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138th Year, No. 13
Wednesday, August 10, 2022
WALLOWA.COM
WALLOWA COUNTY FAIR
‘Some of everything’
Eric
Wright
Enterprise
Jackpot propels
man to county
ENTERPRISE — Eric Wright won
the jackpot to propel him to Wal-
lowa County.
He’s lived here nine years, having
moved from San Diego, after which
he went to the University of Phoenix
(Arizona.)
“After I graduated, I went to the
casino and I won $18,000 and that’s
what brought me up here,” he said.
“I came up here to visit my mom …
and I fell in love with the place —
‘this is heaven to us; don’t drive like
hell through it’ and I fell in love and
moved up here.”
He considers himself a bit of a
retiree, but works at the Little Store
in Enterprise.
The fi shing here is one of his
favorite things about Wallowa
County and wants to keep it for
locals.
“We don’t appreciate people
coming here and overindulging
our fi ve-fi sh limit,” he said. “Please
respect our heritage here. No. 1, we
have to remember Chief Joseph and
the Nez Perce, which is a big part of
our community. … A lot of people
here are good, wholesome people.
We go out of our way to help each
other.”
His activities this summer will
likely revolve around work, which
will keep him away from the Wal-
lowa County Fair as it did Chief
Joseph Days. He did go to CJD on
Veterans Night.
“I met a lot of wonderful people
who spend thousands of dollars to
come here for a week — and we live
here,” he said.
As for the food vendors at CJD,
he speaks highly of the local brew-
eries and delicatessens. Since the
Oregon Department of Forestry
increased restrictions because of fi re
season Aug. 1, Wright’s main con-
cern is nonlocals coming here.
“I worry about tourists coming
here and not knowing the fi re regu-
lations,” he said. “If you go up to Salt
Creek Summit and there’s a wind
like today and you want to have a
fi re, please observe our rules and
regulations.”
When it comes to people inter-
ested in moving to Wallowa County,
Wright advises them to beware of
the limited housing to rent or to buy.
“Be sure you do your homework
before you come,” he said.
— Bill Bradshaw,
Wallowa County Chieftain
Longtime
fair exhibitor
encourages
others to exhibit
Dog, handler go
home with ribbons
from Wallowa
County Fair
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
By ANN BLOOM
For the Wallowa County Chieftain
E
NTERPRISE
—
Barbara
Warnock
has a lot of memo-
ries from the Wal-
lowa County Fair.
After all, the Wal-
lowa County native
has been entering her quilts, jam,
jellies and pickles in the fair for “a
long time.”
One of Warnock’s most memo-
rable memories of exhibiting was
the time she and her granddaugh-
ter, Bo Dean, both received the
Homemaker of the Fair Award.
Dean won the Junior Homemaker
of the Fair and Warnock won the
adult honor. Dean was 13 years
old at the time and she is 31 years
old now.
“It’s not many times a grand-
mother and a granddaughter get
to do it together,” Warnock said.
“That was fun.”
To be eligible for the Home-
maker of the Fair Award, a partic-
ipant must enter something in all
open class divisions of the fair —
fl oriculture, baked goods, cloth-
ing and/or textiles and food pres-
ervation. A person is eligible to
compete for the award once every
fi ve years. It comes with a $50
cash prize.
Born in Flora, Warnock and
her family then moved to Wal-
lowa. From there they moved
to Hermiston, where she gradu-
ated high school. She married her
See Exhibitor, Page A7
‘Fun while
it lasted’
Ann Bloom/For the Wallowa County Chieftain
Barb Warnock holds a jar of her fi rst-place dill pickles in the Cloverleaf
Hall at the Wallowa County Fair on Monday, Aug. 8, 2022. The Imnaha
resident has been entering exhibits at the annual fair for many years.
ENTERPRISE — For her fi nal
year in 4-H, Carrin Yaw put her dog,
Cookie, through his paces at the 4-H
Dog Show at the Wallowa County
Fair.
“My mom thought I should do
dog this year,” she said.
This is actually her second year
in the Dog Show with 3-year-old
Cookie, a Dutch shepherd, which is
not unlike the more-common Ger-
man shepherd.
