LOCAL
Wallowa.com
Wednesday, April 21, 2021
A7
Telephone pedestals go up in fl ames Community food
project takes root
with FEAST grant
Ditch burning
temporarily
disrupts service
Eff ort aims to
boost feeding
the hungry
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — Three
telephone service pedestals
in the rural Enterprise area
were burned in just seven
days by landowners burn-
ing ditches along roadsides,
temporarily disrupting ser-
vice, said a spokesman with
Ziply Fiber, the company
that owns the pedestals.
“This is an uncommon
volume for such a short win-
dow of time,” said Ryan
Luckin, vice president of
marketing and communica-
tions in an email Thursday,
April 15.
The most recent ped-
estal destroyed was at the
intersection of Hurricane
Creek Road and Dorrance
Lane between Enterprise
and Joseph. It was replaced
Monday, April 19, by a Zip-
ley crew from La Grande.
Luckin said telephone
customers were quickly
returned to service on a tem-
porary basis. He did not
know if cellular towers were
aff ected by the damage and
thus, was unsure if cell ser-
vice was disrupted.
He said it depends on the
extent of the damage, but he
estimated the cost to replace
the pedestal would be
between $1,800 and $2,000.
He said often the responsi-
ble landowner is billed for
the damage, but that’s evalu-
ated on a case-by-case basis.
“The most important
thing is to restore service
quickly and keep residents
connected to critical means
of communication,” Luckin
said.
The pedestal is one that
provides telephone ser-
vice to customers in rather
remote areas, he said.
Paul Karvoski, emer-
gency services manager for
Wallowa County, is appre-
hensive over the coming
potential fi re season.
“Get ready for summer,”
he told the Enterprise City
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Ziply Fiber worker Mark Ralph, left, watches as Danny Stubblefi eld operates a backhoe to dig
out and replace a telephone service pedestal Monday, April 19, 2021, that was burned April
14 by a landowner burning his ditch at the intersection of Hurricane Creek Road and Dorrance
Lane south of Enterprise.
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
This telephone service pedestal was damaged Wednesday,
April 14, 2021, when a landowner burned the roadside along
Hurricane Creek Road at Dorrance Lane. Ziply Fiber had to
replace the box Monday.
Council in his dual capac-
ity as city fi re chief Monday,
April 12.
He also told the coun-
cil of numerous incidents
of intentional burns getting
out of control over the previ-
ous few days, including fi ve
from noon to 5 p.m. the pre-
vious Friday.
“Friday afternoon was
very stressful,” he told the
council.
On Thursday, Karvoski
said it appears landown-
ers need to be more careful
when conducting controlled
burns.
“They’re not doing their
due diligence to keep it
away from the telephone
box,” he said.
Karvoski agreed with
Luckin that the recent rash
of utility destruction was
unusual.
“This is the fi rst time
it’s been this bad over the
years,” he said.
He also said there is an
unusual increase in con-
trolled burns in the county.
“I’ve never seen so many
fi elds burned,” he said, not-
ing that it was a positive
action to get rid of fl amma-
ble weeds, but care needs to
be taken.
“If you see one of those
things in the ditches, you’d
better burn around it,” he
said.
In the future, Luckin
said, landowners conducting
burning should be “cautious
and aware of surroundings
and nearby utilities.”
He said it goes beyond
simply damaging his com-
pany’s equipment.
“Damages such as this
can take customers out of
service and cause them to
have no capability to contact
911 for emergency services,”
he said. “In addition, many
utilities are located together
and when power is involved,
life-threatening injuries can
occur when damages such
as this happen.”
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ENTERPRISE — Sup-
porters of the Wallowa
County Food Bank are
working to raise an addi-
tional $500 toward a proj-
ect to help feed and inform
the needy about food
resources after the receipt
of a $1,075 grant for the
eff ort, according to a press
release.
A new project emerged
March 16 when more
than 25 community mem-
bers gathered in the online
Wallowa County FEAST
(Food, Education and Agri-
culture Solutions Together)
event and has received seed
funds to launch the proj-
ect. The FEAST grant will
pay about two-thirds of the
project, which is expected
to cost $1,575, the release
stated.
During the March 16
event, panelists told about
opportunities and chal-
lenges in local farming,
food distribution and food
access. Participants also
broke into small groups for
more in-depth discussion
and idea sharing.
A challenge that came
up in all four breakout
groups was local access
to fresh, healthy foods by
people on a limited budget.
One idea to address this
challenge has now grown
roots into a new project.
“The challenge of
accessing
nutritious
food on a limited budget
has come up in all three
FEAST events held since
2012,” said Sara Miller, a
FEAST Leadership Team
member of the Northeast
Oregon Economic Devel-
opment District.
“It is exciting to see this
collaborative project com-
ing together to help all of
us know about and be able
to share information that
can benefi t our commu-
nities,” said Katy Nesbitt,
of St. Patrick’s Episcopal
Church, the sponsor of this
year’s FEAST event.
The project will share
information on food pro-
grams/services and trans-
portation services avail-
able to people with lower
incomes
in
Wallowa
County. Information such
as where to apply and who
can off er support in the
application process, loca-
tions of food banks and
food box programs, what
local establishments accept
state and federal benefi ts
such as SNAP and WIC
and ways to support local
food programs will be
included.
The project will work
with the many organiza-
tions providing resources
to gather information and
develop a fl yer that can be
handed out and posted on
websites and social media.
In addition, an info-mailer
will be direct-mailed to
every mailbox.
Project organizers hope
that sharing the informa-
tion will ensure many more
people know about these
essential resources and
ways to support them, and
that people will also feel
empowered to share the
information with others.
The Wallowa County
Farmers Market will work
with partners to raise the
remaining $500 needed to
complete the project. The
goal is to post online con-
tent and distribute 4,525
direct mailers and fl yers to
homes and partner organi-
zations by June 30.
Anyone who would like
to support the project fi nan-
cially or with informa-
tion can reach out to Sara
Averbeck, secretary for the
farmers market, at aver-
becksara@gmail.com.
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