TWO The lleppner Gazette-Times. Ileppner. Oregon. Thursday. December 27. I7!
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f- The Official Newspaper of th
City of Heppner and the
gnPA ' County of Morrow
Oregon Ntwiapei
The Heppner
GAZETTE-TIMES
Marrow Cjnly'j Bonf-Owiud Weekly Newsiper
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 pottage paid at
Heppner. Oregon
Office at 147 West Willow Street Telephone. '5031 676 9228
Address communications to the Heppner Gazette-Times. P.O. Box 337. Heppner.
Mrcunn. 978:16
Shcki in Morrow. Umatilla. Wheeler & Gilliam counties: 110 00 elsewhere
Senior Citizen Rate. $5 on
Jerome F. Sheldon, Publisher
Steven A. Powell. News Kditor
1980 & The Voters
What 1980 will hold in store for Oregon,
including Morrow County, is a whole raft of
elections.
Being a presidential year, some of the
candidates for their party nominations pos
sibly including President Jimmy Carter will
be visiting the state. The primary is
scheduled on Tuesday, May 20. Once upon a
time, Oregon was a bell-wether state in
national politics, but with so many other
states establishing presidential preference
primaries earlier in the year, the Oregon
primary may have lost some of its impact.
In 1948, for example, Gov. Thomas E.
Dewey of New York clinched his hold on the
GOP nomination in a radio debate with
Harold E. Stassen, the former governor of
Minnesota. The debate was broadcast from
Portland.
The two of them had criss-crossed the
state at least the main portions of it in
chartered Greyhound buses, accompanied by
their campaign assistants and national press
correspondents.
Dewey had been the Republican standard
bearer four years before. Stassen had left the
Minnesota statehouse to serve in the Navy as
flag secretary to Admiral William F; Halsey.
They faced each other in Oregon for the
chance to lead what they hoped would be a
successful Republican comeback in 1948. It's
history now we all know that a feisty Harry
Truman won the presidency in his own right
against all the odds.
In the Oregon campaign that year,
Dewey and Stassen had addressed small
town audiences from courthouses steps or in
National Guard armories, and had shaken
countless hands along many a Main Street.
Dewey won Oregon so far as Republi
cans were concerned when he faced Stassen
in a Portland radio studio. His skills in
debate, honed as a crime-busting prosecutor,
held him in good stead.
Southern Morrow County has never
attracted the presidential candidates. It is too
remote and the population too small. Perhaps
it is less our loss and more that of those who
aspire to high office. However, to make up for
it, Morrow County may face quite a political
battle of its own for every county official
holding an elective office, except the district
attorney, is to face the voters.
The entire County Court will be on the
ballot. County Judge Don McElligott, a
Democrat appointed recently to succeed D.O.
Nelson, would face the voters for a six-year
term. Commissioners Warren McCoy, a
Democrat, and Dorothy Krebs, a Republican,
would be up for four-year terms.
Treasurer Sylvania McDaniel, a Repub
lican, Assessor Greg Sweek, a Democrat
(who was appointed to succeed Everett
Harshman), and Sheriff Larry Fetsch, a
Democrat, would seek four-year terms.
The two main election hurdles will be the
May primary and the November general
election. But those may not be the only times
voters will be called to the polling places. By
action of the Legislature, fixed dates have
been set for special elections, such as to
approve school district budgets. Considering
the difficulty some districts have in
persuading the voters to approve budget
levies, the process may be started early. The
fixed election dates in 1980 are to fall in
February, March, May, June, September id
November.
There may be voter apathy but it cannot
be denied that elections are the spice of
participatory democracy.
The lleppner Gazette-Times invites letters for
publication. They should concern matters of general interest.
JThey must be non-libelous in nature and in good taste.
Preferably, letters should be typed, double-spaced, on one
side of the sheet of paper only. Letters of diverse viewpoints
may be published and their appearance in these columns
does not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.
SiFting through the TIMBSj7"
' ' V
I!I2
Fifty years ago Cecilia
Kenny and William Bucknum
were married on Christmas
morning at St. Patrick's
Church. The honeymoon trip
was to Walla Walla.
About 250 persons attended
the dinner, program and
installation ceremonies of the
Masonic Rlue Lodge.
The stale highway commis
sin ordered a survey of the
Wallulla cut-off to shorten the
distance between Spokane and
Portland. The Heppner Lions
club went to Portland a few
weeks earlier lo voice their
approval for the cut-off.
Gophers were busy at work
in the alfalfa fields in Morrow
County and agricultural agent
Charles Smith recommended
poisoning the critters with
Strychnine sulphate sprinkled
on carrots or parsnips.
Ii5l
The first shipment of Mor
row County grain was made
from the Morrow County
Grain Growers' elevator and
dock facility at Patterson
ferry.
New owners took over the
Heppner Lumber plant. The
sale included the large mill
and all the timber holdings of
the company. The name of the
mill was changed lo Heppner
Pino Mills Inc.
lleppner merchants were
point! to give out prizes to the
first baby born in 1955.
