In this installment of A Look Back in Time, the Saturday, March 14, 1936, edition of The Chronicle featured a story about Pe Ell town officials preparing for a dedication ceremony opening a new municipal building in “western Lewis County’s metropolis,” with state Gov. Clarence Martin set to deliver an address during the ceremony.
Harold Manning, an escaped convict from the Oregon State Penitentiary, was caught in Denver earlier that week with a cache of guns he and another escapee had stolen from the Centralia Washington National Guard armory in February, according to the Thursday, March 14, 1946, edition of The Chronicle.
And in the Wednesday, March 14, 1956, edition of The Chronicle, it was reported that Bucoda resident Stanley Ozbolt was elected mayor of the South Thurston County community. He was also known as “Ozzie.” The Stanley Ozbolt Field at Bucoda Volunteer Park is now named in his honor.
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.
Saturday, March 14, 1936
• Pe Ell Mayor James Moloney and other town officials were preparing to host a number of guests including state Gov. Clarence Martin, at a dedication of a new Pe Ell municipal building, The Chronicle reported. “Pe Ell, western Lewis County’s metropolis, is making arrangements for entertaining a large crowd of visitors on Monday evening, March 23, when the community’s new municipal building will be dedicated. An address by Governor Clarence D. Martin will feature the program, which will be followed by dancing. According to J.L. Moloney, mayor of Pe Ell, the new structure is the result of, ‘a fine co-operative spirit displayed by members of the city council and Pe Ell citizens.’ The new home of Pe Ell’s municipal government had its beginning three years ago, when Mayor Moloney proposed the purchase of the concrete and tile structure that had been erected by V.F. Wendling as a garage and had passed into the hands of the Lewis County Savings and Loan Association. This was the beginning, only, of the ‘dream’ of the mayor and members of the city council. The remodeling and modernization of the building to serve the town as a combined municipal home and recreation center as it now appears, is another story.” Remodelling efforts were led by Pe Ell Town Councilor A.M. Stewart, who convinced the Pe Ell Projects Committee to approve funding their plans for the building. “In addition to a council room, the municipal building contains headquarters of the fire department, large auditorium, public reading room and shows. It is proposed to install a gymnasium later.”
• Weyerhaeuser Timber Company official Minot Davis walked back a statement made by the company the previous week announcing the incorporation of the Chehalis Western Railroad and associated track construction about to start, saying construction was now set to start in “perhaps two or three years,” The Chronicle reported. “Davis said surveying crews would be put to work in the near future, but no actual construction work would be done. He claimed even the exact route of the road, which is planned to tap Weyerhaeuser Timber holdings in southwestern Lewis County near Ruth, was still uncertain. It will probably follow the Chehalis River for at least part of the length, he said. The road was incorporated Feb. 29 with a capital of $300,000. At that time, company officials said the line would extend from South Bay to Ruth, acquiring short sections of Milwaukee (Railroad) tracks and of the logging line now serving Vail to avoid building all new track.”
• “Rhode Island red hatching eggs” were listed for sale in The Chronicle’s classifieds for $0.50 for 15 eggs.
Thursday, March 14, 1946
• Harold Manning, an escaped convict from the Oregon State Penitentiary who was caught in Denver, Colorado earlier that week, confessed to stealing a number of guns from the Centralia Washington National Guard armory in February, The Chronicle reported. “Three sub-machine guns, three Springfield rifles and three pistols taken from the armory on the night of February 18 were found in Manning’s possession. Allen Brumfield, another Oregon escapee believed to have been an accomplice in the burglary here, was captured Tuesday after eluding Denver police Monday night. Clearing up of the case came after Centralia police officers read an Associated Press story in The Daily Chronicle of the arrest of Manning and the loot found in the machine he was driving. (Centralia) Police Chief Milton Jastram immediately called the Denver bureau of the FBI, which notified of the confession Wednesday morning. The two convicts escaped from the Oregon prison on February 14. Manning was serving a 10-year sentence for burglary, and Brumfield a life sentence for murder.”
• Lewis County officials announced land owners in the county were about to see a 10% increase in their assessor property evaluations, The Chronicle reported. “Lewis County property owners will have the valuation on their real estate increased 10% for 1946, according to Jesse F. Scherer, county assessor. The present market values of real estate continues to climb to new ceiling(s), he pointed out, but assessed valuations have remained at the low level established many years ago. The valuations will be stepped up throughout the state, Scherer said. The increase in some counties will be lower than the 10% raise in Lewis County, and in other counties will be more.”
• A “modern” five-room home with a garage, wood shed, hen house, barn and shop building on “three acres rich land near Mossyrock” was listed for sale in The Chronicle’s classifieds for $5,200.
Wednesday, March 14, 1956
• Bucoda resident Stanley Ozbolt was elected mayor of the South Thurston County community, The Chronicle reported. “Bucoda citizens Tuesday went to the polls to name a new mayor, Stanley Ozbolt, who succeeds Emil Krupp, who did not seek re-election. Ozbolt was opposed by John Salzer, but won 84 to 46. Joseph Krupp was unopposed for treasurer and won 121 votes. The three new councilmen and their vote totals are William Hickey, 68; Robert Anderson, 62, and James G. Hays, 83. Opposing candidates and their votes: James Robertson, 46; Dallas Unwin, 56, and Katherine Perkins, 35. Holdover councilmen for Bucoda are Mrs. Dorothy Carlson and Martin Jungmayer.” Ozbolt, also known as “Ozzie,” was born in 1924 and graduated from the Tenino High School and Centralia Business College before he joined the U.S. Army Reserves during the Korean War — where he deployed to Germany and rose to the rank of First Sergeant. Upon leaving the service and returning home, aside from his tenure as Bucoda’s mayor, he formed baseball teams with friends and kids of the area. In 2011 the Stanley Ozbolt Field at Bucoda Volunteer Park was named in his honor. Ozbolt passed away at the age of 91 on Nov. 13, 2015.
