C SectionFebruary 9, 2011 The Omak-OkanOgan COunTy ChrOniCle

In this section:A look at the city’sinfrastructure, plus police,and fire and education.

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� A look at Omak — Past, Present and Future �

Spanning the yearS

Okanogan County Historical Society

Omak’s new — and current — Central Avenue bridge, left, is ready for traffic in 1924. The old bridge was moved downstream a bitand set on temporary piers during construction of the new crossing. The old bridge was then dismantled.

Dream: A new bridgeBy Dee CampThe Chronicle

OMAK — A replacement forthe Central Avenue bridge is along-held dream of cityofficials.

But funding remainselusive.

The existing 1924 structureacross the Okanogan River is“functionally obsolete butstructurally sound,” accordingto state Department ofTransportation officials.

Efforts to do somethingabout the narrow span, built inthe days of the Model T, aretaking place on two fronts.

City officials met with stateTransportation officials lastsummer and “gave them aPowerPoint (slide show) and arundown of transportationissues,” cityPublic WorksDirector JimMiller said.“But it wouldbe aconsiderableexpense.”

Replacingthe bridgewould cost anestimated$24 million.Thirty yearsago, when the “functionally

obsolete but structurallysound” designation was firstmade, state officials said areplacement would cost $1.389million.

Meanwhile, the ColvilleConfederated Tribes also areinterested in a new span, withspecial concentration ongetting gamblers to the newcasino planned off U.S.Highway 97 south of Omak.

Colville Business CouncilChairman Michael Finleydeclined to comment on arecent tribal transportationstudy.

Options cited in the tribalstudy include:

• Building a new bridge insouth Omak, with the spancurving over the dike andhooking up with the highwaynear the new tribal gas station

and mini-market, which isunder construction a bit northof the casino site.

“It’s problematic, because itgoes over ancestral grounds,”Miller said, referring to an areawhere human remains werefound and put a stop to aprevious casino project. “Itwould reroute traffic by theirstore and would be expensive.”

That option wouldn’t dealwith the Central Avenue bridgedirectly. If state Highway 155were rerouted onto a newsouth end bridge, the oldbridge likely would fall into cityownership.

• Building a new, one-waybridge at Fourth Avenue nextto the Coulee Dam FederalCredit Union.

“That would set up acircular traffic flow,” Millersaid. “There are issues withright of way and it would workonly if the old bridge were inplace.”

Again the old bridgeprobably would become cityproperty.

City officials don’t likeeither scenario involving cityownership of the bridge.

“Does the city really want tomaintain that bridge and havethe liability?” he asked.

See Bridge C4

Miller

Dee Camp/The Chronicle

An Omak school bus and a Crown Zellerbach plywood truckmeet at the bridge’s angled west end during a January 1980demonstration for state transportation officials.

Aging sewersystem fails

By Dee Campand Sheila Corson

The Chronicle

OMAK — The city’s biggestpublic works challenge is thesewer system.

A littlemore than ayear ago, amajoroverhaul ofthe sewersystem wasn’teven on theradar.

But a Nov.19, 2009,sewer mainbreak onDewberry Street led toexamination of the wholesystem. Before the initial breakwas fixed Nov. 22, sewageleaked into the ground andstorm drains, and eventuallyinto the Okanogan River.

In digging up the line to fixit, the public works crewdiscovered the 1930s concretecylinder pipe was deterioratedto the point of being gone in

some places. None of theprevious line, probably wood,was found, Gagne said.

The Dewberry line servesthe north Omak businesscommunity and runs throughdowntown to the sewagetreatment plant at the southend of town.

The initial cost estimate was$2 million — but then officialsdiscovered the whole sewersystem is in much the sameshape.

“It’s worn out. In someplaces it’s just dirt,” PublicWorks Director Jim Millersaid. “There are real badspots.”

The estimated price tag forreplacing the system: $22million to $23 million.

“It’s horribly expensive,”Mayor Cindy Gagne said.“Getting funding will be tough.”

While Omak has beenapproved for a $10 millionstate Public Works Trust Fundloan at 0.5 percent interest for20 years, that fund could

See Sewer C4

By Dee CampThe Chronicle

OMAK — The city hasadequate water rights for thenext 25 years, but getting thatwater out of the ground andinto residents’ faucets might bea challenge.

“We need more wells on thewest side (of town) to meetdemand,” Public WorksDirector Jim Miller said.

Some 95 percent of thecity’s water now is pumpedfrom the east side well. If itfails, “we would haveproblems,” Miller said.

Other wells, on the westside, can produce only enough

water for winter use.The city can’t stand that

much risk for the long term, soMiller has recommended thecity pursue additional watersources on the west side of theriver.

Parks are the most logicalsites, since the city alreadyowns the property.

This month, the CityCouncil is considering anapplication to the DrinkingWater Revolving Fund forfunding to drill a new well andrehabilitate an existing well.

“We have some issues withsupply on water,” contract

See Water C4

Moving traffic through townBy Dee CampThe Chronicle

OMAK — Residents willneed to decide, at some point,whether they want to movetraffic through town in a fast,efficient manner or givemotorists the opportunity for amore leisurely drive withopportunities to stop and shop,plan and visit.

“Do we want to choose‘traffic calming’ at a slow rateversus just moving throughtown?” asked Public WorksDirector Jim Miller.

Road improvements havebeen part of Omak from itsbeginnings. In the early days,residents raised money forimprovements.

“A decided improvement isnoticeable by the application ofa few coats of gravel laid on the

Main Street,” The Chroniclereported in its first issue May20, 1910. “Practically all of theproperty owners arecompleting the work startedlast spring and within the nextmonth the entire street will becovered and graded for at leastone block.”

The Chronicle also reported,in the same issue, that countycommissioners, citing an 1866federal law, had declared in1903 that they would hold, aspublic highways, “all wagonroads, trails, footways andbridleways that were inexistence on or prior to the 11th

day of August, 1903, whetherthe same have been worked bythe county or not.”

Residents were urged not tofence or obstruct such roads ortrails.

On Sept. 15, 1911, TheChronicle reported the roadfrom the Omak Hotel — whichstill stands, as a privateresidence, at Juniper Streetand Bartlett Avenue — toPogue Flat was completed bylocal contributions totaling$281.50.

In 2009, a project to rebuildthe intersection of RossCanyon Road, as that road isnow known, and RiversideDrive cost the city $1.1 million.

According to “A PioneerProject,” by H.A. Yates, a four-mile stretch of road with rock

See Traffic C4

City of Omak

Crew digs out failed sewer lines along Dewberry Street in 2009.

Frank S. Matsura/Okanogan County Historical Society

Crew digs a water line trench along Main Street in 1910.

The challenge: Gettingwater out of the ground

“Do we want to choose ‘traffic

calming’ at a slow rate versus

just moving through town?Public Works Director Jim Miller

”

Gagne

By Dee CampThe Chronicle

OMAK – The Omak PoliceDepartment, the county’slargest municipal policeagency, strives to be a lawenforcement leader.

The department has been apart of Omak almost from thebeginning. A week after cityresidents voted to incorporatethe city, F.B. Thayer wasappointed marshal by newlyelected Mayor W.H Dickson.

Thayer served three years. Larry W. Schreckengast,

currently the department’s 14thchief, has headed thedepartment since 1999, butworked for the department forseveral years before that.

He also worked for theOkanogan County Sheriff’sOffice for several years.

Omak’s 12 full-timecommissioned officers arejoined by two civilian officeworkers and a codeenforcement officer.

Keeping up withtechnological advancesprovides a way to serve thepublic, give officers the besttools available and may help asthe department struggles withtight funding, Schreckengastsaid.

Advances in technologyhave brought changes to thedepartment over the years,from the move to cars and theadvent of radiocommunications to ever-evolving wirelesscommunications,Schreckengast said.

“We’ve been the testingground” for departments in thecounty, he said. Omak was thefirst municipal department touse TASERS, have in-carcomputers and employ othertechnological advances.

Computers addedThe department began a

computerization program in1987 that now includes 10networked computers forstatistical gathering, record

keeping, report generation andUniform Crime Reporting.

In-car computers wereadded in 2003. In-car videowas added in 1996, the first inOkanogan County.

All department patrol carshave such a system to enhanceofficer safety and evidence-gathering capabilities.

“It has been a huge successin court,” Schreckengast said.

Technological tools helpofficers do their jobs better andmore efficiently.

“I want to provide the toolsto make their life easier,”Schreckengast said.

Federal grant money helpedcounty law enforcementagencies upgradecommunications equipment inthe wake of the 9/11 attacks.

Technologicaladvancements also will helppolice agencies cope withshrinking budgets, he said.

In the future, “I wouldanticipate that complaints forlaw enforcement, EMS and firewould all be dispatched viacomputers on the vehicles,” hesaid. “In conjunction with thiswould be wireless andpaperless report transmissionsfrom the law enforcement tothe judicial system, to includethe courts, the prosecutor andthe public defenders.

“No more printed reportson paper. Reports would besent via electronic documentsdirectly to the agencyrequesting the information.”

Despite improvements incommunications, the dayprobably will come when policedon’t respond to some types ofcalls – not because they’re notvalid concerns but because ofbudgetary constraints, he said.

Some larger departments,like Spokane, already have cutresponse to certain crimes.

“With the increase in costand the cutback in county andlocal resources and budgets, Ialso see that services to thepublic are going to be reduced,”he said. “I can see officers notresponding to property crimessuch as vehicle prowls,trespassing, shopliftings andother like-crimes.”

Hotlines would be set up forvictims to call in, leave theirinformation and receivecomplaint numbers.

“I can also see policeagencies cutting back onresponding to civil issues suchas non-injury, minor propertydamage vehicle accidents,” hesaid. That won’t likely happenimmediately, andSchreckengast hopes it won’t.

“People expect a hands-onresponse in a smallerjurisdiction,” he said.

Crime is downStatistically, crime is down. But some sectors have seen

increases over the years.Since he began working for

Omak in 1980 as a parkingmeter reader, Schreckengastsaid he’s noticed an increase inproperty crimes, and thosecommitted by juveniles andviolent crimes involvingwomen.

Officers responding to fightsare as likely to find womenduking it out as men.

“There are some viciousgirls out there,” he said. “Someof them are downright beatingthe crap out of each other.”

Many of calls for police helpare for the same types of thingsas in the city’s early days –parking, assaults, thefts and soon.

The area’s depressed state –not a new phenomenon –contributes to the crime rate,as do drugs, Schreckengastsaid.

In January 1980, when The

Chronicle did a look ahead atthe new decade, then-ChiefByron Perkins predicted thecity’s population wouldincrease and bring more crime

so more police officers wouldbe needed.

The department had juststarted doing felonyinvestigations and its jail wentfrom being a full-fledged jail toa holding facility.

It closed in 1986.The population increased

some, but not by leaps andbounds.

According to citydocuments, in 1980, thepopulation was just above4,000. It rose during the nexttwo decades to around 4,700,but dropped in 2005 and roseagain to 4,750.

Schreckengast said thepopulation is about 4,700again, but because of non-residents who work and attendschool in town or come in forshopping or recreation, hisdepartment is responsible forcloser to 13,000 people.

Some of those live, workand pass through the portion oftown on the Colville IndianReservation.

The department hasconcurrent criminaljurisdiction with the tribe forthe three square miles ofreservation within thecorporate limits.

While there are somecrimes involving conflictsbetween races – white, Indianand Hispanic – the departmenthas guidelines for handlingcases on fee and trust land,involving Indian and non-Indian perpetrators andvictims.

The department has no civiljurisdiction over Indians on thereservation, but works withtribal police.

Schreckengast said hisdepartment has a goodrelationship with tribal police,which patrol east Omak.

“We’re like a family. We allhave our differences, but wework together,” he said.

And while there is somegang activity in the area, mostof it is at the southern end ofthe county, he said.

“There is not a lot of majorcriminal activity by gangmembers,” he said.

Jury trial in 1911The city’s first jury trial was

April 29, 1911, and involved acomplaint of assault andbattery.

Omak no longer has acriminal court, but still

operates a municipal court fornon-criminal matters such astraffic offenses, code violationsand animal problems.

Henry Rawson is the judge.The Omak Police

Department is the only agencyin Okanogan County thatprovides full-time animalcontrol. Besides dog and catcomplaints, Code EnforcementOfficer Gary Lewis hasresponded to calls for help withbears, raccoons, moose,porcupines, bunnies and straychickens, along with occasionalcougar scares.

His predecessor, MarvinKruger, kept tabs on cityanimals for 30 years beforeretiring in late 2006.

Animal control is anotherdepartment function that’sbeen around pretty much fromthe start.

Starting Oct. 20, 1911,Marshal Thayer was given 10cents for room and board ofeach stray canine caught “inthe toils of the guardian of thelaw,” and 50 cents a day fordogs running at large “withouta shiny brass tag,” according tocity records.

One thing the departmentdidn’t have from the start wasthe motor vehicle.

Police agencies nationwidebegan using vehicles in the1930s.

In the late 1970s, the Omakdepartment made nationalnews when, during a pursuit,both of its patrol cars weredamaged and taken out ofservice.

“This meant that the patrolofficers did not have patrolvehicles for a few days andbrought a new meaning to footpatrol,” Schreckengast said.

Replacing the city’s rollingstock is a continual expense forthe city and may posedifficulties in the years tocome, Mayor Cindy Gagne said.

Ford announced last year itis discontinuing the CrownVictoria, workhorse of police

agencies for years.That will mean some

equipment, such as securityscreens, can’t be moved todifferent models, Gagne said.

Pedal power addedFor the past 15 years, the

department also has had pedalpower. Its bike patrol programbegan in 1995 with one reserveofficer. The department nowhas four full-timecommissioned reserve officers.

One reserve officer wasriding with officer Michael W.Marshall when Marshall waskilled during a March 1998shoot-out while on a domesticdisturbance call. Marshall isthe department’s only officerkilled in the line of duty.

Officer Don M. Eddy, now asergeant with the department,was wounded.

Marshall received the Medalof Honor posthumously and hisname was placed on theNational Law EnforcementMemorial in ceremonies onMay 15, 1999, in Washington,D.C.

Eddy also received theMedal of Honor and the Medalof Valor for meritoriousconduct for his actions duringthe incident.

By Dee CampThe Chronicle

OMAK – Volunteers are theheart and soul of the FireDepartment, and have beensince its beginnings more than100 years ago.

But volunteerism is notwhat it used to be.

“Finding good volunteers isgetting harder,” Fire ChiefKevin Bowling said. “But aslong as I’mchief, I willtry to keep anall-volunteerdepartmentas long as Ican.”

In 1910,the OmakCommercialClub decidedto buy a bellto alert thecommunity to night-time fires.

Two years later, in May1912, residents met andrecommended formation of avolunteer fire department andthat the City Council buy hoseand hydrants.

Today, Omak has 31volunteers, including two highschool students, and respondsto everything from structurefires to wild land blazes andvehicle crashes to toxic spills.

Omak pays $9 per hour fortraining and calls in the city,but the crew still is consideredvolunteer.

Calls outside the city areunpaid.

Most recruiting is by wordof mouth, though thedepartment occasionally holdsopen house recruitment nights.

Aside from a general declinein volunteerism community-wide, volunteer firefighters

must undergo extensivetraining and are busier thanever, Bowling said.

In the late 1970s, thedepartment responded to fewerthan 100 calls annually. In 1998,the department went on 219 calls.

Last year, there were 269calls, though 2005, 1007 and2008 all topped 300.

Those who volunteer citethe satisfaction of helping thecommunity.

Bowling, 50, started withthe department when heturned 18. He served as avolunteer until 1997, when hewas hired to succeed his dad,Cal Bowling, as chief.

He’s seen changes infirefighting equipment andtechniques in his 32 years as afirefighter.

Ventilating equipment nowclears a smoky home inminutes, allowing firefightersto go inside and extinguish

interior fires or locate victims.“Thankfully, we do very few

rescues,” Bowling said.A thermal imaging camera

allows firefighters to locate hotspots in walls or victimsthrown from wrecked vehicles.

Looking to the future, thedepartment needs to replace its37-year-old engine-laddertruck and air packs that allowfirefighters to breathe in smokyconditions. A new engine cancost up to $650,000, soBowling is seeking grants andhoping the city won’t have toissue bonds for the purchase.

“We need a new laddertruck, but cost is aconsideration,” Mayor CindyGagne said.

The need will becomegreater as buildings grow taller,she said. Omak has its firstfour-story building in the BestWestern PepperTree Inn, 820Koala Ave.

“We have more tallbuildings and big structures,”she said. “Plus, they managefires differently.”

Bowling said changes inbuilding codes are puttingsprinkler systems and smokedetectors in more buildings.

“That allows us to get therequick enough to keep damageminimal,” he said.

On the flip side, changes inmotor vehicle construction –more air bags and gas struts –

create hazards for rescuers andtrapped motorists alike sinceboth devices can detonatewithout warning as a firefighteris trying to get to a victim.

“It used to be we could justextricate someone and notworry about things blowingup,” he said.

Bowling said the worst fireshe’s been on were the 2006blaze that destroyed ColvilleIndian Plywood and Veneermill and the 2009 Oden Road

Fire near Okanogan. In theCIPV fire, Bowling had 100firefighters under hiscommand, plus multiple largebuildings afire.

The wind-driven Odenwildfire covered a lot of groundin a short time, taking out twohomes, a historic schoolbuilding and severaloutbuildings.

“We should’ve lost a lotmore structures than we did,”he said.

*C2 • @ Large • The Chronicle • Feb. 9, 2011 www.omakchronicle.com

Marshals andpolice chiefs

John McKinstrey ...................1914-17E. D. Hendrick .......................1917-20D. J. Dolsen ...........................1920-22Jess Latshaw ........................1922-36William Renn.........................1936-44Tom Johnson.........................1944-50Leonard Therriault.................1950-53George Cleghorn ..................1953-68Dean Randall ........................1968-78Peter J. Sirois........................1978-79Byron Perkins........................1979-84Peter J. Sirois........................1984-92Ronald L. Bailey....................1992-97Mikael W. Cramer..................1997-99Larry W. Schreckengast ........1999

to present

Department strives to be a leader“

With the increase in costs and the

cutbacks in county and local resources

and budgets, I also see that services

to the public are going to be reduced.

Chief Larry W. Schreckengast

”

Omak crime statistics

1980 1990 2000 2008 2009 Percent changeCrime 2008-09Population NR 3,870 4,555 4,780 4,780Crime Index offensesTotal 337 329 301 262 207 -21.0Rate/1,000 NR 85.0 66.1 55.2 43.3 -21.5Violent crimeTotal NR 30 21 22 13 -40.9Rate/1,000 NR 7.8 4.6 4.6 2.7 -41.3Murder 0 0 1 0 0 sameRape 4 7 6 5 3 -40.0Robbery 3 4 2 7 3 -57.1Aggravated assault 41 19 12 10 7 -30.0Property crime Total NR 299 280 240 194 -19.2Rate/1,000 NR 77.3 61.5 50.5 40.6 -19.7Arson NR 0 1 0 0 sameBurglary 73 48 40 87 36 -58.6Larceny (theft) 194 242 226 140 150 7.1Vehicle theft 22 9 13 13 8 -38.5Total 130 126 134 79 85 7.6Juvenile 44 44 50 13 11 -15.4NR - Not reported

Source: Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs

Milestones

1911 – Omak’s first marshal appointed1930s – Police start patrolling in cars1966 – All state law enforcement agencies connected by telecommunication

system1968 – 911 became available, but was not yet used in Okanogan County1968 – Omak police/fire building built. The building also housed a dispatch

center for fire, police and ambulance, and a jail to house up to 18 prisoners1980 – Enhanced 911 introduced to Okanogan County1985 – DARE Program1985 – Omak K-9 Program was started with Officer Sean Isaac as handler.

The department’s dogs were Irk, Tommy and Benjo.1986 – Omak Jail closes1986 – Omak dispatchers transfer to sheriff’s dispatch1990 – ACCESS computer system was installed at Omak Police Department1994 – Sleuth Computer System was implemented at the Omak Police

Department as a centralized data collection system1998 – Officer Mike Marshall shot and killed during a domestic dispute call;

Officer Don Eddy wounded1999 – Department’s first polygraph operator, Larry W. Schreckengast

(prototype of present day polygraph released in 1930)2007 – Spillman county-wide data system was implemented to allow all

county law enforcement agencies access to the same investigative information2008 – TASERS introduced as less lethal weapon in Omak

Volunteers: Heart and soul of fire crew

• 1910 – The Omak CommercialClub, predecessor to the chamber ofcommerce, decided a fire bell wasneeded to wake people in case of anight-time fire.

