Looking Back

100 years ago

• A lot of people have asked the editor why the Standard Oil company trucks always have a chain dragging behind them. Harold Ottestad a Standard Oil employee was recently in the Record office and when questioned he said that the chain was dragged to avoid trouble from static electricity.

• The Davenport Commercial Club has launched an investigation into why Wheat is paying 10 to 15 cents a bushel less in Davenport than in surrounding communities.

• A new record high for the Gas Tax collected by the state was set in July with a total of $298,863 collected. This beats the former record which was set just last month when the state collected $273,242.

75 years ago

• A new change in traffic/arrest procedure provides that a copy of all tickets given will be forwarded to the state licensing department. This will make it easier to weed out the habitual offenders and revoke their operators license.

• Special events for the Odessa Rodeo will include the clowning and bullfighting of Slim Pickens and the appearance of Dave Homburg that made his rodeo start in Odessa 10 years ago.

• Congress passed a bill that raised the national minimum wage from 40 cents per hour to 75 cents. The measure went through after two days of turbulent debate.

50 years ago

• School will start on August 27th in Odessa after an agreement was reached by teachers and the school board. The salary portion of the negotiations was settled back in July. Other items in contention were gone over step by step and an agreement was reached.

• 15 yards in Davenport have been vandalized in the last couple of weeks. Police Chief Frank Foley said that these attacks appear to be malicious in nature. Plants were uprooted and yard decorations were stolen.

• A flood, caused by a shut off valve that blew out, left the lower level of the Harrington Golf Club submerged. The issue was discovered at 5:30 in the morning by Mitch Cronrath while on his paper route. No actual damage was done.

25 years ago

• The Washington State Department of Ecology has fined 14 local farmers for burning fields without permits. The fires were either spotted by ground or by aerial observation. The fines totaled $54,636.

• Lincoln County was found to have a lower than statewide average unemployment rate. Lincoln County has a rate of 3.7% while the state average is 4.6% and the national average is 4.5%. The lowest in the state is Whitman county at 1.9% and Pend Oreille county is the highest at 9.2%

• Harrington School District forced to cut family and consumer science classes due to not receiving any applications to teach the program. It will be replaced with a Senior project class which will be taught by Principal Randy Behrens.

10 years ago

• Lincoln County Fair and Rodeo is underway. This year’s features are entertainment by a strolling magician, stage performance by The Moondogs as well as all the normal exhibits and the always exciting Rodeo.

• Area schools required to send out letters to parents stating that the schools are “failing” causes much aggravation for staff and administrators. According to the Federal No Child Left Behind standards a school is failing if 100% of students do not meet proficiency requirements. Local administrators argue the standards are antiquated, punitive and just plain wrong and provide multiple examples of how they are not “failing.”

• A recent storm in Harrington caused 2 large trees in the City Park to come down. One actually snapped in half. Multiple trees in the cemetery also fell as a result of the 60+ mph winds. One local farmer lost a bull and several cows due to a lighting strike that was part of the storm.