Dueling demonstrations air views on border move

Published 7:00 am Friday, May 12, 2023

ENTERPRISE — Dueling demonstrations Friday, May 12, over moving Oregon’s border gave proponents and opponents a chance to air their views and be seen before Election Day.

Nearly 50 people rallied in support of Ballot Measure 32-007 in front of the Wallowa County Courthouse, said Sharon Wilson of Joseph, one of the demonstrators. The 5 p.m. rally lasted less than an hour.

The measure on the May 16 ballot, if approved, would require the Board of Commissioners to twice a year discuss the county’s interests in relocating Idaho borders to include Wallowa County.

Across town at the Enterprise City Park, a counterdemonstration took place around the same time, drawing a dozen or so opponents of the measure and lasting a little longer.

At the courthouse, with the heavy traffic on River Street, numerous vehicles honked and waved at the demonstrators. A Wallowa County Sheriff’s Office vehicle cruised by several times, but took no action.

In addition to the demonstrators with their opinions, some people just were on hand to get out the vote. Annette Lathrop, of the Wallowa County Republican Party, was at the courthouse but stood away from the ballot measure supporters with a sign encouraging people to vote.

The demonstrations even drew the attention of the global media. Reporters and cameramen from Agence France-Presse, a French news outlet, were on the scene to get a glimpse of life in America, they said.

Robin, a photographer who declined to be further identified, said her agency is interested in what’s going on in America and sees the movement to change the state borders as a fascinating story.

“It’s representative of something that’s going on in America,” she said.

Move the borderProponents of moving the state line have been vocal in the past couple of years. A measure similar to the one that will be on Tuesday’s ballot failed by a slim margin in 2020. That measure would have required the county commissioners to meet three times a year to consider moving the border. This measure requires meetings in February and August.

Wilson said she wants to see the county become part of Idaho because she doesn’t feel Democrat-dominated Salem represents her.

“I want my vote to count,” she said. “We have a difference of opinion with the west side and it seems like our opinion is never counted or listened to.”

Standing nearby, David Mayer agreed with Wilson.

“It’s easy to see with what’s happening in Salem,” said one man who declined to be identified. “Take a look at the gun bill and what they’re doing, it’s horrible.”

Wallowa City Councilor Paul Doherty was in Enterprise for the rally and expressed his thoughts.

“We possibly would get more representation if we were governed from Boise as opposed to Salem,” he said. “We have no representation coming out of Salem.”

One of the big issues for the city of Wallowa is its recovery from last summer’s hailstorm. But Doherty thinks the border move is more important than that.

“I think the issues are much greater than Wallowa’s recovery right now,” he said.

Another supporter of the measure said he has sent numerous letters to the Chieftain expressing his views.

“One that really pissed me off is Measure 114,” said Steve Culley of La Grande of the gun-control initiatives voters narrowly approved — portions of which have been picked up by the Legislature after court challenges stalled implementation of the measure. “I’m a combat vet from Vietnam. I do not need any instruction on how to fire a weapon.”

Say No to IdahoWhile the gathering at the City Park wasn’t as large as the one at the courthouse, it was every bit as enthusiastic.

Megan Bowen of Joseph was critical of the courthouse rally, saying they were violating election laws by electioneering at a polling place.

“The law’s the law,” she said.

But the courthouse rally took place more than 100 feet from the courthouse doors, as required, and didn’t begin until 5 p.m. when the courthouse closed.

Those listening to Bowen also expressed their opinions.

“Why would I want to move to Idaho? It’s kind of dangerous in Idaho if you’re a woman of childbearing age,” said Devon Maxwell of Enterprise. “It’s dangerous for a place where the health care providers are going to be running for the hills.”

Dani and AJ Savage, a lesbian couple who feel at home in Oregon, had their own reasons for not wanting to live in Idaho.

“We moved from Colorado right after the pandemic and we were trying to see which states would align with our views and who we are as far as LGBT,” Dani said. “The state of Idaho has a lot of ant-LGBT laws and rhetoric. It doesn’t make us feel safe.”

Bob Webb of Hurricane Creek was thinking more in terms of taxes.

“I didn’t move all the way from West Virginia to Oregon to end up in Idaho,” he said.

He cited the 6% sales tax both Idaho and West Virginia have, as well as the income tax they both have.

“That means that poor people are spending a much larger percentage of what they have than rich people,” he said.

He also thought about the difficulty in actually making the border move happen.

“You’d have to resurvey to verify property lines and who owns what,” he said. “I just think that it’s so complicated that by the time serious people consider it and the legislation involved they’re going to say we can’t do this.”

This issue of the Chieftain went to press at about 2 p.m. Tuesday, before we knew the results of the vote on Ballot Measure 32-007. But we wanted to run this story in the print edition, in part because it seems unlikely that the results of Tuesday’s vote will be the last word on the Greater Idaho movement. For updated election information go to our website, wallowa.com.