Harrington swamps Odessa; Land taxes; 54 sent to draft board; Highway 21

100 years ago

The Odessa Record

January 18, 1920

News updates: Harrington swamped Odessa, 25 to 3, in basketball. Charles Cone is reinstated on the team and it is expected that the team will be able to reverse matters when they play a return game this week.

The Great Northern has sent all its oil burning locomotives to Montana and are replacing them with coal burning, faster, smaller engines.

With the census under way the Farmers & Merchants bank is offering prizes to the one estimating closest to the population within the incorporated district.

Odessa's bowling team played Harrington, losing the first game by 62 pins and snowing under the opposition by 276 pins for the totals of all three games.

The annual meeting of the German American Mutual Fire Insurance Association of Odessa showed $23,000 of insurance in force and according to the bylaws can now take single risks of $5,000 instead of the $2,500 restriction of the past.

Owners of dairy stock serving Odessa will be compelled to have all cows tuberculin tested and a committee has been named to enforce the ruling.

C. T. Leedy and D. C. Holmes were chosen captains of two teams to stage a rabbit hunt Wednesday, the losing side to provide a dinner for the winning team.

The Laugh a Lot club met Thursday night at the B. J. Crowell home and played progressive pinochle and Mr. and Mrs. Crowell repeated their custom of many recent parties by taking high honors.

Al Norton is the champion cottontail hunter, having gone out several times and brought back 20 of the bunnies, but Wednesday he was out three hours and returned with 27.

Jake Woitt returned the first of the week having received his discharge after over a year's service in Siberia.

D. D. Kelly and Sol Reiman received another Shetland pony from Spokane by express and will sell it to some Odessa kiddie.

The Harrington commercial club is working to sell $50,000 worth of bonds to reorganize the Harvester factory on a cash basis.

The commercial club has appointed a committee of three men and Odessa people are urged to contact these men before making investment in useless and fraudulent enterprises, such as are being offered throughout the area.

75 years ago

The Odessa Record

January 18, 1945

Navy names Busch victim: Martin Busch, chief water tender aboard the destroyer Monaghan which was lost as one of three ships destroyed during a recent typhoon in the Western Pacific, has been officially reported missing by the naval department.

Busch, who entered the regular navy soon after his graduation from the Odessa high school, had gone through all the Pacific action from the time of Pearl Harbor, when he was forced to swim through burning oil to escape from his sinking ship the U.S.S. Oklahoma, during the Jap sneak attack there.

Busch was home in August for a brief visit, his first in five years, at which time he announced that his two brothers, Emanuel, TM 2/c, was there with the navy in New Guinea, and Roland was with the amphibious force in the Hawaiians. Martin rejoined his ship at Bremerton and returned to the Pacific battle zones.

During the storm in which the Monaghan was lost, the destroyers Hull and Spence also went to the bottom. The Hull and Monaghan carried normal complements of some 150 men each and the Spence about 220. Rescued from the Hull were the commanding officer, four other officers and 49 men. Survivors of the Spence numbered 24 and six of the Monaghan's personnel were saved.

Word confirming the naval report was received in a telegram to W.C. Raugust from the missing man's sister, Mrs. Holdine Sykes, Long Beach, Calif. His parents, the Rev. and Mrs. G.F. Busch, now live in North Dakota.

During his high school days Busch took an active part in school activities and athletics.

Take 54 farmers to draft board: Lincoln county sent 54 selective service registrants to Spokane Tuesday for pre-induction physical examinations, the largest group to be sent in many months. Most of these men were youths from 18 to 25 years of age who had been deferred previously because of agricultural work.

Several of these were from the Odessa area. A group from Adams county reported on Monday and another group will be sent up Saturday. The county board has not announced results of the examinations.

50 years ago

The Odessa Record

January 22, 1970

Bill would tax lands on 'current use' basis: Rep. Otto Amen reports that in a stormy session Saturday afternoon at Olympia the House of Representatives passed an agricultural and open space bill which he helped sponsor.

This bill, if passed by the Senate, will implement HJR 1, which was passed overwhelmingly by the people of Adams and Lincoln Counties in the general election of 1968.

Although many amendments were proposed, which would in effect have made the bill useless as far as agriculture is concerned, all of them were defeated.

Implementation of this legislation provides that agricultural land and certain open spaces be taxed on its current use instead of its "highest and best use." The bill as passed would require a three-year notification of withdrawal and a five-year roll back of the tax differential with interest if withdrawn from agricultural classification.

