Looking back
20 years ago — 2000
The body of an unidentified man was found in the Columbia River at the mouth of the Deschutes River around noon on Sunday. The Oregon State Police report said two anglers found the body. The victim was not carrying any kind of ID and it is not known how long the body has been in the river. There is no immediate indication of how he died. An autopsy was planned today.
A local woman contested part of a $2,350 city bill to clean up her junky property, but the city council Monday told her to pay it in full. But Dora Mee’s objections to the removal of some items from her property at 609 W. 13th—which she felt weren’t junk—caused a little soul searching on the part of the mayor. The Dalles Mayor Robb Van Cleave asked, “How do we define junk? Who makes that determination, what’s junk and what’s not junk?”
A three-year-old Idaho boy died Sunday morning after falling from the family van onto Interstate 84 east of John Day Dam and being hit by a truck. Oregon State Police said the boy was in the back of the westbound 1992 Dodge van with two other children sleeping in the rear when he apparently opened the rear door and fell out.
A soggy trail at Sorosis Park received drainage improvements recently as a group of volunteers turned out to help the Northern Wasco County Park and Recreation District employees fix the problem. The south part of the wood chip trail, behind the picnic shelter and near the tennis courts, often gets soggy and impassable during the wet winter weather.
A Wasco man was killed and a The Dalles resident severely injured in a one-car accident near Toppenish Saturday. The Wasco man, 38, was killed at 5:40 p.m. Saturday after being ejected from a vehicle driven by a 26-year-old man of Yakima. The four-door 1985 Mercury Topaz was northbound on Highway 97 about 10 miles south of Toppenish.
High school teachers from Moro and Maupin have been honored by Eastern Oregon University (EOU) for inspiring a 1999 high school graduate to attain high academic achievements I her first term at Eastern. In Moro, the Sherman teacher honored is Rod Patten, a math teacher, who was identified by EOU freshman Kara Blagg, the daughter of Curt and Carrier Blagg.
Stark numbers answered a question Tuesday night that long-time The Dalles-area residents know quite well: What would happen to the economy if two local aluminum plants closed? Anyone who lived in The Dalles during the early 1980s knows the answer: Unemployment soars; business fold; the housing market collapses.
A shutdown of the two aluminum plants in the Mid-Columbia would have been just as devastating to the area economy as it was in the 1980s, the Northern Wasco County PUD board was told Tuesday night. That conclusion came from Tamer Kirac, director of the Mid-Columbia Economic Development Dist4rict, as the result of a study he made for the utility district.
40 years ago — 1980
The grand opening for the five businesses that have located in the mini mall in the 1400 block of West Sixth Street is set for Friday and Saturday. Some of the firms have been in operation since the first part of the year, but others have opened as recently as last week. The mini-mall houses a pet shop, an ice cream-delicatessen, an insurance office, a real estate office and a sporting goods firm.
Priestly Sawdon recalls as a child playing with one of the daughters of Buffalo Bill back in North Plate River, Nebraska. His parents lived in a sod house on the river. “My dad and Buffalo Bill were good friends at the time,” Priestly said Tuesday.
Rick Bernards, not John McManigal, won the election for director at large for Wasco Education Service District on Tuesday. In preparing the final and unofficial tally sheets in the clerk’s office, their names were inadvertently reversed which caused the computer to place the totals in reverse order. The correct results, the clerk’s office reports, should be: Bernards, 1,439 and McManigal 1,160.
A final decision on whether The Dalles General Hospital gains state approval for expansion is expected within 10 days. Hospital administrator Gary Rood appeared before the Oregon Health Planning and Development Agency on Wednesday to justify need for the expansion. The project has been approved by the regional agency, the Eastern Oregon Health Systems Agency.
A balloon that traveled from the Puget Sound area was found in a horse pasture Monday by Bob Thompson, who lives on Brown’s Creek Road and attends The Dalles Junior High. A note attached to the balloon said it had been released by John Bailey as part of the Weekly Readers Writing Pals program, and gave a Port Orchard, Wash., address. The note did not indicate when the balloon was released.
Treaty Oak Education Center is participating in a demonstration project that extends videotaped college classes at Oregon College of Education in Monmouth to Wasco County. The Instant Replay Project has classes videotaped. The tapes are reproduced and sent to local coordinators. Judy Cochran is the coordinator at Treaty Oak. She will arrange with students the use of the tapes at a convenient time depending on equipment availability. OCE is offering the following classes in the Spring Term.
Former mayor Donnell Smith’s effort to bring the city’s new one-cent motor road fuels tax to a popular vote May 27 has failed. But he may try another route depending on the advice of his key supporters he expects to call together next week. Here’s how the matter shapes up to date.
There is lots of activity when you are a Cub Scout and spring arrives. These Cubs show how to run a Sailboat Regatta, a regular spring event, much like the Pinewood Derby scheduled at 9 a.m. today at Wahtonka where more than 100 Cubs will be racing toy cars.
60 years ago — 1960
Assistant Dalles City Police Chief Bill Esson today reminded city motorists that the stop sign at 14th and Trevitt is, as of council action March 21, a regular, permanent stop. Esson said several warning tickets have been given to motorists going through the sign without stopping during the past two weeks.
