100 years ago

A program that will last from 9 o’clock in the morning until as late in the evening as guests want to stay will be given by the schools and civic organizations of Echo is a Spring Festival all day next Friday.

“Barnyard golf” will be the opening attraction in the morning between 10 o’clock and noon, athletic events will be the chief attraction. This part of the program will include races for boys, girls, fat men and married women, and a ball throwing contest for girls and for married women.

A basket lunch at the school ground will be held at noon. Visitors have been requested to bring basket lunches, but hot coffee will be served free of charge by Echo ladies. At 1 o’clock, George Wilbur, commander of the Oregon department of the American Legion, will speak. Beginning at 1:30 o’clock a program by school children will be given on the school house lawn This will be followed at 3 o’clock by a ball game between teams representing Echo and Butter creek.

50 years ago

Umatilla County residents convicted of driving while under the influence of alcohol may find that their sentence will include a four-week course dealing with the problem of the drinking driver.

The course, in the planning stages since February, is expected to begin as a pilot program by the middle of May, said Keith Blanchard, Pendleton, one of the instructors for the class. It will be held at Blue Mountain Community College in Pendleton.

The curriculum will include information on the consequences of drinking and driving with a focus on individual differences in tolerance to alcohol. Why people drink and drive also will be considered.

Films, illustrations and examinations will be a major portion of the course.

Outline of the course is based on a similar program initiated in Arizona 10 years ago. Blanchard said the Phoenix program, as it is called, has been reported a success.

25 years ago

Seldom has reviving history been so warm and fuzzy.

But of course, warm and fuzzy are two common characteristics of wool blankets. And history will be revived, when the Pendleton Woolen Mills produces a limited edition series of old Cayuse blankets for Tamastslikt Cultural Institute.

Those descriptions could also apply to the emotions the project stirred up.

“In the process of selecting from among the Cayuse label designs, heart strings were touched by some of the patterns,” said Bobbie Conner, chief operating officer at Tamastslikt.

“There are fond memories attached to these, which is why it’s nice to do this.”

Staff selected six designs from an illustrated history book, “The Language of the Robe,” and took those designs to community groups and tribal elders.

“When community members saw them, they were reminded of ancestors and family members” who had similar blankets, Conner said “It was touching.”

“And they chose because so many of them remember them,” explained Tamastslikt store manager Joan Deroko. “They remember seeing them in their families.”