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"
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Corner-Why Have So
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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)