Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (June 19, 1969)
IIIXARY u or 0 EUGENE . ORE 07403 86th Year Number 17 Bring 'em Back It's Getting Hotter Ooops, the Garotte-Times wot caught short I Although ex tra papers were printed, tht dt mand was Terr heavy for tht G-T issue of June 12. Anyone who does not want his copy (or hasn't thrown it away) can bring it back lor his money, so it can bo resold. THE SPFNEE ETTE-TME Heppner, Oregon 97836, Thursday, June 19, 1969 Price 10 Cents Don Gilliam, weather observer HI Low Prec Wednesday S3 58 Thursday 86 53 Friday 76 52 Saturday 80 47 Sunday 83 51 Monday 85 49 Tuesday 89 50 'V; " 4 ; ' v V'.. . ' . i wfcii mini i Jir urn i ir i lumif i mr'tiiTiiii 'i mi I in Miaa J o ALL ALONE IN A SEA OF MUD is Wayne Haisin, City of Heppner employee, as he washes down the city's swimming pool early this week. The city crew washed seven feet of mud. a result of last week's flood waters, out of the pool by using fire hoses.'4 As of Tuesday, the pool was re filled and workmen were cleaning the deck and poolhouse. . (G-T Photo). Board Hears Scenic Area Testimony By KIT ANDERSON "I haven't had my boots off for a week." The speaker was Vic Grosh- ens, ana as ne maae ine state- ment, he stood in those boots on the bottom or. me Heppner City swimming pool cleaning the walls. Groshens was one of many Morrow county residents who worked to finish the cleaning up of damage from flood wa ters that hit here last week. No official estimates of the total damage have been made, but state and federal officials have been, and will be here, as the cleanup continues. The county was declared a "limited emergency disaster" area by Gov. Tom McCall last week. Groshen said Tuesday that the swimming pool, hardest hit of any city property, has been cleaned and refilled, but could not say when the pool would be opened. The major factor in the re opening of the pool is the cleaning of motors damaged when water and mud entered the pump house of the pool. The main pump motor has been sent out of town to be cleaned, Groshen said. Motors for the burners which heat the pool's water are being cleaned here. Some 700 cubic yards of mud were washed out of the pool with jet sprays. The lob took throe men one and a half days. Young people in the city have responded with volunteer labor, Groshen noted, and have work ed for a week. Groshen, Bud Springer and Wayne Harsin have all worked an average of 14 hours a day, the city super intendent said. In addition to what was ta ken out of the pool itself, 15 loads of mud and debris were taken from the pool deck, he said. Working on Streets Streets in Heppner that were hard hit from flood waters are still not clean, although most of the mud has been cleared. Groshens made no estimate of the costs involved in the clean up, as the city hired the work done. The city crew itself spent l'i days clearing debris and push ing mud from the city streets. County Roads Surveyed Four men representing state and federal bureaus were sur- eying county roads this week, and are expected to continue through Friday, according to County Judge Paul Jones. "We are making a detailed survey to establish not only a dollars and cents damage esti mate but also cost of mater ials for repair," the judge not ed. Three state engineers work ing on the survey include Scott Coulter, Hal Reynoldson and Robert Poole. John Schultz is representing the Bureau of Pub lie Roads. Jones said Tuesday the sur veyors saw more damage than they had expected, but the judge himself said there wrs less than he had expected. Jones said he was estimat ing the lass on county roads at about $125,000. This is less than 50 percent of the dam age resulting from the floods of 1964 and 1905, the judge said. Msim I Mgef :f K-1 Di n iiierspent, By RACHEL DICK While Morrow, Grant and Umatilla county residents were digging out debris from last week's flood, and debating ways of averting the too-many-times repeated damage from the cloudbursts which hazard this country, the Oregon Scenic Area board met at the Morrow coun ty courthouse to consider des ignation of 10 nearby highway stretches totaling over 175 miles, as scenic areas In favor of the proposed ar eas were Andy Sherwool and Harold Thorburn of Portland, who have visited the highways in this part of the state several times this spring and who pre sented slides to show particular ly the wild flowers blooming along much of the proposed scenic area. Speaking in extremely mild opposition he objected to only short stretches of the 176.35 miles which are being consid ered for the scenic designation was Roger W. Emmons, an attorney from Salem, who rep resents the outdoor advertising industry. Emmons' remarks extolled the beauty or view