This Week in Odessa History

100 years ago

The Odessa Record

May 18, 1917

Big convention May 31-June 3. Odessa is scheduled to entertain what promises to be one of the largest conventions ever held in this section of the big Bend when the Pacific Brotherhood Conference of the German congregational churches convenes here at the Pilgrim Congregational church from May 31 to June 3.

There are three Congregational churches in Odessa the Pilgrim, the St. Mathews and the English and while this conference will be held under the auspices of the Pilgrim church, all the others have been invited to participate as well as people from any other denominations.

Henry Horst, of Odessa, the present presiding chairman of the Pacific Brotherhood Conference states that he believes that this will be the largest conference they have ever held and that over five hundred delegates and visitors will be present from the states of Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Montana, and California as well as a number from the far eastern states which are on their way to the Rose carnival and the pacific and General Conferences of the German Congregational churches which convenes in Portland in June.

Odessa wins game from Harrington. The Odessa ball team and a goodly bunch of rooters journeyed to Harrington Sunday and took the measure of the team representing that town to the tune of 5 to 1. It was real baseball weather and the Odessa machine was working at its best. Miller, the local pitcher, while he had lots of stuff on the old apple at times, took matters easy when he found that he could depend upon his support and did not work for his usual number of strikeouts. As it was, 31 men faced him during the game. He yielded but four hits, two of them of a scratchy nature and got nine strikeouts. The only time that he was in anything resembling trouble was in the sixth when Duncan, the last man on Harrington's batting list got first on an error and stole second with the heavy artillery up. Miller then got down to business and Marler flew out to Taylor, while Cummings and Johnson were retired via the strikeout route.

Farmer faces liquor charge. Henry Gettmann Jr., a farmer living west of Ritzville, was informed against Monday by Prosecuting Attorney Otto W. Naef, of Adams county, being charged with having obtained a permit to obtain liquor unlawfully, in that he obtained more than one permit within 20 days. His bond was fixed at $100 and was given until Monday to plead.

75 years ago

The Odessa Record

May 15, 1942

Odessa wins county title. Odessa High School won the Lincoln-Adams county tennis championship last Friday at Ritzville, winning first in boys' doubles, girls' doubles and mixed doubles, and taking second in girls' and boys' singles. Play was as follows:

Mixed doubles: Finals won by Bernice Lenhart and Lowell Flemmer of Odessa over Viola Raugust and R. Waller of Davenport, 6-3, 6-4.

Boys doubles: Weldon Weber and Weldon Goede of Odessa won from Bill Adams and Richard Shanks, Davenport, 6-3,12-10.

Girls' doubles: Eleanore Schauermn and Majorie Raugust, Odessa, won from Almira, 10-8, 6-4.

Girls' singles: Finals- Bernadine Buck, Davenport, won from Colleen Oliver, Odessa, 7-5, 6-3.Runner-up-Colleen Oliver, Odessa, won from Lois Rosenoff, Ritzville, 6-1, 6-3.

Boys' singles: Leland Jasper, Davenport, won from Arthur Derr, Odessa, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4. Runner-up- Arthur Derr, Odessa, won from Ron Bennett, Wilbur, 6-3, 6-4.

The Odessa players will be entered in the district meet at Spokane on Friday of next week, first place winners competing in the class A meet, and the second place winers in the class B division.

Electric storm creates havoc. Following a day of sweltering heat on Sunday, an electric storm of terrific force, giving off zig-zag, forked and sheet lightening, broke over the entire Big Bend, accompanied by hard rainfall.

Lights flickered and went out on two occasions, for nearly 10 minutes the first time and only momentarily the second time, owing to quick work on the part of the power company representatives. Dave Wacker, making a checkup during the worst of the storm, was just leaving the substation when the lights failed. He hurried back and restored the circuit.

At the Great Northern depot a bolt apparently struck, shattering the power meter and much of the equipment, leaving scorched marks on the building.

Reports from neighboring towns told of equal intensity. At Lind, where the Krehbiel garage was building a new type structure, the building was leveled to the ground. The structure, intended to be 60x120 feet in size and 30 feet high, was nearing completion.

At Ritzville a near cloud-burst accompanied the storm, the gutters and drains being unable to carry the water. Several cellars were flooded. Winter wheat was believed damaged. The Lincoln-Adams county track meet, scheduled for Monday, was transferred to Davenport.

At Wilbur the lightening flashed from all points of the compass and the town was without light much of the time.

Odessa School has 521 Graduates. A checkup of the list of graduates from the Odessa high school since the first class in 1909 shows there are 521 persons listed as graduates, eligible to membership in the alumni association, which will have its annual banquet on June 14. There have been 32 classes.

The smallest' class was that of 1909, when only one person, Miss Ella Williams, graduated. The largest class was that of 1939, with 35 members.

Invitations are being mailed to this large group for the present banquet. Tickets have been placed on sale, at the Corner Store, and with all officers.

