Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (July 29, 1954)
U OF 0 EUGENE, ORE. Km Copies 10 cents Heppner, Oregon, Thursday, July 29, 1954 71st Year, Number 20 Total County Tax Valuation Shows Drop From Last Year Total tax valuation of Morrow county property will show a drop of $606,040 for the 1951-55 year it was revealed today with receipt by the assessor's office of public utility appraisal figures from the state tax commission. Total valu ation is $13,410,340. Part of the big drop is account- rd for in the new utilities figures which are prepared by the state commission as the total for the coming year is $2,185,394, which reflects a drop of $187,620 in this catagory. Another big reduction is found in the personal property classification which this year is assessed at 30 percent of its true cash value as against 55 percent in past years. All real property is assessed at 25 percent of value. Some of the reductions were off . sot however, by a sizeable in crease in the value of timber lands and in the appraisal of considerable new construction and remodeling that had not ap peared on the tax rolls in the pasf. Even with the reduction in valuation, county taxpayers will enjoy a sizeable reduction in taxes next year, it was pointed out. The overall county levy is expected to be down between seven and seven and one-half mills due to the reduction in (he county school tax and the drop ping of the special five-mill hos pital construction levy. What the exact millage levy will be has not yet been determined, the as sessor pointed out. A breakdown of the total as sessment shows the valuation in the following divisions to be: Lands, $7,694,980; towns, $1,353, 255; personal property, $2,176,710; public utilities, $2,285,395. Farm Bureau To Have Swimming Party The Morrow County Farm Bu reau is sponsoring a swimming party and weiner roast at the lone pool on Saturday August 7, for all members and their famil ies. Swimming will be from 8:00 to 10:00 p. m. The weiner roast be gins at 9(30 p. m. Jackie Ernsdor'f, son ef Mr. and Mrs. John Ernsdorff, is spending the summer vacation with his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Joe Tonani of Spokane Washington. HISTORY OF HOSPITAL AND ITS INCREASED OCCUPANCY TOLD C OF C With the coming construction of an additional wing on the Tioneer Memorial hospital, cham ber of commerce members were told Monday of the need for the addition and also a history of the hospital and its operation by John Ernsdorff, administrator of the institution. Ernsdorff told the group of the early attempts to get an ade quate hospital here and how a small tax levy was started in 1945 to build up a fund for a building. He told of the progress of the plan and how part of the money came from donations, through the development and construction to the dedication of the building in June of 1950. Ho pointed out the tremendous increase in use of the hospital since it was opened and gave the folowing figures on occupancy: 1950 253 patients, 33.3 percent of capacity; 1951 674 patients and Heppner's "Death Trap" : - t . . SS v its. ' i DEATH TRAP corner is shown in this photo of the highway turn on which there have been 18 fatal or serious accidents in seven years. Photographer was looking south, the direction cf travel of all the cai3 involved in accidents. The bridge abutment Is located about 150 feet past the end of the turn. 44' . "t K kyMMlK im0m ' fiM 'Hi' v j K. f ' x j ' a 1 ' !-, pi ; i - ' ' ' T , .' r w. , f u .; j ' : , ' 1 ? ' f' ' '''.' I f f t I ft' 1 I i- ' - - " j x V . v-. t i t. . . ., t i i . - -. . ' " ' ' ' ' 'f . - ' c . . - - v '- - Princess Deanna Steagall First Princess Dance to Honor Deanna Steagall Princess Deanna Steagall will be honored this Saturday night at the first of the series of Prin cess dances leading up to the Morrow county fair and rodeo. The dance will be held at the fair pavilion in Heppner. Princess Deanna, who is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Wilbur Steagall of Lexington, is being sponsored by the Lexington Grange and that organization is also sponsoring her dance Satur day. Princess Deanna was born in Heppner and attended school here until the 7th grade. She -then transferred to St. Joseph's acad emy in Pendleton where she will be a senior this fall. She is 16 48.7 percent; 1952 976 patients, 92 percent; 1953 1208 patients, 91.8 percent; 1954 (to date) 641 patients, 95 percent of capacity. He also cited figures to show that the hospital has operated in the black during most of the years since it has been opened. At the present time the invest ment in the building and equip ment (including the hospital resi dence which was donated last year by Mr. and Mrs. Harry Du valll is S303.179.26. The original cost, including equipment and the ambulance was set at $258, 168. In telling of the heavy occu pancy percentage and of the need for the additional rooms, Erns dorff .said that construction would start on the wing as soon as ap proval of the contract was re ceived