Looking back: Nov. 12 issue

November 9th, 1950

70 years ago

ACHIEVEMENT DAY

Member of 4-H clubs from throughout the county gathered at Reardan Saturday for their annual Achievement Day. Mrs. Hank Schmitt of Esoanola, leader of the Pots and Pans club, distributed pins to her group. Other club leaders were present including Esther Hmphrey, assistant leader, Bernadine Schmitt, Heidi Schmitt, secretary; Melcina Reilly, Shirley Ensor, Joyce Heldstab, club president; Winnie Lou Puls, vice president; Cherryl Jacobsen and Carol Lee Brommer. Lincoln County Extension Agent C. Ross Trout also joined the over 300 4-H members at the Reardan meeting.

November 12, 1970-

50 years ago

Construction work has started on the new addition of the fire station in Davenport. Work on the $17,000 addition was started last week with the placing of the footings and block work was started on Monday.

The contractor on the project is Ruden Ottmar construction company. The brick work is being done by a Spokane firm. The addition will be used to house the county fire truck and possibly the ambulance under an agreement with the city. The building will be faced with used brick to make it look original.

November 8th, 1990

30 years ago

Off reservation deer hunting authorized

A state Department of Wildlife official Tuesday blamed a “internal agency glitch” for keeping eastern Washington folks – and even some in Olympia – in the dark regarding the expansion of the Spokane Indian Tribe deer hunting rights this year beyond reservation boundaries.

Lack of information on the agreement spurred a barrage of rumors throughout Lincoln County and other Northeastern Washington communities recently.

According to Doug Zimmer, state media coordinator for the department, an agreement made with the tribe this fall authorized off-reservation deer hunting privileges this season in three game management units, including the Roosevelt unit, which is described as all of Lincoln County north of highway 2 – except the northeast corner which branches off to follow highway 174.

The other two units affected were Huckleberry in Stevens County and Mount Spokane in Spokane county. All three areas touch reservation boundaries.

Late buck season, which runs through Nov. 18th in Spokane and Stevens Counties, is included in the agreement as well, Zimmer said.

Indian hunters were required to carry a tribal hunting permit to hunt in these areas, but not necessarily a Washington State hunting Licenses, the agreement stipulates. They also were required to possess either a state transport tag and harvest report card, which were provided free by the state, or tribal transport tag and harvest report card.

November 11th, 2010

10 Years Ago

Story of sacrifice, especially fitting for Veteran’s Day

From the Editor: With Veterans’ Day this week, I wanted to share part of the story behind Jahn Field in Davenport, which is named for Vernon Field, one of our area’s most valiant servicemen.

He not only survived monstrous battles during World War II -at least 60 percent of our Marines died saving the lives of other Marines.

He was a Davenport student that played football and was a hard hitter. He also played other sports with enthusiasm. He should be remembered as one of our great war heroes, but he has been overlooked because his gallant actions were not against the enemy.

I have a letter from Richard King, a friend of Vernon’s dated Sept 27th, 1945, and sent from Japan, that demonstrates how courageous he was.

It was address to Vernon’s mother, offering sympathy to after he died while headed back to the U.S. on a hospital ship, and included an explanation of what happened.

“I am taking it upon myself to explain the details of the accident to you,” King wrote. “And how the men feel about it in the hopes that the tremendous courage he displayed my be of some solace to you.”

He continued, “During the initial landing is Japan, each man was issued two grenades – just in case. Few of us carried them. We tucked them away somewhere and forgot them, for it was a peaceful operation. Vern put his in his seabag. Several days later we were quartered in a hug barracks building and given a chance to unpack and rest a bit. It was an exceptionally large and crowded room we were in. Vern was unpacking his seabag, Somehow the safety device on the grenade had worked loose and when he pulled it out of the bag, the safety flew off.

From that instant, there were three sounds until the thing exploded. Men knew the sound all too well and there was a mad scramble to get out of the way, however they could never have escaped if he threw it away. Someone probably many men – would have been badly hurt and killed. The thing is he did NOT throw it away! Rather than kill or maim some of his buddies, Vern held that grenade in his bare hands and took the full force of the explosion himself.”

“Few men, Mrs. Jahn, could had had the courage to do such a thing” King’s letter continues. “It is such overwhelming thing that men cannot speak much of it. There are simply no words to express their feelings, But there are several hundred men who owe their lives to Vern. They realize it and his name is spoken reverently around the 1st battalion of the 4th Marines.

“He’s gone – as many of our buddies are gone – and it is irrevocable. We simply want to be sure that you – his family- and all who knew him realize that never did a man perform a nobler deed or die a braver death than did our buddy Vernon Jahn”

I am brought to tears when I think of this man and what he did. The holiday brings us an opportunity to remember men such as these and what they have done for our country.