100 Years Ago

From the East Oregonian

Feb. 11, 1921

The suggestion is made, and it has the thoughtless support of some very good people, that the Til Taylor memorial fund be diverted from the purpose for which it was raised and be used to by a piece of land for the city. There is some camouflage that this bit of land be called a park and that it have a cannon on the ground to prove it is a park. Is the suggestion a proper one; is it in line with honesty; is it in accord with the Pendleton spirit of which we all talk so much and are so proud? Certainly not. The Taylor memorial fund was raised to honor the memory of the best sheriff the northwest ever knew. It was the belief that a statue of Til Taylor on horseback would be erected and practically all of the $16,000 raised was given with this idea in view. If there is some land the city should own, let us buy it on the square. What would people think if it were announced we had decided to use the money to buy something for ourselves?

50 Years Ago

From the East Oregonian

Feb. 11, 1971

The same type of young people smoking marijuana today were participating in beer parties a generation ago. In other words, if you are concerned about your children smoking marijuana, and you went on beer busts in your youth, the chances are if you were in your youth today you would be smoking marijuana. That was the word from one of four panelists during a Drug Alert program at Hermiston’s junior high. A psychiatrist and county juvenile director on the panel both labeled alcohol a drug and contended the most frequent drug abuse is alcohol. Approximately 250 adults and students turned out for the program. The Rev. Jack Naff, moderator for the discussion, termed the attendance a “disappointment.” A few months ago a drug scare at the junior high school triggered a mass meeting at school that brought out an estimated 1,000 people.

25 Years Ago

From the East Oregonian

Feb. 11, 1996

An army of workers and volunteers is helping to hold back flood waters in Mission where the Umatilla River crested Friday afternoon. In an area off Kirkpatrick Road, north of the river, a team of 40 people placed sandbags late Friday afternoon around four homes where the river itself could not be diverted. A bus load of Salmon Corps youth helped the volunteer fire department crew to bag additional sand Friday. More than 2,000 sandbags were placed Thursday in the Cayuse, Mission and McKay Creek areas and along Kirkpatrick Road. The fire department ordered another 1,000 casings from the county and continued to fill bags, focusing efforts in Mission. Many residents chose to stay in their homes although surrounded by flood waters. Volunteers delivered food and supplies to those whose low-riding vehicles were unable to cross the flooded roads.