• 1910 – Fire buckets and ladderspurchased and placed in easilyaccessible spots.

• 1912 – Community members metand recommended the City Council buyhose and hydrants, and that avolunteer fire department be organized.

• 1914 – Work started on a 16- by24-foot fire station. New fire equipmentarrived – a hand-pulled hose cart with700 feet of line.

• 1914 – The fire departmentorganized; E.T. O’Connor was chief.

• Undated – Townspeople agreedChief Jesse Latshaw would fire threeshots into the air at first word of a fire.

• Feb. 26, 1915 – A fire bell waspurchased to replace the rifle.

A test was to be run at a set timedaily; one man who wasn’t aware of thedrill set out in haste and fell down a setof stairs. He broke three ribs and hisglasses, and lost his pocketbook.

• Nov. 12, 1920 – A bedroom wasto be added to the fire hall so two mencould stay there at all times. Atelephone also was called for.

• 1924 – C.L. Tooker succeeded I.J.Manweiler as chief.

• 1929 – City buys its first truck, a1928 American LaFrance, for $5,950.The truck served until 1948 and nowruns in parades.

• 1930 – C.P. Larson elected chief.• 1931 – New fire station/city hall

built. Frank M. Wilcox is chief.• 1948 – New truck purchased.• March 7, 1955 – City ordinance

passed to organize and regulate theOmak Volunteer Fire Department.

• January 1961 – Hugh Miller hiredas Omak’s first full-time chief. Heearned $435 a month.

• 1968 – New fire/police stationbuilt. Still in use.

• 1969 – New engine purchased.

• 1974 – Chief Hugh Miller retired.Cal Bowling hired.

• 1974 – New American LaFranceengine with 1,500 gallon-per-minutepump and 50-foot ladder purchased. Itwas rebuilt in 1994 and is still in use.

• 1991 – E-One fire enginereplaces the 1969 American LaFrance.

• July 1, 1997 – Chief Cal Bowlingretired. His son, Kevin Bowling, is hired.

• 1999 – Self Contained BreathingApparatus purchased. Vehicle exhaustsystem installed in fire hall.

• 2003 – 1997 Ford rescue truckpurchased from Chelan County FireDistrict No. 1.

• 2005 – Busiest year indepartment history, with 362 calls forservice.

Bowling

Fire departmentbeginnings

Elizabeth Widel

A 1964 Main Street conflagration involves two unoccupiedvehicles. A parked tanker slipped its brake and rolled downhillwhere it jackknifed and hit another vehicle. Fire Chief HughMiller said the leaking gasoline, had it gotten into the citydrainage system, had the potential “to lift up the whole town.”

Omak fire Department

The fire crew and its engines in 1931 outside City Hall.

www.omakchronicle.com The Chronicle • Feb. 9, 2011 • @ Large • C3

By Dee CampThe Chronicle

OMAK — Online instructioncould be the thing that keepssmall school districts viable.

Omak School DistrictSuperintendent Art Himmlersaid among the manychallenges the district faces,providing varied classes andkeeping up with instructionaladvances will be in theforefront.

“I see a blend of onlineinstruction with regular brick-and-mortar classes will be agrowing feature,” he said.

Omak offers classes throughWashingtonVirtualAcademiesand enrollsstudentsstatewide,includingsome locally.

Thedistrictenrolls about1,100students inone or more

online classes, and gets paid bythe state for 850 full-timeequivalent online students, inaddition to the 1,600 or soattending traditional classes.

“I see a blending of digitaland online” instruction withtraditional classes, Himmlersaid. “We won’t get rid of paperor teachers, nor should we.”

Onlineinstructioncan respondquickly tochange,especially inthe areas oftechnologyand science,he said.

As anexample, hesaidphotographs and data from aNASA fly-by of another planetcan be incorporated into anonline curriculum within days,where it might take textbookwriters years to include newinformation.

“Print is really slow forscientific or technicalinformation,” he said.

“And having it online, youcan put in visual aspects orhumor. It lets kids have morethan one way of learning.”

The district also isexperimenting with an onlineprogram so dropouts can pickup needed credits.

School Board Director PeteSirois, a former Omak policechief and school counselor,said he’s encouraged a few ofhis former students to return toschool through the onlineprogram.

Himmler said onlineinstruction also cansupplement traditional classes,an important consideration forsmaller districts such as Omakthat can’t offer the variety ofclasses larger districts can.

Online classes are “a bigbonus,” Sirois said. “I see moreonline line learning. It’sbecause of the inability to have

many classes. We just can’tafford them.”

That brings to mindpressure from some state andfederal officials for districts toconsolidate, but Himmler saidso far that hasn’t been provenas a better way of teaching.

“I think the state willcontinue to look and see ifthere are ways to make districtsmore efficient,” he said.

“But consolidation isn’t theanswer to the current fundingcrisis. Studies have shownthere is no money to be savedby consolidation.”

Data from WashingtonAssociation of SchoolAdministrators showedstudents from small districts —those with enrollment of fewerthan 2,000 students — are highachievers, have low dropoutrates and are more likely to goto college and perform wellthan their bigger-districtcounterparts. Small schools areparticularly effective forstudents from low-incomefamilies and students of color,the study showed.

In addition, operationalcosts per graduate often areless than that of larger districts,and potential savings ofadministrative costs in largerdistricts are offset by theincreased costs of security,facilities maintenance andoperations, the WashingtonAssociation of SchoolAdministrators found.Transportation costs also oftenare less.

More than two-thirds of thestate’s districts fall into thatsmall schools category.

“The savings (ofconsolidation) is minimal,”Sirois said. “There’s also a lossin communications.”

Himmler said the district

will continue to be involvedwith Paschal Sherman IndianSchool, with which it has alongstanding relationship.

The district provides someinstruction for PaschalSherman students, and sharessome finances.

Online classes could helpPaschal Sherman, which isoperated by the ColvilleConfederated Tribes, add ahigh school component.

Discussion already is underway for Washington VirtualAcademies to add culturallyrelevant instruction, he said.

Himmler said anotherchallenge facing the district iseducating parents.

“The school district’sadopted job is to help educateparents, as a way to help kids,”he said. “We want to encourageparental involvement,especially in the early years.The more parent involvement,the higher the school success.”

Part of the problem lies withthe area’s historicallydepressed economy, he said.Many parents don’t take thetime to be involved with theirchildren.

Sirois said there’s also aneed to prepare teachers betterfor what they’ll face in theclassroom.

Both Himmler and Siroisexpressed frustration with thefederal No Child Left BehindAct, which sets benchmarks fordistricts to meet for studentperformance on standardizedtests. But each state can chooseits own test, and Washingtonrecently threw out theWashington Assessment ofStudent Learning in favor ofnew exams.

Himmler predicted NoChild Left Behind will bemodified as time goes on.

“It’s OK as a concept, but asa club, it’s not likely to beeffective,” he said. “Why punishthose districts havingdifficulties?”

The law rewards districtsthat achieve, but punishesthose whose students don’tmeet testing standards.

“I think they’ll eitherdisband it or change it fromwhat we know,” Sirois said.“They found that schoolsstarted teaching to the test. Butthat doesn’t improve educationone bit.”

A national standardized testmight be on the horizon, too,he said.

Omak School Boardmembers are trying to educatethemselves to deal withchanging education trends andstandards.

They recently began takingclasses through the LighthouseProject, which focuses onstudent performance andworking on goals.

“It could mean differentways of spending,” Himmlersaid.

Aside from instruction, thedistrict needs to keep assessingand upgrading its facilities. A2006-08 project to remodeland add to the high schoolhelped, but the middle schoolnow is due for an upgrade, hesaid.

“We’re holding our own,”despite the need to upgrade themiddle school heating system,Sirois said. “We’re fortunate wegot the (high school) repairsdone before the budget

See Schools C4

Educators look to the WebThis year brings the 100th class

By Dee CampThe Chronicle

OMAK — The highschool will celebrate its100th graduating class inJune and an all-classreunion in July.

Sisters Beryl and VoyBailey were Omak’s firstgraduates in 1912. Theyalso sang a duet at theirApril 29 graduation, heldin the PresbyterianChurch, according to thecommencement program.

“Voy and Beryl set thestandard high, and wecontinue to adjust aseducation requirementsdemand more of ourstudents and staff inorder to adequatelyprepare our youngpeople for the world ofwork,” Principal JohnBelcher said.

A “Ladies Quartette”started off that first graduationceremony, followed by aninvocation by the Rev. DavidBrown. Mrs. L.S. Overholt andMrs. Harley Hatcher sangsolos.

“Wanted - A Character” wasthe Rev. George F. Graham’saddress to the graduates andtheir supporters. C.E.Weatherstone presented thediplomas.

Brown wrapped up theceremony with a benediction.

The Bailey sisters’graduation came a decade afterOmak’s school system wasorganized.

According to “A PioneerProject,” by H.A. Yates, thefirst classes were conducted inthe fall of 1902 by Mrs. ReubenRobinson, mother of longtimeOkanogan County educatorVirginia Grainger and earlyOmak mayor and businessmanBarton Robinson, in her homealong the Okanogan River nearwhat would become Omak.There were five students, thenumber necessary to form adistrict.

Jean and Sarah Ross,children of Omak founder BenRoss; Georgia Grainger,Robinson’s granddaughter;Jimmy Sewell and CorrineEmery made up the studentbody. (For many years, SarahRoss Carter, Omak class of1916, held the record as TheChronicle’s most longstandingcontinuous reader. She diedOct. 31, 1998, in Bellingham atage 102.)

Because of a lack oftransportation, classes ran just

sixweeks in thefall and sixweeks in thespring.

Studentsnow have astate-mandated180-dayschool yearand can behauled intocourt underthe Becca Billfor habitualtruancy.

A centuryago, theymight havestudied basicreading,writing,arithmetic,animal

husbandry, domestic arts,history and science.

Now, though many of thosesubjects are still taught,students learn more at earlierages and also are taught aboutWeb design, genetics,computer science and othertopics. Learning is as likely tobe done online or with the aidof computers as withtraditional textbooks.

Even the district’s youngeststudents are computer-savvy –kindergarten through second-grade students regularly usecomputers to hone writing andmath skills, from sentencestructure to counting coins.

In 1906, the communitydecided to put up a schoolbuilding. Ross took the

initiative, collecting $1 fromeach married man and50 cents frombachelors to buy therough lumber. Themenfolk pitched in andbuild the school nearthe W.R. Jaquish homeon Miller Road at thehead of RobinsonCanyon, Yates reported.

About 20 childrenfrom Pogue Flatattended the school.

By June 2, 1911, theOmak school buildingdoubled in size as fourclassrooms were added toaccommodate newstudents.

On Sept. 13, 1913, morethan 200 students wereenrolled.

The current high schoolsite, which then served allgrades, was selected in1919. Ross and WillardGeorge sold the districtproperty at $250 and $300

per acre, respectively. A bondissue for $30,000 covered thebuilding and equipment, withsome money to spare forcontingency.

Over the years, variousbuildings were constructed asenrollment grew, fire wiped outa building or remodeling tookplace.

Most recently, two arsonfires destroyed North OmakElementary in December 1987;a new building rose on thesame site. An extensive, $21.9million remodeling andmodernization project added toOmak High School in 2006-08.

Graduates will have theopportunity to reminisce aboutbuildings, classes and eachother when they gather July22-24 for an all-class reunion.

According to eventplanners, the reunion beginsFriday, July 22, with “MemoryLane” reminiscing at theschool, 20 S. Cedar St. OtherFriday activities include a golftournament; homecoming andcentennial parade, and musicon the football field.

Saturday events includestudent-teacher meetings, abus ride to Camp Disautel, pieand ice cream social in CivicLeague Park, pep assembly,downtown art show, samplingsof RockWall Cellars wine and adance featuring The Diamondsin the East Side Park DancePavilion.

Sunday brings an alumnipraise and worship service inthe Omak Performing ArtsCenter, 14 S. Cedar St.

B. Bailey

V. Bailey

Omak School District

North Omak Elementary School students use classroomcomputers on a regular basis.

By Dee CampThe Chronicle

OMAK — A proposedpedestrian/equestrian bridgebelow the U.S. Highway 97bridge over the OkanoganRiver remains on the drawingboard.

It would be a nice additionsomeday, but city officialsconcede its chances for fundingare slim.

“It’s probably not as high ahigh priority as previously,”said contract planner KurtDanison of HighlandsAssociates, Okanogan.

After a 2002 feasibility

study, the state Departmentof Transportation gave thecity a “maybe” on theprospect of putting in thebridge addition.

City officials argued thebridge would provide safeaccess for people — and, atStampede time, horses — whotake a chance crossing thehighway bridge.

The next year, when itssuperstore replaced theprevious store, Walmart gavethe city $10,000 toward thebridge’s construction.

Okanogan County providedmoney in 2005 for the city tocontract with thetransportation department fordesign of the bridge, whichwould hang below the highwayspan.

The bridge is listed as an“ongoing project” in the city’s

Comprehensive Park andRecreation Plan, which wasadopted in 2006 and updatedin 2010.

City staff and consultants“continue efforts to securefunding to complete design,permitting and construction,”according to the plan.

Besides providing a saferroute along the highway fromEast Side Park to the north endshopping area, such a bridgecould be part of a city-widetrail system.

“Trails also seem to havebecome a higher priority withmany residents in favor of theproposed the (state Highway)97 pedestrian/equestrianbridge-trail to link the EastSide Park with the north Omakresidential and shopping area,”according to the park plan.

And, “depending on what

happens to the Central Avenuebridge, that’s the onlypedestrian bridge” across theriver, even if it isn’t verypedestrian-friendly now,Danison said.

The pedestrian/equestrianbridge also appears in the city’scapital facilities plan and waspresented to statetransportation officials lastsummer, Public WorksDirector Jim Miller said.

“We were told it couldn’t bedone, but I know it can,” Millersaid, citing a similar bridgeaddition in Bothell.

“It would be nice to tie itinto trails for pedestrian andbike traffic,” he said.

The bottom line, though, isif grant money becameavailable, construction of thebridge “could be a possibility,”Miller said

“I see a blending of digital and

online. We won’t get rid of paper or

teachers, nor should we.Superintendent Art Himmler

”

Himmler

Sirois

Online instruction

and students keep

the district viable

Pedestrian bridge waits for fundingBridge would run

underneath

U.S. Highway 97

City of Omak

A pedestrian bridge would allow quicker trips between East SidePark and the north Omak business district.

C4 • @ Large • The Chronicle • Feb. 9, 2011 www.omakchronicle.com

surfacing was constructedin 1912 across the sandy areanorth of Omak with moneyappropriated by the state.

Farmers immediately begantaking advantage of the statecode providing for roadimprovement districts. Duringthat year, one district for anadditional two miles of rock-surfaced road was formed andapproved by the countycommissioners, Yates wrote.

Much of the traffic acentury ago was by horse andwagon — there were 11automobiles registered in thecounty at the time.

Omak now has an estimated4,000 vehicles, but on anygiven day about 15,000 gothrough town.

Miller said he doesn’texpect that to change much,given Omak’s populationgrowth rate of about a half-percent a year.

Vehicle sales trends are amoving target, but according toIndustry Market Trends online,sales are on the rise from ayear ago. Vehicle productionwas up 37 percent in 2010

from the previous year.Nowadays, with the

exception of roads that are partof or serve new developments,street improvements largelyfall to government.

Omak has ongoing projectsto upgrade and repair itsstreets. They’re outlined yearlyin a six-year transportationplan. (See inset.)

Among the discussions overthe years is whether the citywants to move to one-waystreets through downtown.

Making Main and Ashstreets one-way would movetraffic through downtown, butmotorists might just keepdriving and not stop.

“One-way is not trafficcalming,” Miller said. “It’s goodfor moving traffic through.”

Two-way traffic makes formore of a “village atmosphere,”he said.

A partial mall, thoughexpensive, could enhance thatslower pace. A few blocks ofdowntown Wenatchee have apartial mall concept, with mid-block crosswalks and street-side planters.

Omak also has a pavementmanagement plan, but many

projects are on hold until thecity sewer rehabilitationproject is done.

“There’s no point in pavingif we have to tear it up forsewer work,” Miller said.“We’re just patching for now.”

If funding for sewerreplacement doesn’t come,then the city will have to lookat chip and crack seals topreserve the pavement untilthe sewer project comes.

In the coming years, the cityalso will pursue funding tofinish Ross Canyon Road to thecity limits by the Wildwooddevelopment, contract plannerKurt Danison of HighlandsAssociates said.

“We need to look at outsidemoney,” he said.

The vehicles residents drivealso could change as gasolinebecomes more expensive. Withpredictions for prices to reach$4.50 a gallon next summer,drivers might look to electricgolf carts or similar smallvehicles.

Several manufacturersmake four-wheel-drive golfcart-type vehicles with a topspeed of 35 mph and a range of25 miles on a charge.

represent a “$300 millioncherry” to Gov. ChristineGregoire in efforts to balancethe ailing state budget, Millersaid. The fund has been raidedbefore.

Gagne and CityAdministrator Ralph Malonelobbied legislators in January,hoping to convince them tokeep the funding intact.

The $10 million would payfor replacing the main sewerfrom Dewberry Street to thetreatment plant, Gagne said.

Malone said another optionis a loan from the stateDepartment of Ecology at 1.5percent interest.

Water and sewer rates arescheduled to increase April 15,bringing the basic residentialutility bill to around $90 permonth, Miller said.

“That will raise basic hell”when the increase sinks in withresidents, he said. Alreadysome have said they can’tafford the increase.

The trust fund loan could berepaid without any moredrastic increases, but thatmight not be true of otherfunding sources, Gagne said.

The city is trying to cobbletogether other funding to payfor replacing the entire system,to make it last for several moredecades, “but we have noguarantee of any funding,”Miller said.

If there are no loans orgrants, utility customers willhave to foot the bill.

Ignoring the problem isn’tan option. The Dewberry linedrains the north Omakbusiness area — medical

facilities, the shopping center,fast food restaurants and bigbox stores.

“They all run through asingle point of failure,” Millersaid. “The line is way under-sized.”

About 1,000 people work inthe north end, which generates70 percent of the city’s taxrevenue.

“If that fails, it’ll kill thecity,” Miller said.

“The sewer is a toppriority,” contract planner KurtDanison of HighlandsAssociates.

The city may not learn untilJune 1 if its trust fund requestwill be granted, Miller said.

Gagne said if the funds docome through, the city is readyto start breaking ground inOctober for a system thatwould handle current needsand leave room for expansion.

In hindsight, “thereshould’ve been a plan in placefor perpetual care” of thesystem, Gagne said. “I don’tknow why we didn’t realize itwas as bad as it was. But wedon’t want the main (line)crumbling.”

Omak isn’t the only cityneeding to upgrade itsinfrastructure.

“The whole country’sinfrastructure is similar,”Gagne said. “This is acatastrophic need for us, butwe’re not alone.”

Growth in the city alsobrings the need to makesewage treatment plantimprovements, as mandated bythe Department of Ecology.That $1 million upgrade will bepaid for largely through low-interest state loans, Miller said.

Sewer from C1

planner Kurt Danison ofHighlands Associates said.

“We want to make sureexisting resident have waterand sewer service,” he said.“We need to have the ability todeliver. We need the capacityto do those things.”

Despite concerns aboutsupply, Omak’s distributionsystem is fine, Mayor CindyGagne said.

“I think we are good onwater,” she said.

Although the city has anumber of undeveloped butplatted lots, the waterdistribution system and supplyshould handle them, especiallywith development of new westside wells, city officials said.

Omak’s original watersystem was installed by theOmak Townsite Co., beforeincorporation, with the initialline completed 18 days afterwork began, The Chroniclereported Nov. 4, 1910.

Four miles of pipe washauled from Brewster, as manymiles of ditch were dug byhand and the pipe was put inplace.

“The people of Omak weretreated to the sight of a heavystream of water under apressure that will assure themof adequate service andadequate fire protection,” TheChronicle reported.

The spring-fed system wasto be augmented by storedwater from a dam; the paperdidn’t report where that damwas to be.

