Yesteryear

100 years ago

For the week ending

Most Popular

1

Village Baker owner puts longtime Bend bakery up for sale

2

Plan to sell public lands sparks backlash in Central Oregon

3

Alder Springs Fire grows to 2,500 acres, prompts evacuations in Crooked River Ranch

March 30, 1924

Brooks-Scanlon men get high grade wild honey

Wild honey, clear and of excellent flavor, has been a delicacy frequently enjoyed at the Brooks-Scanlon logging camps in the last year, for no fewer than seven bee trees have been located in that time. The stores of sweets run from 12 to 35 pounds to the tree.

Manzanita and bitter brush flowers are particularly favored by the wild bees. The bitter brush, is responsible for the darker and better flavored honey. In one tree the honey must have come from the flower of some noxious plant for it was sour and unfit for consumption, reported S.A. Blakley, logging superintendent for the company.

Bark beetles found in fuel in basements

Basements used for storing wood have served as incubators in cases where the fuel has been infested by bark beetles, it has been found by Fire Chief Tom Carlon. The presence of beetles in stored fuel has greatly increased the seriousness of the beetle menace to the pines which beautify the city, it is feared.

Although the beetle larvae in the standing trees have not yet hatched out, it was found this morning that the beetles in stored wood have already matured and are active. One of the home owners in Bend told Chief Carlon that he heard a sound coming from his stored fuel. He first thought it was mice, but on investigation it was found that the sound was made by the beetles.

Carlon has not yet ascertained how general the infestation is in the stored fuel, but since a considerable amount of the fuel used in Bend is cut from dead trees, it is probable these trees were killed by beetle infestation.

New elevator first in Bend

A contract for the installation of a magnet control elevator in the St. Charles hospital was drawn up today between the management of the hospital and the Otis Elevator Company of Portland. The elevator, the first in Bend, will be placed in operation in the next two months.

With the installation of the elevator, the latest hospital type with a large platform for patients, it will be possible to take patients from the outside of the building to the rooms on the upper floors and to the operating room on the top floor. The new elevator can be easily installed, for the elevator shaft was made in the hospital when the building was erected.

Funds for the purchase of the elevator were donated by friends of the hospital in Bend and in all parts of Deschutes County.

75 years ago

For the week ending

March 30, 1949

Playfield fence to be erected

Material for fencing the Harmon boulevard side of Harmon playfield arrived yesterday and work of erecting the six-foot high steel mesh fence will be started in the next few days, it was announced today by W.P. Drost, city manager. They Cyclone Fence division of the American Steel and Wire Co. has the contract and will erect the fence.

Steel posts will be set in concrete. The fence will be similar to that around the St. Francis parochial school in Bend.

Because of budget limitations, only the Harmon boulevard side of the newly improved field will be fenced this season.

Rose garden additions are planned

Spring planting in Bend’s Memorial Rose Garden, in Pioneer Park, will be resumed just as soon as weather conditions permit, officers of the Bend Garden club announced today. Two dozen new plants have been ordered for spring planting. When these are planted, there will be 104 rose bushes in the garden, a memorial to men who died in the two world wars.

Eighty rose bushes were planted last fall. Charles Bishop, supervisor of Bend’s parks , will be in charge of the plantings.

Bend residents wishing to contribute roses for the garden or desiring to place orders are being asked to get in touch with the Bend Garden club.

Egg hunt plans made by Lions

Weather conditions permitting, the Lions’ 1949 Easter egg hunt will be held in Shevlin park, just west of Bend, it was announced at today’s luncheon meeting of the clubmen at the Pine tavern. In former years, the egg hunt has been held in Drake park, R.E. Jewell, chairman of the 1949 affair, announced. With plenty of hiding places available, the Shevlin park egg search “will be a real hunt,” Lions believe.

Article by Hosmer accepted by post

Paul Hosmer, Bend, has been notified that an illustrated article he wrote about mountain climbing in the Central Oregon Cascades has been accepted for publication by the Saturday Evening Post. Date of publication has not been announced.

Pictures to be used in illustrating the article were taken by Jim Hosmer, son of the Bend man.

Hosmer said the story will largely deal with the first ascent of Mt. Washington, by five young Bend alpinists in the summer of 1923. Hosmer scaled Mt. Washington in 1928.