from most of the proposed highway areas. His occasional objections per tained to short distances be cause, he said, the strips did not fit the criteria, "a site of historical significance or af fords a view of unusual natur al beauty." The miles of highway under consideration are nearly all close to Heppner. One starts at the now-famous Shobe Canyon and runs nearly to Ruggs. An other begins a short distance west of Ruggs and extends al most to Condon, while yet an other is the 5 miles just this side of Hardman. The highway from just south of Hardman to the Spray junction is another strip under consideration. In addition to these areas is the road between Kimberly and Monument, and a strip from near Pilot Rock to close to Bat He Has the Luck Heppner rancher Orville Cuts- forth had all the luck he need' ed last week when engine prob lems beset the airplane he was flying in the Yukon territory. Cutsforth first found the Al can Highway, then a 7,000-foot emergency landing strip, where he landed. After landing, a helicopter crew who Just happened to be there on the ground. Just hap pened to have all the neces sary tools to repair trie engine trouble. "Somebody was really looking after us on that trip." Cutsforth said of the events. They must have been. He Just had to fly over a 100-mile lake of floating ice to get to the highway- tie Mountain. The last two strips are about 8 miles of road west of Long Creek and the mileage from Fox Creek to the Mt. Vernon north city limits. The purpose of the hearing was to listen to proponents and opponents of parts or all of the designated mileage. The testi mony, which was taped, will be considered at a later date by the members of the board, who had traveled part of the roads in the scenic areas under consideration and who planned to see the rest of the highways later Monday and on Tuesday. Within areas designated by the board which does not des ignate all areas under consid eration advertising signs and junkyards are prohibited al though leniency is extended to owners of pre-established signs and structures. The Act permits directional or other official signs or notices, signs advertising the sale or lease of the property upon which thev are located. business signs appearing on the premises of the business. and warnings of undereround cables. Some well-known historical sites and scenic hiehwav stretches, such as from Battle Mountain south toward Long Creek, the miles east of Monu ment, and along the John Day river, are among the several thousand miles in Oregon al ready designated scenic areas by the board. Morrow county schools will underspend their budget for 1968-69 by some $25,000. the dis trict's board of directors learned at its regular meeting Monday night The figure may be as high as $30,000, District R-l Super intendent Ron Daniels told the board. But the underexpenditures is just a step toward paying an $81,000 deficit which the schools District Fire Crews Practice Thursday With eight fires in the past week in the Heppner forests all small, all set by lightning and quicky extinguished the Heppner, Ukiah, and Dale Foi est Service districts' Fire School at Tupper this week takes on urgency. According to Loren Lucore, who is in the process of trans ferring from Heppner into the supervisor's office in Pendleton, the grass crop in the forests is tremendous. If it dries out the potential for fire will be very high. On Thursday, the Fire School schedule calls for a fire to be set so the trainees can have practice in putting it out. The Fire School at Tupper be gan Tuesday, June 17, at 1 p.m. and will end Friday, June 20, at 3 p.m. The forest crew teach ing staff numbers 18, while there are 28 trainees from the three districts, Heppner, Ukiah, and Dale. started with at the first of the fiscal year. "It looks a lot better than it did a year ago," Daniels said. The superintendent noted, however, that the entire budget was very well balanced with the exception of salaries and the contingency funds, which to gether make up $21,000 of the surplus. The board accepted four res ignations at the meeting, and was told by Daniels that hiring of a new principal lor Heppner High school has been postpon ed until June 23. Sue Jones, librarian aide at Heppner High; Linda Rigby, secretary at the district office; and Sharron Barrick and Nickj Pierce, both teachers at River side Junior-Senior High, turned in resignations at the meeting. Daniels said the reason for postponing selecting a success or for Richard Carpenter at HHS was to allow administrators to talk to potential applicants at a statewide meeting this week end. lhe superintendent did say that one applicant was being looked at very seriously, but de clined to name him. The directors