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Heppner, Oregon, Thursday, March 24, 1955
72nd Year, Number 2
State Funds to
Be Requested for
'Hopper Control
Action for a grasshopper con
trol program for 1955 was taken
Tuesday evening when thirty far
mers met to discuss trie potential
serious infestation on 170,000
acres in southeastern Morrow
county. The group called jointly
by the insect and rodent control
committee of the Morrow County
Livestock Growers Ass'n and the
grasshopper committee of the
land use and conservation com
mittee heard Art Fah of the grass
hopper control branch of the bu
reau of entomology outline the
survey da.ta made on adult and
egg counts in the area Grass
hopper counts showed 20 per
. square yard where 12 is consider
ed a serious infestation.
Action was taken at the meet
ing with those present asking the
committees to continue their ac
tivity and attempt to secure
state funds for assistance in the
form of a budget from the state,
legislature or from the emer
gency fund. Those present also
asked that the committee ap
pear before the Morrow county
court to discuss the possibilities
of setting up a grasshopper con
trol district within uniform tax on
each operator within the district.
The county budget will also be
discussed at this time.
A representative was chosen
to go to the state legislature this
week to begin work at once on
getting state funds.
For The Squirrel's Sake
Nuts To
Vfhen Oregon's Senator Neu
berger opened his "Save the
Squirrels" campaign in Wash
ington, it is doubtful that he
expected to get much support
from normally Republican
newspapers in his home state.
The Gazette Times this week
however, opens a drive to aid
the senator in his efforts.
For the benefit of the dis
Red Cross Drive
Lags in County
Returns in the current county
Red Cross drive are coming in
slow with only $1,100 of the $2,
579 quota collected to date, Jack
Angel, county drive chairman,
announced Monday. An intensive
campaign is being held this week
to aid in reaching the goal, he
added.
All communities have sent
partial returns with none com
pleted, Angel said. The Red
Cross office in Heppner, located
in the old telephone building,
will be open the rest of the
week. It is being manned by
volunteers from church, grange
and women's organizations.
Chairmen in Heppner include
Mrs. Jack Bedford, residential;
Howard Bryant, business ' and
Bruce Lindsay, special groups.
Mr. and Mrs. J. K. Charlton of
La Grande visited over the week
end at the home of their son,
Harold Becket.
lone Library to Observe 'Week' with Open
, lb
mm- " ' ,0. fh'V"OS
VALUE OF LIBRARY is illustrated by these three lone children Mar
Jorie O'Connor, Bobby Lee DeSpain and Trova Rigby. who are en
joying some of the young people's books in their own special sec
tion of the library which is sponsored and operated by the lone
Topic club. More than 3.000 books are available to residents of
this orrex (GT Photo)
Doctors Work Five
Hours in Futile
Effort to Save Girl
Connie Lee Maiment, five year
old daughter of Mr. and Mrs
Lyle Maidment of Condon, died
at the Pioneer Memorial hospital
March 18 at 2 p. m. Cause of her
death was listed by the physi
cians as cardiac arrest during
surgery.
The child's heart and respira
tory system both ceased simul
taneously shortly after 8.30 a. m
and a staff of five doctors worked
over 'the child for five and one
half hours giving direct manual
heart manipulation, but despite
all efforts the girl failed to re
spond. The doctors stated such a
condition is an extreme rarity.
Funeral services were held on
Tuesday at 2 p. m. at the Condon
Community Congregational
church and burial was in the Igo
cemetery. Albee Mortuary was
in charge of arrangements.
o
Bids Received For
Swim Pool Equipment
Bids for the purchase of new
filter equipment for the Heppner
swimming pool were opened at a
special city council meeting on
Monday night, but awarding the
contract was postponed for about
10 days to allow study of the four
bids submitted. .
The council opened and read
the bids, but because of the
technical equipment involved, it
was voted to send the bids to the
city's engineers for analysis be
fore announcing the winner.
It is hoped to have -the new
equipment installed prior to the
opening of the swimming season
in late June or July.
Neuberger
placed squirrels that are caus
ing such a hubbub in the capi
tal, this paper asks its readers
to bring one nut to this office
any kind of a nut will do, wal
nut, filbert, peanut, hazelnut
etc., and they will be forward
ed to the senator for his hu
manitarian campaign.
