LIBRAS U OF 0 EUGENE . ORE. Copies 10 Cents Heppner, Oregon, Thursday, February 2, 1956 72nd Year, Number 47 S)rep to - I f, - , j f ; . i I , o - i v ' I " ' : r 5 - J : I I , V , i m- CIn - ft . I f x , t N X s ; - 1 i t : s ' i Cm Thermometers COLD WAVE EQUALS YEAR'S RECORD LOW For the third night in a row the mercury dropped to below zero as Heppner's official read ing this (Thursday) morning was -4 degress. Weather fore casts gave some hope of grad ual waiming in the next few days. However those who believe the legend of the ground hog won't want to put their wool lies back in moth balls just yet Today is ground hog day and if the little fellow could thaw out enough to peek out he definitely saw his shadow. Clear skies and a bright sun this week did practically nothing towards warming up a well- frozen Morrow county which has shivered for the past three days under temperatures that have dropped as low as 8 degrees be low zero in Heppner and even much colder in other nearby areas. A mass of extremely cold high pressure air from Canada has covered practically the entire northwest since Monday and has forced temperatures here down to 5 early Tuesday morning and -8 Tuesday ' night and Wednesday morning. Those readings were official government temperatures taken in Heppner, but several residents reported thermometers dropping to -10 an -11 Wednes day morning. Coldest spot in the county apparently was the Rhea creek area around Ruggs where unofficial thermometers regis tered as low as 22 below zero Wednesday morning and -20 early Tuesday. The readings there were almost identical to those during November's cold spell when Heppner had a low of -8 nnd several Rhea Creek ther mometers dropped to -20. Reports of 10 and 11 below on Wednesday morning were re ceived from Lexington and lone and even colder temperatures were recorded in north end of the county. Snow Cover Deep. Not too much concern was felt by. farmers as the cold weather came on the heels of two fairly heavy snow storms, the last on Sunday, which covered the entire area with up to seven and eight inches of snow. Very little addi tional damage was expected to wheat though many barley fields will probably have to be reseed ed in the spring. It is thought that quite a little barley was frozen out during the earlier freezing weather in November. Should the cold weather continue over a long period, damage could result however. The cold weather followed a week during which considerable snow fell over the entire state. Snow started falling here late Saturday night and continued through most of Sunday adding nearly three inches to the already packed layer of nearly that same amount. Highways were nearly all clear and largely dry by Tues day but most city streets were a solid glare of packed snow and Ice which caused innumerable driving difficulties. Many cars without chains were unable to get away from the. curbs unless aided, but police have had no re ports of any serious accidents due to the slick roads. As usual plumbers were booked solidly thawing out frozen pipes and fuel oil distributors were busy keeping up with the de mand for heating oil. Weather forecasts late Wednes day told of more of the same dur ing the next couple of days, but with gradually rising tempera tures during that period. The barometer stood at the extremely high reading of 30.71 Wednesday and was still rising slowly, indi cating that the cold high pressure air mass was still located in the northwest. Daytime temperatures Tuesday and Wednesday remaining low, never rising to 20 degrees. As a sidelight on the cold wea ther, a check of official figures in Heppner showed that the lowest temperature ever recorded here was -18 which has occurred sev eral times during the past 45 ' years. Unofficial lows of -35 have been recorded in news stories however. By contrast, in case anyone is interested, the highest official temperature seen in Heppner was 108 degrees. It was recorded here July 25, 1928. Education by v- I ""V " "11- " " " " ' V J 4 mA W BARBARA WARREN, Heppner high school senior and daughter of Mr ana Mrs. c. A. Warren of Heppner who was severely injured over a month ago in an auto accident is getting her education by remote control. Though she will be confined to a hospital bed for some time yet she hopes to be able to earn the necessary credits to let her graduate with the rest of her class next June. Here she is shown in her hospital bed with the master control end of her two-way communication system that connects her with classes at Heppner high school and lets her hear what is going on at school as well as ask questions of her teacher. The system was installed about two week3 ago by the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Co. and is used about two hours a day by Miss Warren. I i' i 1 "-1--Aa',iiWiJ!tTit lf -'"lA irtfcjr'- Wt BHBiB THE OTHER END OF THE LINE