Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 25, 1976)
1 THE GAZETTE-TIMES. Heppner. OR, Thursday. Nov. 2S. 1978. Page 3 ;(' mm wtmmam 'Worst 25 miles in state' 1 V. 1 4 ;! ! in. I Li '.Mi ', 1 ,; Jj "If -I Road conditions force daily nightmare on drivers Early morning in Heppner is often mum enough for even tome early rising chickens to want to go back to bed or the neat as it were. Hut for rural school children and their bus . . ... u kiii(n nr drowsv fosr. . .the f drivers, . .come irony wm, I wMk day trek from home to school must oe maae. 1 For Bill Weatherford. Heppner. whose bus rout runs I the Heppner bus garage Weatherford sims his bus along . road I claimed by the state highway department to be at least 18 leet i rider." describes the wheeling helmsman, "and as far as I'm i . j .l. .., ok In the. atate of Oregon. i conccrneu iv m - Leaving at 6:30 a.m. each week day morning irora we Weatherford aims his bus along a road claimed by the state highway department to be at least 18 feet wide. A wide portion of the road, personally measured by ir,w..rt,.A i.,rnA un 10 feet 2 Inches of pavement across. One I .ide of the road being the side of a hill and the other an abrupt view of S deep valley. Th.,h ih. rnH is comfortably wide enough for a car, the Oregon State Bus Drivers Training Program instructs Its drivers to a Lav in their own lane at all times never vemurmg yellow line Into the other lane. "On some of the turns ciaun. Weatherford, "If you stay on your side of the road you can t stay on the pavement." ,.t..,. Because of break up ol pavement on some ui u B- . . . i j A Tkl. la ei .l i i.L iL. 1 MmtfitrniV nMTfflBfni, llllel u sits pine wiuin 01 wiw rww - . . k especially imporUnt factor in that this same road U also used by 1 logging, farm and commercial trucks. "It's a good thing that the road is crowned." Weatherford says with relief, "because I know I otherwise our mirrors would hit." 1 Referring to the mirrors of the eight foot wide bus and 1 equally msssive trucks Weatherford asks a boy. we'll call Jack, i Sometimes when we meet loggin' truck on this road It doesn t I quite look like there's enough room does it." The boy nods an None of the kids on the bua seem concerned about the road d. Ther take the four or five mey ie . . j . . l k -,min and the stock and produce trucks in fthVaftcrnoon in stride. The, can look down the gorge of the I picturesque valley each day and appreciate its beauty without I worrying about the pending danger It offers. They can enjoy the S bumpy ride the broken pavement creates without fighting for control of the "washboard corners, iney m v- confidence because so far they have been lucky. Says Jack. "No it doesn't bother me. I've been using this road aU my life." But even that testimonial doesn't over state the luck that fate hasnt turned against them and so far nothing has happened. Perhaps Weatherford can take credit for some of that luck. He manages to maneuver his bus over a road often clouded In dense fog in spots and winter ice In others. "Sometimes the fog so bad that you can't see more than few yards ahead, dramatizes the bus driver. "It would help if we at least had some more reflectors for reference points, not guard railings, they act as snow guards and I don't need that Just more reflectors so when you look out off the side of the road you can see more than 'r Weatherforefs chief concern in all of this is "for these kids. These trucks carrying their 30 and 40 ton loads are one thing but I'm hauling kids and that's a different kind of livestock." In the wake of the tragic deaths involving school bus accidents in Oregon in recent years it is understandable that a driver would become alarmed about hazardous conditions he or she must drive in or on. Even though other people and agencies may share an equal amount of responsibility in any or all of the accidents, in the final analysis snorts Weatherford. "it's still the school bus driver's neck." The driver will be either or both legally and emotionally responsible should any form cf disaster result. After all, the driver is the only person doing the actual driving. "These roads were built in the 20's for the Model T and ears like that." he says. "There is a three inch strip painted down the middle, there's three inches they have taken away from me." Illustrating his point Weatherford recalls, "there's plenty of room for a car even though a lot of them drive over the yellow line in the center anyway." This hazardous road condition is no passing interest of Weatherfords. Since he began as a driver five years ago his awareness of the problem has prompted him to write two different letters to the state highway department He gave a copy of the letter to Rep. Jack Sumner and Gov. Straub I personally. . Realizing the state's