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WALLOWA COUNTY
CHIEFTAIN
www.wallowa.com Enterprise, Oregon November 19, 2009 $1
Tough time at
Sterling Bank
FDIC orders more
capital, lower risk
By Kathleen Ellyn
Wallowa County Chieftain
Elane Dickenson/Chieftain
Chief, a 24-year-old gelding, is the last of a cherished herd of black Clydesdales that made its home
in the valley beneath the Wallowa Mountains for over a quarter of a century.
He’s Wallowa County’s
last black Clydesdale
By Elane Dickenson
Wallowa County Chieftain
He’s the last black Clydesdale in Wallowa County.
Once one of the leaders in the team of beautiful,
black draft horses that pulled the Kooch Clydes wagon in
parades around the region, Chief now stands alone in his
pasture just outside Enterprise.
He was part of a herd of up to 30 Clydesdales owned
by Creighton and Cheryl Kooch that were among the most
photographed landmarks of Wallowa County for a quarter
century. After the death of Creighton at 66 in spring 2007,
the herd was gradually sold off to new owners throughout
the U.S. and beyond.
Chief and Cass (short for Casanova), two elderly geldings,
were all that were left. For years they had both
stepped proudly at the head of the Kooch team, but then
because of advanced age became “no use for anything but
Joseph entrepreneur
invents innovative
spring water collector
By Kathleen Ellyn
Wallowa County Chieftain
Last year, Rep. Greg
Smith invited Eric Gray of
Joseph to present his invention,
the stainless steel spring
water collector, at the Eastern
Oregon Entrepreneur Day this
spring at Eastern Oregon University.
Eleven counties were
involved in making presentations
that day, but Gray was
the only representative from
Wallowa County. Gray, who
began his full-service water
systems installation business
Aquarius Pump in 2003 with
business assistance from Wallowa
County Business Facilitator
Myron Kirkpatrick,
returned to Kirkpatrick for
help in making the new presentation.
“That event opened the
WALLOWA COUNTY
CHIEFTAIN
Serving Wallowa County since 1884
Volume 127 Issue No. 30
Contact Us:
541 426-4567
© 2009 East Oregonian Publishing Co.
Eric Gray shows
how easily his
water collector
can be transported,
unlike
concrete collectors.
door to getting my spring
water box listed in the U.S
government’s General Services
Administration Catalog,”
said Gray. “Rep. Smith
called and got me in touch
with the Oregon representative
for the catalog.”
With that listing, Gray’s
invention becomes visible to
hundreds of non-profits, the
Peace Corps, and other government
agencies. If listed,
Gray’s invention will remain
listed for 17 years.
A classified ad, advertising
his clean-spring water collector
will also appear in
Water Well Journal in
December. That trade journal
goes out to well drillers
nationally.
Now, Gray is looking for
investors to help him market
his invention to retail buyers
and homeowners across the
states, and he made a pitch
looking good under the mountains,” Cheryl Kooch said.
She said during his final illness Creighton had worried
about the fate of the two geldings, and they agreed that they
would continue to live in their Wallowa County pasture
home the rest of their lives.
Scores of Highway 82 motorists had admired them in
the past two-and-a-half years.
When Cass died suddenly at age 23 in September,
probably of a heart attack, Chief was left as the lone survivor
of generations of Wallowa County’s black Clydes.
“I just want everyone to know that he’s doing very
well,” Cheryl Kooch said. She said she is touched by all
the people who worry about the old gelding being lonely,
but called Chief “a loner horse who doesn’t particularly care
about the company of people or other horses.”
Kooch said that while Cass and Chief were good friends,
to potential investors at the
October Pub Talk. Gorge
Angel Investors Network
member Gary Rains was
there and has already contacted
Gray for more information.
Oregon Entrepreneurs
Network has also contacted
Gray and suggested he do
other Pub Talks presentation
in front of potential investors
in Bend and Hood River.
What makes Gray’s invention
such a popular commodity?
It’s a new take on an old
problem, a “green” solution
to providing fresh drinking
water to hundreds of thousands
of individuals who rely
on spring water for their
domestic use.
In fact, Gray said, there
are hundreds of folks right
here in Wallowa County who
rely upon spring water as their
household source — and
See CLYDESDALE, page A6
Kathleen Ellyn/Chieftain
many have been making do
with water collection systems
that are not providing them
safe water. When working for
residents Gray is typically
replacing wood structures.
