Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (May 30, 1940)
SOCtETY PUBMC AUDITOR"- III II 27 H Volume 57, Number 13 County Officials Seek Tax Money From Government Plan Revealed When Association Met Here Last Thursday Morrow county court officials are in agreement with officials of other counties of Oregon in the belief that the federal government should re imburse all counties for lands re moved from the tax rolls and held under government ownership. The local court, including Bert Johnson, judge, and Commissioners George N. Peck and L. D. NeilP, put Morrow county on record as favoring such a course when the district No. 3 group of the Association of Oregon Counties met at the courthouse here last Thursday, District No. 3 is comprised of Hood River, Wasco, Sherman, Gil liam, Wheeler and Morrow coun ties. Representatives from all six counties were present, including Judge Nicholson and Commissioner R. W. Arens and Ralph Perry, Hood River; Judge Kirk and Commission er F. L. Phipps, Wasco; Judge George Porter, Sherman; Judge James Burns and Commissioners Earl Hoag and Glenn Richards, Gil liam; Judge Howard and Commis sioner Jackson of Wheeler and the Morrow county court Judge Earl Day of Jackson county, executive secretary of the committee appointed by the state association to work ftir congressional approval of a measure providing for reimbursement to the counties from which the government has withdrawn taxable property, at tended the meeting and reported on progress of the movement. Land withdrawals have assumed serious proportions, according to Judge Day. In Oregon, the govern ment has withdrawn and holds 51 percent of the land under various projects. Sixteen percent of the acreage of Morrow county is held by the government, removing that much from the tax rolls and dis tributing the burden over the re mainder of the county. It is the same story over the state, some counties snowing a larger percent age and others less. Judge Day and District Attorney Guy Gordon of Douglas county at tended a meeting on federal taxes in Houston, Texas, at the invitation of a similar state association to tell of the plan under consideration in Oregon. The Oregon officials found the people of the south in accord with the movement. On their re turn they were invited to speak before a meeting of county officials in Arizona and Judge Day told of one county where but two percent of the area is privately owned and two mining concerns own that. Again, in California, the Oregon men addressed a meeting in the southern part of the state and would have succeeded in organizing a unit there but for the fact that the Cal fornians wanted to retain part of the funds for use in that state, a proposal the Oregonians could not accept. Funds derived from government lands such as the grazing district in the northern part of Morrow county cannot be placed in the gen eral fund but must be earmarked for disbursements in making im provements within the district, Judge Bert Johnson points out. This is not actually reimbursement in the form of taxes and merely makes the county custodian of a limited am ount of federal funds. It is the pur pose of the Oregon association to line up every county in the state to carry the movement to every county in the United States affected by federal withdrawals. Roads and relief were other sub jects receiving attention from the officials. In the matter of welfare, Heppner, TENNIS TEAM PLAYS AT REED Hugh Crawford Makes Se mi Finals at State Tourney; Bennett, Pinckney Win Opener from Hill Heppners' tennis team returned from Portland Sunday after making a creditable showing at the state tournament sponsored by Reed col lege Friday and Saturday. The boys didn't bring home the championship but were well satisfied with the showing they made. It was their first meeting with more than district competition and despite the handi cap of not having their own court to practice on the last few days be fore the tournament they made a place for themselves on the city court. Hugh Crawford fared a little bet ter than his team mates and worked his way into the semi-finals. In the first round he defeated Robert Sul livan, Roseburg, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4. In the quarter finals he took Guy Clark of Stanfield to the tune of 6-4, 6-3, and met defeat at the hands of Parks of Estaeada in a semi-final match, 6-3, 0-6, 1-6. Don Bennett and Bob Pinckney opened hostilities in the first round by defeating Hill Military academy doubles team, only to go out of the tourney in the quarter finals against Roseburg. Howard Wray lost to Parks, Es tacada, 6-1, 6-0 in the first round. Tennis is a comparatively new sport at Heppner high school. The court has been in use but two or three seasons and the students have had to develop their game in that time. The boys have not had all the honors, since Frances , McCarty of the class of 1939 recently captured the intramural championship at Or egon State college. Thomson Training in Naval Reserve Corps Ted Thomson, son of Mrs. Anna Q. Thomson, writes this paper that he is now stationed at the Sand Point naval air base near Seattle where he has enlisted as a pilot in the United States naval reserve corps. He has temporarily abandon ed the study of law to take up the training, stating that he believes pre paredness essential to defense of our way of life. He has