish
said, so the school called
to let him know about it.
But given the insignifi-
cance of the incident, he
said, “I didn’t even write a
report.”
He said such an incident
is one a school resource
offi cer would have been
able to handle.
Still, such a minor inci-
dent was enough to unnerve
people.
“That doesn’t mean
there’s not a response of
anxiety or fear from those
around,” Carlsen said. “I’m
very proud of our students
on their response. I’m very
proud of our teachers on
their response and steps
they take for the safety of
our school.”
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