Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (May 10, 1956)
u or o Eugene, ore. Continuing Rains Bring Up To 2!lnches oJ Moisture Copies 10 Cents Heppner, Oregon, Thursday, May 10, 1956 73rd Year, Number 9 i - : 'Ml M TV. Vvl W'j , lV V a- VISITING after the luncheon at the Kinzua restaurant were mem bers of the Kinzua management and the Heppner chamber. Left to right are Jack Bedford P. W. Mahoney, and Maurice Hitchcock, Heppner; Maurice Brown, Kinzua general manager; Bob Kennedy, logging superintendent; and Allen Nistad, office manager. Chamber Over 20 members of the HeDD ner-Morrow Countv Chamber of Commerce were guests of the Kinzua Corporation Monday for a tour through the mill and oper ations of the company at Kinzua in wneeler county. The lnvita tion for the visit had been ex. tended the chamber by Maurice crown, manager of the operation. After making the trip by car from Heppner over the Heppner Spray highway to the Kinzua Dri- vate logging road at the top of me mountains tne caravan was escorted through Camp Five to Kinzua where Brown, office man ager Allen Nistad and logging operations manager Robert B. Kennedy took the group through W. C. Rosewall Named New Mayor Of Heppner The Heppner city council Mon day night accepted the resigna tion of former mayor Mrs. Mary Stevens and immediately follow ed that action by electing council chairman W. C. Rosewall to fill the position for the rest of the year. Mrs. Stevens resigned her post because she has moved to The Dalles, and her letter expressed her thanks to the council mem bers for their help during the year and one-quarter that she served as mayor. In other action, the council passed to the third reading two odrinances, one concerning the annexation of a small section of territory south of Heppner, and the other governing non-resident photographers soliciting business in Heppner. The ordinance, which will be read for a final time at the next council meeting, establishes an annual license fee of $250 for non-resident photo raphers. The group passed a resolution calling for the changing of the grade of one block on Gale street where the street is to be im proved. Hazard Reported Several letters from Camp Fire Girls and Blue Bird groups call ing the council's attention to the hazards of two old unused reser voirs on the west hill above town. The letters stated that the two reservoirs are partly full of wa ter and in a dangerous condition and they asked that the council take action to remove the hazard before some youngster playing near them might be Injured or drowned. The council ordered the superintendent to investigate and either fill the holes ar drain them. Bridge Work Gaining City superintendent Vic Gros hens reported that the Baltimore street footbridge was nearing completion and that it should be placed in use within a, week or so Work is progressing on the Lovers Lane footbridge and crews will have the new alfalfa street bridge across Willow creek completed this week. Six building permits totaling over $25,000 were granted to James C. Lovgren, remodeling, $2,000; Church of Christ, new parsonage, $10,000; L. E. Dick, addition to residence, no esti mate; James Farley, new resi dence on Baltimore street, $12, 000; Walter Beckett, garage, $1, 000; Mrs. Grace Nickerson, a sidewalk. The council spent some time discussing the budget for next year. o Mrs. C. H. Perrott and two daughters of Portland were week end visitors at the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Lester Doo-little. V of Commerce Tours the company's" entire sprawling plant and explained its varied operations. The visitors watched the two band saws in operation which produce 230,000 board feet of lumber a day . and viewed the eight-unit dry kilns which have a capacity of up to 300,000 feet a day. A recent installation at Kinzua is a mechanical log bar ker which was installed to make it possible to utilize what other wise would be waste timber. The barker Is the first stop for logs entering the mill. The removed bark and sawdust Is used to fire boilers for power and the waste from the barked logs Is then sent through the chipper and Into spe cial freight cars to be shipped by rail to the Longview Fiber Co where it Is made into paper. Kin zua salvages 80 units or approxi mately 4 carloads of chips dally and these chips cannot contain more than one percent bark, the visitors were told. In connection with the planer shed is the under-cover loading platform and chamber members saw the loading of mixed cars of lumber for the east and midwest, Guides