from the San Francisco of fice of the department of health. It is expected within a few days. ; I - -1 c- 4 j - T 1 I I 4l' v X ,. V years old, 5 feet 7 and one-half inches tall, has brown hair and brown eyes. Her school activities include be ing secretary-treasurer of her junior class and she has been active in 4-H club work for four years with sewing and cooking being her favorite subjects. Logically, Deanna's main hob by is horseback riding and she doesn't have to take a back seat to anyone when it comes to handling a horse. Her experience comes from a lifetime of riding. She has her own sorrel quarter- horse, Baldy, and she will ride him during the fair and rodeo activities. Though she puts riding first on her list of hobbies, she enjoys dancing as next best and follows that with cooking and swimming. Reports tell that she is also a good performer in both the latter hobbies. Duke Warner and his orchestra will again provide the music for Saturday's dance with the admis sion to be SI. 25 per person. Case Furniture Adds Piano, Organ Lines The Case Furniture company announced this week that it has made arrangements to display and sell pianos and organs for the Jack'Mulligan Piano and Or gan company of Pendleton. The lines represented will be the Baldwin, Chickering and VVurlitzer pianos, Baldwin Elec tronic organs and the Hammond chord organ. The latter is de signed for persons who have had Utile or no musical training as it can be played with about 30 min utes of instruction. The instruments are now on display in the store. - - Corner-Why Have So ! - 5 li r LOOKING BACK toward Heppner along the route traveled by the cars involved in accidents at the spot. The bridge abutment can b seen ct the lower left marked by the white post Nearly all cars have left the road before entirely completing the turn end have been unable to regain the road in time to miss the bridge. Funeral Services For j Charles Breshears ! Held Here Wednesday j ( harles Henry Ereshe: r. 82, re-1 tired railway worker and assist-1 ant Lexington postmaster, a long time Morrow county resident,' died at his home in Lexington! Sunday. The son of John and' Lucy Rreshe.irs, he was born on September 6, 1S71 in Louisburgh, Missouri. He wis married No-! vember 2S, 1909 to Emma Wright: at Lexington. j Survivors include his wife,! Lmma, ctaugnters wane Moagau, Lexington, Vera Whillock, Brook-! ings, Helen Crump, Cor allis, and Edwina nieholdorfer,-T!;" Dalles; brother Thomas fire: hears, of Vancouver, Washington; grandchildren and one erandcliild. twenty i-!l'at Ro-ary was held at i. p (tricks' church Tuesdav Morning and1 funeral services Wednesday morning with Father Francis Mc Cormack officiating. Interment was at Heppner Masonic cemet'y with arrangements in charge of Creswick and Seuell Funeral Home. o Morrow Map Drawing Begins The first ink traiings of Tietail - ;s of!e ed maps of Morrow county will begin this week following Hie, completion of extensive research here by state tax oificials, Mrs.: again. Consigned were 237 cat Joseph Hughes, county assessor,' t'e compared with 3SS the prevl announced Manday. Clifton Pep-! ous Friday and 13 low grade pell, Robert Irvine, and Jack Doty, feeder lambs compared with 71 of the state department completed sheep the previous Friday. Hog their surveys of county roads and volume was up somewhat, 112 deed records here last week, she! compared with 75. said. Numerous defective deeds1 Demand was fair, quality con were uncovered and it was also1 siderod, among packers and po reported that a large portion of tato feeders, with no farmer buy road right-of-ways have not heenjers present and all consignments removed from the tax rolls. made up of very few head each, he maps are being drawn up1 as part or a contract wiui the state in the county-wide tax re appraisal program. They will be the first complete maps of the county ever made available, Mrs. Hughes said. o Ron Currin Wfos District Farm Contest Scoring. 950 out of a possible 100 points, Ronald Currin, 1954 Heppner high school graduate, won first place in the FFA Bet ter Farming contest for the Blue Mountain district sponsored by the Oregon Kiwanis clubs. Ac cording to Llewellyn L. Robbins, vocational agriculture instructor, Currin scored 125 points more than tlx1 second place contestant. A district committee appointed by the district FFA council visited each chapter representative's farm program and selected three district winners, from whom the first place winner is chosen. As an award, Currin will receive a 11x17 transparent print of his supervised rarming program ior the state fair exhibit. Contestants were judged on aoapiaum'y oi progiam 10 wun, long-time continuation of pro gram; best use of home situation; interest and financial responsi bility; technical knowledge of farming program; complete ade quate records; approved practices followed; scope and quality; and profit from vocational agriculture instruction. ATTENDS BROTHER'S FUNERAL Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln Nash and family were in Hood River on Tuesday to attend the funeral services of his brother William Nash, w ho passed away in that j city on July 24. V New School Site Election Still Planned August 14 Plans for a school site election on the presently owned Frock Peine property are continuing, Howard C. Heed, superintendent of whuuls, announced Monday. School officials are still await ing word from the attorney gen eral's office concerning the legal itv of (lfft,,ii:" a second she when voters have already approved the Ji;m-A-Lum property, but mean while it was decided to go ahead w iih plans for the August 14 vote. ; , . . . .. inlii(iini, ,.