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Page Two
Public Cooperation
Wanted in Upsetting
Property Values
State Appraiser In
forms of Tax Work
at Lions Meeting
The assessment and taxation de
partment of the state tax commission
is in the equalization of assessments
bog up. to the ears and it likes to
have the public keep it company.
That's the humorous way Arthur A.
Selander, chief appraiser for the
department, had of telling the Lions
club Monday that the department
welcomes the interest of all property
holders in obtaining a fair base for
determining assessed valuation.
Selander was here the first of the
week assisting E. S. Woodford,
member of his staff, who returned
last week to continue work of up
setting property values, both real
and personal, in Heppner. Town
properties alone are being upset
at this time, although eventually
a revaluation of all classes of prop
erty in the county will be obtained,
he said.
This department's work, carried
on in cooperation with county as
sessors, covers the entire state. Eight
engineers are now on the job, though
only six are retained regularly. With
this force and the territory to be
covered, Selander pointed out that
it would take a' long time to com
plete the task. So far it has been the
department's policy to go where the
"cry is the loudest." The work here
is being done on invitation of Thomas
J. Wells, assessor.
Appraising properties for taxation
purposes so as to arrive at an equit
able base for all classes of property
is a large order because of the many
factors that affect values. Too, some
of the factors are prone to shift rad
ically over a period of a few years,
so that a piece of property upset to
true value one year may in a few
years be clear out of line, said the
speaker.
That the recent depression had
much to do with throwing property
values out of line was cited in one
instance in Portland. Here the com
mission found a building that had
just sold for $12,000. It was originally
assessed for $32,000. After applying
the valuation formula, the commis
sion found its true value to be $26,
000. While the commission is given su
pervisory power over all property
valuation for tax purposes in the
state, it is not its policy to act ar
bitrarily, the speaker pointed out.
It attempts to work cooperatively
with assessors, county courts and
taxpayers themselves. Before a final
basis for fixing assessments is rec
ommended, the matter is gone over
thoroughly with informed taxpayers
as well as the various public agen
cies affected, and final adoption is
left in the hands of the county equal
izaton board.
In the work so far a number of
counties have been entirely covered,
and it was cited by Selander that
while various ratios of assessment
to valuation have been adopted in
various counties, this really has little
effect upon taxpayers of a single
county so long as all property values
within that county have been estab
lished with the same yardstick.
Mr. Woodford, assistant appraiser,
was also a guest at the club lunch-
ONE NEWS
Heppner Gazette Times, Heppner, Oregon
Weeds Likened to Bad
eon.
OSC Draws from Many States
Oregon State College Students
attending the OSC summer school
this year represent 22 other states
and all counties in Oregon except
'Grant, Harney and Jefferson. Regis
tration at the end of the third week
showed 693 regular students anr 24
auditors, making a total of 717, ap
proximately 5 per cent higher than
last summer.
Mr. and Mrs. Jack Parsons arrived
the end of the week from Elgin and
Mr. Parsons went on to Portland
Monday, while Mrs. Parsons re
mained for a visit at the home of
her parents, Mr. and Mrs. N. D.
Bailey. Mr. Parsons expected they
would be located shortly at Medford
where he will be connected with the
resettlement administration.
Holub Loses Combine
In Fire at lone Ranch
By MARGARET BLAKE
Frank Holub had the misfortune
of having his combine destroyed by
fire last week. An overheated bear
ing apparently was the cause. The
crew put the fire out and after wait
ing for some time to be sure it was
safe left the combine for the night.
However, the fire had evidently
been smoldering for when the crew
returned to work in the morning it
was entirely burned, fortunately
there had been no wind during the
night so the fire did not spread to
the nearby wheat. No insurance was
carried on the machine.
Willows grange held its July meet
ing in the hall at Cecil last Sunday
afternoon. A pot luck dinner was en
joyed at the George Krebs home and
members and visitors enjoyed an
hour of games and recreation on the
lawn before the business meeting
was called. In the absence of the
master, J. O. Kincaid, the overseer,
Mary Lindsay, acted as presiding of
ficer. It was decided that the grange
would not enter a float in the Rodeo
parade this year. The August meet
ing will be held Sunday, August 28.
