LOCAL
Wallowa.com
Wednesday, April 28, 2021
IN BRIEF
Methodists to
turn over church
to tribe
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Outgoing Pastor Archie Hook stands by the sign of the Community Congregational Church in Enterprise on Thursday, April 22,
2021. Hook’s last sermon as pastor at the “Big Brown Church” was Sunday, April 25.
Hook says ‘amen’ to time as pastor
Pastor at ‘Big
Brown Church’
leaving for
La Grande
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — Enter-
prise’s Christian community
is losing one of its leaders, as
Pastor Archie Hook gave his
fi nal sermon Sunday, April
25, at the Community Con-
gregational Church.
After serving as pastor
here for fi ve years — come
August — he’s moving onto
take a similar post at the First
Christian Church (Disciples
of Christ) in La Grande.
“I’m retiring from the
(Wallowa County) Grain
Growers and this job came
up,” he said. “It’s people
I’ve known and a church
I’ve gone to in the past.
They called and said, ‘Would
you be interested in coming
back?’ and we said, ‘Sure.’”
A Wallowa County native,
Hook has lived here for about
25 years, working as fuel and
propane manager at Grain
Growers. He offi cially retires
from there in mid-May, at
which time he’ll take up his
new post as a pastor in La
Grande.
“I was born and raise here
and we came back,” he said.
“So it’s always been a life-
long dream to live here and
serve the people. There are
absolutely wonderful people
here in the county. They say
the beauty is the mountains,
but that’s not the only beauty
here in the county.”
The “Big Brown Church”
where Hook has served, with
its congregation of about 40
regular attendees, has long
been an integral part of the
Enterprise community.
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Outgoing Pastor Archie Hook stands on the fronts steps of the Community Congregational
Church in Enterprise on Thursday, April 22, 2021. Hook’s last sermon as pastor at the “Big
Brown Church” was Sunday, April 25.
The congregation has
always vigorously reached
out to people in their times
of trouble, helping them
through tough times, Hook
said.
charitable organizations.
Hook said the COVID-19
pandemic has cut attendance
at his church, as is the case
with most.
“Absolutely,” he said.
“THE PEOPLE ARE THE BEAUTY
OF THE COUNTY. THEY’RE THE
REASON TO BE HERE. YOU CAN’T
SURVIVE ON SCENERY.”
— Archie Hook, former pastor at Community
Congregational Church
“Just being here and
allowing people to come
in or, if they want, we’ll go
visit,” he said of the outreach
eff orts.
The church, which is part
of the National Association
of Congregational Christian
Churches, also supports the
local food bank and other
“The attendance is probably
down by half.”
He’s not sure how the
church will replace him as
pastor. In the interim, some
members will step up to
preach on Sundays, and they
plan to reach out to others in
the community to preach, he
said.
Hook said he and his wife
will soon move from their
Lostine-area home to the La
Grande area. They also have
a son and daughter here.
But leaving the county is
more than leaving a place
with beautiful scenery, he
said.
“The people are the
beauty of the county. They’re
the reason to be here. You
can’t survive on scenery,” he
said. “If you can build rela-
tionships with the people
here, you can survive on any-
thing. If you can serve them
in a loving, compassionate
way, you’ll have success.”
And building those rela-
tionships is what he believes
he’s been able to do.
“It’s been an honor to live
here and serve the people
here,” Hook said. “It’ll be a
little diffi cult to leave, but not
all that diffi cult. We know we
have the prayers of the com-
munity, and we all have to
rely on that.”
WALLOWA — What
once belonged to the
Nez Perce people will be
returned Thursday, April
29, with celebration and
fellowship, at Wallowa
United Methodist Church
in Wallowa.
The deed and keys to
the now-closed Wallowa
United Methodist Church
are being turned over to
the Nez Perce Tribe by
The Oregon-Idaho Con-
ference of The UMC as
a gesture of gratitude,
respect and repentance,
according to a press
release.
Leaders from the
tribe, along with Meth-
odist leaders will join in
a ceremony of celebra-
tion and fellowship as the
property, which has been
owned by the church for
144 years, is returned to
the tribe.
This is the second
piece of property the
church has returned to the
tribe. In 2018, the confer-
ence returned 1.5 acres of
riverbed property from
its Wallowa Lake Camp
to the tribe to be used for
fi sh spawning habitat.
The event begins at
11 a.m. outside the Wal-
lowa UMC at 102 W. 1st
St. in Wallowa. There will
be singing, prayers, a cer-
emonial sharing of gifts
and fellowship. Attend-
ees are being asked to
wear masks and practice
social distancing during
the ceremony.
Tunesmith Night
wraps up May 8
The 15th season of
Tunesmith Night, put on
by the Wallowa Valley
Music Alliance, wraps up
Saturday, May 8, with a
performance that will be
livestreamed to YouTube
and the WMVA web-
site,
wvmusicalliance.
org. The event begins at
7 p.m., and viewers will
be encouraged to sup-
port the program through
online donations.
Songwriting
duos
Wanderlodge and Jezeb-
el’s Mother will be the
featured acts, according
to a press release.
