100 YEARS AGO

For the week ending

Aug. 24, 1924

Union School Head Arrives

Donald A. Emerson, who has been elected as the first principal of the Bend union high school, arrived in Bend Wednesday evening to take up his duties, which begin next Monday, according to his contract. Emerson drove to Bend from Spokane, accompanied by his wife.

The new principal has had 11 years of teaching and school executive experience, but last year he attended Washington State college, securing a degree of M.A. He had taken his B.A degree at University of Washington.

Emerson comes highly recommended by school officials at all of the places where he has been employed, and also by the Washington State college faculty members under whom he worked.

Next week Emerson will go into the matter of assigning teachers in the high school and preparing the program of studies, working with Superintendent Ager.

Many Guests Leave When Cops Arrive

When a full fledged beer party at the Mountain View hotel was interrupted by the police Saturday night, some of those participating were caught, but most of them, including the proprietor, J. McDonald, escaped through the windows while Chief Peter Hanson and his men were trying to find out who was responsible for the property. There were a dozen or more people in the house.

McDonald left town before he could be arrested, the police learned. Nineteen bottles of homebrew beer were confiscated, along with siphons, bottle cappers and other articles used in bottling, and well over 100 beer bottles in boxes and a washtub.

Mrs. Bertha Steffen, one of the three people questioned by Recorder Louis Bennett as a result of their present at the drinking party, is charged with possession of liquor in a complaint signed today by the chief of police. She has not yet entered a plea.

Buyer Will Market Old Forbes Ranch

R.H. Loop, who recently purchased the old Forbes place south of Pilot Butte, is starting to pipe city water to his new holdings, preliminary to splitting the farm into acre tracts and placing it on the market. The entire place is 21 acres in extent.

Seed of Weed Sown In Park

Bend police today are looking for the person who last night sowed dandelion seed in liberal quantities on the new lawn of the city park, who paid similar attention to the lawn of C.L. Mannheimer nearby, and who slashed the hose at the park. If caught, declares Mayor R. H. fox the man will be given a steady job under official supervision watering the park and keeping it free from weeds.

Both the park and the private lawn have hitherto been entirely free form noxious growths. A sack full of dandelion seed picked out of the grass at the park was exhibited this afternoon by Mayor Fox.

75 YEARS AGOFor the week ending

Aug. 24, 1949

Bend’s “Hard Luck” Taxi Driver

Taxi driver Frank Johnson, Leblein hotel, would just as soon sit at the curb and take it easy for a while. Jumbled events Tuesday made him the unwilling chauffeur of two gunmen on a trip out to Klamath Falls and the unwitting killer of a deer — which damaged his Owl taxi — on the trip back. While he sorts out events, police are questioning Glen Ray Neel, identified as a San Quentin prison camp escapee. Johnson got police help in Klamath Falls when the two were about to walk away without paying him. Officers took Neel while his companion, thought to be armed, escaped. Johnson said the two kept him “pinned down” the entire distance. He said the men seemed in a hurry to get out of Bend, from the moment he picked them up in front of the Copper Room.

New Tumalo Creek Bridge Completed

Under construction for the past 120 days, a reinforced concrete bridge over Tumalo creek, near the Skyliner cabin, has been completed and the road into Tumalo falls was in general use today. The new bridge matches the span erected over Tumalo creek two years ago just below Tumalo falls.

The bridges were constructed by the forest service. The concrete structure replaces a wooden bridge that spanned a divided stream. The new construction included diversion of the Tumalo creek flow into a single channel, at a point 13 miles west of Bend and three miles below Tumalo falls. Eight tons of steel and 100 cubic yards of concrete were used in the work. The bridge is 43 feet long.

Both bridges are on the Skyliner playground Tumalo falls road. Motorists are being advised that the road is rough in places, because the prolonged dry weather has made maintenance impossible. Within the forest the three mile unit of the road winds along Tumalo creek. There is a forest service camp site at the end of the road.

Bend Bulletin Will Publish Fair Edition

The Bulletin tomorrow will issue the largest paper in its 46-year history- an eight section, 64-page Deschutes county fair edition. Theme of the big paper, to be distributed on the eve of the opening of the 30th annual county fair, will be the remarkable farm and industrial development of the three midstate counties, Deschutes, Jefferson and Crook, in the past year.

Scores of pictures, taken by staff photographers and reproduced in The Bulletin’s new engraving plant, are being used to illustrate the stories covering the three counties. Presented in detail is the story of the development of the new North Unit project of Jefferson county, where hundreds of families are preparing homes on a segregation considered outstanding in the west.

One section of the big fair edition is devoted to the opening of schools in central Oregon. Several sections of the paper are devoted to agriculture and industries and another section tells of highway development now under way in the area.

Photographs being used include a six-column aerial picture of the Bend mill area, with plants of The Shevlin-Hixon Company and Brooks-Scanlon, Inc., in the foreground. The picture was taken by Web Loy, The Bulletin’s photographer-aviator, shortly before the section went to press. Press time pictures were also taken in Redmond.

