Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 7, 1954)
U OF 0 Ottt County To Begin Tax Reappraisal Program Cost of Program Split With State Tax Commission Mrs. Joe Hughes Appointed to Fill Assessor's Post A complete reappraisal and equalization of all real and per sonal property in Morrow county will be started immediately by rne assessors office In coopera tion with the state tax commis sion, the county court announced Wednesday during its regular monthly session. The program, which will take about 18 months to complete, will be done with the aid of two men from the state tax commission ;md the cost will be born equally by the county and the commis sion. While the contract for the work has not yet been signed, the court and commission have agreed upon the terms and it vvill be completed within the next few days, the court indicated. They al,so said that they were well pleased with the terms which will allow one of the state men to serve as a deputy in the assess or's office and while the entire reappraisal program is being done under the supervision of the state, the ultimate control still remains with the county. The court also said that fi nancially the contract is very favorable in that the necessary funds for the job are available in the present budget and that probably no additional money will be needed to complete the project. While the exact cost is not yet known, it will be far be low the $75,000 which Grant county expended for a similar program The reason for the low cost for Morrow county, the court said, was because the present system in the office is quite up-to-date and very few changes will have to be made in it. In some other counties it has been necessary to inaugurate an en tirely new system which adds considerably to the cost. The court said that it had re quested the reappraisal program from the commission because, though it can be forced on the county eventually, the court felt it would be much to the county's advantage to be able to do it at its own convenience and when the money was available. Mem bers felt that if the county post poned action the state might order it done at a time when an extra tax levy would be required to finance the project. The actual work of reapprais ing and equalizing levies on all real and personal property will start within a short time( it was said. Three From District Get Service Call Three selectees Myron Rill, Heppner; Kent Wilhelm, Arling ton; and William B. Pendleton, lone will receive their notices to appear at Condon headquarters of tri-county draft board on Janu. ary 14 for induction into the armed forces in Portland on the following day. The January quota for local board 31 is two registrants. Wil lian Pendleton, athletic coach at lone high school was transferred from local board 71, Duncan, Oklahoma for induction. All three are scheduled for Army basic training at Fort Ord, Calif. New lone Gymnasium And Swimming Pool Dedication Tuesday Formal key dedication of Ione's new $255,000 gymnasium-cafe-torium and swimming pool will be held Tuesday, Jan. 12 in the new building, the lone school board announced this week in extending an invitation to all residents of this section of Mor row county to be present for the special services. The new building, which was crirnniete d. except for the swim ming pool, at the start of school last fall and is one of the most modern buildings of its type in this section of the state. It is used to house the band and musi cal departments, shop, gymnas ium and kitchen-cafetorium fa cilities and gives much needed additional space in the school system. The total cost of the building and pool which was built by McCormack Construc tion company of Pendleton, was 3255,000. Of this amount $45, 000 went for the modern, heated swimming pool. Freeman, Hay slip and Tufft, Portland archi tects prepared the plans for the entire project. The building has been in use all of this school year, and the band was moved into the new building last spring prior to its Mrs. Joseph B. Hughes, for eight years a deputy in the county of fice, was appointed assessor Wednesday by the county court. She will serve until the end of 1954 and will fill the position held by the late W. O. Dix until his resignation about three months ago. The court said, in making the announcement of the appoint ment, that Mrs. Hughes was chosen for the position because she was familiar with the office system, an important point at the present time because of the starting of a complete tax re