piloted daily for the last two weeks at the U. S. naval air reserve base at Sand Point. Ted contemplates a return to Heppner the latter part of June and will spend a few weeks here. His address is U. S. Naval Reserve Avia tion Base, Seattle, Wash. , Free Matinee Slated Saturday, June 1 Business houses of Heppner wish to remind the people of Morrow county that the matinee to be shown Saturday afternoon of this week is free and that a cordial invitation is extended to everybody to attend. There will be two showings, at 1 and 2:40 p. m. and tickets are not required. For Saturday's matinee the Star theater has chosen "The Crooked Road," featuring Edmund Lowe, Irene Hervey and Henry Wilcoxon. it appeared to the group that the state in withdrawing old age assist ance is trying to make a good show ing on its budget at the expense of the counties. Under the present set up a county can not get old age assistance from the state and new cases must be cared for out of the county's general fund. The associa tion would like to see this order changed. A feature of the meeting -was a Morrow county lamb dinner at the Lucas Place. Commissioner Roy Neill furnished the lamb and Judge Johnson is authority for the state ment that Morrow county lamb is the finest in the world, especially when prepared by a Morrow county cook. Oregon, Thursday, May Swimming Season Officially Opens Here Tomorrow First Day to be Free to Public at City Natatorium All is in readiness for opening the swimming season at Heppner's mu nicipal tank, according to Harold Buhman, swimming instructor and life guard, who announces that the plunge will be open to the public at 9:30 o'clock tomorrow morning. Swimming will be free all day to morrow and on Saturday season tickets or cash will be in order. Season tickets will be a little higher this year, it having been found that last year's prices failed to cover expenses the tickets were designed to meet. A book of indiv idual season tickets will cost $4, double season tickets $6, and family season tickets $7. It is suggested that purchasers buy now and have advantage of a full season. General admission charges have been fixed at 10 cents for children of grade school age, 15 cents for high school students and 25 cents for adults. Additional swimming hours have been created through installation of flood lights at the tank, making it possible for night swimming. This is expected to attract a good many people who find it impossible to patronize the tank during the day. Night swimming has proved popular in many other towns for either open or enclosed tanks and doubtless when the real warm weather comes there will be many who will find pleasure in taking a cool plunge after the sun has gone down. The wading;, pool for kiddies has not been completed and probably will not be until the council takes some action. Funds raised for con struction of the pool have been ex hausted. Band Advertises Condon Rodeo Here Representing the Condon Rodeo, to be held this week end, the Con don community band stopped in Heppner a short time Sunday fore noon, played a few numbers and headed towards Arlington. The band's visit was intended primarily to advertise the rodeo and its stop here was necessarily brief due to an extensive itinerary covering Morrow, Gilliam, Sherman and Was co points. Condon's fourth annual spring ro deo will be held Saturday and Sun day, June 1 and 2. A thrilling pro gram of bronc riding, calf roping and Brahma steer riding has been arranged for the rodeo grounds and there will be band music, parades and a carnival to fill in, giving pro mise of two big days at the neigh boring city. Small Boy Injured in Auto Accident Tragedy was narrowly averted at the J. J. Wightman home Monday when Jimmie, 6-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Marvin Wightman, fell from the family car and re ceived a serious head injury. Jimmie was in the front seat with his father and grandfather and de cided to get into the back seat. John Wightman was driving the car and was backing. A door had swung open and Jimmie plunged through this to the ground. The front wheel of the car grazed his face, making an ugly wound. He was taken to the hospital where the injury was cared for and after spending two days there was able to return to his grandparents' home. He will be under the care of a physician for some time and his mother plans to remain here until he is released. 30, 1940 BOY SCOUT CAMP PROVES SUCCESS 12 Boys Spend Profitable Week in First Summer Outing in Mountain Area It takes more than rain and frost to dampen or chill the enthusiasm of a group of Boy Scouts, according to Martin Clark, leader of the Heppner troop. Clark took a company of 12 scouts into summer camp the last week and found that the youngsters can "take it" as well as older people. Coming in from a hike with their clothes wet did not daunt the boys. Neither did they ask to be taken home when they got up one morning and found ice in the water buckets. It was all part' of the game with them. Camp was opened at the site on Herren creek at noon Monday, May 20, and closed Sunday afternoon, May 26. Seven busy days were put in by the boys, their leader and Mrs. Clark, who did the cooking. Morning hours were devoted to classwork and camp clean-up, after noons to recreation. This consisted of baseball games, hikes, fishing and any other types of recreation