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Names, To, Mad News In County Dm '63
HERALD AND NEWS, Klamath Falls, Oregon
Wednesday, January 1, 1964
PAGE9A
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BRIDGE COMPLETED One of the largest construction projects completed during
the year in Klamath County was this bridgo over the Link River designed to let
through Highway 97 traffic bypass the city. The bridge was built at the end of Main
Street on an $861,000 contract and was opened to traffic late in the year. One work
man on the bridge died while saving a young boy from drowning in the river.
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SCHOOL PLAN SET Years of work by school officials and interested citizens bore
fruit Dec. 10 when the County Court announced its plan for reorganization of the
county schools into two districts. Public Hearings on the plan will be held in January,
! and it will probably come to a vote in the spring. Members of the court are shown
. here with a map of the school districts. They are, left to right, Commissioner Frank
. Ganong, Commissioner Ken Allison and Judge Robert Walker.
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PP&L DIRECTORS MEET Directors from all sections of the Pacific Power and
Light system met in Klamath Falls in September to meet local employes and business
men and to study the area's industrial capacity. The directors toured local facilities
and discussed clans at the Winema Hotel. Shown here, left to right, are Don
McClung, president of PP&L; Si Cramer, ex-mayor of Dorris, and Glenn Jackson, vies
president of the firm.
FIRE, STRIKES AND SUIT Three more major news events of 1963 concerned a fire,
strikes and a lawsuit. At left is an aerial pheto taken at the height of the Hamaker
Mountain forest fire 15 miles southweet W Vlarrwrth Falls in August. The fife ravaged
more than 500 acres of timberland enA leMnjo subdued. It was the biggest fecal
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HERO DIES William Lown, 41, drowned in the Link River Aug. 18 while rescuing
a young boy. Lown, an employe of the firm working on the Link River bridge, dove
into the river to save I l-year-old Steven Michels. He managed to keep Steven afloat
until other men could take the boy, but was unable to stay afloat himself. Lown's body
was recovered by skin divers, shown here working in the river.
Year Marred By Tragedy And Death
(Continued from Page 8-A)
August by Floyd Domuiy. U.S.
commissioner of reclamation.
The project involved construc
tion of several new pumping
plants, and the enlargement of
existing plants and canals.
But ns new buildings arose,
old ones came down some
times amid bitterness.
The city continued its policy
of condemning and destroying
structures it considered to be
unsafe and by mid-1963 had
condemned about 100 buildings.
But when the city tiied to
condemn (our old houses on
Portland Street near Highway
97, the owner, Frank Weaver,
fought back bitterly. He pro
tested the condemnation pro
ceedings in a public hearing,
then filed a lawsuit challeng
ing the action in court. The suit
has yet to be settled, but the
city's condemnation campaign
has been halted until it is set
tled. As usual, names made news.
Some names in the local news
in lfH3:
Sheriff Murray "Red" Brit
ton, indicted by the grand jury
for allowing a prisoner to go
loose illegally, and acquitted of
(he charge, also Charged with
contempt of court;
Sen Barry Goldwater, who
spoke twice in Klamath Falls
in May, once at Kingsley Filed
and once at the dedication of the
new hospital site;
Herbert Floyd Mitchell, the
first man to be sentenced to
death from Klamath County in
.'10 years and the second in
history, whose appeal is still
pending with the State Supreme
Court ;
'Merchant Frank Bcgalay,
shot in the shoulder and hand
by a woman who thought he
was responsible for Daylight
Savings Time.
Weyerhaeuser Company's
Klamath operations were
plagued by labor difficulties
during the year as was the
rest cf the Northwest lumber
industry.
The plant at Klamath Falls
was closed for exactly two
months June 7 - Aug. 7 with
the rest of the industry during
the 'Northwest dispute between
big lumber companies and two
unions. Tlie dispute affected
about 100 men locally.
Weyerhaeuser was hit by an
fire of the yew. ftv center photo are shown pickelt at
Company pW tisre, hit teveral times during the year
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o sioie cwo or more
1 luwfcar fi-gf n1 bit
other one-day walkout in No
vember as roving pickets from
the C o o s Bay Weyerhaeuser
plant demonstrated here in sup
port of their dispute.
Klamath's pride rode high in
July and August as the local
all-star Babe ftuth League base
ball team won the Oregon state
championship, then the North
west regional championship and
trawled to 'Farmington, N.M.,
for the Babe Ruth World Series.
There, tlie team started out well
with a victory, but lost two
consecutive games to be elim
inated from the tournament.
