Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (April 10, 1991)
itmmm t» P r S S I K r* O P r A 7 : L i°., WWII vet receives honors 46 years later azette imes 350 VOL 110 NO. 15___ W ' T A ____ Wednesday, April 10, 1991____________Heppner 35*_________6 Pages Alva Jones celebrates 100th birthday Fire didn’t deter this World War II vet from receiving his combat medals, although it took him a bit longer to receive them. The medals awarded Herman Blettell had been lost and the place where his military records were kept caught fire so the presentation was delayed until last week, when he finally received the medals from Veteran’s Service officer Rita Hed man. She presented them to him at the Morrow County annex in Heppner. And what a list of medals-Blettell received the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, the Good Conduct Medal, the Meretorious Unit Emblem, the Presidential Unit Emblem, the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, the Army Occupation Medal with a Ger many Clasp, the Combat Infan tryman Badge, and the Honorable Service Lapel Button. During World War II, Blettell was a supply sergeant with the 42nd Rainbow Division, Third Battalion, L. Company 222nd. He had charge of issue of all clothing, food and am m unition. Every day it was necessary for Blettell to go to the front lines and he was wounded with shrapnel as he was delivering am munition and food to the company at the Siegfried line. At the Siegfried Line, he said, the Germans had con crete bunkers three stories underground. After he was wound ed he spent a week in the hospital. He was bom in North Dakota to Louis and Annie Blettell. Born in 1910, Blettell came to Pendleton in 1931 and to Heppner in 1932. At one time he worked for Bill Doherty on his ranch. In 1942, when he was 32, Blettell was drafted into the Army. At that time he was work ing for St. Anthony’s Hospital in Pendleton. After his stint in the Ar my, he returned to Heppner in 1945, the year he started farming on his own ranch. In 1951 he married Mary Brandon. When they met, she waited tables at the Elkhom Restaurant, owned by Eddie Chin. Mary passed away in 1988. Blettell, now 80 years old, has been a member of the American Legion for the past 46 years. He was a post commander in Christman convicted on manslaughter charge Four generations of the Jones family, sitting 100 year old Alva Jones, clockwise standing-granddaughter Bobbette Hed- man, Bob Jones, great-granddaughters Tiffany Hedman and Brianne Jones. Heralded as one of the areas oldest patriarchs, Alva Jones, Hepp ner, celebrated his 100th birthday recently as family members and friends came to wish him many hap py returns and to share his birthday cake. Bom March 31, 1891, Jones, very trim, alert and up-to-date, continues to be in good health. A recent rare hospital stay was only a minor set back for him when it comes to walk ing for exercise. This very private centenarian has lead a productive life as a farmer in the Rhea Creek area, where his father and grandfather before him also farmed. That tradition is now being carried on by a son and grandson. Jones said that a frugal lifestyle kept everyone going during the depression at the end of the 20s. There wasn’t much money and you paid your debts when you could. And things didn’t get much better during the drought years of the 30s, he said. A lot of business deals then were made on the strength of a handshake and farmers didn’t have much to sell. People were self-sufficient, raising most of their food and making do with whatever they had, he said. Mechanization revolutionized far ming during Jones’ lifetime and made it much easier. But a farmer couldn’t over-produce when it came to raising wheat in those days. And lack of moisture or competition from weeds made it even tougher, he said. In contrast, today there are chemicals that can control specific things, even before plowing, he noted. In the late 20s, Jones began farm ing with an iron-cleated John Deere tractor. It was later replaced with a track-layer UBA tractor. The first tractors didn’t have much traction in the front wheels, but they made far ming easier and faster, he said. Family farm life was interrupted when he was inducted into the Ar my during World War I. His divi sion landed in France by boat in 1918. After fighting on front lines, he came down with the mumps as the war ended and spent a period of time in a French hospital. At home in 1920, he married Han nah Wilson, an Irish lass. They were married 31 years before she passed away in 1951. Their sons, Robert of Heppner and Donald of Phoenix, six grandchildren and four great grandchildren are a part of the Jones current generations. New barge loaded on Columbia navigating the Snake River if water levels are reduced in the future to aid salmon populations. Barge shipment is the cheapest way for Morrow County Farmers to get their wheat to Portland. This new barge, owned by Shaver Transpor tation. holds 3,600 tons of wheat, or 120,000 bushels, and will be transported down river with three other barges. Truck shipment is more expensive with 120 trucks being needed to transport what one barge can haul. New shaver barge is loaded at Hogue-Warner One of the first new barges built for the Columbia River in recent years is loaded with wheat at the Morrow Co. Grain Growers Hogue- Wamer dock Tuesday. Because of uncertainty over the extent of salmon preservation methods to be taken on the Colum bia in the coming years, building a new barge could be considered a financial risk. The barge, which measures 273 feet long. 42 feet wide, and has a 14 foot draft could have difficulty Carl D Christman, lone, was found guilty of second-degree manslaughter Monday in the hit-and- run death of an accident victim last year. Christman, 32, was also found guilty of failure to perform the duties of a driver involved in an accident (hit and run), three counts of recklessly endangering and reckless driving. Testimony during the four-day jury trial, held in Morrow County C ircuit C ourt, revealed that Christman's blood alcohol level two and one half hours after he ran over and killed 26-year-old Steve Burland on Highway 207 south of