Harrington news

On July 17, Randy Craker, district pastor, installed Pastor Cade Clarke and his wife in a “Service of Covenant and Commitment.” Noteworthy were commitments made by Pastor Cade which included, “I will establish my ministry upon the Bible as the Word of God. I will be a man of prayer.” Forty or more people filled the sanctuary and many stayed for the barbecue after the service. Pastor Cade has reinstated the Wednesday evening meeting as a Bible study service and a Youth Group at 6 p.m. He is also actively involved with the Food Bank and has been making house calls on parishioners.

Ten children turned out on Thursday afternoon for the third session of the Summer Reading Program with Bridget Rohner, Emily Aldrich and Jennifer Aldrich leading the various projects and programs. The first story read to the children was “Little Stinker” by Steve Smallman, a story about Percy, a little fish who expelled gas. This story roused considerable laughter among them.

For their first activity they were given a handout titled “Sink or Float” in which ten items were listed and each child was asked to mark their prediction as to whether that item would sink or float. Then they were divided into groups with tubs of water and these ten items to get their results to match up with their predictions. The ten items were: marshmallow, carrot, Lego block, pencil, cotton ball, paper clip, clay, pepper, potato and whiffle ball. Each was then given the task of trying to make each object do the opposite of its natural inclination (since a marshmallow floats, the kids would try to make it sink).

The second book read was “Dino-Swimming” by Lisa Wheeler. Another activity was “The Stroop Effect” which is the result of the human brain doing only one thing at a time – reading the name of a color that is written in a different color. The brain automatically wants to call it the color that it appears in rather than what is spelled.

“Froggy Learns To Swim” by Jonathan London was read to the children as they sat in a circle. Froggy’s mother taught him to get his face wet first and then to say “bubble, bubble” while his head was under water. The younger children appeared to appreciate this story. A slide show was presented, teaching facts about water while the children had “healthy” snacks for athletes: goldfish crackers, V-8 juice and soda water for fizz. The session concluded with the movie “You Are a Good Sport, Charlie Brown.” The children were then released to find books to check out and get an ice cream sandwich from the librarian.

Mayor Dillon Haas called a special council meeting for 7 p.m. Thursday night with the following present: Haas, three councilmen (Cronrath, Davenport and Schenk), clerk Bunny Haugan and Marge Womach. The purpose of the special meeting was to consider a contract for a consultant building inspector for a residence to be built at 403 S First Street by Terry and Dianne Sanchez. Prior to the meeting an inspector was contacted and the city attorney drafted a contract. After modest discussion it was decided to accept the consultant contract. The consultant would be paid $225 per inspection and the Plan Inspection would cost $200.

Thursday evening has been chosen by Haas for a fun game night at 7 p.m. (generally) until about 9:30 p.m. With little advertising, word of mouth aroused the following to meet at the Memorial Hall with an appetite for winning: Haas, Peter Davenport, Pastor Cade Clarke, Nikolas Clarke, James Mann, Elaine Cronrath and Marge Womach. Haas and Davenport gave a tutorial on Pente. Davenport and Mann were the lucky ones with Yahtzee. A good variety of games is available, but no refreshments. Game lovers are encouraged to bring their own game if they don’t think the available selection will suit them.

A question was received at the Harrington Library for information on the Luther P. Turner mansion that was built in 1917 in Spokane. In the fall of 1916, Turner received a payment for his wheat that was the largest single payment for wheat in the Big Bend to that date. The amount of the check was said to be $223,000. In the spring of 1917 it was announced that he would construct a colonial residence for $15,000 with J.R. Burrill as the architect (who was also the architect of the Harrington Opera House). Plans were for nine or 10 rooms, a full cement basement and a garage large enough for three automobiles.

In June, the Harrington Citizen published a long and detailed description of this soon-to-be mansion. “The house is in the Southern Colonial style, the walls being granite brick with white terracotta trim, that is window sills and wall caps for step guards and rear porch. There will be two clusters of three columns each running up two stories, 26 inches in diameter, Ionic style, plain columns, this carries a deck with railing, and the cornice of this is the same as the main cornice: Corinthian, less some of the pressing of the mouldings, and simplifying the brackets... The front door is full bevel plate with leaded bevel plate side lights and transom, the latter being a half oblong. This is framed with terra-cotta. The balcony entrance is similar but plainer, the transom being square single plate. The building is 54 x 60 ft. The living room 22’7” x 34 clear. This and the dining room 22’7” x 22’6” monopolizes the east side, a vestibule and hall run back to the kitchen in the rear, a parlor occupies the front left-hand side with a bedroom and bath behind. The hall, living room and dining room are beamed, the vestibule and parlor have a cornice, these rooms are all in golden quarter sawed oak. On the inside of the dining room facing the big window is a mahogany china closet eleven feet long that mill and glass men in Spokane say will be unsurpassed in the city. The wood work is Honduras mahogany, below on either side there is a door glazed with bevel leaded plate, between are draws, immediately above the lower part a mirror 16 x 111 sets back against the wall, this is flanked on either side with a box running to the cornice overhead and immediately in front of it a 5-inch Corinthian fluted column; between and above the mirror is occupied by leaded bevel plate doors in different styles, the whole surmounted with a neat cornice, the outstanding feature of which is the dentil work. Between these two rooms there is an eleven-foot opening closed with double rolling doors. Columns 7-feet high guard the sides, square, fluted, they carry an oblong arch. Flanking the opening back of the columns on either side on the living room side are three door book cases glazed with leaded bevel plate. **In the kitchen there will be large cupboards, an electric range, etc with a store room to the west with a cooler, etc. All bedrooms and baths will be furnished in white enamel, also the kitchen. Bath rooms will have tile floors and wainscott. There are two of these upstairs making three complete bath rooms and a toilet in the basement. Each bedroom has a big wardrobe and each wardrobe a big built-in set of drawers. There is a clothes chute to the basement, where there is a laundry, fruit room, coal and wood rooms, etc.” (Citizen: 6-22-1917) For additional information go to http://www.turnermansion.com/gallery.html.

In 1929, after farming for about forty years, Luther P. Turner held what was advertised to be a “Monster Public Sale” of 40 horses, 40 mules, 70 sets of chain harness, 10 wagons and racks and a long list of other equipments. “This ranch has been conducted by Luther P. Turner around forty years, he having first homesteaded 160 acres and to this he gradually added more land from year to year. A section or two sections at a time coming under his ownership has finally brought within Mr Turner’s barbed wire enclosures 11 sections in the west ranch, and in 1917 he bought the 4 ½ sections comprising the holdings of the California Land & Stock Company in Lord’s Valley. Attie L. Turner, son of L.P. Turner, is the foreman of the big home ranch to the west of town, while W.B. Armstrong, a son-in-law, leases the Lord’s Valley holdings. At one time L.P. Turner sold two crops of wheat, realizing what is thought to be one of the largest wheat checks ever issued in the Inland Empire, maybe the state, for a like transaction. The check called for $250,000.00. Last year the Turners added two tractors to their farming equipment and this year they are adding the third one. These modern steel power plants make the big farming equipment of horses, mules, harness and many other things unnecessary and for this reason they are offering their surplus equipment at public auction.”