Except for lines runningacross private property, much

of the present-day, well-fedwater system is maintained bythe city.

A century ago, townsiteresidents had moreresponsibility.

“All persons taking watershall keep their own servicepipe, stop-cocks and apparatusin good repair, and protectedfrom frost at their ownexpense,” The Chroniclereported. Users couldn’t fileclaims for damages against thetown for breakage or leakage.

“All leaks on service pipesin the streets, and in and uponall premises supplied, must bepromptly repaired by theowner or occupant, and onfailure to make such repairs,the company will turn off thewater, and charge one dollarfor turning on again,”according to the paper.

Service could be turned offfor unauthorized use or “willfulwaste of water.”

A modern-day water-relatedchallenge that wasn’t a concern100 years ago is arsenic. Thefederal government setsstandards for arsenic contentof municipal water.

The city already monitorsarsenic levels and has threewells “on the borderline” of theallowable amount, Miller said.

If the federal governmentmakes the standard morestringent, as has beendiscussed, the city would needto treat its water to remove thenaturally occurring arsenic.

Nearby Okanogan alreadyhas an arsenic treatment plant,which it acquired byparticipating in a federal studyof arsenic treatment methods.

Water from C1

Traffic from C1

• Building a new bridge onthe Central Avenue site, butmaking the span itself curved tostraighten out the angledapproach at the west end. Sucha bridge also would haveimproved supports; the currentbridge supports sit at an angleto the river’s flow and cause iceto build up during winter.

A replacement optionwould leave the city without adowntown route across theriver, if the old bridge wererazed, or require stagedconstruction to keep the oldbridge in use.

The span is the onlypedestrian route across theriver, contract planner KurtDanison of HighlandsAssociates said.

Miller said city officialsrecently met with 7th DistrictReps. Joel Kretz and ShellyShort and Sen. Bob Morton, allRepublicans, to discuss bridgereplacement.

“Their priority for thedistrict is replacing the KellerFerry,” he said, referring to theMartha S, in continuousservice since 1948.

Bridge from C1

Priorities for improving the city’s 28 miles of roads, not including six miles ofstate highways, range from replacing the Central Avenue bridge to safety andcongestion improvements near north Omak stores and pedestrian improvements.

In priority order, proposed projects include:• Central Avenue bridge replacement.• Omak Avenue-Central Avenue sidewalks from Hanford to Cedar streets.• Engh Road/U.S. Highway 97 intersection widening to eliminate traffic

congestion.• Quince Street intersection with Riverside Drive, dedicated left- and right-turn

lanes.• Omache Drive/Riverside Drive intersection reconstruction.• Quince Street extension to connect Koala Street and Shumway Road.• Quince Street traffic light at Riverside Drive.• Jasmine Street reconstruction intersection with Okoma Drive.• Jasmine Street resurfacing from Fourth Avenue to Okoma Drive.• Improve Sandflat Road at U.S. Highway 97.• Construct a fourth leg of the Shumway Road-U.S. Highway 97 intersection to

connect to Sandflat Road.• Ross Canyon Road reconstruction from Ironwood Street to the city limits.• Ash Street resurfacing from Dewberry Avenue to Central Avenue.• Granite Street resurfacing from Second Avenue to Fourth Avenue.• Fourth Avenue reconstruction from Cedar Street to Jasmine/Granite Street.• Central Avenue reconstruction from Ash Street to Fir Street.• Sandflat Road reconstruction from Engh Road to the city limits.• Asphalt overlays.• Sidewalks on Benton Street from Omak Avenue to the Omak Community

Center.• Energy and Americans with Disabilities Act access at the Omak Visitor

Information Center.• U.S. Highway 97 pedestrian bridge.

Priority street projects

College looks to technology

By Dee CampThe Chronicle

OMAK — Wenatchee ValleyCollege-Omak will employ newtechnologies to reach morestudents seeking post-highschool education.

Classes in the coming yearsmay involve more onlinecomponents, but the collegewill never lose its “face-to-facepresence,” Interim VicePresident for Instruction WaltTribley said.

WVCO, a branch of theWenatchee-based communitycollege, began in the mid-1970sas Okanogan County EducationService.

About 100 people signed upfor the first classes in English,bookkeeping, accounting andpsychology.

The classes were taught byinstructors who traveled toOmak on Fridays andSaturdays, according to“Reflections,” a history of thecollege.

It became Wenatchee ValleyCollege-North in 1979.

Enrollment was on the rise. In the fall of 1979, there

were 271 students, up from 146the previous year.

Student numbers havecontinued to rise, taking a 16percent leap this winter to 426full-time equivalent studentsfrom 366 the previous winterquarter, Tribley said.

“The average age is 31,”WVCO Foundation ChairmanSteve Chervinskas said.

“A large portion of thestudents don’t have basic skills.It often takes and extra yearjust so they can transfer. It’sintertwined with poverty andquality of life.”

The college historically hashad a dual mission: To serveboth traditional collegestudents just out of high schoolas they begin their collegeeducation and possibly transferto a four-year school and non-traditional, older students whodeferred college or needtraining for a new career.

WVCO has provided collegeclasses to the under-served,rural population of OkanoganCounty but that’s changing,Tribley said.

“We’re looking at ademographic that will bedifferent,” he said. “The notion

of under-served will shift.”Technological advance are

at the heart of that shift, asstudents are able to accessmore and more online classes,counseling, instructionalmaterials and more, he said.Online classes will be just onecomponent of a collegestudent’s education.

“In 20 years, there will beeven more connections to high-speed (Internet) technology.That will help,” he said. “Butwe will always maintain a face-to-face presence.”

Facilities improvements,whether for equipment orbuildings, will be part of that.

In 1980, then-Dean WiniVoelckers predicted the collegewould overflow its space in theformer Christ the King CatholicSchool.

At that time, college officialsdreamed of a 30- to 50-acresite out of town.

That out-of-town campusnever materialized, mostlybecause of the expense. But thecollege did outgrow its agingparochial school classrooms.

A series of fundraisers inthe 1980s led to construction ofFriendship Hall andremodeling projects on the restof the campus.

The WVCO Foundation,formed a few years ago, assistswith fundraising forscholarships, facilities andother monetary needs.

WVCO is bulging at theseams again, but getting thestate to recognize the localcampus for capital projects willbe “tough,” even though thecampus makes up 12 percent ofthe total college’s enrollment,Executive Director of

Community Relations KathiRivers Shannon said.

“Funding goes with thepopulation and where it’sheading,” Tribley said. “Theylook at expanding population.”

While Omak and OkanoganCounty aren’t growing much asa whole, college enrollment is.

“We were up 16 percent inenrollment in winter quarterversus last year,” Tribley said.

Meeting the collegedistrict’s mission in OkanoganCounty has not been easy, sincethe Legislature doesn’t provideextra money for the Omakcampus.

“There is no state funding,”Chervinskas said. “We want toeliminate the road bocks to anaddition. The college needsmore space.”

He said his dream is toacquire property near thecampus and then launch acapital funds project, similar tothe one that built FriendshipHall.

Community support will bekey.

“We’re so far off the beatenpath, we’re not really onanybody’s radar,” he said.

Community collegeenrollment is appropriate tothe economy — as jobs becomescare and the economydeclines, enrollment risesbecause people want to retrainfor new jobs, Tribley said.

As four-year schoolsincrease their tuition by doubledigits, younger students andtheir tuition-paying parents arerealizing community collegeclasses are a less expensive wayto spend the first two years ofcollege, he said.

Students also are making

the effort to register and pay ontime, and be more active intheir education.

“Seats are limited andtuition is expensive,” Tribleysaid.

Community colleges, suchas WVCO, also need to workwith high school students todetermine where they will fitinto the college curriculum.That can come byadministering collegeplacement exams early sostudents can get remediation ifthey need it and helping withthe transition from high schoolto college.

WVCO also will continue towork with the Omak SchoolDistrict. The two pooled moneyto build and outfit the school’snew Career and TechnicalEducation Center in 2006-08with the goal of offering somejoint-credit classes.

That hasn’t worked outexactly as planned, but collegeofficials still want to pursuejoint use of the facility. TheColville Confederated Tribesalso are involved.

“I see partnerships fortraining for skills so people canhold jobs in the area,” OmakSchool District SuperintendentArt Himmler said.

The future could bring acoalition of city, school district,tribal and college resources, hesaid.

At some point, WVCO alsoneeds to look at offering a four-year education option,Chervinskas said. TheWenatchee campus offers ajoint program with CentralWashington University andsomething similar could beoffered in Omak, he said.

Wenatchee Valley College

Students assemble a greenhouse at Wenatchee Valley College-Omak.

A branch of North CentralRegional Library

Omak Public Library: A 100 year tradition of Sharing the Printed Word, Knowledge, and Wonder

1910-2011 and going forward — Begun as an “Apple Box Book Exchange” in 1910 with hundreds of passionate and dedicated volunteer supporters over the years, the library is now a partnership between the North Central Regional Library and the City of

Omak in providing Books, DVDs, Audio Books, Magazines, Internet Access and Downloadable e-books to all area citizens.Sharing Resources to Promote Reading and Lifelong Learning

Thank you to our partners: City of Omak, Omak Pioneer Club, Omak Library Foundation, Omak Library Board, North Central Regional Library, Washington State Library, and our many volunteers.

crunch.”Everything is tempered by

budgetary constraints as thestate Legislature grapples withbillions in shortfalls. Additionalstate cuts are expected thisschool year, plus theLegislature is working on thenext biennial budget.

“I’ve given up second-guessing the politicians,” Siroissaid.

And enrollment iscontinuing to drop as peopleleave Omak in search of work,

Himmler said.“Omak is the only district in

the county with a substantialloss of students” this schoolyear, he said. “We are down 60students from last year.”

Sirois said district revenueis down $300,000 because ofthe drop in enrollment, plusstate cuts still are unknown.

District officials are tryingto track students to find outwhere they went. Aside fromusual back-and-forthmovement with neighboringdistricts, particularlyOkanogan, is an exodus toother areas.

“We found that most movedelsewhere in Washington for(parents’) employment,”Himmler said of early resultsfrom the ongoing study.

In 2001-02, the district had1,981 students. This year, thereare 1,604, not counting onlineenrollees. The high, in the late1990s, was more than 2,000.

“That’s close to 400 kids, or40 kids per year,” Himmlersaid.

The two online programsaccount for another 1,097students, but 97 percent of thestate revenue they generategoes to program costs; the

district retains 3 percent.Omak district official are

working with Wenatchee ValleyCollege at Omak to providetraining so people can qualifyfor those jobs that might beoffered in the area.

“But jobs for what? Who’sbringing in jobs? We can train,but there need to be jobs forthem,” he said.

Part of the problem lieswith businesses that closebecause there’s no one to takeover.

“We need to enticebusinesses to come to town,”Himmler said.

Traffic from C1

Computers are

important, but so

is maintaining

face-to-face contact

By Cheryl SchweizerThe Chronicle

OMAK – In 1914, a manwho needed a new harness forhis team could patronize Fink’sHarness Shop downtown.

But Fink’s was long gone by1954 because wagons andteams were long gone.

Maybe that guy who boughtharness in 1914 was still aliveand wanted one of those newtelevision sets.

In 1954, he could go toOmak Radio and TV, or maybeKirkham Radio and TV.

If any of the harness buyer’sdescendants are around today,they would look in vain forthose businesses.

Some businesses do stayaround.

Gene’s Harvest Foods hasbeen in business for half acentury.

Donaldson’s 5 & 10 Centstore was a fixture on Main

Street for decades; Bramer’sHardware was, too, and so wasOmak Mercantile.

Meadowmoor Dairy servedits customers for more than 50years.

Safeway and J.C. PenneyCo. have changed locations, butthey’ve been around Omak

since the 1920s. But a time traveler who

went back to 1973 would find alot different on Main Street.

That street was home toregional chains as well as localbusinesses.

Western Auto, Mode O’Day,Montgomery Ward, A&W could

all be found downtown.They’re all gone now.Many of the local

proprietors are gone, too. Remember Rosettie’s? It

was on the corner. Remember the Fashion

Shop, Spud Hut, Omak CameraShop, Thriftway, Don Bryan

Motors or Sewing Center?Times have changed. Buying

habits have changed. Stores move and close.

Businesses come and go.Downtown has responded

to changing times, and it willkeep changing.

It’s a only a guess whatcomes next for downtown.

Lyn Hruska has ownedNeedlelyn Time on Main Streetfor 24 years.

“As many changes as havehappened on in the last 20years, I have no idea,” Hruska

said, when asked to predict thefuture downtown.

Teri Nelson is the managerat Cramer’s Home Furnishings.

“If they don’t do somethingfor downtown, I think it’s goingaway,” she said.

“They” are city officials andbusiness owners; downtownneeds some active interest andpromotion.

Mayor Cindy Gagne said thecity has a role in downtownpromotion, but that the

See Downtown D4

D SectionFebruary 9, 2011

In this section:A look at business andeconomic factors that haveand will impact Omak

North Cascades National BankServing the Okanogan Valley

for 25 years!

721 South Okoma DriveOmak, WA 98841

826-1018

www.ncnbank.com

� A look at Omak — Past, Present and Future �

The Omak-OkaNOgaN COuNTy ChrONiCle

Sheila Corson/The Chronicle

A look north at the Main Street-Central Avenue intersection now, above, and in 1961, below, shows much the same building structure, but with different businesses.

Chronicle file

Downtown Omak evolves“

No one is going to promote

downtown unless downtown

promotes downtown.Omak Chamber of Commerce

President Corina Radford

”

By Cheryl SchweizerThe Chronicle

OMAK – The city’spopulation has beenremarkably stable in the lasthalf-century – or as CityAdministrator Ralph Malonesaid, the town has had “hardlyany growth in the last 50years.”

According to 2010 censusdata, Omak gained 770 peoplebetween 1960 and 2010.

Among other things, slowpopulation growth has affectedhousing.

In the next five years,“we’ve got to have houses,” saidMike McDaniel of John L. ScottReal Estate, Omak.

There are houses out there,especially in the above-$150,000 price range,McDaniel said, but there aren’ta lot of buyers in that pricerange.

Most of the city’s housingstock is old or overpriced,Malone said.

The housing bubble growthof 2006-08 produced “a little

spurt” in the market, McDanielsaid. Now, building activity haspretty well stopped.

The existing housingavailable will have to sellbefore contractors startbuilding new housing.

After threeor four ormore years ofpent-updemand, themarketshould comeback, he said.

Retireeswill drive themarket for awhile, but thecity needshousing at all

price levels, he said. The problem is no builder

can afford to buildunsubsidized low- andmoderate-income housing.

And in recent years, therehasn’t been growth because“there are no jobs,” Malonesaid.

It’s part of the city’sresponsibility to help create

jobs, Mayor Cindy Gagne said.But it’s not necessarily the

city’s responsibility to recruitbusinesses, Malone said.

Part of meeting itsresponsibility to encourage jobgrowth is upgrading cityinfrastructure, inventoryingwhat’s here, determining whatneeds to be fixed and fixing it,Gagne said.

In addition to upgradingand maintaining basic systemslike water and wastewatertreatment, that meansdeveloping a reliable fiber-optic network.

City officials also want towork with the ColvilleConfederated Tribes to develop

tribal business property inOmak.

Colville Tribal EnterpriseCorp. Chief Executive OfficerJoe Pakootas said tribalofficials want to diversifyeconomic activities, and theindustrial park on tribal land inthe Omak area is the mostlikely place to go.

In the past, the tribes haverelied on gaming and timber,he said.

Malone said he thoughttimber would continue to playa role in Omak’s economicfuture.

“The resource is there,” hesaid.

The Colville Indian

Plywood and Veneer andColville Indian Precision Pinemills are closed.

If the mills reopen, theyprobably won’t employ thesame size work force,Economic Alliance DirectorRoni Holder-Diefenbach said.

Rising fuel prices are one ofthe challenges of any futurebusiness development, shesaid, and that’s why it’simportant to keep the city’s railconnection. With its shippingcapacity, the railroad is“extremely vital to our region.”

Passenger rail service hasbeen pursued “more thanonce,” Gagne said.

She said she’d “love it” ifOmak had passenger trainservice.

The rise oftelecommunications also opensup new opportunities.

People who work in Seattleor other urban areas may notwant to live in those cities.They may not want to live in acity or the suburbs at all.

They are prime candidatesfor telecommuting.

“I think that’s somethingwe’re going to see more andmore of,” Holder-Diefenbachsaid. “There is so muchopportunity.”

The trick is finding a way tocapitalize when opportunityknocks, she said.

“We have to develop theniches that we can serve,”Malone said.

Omak has a “quaintness.But that bridges quickly intoantiquated” unless cityofficials, business owners andresidents keep services andinfrastructure current, Gagnesaid.

She said it’s important tohave good relations with othergovernment entities, both todeal with what city officials cansee coming and to prepare forthe unexpected.

Malone said the job wouldbe a lot easier if state andfederal agencies would get ridof unnecessary, stiflingregulations.

The state is “difficult for usto work with. And we arethem,” he said.

Some businesses

endure, but others

go by the wayside

What’s next? City remains remarkably stable

Malone

“We’ve got to have houses.

Mike McDaniel, John L. Scott Real Estate

”

The Chevrolet Volt isone of the newest carson the line, running onelectricity instead ofgasoline.

OMAK – If one goes back inmemory to 1954, when I arrivedin town, a rather different view isseen.

U.S. Highway 97 ran throughtown, up Okoma Drive, north onMain Street – the businessdistrict – and out Riverside Driveto hook onto the then-currenthighway to the north.

The highway followed a routethat curved and zigged and zagged around gullies. There was onlyone bridge over the Okanogan River. It hooked up to Omak’s eastside, past the park, which already existed, and a few stores and onout to St. Mary’s Mission, church and school.

Change came slowly.It took years for the north bridge over the river to be built.

Riverside Drive ran out to hook up with the highway, which wasstraightened and bypassed both Omak’s business district and thecenter of Riverside, nine miles to the north.

During the 1950s a series of major fires, one a year, broughtsome changes.

The Claire Pentz Furniture Store was replaced by the drugstore that had been part of the former structure.

Central Chevrolet changed from a dealership to a servicestation, which later added a fast food dispensary in addition to carservice and supplies. The feed store was rebuilt; the Jim HillHotel was rebuilt, as a motel.

And, a block off the main stem, and old hotel was rebuilt as abank.

The remains of an old mercantile building were torn down andreplaced by a bank, the first of several in that location; an oldwooden drive-in at First and Ash was rebuilt into a modern store,and at Ash and First a church was moved out and replaced byanother bank.

People waited, some uneasily, to see what would happen as thehighway bypass was built.

A highway overpass was built across Omak Avenue and thenorth bridge over the Okanogan sealed the bypass.

Then came the inevitable migration and influx of business torim that highway.

A blocks-long building, Omache Shopping Center, began theaccumulation of stores that now clusters on the north edge oftown.

People wanted to call it a mall, but others say, “If it hasn’t ahall, it isn’t a mall.”

The growing cluster of buildings and their parking areaserased memories of what that corner of Riverside Drive and thehighway was, various, a lumber yard and a car lot.

Omak Ace Hardware moved from downtown to RiversideDrive. Walmart arrived and later Home Depot. There are others.

The area became a sort of second city.Slowly, as if in agony, many businesses in the old downtown

failed. Some of the spots were filled by others.A few stand empty.The big box stores have drawn trade from far out of town, and

the gradual concentration of business in this central section of thecounty has spread east on Riverside Drive and south on OkomaDrive.

The library moved from a storefront location on Main Street toits own special niche in Civic League Park.

Schools have built and rebuilt repeatedly.The hospital was rebuilt at Shellrock Point and has expanded

several times.The last three were done on community responsibility.Changes among the churches are more apparent. Early on,

there were few of them, and people often attended those not oftheir denomination.

As new churches were built and established themselves, peoplewent to their own denominations, with a consequent lowering ofattendance in certain others. The total probably was not muchdifferent than it had been, but was more spread out.

The economic emphasis still is agricultural. There is no largemanufacturing facility in the area.

Apples and other fruit, cattle and, in the outlying areas not farfrom the communities, hay and wheat also loom large in theeconomy.

Lumbering and the pair of lumber mills also have had theirinfluence, but as the market for lumber has been invaded stronglyby plastics and by electronics, they have felt the impact of change.