hired four new employees, including one at HHS, two at Riverside and one at the district office. Thomas Shear, a graduate of the University of Oregon, will teach art at Heppner Element ary and high schools; Mrs. Celia Mitchell, an Oregon State Uni versity graduate, will teach English and Girls P .E. and coach girls' sports at Riverside, and Lynn Bowman, a graduate of North Dakota State Univer sity, will teach Homa Ec and girls' P. E. and will coach girls' sports at lone High. Mrs. Forrest (Gail) Burken bine of Heppner will take over Mrs. Rigby's position at the dis trict office. The board also approved con tracts for all classified employ ees in the district. Daniels spoke of two main tenance problems facing the district, telling directors of the sand blow problem at Riverside High and of a damaged bridge at the bus shed here. He said the blow problem was "at least 50 percent the responsibility of the contractor" who built the school. According to the superintend ent, the blow emanated from the contractor's removing grass from the sand when he buried debris from the site. The bridge at the bus shed had sunk six inches at one end, and Daniels asked for the school district attorney's opinion on whose responsibility it is to maintain the bridge. The directors also approved a contract with Bob Smith of On tario to make a three-year study of district building needs. If the district did build, Smith would be the architect under provis ions of the contract. In other business, the board: Approved a change in the list of property insurance ag ents. Paid all Riverside, Title I and regular bills. Approved its meeting cal endar for next year. Ordered drivers training cars for next year. Authorized the clerk to can for service bids for next year. Voted Jack Sumner as its new chairman and Max Jones as its new vice chairman. All but "third-rate roads" are now open, according to Jones, and those not open now will be opened within a week, he said. Some roads still have one way traffic, but culverts wash ed out have been replaced, the judge said. The county, unlike the city, Is keeping a running account of its expenditures from flood damage. More than $3,500 was spent In the first week after the flood The state of emergency de clared by McCall makes the county eligible for federal funds to repair its roads. Federal Emergency Undeclared But at the same time, a state of emergency declaration by federal agencies has not been made. Jones said he was antic ipating this action. Such a move would make fed eral funds available to farm ers and homeowners as well as city and federal governments. A repesentative of the Small Business Administration was here Tuesday, but Jones said no firms in Heppner indicated any interest in getting funds. A solution to flood problems in Shobe Canyon was proposed by two area ranchers at the Heppner-Morrow county Cham ber of Commerce meeting Mon day. Dick Wilkinson and orviue Cutsforth said a small dam at the Roice Fulleton place in Shobe Canyon, along with a concrete channel over the hill to Willow creek, would tie in with the proposed Willow creek dam to alleviate flooding prob ems in both creeks. Both men are ranchers on Willow creek. The Farmers Home Adminis tration will have a representa tive here today at the court house to hear claims on flood damage. The FHA may also declare an emergency situation, thus allow ing funds to individuals. Farm ers are urged to take pictures of flood damage in order to substantiate requests, the judge noted. Jones said the county had not been in touch with the Army Corps of Engineers, and ha.d not had any further contact with Rep. Al Ullman in Washington, D. C. Wafer Said Safe Rumors that the city water supply is unsafe have been dis spelled by the district sani tarian of the Mate Board of Health, it was learned Monday. Jack Wright, a guest or the Heppner-Morrow county Cham ber of Commerce, said the "Heppner water supply tests satisfactory." He noted the flood had caused no health problems. This was reaffirmed Tuesday by City Superintendent Vic Gro shen. Groshen said some problems with the sewage disposal plant had been caused by people put ting mud through their sewer systems, and Issued an appeal to citizens to refrain from do ing this. Night of June 9 Flood Held Many Interesting Experiences For G-7's Sherman i smki eii tK' u fwt'.";! j ;' t.i Rv WES SHERMAN MnnHav Jnnp 9. at The It Mai icu a a luuunc v.. , - , Gazette-Times office. It was to be a quiet week. News copy was well in nana, aavenisin)? layouts weie mouc, xjiu me ..w-k"""' ers were preparing to proofread the long Morrow county budget i i ; ,J .. . U . UinwT ..too in tYtck malinor Wc IlclU I1U JUCd men niaiuij w aa m ...u.x...,. Outside, the city firemen were having the fire drill. We could hear them Danter oacK ana ionn, pumriuaieu vy me uu.o!iuim. roar or tne Dig irui.