appraisal and equalization pro gram in cooperation with the state tax commission. Mrs. Hughes has been handling the work of the assessor's office alone since Mr Dix's resignation, but will soon have a deputy to assits her. The appointmnet to the office can be only for the remainder of the unexpired term as the office is elective. Several applications for the job had been received by the court, but persons interested in running for the office must now file before March 12, the deadline prior to the May pri mary elections. Carter Takes Over AsC-C New officers of the Heppner Morrow county chamber of com merce were installed Monday noon at the regular meeting of the organization. Jeff Carter, J. C. Penney manager, took over as new president; Mary Van Stevens as first vice president and Bradley Faneher, second vice president. Installing officer was Frank Turner who recounted a few of the accomplishments of the past year and outlined some of the important projects that must be tackled during the coming year. He emphasized the need for the chamber of commerce and the carrying out of the program for development of the town and the county. New directors also installed were Jack Bedford, John Erns dorff and La Verne Van Marter. Story Gets Results, Chest Gets 40 Cents Before last week's Gazette Times was in the mail, in fact before all the copies were off the press, the Heppner Community Chest reached its quota. The GT's pressman, Ray Smith stopped the press in the middle of the run after seeing the front page story that just 40 cents was needed to put the local drive over the top, and dug up the necessary amount. Robert Ferrell, Chest treasurer was immediately notified, but it was too late to change the story because many papers had al ready been printed. According to reports several more dollars have been received since, so the drive is well ahead of its quota. completion. The program for the formal key dedication service, which is to open at 7:30 p. m. will include: Invocation by Rev. Alfred Shir ley; Garland Swanson, represent ing the lone Memorial Improve ment Association, which aided financially in the construction of the pool, will tell the history of the organization and the past plans for expansion. The key will then be passed to Edward Elliott, Portland, state representative of the Oregon Education Associa tion who will give the dedicatory address. Earl McKinney, chair man of the local school board will respond and school superin tendent Chester L. Wrard will ac cept the challenge on behalf of the board and the community. Following the formal dedica tion there will be a band concert, an informal refreshment line and then open house in the new building with students and in structors on hand to show, the visitors through the plant. The school board and school officials emphasized that the program is open to the general public and extend a special invi tation to residents of other near by communities. Copies 10 cents 0L Purchase and Leveling Expense Shows Wide Variance Among Areas The presentation of cost fig-1 neers and architects. Al the Turn ures on five proposed sites for alA-Lum site an unknown figure new grade school gave most) must be added to cover the cost school board members and visi-lof the purchase of a small tors a rough shock Tuesday night amount of land owned by L. E. and practically eliminated from Bisboe, Gene Noble and A. J. further consideration the three Chaffee which would be neccs mosl discussed locations, the sary to allow moving the chan hosnital hill, the Dick-Georce.nel of Willow creek further to the property and the ProeK-Dovin (also called presently owned) land because of excessive pre paration costs. About two months ago the board ordered superintendent H. C .Reed to obtain purchase prices and estimated excavation and filling costs on most of the vari ous sites that have, at one time or another, been considered by the board. The figures varied from a high of $308,221.30 for the hospital hill to a low of $22, 500 for the Cox-Anderson site. Figures were also obtained for the Cason property, which previ ously has been voted down at a special election The cost there was given as $23,500. The figures given included only the cost of buying the pro perty apd getting it ready to build on and did not include any amount of the building itself which in the case of a 12 room school, the size determined by the board as necessary, is esti mated at $318,000. Costs Shown A complete breakdown on the various sites and the