Both are presently closed.And U.S. Highway 97, which has had a marked influence on

the location and condition of local businesses, continues to drawpeople in to establish businesses and to support them with theirtrade.

One might argue that the highway and its location has beenone of the largest influences in the life of Omak.

Less visible than some of the business establishments is theimpact of electronics on both the post office and the telephoneindustry. Change is working in both places, and optimists andpessimists alike can have a field day with their prophecies.

For the non-prophetic types, all they can do is wait and see.

D2 • @ Work • The Chronicle • Feb. 9, 2011 www.omakchronicle.com

By Cheryl SchweizerThe Chronicle

OMAK – In the Jan. 16,1914 edition of The Omak

Chronicle, publisher FrankDeVos was waxing enthusiasticabout the positive impact ofthe train, which had made itsway here in spring 1913.

DeVos was expounding onthe way the train had made itmuch easier to haul freight byfollowing the journey of a sackof flour.

“In the good old days, it wasbrought by boat in high waterto the dock at Omak,” DeVoswrote. “Later in the season, theboat had to leave it atBrewster. Here it was pitchedonto the old wharf boat to be

picked up byfreighters orthe autotruck, as thecase mightbe, to behauled overand throughthe dust anddirt for some30-odd milesto Omak.”

Theinteresting thing is that “autotruck.”

The railroad had reachedOmak less than a year beforethat editorial was written.

Although the railroad woulddominate large-scale freightand passenger hauling for along time, its day was comingto an end.

The future was that autotruck.

In 1914, the whole ideaprobably seemed kind of silly,looking at Omak and its dusty

streets. After all, most carswere toys for rich boys.

But the potential of cars tochange the life of the averageperson was already obvious,even here.

In 1914, Leander George setup shop in Okanogan as anagent for the manufacturer ofDetroiter automobiles.

It didn’t take long for others

to hear opportunity knocking:“1921 was when my granddadstarted a dealership in Omak,”Dave Price said.

It was a Chevroletdealership and it hadcompetition – not just fromFord, but from Buick, Pontiacand Dodge, and from the Reodealer, the guy who sold Stutzand the funny Stanley cars thatran on steam.

That was the same year thestate started requiring driverslicenses.

The first Ford Model A toreach Omak was the occasionof a gala celebration in fall1928.

Cars had a tremendousimpact.

People could come and goas they pleased, although if thecar had a gravity-fed fuelsystem, the driver might be

forced to back up Ophir Grade. During the Great

Depression, people found outthat with a little maintenance,cars could, and did, keeprunning beyond their expectedlifespan.

But as much impact as carshad on life before World WarII, they doubled or tripled itafter the war.

The new Highway 97 movedthe traffic off Main Street inthe 1950s.

Cars were faster and morereliable. Manufacturers addedmore features and designs gotmore and more elaborate.

In the early Atomic Age, itwas tail fins – the classics likethe ’57 Chevy Bel Air and theearly 1960s Dodges that lookedlike twin-tailed airplanes.

See Cars D4

century

of

progressElizabeth

Widel

Business complexionchanges over years

From dirt roads to the highway

As the railroads

boomed, cars

slowly edged in

The Chronicle

Two advertisements for Golm Ford-Mercury Sales show the 1965 Ford GT and Ford Mustang, now classic cars, and the luxury in anew 1966 Ford Galaxie 500. The latter shows new features, such as electronic door locks and a light to alert the driver if the door isajar.

“We’re not going

back to walking.Darrel Pressentin

”

Chronicle file

The Omak Theater remains, but the Jim Hill Motel, telephonebooth and parking meters are gone from Main Street.

Price

Chevrolet Motor Co.

Frank S. Matsura/Okanogan County Historical Society

Crew takes a break from digging the road around Shellrock Point between Omak and Okanogan in1911.

By Cheryl SchweizerThe Chronicle

OMAK – The first orchardswere planted on the flatssurrounding town before theturn of the 20th Century. Bythe time the city incorporatedin 1911, it was the jumping-offpoint for apple shipping.

Few of the varietiesproduced in those early daysremain in large-scaleproduction. Among thosegrown were Winesap, BenDavis, Yellow Newtown, RomeBeauty, White WinterPearmain, Grimes Golden,Winter Banana, King David,Delicious and Jonathan.

“The spring planting seasonfrom which this district isemerging has been the busiestperiod in the history of theOkanogan Valley,” The Chronicle

reported May 20, 1910.Dr. Joseph I. Pogue, one of

the city’s founders, shipped thefirst carload of apples producedon land irrigated by the federalgovernment’s OkanoganIrrigation District project.

The Ben Davis apples wereloaded on a steamboat inOmak, transferred to a freightcar in Wenatchee and hauled toSeattle.

The Chronicle reported in1915 that 200 carloads ofapples were shipped fromOmak.

That was up from 20carloads the year before.

Omak’s status as a businesshub goes back to those firstapple orchards – it was easierto get down the hill to Omakwith a wagon full of applesthan to haul that samewagonload to Okanogan.

The fruit business andOmak grew up together.

Irrigation district plannersenvisioned irrigating some10,000 acres, but the numberhas settled at round 2,000.

That acreage has producedmillions of boxes of fruit.

As the years went on,shipping changed fromsteamboat to train and the

current trucks.In 1910, each farmer had

their own packing facility athome and frequently sold thefruit themselves, WashingtonState University ExtensionResearcher Tim Smith said.

Over time, farmers gottogether with their neighborsto form cooperatives, whichmerged to form biggercooperatives.

Cold storage and ControlledAtmosphere warehousessprouted, mostly on Omak’seast side. Each warehouse hada packing operation.

Transportation improved,warehouses consolidated andfarmers became moreaccustomed to moving fruitlonger distances, Smith said.

Now, most apples aretrucked to warehouses inBrewster, Chelan andWenatchee.

It’s unlikely that fruitpacking will make areappearance in Omak, he said.

More changes are coming,and some of them may be to theadvantage of Omak and otherOkanogan County growers.

Washington StateUniversity is working on newapple varieties geneticallydesigned for Okanogan County,Smith said.

They are designed to growwell in old orchard soil likethose 100-year-old orchards onPogue Flat, and respond well tothe cooler temperatures.

“They are going to thriveunder our conditions,” Smithsaid. “It could be we’re going tobe able to start takingadvantage of our weather.”

New varieties will beavailable that mature at allstages of harvest. They are “notlike anything that we currentlygrow,” he said.

They will be available togrowers and consumers withinthe next five years, Smith said.

It’s still possible to make aliving on 40 acres, but it’s a lottougher than a century ago.

“It’s very difficult to make ago of it on 40 acres,” Smith

said. “It’s always been difficultto make a go of it on 40 acres.”

The optimum orchard sizeof the future will be 150-400acres, he said.

“I think we’ll grow applesforever” in the Omak area,Chelan Fruit CooperativeAssistant Manager Jim Divissaid.

Chelan Fruit was built from

many smaller cooperatives,including some from Omak.

It represents a number ofOmak growers.

Divis said he thinks therewill be two kinds ofconsolidation in the next 20years or so, “mid-size growersthat get a little bit bigger” and“corporate guys buying upchunks here and there.”

The “100- to 200-acre kindof grower” will be moreprevalent, but there’s still roomfor smaller operations, whenthe orchardist finds a niche,Divis said.

Apples will continue to bean important part of Omak’slivelihood if farmers “do whatwe do best around here,” whichis Red Delicious and related

varieties, apples that like thecooler conditions, Divis said.

Honeycrisp is a good varietyfor Omak, as opposed toGranny Smith and Gala, whichgrow better in the ColumbiaBasin. Pears also grow well inOmak, Divis said.

“We have to mix and matchto fit our location to do whatwe can do the best,” he said.

www.omakchronicle.com The Chronicle • Feb. 9, 2011 • @ Work • D3

By Cheryl SchweizerThe Chronicle

OMAK – The timberindustry here had itsbeginnings in a humblewooden apple box.

The wooden boxes may begone from the city’s streetsnow, but millions have movedthrough the community overthe years.

Apples and pears left thefield in wooden boxes. Andthey were packed and shippedin wooden boxes.

“You have records of morethan a million boxes going outof Omak,” Okanogan CountyHistorical Society directorRichard Ries said. “Just out ofOmak.”

It was usually a one-waytrip for the box, and there wasconstant demand for more.

“The sawmills in this countywere started sawing lumber forbox shook for apple boxes,”said Bud Fisher, whose uncles

spent their entire working livesin the timber industry.

Some grower cooperativesset up their own mills.

“And then they found outthey weren’t that good at thelumber thing,” Ries said.

But John Biles and NateColeman were goodlumbermen.

They started a partnershipin Omak in 1920, up in the hillscutting timber. They acquiredtheir first mill the next year.

The orchard owners in theOmak Fruit Growerscooperative had decided theyweren’t cut out for the lumberindustry in the recession thatfollowed World War I.

For the next 90 years, theBiles-Coleman Lumber Co. andsubsequent mills were majoreconomic players in Omak.

There’s potential for theindustry to be a major economicplayer again, but it depends on anumber of factors.

Timber was a volatileindustry in the 20th Century,even as Biles-Colemanprovided jobs for twogenerations of Omak residents.

The mill expanded in the1920s, shrank in the GreatDepression – even J.C. Biles

took a salary cut – andexpanded again during WorldWar II and the postwar boomthat lasted to the middle 1970s.

Then the timber businessbecame a roller-coaster ride.

Crown Zellerbach boughtthe mill in 1974 and sold it toSir James Goldsmith in theeconomic downturn thatfollowed.

The employees bought it in1986 and operated it as OmakWood Products. The mill filedfor bankruptcy in 1997 andclosed in 1998.

The Colville ConfederatedTribes then bought the facilityand has operated it since asColville Indian Precision Pine.

The recent economicdownturn led to the closure ofthe mill in December 2009.

The 130 mill workers werelaid off, joining an additional230 workers laid off nearly ayear before when the ColvilleIndian Plywood and Veneerplant closed. Neither mill hasreopened, and the city andtribe are scrambling to replacethe lost jobs.

There are talks about leasingthe mills, Colville TribalEnterprise Corp. Chief ExecutiveOfficer Joe Pakootas said.

City officials are cautiouslyoptimistic.

Reopening the mills willrequire retooling andupgrading to be competitive,Public Works SuperintendentJim Miller said.

Are there chances for a newmill?

Possibly.There’s definitely timber out

there, acting Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forestresource group leader RichieHarrod said.

The current condition of theforest contributes to fires, hesaid.

There is “an overabundanceof small and medium-size treesthat add to our problem. Andthey have value,” he said.

Clean air regulations makeit more difficult to doprescribed burns. Sooner orlater, there must be a place forthat timber to go, he said.

Now idle, lumber

mills could make

a comeback, if

conditions are right

Humble apple box started the timber industry

Ladd Studio/Okanogan County Historical Society

Workers take a break in the box-cutting department at Biles-Coleman Lumber Co. in 1934.

A jumping-off point for apples

Okanogan County Historical Society

The steamboat Charles Bureau unloads at Omak in 1909.

Brown Collection/Okanogan County Historical Society

An unidentified family works an early orchard on Pogue Flat.

Ladd Studio/Okanogan County Historical Society

Wagons line up to ship apples from Omak in 1915.

Darrel Verbeck

Extra fancy apples from Omak Fruit Growers/Wenoka bore the Omak Brand affixed to box ends.

By Cheryl SchweizerThe Chronicle

OMAK – Since travelershave needed a place to stay,there has been a local hotel,even before there was anOmak.

Travelers still need places tostay.

Depending how Omak playsits cards, tourism and relatedindustries have a stable orpotentially growing future,according to local operators.

The Omak Hotel was builtin 1906 as a hotel and boardinghouse.

It operated that way untilcurrent owner Paula Chamberspurchased it in the early 1970s.

A hotel more than 100 yearsold has hosted a lot of tenantsin its time.

There are “lots and lots ofstories. And I’m always anxiousto hear more of them,”Chambers said.

The old building allegedlyhas “at least one ghost” and alot of personality.

Former owners and theirdescendents have come by totake a look at Chambers’ work,and “they feel like I’ve kept the

integrity of the building,” shesaid.

Back in the day, most hotelvisitors came to town onbusiness.

Tourism was a difficultundertaking, best left to peoplewith leisure time.

Times have changed. Travel is easier. Omak now has attractions

to draw visitors, Omak InnManager Ann Lawver said.

“Omak is a thriving littletown because of its uniqueness.It’s always going to bring inpeople,” she said.

Outdoor enthusiasts lovethe fishing and huntingpossibilities, and “birdwatchingis really a big thing,” she said.

There’s enough businessnow to keep things hopping atRoyal Motel.

“I think we’re doing prettygood,” owner Diane Johnsonsaid.

Business may not get a lotbetter down the road, but shedoesn’t expect to get worse.

“I’m going to say that it(business) is going to beroughly the same” goingforward, Stampede Motelowner Cliff Olson said.

But business could getbetter with the right kind ofpromotion, Best WesternPepperTree owner RitaSantillanes of Spokane said.

“You have the perfectdestination” for outdoorenthusiasts, people who like tofish and hunt, go snowmobilingor hiking, Santillanes said.“You have so much to offerthere.”

But until about a yearbefore she began construction,

she didn’t know anything aboutOmak, she said.

If city, county and tourismofficials spend lodging taxrevenues wisely, they could tapinto that market moreeffectively, she said.

Until that happens, Omak’spotential will remain just that– potential.

“Tourism has a lot to offer,”Santillanes said. “Tourism putsa lot of money back into theeconomy.”

D4 • @ Work • The Chronicle • Feb. 9, 2011 www.omakchronicle.com

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initiative has to come from thebusiness district.

Downtown has to find itsown personality, OmakChamber of CommercePresident Corina Radford said.

“No one is going to promotedowntown unless downtownpromotes downtown,” she said.

The chamber has to serveall member businesses, not justone area of the city, she said.

“We need to keep the retailon Main Street if we want it tosurvive,” Novel Delights ownerJudy Daubert said. Officialsshould find ways to encourageretail businesses downtown,rather than service businesses.

The current mix downtownhas its advantages, Main StreetMarket owner Peggy Tofte said.

“I feel like we’ve got a lot ofgood stuff going on downhere,” she said.

Downtown has “a lot ofpersonality, and I’d hate to seethat go away,” Hruska said.

To attract customersdowntown, businesses have tokeep their personality, CornerShelf bookstore owner MikelJohnson said. “Everyone has tobe a little different or dosomething unique.”

Today, Omak has two mainbusiness districts: Downtownand the U.S. Highway 97-Riverside Drive area.

The Internet offers a thirdvirtual shopping district.

Radford said Omak businessowners have to operate as ifthey’re competing in a globalmarket, because they are.

“I think that’s the biggestchallenge, to have a world viewwith a hometown heart,” shesaid.

Customers know what’s outthere and while they’re loyal tohometown businesses, theytake into account service andprice, Radford said.

“We are competing with awider world out there.”

Radford said she, too, takesthe competition into accountwhen she stocks her store,Havillah Road Printing.

“I’m always shopping andre-shopping” for the bestwholesale deal, she said.

The Internet might be anew challenge for many localbusinesses, but for J.C.Penney Co. it’s just a newtwist on an old way of doingbusiness, Manager MaryLisenbey said.

The company always hashad a mail-order component.And as for the Internet, “wehave a huge share in thatalready,” she said.

But the day may come whena storefront is less importantfor national chains.

In the current recession, J.C.Penney Co. is closingunprofitable stores – the Omakstore is making money, she said.

National chains are affectedby changing buying habits.

Companies that remainflexible stand a better chanceof survival, Walmart AssistantManager Scott Premero said.

“You learn how to adapt toanything,” he said.

Walmart has adapted byproviding a way for customersto order online with freeshipping, he said.

Perhaps the most crucialcomponent of businesslongevity is customer service,Lisenbey said.

Premero agrees.“That’s the biggest key

factor,” he said.Johnston said she has

learned that success inbusiness is only partly aboutthe bottom line.

“The first priority of abusiness isn’t necessarilymaking money. It’s makingand keeping a customer,” shesaid. “I try to remember thatall the time.”

Downtown from D1

In the Age of Aquarius, itwas muscle cars.

Then came oil embargoes,long lines at local gas stationsand skyrocketing prices –gasoline hit $1 per gallon.

Higher fuel costs, currentlybetween $3.25 and $3.42 pergallon, mean highertransportation costs and adisadvantage for somebusinesses.

In the last decade, there hasbeen a lot of research intoalternative fuels and greentechnology, a couple of gas-plus-electric hybrid designs, acouple of truly electric cars.

Although there are hybridvehicles in Omak, theyrepresent a very smallpercentage.

And that may be the extentof alternatives to gas for awhile, local auto dealers say.

The price of fuel willincrease, but cars aren’t goingaway.

“We’re not going back towalking,” said DarrelPressentin of Consumer AutoLiquidators.

In the next 10 to 15 years,

“you might see a few morehybrid vehicles,” Pressentinsaid, and probably more diesel-powered trucks and cars. “Veryefficient little engines” in dieselcars, he said. “Great fueleconomy.”

The existing hybrids aredesigned to be most efficient incities, Price said, with a lot ofstop-and-go traffic.

Pressentin said he didn’texpect to see a lot of electriccars, because they too aredesigned for urban areas wherecharging stations would beeasily accessible.

Price said he’s skeptical ofelectric cars in general.

“I’m thinking hydrogen”fuel cells, Damskov Auto Salesused car manager BrianRowland said.

There’s the possibility ofincreased biodiesel use,Rowland said.

And yes, there are somebiodiesel facilities startingoperations in the region.

The state Department ofTransportation expects Omaktraffic will increase along thehighway as the property on theeast side of the right-of-way isdeveloped, said Dave Honsingerof the Wenatchee office.

Cars from D1

Stop and Stay awhile

By Cheryl SchweizerThe Chronicle

OMAK – Hop in thewayback machine and dial upOmak in October anytimebetween 1911 and 1950 or so.

Everything is different – theclothes, the cars, theconversation.

Go take a look at the Biles-Coleman Lumber Mill, anapple orchard, warehouse orbusiness.

One thing is immediatelyclear: Business required a lot ofhuman labor.

Today, technology andautomation have replacedmany of those laboring hands.

That’s probably the biggestchange in business duringOmak’s first century.

What once took dozens ofpeople now takes one or two, ifit takes anybody at all.

Even industries that are stillrelatively labor-intensive arelooking for ways to takeadvantage of technology.

Technology, like thepersonal computer, evenrevolutionized brainwork.

That has had both good andbad effects.

The good thing is that the lifeof the average person is a lot

easier than it was in 1911 or 1940.The bad thing is that

automation appears to haveeliminated jobs.

Small towns, like Omak,needed those jobs to liftthemselves from just-barely-making-it to middle classcommunities.

The question now is how tostay afloat.

It’s not a new problem –times are always changing.

Try and find a Winesaporchard on Pogue Flat or a 10-key adding machine at any bank.

But times are the same, too.The Winesaps might be

gone. But there are still plentyof orchards.

Downtown looks a lotdifferent than in 1950, but it’sstill a viable business district.

Some jobs probably aregone forever.

Some may come back. And some jobs haven’t been

invented, yet.If the past is another

country where people didthings differently, the future isan undiscovered country wherepeople will do thingsdifferently, too.

Prosperity will depend howwell residents adapt tochanging times.

Adapting to change

Ladd Studio/Okanogan County Historical Society

Professor Holden (right) addresses a crowd outside the Omak Hotel in 1913. The hotel, which still stands, was built in 1906.

Hospitality predates Omak

By Cheryl Schweizerand Dee Camp

The Chronicle

OMAK – Omak MunicipalAirport has untapped potential.

Built by the U.S. Army AirCorps for B-17 and B-29bombers during World War II,the runway is “capable ofhandling fairly heavypayloads,” city Public WorksDirector Jim Miller said.

“A jet can land and take offthere,” Miller said, addingsomething as big as a Boeing737 could set down in anemergency. “It’s substantialenough for anything Omakwould want to do with anairport.”

As such, the existing airportprovides a good base formodern and futureimprovements.

And both aviation andunrelated businesses couldtake advantage of it.

Today, it’s more potentialthan actual business activity atthe airport north of town.

The state Department ofNatural Resources rents spaceon private ground adjacent tothe airport, and an aviationmechanic and unrelatedaviation salvage business renthangars.

Federal Express rents space

as well, but stopped usingplanes to deliver freight acouple of years ago.

