25 YEARS AGO

July 16, 1996

Thanks, but no thanks.

That’s Hermiston’s answer to an invitation to bid for a prison site in Hermiston.

The Oregon Department of Corrections is looking for additional sites on which to put more prisons and Hermiston, Stanfield and Umatilla were looking at becoming one of those sites. The three towns were testing the community waters to see if it was something that citizens would be interested in pursing as a sort of west-county project.

The results are in for the city of Hermiston and the answer is a resounding “no.”

“Nobody wants it,” said Mayor Frank Harkenrider. “He said that about 20 calls had come into city hall and six letters were received Monday, all against having a prison.

50 YEARS AGO

July 15, 1971

The dock strike of several days’ duration, which has severely affected Portland shipping terminals, could cause a critical situation to Oregon farmers, in the opinion of Robert Estoup, manager of Feedville.

“From all indications,” Estoup said, “the strike could drag on for quite a while and, while we haven’t really felt the effects yet in our shipping of grain, it could present a problem.”

Umatilla County, which is expected to produce a record crop of grain this year, ships the bulk of its produce to Portland terminals on barges from the Port of Umatilla.

Don Cook, Pendleton, manager of Pendleton Grain Growers, Inc., said, however, that he felt that Umatilla County would not be as severely affected by a prolonged strike as some other areas might.

“We don’t like the strike,” he said, “but Umatilla County has the advantage of being one of the earliest in the state to harvest, and while there is only one terminal open to unload, they are more or less accepting shipments on a first-come, first-served basis.”

75 YEARS AGO

July 11, 1946

The Barbers union with jurisdiction over Pendleton, Pilot Rock, Hermiston and Umatilla voted at a meeting held in Pendleton to raise the prices of haircuts in the four cities to one dollar effective Wednesday.

No increase was voted in the price of shaves, which remain at fifty cents.

In announcing the increase in haircuts, it was stated that most of the other cities in Oregon have been charging $1 for haircuts for some time.

100 YEARS AGO

July 15, 1921

Lorenzo E. Dole, of Florence, Oregon was sentenced to four months in the Multnomah County jail by the Federal Court here on July 11, for willfully setting out fires in the forest in 1920.

This case has attracted a great deal of attention both on account of the unusual conditions of the case as well as the unusual character of the defendant. On May 17, 1921, a federal jury sitting at Portland brought in a verdict of guilty against Dole for maliciously setting a fire within the Suislaw National Forest on May 16, 1920.

According to statements of forest officers, Dole had long been suspected of setting forest fires and efforts had been made year after year to secure evidence against him without success.

From the statement of witnesses, Dole’s method of work was original and only an unusual combination of circumstances brought about his conviction. It seems that by long practice he could flip a burning match into brush along a road or trail, even from horseback.

Forest officers say that he tried this once too often, for on May 16, 1920, as brought out in the evidence, once of the witnesses was that day trying out a new telescope by casually watching through the glass occasional passers-by on a road some few hundred yards distant, and happened to see Dole deliberately strike matches and flip them while still burning into the dry ferns and brush along the roadside.