100 Years Ago

June 17, 1921

A tourist who left Pendleton this morning at 7 o’clock for La Grande passed through Mission shortly afterward and then after losing his way returned to Mission at noon, says D. C. Bowman, of the Mission Store and Mission highway service station. Mr. Bowman states that the motorist, because there were no signs to guide him, took the left road in the vicinity of Deadman’s hill and lost his way. Mr. Bowman says travelers are frequently misled because the roads are not plainly marked.

50 Years Ago

June 17, 1971

Connie McCready, commissioner of public utilities for the City of Portland, doesn’t view too kindly Stanfield Mayor John Hoskins’ refusal to appoint a woman to the Stanfield City Council. In a letter to Hoskins she said: “And please don’t ask me to appoint you to fill any vacancies in my fire bureau. So there! Your councilmen certainly must be versatile!” She signed the letter “Connie McCready, girl commissioner,” and sent a copy to “Rep. Irv Mann, boy legislator.” Hoskins said last week he wouldn’t appoint a woman because “women don’t know anything abut laying pipe or overhauling a pickup.”

25 Years Ago

June 17, 1996

A Portland-bound Greyhound bus was gutted by flames in Umatilla Sunday afternoon. All nine passengers and the driver escaped without injury. The bus was traveling south on Interstate 82 when the driver noticed smoke coming from the bus’ engine compartment. The driver, John Lane, of Spokane, pulled off the freeway at the Highway 730 exit, turned on to an empty stretch of Brownell Boulevard near the Port of Entry, and evacuated the bus. Passengers were impressed with Lane’s calm decisiveness during the fire. Umatilla Fire Chief Steve Flegel said a fuel leak was responsible for what he said was “a very, very stubborn fire.”