Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (April 2, 1959)
L I 3 R A R Y U OF 0 ORE Friday Morning Fire Destroys Home and Contents Mr and Mrs Glenn Barbour and four children lost their home and a majority of their personal be longings last Friday morning when fire swept the residence on South Gilmore street in Heppner. Heppner firemen had six lines of water on the flames within minutes after the alarm was turn- in and succeeded in saving the shell of the two bedroom house but nearly all of the interior was gutted. Mrs Barbour reported the fire started In a bedroom In which one child was sleeping. She rush ed the children outside and ran across the street to a neighbor's house to call In the alarm. By tne time she returned it was im possible to get back in the front door as flames had spread throughout all but the back cor: ner of the building. Defective wiring in a ceiling dropcord in the bedroom was credited by firemen as causing the flames which spread quick ,ly throughout the wallpapered home. A penny was also found to have been placed under a fuse in the switchbox, though there was no indication as to how long it had been there. The house is owned by Joe Delameter of Heppner and was damaged at least to the extent of the $4,000 insurance carried on it. The Barbours lost an esti mated $3,500 in personal posses sions and they carried no in surance. About 8:30 Wednesday morn ing the Heppner department re sponded with its rural fire truck to a call from the Heppner Slaughter House near the west city limits of town. A flash fire between the ceiling of the cold storage room and the roof black ened that section of the build ing but caused little damage. Quick action on the part of the employees of the Standard Oil plant nearby, and others was credited with stopping the spread of the. flames which were under control by the time the truck arrived. The slaughter house call is the first fire answered by the rural truck which was loaned to the city temporarily by Heppner Pine Mills. Cause of this blaze has not been determined. Centennial Ball at lone Saturday for Hospital Benefit The Auxiliary of Pioneer Mem orial hospital will sponsor a ben efit Centennial ball Saturday, April 4 from 9:30 to 1 at the lone Legion hall. A grand march will be held with cash prizes awarded for the best Centennial costumes worn by women. During the evening modern dance music will be provide by Duke Sullivan and his orchestra from Pendleton. Special acts and entertainment will include dancing by Mr and Mrs Joe Hausler; a Can Ca dance by Mary Emert, Brenda Townsend and Linda Hams of t, lone; Lexington will provide a barbershop quartet with LaVonne Bloodsworth, Tess Hatfield, Betty Marquardt and Rena June Mar quardt. Heppner is featuring a square dance demonstration by the Bruce Lindsays, the Jim Driscolls and the Bill Collins, the Al Fetschs and the Bill Heaths. They will swing out to a quadrille and two square dan ces. It is also expected that the Country Doctor and the County Sheriff will be available to ren der needed services. Mother-Daughter Banquet To Be Friday There will be a Mother-Daugh- tr hanauet at the Methodist church Friday evening, April 3- at 6:00 P m. It is being prepared and served hv thP Men's Club of the church and tickets may be obtained at the door. P-TA Program to Feature Style Revue The Future Homemakers of y America will present their an nual style revue next Wednes day night at the April Heppner P-TA meeting. The high school sewing class es will model the clothes which they have made during the year. Mrs Homer Hager is the club ad visor and Mrs C E McQuarrie is April program chairman. WEATHER Hi Low Prec. 62 39 .32 54 32 .06 55 39 -03 53 29 .04 54 41 .11 56 39 66 47 ' Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Rainfall for the week .56; for March 1.15; for the coming year 5.27 Inches. DON PYLE, new assistant man ager of the Heppner branch of the First National Bank of Ore gon. He came here from Pen dleton. (GT Photo) ;5W JOHN VENARD, former assistant manager of the local branch of First National, who leaves this week to become manager of the bank's branch at Merrill in Southern Oregon. (GT Photo) Pickup Day For Rummage Planned -Next Wednesday Next Wednesday, April 8, has been designated as main pick up day for rummage, accord ing to Mrs Matt Hughes, chair-. man. Those having rummage to donate are asked to call Mrs Bill Scott, Jr, 6-5302; Mrs James Johnson, 6-9691; Mrs Howard Pettyjohn, 6-9284; or In Lexing ton, Mrs Gene Cutsforth, 3-8182. Rummage may also be left at Jack's Chevron Station in Hepp ner or at Gene's Chevron Sta tion in Lexington. All rummage received before April 10 will be sorted so that any in need of dry cleaning can be processed by the Hep p n e r cleaners. Other items will be freshened by members of the Civic League. In the many pre vious rummage sales it has been found that clean clothing, drapes, bedspreads, and similar items are much more saleable and bring much better prices. The rummage sale will be held Friday and Saturday, April 17 and 18, in the showroom of the Bruce Motor Co. Proceeds of the rummage sale will be used to help pay expen ses of the kindergarten operated by the Civic League. A Centennial Year Historical Feature f u in) if w i:- H v SOME OF THE KINGPINS OF EARLY-DAY HEPPNER This group of Pioneers, who stood in front of the old First National Bank to have this photo taken back sometime in the late 1890's, were among the best known residents of this area at that time. They are, from the left. Otis Patterson, early-day editor of the Heppner Gazette; Gene FreelandL who worked in the bank; E M Shutt who was then Morrow county sheriff; George Con ser, cashier and manager of the bank; Alton Baser, town 13 J3 March Snow Gain Brightens Area Wafer Prospects Snow depth and water content of the Arbuckle mountain snow pack Increased during March al most to the 15 year average. Measurements