LOCAL
Wallowa.com
Wednesday, June 1, 2022
A3
Flora School Days
‘Back in the Saddle
Again’ June 4
Chieftain staﬀ
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
The Enterprise Elementary School kindergarten classes pose for a group shot Tuesday, May 24, 2022, in front of one of the
buildings at the Creating Memories for Disabled Children camp at Wallowa Lake.
Kindergarteners donate to disabled children
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
WALLOWA
LAKE
— Enterprise Elementary
School’s two kindergar-
ten classes presented money
they raised to a nonproﬁ t
at Wallowa Lake on Tues-
day, May 24, that oﬀ ers dis-
abled children an outdoor
experience.
The 44 children in Tri-
cia Otten’s and Petey Evans’
classes presented $1,721.86
IN BRIEF
Rotary announces
scholarship
recipients
ENTERPRISE — The
Rotary Club of Wallowa
County recently named its
scholarship recipients among
graduating high school
seniors.
Enterprise’s
Sophia
Esponosa was awarded the
Don Swart Scholarship for
$2,000. Other Enterprise
scholarship winners were
Rose Movich-Fields ($2,500)
and Alona Yost ($2,000),
and Kodie Kiser and Lannis
Stonebrink ($500).
Willie Gibbs of Wal-
lowa High School received
a $2,000 scholarship and
Joseph Charter School’s
Piper Larison received $500.
The scholarships will be
available for the students’
sophomore year of college.
Stonebrink earns
Wheat Foundation
scholarship
ENTERPRISE — Lan-
nie Stonebrink, a graduat-
ing Enterprise High School
senior, was on the list of 12
Oregon seniors to receive
$1,500 college scholarships
from the Oregon Wheat
Foundation, according to a
press release.
The
Pendleton-based
ground also listed stu-
dents from Imbler, Pendle-
ton, Durfur, Culver, Vale,
Ione and Scio in addition to
Stonebrink.
The annual scholarship
program recognizes high
school seniors across the state
who plan to pursue a career
in the agricultural indus-
try. With a record number
of applications, the Founda-
tion Board of Directors made
the unanimous decision to
expand the number of state-
wide scholarships in order to
support more students. This
to Creating Memories for
Disabled Children, as a way
to muster a spirit of generos-
ity in them.
“We tried to get the kin-
dergartners to think of a way
to give to others and not
expect anything in return,”
Evans said.
Earlier in the school year,
the classes voted on a charity
they wished to support. Then,
they decided on a method to
raise money for the charity.
Evans’ class sold about
500 cookies, while Otten’s
solicited pledges for a
walk-a-thon.
Creating Memories began
as a nonproﬁ t in 2012 and
took over the former Boy
Scout camp at the head of
the lake in 2014. It now has a
50-year lease on the property
with an option for another
50-year lease from the Blue
Mountain Council of the Boy
Scouts.
At the camp are three
A-frame cabins and ﬁ ve
tepees that can be used by
handicapped children and
their families, according to
a Chieftain story from June
2021. The camp also has a
trail to Wallowa Falls. Handi-
capped children are given the
opportunity to enjoy outdoor
activities, such as boating,
hunting, ﬁ shing, photogra-
phy and just enjoying being
outdoors.
“We just wanted the kin-
dergartners to get into the
spirit of giving,” Evans said.
year
was
particularly
competitive,
with three
times
the
number of
applications
compared to
Stonebrink
2021.
“It is through the gen-
erous contributions of our
wheat industry that the foun-
dation has a healthy base of
resources to support the next
generation through these
scholarships,” said Dale
Case, OWF board chairman.
Students were evaluated
based on academic record,
leadership, community ser-
vice and submitted essays.
“The achievements of
all the students submitting
an application to the Foun-
dation reﬂ ects a very bright
future for our industry,” said
Amanda Hoey, CEO of the
Oregon Wheat Growers
League.
as treasurer.
Interact Clubs are high
school service clubs spon-
sored by local Rotary Clubs.
Both clubs collaborated this
year in a service project trip to
Baja California, where they
assisted with health checks
of local students, brought
groceries to a rural village,
toured an ill-equipped med-
ical clinic and learned about
the ecosystem of Mexico’s
biggest coral reef.
ning, prompting the closure
for the ﬁ rst time because of
snow.
“In my 45 years, I have
not had a Memorial Week-
end like this,” he said. “We
have had snow before, but
nothing like that.”
The tramway, which will
reopen May 31, opened for
the season two weeks ago
and will run every day until
Oct. 2. The tramway goes
from the bottom terminal
at 4,450 feet to the top of
Mount Howard at 8,150 feet
in less than 15 minutes.
Rotary Interact
Clubs get new
oﬃ cers
WALLOWA COUNTY
— Libby Fisher and Lauren
McBurney have been elected
presidents of their respective
Rotary-sponsored Interact
Clubs for the 2022-23 school
year, according to a press
release.
Fisher, who will be a
senior in the fall, was vice
president of the Wallowa
High School Interact Club
this year and assumed leader-
ship last fall when the presi-
dent stepped down.
McBurney, who will be a
freshman in the fall, is vice
president at Joseph Charter
School.