painted out a relatively new product at the Kinzua plant, the paper wrapping and packag ing of pine panelling. The panelling is carefully graded, wrapped and labeled and several cars were being loaded with this new product which has received wide acceptance in the lumber trade, especially in the east. By wrapping, the lumber reaches the user in clean, unfaded condition and Kinzua also includes in each package a pamphlet on how to stain or paint the lumber. The packaged product is said to be meeting a demand in the "do-it- Ross B. Perry Dies Suddenly During Visit to County Rossiter Bartlett Perry, 69, of Portland, and a former resident of Morgan, died May 3 while visiting at his ranch below lone. Mr. Perry was in the Merchant Marines and had come off his ship about three weeks ago. He still owned a ranch near Morgan and had come here to see about its operation. Mr. Perry was born January 4, 1887 at Yamhill, Oregon and had lived In Morrow county until the 1930's. He was a World War I veteran. Services were held Wed nesday at the lone Community church with Rev. A. Shirley of ficiating. Interment was in the lone Odd Fellows cemetery. Surviving are a son Robert, of Portland; tw6 daughters, Mignon. ette Barkhurst, Myrtle Creek; and Ross Belle Gillette, Bel Aire, Texas; four sisters, Elizabeth Hendricks, Hope Perry, Bess Dan iels and Elsie Wythercomb; and one brother Tom Perry, all whose addresses are unknown. His wife and daughter preceeded him in death. Creswick Mortuary had charge of arrangements. 2000 NEW ACRES OF STRIP-CROP STARTED IN HEPPNER SOIL DISTRICT With 1171 acres of strip crop farming completed in the Hepp ner Soil Conservation district in April, acreage totals for the prac tice is over 2000 acres this spring, it was announced at a meeting of the district supervisors Tues day night in the bank building. A total of 7815 acres is now strip farmed to prevent soil erosion in the Heppner district. Ranchers who completed strip cropping in April were Irvln Rauch, Burton Peck, Elmer Pal mer, Harold Peck, Fred Mankin Paul Heinrich and Tom Harris. Landleveling In April was done ! f ' if ENJOYING a fine luncheon following a tour of the Kinzua Corpor ation's big plant at Kinzua Monday are mefmbers of the Heppner Morrow county Chamber of Commerce and Kinzua officials. Over 20 members of the chamber made the visitation and examined the varied operations of the big Wheeler county mill. (GT Photos) yourself" building business. The Heppner visitors wer taken through a new dry shed which contained about 800,000 feet of lumber and the large dry shed in which is stored over 3, 000,000 feet. Manager Mourice Brown told the group that Kinzua employes about 350 men in its entire oper ation including woods crews, and that efforts are taken to make Kinzua an attractive place for the family man to make his home. It was pointed out that several of the personnel have been with the company since it William G. Cowins, 86, Taken by Death, Rites Held Tuesday Funeral services were held Tuesday, May 8 for William Co wins who passed away May 5 at Pioneer Memorial hospital after a lingering illness. Mr. Cowins was born March 11, 1870 at Muskatine, Iowa and came west by covered wagon with his parents in 1874. The family lived at Carson City, Ne vada for one year then decfded to move to Walla Walla. They landed at Eugene, Ore. In the fall of 1875 and lived there until 1878 when they again took up the journey for Walla Walla. It was on this trip that they were directed to Heppner after a breakdown at Wells Springs where they abandoned the rest of the trip and established residence here. Af a boy Mr. Cowins went with his father who for many years was in the dray and transfer business. He was also engaged with his father in the business of manufacturing soft drinks and ice which was established In 1892. He later followed the carp enter trade for a number of years and was a victim of the Heppner flood in 1903 when much of his property was destroyed. William George Cowins was married to Una Charolette Ship ley in 1896. She preceeded him In death, passing away Aug. 6, 1951. Survivors are two daughters, Vera Bothwell, Heppner and Lydia Ray of Salem; one son James Cowins of Heppner; a sister Fran- ces Cantwell; six grandchildren; 16 great-grandchildren and seve ral nieces and nephews. Services were held at the Cres wick Mortuary with Robrt Becker officiating. Interment was in the Heppner Masonic cemeter. o Wheat Growers Set Tuesday Meeting Floyd Root, vice-president of the National Association of Wheat Growers, will give