According to a-z-animals.com,
German shepherds are one of the
most common and well-recognized
dogs in the U.S. Although similar but
a bit smaller, Dutch shepherds are
rare in the U.S. and are mostly bred
in the Netherlands. These breeds are
similar in body shape, temperament
and trainability. Both bred for herd-
ing, they’re brilliant, loyal dogs that
can take on a range of jobs — but
they must have something to occupy
their minds and bodies.
A dog show can be just the ticket
for a dog like Cookie.
“They’re a high-drive dog,” Yaw
said.
And unlike livestock that get sold
for slaughter at the end of a county
fair, Cookie just reclaimed his place
as the family pet.
Yaw said Cookie did pretty well
in Saturday’s Dog Show, although
the pair didn’t come out on top.
She said he did “really good” in
obedience
“It’s just something we do all the
time,” she said. “It’s how we train.”
See Dogs, Page A7
Some object to politics at rodeo
Letter says remarks
made it a ‘Trump rally’
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
JOSEPH — Politically charged
banter coming from the announc-
er’s booth and the rodeo clown at the
Chief Joseph Days Rodeo has stirred
up objections from some in the audi-
ence, even to the point of decisions
to not return to CJD.
One letter to the editor in today’s
Chieftain suggested the announcer
keep his political views to himself.
“It’s a rodeo, not a Trump rally,
pardner,” David Olmos of Portland
wrote.
He was one who said he wouldn’t
return “until you get back in the sad-
dle of showing respect to all of your
patrons.”
Mike Mercer of Joseph wrote
in the Aug. 3 Chieftain that “the
announcer, Jody Carper, needs to
leave his continued cheap political
shots out of the event. He seems to
be playing to a TV audience in order
to improve ratings, rather than lifting
up what makes the rodeo and this
community special.”
Another Joseph resident, Eric
Pippert, wrote in an open letter to
the CJD board for this week’s paper,
“This wasn’t my fi rst rodeo, but
I promise you it is my last of your
rodeo I’ll attend,” adding that he’d
heard similar complaints about “Jin-
goistic, dog whistle political com-
mentary, with a sprinkling of misog-
ynistic and racial tropes by the
announcer and rodeo ‘clown.’ ”
Board President Terry Jones said
Wallowa County Chieftain/File Photo
A Tuckerette brings the American fl ag into the Harley Tucker Memorial
Arena during the fi nal night of the Chief Joseph Days Rodeo on Saturday,
July 30, 2022. Some who attended objected to the political banter between
rodeo announcer Jody Carper and clown/barrel man John Harrison.
he understood how some rodeo fans
might object, but hopes to eliminate
concerns fans may have.
“I’ll visit with our announcer,”
Jones said Aug. 4. “We’ll deal with it.
It’s OK for some people to say politi-
cal things and it’s not OK for others.”
Clown and barrel man John Har-
rison defended his statements.
“We are in the entertainment busi-
ness. Just like not all movies, come-
dians, singers, music genres appeal
to all people we may not appeal to
all,” he said. “The autograph lines,
handshakes, comments of how
much people enjoyed the show
far outweigh the negative, but that
wouldn’t make a sensational news
story, would it?”
Carper, who bills himself as the
“patriotic announcer,” was unapol-
ogetic in his response to critics. He
said he’s been criticized in print twice
in the 31 years he’s been announc-
ing, both times in the Chieftain.
“I like to put a little humor with
my announcing and choose to make
fun of some of the things that are
happening in our country,” he said in
an Aug. 5 email. “I understand that
some of the people in this world can-
not take a joke and they want every
event or concert to only say what
they believe. I don’t think every
comedian is hilarious and I don’t
like the food at every restaurant. But
I don’t waste my time complaining
about it or trying to cancel someone.
But that is the beauty of our coun-
try. Everyone has freedom of speech.
It is enshrined in the First Amend-
ment of the Constitution. It’s called
an opinion. And thank God we can
have an opinion in the United States
of America, because there are a lot
of countries that don’t allow you that
privilege. I will continue to stand up
for the red, white and blue, our mil-
itary, fi rst-responders and the great-
est country in the world, the United
States of America. Sorry if it off ends
you and have a great day.”
Jones was a bit philosophical
about the controversy and eager to
see the event not be controversial.
“It goes on every time someone
opens their mouth,” Jones said. “I
try my best to put on a good show
for everybody.”