Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 14, 1978)
l I i r r r For ::i:rof il- I fc s '"851 8 1 4 1 S-W , t j twit -w.-iv-j Morrow County's Award-Winning Weekly Newspaper VOL.96 NO. 37 HEPPNER, OREGON THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1978 TWO SECTIONS-16 PAGES County school enrollment up 137 students over last year A sharp increase in enroll ment in Morrow County scho olsparticularly in the Coun ty's north end has produced a new set of problems for . school system officials. "It's the biggest jump (in enrollment) yet," said Super intendent Matt Doherty. Enrollment at the start of this year's school year came to a total of 1,749 students 137 more than were enrolled at this time last year, he noted. Bearing the brunt of the increase in northern Morrow County schools. In Irrigon, A.C. Houghton Elementary experienced a 20 per cent hike in enrollment, rising from last year's total of 408 to 509. River side Junior High's start-of-the-year enrollment totaled 393 up 72 from last year, and Riverside High School noted an increase of 50 students, with 393 students now attend ing classes at the Boar dm an high school. Enrollment was down sli ghtly in Heppner and lone. Heppner Elementary showed enrollment figures dropping from 468 last year to 432 this year. ... lone schools dipped from 199 to 189. At Heppner High School, enrollment rose by 10 with a total of 226 students taking classes at the start of this year. Based on past experiences, Morrow County school offi cials are predicting that 50 to 60 additional students, will enroll in the county by the end of the current school year. The student boom has pushed several classrooms in north Morrow schools to the 30-35 student range, well above the 25-student limit the school system has been trying to maintain. Some bus routing has been altered due to the increase, and a new bus has been added to the north Morrow fleet to take up some of the slack. Class loads may have to be adjusted . to more evenly distribute teaching . duties. Doherty said that a class room might have to be established in the old school building adjacent to A.C. Houghton to ease the overflow situation. . The Morrow County School Board is expected to take up the enrollment problems dur ing a Sept. 18 meeting at 8 p.m. in Lexington. "At this point, we're not really sure what we'll recommend to them," Doherty said. A new Boardman Elemen tary School, which was funded by county voters earlier this year, should solve the north end's elementary school crowding problems for the near future, at least. But, noted Doherty, "it will be at least a year before the school is built." Columbia Basin customers can expect rate increase Columbia Basin Electric Coorperative will be consider ing rate increases over the next two years, in response to purposed rate hikes in the price of wholesale electricity. The Bonneville Power Ad ministration, the federal agen cy which sells electricty to Pacific Northwest private util ities, municipalities, public utility districts, and coopera tives like Columbia Basin, has announced plans to increase its wholesale rates by Decem ber 1979. Columbia Basin Electric receives its power from Bon neville, and the cooperative plans to raise its rates to cover the Bonneville increases. The exact amount by which co operative rates will be increa sed is not known, but indica tions are that retail rates to Columbia Basin consumers will be significant. "Raising rates is not an enjoyable task," said Colum bia ' Basin manager Fred Toombs," but our costs are going up like everyone else's. We have tried to be as frugal r in our operation as possible, putting off until absolutely necessary any rate increase, but the time has finally come where we simply have to make a move if we are able to . maintain our present level of service." This increase will be the first of any consequence since formation of the co operative in the late 1940's, according to Columbia Basin officials v ' Prior to any Bonneville rate increase, the agency must first hold a series of public hearings to gain public input on the subject. Preliminary hearings have already been held. Columbia Basin repre sentatives have attended these meetings and plan to attend those in the future to express their concerns about what effect the increases would have on the price of power for cooperative con sumers. Columbia Basin Electric likewise has announced that it will hold public meetings throughout its service area to explain the need for the rate increases to answer questions about them. Remarked Toombs, "This is everyone's chance to let their views be known. It's your opportunity to express your opinion on the proposed rate increases, both pro and con." The dates and times of these meetings have not been sched uled. In the meantime,. Toombs, encourages cooperative mem bers seeking further informa tion to contact either him or their district representatives on the firm's board of direc tors. Weather Cristopher Wright IdUed in two-car crash Monday evening Christopher F. Wright, 18, of Lexington was killed Monday afternoon in a two-car collis ion on secondary Meyers Road, near the Buttercreek Junction area of northeastern Morrow County. The accident occured after Wright's eastbound car ap parently veered off the right side of the roadway pavement. The youth apparently over corrected his steering, caus ing him to swing into the path of an oncoming car operated by Gordon Hoffnagle, 20, of Heppner, according to state police at Hermiston. A passenger in Hoffnagle's car, Randy Worden, 18, also of Heppner, suffered superficial injuries in the crash. Hoff nagle received cuts, abra sions, and was examined to check for possible internal injuries. I ' - V a ii In mnr.i M 0hrUr. He was born March 19, 1960, in Portland, the son of the late Harvey Wright and Pat Maj eske Wright. A 1978 graduate of Heppner High School, he was scheduled to enter Trea sure Valley Community Col lege at Ontario this monty. Memorial services are to day, Thursday, at 10 a.m. at the Lexington Church of Christ, with the Rev. Neil Chabot officiating. Sacred selections will be sung by Wilma Cheney with Betty