Just label them "NUTS TO
NEUBERGER".
Walter Luckman Dies
In England on Day
Of Departure for U. S.
Word was received here the
first of the week of the death in
England of Walter Luckman, a
former Heppner resident for many
years. He passed away on March
7, the day he was to leave Eng
land to return to this country to
make his home.
Mr. Luckman' returned to his
former home in England about
four years ago after spending
many years in this country. He
was married shortly after he ar
rived in his former homeland and
his wife died last year. He was
buried near his old home.
Further details are lackinng.
APPLICATIONS ACCEPTED
FOR TREASURER'S POST
The county court said today
that it will accept applications
for the position of county treas
urer until April 7, and will make
the appointment shortly there
after. The present treasurer,
Mrs. Lucy Rodgers resigned last
week from the post effective May
1.
1 ISimiXZlmZb-'
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tin i 1 - ifVlrii 7
CLOSE FORMATION Heavy wind early Tuesday morning picked
up this Taylorcraft plane belonging to Charles Padberg (lore
ground) and piled it into the other plane belonging to Gar Leyva.
Both were tied down at the Lexington Airport. Padberg's plane
suffered sufficient damage that it is thought to be a total loss. The
propellor of the near plane can
wing of Leyva's Piper.
SECOND MARCH WIND STORM CAUSES
HEAVY SOIL LOSS, OTHER DAMAGE
Morrow county got another big
blow Monday, just two weeks
after the first big wind storm of
the winter had caused consider
able damage in the area. This
week's storm, while of much less
intensity than the first, caused
some major damage and brought
traffic nearly to a halt in many
places.
The wind came up late Monday
night and continued through
most of the following day. It was
.still blowing strongly in the north
end of the county Wednesday,
though its velocity had dropped
to a normal March breeze in this
area.
The greatest damage was
caused at the Lexington ariport
where the strong gusts broke
loose a light Taylor Craft plane
belonging to Charles Padberg of
lone, an dsent it crashing into a
Piper Super Cub splay plane
owned by Gar Leva. Early esti
mates of the damage indicated it
would exceed $1,500, with Pad
berg's plane expected to be a
total loss. The airport had suf
fered considerable damage from
the first storm, mainly to han
gars and doors.
There was a report received at
the Gazette Times that a barn
in the Lexington area had been
blown down Tuesday, but its lo
cation and owner was unknown.
Again, the heaviest loss was
suffered by many farmers in soil
erosion, a loss that cannot be
measured in dollars and cents.
There were numerous reports of
minor traffic accidents along the
Hermiston-Lexington highway
due to nearly zero visibility be
cause of the heavy clouds of dust.
At one point near the north Lex
ington elevator traffic was held
up for a short time because of
heavy drifts of dirt across the
Cancer Drive to
Start April 1
Morrow county's cancer drive,
with a quota og $630, will begin
April 1, Mrs. Howard Pettyjohn",
chairman, has announced. A
total of $909 was collected last
year in the county which has
been the first in the state to reach
its quota for the past three years.
Meeting with Mrs. Pettyjohn
Saturday to prepare 1300 letters
for mailing were committee mem
bers Mrs. William Heath, Mrs.
Mike Saling, Mrs. Dick Meador,
Mrs. Don Bellen brock and Mrs.
Kemp Dick. The month-long
drive is sponsored by the Ameri
can Legion auxiliary.
"Know Your Library Week,"
March 28 through April 1 will be
the occasion for a series of spe
cial events designated to ac
quaint the residents of lone and
vicinity with its public library
which is sponsored by the lone
Women's Topic Club, an organi
zation of 24 women. Climax of
the week will be an open house
and silver tea to be held at the
library from 2 to 4 p. m. Friday,
April 1.
