A10
LOCAL
Wallowa County Chieftain
Wednesday, May 11, 2022
Fuel price increase leaves
station owners stumped
Motorists can
expect hikes as
travel season
approaches
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
WALLOWA COUNTY
— Rising fuel prices have
brought fi lling stations in
Enterprise to within a frac-
tion of a cent below $5 a gal-
lon for regular unleaded, sur-
passing the highest-recorded
average price in Oregon of
$4.739.
That statewide high was
posted on the American
Automobile Association’s
website March 11.
Locally, station own-
ers aren’t quite sure why the
price is so high.
The fi rst station to jump
to $4.99 was the Enterprise
Chevron, with diesel No. 2
selling for $5.89 Tuesday,
May 3.
Station owner David
Burns declined to com-
ment on the reason for the
high price, other than to say,
“Don’t you read the news?”
The Enterprise Texaco
followed suit a couple days
later, raising its regular prices
a dime to $4.99 and diesel
to $5.99. Both stations give
a 10-cent discount for cash
and another discount for fuel
points gained at the local
Safeway.
Texaco owner Tim Tes-
terman also declined to com-
ment on the reason for the
high prices.
In Joseph, Paul’s Chev-
ron was charging $4.69 for
regular and $5.65 for diesel,
according to co-owner Wil-
liam Castilleja. He said May
5 it was likely to go up again
the next day.
“It’s been going up daily
for a week,” he said.
Castilleja also didn’t
know why the price is so
high and speculated that the
oil companies would blame
supply and demand, which
will increase the price come
Memorial Day Weekend, the
traditional start of the travel
season.
Paul’s also sells etha-
nol-free premium, Cas-
tilleja said. It goes for
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$5.49 a gallon.
With no corn products in
the premium, he said it’s pre-
ferred by some motorists.
“It burns more effi -
ciently and it’s cleaner,” he
said. “That’s why those with
older equipment and smaller
motors like motorcycles pre-
fer to use it.”
The only other fuel out-
let in the county, Goebel’s
in Wallowa, was selling the
same price for regular as in
Joseph, $4.69 a gallon. Die-
sel there was $5.29.
Station owner Garrett
Mahon said he, too, is unsure
what’s driving the price
increase.
“It all depends on what I
get charged,” he said. “I had
one time that jumped 60 cents
(a gallon). I’d never seen that
before.”
All Mahon said he can do
is go with the fl ow and live at
the mercy of the economy.
“That’s the way it goes,”
he said. “Speculators, the
world market and the way
things are in the economy.”
According to a press
release from AAA, the cost of
crude oil continues to hover
around $100 a barrel, keep-
ing prices at the pump up.
The release blamed Rus-
sia’s invasion of Ukraine for
sparking fears of a global
energy supply disruption,
outweighing concerns of the
impact of the COVID-19 pan-
demic on China’s economy.
AAA said it now costs
drivers in the U.S. about $23
more to fi ll up than it did a
year ago.
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American Ramp Co./Contributed Graphic
This is a recent version of the planned bicycle playground to be built at Wallowa School.
The mound at the top of the graphic is to be regraded to provide more concrete area for
other elements.
Bike playground closes in on funds
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
WALLOWA — The fi n-
ish line is in sight in eff orts
to raise money to build a
bicycle playground in Wal-
lowa, with those behind
the project having raised
about 93% of the estimated
$329,500 needed, Ron
Pickens said Friday, May 6.
“The biggest thing right
now is we have two foun-
dations that have recom-
mended we use their funds
as a matching opportunity
within the community,”
Pickens said.
He said the Reser Fam-
ily Foundation has pledged
a match of $12,000 and
the Roundhouse Founda-
tion has pledge $10,000,
in addition to the $15,000
Roundhouse already has
given. Added to the approx-
imately $306,000 already
acquired, the two pledges
will take the project’s fund-
ing over the top of what is
needed, he said. The fi nal
payment to the American
Ramp Co., which is build-
ing the park, is due in early
July, Pickens said.
A teacher at the Wallowa
County Alternative School,
Pickens works at Building
Healthy Families in Enter-
prise. He was instrumen-
tal in last year’s refurbish-
ment of the skate park in
BICYCLE PLAYGROUND
Donations can be made to Building Healthy Families, 207
NE Park, Enterprise, OR 97828, For more information, call
Ron Pickens at 541-426-9411.
Enterprise. But he’s long
had a desire to have a simi-
lar facility in Wallowa since
transportation to Enterprise
is diffi cult for youths.
The promised matching
funds also would help build
a fund that could go toward
maintenance costs and the
rising cost of materials.
“Within the past three
weeks, the price (of mate-
rials) has already jumped,”
Pickens said. “We want to
make sure we have a little
extra in our coff ers.”
For example, he said, a
bicycle-repair station, such
as was installed at the Enter-
prise skate park, had been
priced at about $2,000. It’s
now up to $2,300-2,400.
Such a station would
allow an individual put their
bike on a rack and use tools
available for minor repairs.
It also includes an air pump
to infl ate tires.
Pickens said a recent
fundraising venture was
successful, when the orga-
nizers of the playground
project held a raffl e for a
fl ight in and breakfast for
two at the Minam River
Lodge. Courtney Lyman of
Enterprise won the raffl e.
Coming up Pickens said
he plans to make a presen-
tation at the May 18 meet-
ing of the Wallowa County
Board of Commissioners.
On May 4, the commission-
ers expressed interest in
supporting the playground
— possibly even fi nancially
— but said they would like
more information on the
project.
Some of the commis-
sioners and spectators were
unclear on the diff erence
between the Wallowa proj-
ect, a proposed trail-with-
rails project between Elgin
and Joseph, the Enterprise
skate park and a pump track
proposed for Enterprise. Of
the latter two, the fi rst exists
and the latter is still in the
planning stages.
Pickens said he has
scheduled a grand open-
ing of the Wallowa play-
ground
for
Saturday,
Aug. 20. Although the itin-
erary is still to be fi nalized,
he hopes to have BMX
stunt riders and motiva-
tional speakers there.
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