50 years ago

For the week ending

March 30, 1974

Redmond garbage rates go up May 1

Residents here will be paying more for their garbage collection service beginning May 1. City councilmen approved a rate increase for Central Oregon Disposal Service at their regular meeting Tuesday night.

Under the new fee system, the monthly charge for collection of three cans per week will rise to $1.95 from $1.75. The charge for additional cans will increase to 55 cents from 50 cents. Charges for commercial customers will increase to $1.65 for the first can, $1.10 for the second and 60 cents for additional cans. At present, the charges are $1.50 for the first can, $1 for the second and 50 cents for others.

Bend’s population greater than 17,000

The city of Bend may have more people than the state says it has. If the city can prove it, it is eligible for about $40,000 more in revenues from the state.

Figures developed by the city’s comprehensive planning firm, Patterson, Langford and Stewart, Medford, show the city has 17,214 persons. The latest certified population, set by the state on July1, 1973 is 15,560.

A survey done by Ned Langford in conjunction with Bend’s urban growth general plan recorded 5,936 households in the city. By multiplying households times the average of 2.9 persons per household, Langford arrived at 17,214.

The state distributes money from highway, cigarette tax and liquor tax revenues to cities throughout the state, based on their populations. The estimated income from the state for the next fiscal year is $25.10 per person.

The larger population figure would mean Bend would receive $41,515 more than if the smaller figure were used.

City Planner John Hossick is verifying the figures Langford came up with. A special census would have to be completed in order for the state to certify the new figure. It could cost the city about $1,500.

In addition to the in-city population, Langford reported, 8,475 persons live on Bend’s immediate outskirts. The total Bend area population is 25,689, according to Langford.

25 years ago

For the week ending

March 30, 1999

COCC is 50 and still growing

In 1949, a student could take night classes for $3.50 per credit at the newly-opened Central Oregon College in the basement of the old Bend High School.

The college was essentially a night school where World War II veterans and others could finish their high school diplomas, or take classes such as typing and automotive technology. Times have changed and so has the college.

Today, as Central Oregon Community College celebrates its 50th year of operation, the college is a lot more to more people. It serves 3,700 full and part-time students, over a 10,000 square-mile area in communities from Warm Springs to Gilchrist.

As the school and the area have grown, so have the demands. With limited funding, college leaders have had to prioritize the sorts of programs they offer. And some some community members have questioned whether they are making the right decisions; whether the college is spread so thin that it is abandoning part of its basic mission.

Community colleges are trying to be many things to many people, said Bob Barber, COCC president.

That includes providing training to underemployed workers, to providing self help courses to increase personal confidence, and even fly fishing classes for recreational enjoyment.

“We are responding to the needs of our community as best we can,” Barber said. “Each college has to choose how best to spend its resources. Our board has prioritized what we can offer to the community and do it well. If the state would fund our growth, which they have not, we could do more.”

The increasing demands on COCC are not unique. Community colleges and their equivalents nationwide are responding to lifestyle and workplace changes that demand frequent retraining and lifelong learning.

But the Central Oregon college’s mission is complicated by several factors. It serves the broadest geographic territory of any community college in the state, which also includes the fastest growing areas in the state. In an area without a four-year university, it is essentially the source of higher education.

Many COCC students say they would like to see the college evolve into a four-year school. Sean Spensley, president of the student body, said many of the students in Central Oregon are not able to leave town due to job commitments and family, and would like to have more than a few upper division programs offered.

Spensley plans to attend Oregon State University through its Bend program, but he still believes the choices are limited.

When all is said and done, education officials expect to see a university in Central Oregon within 10 years. It will place COCC in the thick of things, as a partner with a regional university, and plugging an education hole that has been a sore spot for residents living in Central Oregon.

When that occurs, COCC will have some relief from the higher education battle, said Barber.

The college will be fully integrated with a state university, offering the lower division courses that link to the upper division classes.

“This will draw a different type of student,” Barber said. “It will be a better mix of students. It will be more of a collegiate climate with lots of diversity.”

In the demand for more and more services for the community, a partnership with a university will allow COCC to offer more, and stay on an even keel with its community college colleagues.