(,nstit. ;iut.and Stewart Tuft, school ar- liiteel will lie in Ilennner Fridav ,0 discuss the new site with board members. Heed said, Stock Sales Show nal Drop IIFKMTSTON Fred Fredrick : on of Irrigon topped the market it the Hermiston livestock auc tion Friday with a 120 lb. feeder p'g going for $23.75 cwt., Delbert Ap'-'ci, manager of the sale re loi's. Mr. Fredrickson also con- .. signed a saw and 8 pigs that sold for a top of $19.00 for the lot. Harvest operations gaining mo- menttitn cut cattle consignments comprising a cleanup of odds and ends left on the ranches this harvest season. Feeder steers and bulls graded good, other cat tle ranner-cutler generally off 25c and utility off up to 50c. In strong demand among packers were grain or grass steers or hei fers of top quality, with more of these animals needed next Frl' day. Dairy cows were generally steady, and feeder steers started 50c higher at $18.25 but were off 4()c at the top of $19.60. Toorer oualilv stock cows were down to 8135.00 per pair, off $12.00 a pair. Fat stoekor steers were up 35c to a top of $17.85 but were not suf ficient to test the market. Hogs were off as much as $2.90 cwt., due to mostly poor quality, both overweight and underweight. Po tato feeders are expected to pro vide good demand for more steers next Friday. Calves: Baby calves 11.00-22.00 hd.; weaner calves, steer calves 1(5.75-19.10 cwt.; heifer calves 15.-10-17.00 cwt.; veal 15.75-18.75. Steers: Stoekor steers 1(5.75-17.-;v cwt.;feeder steers; 18.25-19.60; no fat daughter steers; fat heifers Kr.1KS utiityi j2.00-14.00 cwt. Cows: Dairy cows 90.00-l37.50 ))() . (lilirv hpif(,rs 29.00-38.00 hd.; slock cows 121-135 pr. Slaughter cows: No commer cial; utility 11.10-12.35 cwt.; can-ner-cutter 8.00-9.75 cwt.; shells 6.00-7.10 cwt. Bulls: 14.75-15.70 cwt. Hogs: Weaner pigs 10.00-17.00 lid.; feeder pigs 21.50-23.75 cwt.; 'at hogs 21.75-23.00 cwt.; sows 14.-50-i;;.2ii; one boar, 14.00 hd. riicep: Low grade feeder lambs 12.751160 cwt.; no fat lambs, ewes or bucks. The Walter and Lawrence Bee- ket families spent the weekend at Lehman springs. Many Accidents Occurred There? Investigation Fails to Show Any F - Single Cause for Numerous Wrecks By Mrs. Eradley Fancher An increu sng number of local lesidents are using the name "dcaUi trap" in referring to the deceptive curve and concrete I ,'dg.' abutment on highway 207 vouth of Heppner which took the 1 Te of i:;!l Wickland and injured five others last week. Since Octo !r 1''17, 18 separate accidents h ive occured in the 150 foot stretch between the curve and the small bridge which spans the creek, claiming three lives. After the serious crash in May 1053 in which Price Greenup and Jack Hartman were killed, the Etate highway department erect ed two large scotch-lite "SLOW" and "CURVE" signs in addition to two scotch lite bars by the concrete abutments themselves, Kinzua Machinist Suffocated by Fall Into Sawdust Bin Francis Edwin Ostnnder. machinist at Kinzua Fine Mill died of suffieation last Friil afternoon when he fell into sawdust bin at the plant at Kin zua. He was brought to Pioneer Memorial hospital but had died before reaching here. According to reports, Ostrandor apparently fell into the bin about 4:30 in the afternoon, just ahead of the change of shifts at the mill, and was not missed until his body came out on the con veyor at the bottom of the bin. fi Morrow Ranchers Morrow countv wheat rancher: proved to be more strongly favor of the wheat allotments than the nation-as a vvhole Fri - day when they voted 321 for and only I) against the continuation of the program for 1955. Slightly more than 59 perecent of the eli- gible voters turned out here, and Paul Tews, office manager of the Agricultural Stabilization Conser-j vation committee reported this to be a lighter vote than last year, j The national vote tabulation' showed 195,801 for the allotments and 71,303 opposed. The margin1 of 73.3 percent for passage reportedly a record low. was: Local Legion Again Sponsoring Drive The Heppner American Legion post is again sponsoring a sub scription drive in this area to raise funds for the purchase of hospital equipment which can be used free by the residents of this section of the state. This Is the second year the post has sponsored the drive, last year purchasing polio packs with their commissions. This year's plans call for the purchase of a