TWO- -The Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon, Thursday, December 21, 1978
The Heppner
GAZETTE-TIMES
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ieie id a Santa Clam
One of the most famous newspaper editorials of all time has to do
with Christmas. It first appeared September 21, 1897, in the pages of
a leading newspaper of the day, the New York Sun.
Virginia O'Hanlon, eight years old, was torn between the doubts
placed in her mind by playmates and her own sincere belief that each
Christmas a jolly old man came to help spread joy through the world.
To settle the matter, she posed the question to the editor of the Sun.
Francis Pharcellus Church replied as follows:
"Is there a Santa Claus?
"We take pleasure in answering at once and thus prominently the communication
below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is
numbered among the friends of the Sun-
"Dear editor:
"I am 8 years old.
Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
Papa says 'If you see it in the Sun it 's so. '
Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?
Virginia O'Hanlon
115 West 95th Street
"Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been
affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not
believe except what they see. They think that nothing can be
which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds,
Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this
great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his
intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as
measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of
truth and knowledge.
"Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they
abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It
would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make toler
able their existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the
world would be extinguished.
Wot believe in Santa Claus! You might as welt not believe in fairies! You might get your Papa to hire men to watch in all the
chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove?
Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither
children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not
there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.
"You tear apart the baby's rattle and set what makes the noise
inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the
strongest man, not even the united strength of all the strongest
men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry,
love, romance, can push aside the curtain and view and picture
the supernatural beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah.
Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
"No Santa Claus! Thank God he lives, and he lives forever. A
thousand years from now. Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand
years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of
childhood. "
I i
mt in fains
Justify costs before
raising water rates
Editor:
About a week ago, Mayor Sweeney was quoted in the
East Oregonian as noting that city water rates would
probably go up this spring because "everything goes up."
The point. Mr. Mayor, is that this country is battling inflation
that is at least partly due to arbitrary and unjustified price
and salary increases. Inflation cannot be slowed if all
suppliers of goods and services increase prices simply
because it seems the thing to do.
I would hope that the mayor and the council do not
increase rates unless they are able to establish that the
increase is- justified in terms of costs for the city water
delivery system. I do not object to paying for services: I do
object to an increase if it is not shown to be necessary.
I assume that such a decision will not be made without
opportunity for public participation in the discussion. The
public should be notified when this problem is placed on the
agenda of a regular council meeting.
Sincerely,
Linda A.Shaw
Pastor gives thanks for
community support
Editor:
On behalf of the many who will be helped by the people of
Heppner, lone and Lexington's generous support of the
Seventh-day Adventist's World Service Appeal, we of the
local Seventh-day Adventist Church wish to extend to you our
heartfelt thanks. Your contributions will do much to help
relieve physical and spiritual needs both close to home and
around the world.
Weather permitting, Saturday night, December 23, we
will once again be singing Christmas carols in the Heppner
area, but this time it will be without any thought of soliciting
money. This is an added way of saying, "Thank you!"
Merry Christmas,
Bill Poole
Pastor
Agriculture Board urges
Columbia irrigation plans
J
The Stale Board of Agricult
ure has this week urged state
water resources policymakers
to reserve a suitable amount
of Columbia River water for
irrigation purposes.
The action, taken Wednes
day. December 13. at the
panel's winter meeting in
Bend, specifically urges the
Water Policy Review Board to
adopt a reservation of water
from the river. The aim is to
spur irrigation development in
the North Columbia . Basin,
where estimates show an
additional million acres of
land to be suitable for expand
ed agricullure uses.
That expansion, however,
could only come about through
irrigation.
The state of Washington
already has entered the water
reservation area by setting
aside 1.36 million acre feet of
water for irrigation purposes
in the Horse Heaven Hills.
Director of Agriculture Leo
nard Kunzman told members
of the board that the expan
sion of irrigated land in the
Columbia Basin is important
to agricultural growth.
"We have already seen the
extremely beneficial impacts
of irrigation along the basin.
Expansion of irrigation not
only means an improvement
to agricultural producers, but
to the entire state economy
which is dependent on agri
culture." he said.
Sheriff-elect Clarence Bauman was in Portland 50 years
ago this week, to receive instruction on law enforcement
procedures prior to his taking office in January. Meanwhile,
incumbent Sheriff George McDuffee was minding the local
law and order scene, locating in Heppner a car that had been
stolen from Onalaska, Wash. The outgoing Sheriff's son,
Howard, a deputy on the force, spent part of the week in
Portland, taking civil service tests, in order to obtain a job as
a Prohibition enforcement officer, before the courthouse
shuffle in January took place.