There has been a running discussion conducted lately among employees at the Wasco County courthouse. It revolves around the question, “Who has worked at the courthouse the longest?” The question and its resulting discussion are occasioned by the retirement at the end of this month of a man who most now concede must hold the record for longest consecutive service. Gene Elton, the tall, neat, soft-spoken worker in the county clerk’s office, will end 36 years of continuous employment with the county Monday when he begins his official retirement.
A $9,000 sign installation program is nearing completion at the Dalles Bridge junction. A Eugene sign firm yesterday put the finishing touches on a large green and white placard directing U. S. 197 traffic to The Dalles and Arlington. The Arlington-The Dalles sign is one of nine installed at the bridge junction and eight miles south on 197 since January.
Oregon Sen. Wayne Morse, campaigning for favor as a Democratic presidential candidate in the state primary election, will have a busy day here Saturday, April 9. The Wasco County Morse-for-President Club, meeting last night at The Dalles Livestock Commission restaurant, is asking the senator to be here by 10:30 a.m. April 9.
Business and professional Women’s Club of The Dalles and their “bosses” last night were challenged to provide the leadership for organization of an Oregon Highway Lifesavers chapter in Wasco County. The challenge was offered by Johnny Carpenter, sportscaster for KOIN_TV, Portland, and speaker at the BPW’s annual “bosses’ night” dinner at Hotel Dalles.
A case of missing automobile hub caps was cleared up yesterday with the return of the disappearing objects. Allen Tom, 2015 Scenic Drive, told police the four hub caps taken from his car last Sunday while it was parked at The Dalles Yacht basin were returned this weekend. Tom said he found all four on his lawn this morning.
Opening of the new Dry Hollow school this fall will leave Whittier school exclusively for high school classes and will permit another closure of the old Court Street structure. This was explained to the District 12 budget committee this week as it began checking proposed expenditures for 1960-61.
80 years ago — 1940
Full details regarding conversion to dial of rural telephones served by The Dalles exchange were given to some 200 rural line customers Wednesday night by J.R. Farrington, manager and technical experts of The Pacific Telephone and Telegraph company at a meeting and demonstration held in the civic auditorium. The Dalles exchange is scheduled for conversion to dial operation next November and opportunity to change to the modern automatic type of telephone service is to be given to all rural line customers at that time.
A slate of republican precinct committeemen and committeewomen today made its first appearance at the county clerk’s office, bringing filings for that party’s central committee nearly to completion. Otherwise, the only known on the political front was formal filing of his declaration to seek the county judge’s office by the present incumbent, J. B. Kirk.
An early shortage of water for irrigation purposes today was foreseen by Watermaster Roger Wilhelm following snow surveys taken at Clear Lake ande Brooks Meadows which indicate less packed snow than any year since 1934. Wilhelm predicted that a lack of water likely will be felt by mid-June by persons employing irrigation. Last year’s shortage was not felt until late in June.
The Dalles city hall, which normally moves at a serene, leisurely pace, today became a madhouse super-charged with the staccato voices of youth on an educational lark. While the youthful students pried into the intricacies of the city government, actual city government practically stood at a standstill. But the tempo of make-believe government moved at a terrific pace.
The Dalles Industrial club has invited virtually all public agencies and business men to a second dinner meeting, at which further activity on a fund for purchasing industrial sites will be considered, Alf Wernmark, club chairman, said today.
Medical service to persons on relief will be curtailed to include only emergency cases until a county physician to succeed Dr. Gerold G. van der Vlugt can be found, administrator Carl Sandoz of the Wasco county public welfare commission said today.
NEW YORK—Declaring that 3,500,000 Jews in Poland face annihilation, Joseph I. Schneersohn, former chief rabbi of Russia and Poland, has arrived in New York. Intervention of prominent Americans saved him after the German invasion.
100 years ago — 1920
Signaling a combined movement of the churches of this city, church bells will toll at 12 o’clock noon every day during passion week, summoning Christian people to prayer for the success of the inter-church movement which has lately been organized to convert the world. Throughout the United States the churches of all protestant denominations have joined an inter-church movement which overlooks the inconsequential differences of sect, dogma and theology. The combining of forces for good is characteristic of local churches. They are in the movement.
The timber of The Dalles section is of exceptionally fine quality. It is set forth by men who know timber, that our timber, growing slowly because of the small amount of rain, has a firm fiber and a splendid and beautiful grain. Timber grown in belts where more rain falls is like a fruit forced by irrigation, large and apparently firm, but of inferior grain and fiber. The timber about our hills almost a reproach upon us. The timber industry needs development and exploitation...
Tree spraying season has opened and under state law persons raising fruits for sale are required to protect their orchards by the use of a lime and sulphur spray. In Wasco county, thousands of dollars worth of valuable orchards are covering thousands of acres. The local office of the county agricultural agent offers the following general suggestions: The purpose of spraying is not to cure a tree of the effects of a disease or pest by which it has already been attacted. It is rather to coat all the susceptible parts of the tree or fruit with a fungicide or insecticide, so that the fungus or insect can make its attack at no spot that is not already protected...
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