a report on farm legislation at the national level Tuesday evening at the an nual spring meeting of the Mor row County Wheatgrowers. The meeting will be held at the Lexington Grange hall starting at 8 p. m. and all members and growers are urged to attend. by George Currin, Earl Blake and Emil Groshens on 87 acres. Other conservation practices completed in April were 3,298 acres of soil surveys, 40 acres of land leveling surveys and 10,654 feet of Irrigation ditches laid out. The group voted to re-enroll in the national Goodyear Soil Con servation district contest which they won in 1952. Present were Donald Peterson, Raymond Lundell, lone; Newt O'Harra, Lexington; John Wight man, Raymond French, Tom Wil son, N. C. Anderson, Heppner and Dr. Cleve Gerard, Pendleton Ex periment station. 9 1 Kinzua started operation In 1929. Brown said, "We are proud of our school for the first eight grades and we have an enroll ment of 135. Buses transport an other 45 to 50 pupils to high school in Fossil. The plant operates two eight hour shifts and has an average monthly payroll of about $206, 000. Following the tour of the mill, dry kilns, shops and other faci lities, the chamber members were guests at a luncheon served in the Kinzua restaurant by Mr. and Mrs. Johnny Williams, operaters of the cafe. In the afternon, some of the group toured the logging end of the operation. The Heppner tour followed by only a few weeks, similar tours by members of the Fossil and Condon Commercial clubs. Quaid Will Valid; Hospital Benefits Heppner's Pioneer Memorial hospital will apparently raceive the $5,000 left to it in the will of Mrs. Pauline Quaid, member of a pioneer local family, who djed last fall at the age of 97. Mrs. Qu aid's will, which be qeathod most of her estate of $328,000 to hospitals, had been contested by her daughter Kath- ehine Hofen who claimed that her mother was not competent. Cir cuit judge William L. Dickson, Portland, ruled Tuesday that the will was valid and that Mrs. Quaid's money should be used for hospitals as she planned. The will called for $5,000 to go to Pioneer Memorial hospital, $1,000 to the Doernbecher child ren's hospital in Portland and most of the balance of the estate to the University of Oregon Medi cal school to establish a psychia tric hospital. Also included in the bequests was the sum of $500 to St. Pat rick's Catholic church in Hepp ner to be used for improvements. o Marvin G. Hughes, Dies in Portland Funeral services for Marvin G. Hughes, 40, former Heppner resi dent, were held Wednsday, May 9, at 2 p. m. at the Riverviey cha pel In Portland. Mr. Hughes was born March 6, 1916 in Heppner and died May 5 at Physicians and Surgeons hospital, Portland, fol lowing a long illness. Mr. Hughes attended the Hepp ner schools and ranched until moving to Portland in 1942. Survivors include his widow, Mrs. Lola Hughes, Portland; a small daughter, Maria; mother, Mrs. Grace Hughes, Heppner; three brothers, Elwyn and Matt, Heppner, Homer, Lexington; four sisters, Mrs. Don Bellenbrock, Mrs. Roy Quackenbush, Mrs. El lis Pettyjohn, all of Heppner and Mrs. Hurley Kohlman, Portland. Burial was in the Riverview cemetery with Finley's Funeral Home in charge of arrangements. Heppner To Get 1957 Church Conference The Eastern Oregon Christian .church conference was held three days last week at Baker and Rev. Charles V. Knox, pastor of the Heppner Christian church gave one of the major addresses on Tuesday. Mr. and Mrs. C. N. Jones and Mr. and Mrs. D. H. Jones repre sented the local church at the meeting. Paul Jones of Heppner was elected treasurer of the con ference. The conference will be held In Heppner next year. County Schools Budget to be Voted On Next Monday Reduction Seen In Tax Needed The rural school board stated this week that the total budget for Morrow county schools will be 68.958.16 less than this year's operating budget which means that Morrow will probably be one of the very few counties in the state which will show a decrease for 1956-57. The election on the budget will be held in all the school districts in the county next Monday, May 14 from 2 to 8 p. m. Voting place will be the school in each district The cut will result in a four and one-half mill decrease for the taxpayers of the county over last year s budget. The actual expenditures for next year would have been a little higher than the budget for this year, however the rural board did not allow the individual districts any money under capital outlay, other than money for the future purchase of buses and a small amount