Pomeroy Pioneer Portraits

Ten years ago

July 4, 2012

The Pomeroy men’s scramble league ended two weeks ago, and the championship went to a three-way playoff before winners were decided. Winning the 9-hole playoff was the team of Lee Koller, Jack Peasley, and Bob Peasley. The second-place team was Del Groat, John Henry, and Clay Barr; and the third-place team was Jay Henry, Sonny Harper, and Otto Krause. Coordinator Georgy Feider said that after a harsh start with the weather, things brightened up for the remainder of the schedule.

Twenty-five years ago

July 9, 1997

County Fire Chief Larry Bunch said the department members felt “very fortunate to escape the July 4th weekend” with only one fireworks-related fire reported. The incident was handled by citizens before trucks left the station, the chief said. “We also had a fire Thursday, July 3, along Hwy. 12 near Buddy Boyd’s residence that threatened a barn for a period of time,” Bunch said. The barn was saved by “quick action,” he said, by the Boyd family and firefighters. The cause of that fire was believed to be burning material from a passing vehicle but it couldn’t be determined if the material was fireworks.

Fifty years ago

July 6, 1972

Approximately 130 farms in Garfield County are scheduled to receive farm set-aside program payments totaling $756,532 during the first week of July, according to Earnest Brunson, County Executive Director for the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service. By the end of the month, the total will be about $1.4 million to 278 farms. Payments under the set-aside programs are made to farmers who agree to set aside part of their land from production in order to meet a national objective of balancing supply and demand in certain commodities.

Seventy-five years ago

July 10, 1947

The city council in regular session Tuesday evening boosted the salaries of members of the city police force from $25 to $75 per month. Chief of Police Tom Bunch’s salary was raised from $200 a month and living quarters to $275 and living quarters.

One hundred years ago

July 8, 1922

Mechanical plows controlled from a radio tower may be expected to revolutionize agriculture of the future, according to John Hays Hammond Jr., of Washington. “Gangs of mechanical plows of the kind already in use on the great farms in the Middle West can be controlled and operated simultaneously by radio from a tower, centrally located,” he said. “Work which now takes weeks can be done in days. What that will mean for agriculture is self-evident.”

Ten-year-old Tony Cox was the only passenger on the outgoing train Wednesday. Having the use of the entire coach, Tony might convert seats into “doubles,” according to the dictates of his youthful fancy and change from seat to seat and from public compartment to smoker and back again without consideration for the feelings of anyone other than himself. Tony must have had a big time on that 30-mile jaunt to Starbuck, enjoying as he did unrestricted liberties, except for an occasional once-over by Conductor Bert Danes. Tony had been visiting his sister, Mrs. Matt Little, in Pomeroy, and was returning to his home at Milton, Oregon.