Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 2, 1956)
y of o EUGENE , ORE ppet Copies 10 Cents "Wild" Drivers Due For Spedal Police Mention Extra Police to be Used to Control Saturday Night "Squirreling" in Area A concerted campaign by all local police agencies started last weekend to curb a rising wave of reckless driving, "Squirreling" j and other traffic offenses in the Heppner, Lexington and lone areas. The "get tough" program came about as a result of many com plaints by local residents of "squirreling", speeding and reck less driving by numerous drivers (not all young, according to po lice) which has been occuring particularly on Saturday nights during and following fair and rodeo dances which have been held at the fair pavilion the last three weeks. City and state po lice and the sheriff's office are cooperating to put a stop to such action before any serious injur ies or deaths occur. Last Saturday night there were two state patrolman, two city police and sheriff C. J. D. Bau man on traffic patrol which re sulted in several arrests being made. Sheriff Bauman, Heppner po lice chief Dean Gilman and state police William Labhart empha sized Wednesday that during the past several weeks numerous warnings have heen Issued be cause of careless driving, particu larly among the younger drivers, but it has become apparent that just warnings are not sufficient. All officers stated that they have ,been aware of the driving habits of many j... sons and have been making an effort to stop the recklessness, but it was decided that extra police would be used on Saturday nights to control the traffic. Last Saturday both city officers were on duty and an extra state patrolman was work ing this area. Last weekend several arrests were made and both city and state officers said that there were several Instances of cars driving up to 70 and 75 miles an hour on north Main street and of others doing over 100 miles an hour before reaching the city limits. Both justice court and municipal judges have indicated that they don't plan to be len ient with offenders. State police reminded drivers that radar is now being used by the department to check driving speeds throughout the state and warned that a radar car could be used in Heppner at any time. Temperatures Drop to Comfortable Range Temperatures in the Heppner area dropped into the more com fortable 80's and low 90's during most of the past week, giving residents some respite from the high 90's and 100 degree heat that had seared the country all the previous week. Official temperature figures for the past seven days were not available, but most persons did not need a thermometer to know that things had cooled off con siderably. Wednesday morning even a few coats and jackets were noticed around town as the mercury dipped to well below 50. Some cloudiness has been fore cast for the next few days. FLOOD CONTROL Willow Creek Dam If residents of this section of Morrow county are interested in the development of an Irrigation and flood c6ntrol dam on Willow creek, now is the time to start planning such a project, J. O. Turner, member of the Morrow county water resources commit tee, told the chamber of com merce Monday noon. Turner said the recent series of flash floods In this section of Oregon have pointed to the need for flood control protection here and also told the group that there are a potential 6,000 acres of crop land that could benefit mater ially from irrigation which could k nhtainert from such a dam. Back in 1948 the United States Armv Engineers surveyed tne water resource needs of the county and recommended in its Casei to Be Listed In cooperation with the police drive to stop the "Saturday night tire-burninz sDree", the Gazette Times this week starts the publi cation of all traffic and other cases which are brought before both Justice and Municipal Courts in Heppner. It Is felt by. police officers and the pub lisher that such publication oi names, offenses and fines, may act as a deterrent to many driv ers who are inclined to violate traffic laws. Cases which have been heard during the past week in both courts are not included in this story but will be found, this week and hereafter, under a "Justice and Municipal Court" heading elsewhere in the paper. All Dolice officers concurred with Heppner chief Gilman when he said. "We have been trying to reason with drivers in the past to convince them of the danger of this type of driving, but in the future such driving Is going to result In arrest. o Ralph J. Craber Found Dead From Self-inflicted Shot RalDh J. (Tim) Craber, 63, was found dead earlv Saturday morn ing in the back yard oi nis nome in North HeDDner.the victim of a self-inflicted gunshot wound In the head. The bodv was discovered by BiH'Cunningham, who lives near hv. about 8 a. m. and lnvesu gating officers placed the time nf his drath st betwestt 6 and 7 nvinrk that mornine. A 22 caliber revolver was found lleing between his lees and a note found in the house Indicated that despondency was probably the cause of his action. He had re cently been hospitalized, but his illness was not considered sen ous. Mr. Craber was born Septem her 18. 