Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (June 26, 1958)
L I SRARy U OF 0 EUGENE, ORE. fatf, Bp Wwk n Fir: finite C Heppner, Oregon, Thursday, June 26, 1958 WW Lost in Early OtPPN Week Blaze IS Extreme temperatures, high winds, and more fires continued to plague much of Morrow and Western Umatilla counties this week and hold top spot in the news of this area With temperatures climbing wen over 100 degrees in the nor thern part of the county Friday tnrougn Monday fire danger was classed as critical and strong winds Sunday and Monday drove flames over nearly 70,000 acres ot range, pasture and wheat These serious fires followed by less than a week the huge fire which burned over approximately 70,000 acres of range between Boardman and Cecil on June 16, The most serious of the fires burned wheat and farm build ings in Western Umatilla county near Echo, The strong winds also caused considerable grain loss in the North ' Lexington and Sand Hoi ! low area and fear is felt that . the high temperatures caused some grain shrinkage in the higher elevations, The loss of practically all ve getation on an area approximat ely the size of the Boardman bombing range is causing fear among many persons that con tinuing fires and high winds may make a dust bowl of the area. The entire area which has been burned in recent days is nor mally dry, providing only some range grass, however because of the past two rainy years there had been a lush growth of grass that is, until fires destroyed nearly, everything, The largest fire in Morrow county during the past week started Sunday afternoon about five miles east of Boardman and burned a strip three miles wide and 10 miles long as far east as Ordnance along highway 30, It started on the bombing range at the Heppner cutoff road near milepast 167 on highway 30 and was fought by fire equipment from Echo, Hermiston, Irngon, Ordnance and the Boardman bombing range fire departments until nearly midnight. As fire men were about to leave the fire they were called to put out an other blaze that had started north of the Union Pacific rail road tracks, north of highway 30. It took the men until 3 am to control this fire. A car driven by Joe Devine of Arlington, going west on high way 30 at the time of the first fire, collided with a weapons car rier from Ordnance as the ve hicle was turning off the high way. Devine was accompanied by his wife and three children but no one was injured in the collision. For a time smoke and dust nearly obscured all vision. Estimates of the area covered in this fire ranged from 19,000 to over 30,000 acres. Many Other Blazes Later Sunday evening another fire burned over 41,000 acres in the Cold Springs area northeast of Hermiston. According to re ports rangeland was the only loss in this fire. Monday afternoon another fire destroyed about 2000 acres of grass and wheat and all farm buildings on the Ben Coombs I ranch which lies between the j Butter Creek highway ana tcno. ancj afternoons were spent in at This blaze, which was fanned tending classes, and assemblies. by winds reported to be nearly 50 miles an hour, jumped num erous irrigation ditches and fire guards and firemen were unable to save the Coombs home or buildings. Creek Conditions Better Though temperatures ranged from an official 99 degrees Sun day at Heppner to well over 100 degrees in other locations, south ern Morrow county fared much better than did the northern end. Late last week a grass fire got into a stack of baled hay at the Leo Crabtree ranch near lone and destroyed 1200 bales before It could be controlled. A small or chard near lone was damaged by another blaze during the same period. Clouds brought cooler temper atures and light rains late Mon day and Tuesday to most of the county which was welcomed es pecially by wheat growers who were fearing considerable grain damage should the hot weather continue. Some wheat damage was reported in various sections, mostly in the higher elevations where the grain is still partly green. The heavy winds of Sunday and Monday brought several re ports of wheat loss north of Lex ington. The change in temperature (Continued on Page 6) Copies 10 Cents MORROW COUNTY DELEGATES these 32 youngsters and their Linda Kams, Jerry Anderson, Davidson, Dorothy Rash, Brenda Billings, Libby Van Schoiack. Third row: Diane PMryjohn. Miss Esther Kirmis, county extension agent, Carol K Anderson, Bernice Thomson, Mary Slocum, Wanda riuwe, county leaaer. Fourth Mia, Ann sscnmeaer, Brenda Townsend. Fifth row: Natt Webb, Terry Witherspoon. Joann Turner, Dennis Doherty. Back row: .ari iseacn, nennetn !mouse, 32 Morrow County 4-H'ers Attend Summer School "Did you enjoy you 4-H sum mer school?" "Absolutely" was the shouted answer of over 1850 Oregon 4-H members at the close of their 43rd annual 4-H summer school held at Oregon State col lege, the week of June 16-21st. Among the 1850 4-H'ers were 32 Morrow county club members who were accompanied to Cor vallis by chartered Grayhound bus by Wanda Huwe, Irrigon, as county leader, and Esther Kir mis, Morrow county extension agent. 