THE
WEEK IN
PHOTOS
The Photo Page, A17
LOCAL AUTHOR HELPS PEOPLE LATE LA NINA MAY BRING COOLER,
OVERCOME IRLEN SYNDROME WETTER SPRING WEATHER
LOCAL, A3
136th Year, No. 46
$1.50
LOCAL, A15
Wednesday, February 24, 2021
WINNER OF THE 2020 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Taylor
Miller
Enterprise
Moving here
‘just like
moving home’
ENTERPRISE — Moving back to Enterprise
a year and a half ago has been “just like moving
home,” Taylor Miller said. “It’s kind of a home-
coming for me.”
She grew up in Lostine and spent eight
years going to college in Corvallis and then
spent time in Beaverton. But she came back.
“I wanted to raise my kids here,” she said.
“There’s no better place to grow up.”
Her husband, Chris Miller, works from
home while they raise their 5-year-old twins
— a boy and a girl. She’s both a veterinarian
and a mental health counselor.
“I’m juggling two diff erent careers right
now,” she said.
Miller shared her thoughts on living in Wal-
lowa County recently.
What’s your favorite thing about
Wallowa County?
I know everyone says this, but the commu-
nity really is why I’m here, why I want my kids
to grow up here, I want them to learn about
what it means to be a neighbor, what it means
to be a community member. I want them to
feel like they’re a part of the place, not just a
resident. Also, there’s the natural beauty and
the fact that we have seasons. Living over on
the west side for all those years, I got really tired
of all the green. I love the snow here. I know in
a couple of years it might wear off , but for now
I like the snow.
What challenges do you believe
Wallowa County faces?
I feel like there’s not a lot of margin for error
here in the careers people have — the busi-
nesses and farming, there’s a thin line between
success and disaster. Anything that happens
that aff ects the ability to survive, to have a life
here can hit really fast and really hard.
How has the COVID-19 pandemic
aff ected you?
All I can do is compare it to what my life
would’ve been like if I’d stayed in Beaverton in
a two-bedroom condo with no yard and two
5-year-olds. So the fact that I’m here and I have
a yard and we have this entire outdoor world to
play in, I can’t be anything but thankful.
Do you plan to get the vaccine
against COVID-19 or are you hesitant
as some people are?
I got my second injection this morning and
I feel safe and healthy.
What have you learned from living in
Wallowa County?
I would say that half of everything that’s
good about me I learned because I’ve lived
here.
What’s your advice for people who
are thinking about moving here?
You move here because you want to be
here and to thrive here. You have to integrate
and be a part of the community. You can’t live
here and not — well, you can, but it won’t
work. If you’re going to live here, you’ve got to
know your neighbors, get involved, read the
paper, be part of the community.
—By Bill Bradshaw,
Wallowa County Chieftain
Ellen Morris Bishop/For the Wallowa County Chieftain
A saddle bronc rider gets a good start in the 2019 Chief Joseph Days Rodeo, but did not make a qualifying 8-second ride. After being canceled in
2020 due to COVID-19, the rodeo’s board of directors has confi rmed that the rodeo will be run in 2021 and is leaving no room for doubt with the
announcement, according to board President Terry Jones.
CJD board confi rms
the rodeo will run
for the 75th time
By ELLEN MORRIS BISHOP
For the Wallowa County Chieftain
OSEPH — Save
the dates! The 75th
Chief Joseph Days
rodeo is a sure thing
for the last full
week in July 2021.
At its Mon-
Jones
day, Feb. 8 meet-
ing, the Chief Joseph Days
board of directors made a unanimous decision
to hold the rodeo this summer Tuesday, July
27 through Sunday, Aug. 1. They are making
detailed plans for the event that include the
bucking horse stampede on Tuesday, junior
parade on Friday, and the grand parade on Sat-
urday. The evening Thunder Room gather-
ing will go on. And, of course, all the buck-
J
ing horses, bull riders, team ropers and other
events that make rodeo an integral part of
Western culture will happen in the Harley
Tucker Memorial Rodeo Grounds.
“The board wanted to be sure there was
no room for doubt,” CJD Rodeo Board Pres-
ident Terry Jones said. “We are going to have
a Chief Joseph Days rodeo. I’ve called all our
contractors and they’ve all agreed to be here.”
That includes the livestock contractor Tim
Bidwell, who provides the bucking horses,
bulls and calves that are essential to the rodeo.
