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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 6, 1949)
t j i v. l z ; j u i c a u LIC A L' 3 1 7 0 c':l l' V 0 R 7 L A N D , C P. E . Jl I E7Y Heppner Gazette Times Heppner, Oregon, Thursday, January 6, 1949 Volume 65, Number 42 Councilmen Learn Of City's Program Of Improvements Mayor Outlines Projects Calling For Early Action New councilmen taking seats Monday evening were apprised of an active Improvement pro gram which has been underway for many mouths but not claim ing too much attention since the fall elections. Numerous projects were men tioned by Mayor Conley Lanham In presenting "the state of the city" to the council. Principal among these was the drainage problem created by wash from the steep hillsides which fills nearby streets and yards with mud during the spring run-off or when a flash storm strikes. He asked the council to give this problem serious study and to bring up recommendations at the next meeting. Some light on the proposed sewer system was shed by the mayor and this too was tossed In the laps of the councilmen for careful study. The city has $78, 000 on hand in the sinking fund that can be used for sewer system construction but it will still re quire approximately $200,000 to make the Job complete. The mayor announced that the South Court street bridge has been fabricated In Portland and that Installation will be made as soon as weather permits the pour ing of concrete. Other business attended to In cluded the reappointment of J. J. Nys as city attorney; promise from members of the volunteer fire department that there will be steps taken at once to reor ganize and choose a fire chief, and the raising of the salary of the chief of police from $250 to $.300 per month. Both Mr. Nys and Chief Grady were paid high compliments by the council, o Lexington Folks Visit, Entertain Ik By Mrs. Cecil Jones Mrs. Sam McMillan returned to her home Tuesday after a two weeks' stay In the Mid-Columbia hospital In The Dalles where she had a major operation. News has been received In Lex ington that S. G. McMillan Is somewhnt Improved In Portland where he is recuperating from an Illness. Jack O'Harra who Is employed in Klamath Falls spent Christ mas with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Newt O'Harra. Maurice Groves and son Larry returned Saturday after several days spent in Salem. Mr. Groves was held up on his return home by the bad roads. Mr. and Mrs. Joe Cornel Ison, Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Munkers, Marvin Way and Floyd Breeding were New Years eve visitors at the Ken Way home in Pendleton. Mr. and Mrs. Joe Feathers and children returned New Year's from their vacation spent at Clackamas with Mr. and Mrs. Kellogg. Miss Joy Gerharz returned Sun day from Lander, Wyo., where she spent the vacation at the home of her parents. Jerry Baker returned New Year's from a vacation spent In Portland. Mrs. Baker will remain with her parents In the city for awhile. Mr. and Mrs. Ed Grant and family from Prinevllle spent the New Year's vacation at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Elroy Martin and while here spent much time with their many acquaintances. Mr. and Mrs. Cecil Jones, Jo McMillan and George Erwin mo. tored to Pendleton Sunday where they met Joy Gerharz, and all spent some time at the Ken Way home. Mrs. Kenneth Peck and son and new baby daughter, Martha Lu cille, flew to Pendleton December 21 where they were met by Ken neth. Mrs. Peck was returning from Eugene where she has been at the home of her parents, and where her small daughter was born Mr. and Mrs. Elwynne Peck and Mrs. Owens made a business trip to Portland last week Mrs. Lillian Smith of Ordnance, daughter of Mrs. Alex Hunt, re turned to her home Friday after a stay In the St. Anthony's hos pltal in Pendelton. Mrs. Elsie Beach returned Tu esday from a trip to eastern states. She attended the national Farm Bureau convention while away. Frank Lindsay has been ill several days at his home at Mor gan. He is reported somewhat better at this writing. Mrs. Howard Cleveland is re ported on the mend after a ser ious Illness of several days. Random Thoughts..: Our apologies this week go to the Broadfoot brothers, who com prise the Big Four Lumber com pany. In mentioning that they were movng their mill from the east fork of Willow creek to Mon ument we said it would occpy a building being put up by the Heppner Lumber company. This appears to have been an error, inasmuch as the Big Four Lum ber company is taking over the operation and putting up the mill plant. Output from the new mill, a good share of it at least, will be processed through the Heppner Lumber company plant here. If