Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 6, 1956)
I I BRARY U OF 0 EUGENE. ORE. Jmptteir Copies 10 Cents Heppner, Oregon, Thursday, December 6, 1956 73rd Year, Number 39 Heppner For City Record Said One Of Best For Town of Size The city of Heppner was con gratulated this week on the re cord of accomplishments it has made in recent years in a letter read at the council meeting Mon day night from Lee Kipling King, certified public accountant, Port land, who has just completed an audit of the city's books. King said in his letter, "I thought the city council might like to get some favorable pub licity on the fine work they have performed over the years. In that connection I have included a section of municipal accomplish ments (in the audit report). This shows a listing of major city im provements, the increased value of fixed assets bond redemptions during the past four years, and Investments of surplus funds. "I personally feel that you have made an outstanding record for cities of your size and commen dation for such a fine record is surely in order." Accomplishments Listed Under the heading "Municipal Accomplishments", King's report stated: A growing list of city improve ments has been compiled 'during the past several years. A major accomplishment was the authorization and construc tion of a sewage disposal system, financed by a bond issue ap proved on June 24, 1952. City officials secured bids for the pro ject which was considerably be low estimates for the work. As a result only $250,000 of the aut horized bond issue of $300,000 was needed for sewage disposal con struction purposes. Numerous other improvements have been recorded including a "sprinkling system for the city park, the addition of modern equipment for the fire depart ment, street and water depart ments and for the swimming pool. The entire cost of $11,758.07 for parking meters was retired from meter revenues. The valuation of municipal fixed assets during the four years ended June 30, 1956 increased from $335,132.11 to $639,666.19, a total of $304,534.08. During the same period, the city paid off bonds totalling $78, 000 and in addition had a sinking fund of $50,000 invested in time certificates of deposit to redeem sewage system bonds when they become callable in 1962." Councilman Appointed In other business, Mayor W. C. Rosewall appointed E. E. Gonty to fill the unexpired term on the council of Robert Grabill, who resigned due to moving away from tre city. Gonty was elected to a full term at the general elec tion in November, but would not have taken office until January 1. The group received a request for a card room license from Jerry McAuliffe which was turned over to a committee for investigation. An ordinance was passed set ting an occupational tax for the privilege of operating a power and light business within the city. The rate to be two percent of the gross revenue, and ordered a similar ordinance be prepared to cover the operation of a tele phone system in the city. Blinker Light Ordered Jack Loyd, a member of the Heppner school board asked the council to install a blinker stop light at the crosswalk between the new grade school and the high school. Such an installation was recommended by a citizens traffic committee. The council ordered the street Continued on Page 8 rwwwwwi brijfnuvS . . . i i Given Pa On Back Accomplishments Ballots Located; Irrigon Soon to Be Officially a Town A belated election report gave news this week that Motrow county now has. or soon will have, five incorporated towns within its boundaries. Irrigon approved the incorporation pro posal at the November general election by a vote of 68 to 39. The delay in announcing the results was caused by a snafu in recording the vote. The bal lots were brought to the county clerk's oiiice in the election pouches along with the other ballots, but the clerk was not so informed, so he stored the whole works away in the court house vault with the result that the court never canvassed the vote to make it official. As soon as the canvass is made the court will set a date for the election of the new Irri gon city councilmen and when that is done the town will be operating on its own. o Wagenblast Receives Grossman Awards at Portland Banquet Alvin Wagenblast, Lexington, was presented with second place awards Monday evening at Port land in the Northwest "Grassman of the Year" contest. Wagen blast won the county contest and placed second in the state. Wagenblast received a check for $200 and a plaque from the United States National bank and a plaque from the Portland cham ber of commerce, sponsors of the contest and the banquet which