Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 20, 1979)
TWO The Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon, Thursday, December 20, 1979 ONFA The Official Newspaper of the City of Heppner and the ' County of Morrow The Heppner GAZETTE-TIMES Morrow Const j's Home-Owned Weekly Newspaper U.S.P.S. 240-420 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 Hrppner. Orrgon Office at 147 West Willow Street Telephone. (5031 676 -922H. Address rnmmunii-ations fo the Heppner Gazette-Times. P.O. Box 337, Heppner, Oregon. H7H.it SH cm in M.inim. Umatilla. Wheeler & Gilliam counties: $10 00 elsewhere. Senior Citizen Rate. $5 On Jerome F. Sheldon, Publisher Steven A. Powell. News Editor There Is a Bright Side People in Heppner seem to be in shock over the news of the Kinzua Corporation's closure of its plywood mill and the company's merger with the Georgia-Pacific Corp. About half of Kinzua's labor force is to be laid off at the close of this week. With about 150 people facing the loss of their jobs, the effects seemed rather immediate in the Heppner business commu nity. Some retail merchants probably anticipated a drop in pre-Christmas sales. Some houses were put on the market and families may have made plans to leave the community and seek employement else where. To put it mildly, the news from Kinzua put a pall on the community during the time of year that should be the most joyous. However the lives of 150 mill workers and their families may be affected, Heppner itself will continue it has been here for over 100 years, the trading center for an agricultural, lumbering and mining area whose fortunes have ebbed and flowed with regional or national economic dips and turns. Heppner will survive, however hard it is for those immediately concerned. Let's look at the bright side! Georgia Pacific isn't buying the mill to lose money. They must have seen a great potential here or they would not have made the purchase. Nobody buys a loser! Looking ahead to 1980, Morrow County may anticipate such spurts in the local economy as the probable start of construction of the Willow Creek dam and the firing up of Portland General Electric's generating plant near Boardman. Editor's Notebook The Gazelle-Times owners formerly lived in an Alaskan city similar in size lo Heppner where they published a news paper. Palmer. Alaska, in the Malanuska-Susilna Valley, was even (hen recovering from the closure of the coal mines a few miles away, even though that event had occur red several years before. The mines at Sutton and Ohickaloon had supplied fuel for heating and power genera tion in Anchorage. Before the Alaska Railroad converted its locomotives to diesel power, it too had used coal from the mines to run its trains. Aii i-nit-rprisiiig city mana ger brought Palmer out of its economic doldrums by esta blishing a city-owned indus tiral park and luring light industry to establish plants there. The biggest was a mobile home factory that moved to Alaska from Boise, Idaho. With the construction of the trans-Alaska pipeline, there was an economic boom that was felt even in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley. The trailer factory built modular units that were to be shipped to pipeline construction camps. The original manage ment went bankrupt, more from poor management than lack of a market. A successor management took over the factory. The industrial park also drew an oxygen plant, a culvert factory, a lumber yard and miscellaneous ware houses They helped provide an additional tax base for Palmer, as well as employ ment. The only reason to mention ti' i. cuts in far away Alaska is that if Hepp ner experienced an economic setback with the closure of the Kinzua plywood mill, there aresteps that could be taken to make up the loss. We hope someone has the spirit to do so. Congressman Al Ullman, who represents eastern Ore gon in the U.S. House of Representataives, gets a plug of sorts in the latest New Yorker magazine. The mention is in one of those space fillers that feature typographical errors in news papers. It's from a story that appeared in the Newark, N.J., Star-Ledger, and identifies Ullman as chairman of the "Ways and Oceans Commit tee." Of course, he's chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, but New Yorker's quip is : "Make that 'Waves nd Oceans Committee.'" ' Ullman may be -making waves on the Columbia over his proposed value added tax, which was the subject of the storv. The Oregon State Health Division writes about a nit picking problem in a recent bulletin. This can be taken literally, for the subject of the bulletin is the head louse. Apparently this fall there has been a greater infestation of head lice among elementary school pupils than ever before. Head lice emerge from eggs that are called nits. These are laid by the female louse close to the scalp. Lice are spread from person to person through shared combs, hats, coats, bedding and so forth. The life cycle of the louse is about 30 days, but during that lifetime they can cause people to be true nit-pickers. Sifting through the TIMESjfl . - : : r- r.)' Fifty years ago $75,000 was appropriated for the Heppner to Spray road thanks to the work of the Lions Club of Heppner. The members pre sented the needs of the community to theHighway Commission in Portland.The total