Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (March 29, 1956)
Page 2 Heppner Gazette Times, Thursday, March 29, 1956 HEPPNER GAZETTE TIMES M01B0W COUNTT'S NEWSPAPER The Heppner Gaaettt, established Marsh 30, 1883. The Meppnw Tims, Mtobtfafcsd November 18, 1897. Consolidated February 15, 1812. NIWSPAMR. PUBUSHEftS ASSOCIATION ROBEET PENLAND Editor and Publisher GRETCHEN PENLAND Associate Publisher NATIONAL CDITORI At AsTbcIlATIAN Published Every Thurrfay and Entered at th. Port Office at He Oregon as Subscription Rates: Morrow and Grant uunues, , " PATERSON FERRY-A Link That Shouldn't Have Been Broken In about one more week when Paterson ferry makes its final trip across the Columbia, Mor row county will lose its only direct transporta tion link with Washington and the north a link which should not have been broken and one which many people did not think they would ever lose. The discontinuance of the ferry will hurt Morrow county in the future. The sale of the ferry to Umatilla county by its' owners Frank B. Hogue and William R. Warner came as a surprise and somewhat of a shock, even to members of the Morrow county ctfurt. who had for over a year attempted to work out some plan whereby this county could purchase the ferry and continue its operation. It was no secret that Umatilla county and the bonding company which sold the bonds that built the new Umatilla bridge wanted the ferry, and wanted it badly, but it was also the understanding of the Morrow county court that the ferry owners, though they wanted to sell and retire, didn't plan to sell to the bridge company whom they knew would discontinue the Paterson operation. The county court has the legal right to buy and operate ferries, such as Paterson, with county road funds, but the court did not feel that it could quite justify the use of needed road money last year for such a purpose. Revenue bonds could be used for the purchase, but bonding concerns wanted to wait until the Umatilla bridge had been in operation for a full year to see how the bridge would effect use of the ferry. One year would have been up in April and the ferry's reve nue figures for this past year are very interesting. The traffic figures for raterson ferry and the Umatilla bridge show why Umatilla county (and the bonding company, wanted the ferry out of the way. Taterson during its last year, with the bridge in operation practically all the year, car ried a total of approximately 100,000 vehicles, compared with 145,000 during the best year of its operation. Since it was opened the bridge car ried a reported 165,000 vehicles in 8 Mi months at a gross revenue of $141,000. Bridge bonds is sued amounted approximately $5,000,000 and they were to be paid out in at least 27 years. A little simple arithmetic will show why the Umatilla bridge company needed Paterson's 100,000 cars a year to meet its bond requirements. The Morrow county court last year made a strong attempt to work out a plan whereby it could purchase the ferry, knowing that if Uma tilla county bought it, service would be discon tinued. A fairly good plan was worked out which included the eventual sale of revenue bonds (not general obligation tax bonds). The court held an option to buy for several months, but let it drop the first of this year when it decided that the money necessary for a down payment would pro bably be better used on county roads. It had hoped, however, that after the start of the new fiscal year, July 1, money could be found to make the purchase. An indication given the court that the ferry owners planned to keep the ferry oper ating, was the $:W,000 the ferry company put up for the construction of the 5.1 mile connecting road between highways 730 and 30 to give a di rect connection t0 highway 30 and the east. This road cost just over $00,000 and was completed only last summer. It hardly seemed likely that the ferry company would spend that amount of money and not intend to keep operating. Yet that is what happened and it seems to bear out the old aclac that "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush," Money talks, and Umatilla county got there "fustest with the mostest. Morrow county residents will soon miss the ferry for now they will be forced to travel an extra 25 miles to get to the samp point on the Washing ton shore that the ferry used to take them to In 5 or 10 minutes. Truckers will miss the ferry too, for their continued heavy use of the service, even after the bridge was opened, indicated that they nreferred the short route offered by the ferry Those inconveniences, though, are not the great est the county will suffer from the discontinuance of Paterson ferry. What