Page 2, THE GAZETTE-TIMES, Heppner, OR., Thursday, July 24, 1975
Horse sense
ERNEST V. JOINER
Betsy Ross
I
A patriot yes; but
he make that fla
did
g?
On a sudden hunch. I turned off Highway 97 to drive into
Heppner by way of Antelope, Clarno, Fossil and Spray. It is a
beautiful and delightful drive through almost primeval
country. On my arrival in Heppner I found a letter from Mike
Wells of Spray with w hom I must have been in some kind of
telepathy when I suddenly decided to take the cutoff route.
Wells as you must know, is one of the most acid, bucolic,
belligerent, irascible old curmudgeons ever to take the hide
off an editor with his poisonous pen. He accompanied it with a
copy of a new book, "Glimpses of Wheeler County's Past,"
issued by the Wheeler County Historical Society formed in
1974. It reads better than the ponderous tomes routinely
issued on such subjects. It even has humor. For example, the
passage about the town of Twickenham which once got into a
fight with Fossil over location of the county seat. After a
spirited election, Fossil won, and Twickenham passed into
limbo. A comment on the incident was published in the Fossil
Journal in 1900: "A few days ago two wayfaring men crossed
Twickenham Ferry. When the would-be county seat site was
pointed out to them, they took a long look at Parsons' (the
name of the family that platted the town of Twickenham in
1896) undulating bottom; then one remarked after taking a
mouthful of water and squirting it out, 'It's a pretty good
looking spot for a county seat and only seems to lack two
things good society and drinking water.' With a far-away
look in his weary eyes, the other wayfarer made his soft
reply. "That's all hell lacks." "
Every time I turn my back things happen in Heppner.
Imagine arriving here to find that Bill and Daisy Collins have
sold their building and closed the cleaning business, leaving
all of us with the problem of what to do when our clothes get
raunchy. I'm sure they hated to do it. The drip-dry
and w ash n' wear craze in clothing just made it too tough for
them to make a living any more. And how about Gardner's
Men s Store? It would do credit to a city of 100,000 people. The
new front on the Lebush Shoppe is a stunner. Maybe what
Peterson's Jew elers and the Bank of Eastern Oregon started
a while back is becoming contagious. If so, Heppner's
business district is going to become the most attractive of
any city 10 times its size in the state. After all, Heppner
should be famous for more than the '03 flood, "Hanging
Judge" Charley O'Connor and Mayor Sweeney's proliferat
ing mustache!
Some of Heppner's oldtimers will remember Dean
Goodman, who w as in school here in the early 1930s. Howard
Bryant remembers him as a kid who was a little different
from the rest because he w asn't boisterous and didn't engage
in he-man activ ities that got their pants dirty and torn at the
seat and knees. He evidently was different, all right, for he
surfaced July 18 in San Francisco as the author -director of a
play. "Special Friends." which is causing some interest.
Since leaving Heppner he has appeared in about 200
product ions as an actor. Under the pen name, Douglas Dean,
he has written a dozen novels. What may be disconcerting to
Heppnerites is that the play and the novels are all about
homosexuals. He also announced in an interview with
Stanley Eichelbaum. drama critic for the San Francisco
Examiner, that he is a homosexual himself. Goodman was
married in the early 1950s to Maria Riva, daughter of
Marlene Dietrich, but the match lasted only briefly. He went
to San Francisco from Hollywood in the 1950s and started the
Great Players Company with a production of "The Master
Builders" in which he acted playing opposite a woman
named Dianne Goldman, who later became the Mrs. Dianne
Feinstein who is now a supervisor for San Francisco County
and who is also a candidate for mayor of that city. Bill
Mitchell, a former Heppnerite and a classmate of Goodman
here from 1928 to 1933. suggests that he be given a "nice
spread in your paper" as being a Heppner boy who made
good in the big town! I can rememDer when what we used to
call a "queer" would have been run out of any town,
especially this one! However, the gay boys have apparently
been accepted as "normal" especially by the federal
government which makes it illegal to discriminate in
employment because of homosexuality. This means, of
course, that whether you like it or not the gays who turn up
teaching children in school must be retained on their jobs. As
the newest and most recently emerged "minority" the gay
people are riding high: and. like most minority groups, are
enjoying special privileges not granted to those of us who
make up the great majority in this country.
