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LOCAL, A3
137th Year, No. 51
$1.50
SPORTS, A9
Wednesday, March 30, 2022
WALLOWA.COM
FUELING THE PAIN
Jim
Stivers
Enterprise
Native is
home after
70 years
ENTERPRISE — Jim Stivers orig-
inated in Wallowa County, but his
parents moved him away more
than 70 years ago — and now he’s
back.
“I started out life here and my
folks moved out of here in 1950
— under my objections,” he said.
“I just got tired of living in all that
garbage on the coast, so now I’m
home.”
He moved home to Enterprise
about eight years ago after many
years in Shelton, Washington. He’s
retired from about 60 years work-
ing in industrial maintenance.
Stivers recently shared his
thoughts about living in Wallowa
County.
Rising fuel prices
hurting local
governments
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
W
ALLOWA COUNTY — The
ever-increasing price of petro-
leum is putting a hitch in the
current budget process local
governments are going through,
as they are forced to increase
the amounts allocated for fuel and asphalt.
But to put an actual number on what that
increase is costing is nearly impossible, most
local offi cials say.
“It’s a moving target all the time,” said
Susan Roberts, chairwoman of the Wallowa
County Board of Commissioners, during a
telephone interview Monday, March 28.
Budget pain
She said the county is currently in negoti-
ations with Wallowa County Grain Growers
to determine the price for fuel for the next
budget year.
Enterprise city Administrator Lacey
McQuead agreed, saying the city has no idea
just what the cost of petroleum will end up
at, but given recent spikes, the city is intend-
ing to about double its fuel budget for sev-
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Wallowa County Grain Growers in Enterprise is the local business with which the county
contracts for most of its fuel needs. The two parties are currently in negotiations for the
coming budget year in the midst of skyrocketing fuel prices.
eral departments, such as Public Works’ fi ve
separate departments, as well as the police
and fi re departments.
“We’re looking at doubling our budget
amounts this year,” McQuead said March
28. “It’s hard to fi gure what the budget num-
bers will look like.”
She said usually, the city bases each
year’s budget on the previous year’s costs.
This year took the city — and other local
governments — by a surprise.
“The cost of fuel is a surprise this year.
… We didn’t anticipate this big a jump,” she
said. “That’s why we’re looking at doubling
our budget numbers.”
Most departments have revenue streams
to deal with the budget increases, along with
the general fund, but there could be changes
in the works.
In general, McQuead said, the city will
carry on normally.
“But if it gets to a point that we can’t
sustain the way we do things, we’ll have
to modify the way we’re doing things,” she
said. “If it increases too much, we’ll have to
look at other options.”
See Fuel, Page A7
What’s your favorite thing
about Wallowa County?
It’s quiet. It’s peaceful. There’s
no gunfi re, at least not like it was
over there. I quit carrying my guns
when I moved back over here.
Are you getting cabin fever
yet?
Nah.
What are you looking
forward to once the
weather warms?
I’ve got fruit trees and last year,
the sun torched my lawn, so I’ve
got to redo that. I’ve got a bunch of
stuff to do around the house.
What do you think of
Russia’s invasion of
Ukraine?
That’s a very mixed question.
You can’t just say it was a bad thing
and I think there’s a lot more to be
developed out of it. If it doesn’t go
any worse than it is now, we’ll be
OK, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
Do you think it’s aff ecting
the high price of fuel?
Yeah, that and our “fearless”
administration.
What’s your advice for
people who are thinking
about moving here?
If you like country, it’s a good
place to be.
— Bill Bradshaw,
Wallowa County Chieftain
The Wallowa County Road Department’s asphalt plant along Highway
3 north of Enterprise, with its accompanying gravel pits to the right, is
the source of most asphalt used in Wallowa County by city, county and
state road departments. The cost of the asphalt and paving projects is
expected to increase drastically as the price of petroleum — a major
ingredient in asphalt — continues to skyrocket.
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
REGIONAL
Wolves at the door
A federal judge
has redrawn the
map for managing
wolves in the West
County
gets new
machine
for ballot
counting
By STEVEN MITCHELL
Blue Mountain Eagle
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
A judge’s decision to restore fed-
eral protections for gray wolves
last month has put Grant County at
ground zero for relisting the preda-
tors under the Endangered Species
Act.
The decision drew a dividing
line between wolf populations that
can continue to be managed by state
agencies and those that will once
again be governed by more restric-
tive federal rules.
In most of Oregon, the dividing
line is Highway 395, which runs
right through the middle of Grant
County.
While the ruling does not change
anything for wolves in the eastern-
most part of the state, it does cover
wolves in the western two-thirds of
Oregon and puts them back on the
federal endangered species list.
Before last month’s ruling,
wolves in Western Oregon had
been under the fi rst phase of the
state wolf plan, which allowed
for killing wolves in defense of
livestock and guard animals in
shoot wolves caught biting, chasing
or killing livestock or working dogs.
In many cases, ranchers are
likely to have one herd of cattle on
both sides of the highway. And with
areas of known wolf activity in both
the East and West Murderers Creek
Wildlife Units on either side of the
road, Grant County fi nds itself at
the center of the long-running cul-
ture war fl ashpoint around wolves
returning to the West.
Gray wolves were among the
fi rst animals protected after the pas-
sage of the Endangered Species
Act in 1973, and the decision has
ENTERPRISE — Wallowa
County is gearing up for the
May 17 primary election, and
one way it’s doing so is with a
new central ballot count tabula-
tion machine.
Election workers were being
trained in the use of the machine
Tuesday, March 22, under the
eye of county Clerk Sandy Lath-
rop and of Christopher Neu-
bauer, an account manager with
Election Systems & Software
who instructed the employees
on its use.
The new machine was pur-
chased by Wallowa County from
Lane County for $12,500, Lath-
rop said.
“It’s used, but in pristine con-
dition,” she said.
Such a machine would cost
around $130,000 new, she said.
Lathrop said the importance
of the machine is the accu-
racy of counting it provides and
See Wolves, Page A8
See Machine, Page A7
Steven Mitchell/Blue Mountain Eagle
Izee rancher M.T. Anderson moves his cattle last month. A state investigator
could not determine whether a pair of wolves seen feeding on the carcass
of one of Anderson’s cows in February caused the animal’s death.
limited circumstances.
Specifi cally, wolves could be
killed if caught chasing or biting
livestock or in situations where the
state could confi rm that a pack had
depredated four times in six months.
Even then, before ranchers could
use deadly force in a wolf attack,
they had to have been using non-le-
thal deterrents such as electric fenc-
ing or hazing and had to show those
methods had not worked to stop the
attacks. Those options are now off
the table, with federal protections
back in place on Oregon’s west side.
Meanwhile, ranchers east of
Highway 395, where wolves are
under state management, can still