Yesteryear

Compiled by the Deschutes County Historical Society from archived copies of the Bulletin at the Deschutes Historical Museum.

100 Years Ago

For the week ending

Dec. 7, 1919

Train service to Central Oregon gets cut back

Reduction of passenger service cuts off Sunday trains between Bend and The Dalles. Effective Sunday at midnight, the O.W.R. & N. will discontinue some trains, and curtail others due to the coal shortage. Sunday service is to be eliminated between Bend and The Dalles and on the Shaniko, Condon, and Heppner branches, among others.

The only trains affected by the order are those on the branch lines or locals. The north coast limited on the North Bank will be eliminated after Sunday. Special arrangements are made for Central Oregon passengers formerly connecting with the Oregon Trunk via the limited.

The change referred to is one of much importance to Bend travelers, the matter of securing this improvement in service having been referred to a special committee of the Commercial club at a recent meeting. Whether the connection of the Oregon Trunk with the limited is the result of the committee’s activities, or whether the change is made solely on the initiative of the railroad officials is not known.

Suffrage debate held at La Pine

Students of the La Pine high school discussed the subject of Woman Suffrage at the Commercial club hall on Thanksgiving eve. An abundance of literature was secured from the State Library, and six weeks were spent in the most thorough preparations. Every seat in the hall was taken and a large number occupied the standing room in the rear of the hall. The decision went in favor of the negative side by a very close margin. Helen Clark and Marion Donahue both gave excellent recitations. Marion Raber, Clyde Clow and Crawford Donahue spoke for the affirmative side and Dora Sly, Clifford Clow, and Harry Hill spoke for the negative side. Immediately after the debate dancing was indulged in for a short time and all the ladies’ pies were sold to the gentlemen who paid for them according to the size of the shoes the lady wore. The proceeds of the evening’s entertainment amounted to $41.70, which was ample to pay the balance on the piano purchased for the school in October.

Children throng to call on Santa

Santa Claus made his first appearance in Bend this year when he arrived at the Fair store on Wall street this afternoon. Hundreds of children gathered at the store to see the patron saint of the Christmas season.

Job shortage seen in Bend

For the first time in nearly a year there are apparently more men in Bend than there are jobs, for a number of recent arrivals in the city, many of them ex-service men, report that they have been unable to secure work of any kind. This condition, it has been ascertained, is due not only to the stopping of much road and construction work in Bend and Deschutes county as the result of bad weather, but because many unable to find work in their home cities have come to Bend in hope of securing employment here. It is also an indirect result of labor troubles in the east, it is believed.

The big pine mills offer little encouragement for at the Brooks-Scanlon mill and logging camps every job is filled and practically the only vacancies are presented when some employe fails to report when shifts are changed. Then the first applicant gets the job. At the Shevlin–Hixon plant there is still a possibility of taking care of a few more men and ex-service will be given the preference, other qualifications being equal.

In an effort to bring jobs and men together Mrs. Vernon A. Forbes, representing both the Bend Commercial club and the Home service section of the American Red Cross, is reopening the free employment agency which was conducted so successfully last winter, and in this the cooperation of Percy A. Stevens Post, American Legion, is being given. Any one in Bend or the surrounding country, who has work of any kind to offer, is requested to communicate at once with Mrs. Forbes .

75 Years Ago

For the week ending

Dec. 7, 1944

Bulletin, 7,000 miles from Bend, cheers soldier

A copy of The Bulletin, tucked away in a pile of newspapers 7,000 miles away from Bend, brought cheer to a soldier in an Italian hospital, it was revealed here today.

Walter McWaters, manager of the Zellerback Paper company in Portland, today forwarded a letter to the Bulletin which he had received from one of the firm’s former employees now in the service. After telling of the monotony in the hospital, the soldier wrote:

“One evening in the hospital library I was glancing through a pile of newspapers on a table. I noticed the corner of one paper protruding about half way down the pile. This paper, in the lower left hand corner, had an article with the date line Portland. That caught my eye, and I had to investigate. No Portland paper, but The Bend Bulletin — just about 7,000 miles from Bend … I read that paper from cover to cover, including all the advertisements. Many of the names were familiar.”