Actually. I'm not dragging any skeletons out of
Heppner's closet. Probably everywhere else Goodman is
some kind of hero, like Soviet author Alexander Solzhenytsin.
who has emerged from darkness into the light of world
acclaim after having been underground so long. On the other
side of the coin. I can mention Dr. Francis Nickerson, a
former Heppnerite who has made it good, not in just a big
city and not in such a sensational manner. He is the State
Superintendent of Public Instruction for South Dakota. He is
also the former head of the respected OMSI. which wants him
to return. He got his schooling in Heppner schools before
going to the University of Oregon. He is also a cousin of
Harry. O Donnell. which alone is enough to make him
famous'
Federal legislation to force children to enter public
school at 3 years of age, which would result in "tens of
thousands of new teaching jobs." has been endorsed by the
two strongest teacher unions, the American Federation of
Teachers and the National Education Assn. meeting in
Honalulu last week. There were 178.300 teachers out of work
a of last fall. This is one way to put them to work again The
2.000 delegates voted unanimously for the plan. The NEA and
AFT represents 2 million teachers It will cost $2 billion just
fora model project alone! The Child and Family Service Act
of 1975. now under consideration in Congress, would force
3 year-olds into the public schools in order (hat more
teachers can be hired. "Unions are at their finest when they
find issues representing a good combination of self interest
and public interest." Albert Shanker, president, AFT, told
the delegates. Note the admission of "self interest." Note
that "Self-interest" precedes "public interest." Who decided
that the presence of 3 year-olds in the classroom is in the
public interest? The teachers! Note that the nation's siblings
will be used as tools to beef up the teaching profession.
Taxpayers should note (hat 12 billion of their money will go
intojhe pilot program alone. Note also that the delegates
unanimously endorsed cradle tograve education, thus
guaranteeing untold thousands of new teaching jobs and an
equal number of bodies paying union dues to NEA and AFT.
Is the next move the creation of "Fetal School" in order
that teacher involvement may start before the child leaves
the womb?
I hope no one overlooks the AFT president's reference (o
his organization n a "union." Teachers still say their
organizations are not unions, only "professional associa
tions." Nonsense. Claiming that teachers unions arc
anything other than unions makes about as much sense as
closing the maternity wards on Labor Day.
More flags probably will be
displayed in this, the nation's
bicentennial year, than ever
before in the national history.
But the history of the flag
itself, its origins, are shadow
ed in myth and undocumented
tradition.
Take the Betsy Ross belief.
History had no mention of
Betsy Ross until 1870 when her
grandson came up with the
tale that his grandmother had
been waited upon by a
delegation of Revolutionary
patriots in June of 1776.
The patriots were George
Washington, Robert Morris
(the financier of the Revolu
tion) and Betsy's uncle, Geo
rge Ross.
The grandson's story had it
that they asked Betsy to whip
up a national banner.
But historians have been
unable to document the story,
as nice as it is.
The New Century Cyclo
pedia of Names says:
"There is documentary evi
dence that she was paid in
May 1777. for making ships'
colors, etc., but no direct
documentary evidence has
been found to link her with the
flag adopted by the Continen
tal Congress on June 14, 1777,
as the national emblem and
most historians now doubt if
she made it."
The Continental Congress
flag was born of this resolu
tion: "Resolved, that the flag of
the United States be 13 stripes,
alternate red and white: that
the union be 13 stars, white in
a blue field, representing a
new constellation."
Congress gave no hint as to
the flag's designer, then or
later and stalled on the matter
of even publishing its resolu
tion for II weeks.
Washington couldn't requi
sition the new official stan
dard for his army until 1783
when the Revolution was over.
And it is not even certain
that the flag he finally
managed to get was that
ordered by the Congress.
Revolutionary troops mar
ched or sailed into battle with
a variety of banners.
Some historians consider
the very first to have been the
Grand Union or Great Union,
a modification of a British flag
which had a red Cross of St.
George and the white cross of
St. Andrew combined in a blue
canton. It also had 6 horizontal
stripes on a field, making for
13 stripes in all.
