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The Wheeler County Court held its regular session meeting on August 21 at the Jeannie Birch Building in Fossil. The court approved the hiring of Brandy Hornbrook for the Victim of Crime Advocate (VOCA) position. The Victim of Crime Advocate supports victims through the criminal justice system. They assist victims of all age ranges, including victims of child abuse, stalking, elder abuse, sexual assault, domestic violence, and even homicide. Carol MacInnis has held that...
Last week, Dear Reader, I introduced you to a joint project between the Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library and the University of Delaware: the Poison Book Project. Winterthur officials such Rosie Grayburn and Melissa Tedone were led to flag 19th-century books for traces of dangerous chemicals and poisons in the pigments used to dye the bookcloths. They found dangerous levels of arsenic in at least 100 examples of books bound in “Paris Emerald Green,” and other rare boo...
As we work towards managing the valuable resource of water, the Oregon Water Resources Department (OWRD) may be working in your area and/or on your property. OWRD is the state agency that monitors and regulates legal water use. Under Oregon law, all water belongs to the public and in general landowners with water flowing past, through, or under their property do not automatically have the right to use that water without authorization from the Department. This authorization is...
You may think I’ve gone off the rails when you read this, but I hope that you will find this amusing and helpful, too. I’m veering off from the topic of food and writing about cleaning instead. Oh how I love to clean! My friend once said “Isabel, your idea of going on spring vacation is to find something yucky to clean that has dirty corners”. My son used to say “Mom, you are on continuous cleaning cycle”. Years later, I still laugh at that. It’s true though! I was quite sur...
"Harvesting 115 Years of Memories at the Sherman County Fair" was the theme for the 2024 Sherman County Fair, with Sherman County Educators as Grand Marshalls and Queen Addison Smith. Sherman County 4-H and FFA members entered a variety of competitions, with Grand Champion and Reserve Grand Champion winners listed below: 4-H RECORD BOOKS: Grand Champion Record Book: Emma Goodenough Reserve Grand Champion: Leah Goodenough PHOTOGRAPHY: Jacob Lanthorn FOOD PREPARATION: Grand...
MITCHELL, OR - The Painted Hills Festival is honored to have Jim & Betty Woodward lead our parade on August 31st in Mitchell this year. They both come with histories and great stories that go way back in the area. Jim was born in Prineville to Bob & Jane (Humphrey) Woodward both longtime Wheeler County residents. Jim holds the framed invoice from the hospital where he was a costly baby at the time for $90! On his mother's side, her parents had homesteaded in the Richmond/Waldr...
Oregon State University's Extension Service in Gilliam County has welcomed a new addition: Skyler Palmer, who was hired as the new Agriculture Outreach Coordinator earlier this summer. But Palmer is not a newcomer to the area. Skyler, who grew up between Condon and Heppner near Hardman, was raised on a cattle ranch and wheat farm. He worked with his dad and learned about agriculture. After graduating from Heppner High School, Skyler moved to Idaho and received a bachelor's deg...
Like a lot of graduate students in the 1980s and 1990s, myself included, Sarah Mentock haunted yard sales and garage sales in hope of finding a signed Magna Carta or a Catcher in the Rye—okay, even a signed Updike. She told Washington Post reporter Ashley Stimpson for a July 24, 2024 story published on-line that, when she spotted at one such sale a copy of a 14th-century Scottish epic poem, “The Lord of the Isles,” an exemplar that was bound handsomely in multi-color cloth...
By Cora Munkers, 4-H Student Reporter The Wingin’ It Poultry 4-H Club met August 12, 2024 at the Gilliam County Fairgrounds. Some members were able to come early to help paint the poultry and rabbit exhibit tables as part of our Community Service for the year. The tables look nice and are ready for Fair. Leader Aubrey Gibson then talked to us about Fair Clean Up Day on August, 25th and the schedule for Fair. Barns will be open at 5:30. Pens are expected to be cleaned by 6...
Last week I wrote about Tina Adam’s champion award-winning cake. I was the lucky recipient of this perfect cake and two weeks later, visions of Champion Cake still dance in my head. You too can make this delicious cake because sweet Tina shared the recipe with us. I just hope that when I make this cake, mine will be as delicious as hers. Tina puts some kind of wonderful magic into her baked goods. How else could she win champion awards, for four years in a row now? Maybe if I...
Days of Yore for August 22, 2024 10 years ago— The Fossil Volunteer Fire Department recently received the gift of a vehicle to be used for an Emergency Response Unit. Columbia Basin Electric Cooperative had retired a 2005 one-ton vehicle, and did not receive adequate bids, so decided to donate the unit. Fossil answered the call immediately and was awarded the vehicle. The rig will be converted to an Emergency Response Unit. 25 years ago— Sally Motley has recently made the leap...
Days of Yore for August 15, 2024 10 years ago— Past grand marshals of the Wheeler County Fair, which celebrated its 100th anniversary, rode on a trailer of hay bales in the Fair parade. Waving to the crowds were: Frank and Melba Cecil, 1995; Roy and Ernestine Critchlow, 2012; Sherla Collins, 1999; Lee and Patsy Hoover, 2006; Joe Fitzgerald, 2007; Margaret Keys, 1998. 25 years ago— Marilyn Chase sends a newspaper article from Klamath Falls that tells of a former Spray and May...
