100 Years Ago

From the East Oregonian

Feb. 4, 1921

Charles Hascall is in St. Anthony’s hospital and Emos Adeff is in the county jail as the result of an argument over the boundary of their respective sheep ranges, followed by two fights. Deputy Sheriff E. F. B. Ridgeway, who arrested Adeff at the John Ross ranch on Butter Creek said it has not been proved whether either man used any weapon in their two rounds of battle. Adeff, he says, maintains that he broke Hascall’s nose and injured his eye merely by blows from his fist. Other reports are that the men picked up whatever implements at hand that were convenient and would serve the purpose. One of the combatants herds sheep for K. G. Warner and the other for John Ross. An argument is alleged to have ensued over the boundaries of the respective ranges, which led to a fight. Hascall, the story goes, was worsted in the first encounter, which was stopped by Mr. Warner. Later Hascall returned to settle accounts with Adeff with the result that he was in need of hospital treatment when the contestants were separated.

50 Years Ago

From the East Oregonian

Feb. 4, 1971

From now on when you call the Umatilla County Courthouse on a holiday or a weekend the telephone will be answered, not by the stern voice of a sheriff’s deputy, but by the tinny sound of a recording. Why? Because on Monday, the first observance of a new holiday, “the sheriff’s department spent all day answering the phone,” said County Commissioner Raymond Rees. Many people apparently did not know about the new holiday — Lincoln’s Birthday was observed Feb. 1 instead of Feb. 12 to provide a three-day weekend for state and county employees. Another such occasion arises Feb. 15, a Monday, when George Washington’s birthday will be observed to provide another three-day weekend. The traditional Washington’s Birthday observance has been Feb. 22. The recording will be plugged into the courthouse switchboard, Rees said. And the sheriff’s phone will ring only when somebody wants that department, not other offices in the courthouse.

25 Years Ago

From the East Oregonian

Feb. 4, 1996

The nation’s first mail election for a congressional seat was a tremendous success based on the nearly 66 percent voter participation. It’s not clear if the mail ballot was a boost to either candidate. But voter turnout in the recently concluded election set a record for a special election in Oregon this century. Some Gordon Smith proponents have surmised that had the election been conducted at the polls, Ron Wyden would have stood to lose votes because seniors and urban residents — seen as generally supportive of Wyden — would have been less likely to go to the polls in cold and snowy conditions, particularly in the Portland-metro area where Wyden won some 80,000 votes. Rural voters on the other hand are seen as less likely to be turned from the polls by bad weather, which seemingly would have helped Smith.