Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 23, 1956)
U OF o E U G E M , 0i,,4 72nd Year, Number 50 Copies 10 Cents Heppner, Oregon, Thursday, February 23, 1956 Mud and Water Causing Serious Road, Erosion Problems Red Cross Drive Opening Planned; Floods Up Quota Red Cross fund quota for the . March d ive in Morrow rountv is $2,818, it was announced by Dick Brunner, campaign chairman, at a meeting of the local chapter Tuesday night at the Turner-Van Marter and Bryant insurance of fice. A kiekoff breakfast for volun teer directors, officers and com munity chairmen was set for Thursday, March 1 at 8 a. m. at O'Donnell's Cafe. Community chaiimen are being selected this week. Of the total quota, $1,753 or 62.2 percent will be retained in the county and $1,065 or 37.8 per cent sent to national headquar ters. Percentages will remain the same regardless of ' the amount collected. Among local expenditures bud geted for the coming year are $325 for the Veteran's hospital in Walla Walla, Wash.; $500 for the county blood program and $300 for first aid and water safety. The local chapter sent Larry Dowen to a two-week acquatic school last year before he began swimming lessons for 140 child ren who learned to swim at the Heppner pool last summer, it was pointed out. A similar program is planned for this coming sum mer. Among other expenditures last year were the high seas pro gram for service personnel and for the home service program. The Rev. Lester Boulden, home service chairman, reported over 30 cases including telegrams, let ters, social histories and health and welfare in 1955. A total of $1,761.99 was collectedjast year, short 0f the $2,579 goal. Ped Cross fund quotas have been Increased this year due to flood disasters on the East and West coasts, it was explained by Brunner and Jack Bailey, chap ter president. Both men attended a regional meeting in Walla Walla last week and reported that of 16 million dollars used in the eastern flood relief program only five and one-half percent was used for administrative costs. Attending the meeting were Brunner, Bailey, Mrs. John New man, secretary, Mrs. R. B. Rice, Jack Angel, Frank Turner and Mrs. Tom Wilson. City Starts Cleanup Of Muddy Streets City crews were working Wed nesday on removing some of the traces of the heavy winter which have accumulated on Heppner's streets. The many snows and heavy runoff of water has loaded the city's streets with a thick layer of mud and light gravel used for sanding during ice condition, and the crew was attacking the gooey problem with fire hoses, the layer being much too heavy for the street flusher to handle. , Main street was cleaned first and though many other streets have a similar mud problem, they cannot be flushed as they do not have curbs or full width paving. In many places along Main and other streets the mud and gravel was from two to four inches deep. GRANGE SEES NEED FOR RECOGNITION OF FARMER ORGANIZATION WORK Discussion during last Sun day's meeting of Willows Grange at lone, the Grange feels that farm organizations in general, and especially in Morrow county, are not being recognized as really great assets to American life and the American way of living. It was pointed out that should the farmer go on strike as do other labor organizations, living each unto himself, he would soon be rebuked as a menace to the public. Farmers appreciate re cognition of their efforts and labor, of making their homes beautiful and assisting in elevat ing the standards of living. The agricultural committee re ported a county wide meeting with the county agent to map the program of work for 1956. A protect completed was that of clearing Morrow county of Bangs District. American Legion Conference Set For Heppner All -local American Legion and. Auxiliary members have been urged to take part in the joint American Legion district 6 con- frence to be held Sunday March i at tha ITonnnpp T.Acrinn hall. - 11 -- Post commander Floyd Sayers announced that the conference will start at 5 p. m. with a g.oup banquet at 6. Conference meet ings will follow. State and dis trict officers of both organiza tions will be present, it was said. o Death Claims Mabel A. Hughes Mrs. Mabel A. Hughes, 71 years of age, died Wednesday after noon at St. Mary's hospital in Walla Walla. She had been a resident here for most of her life until moving toMilton-Freewater some years ago. Mrs. Hughes was born March 4, 1884 at Henpner. the daughter of John L. and Mary Ellen Ayers. She was married tea. o, I9ut to Arthur Percy Hughes, who pre ceeded her in death. At the time of her death she was president of the