Steve Talus

75 YEARS AGO

Cold Spell Hangs On; Roads Icy, Dangerous

The cold spell that struck Grant County on New Year’s Eve is still with us. The thermometer ranges under 20 above nightly, though no near-zero weather since the 2 above New Year’s night, and ranging up to slightly above freezing during the day, but not high enough to melt the snow that has now lain on the ground for the past two weeks. Locally roads are icy and packed snow, slippery and dangerous. Careful driving is necessary. No accident reported by the state officers other than the Joe Officer accident New Year’s Eve, other than a few minor bumps.

State Hospital Escapees Returned

Word is received at the sheriff’s office that Fredrick Barfoot, who with two companions escaped from the state hospital at Pendleton recently and headed for Grant County, have been returned to the institution.

On instructions from the institution local officers were on the lookout for the escapees, but seemingly they did not get into this county. One, it is reported, voluntarily returned. The other two were located by officers and returned. Barfoot formerly lived at Mt. Vernon.

Flying Coyote Hunters Escape Injury In Crash

While on a flying coyote hunting expedition last Saturday, Clarence Kilburn had to make a forced landing with his plane about nine miles south of Prairie City. The crash damaged the plane considerably but Mr. Kilburn and his hunting companion, N.L. “Doc” Mosier, both escaped injury; however, they did not escape the long nine-mile walk back to civilization.

Former Oregon Publisher Dies In San Francisco

Word was received by Mrs. B.C. Herburger of Canyon City, Tuesday, from her husband who has been in San Francisco for the past two weeks, that A.R. O’Brien, Mr. Herburger’s brother-in-law, had passed away in a hospital at San Francisco where he had been under treatment for several days following a protracted illness at home. Mr. O’Brien was a newspaper publisher, he having owned and edited the weekly Ukiah Republican Press at Ukiah, California, for many years. He was president of the Golden Gate Bridge and Highway District. His wife, the former Margaret Herburger, who survives, was born and raised in Grant County. Mr. O’Brien, one of the best-known weekly publishers in the West, had engaged in newspaper work in Havana, Panama, Alaska, Oregon and New Mexico. Before buying the paper at Ukiah he published a newspaper at Coos Bay, OR, from 1911 to 1920.

50 YEARS AGO

Steve Talus Wins No. 2 Place

Steve Talus, wearing his “Elks Free Throw Champion” tee-shirt, placed second Saturday in the Oregon Elks’ free-throw contest at Corvallis. He also received an engraved self-winding watch and a basketball.

Talus won the county title a week earlier.