4-H youth stayed in 39 housing units on campus. 4-H leaders, county extension agents and counsellors helped supervise act ivities at each unit. Officers were elected in each house on Tues day evening. Kenneth Smouse of lone was elected president of his housing unit, Summer school delegate's dav beean at 7 am with breakfast at their houses. The mornings In the evening they took part in style and talent revues. The sessions closed on Saturday ev ening with three large parties and an impressive candlelight ing ceremony held in the college stadium. Farmers Approve Quotas on Wheat Marketing quotas will be In effect for the 1959 wheat crop, according to a report on prelimi nary returns in the June 20 refer-' endum of wheat farmers. The referendum showed that 83.7 percent of the farmers who voted favored the quotas and 16.3 percent opposed with a total of 198,210 votes cast in the 38 com mercial wheat states. In Oregon the vote for quotas was 1942, with 218 against. In Morrow county the tally was 219 in favor and 3 against. Here on ly about 35 percent of the coun ty's eligible wheat farmers vot ed. With marketing quotas in ef fect for the 1959 crop, a farmer who complies with his wheat al lotment will be eligible for a price support loan based on a national average of $1.81, or 75 percent of estimated parity. MM Miff. I morrow v?" v" . rJi who attended 4-H summer school two advisors. They are, first row, left to right, Shirley Van Winkle, Toni Taylor, Linda Halvorsen. Second row: Pattl Partlow. Beverlv row: Connie Anderson, Marilyn Morgan, Linda Heimbigner, Theresa Russell Dolven, William Rill, MCGG Buying Interior Elevator At Heppner Morrow County Grain Growers, The MCGG is the second largest officials are in Portland today ' country storage elevator in Ore to complete signing a contract gon, only the Pendleton Grain for the purchase of the Heppner ' Growers have more capacity. grain storage facilities of Inter-1 ior Warehouse Co which is con-' CIINA.M C.:. trolled by Balfour-Guthrie Com pany of Portland. The MCGG Is to take over the facilities July 1, Al Lamb, MCGG manager re ported. Lamb said Wednesday that all details of the transfer had been t completed except the signing, Purchase price of the elevator was not revealed. ' The Grain Growers will oper- ate only the grain storage facilities of the plant which has a capacity of about J40,00U bu- shels. Cornett Green, who has Warehouse, will operate the feed business as his own enterprise, it was announced. For the pres ent time Green will remain in the present building. Lamb said that while It is too early to state definite plans for renovation of the facilities, there are plans to remove or re model the old portion of the ele vator. Within recent years sever al steel grain storage tanks have been installed at the elevator, and they will be retained. The addition of the Interior Warehouse plant will give the Morrow County Grain Growers nine storage elevators in the county with a total capacity of approximately 3,250,000 bushels. COMMODITY CREDIT CORP CHANGES ALLOWANCE FOR FREIGHT RATES The Commodity Credit Corpor ation has agreed to let growers store wheat in local, county or terminal storage facilities with out jeopardizing their rate pay ments, it was learned Wednes day by Al Lamb, manager of the Morrow County Grain Grow ers. The first announcement of the change in policy was revealed by the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin Wednesday morning In a story quoting Washington Cong ressman Hal Holmes. Lamb said that this will mean equal treatment for the farmer last week in Corvallis Include Judy Morgan, Gary Van Blokland, Roger Doherty, Tommy Martin, Wednesday For William E Pointer . Graveside services were held In Lexington Wednesday after noon for William E Pointer, 79, who passed away at Portland Sunday, June 22. Rev Norman Northrup officiated at the service. Mr Pointer was born in Kon- sas March 17, 1879, the son of Edward and Louisa Pointer. He was a former resident of Lexington and is survived by one daughter, Mrs EToyle Darby of Portland; one brother, James of Walla Walla and a nephew, Don Pointer of Lexington. Mr and Mrs Darby were in Lexington Wednesday for the service. WEATHER Hi Low Prec. 93 59 92 59 89 60 94 63 99 66 90 59 .07 66 50 .03 Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Rainfall for the week .10; for June 1.05; for the year 10.29 in ches. regardless of whether he puts his wheat in local, terminal or his own storage. Basically it will mean a gain of the freight diff erential between the lower rates this year and the higher rates last year. Just what that will be is not yet known, but It has been estimated at