Wallowa moving ahead on fire hall structure

A legal advertisement for a request for proposals (RFP) for the city of Wallowa’s emergency services building is included in this issue of the Chieftain. The ad is for a design/build contract.

Copies of the RFP packet put together by Anderson Perry & Associates engineer Troy Baker and members of the Wallowa city council may be obtained after Oct. 18 at a non-refundable price of $50 per set.

The RFPs must be returned to the city no later than 4 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 22.

Wallowa has been working to build an emergency services building or a fire hall for several years. Mayor Marge Sarmento says in the ideal world that the bid would be let and the concrete foundation poured this fall, but anticipates that actual work will begin in the spring.

Enterprise students given chance to experience Japanese culture

Japanese adult exchange student Mie Sasaki will always remember her introduction to Wallowa County. On Saturday she arrives in Lewiston from Japan and will be ushered into Wallowa County via Rattlesnake Grade and Buford Grade, two of the more treacherous paved stretches of highway around.

Sasaki will spend the next six months working in the Enterprise school as part of the International Internship Program. She will work with both grade school and high school students to share her culture and language.

According to Debbie Short, who along with husband Charles and 14-year-old daughter Angie will be hosting the Japanese woman who is in her 40s, part of Sasaki’s mission is to be at the school whenever it is open doing whatever her principals ask her to do.

Dates change for bridge closure, detour near Elgin

Beginning next Monday (Oct. 21) ODOT will be closing the Indian Creek Bridge between Monday am and Thursday am. The bridge is located 2 miles south of Elgin on the Wallowa Lake Highway (OR 82) and is being repaired to prevent cracks in the structure from growing. The closure times are a change from an earlier schedule that had the bridge closed from Tuesday to Friday mornings.

Motorists will be required to detour through Summerville between Elgin and Imbler during the revised three-days-a-week bridge closure schedule. For the week of October 14-20, the bridge will remain open to traffic (no detour); however flaggers may restrict travel over the structure to one lane.

The three-days-a-week bridge closure and detour are needed to facilitate bridge repair work. The scheduled closures are expected to continue for an additional three weeks. During non-closure times the bridge may be limited to single lane travel and motorists should expect delays. Flaggers will be directing traffic through the area 24-hours-a-day between Thursday and Saturday mornings.

Travelers are reminded to allow for extra travel time and drive with caution through the work area and on the detour route.

Downtown Association targets Enterprise building

About 30 people were in Toma’s Restaurant early Tuesday morning to meet with six members of the Oregon Downtown Development Association’s resource team which is in Enterprise to provide $15,000 worth of consulting services to the community. A seventh member of the resource team, business recruitment and asset mapping specialist Mary Bosch, joined the group Wednesday.

Following an introduction by Enterprise Hometown Improvement Group director Wendy Hansen, ODDA spokesperson Vicki Dogger facilitated the meeeting, writing many responses to community oriented questions on an easel. A lively interchange followed, allowing the resource team to get a quick study on many facets of the city of Enterprise.

The resource team is expected to utilize the gathered information to better study the Slinker building in downtown Enterprise which now holds The Uncommon Thread and Family Video. That study is expected to become a template for improvements on other buildings in the city.

The resource team is scheduled to be in Enterprise three days. A second public meeting to hear their preliminary findings will be held tonight, Thursday, at 7 p.m. in the Enterprise city council chambers. A complete written report will be forwarded to the city within the next month.

Bear poses threat

Deer hunter Michael S. Stewart of Canby shot and killed a black bear that he said was an imminent threat to his health and safety. Hunting near Ice Lake in the Eagle Cap Wilderness, Stewart reportedly came upon a black bear with two small cubs at a distance of 75 yards. When the mother bear had left the cubs and closed to within 25 yards Stewart shot the bear in the chest with his hunting rifle.

The incident happened Oct. 1 and was reported to the Oregon State Police the following day. Stewart had a Minam Unit buck tag, but no bear tag.

No action was taken against the Canby man, but he was not allowed to keep any portion of the bear. OSP Trooper Mark Knapp said the meat was spoiled before it was brought out of the wilderness.