Advance ticket sale to start

Wilfred Josey, head of the Junior Chamber of Commerce basketball ticket sale committee, announced today that tickets could be obtained at the high school and City drug, as well as from members of the committee who would begin a campaign to contact Wall and Bond store business establishments. Josey stressed the importance of early purchase, as school officials were only able to set aside a limited number of seats.

The seats are in the center sections on the north side of the playing floor, the section that has always been the most popular when open to general admission prices.

The Lava bears home schedule will feature two game series with Corvallis, Eugene, Klamath Falls, Hood River, Albany, and Lakeview, and games with Prineville and Redmond. The season opener will put the Bears against Corvallis Dec. 15 and 16.

Municipal airport ideas posed

Bend’s municipal airport was the subject of lengthy discussion last night in a special meeting of the city commission, when Walt Howard, unsuccessful candidate in the recent city election, aired his views on how the field should be conducted. Howard had campaigned on a platform embracing airport development, and he appeared before the commission on invitation to “furnish his ideas.”

Howard is a member of a special airport committee named by the commission to propose a development program for the airport. Other members are Ollie Bowman and Tom Brooks.

Howard told the commissioners that he believed the present airport was too distant from the city and that if the landing field were closer to the city the “people would become more air-minded.” He said that Bend would have difficulty in inducing major airlines to make Bend a port of call unless the residents here developed more enthusiasm about flying. He said that if the airport were closer to the city where “people could see the flying”, they would become ardent boosters for the municipal airport, and such a holding would “be an asset to the city.”

Howard also proposed that the municipal airport be placed under a manager, and that competition be allowed, not only in flying instruction, but the selling of airplanes. He predicted that after the war there would be a demand for smaller airplanes and that local “garages would be show rooms because the airport is too far out.”

The meeting was attended by Mayor A. T. Niebergall, Commissioners Melvin Munkres and Loyde S. Blakley, City Manager C. G. Reiter and Recorder George Simerville. The mayor thanked Howard for attending the meeting, and for expressing his views on the airport’s conduct.

Granges help in bond campaign

Deschutes county’s seven granges will be responsible for this county’s farm quota in the sixth war loan, it was announced by county chairman A.L.O. Schueler. Granges of eastern Oregon are competing in selling bonds in this campaign for a registered Aberdeen Angus bull and a pure bred Duroc Jersey sow, while in western Oregon granges are in competition for a registered Jersey bull and a pure bred Romney ram, according to Morton Thompkins, master of the state grange.

Grange quotas for this county as announced by Nellie L. Allen, master of the Deschutes county Pomona Grange are: Eastern Star $30,000; Plainview $20,000; Tumalo $52,500; Pine Forest $52,500; Terrebonne $71,500; Alfalfa $24,000; Redmond $75,500.

HEADLINES

Stocks climb to seven year high — Rumors that America intends to abandon China are denied — B-29s on anniversary raid blast Japanese war factories — Medford Eleven wins state title — Greece facing civil war

50 Years Ago

For the week ending

Dec. 7, 1969

COCC group plans anti-war march

The Bend City Commission last night approved an application for a parade permit from the Central Oregon Community College group Omega. The vote was 5-2, with commissioners John Stenkamp and Preston Waller opposed.

Omega Vice-President Dave Viles told the commission the group has planned an anti-war march on Dec. 13 at 3 p.m. The group requested permission to assemble at the base of Pilot Butte, march down Greenwood Avenue to Wall Street, and down Wall to Franklin Avenue ending at Drake Park.

Bend City Police Chief Emil Moen recommended the group follow the customary parade route to avoid traffic problems. He recommended the group assemble in or near Troy Field, go north on Bond Street to Greenwood Avenue, then down Wall Street to Franklin Avenue and finish the march at Drake Park.

