Image provided by: The Willamina Museum; Willamina, OR
About The times of Willamina. (Willamina, Oregon) 1972-1974 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 29, 1972)
o f W illam in a WILLAMINA TIMES, Willamina, Oregon, Wednesday, November 29, 1972 Inside Times sold; goes offset The Times Last week, after nearly three de cades of publication by Mr. and Mrs. Orval Thompson, the W illa mina Times was sold to Frank Parchman. The Thompsons received state wide publicity in recent weeks when they thought they would have to shut down the Times for lack of a buyer. An obituary for the newspaper had already been pub lished in the Nov. 2nd edition of the Times. The newspaper was immediately converted to off-set printing with this edition to insure the highest quality printing reproduction poss ible, according to Parchman. “ A good newspaper is the back bone of a community,” said P ar chman, ‘ ‘and we believe we can provide Willamina and the surroun ding area with a good newspaper.” However, the survival of the W ill amina Times rests as squarely with the people of this area as it does with us. ‘ ‘We need the support of the peo ple through subscriptions and th rough partronage of our adverti sers if we hope to succeed here.” He said that the response of ad vertisers and townspeople to the prospects of the ‘ ‘new” Willamina Times has been very gratifying. Ray Horn, a form er free-lance photographer and w rite r has been appointed general manager of the newspaper. M erchants m ake C hristm as plans Santa Claus w ill be the honored guest of the Willamina Chamber of Commerce when the chamber’s annual Christmas program gets un- ****«<■ ^de».- w as»4h^iU am iaa,m ^ a to d a y . December 16. Santa, ’ w n ^ rc S P reportedly been plagued by a short age of reliable sleighs this year, is expected to arrive in Willamina via a bright red fire truck. A high light of the Chamber’s program w ill be a drawing for numerous gifts and cash prizes. One lucky ticket Tickets fo r the draw ing' are free and w ill be g iy e n a w a ^ D ^ ^ffls m ’ merchants beginning December 1. C ouncil m eets in special session 8 Local youths g p ra c tic e fo r $ VFW s m o k e r See p a g e 7 By the River This you th de cides to p la y d o w n by the W illa m in a C ree k on a re c e n t sun ny da y as D ry e r fire occurs a t m ill p la n t I J o g g in g fo r h e d lth S s to ry a b o u t | g W illa m in a jo g g e rs | | ». on p a g e 4 $ A dryer fire at the U. S. Plywood plant was quickly extinguished at 8:30 a.m., November 23rd. Thé fire did minor damage to the roof of the plant. A farm tractor owned by W illiam Tolivar caught fire on November 19th. A faulty electric furnace motor was the suspected cause of a fire which broke out at the Bob Colton home in Willamina on November 5th. Firemen suspect that hot vapor izing gasoline in a pair of cover alls may have caused Gordon Fowler’s washing machine to ignite on the evening of November 14th. the sun g litte rs o ff the w a te r The Willamina city council met in a special session last Monday evening. The council heard and discussed a proposal that W illa m ina might save money by purchasing surplus water from the proposed Grand Ronde water system. The proppsal was presented by engineer M. G. Boatwright of Salem who is assisting Grand Ronde residents in securing fed eral assistance for the Grand Ronde water system. (see ac companying story this page) Other matters considered by the council were; Accepted Marion Pond’d bid to build cabinets and panel two walls in the M ille r house at the cost of $260 plus the cost of the paneling. Accepted a twenty five dollar check from Allbaugh’s for pest extermin ation services. Instructed the city recorder to w rite , a letter to the state public employees retirement system asking that a study be made to indicate the cost of the public employee benefits program required by law after July 1, 1973. Instructed the city recorder to notify Raymond B arry of Los Angeles, California of the condem nation hearing which w ill be held at city hall at 7:30 p.m., Dec. 14th to determine if B a rry ’s cabins at 212 NE D Street should be condemned. ' Passed a motion to accept bid f° r t ? new chl°rine contract at the Decmeber 14th council meeting. Tabled an application by Henry Mitchell to place a tra ilo r house on SE Washington St. until the city s ordinances on tra ilo r houses are revised and clarified. Mayor Schoenborn and councilman D rill were not present at the meeting. W a te r problem s "A so lu tio n m ay be in s ig h t i f . . .re sid e n ts can d e ve lo p an u n d e rg ro u n d s p rin g " A partial solution to Willamina’s water supply problems may be in sight if Grand Ronde residents can develop an underwater spring near Grand Ronde and sell some of the surplus water the Willamina. The feasibility of such a scheme was explained’ to the city council last week by Salem engineer M. G. Boatwright. Boatwright, whose firm recently completed a water resources and utilization study in the Grand Ronde area, said that Grand Ronde would not begin construction of i t ’s proposed water system until Willamina decides whether or not it w ill buy some of the anticipated surplus water. Boatwright said Willamina must make a decision on the matter during the next four to six months because the project engineers would have to plan the installation of larger sized water lines if W illi- mina decides to participate in the project. Boatwright acknowledged that some aspects pf the proposal could not yet be discussed because Grand Rhonde had not yet set up a political entity which would enable it to apply for federal assistance. However, he was extremely optim is tic about Grand Rhonde’s ability to secure the federal funds. He suggested that Grand Rhonde’s water problems were severe enough to constitute a substantial danger to public health and that this fact alone would almost certainly induce the federal government to grant the funds necessary for the.project. Boatwright estimated the cost of Grand Ronde’s system would run around 460,000 dollars. When the Grand Ronde. system is completed, Boatwright estimated that Willamina would be able to buy 200 gallons of water per m in ute at a cost of $200 to $400 per month, fo r the next ten to fifteen years. The time projec tion was based on an economic study which foresaw a slow, steady rate of economic growth in the area during the next decade. Boat wright said the rate of $200 to $400 per month for 200 gallons of water per minute was extremely low when compared to the rates charged by other municipalities around the state. Salem, for example, would charge 800-dollars for the same amount of water. Boatwright said the low rates would be possible because tests have indicated that spring water on the International Paper Company's land is a soft, unpolluted water which would not have to be treated. An additional cost reducing factor cited by Boatwright was the eleva tion of the spring water on Rock Creek road., Pumping stations would not be required because the water source lies at an elevation of 1800 feet above sea level and would be used at an elevation of around 500 feet. However, the high elevation of the water source would require the installation of a pressure reducing valve in the W illim ina system, Boatwright expressed his w illin g ness to confer with the city council and the city engineer in the future. The council moved and passed a motion instructing the city engineer to meet with Boatwright and to report back to the council.