1892 at Yancton, South Da kota and had lived in this area for 55 vears. He had done vari ous types of work and was known as a general handy man ana mechanic. He was a veteran of World War I. Services were held Tuesday, July 31 at the Heppner Christian church with Rev. Charles V. Knox officiating. Interment was in the Heppner Masonic cemetery with Creswick Mortuary in charge of arrangements. Mr. Craber is survived by three brothers, J. E. Craber, Heppner; J. O. Craber, Cottage Grove; David Craber, Salem; two sisters, Mrs. Ada Cannon, Heppner; and Mrs. Bessie Cook of independence, Ore. Mrs. Eva Hill Dies at Redmond Word has been received here of the death of Mrs. Eva Hill, a for mer resident of " Heppner. She passed away Tuesday at Red mond while visiting a son. Funeral servies are expected to be held here late this week but definite arrangements have not been made. AND IRRIGATION famous 308 report that a 90 foot dam be built on Willow creek just above Heppner at the con fluence of Willow creek and Balm Forks. That report has been approved by Congress, as were many other projects in the northwest, but lack of local in terest has held back any further planning of promotion of the project. Turner said that the state water resources board Is very interested in the flood control and water needs of this area and has sug gested that local interests make an effort to develop a plan which could be presented to the engi neers for future consideration. The state board suggested, through its field engineer Quen ton Bowman, that Morrow county fanners and other interested Heppner, NEW POLIO CASES REPORTED IN STATE; USE OF VACCINE URGED ALL ELIGIBLE COUNTY HAS FIRST CASE Morrow county's first polio case of the year Was reported this week when a 16 year old Irrlgon girl was taken to Good Shepherd hospital in Henniston Sunday suffering from the disease. Her case is reported to be non paralytic. Reports of five new cases of nnlio In Oreeon last week brought a warning from the state board of health Wednesday that the disease mav be starting its 1956 seasonal increase. The department's communi cable disease summary for the Patricia Wright' Featured on TV Program Monday Television viewers across the nation watched Patricia Wright, nueen of the 1956 Morrow county fair and rodeo, and nation's top 4-H club girl, Monday nignt wnen she appeared on the Voice of Firestone television and radio program from New York City. : Miss Wrignt was cnosen to rep resent nil the nation's 4-H eirls while she was attending the na tional 4-H camp at wasningion, D. C. in June, sne appeared on the program with Lisle Cook of Providence, la., who was chosen to represent 4-H boys. She told of her life on a 7,000 acre ranch near Heppner oper ated by her parents Mr. and Mrs. Walter Wright, and explained that she has completed 20 pro jects in her 10 years as as a i-a. member, the chief being her clothing Droiects. Cook also Is a 10-year 4-H member and lives on a 230 acre ranch. Patricia and her mother left Portland by United Airlines plane Saturday and returned home early this week. o Red Hat Chairman Named For Ccirty i Morrow county efforts to im prove landowner-sportsmen rela tions and to provide safer' fire free hunting seasons will be co ordinated by Ralph Taylor, Hepp ner. whn has been aDDOinted by Governor Elmo Smith as Morrow county chairman for this years Red Hat Days campaign. More than a score of state wide organizations again have joined in sponsoring this educa tional program wnicn was so successfully launched last year. Red Hat Days will start Septem ber 21 and continue throughout the hunting season. Governor Smith said marked improvement in hunter conduct was observed In 1955. He noted that there Were fewer reports of vandalism, fewer hunter-caused fires and fewer fatalities result ing from careless use of firearms. "Much progress remains to be made," Governor Smith added. "I am convinced that the Red Hat Days