Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (June 27, 1963)
HEPPNER GAZETTE-TIMES, Thuwdya, June 27, 1963 I III HI M I M lit II II I IH IHtlHHIMMHimiMHI HEPPNER GAZETTE-TIMES MOBBOW COUNTTS NEWSPAPER The Heppner Gazette, established March 30. 1883. The Heppner Times established November 18, 1897. Consolidated February 15, 1912. WESLEY A. SHERMAN Editor and Publisher jgjS' NIWSPAMI hfJrR rUtllSNItS V-XllOCtATlOM HELEN E. SHERMAN Associate Publisher NATIONAL EDITORIAL IaskpcMtin J U 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 Second Class Matter. WIHMHIIIMIMHIIIMIIIMIHIIII Tolerance in the Land of the Free Next week the nation once more will observe Independence Day, in the 187th year since the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. ". . . We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and pursuit of happiness . . ." Not so many years ago, Independence Day was the time of great celebration, as it must have been in Heppner. Entire families gathered to form crowds in most communities across the land. The day included picnics, old-time games and eloquent speeches on freedom, all of which were capped with displays of fireworks. As we have moved on into more complex living with more diversions and digressions, however, these Independence Day celebrations have tended to fade away or have dissipated into displays of fireworks in some communities, rodeos, log rolling contests and similar entertainment. The eloquent speeches on freedom are gone, and this is to be noted with some sadness. It Is importat to pause occasionally and take stock to think of the simple virtues of freedom which were so vital in the minds of the signers of the Declaration of Independence on that un equalled day of July 4, 1776. The document has been a guide to this nation's principles through its history, the assurance of equality for all, embracing cherished rights that are the founda tion for America's way of life. The liberty and freedom declared in this document were not easy to attain and have not been easy to hold. The War of Independence was fought at its inception, and hundreds of thousands of Americans have died in ensuing wars to maintain the sanctity of our democracy and freedom. As time goes on, the challenge of the Declaration of Inde pendence becomes Increasingly difficult, and there is ever-present danger of our losing what our forefathers achieved for us. One evidence of this is the racial strife in the South, a national disgrace and a shameful blight on our nation through out the world. Thousands died in the war between the states a century ago to free the slaves, but the negroes today are perhaps in greater turmoil than they were at the time of the Civil War. To those living in the North, there has been satisfaction in thinking that we are in an area manifestly free of the bitterness that has beset the South. At the same time, the fact that we are removed from the problem should occasion no smugness here. For, as Americans, it is our problem, too, and it behooves all in this nation to be keenly concerned. Recent severe racial eruptions in the south threaten to spread into areas which previously have not been involved in the controversy of segregation vs. integration. Minor Incidents have flared in the state of Washington and in Portland. Of all places in this Land of the Free, however, it would seem that eastern Oregon is among the most free. It is here that we have the wide open spaces; we have no slums, no tenement districts; we have no smog; we have room to breath; we have golden seas of growing grain; we have cool forests interspersed with tinkling creeks. Drive our highways at dusk and you will see an occasional deer, or a porcupine lumbering along the highway shoulder. Cattle graze peacefully on the hillsides, and ponies frisk about. This has been an area where neighbor thinks of neighbor; a person In trouble finds ready sympathy and help. It has always been so, and was dramatically accented at the time of the flood 60 years ago. There has been little prejudice here. One person accepts another for what he is and for his merits rather than on the color of his skin or on his beliefs. Lust week, however, an incident occurred that was out of character. Two anonymous telephone calls were received by a young woman of Spanish-Filipino nationality who is working as a domestic on a ranch near Heppner. She 13 a young lady of excellent background and was hired because she is competent to do the work. The calls suggested that there is no room for her here. Anonymous calls, like anonymous letters, are mean, cruel and smack of cowardice. Although the feeling expressed by the caller is in no way an indication of the thinking and character of our people,, the incident is cause for shame and indignation. In the past. Heppner and Morrow county have welcomed ''". '." if, A iliSJ ,1 Wr4 '1 HALT ENGINE WEAR! There's remarkable new ashless detergent In RPM deposit-free Motor Oils. It keeps combustion chambers clean and engine parts so tree of slndpe you can get thousands of extra miles from the engines in your farm equipment. You'll find exactly what you need with "RPM" the only complete line of deposit-free motor oils. RPM Supreme an all