100 YEARS AGO

For the week ending

Oct. 12, 1924

Crook County Sheep To Be Shipped Soon

Thirteen carloads of lambs purchased in the Prineville country will be shipped out of Crook county over the S.P. & S. to Yakima, Wash., on October 10 reports J.C. Wright, traveling freight and passenger agent for the S.P. & S. The sheep were purchased by the Ballard Sheep Co. of Washington. They will be consigned to Chicago markets in the spring.

Schools To Close For County Fair

The majority of the rural schools in Deschutes county will close one day for the annual fair starting in Redmond Thursday, it is reported by J. Alton Thompson, county superintendent. October 9 is school day at the fair, and on that date all school children will be admitted free of charge. School officials believe that a visit of the children to the fair is of educational value, explains the superintendent.

”Peg Leg” Morrisey Held For Questioning Before Coroner’s Jury

MADRAS — Arrested on a minor charge, but held by the coroner’s jury for examination in the connection with the death of Alvin Robinson, Jefferson county rancher who was shot from his horse two weeks ago, Dan Morrisey, known in the Donnybrook country as “Peg Leg,” was brought to Madras yesterday from his ranch, located in the vicinity of Coyote mountain near the Robinson home.

Robinson’s death is still a mystery apparently no nearer solution than when the body was discovered.

Robinson came to his death as the result of a grudge by a person who knew the day and probably the hour the rancher was expected to return from a trip into the mountains, this is the general consensus of opinion in the Donnybrook country.

There have been many suspects, in fact few of the near neighbors of the Robinsons have escaped suspicion. But at no time have county officials accumulated sufficient evidence to warrant an arrest. One of the strongest bits of evidence was the tracks of a saddle horse, with a twisted shoe, but apparently even this has been discarded as being only circumstantial, and very remotely at that.

Store Robbed By Man, Woman

REDMOND — Entering through a rear window by removing a pane of glass, robbers, believed to be a man and a woman, last night after 12 o’clock robbed the general drygoods store owned by Sam Andrews, taking more than $300 worth of goods — shoes, men’s wear and other articles.

Two United States marshals who were in Redmond last night, this morning found the tracks of a man and a woman near the place where the store was entered. After going into the building through the window, the robbers opened a rear door, supposedly for the purpose of making a quick get away.

The robbers made their escape in a light car and obviously headed for Bend after taking the goods from the store. All shoes in the store between the sizes of 5 and 11 were taken by the robbers.

75 YEARS AGO

For the week ending

Oct. 12, 1949

Bids Open Nov. 1 for St. Charles Hospital

Bids for construction of the new St. Charles hospital in Bend will be opened on Nov. 1, 1949, it was announced today by members of the Central Oregon Hospitals foundation building committee, headed by H. A. Miller and G.R. Moty and Hugh K. Cole as its other members.

Publication of the advertisement for bids will begin tomorrow in Portland, Seattle and Bend, and sealed bids will be received in the office of Sister M. Blanche, St. Charles hospital superintendent here. Separate bids will be received for general construction; plumbing, heating and ventilating, and electrical work.

The plans call for the erection of a three-story building, with basement, It is expected that basement work can be carried out in the early winter.

The three-story building will be of fireproof construction throughout, with terrazzo and asphalt tile floors, a composition built up roof, steel windows, steam heating plant, refrigeration, mechanical ventilation, elevators, sterilizers and ceramic tile walls in surgeries, the delivery room and some other rooms.

Construction of the hospital, to be the largest in central Oregon and one of the most up to-date in the entire state, is being made possible largely through contributions of residents of the mid-state country, plus federal aid and cooperation of the Sisters of St. Joseph, who operate the St. Charles hospital.

Rodeo Grounds Will Be Sold To High Bidder

Faced by a two-year Mirror pond pageant deficit aggregating more than $5,000, the Bend Stampede and Water Pageant association is offering for sale to the highest bidder its rodeo ground property just south of the city limits, W.J. Baer, association president announced today.

A call for bids was advertised today. The property is generally known as the Stenkamp ranch and is located two miles south of Bend. The tract holds 40 acres, with a 36-acre water right, under the Arnold ditch. Baer said the association reserves the right to reject any or all bids, “or to accept the bid deemed in the best interest of the association.”

The association obtained the property in pre-war days, intending to develop it into a race track and rodeo arena. Later the property was turned over to the city, with the proposal that it be developed over a period of years. Recently, when the association was faced by its second consecutive deficit in presenting the pageant, directors asked for the return of the property from the city.

Neewallah Parade Planned in Bend for October 31

Children of Bend are to be invited to observe Halloween by participating in a “Neewallah” parade Monday evening, Oct. 31. The parade, to be sponsored by the American Legion auxiliary and the American Legion, will be followed by treats for all who take part, and the awarding of prizes for the funniest and best costumes in several classifications.

Preliminary plans for the parade were made at a meeting of the Legion auxiliary last night in the library auditorium.

The “Neewallah” parade this year will be the first local Halloween observance of its kind held in several years.

50 YEARS AGO

For the week ending

Oct. 12, 1974

It’s ‘Hi, Gov!’ as Tom meets Duke and Kate

“Hi Gov!,” boomed down from the rock outcropping in a voice familiar to at least two generations of film fans.

“Be down in a minute,” John Wayne bellowed to Gov. Tom McCall.

“Hi, Duke,” McCall yelled back. “How many have you killed today?”

