A8
LOCAL
Wallowa County Chieftain
Wednesday, May 5, 2021
Signs of spring
Ziply/Contributed Photo
Margaret Bradshaw/Contributed Photo
Fox kits venture out from their underground burrow Tuesday, April 27, 2021, as they
get to know the world they’ll live in near the north end of Wallowa Lake.
Furniture
& Shades
Ziply Fiber announced last week its plans to bring its high-speed network to Enterprise, and
hopes to have businesses and homes in the community connected by the end of the summer.
More fiber internet options
are coming to the county
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
Mother’s
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ENTERPRISE — Enter-
prise residents will have a
high-speed internet option
in place by the end of the
summer.
The company that bought
out Frontier Communica-
tions last year, Ziply Fiber,
announced Friday, April 30,
plans to extend “gig-speed
fiber Internet” to Enterprise,
one of 22 markets it plans to
get into this year, according
to a press release.
Construction is already
ongoing in and around
Enterprise, and company
COO Brian Stading antici-
pates Ziply enabling some
1,300 homes and businesses
in the town with the fiber
optic option this year.
“This a brand-new move
for Enterprise,” he said.
“We are currently construct-
ing (the network). We have
the process going on to light
up businesses and homes in
Enterprise. This is all brand
new.”
Stading said part of get-
ting the fiber into Wallowa
County includes connecting
the isolated area to regions
where the network is already
in place.
“We have to expand our
fiber backbone that connects
Enterprise to other markets,”
he said. “We basically have
to expand our fiber network
into Enterprise and then add
additional equipment that
makes the fiber work.”
The COO added there
are some fiber connections
in place in the town, but
said efforts are in place to
improve what is there, too.
“We basically are work-
ing on that as well,” he said.
A 1-gig speed option will
be among those made avail-
able once the fiber is laid —
one that is 10 times faster
than Ziply’s next-high-
est option of 100-megabyte
service.
“Put it this way, it’s a lot
of speed,” Stading said.
Stading said the hope is
for Ziply to be connected to
the entire town by the end of
the summer. From there, he
said, the company can look
at its options on potential
expansion into the rest of
the county.
“Once we build out
Enterprise, it allows us to
look further out once we are
there and see what makes
sense,” Stading said.
Ziply’s expansion is add-
ing a component Stading
indicated is vital to the area.
“Broadband is imperative
to people’s lives,” he said.
“We think that (it) will hope-
fully provide a huge eco-
nomic benefit to Enterprise.”
Scholarships offered to health care workers
Applications
taken until June 1
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ment of lymphedema, pelvic
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Recipients have advanced
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Other areas include execu-
tive level leadership train-
ing and Medicare billing to
address all areas of health
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The Edgar Burbridge
and Frances Boyd Bur-
bridge Memorial Scholar-
ship was founded in 2018,
when Gene Boyd, brother
of Frances, presented an
estate gift of $231,557 for
the foundation. Inspired
by the Coffin scholarship,
Boyd and his wife, Char-
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ENTERPRISE — Two
scholarships are currently
being offered to local health
care workers looking to
advance their personal and
professional development
for the benefit of health care
in Wallowa County, accord-
ing to a press release.
“The scholarships have
been put to good use,” said
President Dave Smyth, of
the Wallowa Valley Health
Care Foundation Board.
“Each year we get very
qualified applicants, and
the long-term benefit to
local health care has been
proven.”
The Gwen & Gladys Cof-
fin Memorial Scholarship
and the Edgar Burbridge
and Frances Boyd Bur-
bridge Scholarship, each
worth $2,000, have opened
their application period
through June 1. Both schol-
arships are sponsored by
the foundation, a local non-
profit that raises money to
improve and expand health
care in Wallowa County.
The Coffin Scholarship
was founded in 2012, when
the daughter of Gwen and
Gladys Coffin, Gail Swart,
was serving on the foun-
dation board. Gladys Cof-
fin donated an irrevocable
gift for $500,000 in her late
husband’s name in 1996,
helping the foundation get
on solid financial footing.
Swart suggested the schol-
arship and the board recog-
nized a need to help local
health care workers pur-
sue additional education
and training. Thus, it cre-
ated the scholarship to meet
this need. Since then, local
health care workers have
pursued training and educa-
tion to help improve treat-
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