for library books. This year any district desiring to purchase new equipment, which is not a replacement on in most cases pertaining to the building of any project which did not come under capital out lay, such money must be raised by special levy within their own district and nothing Is allowed for such purposes under capital outlay by the rural board. Such procedure resulted in a reduction of the budget, county school superintendent Jack Flug said. Another reason why the budget will show a decrease Is due to the estimated receipts and available cash balance which ex ceeds this year's amount by $60, 761.85 The board has made every effort to keep the school budget at a minimum and still offer the best possible program of education. The total base of all districts in the Morrow county rural school district for the present year was the $137,126.15. The law permits the county to increase this by six percent, making the new base for 1956-57 $145,353.72. This amount subtracted from the total esti mated tax levy of $431,162.96 leaves a total of $285,809.25 out side the six percent limitation to be voted on by the taxpayers at Monday's election. Last year the amount voted on was $362,994.97. Under no conditions, it was pointed out, is a new tax base established, it is merely increased the six percent allowed by law. Athletic Banguet Slated Tuesday The Heppner high school ath letic banquet, sponsored this year by the chamber of commerce, will be held next Tuesday evening, May 15 at the Legion hall, it was announced today by La Verne Van Marter, chairman for the af fair. The banquet will start at 6:30 with the mothers of the athletes preparing the meal A short pro gram is planned with Archie Dunsmoor, football coach at the Eastern Oregon College billed as the main speaker. The banquet is open to the public and tickets will cost $1.50. V- "A -' . ; ' i ' ' , . : - - j PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE in the art of coring for children was learned last week by girlg of the Future Homemakers of America ... class at Heppner high school when they lerved as baby sitters to 42 children during the homemakers festival here. Some of the girls are shown here with most of their charges who varied in age from 3 months to S years. In charge of the group were Shir ley Kononen, Laurel Allstott and Mona Howard. Other assisting were Carole Anderson, Karen Valentine, Ruth and Alice Peterson, Joann Brosnan, Peggy Applegate, Janet Wright Judy Collins ,Mar lene and Norma Ceyer and Phyllis Quackenbush. (GT Photo) County Equalization Board Meeting to Start Next Monday The county equalization board will hold its first meeting next Monday to hear requests from taxpayers concerning real and personal property taxes for the coming year. The board in eludes county judge Garnet Bar- rata, Walter Hayes, Boardman and Frank Anderson, Heppner. Assessor Harry Dinges reported this week that his office has re ceived many inquiries about taxes for next year especially In view of the recently completed reappraisal program in the county. He pointed out that the Oregon law outlines his respon sibilities to the work of estab lishing fair and equal valuations for tax purposes and that it is his obligation to make every effort to maintain a realistic relation ship between assessed and mar ket values, as well as to see to it that proper assessment level exists between the various classl fications of taxable property. In his work, he is governed, not only by many laws but also is super vised by the state tax commission whose orders, under present sta tutes, have the force and effect of law. Dinges pointed out that the pur pose of the equalization board is to hear complaints on taxes before the rolls are extended. Shirley Kononen To Head Students Hepner high school student body elections Tuesday set two new record. Shirley Kononen was elected the first girl student body presi dent recorded In Heppner high and Shirley's party, the Comet party, was elected on a straight ticket vote. Elected to assist Shirlev in the heading of the school next year were these Comets: vice-president, Vic Groshens; secretary, Laurel Allstott, assistant treasu rer, John Brosnan; historian, Jan ice Beamer, and sgt. at arms, Ed die Groshens. The' Pogo-Darlv. ODDosirig the Comets, consisted of the follow ing candidates: Jay Sumner, president; Dean Connor, vice president; Mary Stewart, secre aary; Helen Graham, assistant treasurer; Phyllis Quackenbush, historian; and Jim Morris, sgt. at arms. Janet Wright, this year's as sistant treasurer, will