THE
GAZETTE-TIMES
MOBROW COUNTY'S NEWSPAPER
PHONE 676-9228
The Heppner Gazette, established March 30. 1883. The Heppner
Times established November 18, 1897. Consolidated February 15,
i912.
WESLEY A. SHERMAN
Editor and Publisher
NIWSPAMt
kPUill$Hlll
-XilOCIATION
Subscription Rates: Morrow and
Whore $4.50 Year. Single Copy 10
and Entered at the Post Office
' Class Matter.
OFFICE HOURS: 8 a.m. t0 6
Mr :
Parking Meter Dilemma
i - Chief of Police Dean Gilman, tired of being badgered by
' the public for issuing them parking tickets and of being criti
cized by some councilmen for not checking the meters closely
enough, opened an old dilemma when he asked the council
. Monday night, "Just how hard do you want me to work those
parking meters?"
While it appears that most of the councilmen would be quite
happy to see the "nickel grabbers" removed entirely, they don't
know what they would do to replace the some $4000 annual
revenue that the meters provide. At the same time they are
afraid that the situation would revert to what It was in the
past the nearsighted practice of some business people and
employees using available parking for themselves and congest
ing the streets, instead of leaving it for customers and visitors.
Clint McQuarrie points out that when he used to drive
a .bread truck to Heppner in pre-parking meter days, he had to
double park most of the time because merchants were using
the space for their own cars.
' ; Were it not for the six per cent limitation on the city budget,
'the problem of taking out the meters and figuring out some
kind of a voluntary honor system to keep merchants' vehicles
off the street might not be so difficult.
The $4000 revenue merely could be added to the tax levy
and each citizen Would pay a little for the joy of seeing the
iron bandits removed. But because of the state law, the city
cannot top the previous year's levy by more than six per cent,
i As it has been going, there is enough normal Inflation to
i require that the budget be increased to the six per cent limit each
'year. This means that receipts from sources other than taxes
1 just about have to hold to the
i ' 'Another complication enters
meters are about worn out and
expenditure.
,7,,The editor of this paper has always considered parking
.meters as a nuisance (and we stifle the inclination to put it
! 1 ...... 1..IV T. l,. 41 .' 1 .lll J.1 i.
in uunm:i iuiikuhkc-i. ii isn i me pennit-a unu nicKi-is inai one
feeds into them that makes the difference, but the sheer nuisance
of the things.
' 1 Tnl,n tl-ll tlplinn tnnwvtnw, . . . 1 . I. i .. I 1 . .1 ! 1 1.
iwc wic wiieai laiim-i wnunt- luiuuillt? uiuive uuwn III lilt'
' middle of harvest, an incident that Chief Gilman tells about.
He didn't wait to change clothes or grab a nickel. He hopped Into
his car and headed for town to get the needed part. The man
i lwft his Pllr nt n motor In frnnt nf n hnrrtunrn crnrn urnt ItJ
and got the part that cost $63. When he came out, the chief,
obeying orders, had issued him a ticket.
1 " 'The farmer showed the chief the contents of his pocket'
' some washers, bolts and a liberal sprinkling of wheat chaff
'and straw. "I break down In the middle of harvest and come
, to town with the whole operation waiting," said he. "I buy $G3
worth of goods and you fine me a dollar!"
r lie muni care aooui tnc penny or tne nickel, lie would have
put It in the meter if he'd had it on him, but that is the nuisance
of the dad-blamed things.
" Another woman from out of town went Into the shoe store.
nougnt an h.d pair 01 snoes, went into the dress shop and
' bought a dress. She came out just as the chief was writing her
, a, .ticket. And she exploded. She told how she came to town
to give four hours free time to the hospital, spending her own
money for gasoline, patronized two local stores and then got
a ticket as a reward.
There is no differentiation between the calloused person who
never puts a penny in the meter, figuring that he will take his
chances, and the one who conscientiously pays but falls to get
back quite on time. If the red flag happens to pop up, and the
ini'wii i.i iiu-iv:, in- nun iu mam
uo to his solemn dutv.