ham. Heppner high school instructor Is the other half of Barbara's Pacific Telephone inter com system which lets her attend classes in English and social economics. She can hear not only the teacher's voice but those of the students and by merely pressing a button on the unit beside her bed she can talk to the class at school. She goes to school daily, via the speaker system, from 9:45 t0 11:45 a.m. (GT Photos) NEAR-RECORD RAINFALL RECORDED JERE DURING THE Though January ended up in a flurry of extreme cold, it was one of the wettest Januaries in the 45 years that weather records have been kept here. Only once since 1910 has more rain fallen during that month than was re corded here last month. A total precipitation of 2.74 inches was recorded in Heppner by Len Gilliam, government wea ther observer, during the past month. This is five times that which fell in January 1955 and came within .07 of equalling the all-time January record of 2.81 nches checked in January 1918. The 10-year average for the month is less than one and one quarter inches. Wet as it was, Heppner still had to take a back seat to some of the other sections of the county during the. month just ended. Leonald Carlson, weather obser- Three Plaintiffs Win Damage Suit A jury of 12 men late Friday awarded damages totaling $19, 834 to the three plaintiffs in the case of Hayes, Conboy and Wheel house versus William Jolllff. The trial was a result of an automo bile accident south of Heppner July 18, 1954 in which one man, Bill Wickland, was killed. Each of the three plaintiffs had sued for damages of $50,000 and were granted as follows: Melvln Hayes, $5,685; Leslie Conboy, $6,677; Roy P. Wheelhouse, $7, 472. The trial lasted three days and was heard by circuit Judge Wil liam W. Wells. lone Girl to Appear On TV Program Miss Janet Howton of lone, a studenj at Pacific University at Forest Grove, will appear on the television program, Wide, Wide World Feb. 12 when the Gay 90s celebration at Forest Grove will be televised. The program Is scheduled from 1 to 2:30 p. m. Remote Control '1 i. On the desk beside James Pop- PAST MONTH ver at Gooseberry found the rain fall last month set an all-time record for his area with a total of 3.58 inches. Even the North lone and Lexington areas got a good soaking during the month, though the precipitation there didn't equal that in the southern section of the county. Rainfall during January for the past seven years has been: 1955, .56; 1954, 1.16; 1953, 1.74; 1952, .89; 1951, 1.04 and 1950, 2.59. Dedication Plans Made for School Preliminary plans have been made for the dedication of the new Heppner grade school, it was revealed this week by school of ficials. No definite date has been set by the school board as a few pieces of equipment still remain to be installed in the new build ing which has been in complete use since the first of the year. Among the equipment still to come is the cyclorama for the multi-purpose room and verta blinds In the office windows. Contractors rushed to complete a few of the classrooms in the building so that elementary classes which had been housed in church basements and other out side rooms during the past year, could start the first of the 1955-56 school year in the new building. Since then the remainder of the buiiding, except for landscap ing, has been completed and when classes resumed following the Christmas holidays, all the rooms were occupied. It was announced that "Scottie" Steele, of Simonton and Steele, Portland contractors who con structed the building, has accept ed an invitation to participate in the dedication ceremony with a group of Scotch dancers and pi pers with whom he works. The board said the dedication date would probably be announ ced in the nar future. Several Indicate Intention to Run For County Posts With the filing deadline only a little more than 30 days off, several aspirants for county of fices this week indicated that they intended to run for election or re-election. First to -announce her candi dacy was Mrs. Fred (Sadi?) Par- rish who declared her intention to file as a Republican candidate for county clerk. Mrs. Parrish is deputy in the office under clerk Bruce Lindsay and has served there since 1948. For several months during the illness and death of former clerk Charles Bar low, Mrs. Parrish served as act ing clerk by appointment of the county court. Lindsay, a Demo crat was elected to the office in 1954 to fill Barlow's unexpired term. He also announced late Wednesday that he will run again for his present office. Other county officials who in dicated this week that they will file for re-election in the near future are C. J. D. Bauman, sheriff, and Mrs. Carl (Sylvia) McDanlel, treasurer. Bauman has held the sheriff's post for many years and Mrs. McDaniel was ap pointed treasurer last May fol lowing the resignation of Mrs. Lucy Rodgers. It is also