Ironically, Fed Ex packagesarrive at the airport by truck.

The airport does get a lot ofuse during fire season – planeshave been using the airport tofight forest fires since the 1930s.

According to AirportManager David Howe, it wasexciting to watch big PBYCatalinas – World War II-eraamphibious aircraft – use everyinch of the runway to take offwhen fully loaded with waterand fire retardant.

Nowadays, it’s more of ahelicopter job.

While the airport sitsquietly most of the year, Millersaid there is potential for morecommercial traffic, and morebusinesses to locate at theairport “if the demand everdevelops.”

That potential will beincreased as improvements aremade.

City officials are working onimprovements to the taxiwayand upgrading the windsock.

There’s at least onecommercial carrier interestedin using the airport, but itwants to see the runwaylengthened, Miller said.

The company would pay forthe project. Omak receives$150,000 annually from theFederal AviationAdministration for airportimprovements, Miller said.

The city tries to do a$600,000 project every four

years with the FAA money, hesaid. The next major projectusing those funds will be anelectrical system upgrade.

In the meantime thissummer, the runway will benarrowed and landing lightsupgraded.

The airport does havemodern navigationalequipment, crucial tofirefighting and important inexpansion of commercialtraffic.

Improvements around theairport can be difficult at timesbecause the airport is locatedon a enclave of city-owned landsurrounded by unincorporatedparcels in Okanogan County.

Furthermore, the city doesn’town and hasn’t annexed landbetween the city limits and theairport, City AdministratorRalph Malone said.

Some of the land betweenthe city and airport has beensubdivided already, so cityofficials have asked OkanoganCounty to avoid dense housingdevelopments at either end ofthe runway, Miller said.

Housing developmentscould make it more difficult,and expensive, to operate theairport or expand.

As the town and airportexpand, the whole question ofgetting to and from the facilitywill have to be addressed, saidDave Honsinger of theDepartment of Transportation.

The road system is “a realjumbled mess, in technicalterms,” Honsinger said.

But Transportation andcounty officials do not have anyplans to change that in theimmediate future, he said.

The biggest factor limitingfuture airport development issomething else entirely.

“The airport really needswater. That’s the bigweakness,” Miller said. “Andthere’s not really an affordableway to get water up there.”

To resolve water issues at theairport, the city would have tobuy property with water rights,Miller said. Then the city wouldhave to build a potable watermain to serve the airport at acost of about $30 per foot.

Despite currentimpediments, some localofficials hope the day will comewhen a commuter airline isinterested in touching down inOmak.

At present, there isn’tenough demand, Miller said.

That doesn’t stop MayorCindy Gagne from believingOmak’s airport is a natural fora commuter airline.

She said she believes OmakMunicipal Airport is moreviable than Pangborn Field inEast Wenatchee.

Individuals already use theairport to come and go, Millersaid.

“That goes on all the time, ”he said.

And the potential forcommuter service is there ifenough people want to use it.

“It really just needs – thedemand,” he said.

Cheryl Schweizer/The Chronicle

The PepperTree Inn is Omak’s newest motel — and only four-story building.

Airport has untapped potentialWorld War II-era

runway can handle

heavy payloads

E SectionFebruary 9, 2011

In this section:A look at the lifestyles of Omak residents, yesterday and today

Our Family, Serving Your Family

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� A look at Omak — Past, Present and Future �

The Omak-OkanOgan COunTy ChrOnICle

Families forge beginningsBy Sheila CorsonThe Chronicle

OMAK – Pioneer familiescarved their children’sinheritance out of the ground,often in the form of alfalfafields and orchards.

Some pioneer orchards andfields still belong to the familieswho worked their bodies to thebone to create them.

On Pogue Road, on thePogue Flats, in the shadow ofPogue Mountain, Dr. Joseph I.Pogue’s great-granddaughterlives on the Pogue homestead.

“It’s kind of neat that we getto live on property that has ourfamily name on it,” EleanorFrey, 75, said.

Pogue’s oldest daughter,Grace, married the Rev. David

Brown. Together, they hadFrey’s father, David PogueBrown.

Pogue first arrived in Omakin 1886, determined to set uplivestock, underestimating thewinters. Frey said he lost nearlyall his animals in one winter.

He then started his appleorchard, part of the OkanoganIrrigation Project.

Then, he had threedaughters, a right-hand hiredman and other workers tomake the orchard go with a fewvarieties of apples.

Today, the family still has theorchard, but with many morevarieties – pears, 15 applevarieties, apricots, cherries,plums, peaches, prunes,nectarines and pluots. Frey saidher parents started the fruitstand on the property, Brown’sFresh Fruits, in the 1970s.

The orchard has gottensmaller, but most is stilloperated by the family. Withonly a few trees of each variety,

the family is able to keep upwith the harvest without havingto hire many more helpers.

Some orchard is leased outwhile the rest is sold throughthe fruit stand, Frey said.

Frey’s nephew and nieceand their families live on theproperty and work the harvest,too, carrying on the traditionsto the sixth generation.

“It’s nice to have a place tocall home that’s always beenhome,” Frey said.

Just down the road offKermel Grade, another familyoperates a 101-year-old family

farm, which also began withapple orchards.

Burr and Rebecca Breshearsand their nine children beganthe orchard with about 40acres of four apple varieties.

Their grandson, Jim Freese,now operates the orchard withhis wife, Sandee. They havefour apple, three pear and twocherry varieties.

Many things have changedwith the family farm over thecentury, Freese said. Forinstance, when his grandfatherplanted the trees, they wereplanted 30-40 feet apart and

grew 25-30 feet high, taking yearsto reach full production. Now,Freese said most of his trees areabout 13 feet apart, growing lessthan half the height to reach fullproduction much faster.

Labor housing used to becanvas tents with cots in theBreshears’ days, as the familycan show with photographs.Now, the Freese’s have a housewith several bedrooms,bathrooms, a large kitchen, etc.

Pests were taken care ofwhen a worker would don aprotective suit and hose downthe trees with lead-arsenicmixture. Freese said he heard atale of a horse dying from theexposure. Now, the family ismoving toward organicproduction – about 25 percentof their crop – and pesticidesare much more regulated.

Regulations have been ahuge change over thegenerations, Freese said.

In his grandfather and evenfather’s days, “your challenge

was to live and grow,” Freesesaid. “Now, the regulatoryenvironment is astronomical.”

Diversity is more importantnow than ever, withcompetition from all over theworld. Freese said they havebattled that with addingorganic fruit (some of the feworganic pears in the area) and acouple side ventures with hisstepson, Shea Saxe.

Saxe began a subsidiary,Bellyfull Farms, of organicallygrown vegetables, sold on thehomestead site. He and theFreeses also work on 17varieties of cider apples, tablegrapes and blackberries.

Freese said the family isalso working toward moredirect marketing, with packingand shipping becoming moreexpensive. He hopes in thefuture to build a cold storage tohold his produce for sale,possibly on the home site.

See Families E4

Pioneers’ farms

continue to today,

despite changes

“It’s nice to have a place to call

home that’s always been home.Eleanor Frey

”

Frank Matsura, courtesy of the Okanogan County Historical Society

The Jacquish family harvests their apple orchard — Evergeen Orchards — on Pogue Flat in the early 1900s.

Sheila Corson/The Chronicle

Eleanor Frey shows her great-grandfather Dr. Joseph I. Pogue’smost famous invention, the lidding and stamping press.

Cultures bring tension, friendship

By Sheila CorsonThe Chronicle

OMAK – A friendshipbetween the city’s founder, BenRoss, and American IndianChief Charley Swimptkin lednot only the name of the city,but the existence of thecommunity.

The blending of cultures hasled to a diverse background, firstwith White settlers and nativetribes and later with Latinoimmigrants and migrants.

Ross and Swimptkin wereneighbors in the early 1900s.Ross owned what is nowdowntown Omak, andSwimptkin owned where EastSide Park is now.

According to a history bylocal Sam Sampson, whiletalking in the alfalfa field thatwould be the city, Swimptkintold Ross the word “Omache”meant “plenty” in his language.

That morphed to Omak and

the town was platted in 1907,incorporated in 1911.

Back then, not everyone inthe two cultures were friends.

Elaine Timentwa-Emerson,69, said she remembers thetreatment of her culture beingterrible as she grew up.

At school, whether at St.Mary’s Mission or publicschools, teachers insisted shedid not speak in her nativetongue or dress with nativeadornments, she said.

Many of the generationbefore her recall beatings whencaught speaking the language.

Fear led to many never

teaching their own customsagain, Timentwa-Emerson said.

“The traditions and cultureare almost dead,” she said.

But a resurgence has comeas people become more open totraditions, abuses have quit andelders are teaching the old ways.

Timentwa-Emerson nowhelps at the Native AmericanLanguage Program throughWenatchee Valley College-Omak. Teachers now areencouraging students to learnall about the culture and theSalish language.

See Cultures E4

The Chronicle

A Cinco de Mayo celebration brings out a big crowd.

American Indian

tribes, White

settlers, Latinos

live together

Brown family

David Pogue Brown and his sister, Ethyl, build apple boxes withan invention by their grandfather, Dr. Joseph I. Pogue.

E2 • @ Home • The Chronicle • Feb. 9, 2011 www.omakchronicle.com

By Sheila CorsonThe Chronicle

OMAK – Are the ‘80s reallycoming back?

Don’t worry too much aboutfashion trends, becauseaccording to local fashionistas,trends cycle quickly and alwayshave.

Rosie Davis remembers aday when the ‘20s and ‘30sstyles would come in and out,adding new fashions likepoodle skirts and saddle shoeswith ankle socks.

Her parents, Ernest andRosettie Hamon, ownedRosettie’s on Main Street fromOctober 1953 to November1993, along with her aunt anduncle, Johnny and GertrudeFlieger.

Davis was a junior in highschool when the shop opened,and, after college, startedworking their full-time in 1957.

The shop expanded severaltimes, offering women’s

apparel along with accessoriesand shoes.

When the shop expanded totwo locations, one also on AshStreet, Davis said she workedin the Ash Street store wherethe new shipments arrived.

Even then, skirts got longerand shorter and longer again.Tight fits traded out for loosefits back and forth. Colorscame in and out, although thebasic black always stayed.

“I don’t ever remember atime when the little black dresswasn’t in style,” Davis said.

Of course, some things didchange.

Davis said she saw skirts gofrom six inches above the ankleat the highest to only a coupleinches below the bottom.

Swimsuits went fromcovering everything to “almostnothing.”

And women who wouldonly wear skirts startedwearing jeans and slacks.

Davis said her mother neverlet her or her staff wear pants,though – except for jeansduring Omak Stampede week.

“It was a fight to let mewear P.E. shorts,” Davis said.

Fabrics changed, too.

In the beginning, almosteverything was cotton andRosettie’s staff ironed everyitem before it went on the rack.Later, polyester, rayon andblends came in. Davis said shewas excited when washablesilks first appeared.

The changes in fashioneventually led to Rosettie notenjoying her shop as much –much of the fashion wasagainst her idea of modesty.

Until the day she died –March 6, 2010 – Rosettie

would not wear pants or even adenim skirt in public, Davissaid.

Shopping has changed sincethe days of Rosettie’s, Davis said.

The city used to haveseveral mom-and-pop clothingstores, but now those arelargely gone, traded in forbigger department stores.

J.C. Penney Co. is thelongest-operating departmentstore to serve Omak.

In 1928, the store openedon Main Street and stayed untilmoving nearly 70 years later toits location now in the OmacheShopping Center along U.S.Highway 97.

Manager Mary Lisenbeysaid she has a blueprint andphoto of the first shop on herwall at the store now.

She has worked with J.C.Penney Co. for 26 years.

Like Davis said, Lisenbeysaid she sees fashions comingin and out quickly, usuallydriven by the 16-35 age group— younger than it used to be.

“Fashion seems to besomething that goes in cycles,”Lisenbey said. “Eachgeneration borrows from aprevious generation.”

Some items stay in demand,such as jeans and slacksalthough now with greatervariety than before – bootcut,low-rise, stone-washed, etc.

Fashion moves so quicklysometimes that Penney’s hasmerchandise it calls “fastfashion,” which picks up onfashions when they first hit thestreets and rush it to the storeswhile people are looking for it,Lisenbey said. If the storewaited until the next month, itmight be too late.

In Omak, the trends mightnot change as quickly or withquite the same impression.

Most trends are picked upin Hollywood or New York.They often get a “what is this?”response from locals, she said.

She’s gotten complaintssometimes about mannequinsbeing dressed too “risque.”

For the most part, though,when the trends hit the racks,they’re gone fast, Lisenbeysaid. And she notices amongher own children that when thetrend is over, sometimes theclothing heads straight for acharity or the trash.

The newest trends changingfashion have had largely to do

with fabrics and theirproduction.

There will always be newways to cut and fold fabrics,Lisenbey said, but the “green”movement has changed thebasic makeup of clothing.

For instance, fleece is madefrom recycled plastic bottles,some cottons have goneorganic and bamboo hasbecome a popular source.

Every era has some favoriteknit, Lisenbey said, but shesees things becoming morerecycled, or “up-cycled,” and“disposable.”

By Sheila CorsonThe Chronicle

OMAK – As rapidly astechnology progresses, this areaalways struggles to keep up.

In the early days, mosttechnological advances came inthe agricultural fields.

Dr. Joseph I. Pogue waswell-known for his inventions,including the apple box lid andstamping press.

A self-proclaimed“technology history buff,”Robert Swift of Ridgeline USAsaid when Omak incorporatedin 1911, micro-technology wasa theory.

Great minds like AlbertEinstein, Henry Ford andNikola Tesla were inventingand brainstorming.

The irrigation projects ofthe early days meant electricwells and pumps, while manyhomes didn’t have electricity,according to historicalaccounts. But in other areas,such as entertainment andhousehold conveniences, Omakstayed a bit behind the trendsfor the most part.

According to early editionsof The Chronicle, the first“talking picture” was shown inMarch of 1929, two years afterthe first talking film wasproduced.

Televisions startedbecoming big in the mid- tolate-1940s, but Omak didn’thave a television in a homeuntil 1953. Not long after, thefirst color television went onsale in the area, only a coupleyears after its invention,articles show.

Answering machines werefirst released in the late 1930s,and Omak finally got one inthe home of a doctor in 1954.

Swift said technology has

advanced, faster and faster,until the era of the personalcomputer, when “Moore’s Law”was established – every 18months, technology doubles.

Sometimes, the area didn’tkeep up with Moore’s Law.

According to Swift, thereare a couple factors for thecity’s delay in technologicalservices. For instance, when itcomes to Internet services, thegeography of the area makesline-of-sight impossible fortowers to reach far.

However, some differentservices work better for thearea. Swift said that’s why hisbusiness focuses on satelliteservices, since no mountainsget in the way there.

Several companies serve thearea via satellite.

The biggest challenge is thattechnology follows population.Swift said companies won’tinstall new equipment in anarea that doesn’t have thecustomer base to pay for it.

Both factors have alwaysbeen the same for Omak –difficult topography and smallpopulation. Until that changes,Swift said, the area willprobably always seem to be abit behind.

To keep progressing, Omakneeds more industry.

With more industry comesmore jobs, better incomes andmore people to make moredemand for technology.

“If we want to grow, weneed to get creative and getindustry in,” Swift said.

George Fain at ComputerNut Hut said the same thing –without better jobs and abigger population, Omak willalways be a bit behind.

Fain said he sees Omakabout 10 years behind manyother places he has lived across38 states.

At his shop on Main Street,he gets a lot of olderequipment coming in for

repairsand upgrades because thecustomers can’t afford new.

Better broadband servicescould help, but only for thosewho have the income.

“The Internet is an avenue,but the problem is they can’tafford it,” Fain said.

Swift said he expects to seeeverything get thinner, faster,smaller and cheaper, asevidenced by the television.

First, it was a huge, heavybox, now it is a flat screen tohang on a wall or wear on awristwatch.

Much of that new gadgetryis hitting Omak’s streets.

“We’re much better off thanwe were 10-20 years ago,”Swift said. “And we will getbetter still.”

In the future, althoughmore will go digital, noteverything can, Swift said.Bailing hay and feeding cowswill require equipment. Societywill never get rid of paper.

“Some things are just goingto be the way they are becausethey work,” Swift said.

Maybe in 200 years or sosociety might have foodtransporters, but Swift said thatmight be going too far.

Many futuristic films andbooks of the 20th centurypredicted that we would haveflying cars by now, after all,Swift said.

Fashion cycles and changes“

I don’t ever

remember a time

when the little

black dress

wasn’t in style.Rosie Davis

”

Trends go in and

out as quickly as

shelves stocked

“Each generation

borrows from a

previous

generation.Mary Lisenbey

”

1910s 1950s 1980s 2010s

Technology increases, area struggles to keep up

Sheila Corson/The Chronicle

Advances tied to

population, income“

We’re much

better off than

we were 10-20

years ago.Robert Swift

”

Above, that isn’t ablurry picture,viewers just need specialglasses to watchthe latest 3Dtelevision, ondisplay here atLadoux’sAppliances.

At left, anadvertisement fromthe 1950s boasts agiant 21-inch screen, one-third the size of what one couldget today.

The homelife of the averageOmak resident has changeddramatically over the last century,although some things might never change.

The Chronicle for many yearspublished a column entitled “OfInterest In And Around Omak,”adding other communities laterand changing the title. Aparagraph or two would make up an entire entry, telling peoplewho was sick that week, who had family visiting, who hosted agame of bridge, who had welcomed another child, etc.

I suppose you could call it today’s gossip column.They even shared who had been in the hospital each week,

listing names and dates and occasionally the conditions that putthem there.

Can you imagine that happening today?And you thought it was bad living in a small town today.Of course, there were some things that were never mentioned

– who was expecting a child, for instance. Such things were not spoken of until the blessed arrival…when

the stork dropped the baby at the family’s door.Other things weren’t quite so sensitively covered – if some of

the articles about crime or behavior were published today, thenewspaper could have been sued for libel.

But it’s almost precious to read the simple things that werewritten about the families in the community back then.

It’s even more interesting to think that people really caredabout the details of everyone else’s life.

I like to think that a lot of that talk celebrated the simplicitiesof the family life. It was important when Jane and Joe celebratedtheir 25th anniversary.

It was neat that Jane’s sister traveled all the way from Oregonto see her for the week. That bridge party at the Smiths was agreat time and others should hear about it and join next time.

Now, we’re lucky if we catch dinner with our families. Few have the time to host visitors or card games. Even fewer have that “nuclear” family with Mom, Dad and the

children. And the number of children? Typically we have a lot fewer today than then – according to

recent statistics, U.S. citizens aren’t even replacing themselvestoday. Those who have children have an average of two or three,and more than ever aren’t having children at all.

Before long, our population could begin decreasing.Changes aren’t all bad, of course. A hundred years ago, if Sally

got into a wagon accident in the middle of nowhere, she waswalking home or laying there injured until someone found her.

Now, roads, cars and cell phones make connection faster andcan ease some parents’ worries.

Back then, a lot of hurts (unwanted pregnancy, abuses,addictions) were never spoken of and families were torn apartwithout anyone knowing.

Now, more are open to talk about their problems and get thecounseling or other help they need.

Some things will never change. I guess we’ll always wonderwho’s dating whom, who’s expecting a child, who’s getting a newjob, who’s…well, you get the point.

Is that just small-town gossip? Is that people caring abouteach other’s lives? Probably a little bit of both.

Here’s to that small town where everyone knows your name,where families are connected and where people fight to keep asense of community alive.

Sheila Corson is a reporter at The Chronicle. E-mail her atscorson@omakchronicle.com.

www.omakchronicle.com The Chronicle • Feb. 9, 2011 • @ Home • E3

By Sheila CorsonThe Chronicle

OMAK – When Omak wasstill an alfalfa field and hardlyany homesteaders had settledin the area, the religiouscommunity was alreadygrowing.

And, it has continued tochange with the times.

It started with St. Mary’sMission, founded by FatherEtienne De Rouge of France in1886. In the years to follow,long before Omak’sincorporation, a ministry wasestablished for the AmericanIndian tribes, teaching themEnglish, math, music andmore.

When settlers did arrive, theCatholic church was the onlyoption for quite some time.

According to a history bySam Sampson, settlers andAmerican Indians attendedchurch together, living side-by-side and establishingfriendships.