was held at the Multnomah hotel. First place winner in the region was Hans Luethold of Tillamook. Attending the banquet and pre sentation were Mr. and Mrs, Wagenblast and Mr. and Mis, Harold Beach. Beach is presi dent of the Morrow county Farm Bureau, sponsors of the local con test. Thirteen Make lone Honor Roll lone high school this week re leased the names of 13 students whose grades placed them on the honor roll for the first nine weeks period. They are: Julie Rietmann, Le ann Padberg, Melvin Martin, Karen Lundell, Bill Salter, Leland McKinney, Ken Jones, Annbelle Coleman, Linda Heimbigner, Sue Ekstrom, Mardine Baker, Alyce Rea, Judy Howton. Receiving honorable mention were Kay Sherer, Ellis Ball, Harry Swart, Jim Swart, Dick Sherer, Phil Emert, Grant Rigby, Mary Emert and Grace McCabe. TURKEY SHOOT SET The Morrow county Gun Club will hold another merchandise and Turkey shoot Sunday, Dec. 9 at the club house south of Heppner. OLD LEDGER BOOK TELLS MUCH ABOUT EARLY HISTORY IN GOOSEBERRY AREA A very interesting record book telling much of the early history of the Gooseberry district was found recently in the attic of the Eric Bergstrom home during a remodeling project. The book, which is a combination ledger and account book and contained much information on the early history of the area. In the book were entries made from 1883 to 1887 and it named many of the early settlers. Some of those mentioned were Isaac Es teb, .local blacksmith "and laler postmaster; Frank Holmes, Jay Ball, George Brians, Perry Miller, John Spignell, Alex Young, Eu gene Meyers and the four Akers families William (Grandpa), Benjamin, Garret and Harvey. These were pioneers who settled here in 1883 and 1884, before this section became Morrow county. Each took up homesteads in the area. Little can be realized of the hardships and privations of these early settlers as all had to start from scratch with little or no equipment. The sod was broken little by little with two or three horses on a walking plow, better known as a "foot-burner." Home made harrows were used to cul tivate the ground and seeding was done by hand. Crude, horse- Soil District Supervisors Meet Assistance available to ranch ers in soil conservation districts was explained by officials of state and federal agencies at the annual area meeting of district supervisors from Umatilla, Mor row, Grant and Gilliam counties all day Tuesday at the county courthouse. Bill Cooper, Union farmer and member of the state soil conservation committee, was in charge. Panel members who discussed the cooperative program with districts included John Denison, Pendleton, area conservationist, soil conservation services; How ard Cushman, Corvallis, state ex tension service; William Mulkey, Portland, state agricultural sta bilization and conservation office; Charles M. Rector, Umatilla na tional forest; Warren Leatham, Portland, conservationist with the bureau of Indian affairs; Glenn Ward, Heppner, state game com mission; Harold Tower, Portland, state conservationist, S. C. S. and Glen Purnell, Corvallis, executive secretary of the state conserva tion committee. The workshop session included an exchange of problems and ac tivities in the various soil dis tricts and disucssion on the soil bank and watershed programs. Enrollment Still Open in Adult Sewing Classes Women who plan to enroll in the adult education sewing clas ses are required to attend the meeting at the Heppner grade school multipurpose room on Monday evening, December 10 at 7:30 p. m. The women are re quested to bring pencil and note paper. The course in the basic Bishop methods of clothing construction is offered through the coopera tion of the Oregon Division of Vocational Education of Salem, the adult education program of school district No. 1 and the Par ent-Teacher Association of Hepp ner. Mrs. G. C. M. Smith, vice presi dent of the Heppner P-TA Is assisting with the organization. Mrs. Homer Hager, teacher of home economics in the local school, who has taken instruction in the Bishop method of clothing construction for the past three summers and graduate work in clothing at Oregon State college will be the instructor. PAGEANT TO BE PRESENTED The Methodist church school will present a pageant "In His Name" on Sunday, Dec. 23 at 7:30 p. m. The presentation will be directed by Mrs. Lucille Owens, Mrs. Oliver Creswick, Mrs. Vic Kreimeyer and Mrs. Lester Boul den. driven threshers were used. The price of wheat was around 60 cents a bushel and was hauled to Alkali, later known as Arl ington. Some of the prices noted in the book were: pork and beef, 4 to 6 cents a pound; coffee 20 cents a pound; eggs, 10 