The release states that
Wanderlodge, the Port-
A3
land-based duo of Matt
Cadenelli and Kris Stu-
art combines “their love
of classic rock and coun-
try with their own tunes,
those of other favorite
local songwriters, and a
taste for the sunny, coun-
try rock sounds of LA and
its surrounding canyons.”
Carolyn Lochert and
Janis Carper, who make
up Jezebel’s Mother,
blend their styles to make
music that is “swirling
with rhythms and har-
monies, sentiment and
smiles, tight but sponta-
neous,” the release states.
Grange to hold
clean-up day
Saturday
JOSEPH — Friends
of the Grange are invited
to join Hurricane Creek
Grange volunteers for
a
garden/landscape
clean-up event at 9 a.m.
Saturday, May 1, at the
grange, according to a
press release.
The grange is located
at 82930 Airport Ln. just
outside of Joseph.
Volunteers are urged
to bring their favorite
gloves, pruning shears,
rakes, etc. Participants
will be pruning, digging
and dressing.
Doughnuts, coff ee and
tea will be provided to
volunteers.
Crash on
Highway 82 kills
Netarts man
WALLOWA — A
crash last week in Wal-
lowa County claimed the
life of a Netarts man.
The crash occurred
Wednesday, April 21, just
before 4 p.m. near mile-
post 48 on Highway 82
just outside of Wallowa.
According to the ini-
tial investigation, a Ford
pickup driven by 74-year-
old Thomas Stumpf left
the road as it traveled
eastbound and rolled.
Strumpf, who was pro-
nounced dead at the scene,
was the only injured per-
son in the single-vehi-
cle crash. It is unknown
at this time what caused
the vehicle to leave the
roadway.
Wallowa County Sher-
iff ’s Offi ce, Wallowa
Emergency Medical Ser-
vices, Oregon Depart-
ment of Transportation
and Oregon State Police
all responded to the call.
— Chieftain staff
This week’s featured book
My Year
Abroad
by Chang-Rae Lee
107 E. Main St.
Enterprise OR 541-426-3351
bookloftoregon.com • manager@bookloft.org
Wallowa replaces Niece with McCrea on council
History center
upgrades planned
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
WALLOWA — The Wal-
lowa City Council voted to
replace outgoing Council-
man Christian Niece with
former Councilman Oren
McCrea during its monthly
meeting Tuesday, April 20,
at City Hall.
Niece resigned earlier
in April because he was
moving to the Enterprise
area, Mayor Gary Hulse
said Thursday. McCrea, he
said, has experience with
the council and had previ-
ously resigned for personal
reasons.
“He felt he was ready to
come back, and he’d already
been voted on by the people,
so we felt he’d be a good
choice,” Hulse said.
In another matter, the
council
approved
the
renewal of a fi ve-year
lease on Ben Deal’s build-
ing where he operates Back
Achers building supply on
Douglas Street.
“We want to keep him
there and the council would
like to keep with a fi ve-year
lease,” Hulse said.
The council also heard
an update on the Wallowa
History Center from David
Weaver.
Hulse said Weaver hopes
to upgrade the old For-
est Service grounds with
a camping space, possibly
a camp host and put a his-
toric display in a warehouse
there. The upgrading also
involves working with an
architect to make the center
handicapped-accessible and
in keeping with its historic
look.
Among the department
reports:
• Hulse, as fi re chief,
reported several grass fi res
and one structure fi re.
• The city public works
director reported the sewer
system had been cleaned out
and a camera was run down
the system.
“Right now, it’s look-
ing pretty good,” Hulse
said, adding that the city
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and HVAC Parts & Service
Ed Staub & Sons
Energy Community Service.
201 East Hwy 82 Enterprise, OR 97828
541-426-0320
is awaiting a fi nal report
from Anderson Perry, the
city’s engineering fi rm, on
any problems that need
addressed quickly.
• The council hired an
information technology per-
son to upgrade computers
and its internet service to
ensure the city systems can’t
be hacked.
• The city library is plan-
ning a summer program.
WINTER
HOURS
DINE I K N E
OR TA T
OU Taking
Wed. & Thur. 10
Fri. & Sat. 10 am am - 7 pm
- 8 pm
Sun. 10 am - 7 pm
Now
s
Reservation
TAKE OUT ORDERS • CALL 541-569-2285
This month we want to do a special
shout-out to our awesome local librarians
for partnering with us to serve kids
and families! Denine Rautenstrauch in
Enterprise and Holly Goebel in Wallowa
are instrumental in helping us deliver
quality activities for local children.
Thank you for going
above and beyond to
help, we appreciate you!
Births
A son, Kai River Micka,
was born April 3, at home
to Shiann Dreadfulwater
Micka and Jared Micka of
Enterprise. Grand-
parents are Lisa & Brad
Dreadfulwater of
Grangeville, ID, and Sherry
& Friend McFarland and
Jeff & Brenda Micka of
Enterprise.
Not just
propane
301 W. Main, Enterprise • 541.426.3177
LOCAL
LIBRARIANS
Building Healthy Families
541-426-9411
oregonbhf.org