East Oregonian Days Gone By

Published 6:00 am Sunday, July 20, 2025

25 years ago this week — 2000

MISSION — The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation are offering summer school for the first time ever, and Tribal Education Department director Lloyd Commander says it’s been a learning process for both students and instructors.

The summer program began right after the school year ended and will conclude at the end of July. “We continue to work on the curriculum and make adjustments,” Commander said.

“Hopefully we can have this as an annual event.”

There are four classrooms: a high school language arts and math class, a middle school class and a kindergarten through fifth-grade class.

“We really wanted to emphasize on the basics for each group,” Commander said, noting reading, writing and math are the main focus. “We’re also working on their test-taking skills. We don’t want someone to miss test days because they’re scared to take a test.” Commander said both the tribal court and government have shown full support of the program.

​​Commander said both the tribal court and government have shown full support of the program.

Many of the older students were ordered by the court to attend class because of past truancy problems. The students have signed contracts with their parents to guarantee attendance at summer school.

Consequences of cutting class this summer are a court order to perform community service work on the reservation.

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PENDLETON — A trailer hauling 160 baby reindeer overturned on a freeway on-ramp in Pendleton Sunday morning, killing 12 of the animals.

But no one was injured in the 10:30 a.m. roll-over accident, which apparently was caused when one of the trailer’s axles broke free and punctured a tire.

Pendleton firefighters and a crew from the Oregon Department of transportation worked in 90-degree heat with the animal owners and employees ​​of Blue Mountain Towing to rescue the four-month-old Alaskan reindeer trapped in 10 livestock crates at the Highway 395 and Interstate 84 intersection.

Uninjured but panicked reindeer trampled to death the animals with broken limbs pinned beneath the sides of the crates. Some crates were separated into two decks, and those were the top priority to set upright since seven to eight reindeer were jammed together in a space that had become only a few feet wide.

Each crate was winched free from the trailer and then slowly lowered to the ground. Livestock trailers eventually transported the reindeer to a nearby ranch owned by Ron Dirkus.

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STANFIELD — When she gets stung by a bee, she doesn’t scream or flail her arms.

In fact, Nikki Nava of Echo looks forward to getting stung by honey bees — sometimes three times in one sitting.

Nava has multiple sclerosis, a disorder of the central nervous system leading to decreased nerve function because of the formation of scars on the covering of nerve cells.

Her leg was numb for months at a time after her first child was born. After having her second child, the numbness jumped from one arm to the other, also lasting for months.

When her doctor told her two months ago that she has MS, she and her mother began researching. That’s when she learned about the holistic approach to easing MS symptoms.

Nava learned that Dancing Bee Acres, a bee farm in Stanfield, was beginning to offer bee venom therapy, a process that involves having honey bees sting parts of the body ​​that need healing, or stinging pressure points on the body.

She now undergoes bee-sting therapy several times a week.

“There’s a definite sensation when you’re stung, but it’s the best feeling,” she said. “It’s so beautiful because it’s natural.” When Nava and other bee venom users sting themselves with honey bees, the venom the bee releases helps the body create a natural cortisone — the same kind of cortisone that helps arthritis sufferers, said Karen Gifford, owner of Dancing Bee Acres.

50 years ago this week — 1975

No July 1975

100 years ago this week — 1925

At a meeting of the budget committee for school district No. 16, held last evening, it was voted unanimously to support the idea of securing an appropriate site for a new school building in Pendleton. To this end the school board was urged to present to the people a bond issue proposal for the purpose of buying the site.

The necessity of a junior high school or some other agency for handling intermediate work arises from a crowded condition of the! grade schools. Figures presented last evening by Superintendent Inlow showed that in the elementary grades the average attendance per room is 35.9 which is a higher average than obtained elsewhere in the state save in two places, Bend and Eugene.

Just when the new building should be erected was not suggested by the budget committee but it was felt that the time is at hand to secure the site. There are two or three locations in view and presumably one of these will be chosen. According to Mr. Inlow the need of a new building is already pressing.

At the meeting last evening the budget submitted by the school board was approved without change. The expenses will be approximately the same as last year. Just what the levy will be cannot be determined until the assessment is known.

Members of the budget committee in addition to members of the board are Dr. F. W. Vincent, J. W. Maloney, J. B. McCook, James E. Akey and E. B. Aldrich.

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The investigation into the causes of the discharge of J. R. Stanley as a member of the Pendleton police force, demanded by the deposed officer, was launched this morning at 10 o’clock in the city council chambers and continued early this afternoon. The investigating body included Mayor Fee, City Attorney Randall, and a special committee of two representing the council, Councilmen Gwinn and McAtee.

Chief of Police Taylor, Councilman Guy Johnson, chairman of the police committee, Alex Manning, Deputy Sheriff Robert Rennett and Sheriff R. T. Cookingham were the witnesses examined during the morning session. Mr. Stanley’s examination was left for the afternoon session when a recess was taken at 12:20 o’clock.

Mr. Taylor’s testimony was that Mr. Stanley’s discharge was decided on only after reports had been received over a period of several months to the effect that Mr Stanley had said that much law violation was going on which he, Stanley, was unable to prevent because of the intervention of higher-ups.

The charge was untrue, Mr. Taylor said, and without any foundation. Judge Fee asked the chief of police if it was not that receipts from fines in his department were lower this year to date than they were last year, or the year before that or for any other year. Mr. Taylor replied that he knew they were lower this year than they had been in the past.

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The growing of field peas by farmers on the bench lands such as Weston mountain as a part of a system of rotation was recommended yesterday by D. E. Stephens, superintendent of Moro experiment station, in a talk that he gave to a group of farmers in attendance at the field day meeting at the Weston mountain nursery.

Mr. Stephens stated that experiments at Moro station where the rainfall is about one-half what it is on the bench land have proved peas to be the best crop to use in a crop rotation system. Farmers remained for about an hour after the talks had been completed to ask questions of Mr. Stephens and B. B. Bales, also of Moro station.

Mr. Hales describes the three methods of getting new varieties of wheat and other farm crops. These methods include introducing new varieties from other countries and testing them for production under local conditions; selection of different strains of the same varieties to get the best of the variety; and hybridization of varieties to incorporate the best habits of both parent plants.

Both Mr. Stephens and Mr. Bales remained here today to harvest wheat in the county nursery on the Jacobson place. Tomorrow they will go with County Agent Bennion to Pullman and Moscow to 100k over varieties in the nurseries and experimental plots there.