“People are using just plywood,
boards, culverts, roofing
material — just a variety
of material,” he said. “The
object is to make sure no rainwater
or foreign substance
gets into the source water. On
some of these old boxes, if a
cow drops manure nearby,
you’re getting it in your water
supply.”
In addition to installing the
new box, Gray seals the surrounding
area with Bentonite
clay, places an impermeable
material above the collector to
divert surface water and
fences the surrounding area.
Gray has improved water
See SPRING WATER, page A8
Sterling Savings Bank’s local account holders have been
voicing concern to Enterprise bankers as the deadline approaches
for Sterling Financial Corp., the bank’s parent, to submit new
plans and prove that it is nearing solvency.
Sterling Financial received a “cease-and-desist” order from
state and federal regulators in October.
The Washington Department of Financial Institutions and
the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation required the company
to raise $300 million in new capital, develop a new strategy
to lower risk, maintain capital, reduce its commercial real
estate loans and cut off loans to delinquent borrowers — all
by Dec. 15.
Sterling, which reported $12.5 billion in assets this year, has
suffered significant losses in recent years, largely from real
estate loans gone bad. None, however, were risky subprime
loans, according to Ezra A. Eckhardt, Sterling’s new chief operating
officer. He and the balance of Sterling’s new management
team announced that those losses, while significant,
were not an indication of overall health and that the bank’s
financial progress in other areas continues.
Harold Gilky, 70, Sterling co-founder and former chairman,
corporate CEO and president, stepped down following the
order as did CEO and board chairwoman Heidi Stanley.
William Eisenhart is now chairman of the board, J. Gregory
Seibly acting president and acting CEO and Eckhardt COO of
the corporation and president of Sterling Savings Bank.
A cease-and-desist order is an example of the actions taken
to bring all financial institutions under new guidelines, Eckhardt
said, and was issued in response to the wholesale failure
of housing loans across the country, not a vote of “no con-
See STERLING, page A7
Kathleen Ellyn/Chieftain
A customer pauses at the drive-up window at Sterling
Savings Bank’s Enterprise branch.
Local schools
out in front in
$100K quest
By Kathleen Ellyn
Wallowa County Chieftain
Wallowa County schools,
represented by Enterprise
High School, are first out of
the gate and lead by several
lengths in the race to win
$100,000 in the U.S. Cellluar
“Calling All Communities”
contest.
The contest, held first in
2008, will award $100,000
each to the top 10 vote-getters
among schools across the
nation. Seventy-three individuals
visited the U.S. Cellular
dealership on Main
Street in Enterprise to cast
their votes online in the first
week of the 2009 contest,
putting Enterprisein first
place. Bremen High School
of Midlothian, Ill., is a distant
second with 46 votes.
“We’re the only school
west of the Mississippi in the
top 26,” said Wallowa County
U.S. Cellular dealer Sam
Summers.
This is where the county
was last year as well – breaking
out in the top 10 schools
early. But the county lost by
a nose at the finish, slipping
off the top 10 in the last
weeks of the race.
This year to keep the lead
all Wallowa County residents
will have to vote and get their
friends, relatives and grandparents
to vote.
It’s an easy process: visit
the U.S. Cellular store on
Main Street in Enterprise and
step up to one of the two computers
at the Education Station
that are ready to record
votes. Summers or one of his
staff will supply a voting code
card and assist with the process.
The online form will
require an email address
along with name and address.
However, last year’s participants
report that they did not
end up on any noxious mailing
lists and received only a
gift certificate from U.S. Cellular
as a result of providing
that information. “U. S. Cellular
will not sell your
address,” said Summers.
The important detail to
remember when voting is to
choose Enterprise High
School when asked to choose
See $100K, page A6

Page A6 November 19, 2009 www.wallowa.com Wallowa County Chieftain
Clydesdale
From page A1
GUN - ANTIQUE - CRAFT
SHOW
400 Tables
November 21st & 22nd
Nez Perce County
Fairgrounds
1229 Burrell Lewiston,
Idaho
Sat. 9-6 Sun. 9-4
Ad. $6.00
Church Directory
Baha’i Faith
D EVOTIONS :
INTERFAITH PRAYERS AND
MEDITATIONS . ALL ARE WELCOME
7:30 P .M. THURSDAYS
EVENINGS IN JOSEPH
PLEASE CALL 432-2431
WWW .BAHAI.ORG
Enterprise
Community Church
Church Services 11 a.m.
Sunday School • 11:15 a.m.
(child care available)
Children Church School 11:15 a.m.