A canton, by the way. is a
square division of a flag or
shield, less than a quarter of
the whole, in the upper left
hand corner.
This flag was unfurled for
the first time on Jan. 1. 1776
when the Continental Army
came into formal existence
atop Prospect Hill. Somer
ville. Mass.
"We hoisted the Union Flag
in compliment to the United
Colonies." Washington wrote
to his Martha in Virginia.
In the public library at
Easlon. Pa . rests a flag over
which historians have disa
greed for 150 years. The
Easlon flag has the devices of
the national flag reversed and
some say it was first flown at
the first public reading of the
Declaration of Independence
in Easlon. July 9. 1776 It had
13 red and w hile stripes and 13
while stars centered
The defenders of Fort
Srhuvli-r. N Y.. improvised a
fl.iK from scraps of clothing in
early August of 1777. This one
appears to have been a
version of the Grand Union
banner.
The Sons of Liberty those
early -day "militants" used a
flag of 9 red and white stripes
when they demonstrated in
New York against 4he Stamp
Act. This one had a coiled
rattlesnake on it.
At the Battle of Concord.
April 19. 1775, minute men
There is a Bennington Flag
display in a museum at
Bennington.
At the Battle of Cowpens,
Jan. 17. 1781, the 3rd Maryland
Regiment is thought to have
carried a flag of 13 red and
white stripes with a blue
canton containing 12 stars in a
circle around I star.
Who designed the official
flag?
Later, when still more
states came into the federal
government, Congress cut the
stripes back to 13 and ordered
that stars be added as states
were born.
No law, incidentally, pre
scribes the arrangement of
stars.
Since 1912, whenever a new
state has been admitted, a
presidential executive order
from Bedford. Mass . rallied
round a flag with silver arm
holding a sword on a red field.'
Sons of Liberty. Cambridge.
Mass.. chapter, used a plain
red flag with a green pine tree
on it.
When Washington took
command of his troops, he w as
escorted by the Philadelphia
Light Horse Troop, riding
behind a yellow flag with an
elaborate coat of arms, a
shield with 13 knots, a motto
reading "For Those We
Strive" and a canton of 13 blue
and silver stripes.
In February of 1776. Col.
Christopher Gadsen of the
South Carolina delegation to
the Continental Congress gave
his home state's provincial
assembly a flag "such as is to
be used by the commander-in-chief
of the American Navy."
It had a yellow field with a
rattlesnake and the "Don't
Tread On Me" legend on it.
Benjamin Franklin is cred
iled with the rattlesnake
not ion : he had suggested in his
Pennsylvania Gazette that a
few rattlers be shipped, live,
to London for George Ill's
ministers to face.
At the Battle of Bennington.
Vt . Aug 16. 1777. the Ameri
cans carried a flag of 7 white
and 6 blue stripes with a blue
canton extending down 9
stripes and showing an arch of
II white stars over the figure
76 and with a star in each
upper corner.
TrYouldnl It Hivt Been Cheaper For Them
To Havt Shook Ham On Earthr
We don't really know.
But one of the best claims
came from Francis Hopkin
son, a signer of (he Declara
tion of Independence who
designed seals for the State
Department, the Treasury
Board and a naval flag.
In 1781. he asked Congress
to pay him for his services.
Congress never did.
Whence came the term "Old
Glory V
Best guess is that a Salem.
Mass.. sea captain, one Wil
liam Driver, watched a flag
being hoisted over his brig, the
Charles Doggett. in 1824. and
cried out :
"I name thee Old Glory."
But his daughter remembered
it differently: when she gave
the flag some years later to
the Smithsonian Institution,
she said he uttered the line at
his 21st birthday party when
his mother presented it to him.
There is a persistent slory
that the official flag was a
version of the Washington
family coat -of arms
Historians believe this to be
based in coincidence, how
ever. And they think also it
was from the imagination of a
British playwright of the
1870s.
The flag of 1777 was used
until 1795. That year Vermont
and Kentucky were admitted
to the Union and Congress
passed an act providing for IS
stripes and 15 stars.
quote unquote
"I intend to be a pain in the
ass. I intend to insist on a
budget cut ; I intend to Insist
on a tax increase; I'm going to
propose changes in the regu
latory agencies at the rate of
about one a day. When I get
through, nobody's going to like
me. and Ml havt just one
satisfaction: that I've made
life easier for the next guy who
comes along." WILLIAM E.