Ione's library, like those in
other small towns, has had a
rather rough history which in
cludes numerous moves and one
disastrous fire which completely
destroyed the building and its
contents. The Topic club started
a traveling library on October 5,
1935 and established it in a semi
permanent location, the front
part of the present Rebekah hall
on January 11, 1936. Its found
ing was aided in June of that
year by the donation of 75 books
by W. J. Clark of Pendleton. The
I
be seen sticking up through the
(GT Photo)
highway. - Similar conditions
were reported in places along
highway 30 between Echo and
Pendleton. Minor power outages
were reported in several areas,
but there was no general black
out. There were reports Wednesday
from the north end of the county
that many fields in the Board
man area were suffering heavy
soil loss from the strong winds
that continued to blow during
the day.
Some rain accompanied the
storm in various sections of the
county, but the continuing winds
soon dried out the moisture and
within an hour or so thick dust
clouds were evident.
o
O.CLuftreUI,
Dies at Pendleton
Omer Clinton Luttrell, 71, a
resident of Umatilla county for
the past several years, but who
previously lived at Lexington,
died March 22 at a Pendleton
hospital following a long illness.
Funeral services will be held at
1 p. m. Friday, March 25 af the
Burns Mortuary chapel in Her
miston with graveside services at
3 p. m. at the Lexington I. O. O. F.
cemetery.
Mr. Luttrell was born near
Knoxville, Tennessee, August 22,
1883 and came to Lexington in
1910 where he engaged in farm
ing. The family later moved to
Wallowa and Sherman counties
and returned here in 1929. He
has been a resident of Umatilla
county since 1934. He was mar
ried (to Ann Elizabeth Dickey
July 16, 1905 and she died in 1933.
He married Alice Rasmus, who
survives him.in 1942.
Surviving, in adition to his
widow, are five daughters, Miss
Edna Luttrell, Los Angeles; Mrs.
Lois Snively, Hermiston; Mrs.
Ruth Vanderwood, Libby, Mon
tana; Mrs. Faye Munkers, Lex
ington; Mrs. Fern Boyer, Pendle
ton. Another daughter, Mrs. Dona
Kittson, preceeded him in death.
He also leaves two stepsons,
Francis and Albert Connor of
Heppner, one sister, Mrs. Luther
Stout, Newburg, Ore. and two
grandchildren.
SPECIAL MEETING CALLED
There will be a special meet
ing of Willow lodge No. 66 on
Wednesday, March 30 to conduct
important business and put on
degree work.
original library board included
Mrs. Laxton MacMurray, Mrs.
Fannie Griffith and Mrs. Bert
Mason, who also served as librar
ian. The library was moved to the
Swanson building and finally in
1952 to the new city hall. Prior
to its most recent move, how
ever, members of the club had to
start rebuilding the book stock
from scratch when the entire
library was lost in a fire which
destroyed the Swanson building
in 1949.
The present library of 3,000
books is now housed in a 21 by
18 foot modern rooom in the new
city building. All fixtures and
shelves were furnished by the
Topic club, the city of lone for
nishing the room and fuei and
$100 a year. The heating system
in the room was donated by the
Heppner Elks lodge.
The library boasts 200 regular
borrowers and during 1954 prac
tically every book in the library
Special Election
To Decide Plan
For Kindergarten
The Heppner Civic League
Monday night announced plans
to advise voters of the Heppner
school district of the pros and
cons of the proposal to include
the kindergarten which is now
operated by the league, into the
school system. A special election
on the plan has been called for
April 12.
The League recently circulated
petitions which requested the
school board to put the matter
to a vote of the people. The lea
gue indicated that it is neutral on
the proposal, but had circulated
the petitions after requests by
many persons in an effort to de
termine the wishes of the voters
of the district.
A committee of Mrs. L. E. Dick,
Mrs. Jim Sumner, Mrs. Frank An
derson and Mrs. Alvin Bunch are
to conduct an investigation into
the fact s for and against a public
kindergarten and prepare a leaf
let which will be mailed to all
registered voters prior to the elec
tion. The opinions of persons in
the field of education as well as
those of private individuals will
be presented it was said. An
estimate of the cost will also be
shown.
Two elections will be necessary
before the kindergarten could be
taken over by the schools, it
was revealed. The first vote will
determine if the people wish it
in the school,, and if that passes
it would authorize the school
board to include funds for its
operation in the budget to be pre
sented to the rural school board.
