Local man converts own electric car
"Works pretty good around town," says Ed Struthers, who took his '87 Colt off gasoline
By David Sykes
University of
Eugene, O R
A local man with
a knack for doing things
him self has taken another
step and cut his dependence
on gasoline, at least for
some o f his ‘around tow n’
transportation needs.
Ed S tru th e rs o f
Heppner has gone electric,
and not with a $40,000 Volt
3
azette
imes
VOL. 130
NO. 13
8 Pages
Wednesday, April 6,2011
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Valby Lutheran Church celebrates 125 years o f service
One o f the oldest
Lutheran Churches in the
northwest is celebrating its
125th anniversary. Founded
April 16, 1886, Dr. Nore-
lius came to a place called
“Alkali”. He was met there
by John Peterson and John
Johnson, a section boss at
the O.R. & M railroad.
A n y o n e c o m in g
into this area m ust go as
far as Arlington and be met
by buckboard, horseback
or walk the long distance
o f 40-50 miles to Valby’s
location. Thanking the two
Johns, they proceeded to
a site 17 miles south o f a
small village called lone.
On Sunday, services were
held at the John Johnson
home where two baptisms
were performed.
On April 19 a meet
ing was called to order and
a fte r d isc u ssio n , it was
unanim ously decided to
form a new church high
atop a hill o f native bunch-
grass. T his area had a t
tracted Swedish homestead
ers for a number o f years.
The group decided to call
the new church, “ Sw ed
ish Evangelical Lutheran
Congregation”, or in Swed
ish language, “Shepherds
Dell”. At that time, mem
bership had grown to 261.
either. “I have wanted to do
something like this for the
past 20 years,” Struthers
says of his efforts to make
him self an electric car and
get off gasoline, at least for
around town driving. So fi
nally he says he just ordered
the electric motor, pulled
out the gas engine, made the
necessary conversions, and
put the electric components
back in.
It took him about
three weeks and cost be
tween four and five thou
sand dollars, but he ended
up with a real electric car.
There are six 12 volt bat
teries in the back part of the
car that supply power.
And how does it
run? Apparently not too bad
for getting around town. “1
drive it to the grocery store,
and out to the golf course
and it does pretty good,”
says Struthers, adding that
he got it up to about 53
m iles per hour. Struthers
has to go up a pretty steep
hill to get home, he and his
wife M arie live on Rock
Street, and he says it does
okay with that too.
A quick tour around
town in the car shows that
it does have good pick up.
It has a five speed transmis
sion with no clutch. “You
know how you used to do
it when you had a manual
transmission?” he says o f
changing gears. “Just kind
o f slip it in there.”
It d o e s n ’t n e e d
power steering and so far
there is no heater. “I haven’t
figured that out yet but 1
am thinking about maybe
a catalytic h eater,” says
S tru th e rs w ho is p retty
handy, having built tw o
o f his own homes in Hep
pner, as well as having al
ways enjoyed working with
cars and other mechanical
things. Struthers spent time
as an electronic technician
in the US Navy.
The motor is a 17
horsepower electric engine.
“You can buy a whole “kit”
but I just bought some of
the components,” Struthers
says. He said M iller and
Sons in Heppner did some
Top Photo: Ed Struthers of Heppner shows where he replaced
gas engine with an electric motor. Bottom Photo: No more gas
stations. Struthers shows where he plugs in his self built electric
car. -Photos by David Sykes
fabrication to make things
all fit. He basically bolted
the electric motor, which
fits sideways in the engine
compartment, to the trans
mission just like a regular
engine. There is o f course
no starter or flywheel.
The speed o f the
vehicle is controlled by
increasing the current, us
ing the former gas pedal,
to the motor. He says he
has stripped off a lot o f the
extra metal and other un
necessary parts to decrease
the weight and make the
vehicle lighter and thus
more efficient.
A nd, o f c o u rse ,
there are no maintenance
costs like oil, and forget
about the price o f gas bump
ing up against four dollars
per gallon. Struthers smiles
as he holds the reg u lar
110 volt plug-in placed,
ironically, right where the
former gas tank intake used
to be.
Did he enjoy con
verting over the car to elec
tric, Struthers was asked? “I
did, but I would have liked
it more if I had a garage to
work in.” He says all the
work was done out in the
weather, some o f it during
the winter months.
lone School Board aligns school calendar
more toward college calendars
Valby Lutheran Church -Photo by Sheryl Parrots
Longer Thanksgiving, later summer dismissal
By April Sykes
The m em bership
decided to form an orga
nization called “Onward.”