program is a sound ap proach to solving promems vre ated bv a small percentage of hunters. I urge all hunters to remember their outdoor obliga tions when they go afield this fall." Each of Oregon's 36 counties has a Red Hat chairman. The statewide educational campaign is directed by the Governor's Red Hat Days committee, composed of seven representatives of spon sor groups. o i Bradlev Fancher and P. W. Mahoney spent five days in John Day last week on business. BENEFITS SEEN residents, take steps to develop a program for such a dam which would show the Engineers that the area was desirous of getting help for a flood control and irri gation project, and that they were in agreement as to what type of q plan they would prefer. Surrey Suggested Turner told the chamber that original plans called for a 90 foot concrete dam to be located just above Heppner which would cost (estimated at that time) $3, 000,000. Revised thinking on such a project has suggested an earth fill dam, with ample spill way facilities to handle flash- flood water, located at the same place which would back water about a mile up both Willow creek and Balm fork. Such a dam would be cheaper to build and Oregon, Thursday, August 2, 1956 i week ended last Saturday, which was published today, reported new cases of polio in Baker, Uma tilla Douglas and Washington nntips and the city of Portland, The new reports brought the to tal for this year to 47 cases, 29 of which have been paralytic. The new cases prompted state board of health officials to re peat their plea that all eligible persons in Oregon obtain Salk vaccine from their private phy sicians "as soon as possible." Everyone up to the age of 30 and all expectant mothers are now eligible for commercial shots. Although the five cases are well below weekly totals expect ed during peak periods, the sum mary credited the new reports as "suggesting that the seasonal in crease of this disease may be be ginning". "In all four of the cases re ported this week for which vacci nation history is currently avail able", the summary emphasized, "the patient had not been vacci nated". Information on the fifth case was not available. Dr. Samuel B. Osgood, state epidemiologist, who prepares the wpeklv reoort. said that two of the cases were paralytic, one was listed as non-paraiytic, and in formation on the other two was not complete. He reported that umatuia county, which has had seven cases so far this year, is tne only countv in Oregon to report un usual numbers of polio. Four of the Umatilla cases nave Deen paralytic. Dr. Osgood said tnat uregon s polio total so far this year "Is little more than half the number rnorted at this time last year and is about 30 percent below the 1949-1955 medium t number of cases for the first 29 weeks of the vpar". State board of health ex perts have credited much of the decrease to the success of the new Salk vaccine. VACCINE CAN BE GIVEN Dr. A. D. McMurdo, county health officer, said today that in the PBt when a, person had been e:vf,a1'1 to ' ',- and lo buli had been given it was thought that vaccine could not be administered for at least six weeks. It has not been determined, Dr. McMurdo said, that in such cases Salk vaccine can be given imme diately but in a different arm. o Wheat Harvesting Still at Peak Wheat' continued to pour into grain elevators in the county at the rate of close to 140,000 bus hels a day as harvesting got under way even in the higher sections of the county. Grain was still going on tne ground at the North Lexington elevator of the Morrow County Grain Growers and at the pre sent time there are about 150, 000 bushels in ground storage at that facility. Al Lamb, MCGG manager said Wednesday that the co-op has received no freight cars for the past two days and that the shipping situation is still unsatisfactory. He said that it may be necessary to dump on the ground at Lexington within a couple of days. Other elevators in the area re port that cars have been hard to get but that they have been able to ship all that was necessary. Hauling is beginning to slack off in the north Lexington area which is always the first to get into production, but in other sec tions, cutting is still at its peak. Claimed yet would provide the same pro tection and irrigation benefits. If siirh a nlan could be agreed up on by local residents and appro ved by the engineers, farmers on approximately 6,000 acres of bot tom land the length of Willow creek would be in a position to receive an ample supply of lrn cation water the year around at a reasonable