understood that county commissioner, Russell Miller of Boardman plans to run for re-election though early this week he was not available to verify the story. The only other two county of ficers who will be up for re-elec tion this year are justices of the peace J. O Hager of Heppner and William Garner of Boardman. Neither have yet filed. Mother's March Aids Dimes Drive Nearly $200 was added to the county March of Dimes fund on Tuesday night as a result of the Mother's March on Polio in Hepp ner. The Tuesday night canvas sing of homes was done by Boy Scouts. No reports have been re ceived yet on the results of the Mother's March in lone and Lex ington. The exact amount of contribu tions in Tuesday night's drive was $199.27 it was revealed to day by Mrs. Velma Glass, drive chairman. $38.35 was collected by members of the Beaver patrol whose high boy was Joe Billow with $21.37. The Cobra patrol collected $98.14 and Jim Farra was high with $30.40. The Moose patrol collected $60.78 and John Stratton was high with $15.13. An additional $2.00 was added to the fund by a resident who was missed by the boys and turned in his contribution Wednesday morning. Following their work in the near-zero weather, the boys were fed by members of the Soropti mist club. The boys were aided in their cold job by Bill Farra, Ken Keeling and Mrs. Velma Glass who provided them with transportation.- The addition of the Tuesday night collections raised the county total to $1,537.18 it was revealed this week. This is still several hundred dollars below last year, but there are also several com munities that have not reported their contributions. A breakdown of contributions shows Heppner $614; Heppner high school $363.60; Heppner Mo ther's March $199.27; .Lexington $10; lone $195.45; lone school $79.86; Cecil $75. Hunters and Anglers To Elect Officers There will be a meeting of the Morrow County Hunters and Anglers club Monday, Feb. 6 at 8 p. m. at the courthouse it was announced this week. Vic Kreimeyer, forest ranger, will give a short compass course; Ken Keeling will give a short map course and the club will ac cept orders for large maps of the local area. A film is also sche duled. Election of new officers is also announced. Heppner Students To Take Part in Coast Press Conference Nine Heppner high school stu dents are scheduled to attend the 1956 all-coast press clinic in Seattle Feb. 23, 24 and 25. This meeting will be the ninth annual all-coast press clinic held under the sponsorship of the Pa cific Slope School Press. Eight states will be represented at the conference. Oregon, Cali fornia, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah and Washington. "Explor ing Journalism" is the theme of the convention. Three from Heppner are taking part in the program. Mrs. Joyce Wilkinson, journalism advisor, will speak on "Variety in Editor ials and Features" at a sectional meeting; Meredith Thomson will be the student chairman of the meeting entitled "Writing the News Lead"; and James Mona han will be a panel speaker on the panel entitled "How to Im prove Mimeographed Papers." Other students attending the conference will be Skip Ruhl, Jay Sumner, Karen Prock, Shirley Palmer, Virginia Andresen, Edith Morris and Dale Osmin. Mountain Snow Pack Nearly Double Last Year Water content of the Arbuckle mountain snow pack averages 38 percent above the 25 year aver age and 83 percent more than last year at this time, according to snow measurements taken Tues day, Jan. 31, on the Arbuckle mountain snow course. Tom Wilson, Soil Conservation Service, and Richard Meador, of Heppner, reported 46 inches of snow with a water content of 11.0 inches. Measurements taken last year at this time showed a snow depth of 24 inches with 6.0 inches of water Comparable measurements in 1914 were 34.5 inches of snow with 9.2 inches f water and in 1953, 28.8 inches of snow with 11.2 inches of water. A water content of 8.0 inches is the 25 year average for this time of year according to records of federal and state cooperative snow surveys. Soils are wet and unfrozed beneath the snow pack, Wilson reported. In addition to the water stored in the snow .pack considerable water has already left the watershed during the last two months which did not occur last year. Icy Streets Cause Truck and Three Car Smashup Three cars belonging to Leslie Conboy, Roy Wheelhouse and William Jolliff suffered a total of several hundred dollars dam age last Friday when they were struck by a truck which went out of control on icy streets. The three cars were parked on Court street near the courthouse while their owners, plaintiffs and defendant in an accident damage suit being held at the courthouse, were at the trial. The truck, owned and driven by Luke Bibby of Heppner slid on the icy hill beside the courthouse and crashed into the first car knocking it into the other two machines. No