Its mission was to interest
folks from Sweden and also
the surrounding area to join
this C hristian congrega-
G-T Trophy Corner
Bev Crum of lone caught this 44-iach sturgeon on March
26 during a Ashing trip on the Columbia River. - Contributed
photo
tion. It also held weekly
classes to study Swedish
and English and especially
to study the Oregon Board
of Immigration to become
American citizens.
T h ro u g h o u t the
many years that followed,
membership grew from all
o f the lone and surrounding
comm unities. A w om en’s
“missionary society” was
form ed with m eetings at
the various homes once a
month.
A s tim e m o v ed
on, m any changes have
evolved. T ran sp o rtatio n
evolved, w heat farm ing
took over from cattle and
sheep. Farms and ranches
grew larger as children of
the families attended local
schools and then proceeded
to their own careers in dis
tant lands and places.
To c e le b ra te the
history o f Valby, on May
1 the church is welcoming
all o f its church families,
those whose were members
generations ago, friends
o f those w ho have fond
memories o f their younger
days at Valby, ands all of
our Christian brothers and
sisters of the many denomi
nations within the area serv
ing the one true God.
T he sc h e d u le is
as follows: At 10 Sunday
morning. May 1, there will
be coffee for those who will
be traveling from afar, and
for those who wish to visit
prior to the festivities. From
-See VALBY CELEBRATES
’ 125 YEARS/Page FIVE
I
1
The lone School
Board, at its regular meet
ing Tuesday, M arch 29,
approved a 2011-12 school
calendar that m oves the
d is tric t’s calen d ar m ore
with in line with college
calendars.
Principal Jerry Ar
cher said that since the
district is participating in
the Eastern Promise, a pi
lot program which would
allow lone School students
to earn college credits while
still in high school, it is fit
ting that the school calendar
com e m ore in line with
colleges. The new calen
dar provides for a longer
Thanksgiving break, a two-
week Christmas break and a
later dismissal for summer
vacation.
A rch er said that
another reason for extend
ing the Thanksgiving and
C hristm as breaks was to
cut down on absences, since
p aren ts often take their
children out o f school for
e x te n d e d h o lid ay v a c a
tions. He also touched on
traditionally low attendance
during state playoffs. “We
all believe that school is
more important than sports.
School is number one, but
if we’re going to lose 50-60
kids...”
“ If we qualify for
a state tournament, we will
close school. We will make
up those day(s) up on the
Friday(s) immediately fol
lowing the tournam ent,”
said Archer.
B o a rd m e m b e r
L isa R ietm ann asked if
having no classes on Friday
would become a problem
for students obtaining col
lege credits. A rcher said
that he had played with
the idea o f five-day school
week and also o f not start
ing school until late Sep
tember, more in line with
college classes.
Archer said that he
had met num erous tim es
with staff concerning the
calendar and said they were
in agreement, but the actual
schedule was not seen by
sta ff p rio r to board a p
proval. In the 2011-12 cal
endar, teachers would start
Tuesday, August 23; stu
dents would start Monday
August 29; Thanksgiving
break w ould be a w eek
from Monday, November
21 through Friday, Novem
ber 25; C hristm as break
would be two weeks, from
M onday, D ecem ber 19,
through Sunday, January 1 ;
spring break would be from
Monday, March 26 through
Friday, March 30; gradua
tion would be Friday, June
8, with Wednesday, June
13, the last day o f school
for students and Friday,
June 15, the last day for
teachers.
S u p e r in te n d e n t
Mark M ulivhill said that
an Eastern Promise mini
session, a four-week inten
sive study period to get kids
ready to qualify for classes
they need to obtain college
credits, is being planned.
In other business,
the board:
-discussed the pur
chase o f a new or used
boiler or HVAC system to
replace the current aging
system.
-learned that the
district's computer server
has been u p g rad ed and
will include the G oogle
Apps (w eb applications)
program. Google Apps for
-See ¡ONE SCH O O L D IS
TRICT Page FIVE
AT MCGG GREEN FEED & SEED IN HEPPNER:
L awn thatcher & rototiller for rent y
Garden Seeds • Onion Sets
Seed Potatoes • Vegetable Starts
Morrow County Grain Growers Green Feed & Seed
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