LOCAL
Wallowa.com
Wednesday, September 7, 2022
Sharing the proceeds of the shine
A3
Fire crews begin
fi ghting Jones Fire
Wallowa County Chieftain
JOSEPH — Initial
attack resources responded
Monday, Sept. 5, to the
Jones Fire burning in the
Jones Creek area 42 miles
northeast of Joseph on the
east side of Hells Canyon.
The Wallowa-Whitman
National Forest said in a
press release that initial
attack resources included
helicopters dropping water
and air tankers depositing
retardant in the surround-
ing area.
The release said the fi re
is approximately 2,000
acres and is burning pri-
marily in grass. The Hel-
ena Interagency Hotshot
Crew and Eagle Cap Fire
Use Module are fi ghting
the fi re, but the area is rug-
ged and diffi cult to access.
A contract dozer is prep-
ping a fi re line to support
backburn activities late
on Sept. 6.
VISIT US
ON THE
WEB
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Wallowa.com
Bob Rush of the Enterprise Elks Lodge on Monday, Aug. 29, 2022, delivers a check for $1,174 to Community Connection of
Wallowa County, part of the proceeds from the Aug. 19-20 Enterprise Show and Shine. From left are Tammy Odegaard of
Community Connection; Rush; Danielle Brockamp, manager of Community Connection; and volunteer Cathryn Paterson.
Joseph restaurants help feed fi refi ghters
Embers, Cheyenne
called upon to
make meals
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
JOSEPH — Two local
restaurants took it upon
themselves to help bat-
tle the wildfi res in Wallowa
County, but not on the fi re
line — by feeding some 300
fi refi ghters.
Teresa Sajonia, owner
of Embers Brew House
and Pub, fed the fi refi ght-
ers a tri-tip dinner “with all
the fi xings” Thursday, Sept.
1, and sack lunches Sept. 2,
with sandwiches, chips, nuts
and “everything the Forest
Service requires” for their
crews.
“There’s good stuff going
out to them,” she said.
The Cheyenne Cafe pro-
vided breakfast, said owner
Kara Meyers, who was
heading for bed when inter-
viewed Sept. 1, “since I have
to get up at midnight” to pre-
pare the meal that was ready
by 5 a.m.
On Meyers’ menu was to
be bacon, eggs, pancakes,
and biscuits and gravy, she
said. She even had to go to
local grocery stores to obtain
suffi cient paper plates and
plastic utensils.
When talked to after the
fact Sept. 5, Meyers said a
catering truck arrived Sept.
2 to serve dinner to the fi re-
fi ghters at their fi re camp
at the Chief Joseph Days
Rodeo Grounds, relieving
both restaurants of the need
for a further herculean eff ort.
“We got it done. It was
interesting but it was deli-
cious,” Meyers said Sept. 5.
“They were very happy. It
went great.”
Sajonia and Meyers each
had three employees helping
out.
They both said they’ve
done this chore in the past.
“I’m very happy to be able
to help,” Meyers said, adding
that she’s served fi refi ghters
for about 15 years. “When
they called, I thought, ‘How
am I going to be able to do
this? But we’ll fi gure it out.’”
Sajonia, too, has done this
before.
“I’ve done fi re meals for
well over 30 years,” she said.
But Meyers said the job
nearly wiped out her inven-
tory. She said her supplier
was sending an extra truck
from Boise that she would
meet in Elgin to replenish her
depleted stock.
“When it’s this fast, we
just do the very best we can,”
Meyers said. “We follow all
the guidelines.”
Tom O’Conner, who
alerted the Chieftain to Mey-
ers’ and Sajonia’s eff orts,
said he thinks they pitched
in more as a service than to
make a profi t.
“I think it’s great,” he
said. “(They are) doing it
more to help the fi refi ghters
than anything else.”
While she was glad to
help, Meyers said she wasn’t
giving the meals away.
“I defi nitely made what
I would’ve made if they
came in and sat down and
ate,” though maybe a little
less because of the “to-go”
orders, she said.
She said feeding the fi re-
fi ghters has had an added
benefi t of attracting business.
“They’re very nice peo-
ple, kind, and a lot of them
have been coming back for
breakfast or lunch on their
own,” she said. “I do it
whenever I can. Whenever
they call, I do it.”
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TAD
ELLYSE TING lst E ad LS
was named
ge
of Idaho’s Ellyse Tin
n’s
No. 7-ranked College te Conference’s WVT Laboratory Wome
from
gia
the Cascade Colle er of the Week, for her performance fifth
Cross Country Runn lstad, a junior from Joseph, finished of 18
ge
e
Aug. 29-Sept. 4. Tin ld loaded with NCAA talent with a tim sted by
overall in a fie at the Sagebrush Invitational, ho sec-
s
minutes, 17 second in Logan, Utah. Tingelstad shaved 50 lstad
ty
Utah State Universi the same course from last year. Tinge
she
onds off her time on graduate of Joseph High School, wh d ere track.
an
try
is a 2020
un
co
ss
competed in both cro
udly
Pro sore
y
on
Sp
db
OF
THE
JOSEPH — The Joseph
City Council agreed in a
unanimous vote Thursday,
Sept. 1, to stop pursuing the
proposed “land swap” in the
city’s urban growth boundary.
City Manager Dan Lar-
man said the council dis-
cussed it a little and then held
the vote.
The urban growth bound-
ary has become a subject
of debate as various prop-
erty owners have expressed a
desire to develop land within
or just outside the urban
growth boundary or city
limits.
In the most recent case,
the city intended to swap
69.9 acres of the Iwetemlay-
kin State Heritage Site cur-
rently zoned for residen-
tial use and within the urban
growth boundary for 73.4
acres nearby on the city’s
southwest side. Since state
law governing urban growth
boundaries require land to be
available for residential use,
the land in Iwetemlaykin can-
not be used for residential, as
it has become part of a state
park.
When
public
hear-
ings were held on the issue,
numerous people spoke
against the swap. Also, the
council expressed the need
for a planning commission
to help with such issues. The
city, as yet, has no planning
commission.
The council, which has
approved two of the fi ve
needed members to the com-
mission, agreed to consider
three more and an applicant
for a vacant council seat on
its October agenda, Larman
said.
In another matter, the
council agreed to set the
rate for system development
charges at $10,000, which
Larman said is “way lower”
than average for comparable
cities.
SDCs are charges that a
city or county may assess
to cover the “true cost” of
development and include
costs to existing and addi-
tional water, sewer, trans-
portation and park services.
Wallowa County
Summer
is Here!
Joseph City Council
ends ‘land swap’ plan
Wallowa County Chieftain
SUMMER HOURS
10 AM - 8 PM WED, THURS, SUN
10 AM - 9 PM FRI AND SAT • 541 569 2285
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