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Wallowa.com
Wednesday, January 12, 2022
Cattle:
Rodeo:
Continued from Page A1
Continued from Page A1
Dean said her 68-year-
old husband underwent sur-
gery in June when his oxy-
gen was cut off and left him
with brain damage. Dean
placed the responsibility for
the cattle’s welfare squarely
on the shoulders of the ranch
managers, B.J. and Emily
Warnock.
“He was supposed to
bring the cows down in
October,” Dean said. “They
let the cows go down on their
own.”
The Deans also own
ranches in Colorado and
New Mexico. Dean said one
of their wranglers from New
Mexico visited the Oregon
ranch to see what was hap-
pening. She said the wran-
gler said ranchers normally
round up their cattle, take
them to a pen and put them
aboard a truck to ship to
market.
“He said they don’t do
that (in Wallowa County),”
Dean said. “They let (the
cattle) fi nd their own way
down.”
Dean emphasized that
was why they hire locals
wranglers to do the job.
“My husband doesn’t
physically do the cattle
work,” she said. “He pays
B.J. to wrangle the cows.
We’re relying on people who
live there that they would do
the job.”
Despite the Deans being
the owners of the land and
livestock, Dean holds the
Warnocks responsible.
“They’re responsible,”
she said. “We called him
every other day to get him to
bring those cattle down.”
Dean added the Warnocks
signed releases as property
managers for the Deans.
“Those cows were his
responsibility,” she said.
But B.J. Warnock dis-
agreed with Karen Dean on
the nature of their business
relationship.
“Mrs. Dean is not our
employer and she is misin-
formed,” Warnock said in
an email. “Typically, in a sit-
uation like this, the owner
blames the manager, who
blames the crew, and so
on. We are not going to do
that. Unfortunately, I was
never offi cially named or
authorized to act as man-
ager, which left me without
decision-making authority
just spread more knowl-
edge about rodeo and the
western way of life, (and)
to teach other young kids
they can do whatever they
want if they put their mind
to it.
A13
is gauging.
“She can say, ‘At this
pageant, she wore this out-
fi t, (she) said this well.’ I
can feed off of that for my
daily activities,” Wecks
said. “I’ve always said you
can’t ever learn too much.
Everyone has something to
(help) you in, even if you
don’t take the advice.”
Opie
In her blood
Anna Butterfi eld/Contributed Photo
Calves rescued from the deep snows in the Upper Imnaha get some refreshment Sunday, Jan.
2, 2022, at the Joseph-area ranch of Mark and Anna Butterfi eld. They are among many rescued
in the past week.
to act in critical situations.
We did have a main crew
of seven people gathering
Dean Oregon Ranches cat-
tle. We are very proud of all
of their hard work and the
fact that they have stuck with
the job despite extenuating
circumstances.”
Attorney involved
Chris Gramiccioni, an
South Carolina-based attor-
ney for the Deans in their
ongoing lawsuits over han-
dling of nursing home evac-
uations last year at the time
of Hurricane Ida, said the
Deans and their attorneys
were just learning of the situ-
ation with the cattle.
“My client is not happy
with what happened to those
cattle,” he said. “My cli-
ent had a team of people
who were supposed to bring
the cattle down from the
mountains.”
Gramiccioni, who said
the Deans have paid the cost
to fl y in hay and help res-
cue the cattle, declined to
comment specifi cally if the
Deans shared responsibility
for the fate of the cows and
their calves.
“I have to be cautious on
answering that because it
could be the subject of litiga-
tion,” he said. “Our client is
taking it very seriously. It’s
not something he’s taking
lightly.”
In an emailed statement,
Gramiccioni said the Dean
Oregon Ranches have his-
torically entrusted livestock
management to a local onsite
expert familiar with the land
in Wallowa County.
“Thankfully, most live-
stock were recovered before
the snows made routes
impassable. Dean crews
have worked tirelessly to
ensure the care and feed-
ing of the remaining ani-
mals while ongoing eff orts
are undertaken to bring them
back down to the ranch,”
he said. “The Dean fam-
ily is truly grateful for the
continued recovery eff orts
by local ranchers, state and
county government offi cials,
and volunteers. It is hoped
and prayed that the contin-
ued search for the remaining
cows will be successful, and
we wish to ensure the com-
munity that rescue eff orts
will remain unwavering.”
B.J. Warnock said on Jan.