It wasn’t until 1907 that thefirst Protestant church inOmak was formed – FirstPresbyterian Church, now onBirch Street.

By then, city founder BenRoss and friend Dr. J.I. Poguehad begun plans to form thecity.

Ross and Pogue were bothinstrumental in the church’sfounding, and some familymembers still attend thechurch to this day, according tochurch historical documents.

Back then were the days ofcircuit-riding preachers until apastor could be found.

Pogue’s son-in-law was oneof those early preachers andpastors.

Years went by and these twochurches have continued.

After multiple new

buildings, expansions, fires,leadership changes andministries phasing in and out,things are very different now.

Brother Fred Mercy at St.Mary’s said he came in 1966,when there were between 600and 700 Jesuits attendingservices. Now, there are about350. Old churches andmissions in other areas of thestate have been shutting downlately.

Real crises, such as theSept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks,have brought people back tochurch.

New ministries can bringothers.

One successful programwith St. Mary’s is the JesuitPeace Corps, where volunteerscome into the area to work inthe schools or otherorganizations in the city.

The church is likeeverything, with ups anddowns and changes in society,Mercy said.

“The future is up in the airwith the rest of the country,” hesaid.

The Presbyterian Church isin transition now, seeking anew pastor.

Pastoral intern Ron Kramersaid the church, which hasabout 150 members, is involvedin many ministries, some ofwhich have been around fordecades.

The church supports manymissionaries as well as localorganizations. It also holds aSunday service at AppleSprings once each month,vacation Bible school in thesummer and for three yearshas coordinated the SalvationArmy donations program.

Even the building has beena ministry, Kramer said. It isavailable for rent, but also canbe donated or with low-rentdepending on the agencyrequesting it.

Whatever happens with anew pastor, Kramer said thechurch is staying strong withits outreach.

“We’ve had a hold-steadyphilosophy through thetransition,” he said.

Whatever the future holds,Kramer said he thinks thatphilosophy will be maintained.As the needs of the communitychange, so will the ministries ofthe church.

Sometimes, the communityneeds outweigh the resourcesof any one church.

That’s why Dave Hellyer,director for ManfisherMinistries, said it’s beenheartening to see churchescoming together to addressneeds, especially on large socialissues.

“Every pastor is on the frontlines of social issues,” Hellyersaid.

One more recent example isthe rotating homeless shelter,hosted for a week in severalarea churches over the winter.Churches recruit volunteersmostly from their owncongregations to staff theshelter.

In other benevolence giving,the religious community hasstepped up recently to work orgive funds to variousministries.

Hellyer said he doesn’t seethe affects of the economicrecession lifting very soon, andchurches will be needed moreas the needs increase.

Churches are also the bestinstrument to help parentsraise their children, Hellyersaid, preparing futuregenerations not only to bemorally sound, but productivecitizens in society. That hasbeen the biggest challenge, as

families have often set asidethe church for otherinvolvement.

Pastor John Richards,Omak First Baptist Church,said in his 12 years as pastor,the number has grown steadilyfor attendees, but more thannumbers, the depth ofcommitment and passion of thechurch members has increased.

“The difference with thisgrowth is that new people arenot content sitting on thesidelines – they want to be apart of what God is doing,”Richards said.

New ministries like homegroup fellowships have beenintegral in this growth,Richards said.

Sharing the Bible, prayersand praises in a home,sometimes over a home-cookedmeal, has helped membersgrow closer.

“I believe that such times offellowship and discipleship willcontinue to be vital as we seechallenging times mountingbefore us,” Richards said.

Richards said he seeschurches growing in the futureas people become disillusionedwith the world’s problems andstart seeking somethingdeeper.

“People are looking forsomething real,” he said.

Rev. Kevin Schnake, TrinityLutheran Church, said hehopes as the communitystruggles, it would take theopportunity to go back to God.

“The Lord is calling peoplecloser to himself. And slowly,but surely, people are listeningto that call.”

By Sheila CorsonThe Chronicle

OMAK – The Saturdaynight air is filled with laughterand music and the sound offeet dancing across woodenfloor boards.

“We used to have a danceevery Saturday night,” DelMundinger, now 95, recallsfrom growing up in Omak.“Anyplace they could havethem, they had parties.”

Back then, there wereseveral dance halls or barnsused as dance halls in the area.Local musicians would team upand play songs for swing,foxtrot, waltz, square or otherdances every week.

Mundinger said there wasalways something going on,and always a lot of people toenjoy it.

“Any time there was anykind of celebration, everyonewent,” he said.

That could be those weeklydances, community picnics likethe Fourth of July picnic,baseball games or other events.

Back then, just abouteveryone went to the countyfair, too.

Mundinger can rememberto when it was held in Orovilleand Riverside before taking itspermanent home in Okanogan.The crowds then were huge.

He also attended the firstOmak Stampede in 1933 – thesame year he graduated fromhigh school.

There were many otherrodeos, he said, but nothinglike Stampede.

Dealers of new tincturesand such would throwentertainment-filled medicineshows together to market theirproduct, Mundinger said.

Many folks, including the

Mundingers, gathered forpinochle, canasta or other cardgames in homes. Now,Mundinger said he’s achampion at Wii bowling.

By the time he was a youngadult, married to Ruth, now92, the dances had dwindled.

The two faithfully headedfor Twisp once each month fora dance there.

As some eventsdisappeared, other things havetaken their place, Mundingersaid.

“The changes were so big,but I guess we didn’t noticethem at the time,” he said.

Many developments haveplayed a part in the changes.

With radios came a newbrand of entertainment,Mundinger said.

Then television, Internet,etc., changed society.

Nowadays, families arelooking for inexpensive ways toentertain the family and stayconnected, parade organizerConnie Thomas said. Eachorganization seems to have itsown set of events, although notas many people show up toevents as they did.

Lately, attendance has beenbetter, Thomas said. More arevolunteering to help withevents and participation hasbeen rising again.

Challenges always comewith how much time a familyhas to be involved in events,Thomas said.

Omak Chamber ofCommerce President CorinaRadford said that in her 16years in the area she has seengrowth in the quality andquantity of events.

Attendance has been betterin the last few years, with someevents, such as the PerformingArts Center series, selling out

some nights.Wallets do affect

attendance, Radford said. But as more people come in

bringing more ideas anddiverse cultures, more eventswill continue to pop up andmore people will spread theword to increase attendance.

“Getting a taste of activitiesgives people a taste for more,”Radford said.

Lately the challenge hasbeen scheduling events not tooverlap with others.

Thomas said online socialnetworking has changed somedynamics, too.

People don’t have to get outon the streets and see people toknow what is happening – theyjust have to log on.

Radford said the virtualworld will never replace events.

On the contrary, socialnetworking can produce moreattendees and volunteers to getinvolved because more can bereached more quickly.

Instead of isolating people,the Internet can expose peopleto more of what is happeningin the community.

“Social media definitelyhelps bring people out,” she

said. Social media is one way

Amber Redman communicatesto get people to her communitybarn dances, a new event shekicked off last fall.

Redman had been attendingdances in Coeur d’Alene,Idaho.

She talked to several of theolder generation about whatthey used to do, having dancesevery weekend.

A lot of her generation – intheir 20s – have little to do inthe area for events that areclean, fun, affordable and opento the whole family, from theirchildren to their grandparents.

As she started the events,with about 170 people the firstdance, the laughter and activitybecame “contagious.”

“You can see why they usedto do these all the time,”Redman said.

Even though many peopledon’t know how to danceanymore, Redman said thedances have been popular evenwith beginners.

The callerteaches everydance, whethercircle or squaredance, waltz orother folk dances.

Redman said ifall the people whohave attended oneof her dancescame at the sametime, she wouldn’tbe able to fit themin the hall.

Redman saidshe hopes thetrend will continueto catch on, withthe contagionspreading for familyevents in thecommunity.

George Ladd

Congregants arrive for a service at the First Presbyterian Churchin 1913.

First Presbyterian Church

Vehicles drive up to the newest church building, built after anarson in 1988.

Churches ebb, flow and continue“

People are looking

for something real.John Richards

”

Attendance down,

ministries meet

different needs

Community events: Bringing back the old, adding the new

The Chronicle

Steamboat excursions will not likely be able to come back, likethis all-day trip down the Okanogan advertised in 1911.

Katie Beddoe, Apple Springs

Del Mundinger used to dance. Now, he’s a Wii bowling champion.

“Any time there

was any kind

of celebration,

everyone went.Del Mundinger

”

century

of

progressSheila

Corson

Small-town gossip,small-town caring

THREE MEN, THREE HATS

Okanogan County Historical Society

Three men in 1909 show their different tastes in hats.

E4 • @ Home • The Chronicle • Feb. 9, 2011 www.omakchronicle.com

PRECHT-HARRISONNEARENTSCHAPEL

509-422-3333

www.omakfuneral.com • 2547 Elmway • Okanogan

OKANOGANCOUNTY

CREMATORY

509-422-2353

Families From E1

Farming will continue toget more mechanized,especially as the labor forcegets tighter, Freese predicted.

More will move to directmarketing as part of foodsafety and sustainability. Tokeep viable, small farms willcontinue to diversify and findniches that big farms can’ttouch, he said.

They aren’t sure what thefuture of their family farm willbe, whether Sandee’s sons willtake over the operations or not.

Until then, Freese said hewill “crop until I drop.”

Family demographics andfarms changed together.

Roger Bauer, ChiefExecutive Officer at OkanoganBehavioral HealthCare, said

100 years ago families marriedand had many childrensometimes just to survive.They needed strong hands andbacks to keep farms alive.

As technology increased,business changed and warsand other life-altering eventsoccurred, the family wasn’t sodesperate for each other forsurvival. Divorces were morefrequent and children werefewer.

Bauer said some couplesstill rely on each otherfinancially, but it typicallyisn’t a life-or-death situationlike it used to be, especially inagricultural areas like thisone.

Now, such as in the Poguefamily, some descendantssimply take delight in owning apiece of their family heritage.

Cultures From E1

The program reaches out toschools and youth groups,hoping to reach the nextgeneration.

Timentwa-Emerson saidthere aren’t many who cancommit to the intensivetraining in becoming fluent inanother language, especiallyone that some have almostnever heard before. Butexposure is increasing, withgraduations featuring honorsongs, services holding prayersand readings in Salish, etc.

Her own mother made sureTimentwa-Emerson saw boththe White and AmericanIndian cultures through herlife, and she hopes otherfamilies will do the same now.

Language instructor KennyCondon said it takes severalyears to learn the language,which his father spoke in manydialects from the 11 bands.

But the culture andlanguage hasn’t changed afterall that time, just the peoplehave.

“The only thing changing isthe world itself,” he said. “Wetry to hang on to all the thingsof the older people.”

A third major cultureentered the community mostlyfor work.

Raul Martinez, 54, said hehas heard tales from areaLatinos of family memberscoming to build railroads.

More people are familiarwith the agricultural work thatdrew many migrant workers.

That was what drewMartinez from California.

He heard about the influxof workers in the area and theneed for a Spanish-speakingchurch service.

He moved in 1981 and hasbeen doing interpretingservices ever since.

Born in Mexico, Martinez

said he learned English whenhis family moved to Californiawhen he was 9 years old. Hisfamily spoke Spanish, he hadto know English for school, sohe became fluently bilingual.

In the mid-80s,immigration reform ledfamilies to join their fathersand husbands and settle in thearea. That was when the needsrapidly increased forknowledge of the Spanishculture.

Racial tensions couldmostly be tied to a lack ofunderstanding between thecultures, Martinez said. Thedisrespect and stereotypingwas mutual, Martinez said,leading him to confront somepeople.

“Don’t say, ‘they’rediscriminating against me’when you’re discriminatingagainst them,” Martinez saidhe would tell people.

As the families changed andchildren attended schooltogether, understanding grewbetween the cultures. Betterexposure meant “the fear of theunknown” faded.

More resources becamebilingual and more classeswere offered for English as asecond language or Spanish asa second language. Communityevents began incorporatingMariachi bands and othertraditional Latino culture.

Martinez said he thinksthere will always be a need forsome interpretation services,especially in specialized areassuch as courts and medicine.Some don’t want to learnanother language.

He sees the need forinterpreters and racial tensionsfrom and toward Latinosdropping.

“I think we’re on the righttrack,” he said. “I’d like to see acontinued effort toward what’salready being accomplished.”

Sheila Corson/The Chronicle

A view from the Freese house shows their Fuji apple block andthe city of Omak in the distance.

Sheila Corson/The Chronicle

The U.S. flag and Colville Confederated Tribes flag lead aprocession of dancers at Paschal Sherman Indian School at the2010 Sunflower Festival.

Omak Stampede collection

Omak Stampede organizer Paul Maley with American Indianfamilies on Aug. 7, 1948. Front row, left to right Eldon Wilson,Mary Lou Wilson, Paul Maley, George Friedlander, FrankAndrews (Chief Ukshanet), Elya Williams (Chief Charging Hawk),and Ned Cleveland Kamiakin. Back row, Nellie Moses Kamiakin,Yvonne Friedlander, Barbara Friedlander, Sadie Moses,Geraldine Friedlander. Mr. Friedlander is wearing the head-dressmade by his grandfather, Chief Moses.

By Sheila CorsonThe Chronicle

OMAK – It began 101 yearsago with pioneer womenexchanging books andmagazines.

The Omak Library beganthrough the Pioneer Club in1910, with its first set-up inThe Omak Chronicle office inan apple box.

It has had several quarterssince then until its current andnewly remodeled building onAsh Street.

A huge turning point for thelibrary came in 1960 whenvoters approved the five-countyNorth Central WashingtonRegional Library district.

Omak’s library became thehub and circulation jumpedfrom 6,000 to 55,000 booksannually, old news reports say.

In grade school, BettyJeglum, now 82, said thelibrarian was Mrs. KathleenPugh, the wife of a reverend.

She remembers Mrs. Pughwould hold any books shebelieved were unsuitable forchildren under her desk. IfJeglum wasn’t old enough for abook in Mrs. Pugh’s mind, shedidn’t get to check it out.

In the 1950s, Jeglum joinedthe Pioneer Club.

At the time, many of thewomen involved were thefounders. The club was limitedto 25 because no one had ahouse large enough to host aluncheon for a larger group.

Jeglum said there are nowabout 15 club members, withmembership dropping slowlyover the years.

The biggest annual event isthe book sale during Art in thePark each year. From itsbeginning in the 1960s to now,paperbacks have always been 50

cents and hardbacks $1 each.The library takes book

donations for the sale, whichthe club sorts and checks,Jeglum said.

The Library Foundation andthe library board also play theirparts (both of which Jeglum isalso involved in). Together thethree support parade floats,summer programs, constructionprojects and more.

Jeglum said she willcontinue serving the library aslong as she can.

“You can tell I love mylibrary,” she said.

The library is particularlyexciting now, with the remodeland upgrades making itbrighter, more open and muchmore energy efficient, Jeglumsaid.

Librarian Sharon Reddicksaid changes over the years,especially lately, have had to dowith technological advances.

Recently, the library’sonline presence has expandedso that books can be checkedout online, including electronicbooks. A program calledQuickFacts helps folks get ontheir way for research.

What people research in thelibrary has changed, too.Reddick said it used to bepeople wanted to learn moreabout history, geography,spelling and so on. Now,people ask about life problems– how do I manage mydiabetes? And other self-help,how-to books.

That in-depth research stillrequires books, Reddick said,“not a quick Google.”

Because of that, Reddickdoesn’t expect books todisappear to electronic-only.

“The life of the in-your-hand novel is phenomenallypopular,” Reddick said. Manybook clubs have started upthrough the library.

Another library goal is toincrease early literacy, a pushthat began with No Child LeftBehind legislation in the lastdecade and has continued.

“Libraries can reachchildren before schools can,”Reddick said.

DVD rental has been a large

part of the library’s traffic, andReddick said she can see thatincreasing.

Some day, that might betraded for online rentals, butthey will still be availablethrough the library.

Now, some audio books andregular books are availableonline, where the item can bedownloaded. After the due datepasses, it disappears from theelectronic device, Reddick said.

In all, the Internet has

proven to be a“great social equalizer,” whereanyone can do research, keepin touch via e-mail and othersocial networking, apply forjobs and more, Reddick said.Because of that, it has becomealmost completely necessaryfor everyone and has been a bigservice of the library.

In the last two years, alllibrary branches have beenequipped with self-check outsto save staff time.

As technology continues tochange, so will the library,Reddick said.

“We see the library beingaware of the trends, makingchanges and being viable forthe future.”

As for the Pioneer Club, itsmembers intend to keep doingwhat they’ve been doing,adapting to the library’s needs,president Donna Hanks said.

“Our future is just tocontinue helping the library.”

“We see the

library being

aware of the

trends, making

changes and

being viable for

the futureSharon Reddick

”

Library thrives with new challengesHumble origins:From an apple box

to online arsenal,

library changes

Sheila Corson/The Chronicle

Visitors sign in at the Jan. 11 open house after the library’s recent remodeling.

North Central Regional Library

A screen shot from www.ncrl.org shows where digital downloads are available.

“Our future is

just to continue

helping the

library.Donna Hanks

”

Chronicle advertisement

This advertisement appeared in The Chronicle inthe 1919 as residents tried to raise money for thepublic library through an oyster feed for 50 centsper plate.

By Al CampThe Chronicle

OMAK – The OmakStampede’s future seemsassured with its revampedarena bleachers a success andmore and more competitorsfinding the rodeo the secondweekend in August.

The rodeo, started in 1933on the high school athleticfield, suffered damage in 1997from a tornado that tore outbleacher roofing and seats.

New bleachers, first used in2009, are proving a bigsuccess, Stampede presidentGeorge Dunckel, 69, said.

“It’s gone from a local rodeoto a Professional RodeoCowboy Association rodeo,”Dunckel said.

Dunckel’s been associatedwith the rodeo since he hadtwo horses competed in theWorld Famous Suicide Race inthe 1950s. He worked as avolunteer on the contestantgate, then the board and thelast three years as president atthe urging of long-time boardmember Irv Sasse, who passedaway this winter.

Other changes in the lastcouple decades include movingfrom four rodeos held Fridaythrough Sunday to the rodeosbeing held once a day Thursdaythrough Sunday. The parkingat East Side Park, where therodeo arena lies, changed fromeveryone entering wherever toa controlled flow.

And the Wild Horse Race isno longer competed.

“Last year was the secondyear with the new bleachers,and butt-in-seat sales were up,”Dunckel said. “We did not raiseprices. It was a good year.”

This year looks to be evenbetter, with ticket sales wayahead past years, Dunckel said.

Last year the rodeo drewabout 17,000 over four days,office manager Sarah Groomssaid. The goal this year is tosell 20,000 tickets.

“Ticket sales already arewonderful,” Dunckel said. “Weare selling tickets down thereto beat heck.”

Posters were back last weekand brochures for the rode areexpected this week. TheJumboTron will return withreplays during the rodeo.

The rodeo’s successtranslates to bigger purses,which are attracting topcowboys.

“All the big boys are comingto Omak now,” Dunckel said.

Purses were increased from$6,000 per event to $8,000last year.

Hermiston also raised itspurse to $12,000, though bothrodeos are tops in theNorthwest for that weekend,Dunckel said. Since cowboysstarted getting entry fees andsome travel paid by sponsors,they are able to travel to morerodeos.

“So cowboys can go backand forth,” he said. “We hadclose to 500 contestants lastyear. That is a lot of horsetrailers.”

As for the future of the

rodeo, suicide race and arena,Dunckel said:

“We are just trying to getfrom one year to the next. Wewant to get the most use out ofthe arena we can during thesummer months.”

“I want to diversify, want toget some concerts in here, growthe demo derby,” Grooms said.“At some point, we needsomething other than the SuicideRace to draw people here.

Bringing bands a few timesa year to the arena has alwaysbeen a goal, Dunckel said.

“I’m not going to gamblerodeo money on whether theywill draw enough. If we canever find a promoter, we want

to bring in some music.”The goal would be to find

bands traveling through thearea, say between the Spokane

area to Seattle or Vancouver,B.C.

See Rodeo F4

F SectionFebruary 9, 2011

In this section:Sports and recreation changed a lot in Omakin the last century.

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� A look at Omak — Past, Present and Future �

The OmAk-OkAnOgAn COunTy ChROnICle

Arena drives fans to rodeo

By Al CampThe Chronicle

OMAK – The game offootball changed more than anyother sport in the last 100 years,and probably will lead the wayin change the next 100 years.

