Good Old Days: May 28, 2020

125 years ago

The Commoner

May 31, 1895

Rumors of a change in the line of the O. R. & N., between here and Spokane, in order to avoid the Alto hill at which so many accidents have occurred, are current. A Dayton dispatch says:

“It is thought possible that the Oregon Railway & Navigation company will this year build an extension of its line from Dayton to Delaney station, and thence to Starbuck. By this arrangement Alto hill, one of the severest grades on the line from Portland to Spokane, will be avoided. It will also place Dayton on the main line, and the road will traverse a more populous country than at present. Manager McNeill was recently in the city looking over the ground, and he seemed to favor the idea. The statement is made that at present it cost as much to move a car of wheat from Starbuck to Bolles Junction, over the Alto hill, a distance of less than 30 miles, as it does to move one car from Bolles Junction to Portland.”

100 years ago

The Colfax Commoner

May 28, 1920

A sneak thief entered three Colfax homes the latter part of the week and carried away what money he found and some family jewelry.

Dr. George A. Chapman lost a valuable diamond ring and some small amount of money and from the J. A. Perkins home was taken a watch and some jewelry. Another home was also entered the same day but nothing of value was taken by the thief.

Just what amount of loot was taken is hard to estimate and only articles valued as keepsakes were missed. It is thought that the thief was accompanied by another man, who acted as outside watchman. At the Perkins home was found a bundle of plunder which the thief had prepared to take with him but did not do so for the reason that the family returned before he could depart.

75 years ago

The Colfax Gazette-Commoner

June 1, 1945

Making an eloquent and impassioned plea for fruition and fulfillment of the ideals for which American blood has been spilled in many lands, Captain Charles Tally, pastor of the First Baptist church of Spokane and former army chaplain on Attu, addressed a Memorial Day crowd at Colfax cemetery.

To build a memorial worthy of the sacrifices our servicemen have made we must dedicate ourselves to live our lives as free individuals of genuine character in a land in which we will make democracy work, Capt. Tally declared. We must, he said, reclaim our homes and re-establish the family altar, and realize that the hand of God moves in the destiny of state and nation.

Capt. Tally spoke under a perfect sky, before a good sized crowd in which many men sat or stood in short sleeve shirts, the temperature being so warm as to cause a near midsummer haze.

50 years ago

The Colfax Gazette

May 28, 1970

Hopes for establishment of a contract clothing factory in Colfax vanished this week after a two-week labor survey turned up only 53 persons with any interest in jobs in such a plant.

Gordon F. DeFoe, manager of the Washington Water Power Co.'s area development department, told the Colfax Gazette this week that he had received only 53 coupons from advertisements in publications throughout the Palouse country.

“Experience elsewhere has indicated that we would need 300 or more replies to stand any reasonable chance of getting around 30 regular full-time employees on a permanent basis,” he said. “We wouldn't get anywhere going to a prospective manufacturer with a list of only 53 potential employees.”

He said the survey indicated beyond question that this area does not have enough people looking for jobs at the present time to justify any type of industry that would require regular full-time help. “Perhaps you can be thankful that you don't have more people who need jobs,” he said, “but, on the other hand, I know it is a disappointment to the many businessmen and others who had hoped that some kind of industry could be started in Colfax.”

25 years ago

Whitman County Gazette

June 1, 1995

Phyllis Leland, County Elections Supervisor, recently stated that the County Auditor's Office will be getting audited by the Secretary of State in mid-July. Leland says that a mandated law requires the Secretary to visit the county every four years.

In preparation for his visit, and the up coming elections, the county has purchased a new ballot tabulating machine. The purchase will be completed, as County Commissioner, James Potts stated, “provided we can work out the financing for it.”

Secretary of State contacted the Auditor's office stating that Whitman's voting system was “(one of) the most antiquated systems in the state of Washington.”

10 years ago

Whitman County Gazette

June 3, 2010

On a bitterly split vote, Whitman County Commissioners Tuesday voted to fire Bev Divine as the county's finance director.

After more than two hours of intense and heated discussion, some in closed executive session and some in an open public meeting, commissioners Pat O'Neill and Greg Partch voted to dismiss Divine. Commissioner Michael Largent cast an adamant “no” vote.

Partch said Divine's firing was prompted by a series of missed deadlines, incomplete financial reports and the failure to implement the county's New World accounting software.

Largent contended O'Neill and Partch made their decision out of “personal Vendettas” against Divine. He criticized them for making decisions out of “anger” and “gut reactions.”