If that request was rejected by
the rural board (which is pro
bable) then a supplemental bud
get will be drawn up by the local
board and referred to the people
for a special levy vote. It is plan
ned to ask for a one-mill levy,
which would probably not quite
cover the cost of the kindergarten,
but the league voted to furnish
the balance of the funds required.
If the two measures are ap
proved at t lie elections, it would
be necessary to hold a special
election each year for three years
to establish a tax base.
Members of the league made it
plain that regardless of the out
come of the vote, they will try
to continue operation of the kin
dergarten. The April 12 election
will be only on the question of
whether or not the kindergarten
should be included as a part of
the school system. The tax levy
vote would cone at another spe
cial election.
P-TA to Present
Three Benefit Plays
The Heppner P-TA announced
this week that it is sponsoring
three one-act plays which will be
presented late this month with
proceeds to go for local scholar
ships awarded by the organiza
tion. The three plays will be "To
bacco Road with Detours," pre
sented by the school faculty;
"Shock of His Life"," given by
the P-TA; ami "Shadow of a
Dream," put on by high school
students. There will also be
several band numbers on the
program.
The plays will be presented on
Wednesday and Thursday nights,
March 30 and '31 at 8 p. m. at
the high school gym. Admission
will be 50 cents and 25 cents for
children.
HouserTea
went out into the hands of
readers. 2,984 books were loaned
during the year, records show.
The young adult section now has
a total of 420 books of interest to
teen-agers an dreference books
include a set of encyclopedia
Brittianiea, Webster Merriam
dictionary, a world globe and
others.
The present library board In
cludes Mrs. Roland Bergstrom,
chairman; Mrs. Fannie Griffith,
the only remaining member of
the original board; Mrs. Charles
O'Connor, Mrs. Verner Troedson,
Mrs. Victor Rietmann, secretary
treasurer; and Mrs. Echo Palma
teer, librarian.
Books are continually being
added to the library collection
with one of the main sources be
ing an annual book shower held
by the sponsoring club. The
open house and silver tea plan
ned by the organization will be
held in the library from 2 to 4
p. m. on April 1.
Major Remodeling
To Start Shortly at
Heppner Pine Mills
Work on a major remodeling
and modernization project will
get under way at the Heppner
Pine Mills' about May 1, tt was
revealed this week by Paul Koe
nig, manager. The changes,
which are designed to provide
more efficient operation of the
plant, will include complete elec
trification of the mill, installa
tion of a burner, moving of the
dry kilns and offices and other
improvements.
Koenig said Monday that the
owners of the mill, Maurice
Hitchcock and Dant and Russell,
pkwi to shut down sawing oper
ations about May 1, or whenever
the present cold deck is cut. It
is hoped the big' project, which
will cost in excess of $250,000, can
be completed within 30 days so
the plant can resume production
early in June. Koenig said that it
is the plan to use practically all
of the regular crew for remodel
ing. Some of the major changes to
be made include a complete elec
trification'of the mill, which is
now operated by steam; the in-
New County Health
Nurse To Take
Over Duties May 1
The county court announced
today it has obtained the services
of a county health nurse and
that the position will be filled by
Mrs. Velma Glass of Phoenix,
Arizona. She will take over her
duties here on May 1, according
to the latest information re
ceived by the court.
The position has been vacant
for nearly a year and a half,
since Miss Martha Tapapainen re
signed in October, 1953 to accept
a similar position at Klamath
Falls. The court has made every
effort to find a replacement, but
until recently could find no one
interested or qualified for the
post.
Mrs. Glass will come to Morrow
county well recommended and
with considerable experience in
her field. She is currently em
ployed in a Phoenix, Arizona
hospital, but received her educa
tion and training in the middle
west. She has served as director
of nurses, child welfare and visit
ing nurse association at Danville,
III., and was with the Van Buren
county, Illinois health depart
ment. .
Arrest Said Near
For lone Burglars
The latest in the series of
breakins and burglaries that have
plagued lone for the past several
months occurred some time last
night when Bristow's grocery was
entered and considerable mer
chandise and a small amount of
money was taken.
Both the state police and the
sheriff's office said at noon to
day, however, that they had
good clues as to the identity of
the person or persons involved
in the latest breakin and that
they expected to make arrests
shortly, possibly before night.