Pncophoro, or port able iron lung for emergency use in cases of polio, heart attack, asphyxiation etc., and it is planned to carry ihc equipment in the county ambulance. Representatives are now work ing in this section and residents are asked to check their creden tials before signing for subscrip tions. Each one carries a letter signed by three officers of the local Legion. The drive is of national scope with commissions going to the local post for the equipment pur-; chase. Experiment Station Field Day Aug. 5 Umatilla branch experiment station at Hermiston will hold its annual field day August 5, start ing at 10 a. m., it has been an nounced by superintendent Carl A. Larson. The station is tvo miles south of Hermiston on the Hinkle road. i much damage. Highlights of the morning field 1 The blaze burned into a shed trip include production of field : on the property, but did not corn beans and fertilizer trials on by-j plofeiy destroy it. It apparent brid field corn. Hermiston. now ly s'ailed from sparks from a holds Oregon's all-time field corn trash fire. yield record of 2(b bushels peri acre made last year on the basis! of the branch station research. ! Herman Bierman, county ex tension agent at Hermiston, will lead a question and answer ses sion between visitors and Oregon State college research workers following a noon potluck lunch on the station lawn. Hermiston chamber of commerce will fur- nish coffee and iced tea. The measures apparently did lit tle t: eliminate the danger of the "death trap." Since the Wickland accident last week an additional post and two scotch-lite barricades have been placed on the far right hand side of the curve, but there is a question as to whether or not they too will fail to eliminale the serious hazard. In reviewing the IS accidents that have occurred tit this spot, the concrete abutment itself would not seem to be the "cause of the death trap." In about 50 percent of the mishaps, the cars never reach the abutment. The accidents ALL involved south bound traffic and ALL the cars left the right hand edge of the (Continued on Page 8) Nearly 1000 Acres Burned Over in Sunday Range Fire Fires continued to plague sec tions of Morrow county this week with the largest one to date start ing about 3:30 Sunday afternoon on the .1. O. Turner ranch just north of Swaggart Buttos. Before it was controlled it had burned over about 950 acres of grass and ttubble and destroyed 35 acres of wheat. The fire apparently started on the Turner ranch and then spread into the Bay Dolvin and Sam Turner places before finally being controlled several hour.; later. Turner said that he and two helpers had burned fire guards around two buildings early Sun day morning thoroughly soaking injthe surrounding areas and put- ting the fire out before leaving. i Apparently, however, some cm- bets slill were shouldering and ' ''! afternoon wind fanned them bilo flames. Sam Turner and Dolvin lost only grass land though it took nearly two hours of hard fighting to keep the flames out of Turner's wheat, 1'lu' original fire skipped J. O. Turner's wheat field but while m"s' farmers and helpers were trying to control the blaze over !be ridge in the other farms it apparently jumped original lines and got into one 36 acre Held. All but about one acre of this was lost, sending up smoke that could bo seen for miles. Other Fires Eother Last Friday a grass fire broke out at the Joseph Hughes home south of Heppner burning an old 1929 Ford car and a locust tree which had been felled and cut up for fire wood. The flames were discovered by Whilmer Wright who summoned the city niarshall and fire chief C. A. Ktiggles who succeeded in putting the fire out before it caused fur ther damage. Wednesday morning Heppner firemen were called to the city dump to conlrol a grass fire that had started from the burning dump. It burned over several acres (jf grass but firemen suc ceeded in stopping its progress just before it got into standing fields of wheat on the south and east. It was discovered by Her man Green, city garbage collector who tried to control it himself, then drove to town to summon aid. The lack of any wind pre vented a serious loss. A week ago nearly 200 acres of grass and wheat was burned on the Bill Mcdinloek ranch near the Condon highway in the first serious field fire of the year. Gross Fire Threatens lone Home Wed. A grass fire Wednesday noon for a tunc threatened the George Ely home on Second street in lone but was extinguished by the lone fire department before it caused Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Sumner and Mr..rt Wick hind of Arling ton were i".ite-s 'n Heppner Saturday afternoon. Mr. and Mrs. Al Bunch and family were visiting in Heppner last weekend i'.om Parkdale. Ore- gon. Mrs. Paul Brown was a patient at .St. Anthony's ho.pital in Pen- dleton last week. .4 inc. uiiiuc i nis n tne cornet of the bridge into which most cars have crashed. It is oi the same design and distance from the road as many others on the road. (GT Photos)
