The BulleTin • Sunday, May 9, 2021 C7
YESTERYEAR
Actor Kurt Russell signs with Bend ball team in 1971
Compiled by the Deschutes
County Historical Society from
the archived copies of The Bul-
letin at the Deschutes Historical
Museum
100 YEARS AGO
For the week ending
May 8, 1921
Husband given up for dead in
war surprises ‘widow’
Late in the fall of 1918, Mrs.
Ed Ackton, then of Big Tim-
ber, Montana, received word
from Washington, D.C., that
her husband, in the govern-
ment service, was recorded as
wounded, then as missing. She
gave him up for dead until he
arrived in Bend yesterday and
found her at the home of Mr.
And Mrs. H.K. Brooks, where
she has been employed for the
past year. Ackton is spending
the day in Bend, and leaves
tonight to rejoin his ship. His
journey to Bend was from New
York.
Ackton went into the service
at Vancouver barracks, then
was transferred, and his wife
lost track of him completely,
she explained. He had found it
just as difficult to keep in touch
with her, and at the time she
came to Bend from Montana,
she believed herself to be a war
widow.
Two towns to be sold at auction
to satisfy taxes
Two Central Oregon towns
will be sold at auction, accord-
ing to a notice of Sheriff’s sale
for taxes posted today. They
are Harper and Imperial, and
90 per cent of the lots platted
several years ago will be placed
on sale. The auction will be
held in front of the court house
at 10 o’clock, May 21.
New phone book comes with
new numbers for all
A new number for every
phone on the Bend exchange
of the Pacific Telephone &
Telegraph Co. is given in the
new books, distribution of
which is completed tonight.
Books have been mailed to ev-
ery subscriber, says Manager
J.L. Gaither, and those who
do not get them by tomorrow
should inquire at the post of-
fice.
“People who have been in
the habit of carrying half the
phone book in their heads
will have to stop it and use the
book,” Mr. Gaither remarked.
It was at first planned to make
the change in numbers at the
same time as the move to the
new exchange, but this plan
was given up because of un-
foreseen delays in opening the
new building.
Circus day opens with snow
The manager of Campbell
Bros.’ shows was dumbfounded
this morning on awakening to
open the circus season in Bend
to see snow falling on his half-
erected canvases. So far as is
known, the elephant did not
express his opinion.
A number of Bend mer-
chants closed their doors this
afternoon to attend the circus.
75 YEARS AGO
For the week ending
May 8, 1946
Bend plans out parade float
Plans are shaping for the
building of a Bend float to en-
ter in the forthcoming Port-
land Rose Festival parade, it
was reported here today by
Wilfred Jossy, general chair-
man of the float committee. He
said that tentative drawings of
the float have been made and
will be taken to Portland for
completion by experts.
The float will depict the lofty
snow-clad Cascades and fea-
ture fishing, hunting and other
recreation lures of the region,
Jossy said, and show Bend as
the center of the vast play-
ground area. The Bend float
will be entered in the June 7
parade, in connection with the
far-famed festival.
Big fireball leaves trail in sky
A brilliant meteor streaked
toward the horizon east of
Bend at about 8:57 o’clock last
night, leaving a trail of “blue
flame” that remained visible
for 20 or 30 seconds, members
of the Bend fire department
reported this morning. The
tailed fireball was observed by
Bob Cecil, Vance Barber and
Vernon Carlon, fire depart-
ment members, and Gene Mc-
Dermott when returning from
a fishing trip in the upper De-
schutes country.
The four men were driving
north about half way between
Lava butte and Bend when the
fireball, described as huge, was
spotted. The meteor was falling
at a steep angle, the firemen
said. The long tail was bright
blue, the observers said, and
remained in the sky after the
head of the meteor had disap-
peared in the east.
Just before the fireball disap-
peared over the eastern hori-
zon, it shed sparks,and became
more brilliant, the firemen
added.
22 radio stations to carry North
Unit dedication talks
Dedication on May 18 of
the North Unit project will be
broadcast over 22 Mutual-Don
Lee radio stations, as the first
water flows on segregation
lands in southern Jefferson
county, it was announced here
today as final arrangements
were completed. The broad-
cast will be released to stations
in Oregon, Washington and
Idaho.
The program will originate
over KBND and will be fed to
the other stations on the big
network. Representatives from
the program department of
KALE, Portland will assist the
Bend station in the presenta-
tion.
The broadcast will start at
2:30 p.m. on May 18, as the
Deschutes water, delivered
through an irrigation system
constructed at an overall cost
in excess of $9,000,000, flows
out of the huge canal and into
one of the major laterals. This
point is about a mile and a
half south of Culver, on The
Dalles-California highway.
Headlines
Arabs warn Great Britain
Palestine will defend rights —
Tojo to enter innocence plea
at war trials — Radically new
light-weight plastic auto re-
vealed in Detroit — Paralysis
of coal strike spreads across
U.S. — Alcatraz island prison
under siege.
50 YEARS AGO
For the week ending
May 8, 1971
Disney’s Kurt Russell: Actor to
play for Rainbows
The local theater won’t be the
only place that will showcase
Hollywood actors in Central
Oregon this summer.
Bend’s Municipal Ball Park
will have at least one actor dis-
playing his talents on its grass
this summer as the Bend Rain-
bows announced today the
signing of Disneyland actor
Kurt Russell to a baseball con-
tract.
