20 years ago – 1997
A Native American holiday tradition continued in The Dalles this year, and drew more people than ever. More than 300 people from around the Mid-Columbia attended the Christmas dinner earlier this month at The Dalles Armory. The Native American dinner and holiday celebration has gone on for more than 20 years. It was started in the mid-1970s by Georgie Goudy and Lucille Howell. “I don’t remember what year,” Goudy said.
Mark Kenneth Johnson of The Dalles was committed Tuesday for up to 20 years’ psychiatric confinement after he pled guilty by reason of insanity to manslaughter.
Officials scrambling to get going on the new grain elevator are breathing a little easier today. On Tuesday, some exploratory surgery, in the form of test holes, showed the ground at the port site is stable enough to support concrete elevators, and is in all likelihood free of contamination.
40 years ago – 1977
The first fatal accident of the Christmas Holiday season in the Mid-Columbia area was reported just after 5:30 Friday as travel conditions throughout most of the area remained hazardous. The accident occurred on Highway 26 in southern Wasco county. The Wasco County Sheriff’s office is handling the investigation.
MOSCOW (UPI) – A group of Soviet Jews Friday staged a hunger strike and called for the release of all “prisoners of conscience” from Soviet labor camps. The strike was called to mark Saturday’s seventh anniversary of the trial of Jewish activists accused of trying to hijack a Soviet airliner in a futile attempt to get to Israel.
Robert Voeks, Portland State University Geography Department, is studying the Oregon scrub oak and how oak woodlands have changed since settling of Central Oregon. He is interested in copying old pictures and articles and also would like observations about the oak.
SEATTLE (UPI) – Back country travelers on Mount Hood should avoid steep open slopes, gullies, ridges with overhanging cornices and narrow canyon bottoms above the 7,000-foot level because of the possibility of avalanches, the National Weather Service warned Friday.
60 years ago – 1957
Final architects’ plans are now being prepared for the new four-story 75-bed The Dalles General Hospital, Jerry Smith advised Chamber of Commerce directors at their Monday noon meeting.
The Christmas day weather outlook in Oregon calls for scattered rain showers with the possibility of some snow east of the Cascades. A blustery storm struck the Washington and Oregon coasts with rain and strong winds with gusts up to 50 miles per hour this morning.
NEW YORK (UP) – A “sick” strike cut service today on the Long Island Rail Road, the world’s largest commuter line, giving thousands of workers an unscheduled holiday and snarling Christmas plans for thousands of others who had planned to ride the trains to join family and friends for Christmas celebrations. A spokesman for the road said 185 conductors and ticket takers had called in sick between midnight and 6:30 a.m., apparently as the result of a dispute over holiday train crew schedules.
WASHINGTON (UP) – The government today extended to the West Coast its program of voluntary curbs on importation of foreign oil. This decision was taken by President Eisenhower in the face of strong objections of several major oil companies.
HONOLULU (UP) – A huge Navy radar patrol plane with 23 crewmen aboard crashed and exploded in heavy seas in the Pacific Monday. Four survivors and two bodies were found by search-craft.
WASHINGTON (UP) – The Army has decided against a proposal to cloak its satellite-launching attempt in secrecy by holding it outside the United States, it was learned today.
80 years ago – 1937
Enough fresh snow to grease Santa’s sled runners had fallen today on higher elevations in the mid-Columbia area, guaranteeing that at least apportion of the area’s residents will enjoy a “White Christmas.” Spitting snow flurries here last night and this morning failed to come down steadily enough to whiten the ground, but the flakes stuck on surrounding hillsides and were blanketing most of Wasco county.
According to numerous local business men the Christmas trade in The Dalles this year exceeds that of 1936, although business leaders in general recognize a recession, apparent since late summer. All merchants interviewed report an excellent six-months’ business from January to June – some even state an increase of 25 per cent over that period in 1936.
SALEM, Ore., Dec. 24. (UP) – Governor Charles H. Martin will order a grand jury investigation of “frightful” lawlessness and violence in Multnomah county if an investigation bears out evidence presented him yesterday by a “group of prominent Portland citizens,” he said today.
By Don Pryor, United press Staff Correspondent – DETROIT, Dec. 24. (UP) – Henry Ford prepared for his second major fight with an agency of the federal government today as union leaders, backed by a sharply-worded national labor relations board ruling, requested a conference with For Motor company officials to promote “industrial peace.” Ford, confronted by a labor board declaration that his company was guilty of “savage anti-union activity,” directed his attorneys to ask the federal courts to overrule the decision, which one company lawyer denounced as “wrong and unjust.”
100 years ago – 1917
G. C. Banta of Thompsons Addition, watchman at the O.-W. R. & N. car shops east of this city, was shot and severely wounded by a highwayman at 6:30 o’clock last night. The shooting occurred at the head of the stairway, leading from the top of the bluff to the shops, a short distance from the Coe & company store in Thompson’s addition, when Mr. Banta was going to his work. Only one of the five shots which were fired by the highwayman hit Mr. Banta.
Playing in the street near the Grand theatre, one of the busiest sections of the city, 4-year-old Andrew Keller was killed about 5 o’clock Saturday evening. The child, who was a son of Mr. and Mrs. Otto Keller, was struck by an automobile which was driven by Phillip Sharp, and was instantly killed.
The ashes of Albert Jackson were brought to The Dalles yesterday morning from Portland and were interred in the Humason lot in Odd Fellows cemetery. The remains were accompanied by the widow and daughter, Lavilla Bland of Walla Walla and son, Russell, who is a soldier at Fort Stevens.
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