may be lost in future years could well cost us much more. The north Morrow section of the Columbia offers one of the finest dock facility sites along the upper river and transportation to those facilities, which will someday be built, from both sides of the river is necessary if they are to be developed to their fullest. The construction of the John Day dam will speed such a development, yet tne elimina tion of Paterson ferry can well act as a damper, too. To those persons who might berate the county court for spending $30,UUO lor me raierson con thev shouldn't feel too bad ly. The money wasn't wasted. Already, well over a million bushels of grain has been hauled over that road to the Morrow County Grain Growers elevators and dock adjoining the ferry and within a few years many millions more ousneis win travpl the route which will easily justify the ex pense. The road will also knock a few miles off tho additional 25 or 30 that residents of this area now will be forced to go to get to the Yakima valley, Seattle or the north. Hnw much the ferrv will be missed can pretty well be illustrated by a comparison of traffic with roads in the county, wnne we aoni nave accurate traffic count figures, we doubt that there Is any state highway or county road in Morrow county except highways 30 and 730 and possibly the Lexington-Bucks Corner highway, that carries 100,000 cars a year. We wouldn't stand for the elimination of any of them without putting up a fight. Our court cannot be condemned for letting the ferry slip out of its hands, for, we believe, it acted in good faith and in what its members thought was for the best interests of the people, in not spending money it didn't have. Another six months could have told a different story. But, It won't do us any good now to cry about it for there won't be any ferry to carry us over a flood of tears. We were just simply beaten to the draw. THIRTY YEARS AGO From Files of the Gazette Times April 1, 1926 f)n Satnrdav afternoon, March 27, occurred a very unique cele bration, the occasion being the fiftieth anniversary of the wed ding of Mr. and Mrs. E. F. Camp bell of this city. Mrs. Campbell was tendered a Bride's Maid Party. The Tri-Countv Baseball lea- pup. romnospd nf teams from Hermiston, Echo, Umatilla, lone, Boardman and Arlington, was formed at a meeting of repre sentatives held at Umatilla on Monday evening. Among those returning to Eu gene after spending Easter va cation at home here were miss Luola Benge, Miss Gladys Benge and Misses Leta and Lveiyn Humphreys. Because of a few days vacation at the Oregon Normal school, Miss Beluah Batty of Hardman, was able to be home for a snort visit. With this issue we begin Vol ume No. 43, as it was 43 years ago when the first issue of the Heppner Gazette was put out; thus we are forging well on to the half century mark, and will soon be a full-grown institution. 4 1 ' F " n. i f V , i . iu,TonH. daughter of Mr. and Mrs. David McLeod. Mrs. Roxie Moeck, Mrs. Alfred Shirley and John Rietmann, son of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Rietmann, were all patients in the Pioneer Memorial hospital last week. LeRoy Brenner, son of Mr. and Mrs C E. Brenner has been graduated from the USAF pre flight cphr.nl at Lackland air force base, San Antonio, Texas. He is now in flying trainine in Marianna, Florida. Mrs. Vela Eubanks of Portland recently visited relatives here. Mrs. Ronald Tye and children of Enterprise visited at the homes of her sisters, Mrs. Joe Gaarsland and Mrs. Walter Cor ley this week. o- Gazette Times Classifieds Pay I Rev. and Mrs. A. L. Cargill Special Services Set At Nazarene Church Rev. and Mrs. A. L. Cargill of Colorado Springs, Colorado, will open a series of special evange listic services at the lone church of the Nazarene on Wednesday, April 4. The services will con tinue through April 15. Rpv. Cargill has been engaged in church work since 1920 and is wpll known for his unique pre sentation of Bible truths and dy namic Christian zeal which nas created a demand for his minis try. The public is invited to attend these services. lone News It's Time Something Was Done On page one of today's paper are a group of pictures which show graphically the condition of one of Heppner's main business lifelines to the south the Heppner-Spray highway. That condi tion is far from good. In fact, it's terrible! From the end of the pavement at the junction of Rock and Chapin creeks, the highway (and it's an exaggeratioir t0 call it such) is in what many old time residents have recently called the worst condition they have ever seen. During the past week we made a trip only as far as the Kfnzua road which