cost. Turner said the first step would be to 'ask for a resurvey of the entire plan by the engineers with the idea that it would then be possible to determine what ranchers would have to pay for the irrigation water and efforts could be made to sign up water contracts among the land owners effected. Turner said he had been told that It could be possible that such PRINCESS MAXINE SICARD Boardman Princess Dance Saturday Night A nonular member of this year's I fair and rodeo royal court, Prln pps Maxine Sicard of Boardman, will be honoree at her own dance Saturday night at the Heppner fair pavilion, the dance is being eiven bv her sponsors, tne eoara- man Tillicum club. The Boardman princess, daugh ter of Mr. and Mrs. George Sicard, is the youngest of this year's court but her school accomplish ments and outside activities make an impressive list. She is 16 years of age, five feet five and one-half inches tall, has hlue eves and natural curly hair. Some of her various activities in high school Include member ship in the pep club, G. A. A., the high school band, girls' chorus, and the student council. She has also served on the carnival com mittee, as secretary-treasurer of the junior class, news reporter for the Cactus-Script, the high school paper. Next year she will be on the annual staff and has been elected secretary-treasurer of the student body. Even though she has taken Dart in many organi zations and activities, she stands at the top of her class in grades. Ae in thp future. Princess Max- inp admits a little apprehension. She would like to specialize in some type of research work but the field s sti1' somewhat un certain. , Her hobbies include riding, raising sheep, collecting stamps and pictures and playing the Legion Subscription Drive Set Monday Officers of the Heppner Ameri can Legion post announced this week that representatives of the Crowell-Collier Publishing com pany will start their annual Le gion magazine subscription drive Monday, Aug. 6. Every author ized representative will carry a letter of identification from the local post, it was explained. Money obtained from the drive will be used for the purchase of emergency equipment such as hospital beds, wheel chairs, etc., which will be available for the use of anyone In this area. Area's a program could be developed which would require local resi dents of the Willow creek area to put up only a relatively few thousand dollars in actual casn. The cost of the remainder of the nroiect would be paid out as irri gation benefits accrue over the years, as is done in other irri gation areas such as Boardman, Irrigon, West Umatilla and many others. Turner said the most important thing at the present time Is that a definite interest must be shown by local residents In getting a workable plan developed. He continued that the county water resources committee has placed such a plan at the top of its list of vital projects and urged that the chamber take action to de velop interest among the many : ... . 4 piano. Her sheep raising, though she says it Is a hobby, has proved a profitable one for her for she bought her horse, Sandy, and her own piano with the money she made from her sheep. She also has hopes of adding flying to her list of hobbies, saying she has been up many times and loves it. Princess Maxine is a member nf the Junior Cactus Riders and is in her seventh year of 4-H club work. Her club Droiects include shppn. dairv. beef, cooking and sewing. She has also helped with other club work and in her third year of junior leadership. She has completed one year as an assistant leader. She has been in one cake-baking contest; five county fair bread baking contests where she won four firsts, and won second in a simi lar state fair contest. The Boardman princess was born in Portland but has lived In Boardman for some time and ad mits she likes her "adopted" home the best. She has a bro ther and a sister both older. Her dance will start at 10 p. m. and music will be furnished by Joe Banana and the Bunch which advertises music with "appeal." Nine-Year-Old Boy Kills Big Owl Billy Bulger, 9 year old Cheha lis. Washiniiton boy who is visit ing his aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Pete Gilman on the Hynd Bros. Luckman ranch on Freeze- out, proved himself a crack shot with a B-B gun recently when he killed a big owl that had been killing chickens at the ranch. The night before Billy found the big bird, which had a 54 inch wingspread, it had killed three chickens so he went hunt ing in earnest. Two shots result ed