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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (March 5, 1961)
MEDFOHD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFORD. ORE SUNDAY. MARCH S. 1961 D 3 Ballpark May Be Renovated; Class B Talk at White City Parks Department Preparing Plans to Overhaul Stadium The fairgrounds ballpark, more commonly known as the Cheney Studs ballpark, may be in for a complete overhaul If plans now being prepared by the county parks and rec reation staff receive final ap proval. The baseball stadium, lo cated south of Medford on Highway 99, has long been in a state of disrepair. During the recent windstorm in the valley one of the baseball field light poles collapsed and took a section of the stadium fence with it. Although the stadium is on fairgrounds property and is owned by the county, it has been maintained and operat ed in recent years by the Che ney Studs, a trademark of the sports-minded Cheney Forest Products company, Central Point. Bepairt Proposed The county parks and recre ation staff would change this. City - County Parks Director Robert Haworth told the Mail Tribune last week that it is proposed to repair many of the stadium facilities, includ ing the playing field, and make it available for any group that wants to use it. County welfare labor crews are being tapped to provide the labor for renovation of the stadium. One crew spent two days at the ballpark last week doing preliminary clean up and maintenance work. Haworth said it is not yet known just how much of the siadium will be renovated. Some improvements, such as leveling of the playing field, and replacement of seating fa cilities, have already received tentative approval, he said. Other improvements have not yet been approved, pending determination of their cost. Estimate Not Available An estimate of the total cost of the siadium renova tion is not yet available, Ha worth said, although it should not prove prohibitive since welfare workers will be pro viding the labor. . The stadium was built in July, 1051, following a fire that same summer which de stroyed the previous ballpark, then the home of the Medford Rogues professional baseball team. Original cost of the siadium was small, since it was con structed with donated lumber and labor. It has a seating ca pacity of 1,000, and was in tended to last only two or three years. When the Rogue baseball team folded after the 1951 sea son, the stadium lay idle for several years. Then the Che ney Studs made an informal arrangement with the county fair board whereby they would use and maintain the stadium. It has been used in recent years by American Le gion baseball teams and an occasional semi-pro team. The, Cheney Studs made consider able improvement of the ap pearance of the stadium when they took it over. A misunderstanding arose Wednesday over the county's intended use of the stadium. Several persons felt the coun ty would prevent its use by American Legion teams, and when a work crew tried to enter the stadium Wednesday, an unidentified man barred their way. Straightened Out By the next day, however, the misunderstanding appar ently had been straightened out, and the work crew en tered the stadium without in cident. Haworth declared that the county will not prohibit use of the ballpark, to any group, including the American Le gion. On the contrary, he said, as many groups as possible will be encouraged to use the facility. Playing schedules of the various groups would be arranged so that all could play, he said. Haworth said also that a representative of the Cheney Studs claimed the group had a written agreement with the fair board whereby they could use and maintain the stadium for as long as they wanted. However, no evidence of a formal or written agreement has turnediip, he said. Have No Objection Bill Askwith, superintend ent at the Cheney mill and a local backer of American Le gion ball, told the Mail Trib- TO BE RENOVATED The Fairgrounds ballpark, located on Highway 99 south of Medford, is due lo be renovated, according to plans now being prepared by the county parks Vid recreation staff. The stadium has a seating capacity of 1,000, and, in recent years, has been operated by the Cheney Studs under an agreement with the county fairboard. mirn TIM 1 4?" Northwest League Games May Be Played at Domicilary Field une that the Cheney Studs have no objection lo the coun ty's taking over operation of the siadium. He did say, how ever, that Haworth failed to make it clear to him what the county proposed to do with the stadium when he first ap proached him on the matter. If complete renovation of the ballpark is approved, it would include replacement of the existing seating facilities; reinforcement of the grand stands; replacement and re alignment of stadium fences: replacement of the grand stand roof; improved sanita tion facilities; new baseball team dugouts, and installation of a new protective wire mesh screen in front of the grand stands. Haworth said that in addi tion to making the baseball field playable, the ballpark will also have to be made into a safe facility for public use. Offer To Sell Haworth said he under stands the Cheney