The Home Economics club will
meet at the home of Mrs. J. H. Bry-
son on the third Friday in August,
Past Noble Grand club held its
regular monthly meeting on the
lawn at the home of Mrs. Omar Riet
mann last Friday afternoon. Mem'
bers present were Mesdames Ella
Davidson, Ida Fletcher, E. C. Heliker,
Frank Lundell, Milton Morgan, Jr.,
Clel Rea, C. W. Swanson, J. E. Swan
son and E. R. Lundell. Guests were
Mrs. A. E. Heliker and Miss Harriet
Heliker. Since the regular meeting
in August falls on the Friday the Ro
deo will be in progress in Heppner,
it was decided to hold the meeting
on the third Friday, August 24, in
stead. Mrs. J. E. Swanson will be
hostess. At the close of the meeting
refreshments of ice cream, cookies
and punch were served.
Mrs. Jennie Rix of Culver City,
Cal, is visiting at the home of her
brother, J. O. Kincaid.
Mrs. Ruth Martin and son, Robert
Cantwell, went to Eugene last Tues
day to get work. Mrs. Martin's
daughter, Olive, remained at the
home of her aunt, Mrs. Frank En
gelman, until they are settled.
Mr. and Mrs. Paul Balsiger were
visitors here Sunday and Monday
from their home at Hood River.
Betty Jean Mankin went to Thorn
ton, Wash., Sunday to visit her
grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Dwight
Misner.
Mr. and Mrs. Glen Burroughs and
sons of KirksvilleS Mo., are visiting
at the home of Mr. and Mrs. French
Burroughs. They made the trip west
by motor, coming by way of Cali
fornia. Katherine Griffith and Mary K.
Blake left Sunday afternoon for
Portland. ' On Wednesday they will
go to Camp Adams near Molalla
where they will attend the Congre
gational church summer school as
representatives of the lone Union
Sunday school. They were taken to
Arlington by Mr. and Mrs. Elmer
Griffith and from there went by
train.
Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Blake, Keith
ley Blake and daughter, Betty Belle,
stopped in lone Thursday for a short
time enroute to their homes at Kin
zua after a week's outing at Lehman
springs.
Forest Service Issues
Fire Statement
The recent period of extremely
dangerous fire weather is bad, com
ing so early in the summer, accrd
ing to U. S. forest service statement
just issued, and should not be fol
lowed by a false sense of security if
the weather should take a temporary
turn for the better.
"Normally we can expect an ad
ditional six or eight weeks of fire
season," said M. L. Merritt, assist'
ant regional forester, Portland. "We
hope for a turn for the better in
weather conditions, to enable fire
fighters to get the best of the fires
they are now fighting. However, such
a favorable turn usually may be ex
pected to be followed by additional
bad fire weather in August and Sep
tember, it smouldering tires are
abandoned, or public vigilance re
laxes as weather gets better, the
chances are that we would have
even worse fires later in the sea
son than those we now are fighting.
This has been the history of past fire
seasons."
Forest service cumulative fire re
port for the season, just compiled,
shows that up to July 20 there have
been 777 fires started on national
forests of Oregon and Washington,
as compared with 364 last year. Of
these, 529 were caused by lightning,
and 248 were mancaused. Principal
man causes were smokers, 104;
campers 68; debris burners, 23, and
incendiary, 15.
Of the total of 777 started, 594 were
put out under one quarter of an
acre each; 152 were held under 10
acres each; and only 31 exceeded 10
acres each. According to Merritt,
this shows an excellent record for
the protection forces. A few of the
31 "class C" fires reached large size,
because of such factors as weather,
humidity, difficult terrain and inac
cessibility. A total of 10,847 acres
have been burned, most of this acre'
age being accounted for by the three
large fires in the Siskiyou national
forest, in extremely dificult, inac
cessible country.
Two states, Michigan and Mary
land, have experimentally installed
a system of, reflectorized standards
along certain stretches of highway
to outline the edges of the highway
at night, according to Secretary of
State Earl Snell. Automobile head
lights illuminate the reflectors, let
ting the drivers know whether a
curve, a hill or a straightaway lies
ahead. Reflector standards are spaced
every hundred feet, Secretary Snell
says.