Pendleton hide and pelt buyer Max Gorfkle was in town
to purchase the fruits of local trappers' labors, and Frank
Wilkinson of Heppner was trying to find the owner of two
. black hogs he found wandering along Willow Creek near the
old McCullough place.
During the same week a half-century ago, roughly 60 per
cent of the 1928 lone area wheat harvest remained in bins and
elevators, as farmers waited for an increase in price.
Edward Chinn, owner-operator of the Elkhorn
Restaurant in Heppner, was confined to his bed in an effort to
fight off an attack of Spanish Influenza, a disease which
CountyNExtension Agent Charles Smith had just shaken off,
after spending 10 days in the hospital.
Health officials had no sure-fire treatment for the
disease. A news release from the Oregon Board of Health
appearing in the Gazette-Times 50 years ago recommended
that those suffering symptoms of the disease "take a laxative
and a glass of hot lemonade and go to bed early... Isolate
yourself, do not kiss or even shake hands."
Sixty years ago this week, while Frank Gilliam of Heppner
was chopping kindling wood outside his home, his axe
deflected off an overhead clothesline causing Gilliam to lop
off his thumb on the downswing. Gilliam gathered up the
severed thumb, and brought it to Dr. A.D. McMurdo's office,
where the physician re-attached the thumb to its hand, using
nine stiches.
Twenty-five years ago this week, many Heppnerites
were clearing mud and debris from their yards and
basements. A cloudburst accompanied by high winds had
swept into the city, causing flooding in side canyons between
hills on the western side of the city. Hardest hit were homes
along Morgan, Gale and Willow Streets. A three-inch layer of
silt was dumped on the garage section of Heppner City Hall,
and mud thoroughly covered the lawn and porch of the Merle
Burkenbine home.
The rain swollen creeks brought special worries to three
sets of Heppner parents, whose children were missing while
floodwaters raged. Ricky Johnston, Gary Ball and Brad
White, all four years old, had wandered off to explore the
hillsides along the northwestern section of town. The trio was
found safe and sound that afternoon near the Heppner
Lumber Company by Fred Hoskins. Lexington pilot Gar
Leyva had joined in the search, flying along hillsides and
creek banks in search of the boys, whom their parents feared
might have fallen into Willow Creek.
Ten years ago this week, 14-year-old Bruce Kandle of
Kinzua was declared the winner of Kinzua Corporation's
annual "Porky" contest, in which entrants tried to snuff out
the lives of as many tree-damaging porcupines as possible in
the course of a year.
Kandle bagged a total of 160 of the spiny critters to take
top honors, good for a .22 automatic rifle and plenty of ammo.
First runner-up was 13-year-old Jim Benson of Kinzua with 90
confirmed kills. The contest was not limited to boys, as
demonstrated by Susie White, 13, of Camp Five, who was
responsible for 48 "porkies" biting the dust during 1968.
Last year this week, the Morrow County Search and
Rescue Posse found itself $200 richer. The parents of a
15-year-old Portland boy sent the money and a Christmas
card in appreciation for the Posse's efforts in locating the
youth in October, when he became lost in the Blake Springs
area. The youth, Mike Miller, had crashed his motorcycle in
a ditch in an isolated area, and collapsed on a back road after
trying to walk out of the area. It was there that he was found'
by two young hunters who contacted posse search officials,
officials.
Anti-shoplifting bill merits action by Legislature
Security personnel halted
two suspicious individuals
leaving a major Salem depart
ment store during the height
of this year's Christmas
shopping season.
Special pockets and slits in
coats they were wearing
contained $1,100 worth of
merchandise. Their car in the
store parking lot revealed
another $14,000 worth of
goods much still bearing
price tags.
Both were charged with
theft and lodged in jail.
The incident appears to
involve apprehension of pro
fessional shoplifters and is
quickly dismissed by most
readers of newspaper
accounts. But such activity is
only the tip of the shoplifting
iceberg and the remaining
vast bulk of this growing
crime against society likely
will produce proposals for new
laws when the Oregon Legisla
ture convenes in the capital
city on Jan. 8.