the Impression has prevailed that the Junior chamber of com merce is dead, that impression will have to do a right-about face. It is true that the younger men have not been so visibly active In recent months, but they have been meeting regularly and keep ing their minds alert on matters of civic interest. Currently, the the Jaycees are working on plans to revive the youth center activ ities In an effort to provide some form of recreational entertain ment for the school age folk at least one night each week. Other groups of the city will be asked to participate in this work. Lack of interest on the part of the older people was largely responsible for the movement slowing down. The sponsoring group could not provide enough supervisors and in reality the chaperonage finally dwindled down to one faithful Jaycee. This would seem to be a mat ter in which the parents them selves should have some interest. If they would manifest Interest it would be an easier matter to do something about the Juvenile delinquency problem. We some times wonder if It would not be more appropriate to devote more attention to the matter of par ental delinquency If that Is not the crux of the situation. We can't blame the young people for veering off to the left if their parents make no attempt to steer them along the right course. However, it was the Intent of this column to discuss Juvenile delinquency. The main object was to commend the Jaycees for staying on the job and to give the organizations of the town churches, Lodges, civic clubs warning to be prepared to take a part In this movement to pro vide a youth center. Since winter has been so In ev idence one frequently hears the remark that "I believe this Is about the coldest winter we've ever had." The record doesn't bear out this belief. In reality, the lowest mark recorded on the lo cal government thermometer was three degrees above zero. Some of the family thermometers here and there have shown lower marks in Heppner, and there is no doubt but that the tempera tures have been considerably low er in the. higher elevations, but some doubt exists as to this be ing the coldest winter we've ever had. That Is a broad statement, and broad statements are always sub ject to scrutiny and analysis. No doubt the older residents of the community can recall numerous winters colder than this one, win ed around 10 to 20 below, but such cold snaps were usually ac companied by heavier snowfall than we have experienced this winter. If the Gazette Times should lapse into a status of missing the mail the next few weeks it will be because one member of the staff is taking a well-deserved rest. Due to heavy work of the past season and carrying a load of civic activities, Mrs. Crawford overtaxed her strength and was forced to bed Tuesday morning following a mild heart attack. If she can remain quiet for 30 days or so she may be able to resume most of her activities, and in the meantime the rest of the force will be carrying on to the best of their respective abilities. o Shamrocks Garner Double Win From Pilot Rock Clubs The Heppner Shamrock hoop- sters started their 1949 season im pressively Monday night when they Journeyed to Pilot Rock to win both games of the double header with the Pilot Rock Town ies. Hitting the hoop from all an gles the Shamrocks ran away with both games by large mar ginsThe "B" squad contest end ed with the score 45 to id, ana the "A" game final was 59 to 38. Stan Kemp, husky Heppner center, led all scorers with 22 points, followed by Kupp, Pilot Rock forward, who accounted for 18 tallies. Thursday night the Shamrocks meet two teams from Hcrmiston, followed by a return game at Heppner with Pilot Rock on Mon day, January 10. o Newt Matteson returned home Monday from St. Joseph's hospit al in Pendleton where he recently underwent a surgical operation for a stomach aliment. BOUQUET OF ROSES For his fine Job In heading the work of decorating Main street for the Christmas holidays, the Junior chamber of commerce has voted Glenn Parsons the man of the month for December and awarded him the club's "Bouquet of Roses." o March Of Dimes Goes Into Action Friday, January 14 Portland, Dec. 30 The annual March of Dimes swings into ac tion in Morrow county and the rest of Oregon and the nation, as well, January 14 and continues through January 31 with an un precedented overall goal of $30, 000,000. The dates were announced to day by Charles Ruggles, 1949 March of Dimes chairman for this county, who urged that "every one give at least 50 per cent more this time." Oregon volunteers in the forth coming March of Dimes will ga ther at radio stations throughout the state at 1:45 Jan. 6 to receive 15 minutes of instructions during a closed -circuit broadcast by President Basil O'Connor of the National Foundation for Infan tile Paralysis. Stations partici pating will be KWIL, Albany; KBND, Bend; KOOS, Coos Bay; KORE, Eugene; KUIN, Grants Pass; KFJI, Klamath Falls; KAST, Astoria; KRNR, Roseburg; KSLM, Salem, and POJ, Portland. The Morrow county March of Dimes chairman revealed that he had received a night letter from O'Connor In which the foundation head asserted, "Make no mistake about it this is an emergency situation." The wire went on to state that "if we are to continue to help polio victims, and be pre pared for epidemics next year, and continue our educational and research programs, the next March of Dimes must be the greatest ever and net at least $30,000,000. Without this we can not fulfill our pledges to patients and the public." O Conors communication re vealed that In 1948 alone it had cost $17,000,000 to care for polio patients, that the foundations epidemic aid fund had been ex hausted and that many chapter treasuries had been depleted. The local county chairman pointed out that polio in Oregon in 1948 was up 200 per cent over last year's figures. Jackman Proposes Increased Grass Crops in Forests A constructive program of In creasing grass and reducing use less and dangerous brush growth In national forests is advocated by E. R. Jackman, farm crops specialist at Oregon State college, In an article in the January is sue of the Country Gentleman. Jackman, who has been with the O.S.C. extension service for more than 30 years, was author of the recent article on Burns in the Post's cities of America series. Jackman deplores the current feuding between haters of the forest service on one hand and haters of so-called catlle barons on the other. Cattle barons are few and far between, he says, and few of these use the national forests. Figures show the average number of cattle grazed by each owner on all forests in the nation is 68. Similarly Jackman believes the forest service is mainly made up of "the finest group of men in any of the government services," ranking high in unselfish and capable public service. Most of them are friendly to multiple use of the forests and for timber pro duction, water supply, recreation, wild life and livestock grazing. To reverse the admitted reduc tion in feed resources on forest lands Jackman advocates a six point program designed to re verse the present trend toward more underbrush thickets which' he says reduce both grass and tree growth, increase fire hazards and reduce water supplies. His program follows in condensed form: 1. Reseed with adapted grasses all depleted meadows and other open spaces. 2. Reseed grass after every ac cidental fire, a practice benefi cial both to grazing and new tree growth. Reseed with grass in the wake of all logging operations. 4. Continue water development work to spread stock as widely as possible. 5. Step up forest research in at tempt to learn other ways of stopping the thickets. 6. Destroy sagebrush or other useless brush and then seed all such lands within the forest. PTA MEETING 12TH "Education for Good Citizen ship" will be the theme for the next regular meeting of the Heppner Parent -Teacher associa tion which will be held January 12 In the high school auditorium. The meeting will open at 8 o clock and will be presided over by Edwin Dick. Barnstorming Boys From Burns Beat Bohles' Basketeers Mustang Lead in First Canto Soon Lost to Invaders By Jim Barratt Coach Vernon Bohies' Heppner Mustangs displayed a hoop squad of winning talents for the first quarter against the barnstorm ing Burns Bulldogs here Thurs day night, but failed to keep up the pace set by the visitors who went on to win, 40-29.A classy Burns "B" squad passed the Heppner ponies dizzy in the intra mural contest to easily win. Paced by its speed-merchant forward, Harold Manners, the Mustangs grabbed an early lead of 14-12, but after that point the sharp -shooting Burns quint mov ed ahead to hold a nine point lead throughout most of the fray. Heppner displayed a fast-break offense unique to others used here in previous years, using long passes and an airtight zone de fense in bottling up the visitors at the beginning. Margin of vic tory for the Burns outfit, however, was ability to hit the hoop where as Heppner's shots seemed des tined to roll In... but then out Timms, pint-sized Burns guard, showed a world of class with his dribbling and one-handed shots outside the key. Manners led Heppner scorers with six field goals but gave up scoring honors to Jones of Burns, who tallied 16. Jerry Waters, al though off In his shooting, play ed a good defensive and back board game as did his running mate, Jimmy Sumner, Mustang center. Outstanding performers