HEPPNER GAZETTE-TIMES, Thursday, October 11. 1962
THE py -iw
HEPPNER
GAZETTE-TIMES
MOHROW COUNTY'S NEWSPAPER
PHONE 676-9228
The Heppner Gazette, established March 30, 1883. The Heppner
Times established November 18, 1897. Consolidated February 15,
1912.
HELEN E. SHERMAN
Associate Publisher
NATIONAL IDITOHIAl
WESLEY A. SHERMAN
Editor and Publisher
Chaff and Chatter
Wes Sherman
0" NEWSPAPER
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VrXiioaATtoN
Subscription Rates: Morrow and Grant Counties, $4.00 Year; Else
where $4.50 Year. Single Copy 10 Cents. Published Every Thursday
and Entered at the Post Office at Heppner, Oregon, as Socond
Class Matter.
OFFICE HOURS: 8 a.m. t0 6 p.m.; Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m
MIIIII.MllllllMlilMIMMm
Unfair Law to Public Servants
In the Oregon statutes is a law that may have served a
needed purpose at one time, but now should be scrutinized
for the injustice that it does to those who volunteer their services
for duty on city councils, school boards and other small
governmental agencies.
It is the provision that declares that anyone who serves
in such a capacity may not have any business interest in any
transaction of the board or body.
In our reporting in Heppner, we have noted that at various
times several on the city council have had to disqualify their
businesses from bidding on goods needed by the city because
of their positions as councilmen. For instance, Councilman Earl
Ay res has refrained from bidding on cars and pickups needed
by the city because of his official connection with the city.
In another instance, Standard Oil Company received the
contract for supplying gasoline to the school district, but the
company took the precaution of sending a letter to the district
pointing out that Ed Dick, who has served as a director on
the board for a number of years, would not receive a cent of
commission nor compensation because of the state law. He is
local distributor for Standard.
There is considerable irony in this statute. It is ironic that
the fellow is willing to devote his time to public service without
compensation should be subject to the penalty of disqualification
on competitive bidding. Adding more irony is the fact that
this same businessman, because of his personal interest in
the agency he is serving the thing that is shunned by so
many, may try to get goods or services at lower figures in order
to put the governmental body in a better position.
Further irony in a small community comes with the fact
that it is almost Impossible to get a full group of officials
without Including some who have some mercenary interest in
the body's business transactions.
As a matter of fact, it is often virtually necessary in practice
to violate the law because the agency has no other place to
go to get some of its essential goods and services except from
the men sitting on the board.
Some have erroneously set standards that find no basis in
the law. They say, for instance, that a councilman may not'
supply anything over $500. However, we are quite sure that
one who furnishes 10c worth of goods, under the terms of the
statute, is just as much in violation as the one who furnishes
$1000 worth.
It isn't our premise to encourage any type of graft or cor
ruption or even the hint of it. Perhaps 25 years ago there were
not the safeguards in public office that there are today. Officials
in many positions of trust now must be bonded, and annual
audits scrutinize all the transactions of these public groups.
At school board meetings here, all bills are compiled for
full scrutiny by every member of the board, and at city council,
all the counciimen not only examine the bills but they are
read aloud both before and after payment.
It is a difficult enough job to get willing and capable men
to serve in these capacities without exacting penalties on them
for doing so. This law should be studied carefully for this
reason and also for the reason that it is ridiculous to have
statutes that cannot be enforced.
Modifications may be worked out to provide additional safe
guards but would permit a man to do business with the public
body on which he serves.
Lest there be any misunderstanding, this editorial is written
absolutely on the editor's own volition and not because of any
complaint nor of any conversation with any local public official.
It Is based purely on observations that we have noted, both
here and elsewhere, that point up the fact that the law is
unfair, unjust and works out to be both arbitrary and discrim
inatory. Check Your Home for Fire Safety
The Governor's Committee on Home Safety and the Oregon
State Board of Health suggest that this may be a good time
for everyone to check homes for fire hazards. Fire Prevention
Week, October 713, Is a good week to make this inspection. This
Is an Important phase of safety, especially when we consider
hat every hour (iG homes in the U. S. are destroyed or damaged
by lire and every hour and a quarter one person most trequentlv
a child or an elderly person dies in a dwelling fire.
Last year over one million fire occurred, claiming over 11,600
lives and an untold number of persons seriously injured, burned
or disabled for life.
The causes of most home fires are no mystery. A carelessly
discarded cigarette Is left to smolder in an overstuffed chair'
a portable oil heater is refilled while still lighted; electrical
circuits are overloaded and overfused; uncleared rubbish be
comes a bleeding place for fire.
There is nothing mysterious either about the causes of most
fire deaths in homes. They occur when the simple rules of
safety from fire are violated from smoking in bed, leaving
ch klien unsupervised in the house, allowing youngsters to play
with matches.
A critical failure is being unprepared for fire emergencies in
the home no family planning or escape routes, no periodic
family fire drill to make sure that both adults and children
can act quickly and without panic.