Ilenrv Ranch won first place
in the Heppner Christmas
I ii'Ming contest He won a
picnic kit In second place was
W C Hosewalls and he won a
set of Christmas lights. The
third place winner of an alarm
clock was Waller Edgar.
The youth activities com
mittee of the local Chamber of
Commerce decided to rope off
two special areas for young
people to sled on. The streets
were on cemetery hill for the
older sledders and Baltimore
Street for the younger ones.
107 1
Five years ago Harold Kerr
was named president of the
Morrow County-Heppner
Chamber of Commerce suc
ceeding Jim Bier.
Santa and his helpers made
2(Mi phone calls to children in
Heppner. Lexington and lone.
Clinton Krebs of lone and a
junior at Oregon State Unive
sity was leaving to study
agriculture in New Zealand
In Heppner basketball ac
tion, the Mustangs lost two
close games. One was 52-51 to
Condon and the other a 45-43
loss to Riverside.
Insight into Morrow County's Irish
(We thank .I.W. Forrester, editor of the Daily Astorian.
for permission to reprint the following. It was inspired by a
short article on the history of the Morrow County Courthouse
that appeared in the December issue of the Oregon State Bar
Bulletin.
(The Bar Bulletin's holiday issue "cover story" was
written by John F. Kilkenny, a Morrow County native,
former Pendleton attorney, and now a senior circuit judge of
the I'nited States Court or Appeals for the Ninth Circuit,
whose offiee is in Portland.
(Last week we reprinted Judge Kilkenny's article along
with an early-day photograph of the courthouse that was used
in illustration. Mr. Forrester's comments, under the heading
of "F.ditor's Notebook." provide an insight into the Irish
population of Morrow County.)
I can't reconcile it with the population of the place, but it
has seemed to me over the many years that I encounter more
people who have lived in Morrow County or have had some
family association there than with any other location in
Oregon.
The late Giles French, long time editor of the Sherman
County Journal, wrote a history of Mor. w County. When I
discussed my observation with him he said I might be right
because in writing the book he'd come upon many more
persons than he'd anticipated who had ties with Morrow
County.
Some of the most delightful past and present residents of
Morrow County are Irish. The Irish settlement was quite
small in the beginning. It grew as Irishmen who had come
there to do farm work, principally sheep herding, sent home
for Irishwomen whom they married. Those families invited
others to come and the Irish population grew and grew.
I thought of all of this the other day when I picked up the
December issue of the Oregon State Bar Bulletin. There was
a picture of the Morrow County courthouse at Heppner on the
cover and inside there was a story about the 76-year old
structure written by one of Morrow County's most
distinguished sons. U.S. Court of Appeals Judge John F.
Kilkenny.
John Kilkenny grew up in Morrow County. He was
educated at Notre Dame and practiced law for many years in
Pendleton with one of eastern Oregon's oldest firms which
was put together in an early day by Col. James Raley. The
firm 's members over the years included a U.S. senator, state
Supreme Court and federal court judges.
When Kilkenny left the firm to sit on the U.S. District
Court bench in Portland it was Raley. Kilkenny and Raley,
and he was known far and wide as an exceptional trial
lawver.
Stories were told with both amusement and pain by
western Oregon lawyers who had opposed Kilkenny in trials
heard by circuit court judges in the Morrow County
courthouse. It was impossible to draw a jury the majority of
whose members did not know John Kilkenny or other
Kilkennys. He was much better than most trial lawyers
wherever he worked but he was unbeatable in the Morrow
County courthouse.
Many wonderful stories are told of the Morrow County
Irish. One of the best. I think, involves John Kilkenny's
father.
He was called upon by the members of a sheep crew to
settle an argument that was threatening to break out into
fighting. They were arguing the pros and cons of prohibition.
What was his judgment?
After due deliberation the honorable gentleman
pronounced his judgment that "prohibition is better than no
whiskey at all."
Refore I leave this subject I should tell you a story about
that old Morrow County courthouse.
Three months after the courthouse was occupied, a flash
flood devastated Heppner. did great damage elsewhere in
Morrow County and took many lives. As editor for many
years of the East Oregonian. I read and heard countless
accounts of the Heppner flood, including several by
survivors. One of the most interesting is that when the flood
hit the city the tower clock in the courthouse, which had been
donated by the residents of the county, chimed 24 times and
slopped.
Does that sound like a story invented by an imaginative
Irishman? I leave it to you. I have many Irish friends in
Morrow County and I accept whatever they tell me.
J.W. Forrester
SALEM SCENE by J A CK ZIMMERMAN
It's the Boss who pays the benefits
Year's end is a time for
celebration and resolution.
We toast the old year, salute
the new and pledge to do
better in months ahead.
But when celebrating ends
and hills come due. most
Oregonians face the sobering
task of matching income with
outgo. If at any time during
the year a worker compares a
gross pay with the amount he
or she takes home, it's during
the first pay period of the
year.
Too often pay vouchers and
check stubs do little to
satisfactorily enlighten their
readers. The amounts with
held are legible enough. But
the initials or abbreviations
for which those amounts are
withheld might as well be
printed in Greek.