cost had been estimated al $300,000 for the entire road and the money appropriated would complete about one quarter of the proposed pro ject . Schools were closed in the area because of a power shut -off. The schools could not use the heating system with- I. H.trr a , ; i.' i n, " .f ; nut electricity. About 70 persons gathered at the Elks Temple to hear the American Legion State Com mander Sidney George give an inspiring speech about the patriotic veterans of World War I. The lone men's town basket-ball team beat the high school squad 39-13. The town's wo men's team also beat the girls high school team 12-10. The American Legion was decorating the town with small trees along Main Street and one large tree at the intersection of Main and Willow. The boys at Heppner High School were helping to bring the small trees into town and put them in (he sockets along the streets that are used for flags on patriotic occa sions. The Church of Christ was putting on a Christmas show entitled. "Follow the Star." Roxing fans were getting set for the local bout between Ray Wise of Heppner and Harold Ahalt of lone fighting at the 145 pound class and the match between Red Shipley of lone and Russ Wright of Lexington in the 145 pound bout. Billy Logan of lone and Gerald Swaggart of Heppner were i- - iinniino mmt 3f?MHGH an : 9 A C 1 A )T Ti I J' -.7-r -.f r. i - :. Karlv-rtav view of the Morrow County Courthouse. If 1 1 Historical courthouse, predating 1903 flood, built of Oregon-quarried rock (John F. Kilkemiey. one time Pendleton attorney mid now a member of U.S. inlh Circuit Court of Appeals. h;is written the "cover story" for the December issue of the Oregon State l?ar Bulletin, which features a picture of the .Morrow County Court house. (The Bar Bulletin has been presenting various historic Oregon court houses in its annual holiday issues. Kilken ny, whose office is in Portland, sunuestcd thai the courthouse in Heppner he featured this year.) By John F. Kilkenny The Morrow County Court house was authorized by a resolution introduced and pas sed at a regular session of the County Court on Jan. 11, 1902. Present at the meeting were AG. Bartholomew, county judge: E.C. Ashbaugh. com missioner: J.L. Howard, com missioners: R.T. Hynd. secre tary: and George Conger, chairman of the Construction Committee. Nine days later the site was selected and on I'Vb 20. 1902. Portland archi tect and contractor Edgar M. I.acrus was awarded a con tract for the project. In May Frank DtiPrat contracted to tin the masonry work. The oilier walls of the building are of native blue rock, trimmed in Kk'in sandstone, appar ently f married near Elgin in 1'nion County. The tower clock and $:.ri(iii Inward the cost of ((instruction were presented In Ihe county by the citizens of Heppner. Laurence and Louis Monter aslelli, well-known stone ma sons in 'eastern Oregon, cut and trimmed the stone for the entire building. The brothers, who were born in Lotta. Fiinann. Modena. Italy., were masons for the Christian and Catholic churches in Pendle ton. SI . Elizabeth's Hospital in Baker, and a number of other public and private buildings in eastern Oreenn. tocether with hundreds of headstones in cemeteries thrmmhoul Mor row and Umatilla counties. The courthouse, constructed on Ihe sile of a previous wooden structure. was comple ted in March 1903. It has been in continuous use ever since that lime and is one of the few rem;iinini courthouses in Ore con constructed at the turn of the conitirv The circuit judge at the time of completion was W l). Ellis. In 15103. only three months al'er Ihe completion of the Morrow County Courthouse in Heppner. a flash flood devas laled the town, killing one fourlh of the population. The lower clock, which had been donated by the citizens, chimed out 24 times and stopped short. Folklore? Maybe. Rut the people of Heppner. which boasts one of the most gracious courthouses in Ore gon, retell the story proudly. scheduled to fight in the preliminary bout at 130 pounds and at 150 pounds. Quell Ray of lone was going against Bily Smith of The Dalles. A snow storm in Heppner caused a tremendous amount of damage to electricity and phone lines causing disruption to the businesses and homes in Ihe community. Crews were working long hours to fix the problem. It snowed six inches. 15)54 Twenty-five years ago Jack Bedford was named the new Chamber of Commerce presi dent. Bedford was the First National Bank manager. Livestock prices continued to climb as Albert Osmin of Heppner topped the market at the flermiston livestock auc tion seljing 10 hogs weighing 2.200 pounds for $19.95 cwt. Top quality veal rose $1.95 in one week from $21.25 to $23.10 cwt . The Heppner- Civic Center building was going to be torn down because the "voters gave their support to remove all the old buildings on the. north Main Street property"-, and make it into a public park. The vote was close with 63 for antT 55 against. The voters agreed on a one mtfl special levy tax to renovate the site. Lexington re-elected its en tire slate of public officials to another term in office at the first regularly scheduled elec tion in five years. More than 500 children came to Heppner to visit with Santa Clans. 