Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (March 1, 1979)
The Library University of Oregon Eugene, Or 97403 The Heppner ! i I in 1.5? f . " I. It I ' ' I ) " ? 1 Laughs... a lot! Billed as a show for the audience, 'Slice It Thin' draws laughter from its funny situations and rapid-fire wisecracks. The Heppner High School drama class production can be seen Thursday and Friday evenings with the curtain rising at Hardwick future of Wheeler County's already bleak unemployment situation took a downward turn recent ly, when Don Hardwick Log ging Co. announced that it was closing down operations. Hardwick has been operat ing in the Camp Five area for Morrow Abstract & enters 50th year of A lot of Morrow County land has changed hands during the past 50 years, and a family owned business has been there all along to serve the needs of land buyers and sellers during a half century of change. Morrow County Abstract & Title Co., Inc., is celebrating li .. . iii wiii i'iniiiiii iihiiwiwmimi i iiiiiiniiiiiiiiMiiin nwij'nMiia.iiWi"ii i miiiiii i ii Mwmni Helen and Harry O'Donnell's Morrow County Abstract & Title Company is commemorating its 50th year of service to area rei. dents. Logging goes out of business; Camp Five area uncertain the past 10 years, almost exclusively involved with cut ting and hauling timber for the Kinzua Corporation. During the peak of last year's activities at Camp Five, Hardwick had 40 employees on the payroll. Last week, its 50th birthday this year. The oldest established title com pany in Morrow County, with records dating back to the land patent days, should have even more promising pros pects for success in its second 50 years, as Morrow County property becomes even more 8 p.m. in the cafetorium. In this scene Ben (Bill Kenny) interrupts a heated argument between a slipping movie idol (Jim Ackley) and his Russian girlfriend (Susan Johnson.) with a pair of pants he needs mended. The Coleman family mother is played by Alice Abrams and the aspiring actress-daughter is piayed by Millie Yocom. Price of admission is just $1.50 for adults and $1.00 for children. workers received official notice that the logging com pany was going out of busi ness. Workers had been idle since Jan. 17, when Hardwick closed down due to an over supply of logs at Kinzua's Heppner sawmill. Title operation productive and more in de mand. The current operators of the family-owned corporation, Harry and Helen O'Donnell, have kept links to the past alive in their new, stucco, Spanish style office on Main Street. Their new business quarters, opened last sum mer, serve as a showcase for commercial life in the Hep pner area during years past. Included among functional and decorative antiques in the new Morrow County Abstract & Title office are a vault door from the old Farmers & Stockgrowers National Bank (now the Case Furniture building), a 20-foot oak coun ter, purchased from a Monu ment tavern, and refinished and upholstered oak captain's chairs, originally used in O'Donnell's Pastime, owned by Harry's parents, Harry and Claire O'Donnell. A teller's cage and a savings department window cage from the old bank serve as attractive wall hangingsjn the new office. The antiques were refinished by Mrs. O'Donnell. The business was incorpor ated in 1929 by F.B. Nicker son. Harry's uncle. Nickerson had been a title examiner for Oregon Title Insurance Co. of Portland, prior to coming to Heppner. The original office of the firm was located in the Morrow County Courthouse. After a relatively brief stay in the Courthouse, Morrow Continued on page 3 "We've just outgrown the job," Hardwick told the Gazette-Times in confirming the shutdown. "We're too large an operation for what logging there is to be done... Kinzua's just not needing that many logs from their tree farm. They've been buying their logs on the open mar ket." "It was a tough decision to make," said Hardwick. who has been in the logging business in Eastern Oregon for some 30 years, "but all good things have to come to an end sometime... I feel badly about the employees, though." A public auction will be held sometime this spring to sell the Hardwick company's equipment. Hardwick said. The Hardwick company has been managing Kinzua Cor poration's company town of Camp Five. What will happen to the community after Hard wick's scheduled pullout date of May 1 remains undecided. Hardwick indicated that there was a possibility that the town would be closed as a logging camp. Kinzua Corporation officials said future plans for Camp Five and logging in that area have not been decided. Hardwick made it clear that he harbors no hard