Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (March 14, 1968)
LIBRARY u or o EUGENE, ORE. 87403 85th Year Number 3 Unearthing of 28 Gold Coins Stirs Widespread Excitement EPPNER GAZETTE-TIME 4v , Heppner, Oregon 97836, Thursday, March 14, 1968 10 Cents THE tfffiW H S Mustangs Bow Out Stofe Tourney oMnrchin Awards Go To 4 Seniors Four outstanding He p p n e r High school seniors are winners of local scholarships from Hepp ner lodge No. 358, BPOE, Dale Holland, scholarship chairman for the Elks, announces. Winners of $200 scholarships are John Rawlins, son of Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Rawlins, and Merrl Lee Jacobs, daughter of Mr. and Mrs, Walter Jacobs. Winners of $100 scholarships are David Hall, son of Mr. and Mrs. Gene Hall, and Marsha Lovgren, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Marshall Lov gren, Miss Jacobs and Rawlins will go to Hood River to participate In northeast district Elks com petition for higher scholarship awards, Holland said. The awards are based on: 1. scholarship: 2. financial need: 3. extra-curricular and out of school activities; 4. personality and leadership; 5. perseverance and resourcefulness. The scholarship awards will be presented at Commencement on Thursday, Mav 23. Rawlins Is Heppner High stu dent body president, served as student body vice president last year, and has held class offices through much of his high school years- He has participated in football foi four years, basket ball for three years, served on the student council for four years and on the executive coun cil for two years. He Is active in the Photo club, a member of the National Honor Society, and of Quill and Scroll honorary. He was in the band lor two years. Rawlins was American Legion essay contest winner and attend ed Boys' State in 1967. He has been active in 4-H club work for several years. Miss Jacobs, who also won the local Elks leadership award for girls, has had a fine record of achievements. Her many activi ties, including high scholarship, leadership, honors and offices were reported in a recent story on this award. Hall won the Elks' leadership award for boys, and his many activities were also reported In a story on February 29. He has been outstanding in sports, presi dent of the Future Farmers of America chapter and is a can didate for state president of that organization. Like the others, he has been outstanding in schol arship. Miss Lovgren has been active in Future Homemakers of Amer ica for three years, in Future Business Leaders association for two years, in Girls' League four years. She has worked on the yearbook this year, has been a member of the Pep club for four years and has been a varsity cheerleader for two years. Marsha has been a member of the National Honor Society for three years and was chosen Girl of the Month for friendli ness. She served as class presi dent for a semester as a junior and has held other class ana club offices. County Water Assistant Hired Jack Huson of Heppner has been hired by the Morrow coun ty court as an assistant, water master in the county. He will work with Jerry Haines, water master for District 5, which en. compasses Morrow and Umatil la counties. Action was taken to hire Hu son last Wednesday at a meet ing of the court when Jack Hynd, Stan Magill and Dick Krebs appeared to ask for wa ter supervision on Willow Creek. They stressed the importance of having a control on the use of the water. Herman Winter, district attor ney, told the court that state law requires that a water super visor be hired if the irrigators request it. There is provision in the county budget for the pur pose. At the meeting of the Hepp-ner-Morrow county Chamber of Commerce on Monday, March 4, Herb Hynd asked the group to support a move for water super vision, and it was voted that a study be made through the or ganization's agriculture commit tee. 1 ft ilTeam Loses am 'ii i "- " i JOHN RAWLINS 1 MERRI LEE JACOBS DAVID HALL MARSHA LOVGREN Helen Salter Hurt In Auto Accident Helen Salter of lone suffered painful injuries Saturday morn ing when her car went out of control, apparently from a flat tire, and overturned on the curves just south of Lexington. Miss Salter, a nurse's aide at the hospital in Heppner, had just left her shift at 7 a.m. and was going home when the acci dent occurred. She suffered rather serious in juries to her left hand. A finger and the thumb were broken and a