Walkingstick, Willie

Willie Walkingstick was elected Mayor of Germaine, Oregon in 2006, at age 33, the youngest person every elected to the position. More suprising to long time observers of Wilbur County politics, Walkingstick is a relative newcomer to the community.

Walkingstick, an Agricultural Ecologist moved to Germaine in 1995, when he was hired by the fledgling McCoy Industries to do an environmental efficiency study for the business.

Walkingstick fell in love with Wilbur County, where he met Marissa Charlebois-LaPlante, daughter of the town’s librarian. They were married on 1 May 1999. The couple operate the Charlebois Hot Springs Resort, about 15 miles west of town. They have a daughter, Century June, born in 2000.

It is tempting to say Walkingstick was a rabble-rouser in his early days, but many in Wilbur County consider him still a controversial figure. In 2002, he and Tsalagi Red, a Radio Germaine personality, filed charges against what is now known as Red Nation Enterprises, which runs the Indigenous Way Resort and Healing Center near Lake Germaine.

At the time, the resort was named the Cherokee Nation of Wilbur County, but, in their lawsuit, the plaintiffs claimed that it was a fraud and that none of the defendants has ties to the Cherokee Nation or any other legitimate Native American Tribe.