Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 1, 1955)
L I IRARY U OF 0 EUGENE ORE Emm G0 County Fair Story Column Three and R ode o Large Number Of Exhibits Expected To Set Fair Record The Morrow county fair was in This is the same carnival which ens I oday full swing today and fair goers are assured a greater display in many divisions than have been seen here in any previous' yer. Hundreds of workers were busy Wednesday installing booths and other exhibits in the fair building and members of the fair committee said that in the 4-H livestock division there are the greatest number of fat hogs ever displayed. Sheep and lamb entries are running about the same as last year, but one or two regular open class beef show men will be missing. 4-H show beef will be a little shorter than last year, but early indications are that most other divisions will see an increase in animals. Always of top interest is the 4-H fat auction sale at 7:30 Fri day evening and buyers will have 10 steers, 10 lambs, six fat hogs and several weaner pigs to choose from. Immediately pre ceeding the auction sale will be the 4-H pig scramble in the judg ing arena with pigs furnished by the winners of last year s event New rules are in order for this year's scramble and each youn gster will draw a number and must catch the properly number ed pig. Committee members said Wed nesday that the price for fat steers is expected to be 22 or 23 cents and there will be a 10 cent limit above the market price. The 10 cent ceiling will apply to all fat animals, it was announ ced. Open class entries were pour ing in to the grounds Wednesday with 4 top beef growers, Kirk and Robinson, Frank Anderson, Her bert Ekstrom and Bernard Do herty displaying a big group of their top animals. Display Division Full Booth space was at a premi mum late Wednesday and fair secretary N. C. Anderson said that there are the greatest num ber of 4-H and other booths re served in the fair's history Seve ral new displays from 4-H elec tricity and entomology clubs will also be new to the fair. Other divisions to show a heavy increase of entries are 4-H needle work and cooking. Al ready many sponge cakes have been entered in the Oregon Wheat Growers League sponge cake bak. ing contest. The winner here will be eligible to compete in the area contest to be held later in Pendleton. Judging started yesterday on the home economics and agricul tural exhibits and by this morn ing all of the open class and the school exhibits were in place as were displayed in the commercial booths. Carnival Arrives Of top interest to many youngs ters is the big Inland Empire Shows carnival which started setting up on the grounds early this week. A big variety of rides and games awaits fair visitors. Verdict Returned After Three Days; Sentencing Tuesday A seemingly calm and un emotional Mrs. Ann Avent late Wednesday afternoon heard a jury of 12 men return a verdict of guilty of murder in the second degree against her for the fatal shooting of Dellmore Lessard in O'Donnell's Cafe on June 4. 1955. The jury returned its verdict in two hours and 45 minutes cft'er listening to two and one half days of testimony presented by a ssries of 17 witnesses for the state and one for the defense. Mrs. Avent, who took the stand in her own behalf. The case was heard by circuit Judge William W. Wells, who announced that sentence would be pronounced at 1 p. m. Tuesday, September 6. The murder trial opened Mon day morning and jury of 12 men, cowboy breakfast most of them Heppner, Lexington be served Sunday and lone ranchers, were selected played the fair last year. Another event of special in terest to 4-H club girls and their parents as well as the general public is the 4-H style revue which will be held tonight (Thursday) in the main fair pa vilion. Many of the county's youngsters will model the re sults of their sewing efforts dur ing the year. Dances Two Nights The always popular fair and rodeo dances are again schedu led for Friday and Saturday nights at the fair pavilion. The music will be furnished by Gene Rietmann's orchestra. Other weekend events, though not directly a part of the fair, will be the always popular Wranglers which will Heppner, Oregon, Thursday September 1, 1955 Copies 10 cents 72nd Year', Number 25 morning from 7 to 10 a. m. at the Wrangler's clubhouse on the fair grounds. Last year over 500 persons were served and general chairman Dimples Munkers, has made arrangements to take care of at least that