Morrow county pioneer association; past president of chapter AP, PEO, the United Council of Churchwomen and Women's Improvement Club all of Milton-Freewater. In 1953 she was honored by Ruth chap ter OES of Heppner when she was given her 50 year membership pin. She was active in church work at All Saints Episcopal church here and was district president of the Women's Auxil iary of the Episcopal church mis sionary district of Eastern Ore gon from 1943 to 1945. She was a member of the Whitman alum ni class of 1908. Services will be held at 2 p. m. at All Saints' Episcopal church with Bishop Lane Barton and the Rev. George R. S. Little officiat ing. Interment will be in the Heppner Masonic cemetery. The family has asked that contribu tions be made to the cancer fund in lieu of flowers. Surviving are a daughter, Mrs. Lawrence Luther, Milton-Freewater and a son W. E. Hughes, llennner: a brother G. E. Ayers, Milton and sister, Mrs. Bertram A Tram A. Warren Walla Walla; a nephew Earl Ayers of Milton, and five Grandchildren. Two children preceeded her in oeaw, a aaugn- ter Kathleen and a son Arthur! Lee Hughes who died in 1948. Folsom Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. o Irrigon School Gets Federal Money WASHINGTON, D. C Con gressman Sam Coon announced Saturday that $8,397 has been certified for immediate payment to Morrow County School District No. 10, Irrigon, by the Depart ment of Health, Education and Welfare. This money is Federal, assist ance under Public Law 874 to schools in districts affected by Federal Government activity. o IONE LEGION AUXILIARY TEA The lone American Legion aux iliary child welfare tea will be Sunday March 11 at 2:30 p. m. in the lone Legion hall. disease. The home economics rlub had as o highlight of its Fri day meeting an interesting roll call on old land marks and the story, with pictures, by Echo Palmateer of her recent tour of the U. S. Mr. and Mrs. Orville Cutsforth of Lexington showed slides on India and the Holy Land follow ing the Grange meeting. The pictures were taken on the re cent round-the-world trip taken by Cutsforths and the Franklin Lindstroms. Cutsforth also gave an interesting report on condi tions in India. Mrs. Harold Do byns, lecturer, had charge of the program. At the business meeting Mrs. Ma,bel Cottor received a 4th de gree pin. A potluck dinner pre ceded the meeting and refresh ments were served afterward by Mrs. Dobyns and Mrs. Marion Palmer. 1 ' ? It . - I ; STATE TREASURER, Sig Unander. center was speaker at a special meeting last Wednesday of the Morrow county Republican com mittee. Shown with Unander are left to right, Collis Moore, Was co; Mrs. Moore who is running for Republican national committee woman; Unander; Mrs. Unander and Mrs. Verner Troedson, lone, vice-chairman of the county Republican committee. (GT Photo) FEDERAL BUSINESS REPORT ON SERVICES Receipts of 29 service establish ments enumerated in Morrow County in the 1954 Census of Business amounted to about $341,00, according to a prelimi ary report covering service trades, published by the Bureau of Cen sus, U. S. Department ot Com merce. The combined yearly payroll of the county's service establish ments was $37,000. They re ported 32 employees of whom 28 worked full time in the pay per iod ending nearest November 15. Proprietors actively employed in the operation of unincorporated businesses numbered 37. Establishments providing per sonal services numbered 9 and reported receipts of $124,000. Es tablishments primarily engaged Robert H. Zinter, Former Rancher Here, Dies At Spokane Robert II. Zinter, 77 years of age, passed away February 17 at his home in Spokane, Wash. Services were held Feb. 20 at Spo kane with burial in the Green wood cemetery there. Mr. Zinter was a wheat rancher in the Eightmile area of Morrow - mil 1DQQ .i,V,pn Via Z 7 He was an earlv member , ,-..; of the Morrow County Grain g and f h for the for nn.h,,h nni di mation of a non-high school dis trict and the use of school buses. Surviving are children, Sid Zinter, lone; Mrs. Alfred Huit, Heppner and Gene Empey, Reno, Nev.; two sisters, Mrs. Ida Fred erickson and Mrs. Hulda Willits, both of Spokane, and several nieces and nephews. o County Speech Festival Set For Lexington March 6 With the purchase of thirteen Lgold medals to be awarded to the winners in secondary speech competition, plans for the Mor row County Speech Festival neared completion this week. Thee medals, a new innovation this year, will be given to first place winners in all areas of high school speech competition such as impromptu, poetry, reading, extempore, etc. A debate contest