100 YEARS AGO

For the week ending

Jan. 25, 1925

Water Supply Of Deschutes Now Abundant

Snowfall on the high watershed of the Deschutes is greater than normal for this time of the year, assuring farmers a plentiful supply of water for the 1925 growing season. This has been ascertained by Gale Hathaway, assistant to State Engineer Rhea Luper, who, with C.M. Redfield, representative of the North Canal Co., spent a week in the mountains, returning to Bend Saturday night.

Five feet of snow covers the country in the vicinity of Crane prairie, which this time last year was mantled by only 18 inches, it was learned by the engineers, who made their way over the deep snow on skis. The snow at the Crane prairie cabin now measures about 52 inches. Reports from various parts of the Mid Oregon Cascades indicate that the fall of snow this winter has been comparatively heavy. Some 11 feet of snow covers the country near the rim of Crater lake.

Captive Taken In Death Case Not Identified

Sheriff S.E. Roberts’ nine months search for the Little Lava lake murderer of 1924 seemed at an end last night when a telephone message was received from County Detective J. F. Morley of Klamath county, reporting the arrest of Charles O. Kimsey. Then the work of following the killer, over a blurred trail, was resumed when in another call from Morley it was learned that the man arrested had none of the distinguishing scars of Charles Kimzey, alias Lee Collins, former Idaho convict. The prisoner was four inches too tall besides.

After Morley had finished talking with Roberts, Kimsey asked to be put on the telephone, and talked for several minutes with Roberts, accounting for his whereabouts for the past year, and recalling to the Deschutes county sheriff that he had written to Roberts last summer, pointing out the similarity in his own name to that of the suspected Lava lake killer, and emphasizing that he was not the man wanted.

Spring’s Here; Marbles Used

Judging from the thermometer and the activities of school children, spring was in the offing this afternoon. The temperature shortly before 3 o’clock ranged around the 60 mark, the highest reached by the column of mercury since December 17.

Marbles made their appearances at various schools in Bend today, and during the afternoon recess, the presence of marbles explained the unusually still groups of boys on the school grounds.

Goldfish King Dies, And Subjects Also

“King Tut” is dead. And like the encairned monarch of the Valley of the Kings, he was accompanied in his swim into the great beyond by several who served his will. “King Tut” was a goldfish — king of the six fish which for the past two years darted through the waters of the glass tank in the lobby of the Pilot Butte Inn. Three of “King Tut’s” associates are also dead. The two remaining survivors of the finny tribe were nearing death today.

Just what great catastrophe visited the small world of “King Tut” and the three smaller goldfish is not known. Probably it was some strange malady, the temperature, water or food.

75 YEARS AGO

For the week ending

Jan. 25, 1950

Goodrich Announces Candidacy

Alva C. Goodrich, who last night resigned as Bend municipal judge, has announced his candidacy for the republican nomination as representative in the state legislature from Deschutes county. The office Goodrich seeks is that held by A. P. Meyers, Redmond, at the 1949 session of the legislature.

Meyers recently announced that he had not yet made up his mind as to whether he will seek the office again, but said that at present he does not plan to enter the race. James F. Short, also of Redmond, has announced that he will not be a candidate for the berth of joint representative from the Lake-Deschutes district.

Goodrich is secretary of the Central Oregon Hospitals foundation and a director of the Bend chamber of commerce and a member of the board of governors of the Oregon state Bar. He is the newly elected president of the Bend Knife and Fork club, and is teaching Oregon school law at Central Oregon college.

For the past three years Goodrich has served as attorney for the Bend school district board. Mr. and Mrs. Goodrich have four daughters, Gretchen, Rachel, Sylvia and Sarah. Two of the children are in school.

Blue Heron Pays Visit To Bend

Mirror pond birds had a rare visitor yesterday — a blue heron that made a landing in Pageant park, looked over the winter scenery, then crossed the river in a long glide to the east shore and Drake park. When last seen the long-necked, long-legged bird was apparently watching with interest ducks and geese in the Mirror pond.

Last year, it is recalled, two of the big herons visited the Mirror pond area. They are occasionally reported from the up-river country, where they wade in the shallow water. The heron seen here yesterday was identified as the type frequently seen in the Malheur river country.

Bend Business Firms to Close For Hospital Dedication

Business in Bend will recess for an hour Saturday afternoon, from 1 to 2 o’clock, while a ground breaking ceremony marking the start of work on the $900,000 St. Charles memorial hospital is under way. Acting on an executive request from James W. Bushong, president of the Bend chamber of commerce, all retail merchants will observe the hour recess it was announced from the chamber office.

One of the highlights of the day will be a parade, start of which has been set for 12:30 p.m., Saturday.

Ground breaking rites will be on the site of the new hospital, starting at 1 p.m. Governor Douglas McKay has been asked to join in the ceremony. Mayors of central Oregon cities and judges of mid-state counties have been invited to be present.

Redmond Motor Race Track Idea Given to Council

Mrs. Joe Brown appeared before the city council last night with a proposition which had come to her attention Tuesday. Jim Mays has suggested the possibility of converting land near Cline falls, which was purchased some years ago by the Redmond Flying club, to a race track for motor vehicles. The property was turned over to the city some time ago and such a proposal would have to be sanctioned by the council.

Former members of the flying club, J.R. Roberts, P.M. Houk, T.J. Wells and Mrs Brown have indicated no objection to the idea.

After discussion and consideration Councilman Vadnais moved that a check up be made with the pacific Stock Car Racing association and with the League of Oregon Cities. The motion carried and a report will be made at a subsequent council meeting.