cents a dozen; butter, 15 cents a pound; shoes $1.25 per pair; flour $1.00 a sack; overalls 85 cents; calico 7 cents a yard and lamp flues 15 cents. A small school was built about 1885 with an attendance of 15 to 20 children. Later the attend ance grew to some 40 pupils. Old Ballot Found Enclosed in the book was a copy of the 1894 general election ballot and some of the candidates running for office were Gallaway, Kennedy, Ford and Pierce for governor; Hallock, Hogue and Morrow for county clerk; Harring. ton, Hays and McGee for sheriff; Anna Balsiger, Addie Conlee, Martha Neville for county super intendent. According to the bal lot 39 votes were cast at Goose berry and four parties were rep resented, Democrat, Republican, Peoples and Prohibition. The finder of the book and bal. lot wonders if anyone still living voted in that election. Santa Tells of Plans For Visit to Heppner Saturday A mighty popular gentleman, particularly among the younger set will make his annual visit to Heppner Saturday afternoon, Dec. 8, according to word received by Richard Brunner, chairman of the chamber of commerce mer chants committee who Is sponsor ing his visit. , In case you can't guess his identity, it's an old fellow known as Santa Claus. Santa sent word that lie will arrive in town snortly alter l o'clock next Saturday afternoon to check up on the behavior of the county's youngsters, find out what they would like to have him bring them for Christmas and to pass out treats to all those who come to visit with him. He will arrive probably on a fire truck unless the snow is too deep, and will set up his tempor ary headquarters in front of the Heppner Hotel. Later he will go to the lounge of the Elks Lodge where he plans to spend at least an hour visiting with the smaller youngsters whom he couldn't find time to talk with on the street. Brunner said Santa sent word that he will have a big sack of candy and other treats with him enough for all the kids who come to see him. Red Cross Helps Hungarian Relief A special limited Red Cross fund drive for Hungarian relief is now under way in Morrow county following a meeting of the county Red Cross chapter Tuesday night at Heppner. J The local chapter is asked for $135 for Hungarian relief and Mrs. O. W. Cutsforth, chapter chairman, said the money will be sent out of the chapter funds, but it is hoped that special donations will equal that p mount. Persons wishing to aid are 3ked to make their donations either to Mrs. Cutsforth, Lexington, Mrs. Verner Troedson, lone or to Frank Tur ner, Heppner. Following the meeting it was announced that committee ap pointments had been made for the coming year with Paul Tews and Willard O'Harra, disaster chairmen; Home service, Rev. Lester Boulden and Rev. Merlin Zier; blood bank, Jack Bailey; home nursing, Mrs. Velma Glass; first aid, C. J. D. Bauman and William Labhart. The regular Red Cross drive chairman will be named later. It was announced that the an nual blood drawing will be held during May. Local Scouts To Sell Christmas Trees Scouts of Troop 86 drove to the mountains Sunday to harvest Christmas trees for sale in Hepp ner. Funds raised will be used to purchase Scout equipment for the new troop. Those making the trip were senior patrol leader, Larry Angell; patrol leader Tom Glass of the Navaho patrol; Don Keeling, Mike Koenig, LeRoy Garnder and Ken ny Keeling with Jim and John Cason, Jim Farra and Dennis Fer guson of the Beaver patrol. The scouts were accompanied by scoutmaster Mickey Schmidt and Bud Wilson and family. Transportation for the scouts was furnished by the Heppner Pine Mills, Inc. Combined Choirs to Present Cantata The combined choirs of the Christian and Methodist churches will present a Christmas Cantata "Chimes of the Holy Night" by Fred B .Holton on Thursday, De cember 20 at the Methodist church at 8 p. m. The choirs are directed by Nor man Peters. Mrs. Vic Kreimeyer is the organist. ATTENDS MEDICAL MEET Dr. A. D. McMurdo attended the meeting of the American Medical Association held in Seattle Nov. 27 through 30. He reported the meetings were very Instructive and interesting. There were doc tors present from every state and some foreign countries. This was the first time the clinical session of the AMA has ever been held in the northwest. Headline of the Week "Portland Egg Prices Crack " L. IP J,,(m:- CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS went with the aid of these three fork-lift trucks supplied by Heppner Pine Mills and Tum-A-Lum Lumber company. Over a dozen chamber of commerce members aided in hanging the strings of boughs and colored lights. Walter Wiglesworth Named New