Rainbow general manager
Ward Goodrich said today that
Russell, a semi-pro player in
Los Angeles over the past four
summers, will report to Bend
in Late June upon completion
of a movie he is making.
Russell, an actor for 10 years,
signed for “a very modest sal-
ary and no bonus,” according
to Goodrich. The 20-year-old
Russell has been scouted by San
Francisco and St. Louis, and
previously indicated he was go-
ing to play baseball this sum-
mer in the Mexican League.
Goodrich signed Russell for
the Hawaii Islanders, who own
the Rainbows — the only mi-
nor league team in baseball that
runs a farm club. Goodrich is
an acquaintance of Kurt’s fa-
ther, Bing Russell, and actor on
the “Bonanza” series and a for-
mer minor league ball player.
Young Russell’s decision was
not a complete surprise. Base-
ball has been his “first love”
for years, and he even had a
stipulation put in one of his
television contracts that he be
through work early enough in
the day to play baseball.
He said recently in an inter-
view with The Oregonian: “If I
could have everything my way
I would play pro baseball and
produce movies.” Well, maybe
the producing will come later.
Russell, a second baseman, hit
.406 in 58 games last summer
in the semi-pro league. Go-
odrich said Russell can play
anywhere in the infield, but
probably will stick at second.
Russell is now making his sixth
movie for Disney Productions,
and he played the lead in his
latest release, “Barefoot Exec-
utive.” Other credits include
“The Computer Wore Tennis
Shoes” and “The Horse in the
Gray Flannel Suit.”
John Carbray, president of
the Northwest League of which
Bend is a member told Go-
odrich that Russell “can be a
terrific crowd attraction for
the Rainbows and the whole
Northwest League.”
Rainbows’ home season be-
gins June 23 and runs through
August 31.
25 YEARS AGO
For the week ending
May 8, 1996
U.S. boxers train in Bend
The U.S. Olympic Boxing
team began its first full day in
Bend today with, of course,
breakfast, feasting on scram-
bled eggs, bacon, pastries and
fresh fruit at the River Building
at the Shilo Inn.
The 12 Olympians and 12
alternates arrived Tuesday eve-
ning.
“There’s fresh air out here,”
said coach Al Mitchell. “It
doesn’t have a lot of distrac-
tions. We want them to be
aware that no one individual is
bigger than the team. The team
is everything. This is where it
starts. Right here.”
The schedule is still being
set, but the boxers will report
to a big tent on the Shilo Inn
lawn about 2 p.m. each day
to train. The team will spar at
about 6 p.m. Some of the spar-
ring sessions will be closed, but
some will be open as well.
The team, completed April
20 with a box-off in Augusta,
Ga., will train in Bend until
May 15. It will then head to the
Rose Garden in Portland for a
May 17 fight with the German
Olympic team, which will be
televised nationally.
Most of the U.S. boxers
grew up in large cities in the
East. They have been in Ore-
gon before, to compete in the
Pan Am Trials in Portland, but
this is their first trip to Bend
and their first training camp as
members of the U.S. squad.
“It gets us away and gets us
focused,” said lightweight Ter-
rance Cauthen, who trains at
Joe Frazier’s Gym in his home-
town of Philadelphia. “It means
a lot to us to get out here and
get prepared.”
Retail complex set for west side
While new stores con-
tinue to take Bend’s east side
by storm — the latest being
OfficeMax — the city’s west
side has remained largely un-
touched by this retail flurry.
But a development part-
nership thinks the west side
is ready for some retail of its
own. Westside Village Asso-
ciates is about to file land-use
documents for a project called
Westside Village, to be located
on 6.5 acres at the corner of
Simpson Avenue and Century
Drive.
Although no tenants have
signed contracts yet, devel-
opers are in discussions with
a tenant for a 35,000-square-
foot grocery and mercantile
outlet in the heart of the site.
They are talking with banks
and a sports-oriented family
restaurant about two smaller
pads with entry drive frontage
as well.
Plans also call for a
20,800-square-foot build-
ing housing a group of small
shops, freestanding quarters
for a new city fire station and
a series of mini-storage units
along the north edge of the
property.
“What we have is a market-
place that is organized for a
number of retail and business
establishments so that people
on the west side can perform
different retail tasks in one
place,” said Jim Rozewski, a
partner in the project.
Bend’s west side has been
considered risky by many re-
tail developers. Axel Hoch
recently went ahead with a
9,500-square-foot retail and
office complex on Century
Drive, but it remains mostly
vacant so far.
Luxury subdivisions in the
area, such as Broken Top and
Awbrey Glen, are long on lots
but short on homes with full-
time residents. And there are
few businesses promising to
draw a steady stream of motor-
ists into the area.
“The west side has its own
personality,” said Steven
Toomey of InvestWest real es-
tate, which is listing the prop-
erty. “For people who want to
shop, they have to go down-
town, go through the conges-
tion, and then go out to High-
way 97. Everyone we talk to on
the west side really doesn’t like
to do that.”
Rozewski hopes to save 75
percent of the trees on the
heavily wooded parcel, ex-
ceeding city landscape require-
ments. He plans to include a
park-like green space with a
pond and a central plaza with
pedestrian walkways.