! .Members of the council Monday night seemed to concur that
the meters either should be enforced or should be removed. Only
possible alternative Is a return to the system whereby the
Chamber of Commerce members pungle up for a courtesy fund.
Through tills fund, which would be turned over to the police
department, whenever a car was found to be in violation, the
,ofiicer would take a nickel from the fund and insert It in the
meter. Then he would leave an envelope on the auto's wind
shield, with the message, "A Dollar Saved! The merchants of
iirpjni-i nuve iui muiii-y hi your purRing nicier wnicn naa ex
piped so that you would not receive a parking citation. If you
appreciate this service, please put a nickel in this envelope and
return it to your nearest store. This program will be continued as
long as we have cooperation. Thanks for your help. The Merch
ants of Heppner."
Well, as we understand It, on the first try some years ago,
the system lasted about two years. Maybe it could do better
with a little more conscientious attention. It Is expected to come
before the Chamber again.
But Chief Gilman recalls finding in one car 22 envelopes
mat one local person Had collected without bothering to pungle
up a single nickel.
1 If parking meters were removed, the town would really have
something to advertise "Come to Heppner and Park Free."
But if this were done the merchants and employees would all
have to pledge to keep their cars off the downtown streets. And
this brings up another odd point. A person can go to Portland,
park and walk 10 blocks to his destination without complaint,
but if he has to walk a block and a half in Heppner, he's pro
voked about it.
It would be interesting to hear expressions from our readers
on these meters. What do you think? (But, ulease! Don't tie
up our phone by calling on the subject. Drop us a note).
Congestion Peril at Flood Time
Many have remarked since Monday evening's flood scare
that if a flood catastrophe really did come, as many would
die from the congestion and confusion as would be' caught
simply by the flood waters.
Certainly the congestion from the curious on Monday should
serve as a warning for some constructive planning in the future.
The Condon hlghvvhy was pretty well jammed with cars as the
curious went to check on Shobe creek although Chief of Polieo
Gilman tried to head off traffic on Main street.
, Bridges were a favorite gathering spot for the sightseers
even though the spots would be the least desirable places to
be If a wall of water did come cascading down the channel.
"' Cars snarled travel at points where firemen and officers
were trying to do their Jobs and made it difficult for them to
get through to sound nlerts to those who might be imperiled
in their homes.
The entire trouble, however, cannot be pinned entirely on
curiosity-seekers. A large part of the population had no "idea
of what was going on, how great the hazard was. where It might
come from, whore they should go, what they should do.
Some didn't hear the siren, but they may have spotted the
flashing lights and noticed some of the commotion. They came
out to find out what was going on. Naturally congestion resulted.
HIIIIIUIIIIUltlllliHIfMI
HEPPNER
HELEN E. SHERMAN
Associate Publisher
NATIONAL EDITORIAL
Grant Counties, $4.00 Year; Else-
Cents. Published Every Thursday
at Heppner, Oregon, as Second
p.m.; Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
same level,
the picture because the present
replacements will be a major
iiic inauuii. uiuviueu lie lives
Thurs., Feb. 7, 1963
the w HHTN
GAZETTE-TIMES
HEPPNER, OREGON
TO THE
EDITOR.
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Sherman:
inanKs very much tor your
nice letter of December 24, and
the information I requested. I
have added this to the chapter
"The Morrow County Press,"
which is In my "History of Mor
row County." I am enclosing a
copy of this, but I think you
already have all,this. I person
ally knew every one of the ed
itors of the Gazette except the
first, J. A. Stine, as I was not
born yet. The next or second ed
itor, Col. John Watermelon Red
ington, I knew the second time
he owned the paper. His two old
est daughters were school mates
of mine. He had 4 daughters,
all still living and very good
friends of mine. One lives at
Vancouver, Wn., and the other
three live in California. Three
of them visit me here quite of
ten and the other one writes
often.