Other incoming oﬃ cers
at Wallowa include Emma
Durning as vice president
and secretary, and Kellan
Knifong and Cecilia April as
co-treasurers.
Incoming oﬃ cers at JCS
are Camdyn Weer as vice
president, Mary Hellinger as
secretary and Livia DeMelo
Light agenda
awaits
commissioners
ENTERPRISE — A light
agenda awaits the Wallowa
County Board of Commis-
sioners as they prepare for
their Wednesday, June 1
meeting.
The meeting begins at
9 a.m. at the courthouse.
The agenda includes a
request by Scott Siebe for an
easement to extend a culvert
on Reavis Lane near Enter-
prise, the approval of a ser-
vices agreement with Paige
Sully as county counsel and
the modiﬁ cation of a grant
agreement for a change in
funding from the USDA For-
est Service.
The meeting can be
attended in person, by
phone or by Zoom at
https://us02web.zoom.
u s / j / 8 11 5 9 4 4 3 4 8 1 ? p -
wd=Z05CTVNaVGFmR-
3B6Um1oZDIrMEZKZz09.
The meeting ID is 811 5944
3481 and the passcode is
991546.
Snow forces
closure of tramway
JOSEPH — A rare snow-
storm dropped more than
two feet of snow over two
days that forced the closure
of the Wallowa Lake Tram-
way on Sunday and Monday.
Tramway
president
Mike Lockhart said about
18 inches fell during the
day Sunday with another
foot falling over the eve-
Pioneer demonstrations and
activities are featured during
Flora School Days in 2019.
The school moved the cele-
bration online the past two
years due to the COVID-19
pandemic, but this year it’s
“Back in the Saddle Again.”
blacksmith contest. The
tools will be auctioned oﬀ
at the end of the day along
with presentation of win-
ners. Dick Phillips, a Walla
Walla, Washington, black-
smith from days gone by,
will judge this year’s com-
petition. All metals are pro-
vided. For more informa-
tion, call or text Nathan
Thompson at 509-876-7812.
The event is part of
an ongoing eﬀ ort to raise
money to restore the school
building to its 1915 glory.
For more information,
refer to Flora School’s web-
site www.ﬂ oraschool.org,
Facebook page, Instagram,
YouTube channel, email
ﬂ oraschool@tds.net or call
541-828-7010.
This week’s featured book
River of
the Gods
by Candice Millard
Drowning death
ruled a suicide
WALLOWA LAKE —
The death of an Enterprise
man found April 15 has been
ruled a suicide, according
to an email from Wallowa
County Sheriﬀ Joel Fish.
Fish
said
Tuesday,
May 31, that no foul play
is suspected in the drown-
ing death of Devin Nelson
Woempner-Velarde, found
in his car submerged in Wal-
lowa Lake at Wallowa Lake
State Park oﬀ the boat ramp,
the sheriﬀ ’s oﬃ ce reported.
Fish said April 19 it appears
Woempner-Velarde drove
oﬀ the ramp, and likely
before April 15.
“The ignition was on and
the car was in drive,” Fish
said at the time. “It looks
like he drove oﬀ .”
The sheriﬀ added that
the cause of death, “appears
to be drowning,” but he
was awaiting a determina-
tion from the state Medical
Examiner’s Oﬃ ce. Fish said
May 31 that the determina-
tion was suicide.
— Chieftain staﬀ
Wallowa County Chieftain/
File Photo
107 E. Main St. Enterprise OR
541-426-3351
manager@bookloft.org • bookloft.org
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Adult
Dances
Friday &
Saturday
FLORA — The historic
Flora School is “Back in
the Saddle Again” this year,
after taking time oﬀ for the
COVID-19 pandemic. The
school will be open for its
traditional School Days
from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sat-
urday, June 4.
Visitors are urged to
come, see, learn and live
in the past including dress-
ing in an “Old West” style,
according to a press release.
Part of living in the past
begins early, as the forge
will be ﬁ red up and ready
for the third-annual black-
smith contest at 8 a.m.
Demonstrations of pio-
neer skills generally start at
10 a.m. and continue until
3 or 4 p.m. Some skills and
activities scheduled include
grafting heirloom apple
trees, story time, town tours
with draft mules, cleaning
cast iron after lunch and
sewing bean bags to name
a few.
One of the highlights
of the day is the Camp
Chili Cookoﬀ . Contestants
should be signed up, pay a
$5 fee and be ready to cook
at 11 a.m. They must be
done by 2 p.m. For $1, vis-
itors taste-test each chili
in order to decide the win-
ner of the contest. Contes-
tants may only have the
beans cooked prior to the
start. For more information
about the cookoﬀ , call or
text Shannon Wiedeman at
541-263-0132.
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June 6 - 12, 2022
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Ed Miller Xtreme Bull Riding
Thursday, June 9, 2022 @ 6:30 pm
PRCA Rodeo & Horse Racing
Friday, June 10, 2022 @ 4 pm
Saturday, June 11, 2022 @ 2 pm
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4-H Horse Show - Mon & Tue, June 6th & 7th
4-H & FFA Livestock Show - Thu & Fri, June 9th & 10th
Market Animal Auction - Saturday, June 11th @ 8am
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Horsemanship - Sunday, June 5th @ 2pm
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