Page 2
Horse sense
By
EUVTSTV.JOINEK
Back in July. 1SC3 I predicted in this column that the
incredible 1973 Oregon Legislature proceedings would play
havoc with our economy and our liberties We haw already
seen the results of a sill; real estate suh-diTtstae taw that it
took a special session to remedy; the creatKW of an "Oregon
Nary' to wage war on Russian and Japanese fishing boas;
and increasing signs that the state is more interested in the
comfort and convenience of its criminals than ts reserved for
a more decent but less glamorous segment of society. Among
those laws is one to upgrade the comfort and carver. fence of
jail inmates. By July 1 all jails must meet new requirements.
If Morrow County is to have a jafl that meets such
reqiareroess. it will have to spend many thousands of dollars
hi remodeling and rebuilding. Prisoners in the local jafl can
no longer be taken under guard to a restaur an: for meals.
The meals must be 'catered" and brought to them hi their
cell three times a day!
Morrow County ts attempting to ascertain if it cas
provide jail facilities at al under the new laws. It may
develop that all prisoners wiS have to be transported to
Pendleton. Hermsssoc or even Arlington. Traveling such keg
distances with prisoners places an added hazard upon the
sheriff. Anything can happen on a lonely SG-mBe stretch of
road.
There is no dtunt thai the new laws are cak-ulated to
reduce the possibility of prisoners filing suit against a ciry or
county because their jails fail to meet the higher standards of
treatment and provender demanded the thugs, thieves and
malcontents. The threat of lawsuits by tsruntied prisoners
has already made peace officers lai in mating arrests They,
and even the courts, feel safer m letting iesser offenders go
free rather than ran the risk of incurring a lawsuit that,
considering the temper of the courts these days, could result
in huge damages The trend these days is to keep as mary
real or suspected criminals out of rather than in jail. This
prevailing philosophy presents police officers w-.tfc a
diiemma; they have the duty to put people m jaS: whereas
the state and its courts seem more determined thai fewer
people go to jail and those who do must be afforded the
comforts of home
California has an interesting way of reducing the number
of people sent to jail. The state pays the counties NOT to
sentence camcted criminals to jail The state paid one
coun'v more than SeC JOG in one year for not feandrx out
prison sentences' Perhaps Ores sr. ss attempting the same
tbnf by enacting laws that make it impossible for counties
like Morrow to ever, have a jail.
if jails are to become hemes away from home utvere
criminals can relax, learn a trade, go to eoSege or relax with
he classics. I suggest that Pecdietas. Kermistan or
irlingtof! be elected to erect whatever marhie palaces are
required to provide same. Bat if jails are for punishmen:.
places that make a person wary of returning thereinto. I
suggest we spend a small sum to make our dungeon as
saie but unattractive as possible.
The near- and the full-blown neurotics are having a f.eid
day with their new toy. exorcism. It started with the movie.
"The Exorcist." of course, the story of a young girl possessed
by demons and bow a priest utilized the ancient Catholic
mass to drive those demons from her body. X!y parents were
'ao;t highly qualified exorcists Whenever one or more of
their five sons became "possessed" with democs they tad a
sure-as-heli method of dnvmg these demons out of us. They
called it a razor strap. Lapsed time of the treatment : 5
minutes. Results: 100 per cent effective.
Toe Gazette-Times hand-looted chewing gum doormat
for Deep Thought goes this week to Cong. Jonathan B
Bingham of Sew York : "Handguns mast be banned from the
general public. txLscnmmate purchasing of handguns leads
to indiscriminate killing of people." Sure. Sure. And the
indiscriminate purchasing of automobiles leads to the
m discriminate killing of peopie on streets and highways: the
indiscriminate purchasing of bathtubs leads to the
indiscriminate killing of those who fall down it them, the
khd-scnminate purchasing of gas ranges leads to
indiscriminate peopie sticking their mdiscrmusate heads in
the ovens: and the mdacnmmate purchase of knives and
larks by certain peopie leads them mto the habit of eating
. themselves into their graves. Just think. If the
ind.icnmina:e purchasjng of everything is suspended, we
i cotttd all live forever'
Sunday started out to be a peaceful day. The birds were
. ; wittering, buttercups were pusning up through thawing soil
' at the 3.fi-foot level, and squirrels tested the softening
earth. People were in church. It was the kind of a day Bill
Brannon would choose to build a retaining wall- What
; happened, according to reports reaching the Gazette-Times
office, put an end to Sunday peace in Bill's neighborhood.
