LOCAL
Wallowa.com
Wednesday, August 18, 2021
A9
Top quality was theme of fair livestock show Joseph City
Council
looks at jobs
Judges impressed
with animals,
work of kids
New code
enforcement
officer tops list
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE
—
Some
top-quality
kids
presented
top-quality market animals last
week at the Wallowa County
Fair in Enterprise, from horses
to chickens and everything in
between.
This was noted particularly by
those who served as judges during
the livestock judging Thursday,
Aug. 12, as well as the opportu-
nity to return to a bit of normalcy
after last year’s fair was seri-
ously curtailed by the coronavirus
pandemic.
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
Judges
“You guys have overcome
(COVID) and I want to commend
these young people on a job well
done,” said Anna-Marie Cham-
berlain, of Vale, the swine judge
and an agriculture education
instructor at her home school.
She talked about being grate-
ful Wallowa County could have
a full fair this year. Last year, it
was limited mostly to the one-day
livestock sale.
Her home county, Malheur
County, canceled its fair alto-
gether last year.
“One of the things that COVID
has taught us is to appreciate the
things that we do have,” Cham-
berlain said.
She said the hogs she saw were
top quality, possibly even better
than the ones shown last month at
her home-county fair. She said the
ones she was judging all seemed
to have the qualities desired both
by purchasers and consumers.
But, she said, it’s well known
that the kids’ work isn’t solitary
and urged them to thank their
family and friends who have sup-
ported them in their efforts.
Kim Henrickx, of Brawley,
California, was the beef judge
at the fair. She has many years’
experience as both a judge and
working in the beef industry.
Henrickx spoke to the kids of
how their efforts inspire others.
“You don’t know who you’re
inspiring,” she said. “Your par-
ents have no clue who’s watching
and they are inspiring. You don’t
know who’s going through what
you might be going through.”
Beef
In selecting the grand cham-
pion market steers, she said
she was looking for some-
thing “unique.” She found that
in Katie Hoffman’s year-old
“blond” steer, as Henrickx called
the Angus cross.
Katie, of the Joseph Charter
School FFA, was all smiles as
she won the FFA grand cham-
pion award for her steer.
“Yeah, he’s a yellow steer,”
she agreed with Henrickx.
Katie will be a junior at JCS
in the fall and has been in FFA
2-3 years, she said.
Joseph Birkmaier, of Enter-
prise, was the winner of the 4-H
grand champion market beef
with his Angus cross. The son of
Tom and Kelly Birkmaier, this
was his first year in 4-H, a feat
that impressed judges and audi-
ence alike.
Joseph will be in the fifth
grade at Enterprise Elementary
School this fall and plans to con-
tinue raising market beef on his
family’s Crow Creek ranch.
He said he got started early
this year.
“You’re supposed to have it
by March (for 4-H), but I got it in
December, so I got a head start,”
he said. “The cow dropped it in
a field, we went out and checked
on it, got the cow to nurse it and
it became one of our steers.”
Swine
Landon Greenshields, son of
Randy and Jeni Greenshields,
who lives on a farm between
Enterprise and Joseph where he
also raises horses and chickens,
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Katie Hoffman, of the Joseph FFA, shows her FFA grand champion Angus cross market steer after winning
Thursday, Aug. 12, 2021, at the Wallowa County Fair.
JOSEPH — Jobs were high
on the agenda for the Joseph City
Council when it met Thursday,
Aug. 5.
“It’s my opinion we need an
ordinance officer as soon as pos-
sible,” Pro-Tem Administrator
Brock Eckstein said. “The city’s
gone quite a while without one.”
This issue has resurfaced just a
year after it was seemingly solved.
In July 2020, the city hired Chris-
tian Ambroson as code enforce-
ment officer, but he has since left
the position and it’s again becom-
ing apparent that he needs to be
replaced.
“We’re started to see some
issues around town — RVs on
right-of-ways, properties that
need attention as far as derelict
cars and trash and debris in the
yards and whatnot,” Eckstein
said. “We initially had this job
as a part-time position, but there
hasn’t been any interest in that.