Mr. A. J. Hicks, formerly pub
lisher of the Cowlitz County Ad
vocate In Castle Rock, the oldest
newspaper In this county, came
to Heppner the latter part of
1891 and purchased the Gazette
at Heppner, but in a few months
sold out and again came to
Castle Rock. His youngest daugh
ter is a good neighbor of mine
here. Then, in 1910, Mr. Hicks
returned to Heppner and bought
out the Heppner Times from E.
M. Shutt. When I was a kid
around Heppner, I used to hang
around the newspaper shops.
When the town of Spray was
founded on the John Day River
by a Heppner man, I went there
as a kid and helped set type
for Jessie Shelly, who started
a small paper there called "The
Spray Courier." I stayed there
one summer.
Mr. Sherman, I would like to
have your permission to use part
or all of your article on the Hynd
brothers. Will and Dave were
two of my very best friends in
Heppner. Dave and I worked part
of the fall of 1903 building
board sidewalks where the old
ones had been washed away. At
the time of the flood, I had al
ready served my apprenticeship
as a carpenter, and my father,
the Pioneer furniture dealer and
the undertaker, put me in
charge of building all the cof
fins, just rough lumber boxes,
for the burial of the dead. I
had about 15 or 16 men working
under me.
Fred Lockley, old time news
paper man was the first reporter
to reach Heppner and he came to
Interview me quite often at the
time of the 1903 flood. Will you
tell Judge Peterson I am getting
a large manuscript ready and
will soon be sending it to him.
Hope to see you this Memona
Day if I can.
Sincerely,
O. M. Yeager
Page 2
Mayor Al Lamb, Fire Chief Charles Ruggles and Chief Gil
man agree that when the flood siren sounds, any persons in
the low parts of town should take their families and head for
high ground. Maybe they have friends out of reach of the floods,
who will provide them sanctuary. Quite a few converged at the
new high school Monday night, which was a wise move.
Maybe when this building is completed, it could become an
evacuation center for such emergencies.
You can't blame people for going helter-skelter when they
don't know what's going on.
It would seem a feasible move for the community to set up
an Information center for such times of emergency. A couple
of men might be designated the job of checking and feed back
reliable information on conditions to this center. Then the public
could call in and get the facts or at least as much as is known.
One lady who unsuccessfully tried to call her son in another
part of town during the scare was terribly frightened, thinking
he may have drowned, when actually he was in no peril at all.
She called the paper and we were able to calm her fears, but
with the commotion going on, who could blame her for being
concerned?
As it turned out, the flood scare was actually no serious
threat at all. But the peril that may issue from congestion and
confusion at times of emergency in the future is something to
be concerned about.
The community should take constructive steps now for an
orderly procedure next time.
TO THE EDITOR
Dear Mr. Sherman:
We are sorrv to have missed
last weeks "Chaff and Chatter,'
but we did catch it this week.
What a surprise to find the
Neil Shuirmans in the home
town paper! We wish to thank
our friends for going to bat for
us in order to correct the spelling
of Cupertino.
It may interest you to know
that even if some trusted soul
on the mail car has been read
ing the Heppner Gazette, we
have received all copies regard
less of spelling. What greater
proof of enjoyment of your paper
could be established than the
fact that the wrappers have been
torn off so quickly that we didn't
notice vou have been sending
it to "Supertino" all this time?
We may be remiss in our cor
respondence, but we do keep
posted by reading the Gazette-
1 imes.
What a wonderful success
tory vou printed of the Hynd
Family! We wish them "Con
gratulations." It brought back
pleasant memories for us for in
retrospect, Jack was my school
board chairman, Herbert my
school clerk and Beth a fellow
faculty member with my hus
band. So now you have heard from
Cupertino and know who we are.