feelings toward Kinzua. noting that the Heppner corporation had of fered a proposal for a smaller scale logging contract that would have required relocat ing in Heppner. After lengthy consideration, Hardwick opted not to accept the proposal, he said. Hardwick said his personal plans "are very indefinite." He does plan to take a vacation, and after that. "I suppose there's nothing to stop me from getting back in the logging business, if that s what I really want." A native of the Baker area and the son of a logging contractor. Hardwick said he has enjoyed his more than 10-year stay in the Camp Five area. "I think we've been good for this area." he said, "and I know it's been good for us " Morrow County's Award-Winning Weekly Newspaper VOL. 97, NO.9 Truck accident claims life of Martin Potter, injures three others A 28-year-old Lexington man was killed and three others seriously injured Sun day night, when a pickup truck veered off Hwy. 74 about five miles west of Heppner and overturned. Dead at the scene was Martin Ray Potter, 28. of Lexington, an employee of Morrow County Grain Grow ers. "Injured were Raymond L. Banka. 28, of Rt. 2. Heppner, the driver; Richard E. Petty john. 25, of Heppner, and Calvin Papineau, 15, of Lex ington. Banka was transferred from Pioneer Memorial Hospital to Good Shepherd Hospital in Hermiston. where he is under going treatment for serious internal injuries. Pettyjohn and Papineau were taken to Lexington Airport after re ceiving preliminary treat ment at Pioneer Memorial, then were rushed by a Life Flight airplane ambulance to Emanuel Hospital in Port land . Both were being treated tor critical head injuries. The accident occured about 9:30 p.m. Sunday, as the vehicle was headed towards Lexington. Banka apparently lost control of the pickup, crossed into the oncoming lane, and according to state police reports, skidded side ways for 391 feet onto the north shoulder of the highway. Heppner water is safe to drink, EPA rules Boil no more! Pots, pans and kettles began returning to their customary cupboard space in Heppner this week, after Environ mental Protection Agency officials ruled Sunday that the city's water supply now meets purity standards. City residents for most of the past three weeks were told to boil all drinking water, after a high level of impurities turned up in the system following a flood that swept through the area on Feb. 6. City officials have yet to discover precisely what caused the contamination, but the gradual flushing of the water system, the shutdown of one city well, and the cleaning of a storage reservoir may have played a role in purging the pollutants. Chlorination of the water system is likely to continue until the cause of the problem is rooted out. Chief suspect for the blame is a decrepit, three-mile section of 1930-vintage water main leading from the Hep pner City limits to city wells up Willow Creek. EPA technicians needed to verily two consecutive "safe" readings of city water sam ples in order to lift the boiling orders. A bond levy is expected to appear on a municipal ballot sometime this spring in an HEPPNER. OREGON THURSDAY. where the truck flipped, then rolled another 111 feet along the berm before coming to rest on its side. Banka and Pettyjohn were thrown from the truck. The truck, a 1974 Ford, was owned by Robert L. Hum phreys of Heppner. No charges have been filed in connection with the crash, but an investigation is contin uing, state police said. , Trooper Vic Groshen praised the efforts of Pioneer Memorial personnel and a group of volunteer Emer gency Medical Technicians consisting of Monte Stookey. Henry Helmholtz. John Hed man. Rick Curtis and Dan Sweeney for their efforts in treating the crash survivors. Rebuilding of damaged roads is not forseen by county, state Morrow County's cracked, buckled, potholed and flood damaged roads are not likely to receive more than a patch-up job this spring and summer. The county's road serial attempt by the city to raise money to replace the three mile stretch of antiquated water line. In an effort to locate the source of trouble, city workers plan to boost water pressure on the suspect pipe, and insert a quantity of dye into the line to pinpoint the leakage. The dye turns a hue of brilliant green when mixed with water. Gazette- Times merges with Oregon newspapers, G.M. Reed, publisher of The Hermiston Herald, announced today (Wednesday) that his weekly newspapers in Herm iston and Heppner were in volved in the merger and re organization of three Oregon newspaper corporations. Gazette-Times General Manager Terry M. Hager said no changes in the Heppner newspaper's staff or commun ity news coverage would take place. "The merger enables the Gazette-Times to become a stronger newspaper and still maintain local control," said Hager. The new alignment will bring 16 weekly newspapers in Oregon and Washington under common ownership. Reed said his papers and those owned by Dick Naf singer, publisher of the Hood River News, wre merging MARCH 1. 