“Oh, 10 or 12,” Wayne responded.

Wayne then resumed work on a scene from “Rooster Cogburn,” the Hal Wallis production being filmed in the Bend area. Yesterday the crew filmed an ambush scene near Fall River.

McCall, who flew in to the Sunriver Airport about 2:30 p.m., visited the set in appropriate garb: a Stetson hat, string tie and cowboy boots. He had been in Klamath Falls, addressing a geothermal energy conference.

The boots, McCall had decided when he got off the plane, were an important part of the costume. The last time he met John Wayne, during the 1952 Republican convention, the actor had kidded him about not being as tall as Wayne.

McCall is 5 feet 5; Wayne is 6 feet 4. With McCall wearing his boots, Wayne didn’t have a chance.

As Wayne went back to work, McCall turned at the sound of another very familiar voice, coming from some bushes in another direction.

Katharine Hepburn issued her greeting, and came from the underbrush wearing frontier type clothing. Miss Hepburn plays the role of Eula Goodnight, “a prim but feisty Bible-spouting spinster,” according to a movie company press release.

McCall asked Miss Hepburn what she thinks of Central Oregon.

“Oh, my God — it’s a devastating place,” she said.

She’s covered a lot of territory since her arrival here in mid-September, both with the movie company and on her own.

“The water’s so clean. Just MAH-velous,” she said.

“We went up to the base of Broken Top. It’s unbelievable.”

She’s also been swimming in the icy waters of Sparks Lake, she told the governor. “You’re tremendously energetic, aren’t you?” McCall said.

From the other side of the small ravine, John Wayne’s voice attracted everyone’s attention again.

“Over there, goddammit!” Wayne said, obviously perturbed at something or someone on the set. “Sounds like me at the Statehouse,” McCall remarked wryly.

There was a break in the filming, and McCall climbed a rocky hill to where Wayne was waiting to greet him.

McCall reminded Wayne of their last meeting, and both men chuckled. Wayne, too, had nice things to say about Central Oregon.

McCall said Oregonians don’t mind Californians, as long as there aren’t “too many at once.”

“The trouble is, they stay,” McCall said. “We get 16,000 people a year from California.” The talk turned to politics briefly when McCall said he and California Gov. Ronald Reagan took office in the same year (“the class of ’66,” McCall said).

Wayne commented that he was sorry to see McCall and Reagan leaving office. “You can do more in the statehouse than you can as a senator,” Wayne said. The “damn liberals” are taking over the Senate, he added.

Wayne and Miss Hepburn, who are staying in private homes at Sunriver, will be in the area through October. Filming is on schedule and “coming along very well,” producer Hal Willis reported.

25 YEARS AGO

For the week ending

Oct. 12, 1999

Glider flights make young spirits soar

Joleen Marcotte climbed out of a glider Sunday and assured fellow Mountain View High student Toni Cooper that she would love soaring silently among the clouds, with no engine. But after Cooper — who had never flown before- settled into the front seat of the shiny Blanik two-seat glider and soared aloft Sunday, a few shrieks of joy mixed with fear could be heard way down below on the runway at the Bend Municipal Airport.

“Turning was the only fun part,” Cooper said later with a hoarse, nervous laugh. “Dropping like that in altitude was not the most fun.”

The High Desert Soaring Club offered a dozen Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps cadets from Bend-area high schools the opportunity to head skyward for 15-minute glider flights Sunday.

Pilot and club President Brad Stankey allowed each teen to release the towing cable and maneuver the plane on his or her own.

But with several parents and grandparents watching from below, Stankey didn’t allow any show-stopping loops or other aerobatics, as some more daring young fliers would have liked.

“I was pretty nervous,” said Marcotte, the first cadet to climb aboard. “But as soon as you get up there, it’s so calm, It’s sort of like a bird, just soaring along.” Until the glider reached 2,000 feet in altitude, it was hooked by a 200-foot tow line to a converted crop-duster owned by the soaring club and flown by Rollie Ayers, 81, a World War II pilot whose love of flying never grows old.

“I like to keep my hand in it,” Ayers shouted from the cockpit between towing duties. The glider flights offered a fun time for all involved, but there was a bittersweet tinge to the day.

The club arranged the flights at the request of the Swiss parents of Hans Oesch. Oesch was a local test pilot for Lancair who died along with a passenger last January when their small plane crashed into the Columbia River near Portland International Airport.

Oesch’s parents donated his high-performance, single-seat Nimbus 2 sailplane, worth $25,000, to the Prineville-based soaring club. They accompanied the donation with a request that 20 young people be given a glider flight in the club’s two-seater, said Bend resident Dick Tobiason, a retired aeronautics engineer and test pilot.

The soaring club began fulfilling the parent’s request when it flew eight Madras High JROTC cadets in the glider in August.

Each cadet received a certificate to mark the event from the Young Eagle program, sponsored by the Experimental Aircraft Association to promote aviation. Tobiason, who coordinated the glider flights, also is a member of the Central Oregon Retired Officers Association, which works wit JROTC and provides three $1,000 scholarships annually.

On Saturday, more than 80 young flying enthusiasts got to soar aloft, in powered airplanes, and earn their Young Eagle honors. Several pilots with the local chapter of the EAA took youngsters ages 7 to 17 up for 20-minute rides. The club has flown more than 200 young people this year, Tobiason said.

Donna Owens, one of the soaring club’s founding members, said gliding is easier to learn than powered flight, without having to know all about engines.