Amen said that this is a step in the right direction to protect many farms from being taxed out of existence and also an aid in maintaining some of our open space in its present form. All agricultural groups have been supporting this type of legislation.

Tigers at Davenport Friday; Tied for 3rd in League Standing: The Odessa Tigers play one game this weekend, traveling to Davenport Friday evening to play in another league contest. The local basketball team has a season record of 13 wins and 2 losses, with a Bi-County League standing of 5 wins and 2 losses.

The Tigers played Davenport here on December 12 in non-league competition, defeating the visitors 77-47. Davenport's league standing is 1-5.

The OHS Tigers drew a bye for Saturday–no game is scheduled.

In a down-to-the-wire game at Freeman Friday evening, the Tigers came home on the short end of the score by one point: 54-53. A last-minute (6 seconds to go) free throw shot by a Freeman player tipped the scales in their favor.

There was cool shooting on the part of both teams, according to the statistics. Odessa players netted 20 of 60 for 33% while Freeman Scotties tallied 17 of 62 for 27 percent. Odessa was out-rebounded on the boards 34-30.

Marty Meise was the high-point man for the Tigers Friday evening with 18. Other points made were: Neil Jeske 12, Tom Renner 9, Greg Haase and Doug Meek 5 each, and David Wiest 4.

The Tiger quint was handed its first league defeat here the previous Saturday when Liberty topped the host team.

The OHS basketball first string rebounded well on Saturday night when they entertained the Creston Comets, putting up a strong defense to hold the Comets to 32 points while sinking 58. The Tigers gathered in 34 rebounds to that of 24 for Creston, however, shooting improved but little from the previous night, 21 of 60 shots for 35 percent. The Comets could only manage to drill through 13 of 54 for 24 percent.

Meise was again high-point man with 15, followed closely by Jeske with 14. Meek had 9, Renher 8, Haase 5, Wiest 3 and Mel Jantz and Reid Schafer 2 each.

Liberty and Reardan top the league play with 6 wins and 0 losses. Wilbur lost to Liberty 56-48 on Friday then bit the dust against Freeman Saturday night, 57-50, to tie Odessa for third place with a 5-2 standing. Others are: Freeman 4-2, Ritzville 4-3, Grand Coulee 3-4, Harrington, Creston, and Sprague 2-4, Lind 2-5, Davenport 1-5, and Almira 0-7.

25 years ago

The Odessa Record

January 19, 1995

Water re-use meeting in Spokane Jan. 27: A delegation of the Big Bend Water Resource Committee and representatives of the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners headed by Bill Graedel will meet January 27 in Spokane with the city's waste treatment officials.

This will be the first meeting with city engineer Jerry Shoup to apprise him and other city staff members of the committee's progress in establishing a water re-use project to rehydrate dry lakes and streams in western Lincoln County.

Seventh District Senator Bob Morton has told committee members he will try to attend the meeting. Morton, who strongly supports the rehydration project, was named this week to a special panel created by the state Senate to determine water policy for the state. Morton said the panel will streamline legislation on water permits and allocation.

The re-use of water from Spokane's waste water treatment facility is seen as a possible source for the replenishment of Lake Creek and other lake chains. Both the state Department of Ecology and the Department of Health have recognized that potential sources of water for any purpose are becoming increasingly limited and have suggested re-use of water from the Spokane treatment plant would be practical for the Water Resource project.

Spokane presently empties 22 million gallons of treated waste effluent daily into the Spokane River. This volume is projected to reach 35 to 40 million gallons within the next few years as new sewers in the Spokane Valley come on line.

The effluent has created high counts of nutrients and algae in Long Lake, which eventually empties into Lake Roosevelt.

It is believed Spokane officials will be interested in the committee's proposal as a means of alleviating the city's problem by diverting water from Long Lake for re-use in the Lake Creek rehydration project.

Several members of the committee and others from Odessa plan to attend next Friday's meeting with Shoup.

In other developments, the committee elected new officers during a recent meeting. Merlin Jantz was named chairman; Jerry Schafer, vice chairman, and Don Walter, secretary.

The next meeting will be held at 6 p.m. on January 26 in Record Square.

Highway 21 goes back to drawing board: The new route for Highway 21 through Odessa may not be a straight shot down Alder Street after all, and it may not be under construction by June 1.

The general managers of three of Odessa's largest firms, all related to agriculture, appeared Monday night at the meeting of the Odessa Town Council to call for reconsideration of plans for the highway reconstruction project, which they explained would create hardships for their businesses.