Marquardt as accompaniest. Private interment will be at the Lexington Cemetary. Swe eney Mortuary is in charge of arrangements. Chris is survived by his mother, Pat Wright, a bro ther, mark Wright and a sister, Sandy Wright, all of Lexington; maternal grand mother, Freda Majeske, Lex ington ; paternal grandpar ents, Mr. and Mrs. W. Wright, of Woodburn. Contributions may be made to the Chris Wright Memorial Scholarship Fund in care of the Bank of Eastern Oregon. Lexington to consider new fire truck Lexington residents are in vited by the City Council to attend a hearing at the Lexington School Building on Wednesday, Sept. 27, 1978 at 7:30 p.m. Under discussion will be the purchase of a new fire truck to replace the present 1954 mod el. The new truck and equip ment will cost an estimated $48,000-$49,000. The city has enough money on hade to make the down payment. Payments will be about $7,400 a year for six years. If residents are gen erally in favor of purchasing the new truck, voters will be asked to approved a six year serial levy of $7,400 a year, and an election will be scheduled before the Nov. 7 election. Do"c:?iT Sen. Cook slates visit HI LOW PRECIP Wed., Sept. 6 Thurs.,Sept. 7 Fri.,Sept.8 Sat., Sept. 9 Sun., Sept. 10 Mon.,Sept. 11 Tues.,Sept. 12 66 53 .04 61 47 .17 71 45 72 62 67 45 .18 66 47 rl 40 State Senator Vern Cook, Cook, a 22-year veteran of The public is invited to Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate position currently held by Republican Mark Hatfield, will bring his cam paign to Heppner next week. the Oregon Legislature, will be the featured speaker at a no-host dinner starting at 6:30 p.m. in the West of Willow on Tuesday, Sept. 19. attend. An opportunity will be provided to meet with and question the candidate. Irrigon voters to polls Tuesday Voters in Irrigon will go to the polls next Tuesday, Sept. 19, to decide whether or not to approve a seven-year, $12,800 serial levy for the Irrigon Rural Fire Protection Dis trict. The fire district is seeking the funding in order to buy a new fully equiped, 2,000-gallon capacity fire truck in order to increase the water capacity of the district's fire fighting trucks. Polling will be held in the Morrow County Office Build ing in Irrigon. Retirement for couple brings end to long history of business here A family tradition in Heppner retailing came to an end last week when the Thomson Brothers Groc ery on Main Street closed its doors. Owner James G. Thom son Jr. and his wife, Madge, sold out their inventory and placed the store building on the mar ket to enter retirement. The couple had been con sidering retiring for seve ral years, deciding to make the move now "to take the time to enjoy ourselves while we're still able to," according to Thomson. The Thomson family has roots firmly entrenched in Heppner's business com munity, starting just be fore the turn of the century, Thomson's father James Thomson sr., oper ated the Orange Front grocery, located in what is now the Case Furniture building. The elder Thom son's brothers, Charles and George, joined him in the business, and in the early 1900s, they purcha sed the current Main Street store building from Henry Heppner, namesake of the Morrow County seat. The brothers enlarged their operation, expanding the store into space form erly occupied by a shoe shop and a music store, eventually creating the Thomson Bros. Depart ment Stores In addition to groceries, the Thomson brothers sold men's and women's clothing, dry goods, shoes and other wares, res. Jim Jr. entered the family business in 1926, working in the grocery division, where he remain ed throughout his career. While the grocery busi ness appealed to him, so did a youthful thirst for adventure. In 1928, he and two companions took pass- ' age on a freighter and steamed to the Orient, making stops in cities like Tokyo, Yokahama, and Shanghai, returning after three months overseas. - Thomson admits that he toyed with the idea of becoming a merchant sea man, but a number of circumstances popped up to cloud that dream like the Depression. Business wasn't as us ual, to say the least, after the stock market crash of 1929. All of Heppner's banks folded, and money was so scarce that the city printed its own sheepskin script for use in local trading. "Dad carried a lot of people over when the times weft' tough"?' recalled Thom son. "Quite a few re mained loyal customers over the years, and manv of their children went on to trade with us." Money was not the only thing that was scarce during the depression years, Thomson recollect ed. "The Office of Price Admistration rationed but ter, sugar and other things. It made it difficult to get merchandise to sell." f The dark days of the Depression were made brighter, for Thomson at least, when a new scl j1 teacher arrived in town in 1931. Two years later she , became Mrs. Thomson. ' Thomson bought out the store's inventory from his father, the last surving member of the original Thomson brothers, in 1942. He eventually closed out the dry goods sections and remodeled the grocery in 1948. Since then, Thomson, in his white grocery apron, has been a familiar sight to shoppers passing through his checkout stand or walking by his Main Street window. While many of the faces have changed over the years, "people are still friendly, and friendships have stayed the same," Thomson commented. Since his years of runn ing a grocery store have prevented him from taking but a very few extended trips, Thomson said he and his wife were looking forward to being able to do some travel ing, hunting and fishing. "I could never depend on having , the time off to do these things before," he noted. Two days into his retire-' ment, "it feels good, so far," he said. A long history of retailing in Heppner ended recently when Thomson Bros. Grocery clos ed its doors. Jim and Madge Thomson take a brief moment from their cleaning activities for a picture. 7 yj - :. . if i i- i" pKrx i) Li 1 ul -v-;t- " Kr H . I - V V- I . i, , . '..'- y s : j y-'-'.' "" ? . n : Vi BKBSBSBSBBSP? t-, A ' S I '' ; I , ' " .. I . - - ' !j ' .." - I ; 9 " ' . . if ' '" T . Jr"' A l ' j 1 9- - .. , 0.
