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138th Year, No. 1
Wednesday, May 18, 2022
WALLOWA.COM
Clem Falbo of Joseph makes a move on his chess
board Tuesday, May 3, 2022. Falbo is resurrecting
a local chess club that had been going since 2011
until the COVID-19 pandemic forced it to stop.
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Tasha
Snyder
Wallowa
Commuter
feels pain
of fuel cost
ENTERPRISE — She commutes
between Enterprise and Wallowa
for work each day and is fi nding
the increasing cost of fuel painful,
at the least.
Tasha Snyder has lived in Wal-
lowa about 31 years, having moved
there from Orofi no, Idaho, when
her husband’s job as a logging
truck driver brought them to Wal-
lowa County after a time in the Wil-
lamette Valley. They raised their
four children in Wallowa.
“They all graduated from Wal-
lowa High School and they all come
back” to visit, she said. “They come
back for hunting and they love it.”
Tasha isn’t sure just why the
cost of fuel is rising so high, but she
thinks it has to do with politics.
“I don’t think it’s necessary …
and we’re getting hit really hard,”
she said, noting that she pays
nearly $6 a gallon to fuel up her
diesel pickup. “I drive 50 miles
round trip to work and back. It’s
getting diffi cult. You can walk here
a lot, but there’s a lot of places you
can’t get to walking.”
Tasha has a job as a tax-return
processor for a certifi ed public
accountant in Enterprise.
“I love it,” she said. “I like work-
ing there.”
She said she loves many things
about Wallowa County.
“I love it because of the ‘out-
doorsness’ of it, the people — the
people are wonderful here — the
community, everything about it, I
just absolutely adore it,” she said.
Now that signs of spring are evi-
dent, Tasha is hoping to saddle up
again.
“I like riding my horses,” she
said. “I barrel race and I’m looking
forward to doing that. COVID kind
of put a kibosh on it the past couple
of years, but now we should be OK.”
Although she hasn’t gotten
a chance to read up on what’s at
stake in the May 17 primary elec-
tion, she plans to and is convinced
it’s important.
“All elections are important,”
she said. “If you want a voice in any-
thing, you need to vote.”
For anyone planning to move to
Wallowa County, Tasha says simply,
“You have to be able to love it here.
… It’s a great place to raise kids.”
— Bill Bradshaw,
Wallowa County Chieftain
Chairman of the board
Chess helps feed Clem Falbo’s love of mathematics
By JEFF BUDLONG
Wallowa County Chieftain
OSEPH — A pandemic was not
going to corner Clem Falbo on
the chess board and force him to
resign. His love of mathematics
and chess is too great.
The 91-year-old Joseph resi-
dent refers to the Wallowa County Chess
Club as the “oldest chess club in Eastern
Oregon,” which began in 2011.
“When we moved here from California,
I was a member of the U.S. Chess Federa-
tion and had run some chess tournaments,
but there was hardly anyone to play here,”
he said. “Finally, I found out some kids
were interested along with some adults, so
we got the club going.”
The club boasts a roster of 35 peo-
ple who have played over the years with
between seven and 14 people playing on
WANT TO PLAY?
The Wallowa County Chess Club meets
Mondays from 3:30-5:30 p.m. at the Jo-
sephy Center for Arts and Culture. All are
welcome. For more information, call Clem
Falbo at 541-263-1415.
J
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Clem Falbo of Joseph, a longtime mathematics
teacher, shows one of the books he wrote on
the subject Tuesday, May 3, 2022.
a weekly basis. COVID-19 forced Falbo
to put the club’s weekly meetings on hia-
tus for about a year beginning in Febru-
ary 2020, but a couple of weeks ago pieces
and boards were back in action every
Monday at the Josephy Center For Arts
and Culture.
Falbo said the benefi ts of playing chess
are many, and it can be a family activity
with parents bringing children to the club
and everyone plays.
See Chess, Page A7
ODFW changes report on attack on sheep
Wolves still a
threat to livestock
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
WALLOWA COUNTY —
More wolf attacks on livestock
have been reported by produc-
ers and confi rmed by the Oregon
Department of Fish and Wildlife
over the past week, according to
the ODFW’s livestock depreda-
tion report.
In the most recent report
posted on the ODFW’s website
Thursday, May 12, another four
calves and a cow were found dead
In Wallowa County alone and one
calf wounded and taken for treat-
ment this month. Most of the
attacks were confi rmed as done by
wolves, although one calf attack
was listed as “possible/unknown”
by ODFW. Other attacks were
reported in neighboring counties.
Sheep attack reviewed
A review of predator attacks
on fi ve sheep April 29 in Wal-
lowa County has led to a change
in the ODFW’s determination of
“other” to “confi rmed” wolf kills
on three of the sheep, according to
an ODFW offi cial.
Michelle Dennehy, agency
spokeswoman, said in an email
Thursday, May 12, that because
of a review requested by the
sheep owner May 4, that one ewe
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife/Contributed Photo
Northeast Oregon ranchers are seeing a spate of wolf predations on
livestock this year and no end is yet in sight.
and three lambs had “injuries and
hemorrhage consistent with both
coyote and wolf attack locations.”
Given an analysis of the wounds
and the fact that a “thick wool
covering which can be a barrier
to eff ective biting by coyotes,”
the attack on the two ewes and
one lamb were amended to “con-
fi rmed” for wolf kills.
The May 11 report also stated
that two of the lambs killed the
night before the investigation
were still determined as “other.”
The report determined the
attacks “could have been done by
a dispersing wolf or wolves, or the
Chesnimnus or Wildcat packs.”
The owner of the sheep was
not identifi ed by the agency or by
local offi cials who attended the
investigation.
County Commissioner Todd
Nash, a local rancher and presi-
dent of the Oregon Cattlemen’s
Association, said at the time the
sheep producer did not wish his
name to be made public.
Nash and John Williams,
co-chairman of the OCA’s wolf
committee, had been critical of
the ODFW’s investigation.
“They were just wrong,” Nash
said May 4, and said he was going
to speak to agency director Curt
Melcher. “That’s a matter of an
inaccurate investigation.”
Nash and Williams saw wolf
tracks near the slain sheep and no
fresh coyote tracks, they said.
Beth Quillian, a watersheds
communications coordinator for
ODFW, said in an email May 13
that based on the review, the sheep
owner can request compensation
through the Oregon Department
of Agriculture’s wolf depredation
See Wolves, Page A7