Fire Prevention Week Is a time to recognize this fact and to
act to correct hazards, to exercise care, to be prepared. The
Governor's Committee states that your actions and attitudes
now may make you and your family safe from tragic conse
quences of fue in the months ahead.
TO THE
EDITOR. , .
To the Editor:
We want you to know how
much we enjoy the Heppner
paper each week and it arrives
promptly on Saturday. Scott has
neen Hunting. lie got a nice deer
and the limit fishing so he is
quite tuisy now.
Thank you,
Scott and Ida Brown
4.il5 S. K. 39th Ave.
Portland 2, Oregon
To the Editor:
1 certainly want to express to
you our appreciation for vour
fine editorial, "Two Strikes
Against the Hunter," which ap
peared In the Heppner Gazette
Times on September 27, In the
interest of Keep Oregon Green.
Sincerely,
Albert Wiesendanger
Executive Secretary
Russia and Cuba instead of at
each other, we may open our
eyes.
If the Democrats could cor
rect all the Republican mis
takes and the Rmmhl
correct all of the Democratic mis
takes, we would burv Russia
and Cuba in a gopher hole and
have dirt left over for anyone
else who wants to start some
thing. Yours sincerely,
Andy Hayes
Heppner, Oregon
This Isn't only my opinion.
Notice!
WE WILL RE CLOSED
Next Week
OCT. 14 THRU OCT. 20
For Repairs
4 R's CAFE
CELESTINE RANDALL
IT WOULDN'T BE quite proper
to say that wheat ranchers
of the county rolled out the red
carpet for visiting newspaper
men from Portland and Oregon
City this week. It would be more
appropriate to say that they laid
out the gold and brown carpet
the gold for the wheat and the
brown for the cultivated soil that
the visitors viewed.
The men came to Morrow un
der the sponsorship of the Ore
gon Wheat League to get a little
better insight into matters of
interest to wheat growers and to
be able to tell the world about
it.
It was our privilege to be a
guest at the luncheon held for
them at Stefani's Monday but
we couldn't make it back to the
concluding luncheon Wednesday
after the newsmen had spent
the three days with their host
families. Seems we have a little
chore to do here each week that
prevents us from doing anything
else on Wednesdays.
WITH THE group was the per
sonable Marlowe Branagan,
now with Goodrich and Snyder,
public relations firm that works
in this capacity for the Wheal
League.
Many will remember Marlowe
as a colorful sports writer for
the Oregon Journal. We always
regretted when he left sports re
porting because he was a master
of picturesque "slanguage" and
he turned out an interesting col
umn, too. He dramatized the big
sports events with his writing.
Sports reporting allows more lib
erties with the King's English
and Branagan knew how to use
them to fascinate the reader.
Also on the tour was Jalmar
Johnson, still with the Oregon
ian, who was Sunday editor in
the days when it carried the
Sunday magazine. He did a fine
job of editing this publication,
and we think it was one of the
city paper's darkest hours when
it dropped the Sunday magazine
year under Wheat League spon
sorship. The last year's gang
was Invited in mid-July, just in
time for the harvest. It was hot!
To give the visitors a firsthand
conception of things, the ranch
ers put them to work in the har
vest. One of them worked on a
combine until about 3 p.m., ac
cording to Nels Anderson, and
then he had to throw in the
towel, saying he just couldn't
hack it any more. Well, we can
vouch for the fact that it would
be quite a change to leave the
typewriter and get out in the
boiling sun to work on a com
bine even though the old saying
goes that one expends more en
ergy typing than he does shovel
ing coal.
MAYBE THINGS even out pretty
good. While Morrow was pre
paring to play host to newsmen,
Mrs. Sherman and I were in
vited to Portland to gather Fri
day p.m. with other publishers
as guests of the Humble Oil Co.
They brought a report on oil
exploration in Oregon, an ac
count of which is printed else
where in this paper.
But in doing so, they enter
tained us royally, providing
rooms overnight in the Benson
hotel, a wonderful dinner and
taking care of transportation.
Newspaper people may be some
what spoiled with favors, but
this was unique. It just isn't
very often that we get the op
portunity to sign the tab when
checking out of a fine hotel and
have an oil company pick up the
check!
IT WAS pointed out during the
meeting there that the Colum
bia Basin and Central Oregon
are considered the best possi
bilities for oil strikes in the
state, although none have been
brought in after 146 attempts.
Two or three have shown some
evidence of oil, however.
No test wells have been drilled
in Morrow county but one was
TO THE EDITOR
To the Editor:
The voters of Oregon will up
hold the sound American prin
ciples of Senator Charles L. Mc
Nary principles, that brought
honor and prosperity to our
state if they cast their ballots
next month for Sig Unander.
As Senator McNary was an
American and an Oregonian
first, and a Republican second,
so is Sig Unander. Democrats as
well as Republicans will rally
to his cause if they believe in
the cherished principles of our
Constitution, our free enterprise
system, and the preservation of
our individual liberties.
