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SUNDAY, JANUARY 13. 1963
MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFOHD, OREGON
Rural Fire District Election Will Climax Two Years of Work
By Cleve Twitchell
Mail Tribune Sl Writer
Talent-An election will be
held at the old agronomy sta-
Hon on Colver rd. Friday,
Jan. 18, climaxing some two
yean of work by a group of
Talent and Phoenix area resi
dents.
At the election voters will
be asked to approve the for
mation of the Talent Rural
Fire Protection district and
elect five directors. There
will be five names on the bal
lot: Dean R. Blackburn, How
ard DeYoung, Eddie M. Heim,
Lee Floyd Quinn and Esper
C. Silvester.
The district would encom
pass most of the rural area
around Talent and about the
south side of Phoenix.
All homes and businesses In
this area would be served by
a fire department with mod
ern equipment operated by
full-time, . permanent person
nel, proponents of the district
say.
Present Fir Department
This t y p e of operation
would compare with the vol
untccr Talent Rural Fire de
partment that is in existence
at present. The department
has one fire truck,, a rather
old model. There is no paid,
full-time personnel.
Persons in need of help to
extinguish a fire are depend
ent upon enough volunteers
being available to respond to
an alarm. The old truck takes
a while to get warmed up.
Like most districts, the Tal
ent Rural Fire Protection dis
trict would, of course, cost
money tr -pcrate. It would
have the power to levy a tax.
List Some Advantages
Backers of district forma
tion feci, however, that the
advantages provided by an or
ganized district would far
outweigh its cost. Some of the
advantages they list are these:
1. The district could place a
bond issue before the voters,
which if approved, would
make it possible to obtain
modern firef ightlng equip
ment, and thereby offer bet
ter fire protection service to
the area than it now has.
2. Once the district had
modern equipment and full
time personnel on duly, the
area served by the district
could get a better fire Insur
ance rating than it has at
present, thereby saving prop-
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PRESENT EQUIPMENT John Tompkins,
left, and Ralph (Jiggs) Conner, two mem
bers of the group seeking to form the Talent
Rural Fire Protection district are shown
along side the truck presently used by the
Talent Rural Fire department, a volunteer
organization of which Conner is chief. By
forming a district, the men feel, the Phoenix-Talent
rural area could be served by
modern firefighting equipment and full
time firemen.
crty owners money on Insur
ance premiums.
3. The district subsequently
could offer fire protection to
the cities of Phoenix and Tal
ent, both served by volunteer
departments at present, on a
contract basis, thereby Im
proving their insurance rat
ings as well.
Equipment Standardised
4. With the creation of a
fire district, equipment could
be standardized, so that in
limes of emergency firemen
from other departments could
come In and run it.
5. The district could also
provide such services as an
emergency ambulance and a
clothing bank foi victims offire district here .began when
destroyed homes. It could also
enter inlo a contract with the
Talent Irrigation district for
water to be used for firefight
ing, perhaps in the form of
sumps dug at designated loca
tions in more populated areas.
Bringing the matter of
forming a Talent Rural Fire
Protection district to a vote
has been the work of a small
group of area residents. One
of them is John Tompkins, re
tiring Talent city councilman.
Another is Ralph (Jiggs) Con
ner, who is chief of both the
Talent rural and Talent city
fire departments.
The movement to set up a
Tompkins was appointed to a
two-year term on the Talent
city council. He was given
the responsibility of working
on the matter of fire protec
tion. "I soon found that there
was virtually no fire protec
tion for the area," Tompkins
explained. "It appeared to me
as if the city's money (a small
amount in the city budget for
the fire department each
year) wasn't bringing in any
return."
The Talent Rural Fire de
partment has been in exist
ence, more or less, for seven
or eight years. Its effective
ness has varied, Tompkins
ana Conner indicated.
During the past year a Tal
ent city fire department has
been organized. Its truck is
somewhat more modern than
the Talent rural truck. The
two are housed side by side
in a fire station next to the
raient city hall. Both are
available to fight fires either
in the city or outside. :
From Subscriber Feet
The rural department In
come comes from $5 a year
subscriber fees, while the city
department is maintained by
the city.
While Tompkins, Conner
and others were working on
building up these two depart
ments, they were also going
through the steps necessary to
get formation of a district on
the ballot.
Signatures of 200 property
owners within the district
who also were registered vot
ers had to be gathered. It
took many months of work
The first set of petitions
turned in to the county court
fell short of the 200 needed
When success was finally
achieved, the petition circula
tors had gathered nearly 550
signatures in order to get the
ZOO good ones they needed.
