May 20, 1980 – May 19, 1990
Established May 20, 1910 - Eighth in a Ten Part Series
TIMELINE
Dedications provide red-letter day for schools
1980 May 22 – Larry Schreckengast was hired as a meter reader in Omak. Aug. 5 – Edna Emert, wife of long-time Chronicle publisher, Frank Emert, dies. Aug. 14 – Walt Davisson aboard Sir Charge wins the Suicide Race. Nov. 4 – Ronald Reagan beats President Jimmy Carter in a landslide victory. Nov. 15 – Donna Hammack crowned Miss Omak Stampede 1981. 1981 Jan. 8 – Brothers Steve and Jeff Dykes invent a board game called “Triage.” Jan. 15 – Mary Henrie named Omak’s Citizen of the Year. Jan 20 – After Reagan’s inauguration, 52 American hostages are released from Tehran, Iran, for the return of $8 billion in frozen Iranian assets. March 30 – Reagan survives an assassination attempt – a shot to the chest. June 11 – Ellie Smedile was chosen Omak’s Teacher of the Year. June 13 – Omak’s new swimming pool is dedicated. July 2 – Omak librarian Rachel Steiner retires after 18 years. Aug. 12 – IBM introduces its first personal computer, the IBM 5150, which sold for $1,565. Sept. 13 – Gene Henrie of Gene’s Harvest Foods, wellknown businessman, dies. Sept. 22 – Sandra Day O’Connor is unanimously approved as the first woman to serve as a U.S. Supreme Court justice. 1982 Jan. 28 – The first Conconully Outhouse Races are held. Aug. 15 – Hugh McCauley scored a hole-inone at Okanogan Valley Golf Course’s 17th hole. Sept. 29 – Colville tribal leader Lucy Covington dies. Oct. 6 – Donna Short closes career as an Omak city councilwoman. (Don’t worry – she’ll be back.) Oct. 20 – Omak’s Presbyterian Church celebrates 75 years. Nov. 13 – Vietnam veteran’s memorial dedicated in Washington, D.C., with 58,000 names of those killed or missing in action. Nov. 20 – The Attridge triplets are born – Bryan, Jill and Kim. 1983 Feb. 23 – Chris Williams, Tonasket, takes the Washington state 178-pound wrestling crown. March 23 – The “Star Wars” program, Strategic Defense Initiative proposal first made to intercept incoming missiles. June 18 – Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space. July 16 – The 50th anniversary of Grand Coulee Dam celebrated. Aug. 12-14 – The 50th Anniversary of the Omak Stampede is held, with Tana Pitts as the queen. Aug. 14 – Dave Best, Omak, wins the all-around cowboy title at the 50th Omak Stampede. Sept. 24 – Jody Wooten is named Miss Omak Stampede 1984. Oct. 12 – Ground broken for the first $800,000 building project of Wenatchee Valley College. Oct. 19 – Karl Doering, long-time rodeo cowboy clown and member of the Omak Stampede Hall of Fame, dies. Oct. 23 – Terrorist bomb kills 241 U.S. peacekeeping troops in Lebanon; a second bomb kills 40 in a French barracks 2 miles away.
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North, East, PAC complete
City View
Winter lingers atop Omak Mountain as spring 1983 hits the rest of the
Okanogan valley. – Chronicle photo
It’s a done deal! Employees own Omak Wood Products Jan. 4, 1989 Two signatures on a bill of sale in New York at 11 a.m. Omak time Wednesday, Dec. 28, turned controlling interest in Omak Wood Products over to its employees. It was the first time in a quarter-century that the lumber milling operation, begun 66 years ago, returned to local ownership. Lloyd Groomes, business agent for Local 3023 of the Lumber, Plywood and Industrial Workers Union signed the bill of sale to purchase the mill for the employees. Al Dunlap, president and chief executive officer of Sir James Goldsmith’s operations, signed for the seller, Cavenham Forest Products, Inc. A brief round of speeches, punctuated by champagne corks and a toast concluded the event. The signing was almost anticlimax to an intense day and a half which preceded the event.
