100 years agoMembers of live stock clubs for boys and girls in Umatilla county are to meet at the Hermiston experiment station Saturday, September 1, for a picnic and a study of stock judging, according to plans that are being made now, Fred Bennion said today. The meeting will start at 9 o’clock in the morning.

One of the chief activities of the day will be practice in judging live stock, and on the showing made by the various students the selection of the county judging team to compete at the state fair at Salem will be made. Members of the largest pig club in the state and of a good sized calf club will compete for the honor of representing the county. Assisting Bennion in selecting the winners will be L. J. Allen, state live stock club leader. The members of the pig clubs, 19 in number, own 100 head of purebred hogs and pigs.

50 years agoPolice reported finding a 25th victim of a homosexual torture ring today, making the string of slayings equal to the nation’s worst mass murder. The search for more bodies continued.

The corpse was the second unearthed at High Island, a beach community on the Gulf Coast where two other bodies were uncovered Friday. Officers have been told they may find as many as 30 bodies.

The biggest mass murder case in the nation’s history was the slaying of 25 itinerant farm workers in California in 1971. A labor contractor, Juan Corona, was convicted of the crimes last february.

One of the youths accused in the slaying was scheduled to go into court today and ask for a psychiatric examination.

Elmer Wayne Henley, 17, faces his first court appearance. Police say Henley has admitted slaying nine of the young victims.

Also today, Houston Police Chief Herman Short is to hold a news conference to answer charges from parents that police should have discovered sooner the series of murders that stretched over a three-year period.

Henley has been charged with two counts of murder in the slaying and three counts of murder in San Augustine County in East Texas, where four bodies have been discovered.

25 years agoVoters in Umatilla and Morrow counties will be asked to approve a $15.7 million, 20-year bond for improvements to the main and outlying campuses of Blue Mountain Community College in the November election.

The BMCC Board of Directors voted unanimously Tuesday night to put the bond request on the general election ballot.

“What’s exciting is who’s in this room tonight,” board member Phil Houk said. “The only way passage of something like this can occur is with staff support.”

Two dozen faculty and staff members filled the board room Tuesday night as the college faculties committee presented its bond proposal to the board and the college foundation staff.

More than 80 people attended a barbecue Aug. 10 to discuss the bond, and 75 completed surveys. Results indicated that 92 percent fully supported the proposal. Only .3 percent strongly disagreed.