Public Hearing Held
A public hearing was held
by the county court in Decem
ber, at which time no opposi
tion to the district was voiced.
A few days later the election
date of Jan. 18 was set.
The boundaries of the dis
trict are roughly as follows:
Starting at the noint. south
of Talent, where the old Paci
fic highway joins the new
highway, the boundary ex
tends south on Highway 89 to
Valley View rd., then east to
Eagle Mill rd., southeast to
Butler creek rd., and north to
East Valley View rd.
From that point the bound
ary extends west along East
Valley View rd. to Myers rd..
where it turns north to Will-!
son rd., then west to Ashland
Climax rd., north to Carter
lane, and finally west to Sta
ples lane.
It turns southward again
on Staples lane to West Val
ley View rd., then west to
Suncrcst rd. At this point it
goes north as far as Royal
Crest rd., from which it con
tinues north to Hughes rd.
Here the direction changes to
west, as far as Payne rd., then
north again to Fern Valley
rd.
From this point the bound
ary becomes a little less com
plicated. It merely extends
west along Fern Valley rd. to
the Phoenix city limits. Then
it follows the Phoenix bound
ary around the south end of
the city to Houston rd.
The boundary from this
point goes west on Houston
rd. to Coleman Creek rd.,
then north to Carpenter Hill
rd., then west to Pioneer rd.
It runs along Pioneer rd. In a
westerly direction to Dark
Hollow rd. i
After reachlnu Dark Hol
low rd., the district boundary
turns south back to Pioneer
rd. again, where it extends
east to Colver rd., then south
aiong tolver rd. to Adams rd.
It continues south on Adams
rd. to Anderson Creek rd.,
One of Newest Resorts
Becomes Area 'Hot Spot'
Mt. Shasta, Calif. - One of
the West's newest winter re
sorts, Mt. Shasta Ski Bowl
has become the "hot spot" of
northern California ski areas
this season with snow condi
tions rated the best in the
Sierra region.
Located at the 7,850-foot
level of the volcanic peak that
gives the area its name, Shas
ta Ski Bowl already has drawn
crowds that have broken all
previous records.
Center of the resort is an
ultra-modern lodge, accessible
via a 15-mile all-weather road
through snow-banked forests
that reach down to the edge
of Pacific Highway 99 at the
town of Mt. Shasta. Enterine
the town, the alpine setting
for the resort is easily antici
pated inMhe monutain chalet
architecture of the newer inns
and lodgings along the highway.
At the resort at timberline
are a chair lift, carrying skiers
to the 9,338-foot level, and
two rope tows that reach to
the 8,050-foot elevation. The
facilities can accomodate as
many as 2,700 skiers per hour.
Boasts Skiing Season
The west slope of the peak.
which dominates the horizon
of southern Oregon as well as
northern California, boasts a
skiing season that normally
begins in late November and
lasts until early summer. Dur
ing the spring months, skiers
claim, Shasta's corn snow is
among the best in the West.
But most of the year the high
and dry climate results in a
fine powder cover.
Last week the average
snow depth was 38 inches,
and this will build up as the
season progresses.
The resort almost became
the site of the training camp
for the U. S. Olympic ski team
this month when slopes of the
Rocky Mountain region failed
in December to have suffi
cient snow. When word got
out that Mt. Shasta was being
considered for the Olympic
tearn's runs, the holiday-season
rush from Sacramento and
San Francisco -Oakland was
on. The "chic" city crowds
normally have headed for
Lake Tahoe and other Sierra
resorts, but have now learned
of Shasta.
In addition In the patroniz
ing of motels and inns and
restaurants at Mt. Shasta, the
overflow has spread north
into Yreka and south to Duns-
muir to bring a new boom to
these cities.
then turns east until it runs
into Wagner Creek rd.
The boundary finally runs
south on Wagner Creek rd.,
then zigzags gradually over
to Old Pacific highway south
of Talent to the point where
this description began.
The boundary follows the
center line of all the roads
mentioned.
Italic Handwriting
Exhibited at SOC
Ashland- An exhibit of
calligraphy, Italic handwrit
ing, by Lloyd Reynolds, pro
fessor of art at Reed College,
Portland, is presently on ex
hibit at Southern Oregon col
lege in the Britt Art Gallery
through Feb. 1, Miss Marion
Ady, art department member,
has announced.
Italic handwriting reached
its highest development dur
ing the 15th and 16th centur
ies in Italy and is generally
believed to be the most per
fect form of cursive writing,
Miss Ady said.
Reynolds is listed as one
of the top three calligraphers
in the world and has done
much to initiate this type of
art form on the Pacific
coast. I
(ORTHtf)
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We are proud to announce the associa
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