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

100 years ago

For the week ending

April 25, 1920

Bear guards path against minister on fishing trip

How a preacher and a bear met in the woods near the Heising ranch on the Metolius and parted with the bear the victor, was the story told yesterday by Rev. J. Edgar Purdy, pastor of the Bend Methodist church, on his return from a fishing trip. Incidentally Mr. Purdy was the preacher who played opposite the bear in the one act woods drama.

Armed only with a fishing rod, Mr. Purdy was sauntering along a trail near the river when a low “woof” halted him. “There was the bear, no bigger than an ordinary collie dog, but he meant business,” the minister declared in mentioning the incident. For a moment the two eyed each other, then the pastor threw a stick at Bruin, but received another threatening “woof” in reply. As a peace offering a sandwich was tossed to the bear, but the self appointed guardian of the trail, disdaining the viand, commenced a dignified but menacing advance. Mr. Purdy passed only by making a wide detour.

“I can’t imagine the cause of the animal’s actions unless there were some cubs in the near vicinity,” Mr. Purdy said.

Bigger sleepers cars for route to Portland

Two standard sleepers containing 14 sections and a drawing room each, will be used in the near future on the run between Bend and Portland, it was announced last night by J.T. Hardy, traveling agent for the S.P. & S. The new cars, which have been ordered for some time, will take the place of the two 12 section Pullmans now in use. Tourist accommodations will remain unchanged.

Mr. Hardy reports that the freight congestion is being rapidly relieved, and that “outlaw” strikers who refused to return have already been replaced. “Some of the Bend merchants were just beginning to run short on certain lines of goods,” Mr. Hardy said.

New phone service will be assured in La Pine

La Pine — Construction work has been started on a farmer telephone line which will reach approximately thirty residents and necessitate the use of about 45 miles of wire. The central station will be located in the La Pine Supply Co. store and the system will be under the supervision of E.L. Clark. The installation of the new system will make it possible for the subscribers to get service over the Southern as well as the Bend line.

$25 is fine for dancer who resisted matron at event

On the charge of resisting an officer, Katherine Zeiser of this city was fined $25 in police court this morning. Mrs. Frank Brobert, dance matron, testified that on Saturday night at the Hippodrome Miss Zeiser had used profane language and had attempted to strike her after being warn ed against improper dancing. The defendant declared that she had indulged in no profanity and that her only resistance had been to push the matron to one side when the latter was in her way.

Bend man receives reserve commission

With no application on his part, Frank R. Prince today received from the Adjutant General’s office, Washington, D.C., a commission as captain of engineers in the Oregon reserve. Mr. Prince, who served overseas, was a lieutenant of engineers at the time of his discharge.

75 years ago

For the week ending

April 25, 1945

Poaching rumor heard in Bend

Midnight poaching in Drake park for ducks and geese was reported today to The Bulletin by residents on both sides of the Deschutes near the footbridge, who said that four distinct shotgun blasts were heard shortly before midnight. One report was to the effect that there were three shots in rapid succession, followed later by a fourth. Bend police said that they had no report of the affair.

County Realtors meet in Bend

Members of the local real estate group at their meeting this week heard from Mrs. H.A. King, of the King-Craft Toys, a discussion of Bend’s newest industries and its possibilities in peace days. Data dealing with the ever increasing output of the local factory were presented by Mrs. King, who also demonstrated some of the articles produced here. She pointed out that maimed veterans, now receiving training, will have jobs available here in the era of peace.

Carl J. Lindh spoke on “Is Real Estate Inflated,” and also discussed provisions of the new G.I. bill of rights. Miss Eleanor Bechen touched on “Trends of Desires in Building,” and Walter Daron spoke on the examination given applicants for real estate licenses.

Lowered awnings bring warnings for downtown

Proprietors of several stores on Wall Street today were warned by Bend police that they must raise their awnings or suffer prosecution under a city ordinance which requires that the awnings must not hang down over the sidewalk below six feet and two inches.

Officers reported that the warnings were issued as a result of numerous complaints by pedestrians that they are forced to stoop while walking in front of the establishments.

Services are held for longtime Bend resident

Tribute to an old time Bend resident, Theodore Aune, who died Friday evening, victim of a sudden heart attack, was paid by scores of friends when funeral services were held yesterday afternoon from the Niswonger & Winslow chapel, with Rev. M.A. Thompson of the First Lutheran church in charge. Serving as pall bearers were old time residents of Bend, E.T. Gerri she, R.M. Smith, R.H. Fox, Steve Steidl, E.A. Sather and Hans Slagsvold.

Burial was in the family plot in the Pilot Butte cemetery, near the graves of Mr. Aune’s parents, Arnt and Anna Aune, and his brother, George Aune.

Mr. Aune, a native of Norway, had been a resident of Bend since 1902.

50 Years ago

For the week ending

April 25, 1970

Commission approves new bridge for Deschutes River

Hopefully, the old steel bridge at Tumalo State Park on Deschutes County’s O.B. Riley Road between Bend and Tumalo will be replace this summer with a new reinforced concrete structure. The State Highway. Commission this week approved the project. It will be funded under a federal-state-county program in which the county and the state share 40 per cent of the cost and the federal government the other 60 per cent.