IN MEMORIAL
Twenty five persons who lost
their lives on iKlamalh County
highways in 1M3, -including
three persons who died Sept. 15
in a two-car collision cn rain
slick Highway 97 north of Klam
ath Falls, and State Rep. Wil
liam O. Kclsay of Rose-burg,
who died in a collision on the
same stretch of highway Oct. 4 ;
Six persons who drowned in
lakes and rivers in Ihe county;
At least six persons who died
by fire or by accidental shoot
ing; Six more who died violently
by the bands of others;
Capt. Harold Smith, who died
when his parachute failed to
open as he ejected from a jet
fighter-interceptor over Klam
ath: One woman who froze to
death.
There were no deaths, but
tens of thousands of dollars in
damage in a big train wreck 10
miles north of Klamath Falls
Nov. 4. More than 25 cars cf a
93-car Great 'Northern Jtuilway
freight derailed and two cars
were hurtled into Upper Klam
ath Lake. The line was lied up
for more than VI hours.
There was another, smaller
derailment Aug. 16. 2fl m i I e s
south of Klamath Falls. Ten
cars from two Southern Pacific
freights were derailed between
Dorris and iMacdocl. Damage
was not extensive.
S e v e r a 1 landmarks fell to
flames in the year
Ellingson Lumber Company
mills in Klamath Falls and Pel
ican City, burned to the ground
within 17 days of one another in
December;
Lakeshore Drive home of Dr.
and iMrs. R. IWayne Espcrsen,
Tnen two monrns curing tab wsmmwr mi wif Mar?nwsf
by ene-day walkout in NoemboC -ftj i$i,prHj tion
destroyed May 4 by fire:
Simplot-DeVce Lumber Ccm
p a n y sawmill in Chiloquin,
gutted by flames in August.
The largest forest fire in t h e
county during the year was in
August on -Hamaker .Mountain
about 15 miles southwest of
Klamath Falls. Flames de
stroyed more than 500 acres cf
white fir.
At the same lime, flames
raced over 400 acres of grass in
the Loma Linda area, nar
rowly missing several homes.
And in July, 300 more acres of
grass land were razed by
flames near Merrill.
Through the hct summer
months, firemen from all de
partments were kept busy with
the i sj.nl rabh cf grass and
br'.is'.i Hies.
As hot as a forest lire was
the battle between the Oregon
Game Commission and the Ore
gon Fish and Game Council
during the year over the size
and future of the Oregon deer
herd.
The commission, which sets
game management policies in
the state, maintained that the
herd was large enough and
would remain adequate.
But the council, representing
a group of sportsmen, said
those policies were diminishing
the herd and called for buck
only hunting and a shorter sea
son. The council also called for
the commission's resignation.
The fight has vet to be re
solved.
Another bitter fight was
waged in the early part of the
year over the proposed zoning
of the area outside Klamath
Falls, affecting mainly the
South Suburban area. The city
county planning department
submitted the zoning plan and
in a scries of (hearings, It was
bitterly opposed by several
groups, nolably the Klamath
County Taxpayers League. Dis
position of the plan is still
pending.
Planning of another sort was
the main topic in September as
the directors and officers of Pa
cific Power and Light held their
quarterly meeting in Klamath
Falls. Tlie directors toured the
area's industrial works and
pledged their support of any
plan to promote industrial and
agricultural expansion in the
(Cnntinurd on Page 14-A)
the' WeyerKesuter Timber
by labor iisputei, The plant
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AIR RAID SIRENS Air raid sirens were installed In Klamath Falls in May. Seven
sirens were installed by the county civil defense office. Here, amployes of the Rose
burg firm which supplied the sirens are shown raising one of the sirens to the top of
pole at Biehn Street and Oregon Avenue. The seven sirens were purchased for
$6,485.75, with half of the cost borne by the U.S. government.
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UMrviruD KiiH i ne new campus ror wragon iecnnicai iniiuuTe rose mrougn rna a
year on a hillside northeast of the city and is expected to be finished in time for -j
occupancy next fall. Two classroom buildings have been completed, and work is Mi
under way on an administration building, a library-cafeteria and a gymnasium. V
Work started late in the year on a dormitory. Here, workman are shown on th -Sj
framework of the library-cafeteria. V
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four houi wPwt'JfiqJ: vJiieli the CKy CoaaoM oide5ie)- condemned as being
subsfanderilt T6e en, RrimU VffwM, rerrqb ptobtbkdtf. J)Js fiAn and filed suit
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