-Ks. . . - ' l 1 . .un woin r-1 n r A in fnirantc onnimn tn calico AirC J1 y U VJlUCrV llic lain Biaucu IJi luncnw, viiuu.. w " " - Sherman to look up from her typewriter and say, "Boy, it's really open the front door a crack. Rain water was running down his wmie Iireman S nai aiiu uupphjk uii iu ma luinuuuj, "It's raining," he said with a grin. The torrent intensified and within 15 or 20 minutes, the wail of the flood siren started. It took a while to sink in, for the fire trucks' sirens had sounded incidentally a few times during the course of the drill. We stepped outside. Arnold Raymond and Reggie PascaL also curious, came out of the back shop to Join us under the metal awning. There were no flood waters in sight Probably Just a false alarm." was one of the comments. City Police Officer Dean Gilman was cruising in the patrol car when the downpour started. He had a visitor from Alaska with him. When the heavy rain hit, they started talking about floods. "You know, you can sort of smell these floods coming after you've been around here for a while," he told the dubious Alas kan. They headed up the Condon highway to check around, "in ft, I think t ran smell one rieht now." Gilman declared. He fold the visitor that they have sort of a sulphurous sroelL He played the car's SDotlieht fo the right over the fields around the Marcel Jones place and was startled to see a choc olate brown mass of water rolling towards town. Gilman whipped the car around, hit the siren and headed for town to sound the alarm. "Want to go look around?" said Raymond. "No, you go if you'd like. We've got to get this budget read." Arnold went down back of the hotel, came back on a run. "Reggie has to get his car out, or he'll lose it," our shop foreman exclaimed as he approached. "Water is really rolling behind the hotel." Big Reggie got the message. He left his linotype machine and headed down the street. It was the first time we'd ever seen Reggie run. We donned a raincoat and rain hat but never thought about putting on boots, which we have readily available. Heading back of the hotel, we hit the water. Only a few steps into it, and we could feel the silt around the feet in the low loafer-type shoes. A car drove slowly east on Willow into the path of the torrent. Amazingly, the nonchalant driver turned up Chase, right against the crushing current The water surged over his headlights and onto the hood. The car shuddered and stopped. It seemed that it would be engulfed for sure. But somehow the driver eot it moving ahead, took a sharp right and found sanctuary on the hotel parking lot. Its sides were covered with mud. j Word of the plight of the swimming pool spread quickly. We went up there, looked at the water rushing down Main street, carrying all manner of debris with it Carl Spaulding stood with us. wondering about the plight of his daughter and son-in-law whose bouse is in the flood area. m. - i i . -a AaMAaA 4a vitHa itn 1 ne water seemed io rewu a " w M-wv- - -r by the pool to take a picture. Standing in the water at right angle to the current we tried to focus the camera, but the cur rent kept Jarring us. Every few seconds from out of the dark ness would come a small log, a tree bianch or a plank, broad side. We tried to hop over them, but one gangly tree branch hooked the raincoat and threatened to dump us into the slimy mass. We managed to shake it. The water deepened, surging up around the knees. We decided it was time to get out and turned to go, but It wasn't easy No longer braced against the current the roaring water threatened to upset us. After doing an impromptu water bal let trying to gain balance by swinging the camera around in the air, we managed to stay upright and slogged out of the water. Carsten Brandhagen stood in front of his house, across from the swimmins pool. Its front yard was filled with debris. His car was parked a few feet away on higher ground, with his small son inside. Brandhagen made his way into the house, leaving the boy behind. The lad grew apprehensive, hopped out of the car and came up to us. "Is the water getting higher?" he asked in shaky voice. Carl and the writer said that it was. The boy turned and pointed to the house, "My daddy's in there!" he screamed. We assured him that his daddy would be safe, and he quieted down. But we understood his concern, for it was a frightening scene. And that is how the flood developed on June 9, 1969. Just five days before the anniversary of the Great One of June 14, 1903. is ! "",,"Vff,.. I HARMLESS SHOBE CREEK me anders along at the Howard Pettyjohn place south of Heppner. (G-T Photo).