' Police Officer Chuck Holt had just returned from seven
' weeks of study at the police academy in Portland, and was
s- out in the corral admiring his new colt when the explosion
, occurred. Rocks few through the air and a column of dust
'- mushroomed over neighbor Brannon s place. A roar shook
the buttercups and scattered the squirreis. Holt rushed over
to try out his newly -acquired first aid information on any
survivors, and found Rrannon's overalls lying across the
a hood of his pickup. We never learned how Bill got out of his
J overalls, but he wasn't blasted out of them. He was fine. What
- happened. Holt reported, was that Bill figured to clear some
! rock with dynamite. The resulting explosion sent a rock
J- through the roof of his house, one through the carport and
another mto a nearby car We will have a report on the use
"l of dynamite us building a retaining w all as soon as that hole.
in the ground is filled in.
In 19u6 John Philip Sousa. best known for his composition
of vimt of (he world's finest marches, nredicted that
mechanical music would bring about the disappearance of
the amateur musician and " a marked deterioration in
American music and music tastes." He was as good a
prophet as he was a composer and conductor. Unions have all
out kilied live music tor tne masses, i nere are grown peopie
who have never beard a full band or orchestra except on
musicians to be found are in school and college bands, and it
is pretty hard to recruit youngsters for music education when
they know there's little chance of a professional future to it.
As for the quality of music, it is left to the individual whether
music written in recent years is really music or merely
organized pandemonium that is. according to some
scientists, destroying the eardrums of the nation. I am glad
thai I lived in the era of the big bands, where every town was
regularly visaed by the 20-piece bands or orchestras, and
most towns had its park with a bandstand and amateur
musicians for Sunday concerts. Musicians, when you can find
them, are better paid today. Only the peopie remain poorer
for it.
vans. js.
n
'Let's quit before we wear out our welcome.
The mail pouch
EDITOR:
Ob January IT. HCt yea printed a photo of two Urnon
Pacific i-esei engines with the caption Energy CnssV
statir. that the units bad idled for as is-hour period
1: is understandable that this would be tpestioned. and we
have had other inquires ir recent weeks, particularty as the
energy crisis has developed Therefore, we would Lke to
provide your readers some of the details concerning engine
operations, winds we hope will help clarify this sttuatios
The djeseJ engine used ir. a ra:.-aad iocomovve is a large
njstr.a." p?er p.ar,t with several unique charactensacs as
follows.:
1. 1: contains apprcximate'y 3f callow of lubricating ofl,
which corgeais when coid
1 It contains appritmate'y 3 gallons of coolmg wafer
sealed mto the engine wi mary rubber seals which contract
and permit leakage into the cylinders when engine cools.
3. Batteries deteriorate when engine shut down . Unlike an
auto-aobiie. a diesel engine fires from compressor rather
than spark and batteries are used far cranking oriy.
4 Water ieakmg mto cyfcnders causes, hydraulic action.
wr resultant damage running ctto the tSxisanis of dollars,
ever, to the extern of requiring replacement of erxme
A diesel locomotive wr fee throttle m idle posnior. hums a
very r" amount of fuel and eraits considerable less
exhaust pollutants than does the process of starjng and
warming up a cold locomotive.