Sincerely,
Katheryn F. Shuirman
(Mrs. Neil Shuirman)
Boxboard for making signs and
decorations at the Gazette-Times,
available in white and colors.
Chaff and Chatter
Wes Sherman
ANY WHO think there were no
casualties Monday night when
the flood threat came is mis
taken. One is missing anyway.
Fortunately it is not a human
being, but the sadness is almost
as great in the Harley Young
family.
When the warning came,
Young and his family got in the
car to get out "just in case."
Little Marsha, youngest daugh
ter, came out with two precious
possessions her clarinet and
the family's black and grey long
haired cat.
While they were Investigating
in another part of town, the fam
ily got out of the car and left the
door open. When they returned
to the car, the cat was missing.
Anyone who has any know
ledge of the cat's whereabouts
would not only clear up the
lone casualty of the "flood" but
would restore some happiness in
the Young family.
FRED GIMBEL might have been
a casualty if it weren t for the
flood warning. He had just seat
ed himself at the supper table
and was about to remark to his
wife that he didn't care for the
tuna fish and long noodles that
she was serving when the siren
blew. This stifled his remark as
he headed out and left the tuna
and noodles on the table.
Don't know whether his wife,
Betty, would have used the fry
ing pan or the rolling pin if he
had said what was on his mind,
but he almost certainly would
have been bombarded with one
or the other.
(No need to turn on me with
the rolling pin after printing
this, Betty. I'm leaving town as
soon as the paper is out).
WE UNDERSTAND Herman
Stroeber has been taking a
ribbing at the mill recently. In
the past he has told the boys
about how he bought high up on
the hill to avoid floods that tne
rest of them might encounter in
the valley below.
Saturday when the cninooK
came ana tne neavy runon
started, the Stroeber home was
one of those caught with the
water pouring down the hill.
Fourteen men helped divert
water from the house, but the
yard was flooded and the house
was partially uncierminea. a
pump was used under the house.
Meanwhile most ot those down
in the valley kept dry.
That s the way the ball boun
ces.
WE APPRECIATED getting the
nice letter from the Shuirmans
of CuDertino. which is printed
elsewhere in this paper. It's good
to hear from former residents
(particularly when they have
such kind things to say) and
it would be good to have more
write and tell us what they are
emcmStX GOOD
Cm llillm h-Otv Maana4M lillinrt
The Gazette - Times
doing. Home folks are always
interested in their friends who
have moved elsewhere.
JACK BEDFORD has been real
proud because the First Nat
ional Bank has topped $1 billion
in deDosits. This eave us a good
opening to chide him the other
day when the billion dollar banic
sent us a letter containing a
news release with 5c postage
due.
NEWS NOTE: Sixteen of the 17
Old-Timers of the Elks lodge
who had their pictures taken at
the recent meeting wore glasses.
The only one without them was
Claude Graham.
We mentioned this to Exalted
Ruler Conley Lanham, "Yes,"
said Conley, "and Claude needs
them."
A GOOD WAY to baptise a
would-be writer for a weekly
newspaper would be to turn him
loose writing basketball games
from some of the scorebooks re
ceived. When a fellow tries to
decipher some of the names in
the box scores as written by tne
young scorekeepers, he is apt to
come up with anything. When
the stories come out in print, it
50 of the names of jayvee play
ers are spelled accurately, it
should be a pretty good average.
Its one of the hazards ot the
business
Reminds us of the trick that
Al Lightner (of "hot penny"
fame) used to play on the Cap
ital Journal as sports editor of
Coming Events
LEGION MOVIES
Saturday night, 8:00 p.m.
Legion Hall
This week "Public Pigeon No.
1," starring Red Skelton
and Vivian Blaine.
Plus one-half hour cartoons.
HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
Heppner Mustangs vs. Sher
man County.
JV game, 6:30. Varsity, 8:00
Friday, February 8
Help support the Mustangs!