I would recommend that this job
be elevated to a full-time posi-
tion. It’s my personal belief that
there’s more than enough work to
support this as a full-time posi-
tion if we can make it work with
our budget. This could also help
alleviate … things like illegal
short-term housing that’s going
on — we’ve had numerous com-
plaints about that — and we
just don’t have the staff to fol-
low up on a lot of these cases. As
you know, some of these short-
term rentals are taking the places
of possible long-term housing,
which there is a shortage of.”
Municipal judge?
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Joseph Birkmaier, of Enterprise, wrestles his stubborn Angus cross steer into place after winning 4-H grand
champion market steer Thursday, Aug. 12, 2021, at the Wallowa County Fair. It was Joseph’s first year in 4-H.
was the winner of the FFA mar-
ket hog.
A senior at EHS this fall, in
addition to FFA he’s involved
with basketball and golf. He said
he got into raising hogs after his
siblings were doing it.
“I got interested in walk-
ing the little pigs,” he said, not-
ing that they can be either fun
or ornery. “They can be both —
it depends on the pig. But it’s
pretty fun and I’ve had a good
experience. It’s pretty good to
win. It’s a good feeling to know
that my pig is a good pig.”
Will he continue with agricul-
ture after high school?
“I haven’t really thought about
it, but it’d be nice,” Landon said.
The grand champion 4-H
market hog winner was Wade
Williams, the son of Jared and
Mishelle Williams, of Joseph.
Wade will be in the fifth grade
this fall.
He said he feels “pretty good”
about winning in just his second
year. But he’s unlikely to con-
tinue raising swine beyond his
youth.
“It’s just not something I want
to do,” he said, adding that he
hasn’t made his mind up yet but
agreed he still has plenty of time
for that.
All of the market animals
were destined to go on the auc-
tion block during Saturday’s fat
stock sale at the fair, the culmi-
nation of most of a year’s work
for both 4-H and FFA kids.
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Swine judge Anna-Marie Chamberlain congratulates Landon
Greenshields for his winning FFA grand champion market hog Thursday,
Aug. 12, 2021, at the Wallowa County Fair.
Wade Williams, of Enterprise,
displays the awards he
received for his 4-H grand
champion market hog
Thursday, Aug. 12, 2021, at the
Wallowa County Fair.
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
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Councilor Lisa Collier asked
that if the city hires a code
enforcement officer, can the city
hire a municipal judge to render
decisions on citations and fines.
Eckstein said the city charter
allows for the hiring of a judge.
But more backup is needed.
“You’ve got to have a coun-
cil and administration that sup-
ports your ordinance officer,” he
said. “I’ve seen ordinance offi-
cers come and go and the main
reason they go is not necessar-
ily the inaction of the citizens,
but they’ll make a decision and
the council or the administrator
won’t back them up.”
Eckstein emphasized that a
municipal judge to rule on cita-
tions issued by the code enforce-
ment officer can be beneficial.
“When you get to ordinances,
you’re not trying to fine people
to make money. You want com-
pliance,” he said. “Sometimes
it takes a ticket to get people’s
attention, to get them on the right
track. A judge has the authority
to suspend that fine so long as
they come into compliance.”
But having a judge isn’t nec-
essarily the only option.
Eckstein said another is to
assign a lien to the violator’s
property, but he called that “less
productive,” since the city often
can’t collect until the property is
sold.
Councilors asked if city attor-
ney Wyatt Baum could act as
municipal judge, but Baum said
that would be a conflict of inter-
est. If a defendant hired an attor-
ney, Baum’s job is to represent
the city.
Eckstein said there are unal-
located funds in the city budget
that could be assigned to pay a
judge if the council enacts a reso-
lution to that effect.
The council voted to upgrade
the code enforcement officer
position from part- to full-time.
In other matters, the council:
• Agreed that professional
staffing agency would be engaged
to find a permanent city adminis-
trator, upon the recommendation
of Eckstein.