County commissioner G.W. McCann said today an initial estimate has set the cost at approximately $75,000. The new span, he said, is badly needed, especially to accommodate trailers using the state park.

The old bridge, McCann said, is too narrow for two trailers to pass and in addition is “falling down.” McCann did not know when it was built, but recalled that it dated to the time when the present O.B. Riley Road was a part of the Bend-Sisters Highway.

Plans call for a reinforced concrete bridge with a 32-foot clear roadway, guardrail, riprap signing and stripping. The contractor will be required to remove the existing structure and construct the approaches and connections to the new bridge. The state will make the survey and prepare plans.

State observes Earth Day

“What have you done for the Earth?” asks the neatly lettered sign in a Beaverton grade school. All over Oregon today students, and some adults, were asking themselves and others that question as schools from kindergartens to universities participated in the nationwide “Earth Day.”

Gov. Tom McCall opened a two-day speaking tour with an address this morning at Ashland Senior High School.

State Treasurer Robert Straub was making a series of speeches in the Portland area. At the University of Oregon classes were suspended for three hours for a teach-in on ecology. At Portland State, the list of speakers included Dr. Willy Unsoeld, a climber of Mt. Everest. At an observance Tuesday night at Willamette University in Salem Dr. D.E. Warren, water pollution specialist at Oregon State University, said predictions that man will become extinct as a result of pollution are “sheer nonsense.” He added, however, that living won’t be very pleasant unless man controls the population and begins to protect his environment.

While students on most campuses were listening to talk about environmental problems others were already out improving the environment.

Lane Community College students were reconstructing a trail on Spencer Butte near Eugene. Portland Community College students spent much of the morning cleaning up the Park Blocks in downtown Portland. The University of Oregon opened its Survival Faire with many booths still under construction.

At some schools, teachers rode bicycles to work instead of taking their cars. An automobile was to be hanged in effigy.

In grade schools and high schools throughout the state, students were studying problems of ecology, cleaning up their school grounds and making leaflets to take home to their parents.

The first event of Earth Day in Portland was a wedding in Washington Park in which Yogi Bhajan united two couples, one clad in similar flowing white gowns and the other couple more casually clad.

25 Years ago

For the week ending

April 25, 1995

City ‘taken to cleaners’ at site tapped for parking lot

The line was too obvious for Bend City Commissioner Bryan Chitwood to resist. “We not only got a pig in a poke. We got taken to the cleaners,” Chitwood said.

Nonetheless, Chitwood and his similarly dismayed colleagues decided last week that they had no choice but to spend at least $37,000 to remove and incinerate some soil and install a vapor extraction system at a parking lot site contaminated with a chemical used in dry cleaning solvents.

The city paid $135,000 for the former Bend Troy Laundry site on Kansas Avenue a year ago, to put in a 50-space parking lot near downtown. Since then the city has spent another $33,000 on environmental studies and tests.

Soil samples taken by Century West Engineering Corp. determined that 650 cubic yards of soil are contaminated with tetrachlorethene, a component of perchloroethylene, a dry cleaning solvent known as “perc.”

A laundry and dry cleaning operation existed on the site from at least 1922 to 1989. Fire gutted the building in 1992. It was torn down later.

An initial assessment by Environmental Consulting & Investigation Inc., performed before the deal closed, did not indicate there was a problem with solvent contamination, said city Finance Director Andy Parks.

However, City Attorney Ron Marceau told commissioners the city could not seek to recover any of the costs from that firm or former property owners V.T. And Lola McAllister of Eugene until the cleanup is completed, or the state orders the work done.

Century West originally recommended only a vapor extraction system, rather than shipping any of the contaminated soil to the nearest approved disposal and incineration site, in Kansas. However, removing three cubic yards of the most contaminated soil should be more cost-effective because the vapor system will use up $1,000 charcoal filters less quickly, once or twice a year, said Dan Capozzola, project manager.

State and federal limits on such chemicals are from 700 to 900 parts per billion. The most contaminated soil sample on the site registered 53 million parts per billion, Capozzola said. “These solvents are extremely mobile and are banned from landfills,” he explained.

Shipping and disposing all of the possibly contaminated soil would have cost close to $1 million, Capozzola said. However, that is not the worst-case scenario. If ground water was closer to the surface, as it is in areas such as LaPine or Prineville, the health risk — and cleanup cost — would have been much greater, Capozzola said.

If an initial test finds vapor is extracted at low levels, the small excavation might not be needed, but Capozzola said that’s unlikely. “Unfortunately, this is a common occurrence in real estate transaction,” the Century West official said. “It’s not uncommon to find hidden problems.”

City Manager Larry Patterson said,”It may be overkill, but the last thing I want to do is dig up that parking lot after we put it in.”

Chitwood said he didn’t want to proceed until other parties help cover the costs. But Marceau said, “We can’t sue anyone for the amount required because we don’t know the amount yet.”

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