100 YEARS AGO

For the week ending

Sept. 21, 1913

Bills turned down again — County Court won’t pay for gasoline when Springer wasn’t riding

The County Court, at this session consisting only of Commissioner W.W. Brown and Judge G. Springer (R.H. Bayley remaining at home, stating that it is impossible to transact business reasonably with Springer), again turned down the gasoline and other bills incurred when officers of the Crook County Good Roads Association made a preliminary trip of road inspection several months ago. Among those who suffer is John Steidl of Bend, who furnished a car at the time and submitted a bill for a nominal mileage.

However, bills practically identically incurred were allowed. They are for gasoline when County Judge Springer himself was a passenger in the county car on a trip of the road association officers with State Highway Engineer Bowlby more recently. The two trips were identical in purpose. Apparently the only difference is that Springer was on the second and not on the first one.

Up to the time of adjournment on Saturday, the petition for a bond election for building the roads determined on this last trip had not been presented. The court will meet again next Monday and it is expected that the petition will be presented at that time. This will be necessary if the bonds are to be voted on at the time of the regular election in November.

The County Board of Equalization convened Monday, consisting of Judge Springer, County Clerk Warren Brown and County Assessor H.A. Foster.

Another teacher employed

With 50 children in the primary grade, it has been found necessary to employ an additional teacher. Mrs. J.D. Davidson was secured by the school board and is teaching a class of beginners in the old Bulletin building where J.M. Lawrence formerly had his office.

The enrollment to noon today totaled 264, divided as follows:

High school, 32; Miss Huntington, 21; Miss Trautner, 23; Miss Dolson, 36; Miss Sidner, 30; Mrs. Bittner, 29; Mrs. Davidson, 20; Miss Holmes, 26; Miss Byron, 21; Miss Young, 26.

The Arnold school started with an enrollment of 16, the largest ever at that school. The Young school began Monday, but Supt. Shouse had received no report from there up to this morning. The teacher is Miss Besse Marie King of Newberg.

Principal Shouse states that he knows of several places in private homes where school girls may secure their board and room.

75 YEARS AGO

For the week ending

Sept. 21, 1938

Pop Eye the Sailor is visitor in Bend

Spinach eating “Pop Eye the Sailor Man” made his appearance in Bend today, in the Oregon Avenue display window of the Cashman store, and attracted crowds that at times just about blocked traffic. Strutting back and forth in the display window, “Pop Eye” swallowed his nose, twisted his chin out of alignment and ate spinach, a goodly supply of which was piled nearby in cans.

The “Pop Eye” who showed in Bend today has been featured in magazines with nation-wide circulation. Incidentally, he bears the good old Irish name of O’Brien, a Celtic family that has the sailed the seas for ages.

Statue of pioneer mounted on Capitol

The 22-foot bronze statue of a pioneer was hoisted to its pedestal on top of the state capitol building late Monday. Workmen have spent four days putting it in place.

The nine-ton casting will be plated with a gold leaf as a prevention against erosion.

From the ground to the tip of the pioneer’s head is 162 feet and eight inches.

Observers were generally agreed that the added height gave the building a balance and dignity it did not possess before the statue was in place.

The gold leaf on the statue will be paid for by the contractor, Ross B. Hammond. Capitol reconstruction commission headquarters here did not know how much the gold leaf would cost, since it is to come from Hammond’s general contract.

The statue itself, sculptured by Ulrich Ellerhusen in New York, cost approximately $34,000, with $19,000 of the amount going to Ellerhusen for his work and the remainder for the bronze and the casting. It was pointed out that the $15,000 for the bronze was a very low figure, obtained by the commission when they took advantage of a low metal market.

50 YEARS AGO

For the week ending

Sept. 21, 1963

Castro rips at JFK as opportunist

Premier Fidel Castro delivered his most blistering tirade to date against President Kennedy and his family in a rambling, informal news conference Sunday.

“Kennedy is the Batista of his times … and the most opportunistic American president of all times,” Castro told newsmen in the early morning session following a reception at the Brazilian Embassy.

Fulgencio Batista was the Cuban dictator overthrown by Castro’s revolution.

“Kennedy is a cretin,” Castro said, “and a member of an oligarchic family that controls several important posts in the government. For instance, one brother is a senator and another attorney general … There are no more Kennedy officials because there are no other brothers.”

He said the United States “is fighting a battle against us they cannot win.”

“Kennedy is thinking more about re-election than about the American people,” Castro added. “He thinks only of Kennedy and nothing else.”

Canoe recovered from Blue Lake, may be very old

A skin diving club has recovered a 26-foot dug-out Indian canoe that an archaeologist says may be 600 years old.

The White Water Skin Diving Club recovered the canoe from the bottom of Blue Lake near Sisters. It has been brought to Lane County fairgrounds, where it is being dried out slowly.

Andrew Meyer, a visiting archaeologist from Cleveland, Ohio, said the canoe may be 600 years old.

The boat is 26-feet long, 30 inches wide and 2-feet deep. It had been hewed out by hand from a large log. The University of Oregon anthropology department has been called to examine it.

25 YEARS AGO

For the week ending

Sept. 21, 1988

Officials probe ‘strafing’ of CO ranch by helicopter

Federal officials are investigating charges that a helicopter buzzed a ranch last weekend and fired a burst of machine gun fire.

Armed copters were on training flight; officials don’t admit buzzing

Officials from an Air Force Reserve rescue squadron explained why their helicopters were armed and flying over Central Oregon during the weekend, but refused to say if one of the chopper crews had buzzed a ranch and fired a machine gun.

“If our crews were carrying out their training activities in the wrong area, they were wrong,” said Maj. Otto Hyde, who described himself as the chief helicopter pilot for the 304th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron, based at the Portland Air National Guard base.

Hyde said two of the squadron’s “Huey” helicopters, including one armed with an M-80 machine gun loaded with blanks, were practicing low-level flying over an area north of Black Butte and east of Camp Sherman last weekend.

Peter Hiatt filed a complaint with the FAA after his mother was startled by a low-flying helicopter while watering some horses at the family’s ranch.

Hiatt’s mother shook her fist at the pilot and then heard a burst of machine gun fire after the helicopter flew over the Hiatts’ house.

“We have a combat mission to rescue people in a wartime situation,” Hyde said. He explained that the squadron’s helicopters carry machine guns so the crews can defend themselves when landing in a battle zone to pick up wounded soldiers.

“We’re fortunate that we can use our equipment and expertise in peacetime rescue missions,” Hyde said.

Besides the complaint from Hiatt, the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office received several calls about low-flying helicopters last weekend. The calls covered an area ranging from eastern Bend and Alfalfa to Tumalo Reservoir and Sisters.