Permission to hold the parade was granted on the condition that the marchers follow Moen’s suggested route, and that the group obtain permission from state officials to hold a parade on Bond and Wall, both streets also being state highways.

Commissioner Waller opposed granting the permit because the march is “ill-timed.” Commissioner Stenkamp opposed granting the permit because the march will “interfere with the public use of streets.” About 100 marchers are expected to participate.

Last month the commission approved an application for a parade permit from the same group to hold a march from the college to Troy Field. That march was cancelled when the group decided to participate in a clean-up of Pilot Butte canal.

War gas storage set for Oregon

WASHINGTON — The Army announced Tuesday it plans to begin transporting several shipments of nerve gas from Okinawa to Umatilla, Ore., by way of Bangor Munitions Depot in Washington State later this month or early next.

The munitions will be moved by ship to Bangor, on Hood Canal, and will be transported from there to Oregon by rail where the chemicals will be stored in concrete “igloos.”

“Strict safety precautions” will be exercised during rail movement of the nerve gas, according to Army Undersecretary Thaddeus Beal, who flew out to advise Washington Gov. Dan Evans and Oregon Gov. Tom McCall of the shipments. Beal said technical escort teams will accompany the chemicals and “special arrangements” are being made for rail movement.

Beal said the nerve agent, which is kept in a liquid state, will be transported in “a number of shipments — above five” beginning late this month or early in January. The shipments will be completed sometime next spring.

The Pentagon said communities along the route would not be notified in advance that the shipments were coming through. It said the rail routes to be used have not been selected.

The Umatilla site was selected for storage of the chemicals because of its proximity to Bangor, from where rail transportation could be provided while generally avoiding populated areas, he said.

In response to questions from newsmen, Beal admitted there is some danger involved in shipment of the chemicals, despite their relatively low volatility. “I’d say there’s a greater danger involved from the shipment of some commercial chemicals,” Beal said.

Apparently, the shipments won’t be the first rail transportation of such chemical agents in the Pacific Northwest but, under a new policy announced by President Nixon, this is the first time the governors of the states involved had been notified by the government.

25 years ago

For the week ending

Dec. 7, 1994

Theater to open before Christmas

On Dec. 23, the number of movies showing in Bend will just about double. That’s the day

Act III Theatres plans to open its new Pilot Butte 6 movie complex at Highway 20 and 27th street.

Central Oregon moviegoers have long complained about the lack of variety in the movies, which come here — with much of the fare targeting teen-age audiences.

Act III closed the Tower Twin theater downtown last year because remodeling the old building would have been too expensive, eliminating two screens and further fueling dissatisfaction over a lack of movie variety.

Some moviegoers also contend that when quality films do make it to Bend, such as “The Age of Innocence,” they’re shown for only a short time before they’re pulled off the screen.

Act III hopes to change these perceptions with the additional screens at its new theater, which will open shortly after Hollywood releases its final barrage of holiday movies. “You can be assured that many of the big Christmas pictures are going to be there,” said Randall Blaum, Act III’s director of marketing.

Act III movie buyers don’t know what specific films will be shown here at this time, Blaum said.

The new 24,000–square-foot movie center seats about 2,000 in its six theaters. Some of the theaters will include floor-to-ceiling screens.

Other amenities include state-of-the-art sound systems, seats with beverage holder arm rests and wide aisles.

Blaum said a host of promotions and giveaways will be held in conjunction with the Dec. 23 opening, including 10 minutes of free long-distance calls during the inaugural weekend and coupons for candy, popcorn and season passes.

Act III, which spend thousands of dollars remodeling the four-screen Mountain View Mall Cinemas and the Bend Tri-Cinemas this fall, believes the Bend market offers much opportunity for growth, Blaum said. “Our latest estimates project that there are 50,000 to 75,000 people within easy driving distance every day of the year,” Blaum said. “But with seven screens there’s only so many movies we can play. In a good movie town like Bend, we feel the more screens we have the more revenue will be generated.”

Act III, based in Portland, is the country’s ninth-largest theater chain with about 540 screens nationwide.