By Owen Sexton
owen@chronline.com
In this installment of A Look Back in Time, the Friday, Jan. 31, 1936, edition of The Chronicle featured a story about Centralia police being on the lookout for thieves after a string of robberies were reported the prior two days, including one where cheese valued at $15 was stolen from a Silver Street garage.
The U.S. War Department notified Centralia residents Fletcher and Edna Barnett that their son — U.S. Army Air Force Second Lieutenant Richard Barnett, a pilot killed in the skies over Germany in 1944 — was due to receive posthumously an Air Medal and the Order of the Purple Heart, according to the Thursday, Jan. 31, 1946, edition of The Chronicle.
And in the Monday, Jan. 31, 1966, edition of The Chronicle, it was reported Glenoma resident Haskell Stepp was facing charges of drunk driving, being drunk in public and possession of a whiskey still and mash after he struck and seriously injured a 7-year-old while driving, and both state and federal investigators apparently discovered moonshining equipment on his property.
A Look Back in Time is compiled using Chronicle archives stored at the Lewis County Historical Museum — located at 599 NW Front St. in Chehalis — along with digital archives on newspapers.com.
Friday, Jan. 31, 1936
• Centralia police were on the lookout for thieves in the area after “a succession of thefts had been reported during the last two days,” The Chronicle reported. “The marauders broke into a garage owned by Noah Hofer at 107 N. Silver St. Wednesday night and stole a quantity of cheese stored there, valued at $15, it was stated. The same afternoon a motometer was reported stolen from a car belonging to Tom Price, 927 N. Pearl St., as it was parked at Tower Avenue and Center Street. Yesterday Bert Iverson, 714 S. Gold St., reported that while his wife was mailing a letter at the depot, a thief stole a bag of groceries and a black suede pocketbook out of the car she had just left. And this morning a local hotel reported a black raincoat and dark hat was stolen while their owner was in another part of the building.”
• The Chronicle featured an Associated Press story about a pair of Chehalis men being fined for overharvesting smelt down near Castle Rock. “Vincent Sanderson, 20, and Norman Rasmussen, 19, Chehalis youths, were fined $15 each by (Cowlitz County Superior Court) Justice of the Peace Bert Van Moss when they entered guilty pleas to charges of violating smelt catch regulations. The youths were arrested by State Fisheries Inspector Frank Swick Wednesday night near Castle Rock with 350 pounds of smelt in their possession, Neither had a commercial fishing license. They were committed to the county jail.”
• Rochester resident Glennys James was the sole passenger in a car wreck near Pullman earlier that morning, The Chronicle reported. James, a 20-year-old Washington State College student, was riding in the car with three other passengers all returning from a birthday ball celebration for U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt the night of Jan. 30 when their car, “skidded and overturned near that city (Pullman) … Miss James suffered a fractured skull and internal injuries. She died at Colfax Hospital. Theodore Green, of Pullman, a graduate of the college, driver of the car, was in the same hospital with head and leg injuries. Josephine Ramsburg, of Seattle, and George Blakkolb, of Portland, Oregon, were treated for cuts, bruises and shock. Miss James, daughter of Henry R. James (and Almeda Barnett Alleman), entered Washington State two and a half years ago from the Centralia Junior College. She was a senior student in secretarial science.”
• A five-room home on two lots located at 1208 Mellon St. in Centralia was listed for sale in The Chronicle’s classifieds for $700.
Thursday, Jan. 31, 1946
• The U.S. War Department notified Centralia residents Fletcher and Edna Barnett they were due to posthumously receive the U.S. Army Air Force Air Medal and the Order of the Purple Heart on behalf of their son, Army Air Force Second Lieutenant Richard Barnett. Richard was a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress pilot carrying out bombing raids in World War II when his plane was lost over Germany on May 28, 1944. “The notification said the Air Medal is for exceptional meritorious achievement involving the participation in sustained bomber operations over the European Theater of war, and the Purple Heart is for his supreme sacrifice in the line of duty for his country. The Centralians have not received the awards on behalf of the war martyr, but the War Department said they will be presented within a short time.”