Furthermore, the stubs and
vouchers seldom if ever tell
the worker how much the boss
matches and pungles up in
addition to the amount with
held for the worker.
For instance, there's the
indication something called
FICA is taking a bite out of a
worker's wage or salary.
FICA stands for Federal
Insurance Contributions Act.
What's that? It's Social Secur
ity. All right, the worker earn
ing Oregon's average weekly
wage of $241.70 learns $14.82 is
being withheld from his
weekly pay to help provide for
Social Security benefits on
retirement. But there's noth
ing on that check stub
indicating his or her employer
pays the federal government
the identical amount every
week. $14.82. for that workers' '
retirement benefits also.
Thai's right . Each employer
matches dollar-for -dollar
even' bit paid the federal
government for Social Secur
ity. Thai's a handsome fringe
benefit . And it can get
expensive.
When the system first became
law in lfW. each worker and
employer was taxed $30 apiece
annually. The wage earner
making Oregon's average
weekly wage and that work
er's employer now pay nearly
that much every two weeks.
What's more the maximum
Social Security tax paid by
employe and employer on the
maximum taxable wage in
KiKiv-$25.900-is a whopping
$2,807.54. That's an increase in
maximum Social Security tax
per worker of more than 3.500
percent since 1937!
compare that with the
cost-of-living or any other
measurement you'd like. It 's a
bundle. Of course, benefits
have increased through the
years and that's why the tax is
so high. Congress has in
creased retirement benefits
and added benefits for wid
ows, dependent children.
Medicare and other items to
the point the tax has been
increased 23 times since
inception and we're told the
system is slill on shaky ground
and more increases are
needed in the future.
Rut Social Security (FICA)
is only the tip of the iceberg.
We sees withholding for fed
eral income tax. withholding
for state income lax and other
ilems on our check stubs. And
when all are subtracted,
there's our takehnme nnv
Thai worker earning the
average weekly wage- in
Oregon has the following
amounts deducted $14.82 for
Social Security. $26.40 for
federal income tax (assuming
two dependents). $12 for state
income tax and 40 cents for
Workers' Compensation In
surance. That leaves a net of
$188.88 every week.
Rut we mentioned employ
ers pay an equal amount of tax
for each worker to the federal
Social Security system. Are
there other fringes most
workers fail lo comprehend
because they may not be on
that paycheck stun?
You bet there are. The
employer of that average
weekly wage earner also pays
$7.01 weekly to the govern
ent for the worker's Unem
ployment Insurance.
That's not indicated on the
check stub. And this comes as
a surprise to many workers.
They believe they contribute
to unemployment insurance.
How often have you heard a
person who leaes a job and
applies for jobless pay de
clare: "I deserve it. I've been
paying for it all along."?
Not true Unemployment
compensation is mandated by
the federal government and
paid for wholly by employers.
Little wonder workers are
confused. They see that they
pay 40 cents a week
Workers' Compensation
surance. Rut they don't under
stand that eight cenls-a-day
isn't the premium for Work
ers' Comp. It's only a token
assessment to help bring
benefits up lo date, insure
against second injuries and
disability prevention.
for
In-
The boss pays the insurance
premium for every worker.
And Workers' Comp is more
expensive for Oregon employ
ers than in any other state.
Employers buy Workers'
Comp Insurance at different
rates for each $ino of payroll,
depending on relative job
safely.
The average rate in Oregon
is $5.77 for every $100 in pay.
But on hazardous jobs some
employers ha veto pay almost
ion per cent dollar-for -dollar
of pav! And recall that eight
cents the worker pays? The
employer pays another six
cents daily for the same
reasons.
If one who compares gross
pay with takehome is discour
aged or confused because
reasons for the deductions are
unclear, imagine how much
beltertheworkerwould feel if
(he whole withholding story
were known?
In the case of that average
weekly wage earner, only
$15.22 is withheld each week
for the Social Security. Unem
ployment and Worker's Comp.
That workers' employer pays
more than twice that much
$37.77 every week for bene
fits accruing to the employe.
If that unseen fringe were
added to the worker's base
pay. the weekly average
would be $279.47. not $241 .70.
While this situation does
little lo help pay current bills,
it helps guarantee payment of
some in the future. And it's
something everyone who
works for a living should know
about
"Self-control is at the root of
all virtues." Samuel Smiles
a We'd like to wish all our very good
g friends in the Heppner area a belated g
0 Merry Christmas and a Joyous New Year g
U We do miss all the fine folks in Heppner!
Sincerely Vi and Conley Lanham . )
"Nothing astonishes men so much as common sense
and plain dealing." Ralph Waldo Emerson
C
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BUSINESS
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Service calls . every Wednesday
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i in' in ii mm i ihiiiik nwn nijKifcwJ-.i..i.J-l. . - .' ,
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GLENN DEVIN
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Commission Agent
676-9633
J
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Boardman
m Morrow County
Abitrcsct & TitJa Company
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676-9912 481-9261
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