is less than half way to the John Day highway, and we can certainly back up any statements we have heard regarding the road. Thp residents of Monument, Kimberly, Spray, Kinzua and Camp Five like to shop in Heppner they have told us so yet they have also made it quite plain recently that they aren't going to travp that kind of a road To no n. us u 101 easier, even if farther, to go to John Day, Prine ville, Redmond or elsewhere. a. thio iimo nt thp vear in particular, no rtl UH3 li. n- nmrmnt of maintenance will keep a gravel-sur face road in good condition, and if the road isn't good people aren't going to use it any more uitn necessary which can mean oniy one uung . Henoner business will suffer. linnmipr wants and needs the business of those people, but to get it something is going to havp to hp done about the road. The chamber of commerce could well put such' a project at the inn nf its list of important projects. The cham ber can't get the job done alone, but if every organization and interested mciiviuuai win gei together and make enougn noise, tne siaie nigu way department will eventually listen and act Let's develop a program that will bring results! H. O. Ely was presented with a 50 year jewel by the Morgan Odd Fellow lodge at a meeting held at Morgan Thursday evening March 22. His daughter, Mrs. Wallace Matthews made the pre sentation and gave a speech. His granddaughters, Deneice ana Bernice Matthews and Bonnie Kaye Akers presented him with a boutonnier. Mr. Ely joined the I. O. O. F. lodge at Morgan on March 6, 1906. Out of the 28 that joined then he and Russell Cox of Pasco, Wash., are the only mem bers left. Refreshments were served by the Rebekahs. There were around 30 people present Those coming from a distance were Mr. and Mrs. Elvin Ely of Boardman and their grandson, Jimmie Lillie. of La Grande. The Arnica club met at the home of Mrs. John Proudfoot on Wednesday afternoon March 21 with Mrs. Earl McKinney as co- STAR THEATER, Heppner - . . . . ....... . ..,. sr. rhiMrpn 2fle including federal i ax. Admission rricesi auuui uc, oiuuma - ;;..., ., a All children occupying seats must buy tickets. Sunday .how, con nuou nam 4 rt m flthnr AVAninflfl BTuTT OT : JU. VWV" r- - r Thursday-Frlday-Saturday, March 29-30-31 KENTUCKY RIFLE Chill Wills, Lance Fuller, Cathy Downs, Jeanne Cagney, Jess Barker, Sterling Hoi loway. A good western with touches of comedy in color. This THE NAKED AMAZON Authentic, amazing safari into the Amazon jungle. Sunday-Monday, April 1-2 GOOD MORNING, MISS DOVE Jennifer Jones, Robert Stack. Cinemascope and Color. No fooling, this is perfect Easter entertainment and a picture for every body-t he hearttugs and tears, tne love and laughter in the life of a lady who devoted her life to building good citizens and reaped a rich reward. (Bugs Bunny for Easter, too!) Sunday shows at 4 p. m., 6:15 and 8:30 Tuesday-Wednesday, April 3-4 DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE You'll enjoy this Technicolor comedy- most popular picture of the year in Eng-land-and as is the case with English pictures, perfect down o the merest walk on The cast Is headed by two of the top-ten Britich stars, Dirk Bogarde and Ken- Added: "The Robins Sing" with Leighton Noble and Orchestra. hostess. Games were played and those winning prizes were Mrs. Frank Helina, the guest prize, Mrs. Lloyd Morgan, Mrs. Marion Palmer and Mrs. Ray Heimbig ner. Mr. and Mrs. Clifford Yarnell and daughters of Vancouver, Wash., visited his father, Harry Yarnell who is ill in the Heppner hospital. Other patients from here in the hospital in Heppnr are Albert Lindstrom and Frances NOTICE- Local Electrician John Newman Will Be Out of Town ' April 8 to 16 . YSWEJlL NEW 1956 WALL COLORS SUPER KEM-TONE th dlux latex wall paint $FgO gal dttptonM $4.19 gal KEM-GLO looks and washes like baked enamel $069 qt. Newest colors In America s most widely used paints. Matching colors for walls and woodwork. Hundreds of glorious color combinations to choose from. Every color guaranteed washable. Case Furniture Co. : . .'7 r7 IiM """TlJ Lift yur heart afresh your rv I' - -VT sPr w e eternai giry f J $ Easter ... in Church on Sunday l iX'V m01'nin- Rejoice anew in the ''KH l I i f fett vVX V' aster Promise of everlast- - n ing" ' ' s7nbolized in the beauti" iv iVtr If r 7 V Iff J ful floral decorations, hailed in ff Js ,?? 7 ) tjJ I the triumphant hymns of praise, k F . yf'' 'i I memorialized in the stirring ser- p " 1 - J mons' sanctif ied in the deeply yJJs j V felt prayers of gratitude. j 1 I We Urge You To Attend The fifeyX Church of Your Choice. I ; f i f tK "R1n V J Heppner Pine Mills ni l " ' Tum-A-Lum Lumber Co.