season, multigrade motor oil that can save up to 15 In gas. RPM Special -the only single grade, deposit-free motor oil available. For any Standard Oil product, tall L. E. "ED" Phone 676-9633 0 i-r si DICK Heppnet 4 t$ TV Chaff and Chatter Wes Sherman TO THE EDITOR MORROW COUNTY'S new school board rather uncertainly felt its way into a mass of accumu lated business at its first meet ing Tuesday night without a superintendent to rely on and with onlv two directors having any previous experience. One of them, Ed Dick, was attending his last meeting. His term ex pires July 1. The new board, however plunged into its work without hesitation and right away earn ed Its spurs in the lengthy ses sion. The directors toiled through four hours of deliberation, going until after midnight, and then went into an executive session on consideration of a new super intendent. How long this went on we don't know because we retired as of midnight. Any hopes that the new board might mean shorter meetings went fleeting, however, and it looks as if the "midnight oil" will be burning for some meet ings to come. ONE OF THE highlights of a very interesting convention of the Oregon Newspaper Publish ers association in Coos Bay from Thursday through Saturday was a trip to the sand dunes via "Dunes Scooters" with their big airplane tires. On this jaunt, publishers were guests of Pacific Power and Light Co. We learned something or tne national park proposals for the dunes, and heard arguments on both sides of the controversy. Senator Maurine Neuberger's bill would encompass an area that extends from Florence clear to Coos Bay, while another bill bv Rep. Robert Duncan would cut off the lower 10 miles of the area. Opposition to Sen. Neuberger's bill comes from residents of Coos Bay and private interests who feel that it will encroach on the industrial area being devel oped there. The lower 10 miles includes a remarkable development that was brought acout Dy seven years of research by Pacific Power Company. Oddly, the problem of obtaining water for industrial use has been a big handicap for development, this in spite of the fact that one sees millions of gallons of water in the bay and in the ocean all around. Because of the fact that the water is salt, it cannot be used for industry. But PP & L researchers dis covered that the dunes lap up millions of gallons of rain water. It saturates them and extends down to depths of anyway 100 feet. Estimates are that 30,000, 000 gallons of fresh water could be pumped from the dunes every day, and wells now in produc tion provide 1,500,000 gallons daily. This took a good bit of doing for the water-saturated sand is like thick soup. Special screens had to be developed to keep the sand out, but with co operation of a number of agen cies, PP & L got the job done. In the process of its research the power company brought Cornelis Biemond of Holland to help. He heads the Amsterdam water system which uses dunes along the North Sea as a fresh water reservoir. Biemond dug into the sand a few feet from the surf of the Pacific ocean and surprisingly enough found the water in the sand sweet and potable. Pressure from the fresh rain water in the dunes, seeping towards the sea, kept the salt water out. As a result of this research and development of wells, the first major industry in the dunes area came along. It is the big Menacha paper mill that makes the inside core of corrugated paperboard used in shipping containers. The mill is a remarkable de velopment in itself. It was built on shifting sand that was im pacted by vibration. Should the national park be approved, it is feared that this industrial area would be lost or limited, and, of course, would bring grave concern. Folks around Coos Bay would much rather see the southern 10 miles omitted from the dunes park if it is established. But even in the north there is stren uous opposition. Dave Holman, Florence newspaper publisher whose town is just above the DroDosed dunes area, is solidly against it, saying that it will "kill" the area, but others are not quite so strenuously opposed. It is a little difficult to seei what can be done with the dunes to make them more of a recrea tional area than is now being done. It takes a "dunes buggy" to get into them. The kids can romp in them, but they don't need miles of dunes for that. A guy can get a powerful sun burn in them, ana they are mighty scenic to look at, but from our point of ignorance, we do not yet understand just what changes a national parK would make to brine about greater public use, enjoyment or wel fare. Should the park absorb the industrial area, it would seem to us to do more harm than good. WE'VE BEEN to Coos Bay a num ber of times, but this time was the first time that we really saw it, since we had competent guides who gave us more infor mation and showed us more about it. Coos Bay, it was point ed out, is the biggest lumber shipping port in the world, send ing out some 700,000,000 board feet annually. Yes, sir, it's quite a place. Dear Mr. Sherman: We wish to express our ap preciation for -all the work which you did liv giving public ity to our barbecue and auction on June 8. The fine newspaper articles were indicative of your cooperation in