skin graft may be required to the back of the hand. She also suffered lacerations and bruises. Miss Salter still remains at the hospital as a patient and prob ablv will be there until this week-end at least. Her Volkswagen auto was se verely damaged. Miss Salter lives witn her parents, Air. ana Hi? W null ' iiir rainterBjitiiirii''iifrf-iiiiHiiMriimi Mrs. Hugh Salter, lone. I To No. 1 Rogue River (SEE SCORING CHART. PAGE 6) Only 46 seconds stood between the amazing Heppner High Mustangs and victory over vaunted Rogue River, ranked No. 1 of A-2 teams in Oregon, Monday night in the first round of play at the state A-2 basketball tournament in Coos Bay. But Gary Shontz, 6-3 all-state junior center for the Chieftains, capped an astounding record-setting 40-point production with seconds of that rousing ball game to snatch victory from defeat for his southern Oregon squad, 66 to 60. Shontz eclipsed a previous individual one-game scor ing record of 35 points by Derrald Mann of Pleasant Hill in 1965. The Mustanss. in the famil iar role of being overlooked in Dre - tournament predictions, came within a whisker of chop nine down the Roeue River five. They held a 60-59 lead with 1:05 to eo after David Hall scored on a lavin. Earlier in the fourth period they had gone in ironi as mucn as lour poinis wnen John McCabe. a real hero for the Mustanes with his spark ling play, broke a 48-48 tie at the start of the fourth on two quick field goals, one a jumper and the other a layin from Hall's neat feed. Don Dimick cut the margin to two on a pair of free throws, and the unstoppable Shontz tied the count at 52-52 on a tipin. Cal Ashbeck tallied for Hepp ner on a tioin of his own at 6:09 to play to give Heppner the lead once more, but bhontz came back with a jumper from the free throw line. A few sec onds later he connected on two gift tosses, and the Chieftains were in front, 56-54. Bill McLeod entered the do or-die Dicture at this point, hit ting on a tournaround jump from the kev and lumping an other from the free throw stripe. This put Heppner back in front, 58 to 56. Lose Opportunity The Mustangs lost their oppor tunity to clinch the contest when both Russ Kilkenny and McLeod missed on free throw attempts. Heppner's big center, who turned in a fine perform ance in the same setting 10 rebounds and tallying 12, miss ed on a one-and-one, and Mc- (Continued on page 5) Camille Malcom Named Princess Of Spray Court Camille Malcom, daughter of Mrs. Barney Malcom of Hepp ner. has been chosen as a princess for the Spray Rodeo, to eether with Diane Ashmead of Soray and1 Deanna White of John Day, it was announced following a meeting oi tne roaeo associat ion at Spray recently. The girls will sell tickets on a saddle to be given away dur ing the rodeo. The one who sells the most tickets will be queen and1 the other two will be prin cesses in the court. Don Griffith was reelected president of the association, Jerry Beach was elected vice president, Lyle Rilling was re elected secretary and Joann Griffith was reelected treasurer. Dates for the rodeo this year are May 18 and 19 with perfor mances in the afternoons. There will be a Queen's dance on the Friday night, followed by the first rodeo parade Satu r d a y morning. A rodeo . performance will be Saturday afternoon and a rodeo dance Saturday night with the Western Gentlemen furnishing music for both dances. On Sunday morning another rodeo parade will be held, fol lowed1 by the final performances of the rodeo. Howard Johnson of Condon will be stock contractor. At the convention of the North west Rodeo association Johnson's saddle bronc, Firedancer, was chosen by the cowboys as Saddle Bronc of the Year, and his bare back horse, Orphan Annie, was chosen Bareback of the Year. John Irwin of Salkum, Wash., will be clown for the 2-day ro deo. The Spray rodeo is approved by the Northwest Rodeo Assoc iation and NBA champions of 1967 are expected to be on hand. by 'Whisker' seven points in the last 45 Eagles Claw Heppner Five In Consolation Waterloo for the Heppner High basketball team in the state A 2 tournament at Coos Bay came in the form of the Stayton Eag les Tuesday afternoon. Playing tight defensive ball, the Eagles hobbled the Mustangs, 60 to 43, and knocked the Greater Ore gon champions out of the tour nament. v - 1 Rogue River,' which topped Heppner 66 to 60 Monday night, was to play Sutherlin, winners over Stayton in the opening round 