Marvin Greenwalt, of the Odessa Union Warehouse Cooperative, Greg Luiten, of the Grange Supply Company of Odessa, and Jerry Wacker, of the Odessa Trading Company, expressed concern about the project to Mayor Denny McDaniel and three council members present. They came to the meeting at the invitation of McDaniel and Lincoln County Commissioner Bill Graedel. Just last week it was announced the highway project had been given a spot on the Lincoln County region state transportation priority project list, eligible for state funding.

The Odessa Record announced this development in its January 12 issue after a meeting of the Lincoln County Coalition of Mayors in Odessa. At that meeting mayors of the county's towns agreed to trade a spot on the 1995 priority list to Odessa for another road project in the county. This moved Odessa up from the 1996 list and made Odessa eligible this year for Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) funds so that the project could get under way, probably in June.

The Record also reported there was an urgency for beginning the project this year because a $250,000 federal grant to fund a new grade crossing and signal system across the Burlington Northern Railroad's tracks, a part of the Alder Street project, had to be utilized this year.

In a letter to The Record on Monday, the heads of the grain companies and the Grange Supply stated the newspaper's report was the first they had known the Alder Street project was firm and nearly ready to go ahead. They also described the many hardships they believe the proposed Alder Street route presents.

At the council meeting, they again stated the reasons they oppose the project.

"This will defeat any expansion plans we have," said Wacker. "If Highway 21 is extended on Alder Street north of the railroad, the Odessa Trading Company's seed plant is dead."

OTC and the Odessa Union contend grain trucks moving in and out of their elevators on the north side of the railroad tracks would be encumbered by an arterial built through the area, he said.

"We have enough trouble with traffic as it was when 20 trucks are there loading, let alone the situation during harvest time," said Wacker.

Greenwalt stressed the need for leeway on the railroad siding for 26-car unit trains. These, he said, vary in length. An Alder Street crossing, eh said, might limit space on the siding available for unit trains.

Luiten was concerned about a possible closure of the Birch Street crossing if Alder Street opens only a block away. He said the large volume of heavy traffic generated by the Grange plant, including trucks carrying toxic materials, would be diverted from the present Birch Street itinerary to Alder Street and past First Avenue, the busiest intersection in town.

No one at the meeting doubted that a new truck route through Odessa is needed to replace the present Highway 21 with its five right-angle turns, McDaniel reminded that Alder Street can be built as a replacement highway, serving both general traffic and heavy vehicles. The state will designate alternative roads as truck routes, he said. Even with a new truck route, Highway 21 would follow its present course.

Responding to McDaniel's query about alternatives to Alder Street, Greenwalt, Wacker and Luiten proposed that the route extend north from First Avenue on Alder Street for one block to Marjorie Avenue, then east for one block to Division Street and north across the railroad on Division Street and out of town. A variation on this was to turn east immediately north of the railroad on Railroad Avenue, then north and out of town on First Street.

"You would not be eliminating many of the curves that way," said McDaniel. "You'd also have to plan not to cross the tracks at an angle, because the state requires a right-angle crossing," he said. He also pointed out that to achieve a gradual curve from Marjorie Avenue onto Division Street before the railroad crossing the Odessa fire station, which occupies that corner, would probably have to be removed.

McDaniel had stated at the meeting that the Alder Street route was the state's choice. He said as plans progressed in the project they had been discussed many times at council meetings and that these had been reported regularly in the newspaper.

"The council meetings are always open to people who want to attend," he said. "We see a need to straighten out some curves in Highway 21 through Odessa. The proposal for Alder Street as a new highway seemed to be the best solution. We looked at other streets, but none were straighter or wider.

Among those alternate plans were the narrowing of sidewalks in the vicinity of the First Avenue and Division Street intersection to accommodate outside vehicles in the sharp turn of the highway route, rerouting the highway the entire length of Division Street, which would require a bridge at Crab Creek, and establishing a truck route on Birch Street.

"We'll go back to the drawing board," said McDaniel. It will have to be determined whether a right-angle crossing can be built across the railroad, and the local fire districts and department will have to be contacted about possible relocation of the fire station. The town almost certainly would have to stand the cost of a replacement, he said.

"I'd hate to see our differences here result in a loss of this project," said Graedel. "But if any changes can result in a gain for the community, that would be fine."

No action on the matter was taken Monday by the council, as two of its members were missing. A public hearing on new proposals will probably be scheduled.

The only public hearing on the Alder Street proposal, held last year and attended by state transportation officials, ended in discord.