OFF PAGE ONE
Wallowa.com
Hands:
Continued from Page A1
I was very young when my
family started living here,”
he said. “I visited my family
when I was in high school.”
In 1981, he was an
exchange student in Morrow
near The Dalles. His host
family later moved to Ken-
newick, Washington, and to
Portland, though they still
have contacts in Morrow.
Later, after returning
home, he was assigned by
his government to the Costa
Rican consulate in Atlanta
for a year and then to Los
Angeles for fi ve years. He
then returned to his home
country and entered the pri-
vate sector.
“Now I’m back here
because I’m involved with
the Sister Cities program,”
he said.
Rodriguez spent Christ-
mas 2019 with the War-
nocks here and he then
invited them to visit Costa
Rica.
They did and got plagued
by the coronavirus travel
restrictions.
“We went down to Costa
Rica last Feb. 7 (2020), and
were going to stay to March
15 and the coronavirus hit
and they closed the airports
down; there were no fl ights
out,” Warnock said. “All
we knew is our fl ight had
been canceled and we didn’t
know what to do.”
They weren’t able to
return until June.
“So we had lots of time
to investigate the coff ee
business — and that’s where
the ‘seed’ of the coff ee bean
was planted,” Warnock said.
“Then we invited him up
here.”
Rodriguez hasn’t been
able to get Wallowa County
out of his mind. The tie
of coff ee and community
exchanges are what devel-
oped into the Sister Cities
idea.
Tilaran gets to know
Wallowa County
Warnock has been intro-
ducing Rodriguez to locals
to make that happen.
“I just try to introduce
him to folks he’s interested
in,” he said.
So far, he’s met with Wal-
lowa County Commissioner
John Hillock, Joseph’s
interim city Administrator
Brock Eckstein and Jenni-
fer Piper, executive direc-
tor of the Wallowa County
Chamber of Commerce.
Still on the to-be-contacted
list are the Joseph Chamber
of Commerce and the cities
of Enterprise, Wallowa and
Lostine, making the eff ort
truly countywide.
Warnock said he received
a particularly positive reac-
tion from Eckstein, given
Joseph’s traditional focus
on tourism.
“He’d only been there a
week or so,” he said of Eck-
stein. “I really like the guy.”
“He’s trying to help us
get this done,” Rodriguez
added.
“When we get to this part
where we get all the cities
behind us and the county
government, we form a cit-
izens committee to get the
Sister Cities charter and
everything,” Warnock said.
Wednesday, June 2, 2021
A9
Teleconference
That was part of what
was discussed during Thurs-
day’s teleconference. The
Tilaran delegation was led
by Katherine Alfaro Lopez,
vicealcaldesa (vice mayor),
who sat in for Mayor Juan
Pablo Vaquero, who was
called away on an emer-
gency. She was assisted by
Enervey Ramirez, a mem-
ber of the local chamber of
commerce and tourism and
who served as interpreter for
Lopez.
On the Wallowa County
end of the teleconference
were Warnock, Rodriguez,
Hillock and Scott McDon-
ald of Joseph Creek Coff ee
in Enterprise.
Speaking for Lopez,
Ramirez noted some prog-
ress toward establishing a
Sister Cities relationship is
already underway.
“Gustavo is the presi-
dent of the (tourism) com-
mission, and Mayor Juan
Pablo Vaquero is part of that
group,” Ramirez said. “You
have some letters and have
to consider what benefi ts
you can get and what bene-
fi ts we can get. I think that
is the main idea of the Sis-
ter Cities is to share with
the people … and maybe
we can think of more things
to share. Tilaran has really
good things because we can
say it’s one amazing area.
The climate is excellent. We
were the fi rst canton in Latin
America with clean energy
projects and we’ve got a lot
of experience in that. We
worked with sustainability
with the environment. …
The municipality is going to
be one of the bees’ friends
because we’re going to take
out the insecticides and her-
bicides in the public parts
because we want to help.”
Speaking for herself,
Ramirez noted the impor-
tance of sharing languages.
“Many years ago when
I was a child, we started
learning English through
volunteers from the Peace
Corps many years ago,” she
said. “We don’t have it any-
more. It was very import-
ant to many people because
they were learning English
with natives from the United
States. I think that could be a
very big example for us to be
learning your language from
people from there. That’s
one of the things that we,
from Tilaran, would need.”