Bears Becoming Nuisance

Bears, a source of attraction earlier in the season, are now raiding camps and cars in Newberry crater and posing a serious problem for forest guards, according to information from the resort area. The marauding bears have torn food coolers from cabins, ripped food boxes from cars and made themselves general nuisance.

The bears congregate around garbage pits in great numbers Foresters report they are so abundant and bold that they even inspect garbage trucks before the vehicles are driven to the dumps.

Vacationists camping in the crater area are being asked not to leave any tempting food around their camps.

Ralph W. Crawford, Deschutes national forest supervisor, said the bears are rapidly increasing in the crater region, inasmuch as the area is in the Deschutes game refuge.

50 YEARS AGOFor the week ending

Aug. 24, 1974

Walt Disney gives money to county rescue squad

The Deschutes County Search and Rescue unit has received a $500 donation from Walt Disney Productions.

Volunteer members of the unit have been with the Disney group the last two weeks while ”The Apple Dumpling Gang” film crew was working at Pringle Falls and the Benham Falls bridge. They aided with water safety and stood by in case of emergency.

According to Chris Williams, unit director, the money will be used to help with expenses and equipment maintenance, which is paid for exclusively through donations.

Wright Ford moves into its new Redmond quarters

Redmond — An electronic front-end alignment machine is among the new equipment that has been installed at the new location of Wright Ford, Inc., 1835 S. Highway 97, according to Sherman E. Wright, president.

He said the firm has been moving this week into its new building from its former location at 585 SW Sixth St. He noted that the old building was built by P.M. Houk in 1919 when he opened Central Oregon’s first Ford dealership.

According to Wright, the new building is more than twice the size of the former one. Space in the showroom, parts and service departments has more than doubled as a result, he said.

In addition to the new front-end alignment machine, Wright said, the service department now has a hoist for large trucks, which could not be accommodated in the former shop. Powell Construction Col, was the general contractor for the new $200,000 building. Not only has the firm’s space been expanded with the move, but so has its staff. Four new employees have been hired in the parts and service departments and plans call for adding another salesman.

Asked what would become of the downtown building vacated by his firm, Wright explained that it is owned by a California man, whose plans he does not know.

25 YEARS AGOFor the week ending

Aug. 24, 1999

Badlands area may be protected

A campaign to turn a 32,000-acre chunk of Bureau of Land Management real estate just east of Bend into a wilderness area appears to be gaining steam.

And at least one rancher with grazing rights on the Badlands Wilderness Study Area may be willing to relinquish his permit if his allotment could be permanently retired from grazing.

Environmentalists pushing for protection of the area hope the idea catches on. The tract of desert land is north of Highway 20 near Horse Ridge, about seven miles east of town and adjacent to the Millican Valley off-road vehicle area. It’s a severe landscape of gnarled junipers and volcanic remnants.

“It’s ground that looks like a beach,” said Bill Marlett of the Oregon Natural Desert Association. “It’s sand and lava rock. From a rancher’s perspective, it’s probably the most pathetic land you’ve ever laid your eyes on. But it’s great wildlife habitat.” The land supports mule deer, elk, antelope and other wildlife, Marlett said.

In an Aug. 3 letter to President Clinton, Sen. Ron Wyden contended that the Badlands “merits wilderness or other special protection.

“Conservationists view the Badlands as a unique opportunity to restore a native high desert ecosystem in a quickly urbanizing area where the demand for wilderness, recreation and open space is increasing,” the Oregon Democrat wrote.

But environmentalists argue that any designation would ideally go hand in hand with permit retirement. Otherwise, livestock could still graze there.

That would require legislation giving the BLM authority to permanently retire grazing permits rather than passing them on to other applicants.

Area cattle rancher Ray Clarno said the idea has merit.

“A permittee should have the option of permanently retiring his permit if he sees fit,” said Clarno, who has a 16,000-acre allotment within the Badlands. “I’m in favor of that.” Clarno said he’s not prepared to commit to retiring his permit should the opportunity present itself, but he’s considering it as an option. Permits are attached to deeded land and carry a monetary value when property changes hands, which is one reason ranchers may be reluctant to relinquish them.

Deschutes County Commissioner Linda Swearingen likes the concept of retiring grazing permits on the Badlands but balks at the mention of a wilderness designation for the area. “The county isn’t looking for a designation,” she said. “If you designate something as a special wilderness area, you invite the public in there without providing money for security or trails.”

One of three grazing permittees on the Badlands, Clarno is pushing for protection of the land. “I’m interested in anything that will get the motorized vehicles off there,” he said. “People cut fences, cut trees, dump garbage and there’s too much off-road vehicle activity.

“A lot of people come out and hike and enjoy it. But the illegal activities have increased significantly. A lot of it has to do with population pressures. It’s going to get worse rather than better.”

Despite the interest, a wilderness designation is far from a done deal.

A proposal to turn the Badlands into a wilderness area reached the desk of President George Bush in 1993. He signed the recommendation and sent it on to Congress, where it has languished ever since.

Marlett and other environmentalist embrace the prospect of a cattle-free Badlands. “It’s kind of a win-win scenario,” he said. “(The rancher) gets to retire the permit and the wildlife benefit in that they don’t have to compete with the livestock. It’s giving something back to the land.”