Studs, who own the ball field lights, have offered to sell them to the county. Some reinforcement of the light poles is needed, he said. One group that is eyeing possible use of the stadium in the near future is the Medford High school baseball team, whose own baseball field is scheduled to undergo renova tion this spring. Russ Atchison, assistant su perintendent of the Medford schools, said if the high school does decide to use the fair grounds ballpark it will be on a temporary basis only, un til its own field is again in good playing shape. The high school would assist in reno vating the ballpark playing field. National Forest Timber Sold at 7 Auctions This Year There's a LION'S SHARE for EVERYONE when you have a- if ih m WATER HEATER S O C Trade-In Allowance y i For your old Water Heater! On a New "Day & Night" Jetglass Water Heater Regular Price $87.50 C-i your lion's hr. .en Our Allowance 25.00 of hot watar with a rmrproof, wattrproof mwen JETGLASS Gal Wirer YqU Pgu 5C JO" HJttr. Guar.nla.d f 10 y..-,! ONLY wii in This SAVINGS li also available through your plumber. Visit our display floor. A GAS Live modern... for less... with CALIFORNIA-PACIFIC UTILITIES COMPANY Phont SP 2-5284, Medford MU 5-6291, Ashland State Files Suits 01 Condemnation For Right-of-Way A series ol condemnation suits have been filed in the Jackson county circuit court by the stale highway commis sion for the new Highway 99 freeway right of ways. The right-of ways are sought for the Seven Oaks-Neil creek section. The land sought is in the Phoenix-Talent area. Condemnation is sought on two parcels of land owned by Norman and Lucilc Glasscock, one containing 4.6 acres and another .94 acre. Value is es timated at $8,050. The com plaint alleges the Glasscocks own a total of 11.1 acres and a roadway connecting with a county road. Another condemnation suit seeks .22 acre owned by George L. and Jane Doe Wing, The value of the property is estimated at $400, according to the complaint. 8.06 Acres Needed A parcel of land containing 8.06 acres and valued at Sll.750 is sought from Walter S. and Jane Doe Gcrmer. The highway commission is also seeking condemnation of 10.5 acres owned by David H. and Susan Holmes with true cash value estimated at $15. 000. Certain easements are al lowed for Talent Irrigation district and Medford Irriga tion district facilities. The highway commission has agreed to construct a pri vate access road to the re maining property of Scott B. Zachary and Kathryn Zachary aflcr it removes two parcels for rights-of-way. One parcel is 4.68 acres and the other .511 acre. True value is esti mated at $17,250. More than 12 million board feet of national forest timber has been sold for $372,128 in seven auctions held since the beginning of 1961, according to Rogue River National For est Supervisor C. E. Brown. Competition, was widely variable - from none to ex treme with no timber offering left unsold. The average bid was 14 per cent above ap praised prices. Total apprais ed and advertised price for the seven sales was $325,-557.75. In addition lo the seven sales made by the forest su pervisor, numerous smaller timber sales have been made by the six district ranger. Sales of less than $10,000 in value are usually handled by the district rangers using sealed bid procedure. Purchasers of the seven auc tion sales were: Bought By GP Firm (1) Brecounl Brothers, log crs of Grants Pass, were the only bidder at an auction for an estimated 1,690,000 board feet of right-of-way logs in decks along the lower portion of the new Lake of the Woods forest highway. Brecount Bro thers bid the logs in at the appraised price, which on the estimated quantity totaled $58,282.50. (2) McGrew Brothers, saw mill operators of Medford, were the only bidder for a second offering of right-of-way logs on the Fish lake end of the same highway project. The estimated quantity was 930,000 board feet. Appraised price was $29,197. McGrew Brothers' bid totaled $29,213. (3) Double Dee Lumber company, Inc., Central Point, was high bidder for an esti mated 1,110,000 board feet of standing timber in the Pine crest unit, Applegatc district. The bid totaled $29,971.50. The forest service appraised and advertised price totaled $30 less. Brown Brothers Lumber company of Williams bid the appraisal price on this sale. (4) A and II Logging, Inc., Medford, was high among six bidders at an auction for 945, 000 board feet of timber in the Lodgcpole unit, Butte Falls district. High bid in this sale totaled $34,312 compared lo forest service appraised price of $28,329. (5) Sieve Wilson of Medford was high among five bidders al another auction for 4,000, 000 board feet of timber in the Jack Springs unit of Bulle Falls district. Wilson's bid was iza.auu, a sughl raise over the forest service ap praised price of $123,180. (B) Arnold Rugsdale, logger of Trail, was high among six Rogue river valley sports fans will get several samples of Class B professional base bull during the coming season if a proposal now being con sidered becomes a reality. The proposal is use of the Veterans Administration Domiciliary's Memorial field at White City for a number of Northwest league games. Three members of the citi zens' stadium committee dis cussed the idea with officials at the domiciliary Thursday. Committee Chairman John Weisbrod said that Northwest league President James Fleish man will present Ihe program for discussion today at a league meeting in Eugene. Weisbrod reported that domiciliary officials indicated interest iir the plan but point ed out that there are techni calities that murt be ironed out before the government fa cility can be put to such use. The domiciliary, according to Weisbrod, will await the Northwest league's decision on the matter and if that de cision is favorable will seek more information from the league. 