Habits in New Booklet
The perennial weed is likened to a
bad habit, which seems harmless un
til it becomes so intrenched that
getting rid of it is difficult. Contin
uing this analogy, Oregon cultivated
land is made up of Vh per cent of
bad habits, according to estimates
in the latest and most comprehensive
weed bulletin issued by the exten
sion service at Oregon State college.
The new and profusely illustrated
bulletin is not the last word on the
control of perennial weeds in Ore'
gon, but it is the latest printed word,
and one which is likely to become
a textbook on this subject until such
time as weed control research pro
vides better methods than are now
known. The bulletin is credited to
five editors, E. R. Jackman, exten
sion agronomist, and his assistant,
Lawrence Jenkins; C. A. Henderson,
W. A. Holt and H. G. Avery, county
agents in Klamath, Umatilla and
Union counties respectively.
Supplementing the bulletin itself
is a series of illustrated leaflets
which describe 51 different weeds
found in Oregon.
"So far there is no royal way to
weed control," the bulletin points
out. "The weeds stubbornly refuse
to abdicate unless stern and unre
lenting methods are applied. These
methods are expensive in either time,
money or both."
The bulletin discusses the various
methods of chemical control now
used, control by cultivation, by
smothering, by pasturing, by seed
Thursday. July 28, 1938
combinations of these control meth
ods. Suggestions are made for a
county weed control program, and
digests are printed of botn tne ure
gon weed and seed control laws.
In addition to the regular text, the
hulletin contains scores of letters
from growers, giving their actual ex
periences with different meuioas 01
weed control.
Inventors Display Interest in Show
Keen interest in the State Invent
ors' show which will be held this
year as a new feature of the Oregon
State fair is reported by J. T. An
derson, patent coordinator, who will
supervise the event.
Inventors of Salem and vicinity
showed up nearly 250 strong at a
meeting held last week in Salem, ac
crding to Anderson. They made ar
rangements for the exhibition of
their creations from children's toys
to huge lumber trailers.
Plans now tentatively worked out
call for meetings with inventors in
principal cities throughout the state.
NEBRASKA CORNHUSKERS
The Fifteenth Annual Nebraska
Picnic will be held at the City Park
(south edge of city on highway) in
Corvallis, August 7, 1938.
Free coffee. Bring your sups and
trimmin's. Seats for all. Short, snappy
program leaving plenty of time for
visiting. Come and see Nebraskans
you knew "back home" There were
over 1500 present last year.
Mrs. John Skuzeski and children
went to Portland Sunday, expecting
to remain for several weeks for a
visit at the home of Mrs. Skuzeski's
ing to permanent crops and various parents.
"JQemodeL your home
WITH A FIRST
FHA LOAN"
N ATI Oy
1
Add to its comfort, value
and attractiveness! Now
is the time to make those
needed improvements
to remodel, repaint, add
extra rooms, a new heat
ing system or other con
veniences. The First National Bank
offers long-time FHA
Modernization financing
on existing structures up
to $10,000.
HERE'S HOW YOU OBTAIN A
MODERNIZATION LOAN
1. Secure Estimate of Cost
Ask the CASH price from your contractor or building malarial sua
ply dealer.
2. See The First National Bank
Bring the eitlmote to the moil convenient branch for checking Nse
loan. There It no delay. The First National can give DIRECT approval
3. Mail the Certificate of Completion
to the bank. This is supplied by your contractor or builder who Nte
work Is finished.
The First National Bank then pays CASH.
No Delays I ... No Extra Charge!
.xamuies of modernization financings
YOUR IMPROVEMENTS COST $200
Repaying 1 year . . . monthly payment U $17.55
Repaying 2 yean . . . monthly payment la $ 9.1 1
Repaying 3 years . . . monthly payment b $ 6.39
YOU NEED NOT BE A DEPOSITOR TO BORROW FROM THIS BANK
HEPPNER BRANCH
FIRS? NATIONAL BANK
OF PORTLAND
THE
First National Bank West of the Rockies
MEMBER FID i I A L DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORAT
O N