taken Monday, March 30, by Tom Wilson, Soil Conservation Service, showed 29 inches of snow with 10.5 inches of water. This is 97 percent of the average water content of 10.8 inches for this time of year ac cording to federal and state co operative snow survey records. Last year's snow survey at the end of March measured a snow depth of 35 inches with 14.7 in ches of water. Records for 1957 show only 19 Inches of snow with 7.8 inches of water, and in 1956 snow depth was 36 inches with 15.5 inches of water. Water supply forecasts are made by the Soil Conservation Service from data secured by snow survey measur e m e n t s. These forecasts will be made public at a series of water meet ings sponsored jointly by the SCS, Oregon agricultural experi ment station, Oregon Extension service and other cooperators. The meeting for the Heppner-Uma-tilla-Walla Walla area will be held Tuesday, April 7, at 7:30 p m in the Umatilla Electric Cooperative building at Hermls ton. Manes Barton and W T Frost, SCS forecasters from Portl and, will present the data. Pomona to Meet Saturday at Lex Morrow county Pomona Grange will meet April 4 at the Lexing ton Grange hall and will begin promptly at 10:30 a m. All grang es of the county have been urged to have a good representation at the meeting which will be very important. The Umatilla county Pomona officers will be guests as will Henry Hendrickson, state deputy who will give a talk on commun ity service. The proposed county school budget will be presented and ex plained as part of the program. Mtf tooa .ver S fa r Copies 10 Cents r ffittuM i iMJ?J ikafM,i A!u&Luil "I FOUND ONE. . ." This young lady was just cne of the hundreds of youngsters who gathered eggs at the court house park Sat urday morning during the Elks annual Easter egg hunt Win ners of special prizes were, in the 1 to 3 year group, Teresa Hughes and Tod Sharrard; 3 to 6 years. Kirk Robinson and Re Ella Robbins. The boys won baseball bats and the girls stuffed rabbits. In the older age group hunt at the fair grounds. Dean, Massey and Mark Labhart won top honors for boys and Brenda Frye for the girls in the 7 to 8 age group. Winners in the 9, and 10 year bracket were Timmy Smith and Evonne Howell. All won script tickets to the Star Theater. (GT Photo) Annual C of C Banquet Slated Local history and pioneer resi dents of Morrow county will be the theme of the program at the annual banquet of the chamber of commerce which will be held Monday, April 13 at the Heppner Legion hall, ElmerV-ehmidt, ban quet chairman, announced this week. It will be In keeping with the state's Centennial observance. Speakers will be former county judge Garnet Barratt and David Hynd, both long-time residents of the county. Another important part of the program will be the drawing for the repayment of another $1,000 in rodeo field lighting fund bonds. With this year's payment, more than one-half of the total cost of the lighting system will have been repaid. The dinner will start at 7 o' clock and a short social hour is planned from 6:30 to 7:00. Tick ets will be on sale shortly for $2.00 per plate. marshal; Frank Gilliam, cne of the founders of Gilliam & Bisbee Hardware which is still in exlstance under the same name, and only recently was sold by his heirs; Henry Black man, one of Heppner's pioneer merchants; owner of the old Wollery Mercantile store in lone. The last man on the right who was almost missed by the photographer is Henry Heppner, one of the earliest settlers and merchants and the man for whom the town of Heppner was named. This old photo is the property of Garnett Barratt GAZETTE 44 . VJ ?3 No Objections Heard At Hearing on Rural Fire District No one appeared before the county court Wednesday at a public hearing on the formation of the Heppner rural fire pro tection district, with the result that the court accepted the boun daries of the district as outlined in the petitions and will order an election to be held In the near future. The proposed district encom passes an area roughly encirc ling Heppner within a seven and one-half mile circle, or about 15 minutes maximum running time from Heppner for fire equip ment. Qualified voters in the area, excluding those within the city limits of Heppner will vote on the formation of the district and the election of five directors to operate it. The court will set the date of the election within a short time and it will probably be held early in May. Mrs Lawrence Palmer of Lex ington is a patient in St An thony's hospital in Pendleton. Heppner, Oregon, Thursday, April 2, 1959 -Tin n Tuesday Hearing Expected To Attract Many Taxpayers By ROBERT PENLAND The following article is writ ten as an interpretive, editorial- type news story about tne 1959 60 county school budget. This paper usually makes every effort to keep editorial opinion out of its news columns, but because of the great interest in this prob lem, this article is being posit ioned on the front page of to day's Gazette-Times as a regular news storv. It should be accepted much as an editorial, though the facts presented herein conlorm to requirements for any news story. Any opinions expressed are those of the writer. Morrow county's 1959-60 school hudpet has now been compiled and will be presented to the pub lic next Tuesday, Apru 7 at a nuhlic hearine to be held at the court house starting at 8 p m. Even before it was completed, tne fur began to fly in no uncertain manner. The complaint from the tax navint? Dublic is that the new budget calls for an estimated operating budget for all the schools in the county of s.8d,b(a compared to last year's budget of $705,490 and, in the first year of operation of the county unit (or administrative) school sys tem, which was interpreted by mnnv nersons to mean that school costs might be pared, though it was pointed out before last Nov ember's election by this paper and proponents or tne county unit plan that