appeared likely for the first tirrfe in recent years as both Heppner and Lexington high schools sig nified intentions to enter debate squads. During the past week schools throughout the ounty have been staeine preliminrv tryouts for en trants in the festival, slated for UraillS 111 lilt ranrai, oiaicu Lexington, March 6. The affair to ' will be divided into two sections h .mnptitinn rn hoth secondary and elementary levels set for 1:30 p. m. while a one-act play festival rounds out activi ty at 7 p. m. in the Lexington auditorium As usual, the public auditorium as usuju, ine puuiiL is invited to both sections of the speech festival. FORMER RESIDENT PASSES Word was received here of the death of Mrs. Annie Clowry, known to many here as Aunt Annie, February 1 at the home of of her brother in Irwin, Iowa. She had suffered a severe stroke some time ago and had never com pletely recovered. She was 85 years of age. CENSUS GIVES IN COUNTY in automotive repair, parking and other automotive services numbered 6 and had receipts of $58,000. Establishments listed as "all other services" in the preli minary report numbered 14 and had receipts of $159,000. o Heart Attack lakes Otto Ruhl Funeral services for Otto Ruhl 66 years of age, were held Tues day afternoon at the Creswick Mortuary chapel with Rev. Char les V. Knox officiating. Mr. Ruhl died suddenly Saturday of a heart attack at his home near Lexing ton. Mr. Ruhl was born November 19, 1SS9 at San Jose, Calif., and came to Lexington to live with Mr. and Mrs. Eph Eskelson at the age of nine years. During his life time here he was engaged in ranching or ranch work. He is survived by his wife, Elva Ruhl, Lexington; two sons, Lau rel and Norman, both of Lexing ton; a half brother, Clarence Gu ber, Madras; two half sisters, Alice Guber and Lorena Guber both of Portland; two grandsons, Otto E. and Richard of Lexington. Interment was in the Heppner Masonic cemetery. o Future Farmers Plan Observance Future Farmers of America members throughout the nation are scheduling special activities to focus public attention on the work of their organization during National FFA Week, February 18-25. Locally, members of the FFA chapter plan parent-son ban- mints, and other activities. Momiiprshin in the FFA is made up of farm boys who are students of vocational agricul ture in high school. The organi zation's activities are designee primarily to help develop rural leadership and good citizenship, and to stimulate the boys to bet ter achievement in their study and wo:k toward successful es tablismment in farming. The Heppner FFA chapter has tfi members. Olticers are: presi dpnt. Eddie Brosnan; vice-presi dent, Bob Stevens; secretary, Bob Hare; treasurer, Larry Fetch; re norter. Dick Applegate; and sen tinal. Mike Monahan. Llewellyn Robbins, vocational agriculture instructor in Heppner high school servps as advisor of the FFA chapter. The national Future Farmer organization has more than 383,- --r- , 1 000 members in the 48 States, Ha- n i P i rr Momhor. i wm. aim i "--" - ship in Oregon totals approxi-. matelv 3800. Future Farmers choose the week of George Washington's hhthdav each year for the ob servance of National FFA Week i - ,, . Although generally recognized as a Revolutionary War general and our first President, Washington's first love was the farm he called Mount Vernon. There, he was one of the first in the nation to pracc tice contour planting, crop rota tions, fertilization, and other soil conservation and improvement methods. It was more than a century after Washington's death before general use was made of many of the sound agricultural practices that he advocated. Heavy Runoff Tuesday Covers Several Roads Rain and snow. the lack of which is usually the top subject for conservation in Morrow j county, this week still holds its number one news position but not because of any shortage of either. The moisture has con tinued to come and again this week overflowed onto roads, city streets and Into basements mak ing many county roads nex"t to nntiassa hie and causing serious erosion damage on hundreds of fields. After eettinc considerable run off last week from the melting snow, another snow storm hit the area Thursday night and Friday tn Henosit from four to six incnes of new snow on already soaked lands. Strong warm winds Mon day followed by fairly heavy rains through Tuesday caused the heaviest runoff of muddy water experienced so far tms winter. Pictures accompanying this story show a few of the results of the heavy wash. The thawing and rain made many roads in the Heppner area nearly impassable and covered highways in many