for the Heppner ponies were Connor and Phil Smith, but the Burns Bees showed too much hoop savvy for the Heppnerites to cope with. Lineups: Heppner, 29 Burns, 40 Manners 12 f . .... .. ... .1 Burdett Waters 8 1 Stewart Sumner 2 c 11 Walters Gunderson 6 ... g 10 Timms Ruhl 1 g 16 Jones Substitutions: Heppner, Jones, Piper, Smith and Connor; Burns, White, Fields, Smith, Meykoff. i. Til ley and Brandt. ' Referee: Kliegal of Pendleton. Dr. J. D. Palmer's Brother Victim Of Airplane Disaster When newf of the airplane wreck at Seattle was heard on local radios Monday morning there was no thought on the part of anyone that Heppner might be concerned. Yet it was. for on the plane bearing the Yale stu dents was Russell Palmer, one of the fatalities, brother of Dr. J. D. Palmer, Heppner dentist. Russell, 28 and a senior in mu sic at Yale, had been a concert pianist for a number of years and was a great favorite with all who knew him. It was the sad task of Dr. Pal mer to go to Seattle and aid in identifying his brother's body. He left Monday morning expecting to remain until after the funeral. Oregon Highway Users Pay Heavily To Federal Gov't Oregon highway users paid $13,505,917 during 1947 to the federal government in special automotive taxes, according to man of the Oregon Highway Us figures made public by the chair eers conference, T. R. Conway, who is manager of the Oregon State Motor association. The Oregon vehicle users' big gest payment to the federal trea sury was in the form of the 11-2 cent federal gasoline tax. A total of $5,496,134 was pad in this one tax alone. Federal excise taxes collected in Oregon on automo biles amounted to $2,68,790; on tires and tubes, $2,295,825; on au tomotive parts and bpiwmv's $1,550,988; on trucks $1,042,063, and on lubricating oil $182,117. These taxes. Mr. Conway point ed out, go to the national govern ment's general funds, whereas states generally depend on their special automotive taxes for highway purposes. More than 600 organizations, including a num ber of Oregon groups, have peti tioned Congiess to end these emergency federal taxes, which were heavily increased during the war. The figures were compiled by the National Highway Users Con ference. They Include only those portions of the total collections which are attributed to highway use. Mrs. Wendell Aldrlch Is listed among the sick people of the community for the week. At last I report she was on the mend. Lexington Airport In Line For Federal Aid With Local Help Further development of the Lexington airport is seen if a funding campaign can be met locally. This information was im parted Tuesday by former Mayor Alonzo Henderson of Lexington, who has been a leader in the port project since the beginning. According to Henderson, the airport is still in line for a $7000 grant from federal funds. This is contingent upon the airport commission's ability to meet the offer with matching funds in the sum of $5,500, of which the state board of aeronautics has taken care of $1,828.17 through the al location of preliminary engineer ing costs. This leaves a balance of $3,670.83 for the local commun. ity to raise, or $1,223.60 per year for three years. Each year the federal agency will post $2,333.33, making a total of $3,556.93 avail able for improvement each of the three years. Henderson pointed to the fact that there are now nine planes based at the airport. More may be added before the year is out. Additional runways are needed and to permit these there must be more land acquired by the commission. A tract of 17 12 ac res adjoining the present port property can be obtained and Federal Engineers Arrange Hearings For NW Projects The board of engineers for riv ers and harbors a permanent body in Washington which re views development plans and survey reports of the corps of en gineers prior to their submission to congress, will hold four pub lic hearings at different cities in the northwest at which views of those interested In the corps of engineers' "308" review report on the Columbia River and Tributar ies will be received. This announcement was made by Colonel Theron D. Weaver, North Pacific division engineer of the corps of engineers, on his return from Wshaington, D. C, where he conferred with the board which is now considering the report. The public notice, out lining the report, was issued by Colonel Weaver last November 8 and the plans have subsequently been widely discussed at various public meetings and in the press. The river and harbor board's hearings wilj be at Spokane on Monday, January 31; at Seattle, Tuesday, February 1; at Portland Wednesday, February 2; and at Boise, Friday, February 4. The time limit for presenting com ments on the report is now