100 Years Ago

From the East Oregonian

June 11, 1920

J. M. Waterbury, who plays a piano until he drops from exhaustion, will start on a contest tomorrow morning at 10 o’clock in the Wendt Paint Store window in an effort to break his own record of 65 hours, 20 minutes and 45 seconds. He plays continuously with both hands and takes his nourishment with the aid of an attendant. His chief food on his long contests is black coffee, which staves off sleepiness. The contest is one of the most unusual novelties in the country and is attracting widespread attention wherever shown.

50 Years Ago

From the East Oregonian

June 11, 1970

“Call me Spiro, go ahead; I’m burned up,” a state official told the Hermiston Rotary Club. Verne Flock, representative of the Alcohol-Drug Section, Mental Health Division, State of Oregon, criticized television programs and other news media for dissension in the country. “All the young people see on TV and in the press is that the adult establishment has failed miserably,” the Ontario man declared. On another subject, Flock said the use of drugs by young people will increase in this section of the state, eventually moving into the junior high school age group. He attributed much of the drug use and dissent by the youth to lack of parental interest and discipline. Flock spoke upon the invitation of a Rotary committee functioning in cooperation with the Kiwanis Club and the Hermiston Police Department in an area drug-alert program.

25 Years Ago

From the East Oregonian

June 11, 1995

Cay-Uma-Wa Head Start students joined tribal elders in digging up the first soils of a cultural institute which will some day tell the story of their people, the Tamustalik Cultural Institute, to be located northeast of the Wildhorse Gaming Resort. Young tribal members dressed in traditional costumes used root diggers to turn up the sandy soil while Jay Minthorn, Board of Trustees member, led the group in an Indian drum song. The ground-breaking ceremony marks the third project the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation has started within the past year. The Wildhorse Gaming Resort was completed in March, and construction on the Wildhorse Hotel is underway. The ceremony also marked a sacred and important event to the Umatilla Reservation community. Friday was the 140th anniversary of the signing of the 1885 treaty between the Umatilla, Cayuse and Walla Walla tribes and the U.S. government.