Good old days - Feb. 10, 2011

125 years ago, Feb. 12, 1886

On Tuesday, 9th inst. Isaac Harmon, aged about 68 years, living near Pine City, was taken before the probate judge and upon examination adjudged insane. He was removed to the asylum Wednesday.

Among the commissioners’ proceedings of Feb. 9, can be found the order authorizing the auditor to advertise for squirrel scalps and offering a bounty therefore. Until May, the bounty will be five cents for each scalp presented, after which date and until Aug. 1, two and half cents will be paid. It is hoped that the liberal bounty offered will have the desired effect and induce many to wage a war of extermination.

On Monday, a Chinaman named Jim entered complaint against a fellow had waylaid him on the lower bridge the night previous, reliving him of about $128 in coin. Kong was arrested and had an examination before Justice Porter, who bound him over in the sum of $500 to wait the action of the grand jury. Kong awaits for a charitably disposed person who will deposit the collateral necessary to secure his freedom. The prisoner seems to be in bad with his countrymen and they refused to aid him.

100 years ago, February 10, 1911

George G. Jewett, receiver of the insolvent Palouse State Bank, last week paid a second dividend to the losers of the defunct bank. About $10,000 was paid at that time. About $3,500 went to creditors. Checks ran from 50 cents to $400.

Pullman may soon be the home of a $1,000,000 factory for the manufacture of breakfast cereals. Quaker Oats Co. has decided to locate such a factory in the Northwest and Pullman is making a strong bid.

A small blaze took place at the home of Valentine Hofer on Spring Flat this week, destroying the wash house, the wood house, the hog house and the dog house, but by dint of hard work the dwelling was saved.

T.A. Ireland made application for license to operate a shooting gallery in the Madantz building on Main street. The license was granted by the city council.

The Wilcox Literary Society and the Star Grange held a debate last Friday on the subject of License v. Local Option. The Wilcox team won on the license side of the issue. Net proceeds amounted to $34.

75 years ago, Feb. 7, 1936

H. L. Rudy, brother of John Rudy and a former resident of the Colfax district, returned Thursday of last week from Europe, where he has spent the last 10 years in missionary work for the Seventh Day Adventist church. He is planning to spend four or five months in the Inland Empire before returning to the continent. Mr. Rudy, a son of Phillip, who still lives at the family home near Penawawa, went to Europe from here in 1925, spending his first year in Czechoslavakia, later residing in Poland five years, England two years and the balance of the time in Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania.

Don Lee, small son of Mr. And Mrs. George Lee, suffered a bad cut on the upper lip, the loss of two teeth and a severe bump on the head Sunday afternoon when the sled on which he was coasting on the south Lake street hill crashed into a fire hydrant at the Wawawaii street intersection. The accident was attributed to a defective sled and gravel that had been placed on the hill. He was treated at St. Ignatius hospital.

50 years ago, February 9, 1961

Plans to rebuild the Family Theater at Rosalia which was totally destroyed by fire last Sunday are “indefinite,” Herb Wheeldon, owner, said today. The fire is believed to have started from an oil stove and began after the audience left about 10 p.m.

Vandals broke into the old Colfax high school building sometime last weekend and apparently staged a drunken brawl in the gymnasium and several rooms. Police discovered a ripped-off plywood cover from a window beneath the stage, and believe the youths broke the window and entered the basement. Beer bottles were strewn in hallways and rooms from the basement to the second floor.

Further improvement of the radio network serving city and rural firefighters in Colfax and vicinity was promised this week. Colfax now has a 330-watt base station which can be heard throughout Whitman County and most fire district equipment will use the same frequency so efforts can be coordinated during a bad fire or disaster of any type.

25 years ago, Feb. 6, 1986

Death of Joseph Puisis, 78, a developmentally disabled resident of Palouse Care Center who walked away over the weekend was found dead Monday, has led to a meeting to determine procedures at the center. Puisis, who was found on the Union Pacific railroad tracks about three miles south of Albion, was the second center resident in seven months to be found dead after walking away.

“I’m not trying to point the finger at anybody,” Sheriff Steve Thomson said. “I just think we could sit down with a group of people and critique this thing.”

Approval of construction plans for a new Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints building on the Almota Road south of Colfax have been stalled while architects work up alternative entries to the parking lots. County Engineer Marvin Carroll said he rejected arrangement of the entries into two parking lots planned at the north and south sides of the church. Traffic entering and exiting the north parking lot would block visibility of traffic using the south entrance.

10 years ago, February 8, 2001

Federal DEA agents and members of the Quad Cities Drug Task Force recovered 283 marijuana plants in a raid on a rental home on S. Mill Street in Colfax last Wednesday. The plants were located in two rooms which were fitted with grow lights on tracks.

Earnings at the Whitman Community Hospital Foundation auction Saturday night totaled a record $20,000, according to coordinator Carol Stueckle, up about $3,000 from last year’s event.

A large crowd attended the Cub Scout Pack Pinewood Derby at Oakesdale to watch 19 racers participate. Jake Gordon placed first.