step into the post of student body treas urer next year. Heppner FHA Girls Plan Hobo Day The Heppner school Future Homemakers of America are plan ning their second Hobo Day for the year on Saturday, May 19, to raise funds for their organization. Members of the organization will work at various jobs to be paid by the job. The girls will be pre pared to do various jobs such as window washing, dish washing, house cleaning, baby sitting, mowing lawns and ironing. The Hobo Day will actually start on Monday, May 14 and continue through Saturday, May 19 since some of the girls will be able to work after school that week and not on Saturday. Any one desiring extra help is en couraged to call 6-9217 at the Heppner school between 8:30 and 4:00 Monday through Friday, May 14 to May 18. "Spouts" Cause Some Damage In Few Sections Continuing rain Wednesday night added another .15 inch at Heppner to bring the month's total to 1.69 inches, and In Gooseberry an additional .39 inch fell overnight to bring May's total to an even two inches. At the latter point there has been 10.23 inches of mois ture since September 1, Leonard Carlson, weather observer, re ports. Weather reports indicate the possibility of more of the same for the next day or two. Before the Ink was drv on last week's story about the lack of rainfall during April, Old Jupe riuvius set out to take care of his oversight with the result that Morrow county has received up to two and one-Jialf Inches of rain in the past seven days. In every case, ranchers were overjoyed to see the moisture come, but durin!? the nasf fnur days, storms of cloudburst pro portions have caused consider able washing with areas south and east of Heppner taking the brunt of the continuing series of heavy storms. Rain started falling In HeDDner last Thursday and by Tuesday morning had dropped 1.54 inches here. Leonard Carlson. Goose. berry weather reporter checked in l.bl inches up to Wednesday morning; the Weatherford ranch near Lena received 1.91 Inches and at Hardman 2.50 inches has fallen during the week. Reports irom tne north end of the countv showed fairly heavy precipita tion also, 'hough In most cases considerably less than In hlcrh. er elevations to the south and east. Runoff Heavy Sunday and Monday there were numerous reports of "water spouts" occuring near Hardman, in the Eiehtmile area, on Butter creek and in Vinson comrnun'y near rvye Junction. The road up Porcupine canvon between Ruggs and Hardman was nearly washed out Sunday by a heavy downpour and several canyons in the Eightmile section deposited a layer of silt over the highway. A. spout struck near Vinson Sunday evening covering the area with a layer of hail and uttering the road with rock and dirt in several daces. Willow creek rose rapidly Tuesday and apparently had reached its neak Wednesday. John Day Highest Reports coming in Wednesday told that the John Day river was at the highest point ever seen by many residents of the lower section. There was a report that the river, which was loaded with logs and debris, late Tuesday might take out a IoEcintr br dee below Spray. The water was said to be within a few inches of the highway in several places. Wire service news reports Wednesday told of heavy rains n the Ochoco and near Mitchell and that the highway between Mitchell and the John Day river was closed by washouts. The storms have travelled In a belt running east of Heppner along the mountains. Pendleton has reported heavy rains on seve ral days and there have been reports of cyclones and strong storms in the Pasco and Connell, Washington sections. In most cases the rain has been of the "million dollar variety", which does more to make ranch ers happy than anything ex cept $2.50 wheat. The early storms brought a gentle rain that soaked into drying soils and boosted crop outlook by several bushels. The continuing series of heavy rain squalls have, however, caused some washing in summerfallow and spring seeded fields. Little actual damage has occured in most of the county however, and the value of the moisture more than offsets any runoff loss. The daily rainfall record In Heppner was: Thursday, May 3 .41 Friday, May 4 .26 Saturday, May 5 .07 Sunday, May 6 .07 Monday, May 7 .73 Tuesday, May 8 Trace Wednesday, May 9 Trace o FIREMEN RESPOND TO EARLY MORNING ALARM Heppner firemen responded to a general alarm at 1:30 a. m. Tuesday morning to the Willard O'Harra home on K street. An oil furnace had backfired blow ing flames into an upstairs room and filling the basement with smoke. There was no damage.