2 that when they began gath-
ering the cattle in September,
there were 1,613 Dean Ore-
gon Ranches mother cows
on summer range. Of those,
10 were found unrecover-
able and 1,548 Dean Oregon
Ranches mother cows were
successfully gathered before
the snows of late Decem-
ber. Since then, another 34
mother cows were gathered
in joint eff orts between the
ranch crew and the com-
munity. Warnock said 26
of those were Dean Oregon
Ranches cattle and the others
were owned by neighboring
ranches.
As of Monday, Jan. 10, no
updated fi gures on the num-
ber of cattle lost or saved
were available.
As for the Deans’ troubles
over the nursing homes, the
Advocate of Baton Rouge
reported that the Louisi-
ana Department of Health
pulled the licenses of seven
of Dean’s nursing homes in
the wake of Hurricane Ida
which ravaged Louisiana
from Aug. 26 to Sept. 4. It
was alleged that seven peo-
ple died of the 843 residents
he ordered evacuated and
warehoused in the lead-up to
the hurricane.
That Wecks has reached
this level of success in
rodeo at such a young age
really should not surprise
anyone who knows her or
her family. Her mother,
Vixen Radford-Wecks, is
a former CJD queen who
judges rodeo pageants and
coached Carr Ivie.
“It’s defi nitely always
been in my family, in my
blood, in my heart — just
growing up around it, the
more and more I get to
experience and create these
friendships,” she said.
But it’s not solely
because of that heritage
that she is where she is at
— it’s her own drive and
growing love for rodeo, for
the Western way of life.
“It’s defi nitely made my
passion stronger, and my
dream become more big
and real,” she said.
The passion has even
extended beyond any-
thing her mother can com-
prehend, even though the
two have shared count-
less marathon drives from
one rodeo to the next,
horse trailer in tow. Rad-
ford-Wecks even asked her
daughter about it one eve-
ning on a long drive.
“I think people think I
make her do it, (but) she
said, ‘It’s because of the
family I have gained. I can
be anywhere in (the) state
… and I know somebody.
It’s my extended fam-
ily I have gained,’” Rad-
ford-Wecks said. “I have no
reason to tell her not to. …
She is still very grounded
in what has been her goal.
It has been her goal since
she was 6. It didn’t change.
It’s gotten stronger.”
The younger Wecks has
benefi tted from her mom
being a pageant judge, as
she can gain a behind-the-
scenes look at what a judge
Kitten
galore!
Coronation
Wecks is excited to
have the coronation and to
share it with that extended
rodeo family — including
people who may not have
heard of Wallowa County
previously.
“You have coronation
in this small remote part of
Oregon that is home to me
— it’s amazing that I can
welcome all these other
Oregonians to my home-
town to show them what it
is to me,” she said.
The event is a fund-
raiser for the year ahead,
and Wecks said she is look-
ing for more sponsorship
help. Those who wish to
be a sponsor can reach out
at destinywecksrodeo@
gmail.com.
DESTINY WECK ck S s.
In honor of Betty White’s 100th Birthday, pairs will be $100!*
Please contact Mary at 541-398-2428
stiny We
e rodeo arena, and De
This week we go to th School senior recently began her
The Enterprise High as Miss Teen Rodeo Oregon, and
year-long reign
y at the
a coronation ceremon
this weekend will have s the latest in a growing list of
It’
Enterprise Elks Lodge. ar-old, who has previously been
-ye
18
e
Rodeo
titles for th
eetheart, Junior Miss
Miss Rodeo Oregon Sw -queen of Chief Joseph Days.
udly
Oregon and a co
Pro nsore d b y
o
Sp
*standard Adoption Fees are: $65 for (1) Kitten, $110 for pair
http://www.wallowacountyhumanesociety.org/
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Wecks has spent most of
her time in rodeo with one
horse as her main steed —
an American quarter horse
named Opie.
“Technically, he’s my
mom’s horse, but I might
have accidentally stolen
him,” she quipped.
When the family pur-
chased the horse at age 4
— he’s now 11 — he was
going to take some work.
“He was really lame in
his feet. The people didn’t
want to spend the money
and the time to make him
rideable again,” Wecks
said. “We took him as a
ranch horse in case we
needed to do a lesson.”
The horse did have
some professional training
in his background, and in
time, largely with Wecks’
guidance, he became her
partner in the arena.
“Hours in the saddle,
time on the road, time spent
with him. He’d never done
any rodeo queen things —
packing fl ags (or) a parade.
That was an experience
with him.”