15)71 The Morrow County School Board adopted a school work experience program to set up in the schools. They had previous programs but this one had specific goals and a qualified instructor. Seven Union Pacific Rail road freight cars and a caboose derailed north of Heppner. The Irrigon City Council expressed concern about crime in the area and was hoping to have increased police protection. The council decided, to look for ways to increase funding so additional deputies could be hired. A Umatilla women, Judy Noble, was crowned Miss Northwest Rodeo. The Heppner Hotel had new owners. Jack and Betty Al bert, and they were planning to restore the building. They bought the hotel for $75,000. WHAT OTHERS SAY Hospitality for Hostages Backing for Carter Here's a Christmas idea that's spreading and is worthwhile. Send a Christmas card to a hostage. The idea started with a telephone call to a radio talk show and has since been picked up by President Carter with his encouragement. If you were being held hostage over the Christmas holidays by hostile Iranians, what would be more encouraging than 50-million Christmas cards from home? The cost of postage will be 31 cents if the Christmas card doesn't weigh over l !j ounce. It will cost 31 cents per ' ounce up to two ounces. The average letter, spokesmen say, will weigh in at an ounce and the average Christmas card' should get through at a half ounce. So. if you are going to mail one, make sure you get the proper postage on it or the post office may end up holding your Christmas card hostage. All you have to do is mail your card to: HOSTAGES United States Embassy 200 Takhte Jamshid Ave. Tehran, Iran We wouldn't advise sending presents or gifts. You have to consider that any religious leader creepy enough to exectue political opponents and hold innocent Americans hostage wouldn't be above petty theft. On the other hand, several million Christmas cards to the hostages should cheer (hem up a bit if they think someone cares. It also wouldn't hurt any for us to let the Iranians know that several million Americans are taking this whole thing personally. The Americans being held hostage by the Iranians won't have much of a Christmas and all they've got to look forward to is trial by the Iranian revoluntionary government. About all we can send them is a Christmas card and a prayer. Central Oregonian, Prineville President Carter must feel pretty good about the backing he's getting during the present crisis in Iran. That sense of national drift he identified earlier this year is all but gone. It's the kind of rally and spirit we've not seen in recent times. Mr. Carter's swift and decisive move to freeze Iranian assets in this country has been greeted with wide approval. Even some of his most vocal critics, such as Republican Ronald Reagan, have applauded this action without reservation. This is the kind of non-partisan backing our President needs in dealing with the Iranian crisis. But the nation has been providing some clear signals to the White House that would be difficult to misunderstand. The public expressed almost instant disapproval of Iranian student demonstrations. What followed was a presidential order for all Iranian guests in this country to report to the immigration service within thirty days or face deportation. The day KATU released its survey of Oregonians who approved cutting this country loose from Iranian oil supplies was the day the White House announced it would no longer buy oil from Iran. Another signal is going up. This time longshoremen of the ILWU are voting up and down the Pacific Coast. At issue is whether they will follow the lead of Portland longshoremen and refuse to load cargo onto Iranian vessels or ships bound for Iran no matter what their registry. A spokesman here in Portland thinks Local 8 will unanimously support the Iranian boycott, despite the loss in pay. As long as Americans are held hostage, we should consider a total embargo of all commerce with Iran. TV editorial, KATU, Channel 2 "Conscience is the inner voice that warns us somebody may be looking." Mencken iKfAWIHRISTMAS, GRANDMA JONES! Jj u from : Janet Kay, Pete, Jjg . Linette and Randy - 6" . CDCB30QX333 C 3 Heppner Auto Parts 234 N.Main Heppner 676-9123 M&R FLOOR COVERING The Rapco Foamers Carpet, Linoleum, Ceramic Tile, Kitchen Cabinets, Rapco Insulation HePPnr 422 Linden Woy 676-94 18 CASE FURNITURE Heppner Carpet, Linoleum, Counter Tops Installed Beauty Rest mattresses, Fabrics and Accessories, Sherwin Williams Paint TURNER VAN MARTER & BRYANT ot all uoux Umutance. 'DtLfJLont 676-grig 187WMTM MAM ITMIT MiPfHW. OMOO ?M INSURANCE HOWARD BRYANT Home Remodeling Specializing In Aluminum Siding and repair of old siding Storm Wiodowi ind Doon Prime Window! Small Remodeling Jobc KenFffield ZZ 676-5051 c ft MEDICAL CENTER PHARMACY Free MaOmc Servke On PreKriptnoi Hopol Supplier Moo.-fri. 9 pm. Sat. 9-1p.m. Locaed io tlx Medial Center 1100 Southgate Pendleton 276-1531 SWEENEY MORTUARY Cemetery, Grave Markers 676-9600 Granite, Marble, Dronze cr 676-9226 Serving lone, Lexington & Heppner p.o. Box 97 fJAYWES; BUSINESS MACHINES IHC Service calls every Wednesday in Heppner, lone and Lexington 332 S. Main St., Pendleton Telephone 276-6441 Bit N. Fim, Hennaton Telephone J67-2731 Chevron GLENN DEVIN Chevron USA, Inc. Commission Agent 676-9633 c Heppner Boardman Morrow County AbttrtJfcJrtja Compcny . Title Insurance t Escrow Service ' ' 676-9912 4M.9261 $r-j?