Butter- creek junction May 11, 1990, was .23, nearly three times the legal limit. Burland, who recently moved to Heppner from Montana, had been thrown or crawled from his vehicle after a one-car accident and was be ing attended to by passing motorists. Christman, who was driving toward Hermiston, approached the scene, swerved around a car blocking his path and ran over the victim at a high rate of speed, say witnesses. Burland was alive and responding to aid at the time and an ambulance had been called. The three counts of reckless en dangering resulted from Christman nearly striking three people helping Burland. The three jumped out of the way at the last second. Christman, who testified he drank 10 cans of beer before getting in his Power outage caused by accident A motorist hit a power pole Satur day evening April 6, causing an outage which lasted over eight hours in some areas served by Columbia Basin Electric. CBEC Manager Fred Toombs said that a vehicle broke a pole on the main transmission line at Baseline Road and Highway 207 around 9:30 p.m. Saturday. Hepp ner. lone and Lexington were restored power in about an hour, but some homes in the Sandhollow area were not restored to power until 5:30 a.m. the next morning. Richard A. Peterson, 34, lone, was cited in connection with the ac cident on charges of failure to per form duties of a driver (property damage) and careless driving. 55 Alive driver’s course set By Anne Morter The “ 55 Alive” classroom refresher course for drivers 55 years and older will be held next Monday and Tuesday, April 15 and 16 at the Willows Grange Hall in lone. Each Conservation Farm to be announced The Spring Wheat League meeting will be held at Willows Grange on April 25 at 7 p.m. according to Mor row County Extension agent Fred Lundin. Lundin says that the conservation Farm of the Year award will be nam ed at that time. car that evening, and two more while driving, stopped briefly after killing Burland to talk to a flagger at the scene. He left, however, and was later apprehended by the Oregon State Police in Echo where he was being thrown out of the Echo Tavem for causing a disturbance. Christman admitted on the witness stand he was drunk, but said poor visibility prevented him from seeing the victim. Testimony showed, however, that he was wearing sunglasses at the time. Witnesses said that although the accident occurred around 8:45 p.m. visibility was not a problem. The sun had gone down but it was not yet dark, the sky was clear and there was a full moon. Morrow County District Attorney Jeff Wallace brought charges of first degree m anslaughter against Christman, but the jury decided on the lesser charge of second degree. Judge Richard Courson presided over the trial, which began last Wednesday, April 3, and ended after a three-hour jury deliberation Mon day, April 8. Courson ordered a pre-sentence investigation with sentencing ex pected May 17. Manslaughter is a Class B felony with a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. Hit and run is a Class C felony punishable by five years in prison. The reckless endangering charges are misdemeanors and have a maximum one year and $2,500 fine for each. session will run from 8:30 a m. to 1 p.m. and the cost of the course is $8. Interested parties should contact Helen Crawford at 422-7575 in the evenings for further details. 1974 and has been a vice commander. Blettell is a 52-year member of the Elks’ club and for five years was a trustee. One of Blettell’s brothers, David, died in World War II during the lan ding at the Philippines. Three other brothers also served during the war. Bud, A1 and Wally. Wally died of a heart attack after discharge, as a result of an accident in the service. Blood drive scheduled A Red Cross blood drive will be held Monday, April 22 from 1 to 5:30 p.m. at the Heppner Elks Club. For more information call Dana Reid, 676-9187 days or 676-9973 evenings. Pool to open June 16 The Heppner City Pool will open June 16 with reduced hours, accor ding to information received at Heppner City Council meeting April 8. The last day of school is June 7. Following a free swim on June 16, the pool will be closed on Mondays, with the exception of lessons held from noon to 3 p.m. Hours Tuesday through Friday are: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.-lessons; 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. open swim; 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.-lap swim: 7 to 8:30 p.m. open swim. Saturday and Sunday the pool will be open from 1 to 5 p.m for an open swim. Season ticket prices are the same as last year but individual session swims and lessons are up. Family tickets are $60; individual season tickets-$25; each session (any age)-$l; and lessons are $15 per stu dent. Season tickets and swim lesson fees may be purchased beginning June 16. Employees required to operate the pool are down from eight last year to six. because of the reduced hours. The manager requiring a water safety instructor’s card, would be employed at $7.50 an hour; an assis tant manager, also requiring a water safety instructor's card would receive $6.50 an hour, except when he assumes the manager’s duties at $7.50 an hour. Three WSI lifeguards would receive $6 an hour and a cashier would receive $5 an hour. A community work day is being planned to paint the pool. A crew will prepare the pool surrounding area for painting, but volunteers are needed for painting. A special fund has been set up at the Bank of Eastern Oregon for donations to renovate the pool’s filtering system. The Oddfellows have donated $2,500 and the Sorop- timists $500 toward the renovation which is estimated to cost $6,500. In other business at Monday’s meeting, the city council voted to in crease city sewer rates to offset $29,163 required for operation. Ac cording to City attorney Bill Kuhn. Measure 5 required that utilities pay for themselves. In previous years ci ty funds were used to make up the difference between rates and costs. REHEM BER A P R IL 15 Last day to con trib u te to you r IR A for 1990 See Barb D AN K OF X jju a & te m O reqon • Arlington Heppner • lone " Y m r Independent Home Onmed Bank F0,c