President Of The Wranglers Walter Wiglesworth of Echo was named new president of the Morrow County Wranglers Tues day night. He will take over the office the first of the year. Other officers elected were Leo Crabtree, lone, vice-president; Bruce Lindsay, Heppner, secer tary; Barbara Jordan, Heppner, treasurer. The new directors are J. W. Norene, Don Evans and Archie Munkers. Holdover direc tor is Al Fetsch and Ralph Beam er, retiring president, is also on the board. The Tuesday night meeting was the Christmas party complete with Santa Claus and candy for the youngsters. lone and Heppner Post Offices Set Extra Christmas Hours Postmasters James H. Driscoll at Heppner and Ruby O. Roberts at lone announced this week that both post offices will remain open Saturday afternoons, December 15 and 22 to help handle the rush of Christmas mail. The postal department again asks all persons to do their Christ mas mailing early as possible to ease the load during the heavy rushperiod of the last two weeks before Christmas. Adult Soils Class Sign-Up Still Open The adult soils and fertilizer class held its second meeting in the high school Monday evening. The class was conducted by Douglas Price, local SCS man, on land classification. He de fined many terms used by the Soil Conservation service in map ping soils and also general soil terms. A definite explanation was given on how the soils were clas sed and why they were classified 'money ior the Christmas Seals as they were on the soils map. I which were put in the mail the Miniature soil profiles wereimiddle of November, is coming shown to give the men a chance to see the different horizons of some of the soils in the local area. The next two classes will be conducted by Marr Waddoups, who recently left the Pendleton branch experiment station and is now working for Lamb-Weston Cannery Co. Waddoups will lec ture on soil chemistry and micro- organisims. It still Isn't too late to sign up for the class, which is held on Monday evenings at 7 o'clock. . o R. B. Rands Appointed J of P at Boardman R. B. Rands has been appointed by Governor Elmo Smith Justice of the Peace in the Boardman dis trict to fill the unexpired term of William Garner who resigned. Rands was elected to the post for a full term but he would not have taken office until January 1. He will also serve for the re cently combined Boardman and Irrigon districts and the justice dispensed with at Irrigon. County Farm lncomelUp2 5 inV 5 6 Morrow county agent N. C. An derson this week completed the compilation of figures showing the agricultural income during 1956 in Morrow county increased almost $3,000,000 over 1955. The figures are part of the agent's an nual report made to Oregon State College. Anderson said it is quite a job to find all the factors affecting income and to determine one that is anywhere near accurate, but that his figures showed a total agricultural income for 1956 of up quickly Sunday in Heppner (GT Photo) City lakes on Holiday Look Luck was with the volunteer crew of Hcppnerites Sunday who spent most of the day hanging Christmas decorations and lights in the downtown area. A cold, freezing fog had hung over the area for over a week, but Sunday dawned reasonably bright and fairly warm by comparison with the previous several days. Pacific Power and Light line man, Heppner Pine Mills lift truck drivers and volunteer cham ber of commerce members got most of the bright decorations in the air Sunday and the job was finished Monday by Fred Gimbel of PP&L and Jess Ticer, Pacific Telephone Co. lineman. Decorations included streamers of green boughs assembled by members of Heppner high school Future Business Leaders club, strings of colored lights and bright plastic Santas, candy canes and bells. Mrs. Nelson Named To Hospital Board The county court has appointed Mrs. D. O. Nelson of North Lex ington as a member of the county hospital board to fill the unex pired term of John Krebs of Cecil. Krcbs resigned earlier this year because of changing his residence to outside Morrow county. Mrs. Nelson's term will run for ap proximately four years. Other members of the board are P. W. Mahoney, Heppner, chair man; Jack Van Winkle, Heppner; Garland Swanson, lone and Mrs. Mervin Leonard, Lexington. Christmas Seal Sale Reported Very Slow According to Morrow County T, B. and Health Association seal sale chairman, Mrs. Jack Angel, i1" rdllt-r siowiy. All those who have received seals, are urged to send in their contributions as soon as possible. Residents are reminded that 74 of the funds thus collected remains in Morrow county and is used by this county to combat tuberculosis. Dad's Night