ap pealing to the boys. Friday evening a court of honor was held, presided over by O. E. Hoover, director of Blue Mountain scout council. Jack Aiken and Ray mond French were awarded tender foot badges and William McCaleb received a Star badge. He has two more steps to take to acquire the coveted Eagle scout badge. Ray Zack, Yakima Indian evangel ist, visited camp Saturday evening and spoke to the boys, returning there Sunday afternoon to assist in camp closing services. The boys ob served the 12th scout law by holding Sunday school Sunday morning. While there were 12 boys regis tered for the camp several others visited during the week. Most of the parents of the boys attended the services in camp on Sunday. Walter Depuy Takes Bride at Pomeroy The marriage of Miss Carol Cob lantz of Pendleton and Walter De puy of Heppner was solemnized at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Clem in Pomeroy, Wash., at 2:30 o'clock p. m., Sunday, May 26. The Rev. Raymond Fite of the Christian church performed the ceremony in the presence of immediate relatives and Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert C. Dick son. Following the ceremony the wedding group went to the home of Mrs. Cecil Slaybaugh, cousin of the bridegroom, where the wedding dinner was served. Mrs. Depuy is a sister of Ray Coblantz of Heppner The bride groom is manager of Dickson's Var iety store here and is one of the popular young business men of the town. The newlyweds are taking a wed ding tour of eastern Oregon and will return to Heppner this week end. Foresters Picnic at Parkers Mill Forest service officials and guards and their families assembled at Par kers Mill last Sunday for a picnic. There were more than 50 in the crowd and from all reports a grand time was had by all. A program of baseball, horseshoe pitching, foot races and an ice cream eating contest kept everybody mov ing throughout the day. It is hinted that some of the older members of the crowd moved a bit too lively and have since rued some of their youth ful capers. No charley horses have been reported but some sore mus cles are much in evidence. Mrs. Martha Wright spent ten days in Portland, where she visited with her relatives there, returning to her Heppner home last Saturday. Subscription S2.00 a Year Red Cross Asks County Unit to Double Its Ouota Spread of European Conflict Taxes Fa cilities of Society Hitler's conquest of western Eu rope was felt in Morrow county this week when the American Red Cross wired a request for additional funds with which to meet emergencies in caring for countless thousands of refugees and innocent victims of the conflict. A few weeks ago local Red Cross officials received notice that Mor row county's quota of the $10,000, 000 needed for war relief was $310. Before the chapter got into action to raise that amount another appeal, came for funds and this time the request was for double the original sum. Russell McNeill, chairman of the Morrow county chapter, receiv ed a telegram from Norman H. Davis, Pacific coast director, stating thajt, "Whien the American Red Cross asked the minimum war relief fund of $10,000,000 no one could foresee that in two short weeks the greatest tragedy in all history would be unfolded. It is impossible to describe the pitiful plight of millions of refugees in France. Sick, wound ed, hungry and homeless they cry out to us for help. Will need much more than $10,000,000, therefore the quota originally assigned should be regarded as the minimum immediate objective. Chapters should then go on and where possible double their quotas. In fact, only limitation should be the maximum generosity of American people. We should complete this campaign within the shortest possible time." On May 25 the American Red Cross cabled $100,000 to the British Red Cross to aid in caring for the great numbers of Dutch and Bel gian refugees who are reaching England's shores in most pitiable conditions. The refugees in many instances arrived in small open boats after harrowing trips across the channel. Many are sick and wounded and none has any posses sions. This is but one of many re potts reaching the society. Mrs. Edna Turner and Mrs O. G. Crawford have consented to take hold of the drive in Morrow county and are making arrangements to start on the work this week end. Each of the towns of the county will be covered and as many of the rural districts as they can reach. The time set for doing this work is less than a week and chapter' officers point out it will facilitate the campaign if subscribers will have their money ready when the solicitors call. Many People Visit Cemetery Today Of Heppner is observing Decoration day in a quiet manner and many cars have wended their way to the Masonic cemetery where graves of loved ones were decorated. For several evenings work lias been go ing on straightening up graves and cleaning lots. There were no exercises or form al program. Flags are out and busi ness houses closed. A number of former residents have returned to observe the day, some of them com ing from a distance. COMMITMENT SERVICES HELD Commitment services for Mrs. May Case, whose death occurred in Spokane last week, were held by Case Mortuary at 10 o'clock this morning in the Masonic cemetery. Rev. Martin Clark conducted a brief service and burial was beside the grave of Mrs. Case's husband, the late Fred Case.
