Barbara and Bud Corwin of La Pine sing "This World is Not My Home," Sunday at the new Deschutes County Fairgrounds. The couple were among numerous musicians of the Oregon Old time Fiddlers who took their monthly concert to the new fairgrounds for the first time. The show attracted several hundred people who listened and danced.

100 Years Ago

Nov. 8, 1923 — Stores will be closed here Armistice Day

All Redmond business houses will be closed all day Monday, Nov. 12, for observance of Armistice Day. Look to eats, the food purveyors say, and govern yourselves accordingly.

75 Years Ago

Nov. 11, 1948 — House shortage worse than ever

Coyner calls on chamber members to start hunt for solution

The housing shortage in Redmond is the worst it has ever been, Marion Coyner told the chamber of commerce Tuesday.

Coyner, who is mayor-elect, and who has been heading the city housing commission for the last two years, pleaded with the chamber members to put on their thinking caps and start figuring what to do about it.

Somewhere between 25 and 50 potential living units still remain undeveloped in the airbase barracks, Coyner said, and what is needed now is a workable plan to finance their conversion.

Base at capacity

About 50 units in the city’s air base are being occupied, Coyner explained, and this is the capacity at present. William Clark, who has been developing the project for the city under contract, Coyner said, has gone about as far as he can with his own resources.

The city’s 24-unit GI project, or “old soldiers home,” is always completely filled, Coyner said, and has a current waiting list of at least 50.

This project and the air base project are both under general control of the housing commission, which Coyner heads as member of the council. Other members are Ed Endicott, Fred Landaker, Roy Newell, and Chester Lackey.

Labor camp helps

The one other public housing project furnishing living quarters for families is the labor camp owned and operated at the air base by the Central Oregon Potato Growers association. This project has 25 or 30 year-around units. The two city projects, along with this one, are now housing about 400 people, or more than 10 per cent of the population of the town.

Many families are really desperate these days for housing, Coyner said, and a constant stream of home-seekers are contacting him. Tenants at the air base are placed by Clark, but the housing commission selects tenants for the GI project on the basis of need. Some of the GI applications, Coyner said, reveal deplorable living conditions.

Since the first of the year more than 40 new houses have been started in town, city building permit files disclose. This is more than in any previous year, but Coyner said it apparently doesn’t begin to fill the need.

50 Years Ago

Nov. 7, 1973 — Redmond digs out of record snowfall

“Central Oregon has, for many years, been noted for its livability … The Central Oregon climate is itself an asset.”

So wrote Raymond R. Hatton, geography instructor at Central Oregon Community College, in “Bend Country — Weather and Climate,” which was published earlier this year.

To substantiate his claim, Hatton cited results of a COCC student survey which found 82 per cent of respondents saying they enjoyed the local climate.

No doubt that percentage would drop a bit had the survey been taken the forepart of this week as residents slid about in and dug out from a storm that by Tuesday evening had dumped 19 inches of snow on Redmond and 28 inches on Bend.

Schools throughout Deschutes County were closed Monday and Tuesday, with students advised to listen for radio reports on possible additional closures.

Numerous meetings and events have been cancelled or postponed. Persons still should check to see if the affair they plan on attending will actually be held.

All airports in Central Oregon were closed Monday. City crews were plowing feverishly yesterday to have Roberts Field open for the 4:30 p.m. Airwest flight. Also attempting to plow their way open were the Bend and Sunriver airports. Madras and Prineville probably will be shut down for awhile. The Sisters strip is closed for the winter.

Highway travel has been difficult at best, but main arteries generally have been passable. A rash of autos sliding off the highways into barrow pits began early Sunday morning when some 20 to 30 vehicles left. Century Drive as persons left a rock concert at Inn of the Seventh Mountain. Chains were required on most mountain passes Monday and on the Santiam yesterday. Chains were advised on all passes.

A jackknifed truck and bus that slid off the overpass north of Terrebonne Sunday night had traffic blocked along Highway 97 north to High Bridge. Two Sunday afternoon head-on auto crashes on Highway 97 (one at Cinder Butte north of Redmond and another two miles south of Redmond) sent several persons to Central Oregon District Hospital for outpatient treatment.

The Redmond Disaster Car responded to both accidents, a part of six runs in 4½ hours. A total of seven ambulance runs on Sunday established a new daily record for the Redmond ambulance. The runs came amid a barrage of calls requesting road and weather information that kept one Redmond fireman tied up on the phone.

The only storm-related pedestrian accident reported so far occurred at 10 a.m. yesterday at the intersection of Fifth and Cascade Ave. Mrs. Verda Biemer, 75, fell on the ice, breaking her hip.

The only fire in the Redmond area was at Maineline plastics factory on S. Highway 97 owned by Mr. and Mrs. D.C. “Buster” Maine. A furnace, mounted in the attic, overheated, igniting rafters and plywood. Damage was estimated at $500 to $700. Electrical failure to kick on the furnace fan was blamed for the blaze.

Utilities were responding to heavier than usual demand amid a flurry of lines downed by breaking tree limbs. Central Electric Cooperative customers in the Tumalo area experienced an outage. Pacific Power & Light Co. reported spotty, but brief, interruptions in service, and flickering of lights was common throughout the area.

United Telephone Co., Monday was requesting customers to confine calls to emergencies. Callers were completing few calls anyway, as jammed equipment resulted in busy signals part way through dialing.

25 Years Ago

Nov. 11, 1998 — Tektronix announces plan to leave Central Oregon

Tektronix is ending its 15-year presence in Central Oregon.

Monday the Wilsonville-based electronics company announced its Bend facility will close by March 1 and consolidate operations with Beaverton.

Tektronix established its presence in Central Oregon in 1983, when it set up a portion of its text and measurement division in Redmond near the airport.

Last year the company moved its Central Oregon plant to Bend, where it builds test equipment for fiber optic and metallic cables for the telecommunications industry.

The plant employs 97 people in manufacturing, engineering, research and development and support positions.

The company has offered 47 of those employees jobs in Beaverton.

At least a handful of the

employees at the Bend plant live

in the Redmond and Terrebonne area.

The closure of the Bend plant is part of Tek’s current cost-cutting measures because of soft markets triggered by the Asian economic crisis.