Other contractors and performers who’ve
committed to this year’s CJD Rodeo include
long-time announcer Jody Carper, rodeo bull-
fi ghters Nathan Harp and Chuck Swisher and
specialty act Magic in Motion Equine Produc-
tions with Madison MacDonald. Her trick rid-
ing and daring horseback leaps through fl am-
ing hoops thrilled CJD rodeo goers in 2018,
and has appeared at the National Finals Rodeo
nine years in a row.
“The board wants to let our supporters and
fans to know that we are having the 75th CJD
Rodeo, even though it is the 76th year,” Jones
said. “Some of our performers and contrac-
tors have been asking, ‘What’s Joseph going
to do?’ Other rodeos, including many in Texas,
the Midwest and the Dakotas are planning to
hold their events in 2021. So I called our con-
tractors and said that we’re having the CJD
Rodeo and we want you all here. And they’re
all going to come. We have signed with them
all.”
That’s important because this is the time of
year when advance ticket sales to the perma-
nent seat holders start. Assurances that their
seats will have a rodeo to watch are consid-
ered critical.
“We try to have the permanent seats paid
for in the middle of March before the court
starts selling tickets at spring break time in late
March,” Jones said.
This year’s CJD court remains the same as
last year’s: Destiny Wecks, Casidee Harrod
and Brianna Micka. In 2020, each member of
the court ranked equally with the others as an
honor court. This year, Jones said, that desig-
nation will continue.
“We are going to keep the honor court des-
ignation. They’ll sell tickets and receive com-
mission as usual. But it will not be competi-
tive,” Jones said. “And we’ll offer the court
members some incentives, based on the num-
ber of tickets they sell as a group.”
Jones and the board recognize that there
might be some COVID-19-driven changes
in an otherwise normal rodeo. But they also
anticipate being able to adapt.
If there are some regulations that, for exam-
See Thunder, Page A7
Recycling eff orts are showing progress
Commissioners
hear updates
from task force
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — Signifi cant
strides are being made in recy-
cling in Wallowa County, accord-
ing to an update on the program
presented to the Wallowa County
Board of Commissioners at their
Wednesday, Feb. 17 meeting.
“We still have a lot of work
to do with this whole system,”
said Peter Ferré, a member of the
Wallowa County Recycling Task
Force. “We need to increase reve-
nues and further manage costs. We
need to do both.”
Ferré emphasized his “reduce,
reuse, recycle” philosophy that he
promotes in the task force’s efforts
to deal with waste in the county.
“It’s a bigger job than any of us
really imagined — how do we con-
tinue to increase the revenue we
generate and decrease the costs?
But there’s been a lot of interest
and a lot of action involved, and
we’re making a difference,” he
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Wallowa County Commissioner Susan Roberts, left, listens as Peter
Ferré, of the Wallowa County Recycling Task Force, gives an update on
the eff orts at recycling in the county. Randi Jandt, right, assisted in the
presentation.
told the commissioners.
Commissioner Todd Nash
agreed, as he thanked the task
force and others who assist. He
said he often hears from county
residents who appreciate the recy-
cling efforts.
“We as a county, as we struggle
to make ends meet, it’s a program
that does mean a lot to a lot of peo-
ple,” he said, adding that the eco-
nomics of it are still diffi cult. “But
it’s a fi nancial loser; there’s just no
two ways about it. Without your
participation, it would be much
worse.”
Task force member Randi
Jandt, who joined Ferré in the
update, said that they’re already
seeing improvements over last
year. She said there’s been a sig-
nifi cant increase in volunteer labor
hours donated at the recycling cen-
ter. Last year, there were 492 hours
of volunteer labor donated. At an
estimated value of about $27 an
hour, that comes to a value of more
than $13,000.
However, she said, that could be
a bit misleading when compared to
fi gures they’ll see this year, since
the COVID-19 pandemic restric-
tions forced them to start midway
through the year.
Citing a statistic that he read
a few days prior, Ferré said the
whole recycling industry is prov-
ing a fi nancial boon.
“The reducing, reusing, recy-
cling process — someone did
a study on it — and it gener-
ated 757,000 jobs in the process
of doing that and $36 billion in
wages,” he said. “So, it’s good for
the economy as well.”
The recycling center accepts
cardboard, various kinds of paper,
glass, tin, aluminum and No. 1
and No. 2 plastics. The latter has
proven to be a problem, Ferré said.
“I’m not disputing the fact that
See Recycling, Page A7