Flashback: Redmond football player breaks bone in 1924; Senior misses wear glasses or need them in 1949; Budget fails again in 1974

Published 2:00 am Thursday, September 12, 2024

100 Years Ago

Sept. 18, 1924 — Redmond football player breaks bone

The football outlook for the Redmond Union High School received a heavy jolt Wednesday evening when John Berning, who was making a good showing at center, broke his collar bone. Berning was one of the heavier men of the team, and was making rapid progress at his position.

From Local Happenings

Verne and S.J. Lantz and Alvin Frengal are back from a hunting trip. They report the woods are too dry to hunt deer, so they brought back a bear.

75 Years Ago

Sept. 15, 1949 — Senior misses sear glasses or need them

The average Redmond union high school girl is five feet. 3½ inches tall and weighs 124 pounds, and if she doesn’t wear glasses she needs them.

These statistics were boiled down from the records of the physical examinations given 33 senior coeds by the physical education department.

Fifteen of the girls wear glasses, and seven others were found to be in urgent need of eye treatment. Parents will receive cards informing them of their daughters’ need for treatment. Of those who wear glasses, nearsightedness was found to be the most common disturbance.

50 Years Ago

Sept. 18, 1974 — Budget fails again

Although a thousand more voters turned out yesterday than during the two previous Redmond school budget elections this year, the operating budget still went down to defeat — by 338 votes.

The unofficial tally, not including a small precinct located in Jefferson County, was 1,302 yes to 1,640 no. The May tally was 504 to 1,573; the July total, 834 to 1,135. A fourth budget election can be held in November.

The large turn-out, coupled with voter registration purges by the Secretary of State’s office based on undelivered voters pamphlets that removed names of some eligible voters, left three precincts short of ballots. Workers in two of the precincts, 28 and 31, ordered additional ballots in time for a second printing. Sheriff’s deputies carried substitute ballots to Precinct 19 as the polls closed at 8 p.m., but no one was turned away from voting.

Students, teachers and parents had launched a massive effort, including marches, advertising campaigns and offers of transportation to the polls, to get a larger voter turn-out. They succeeded in bringing the people out, but failed to gain the positive vote they had hoped for in all but three precincts. Precincts 28 and 29 in Redmond and 13 in Tumalo were the only ones turning in more yes than no votes.

25 Years Ago

Sept. 15, 1999 — District shifts area for potential school sites

A civic committee studying land availability for the Redmond School District has mapped its recommendations and completed its study.

“The best looking sites are in north and west Redmond,” Dona Gaertner, the district’s business support supervisor, told the school board last week.

The 14-member siting committee searched for a list of parcels the district could purchase for future schools. They studied land in and out of the city limits, as well as outside the urban growth boundary.

The committee used general land requirements of 10 to 15 acres for an elementary school, 20 to 25 acres for a middle school, and 40 to 50 acres for a high school in its exploration.

It also used enrollment projections developed in May by Dull-Olsen-Weekes Architects of Bend showing the district will need to provide space for approximately 1,800 additional students by the 2004-5 school year.

Dull-Olsen-Weekes concluded the district should consider completion of the fourth “neighborhood” addition to Vern Patrick Elementary, build two elementary schools, a middle school and a starter high school.

In raw land, that means the district needs to purchase 80 to 130 acres. An earlier capacity study estimated construction costs alone, not including land, at $32 million to $40 million.

Following are partial comments from the committee on the six geographic areas it studied.

West Redmond (inside the UGB): The largest, single parcel held inside the UGB classified as “best” is located just south of Highland between 35th and 27th streets. Several smaller areas with multiple ownership south of Vern Patrick Elementary also ranked best.

Either site could be developed as a middle school which would be a feeder for the large number of residents in the area.

North Redmond: The area along the north-center of the UGB on the east side of the Dry Canyon was identified as a good location for an elementary, middle or high school. The site would ease crowding in the north end and Terrebonne.