in shooting both the owl's eyes out. Saying of the Week Classified ad seen in a small town newspaper: "Second-hand tombstone for sale. Wonderful bargain for family named Auchlnclosi." Foremost Need people in this area who would be affected. Following Turner's talk, Orvllle Cutsforth, Lexington rancher, told how the water table In the en tire county was dropping alarm ingly because there is no large body of water in the entire area to replenish the underground water supply. He said that a sizeable pool of water in the upper elevations of the county could do much to deviate that situation and cited several ex amples of where such bodies of water have raised the water table in surrounding areas bringing dry wells back into production. It was also pointed out that the recreational value of such a reservoir would be immeasurable. Turner prefaced his remarks 73rd Year, Number 21 About 600 Acres Burned in Year's First Range Fire The first grass and range fire of the year burned over 400 to 600 acres of grass on Balm Fork east of Heppner Monday afternoon, but the efforts of a sizeable crew of firefighters succeeded in keep ing the blaze away from build ings. The fire started just at noon on the Luke Blbby ranch and before it had been controlled it burned over parts of the Bibby, Ralph Beanier, Howard Cleveland and Wilbur Gourley ranches. It is not known whether the fire started from a truck exhaust or whether a worker dropped a match. It was noticed immediately but it travelled too fast for the crew to keep it from spreading. Bibby reported that he lost a binder in the fire, but continued efforts prevented the loss of a big stack of hay and a large barn. The barn caught on fire several times, but the men were success ful in stonninc it while the blazes were still small. Bibby also lost a small amount of shocked gram. Rihhv reDorted that the county road crew, which was working in the area, as well as many neighbors and men from Hepp ner Joined in the fight which lasted for over four hours. The blaze sent up a big cloud of smoke which attracted consider able attention. Bibby extended his apprecia tion to all who helped prevent further spread of the flames. o Hermiston Sale Prices Climb HERMISTON Prices bounced upwards at the Hermiston Live stock Commission Co. sale Friday with most grades of cattle and hogs beating last week's prices by from $.50 to $1 per hundred weight. Grass fat steers hit a high of $19.70 cwt. to erase last week's season high of $19.30 cwt. Other good gainers were steer calves, up $1 to $17.60 cwt.; veal up $.60 at $18.10 cwt.; feeder steers, up $1.10 at $18.20 cwt.; grass fat heifers, up $1 at $16.90 cwt.; and commercial cows, up $.50 at $13.10 ' cwt. While prices were climbing the number of consignors fell off to 52. But, hampered by the three Hs of summer (heat, hay ing and harvesting), they never the less put 258 cattle, 41 sheep and 87 hogs on the auction block in a very fast sale, manager Del bert Anson said. ' Feed lots are beginning to get in replacements indicating a need for more feeder cattle at next Friday's sale, Anson an nounced. Packers will need more grass fat cows and steers. The market: CATTLE: Baby calves, 4.50 to 16.00 per head; steer calves, 16J0 to 17.60 cwt.; heifer calves, 14.10 to 15.90 cwt; veal, 16.10 to 18.10 cwt.; stocker steers, 15.50 to 17.10 cwt; grass fat steers, 18.50 to 19. 70 cwt.; grass fat heifers, 14.30 to 16.90 cwt.; dairy cows, 87.50 to 109.00 per head; stocker cows with calves at side, 94.00 to 115 per pair; commercial cows, 11.75 to 13.10 cwt.; canners and cutters, 7.75 to 9.20 cwt.; shells, 5.25 to 7.10 cwt.; bulls, 12.50 to 13.90 cwt.; and utility grades, 10.50 to 11.90 cwt. HOGS: Weaner pigs, 7 to 10 per head; feeder pigs, 14.20 to 15.70 cwt.; fat hogs, 16.50 to 17.40 cwt.; boars, 3.50 to 8.00 cwt.; and sows, 11.50 to 15.30 cwt. Continued on Page 8 by saying that the first discus sion and planning of Grand Cou lee dam started in 1918, yet it was 1933 before actual construc tion was started. He emphasized that water is this area's most important problem and if a so-, lution is to be found before many residents suffer greatly from the lack (or overabundance) of it, a start must be made' now to find the solution. Newt O'Harra, chairman of the county water resources planning committee, said that a meeting of that group would be held early in September at which time state water resources board engineers would be present. He urged local interested parties to be present at the meeting, the exact date of which will be announced later.