one was injured. o Mineral and Gem Display Shown Club R. A. Bentley of Haines, Oregon was guest speaker at the meeting of the Morrow county Gem and Mineral club last Wednesday. He showed a beautiful collection of gems and minerals mostly from the northwest. Harold San ders showed a collection of stones under short wave flourescent light. Another member of the club also displayed a unique piece of work done from lowly greasewood and stones. All club members and six guests were present. Mr. and Mrs. John Pfelfier left Saturday to spend a few days in Portland on business. Mr. and Mrs. Richard Brunner left Monday for San Francisco where he will attend a J. C. Pen -' ney Co. meeting. ELMO E. SMITH, John Day newspaper publisher, who succeeded to the office of Governor of Oregon Wednesday morning following the sudden death Tuesday night of Governor Paul L. Patterson. John Day Is Governor Following Death of Paul Patterson Elmo E. Smith, John Day, pub lisher of the Blue Mountain Eagle and an associute in the Madras Pioneer, both weekly newspapers, took the oath ot office as Gover nor of Oregon early Wednesday morning, loss than 12 hours after the death of Governor Taul L. Governor Paul L. Patterson Lexington To Host County Schools For Speech Festival With the addition of two judges from Eastern Oregon College, ar rangements for the Morrow county speech festival to be held in Lexington neared the comple tion stage. Dr; Alvin R. Kaiser, head of the english department, and Richard G. Hiatt of the speech depart ment have given notice that they will rate contestants in the county-wide event scheduled for March 6. Dr. Kaiser has served in this capacity previously while Hiatt is new to the EOC staff. At present, plans for the festi val include speech competition on elementary and secondary levels starting at 1:30 p. m. with a one-act play festival rounding out the program at 7 v. m. In an effort to stimulate high school competition In the annual contest, publicity campaigns have been conducted at all the county high schools. In the some line arrangements call for high school competitors to receive bronze medals as first place awards in all events. Mr. and Mrs. Harold Cohn re turned from Fort Worth, Texas where they attended- a Wool Growers Convention for a week. Dr. and Mrs. James Norene were in Portland last wetk for three days while Dr. Norene at tended a meeting of the Oregon State Veterinary Medicine Asso ciation. Roice Fulleton left Monday on a business trip to Portland. r V j ' 1 J Publisher Patterson, who suffered a heart attack Tuesday night in Port land. Governor Patterson's death oc curred at 9:50 Tuesday night at the Arlington club in Portland where he Wasr conferring with associates about his campaign for United States senator. Only three days before he had an nounced that he would run for the senate seat now held by Wayne Morse. The new governor, also a Re publican, is well known in state political circles, succeeding to the state's highest office by virtue of his position as president of the Oregon senate. He has served three terms as state senator from the 21st district which comprises Grant, Malheur and Harney counties and was elected presi dent of the senate in January 1955. Smith, 46, was born In Colorado but has lived in Oregon for 23 years. He began his news paper career at Ontario where he founded a weekly newspaper. His political career also started there, for he served as mayor of Ontario for 13 years, first being elected to the position when he was 30 years old. Smith served several years In the Navy during World War II and in 1946 sold his Ontario paper and in 1948 purchased the Blue Mountain Eagle in John Day where he has since made his home. The new governor's in terests during his terms in the senate Included chairmanship of or membership on roads and highways committee, livestock committee, game, labor and in dustries committees and others. He is intensly interested in water resources development. Patterson Known Here Paul Patterson was well known in Heppner having been here about two years ago to speak at a special banquet in his honor and also at a county tax meet ing. He was a personal friend of many residents of this area. Funeral services have been set for 2 p. m. Friday in the house of representatives chamber at Salem. Smith, when advised of Pat terson's death, was at his home in John Day. He left about mid night for Salem in a state police car, arriving there about 6 a. m. He took the oath of office, ad ministered by Chief Justice Har old J. Warner, at 9:36 Wednesday morning. Smith will hold office until the general election this fall and he has given no indication as to whether he will seek election. Should he choose to run, he will have to file for the primaries be fore March 9. CLUB TO MEET The Eastern Star social club will meet Saturday at 1:30 p. m. at the Heppner Masonic temple.