1979 TWO SECTIONS-U PAGES 20 cents Funeral services for Martin Ray Potter were held Wed nesday in the United Church of Christ in Condon, with the Rev. Fermer Plank officia ting. Concluding services and interment with military parti cipation were held at Igo Cemetery at Condon. Potter, who enlisted in the Army in January of 1909. spent one year of his military service in Vietnam, where he received three Purple Hearts for war injuries. He returned to Condon in December of 1971. and a few months later moved to Lexington, where he made his home since. Potter was born in The Dalles on July 17, 1950. the son of Garland and Myrtle Maid mant Potter. He attended levy passed last year will provide approximately $180,000 for use on county maintained roads this year. According to County Road master Doc Sherer. the fund ing should be sufficient patch up damaged pavement. "But there probably won't be enough to do any new. oiling this year." The recent arrival of rela tively warm and dry weather has allowed county road crews "to begin to gain" on repairs to thaw damaged county highways. Sherer said. Most of the work has been centered in the county's north end, where quicker drying, sandy soils prevail. "The frost is still coming up in many areas in the south end." Sherer said. Along state highways run ning through the county, a 10-ton weight limit remains in effect on Hwy. 207 between Lexington and the Umatilla County line enroute to Herm iston. State crews have filled with Blue Mountain Eagle (BME) newspapers headquar tered in Salem. Together with the merger, a reorganization of the parent operating company will result in a change of its corporate name to Eagle Newspapers. Nafsinger, former BME vice president, has been named president of the new corpora tion. Reed will assume the office of vice president. Den nis A. Smith, Salem, former BME president, has been elected chairman of the board. The three men will make up the executive committee of the surviving corporation. Newspapers published by Hood River include the Hood River News, The Dalles Re minder and two Washington weeklies the White Salmon Bingen Enterprise and the Goldendale Sentinel. Condon schools, graduating from Condon High School in 1908. He was a member of the Heppner VFW post. Survivors include his three daughters. Rebecca, Sarah and Kelly F'otter of Hermis ton; parents, Mr. and Mrs. Garland Potter of Condon; sister, Sharon Hamner of Condon; brothers. Darrel and Kevin, both of Condon and David of Umatilla; grand parents. Mr. and Mrs. Karl Blois of Tygh Valley; several nieces and nephews. Contributions may be made to the Potter Memorial Educa tion Fund, in care of the First National Bank in Condon. Sweeney Funeral Home in Condon was in charge of arrangements. the more hazardous spots along the severely damaged highway with sand and crush ed rock. Although traffic must slow to a crawl at more than a dozen locations along the route, local State Highway Department officials indi cated that they anticipate receiving funds sufficient to only patch and not reconstruct the battered highway. Pavement on Hwy. 74 lead ing out of Heppner towards Pilot Rock, where no weight limit is in effect, was begin ning to break up in a number of locations this week. The most severe damage was centered along a stretch between Jones Hill and Frank lin Grade, and a section between Nye Junction and Hog Hollow. Judge DO Nelson said that the county's state-declared "disaster area" status will apparently not result in any funds being available for road repair or reconstruction. Other Eagle Newspapers, all in Oregon, include the Prineville Central Oregonian, Madras Pioneer, Lake Os wego Review, Polk County Itemizer-Observer (Dallas), Sun-Enterprise Newspapers in Monmouth-Independence, Sheridan Sun, Woodburn In dependent, Canby Herald, Willamette News. The Lake Oswego, The Dalles and Sheridan news papers were purchased by the company in 1978. Eagle Newspapers also op erates four central newspaper offset printing plants, situ ated in Salem, Hermiston, Hood River and Prineville. Total paid circulation of the newspapers is 55,286 with an other 51,500 copies of com panion free distribution pub lications circulated in four of the communities. I"' i sr.. i r