many next Sun day. Elsewhere in today's paper will be found a complete sche dule of the fair events for the weekend. Sarah Ellen Benge Taken By Death Tuesday at Eugene Mrs. Sarah Ellen Benge, 70 yeais of age, died early Tuesday morning at, Sacred Heart hospital in Eugene. She had been ill for over eight years. She was pro ceeded in death by her husband, Ralph L. Benge who passed away last March. Mrs. Benge was boin in Mor row county September 6, 1884 and lived here her entire lifetime ex cept for five years spent in Kan sas when she was a girl. She was married to Mr. Benge De cember 10, 1901 at McMinnville. Mrs. Benge was a member of the Eastern Star, Daughters of the Nile, Rebekahs and the Christian church. Funeral services will be held Friday at 10 a. m. at the Hepp ner Christian church with Robert Richter, pastor of the Hermiston Christian church officiating Bur ial will be in the Heppner Ma- soniic cemetery with graveside rites under the direction of the Eastern Star. Surviving are two children, Terrel L. Benge, lone and Mrs. Luolla Bengtson, Eugene; four sisters, Mrs. Charles Stevens, Mrs. Bert Stevens, both of Day, ton, Oregon; Mrs. Mary Baird, Newberg; and Mrs. Grace Rob bins, Portland; seven grand children and one great-grandchild. One sister, Mrs. Nellie Willis, and a brother, Ed Dris kell preceeded her in death. Creswick Mortuary is in charge of arrangements. from a panel of 60 by noon that day. The state produced two wit nesses who testified that they saw the shot fired that killed Lessard, attorney who had been conferring with Mrs. Avent over the custody of her 14 year old son Kim. These two, who wars the prosecution's top witnesses, were Russell O'Donnell, manager of the bar whore Mrs. Avent was employed and Mrs. Hary Snow, a waitress in the restaurant who described in deta'il the entire series of events immediately prior to and during the slaying. De fense attorneys, John Bassctt, of Portland and Ralph Currin, Pen dleton, made numerous attempts to discredit Mrs. Snow's state ments, but even during cross examintion they were unable to shake or confu.se her. - Her testi mony that she watched the entire affair proved a major part of the state's case against the small blonde defendant. Defendant Only Witness Though the prosecution brought forth 17 witnesses for its side of the case, the only de fense witness brought to the stand, was the defendant her self, Mrs. Avent. She told of her meeting with Lessard and claimed that he threatened that he would take her boy to Port land to place him in an orphan age. She said she remembered walking into the restaurant after having gotten the gun from its place under the bar counter, but claimed that she took it with no idea of using it against the at torney. Mrs. Avent claimed that she couldn't remember anything from the time a cigarette ma chine which Lessard had dodged behind in an effort to avoid her, fell on her. She said she could not remember when, where or how the gun went off, though she did admit that before the shots were fired from the 38 caliber revolver, Lessard was walking away from her. The state showed that she followed him firing the gun five times, three Continued on Page 8 c N. Morrow Fair funds Return Asked by Board CONVICTED Mrs. Ann Avent who yesterday was convicted of se sond degree murder for the killing of Dellmore Lessard, Portland attorney. She is shown as she was entering the courthouse at the start of the trial Monday. (GT Photo) .... . v.. v . ' V-A;'' 'IV' '$V - Ur.. r V !- - County Schools Set For Tuesday Opening 4j All county schools with the exception of Irrigon, which open ed last Monday, will open the fall term next Tuesday, Septem ber 6. Registration dates vary from school to school. At Heppner all high school students are to register Friday, Sept. 2 at 9 a. m. in the gymnas ium. On the same day first graders will meet in the basement of the new school and students new to the system are to meet in room six of the old building. Buses will make their run Fri day morning and will return students to their homes by noon. Superintendent Joe H. Stewart said tnrlav that nil teaching nn. citinnc ar nnw fiiwi uith tho Mr. and Mrs. Paul Brown left hiring of Donald J. Ellsworth offor Burns M(jmiav morning after Deer Lodfre. Montana for the ! receiving word that her mother, upner elementary grades, andiMrs- M:,ry Goodman had been Miss Lana Lea as girls P. E., homemaking, it was announced. Hot lunches will start at Lex ington on Wednesday with