Yesteryears: Second Street Overpass project slated to begin in 1995

A meeting of the Parent-Teacher Association was held at the new Mt. Hood school building. Several ladies from Parkdale were also in attendance. Plans were made for providing hot lunches for the pupils in the school.

1925 — 90 years ago

The epidemic of scarlet fever, which has more than held its own in town for the past two months, has apparently decided to give this section a respite, for returns for the past week indicate that it is decidedly on the wane. In the local school district, only one new case is reported, and similar returns are coming in from other sections.

The opening basketball game of the season was played last Friday night, when Coach Garrigus took the Hood River High school squad to Stevenson and defeated the team 40 to 3. On Saturday night, the strong Odell Town team was defeated in the high school gymnasium 14 to 11.

1935 — 80 years ago

Hood River Flier Paid Big Tribute

Many Hood River residents were thrilled Monday evening of this week when, over the Blue network, they heard one of Hood River’s army pilots, Captain Alan Tucker, son of Mr. and Mrs. Harold Tucker, featured in a Westinghouse broadcast from London, England, with Ted Malone announcing.

Malone, recalling the outstanding work of Captain Tucker in bringing his bomber through one of the real tough air raids over Germany, related some of the incidents of the devastating raids over the big German ball-bearing works at Schweinfurt, in which a large group of American bombers participated, 67 of which were either shot down or were lost through other enemy action.

Malone then visualized the strain under which Captain Tucker must have been as he carried out his mission, and saw first one and then another of the huge bombers “suddenly stop in their flight and then start on their last descent,” for those big planes carried many of his own personal friends, which whom he had lived for many months at a base in England.

“Some of the men in his own plane were hurt, and the plane also was damaged, but Tucker brought her home safely. The raid on Schweinfurt was a dinger,” said Malone. “Tucker is one of those leaders who win the respect and admiration of their crews, and the greatest tribute these men could pay to him was to name their bombing plane ‘Old Man Tucker.’”

Captain Tucker’s bombing raid days are now over, for he was sent back from overseas to Texas, where he is teaching younger airmen many of the things that will serve them well when their turn to go overseas comes. He was in Hood River recently, but, like all heroes of his type, he was willing to talk about almost anything except the exploits which have won him some of the highest recognition which comes to Army fliers.

— Hood River News, January 12, 1945

Pine Grove Grange met in all-day session Tuesday. In spite of inclement weather, there was an excellent attendance on hand when John Mohr, the new Master, opened the proceedings. Grange business was featured during the afternoon session, which followed a dinner put on by the men.

The proposal to acquire the Butler bank building as a court house for Hood River county, which, at the November election, was favored by a large majority of voters, has struck a snag and may flounder, unless Hood River county’s delegation at Salem can be persuaded that the majority of the people of this county would favor a legislative enactment which would permit the county court to go ahead with the plan of purchase which was submitted before the vote of November was taken and resulted in all of the 14 precincts of Hood River county voting to put the plan over. The vote was: For the purchase of the bank building, 1588, against 781, the ratio for and against being uniform in rural as well as urban precincts.

1945 — 70 years ago

It was announced by Truman Butler, on Monday of this week, that Harold Hershner had acquired a half interest in the insurance and real estate business hitherto operated by Truman Butler for many years, on Cascade Avenue. It is also announced that Mrs. Bessie Weber will have a working interest in the new partnership of Butler & Hershner.

After 25 years of service to the public at Hal’s Service Station, Hal Nesbit is gathering in the loose ends before he retires for a vacation and before taking up work of a less strenuous nature than changing and repairing truck and other tires in between pumping gas and oil and fixing bicycles. Since 1916, Hal Nesbit has operated either a tire repair shop or a service station. He has disposed of his service station to Mr. and Mrs. S.A. Richards, and it will henceforth be known as Richards Service Station.