tax savings proD- ably would not come immediat ely if ever. Added to the above operating hudcet ficure must be included another estimated $71,000 for re tirement of bonded indebtedness of some of the former school districts in the county. This Is an obligation which the county as a whole must assume under the new school system, yet one which each district which voted the bonds has had to assume in the past. Including this figure, the aDDroximate total county school budget will be $914,457. This compares with a total budg etary figure for last year for all county schools of $777,269, or an apparent increase ot $ld(,l(8. What has brought tne taxpay ers to their feet with a roar is this $137,000 additional, school cost in a vear when two of the county's five high schools (Lex ington and Irrigon) have oeen discontinued" and combined with others to make what would seem to be an obvious saving in costs. The Budget Where does this increased cost show up in the 1959-60 budget? Let's look at its major compon ents, (the complete budget will be printed starting next week in the Gazette -Times it coma nnt he corrmleted in time for this week, though the hearing will be held next Tuesday). ITEM I General Control $33,G00. Last year it was $44,778 which reflects a reduction oi roughly $11,000. ITEM II Instruction $193,416. Last year it was $401,686 which is an Increase of $92,0UU. ITEM III Operation of plants $80,975. Last year, $78,594, a $2000 increase. ITEM IV Maintenance & re nair $24,400. Last year, $32,170, a reduction of $8,000. ITEM V Auxiliary services (includes buses, drivers, bus re placement Insurance, cooks, health insurance, etc) $99,738. Last year, $96,325 or an increase of $3,000. ITEM VI Fixed charges (in surance, rent, retirement, social security) $40,045. Last year $36, 238 or an increase of $4,000. ITEM VII Capital Outlays (sites, additions, library books, etc) $38,504. Last year $7,172, or an increase of $31,000. (During recent years the rural school board required each separate dis trict to provide by special vote, money for its own capital out lay with the result that little of this item showed up on the total county budget.) ITEM VIII Debt service, emer gency, special by item: $2,000; SO) 75th Year, Number 4 $16,000; $4,000. Last year: $1,300; $7,225; none, for a total increase of about $12,000. Now, The Offsets On the surface the above budg et looks like somebody went overboard in providing education for our voungsters, but lets look at some of the reasons and at the credit side of the ledger. By returning to the county school system the areas which have in past years been included in other schools Echo, Arling ton and another small joint dis trict with Gilliam county (by virtue of those areas being a part of school districts in other coun ties and our tax monies paid to those districts) we will have quite a few more children In our county schools in the coming year. Cecil area children will next year come to lone rather than going to Arlington; and children in the section of the county near Pine City and Butter Creek Junction who have been going to Echo to school, and their folks paying taxes to the Echo district, are now part of our schools. The latter youngsters will probably mostly still go to Echo, but their tax money will come to Morrow county and we will pay tuition for them. This means there is a net Increase in taxable school valuation to Morrow county (for next year) ot about $1,233,000. And also an increase in cost in our budget for tuition of $14,000. This will bring in to our school system roughly $55,000 which we didn't have before, which will offset part of the budget increase. Next year we will eliminate two high schools, Irrigon and Lexington, with a resultant sa ving of 5 teachers (4 In Lexing ton and 1 in Irrigon), Even with this reduction, there will have to be, according to school officials' figures, a net increase of 1 teach er in the county because Hepp ner will have to have 3 more teachers than it has this year; lone will need 2 more ((addition of Cecil students) and 1 more In the Lexington grade school. Except for lone, though partly true there, too) the increases are due to the additional students who will be entering school next year largely as a result of our increasing birth rate, (r-or ex ample: Heppner this spring grad uates 26 seniors and next fall will have 70 in first grade). Where is the Increase? A little study of the above fig ures will show that the greatest increase in the overall budget for schools will come in Item II of the budget instruction. This ncrease is being asked because the county school board this spring authorized an average in crease of $700 per year per teach er for next year. School offic ials say this Increase was nec essary if Morrow county schools are to keep pace with schools in other Oregon districts on the wage pattern. Opponents of the new budget claim the teacner salary increase is excessive and possibly should have been maae over a period of two or three years, rather than all at one time. Objection is also being made to the fact that there will still be men on the school staffs with superintendent's status and pay scale, even though much of the budgeting and administra tive duties of the Individual schools has supposedly been transferred to the county school administrator's (or superinten dent's) office. School officials counter this argument by point ing out that present staff con tracts must be honored, and that this coming year is definitely a transition year for Morrow coun ty schools which makes it ex tremely difficult to foresee ex actly what costs and require ments may be. They also claim that administration in individ ual schools Is being reduced by requiring administrative person nel to teach some (or more) classes next year. In reality, the basic question in the whole school budget prob lem Is this as we see it: "Have (Continued on Page 8)