50 years ago

The Odessa Record

May 18, 1967

Thursday mixers have roll-off. Alley Bowlers won the roll-off from the S & K Dusters in the Thursday Mixer league. The following trophies have been presented:

Championship won by Alley Bowlers; second place to S & K Dusters.

In team awards, the high scratch series went to Odessa Lanes 2117; high handicap series to Hemmerling Insurance 24-39; high scratch game to Turkey Hunters with 718; and high handicap game, to Handicapped 847.

Sam Homberg had the high average with 175, as did June Weber with 164. High scratch series awards went to Vic Kramer with 640 and Elsie Schauerman with 555. Martin Kramer with 712, and Barb Hopp with 614 topped the high handicapped series. High scratch game: Oscar Anderson 254 and Viola Arlt 213. High-handicap games were Lee Boyk 267 and Esther Becker 240.

Most-improved bowlers nominees were Lee Boyk 10 pins and Edith McIrvin 12 pins. WIBC high series went to Elsie Schauerman with 622.

Nine Tigers Going To District in Eight Events. Nine Odessa trackmen passed hurdle No. 1, Saturday's Bi-County finals, by qualifying for the Northeast District A meet on East Valley's track this Saturday at noon. Winners of 1st, 2nd and 3rd this Saturday will go to next week's state meet at Ellensburg. Only 1st place relay teams will qualify for state.

Straining competitors smashed seven Bi-County marks in eager efforts, Coach Leland Boyk reports, providing speculation for even more than the 90 3/5ths points scored in last years meet by the B class Bi-County in the A-class meet limited to schools of 600 enrollment.

Ritzville scored 95 points to lead all teams, Odessa 81, Liberty 80, Grand Coulee 62, Freeman 50, Lind 47 1/2, Reardan 26, Davenport 20, Creston 17, Harrington 10 and Wilbur 7 1/2. Previous totals had Odessa and Liberty tied but a careful re-check shows Liberty one slim point back. Fans enjoyed the fast field action in this first night meet.

25 years ago

The Odessa Record

May 21, 1992

McDaniel new owner of supermart. The big sign out in front hasn't been changed yet, but as of last Monday Brown's Thrift is no more.

New owner Denny McDaniel announced that the store would be known as Denny's Thrift. This will be reflected in the new sign, which will be in place as soon as the sign company can install it.

The one big change besides the name will be that the store will be locally owned. McDaniel, who has managed the supermarket here for the past two years, bought the business for Brown's Thrift Stores, headquartered in Deer Park, which operates several food stores in eastern Washington.

McDaniel said there would be no changes in the brand names carried in the store, which will remain in the Thrift alliance for food stores affiliated with URM grocery wholesalers. The store will continue to feature the Western Family line of food products, Thrift dairy products and regular-name brands.

A grand opening for Denny's Thrift is to be scheduled soon so as not to conflict with either the May 25 or May 30 Memorial Day weekends.

Leak found and repaired at new pool. There were some anxious hours which turned into days this week when it was discovered that Odessa's new $400,000 water recreation center had sprung a leak.

The news was of major concern at the Monday night meeting of the Odessa Town Council. Council member Carl Ryan reported that seepage had been discovered, and during the council's discussion of the problem there was a mention of one estimate of 12,000 gallons of water having escaped from two of the pools.

Meanwhile, Odessa public works director Roger Sebesta and pool project clerk Chip Hunt, went to work to locate the areas of leakage.

They found the trouble spot late Tuesday--a hole in a plastic pipe in which the water recirculated from the main pool's skimmer outlets through filters and back to return ducts. The faulty pipe was quickly replaced.

But the discovery was not made until a diver in scuba gear was called in from HBM Contractors of Spokane, subcontractor for the pool construction, plumbing and flatwork concrete at the facility, to inspect and test the sealed seams, or "cold joints," which join concrete sections of the pool floor and walls.

Using food dye, the diver was able to detect two pinpoint holes through which a small volume of water had been escaping in the sealant covering the seams.

"Ironically, had the filtering and heating systems been on line during the initial inspection we would have found the problem immediately," said Hunt. But the systems had been turned down to facilitate the inspection of the pool walls and floors by the diver.

The small holes found in the seams are not serious, Hunt said. The joint can be resealed to stop the leaks. He added that this is not an unusual problem to arise when new pools are tested for the first time.

With the leakage problem solved, everything is still on target for the opening of the facility to the public on June 14.

Society' s barn fund now at $15,400. The building fund for a barn planned at the Odessa Historisches Museum now totals $15,400, according to the museum's newsletter for May.

The Odessa Historical Society has estimated the total cost of building the barn at $50,000. A replica typical of the barns once found throughout the Odessa country is proposed, It would house historic farm implements and machinery and other farm artifacts.

The barn fund remains the society's Number 1 project, it was stated. All funds received by the society except those needed for maintenance and operation expenses have been put into the barn fund project.