places with thick layers of heavy, muddy silt washed from adjacent fields. Ttfore were numerous reports from all over the county of roads being badly cut up and in some steeper canyons the runoii oi mud stopped all traffic. Gilliam County Hit The northwest section of tne county and Gilliam county suf fered considerably more from the storms than did the Heppner area, accoiding to reports received Wednesday. At Cecil it was re ported that, one and one-half inches of rain fell between 7 p. m. Monday and 9:30 a. m. Tues day and state police reported that Willow creek, which was nign and muddy at Heppner, was spread out over practically all bottom land below its junction with Eight Mile canyon below Cecil. Much of the heavy influx of water was coming from Eight Mile canyon. The Condon-Arlington highway was closed for a while Tuesday because of high water and wash outs and was reported open to only one-way traffic Wednesday. The highway from Condon to Fossil was closed the same day because of high water and slides. Arlington Has Trouble Tuesday Arlington residents spent much of the day attempt ing to keep the waters oi me stream running througn rown from inundating the entire town. According to reports dikes were hastily thrown up above town to nrotect buildings and keep me water out of the main part of A series of pictures showing some of the rain and mud dam age of the past few days was supposed to accompany this story, but because of the cur. tailed mail service due to the Washington's birthday holiday the cuts failed to arrive from the engravers. Though they, may be a little out of date, they will be printed next week. town. Several culverts were washed out and for a while the water covered the mainline Union Pacific tracks along highway 30. Snmp residents in the Shuttler Flats section were forced to leave their homes because of the water which was called the , highest ever seen in that section. At the same time Morrow and r.illiam county was trying to trying rmiP with its overdose of water, reports from southeastern wasu ington told of even worse cases of flooding and road wasnouis. Snowpack in that area has been heavier than on this side of the Columbia. Roads Suffering A check of roads near Heppner revealed that many have been cut badly by water and in many more places they have been covered with a layer of silt up to six and eight inches deep, some of the worst places have been in Clark's Canyon and the McNab Olex road which has been entire ly closed at times. Mud and rocks covered the highway in the vicinity 0f Morgan and it was re ported that the saturated ground was causing some breakup of the Lexington-Hermiston highway. Soil Loss Heavy Though not as spectacular as mud covered roads, obviously the greatest loss in the county was n the huge amount of topsoil that is going down the streams with the water. Many fields have been cut severely with steeper hillsides showing ravines two and three feet deep. It was reported that many homes in this area have had flooded basements due to the high water table and the Mor row County Grain Growers re ported that the basement of its lone elevator filled with about six feet of water damaging mo tors and grain augurs. Leonard Gilliam, Heppner wpather observer recorded .48 inches of moisture between last Friday morning and Wednesday morning with .22 inch falling on Tuesdav. Three and one-half inches of that came as snow Fri day. At Gooseberrv the weather sta tion reports a total of .75 inch of moister so far for February, much of it is in the form of snow. For the winter 23 inches of snow has been measured, about the same as has fallen in Heppner. No accurate mountain snow measurement has been made since the first of the month but it is estimated to be at least five feet in the higher elevations. Eighteen inches of new snow was reported at the lower end of Shaw creek last weekend with several more inches having fal len since. The five-day weather forecast for this area issued Wednesday calls for continued mild weather and snow or rain flurries. No heavy storms are expected, how ever. "Heart Sunday" Drive Planned Heart Fund Sunday, February 26 has been proclaimed by Mrs. Jack Bailey, chaiman of the county Heart Fund drive and it has been announced that on that afternoon local volunteer work ers will make a house-to-house canvass for contributions. The Heart drive has been car ried on throughout the county and the nation during February. Volunteers who will aid in the Sunday afternoon canvass in dude Mesdames Creston Robin son. Walter Edger, John Hart man, Mike Saling, Douglas Drake, Ned Sweek. Kemp Dick, Don