TONASKET HOSTS HOLIDAY
BEEF ENCHILADA DINNER
HOOPS
Chesaw Community Building Saturday, Jan. 4, 4:00-7:00 p.m.
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2013: The Year that Was
LOOKING BACK AT 2013
Perhaps the two most hotly contested issues of 2013 in the pages of the Okanogan Valley Gazette-Tribune were the closing of North Valley Hospital’s Assisted Living in Tonasket and Okanogan County PUD’s continued efforts to rehabilitate Enloe Dam to generate hydroelectric power on the Similkameen River near Oroville. Right, the Assisted Living closure brought protests outside of the hospital and (below, left) members of the Lower Similkameen Band and others held a ceremony honoring nature and the river near Enloe Dam and Similkameen Falls. Not all stories were controversial, dog sled rides at the annual NCW Ice Fishing Festival, below right, were just as popular as ever.
Major news stories for January through June COMPILED BY GARY A. DEVON MANAGING EDITOR
JANUARY • Sitzmark opens for skiers and snowboarders – The Sitzmark Ski Area is featured prominantly on the front page in photographs as the ski hill had plenty of snow and was open in time for the Christmas holidays. No such luck so far at the end of 2013. • NVH starts new tax credit program – In an effort to keep patients close to home and to thank local taxpayers for their support, North Valley Hospital debuted a new tax credit program beginning Jan. 1. • John Smith chosen to replace Morton on Senate – Smith, a Colville farmer was appointed to take the place of retired state Senator Bob Morton for the Seventh Legislative District. Smith was to later lose out to Brian Dansell in the November 2013 General Election. • No immediate solutions – The North Valley Hospital board approved the closing of the district’s Assisted Living Facility citing years of financial losses as the reason. • It just won’t go away – Parking woes continue to haunt Tonasket City Council with the issue resurrected once again like some sort of zombie after several months hiatus. • Kinross updates on impact, future plans – A representative of Kinross Gold Corporation’s Kettle River-Buckhorn Project talks to the Oroville City Council about the gold mine and mill’s economic impact, including an average employee wage that tops $82,000 a year and $4 million in payments to local and county government agencies. • Kretz introduces wolf relocation legislation – After Western Washington legislators extolled the value of wolf packs in Eastern Washington, Rep. Joel Kretz (7th District) decided he would assist in the efforts to make relocating wolf packs to Western Washington through legislation this year. • Council, chief debate video policy – Differing opinions on what is appropriate use of video surveillance and
Gary DeVon & Brent Baker/staff photos
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Former legislator ‘Web’ Hallauer dies Oroville’s elder statesman passes at age 99 BY GARY A. DEVON MANAGING EDITOR
OROVILLE – Wilbur “Web” Hallauer, former Oroville City Councilman, state representative and state senator, passed away at age 99 in his Oroville home Thursday, Dec. 19. Although he was born in New York state, Oroville’s elder statesman moved to Washington when he was 12-years-old, settling in Yakima. From there he went to the University of Washington in Seattle and after graduating moved to Oroville to run the family’s fruit processing plant Valley Evaporating Company, making dried apples and other products. He served on the Oroville
Council in the early 1940s and J. Kerr for the book which was was elected to the Washington published in 2001. State House of “He distinRepresentatives guished himin 1948 and self as a masserved there ter of the state “In all things, Web for eight years. budget proHallauer was always cess, serving He was then elected to the as chair on the a compassionate state Senate in House Revenue person—this at a 1957 and served Committee there another 12. time long before the and the Senate The late goverAppropriations word ‘compassionate’ and Ways and nor, Dixie Lee Ray, appointed combecame an adjective Means Hallauer to be mittees. As a to a political ideology.” Senator, he was the first head of the newly the chairman of Robert Bailey, created state the Legislative former Washington State Senator Department of I n t e r i m Ecology. Committee The former on Water legislator was Resources -also the subject of an oral history a committee that had the disas part of the Washington State tinction of recommending ten Oral History program commis- major pieces of legislation, all of sioned by the Secretary of State. which were subsequently enactHe was interviewed by Thomas ed. He was also noted for his
OKANOGAN VALLEY GAZETTE-TRIBUNE Volume 110 No. 01
passionate defense of civil liberties, including his courageous defense of Representative John Goldmark during Washington State’s ‘McCarthy era,’” from Wilbur G. “Web” Hallauer – An Oral History (which can be read online at http://apps.leg.wa.gov/ oralhistory/hallauer/hallauer. pdf ). Goldmark, from Okanogan, was a fellow Democrat and was serving in the House of Representatives when Goldmark and his wife were accused of having ties to the Communist Party. The Goldmarks sued and eventually won a libel suit against several of their accusers and Hallauer was by their side during the trial. In the preface to the Oral History Hallauer writes, “The political circus attracts many who do not become performers within the charmed rings of public observance. Whether carrying water to the elephants or setting up the wire cables for the high
Wilbur “Web” Hallauer, former Oroville City Councilman, state representative and state senator, passed away at age 99. trapeze acts, the work of these associated workers is necessary to the gladiators who hold the public attention. Without dedicated and talented people to help, the
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show could not go on. Often the political and intellectual acumen of the politician’s support group is the making of that politician. This applies in my own case.” In the forward to the Oral History, former state senator Robert Bailey writes, “In all things, Web Hallauer was always a compassionate person—this at a time long before the word “compassionate” became an adjective to a political ideology.” A lifelong Democrat and proud member of the American Civil Liberties Union, Hallauer continued to champion Democratic causes in words and deeds, including in letters submitted to the Okanogan Valley GazetteTribune. Over the years he also submitted several historical articles to this newspaper outlining the history of the local area, on both sides of the border. In the early 1950s Hallauer bought
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