about two cents a bushel for most Morrow county growers. Previous loan rates were set using the old freight rates which have been lowered during the last year. Lamb said it will be after July 1 before the final loan Irate will be known, 75th Year, Number 16 Confusion Over Fire and Flood Alarms Noted Lonrusion reigned among many Heppner residents during the past couple of weeks over what was a fire alarm or what might be a flood alarm signal. And, the bewilderment was only increased by the unusual, though very real, fire alarm which sounded at 6 am Wednesday. The difficulty has arisen be cause of the new air horns which have recently been installed by the fire department for fire alarm use to replace the small inadequate siren which has been the alarm for the past several years. During the installation period both the horns and the siren have been used at various times for fire calls, but it is the plan to use the siren only for flood alarm or emergency fire calls when all necessary auto matic equipment for the air horns is "installed. During the past week the air horns have been used for three fire and drill calls, but for some reason, not yet fully determined by fire department officials, the siren sounded at 6 o'clock Wed nesday morning to call the de partment to a fire at O'Donnell's Cafe where an oven had blown up and flames seared the res taurant kitchen. The alarm was never called in on the regular phone and it is surmised that someone, not knowing the proper procedure, climbed to the siren control box at the corner of Main and Willow streets and banged on the equipment until the timer started the siren blowing. If smoke from the fire had not been visible from the fire hall, there would have been no way of knowing where the blaze was lo cated. The fire was quickly con trolled, but considerable smoke damage resulted. SPECIAL FLOOD ALARM Local resirents are again re minded that even should the sir en be used for a fire call, the flood alarm is a special long sig nal and should not be confused with a fire call. The flood warn ing signal will be ONLY three long 20 second steady blasts of the siren seperated by 10 sec onds of silence. Should the dan ger be thought great, the signal may be repeated after one or two minutes of silence. The flood warning was design ed so that it could not be con fused with any other siren code for its steady blasts are nearly 10 times as long as that used for emergency fire. Should the siren be used in the future for fire (in case of emergency or failure of the air horns) this call will be up to 10 short quick blasts of the siren. The department's new air horns were installed to give a better alarm with greater cover age than given by the siren. Al so the horns operate entirely in dependently of regular power. In the past fire calls have been re ceived when the power was off and there was no method of summoning firemen. Last Saturday afternoon the department was called to a small grass fire near Chase and Center streets which was quickly con trolled without damage. Adult Swim Lessons To Start Monday Swimming lessons for adults will start at the Heppner pool Monday evening at 6 pm and will continue for each night, Monday through Friday for two weeks, Mrs Tom Hughes, in structor, announced today. The pool won't be open to the pub lic Monday, but will be on the other days. Registration can be made for the lessons any time and a fee of $2.00 for the series will be charged. Children's lessons will start in a short time and will be held in the mornings. EXAMINER COMING A drivers license examiner will be In Heppner Tuesday, July 1 from 9:30 am to 3:30 pm at the court house. til u.r... .? rcsrrg: ... j.i, DEMOLISHED FORD in which Doug Cribble and Oliver Devin were injured Tuesday when it left the highway and crashed into a Power pole alongside the Jordan elevator. Doug was thrown from the car onto the railroad tracks about 30 feet behind where the car sits when this picture was at Pioneer Memorial hosptal. All Outside Burning Prohibited in City Heppner fire chief C A Ruggles announced this week that ef fective immediately, out s I d e burning of all types is prohibi ted because of the extreme fire danger. The cooler temperatures of the two days has greatly lessened the fire danger from what it was last week, but the heavy growth of grass on all land makes fire a serious threat. No burning per mits will be issued within the city limits and burning, even in barrels, is prohibited. Both Wheat and Barley Now Coming In to Elevators Both wheat and barley were beginning to come into all sta tions of the Morrow County Grain Growers this week. Har vesting was slowed down Tues day by rains but warmer wea ther by Wednesday put'comblnes back into operation. The Morrow County Grain Growers reported Wednesday that they had received 100,000 bushels of barley and about 10, 000 bushels of wheat with