• Special toothbrushing stations had been set up at the Morton grade school for students to brush at lunch time, The Chronicle reported. “The new innovation in the annals of dental hygiene apparently the first of its kind in the nation — was planned and carried out jointly by dentists and school administrators in an effort to combat the alarming increase in tooth decay noted. Under the new program, children are receiving classroom instruction including talks by dentists and teachers on care of the teeth and movies about dental care. And they carry out the program of brushing their teeth at the school daily following the noon meal. D.W. Olson, superintendent of schools, said Tuesday the school administrators, dentists and Dr. Morris Chelsky, county health officer, co-operated to set up the program … The program is voluntary, but Walter Hansen, grade school principal, reports participation is 100%. Only water is used in the brushing, because the addition of tooth pastes would complicate the program too much. On the instructional side, the youngsters are taught to leave sugars, soda pop and other decay-causing factors alone, and to set up a more healthful diet. Olson said it is hoped the program can be started in all the classes and carried through to the high school level. ‘In a few years, we should be able to tell whether our daily noon-time tooth brushing experiment is paying off in terms of fewer cavities,’ he predicted.”
• A five-bedroom home which was “newly decorated, fully insulated, cement foundation, rugs, drapes, power mower,” on a “large lot” was listed for sale in The Chronicle’s classifieds for $8,000. A three-room furnished apartment at the Le Mac Apartments at 106 E. First St. in Centralia with “heat, lights, TV antenna, laundry facilities” was listed for rent for $45 a month.
Monday, March 14, 1966
• East Lewis County residents held a protest at the county courthouse that morning to raise awareness that crime in the rural area was getting out of control, The Chronicle reported. “One spokesman, John Looney, Glenoma, told county heads that part of the county now has semi-professional thieves who live there. He said they know all the back roads and they ‘know when to strike.’ Looney was apparently referring to the growing increase in thefts, burglaries and mischief that has come in sections of the eastern part of the county the past year. The Glenoman said the problem is not with the particular lack of deputies or money for law enforcement but with the disposition of the criminals after they are apprehended. Looney criticized the courts for ‘letting them off easy’ instead of giving harsher punishment measures.”
• The Chronicle featured an Associated Press story about U.S. Senate Republicans reaching “what they called remarkable unity in support of President (Lyndon B.) Johnson’s prosecution of a limited war in Vietnam. Led by Minority leader Everett M. Dirksen of Illinois — who calls himself an eagle, rather than a hawk — GOP members have all but eliminated among themselves the squabbling that has divided the Democrats. The 32 Republican members have some minor differences over the military and political tactics to be employed. But they are agreed that running the war is Johnson’s business and not theirs. Sen. Jacob K. Javits of New York, for example, doesn’t agree with Dirkensen’s position that the Viet Cong have no place in any coalition government that might follow peace negotiations … Sen. Karl E. Mundt of South Dakota said in a separate interview he believes the GOP members have reached remarkable unity. ‘We are solidly supporting a measured military effort in Vietnam,’ Mundt said. ‘So Long as the president avoids the kind of escalation that might bring Chinese intervention, we will be with him.’ Mundt expressed the view that the sending of additional U.S. Troops to South Vietnam does not necessarily mean expansion of military objectives.” At this point, the U.S. had already been involved in the Vietnam War since 1955, starting with just military advisors being sent, all the way to a peak of more than 543,000 U.S. troops by April of 1969. It wasn’t until 1973 when the Paris Peace Accords were signed the war officially ended and U.S. troops withdrawn, although fighting in South Vietnam remained until the fall of Saigon in 1975.
• An “attractive” two-bedroom home on one acre of land in Chehalis was listed for sale in The Chronicle’s classifieds for $11,250. A furnished one-bedroom home at 823 State St. in Centralia was listed for rent for $40 a month.
Saturday, March 13, 1976
• Members of the Vader City Council approved a sewer line replacement schedule for the South Lewis County Community in what The Chronicle wondered in the headline if it might have been the council’s “shortest meeting? In a seven-minute meeting Friday night the Vader Town Council approved a schedule for work on the town’s sewer lines and new sewage treatment plant. Mayor Frank Zelsnack said most of the old lines will be replaced. Designs for the new plant should be ready in late spring or summer and construction begun Nov. 1. The schedule was adopted to safeguard state and federal grants. Vader will pay 10% of the costs, the state 15% and the federal government 75%.”
• Southwest Washington Fair Promotional Affairs Committee Chairman Paul McBride announced that aside from a replica steam engine being refurbished for the “Bicentennial Bonanza” fair theme that year, several hundred skimmer hats had been ordered for participants in a handlebar mustache contest that was also to be held at that year’s fair, The Chronicle reported. “Contestants will sign up at local barber shops, Chamber of Commerce offices or the fair office. If the mustache is already underway, careful measurements will be taken and considered at the time the judges select winners. McBride said that anyone with a beard will not be eligible: the contest will be confined to mustaches only. At least 10 special categories have been planned, including longest, fanciest, neatest, oddest, bushiest and even the curliest. Sponsorship for prizes will be solicited from local businesses specializing in products associated with facial adornment. Other bicentennial activities include a horseshoe contest, a bicentennial costume mother-daughter look-alike contest, color and kite flying contests. The fair will run from Aug 10. To Aug. 15.”
• A three-bedroom home with a two-car garage, recreation room and a barn on “seven acres of country setting” near Ethel was listed for sale in The Chronicle’s classifieds for $29,000. A three-bedroom home with a basement “three blocks from downtown Chehalis” was listed for rent for $255 a month.