The biggest change willoccur in uniforms and rules toprotect players.

Formations and offenses willalways find new ways to userules to score.

The flying wedge was muchfeared in the early days,resulting in crippling injuriesand sometimes deaths whenopposing sides collided.

In 1905, there were 19football fatalities nationwide.

Then President TheodoreRoosevelt threatened to shutdown the game if drasticchanges were not made.

“There’s been a lot of rulechanges to increase the safety ofathletes,” former Omak AthleticDirector Jim Brucker said.

“Equipment continues toevolve for safety purposes, rulescontinue to change to makegames and contest safer as

well.”Current rule changes

coaches are working withinclude the concussion rule,where a player who suffers apossible concussion does notreturn to a game and can notcompete until he gets approvalfrom a doctor.

“The greater awareness interms of safety is good for thesport,” Omak Athletic DirectorJoe LaGrou said. “Theincreased focus on the health ofthe athlete is prudent andnecessary, such as with therequired trainings for coacheson the new concussion law andheat-related illnesses.”

“In the old days, you would

take a player out, look at themand say, ‘OK, go back in thegame.’” Brucker said. “Now, youare not suppose to be able to dothat. That is a real positive rulechange for kids.”

“I think the concussion rulewill have a major affect onfootball,” former Okanoganfootball coach Denny Neelysaid. “It already has for allsports.”

Neely, who played againstOmak as both a football playerand coach, said concussionswere taken for granted in thepast.

“Now, they are finding howharmful it is,” he said. “Thereare changes at all levels, all the

way to the pros. There weresome pro quarterbacks this yearthat were out games withconcussions. I think it is goodfor the sport.”

Although mass formationplays became illegal, therealways will remain variationswith nicknames like jumbo orstudent body left or right.

Grantland Rice and othersportswriters helped popularizethe sport with poeticdescriptions of games andcolorful nicknames.

His nicknames included“The Galloping Ghost” and the“Four Horsemen” at NotreDame for its backfield.

Nicknames continue, thoughoften given by teammates.

This year’s Omak footballteam included nicknames of“Sasky” and “Greener.”

The youngest member of the1910 Omak team was Bert Cast,who graduated in 1914 andwould be a quarterback.

He would write for areanewspapers and work on localradio.

Early day football gameswere played on the high schoolcampus located just east ofMcCliment’s ranch and a shortdistance from town.

John McCliment played on

the 1910 football team. It was his recovery of a punt

and subsequent touchdown thatprovided for the final 5-0 score.

A kick was disallowed sinceOmak did not drop the ball onthe ground before kicking thegoal.

“There was little penalizing

for fouling or offside plays,” TheChronicle said of the game.

During one game that yearwith Brewster, a band played inthe street then followed playersto the field. The band alsoplayed during the game.

See Football F4

Courtesy Omak Stampede Collection

The flat behind Omak High School provided a perfect place for cars and fans to park and watch rodeos and football games.

Frank S. Matsura/Okanogan County Historical Society

Early-day football games were often dusty affairs. At lower rightis the shadow of Frank S. Matsura using his view camera.

Stampede enjoys

spiffed-up bleachers

Rules, uniforms

altered for safety

Omak football changes over time

Al Camp/The Chronicle

The new Omak Stampede Arena shined even before itscompletion in 2009.

“There’s been a lot of rule

changes to increase

the safety of athletes.Jim Brucker

”

“It’s gone from a local

rodeo to a Professional

Rodeo Cowboy

Association rodeo.Stampede President George Dunckel

”

F2 • @ Play • The Chronicle • Feb. 9, 2011 www.omakchronicle.com

Ladd Photo/Okanogan County Historical Society

Roy Meader, left, and Frank Stoddard display deer in Omak that they shot in 1911.

A dip in the irrigation ditchcooled youth long ago

view

from

the

sidelinesAl Camp

By Al CampThe Chronicle

OMAK – A coveredswimming pool would be nicefor Omak, but nearly a 100years ago, a jump in the riveror irrigation ditch was just assoothing on a hot, summerday.

Clyde O. Pock, 82, said heand hisbrother,Alfred, 85,used to putrocks in aditch on theflat whenthey wereyoung.

“To getthe flow alittlehigher,”Pock said of swimming in thelate 1930s.

Dave P. Brown, who had anearby orchard, would chasethe boys out of the ditch aftergetting them to remove therocks.

Duck Lake, which wasknown as Bide-A-Wee Lake,was another favorite place.

In later years, Brown wouldhost a weekly poker game inhis work shed that wasattended by the Pocks.

A swimming pool wouldlater be part of the James J.Hill Hotel just north of themovie theater. Then a city poolwould be built east of the riverin East Side Park.

Pock said he doubted acovered pool would be installedin Omak for year-roundswimming.

“Not if the city has to payfor it,” Pock said. “This is adepressed area at the moment.

I’m talking about the UnitedStates.”

Omak citizens have longdreamed of a covered, four-season swimming pool.

They’ll probably have todream awhile longer.

The existing outdoor pool,built in 1981, is in good shapeand is “cost-neutral” becauserevenue from Carl Precht RVPark subsidizes the $80,000annual cost to run the facility,Public Works Director JimMiller said. Both the pool andthe RV park are in East SidePark.

But enclosing the poolwould be expensive, both froma construction standpoint andfrom the maintenanceperspective, he said.

“The city doesn’t haveenough money to run it andpublic use probably wouldn’tbe enough,” he said.

“I’d like to see it covered,but there’s no funding,” MayorCindy Gagne said. “There areno real plans.”

An attempt was made in theearly 1990s to form a YMCA tobuild an indoor pool, but fund-raising went slowly andorganizers gave up. A few yearsago, another group wanted tobuild a covered pool to servethe mid-valley area, but nofund-raising was done.

Grants could defrayconstruction costs, but they’retough to find, Miller said.

Meanwhile, as electricitycosts rise, city officials areexploring different ways toheat the pool.

The solar heating system,installed when the pool wasbuilt, leaks and is worn out,Miller said. Perhaps a solarsystem could be use to pre-heatthe pool or providetemperature maintenance, butthe bulk of heat would need tocome from another source.

Okanogan County Historical Society

Three unidentified men in swimsuits and smoking pipes cooloff on porch in south Omak in 1909.

By Al CampThe Chronicle

OMAK – Omak anglers canexpect a great future fishingnearby lakes and the OkanoganRiver.

Hunting should remaingood, but finding places withwildlife could get tougher asmore people move to theregion.

“I certainly think our fishingopportunities in the present ispretty decent,” district fishbiologist Bob Jateff said.“Certainly, our regulations arenot the easiest to follow, but wehave a lot of opportunities inOkanogan County.

“I don’t know about thefuture, that is a hard one topredict,” Jateff said. “A lot ofour fisheries are based on runstrength. It’s hard to predictthose things very far down theline.”

“The future in theOkanogan is bright, both foranadromous fish and trout,”Region II Fishery ProgramManager Jeff Korth said.

Korth anticipates stockingrates to become standardizedwith 12-inch trout being raisedfor release in lakes.

“No one is happy with (9-inch trout) any more,” Korthsaid. “People used to be happywith a 9-inch fish. Now, theywill settle for fewer fish if theyare nice fish.”

The future of salmon andsteelhead fishing looks verybright, Korth said.

The 2010-11 steelheadseason shows a 26,000 fishrun. Last year was a record35,000 fish. In the last decade,runs have been 10,000 orbetter, Korth said.

“All in all, we are doingpretty good,” he said.

Spring Chinook seasonscould be terrific in the futurewith the addition of the ColvilleConfederated Tribes building asalmon hatchery next to ChiefJoseph Dam.

The fish eventually will bereleased into acclimationponds near Omak, Riversideand other locales.

Korth said there will come atime in the near future when

the tribe will need to takebrood stock from spawninggrounds to start the hatchery.

When the hatchery becomesoperational, it is expected 1million Chinook will bereleased into the ColumbiaRiver.

Steelhead and salmon willeventually be managed thesame, Korth said, with seasonsset to catch hatchery fish tokeep the percent of wild fish onthe spawning grounds at agood percentage.

There will be a mandatoryretention of fish with clippedadipose fins, he said. Korthestimated such changes areabout five years out.

“We’re in the middle ofcrafting regulations for nextyear,” Region II WildlifeManager Matt Monda said.

“Beyond that, I sure canspeculate as well as the nextperson.”

Monda said expandingpopulations affects deerhunting success, but not nearlyas much as weather.

“We have a pretty healthydeer population,” Monda said.“The buck-to-doe ratio hasbeen fairly stable. There is noreason to believe that won’tcontinue in the future. Thefuture of the sport, at least fordeer hunting, appears to besolid.”

The state started institutingwildlife rules around 1900. Therules were still pretty basic by1910, where a fishing licensecost $1 for Okanogan County.The same dollar bought you alicense in 1905, too.

Each county sold fishinglicenses for that county alone.

Hunting licenses were $5for Okanogan County.

Some early day lawsincluded it was unlawful tohunt deer on any island, totake fish in any manner within300 feet of any fishway, and tokill geese, brant and otherwaterfowl on the Columbia andSnake Rivers in certaincounties.

You could hunt for elk,moose, deer and caribou, quail,antelope, mountain sheep andgoat during certain times of theyear.

Trout fishing was allowedfrom April 1 to October. Theseasons now are the thirdweekend in April to the end ofOctober for most lakes.

Limits were 20 pounds aday for all varieties and youcould not possess more than30 pounds at any time.

You could not fish for bass,perch, “croppie,” pike orpickerel in June and parts ofMay.

Limits were interesting.Limits on upland birds in

1910 were 15 birds a day and30 a week as passed by a five-member game commission inFeb. 23, 1911.

In 1910, fall, deer, mountainsheep, mountain goats andcaribou Oct. 1 to Nov. 30, limittwo per season.

Hungarian partridges areprotected until Oct. 1, 1913.

There was a limit for prairiechickens, sage hens and nativepheasants of five per day or 30per week that included all birdskilled, no matter how manyvarieties.

See Game F3

Pock

By Al CampThe Chronicle

If you were sitting inOmak a 100 years ago, youknew that baseball was theking of sports, that peoplewintered in town becausethey were unable to get totheir snowboundhomesteads and apples grewabundantly, 50 to a limb.

Today, high school sportscompete with many otherentertainment sourcesincluding video games,Internet and television.

The future most likelywill bring more distractionsthat, along with budget cuts,could change the landscapefor school sports.

Towns may have clubsports, rather than schoolsports, as they do in Europe.

In 1910 in Omak,horseback was the favoredmode of transportation.

The first car would notarrive until 1911. First aStanley Steamer for GeorgeW. Lee puffed into town. AReo driven in for ClaudeGeorge followed soon after.

For longer trips,steamboats were preferredbut ran only when OkanoganRiver water levels were high.

Teams used all thosemodes, plus canoes, to reachaway games.

Today, schools sendteams to away competitionsvia bus or van, which canreach their destination in acouple hours or less, rathertaking a day.

The future probablyincludes the same driventransportation, though viagovernment mandate withmore and more efficientvehicles and, hopefully,cheaper fuels. Teams mayalso travel by airline to faraway places like Hawaii,Florida or California tocompete.

A typical high schoolfootball game in 1910, whichwas a year after the first-evergame in the county, wouldfind players using straps ofleather for helmets thatprovided dubious protectionto a player’s noggin.

They would wear bulkyjerseys, more to stay warmthan protect from vicioushits.

Baseball mitts wererudimentary, formed fromcowhide. And bats weremade of wood, notaluminum or composites.

In the future, expectchanges that will follow thelines of providing playersafety while saving money.

Scoring and rules differedin the past, too, though somesports, such as baseball,keep the same scoringmethod.

Officials took their jobsless seriously, too.

Omak High Schoolplayed teams from dominantConconully along withRiverside, St. Mary’sMission, Okanogan andBrewster, which The

Chronicle referred to as the“down river team.”

Those from Omak oftenwere called Omakites, whilethose from Okanogan wereOkanoganites.

Teams now travel togames as far away asLeavenworth during theregular season, and in thenot-so-distant past toEphrata and Quincy.

But if consolidation ofteams were to occur in thenext 100 years and townsstayed relatively the samesize, much as they have overthe past few decades, traveldistances and time would beincreased to reach teamsfrom similar-sizedpopulation bases.

Borrowing on the past,sports enthusiasts can expectcontinued rule changes to

See Change F4

Game abounds1910 fishing limit:

20 pounds per day

ChangeneverceasesBudget cuts affect

sports landscape

Okanogan County Historical Society

A nice stringer of fish was landed and kept in this century-oldphotograph.

Basketball scores improvewith better rules, play

By Al CampThe Chronicle

OMAK – WashingtonInterscholastic ActivitiesAssociation started organizedstate tournaments for girls’basketball in 1975, but girlsand boys were playing thesport in Omak a 100 years ago.

In the intermittent century,a lot has changed in the sport,from scoring to uniforms.

“We did not have the 3-point shot” in basketball, ClydeO. Pock said, whose officiatedbasketball and football for 56years and is in the stateOfficials Hall of Fame. “Whenyou got fouled, you got toshoot.”

Now, a team must commit acertain number of fouls beforea player can shoot.

There have always beenspecial rules in the past, oftencalled “house rules.”

Anyone spot the hole in thewall near the hoop at theMolson School? The holeallowed a player to step up forextra height on a shot.

Basketball was invented in1891 and went through a lot ofrule changes for a decade.

Dribbling was not part ofthe original game except for

the “bounce pass” toteammates. Passing the ballwas the primary means of ballmovement.

That led to low-scoringgames, like in late 1910 whenConconully beat Omak, 5-3.Omak would avenge the loss30-8.

There was a newspaperreport that Omak beat a townteam, 8-6, with “considerableroughness.”

Defenses packed tight nearthe hoop, which eventuallybrought about the 3-point shotto open up defenses whilegiving a scoring advantage foroutside shooting.

When asked if basketballscoring might include a 4-pointshot, Pock said, “I’ve seenplayers fire one that I think,that’s a five because they are sofar out.”

Pock laughed and said, “Butthen, who predicted the 3-point shot?”

Shot clocks also help speedup the game, keeping teamsfrom going into long stalls.

“Part of that is fan interest,the fans like to see the gamemoving,” Brucker said. “The 3-pointers increase scoring, takeadvantage of other skills likeshooting outside.”

Hanson Photo/Okanogan County Historical Society

Omak High School’s first basketball team in 1909 included (fromleft) Cliff George, Albert Wotring, Ogden Nash, Floyd Galbraith,Burt Cast and Leon Spaulding.

A covered pool

remains a dream

By Al CampThe Chronicle

OMAK – Today’s athletesspeed to sporting events inschool buses and vans.

Sometimes teams fly, likethe Omak wrestling teamjetting down to Florida for awinter tournament.

There’s always been alament about how long it takesto get to games, with thechorus reaching a high about adecade ago when Omak waselevated to 2A play in the Tri-Cities and Yakima.

The return home wasalways early in the morning.

But all that pales comparedto the Omak baseball teamtaking nearly 12 hours to travelby steamboat to Wenatchee fora game in 1911.

The Steamer Okanogan tookoff at 6 p.m. Friday night to thesound of a military bandplaying.

It arrived nearly 12 hourslater in the first-ever attempt totake fans downriver on asteamboat, The Chronicle

reported. A stop was made in

Brewster and the steamer heldup for a couple hours due towinds near the Chelan landing.

Organizers, who charged $5for a round-trip ticket, initiallyfelt about 100 would ride thesteamer and made up enoughplaces to sleep for the same.

But just before taking off,nearly another 100 paid up forthe trip.

Most of the baseball teamwas not able to sleep on thetrip that included people

cheering at landings as thesteamboat slipped past.

After breakfast and walkingaround Wenatchee, cars tookpeople up the hill to RecreationPark, where the game wasplayed.

Wenatchee took advantageof he sleep-deprived players towin, 13-7.

Sporting events are stillcontested at Recreation Parknear Wenatchee High School.

Today, Omak and otherCaribou Trail League teamstravel less than 3 hours in anyone direction.

The longest commute isbetween Tonasket andLeavenworth.

But travel was much longerwhen Omak was a 2A school.

“That was brutal,” formerOmak Athletic Director Jim

Brucker said of the long trips.“The trip to Yakima was 200miles in a bus. You also had tostop and eat. It was hard.

“I think it would be great ifareas were closer to play in, butI would rather keep schoolsseparate and keep a NorthCentral Washington Leaguewhere your travel is not toooppressive.”

A century ago, Omak’sbaseball teams were describedas a fruit grower’s aggregation.

In late 1911, when riverwaters were too low for the useof a steamer, fans and playersused “automobiles, launchesand rigs” to reach games, TheChronicle reported.

In the fall of 1910, the Omakfootball team campedovernight near Davis Canyonsouth of Malott on its way to

play Brewster.On the way back, the team

reverted to apple fights.

Afterwards, the coach andthree players walked to Malott“for the exercise.”

www.omakchronicle.com The Chronicle • Feb. 9, 2011 • @ Play • F3

By Dee CampThe Chronicle

OMAK - The city hasextensive plans for improvingEast Side Park, but manyprojects will have to wait forfunding.

East Side is the largest, butnot the oldest, park in town.

That distinction goes toCivic League Park, on AshStreet. The Civic League, apioneer women’s organization,spearheaded social and civicimprovement projects.

The park’s original trees,now massive, were nurtured astiny shoots by club memberswho carried buckets of waterthrough dusty streets fromtheir homes or the OkanoganRiver.

According to The Chronicle,East Side Park was approved inMarch 1911 through the workof Sen. Wesley L. Jones, R-Wash., the signature ofPresident William HowardTaft.

A good portion of the park,on a traditional Indiancamping ground, was donatedby Chief Charles Swimp-ta-kin,according to the cityComprehensive Park andRecreation Plan.

Since the 1930s, the OmakStampede has been abenefactor of the park, with aportion of each year’s rodeoproceeds going towardmaintenance and parkdevelopment. Omak StampedeInc. leases the arena, which

was replaced in 2009, throughan agreement with the city.

Much of the city’s 105 acresof park land was donated byearly settlers.

“The pioneers whoenvisioned parks, schools andother cultural improvementsare honored in Pioneer Park onthe flood control levee on thedowntown side of theOkanogan River just upstreamfrom the Central Avenuebridge,” according to the parkplan.

The pioneers and CivicLeague came through again, astheir descendants and theleague financed the memorialpark.

The park plan includes aninventory of and proposedimprovements to the city’s parkproperty.

“We have a master plan andwe’re trying to stick to it,”Public Works Director JimMiller said.

But budget constraintsmean some projects have towait. The city is inmaintenance mode, withminimal maintenance at that.

“We will spend less moneyon (East Side) this year,” Millersaid. “It’ll be green and useful,but we’ll spend less time on it.”

The city has a whole list ofprojects for East Side Park,from reconfiguring ball fieldsto moving the skate parknearer to the pool and makingit an in-ground facility.

“But all bets are off exceptfor maintenance,” Miller said.

One area that will getattention is Carl Precht RVPark, near the river.

‘Grand Old Game’ remains popular in Omak

By Al CampThe Chronicle

OMAK – There’s a long, richhistory for baseball, but the future forhigh school teams statewide willinclude a change in bats.

Starting in 2012, schools will beusing aluminum bats tested underdifferent certification standards withthe net affect of the ball coming off thebat at a slower speed.

Bats used this year will be illegalnext year.

Omak baseball coach Peewee Howedoes not necessarily agree with thechange, which will be expensive.

“A top-of-the-line bat is $460,” hesaid. “If you have a varsity and juniorvarsity team, and some schools haveC-squads, you have to have aminimum of three bats per team. Youare talking a lot of money. We allknow how the economy is.”

The change is to make non-woodenbats meet a standard used by theNational Collegiate AthleticAssociation (NCAA). The newstandard will ensure non-wooden batsare more comparable to wood batswhile minimizing risk, improve playand increase teaching opportunities,the National Federation of State HighSchool Associations Web site said.

Baseball has always beendangerous. An account of a game a100 years ago had an Okanogan playerbeing caught in a barbwire fence “thatencountered his nether garments,” anews report said.

Baseball was king in Omak a 100years ago. Towns imported players forsummer games, finding them workthen turning out weekends for games.