Mrs. Gladys Young as head cook. Gladys Van Winkle will assist Leonard Munkers as custodian. Both the main building and the gym have been completely redecorted outside, many repairs made inside and considerable remodeling. lone school information is in a separate column elsewhere in today's paper. Mother of Heppner Woman is Killed The Morrow county, fair board at a joint meeting Tuesday with the county court voted t ask immediate return of funds which have been allocated to the North Morrow county fair at Boardman after it was discovered that a state law forbids the use of state money for more than one county fair in a county. The discovery that the fair board was unintentionally oper- ! citing outside the law in allowing some if its state supplied funds to he used for financing the North Morrow fair was made only a few days ago when the board met for the first time in nearly a year following the anuoint- vl ment of a third board member, Vj Charles Carlson, by the county court. At the meeting, the laws governing the bonrd's actions were reviewed by an attorney and the law rtmceming the dis tribution of slate moneys was discovered. The board immedi ately, made plans to request the return of money which had al ready been appropriated for this year's north fair and a letter was sent Wednesday to the fair board there telling them of the dis covery and asking return of the funds. The North Morrow fair has been receiving approximately one-third of the total money re ceived from tho slate, or around $1,000 per year. The withholding of the money will put the north fair in a bad spot this year with its show dates set for Septem ber 8, 9 and 10. County judge Garnet Barratt said Wednesday that in view of the discovery and the decision of the fair board to demand return of money appro priated to the Boardman show, the directors of the north Mor row fair had no recourse except to appeal to the court for local money with which to put on the fair. No provision was made in the budget for such appropria tion, and if it could be made it would have to come from the emergency fund, if money was available. It was pointed out that money appropriated to the north county fair has been used for fair pur poses buildings, prize money, inaintainence, etc., the same things for which the money would have been used had it been all used here. Members of the fair board are' W. E. Hughes, chairman, Willard Baker of Boardman, and Carlson the recently appointed member. o ; X ' ''V- - f 'i. FINAL PLANS for this year's fair and rodeo are being mads by four members of the Morrow county fair board and committees. Shown left to right are Floyd Jones, chairman of the rodeo committee; Eb Hughes, fair board chairman; Raymond Ferguson, fair committee head and Jack Loyd, a member of the rodeo committte. (Photo by Irene Wilson) health and English II instructor. j Lexingtsn Starts Tuesday ine ie.mj;i.uii sunuui win upen Tuesday with student enrollment in the morning and teacher plan ning in the afternoon. This year's staff includes Law rence Brent, superintendent-principal, mathematics, education tnd shop; Robert I. Matthews, science, social studies and high school coach. He is a former coach at Clatskanie. Mrs. Nola W. Coval, high school English, home making and girls' P. E.; Serge S. Coval, 7th and 8th grade who came here from Sisters; Hildred M. Flud, 5th and 6th grade will arrive soon from Oklahoma. She had expected to be here now but was recently injured in an acci. dent. Jewel M. Boone, 3rd and 4th grades, formerly at Ramona, Oklahoma; and Mary E. Brent, 1st and 2nd grades. Two new classes which will be taught this year are shop and instantly kilbd in a car accident Sunday. The accident, a head-on col lision with another car, occuired near Crane Junction southwest of Burns. Mis. Goodman and a man who worked on her ranch were on their way home when the ac cident occurred. The driver of the other tar and the farm worker in the Goodman car weie both seri ously injured and are in the Burns hospital. u Cowboy Breakfast Again on Program The Heppner Wranglers will again serve their popular cowboy breakfast to all hungry visitors i Sunday morning, Dimples Mun kers, breakfast chairman has an nounced. It will be served from 7 to 10 a. m. at the clubhouse on the fair grounds. Mrs. John Monahan of Heppner is in the Good Samaritan hospi tal in Portland, Civic League To Promote Chest X-Ray During Fair Days Seven members of the Heppner Civic League met Monday even ing at the