FOURTEEN The Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon, Thursday March 1, 1979
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County's 'King of the Road'
Doc Sherer retires at 70
IT'S OUR
ANNUAL
SPRING
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4.
"'I
While John Denver may
have made a fortune singing
about "Country Roads," Har
old "Doc" Sherer has made a
career out of fixing them
often with a less than ade
quate budget.
Probably no one knows
more about how to get from
one place to another in
Morrow County than Sherer,
who says that he has "walked
every road in the county" at
least once during his 42-year
association with the county
road department.
That association came to an
end Wednesday, when Morrow
County's "King of the Road"
served his last day as county
roadmaster and began retire
ment. Sherer joined the county
road department at the age of
27 in 1936, giving up a job with
Pacific Power & Light "and
milking 22 head of cows" to
become a truck driver and
rock crusher operator for the
county.
He was named supervisor in
1943, before the job title was
changed to roadmaster
around 1950. He's seen a
number of changes in the
county road system since that
time.
When "Doc" joined the road
crew, nearly all county roads
were dirt, and it was consider
ed a luxury to live along a road
based with crushed rock. As
time progressed, the county
road network expanded, more
miles received a crushed rock
base, and a few more were
oiled. In present-day Morrow
County, the county-maintained
road system stretches 1,080
miles, including 385 miles of
paved roadway.
Under Sherer's supervision,
county road crews have built
their own bridges, altered
road routes, and performed
other tasks for which many
counties would seek outside
help.
Probably the largest single
accomplishment performed
during Sherer's tenure was
the development of the Bomb
ing Range Road, connecting
southern Morrow County to
the Boardman area.
Rather than growing in size,
the county road crew has
decreased in number over the
years. "It's been as high as 24,
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Store Hours: 9 am - 6 pm
Friday 9 am -8:30 pm
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We aren't
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... we fit
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needs.
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310 N. Fourth
Pasco
County Roadmaster Doc Sherer
and now it's down -to 10,"
Sherer said. "I could use twice
the crew."
But some things don't
change. The road department
has always been hard pressed
to maintain roads to the
public's satisfaction with
funds that would often have
difficulty filling a good-sized
chuckhole. Springtime thaws
have always played havoc
with the county road system,
and sporadic floods have
continued to present Sherer
with a variety of engineering
puzzles.
And if there's a complaint
about a county road, for
decades the buck has stopped
with "Doc."
I've been here so long I've
made as many enemies as
friends," Sherer said. Last
year, when one unruly citizen
informed Sherer that he
planned to distribute posters
calling for the roadmaster to
be fired, "I said go ahead, I'd
even help. ..We get lots . of
criticism, some of it warrant
ed and some of it not."
In 1948, voters failed to
approve the county budget,
resulting in the layoff of all
road crew members except
for Sherer and the idling of all
road maintenance equipment.
"Then," he recalled, "a water
spout hit and took out six
bridges. Since I was the only
man in the road department, I
went and put out detour
signs it was all I could do."
Sherer credits the storm with
prompting voters to approve
the county's first road serial
levy, approved shortly after
the incident.
Sherer, who has served
under six county judges,
stated that one of the plea
sures of his job has been that
"I've always had a good court
to work with. They've always
backed me up 100 per cent."
Sherer's praise is returned
by the county's current chief
executive, Judge D.O. Nelson.
"Trying to replace him is
going to be something else,"
he said. ,'T hate to see him
leave, but I can understand it.
With the money he's had
available, he's done a great
job."
"I guess I'll be glad to get
away from all the problems,
but I kind of hate to leave,
too," said the retiring road
master, whose animated vital
ity belies his 70 years. "From
Irrigon to the top of the Blue
Mountains it's always been a
challenge."
But few men can enter
retirement knowing their
life's work can be measured in
the thousands of miles.
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