301 NE 1st • Enterprise
541-426-3044
Enterprise
Christian Church
207 East Main - (541) 426-3449
Worship at 8:15 & 11:00
Sunday School at 9:45
Evening Worship at 6:00
(nursery at A.M. services)
“ Loving God & One Another ”
David Bruce, Sr. Minister
Grace Lutheran
Church
“Our trust is in the Lord”
ELCA Synod
Pastor Wayne Haas
Worship Service
Sundays 9 a.m.
409 W. Main Enterprise
541-426-4633
Lostine
Presbyterian Church
No Adult Sunday School
During the Summer
Church Service
9:30 a.m.
(child care available)
134 Hwy. 82 • Lostine
Church: 541-569-2451
St. Patrick’s
Episcopal Church
Worship Service
Sunday 9:30 am
Wallowa Lake Chapel
July-August 11am
Senior Warden Ann Hayes
Infor. 541-426-3439 or 541-432-4834
3rd & E. Main, Enterprise
www.tinyurl.com/StPats23
Cass was more dependent on
his buddy than the other way
around.
Chief gets fed every day
along with the McClaran
Ranch cattle, and a can of
oats and three apples are part
of his special daily ration,
along with hay. “He’s living
very well,” Kooch said.
Chief is 24 years old now,
raised from a foal in Wallowa
County and trained by
Creighton Kooch himself.
“He put Chief in the lead
when he was only 2 years
old. That’s very unusual,”
Cheryl Kooch said. “Chief
was his main man.”
She said that the gelding
responded to Creighton’s
voice commands, even
though her husband was a
soft-spoken man.
She recalls the time that
Chief and another lead horse,
Major, ran away with a
wagon hauling radio station
KWVR’s Lee and Carol-Lee
Perkins during the grand
entry of the Chief Joseph
Days rodeo. “I think it was
so noisy Chief couldn’t
hear,” Kooch said, adding
that few people even realized
there had been a runaway.
Creighton’s father, Cy,
had raised and showed Belgian
draft horses for about
40 years, but joined his son
in the enthusiasm he developed
for black Clydesdales.
Son and father brought
home the first team of Clydes
in 1982, and soon developed
a breeding program for the
rare black Clydesdales, a
breed in which bay is the
most prevalent color.
At one time the Kooches
had one of the largest herds
of black Clydes in the country,
with about 20 at the time
of Creighton’s death.
Selling to carefully selected
horse lovers, Cheryl found
homes for the horses in Oregon,
Washington, California,
Ohio, South Carolina and
Arizona. One gelding,
Magic, even made it back to
Scotland, where Clydesdales
originated.
A woman in Scotland saw
the picture of the “big, beautiful
boy” on the Internet, and
fell in love. “She paid
$10,000 for the shipping, a
lot more than for the horse,”
Kooch said.
The gelding was quarantined
for two weeks in Canada,
flew to England and then
was trucked and ferried to
his new home in Scotland.
Cheryl Kooch is retired
$100K
From page A1
a school. A vote for Enterprise
High School is a vote
for Joseph, Wallowa and
Enterprise. A vote for Enterprise
Grade School or any
other school would divide the
votes. By agreement, Enter-
First Baptist Church of
Enterprise
S UNDAY S CHOOL : 9:15 A . M .
S UNDAY W ORSHIP :
10:30 A . M .
P ASTOR M ARK G ARLAND
1420 W. N ORTH
E NTERPRISE
541-426-3135
Christ Covenant
Church
Pastor Terry Tollefson
Church Office: 541-426-0301
Family Prayer: 9:30 a.m.
Sunday School: 9:45 a.m.
Worship Service: 11 a.m .
723 College Street • Lostine
Providence Academy
Joseph United
Methodist Church
3rd & Lake St. • Joseph
Pastor Kaye Garver
Phone: Church 541-432-3102
Home: 541-432-9029
Sunday Worship Service
11 a.m.
Children welcome
during service.
Seventh-Day Adventist
Church & School
305 Wagner (near the Cemetery)
P.O. Box N, Enterprise, OR 97828
541-426-3751 Church
541-426-8339 School
Worship Services
Sabbath School 9:30 - 10:45 a.m.
Worship Hour 11:00 a.m. - Noon
Pastor Steve Gilmore
The Crossing
“Meeting people
where they’re at.”
Sundays 10:00 a.m.
Community Connections Building
Enterprise
www.ragamuffinsforjesus.org
now, and the only animals
she owns are cats, chickens in
the spring and Chief.