1955 — 60 years ago

Unemployment in the Hood River area took a sharp rise in December, when many logging operations closed due to bad weather, reports Boyd W. Jackson, manager of the local state employment service branch, but the number of unemployment claims have been lower during the past week as compared to a corresponding period last year. Several sawmills are expected to resume operations this month, and pruning has started with a peak of approximately 1,000 workers expected to be employed by mid-February.

A “telethon” is being sponsored starting at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 19 over radio station KIHR and sponsored by the county junior chamber of commerce. During the evening program the services of city and county officials and other public figures will be sold to the highest bidders.

1965 — 50 years ago

A two-mile road to the Hood River Meadows ski area, planned to secondary highway specifications, was high on the list of Forest service projects before flooding came along in December. Now, the status is uncertain. Unless Congress provides additional money for flood damage, it will probably be set back at least a year. Planning for the new ski area will go ahead, and approval of the plan is expected soon, said District Ranger Cranson Fosburg.

Sales in Hood River county’s 151 retail establishments were $19.4 million in 1963, according to figures released this week by the U.S. Census Bureau. It represented a 22 percent increase from 1958, the last time the census had been computed. This information was in a news story that was actually written by a computer.

1975 — 40 years ago

A proposal will be submitted to the U.S. Postal Service for a single, new post office in the Parkdale community to serve the entire upper Hood River Valley, district postal representatives said here Friday. It was also determined that the new unit would retain the Mt. Hood name for all outgoing mail from the headquarters.

Traffic tie-ups and near-impossible road conditions followed on the heels of a winter storm that swept through Hood River County last week and continued through the weekend. At one time early Thursday, a deputy sheriff estimated about 100 vehicles had slipped from the road in a traffic jam. First warning of traffic problems ahead came Wednesday night when a bus carrying high school skiers home slipped from Highway 35 in the Willow Flat area.

1985 — 30 years ago

The “Old Spray Plant” and “Lower Store” Diamond Fruit Growers buildings will be just memories after demolition is completed in the next few weeks. Ernie Lee, of Mid-Columbia Pools, is supervising the removal of the buildings on the west edge of the railroad-level property as part of the Port of Hood River plan to develop the former cannery property for office and light industrial use. Lee said the “Lower Store” contains a vintage water-powered elevator, which is probably one of the few of its kind left in Oregon.

There is a fairly large group of local people who volunteer their time in the most worthy of causes — fighting fires and saving lives, and they comprise the Cascade Locks Volunteer Fire and Ambulance Department. Not only do they spend many hours in training, meetings and in carrying out the duties of their positions, they also participate in various other community service type projects such as gathering food and toys for needy families at Christmas.

1995 — 20 years ago

Downtown Hood River is about to experience one of the largest local highway projects in memory, with the $8 million reconstruction of the Second Street Overpass tentatively slated to start this month. In addition, scheduled to be completed by October 1996, Hood River County is in the midst of Highway 35 reconstruction. A $3 million Historic Columbia River Highway improvement is on the docket, too.

It was an offer he couldn’t refuse, plus it was a chance to have all the Oriental food he could eat. Bruce Barker of Parkdale, who has been the mountain director at Mount Hood Meadows for the past 13 years, is on his way to Korea to oversee a major expansion project at a growing ski resort 120 miles south of Seoul. Barker and wife Anna, who is a teacher at St. Mary’s Academy in The Dalles, departed Thursday.

2005 — 10 years ago

After almost a year and a half with no place to call their own, American Legion Post No. 22 once again has a permanent address. A four-month renovation effort transformed a house on Tucker Road into a “home” for the Legionnaires. “I know what Moses felt like when he was wandering around in the wilderness,” Dennis Leonard, Legion member, said. “The Elks have been loaning us their lodge for our meetings, but we needed our own place.”

All popcorn money from Thursday’s weekly sale at May Street School went to tsunami relief efforts. Students raised $57.30. Student Council members Harleigh Knoll and Krista Coole sold popcorn Thursday during lunch break. The school is also conducting an ongoing coin drive to go toward helping victims of last month’s Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, India and other countries.

— Compiled by Trisha Walker, news staff writer