Planned By Heppner P-TA The Heppner P-TA will have a Dad's night at its regular month ly meeting to be held Wednesday evening, Dec. 12 in the grade school multipurpose room, it was announced today, Dads will be In charge of the evening program. A final drive for membership is now being conducted and it is hoped that persons who have not renewed from last year will plan to be at next week's meet ing. The group also plans to serve coffee and donuts during and after the Heppner-Ione basket ball game Tuesday, Dec. 11. $11,974,000, which would be an increase of about 25 percent over 1955. This was accounted for by the increased wheat and barley yields and a good potato and melon crop with good prices for farmers in the Boardman area. The figure released for 1956 show grain and hay at $9,100,000 compared to $6,500,000 in 1955. Livestock income remained about the same with $1,470,000 com pared to $1,500,000 in 1955. Dairy was down from $400,000 in 1955 to $300,000 In 1956 . and egg and Heavy Snow Misses Heppner, More Cold Said on Way Heppner this week again up held its tradition of being located in the "Banana Belt". While most of the rest of the state lay under a blanket of snow varying from one to several inches deep, the ground was practically bare here and though the temperature did chop to a low of 11 degrees early Thursday morning, it didn't get anywhere near as cold as the weatherman had predicted. There still is a good chance it may, however. The mercury began to drop here Tuesday and a very light snow or freezing fog fell Wednesday but not enough that Heppner weather recorder Leonard Gilliam could even get a measurement. Both Lexington and lone had a much heavier fall and it was re ported that seven inches fell in the upper Willow creek section of the Blue Mountains on Tuesday. The area along the Columbia had nearly an inch Wednesday with nearly all of highway 30 from Portland east classified as ex tremely hazardous. Snow also fell to the south with the John Day river country well covered. Heppner's low temperature was 14 degrees Thursday morning and the high Wednesday was 27. The weather bureau continued to warn the entire Pacific North west to expect much colder wea ther during the next two or three days and predicted that the tem perature in much of Eastern Ore gon may get down to zero by this weekend. They said there is also a chance for some more snow or freezing fog. o Mrs. Anna Groshens, Ex-Heppner Resident Passes in Portland Mrs. Anna L. Groshens, 84, mo ther of Victor Groshens of Hepp ner and a forme rresident of this area, died suddenly November 30 at Portland. Services were held Monday, December 3 at Portland with interment in the Rose City cemetery. Mrs. Groshens was born August 11, 1872 in Sweden and came to America when she was 16 years of age. She and her husband came here in 1896 and home steaded at what Is known as Groshens Cabins on Potamus creek. They moved to Montana and Pendleton, returning to Hepp ner In 1903. In 1926 the family moved to Portland where they since resided. Her husband Vic tor passed away in 1910. Surviving are Harry A. Gros hens, Edward A. Groshens, Mrs. L. J. Dempsey, all of Portland; Victor of Heppner; Mrs. Roy Hel goland, Portland and Mrs. Frank Hanson, Bonners Ferry, Idaho. She also leaves 14 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. o Church to Observe "Women's Sunday" Sunday will be observed a3 "women's day" at the Heppner Christian church with the ladies of the church in charge of the service. Mrs, Effie Ritchie, Milton-Free-water will be the guest speaker. She has a wide background of experience in church work and in her home church she has been active not only In women's but also youth work. She is an ar dent worker in the M-F council of churches and the Columbia dis trict Christian Endeavor's youth work. Mrs. Anne Smouse will leave next week to spend the Christmas holidays with her daughter and son-in-law, Dr. and Mrs. Richard K. Baker in Rochester, Minn. Jack Angel spent last Wednes day and Thursday In Yakima on business. Miss Angel and Jackie accompanied him. Mrs. Loyd Burkenbine and four children left Tuesday for Kansas for a 15 day visit with relatives. poultry were up to $200,000 this year compared with $175,000 in 1955. The income from potatoes and truck crops doubled in 1956, it was estimated at $150,000 to $225,000 last year. Farm timber products was esti mated at $300,000 compared to $250,000 in 1955 and small fruits dropped from $25,000 in 1955 to $2,000' in 1956 because of winter kill in the November 1955 freeze. Miscellaneous animal products increased from a $25,000 estimate in 1955 to $125,00 in 1956.
