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IN G
137th Year, No. 20
WINNER OF THE 2020 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Wednesday, August 25, 2021
Brown: Educators must be vaccinated
Health care workers
also must get shots
By GARY A. WARNER
Oregon Capital Bureau
Amber
Gillett
Enterprise
SALEM — Facing a sharp
surge in coronavirus infections that
threatens to swamp Oregon hospi-
tals, Gov. Kate Brown ordered a
double dose Thursday, Aug. 19 of
mandatory vaccination mandates.
All K-12 educators, school
staff and volunteers must be vacci-
nated no later than Oct. 18, Brown
announced, or six weeks after one
receives full approval from the
federal Food and Drug Adminis-
tration, whichever is later.
The FDA approved the Pfi zer
vaccine Monday, Aug. 23.
“COVID-19 poses a threat to
our kids, and our kids need to be
protected and they need to be in
school,” Brown said.
A second mandate with the same
deadline would apply to doctors,
nurses, emergency medical teams
and other health care workers.
“Our No. 1 priority is to con-
tinue to provide health care to
the people of Wallowa County,”
said Wallowa Memorial Hospital
CEO Larry Davy. “We will abide
by rules as set forth by Gov.
Brown as to not disrupt this care.
There is no option to not compl,y
and we will continue to provide
support and information around
the vaccine, this mandate, and
it’s exemptions to our employ-
ees as it becomes available.”
Wallowa
Superintendent
Tammy Jones said in an email to
the Chieftain Thursday afternoon
— one in which she wrote was
a message from herself, Joseph
Superintendent Lance Homan,
Enterprise Superintendent Erika
Pinkerton and Karen Patton of the
Troy and Wallowa ESD — that
local school leaders are waiting for
more information from the state.
See Vaccines, Page A13
Wildlife
biologist
returns to
Northwest
ENTERPRISE — Amber Gillett moved
to Enterprise nearly two years ago to be
closer to family on Oregon’s west side.
“I moved from Tucson, Arizona, but
I’m originally from Portland, Oregon,
born and raised,” she said. “I just wanted
to move closer to home. All my family’s
on the west side and I missed all the sea-
sons. I’ve always traveled through this
area since my early 20s and I just fell in
love with it, so I thought I’d give it a try
and I was able to fi nd a place and it’s
worked out.”
A wildlife biologist, Gillett currently
works for the U.S. Forest Service as a
recreational ranger. Still single, she has
no family in the county, but has many
friends.
She recently shared her thoughts
about living in Wallowa County.
What’s your favorite thing about
Wallowa County?
The nature. You have a wide variety
of diversity. You have the mountains and
you have the prairies and you have Hells
Canyon, which is an amazing place, and
I love the small-town, community feel
of it.
Are you concerned about the
recent coronavirus spike?
A little bit. It’s something I think we
should watch out for and take care of
each other. I think we should keep an
eye on it and … we all need to be careful
and protect each other.
What do you think of the
governor’s recent mandate on
having to wear masks?
It’s kind of sad but it may be neces-
sary with all this coming down and …
hopefully they’ll get everything in check.
What did you think of this year’s
fair?
I couldn’t go. I had to work.
What’s your advice for people
who are thinking about moving
here?
It’s defi nitely a beautiful place to
visit, but living here — in the win-
ter it’s a little diff erent and things slow
way down and it can be pretty harsh,
from what I’ve been told. It’s defi nitely
something I don’t think anyone should
just jump into. But it’s a beautiful place
to visit, and if you fi nd yourself moving
here, it’s a beautiful place to live.
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Brothers Kurt, left, and Kevin Melville operate combines harvesting dryland soft white winter wheat north of Enterprise on Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2021.
The Melvilles said the dryland crop was particularly devastated by this year’s drought.
Farmers get low crop yields after summer drought
Cornerstone’s
fall-
planted irrigated wheat
isn’t doing nearly as bad,
Melville said.
“With the irrigated,
everything we’ve cut so
far slightly below nor-
mal,” he said, adding the
yield has been about 120
bushels per acre, when it
should be around 130.
“Fall wheat is within
the margin of error,” he
said. “Everything’s about
10 bushels lower than
average on irrigated side.”
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
WALLOWA COUNTY
— A hot, dry summer
seems to have come to an
end last week with a few
days of rain that grain
farmers didn’t necessarily
need as they got going on
harvest.
“With most harvests
you have a little rain,”
Kevin Melville of Corner-
stone Farms said Monday,
Aug. 23.
Cornerstone,
which
Melville operates with
father Tim, brother Kurt
and their wives, is one of
the largest small-grains
producers in Wallowa
County, largely growing
wheat but also sizeable
crops of hay, peas, canola
and mustard.
Possibly the worst of
what was harvested was
the Melville’s dryland
wheat. The Melville broth-
ers were hard at it harvest-
ing dark northern spring
Not worth it
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
John Williams unloads just-harvested dark northern spring wheat at Cornerstone Farms
just outside of Enterprise on Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2021. His plans to return to the fi eld for
another load were foiled by a surprise downpour that halted harvest for the day.
(DNS) wheat north of
Enterprise on Thursday,
Aug. 19, but they were
disappointed in what the
unirrigated fi elds were
yielding.
Kevin said they were
getting about 6 bushels per
acre there when they nor-
mally get 60-70 bushels.
“It’s a good thing we
have insurance,” he said.
Many of the crops are
hardly worth the trouble.
Melville said they didn’t
even bother with their peas
and timothy grass hay
rather than wasting the fuel
to attempt to harvest a crop
not worth the eff ort.
“We just walked away
from those,” he said. “We
never harvested the timo-
thy hay.”
See Drought, Page A13
Show ‘n’ Shine shines despite weather
Event returns
to downtown
Enterprise
INSIDE
Find more photos of
the Show ‘n’ Shine cars
on Page A14.
Chieftain staff
ENTERPRISE — Only
the weather and the recent
surge in coronavirus cases
prevented this year’s Main
Street Show ‘n’ Shine from
being the most successful
ever, said Doug Crow, of
Main Street Motors.
Although the morning
was fairly dry, a downpour
hit midday chasing some
people away and — of
course — forcing convert-
ible tops up.
“We were just a little
bit short,” Crow said. “As
the weather came on, some
of the Union and Baker
county folks probably
decided not to drive over
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Main Street in Enterprise was crowded with classic automobiles and people interested in
seeing them Saturday, Aug. 21, 2021, for the annual Main Street Show ’n’ Shine.
in a rainstorm.”
The recent increase in
coronavirus cases also is
believed to have kept some
people home, Crow specu-
lated, though Main Street
was full of car-show enthu-
siasts. He said as many as
14 vendors also lined Main
Street.
Crow said there were
noticeably more inqui-
ries about participating
this year, but the numbers
dropped off in recent days
as reports of coronavirus
cases came in.
This year’s event con-
cluded with the usual
cruise by the senior citi-
zen homes in Enterprise
and Joseph and on down to
Imnaha.
The annual event gar-
nered a full slate of awards,
honoring the participants,
sponsors and the vehicles
entered.
Bronze awards were
contributed by TW Bronze
and Parks Bronze, both of
Enterprise, while blown
glass was contributed by
Sterling Webb, Olaf Pot-
tery by Ted Juve and mis-
cellaneous art by Stangel
Industries, Candor Custom
and Stein Distillery.
The Show ‘n’ Shine
was started by Main Street
See Shine, Page A14