con tinually increasing amounts due in coming days. The first wheat was harvested by D O Nelson Monday and received at the North Lexington elevator. Barley and wheat started coming In to Heppner and lone Monday though deliveries were slow; both Lexington and North Lex ington were receiving fair amounts of grain and the first to be received at the Heppner ele vator came in today. The strong winds of Sunday and Monday caused considerable shattering in turkey red, Requa and Burt wheat, all bearded var ieties, in the north Lexington area, it was reported. There was also considerable damage to bar ley in that area where winds were reported as being over 40 miles an hour. Al Lamb, MCGG manager, said the wheat in the North Lexing ton section is expected to run about 30 bushels to the acre and barley about 40 bushels. This is some higher than last year, and other sections of the county are expected to average even higher. , Some shrivel has been found in various fields due to the hot weather, particularly in the high er elevations, however there is no general pattern of damage. G-T Slates Early Paper Next Week All news and advertising copy for next week's Gazette-Times should be sub mitted to the paper at least one day earlier than usual next week, the publisher re minds correspondents and advertisers. The paper will be publish ed on Wednesday, one day earlier than usual, to allow distribution ahead of the Fourth of July holiday. Rev John Rydgren To Be Installed Sunday Dr S C Siefkes, district presi dent, will be here to conduct the, installation service for Rev John Rydgren at 11:00 am Sun day, June 29 at the Hope Luther an church in Heppner. A potluck dinner will follow the service and all members are asked to furnish a salad and a dessert. Mrs Grace Hughes is visiting relatives In Portland. taken. He is in critical condition (GT Photo) Two Youths Badly Injured in Car Crash at Jordan Two Heppner youths were in jured, one critically, about noon Tuesday when the car in which they were riding went out of control on highway 74 and crash ed into a power pole at the Jor dan elevator just east of lone. In critical condition in Pioneer Memorial hospital with a brain concussion, fracture of four lum bar vertebrae, contusion of a kidney and minor abrasions and cuts is Douglas Gribble, 18, son of Mr and Mrs Lowell Gribble. He is a Heppner high school sen ior. The other youth and owner of the practically new 1958 Ford sedan, was "Oliver Devln, 21, son of Mr and Mrs O A Devln, who suffered a broken collar bone in the crash which completely de molished the car and threw young Gribble about 30 feet on to the railroad tracks below the highway. Excessive speed was blamed by witnesses for the accident. After the car rounded the sharp curve just west of the Rhea creek road it went out of control, strik ing the bank on the right side of the highway then skidding over 200 feet before leaving the road and striking the power pole broadside. The pole was broken off in two places and power was cut off in Lexington for a short period. Devin admitted Wednesday to police that he was driver of the car though municipal court re cords show that his drivers li cense was suspended by the state department of motor vehicles for traffic violation on April 30 and would not have been reinstated until July 29 of this year. Devin was released from the hospital Wednesday. Physicians classified Cribble's condition as still critical, though improving. Another accident occured Fri day evening at the Intersection of highway 74 and Rietmann road at the east entrance to lone when two cars driven by Roy Lindstrom and Alvin McCabe, both of lone collided. Lindstrom and a passenger Ronald Palmer of Hermiston, both suffered min or injuries and both cars were badly damaged. Range, Forest Field Tour Set The annual field tour to sur vey conservation practices will be held Wednesday, July 2 and this year will be held in the forest and range lands of the Blue Mountains, officers of the Heppner Soil Conservation dis trict. The trip is open to the public and transportation will be pro vided by school buses through the coutesy of the Heppner-Mor-row County Chamber of Com merce. The buses will leave from the First National Bank at 8:30 am and the tour Is expected to take most of the day. Stops will be made at Fair view camp ground where the for est service will explain develop ment of recreational camp grounds in the forest; at Bull Prairie where the proposed site for the recreation pond Is cur rently being examined by state game commission engineers. The tour will go to Tupper guard station for lunch provided by the Forest Service, and while there will inspect engineering and for est practices, skid road seedlngs, forest roads and range water de velopments. From Tupper the tour will go east past Ditch creek and return along Willow creek checking other practices enroute.
