Carpenter Ralph LaCrew, of Kennewick, works on the foundation of the new elementary school in Stanfield in June 2000. The walls of the school gym stand in the background. (East Oregonian, File)

25 years ago this week — 2000

Karen Wagner is at war and she is trying to enlist recruits to fight with her.

The enemy? Noxious weeds.

“This (the noxious weed problem) is something that has connections so much bigger than we can really see,” Wagner said. “It isn’t just about dandelions or livestock dying from eating the wrong kind of plant. It’s about diversity in our ecosystem.”

Wagner says that diversity is the most important factor in keeping a healthy balance in the ecosystem, and when that diversity is overrun by something like a noxious week, the balance is upset.

“The soil suffers, the water suffers and air quality suffers,” Wagner said.

Noxious weeks not only cause severe damage to ecosystems, but can cause economic loss for farmers and rangers, and in some cases, pose serious health problems for livestock and humans.

In her position as outreach assistant for the Columbia Blue Mountain Resource Conservation and Development Area, Wagner is spreading the word that the agency has money to support community events to fight noxious weeds.

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STANFIELD — The Stanfield School District and the city have worked out an agreement to extend sewer service to the elementary school now under construction.

Levernier Construction of Spokane began working on the $4 million facility adjacent to the secondary school several weeks ago, with a projected completion date of Dec. 18. But when work began, there was no guarantee the city would be able to provide sewer service to the school.

A compromise was worked out last week in which the school district agreed to pay the city $111,000 in system development charges. The city’s initial SDC charge for the school was $176,000.

Sewer and water service can be provided with the existing facilities the city has in place, according to Council member Val Whitehead.

“Our city engineer said the sewer system we have operates at nearly full capacity only in the morning and in the evening, so we would have only a minimal risk of problems during the time school was in session,” Whitehead said.

The city will be able to extend the service without increasing rates to city residents, officials stressed.

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PENDLETON — The scenario is one that terrifies every parent, school official or railroad worker: Children are crossing the train tracks at a city intersection while the rail cars are stopped, when suddenly the train lurches forward, sweeping the children beneath unforgiving steel wheels.

“That almost happened here in Pendleton recently when some elementary students crossed between some rail cars not far from Hawthorn Elementary School,” said Rusty Fisher, secretary to the superintendent of Pendleton School District. “Suddenly, the train began to move while the children were in the act of going over the rail car connection.”

“What could have been a tragedy was avoided only by the agility of those children,” she added.

While Fisher believes school-age children need to take some responsibility for their own actions, she says they are still not old enough to fully comprehend their own mortality or the need for constant caution around trains.

“This is where adult responsibility, concern for public safety and proactive action on the part of the agencies involved is so critical,” Fisher said.

50 years ago this week — 1975

WALLA WALLA, Wash. (AP) — The Hell’s Angels and other motorcycle gang members continue their violent ways inside the walls of the Washington State Penitentiary, prison officials say.

But the Angels, Banditos, Gypsy Jokers, Devils Disciples, Satan’s Sinners and other freewheeling members of the band say their 50-member “club” is rehabilitating its members by teaching them how to repair motorcycles.

Prison officials talk about the stabbings, beatings and homosexual rapes attributed to the motorcyclists, but admit they are so feared by other inmates that they are at times a stabilizing influence.

“They have been a help on a lot of occasions,” said A. J. Murphy, prison information officer. If the bikers decide to halt a fight “they’re big enough to do it, most of them,” Murphy said

“They’re bruisers. They live a pretty rugged life and they’re pretty rugged people.”

In a playful side of their nature, club members initiate a new member by throwing a bucket of grease and oil over his head. “To show we love him,” a club member said.

Occasionally they kiss one another on the lips “to freak out the rest of the population,” according to John Trainor, a club member.

In contrast, guards and other convicts recall a violent flight in the prison breezeway last March between club members and black inmates. Witnesses said the bikers used prisonmade shanks (knives) and clubs and one had a six-foot-long sword.

“We weren’t out to have a Sunday picnic fistfight,” Trainor explained. “There’s no member who will lose a fight. If one of us falls, there’s going to be somebody there to help him get back up.”

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture says Oregon winter wheat farmers, contrary to national trends, will harvest about 900,000 fewer bushels than in 1974, but the reduction is not that serious on a percentage basis.

Oregon’s total crop was figured to be 46.6 million bushels based on June 1 crop estimates, or a two per cent decline from last year’s 47.52 million bushel total.

“It is not that appreciably down,” said Bill Hughes, USDA Grain Market News, Portland.

Hughes did say that spring wheat, which accounted for approximately 5 million acres in 1974, “could be a little down this year.”

“We’re looking for an average crop in Umatilla County,” John Amort, of Pendleton Grain Growers, said. “We don’t look for a sizable reduction.”

“Weather is the critical thing from now until the first of July. If we don’t get 100-degree days or dry winds we will be okay,” Amort said.

Nationally, the winter wheat crop will be about 16 per cent larger than in 1974. A record harvest of nearly 1.62 billion bushels is expected.

Winter wheat is planted in the fall and harvested the following summer. The crop accounts for about three-fourths of the total U.S. wheat production.

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Donna Bird’s “North American odyssey” passed through Pendleton Thursday.

The 41-year-old woman, who began her journey 450 miles and one year ago travels with dog, cat and burro.

She was camped on Holdman Route north of Pendleton Lawman’s Gun Club. Shots rang in the distance.

“Those newspapers got things wrong,” she said, disclaiming some reports. “I’m not from British Columbia, I’m from here,” she said, gazing at her surroundings — sagebrush and a hillside rutted with jeep and motorcycle trails.

“I’ve been camped in cheat grass for two weeks now,” she said as a motorcycle approached.

“What’s going on here?” asked the biker.

“What’s going on with you,” she replied.

“I’m going to ride my bike.”

“Takes all kinds,” she said.

“And I’m not a tourist,” she said, turning from the biker. “I’m a traveler. People in cars are under the illusion that they are traveling — they are sitting still, the car is traveling.”

100 years ago this week — 1925

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