components that go into making up the total cost figures is shown below. By way of explanation, excavation at 30 cents per yard is for dirt, at $8.00 per yard is for estimated rock. In the case of the Prock-; Devin land the purchase price of the Dick-George property is in cluded because of the necessity of having to buy the land to be able to move Hinton creek chan nel and D street, a requisite for the use of the property. The ori ginal cost of this land is also shown in the figures. In all cases the purchase price listed is the asking price of the present owners and the other figures were estimates by engi- Funeral Services For Claud Huston Held Wednesday Funeral services were held on Wednesday at the Heppner Chris tian church for Thomas Claud Huston, 77, of lone who passed away Monday at Pioneer Memor ial hospital following an illness of three years. Services were con duced by Rev. Earl L. Soward, pastor. Mr. Huston was born April 16, 1876 at Harrisburg, Oregon and had lived in the lone area for 6S years. He is survived by his Wife, Etta, Ione;two daughters, Mrs. Gene Dobbs, Heppner; and Mrs. William Rawlins, lone; one son, Thomas of lone, and five grandchildren. He also leaves, a brother Give Huston, Heppner aid one sister, Mrs. Leonard Barr of Redmond. Mr. Huston had been for many years an active member of Rhea Creek Grange. Burial was in the Heppner Ma sonic cemetery with Phelps Fune ral Home in charge. o Heppner Postal Receipts Show Slight Gain Over 1952 1953 receipts at the Heppner post office continued to show a gain over the previous years, postmaster James Driscoll indi cated this week. Final figures showed the local office did $22, 745.10, which is an increase of $266.90 over 1952. Driscoll said that in the num ber of pieces of mail handled during the year dropped approxi mately -5 percent, but the dollar volume increase was accounted; for by rate increases put into ef fect during the year. The vol ume of Christmas mail bandied during December was practically equal to that of a year ago. The Heppner office has record ed an increase each year since 1938. Heppner, Oregon, Thursday, January SITE east. The cost of the Cason site is also included for comparison purposes. Tum-ALum site: City property . . $13,000.00 Tum-A-Lum property 42.000.00 Moving creek channel 2.250.00 Filling old channel 3.01X1.00 J. C. lease etc. . 3.954.27 $61,204.27 $ 11.000.00 Prock-Devin site: Cost of property Excavation, 3,266 yd. & 8.00 Fill, 12,000 yd. t 1.00 Adams lot and other Moving street Moving Hinton creek Dick - George pro perty 26,128.00 12,000.00 12.000.00 25.000.00 5,250.00 33,500.00 $127,878.00 $10,500.00 10.000.00 2,000.00 Cox-Anderson site: Anderson property Cox property Preparing site $22,500.00 $ 25.000.00 Dick-George site: George property Dick property Excavation for bldg, 10,891 yd. & 8.00. Excavation of play ground 12,090 yd. & 8.00 8,500.00 87,152.00 96,70.00 $217,372.00 $ 5,000.00 900.00 77,696.00 Hospital site: 10 acres $500.00 Excavation for bldg. 3000 yd, &' .30 9712 yd. ft 8.00 Excavation for play ground 14.271 yd. (i .30 27,543 yd. ? 8.00 4,281.30 220,344.00 $308,221.30 $20,500.00 3,01X1.00 Cason site: Cost of property Excavation $23,500.00 Special Meeting Set After a discussion of the vari ous figures the board ordered an appraisal of the properties under consideration and called another meeting for next Tuesday even ing at the school. The appraisers have been asked to have their figures prepared by that time so board members will have more definite information on which to base their decisions. Chance Wilson of Monument Taken by Death January 1 By Fayr Sweek MONUMENT Chance Wilson passed away at the John Day Medical Center Friday, Jan. 1 after taking suddenly ill on Christmas clay while at work. He was rushed to the clinic in the R. E. A. station wagon driven by Ben Spain. Mr. and Mrs. Homer Williams and children of Echo were spend ing the day with their parents and they took over the duties of Mr. and Mrs. Wilson at their place of business and rooming house. Funeral services were held in the Monument Presbyterian Com - munity church Sunday afternoon with the Heppner Elks lodge in charge. Interment was in the Monument cemetery. Tyler Jackson of Whittmore, Calif., and Mrs. Irene Hanson of Portland were in Monument to be with their mother and attend the final rites. Mr. Wilson had spent his life in the Monumen area and a sec tion of the house in which he had been living during the past years, the master bedroom, is the room he was