60-41, in one Tuesday night contest. Yamhill -Carlton, which disposed of last year's champs, Reedsport, 64-62, Mon day, was to meet Pleasant Hill, 59 to 54 victor over Clatskanie in the first round. Tuesday af ternoon in the other champion ship semi-final. Clatskanie faced Reedsport in the consolation bracket opposite HeDDner-Stavton. and the win ner was to meet the Eagles for the consolation title Wednesday afternoon. In the Stayton game, Bill Mc Leod grabbed the opening tip off and had a basket in sec onds. This was followed by a free throw by Russ Kilkenny, and the Mustangs had their on ly lead of the game Stayton soon tied it up and moved away quickly, rolling to a 16-9 first quarter lead. The Mustangs, apparently tired from their late mgnt exnausting game against Rogue River, couldn't find the basket and their fast break was effectively (Continued on page 5) Cheerleaders Win Coos Bay Tourney Heppner won one tourna ment at Coos Bay, anyhow! Cheerleaders -(plus one) of the Mustangs entered a bowl ing tournament sponsored for entertainment of the high school kids at the A-2 basket ball meet. Heppner cheerleaders won by a wide margin, according to Kit Anderson, representa tive of the Gazette-Times at the basketball tournament. He told of it in a telephone report following the game with Stayton. The girls will receive a fine big trophy to be presented be fore the basketball meet goes into history, Kit said. Meeting Called For Water Users Jerry Haines, watermaster for District 5, which encompasses Umatilla and Morrow counties, announces there will be a meet ing on Tuesday, March 19, at 7:30 p.m. in the circuit court room of the Morrow county courthouse of the Willow Creek and Rhea Creek and tributary water users. Purpose of the meeting will be to discuss the water rights and administration of those rights and explanation of the hiring of an assistant for the area. Representative of the State Engineer's office will be present All water users are urged to be present and any other inter ested persons are Invited. . V. "n... DON GREENUP (right) points were found last week while bulldozers were oiaaing sut to restore me pona. jonn veuara, man ager of the First National Bank. Heppner branch, is an interested spectator. Tractors, one oper ated by Dick Meador. continue at work in the background, more concerned about restoring the big pond than in the gold. This pont is located about a mile above the Greenup house in a canyon. House and buildings of Press Thompson once stood on the site aftor be homesteaded here. Story Brings Calls From All over U. S. If It were possible for the Don Greenups to take all the money spent in telephone calls made to them on their "gold strike" in exchange for the gold coins found, they might be willing to make the trade. Following the' Associated Press story Friday and other published accounts of the "strike," their telephone rang throughout the week-end. One call came from West Virgin ia. NBC News called from New York City and another call from NBC News came from Los Angeles. Since the account was pub lished in "True West" maga zine in 1966 about boys find ing five gold coins while fish ing in the pond on the Green up place, the family has been the recipient of calls and let ters from all over the country. Mr. and Mrs. Greenup evad ed some of the harassment by "escaping" to the state A-2 basketball tournament at Coos Bay, their daughter, Terryl (Tag) Greenup said. No one was home to answer the phone Monday and Tuesday since Tag works at the First National Bank. By Tuesday night, all seem ed quiet at the "diggings" scene. lone Garden Club Proposes Desert Memorial Drive Ione's Garden club has posed the designation of pro the bomb range road of Morrow county as the Sam Boardman Desert Memorial Drive for a dis tance of 12 miles from Highway I-80N to the old Oregon Trail crossing. It is enlisting cooper ation of other organizations in the county to aid in planning other scenic drives and develop signing projects to mark histor ical and scenic attractions. Morrow county court has ap proved the re-naming of the bomb range road and has offer ed cooperation, according to Mrs. Lloyd Johnson and Mrs. Omar Rietmann, who are in charge of the project for the club. As proposed, the club plans to erect an appropriate sign at the junction of the Memorial Drive with the Interstate high way, calling tourists' attention to the drive. The club expects to clean up