100 years ago — 1922

Fire this morning in Walla Walla caused hundreds of dollars damage to St. Mary’s hospital. The blaze began in the roof and burned for an hour and a half before it could be checked. All patients were saved by removal from the building. A considerable amount of damage was caused by water, it being necessary to play four streams on the building.

50 years ago — 1972

Rocky Hays, 23, was fired this week from his job on the Butter Creek farm of Jerry Myers after working there for 18 months. Myers admitted he didn’t fire Rocky because of his job performance but because of a letter Rocky’s wife, Kathy, 23, wrote to the East Oregonian which was published Monday. “They have the new liberal — super ecology — outlook,” Myers said. Basically, the letter defended long hair and stated that “short hair sometimes means nothing more than the antiquated parental prejudices forced on young people.” Myers gave Rocky $200 severance pay. He said Rocky’s job performance was up to standard and that he worked without supervision. He said Rocky came to him 18 months ago with little experience but he has learned rapidly so shouldn’t have trouble finding another job. But will a conservative farmer put up with a man who has a wife with independent opinions? Dennis Hachler, Pendleton attorney, says he doubts Rocky has any recourse.

25 years ago — 1997

With state Corrections Department director Dave Cook’s first ceremonial scoop of dirt Saturday, the nondescript, sagebrush-covered plot of land just east of the Port of Umatilla will begin its 30-month transformation into a state prison. Corrections Department officials will also announce the Umatilla prison’s name at Saturday’s ceremony. But not everyone will be dancing to the Jailhouse Rock. Chuck Dickinson, a Hermiston construction worker who is looking for work, said he is planning on protesting the Correction Department’s policy of using minimum-security inmates to help build prisons. A group of local construction workers, Pendleton Building and Construction Trades Council, ran advertisements this week criticizing the department’s policy for taking jobs away from citizens. “Everybody was snowed,” George Gritz, the council’s president, said about Measure 17, which requires inmates to work. “We were led to believe inmates would be working along the roads and cleaning up the park system or making license plates like they should be.” The $149 million construction project will employ between 300 and 600 laborers during its different building phases. The 1,600-bed men’s medium-security prison is scheduled to start housing inmates in August 2000. The facility will employ approximately 550 people.