They said that they expected the
arrests to clear up the previous
unsolved cases.
Credit for the tip that is ex
pected to lead to the apprehen
sion of the burglars was given
by an alert lone resident who
provided a description of a car
thought to have been used by the
suspects.
Wednesday night's burglary
followed a pattern similar to the
others in that entry was gained
by breaking a door window and
unlocking the door. A consider
able amount of meat, between
$10 and $15 In cash and other
merchandise was taken.
NEW BOOKS ADDED
New books donated to the Hepp
ner public library recently are;
Chester, Bracker; Book of Nur
sery Tales, Gay; Pinky Marie,
Graham; Picture Story Life of
Christ; Rarely Told Bible Stories,
Andrews; The Carrot Seed,
Krauss & Johnson; ABC Bible
Story Book; Prayers for Children;
Songs for Children; Story of Jesus,
Bowie; Shoes, Ships and Sealing
Wax, Chamberlin; My First
Horse, James.
stallation of an edge sorter,
which will replace the present
green chain and give a more ef
ficient sorting operation; instal
lation of a new log haul which
brings the logs into the mill from
the pond; construction of a burn
er to handle waste material; mov
ing the present dry kilns to a new
location south of the railroad
tracks adjacent to the new edge
sorter and the moving of the of
fices out near the highway to
make room for the kilns. The
installation of a complete sprink
ler system and 1,000,000 gallon
water storage reservoir is also
included in the plans.
One of the biggest, and most
ticklish operations of the entire
project will be the moving of the
large dry kilns, Koenig said.
They will be moved from their
present location along the high
way to a new position approxi
mately where the office now
stands. A contract has been made
with a moving contractor to
move the floorless masonry build
ing. Planer To Operate
Koenig said that it is their
hope to keep the large planer
operating most of the time dur
ing the mill shutdown on stacked
lumber now on hand. Short
shutdowns of this section of the
plant may be necessary he said,
during parts of the remodeling
and moving operations.
No increase in the size of the
mill is contemplated, but the en
tire program is designed to pro
vide more efficient operation of
the plant. Koenig said the own
ers are making the expensive
changes with the idea tha plant
will continue to operate here for
many years and that they want
it to be in the best possible posi
tion to compete in the market for
its forest products.
It was also said that the mod
ernization will have little if any
effect on the total number of em
ployees required. It will how
ever, make possible some future
operations which are not eco
nomically feasible.
It was also announced that the
mill plans to operate its own log
ging and log-hauling division,
which have in the past, been
done under "gyppo" contract. A
considerable amount of new log
ging and hauling equipment Is
now on order, and it Is planned
operations which are not now
economically feasible.
Dryness to Prevent
Maintenance of Any
County Roads Now
Unless considerable moisture
falls within the next month, most
county roads will have to stay in
their present condition, county
judge Garnet Barratt said Wed
nesday. The court made a survey of
nearly all county roads early this
week and came to the conclusion
that because of the dryness it
will be impossible to blade but
very few of the roads without
causing more damage than good.
The court said that most roads
had come through the winter in
excellent shape, but that the lack
of moisture precluded any possi
bility of smoothing them at the
present time. To put a grader
on the roads when they are so
dry, the court said, would result
in heavy blow and chucking out,
making the roads worse than if
they were not maintained at all.
A few small sections of county
road which have been graveled
with native rock probably can be
maintained now without dam
age, but most will1 be left alone
until some rain falls.
The county is currently ex
pending most of its efforts in the
northend on construction projects
before it gets too dry to do such
work. The county rock crusher
is still working near Lexington,
but is stockpiling the rock.
It Is planned to move the rock
crusher to a site north of the
D. O. Nelson ranch about April 1
and it is hoped that the new
bombing range cutoff road will
be graveled an dready for use by
be graveled and ready for use by
the dryness made it imperative
that rock be placed on the road
as soon as possible to prevent
further blow and erosion.
Construction work on the new
Paterson Ferry-Highway 30 road,
a five-mile connecting link is
now complete and base gravel is
being hauled as fast as possible
to prevent further sand blow in
that area also.