100 years ago

People in England will have the privilege of eating fresh prunes grown in the Milton-Freewater county this fall. Nine carloads of the fruit were shipped yesterday from the east end district, the first shipment of the season, and enough more cars to make a total lot of 26 carloads will be shipped immediately. The shipment will go to Montreal, and from there by boat to England.

This is the first time Umatilla county fresh prunes have been shipped to England, according to Fred Bennion, who was in Milton-Freewater yesterday, where he assisted F. E. Bailey, in charge of federal inspection, in getting inspectors lined up for the task of giving federal inspection to the fruit.

“Talk about a hive of industry and then go to Milton-Freewater and see what such a hive looks like,” was Bennion’s comment. “The warehouses are all going at top speed, between 500 and 600 packers being employed. The total number of pickers and packers employed is probably between 2,500 and 3,000.”

50 years ago

Dr. Betty Brunette and Joe Campbell have been added recently to the growing core staff of the Eastern Oregon Comprehensive Community Mental Health Center headquartered in Pendleton.

Dr. Brunette will be a program evaluation, training and research specialist for the 13-county mental health complex. Previously she worked in Portland as a clinical psychologist for Oregon’s alcohol and drug section.

Campbell will be an assistant to center director Joe Murray and will work with administrative, personnel and fiscal matters. He was business administrator for Good Shepherd of the West, homes for the mentally retarted, Porterville, Calif., before coming to Pendleton.

Yet to be hired are a clinical director, children’s’ specialist and an alcohol and drug specialist.

25 years ago

Their joint goal is simple enough: improve what public education has to offer for all students, including Indian children.

A memorandum of understanding now in its final stages of development aims to detail how the Pendleton School District and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation education department will work together to that end.

“We’re trying to create an educational partnership. The paper provides the focus and general parameters,” tribal education department director Lloyd Commander said. “But just outlining the rules is not enough. It’s really working it out and discovering where we can help one another for the students’ benefit.”

Two years in the making, the two-page document now is under review by tribal attorneys. When resubmitted to the school distinct, it will be at least the third draft both sides can recall. But Commander said taking time with a memorandum of agreement — one of the tribes’ most weighty pacts — is important.