'Exploratory Stage' The proposition was des cribed by tlie committee chair man as being in the "explora tory stage." Purposes behind it are lo give residents of this area an idea of what Class B baseball is like and lo try to keep the Medford area "In the picture" of the Northwest league. One of the problems to be taken care of is arrangement for added seating. The sta dium has around 1,200 capaci ty. One of the VA domicilinry rules has been that members at the station have the privi lege of free admission to games in the stadium. The chance of getting a Medford team in the North west league in operation is past for this year but, "if we can get a stadium here any where in the near future we can end up with a very good baseball program, " Weisbrod said. Designated In January The present citizens' sta dium committee was desig nated at a meeting in Janu ary at Kim's restaurant to continue work of an earlier group and to further study the possibilities of n large multiple - purpose facility for this area. Members asked the Jackson county court for offi cial recognition and for $5,000 to pursue the studies. Both re-1 quests were turned down. The j court said that it felt that the stadium matter is one for the registered voters, not for the court, lo decide. j Weisbrod remarked thai the j committee could do its job so much easier and so much more thoroughly if It did lr. . ! court support. Committeemen meeting with VA officials along with Weisbrod were Lee Ragsdale and Bill Askwith. Other com mitteemen are Harry Chip man and Alex Petersen. Weisbrod advocates a sta dium in an excavated area at the site of the present ball park at the fairgrounds. The excavated material would be sold as fill dirt under his proposal. BRILL METAL WORKS Commercial Industrial Residential Sheet Metal Work Stainless, Galvanized and Copper Fabrication 2287 West Main PHONE SP 2-4440 1127 Court Street Phone SP 3-3102 bidders for 1,580,000 buard feet of limber in the Silver) Camp unit of Union Creek dis trict. Ragsdale's bid totaled $64,324.50 nearly doubling the forest service appraisal price of $33,477. McGrew Brothers were runner-up in the auction. (7) Steve Wilson was high among seven bidders at an auction for 930,000 board feet in the Bearpen Springs unit of Butte Falls district. Wilson's bid lolalcd $32,722, compared to Ihe forest service appraisal of $23,150.75. Run-J ner-up was Fir-Ply, Inc. ' l NO SPARKS! NO SMOKE! NO FLOOR DRAFTS! LOWERS FUEL BILLS! Uniform Heat from floor to ceiling Bum wood, orosto-loas or briquets. You control fire, Your home and family will be safer. Send fireplace width and height, receive Colorful Booklet free or phone SP 2-7166. EASY TERMS Smifh-Dynge Lmbr. Co Corner of 8th ond Fir Phone SP 2-7166 'I 50 Influenza Cases Reported in County Fifty cases of influenza were reported to Ihe Jackson coun ty health department last week, according lo Dr. A. ! Erin Merkel, public health physician. fcighleen of the flu cases were reported In Central Point, 15 in Medford, 9 in Ash land, 2 in Jacksonville and Trail, 3 In Phoenix, and 1 in Rogue River. Thirty-six cases of other communicable diseases werei reported throughout the county- They included strep throat, Jacksonville 1, Medford 3; chicken pox, Ashland 1, White Cily and Shady Cove 2 each; pink eye, Medford 1; German measles. Ashland 1; pneu monia Medford and Jackson ville 1 each; Infectious mono nucleosis, '.ledford 1; tubercu losis. White City and Central Point I each; mumps. Ashland 5. Talent 5, Medford 10, Shady iCosp 1; and measles, Med- 'ford 2. IRRIGATION PUMPS to 60 H.P. From $ 29 50 up 13 H.P. Shallow Well $0000 ft H.P. DEEP WELL With 42 Gallon Tank and Air Charger 15450 Complote Siskiyou Hardware Ph. SP 2-29J9 22$ W. Main MEDFORD, OREGON W.'Giv. SIH Gron Stamp. J Sa !I.A)AMIG Z I Bigger . . . Better U J Than Ever! f I THE MILK PRODUCERS LEAGUE reminds you that ticketi ate available through any K I w a n 1 1 member. Plan now to treat your family to this delightful presentation of "OFF THE HOOK." All proceeds from tho KIWANIS KAPERS are used to further the work of the Children's Dental Clinic. Ap proximately $65,000.00 of FREE dental care has been provided under privileged children through the efforts of the Dental Association and the Kiwanit club in the clinic's 2 'a years of opera tionl MARCH 8, 9, 10 & 11 After The Show . . . Entertain your friends with wholesome, tasty MILK. Remember, too, that young people as well as adults rely on MILK, so keep plenty of MILK on hand at all times. MlLKbrodttcm 1 ut