In a March, 1911, story, thenewspaper said of organizing a teamthat “nothing less than achampionship team will satisfy thefans.”

A week later, the paper hootedseveral new arrivals from “the Hoosierstate” had arrived, including starpitcher Henry Simpson who hadcompeted for Omak a year earlieralong with several others fromIndiana.

J.N. “Mick” Staten was set up in abarbershop or what was termed by thenewspaper a “tonsorialestablishment.”

In response, Okanogan imported a

pitcher from Keremeos, B.C.Howe said the future of baseball,

while lacking in popularity the last 10to 15 years, will make a come back.

“It’s free to go watch,” he said. “Ithink everybody is getting back intotheir kids more than they have the last10 years. We all know if you win a fewgames it helps get people in thestands.”

Howe said getting athletes to turnout for baseball is tough since thereare five scholastic sporting activitiesavailable in the spring – tennis, golf,track and soccer besides baseball.

“That pulls kids away,” he said. “Ifthere wasn’t soccer or golf available,there might be more kids available forbaseball.”

In 1911, games were played intoJuly on a new diamond south of town.That summer, under pressure to keepfans cool from the summer heat, agrandstand with an overhead wasconstructed.

Games today are played at EastSide Park in Omak.

Past teams, which were describedas an “aggregation of fruit growers”are from a much more diverse group.

Baseball in Omak has producedsome great players, but perhaps nonemore so than Don McCormick whowould be drafted in the fourth-roundof the 1974 draft by Philadelphia.

He was 1-1 for the 1980 WorldChampion Phillies.

McCormack, 55, currently is abench coach for the Long IslandDucks in the Atlantic League.

In September, 2005, he posted his800th win as a manger. He became abench coach in late 2006.

He learned the game from hisfather, Ross, for whom a field isnamed at East Side Park.

While local baseball is an amateursport now, a century ago it was notunheard of for players to win money.

Conconully would hold threegames in two days with a $200 purse.

At the same time, there werequarter-mile horse races with purses

of $150.Baseball officials did not escape

notice, too.In a spring 1910 game, Omak won

a baseball game in extra innings bypushing across two runs in the bottomof the 11th inning.

“Mitchell came in from third andCollins came in from second direct,”The Chronicle reported. “It was anexciting moment and the umpire’sattention was occupied to such anextent that he failed to see Colin’sshortcut. This was unfortunate, as thecut was apparent to every one else andone score was decisive. “

Rule changes are nothing new insports, even baseball where in 1911 apitcher could not be called for a balkmove towards second base, accordingto a newspaper account of a game.

A runner at third, seeing what heperceived as a balk headed homewhere he was thrown out.

The umpires conferred and ruledhe was out, as the pitcher’s turntowards second was not illegal underthe rules at that time. Now, a balk canbe called if a pitcher incorrectly turnstowards any base.

Okanogan County Historical Society

The 1913 Omak baseball town team poses for a photograph. Teams in the early days could include players brought hereespecially to play the game.

Baseball bats to change;

fans still enjoy watching

“We all know if you win

a few games it helps

get people in the stands.Omak baseball coach

Dave “Peewee” Howe

”

Long trips continue for sports teams

Pheasant hunting used to bequite good on the flat, Clyde O.Pock said.

“You could find pheasantsas thick as whatever in theorchards,” he said. “Then weused irrigation ditches and ranwater down to trees. Thatcaused a lot of weeds to grow.”

Pheasants used the tallgrass for their nests.

“When we went tosprinklers, that kind of droveout the birds,” Pock said.“Water would get on the nests.DDT may have something todo with it, but I think it more achange in sprinkling methods.”

Rules could change fast acentury ago.

Gov. M. E. Hays went on afall deer hunt with hounds. Hewas so appalled when hereturned, he declares that theuse of hounds should beoutlawed or there would soonbe no deer to hunt.

The Legislature heard hislament and in a few monthsmade it illegal to do so.

Today such legislationwould take a long time toinstitute, much less quicklyafter a request by a governor.

The governor also asked forprotection for bear.

During a discussion aboutchanging hunting laws, GeorgePiper wanted to protect “teddybears” as well as black andbrown bears.

Later, someone asked toprotect pipers, such as GeorgePiper.

There were bounties onsome animals considered pestsin the early days of Omak.

Bounties in 1910 included

$50 for a cougar (up from$20), $50 for a gray or timberwolf, $7.50 for wild cats (upfrom $5) and $5 for coyote.

“Back then, there were a lotmore animals than people onthe landscape,” Monda said.

A Dec. 9, 1910 Chroniclestory told how Mrs. C.F.Mullenix shot and killed awildcat on the Emery Ranchbelow town.

She bagged the nine-poundcat with a 25-20 Winchesterrifle.

“The first shot fired bythe intrepid lady flew wide ofthe mark but the second wastrue to aim and penetratedthe animal behind the frontleg,” the newspaper storysaid.

In a late December 1910story, someone, perhapstongue in cheek, proposed

bringing a thousand stray catsfrom Pennsylvania to thecounty to control gophers.

Rabbits may not have had abounty, but they wereconsidered pests. Anewspapers story told ofhunters using dogs to killrabbits in a section during ahunt.

Today there are no bountieson animals, but the state ispaying money for northernpike minnows caught in thelower portion of the ColumbiaRiver. The fish eats endangeredmigrating fish.

The commission alsowanted to compel every hunterin the state to wear a bright redcoat to reduce danger and tocreate one license for huntingin eastern Washington.

“It only took them what, 90years to get it,” Monda said.

“Baseball is 90

percent mental.

The other half

is physical.New York Yankee

Yogi Berra

”

Okanogan County Historical Society

Nearly 200 flocked onto a steamer similar to the North Star totravel to Wenatchee for a 1911 baseball game.

Game From F3City plans to improve East Side ParkCovered swimming

pool is on hold

City of Omak

The 2009-10 redevelopment plan for East Side Park calls forsome realignment of baseball/softball fields, relocation of theBuell Stephens Veterans Memorial and the skate park. Apedestrian concourse is planned between the Omak StampedeArena and the encampment grounds, circular area at right.

Okanogan County Historical Society

A 1905-07 hunting license showed seasons for various game.

F4 • @ Play • The Chronicle • Feb. 9, 2011 www.omakchronicle.com

“It�is�right�on�their�way,”Dunckel�said.Grooms�said�there�is�a

constanteffort�to�workwith�othervenues�tobring�peopleto�the�arena.“Maybe

we�can�worka�deal,”�shesaid.�“I�knowthecommunity�isreallywanting�a�concert�in�there.�Iwant�to�make�sure�when�we�do,

we�do�it�right.”Another�negative�is�that�the

rodeo�cannot�supply�a�stage�orlighting,�which�would�have�tobe�rented.“I�want�to�rent�it�every

week,”�Grooms�said.Besides�the�rodeo,�the�arena

this�summer�will�be�used�forthe�state�high�school�finalsrodeo,�a�junior�rodeo,motocross,�motorcycle�racingand�demolition�derbies.“I�know�we�have�to�diversify

and�grow,”�Grooms�said.Grooms�would�like�to�see�an

increase�in�volunteers,�thebackbone�of�the�rodeo.�But�sheunderstands�that�today’sfamilies�are�being�tugged�inmany�directions�compared�to

when�she�was�a�girl.“The�volunteer�base�is

down,�and�that’s�a�directreflection�of�people’s�lives,”�shesaid.�“I�think�people�are�busiernow.�I�can�remember�as�a�kid,we�did�very�limited�things.Now,�there�many�more�thingswe�have�access�to.�Then,Stampede�was�all�there�was.“Volunteers�are�just

amazing�people,”�she�said.“What�they�give�to�the�rodeo,their�time�and�themselves,�it’sa�horrendous�sacrifice.�It�takeshours.�It�says�the�rodeo�isimportant�to�many�people.“My�life�is�totally�wrapped

up�in�Stampede,”�Grooms�said.“I�started�volunteering�whenmy�sister,�Shauna�Beeman,�was

queen�in�1982.�My�family�hasbeen�volunteering�there�eversince.”Grooms�said�she’s�a�big

supporter�of�Omak,�which�isher�home�now.The�1986�Stampede�Queen

said:�“I�want�to�see�Omakgrow,�to�see�it�prosper.�I�wantmy�kids�to�come�back.�I�have�tothink�of�their�futures,�too,when�I�plan�things.”Dunckel,�when�asked�if

the�rodeo�would�still�bearound�a�100�years�fromnow,�said,�“I�hope�so.�We�willif�we�keep�PETA�and�PAWSand�environmentalists�out�ofhere.”“Oh�absolutely,�I�think�it

will�continue�to�grow�as�we

grow�the�purses,”�Grooms�said.Day�sheets�show�the�rodeo

is�drawing�about�60�percent�ofthose�the�reached�the�NationalFinals�Rodeo�last�year,�Groomssaid.“We�saw�the�best�bull�rides

we’ve�had�in�years”�last�year,Grooms�said.�“We’re�coming�back.�We’re

growing�and�getting�better.“We’ll�be�here�in�a�100�years

because�my�kids�will�berunning�it�then,”�she�said.�“Wewill�continue�to�look�for�betterparking�solutions.�I�want�therodeo�to�be�a�positive�event�forour�community.”Grooms�would�like�to�see

the�current�Tough�Enough�toWear�Pink�program�to�stay

around.Last�year,�between�a�dollar

from�each�ticket�sold�onFriday’s�Pink�Night,�items�soldat�the�Company�Store�and�agolf�tournament�run�byBeeman,�the�rodeo�was�able�toraise�$14,000�that�went�rightback�into�the�community.�Money�could�be�used�for

those�in�need,�for�amammogram�program�andother�health-related�needs�suchas�not�being�able�to�payinsurance�co-pay.“We�don’t�keep�that,”�she

said.�“It’s�what�service�groupsdo�and�that�is�what�we�are,�weare�a�non-profit.�It�surebenefits�our�communities.�Wetry�to�help�where�ever�we�can.”

A� reception� was� held� afterthe� game� at� the� newly� builtschool,�which�sported�pennantsof� crimson� and� black,� anewspaper�report�said.LaGrou,�who�was�a� lineman

and�linebacker�on�Omak’s�1979state� champion� team,� saiddinners� continue� to� be� atradition.�The� football� team� would

have� a� dinner� every� Thursday.When� out-of-the-area� teamsplayed� here,� like� those� fromMouat,� B.C.� or� Royal,� dinnerswould�be�prepared.LaGrou,�with�the�help�of�his

family� and� football� parents,prepared� dinner� and� breakfastat� his� home� for� the� 35-� to� 40-member� Mouat� team,� whichspent�the�night�in�the�wrestlingroom�on�mats.The� same� goes� when�Omak

goes�on�the�road.�The� Royal� City� football

boosters�prepared�a�huge�roastbeef�barbecue,�LaGrou�said.“Coaches� and� parents� work

together�to�help�students�makehealthy� choices,� like� havingteam� dinners� or� otherorganized� team� outings,”LaGrou�said.�“It�is�my�hope�thatstudents� will� always� make� thegood�choices.”In� 1910,� Omak� claimed� the

county� championship� that� yeardespite� finishing� 3-2� on� theseason.Don’t�expect�any�changes�in

scoring�in�the�near�future.Scoring� a� touchdown

changed� from� the� initial� twopoints� to� four� and� then� five,which� was� the� norm� in� 1910when� the� first� high� schoolfootball� games� were� held� inOmak.� The� forward� pass� wasstill� an� oddity� after� beingallowed�in�1906.LaGrou� is� upbeat� about� the

future�of�football�in�Omak.“Many� people� measure� the

success�of�a�program�in�terms�ofonly� wins� and� losses,”� LaGrousaid.� “If� you� were� to� focus� on

only� that� aspect,� you� could� saythat�we�have�been� fortunate� tohave� success� by� making� thestate� quarterfinals� three� of� thepast� five� years� and� by� makingthe�state�semi-finals�last�year.“But�greater�than�records,�is

the� character� that� is� developedand�the�lessons�that�are�learnedthrough�sports� that�encouragesme� to� continue� to� be� involvedwith�extra-curricular�activities,”LaGrou�said.The�1910�games�came�a�year

after� the� first-ever� footballgame�was�played�in�the�county.The� current� 6-point

touchdown� was� adopted� in1912.�The�2-point�conversion�after

a� touchdown� and� a� point� for� asafety�were�adopted�in�1958.Those� first� high� school

games�included�a�ball�much�liketoday’s� ball,� but� the� first� ballwas� actually� round� and� thegame� included� various� rules

adopted� from�England’s� soccerand�eventually�rugby.Officiating� the� game� has

gone� from� two� to� as� many� asfive�for�high�school�games.“We� can� do� it� with� four,

sometimes� use� three� when� weare� short,”� long-time� officialClyde� O.� Pock� said,� who� saidtwo�officials�could�to�eight-manfootball�games�when�he�started

in�1955.Chelan� County� recently

asked� for� Okanogan� CountyOfficials� to� do� an� eight-mangame�at�Mansfield.The�county�sent�four�despite

being� told� two� officials� couldhandle�the�game.The�final�score�was�52-50.“Can�you�imagine�doing�that

with�two�guys”�Pock�said.

Football From F1

Rodeo From F1

Change From F2

protect�players�and�increasescoring�to�attract�fans�and�keepplaying�times�under�two�hours.Now,�a�soccer�match�with�a

break�is�about�an�hour�and�ahalf,�as�are�most�basketballgames.�Football�games�cantake�up�to�the�two-hour�mark,depending�on�teams�runningor�passing�or�calling�all�of�theirtime�outs.In�the�future,�there�might

be�a�4-point�shot�in�basketballand�something�will�be�done�insoccer�to�cut�down�miscalledgoals�while�spreading�defensesto�allow�a�better�chance�toscore.Players�will�continue�to

work�on�their�bodies�toimprove�play.�Who�knows,�maybe�in�the

future�some�performanceenhancement�will�be�allowed.It�might�include�supplementsto�increase�strength�ordurability,�it�might�includeclothing�that�helps�play.Actually,�apparel�has

already�seen�major�changes.Football�players�are�usingcompression�undergarments.�Most�everyone�is�using�an

undergarment�to�keep�bodieseither�cool�or�warm,�dependingon�conditions.While�schools�may�or�may

not�drop�sports,�competitionsamong�towns�will�remain.A�victory�will�send�all�home,

fans�and�players,�on�anemotional�high.�A�loss�will�still�sting.As�for�ties,�famous�New

York�Yankee�Yogi�Berra�said�itbest,�that�ties�were�like�kissingyour�sister.And�those�losses?“If�a�tie�is�like�kissing�your

sister,�losing�is�like�kissing�yougrandmother�with�her�teethout,”�Hall�of�Fame�baseballplayer�George�Brett�said.More�people�might�move�to

Omak,�should�land�andelectricity�remain�inexpensive,more�water�is�found�and�airlineservice�is�available,�and�thatwould�increase�the�schoolpopulation�and�move�teams�toa�higher�classification.Omak,�which�has�mainly

been�a�1A�school,�experienced2A�play�for�several�years�adecade�or�so�ago.�Often�teambuses�returned�well�pastmidnight�from�games�in�theTri-Cities�or�Yakima.That�still�pales�to�riding

overnight�on�horseback�orsteamboat�to�away�games.Over�time,�how�teams�wind

down�after�a�contest�haschanged.The�Okanogan�County

Commandos�football�team,which�plays�in�Okanogan�butincludes�several�Omak�players,meets�after�games�for�a�dinnerwith�fans.In�early�1911,�the�high

school�basketball�team�took�ona�town�team�and�tied�at�21-21.Afterward,�all�the�players

met�at�coach�and�principalG.R.�Wilkinson’s�bungalow�foran�oyster�supper.�“The�Victor�machine,�which

had�several�hours�of�exercise,added�greatly�to�theentertainment,”�The Chronicle

reported.While�those�players�listened

over�and�over�into�the�earlymorning�to�“Let�Me�DownEasily”�on�the�windup�player,today’s�athletes�listen�withearbuds�to�their�MP3�andiPods�that�carry�hours�of�songsin�a�handheld�device.Bands�no�longer�play�in�the

streets�and�follow�footballplayers�to�the�field,�but�play�inthe�stands.When�a�band�is�not

available,�music�is�broadcaston�speakers.How�music�will�be�supplied

at�future�sporting�events,�alongwith�tailgate�parties�and�after-

game�get-togethers,�isuncertain.

It�will�be�there,�thoughwhat’s�played�may�differ.Bonding�of�players�will

remain�as�a�primary�result�ofathletic�contests,�“realizingfully�that�there�is�a�great�dealmore�to�athletics�thancapturing�the�winning�score,”The Chronicle wrote�aboutoyster�dinner.While�baseball�appears�to

be�the�first�sport�played�intown,�track,�basketball,�footballand�tennis�soon�followed.There�was�a�track�meet�in

Conconully,�the�third�annualbeing�in�1911,�when�Omak�didnot�participate.Events�included�traditional

running�and�field�events�alongwith�a�baseball�throw,�baseballtournament,�oratory�contestwith�a�gold�medal�and�quarter-mile�horse�races�with�fairlylarge�cash�prizes.A�dance�wound�up

festivities.Today,�we’ve�split�out�the

activities�into�individualevents,�though�the�baseballthrow�is�no�longer�competedand�a�real�gold�medal�is�notgiven�in�any�sport.Now,�athletes�get�ribbons

and,�at�state,�sometimesmedals,�but�don’t�expect�themto�contain�gold.Descriptions�of�games�and

players�have�changed.�You�canexpect�them�to�continue�tochange.A�quick�scan�of�games�a

century�ago�found�a�pitchercalled�a�sidewheeler,�a�footballplayer�left�the�game�after�he“shot�his�bolt”�and�home�platewas�called�home�pan.

The Chronicle described�aclose�baseball�play�in�itsApril�7,�1911,�edition�as�being“as�close�as�the�bark�on�atree.”Today,�it’s�not�unheard�of

for�an�athlete�or�anyone�else�toget�married�while�still�inschool.In�1911,�following�a

steamboat�trip�to�Wenatchee�toplay�baseball,�player�J.N.“Mick”�Staten�married�MissHazel�Wilson�from�Brook,�Ind.,prior�to�the�game.Between�then�and�now,

rules�concerning�marriagesdiffered.Longtime�official�Clyde

Pock�said�he�graduated�fromOmak�in�1946�and�married�hishigh�school�sweetheart,Colleen,�after�she�graduated�ayear�later.“You�could�not�go�to�school

and�be�married,”�Pock�said.How�stories�got�into�the

paper�way�back�when,�now�andthe�future�pretty�much�will�becentered�on�speed.In�a�Dec.�30,�1910, The

Chronicle,�there�is�a�storyabout�a�new�altitude�recordwith�75,000�watching�the“manbirds”�soar�in�LosAngeles,�Calif.,�just�two�daysearlier.How�did�the�newspaper�get

that�story�so�fast?�The�telegraph�and

telephone�did�not�exist�here.Best�guess�by�those�at�thecounty�historical�society�wasthe�use�of�the�same�to�get�theinformation�to�Wenatchee�andthen�a�hard�copy�was�sent�bysteamboat�to�town.Today,�the�newspaper�uses

many�electronic�means�to�getstories�quickly,�from�e-mail�tothe�Internet.�Then�it’s�typed�and�pages

laid�out�on�a�computer.What�could�the�future�hold

for�reporting�of�sports?Perhaps�we�have�a�glimpse

of�it�already,�with�palm-sizedphones�that�can�surf�theInternet,�view�videos�and�sendmessages.

Al Camp is the sports editor forThe Chronicle. E-mail him atsports@omakchronicle.com.

Grooms

Al Camp/The Chronicle

The Omak High School football team hoists the Okanogan-Omak Rotary trophy while celebrating its victory over Okanogan last fall.Note how equipment has changed over the years, from helmets to shoulder pads.

Frank S. Matsura/Okanogan County Historical Society

The 1910 Okanogan County champion football team from Omak included (front) mascot VirgilDickson, (first row) Perry Churchill, Will Van Liew, Leon Spaulding, Grover Baggott, JohnMcCliment, (second row) coach G.R. Wilkinson, Chuck Yerington, Harry Johnson, Ogden Nash,Ralph “Moose” Johnson, Simon Sprowl, Joe Whiting and Bert Cast.

“Many people measure

the success of a program

in terms of only

wins and losses.Omak Athletic Director Joe LaGrou

”

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