Anti-shoplifting bills were
introduced during both the
1975 and 1977 sessions of the
Legislature but died in com-
Salem Scene
By Jack Zimmerman
mittee.
Nevertheless, the same type
of legislation appears destined
to re-appear in 1979. And it
won't be directed against
professional boosters. Oregon
law already deals sufficiently
with thieves who steal goods
valued at $200 or more.
The new proposals will be
aimed at so-called petty
thieves, who shoplift merch
andise of much lesser value.
Despite the sizeable sum
represented by the merchan
dise found in possession of the
pair arrested in Salem, Activi
ty by professional shoplifters
accounts for only five per cent
of the value of such stolen
goods nationally.
Total annual cost of shoplift-
SUBSCRIPTION RATE
$8.00 In Morrow, Umatilla, Wheeler & Gilliam County; $10.00 elsewhere
The Heppner
GAZETTE-TIME
Morrow County's Award-Winning Weekly Newspaper
The Official Newspaper of the City of Heppner and the County of Morrow
Published every Thursday and entered as second-class matter at the Post Office at Heppner, Oregon, under the Act
of March 3, 1879. Second-class postage paid at Heppner, Oregon.
G.M. Reed, Publisher Dolores Reed, Co-publisher Terry M. Hager, Managing Editor
Rick Steelhammer, News Editor Eileen Saling, Office Manager Justine Weatherford, Local Columnist
Gayle Rush, Composition Melissa Scott, Composition Cindi Doherty, AdvertisingOffice
Ron Jordan, Printer
ing nationwide is estimated at
$6.5 billion. Law enforcement
agencies figure the pros
account for about 5 per cent,
drug addicts perhaps 10 per
cent, adult amateurs maybe
35 per cent and juveniles 50
per cent!
New laws to be proposed in
Salem will deal with offenders
responsible for the largest
share of perpetrators
amateur adults and juveniles.
And the proposed laws won't
be criminal statutes. They will
seek civil redress.
Most western states already
have enacted laws that permit
civil proceedings against
shoplifters and sponsors will
ask Oregon to follow suit. The
civil procedure in essence is
designed to make it safer and
more practical for merch
antslarge and small to de
tain a suspected shoplifter,
prosecute and recover dam
ages covering costs of stolen
articles and inconvenience.
Technically, most shoplift
ing consists of stealing merch
andise valued at less than
$200. Oregon law now calls
such crimes theft-two, theft in
the second degree a class-A
misdemeanor, punishable by
fines of up to $1,000 and
imprisonment for not longer
than a year.
But only a fraction of this
type of shoplifting is prosecut
ed under the criminal statute.
And the reasons are many.
Unless a business is large
enough to employ professional
security personnel, it becomes
prohibitive to prosecute petty
theft under the criminal
statutes. Few small store
owners can afford to absent
themselves from their busi
nesses long enough to partici
pate in a criminal prosecution,
let alone leave the store long
enough to file a criminal
complaint.
Without trained security
personnel, few merchants are
willing to detain suspected
shoplifters for fear of liability
for false arrest. And in both
cases, there are legal fees to
be considered and balanced
against the loss of a low-priced
article of merchandise.
These factors and others
have combined to produce
growing pressures for civil
remedies for a crime that is
growing at an estimated 35 per
cent each year.
And the growth of this type
of crime likely provides the
greatest pressure of all.
At present, those most
interested in achieving more
productive civil procedures
against shoplifters appear to
favor a statute paralleling the
State of Washington's civil
shoplifting law, which became
effective in September, 1975.
Basically, that law allows
the victim (retail merchant)
to recover actual value of
stolen goods, and sums as high
as $1,200 for adults and
emancipated minors. Parents
and guardians of minors are
liable for retail value, plus
damages up to $700.
Under Washington's new
law the restrictions against
detaining suspected shoplift
ers have been eased and much
civil procedure can be con
ducted in that state's Small
Claims Court without incur
ring attorney fees.
No one seriously concerned
about shoplifting believes
laws alone will provide a
complete deterrent to a crime
that rivals inflation for raising
prices in the marketplace.
Any new law likely will have
to be accompanied, by a
program of near-constant
public education.
But as one surveys rising
prices and the growth of a
crime that drives those prices
ever higher because merch
ants must alter price tags to
cover their losses, the time for
a new shoplifting law in
Oregon may occur in 1979.
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GAZETTE-TIMES
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