LEGION AUXILIARY
BENEFIT
Public Card Party
Feb. 11, 8 p.m., Legion Hall
Dessert-Bridge-Pinochle
Help Send Girls' State dele
gate! VALENTINE CARD PARTY
By OES officers club
Feb. 14, Masonic Hall
Bridge-Pinochle-Prizes.
8:00 p.m.
ANNIVERSARY GREETINGS!
This week marks the begin
ning of the second year for
"Community Billboard." It
has been a pleasure serving
you and your responses have
been appreciated
Helen and Charles
SPONSORED AS A PUBLIC
SERVICE BY
C. A. RUGGLES
Insurance Agency
Heppnet
P. O. Box 247 PH. 676-9625
They
J COMMUNITY U
) BILLBOARD K
Yes, a pencil and good
BUSINESS FORMS moan
RELIABLE RECORDS
Out of the large variety of bmlnn
formi that we handle you can choose
thote that both speed vp and ln
create efficiency In yowr personal
forme tyitem.
The completefleM of our line auvree
yen -a bwlnoi form for every form
of ImoIimm
fall UA&d&f...
For ComploH lnftrmat
RECORDS tM OOOD
both
papers in Salem.
The Statesman, the morning
paper, in those days would dut
ifully send a staffer to cover
most of the ball games, but the
Capital Journal, the afternoon
paper, quite often found it more
convenient to rewrite the States
man's story for afternoon con
sumption. So Al would make up
some fictitious far-fetched name
to put down as officials in the
box scores, like "Jabalonkowow
itz and Skiczech," and sure
enough, the CJ story would
come out in the afternoon with
the information, "Officials: Jab
alonkowowitz and Skiczech."
We don't always believe what
our eyes interpret in these score
books, but we have to put down
what we see, or what we guess
the name to be, and we hope
proud parents pardon us. Of
course, we know most of the
local kids, but we get trapped
on the visiting teams.
WE WOULD LIKE to say,
"Thanks for the tips," to the
helpful citizens who give us a
call when they see or hear of
something important happening.
Some people think a newspaper
has a mysterious pipeline that
immediatelv channels news to it
when it breaks. Actually though,
we usually don't hear of it un
til someone comes and says,
How bad was that wreck?" and
we reply, "What wreck?" And
thereby we realize that an acci
dent has occurred.
We got the first tip on the
bad lone accident the other
night by a caller who wanted
to find out how the lone game
came out and Incidentally men
tioned the wreck in the conver-
thp Oregon Statesman,
I Valentine I
Day
Gift
A distinctive ring
to express your
deep sentiment.
Store Hours: 9 A. M. To 6 P. M. J A
177 MAIN ST.. HEPPNER C
PH. 676-9200 Cren
4
lUf INIf I
together I
, Only a few IHustnrtloni of the many oppti-
cation of theie
sation. He had assumed we knew
about it.
Charlie Ruggles makes our
work a lot easier by tipping us
off on spot news that comes
through his key office. Del Nel
son called from the north end
the other day to tell us about
Butter Creek flooding. This
helps us put out a better paper,
friends. Thanks.
INCIDENTALLY, the Ruggles'
Community Billboard is ob
serving its first anniversary on
this editorial page, and it has
proved a fine service to the
community. Many have made
comments about it, and the Rug
gles have been real pleased with
the response from those who ap
preciate them heralding and ad
vertising coming events.
Mr. and Mrs. Joe Hartle
traveled to lone last Sunday to
visit at the homes of Mr. and
Mrs. Walt Jones and Mr. and
Mrs. Keith Savage. Mr. Jones
has just returned home from the
Good Shepherd hospi t a 1 - in
Hermiston.
BUSINESS
MACHINE SERVICE
Office Supplies. Office Equip
ment. Business Machines.
IN HEPPNER
1st & 3rd Week of Every Month
DON BALL, Serv. Dept.
120 Main St.. Hermiston
Phone JO 7-5114
"Something from the jeweler's,
is always something special."
v. -.ify y
venattte tools of Modem