She also expressed a
hope that more Americans
would learn Spanish.
The future?
As for the future, War-
nock also is considering
including La Grande and
Union County in the pro-
gram. Tilaran has a city pop-
ulation of about 11,000 and
a county population of about
22,000, more like the Wal-
lowa County neighbors.
“We’re thinking that if we
can get this set up, that’ll be
our next project to get them
included,” Warnock said.
“But that’s down the road.”
The Wallowa Coun-
ty-Tilaran tie is fi rst on the
agenda, but the two commu-
nities are still in the talking
stage. Warnock said he
hopes to cement the ties by
this fall.
“All we’re doing right
now is talking and express-
ing interest,” he said.
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
The Guard of Honor take turns fi ring shots as the names of fallen veterans are read Monday, May 31, 2021, during Memorial
Day ceremonies on the lawn of the Wallowa County Courthouse. From left are John Potts and Bob Masters of the Veterans
of Foreign Wars and Jack Snyder and Mike Teece of the American Legion.
Fallen:
Continued from Page A1
“Last year, we rang a
bell for each name, but we
decided we liked this bet-
ter,” one of the guard mem-
bers said.
Memorial Day remem-
brances were conducted in
Wallowa County on Mon-
day. Hundreds of U.S. fl ags
adorned the graves of ser-
vice men and women at
cemeteries throughout the
county, with the VFW hon-
oring the lives of the mili-
tary members at each stop.
“We off er a solemn trib-
ute to all comrades wher-
Merkley:
Continued from Page A1
eral funds to the local level,
Nash noted Merkley is an
Oregon native who grew
up the son of a millwright
in a working-class environ-
ment. His approximately
40-year career in politics
led to his being Oregon’s
junior U.S. senator in 2009.
Merkley fi rst intro-
duced Maria Weer, exec-
utive director of Building
Healthy Families of Enter-
prise, and congratulated on
the work BHF has done,
particularly during the
COVID-19 pandemic.
One
questioner
expressed his apprecia-
tion for Merkley oppos-
ing Trump administration
eff orts regarding climate
change.
“I appreciate you’ve
been outspoken on we have
no time to waste on climate
change,” the caller said,
adding he was particularly
concerned about rules lim-
iting the harvest of forests.
Merkley said more
research is needed.
“We need guidance on
the diff erent types of for-
ests,” he said.
Stacy Green, of Enter-
prise, who heads the Men-
tor Match Teen Entrepre-
neurs program, asked if
Congratulations!
HATS OFF TO
WALLOWA COUNTY’S
CLASS OF 2021
you rock!
To advertise in the Wallowa County Chieftain
Contact Jennifer Cooney jcooney@wallowa.com • 541-805-9630
209 NW First St., Enterprise OR • 541-426-4567 • wallowa.com
ever they may rest,” Jim
Henson, commander of
VFW Post 4307, said
during the ceremony at the
Enterprise Cemetery.
The ceremonies pro-
vided an opportunity to
recall the sacrifi ces of those
who fought for the nation’s
freedom.
“In memory to the
heroic dead who have
fallen in defense of the
United States of America,
I place this tribute of our
devotion and everlasting
remembrance,” said VFW
member and Vietnam War
veteran John Roberts as he
placed one of four wreaths
at the VFW memorial in
Enterprise.
Merkley had any infl uence
that could help provide
funding for the teens.
Merkley admitted he
hadn’t heard of the pro-
gram, but has worked with
other youth programs and
would check with the fed-
eral Small Business Admin-
istration to see if funding
could be made available.
County Commissioner
John Hillock asked Merk-
ley if he could streamline
the diffi culties local gov-
ernments have in using the
federal funds provided.
Sometimes, Hillock said,
the required deadlines
make it impossible to use
the funds in time. He men-
tioned a generator Wallowa
Memorial Hospital is trying
to get as an example.
Merkley said dead-
lines have repeatedly been
extended and more along
that line can be done.
Another youth asked the
senator’s advice for young
people in small towns.
“Really seize the oppor-
tunities provided by pub-
lic schools,” Merkley said.
His dad told him, “It’s up to
you, how much you want to
learn. … Jump in and seize
the moment.”
Ronald Bond/Wallowa County Chieftain
Cemeteries throughout Wallowa County, including the
Lostine Cemetery, had the graves of service men and women
adorned with fl ags on Memorial Day, Monday, May 31, 2021.
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