home of Mervin Leon ard, Lexington to discuss the operation of a booth at the fair pavilion to be sponsored by the Morrow County T. B. and Health association. Those who will he at the booth all day Saturday, September 3rd will be Mrs. W. L. Sowell, Mrs. Bradley Fancher, Mrs. Larry Do wen, Mrs. James Nor?ne, Mrs. Ray Myrick, Mrs. James Sumner and Mrs. Philip Blakney. Visitors will be directed to the hospital where a free chest x-ray will be available to anyoue de siring one, from ten o'clock in the morning through four o'clock in the afternoon. RHEA CREEK GRANCE The regular meeting of the Rhea Creek Grange will be held on Friday September 9 with a potluck supper at 6:30 p. m. NORTHWEST BUCKING CONTEST NEW TOP EVENT Rodeo stock began arriving in Heppner early this week and several dozen entrants had al ready signed up for various rodeo events by Wednesday evening, rodeo committee chairman Floyd Jones said today. Stock is being furnished this year by Ed Ring of Wilbur, Wash ington and Ring said today that he has had assurance from a large number of the northwest's top cowhands that they plan to be here to take part in Morrow county's big show. Missing from the scene will be some of the famous names familiar to local rodeo follow ers, inasmuch as this year's rodeo is an amateur affair, yet the inclusion of the Northwest amateur Bucking champions in the two-day program is expect ed to bring at least 5 of the top amateur bronc riders of he entire northwest to Heppner. The Northwest Bucking, which was offered to the Morrow county fair and rodeo by the rendleton Round-Up, will lie one of the top attractions offered by any rodeo in this section of the west. Top prize will ba a hand made saddle donated by Hamley and Com pany of Pendleton and Ring said yesterday that he had received assurance from Talbot Taylor, Yakima; Jackie Hooker, Colfax, Lewis, Williams Lake, B. C; Tug Lews!, Williams Lake, B. C; Tug Hansen, Alberta, Canada; Pete Peterson and others that they plan to be here for the bronc liding competition. A host of other top bronc riders from Ore gon, Washington, Idaho and Canada are expected before the list is closed at 6 o'clock Friday evening. Saturday Night Show Nsw Other new events scheduled in this year's rodeo will be the ad dition of a Satuday night show which will be heid under the recently installed lights. On the program for the night sluw, which will start at 8 o'clock will be one go-around of the Munow county amateur calf roping, the winner of which will receive a hand made K-V Saddlery saddle donated by the Heppner Fine Mills. Second and third prizes of a buckle and belt and a western hat have been put up by Tum-A-Lum Lumber Company and Wil son's Men's Wear. Other features on the Saturday night show will be a wild horse race, a Calgary roping event, which is new to the Heppner show, a children's pon yrace, a cowgirl race and a special drill by the Umatilla Sage Riders of Hermiston. Saturdays opening rodeo show will feature the grand entry pa rade with Queen Carol Ann Wig- elswoth and her court, pennant bearers, rodeo officials and many others. All of the usual top notch rodeo events will be in cluded in the two-day program with the exception of bull riding which was eliminated to make room for the Norlhwest Bucking, Calgary roping and some of the other new events which have been added and which are cer tain to give spectators one of the best rodeos they have seen in many years., Other events will be the popular calf roping, seve ral pony race divisions, cowboy and cowgirl races, bareback rid inf, junior amateur calf roping, the popular riding clubs' flag race, and the Morrow county derby which will feature Mor row county horses ridden by the owner or a member of his fam ily. The latter event is scheduled for the Sunday afternoon 'show, Floyd Jones, rodeo committee chairman said today. Rodeo announcer will be Johnnie Lee Williams of Spray. Ring, stock contractor, said his string of stock, which has been worked at nine top northwest rodeos this season, will provide some of the top rodeo stock available. He named several broncs which have been working at setting some kind of a record for such animals. He will have one bareback bronc which has never been ridden in four years and he said she expects to keep her record clean. Other broncs which are sure to give their cow boys a real ride are Charcoal Badger Mountain Jr., Soapsuds and others. Ring said Wednes day that he has been told that he (Continued on Page 8)