position Weatherford notes, there is of course the state side of the coin which has 38 counties all asking for the same thing. They have done some work on portions of the road like widening some corners and that really helps, the road crew has done a heck of a job with what they have to work with. Tm not complaining about them. Tm simply laying the whole blame on the state." ' Oregon school bus drivers are required to take refresher courses from the State School Bus Drivers Training Program. It's a program drivers appreciate, says Weatherford. "I haven't found a bus driver that has ever regretted going through a retraining course. As far as being tested about my driving if it ever bothered me then that's a perfect example for a reason to quit" 1 ;: .. '"'V sjssjpssMBBMSja ssssaMSBBSBBssa)S sjsssbsbbssbsmis jppsssjasBVsssjsasj sssjHimssjB sssbmsbss msBsjssSj jpMMss jpssspnd ppmu. 'jmf ssj J , .... y ,. -'. , fJ f-- t. Weatherford, who claims to have driven over a million miles ' in the course of his lifetime, says he has, "learned to use all my eyes while driving. You know what's around and your eyes pick up anything different Kke cows or deer or trucks." This is an important ability for a driver especially in Weatherford case because as he states, "there's the yellow line to keep track of but sometimes I don't dare look at it don't dare look at anything except this road." ' The concern is certainly warranted especially since the cbfldren he transports belong to other people. People who live in his community, reopie ne nuw uj , A a a rault of the Oretron school bus accidents, SUte School Superintendent Verne Duncan recently appointed a blue ribbon committee headed by former Congresswoman Edith Greene to invMtinte the aute's school bus safety practices. Hopefully the investigation will also entail aU possible contributing factors to T possible accident situations. It's not a simple matter of a bus . driver at fault In Heppner's esse It may be the treacherous road d l thst is to blame for any future mishap, hopefully miner". That is i 1 why Bill Weatherford must take a little time at the end of each day's route to breath out a prayerfully heM bream ana say io l If atI7.ll ... mstM trin without kill '(HL DunKu. "t vu -v Boardman receives $898 check Boardman City Manager Jim Thompson said Tuesday the general fund was in the best shape it ever has been espwially with the receipt of tax monies and revenue shar ing dolla quarterly. Helping things along was a $898 anti recession check received this past week. The council set a hearing for Its first meeting In Janu ary to hear a request from George Hansen concerning a blanket reduction in property sites. Hsnsen Is currently developing a sits esst of Boardman. "Five homes hsvs been sold on ths site already." relates Thompson. The corner of East Colum bia and N. Main streets, a particularly hasardous point during harvest time when an estimated 700 trucks a day turn there, was felt by the council to warrant being wid ened. It will approach the Morrow County School Dist rict concerning that decision as the project would Involve a small section of school proper- Port orders Ths Port of Morrow board, at Its last regular meeting. Instructed Its attornsy to obtain a court restrsining order In the vent the Stats Highway Division started to remove gravel from the port's best 40 acre site within the f.iod proressln park. Ths commission purchased (he land from the Corp of Engineers In 1IW7 snd ths suit's gravel permit did not appear ss an enrumbersnce In its deed. The Port of Morrow offered an eschsnge site. In W2. 1 e desireabte kwslktn at tht park whirh rejected by the (!. ty- The change would Involve moving the curb and fire hydrant on that corner back. The total amount of school property being sought would be 100 to 200 square feet A request by HYW Taxi through John Childers. for a taxi franchise was tabled. It wss pointed out thst offering a frsnchise was not in the city's best interest st this time. Also, it wss brought out that one of the councilmen had applied for such a franchise several years ago. Further study and investigation was asked to determine whether that application was still vslid. Come Have Fun, at the annual Thanlcsgiving weekend Turkey Mop Fairground Pavilion Live Music by Depot II 9:30-1 :30 am Admission Singles $2.50 Couples $5.00 Visit with your friends & help the Soroptimists Scholarship Fund I liM M S on 0 A SSj, (f A s M . n. - , . o eo, Rump roast for s1.39r J Cake mixes 58 it.y, 1 Oregon chief Sausage ? j muffin mix 69 $ 1 . 1 9Ib S j C S H Sugar I MS1 1 J Powdered 3 JlmM f or 1 ib. for p- J brown 1.00 Lettuce 3heads',J1 .00l I Granulate J 1.88 Appjes Peanut butter23 J .49 nolDo1' 5 ,bs. I i cn,co RodRomo 5 1.00 I C Prices effective L Nabisco FrI. & Sot. Nov. 26, 27 h 111 r