Bennett, William Heath, Riley Munkers, LeRoy Gardner, James Healy, Harlan McCurdy Jr., Rich ard Meador and Howard Petty John. The committee asks that any one not contacted during the can uas mail any contribution to "Heart", care of your local post master. Morrow Democrats Plan Organization Meeting February 27 Morrow county Democrats are scheduled to meet Monday even ing, Feb. 27 at the Newt O'Harra home in Lexington. Organization and plans for the coming cam paign will be the topic of discus sion. The meeting will be informal though it is expected that one or more candidates will be pre sent at the meeting. Refresh ments will be served and a re port on the Stevenson meeting will be given by the local chair man, Al Lamb. . o Jury Panel, Election Boards Are Named Printed elsewhere in this issue of the Gazette Times, along with the proceedings of the county court. Is the full iurv panel for 1956 and the court appointments for judges and clerks for election boards for 1956-58. The jury list contains the names of 500 registered voters of the county. . o CUB SCOUT BANQUET The annual Cub Scout blue and gold banquet will be held Wed nesday. February 29 at 6:30 p. m, in the basement of the Christian church. Conservation Tour Monday to View Erosion Problems The annual Heppner Soil Con servation tour, usually held in May, has been scheduled for next Monday afternoon, it was an nounced today. The tour was originally an nounced for Monday, Feb. 27, and then was postponed early this week because of road conditions in the area to be covered. Con flicting schedules for the next two or three weeks made it necessary to change back to the original date, Tom Wilson, local conservationist said Wednesday. Wilson and county agent N. C. Anderson made a trip over the tour route Wednesday morning and found that barring any more extremely heavy storms, the route was passable to cars. The tour which is sponsored jointly by the Heppner -Morrow County Chamber of Commerce, will start with a free luncheon for all participating farmers and chamber members at noon at the Methodist church. Immediately following the lunch, the tour will start from the church. The route to be taken will cover the Sand Hollow area to the baseline, thence to the Lex ington-Echo highay, to Lexing ton, up Clark's Canyon and into Heppner. It is planned for a two-hour tour. Heavy Erosion Seen The tour has been set up this year to give participants an op portunity to examine the effects of this year's heavy rain ana snow on fields in the county. Much cutting has been obvious on numerous fields for some time and the rains and thawing early this week has added much to the erosion problems. It was felt by directors of the district that a tour now would show the effects of poor and good conservation nractices much better than later when crops are coming up and covering many of the scars. The luncheon will replace the regular chamber meeting on Mon day and all members as we a as interested farmers are invited to make the trip. o Charles S. Emry, 96, Passes at Albany Charles Sumner Emry, 96 years of age, a one-time resident of this area, died February 11 at Albany, Oregon. Final rites were held Feb. 14 with burial in the Al bany Masonic cemetery. Mr. Emry was born June 18, 1859 in Kansas and lived in Ore gon for 70 years. He left Morrow county 45 years ago to make his home in Jefferson, in the Willa mette valley. He was married to Sina Bow man in Kansas and they had four daughters who survive him. They are Mrs. Maggie Fuqua, Costa Mesa, Calif.; Mrs. Bert Bleakman, Hermiston; Mrs. Char lie McDaniel, Boardman; Mrs. Tom Ramsdell, Salem. He also leaves 12 grandchildren, 12 great grandchildren and 14 great-greatgrandchildren. o School Budget Committee Meets The budget committee for school district No. 1 consisting of Ray Ferguson, Frank Anderson, nick Wilkinson. Howard Bryant and Harold Becket met recently with the school board and super intendent to go over the budget for the coming year. Bryant was named chairman and Ferguson secretary. The budget was approved dv the school board for presentation to the rural board. It will be pub lished in full and a public hear ing date will be set after the rural board has considered the budget. o- Game Commission Field Day Planned On March 18 the state game commission is plannnig a field day over the North Fork game management area, it was re vealed this week. They plan to plant bitterbruch seedlings. Clubs from the surrounding area have been invited to attend and anyone Interested in making the trip are asked to contact Ken Keeling, Glen Ward or Ralph Taylor as soon as possible.