Uejoe Pacific has tr policy- of shutting down all
iocotsotives that are not to be used for a period of set-era!
hours when the outside temperature can be expected to stay
above & degrees. Because the temperatures at Heppner are
quilt iike5y io drop below V. degrees, in January; this was
cer.airJy ooe major factor ir. our idling the engines until the
crews were ready to use them again.
Because of the energy crisis. Ucioc Pacific has instituted a
number of fue-I conservation measures on a system-wide
baas, and others are under study. Secondary train speed
has been reduced: fueling techniques are bemg improved,
a fieJ engineer to handle systenti-Tde fuel use has beer,
appointed, idiing time is to- be cut wherever possible and
.maximum fuel oiLzatka is being empioyed to get the best
ton-mile ratio ir train operation. These are only pan of IT s
commitment to preserve national energy resources.
Asst Dr
RE. TROVER.
.Public Reiations.
PorJand.
EDITOR:
Here we go again, that industrial give-away, the Boeing
Blunder or Eatf ieid "s FoOy, makes the Manhatten Purchase
iotk like peanuts.
Now. if AS Oman gets the Navy Bombing Range released
and the Veterans Administration gets it. it also goes to
Boeing li it is put up for auction the Japanese get it. as they
have our money.
That silly Boeing lease. SO years for nothing, no? even all
the taxes or it. was okayed by our former governor.
One-fourth of Morrow County, and he had never rested
anything larger than a hotel room before.
One hundred thousand acres, worth now. or vxm will be.
$im.m.Vib. ONE HUNDRED MILLION dollars. Read tnat
figure agaifi! Better than the King ranch of Texas.
1 made a lengthy phone call to Rep. Al Lliman this morning
to try to plan a course of liquidation of these lands so is can be
sold in farm units of about 25 acres or what proves to be an
economical farm ur.it
We can not sit idly by and let any more go to great
corporations who bypass our local businesses and let us
mnent the welfare, sick and the weak. No more than we can
let Carry Atomic Plant provide cheap water for Boemg.
Weyerhauser's step child.
O W. CUTSFORTH.
Heppner.
Refunds do not reduce
property tax payments
County property owners are
reminded that they must pay
their property taxes to the
county-they won t be affected
by tax refunds under the new
state homeowner and renter
refund program.
With the new refund pro
gram, taxpayers themselves
receive refunds directly from
the Department of Revenue.
Unlike the old property tax
relief program, the new re
funds are not sent to counties
to reduce or pay property
taxes; the taxpayer simply
receives a refund check in the
mail from the Revenue De
partment.
The old program permitted
deferral of interest until the
amount of relief was deter
mined. Trie current program
works entirety without defer
rals In order for property tax
payers to avoid paying inter
est charges for late lax
payments, they must pay their
property taxes when they are
due
Property taxpayers makmg
quarterly lax payments had
their last payment due Feb.
15 The deadline for the next
installment will be Mav 15
GAZETTE-TIMES
mmkow commr-s esae
UmVP. h i m ir, on rmt. to wt-riM
-Ht '"'' m
f V II
Luther.,
on strike?
BY
LESTER KINSOmVG
ST. LOUS - The congregation of 22 students, five
proessrs and one visitor looked like a corporal's guard in
tne massive and beautiful stone chapel of the world's largest
Lutheran semmary.
For the remainder of the student body OD and faculty
W was out on strike. A moratorium on leaching and
attending classes was beginning its third week at Concordia
Seminary
The faculty and student strikers had chosen to worship in
the chapel at ar earlier hour - in defiance of an order from
the seminary" acting president. Dr. Martin Scharletnann.
That anything like this academic strike could ever happen
sr. either or of the two theological seminaries of the strongly
cceservatrve. 3 miliion-memtier Lutheran Ciiurch-Missoun
fynod. is astoandmg
But ;hen so ss the denomination's ultra-conservative
president, the Rev. Dr. Jacob A 0 Preus. whose allies on the
seminary's Board of Control 'trustees' suspended the
seminary's president, the Rev. Dr. John Tietjen. They
charged Teitjer. with "holding, defending, allowing and
fos-enng false doctnne" Translation: Dr. Tietjen has
allowed students and faculty to question whether Jonah was
literal'y swaliowed by a great fish, and whether Adam and
Eve were actual historical beings.