ex tended by the board to February 4. The board's voluntary action in holding the hearings in this area is taken because of the far-reaching sgnificance and wide inter est in the regional development plans and the recommendations contained in the report, Colonel Weaver said. The regional hear ings will afford local interests the maximum convenience in pre senting their views to the board in person. Without such hearings in this region it would be neces sary for those who wished to comment on the report orally to the board to go to Washington in order to do so. Most hearings on regional development plans before the board of engineers for rivers and harbors are held at Gravelly Point in the District of Columbia. Full details of the exact time and meeting place for each of the four hearings will be announced in the near future. Notices will be sent to those organizations and individuals who received the no tice of November 8, Colonel Wea ver said. NEW POSTAL SERVICE TO START IN VALLEY At 8:10 a.m., Monday, January 10th, the "Pony Express" will be reborn. On that date the first Highway Post Office to be put In operation In the northwest will leave Portland's Terminal Rail way Post Office on Its first offi cial trip. This time, instead of one lone will be the power of two hun dred and ten horses to speed the rider and his trusty pony, there mail on Its way. The coach, which measures thirty-five feet overall, has thirty feet of working space on the Inside, weighs something over ten tons, and was manufac tured b'v the White Motor Com pany at Cleveland, Ohio. It was driven to Portland by the Ter minal Transfer Co., owned by La nier Brugh, who has a contract with the railway mail service to operate the vehicle between Port land and Corvallis The run from Portland will be by way of Beaverton, Aloha, Hillsboro, Forest Grove, Carlton, McMinnville, Amity, Dallas, Mon mouth, Independence, and eleven intermediate post offices, to Cor vallis. A round trip will be made dally and stops to discharge and receive mail will be made each way at each of the twenty-two I post offices on the route, part of the funds acquired thru the matching offer would be used for that purpose. The catch to the whole deal is that the local funds must be raised by February 1 if the mat ching funds are to be acquired. This would mean a serious delay to development of the port as the commission would have to start from the beginning. Priority once lost through lack of cooperation is not easily regained and It might mean several years before anything constructive could be done at the port, unless the peo ple of the county got busy and put up all of the money, Hender son said. To stimulate renewed interest in the airport project, the City of Lexington is showing the film en titled "Our Town Builds an Air port." The showing will be at 8 o'clock Monday evening, Janu ary 17 at the Lexington school auditorium. It will be free to the public and a representative of the state board of aeronautics, possibly W. M. Bartlett, director, will be present. This will be an opportunity for the people of the county to learn more about air ports and particularly the Lex ington port which in reality Is a Morrow county project. Wettest Season In Recorded History Feature of 1948 There may have been wetter seasons in the Gooseberry section than the year just past, but in the period of years in which pre cipitation has been recorded there has been nothing to exceed 1948, according to V. L. Carlson, voluntary weather observer for that part of Morrow county. A total of 20.77 inches of mois ture was recorded at the Carlson ranch which, according to the record, is greater than any pre vious year since measurements have been taken in that part of the county. In 1947 the precipitation count was 18.34 inches and in 1946 it was 12.15 inches, or approximate ly normal for this part of the country. Soil Conservation District Winds Up Successful Year Starting the new year with ap proval for the 1948 annual report and plans for the 1949 annua; meeting, supervisors of the Hepp ner Soil Conservation district met In regular monthly meeting at the county agent's office, Mon day evening, January 3. Completing the annual report of the district which is prepared for presentation to landowners of the district as well as the State Soil Conservation committee and USDA, supervisors expressed the opinion that much actual con servation has been accomplished on Morrow county farms during the past year. Actual progress and district accomplishments will be presented to the farmers of the county at the annual meet ing of the dstrict which was des ignated to be held on February 8. In olanning for this annual meeting which will be held at the Lexington