born in over 70 years ago. Mr. and Mrs. Henry Rauch Jr.. of Holdman were visiting in Heppner over the weekend. HEPPNER'S LITTLE MISS 1954, Beverly Diane Holm, who arrived at 7 a. m. January 1, won for herself and her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Holm, Heppner a big group of prizes as the first baby to be born in Heppner in 1954. She is shown here with her mother, completely unconcerned about all her winnings, and much more interested in when her next meal was going to be served. (GT Photo) BEVERLY HOLM, NOW 6 DAYS OLD, WINS LOCAL FIRST BABY CONTEST A girl, Beverly Diane, who was fered to the first baby to be born born to Mr. and Mrs. Stanley H. Holm of Heppner at 7 a. in. Janu ary 1 was the first baby born at Pioneer Memorial Hospital and automatically became the winner of the First Baby contest spon sored by the hospital and many Heppner Merchants who offered valuable prizes to the lucky baby. Baby Beverly, though she doesn't know much about her winnings yet, and her parents will receive 30 separate prizes of- Cordon to Help Get Ships For Grain Storage United States Senator. Guy Cor don has just advised Al Lamb, manager of Morrow County Grain Growers in Heppner, that he has taken up the proposal for use of the mothball fleet at Tongue Point for grain storage purposes, with Commodity Credit officials in Washington. The telegram was received frum the Senator in answer to a scries of appeals recently made by Lamb, and others, urging lhat steps he started at once towards solving of the 1954 grain storage problems. The manager of the grain coooporative pointed out that the 1953 wheat and barley crop carryover falling into the hands of the government, in the Pacific Northwest alone, might run between 75,000,00(1 and 100, 000,000 bushels and if this were the case a major farm disaster was threatening. Exports of grain are running at their lowest volume in years so little relief appears likely from that direction. While long range plans for crop disposals are mg worked out, Lamb had u ed the use .4 idle government own ships to help tide . through tnej 195- emergency He pom od ou ; that considerable work will need to be done in getting ho ships: ready and therefore it is highly imponani uia P"'l'" started towards converting Un ships be started at once. This 1-. ....... ,.il ,.n flm ,,'icl mmj '.' . .. . .flCleo Drake during V.im arm is nTo.,.:u i. - have been highly satisfactory and also a very economical method of storage. The telegram from Senator Cordon and letters from others in Washington indicate that offi cials there are now fully aware of the tight storage situation facing this area and are prepar jjnK t0 au possible steps in their power to alleviate the an ticipated difficulty. Charles Barlow Taken To Portland Hospital Charles Barlow, county clerk who suffered serious injury anil partial paralysis nearly four months ago, was taken to Port land by ambulance Tuesday morning'. He will be given spe cial treatment at the Good Sam aritan hospital. Mrs. Earl L. Soward and Mrs Robert Walker took Mrs. Barlow to Portland Tuesday to be with j Monday from a two weeks holi her husband. day spent In California. 7, 1954 in rjivl. nicy include several cash awards which went into a bank account for her, baby clothes, canned milk, baby food and even a sport shirt for the proud papa, Beverly is the Holm's first child and the parents were greatly pleased with all the prizes their child received just because she timed her arrival properly. Holm is a teacher at the Heppner high school. Another girl, Cheri Ann, was born to Mr. and Mrs. Louis Carl son of lone the evening of De cember 31, but sjie arrived a few hours too soon to qualify as the first baby of 1954. Her early ar rival did, however, give her par cuts an income tax exemption for the full year of 1953 which the Holm's lost out on because their daughter wailed until the new year to arrive. Mrs. H. O. Ely, Longtime Resident, Token by Death Funeral services were held for Mrs. Minnie Ida Ely Tuesday at 2 p. m. al I he lone Community church with Rev. Alfred Shirley, pastor officiating. She died at tier home Jan. 2. Minnie Ida Palmateer was born at Garfield. Clakamas county, Oregon June 5, 1881 and was 72 years of age at the time of her dealh. She moved with her par ents, the late William and Phoe be Palmntecr, to Morgan in 1808. where she resided until 1952 when she moved to lone. In 1902 she was married to Hiram O Ely, who survives heriWii, .1m.p!iMii t both tun-ties. and they were the parents of five children, four of whom sur vive. They are Franklin of Mor gan, Elvin of Bonrdman, Mrs. Edith Mall hews and Mrs. Mar- I Alr ..