debris along the route and hopes to establish a turnaround and perhaps other facilities at the Old Oregon Trail crossing. They have been assured oi getting assistance of a plant ecologist in naming and label ing flora along tne roao. com Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Rietmann have examined some of the plant life and trees and are sur prised at the variety. They met with a committee from the Chamber of Commerce, and the latter organization is giving study to developing oth er scenic routes in the county. Oscar Peterson, former county judge, is chairman of a com mittee with this in mind. Mem bers are Jerry Sweeney, Judge Paul Jones, Mrs. Avon Melby, Jack VanWinkle and Orville Cutsforth. At the meeting. Judge Jones said that the county is in the process of selecting a few roads on which litter barrels will be placed. Some discussion was given to the possibility of providing mile posts along main routes, and also of the possibility of producing at some time in the future a brochure that would call tourists' attention to scenic routes and attractions in the county. . , ..,. h to a muddy spot at the aide of j- .- V . V , f i . :' 6'"'. , ... . - ..- , - . ... ' ' .- . . ' ' I 7 . ' I p; 7 77 . y , V'-VVi! ..V ' Oh TERRYL (TAG) GREENUP took a minute off from her Job at the Tirst National Bank to hold five o the 28 gold coins found last week on the ranch of her parents. Mr, and Mrs. Don Green up. Three at the top are "double eagles" $20 gold pieces, ana the three at the bottom are $10 gold pieces. One of the double eagles is worth $500 to $600. (G-T Photo). Discovery at Revives Treasure Story By WES SHERMAN Twentv-eieht gold coins, ranging from $5 gold pieces to double eagles ($20 gold pieces), were unearthed last Thursday while Don Greenup, Dick Mead or and others were doing some bulldozing work at a pond site on the Greenup place. The site is about a mile above the Green ups' home, which is 12 miles from Heppner on the Hinton Creek highway. Discovery of the coins caused a wave of excitement that rip pled via wire service stories all across the United States. It brought back into the limelight a story that Press inompson, early settler who homesteaded on this spot, had hidden a small fortune there. Face value of the gold pieces found last week Is $375, but from a collector's standpoint, the value is far greater. One double eagle, minted in Carson City, Nev., in 1891 is believed to be a rare coin that is worth some $500 to $600. Wind Doesn't Show Complete report from Don Gilliam, weather observer, for the week of March 6 through 12 shows only .02 inches of rain and temperature falling below freezing on six consecutive nights Not shown in the report were the gusty winds that blew early this week. Report is as follows: Hi Low Prec. 53 29 51 31 50 27 54 26 55 28 55 28 67 38 .02 Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday his pond site where 28 gold coins (G-T Photo). Greenups9 Apparently this is the third time that gold coins have been found at the pond site. A story written in True West magazine by Paul Atkinson in the Aug ust, 1966, issue said that a fish erman spotted a double eagle in a foot of water while fishing in the pond that Greenup had constructed. Boys Find Coins Some 10 years ago, according to Mrs. Greenup, four boys were going fishing at the pond and while digging for worms on the bank, uncovered five $5 gold pieces. Three of the boys were Billy Monagle, Jerry Greenup and Raymond Nichols, sne could not recall the name of the fourth. Since the article appeared in True West magazine, the Green ups have been almost besieged by would-be treasure hunters, with calls coming from all parts of the United States. They have generally turned down permis sion for treasure hunting on the place. The pond was drained about a year ago and silt had wash ed in. Just a few days ago Greenup started dozing silt in order to restore the pond. It happened that two treasure hunters from Minnesota arrived at this time and asked permis sion to search for the treasure. Since Greenup was working there, they were given permis sion, and he agreed to split any gold found on a 50-50 basis. The Minnesotans used detect ing devices and helped spot the 28 coins which were uncovered by one of the dozers. Greenup said that they were located in a bunch, and that bits of rotten leather, or possibly the remains of an old can, surrounded the (Continued on page 8)