this project. We extend our sincere thanks for all your efforts in our behalf. Sincerely yours, The United Church of Christ lone Community Church By Mrs. Markham Baker Clerk citizens of oriental descent and dark skin. Such a one was Ed Chin, who died recently, but who during his years' of residence here was highly respected and regarded. It is well to go on record that we respect fellow citizens for their worth, and not for their color, and we are sure that the large majority of our fellow residents feel this way. The calls were unlawful. An attempt is being made to determine the identity of the callers, after which they should be proceeded against as provided by law. rrhls is the land of the free that provides equality andi liberty for all, and if it is to be preserved, we must be careful to guard against incidents such as this. At the same time we can be grateful and proud that the majority of our people are tolerant of one another regardless of differing creeds, religions and nationalities. There is no "United States nationality." We are all made up of varying backgrounds, and although each may be proud of his nationality hodgepodge though it may be he has no right to criticize that or those of another. It is expressed in the famous poem on a tablet of the Statue of Liberty by Emma Lazarus, "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest tost to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" That takes in all of us. As Independence Day approaches, and especially this yeir with the strife in the south, let's think on these things. Swim Suit SPECIAL ! NAME BRANDS ALL REDUCED TO V2 PRICE On Friday and Friday Night We Are Staying Open FRIDAY NIGHTS, 6 to 8 p.m. STOP AND SHOP AT Clma'j c4pParel 233 N. Main Heppner Ph. 676-9426 To the Editor: I wish to say, as Art Crawford said, "Thanks for the nice manner in which you treated by 'flood' story . . ." I thought Mr. Crawford wrote a very nice story of his boyhood trip out to see his uncle, John Spencer, on Rhea Creek.. All the Crawfords I ever knew were good writers. My recollection of Arthur at the time of the flood and before was of a small chubby juvenile, one of a number of very fine children of Vaughter and Cora Crawford, whom I knew very well. I also knew the first Craw ford arriving in Heppner, al though I did not know him at the time. He was the fine old preacher of the Christian Church of Heppner. Then the next ones coming to our town (maybe I can't remember the exact order in which they came, but they were all friends of mine) was Vaughter, Neil, Garfield and Otheo. Then there is Gertrude Parker, sister of the others, also a good friend. Knowing Arthur's father as well as I did, I do not think he allowed his young son of 10 years to roam the streets of our famous little city (village, Stew art Holbrook called it), and I am sure that Arthur missed many things that happened be fore and after the flood during those tragic days. He said, "As to the 'fictional' ban on the Chinese that's a new one on me . . ." If that Chinese story is not true, or fictitious, as Arthur called it, then Heppner itself, must be a figment of my imagi nation. I was there when it hap pened, and the story of the mon ey found on the table at the jail when the body of the Chinaman was found hanging from a light fixture was carried in the local Heppner papers, with the com ments by the county officers as to why the money was there. The last person to see the hung Chinaman was the Chinaman who visited him in his jail cell a few hours before he was discov ered by the jailer. The com ments made then in the papers and on the street was that the visiting Chinese man had paid the half-witted one the money to hang himself. That's all I know about the deal, but any real old-timer ought to recall this incident. Glad Arthur had a good laugh, and long may he live to have many more. I al ways say that criticism is good for the soul, and after all I am only human and subject to mak ing mistakes. Sincerely, O. M. YEAGER GRAIN FIRE TIME IS AT HAND! f5& ' DONT WAIT NEXT WEEK MAY BE TOO LATE! C. A. RUGGLES AGENCY P. O. Box 247 Heppner Ph. 676-9625 COMMUNITY ) BILLBOARD C -r- J Coming Events LEGION MOVIES Friday, June 28, 8 p.m. "The Warriers," in color. Starring Errol Flynn and Joanne Dru. Story of Black Knights war between Eng land and France. KICK-OFF RODEO DANCE Saturday, July 13 Fair Pavilion building Come and welcome the new queen and her court. SWIMMING POOL OPEN Open daily, except Monday. Afternoons 1 to 4 p.m. Evenings 6 to 8 p.m. Sunday afternoon, 1 to 5 p.m. Season tickets on sale, Hep pner city hall or at pool. Check now for swimming lessons. SPONSORED AS A PUBLIC SERVICE BY C. A. RUGGLES Insurance Agency P. O. Box 247 PH. 676-9625 Heppner Rancher Friends Trust Our Service HEPPNER FORD IS THEIR FRIEND FOR SERVICING and OVERHAULING HARVEST TRUCK! AND PICKUPS Our Friendly Advice Is: Be Ready For Harvest With Trouble-Free Equipment. Bring Your Rigs In Now To Be Sure They Are Ready To Go. Don't Be Hampered By Breakdowns and Mechani cal Troubles. We Have The Equipment To Do YOUR Job Right. Factory-Trained Mechanics Will Put Your Trucks In Tip-Top Shape We Trust Our Future To Our Friends 124 N. Main Heppner Ph. 676-9152