(" l,,n M.m iriutnr Miltti Mor(,an Krandchild- grandchildren , , j,,,,,,,,,,,,, al, ows (lf Morgan. Ted fran. (..inn(m an( Davj(J Ey. Sooisls were Mrs. Walter Roberts and Mrs. Paul Pettyjohn who were accompanied by Mrs. "1" i ,. , .,,, . Mru obsnrw U,eir" 50th wedding ui.ic rY1fimhr of Buni hgrass Pelx ;ah lodge and of Willows Grange. Bunchgrass Pebekah lodge were in charge of the graveside services. Intement was in the Morgan cemetery with Phelps Funeral Home in charge. FIRE MEETING CALLED The first of a series of special training meetings for members f the Heppner fire department will be held next Monday nignt at 7:30, fire chief, C. A. Kuggles re- minded members today LEX P-TA TO MEET The Lexington P-TA will hold its regular meeting Tuesday, Jan. 12 at 8 p. m. at the school. o Dr. and Mrs. L. D. Tibbies and sons Lance and Larry, returned 70th Year, Number 43 COMPILED Dr, L D. Tibbies lakes Office as New Heppner Mayor Council Presented Many New Problems A former Heppner city council man and a former mayor swap ped chairs Monday night as Dr. L. D. Tibbies was sworn in as the new mayor of Heppner and after taking the oath of office im mediately appointed his prede cessor, J. O .Turner as a council man to fill the vacancy created by his elevation to the mayor's position. Turner had resigned, effective the first of the year, and the council appointed Dr. Tib bies to the post. The new mayor and the council were immediately faced with a series of difficulties, some of which still remain unsolved, in cluding the discharge of one member of the police force, the problem of mud on the city streets and a disagreement be tween the city recorder, Harry Tamblyn and the water depart ment eler.k, Mrs. Charles Gomil lion, over their duties. New Officer Hired On the recommendation of the police committee the council dis charged Jack Perry as night marshall because of non-performance of duty, and before the evening was over instructed po lice chief Koseoe Kelly to lure George A. Reed of Umatilla to fill the position. Reed had previous ly served on the Umatilla police department. The disagreement between re corder Tamblyn and Mrs. Gomil lion arose over the handling of water department money and of fice procedure with both parties telling the council that they couldn't continue to work with the other under the present set up. The council arrived at no definite decision in the problem but .''overal members expressed the belief that the city should hire one person to handle the two jobs. Both jobs are currently classified as part time jobs. A special meeting of the council will probably be called later this week, mayor Tibbies said, to set tle the question. The problem of mud washing down on city streets and in the buildings from the hill west of town was discussed at length with Frank Parker, owner of the land, who was present at the meeting. Several plans to con tmi the noul flow were talked ., ,p mibk, ,irolM.ry commit tee was instructed to meet With Parker in an effort to find some i mp o i i .sir' me mow ii t ........ I . ..i . . . : ,1 i I 41.... Ditching the entire lower side of the field, planting it to grass or strip-cropping were suggested as possible alternatives. Parker said he was willing to talk the matter over with the city to see if some kind of a solution could be found. The land Is now In wheat and recent heavy rains washed thick layers of mud from the field Into several sections of town. Garbage Control Set The council passed a new garb age disposol ordinance which will regulate the storage, dis posal, burning and hauling of garbage and other trash in the city. The ordinance prohibits the burning of garbage or trash, with the exception of leaves and cut grass, regulates the number of pickups of the garbage collec tor and sets the time the city dump will be open for public use. Primary purpose of the ordinance is to stop the burning of garbage and refuse, a practice which has brought the council numerous complaints in recent months. The group also ordered another survev to determine if anv addi- j,jona street lights are needed, i Sc-vfra I new ones were added re- (.,.Mtiy. Door Prize is Real McCoy Innovating a new custom at chamber of commerce meetings, the program com mittee last Monday gave a door prize which was won by Heppner school superinten dent H. C. Reed. The door prize was a door.