“I loved them,” she said of
the black Clydesdales – and
the life they represented. “I
especially miss the babies in
the spring.”
Now, her 160-acre farm
between Enterprise and
Joseph is for sale and while
Kooch is in no hurry, she said
she will be ready to move on.
She has five grown children,
including Creighton’s kids,
and five grandchildren – all
with deep roots in Wallowa
County – and enjoys spending
time with them.
When Cass died, Kooch
was away from home, and
she was mistakenly told at
first that it was Chief who
had been found dead. “No,
grandma. It wasn’t Chief,”
corrected her 9-year-old
granddaughter, Addie Kilgore
of Joseph. “I know my
Clydesdales.”
Chief now represents all
of the black Clydesdales,
now gone, who once looked
very, very good under the
Wallowa Mountains.
Chief is not in the best
health, however, and while
he is still enjoying his life,
in some not so distant future,
the black Clydesdales will be
only a cherished Wallowa
County memory.
prise High School will share
any winnings with Wallowa
and Joseph school districts.
Out-of-town voters can
visit any U.S. Cellular dealership
to receive a voter code
card. On the second page of
the short voter registration,
where it reads “Please enter
your school zip code,” 97828
should be entered, then Enterprise
High School..
The third page will ask for
address and telephone number,
but the telephone number
isn’t required.
Enterprise
House Lighting Contest
Name
Address
Phone#
Prizes - $100, $75, $50
Submit entry forms to Debʼs Apparel
by 12/19/09 at 1:00 pm.
Judging will take place on Saturday 12/19/09;
winners will be contacted no later than 12/21/09
and will be published in the Chieftain on 12/24.
Elane Dickenson/Chieftain
One of the favorite veiws of Wallowa County from a bygone era, a new baby Clydesdale
at the Kooch ranch. Visitors to the county frequently stopped on the edge
of the road along the highway to Joseph to capture Clydes against the mountain
backdrop in their cameras.
Ford group to install bike
racks as 2009 project
Wallowa County Chieftain
Wallowa County’s Ford
Institute Leadership Group
recently surpassed their
fundraising goal of $5,000 for
a project to put bicycle racks
in front of county businesses.
The money will be matched
by the Ford Institute.
The final fundraising project
was a bicycle raffle. Diamondback
bicycle company
donated several Diamondback
Venom BMX bikes to the
cause, through Joseph Hardware.
Winners of the Nov. 3 raffle
include the Tree of Giving
(thanks to an anonymous ticket
purchaser), Keithanne
Boueve, James Tippet, Nancy
Green and Delbert Pratt.
“Wallowa County is
known for it’s beautiful
Fifth Annual
Night of the Nativity
Community Christmas Program
Commemorating the birth of the Savior
Wednesday, December 9, 2009 • 7-8 p.m .
(View over 100 different Nativity Scenes inside starting at 6:30 p.m.)
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
(located across the street from the Enterprise Airport)
Nativity Narration
Refreshments Served After Program
Christmas music performed by
Gail Swart
Women’s Ensemble
Primary Children’s Choir
Amy Nash - Harp
Lenahan Family Trio
Helene Hipple
and More!
scenery and what better way to
see it from the saddle of a
bicycle,” said Kate Forster, a
member of the local group .
The addition of the bike
racks dispersed around Wallowa
County will not only be
convenient for local bicyclists,
but encourage more
The group”s goal is to start
the installation of the bike
racks in the spring of 2010.
For more information, contact
spokesman Troy Nave at
398-0338 or
troy@wallowaresources.org.
EOU’s enrollment jump
Courtesy photo
President Bob Davies of Eastern Oregon University
greets the new freshman class. The La
Grande university has 473 freshmen, a 34.8
percent increase over a year ago and the largest
increase in the Oregon University System. Total
EOU enrollment is 1,806, a 13.6 percent
increase. Of those students, 70 are from Wallowa
County.
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The family of
Vandon C. Martin
would like to express our sincere
appreciation of all who made
such a difference in our lives
while Dad was in and out of the
hospital this last year. Special
thanks go to all of Wallowa
Memorial Hospital staff.
Nursing staff, you were
wonderful and so understanding,
you will not be forgotten.
Doctors from Wallowa Mountain
Medical and Winding Water
Clinic, we can’t thank you
enough for helping us through
the difficult decisions. Special
thanks to Drs. Caine and
Sheahan for your caring and
compassion. Thank you friends
and family, for visiting with us,
sending cards and, most of all,
your support.
Gerry Martin, Patsy (Martin)
Allen & our Families