• Following a call for Chehalis landlords to stop steep rent increases the previous week, the Chehalis Chamber of Commerce issued another statement warning of a “buyers’ strike” if rent prices weren’t brought under control, The Chronicle reported. “The Chehalis Chamber of Commerce, continuing its campaign against unreasonably high rentals in the community, says there are several ‘old sayings’ experience has proven true over and over again. One is, ‘what comes up must come down,’ and another that ‘you can’t lift yourself by your bootstraps and remain lifted very long. In other words,’ the Chamber’s latest statement on the subject says, ‘if inflation goes too far, rents rise beyond a reasonably high limit, consumers charged too high for commodities, and consumers paying the exorbitant rates, there is certain to be a backfire. All history has proven extreme inflationary periods are filled by a corresponding dip into depression. Notwithstanding the high-sounding statements of some who pose as economists and attempt to disprove this, it has become axiomatic. In the final analysis the consuming public has it within its power to control the inflationary tendency; the consuming public of Chehalis, and all other communities in the land. If greedy landlords and others insist on trying to make the public pay unusually high prices, a buyers’ strike can be invoked, and refusal to pay these prices may give production a chance to catch up, and the old law of supply and demand will get to work.’”
• A three-room home with a woodshed, hen house, a well and electricity on three acres of land nine miles from Chehalis was listed for sale in The Chronicle’s classifieds for $1,000.
Tuesday, Jan. 31, 1956
• A total of 1,525 Centralia School District grade school students had been vaccinated so far thanks to the free Lewis County Polio Protection Program, The Chronicle reported. “The treatments opened on Wednesday of last week at the Washington (Elementary) School and then shifted to other grade centers. Dr. Morris Chelsky, county health officer, said about 90% of Centralia’s graders now have some degree of polio immunity, and that about 77% of them were vaccinated under the current program. Many youngsters have been treated by private physicians in an earlier free program. Dr. Chelsky said that for the remainder of the week other Health Department business in the program will be done and that preparations are being made for starting the Chehalis program. Until full vaccine supplies are available, it was said, only graders and not high school students will be vaccinated.
• White Pass Highway Association President Roy Fletcher, also the Lewis County auditor, was preparing alongside his neighbors to showcase Lewis County’s vacation possibilities to up to 100,000 potential Midwest visitors coming to the region thanks to promotions going on at the nine-day long Kansas City Sports, Travel and Trailer Show, The Chronicle reported. “The White Pass Highway Association is able to participate in the nationwide publicity and promotion through its affiliation with the Pacific Northwest Travel Association (PNTA), which in the 1956 travel season will enter its colorful and spectacular displays in eight such major promotional events throughout the Midwest, Texas and California, Fletcher explained. Gene Crumb, manager of the Longview Chamber of Commerce, is the director of the PNTA who is representing the White Pass Highway Association. Travel agencies report that inquiries from possible visitors are being received earlier and in larger volume than is usual at this time of the year, which indicates a big travel season ahead, and the White Pass Highway Association is working in this intense campaign of cooperation to see that Lewis County and other communities of the Pacific Northwest get their share of this highly valuable travel business, Fletcher emphasized.”
• A new two-bedroom home which “would cost you at least $9,400 to build,” with “plenty of closets,” hardwood floors, a utility room and garage in Centralia’s Edison District was listed for sale in The Chronicle’s classifieds for $7,900. A partly-furnished, three-bedroom home four miles south of Chehalis was listed for rent for $50 a month.
Monday, Jan. 31, 1966
• Glenoma resident Haskell Stepp was locked up in the Lewis County Jail facing charges of a DUI, being drunk in public and making moonshine, The Chronicle reported. “Officers said two of the charges are involved in a car-pedestrian mishap last Thursday on Jackson Highway south of Chehalis. State Troopers said Stepp was the driver of a car which struck and seriously hurt James A. Johnston, 7 … The youngster, who suffered a skull fracture, broken left leg and hand injuries, is hospitalized in Tacoma. His condition is serious. Troopers said they filed a charge of drunk in public against Haskell Stepp and Lewis County Prosecutor Jerry Moore’s office filed the drunk driving charge. State and federal liquor investigators filed charges of possession of a whiskey still and mash, from which liquor is made. Those charges were filed in the Chehalis Justice Court. Stepp is in the county jail, his bails totalling $1,035.”