Grange hall in conjunction with the Lexington Blow Control district and Lexing ton Oil Cooperative annual meet ings, the supervisors have outlin ed an interesting program which win De oi interest to everyone. The program will be naounced in the near future. Reporting on the organization meeting of the su pervisors of this area, which was held at Arlington December 29. John Wightman stated that Ralph Saylor. Echo supervisor of the West Umatilla district was elect ed as the board member to rep resent Columbia Basin districts on the newly formed Oregon As sociation of Soil Conservation Districts. Progress reports for the past month revealed two new appli cations for farm plans with one new district farm plan complet ed, conservation surveys were completed on 2635 acres and 16 acres of land leveled. MISSIONARY SOCIETY HOLDS ANNUAL ELECTION At a recent meeting of the Union Missionary society, Mrs. Marvin Wightman was elected president, Mrs. Carl McDaniel. vice president, and Mrs. Clive Huston, secretary-treasurer for the ensuing year. Mrs. Wightman named Mrs. Lucy Peterson, Mrs. J. R. Huff man and Miss Leta Humphreys to 'the program committee and Mrs. Emma Evans, Mrs. Cornet Green and Mrs. Sophrona Thomp son on the refreshment commit tee. HAVE BABY GIRL Mr. and Mrs. Wayne Lindner are the proud parents of a baby girl, born December 29, 1918, at Valley Memorial hospital in Sun nysid'e, Wash. The babe weighed eight pounds, four and three quarters ounces and has been named Patricia Lynette. FOR AN EMERGENCY AMBULANCE The drive is on for a com munity emergency ambulance for Morrow county under spon sorship of the Veterans of For eign Wars. The first person asked gen erously gave $150.00. Let us see how many can do the rani. No amount too large or too smalL We want everybody n Morrow county to give some thing. This ambulance is to be paid for by the people for the people and operated at actual cost. Please leave checks at the bank, the postoffice, or at the offices of Dr. C. C. Dunham or Dr. McMurdo, and get your re ceipt Sincerely yours. Ambulance Committee, Veterans of Foreign Wars. - Power Company To Spend $8,000,000 On Construction A new record construction pro gram in excess of $8,000,000 is scheduled for the Pacific Power & Light company system for 1949, according to J. R. Huffman, local manager. This will bring to more than $25,000,000 the building that has been done on the power system just since the end of the war to meet the enormous expansion re sulting from continuing growth of the region. Former construction record for the power company was set just this year, when a total of $8,000,. 000 was invested in new facilities and equipment for electrical ser vice. Major job for this year will see a 50,000-kilowatt' generator brot into production at the company's Merwin hydroelectric project. Be cause of the tight power situa tion in the Pacific northwest, this is regarded as the year's most important single project. Including related central sub station and transmission facili ties, this job calls for an outlay of $3,800,000 this year, with the total cost expected to be well in excess of $4,000,000. Funds for expansion of com pany lines to bring electric ser vice to new customers or to pro vide increased service to present power users total some $2,000,000 for the year. Another large outlay will be used for improvements and expansion of substation fa cilities. For street lighting im provements alone, approximately $220,000 has been set up. o Need For Clothing Stressed in Letter From Distant Land For some years now Josephine Mahoney has been carrying on a kind of solo relief job, gathering clothing from friends which she combined with .unused garments of her own and shipping them to a relief agency in Austria. The job and the demand have reach ed a point where Mrs. Mahoney finds it advisable to let more of the public in on the enterprise. A letter received from the chair man of the welfare group she has been communicating with throws some light on the situation in this once proud country: 'Thank you so much for the box received this past week. We are so glad that your box arrived in time to help us pack the Christmas boxes for our welfare families. It had been so hard to get enough warm things to put in these boxes, we have such a small supply on hand. All the boxes are being delivered this morning and afternoon so that they will be at the homes in plen ty of time for Christmas eve that is the big day for celebrating over here. Christmas nay is stiictly a religious day. "We have had one snow storm so we will have a white Christ mas but everyone feels the cold over here for there is so much dampness." Send parcels to The American Women's Welfare