50 YEARS AGO

For the week ending

Jan. 25, 1975

Something concrete

The former fish hatchery building on the north end of Shevlin Park west of Bend is slowly but surely showing the effects of a major refurbishing job underway for the past two years. Last week a new concrete floor was poured in the building, with the concrete donated by Bend Redi-Mix Inc. The Bend parks and Recreation Department hopes to have the facility completed in time for use this summer.

Bridge going up at Smith Rock

Workmen yesterday completed laying two support beams which will be used to support a foot bridge across the crooked River at Smith Rock State Park about three miles east of Terrebonne.

The 102-foot laminated beams weighing 4,000 pounds each were lowered into the canyon at the state park last week by a crane from Mann Construction of Redmond. The foot bridge project will cost $30,000 and is being funded by the Oregon Highway Division, according to Joyce Zobrist, a secretary in the Bend office of the highway division. The construction work is being done by a crew from Cove Palisades State Park near Culver and supervised by Park manager Joe Ficek.

The bridge is to be completed by June 1. The project includes trail work at both ends of the bridge. The bridge will have a rustic design in order to blend in with its natural surroundings, Ms. Zobrist said.

25 YEARS AGO

For the week ending

Jan. 25, 2000

Wartime mail returned to sender revives memories

A piece of the distant past just landed in the mailbox of Glenn and Marion Babcock, and the Bend couple has few clues how it got there.

Glenn was taking his wife to work Sunday when they stopped by the mailbox near their Mountain View Park home. “I don’t get my mail every day,” said Marion, who is 74, like her husband.

The day’s mail included a plain white envelope, hand addressed to the couple and postmarked in Bend last Thursday.

Opening it up in their car, the Babcocks found a smaller, tan envelope tucked inside, from the “War & Navy Department’s V-Mail Service,” postmarked Oct. 9, 1944. It contained a wartime letter that Glenn, then a corporal in the Army Air Corps, had written to his St. Paul, Minn., family from an air base in England, just a few days after he turned 19.

“Dear Mom, Dad and Family,” Glenn wrote. “How is everything at home? I hope you are all well.”

He wrote of settling in after traveling “all over England” but said he “would rather be back home in the good old states with you and pop.” He asked about his sister and vowed to write home “after every mission.”

Glenn was headed to Italy, where he would serve as a ball turret gunner on B-17s flying bombing runs over Nazi Germany, then as a “waist gunner” on the smaller B-25s. “He flew 63 missions without a scratch,” Marion recalled.

Before doing his part in World War II, Glenn fell in love with Marion.

They had met when they were 15, when he’d come over to play basketball in her dad’s driveway. But “we weren’t even engaged yet” when he headed overseas, Marion said.

In the letter, Glenn asked if “my honey has been over lately” and said he arrived at the base too late to send her a Christmas present. Instead, he asked his mother to buy Marion an his father presents with money he would send home- a wristwatch for Marion, “Dad something he needs.”

Marion, now Glenn’s wife of 52 years, said she can’t remember if she got a watch or not: “I mean, we’re talking a long time ago. I’ve been through a lot of watches since then.” Over the intervening decades, the couple had two sons, both of whom joined the Navy and ended up serving on aircraft carrier flight decks. The couple moved to Seattle, where Glenn Babcock began his career with a sportswear manufacturer, then on to Portland before retiring in Bend 15 years ago.

”I had a good time in the service,” Glenn said with a laugh. He had served for 2-1/2 years and was heading home on a “victory ship” when the bombing of Japan ended the war for good.

Glenn Babcock said he doesn’t remember whether the letter- one of many he sent home to Marion and his family- ever got to his parents, who are now deceased. The couple knows few other people in Bend, so the local postmark makes it a happy mystery. “I really don’t know how or where it came from,” Glenn said.

Veterans flock to new Bend clinic’s open house

Build it, and they will come — in droves.

Lured by the prospect of free and reduced-price healthcare, at least 100 veterans showed up at Bend’s Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic on Friday.

The clinic, which opened in August, was holding the first of two open houses to enroll veterans and explain VA benefits. A second open house will be held today. If it’s anything like Friday’s event, the wait will be a long one.

“I just hope I get in before dark,” said Air Force veteran John Atkins, 68 who spent several hours waiting outside the clinic with other veterans.

They passed the time telling war stories and joking about government inefficiency. “You know what SNAFU means?” asked Rich Amber. “Situation normal — all fouled up.” Amber, an Air Force veteran who spent six years in Vietnam, spent more than five hours waiting to enroll. Like many in the crowd, he didn’t take advantage of VA healthcare benefits until he learned about the Bend clinic.

“I had a good enough job,” Amber said.

But being out of work now forced the Redmond resident to reconsider his options, and he said he’s glad he has an opportunity to receive medical care in Bend. “It sure beats driving to Portland,” he said.

Before the Bend clinic opened, Central Oregon veterans seeking VA healthcare had to cross the mountains to the VA hospital in Portland or other VA facilities in Roseburg, Salem and Eugene.{span class=”print_trim”}

”I knew of the veterans going to Portland,” said World War II Army veteran Glen Hopkins, 74.

”But I’d never given it a thought myself until the last two or three years. The cost of private medical care is becoming more and more prohibitive.”

With nearly 31,100 veterans in nine Central Oregon counties, veterans’ advocacy groups have been pushing for VA healthcare in the area for years, said VA spokesman Joel Preston Smith.

But even with the new clinic, the demand for VA healthcare in Central Oregon exceeds the supply, Smith said.

He said veterans who apply for benefits will be placed on a waiting list, with priority given to veterans who served in combat and veterans who were injured in combat. But he added that the Portland VA hospital is still available to any veteran who needs immediate help.

”The system is not set up to exclude anyone who truly needs care,” he said.