• Cispus Job Corps workers got free ski lessons while working at the White Pass Ski Area helping resort staff prepare a slalom course for the Schwaegler Cup held at the ski resort on Jan. 15 and 16, The Chronicle reported. “When the corpsmen arrived they were issued boots and skis and spent the morning in basic ski instruction furnished by the White Pass Ski School. During the afternoon, the corpsmen were transported to the top of the chair lift and made two trips down the mountain, boot-packing the giant slalom race course. On Jan. 15 and 16 the corpsmen volunteered their labor during their free time to pack the hill. Nelson Bennett, operator of the White Pass Ski Area, has operated in assisting with ski instruction and lift arrangements, according to Zane G. Smith, Cispus (Jobs Corps) director.”
• A four-bedroom home with a furnace and water heater on two-and-a-half acres of land in Centralia was listed for sale in The Chronicle’s classifieds for $14,000. An unfurnished one-bedroom home in Chehalis was listed for rent for $65 a month.
Saturday, Jan. 31, 1976
• Neighbors living around Centralia College were voicing displeasure with the lack of parking at the higher learning institution, which was leaving some of them blocked in their own driveways by students or faculty parked in front of their properties, The Chronicle reported. “Centralia College has the smallest campus in the state and apparently also has the biggest parking problem. The parking problem was discussed at the college’s Student Senate meeting Friday afternoon but no solution was found … The college, which has a daily attendance of 1,305 students and a vehicle population probably in excess of 500, provides off-street parking for 174. An additional 173 park on the college property side of city streets. The balance of the students’ vehicles are parked on city streets, occupying parking spaces belonging to adjacent property owners. This has irked many of the property owners, some of whom attended the meeting … Car pooling was suggested as a way to solve the problem. Randy Garland, senate member, said car pooling had been tried before but didn’t work. ‘Every quarter we have virtually a new student body,’ (Community College District 12 President) Dr. (Nels) Hanson said, agreeing with Garland.” Increasing the number of off-street parking areas around the college was also discussed, but required the purchase of additional properties.
• The Chronicle featured an Associated Press story about Seattle being selected as the site for a Major League Baseball (MLB) expansion team at a meeting in New York City. “That move, plus discussion on further major league expansion, was expected to take place when American League (AL) owners meet here at a downtown hotel. Earlier this month at Phoenix, (Arizona), the 12 AL owners decided in principle to expand to Seattle in 1977, as well as discuss possible expansion to 14 teams. The National League owners reportedly are cool toward expansion at this time, but Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn said he's not in favor of unilateral action. If the owners do okay the move to Seattle, that would negate a $32.5 million damage suit now under way in Everett, Washington. Activity lagged at the trial Friday while attorneys indicated they would watch the New York expansion talks closely. Seattle, King County and the State of Washington seek those damages and claim that the league committed fraud, breach of contract and antitrust violations when it moved the ill-starred Seattle Pilots to Milwaukee following the 1969 season.” The Seattle Pilots were formed in 1969 and only played in Seattle for that single season, finishing with a record of 64-98 before moving to Milwaukee as team owners William Daley and Dewey Soriano who did not want to wait for the completion of the King Dome to play in. The Pilots would go on to become the Milwaukee Brewers, and in 1977, the Seattle Mariners were founded as a part of the MLB’s expansion that year, which also saw the birth of the Toronto Blue Jays.
• A three-bedroom home with a fireplace on 40 acres of “completely fenced” acres near Winlock was listed for sale in The Chronicle’s classifieds for $70,000. A two-bedroom duplex in Centralia was listed for rent for $185 a month.
