BACK IN TIME - 1999: Voters expected to decide whether to fund new jail

110 years ago

August 13, 1914

“Willowdale Ranches,” owned by M.R. Biggs, and the two miles east of Prineville in the Ochoco valley, are two of the finest ranches to be found anywhere in the state of Oregon. The ranches contain 720 acres, 400 acres in the upper and 320 acres in the lower one, the Henry Cram place separating the two. The greater part of the 720 acres is under cultivation. The Ochoco runs through “Willowdale Ranches” and furnishes plenty of water for irrigation. On the lower ranch along the county road is an 80 of wild meadow grass, which is just as level as a floor and requires no cultivation, except to run a drag over it in the spring of the year to level down bumps made by the stock pasturing on it while wet. No one passes this particular spot without remarking of its beauty, especially tourists form other parts of the country. To the back of this 80 and along the creek is grain and alfalfa hay. As pretty oats and barley as was ever grown is being harvested there now.

75 years ago

August 11, 1949

Prineville’s biggest show, the Crooked River Roundup, starts tomorrow with the FFA and 4-H club show at the fairgrounds. The boys and girls were assembling their exhibits today and this year will have the use of a new club building constructed this year by the fair board as a dormitory. The old exhibit building has been rechristened “J.A. Cain Hall” in honor of Jess Cain, manager and treasurer of the Roundup since its inception.

Judging and exhibition of 4-H and FFA entries will take all day Friday, and the first rodeo event of the three-day show will be the family night rodeo scheduled for 8 p.m. Among the guests of honor at this program – the first night rodeo in Central Oregon – will be Mayor Dorothy McCullough Lee of Portland, who has promised the Prineville-Crook County Chamber of Commerce she will wear the 10-gallon hat presented to her by the president of the Chamber in Portland a few weeks ago.

50 years ago

August 12, 1974

Members of the Crook County Court discussed possible ways to improve conditions at the county dump on Huston Road during a meeting held last Wednesday.

Crook County Judge Mohan has received a letter from the Department of Environmental Quality, listing seven counts of improper operation at the dump. The letter was written last week by John Borden of Bend, DEQ’s district engineer, and gave the county by Aug. 14 to inform him as to what is being done to correct the problems and about their efforts to establish another dump site.

Listed as problems were the fact that the covering of wastes is inadequate to qualify the facility as a modified sanitary landfill; open burning and evidence of past burning has been noted, which violates the county’s permit from DEQ; large quantities of sawmill wastes are being burned; fire protection is inadequate; unauthorized dumping has been noted at several locations due to improper access control; dumping is being done at several open locations rather than at small controlled areas; and unsafe conditions exist at trench edges, especially for heavy vehicles.

25 years ago

August 12, 1999

Among the dozen or so measures that voters will decide in November will be the issue of whether to fund a new county jail. The question decided by the Crook County Court Wednesday was whether to even place the issue before Crook County voters. With the comment that the democratic process would come up with an answer, the county was approved by the county commissioners unanimously.

Co-chair of the committee that has been working on the jail proposal, Sandy Demaris, read the recommendation from that group of 35 citizens that the court approves leaving it up to the voters.

“The court appointed the committee,” Demaris said, “and they all agreeing that the present jail facility is inadequate, unanimously agreed to ask voters to go into debt for an amount not to exceed $8.9 million to construct, furnish and equip a new jail.”