Articles
ONTARIO – In 1947, as snow padded the quiet streets of Ontario, more than a hundred Japanese-Americans gathered on the grounds of what would become Idaho-Oregon Buddhist Temple.
They wore coats and ties and held hats in their laps. They thought of friends and family members that were far away, of homes they could no longer return to.
The temple would provide refuge and solace.
In the years after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, more than 800 Japanese-Americans migrated to Ontario, settling in as farmworkers and other manual laborers to avoid internment […]
ONTARIO – Every morning, Tiana Gutierrez-Costante wakes up at home, in a 32-foot travel trailer.
She takes her five dogs outside, fills the water tank, and prepares breakfast – pancakes, eggs, a strawberry or banana smoothie.
Outside, her children play in a dip of green grass, and beyond that, 166 other RVs line up neatly into the distance […]
ONTARIO – A door swings open and customers step into Mallard’s Grocery, bringing with them gusts of warm air, cash, the occasional collection of cans.
Cashier Venda King rings them all up, the register keys clicking: cold soda pop for dad and daughter, nightcrawlers for a fisherman from Weiser, trays of freshly fried JoJos, chicken, or burritos.
“Try to stay cool out there,” says King, a smile flashing beneath white hair. The customers make no promises, but they offer her a friendly grin or wave before they leave […]
On a dust-paved backroad between Willowcreek and Brogan, the truck stops. Brian Belnap, Malheur County sheriff’s deputy, shuts off the engine. For a moment he watches quietly as a covey of chukars flutter through the dry grass on the side of the road.
All is quiet.
Four days a week, Belnap patrols the rural backcountry of Malheur County, his job funded by the federal Bureau of Land Management […]
Sometimes, when Steven Wolf arrives for his job as a substance abuse recovery mentor, the client he’s supposed to meet that morning hasn’t arrived for an appointment.
On occasion, Wolf finds out it’s because they died of an overdose [...]
RV parks are cropping up across Malheur County, and they can’t be built fast enough.
As housing costs and shortages rise across the nation, residents of Malheur County and beyond have turned to RV living as a means of affordable housing […]