Sig Unander is a fine and
dedicated public servant. He will
be an excellent Senator and a
representative who will truly
work for Oregon. If we want
action for our state instead of
words and more words, we
and took on the "canned" drilled in Giillam county in 1957
suDDlements it now carries.
This Sunday magazine, which
went rotogravure for a while,
was always filled with top
stories of feature interest, and
a good many free lance writers
contributed to it as well as
string correspondents and staf
fers. It was kind of a hard job
to get one's stories printed in
it because it was scheduled so
far in advance, but we made it
a few times.
Bob Holley, now with the Port
land Reporter, might be called
the "lively one" on the tour,
effervescent and always coming
up with .something. He's another
byline that has long been
around in the Portland papers.
Don Sterling, here represent
ing the Oregon Journal, has a
heritage in the newspaper busi
ness, for his father was prom
inent on the paper before him.
Only man from out of the
metropolis on the tour was Jack
Fenton with the Oregon City
Enterprise-Courier.
Ex-Governor Charles Sprague,
publisher of the Oregon States
man of Salem, was planning to
make the trip to visit Morrow
ranches but he fell and hurt his
leg, we understand, and couldn't
come.
It was good to see these men
in Morrow county and we hope
thev carrv back a good know
ledge of our ranches to impart
to city folks tnrougn meir col
THE VISITORS had one advan
tage over a similar group that
visited Sherman county last
COMMUNITY
BILLBOARD
Coming Events
LEGION MOVIES
Saturday Night, 8:00 p.m.
Legion Hall
This week "Return of Rusty,
Plus cartoon.
FOOTBALL GAME
Heppner High versus Giant
Union High.
Friday night, 8:00 p.m.
John Day Football Field
FULL LENGTH FILM
"Shallow of the Boomerang'
Filmed in Australia
Grade School Multipurpose
room
Monday, October 15
8:00 p.m.
Free Will Offering
LEXINGTON' GRANGE
Saturday. October 13
Pot luck Dinner, 6:1X1 p.m.
Program Pictures of Africa
by Al Lamb
This SDace will be used
each week tn announee mm.
ing events of a public service
nature ai no cnarge.
SPONSORED AS A PUBLIC
SERVICE BY
C. A. RUGGLES
Insurance Agency
Heppner
However, one of Humble's men
said that he personally was in
Heppner some time ago signing
up leases for oil exploration.
We talked with another of
ficial from Tulsa, Oklahoma.
and asked him if it wasn't dis
couraging to keep hunting for
oil after so many failures. Some
$12 million have been spent for
oil exploration in Oregon by all
the companies, after all. He
smiled, and said, "No. There's
always the hope that the next
one may bring results, and it
may come sometime."
Reminds one of the mountain
climber. He climbs the moun
tain, he says, because it's there.
RUHL REPORT: Morrow coun
ty's Oregon Stater, Dick Ruhl,
had a good part in OSU's sur
prising victory over Stanford
Saturday, and the interesting
part is that he is playing con
siderably more on offense, show
ing that he is really making
good with the Beavers.
The later telecast of the game
showed that Ruhl gained about
four yards on each of two suc
cessive carries, and on another
occasion broke through to give
the team a crucial first down.
One couldn't tell by looking
at the telecast how much our
boy played on defense, but it
was sure that he was in there
his share of the time. The Beav
ers' defense looks much better,
by the way.
Probably a lot of folks will
be going to Portland this week
end to see the Bevos meet the
Huskies of Washington. Shed a
tear for any old newspapermen
that get left behind!
THE WAY the government
spends money these days, we
can't think in such small terms
as millions any more. The East
Oregonian the other day showed
a picture of a bridge in the State
of Washington, and the caption
declared that the cost was "$5
billion." Whew! Diamond
studded, no doubt.
should look to Sig Unander. As
concerned citizens and custod
ians of the future of Oregon, I
believe we can do no better.
Sincerely yours,
Mrs. Charles L. McNary
901 S. W. King Ave.
Portland, Oregon
4 R's Cafe Closed
Mrs. Celestine Randall an
nounced Wednesday that the
4 R's Cafe which she and her
daughters operate will be closed
to business through next week,
October 15-20.
They will be closed while re
pairs are being made to the
building and while they take
care of some business matters
in Portland.
There are always two chances
to win an argument with an
umpire slim and none.
Drawing, Awards Set
For Buckburger Feed
At the last meeting of the
Wrangler's club, plans were
made for the annual Buckburger
feed. The date of Saturday, Oc
tober 20, was set, with the feed
beginning at 6:30 at the fair
pavilion. Many trophies, prizes
and cash awards will be given
members for points earned dur
ing the year in horse show and
Play Day events.
A highlight of the evening will
be the drawing for the registered
quarter horse colt, according to
the club president, Rod Murray.
Membes are urged to come and
bring guests.
Horse show pictures will be
on display and orders can be
taken that night.
fv I - ,
C. A. Ruggles
Heppner
INSURANCE AGENCY
Ph. 676-9625
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To the Editor:
If the big wigs In our U.S.
would throw more mud at
P. a Box 611 PH. 676-9625