This year was the 5th A Town Throw Down Basketball Tournament. It started in 2019 (no tournament in 2020 due to Covid-19). This year we had a total of 13 Teams. 3 Middle School, 6 High School, and 4 Adult teams. Results: Middle School Division (10-13yo) 1st place was the girls team from Echo, Echo Storm. These girls won $150, champion T-shirts, and etched champion hydro flasks. 2nd Place was the boys team, Shake N' Fake, from Condon. They won $100. 3rd place was the Coed team from Arlington, Yoda Best, they won $50. 3 point...
Salvador Dali was one weird-ass dude. Can I say that? He was! But so was his wife, Gala—I mean, she was weird, too. Born Elena Ivanovna Diakonova in 1894 (having passed away on 10 June 1982), she usually went by “Gala.” She became the wife of both the poet Paul Éluard and then eventually of the artist Salvador Dalí. She was muse to both of them and to a long list of heavy-hitters in early-mid 20th-century literature, art, and popular culture. Having endured a stint in a Swiss...
My favorite thing about the Wheeler county fair is the giant bake sale that occurs after the baked goods are judged. The fanciest bakery in the world couldn’t possibly compete with the entries at the Wheeler county fair. The cakes and decorated cakes, cupcakes, cookies, pies, yeast and quick breads, biscuits, rolls and cinnamon rolls and brownies all sparkled with love. We have some talented bakers here in the middle of nowhere! My first experience of the county’s giant bake s...
From superheroes to traveling around the world, OSU Sherman County Extension hosted local youth for two STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, math) day camps this summer. These camps were held using STEMfinity kits purchased in 2022 with grant funding from the Gorge STEM Hub and the Sherman County Cultural Coalitions. The "Science of Super Powers" camp was held July 15-19 for youth ages 6-9, with a focus on learning about super heroes and their powers, how those powers...
Days of Yore for August 8, 2024 10 years ago— On the first night of the 26,000 acre fire near Condon, the Sniption Fire, winds pushed the flames across the property of the Edwards place at the bottom of Crazy Fork, where the fire burned to the width of a bulldozer’s blade from the back door of Dude Edwards’ home. Dude and his daughters, Lorna, Terry and Heather and son-in-law Jack were evacuated for the evening. All left-handed people are invited in for a special treat at Murr...
PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT Rufus City Council Meeting Cancelled The August 15, 2024 Rufus City Council meeting has been cancelled. The agenda items including Land Use Action On a proposed RV Park have been rescheduled for the September 11, 2024 City Council Date. Please watch for a Public Notice for more information on the September Hearing.... Full story
Letter to the Editor: To the Editor and to all the wonderful, hard-working people who saved our home and ranch from the devastating Lone Rock Fire. Rockey and I are so grateful to ALL of you. Without you, we would have no home or ranch to return to. To our friends and neighbors and local firefighters, who were among the first to arrive and the last to leave. I would like to name everyone who was here to help us. I wasn't here, and I apologize if I have left out someone. Please forgive me, and tell me if I have when you see...
On Monday, I chatted with Theresa Byars and Betty McNeil of Fossil, Oregon. I thanked them for their kind invitation to attend the Sunday service and picnic lunch at the Global Methodist Church. The event was a special occasion to honor the presence of guest pastor Dave McCue who drove six hours from Colville, Washington to deliver a well-prepared and engaging sermon. I commented on how good the cooks are in Fossil and what a lovely addition the lunch was to the event. Betty...
A few years ago Dr. Matthew Green published London: a travel guide through time, a guide to travel guides in fact, in this case to London’s high-point architecture and its soft-underbelly of vice and depravity. I have a book in my inventory, Trivia: or, the art of walking the streets of London, published first in 1712, my copy having been published in 1716. It’s a book that was penned in various forms and editions by “Mr Gay,” Mr. John Gay (1682-1732), the author of several...
The Wheeler County Fair kicked off this week in Fossil and people near and far are turning out to celebrate. The fair began in 1914 and is now a hallmark of North Central Oregon. This year's them is Growing Generation to Generation. The 2024 Grand Marshal is Painted Hills Natural Beef. Now one of the most recognizable brands in Oregon, Painted Hills Natural Beef started in the mid-1990's in living rooms of area cattle ranchers who were concerned about their livelihood....
Once again, it's another hot and dry summer. With this heat, problems can arise within our gardens. We usually remember our lawns, vegetable patches, strawberries, and anything else that we care for. However, one thing often overlooked is our trees. Out of all our landscape plants, trees are probably the most valuable and expensive to replace. Drought stress over several years can lead to sudden tree loss. Careful considerations need to be made for our trees. When it comes to...
The Port of Arlington's A-Town Throwdown 3 on 3 basketball tournament and the Port of Arlington's Show 'N Shine Car Show was held last Saturday. It was a pinch yourself, I might be dreaming kind of day as temperatures hovered in the low 80s with an overcast sky. Both events had a smaller turnout than last year, but organizers were expecting as much due to the wildfires in the area. The A-Town Throw Down 3 on 3 Basketball Tournament was played on the basketball courts by the Po...
Wow, the fires were intense, weren’t they? They certainly forced many of us to consider what we would take given a moment’s notice and limited space. I guess I’m not the sentimental type because the first thing that came to mind was to grab my cookware. Being able to eat a warm, home-cooked meal at least once a day centers and settles me, no matter how chaotic the world around me gets. One evening during the fires, Randal and I sat on the porch to watch the constant procession...
