The Library
University of Oregon
Eugene, Or 97403
The Heppner
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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
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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.
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