Following Tietjen's suspension. 42 of the faculty promptly
announced that they are similarly "heretical."
Dr. Tietjen issued a statement that the action of the Board
of Control was "illegal" and that "agents' of President
Preus had offered to secure him a call to a parish if he would
simp;?' quit quietly.
J! mere is any substance at all to the charge that I am a
teacher of faise doctrine." noted Tietjen. "then it is immoral
arrange a call for me and inflict me on another community
of Christian peopie "
In a moving speech to IMf students, faculty and alumni of
the seminary. Tietjen looked at his students and exclaimed
joyfuEy:
"They doc 'i know you""
If the Preus administration knew these students, they
cer.ainiy underestimated them For the young men and
women risked their entire futures in the denomination by
proclaiming themselves as being just as anathematized as
their allegedly heretical professors. They then organized a
massive ir.iie pilgrimage in which 251) of their number
visited local churches in 34 states Here, when allowed by the
clergy, they told of the details of what Tietjen charged was
the "moral bankruptcy" and "corruption of the Preus
administration.
&r Preus. who was resoundingly re-eiected to a second
four -year presidency las! July, scoffed at these tactics
calling them "theatrical. " But in apparent panic he sent
several thousand copies of a 3! -page rebuttal to all local
clergy, teachers and lay leaders.
This alarm packet contained a letter, allegedly written by
the handful of conservative students still willing to attend
class The letter, among other notable contents, bemoans trie
fact that at Concordia "'there has been unceasing ridicule of
the simpie. child-like faith of the laity."
But this touching concern for the "chiid-iike laity" is
unsigned Why?
"I know who signed it. bu! I won't reveal their names - for
their own protection." acting president Scharlemann toid
this column
But had not the loyalist students attended chape! unhurt
and not even ndicuied right there m broad daylight amongst
all trie savage student rebels?
Well, that's just the way 1 see it." replied Dr.
Scharlemann.
One of the two preachers at Dr. Schariemann's official
chapel service was Professor Emeritus Lewis Spitz, who
thundered:
"If Lutrier had gone on strike, there would be no Lutheran
Church today!"
Mos' other church historians would strongly dissent with
Dr Spitz' amazing statement, in recalling that Dr. Luther
incited an lniernationally Significant strike.
ii ts caiied the Reformation. And its spirit is alive today in
trie courage of several hundred young men and women at
Concordia Seminary m St. Louis.
0 io
Heppner, Ore., Thursday, Feb. 28, W4
Mayor of Hardman
DEAR MISTER EDITOR:
Wilh folks riding bicycles and learning how to walk all over
agin on account of not having gas to run theur cars, the feBm
af he country store has decided that what this country needs
more energy is a new look at traffic safety.
ne?c e out foursquare a the session Saturday nigh, to
favor of more safety devices on the ouls.de of cars
II was Bug Hookum that told how we got to git the safety
thinking turned around. Right now. sa.d Bug. all the safety
equipment is to pertect folks inside the car Jhat we need
tVlook out fer them outside the car. cause they s moreof this
kind Ihan ever. A heap of folks that use to think a pedestrian
was somepun that made your car bump at street crossings
now is gitting bumped, was Bug's words.
The fellers studied the situation up one side and down the
other, and they come up with a reserlution n i support of
padded bumpers and fenders, a pad up m the hood fer
pedestrians to land on, and some kind of rig like a cowcatcher
on the front to scoop up instead of run over the real slow
fa?hermore, declared Clem Webster, the highway
planners has got to consider the walking traffic. The way it is
now said Clem, they ain't no place on streets and roads
where a car can't be drove, rolled, bounced, skidded,
ricoshaded or knocked. What we need is guardrails on all
roads like we got on bridges, so all the cars can hit is one
another, Clem said.