SIMON. U S Secretary of the
Treasury.
has announced addition of
slars
No star Is specifically iden
tified with any slate.
The current 50 star flag was
raised for the first time
officially at 12 Ola m . July 4.
10 at Fort Mcllenry Nation
al Monument in Baltimore
harbor.
That, of course, symbolized
admission of Alaska and
Hawaii, first new states since
1912 when Arizona and New
Mexico joined the Union.
And Fort Mcllenry is the
sue of the 1812 battle which
inspired Francis Scott Key to
write "The Star Spangled
Banner."
But Betsy?
Her tale of flag stitchery is
kind of like the one about
George and the Cherry Tree.
Stitched, maybe, out of
whole cloth?
But Betsy's claim refuses to
die
In 1941. the Philadelphia
City Council took title to her
house and declared it an
historical monument.
And on Jan. 1. 1952. the
Postal Office issued a Betsy
Ross stamp in honor of that
thrice married Quaker lady's
200th birthday.
Of her patriotism, there is
no historical question. Her
second husband died in a
British prison after his cap
lure at sea Her third husband
joined a Quaker sect which
allowed war In selfJefense
and he. loo, served at sea.
Husband No. I. John Ross,
died when an ammunition
dump he was guarding blew
up.
I Ml CLAS8 REUNION
The Heppner High Class of
1950 will be holding Its 25-year
reunion Saturday night, July
26, at the Heppner Elks Cub.
Doors will be open to the
public at p.m. for those who
would like to visit.
r
MNMNKfMintant1lllNltM
THE GAZETTE-TIMES
Unit HOW t ot NTY'S NEW SPAPER
Box 3.T7, Heppner. Ore. 97836
Subscription rate : 6 per year In
Oregon, 17 elsewhere
Ernest V. Joiner, Publisher
Published every Thursday and entered as a
second class matter at the post office at
Heppner, Oregon, under the act of March 3, 1879.
Second lass postage paid at Heppner, Oregon.
wwaiiMMiiHMWKWHHHWWiiiiBlirsriintwjniisrnnrfn-
Mayor of Hardman
DEAR MISTER EDITOR:
Clem Webster got the floor at the start of the session at the
country store Saturday night.
He stood up and announced that of all the wonders of
science and space travel, nothing In this world or out of i Is
as amaiing as people, and he allowed that he had the
clippings to prove it. .
Fer a start. Clem reported where this feller let two people
drown after a ship wreck because he wouldn't throw his dog
overboard to make room fer them in the raft.
Folks can git awful attached to their pets, allowed Clem,
but when we put more value on them than we do on each
other, we're In trouble. And when their pets die. some folks
spend more, pound for pound, to bury em than they do their
own kin.
Clem had saw this piece In the papers where a pet
cemetery reported a 1700 funeral fer a parakeet, and he said
he couldn't bring hisself to think how much it would cost to
bury a horse at them rates.
The fellers was general agreed that pets In this country,
dogs particular, are give about the same rank In the social
order as sacred cows In India.
Zeke Grubb said he would judge from all the dog food
advertising that healthy dogs are ahead of healthy people In
our order of needs. It ain't no wonder. Zeke allowed, that a lot
of people are eating dog food. They probable git more
vitamins and minerals from one of them "all meat products"
than they could from the stuff they've been eating that's full
of cereal, Zeke said, and the next step will be fer some
Guvernment health agency to declare that table scraps is
unfit fer canine consumption.
Ed Gonty said dogs already are healthier than people,
according to this piece he saw about treatment of bites. Ed
said a doctor at the University of Toronto reported that 47.000
people were treated fer biles at a Toronto hospital last year.
Most of em were dog bites, the doctor said, but only 4 per cent
of these got infected. In cases of people biting people, the
infection rate run up to 30 per cent.
In terms of gitting sick from it. you're a heap better off
being bit by a dog than a man. Ed reported, which could
mean folks ain't taking as good care of their mouths as they
are of their dogs.
