ENTERPRISE — This small ranching town, surrounded by towering tree-topped mountains and a valley of rolling grass fields, sits tucked into the northeast corner of the state — both out of the way and right in the middle of a contentious debate.
At a meeting late last month, 25 people packed into a stuffy conference room in the Wallowa County Courthouse — 35 miles west of the Idaho state line and 260 miles east of Portland — to hear county commissioners debate a single agenda item: leaving Oregon.
Roger Averbeck addresses his neighbors at the Wallowa County Commission meeting on Aug. 23, 2023, calling on them to find a compromise in the debate to join Idaho.
Mike McCarter supports parts of Eastern Oregon joining Idaho.
Down the highway from the Columbia River, southeast of Pendleton, golden fields stretch for miles.
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