General speaking, broke in Ed Doohttle, folks in this
country is to willing to give up their rights fer safety, security ;
and services that they f ifiger their Guvernment owes em. Ed
said he had saw where a lot of towns now are passing laws
agm having more than so many gallons of gasoline stored at
home And some states already has got laws agm hauling ,
extra gas around in cars. Ed said he was in favor of leaving
them kind of decisions up to a man's common sense.
Bill Weatherford. who had jist stomped in from the wash
house, disagreed. (Bill is one of the most disagreeing fellers
at three sessions). The thing about common sense. Bill said,
is that to many folks nin't got any. He said the reasoning
behind hauling giis is the same as having speed limits and
laws about wearing helmets when you ride a motorcycle
Good laws, said Bill, is made to look after the innocent as well
as punish the guilty. A motorcycle rider may have a right to
bust his own head, declared Bill, but the car driver he runs
into has a right not to git sued fer killing him
Korrect. said Ed Gonty. puttin in his 2 cents worth A feller
may have a right to blow his house up with gasoline, but not
to blow up his neighbor in the bargain, was Ed's words
While the fellers was hashing out pedestrian safety, Mister
Editor, 1 was trying to git in this report by the Commerce
Apartment where the world is slowing down It took a
second lunger to rotate last year than in 1972 If it runs out of
gas. we're sunk
Yours trulv.
MAYOR ROY.
Candidates must
file by March 19
Five county-wide positions
are up for election this year,
but applicants must file their
petitions before March 19 if
they wish their names to
appear on the primary elec
tion ballot.
Herman Winter has an
nounced he will not seek
re-eiection for his district
attorney position. Assistant
District Attorney Dennis
Doherty has announced he is
seeking Winter's position Ap
plicants for district attorney
must file with the state office
in Salem.
County Commissioner
Homer Hughes will be up for
reelection this year for the
position he held for the first
time las; term
The office of count) asses
sor, which is current!) held by
Joyce Bergstrum, is also up
for election this year Mrs
Bergstrom as appointed for
her first time m office, but has
served two elective terms
County Surveyor Ralph
Thompson of Pendleton has
filed for reelection to attempt
to fill his second term as
surveyor. Steve Anderson of
LaGrande has also filed with
the county clerk's office for
the county surveyor position.
Imgon's Justice of the
Peace. Ernes! Jorgensen is up
fur re-election this year. At
this time no one has filed ioc
his position. ' '
Cattle branding
required by BLM
AH livestock which graze on
Bureau of Land Management
administered national re
sourse land will have to be
branded if a proposed change
in the federal regulations is
adopted.
The draft rule change to
require branding, earmarking
or other identification of al!
animals over Six months of
age. was published in the
Federal Register, govern
ment's rule making publica
tion. Feb 11,
The new propjsal would
require that all cattle, horse,
sheep or other livestock be
marked and that a record of
the marking be filed with
BLM
Bureau of Land Man-
COW POKES
agement will continue io have
discretionary authority to re
quire eartaggmg or additional
marking if deemed necessary
io control trespass or promote
the orderly management of
the federal range
Until no branding of all
livestock has not been a
requirement for federal
grazing privileges, although
most northwest ranchers have
branded under provisions of
state laws Tne Bureau of
Land Management is requir
ing that horses or burros
grazing on public lands in 1S74
be branded This is to aid in
identification of owned horses
w hich graze in common with
wild, freeroammg horses now
protected by the 1971 Wild
Horse Act.
By Ace Reid
1 - " i
i
"Haw Sheriff, I ain't sf ealin' yore gas and besides
Tima ms nucemd Now W. WH
Tn tmc mvt anwoette
r'fS
I swallowed yer evidence!"