Committee, APO 777 c o Postmaster. New York, N. Y., or to the U. S. High Commissioner. Hq. U. S. Forces in Austria, APO 777 c o Postmas ter. New York, N. Y. CHANGE OF ADDRESS; DITTO AS TO NAME Miss Elsie Jepson writes the Gazette Times from Baltimore, Maryland that she is changing her address on January 15, for on that day she will become the bride of Mr. John Louden and their residence will be at 3123 E. Monument St., Baltimore 5. Miss Jepson is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Jepson of lone. She is a registered nurse, taking her training during the war years following her gradu ation from the lone high school, o Mrs. Ralph Aldrich of lone Is reported on the road to recovery following a siege of Influenza. County Officials Take Respective Oaths Of Office Barratt, Miller, Currin New Faces Checking in Monday Monday was' swearing In day at the county courthouse, at which time two newly elected and two re-elected officials took their oaths of office. J. G. Barratt, newly elected county judge and Russell Miller, new commssioner, and C. J. D. Bauman, relected sheriff, were sworn in by County Clerk C. W. Barlow who was In turn given the oath by Judge Barratt There was no pomp or ceremony. Mrs. Barratt was present to witness the oath-taking, as was L. D. Ne- ill, outgoing commissioner, and a representative of the press, and Louis Lyons was there to catch a picture or two. Judge Barratt succeeds Bert Johnson who served two terms. being first elected in 1936 and again in 1942. Barratt is not new to the county court, having served as commssioner succeeding the late C. W. McNamer. After filling out McNamer's term, like the late Cal Coolidge, he "did not choose , to run" and Ralph I. Thompson was induced to enter the race. Barratt conducted a well adver tised campaign in the spring to win the nomination. He told the people he wanted to be their county Judge and just what kind of a judge he thought he would make. His experience In court matters made him well informed and with this confidence in him self it was not too big a Job to sell himself to the voters. Russell Miller is the first res ident of the north end of the county to be elected to a place on the county court. The aptness he has shown in taking hold of county business convinces the other members of the court that the voters have made a good choice. The courthouse personnel, el ective and appointive, now In cludes Judge J. G. Barratt; Com missioners Ralph I. Thompson and Russell Miller; Ralph Cur rin, district attorney; Sheriff C. J. D. Bauman. Clerk C. W. Barlow, Treasurer L. W. Briggs, Assessor W. O. Dix, and Coroner A. D. Mc Murdo. Appointive are Henry Tetz, elected by the rural school board, superintendent; Mrs. Fran ces Mitchell and Leila McLach lan, tax division of the sheriffs office; Mrs. Fred Parrish, deputy county clerk; Mrs. Joe Hughes, deputy assessor; Mrs. Tom Wil son, deputy school superintend-, ent; Miss Margaret Gillis, county health nurse; Jarvis Chaffee, san. itary engineer, otherwise refer red to as the courthouse janitor. Early Approval Of Hospital Drawings Seen By Barratt That final plans for the Mor row county hospital will be forth coming soon was the opinion ex pressed Monday by Judge J. G. Barratt in a brief talk before the chamber of commerce luncheon group. He based this assumption on a statement by the firm of architects drawing the plans that an altered draft had been made and was being forwarded to the regional office in San Francisco which has the authority to give the go ahead signal on construc tion. Approval of the plans does not necessarily mean that con struction can start immediately. There is still the matter of ob taining a satisfactory contract. In appreciation of his 12 years as a faithful servant of the coun ty, the chamber of commerce pre sented L. D. Neill with a gift. Mr. Neill was first elected in 19.16 and has given faithful and effi cient service throughout his three terms of office as county commissioner. J. J. O'Connor reported on the inaugural dinner to be given on Wedensday evening. January 19 at the Legion hall. An invitation is being extended to all farm groups, city officials and the pub. lie in general to attend the af fair which will be something new In chamber of commerce proced ure. Brownie Troop 4 Reports Activities Brownie troop No. 4 had three meetings In December. The first two we wrote our promise out of letter macaroni and put It on brown paper so we could hang It on the wall. The third one we made embroidery thread holders for our mothers for Christmas. Officers for month of January are: President, Francine Francis; secretary, Janet Kelthley; trea surer. Delores haster; party ho tess, Judy Barger. Anna Marie Winters, Scribe.