Turning to another problem, Clem offered a clipping that
told of what was called a "sexual Identity crisis." Parents
that were worried because little boys were give toy guns to
play with now are excited on account of tea sets being pushed
for boys and girls.
Clem said if little boys that play with guns grow up to be
gangsters, won't little boys that play keeping house turn Into
sissies?
This worked Into a big deal. Clem said, until some daddy
remembering his military days told his little boy his tea set
was a mess kit. Now the little feller Is a he-man again,
pertending to be In the Army.
Like the man said. Mister Editor, different strokes fer
different folks.
Yours truly,
MAYOR ROY.
Clarence Rosewall
The loss of
a leader
B ERVESTV. JOINER
Morrow County lost one of
its leading citizens, a political
leader and civic booster last
week in the death of Clarence
Rosewall.
Mr. Rosewall died suddenly
at his home July 15 following
his return from the Bicenten
nial Wagon Train celebration
at Cecil.
He w as buried last Friday in
Heppner at the age of 76.
W W'. Weatherford char
acterized Mr. Rosewall as "a
businessman, through and
through." "He might get
angry with a person." Weath
erford recalls, "but I never
knew him to hold a grudge or
to stop trading with another
businessman because of a
disagreement." He added that
Mr. Rosewall was a good
thinker and had a "good head
on him."
Orville Cuts forth recalls Mr.
Rosewall as a man about
whom he had never heard a
harsh word. "Always our
business relations were of the
very best," Cutsforth said,
"although we never were very
close socially."
Cutsforth likes to recall the
time he was a member of the
Hells Canyon Assn., an organ
ization dedicated to putting a
high dam on the Snake River.
It was an uphill fight all the
way, Cutsforth said, especial
ly when President Eisenhower
came to office. During this
time the son of a real estate
man in Baker was elected
secretary of the association.
His name was Al Ullman. One
of the thorns in the side of the
Hells Canyon Assn. was Rep.
Sam Coon of LaGrande.
One day, according to Cuts
forth, the group met In Baker
and pondered what to do with
Rrp. Coon. "Why don't you
run, Al?" someone suggested.
Ullman protested he had no
money for a political cam
paign; and right there plans
were made for a street auction
in Baker to raise Ullmans
campaign funds.
"Everybody contributed. I
took a truckload of 10 steers to
Baker to be auctioned for Al. I
put In one steer, Paul Jones
donated another but Clar
ence Rosewall put In two
steers. That about tells the
story about Clarence-he was
always doing twice as much as
the rest of us.
And that, Cutsforth con
cluded, is how Al Ullman got
to Congress and how the
Congressman and Clarence
remained fast friends until the
latter s death last week
Mr. Rosewall married Vir
ginia Key in 1930. The Key
family was prominent in
Pendleton, and Lloyd Key was
a state senator and a support
er of Sen. John Kennedy for
the presidency.
The Rosewalls came to
Heppner In 1939 where he
operated the Ford automobile
agency until he sold it In 1958
He was also a wheat rancher.
He was a leader In the
political affairs of the city,
county and state. He was
county chairman for Rep.
Ullman for several years and
was active in the Democratic
party.
On the local level he was
chairman of the county and
city planning commissions.
He served on the city council
for 16 years, as councilman
and mayor. For many years
he was chairman of the board
of directors for Pioneer Mem-
orial Hospital; was a vestry
man for All Saints' Episcopal
Church; county development
chairman for the Heppner
Morrow County Chamber of
Commerce; proponent of the
Willow Creek Dam project
which Involved his appear
ance in Washington to testify
In its behalf; a member of the
Heppner Elks Lodge; life
member of the Oregon Wheal
Growers League; Oregon
Washington Farmer's Union;
Grande Ronde Valley Masonic
Lodge In Union; Ruth chapter
of the Order of the Eastern
Star. Heppner; Al Kader
Temple, Portland; Royal
Arch Masons; Pendleton
Commandary, Knights Temp
lars; and the Tri-City Shrine
Club.
Mr. Rosewall'i friends re
member him as a suave,
sophisticated, highly Intelli
gent business and political
leader who contributed much
to the welfare of his city,
county, state and nation.
MANKIND
Divided Into three cIums:
those that are Immovable
thoM that are movable, and
Uiom that move.