“I suspect Lloyd Groomes singed some 500 documents before he finally got to the bill of sale,” said Doug Princehouse, president of the board of directors and manager of Omak Wood Products. On Dec. 27, the board of directors of Omak Wood Products, Inc., held its first official meeting in borrowed offices on Wall Street. Princehouse was elected president of the board, Mike Carr was elected treasurer and Kevin Curtis was named secretary. Carr, controller for Omak Wood Products, is the only officer who is not a member of the board. Curtis is an analyst for Aylward & Finchem, Washington, D.C., law firm representing the employees during the buy-out negotiations. He and David Aylward, one of the owners of the firm, were both elected to the board of directors. Local members include Groomes, Bill Neely and Arnie
Evenson from the local union, Jerry Combs from midmanagement, and Princehouse and Mike Askea from management. Also prior to signing the bill of sale, the buyers had to work out final details with DBL on the nearly $50 million debt created to finance the purchase and provide working capital. Princehouse said later that the entire amount had been provided by DBL as interim financing until the investment banking firm could sell bonds to back the purchase. “That’s a measure of their faith in the deal,” said Princehouse. “It’s rare for them to put all of their own money on the line like that.” Princehouse said $35 million went immediately to Cavenham and $8 million went to banks securing the company’s deposits on contracts for timber purchases from the U.S. Forest Service. (Continuedon onPage Page79) 5) (Continued
Nov. 29, 1989 Omak’s $11.2 million worth of new and renovated school facilities were dedicated Nov. 21 to the past, present and future. During a full day of celebrations, the North, East and Omak Middle schools each had a share in the limelight. In a concluding ceremony at the new performing arts center that evening, superintendent Vic Power dedicated the facilities to: - The teachers and citizens of the past, who laid the groundwork for the Omak School District; - The citizens of the present who approved the ambitious construction project; - The students, who as citizens of the future, will rely on modern school facilities to move them out of the industrial age and into an age of technology. “Our young people will work in a world so changed we cannot even imagine what it will be like,” said Power. How the district is preparing youngsters for a high-tech future became readily apparent to visitors, who toured the new facilities. The three R’s still are being taught, but even very young students cheerfully use computers to hone up on reading and ‘rithmetic skills. And writing means learning to master a typewriter keyboard at a very early age. The dedication ceremonies involved the requisite number of officials and visiting dignitaries, but at each school the students themselves cut the symbolic ribbons to open the buildings. At North School, Brien Bowling, Jan Dow-McDonald, and Eli Van Brunt wielded the ceremonial scissors. This new school “was worth waiting for,” pronounced second grader Patrick Kenny, keynote speaker. He observed that North students were shuttled to temporary classrooms for a yearand-a-half after their school burned and while the new $4.2 million structure was being built. Now, he said his school has “the best library I have ever been in.” It is, principal Betty McKee told visitors, the only time they’ll ever see so many brand-new books in the library. Everything in the old library was destroyed by the fire and had to be replaced.
“I have to say thanks to the taxpayers,” said school board member Jill Princehouse, “for recognizing that this is the place to spend their money.” Rep. Steve Fuhrman, RKettle Falls, said he was impressed when he saw North’s 175 students gathered outside the building for the ribbon cutting. “It is overwhelming when you see all those little kids out there,” he said. “I guess it’s up to us to educate them to realize there is a God and realize they have to work and not just live off government and taxes.” At East School, special guests included Safeway manager Gary Glover. Last year’s fourth and fifth graders were housed in the now-empty Safeway store so construction could proceed. Those students will have “special memories” of their store-front school, said Rick Jones, principal last year at East. Some of the more hilarious events from that era were recalled in a choral reading by students of Nancy Walters. Cutting the East School ribbons were Eric Laducer, Charlene Everts and Jason Acord. At Omak Middle School, principal Judy Tassielli and student body president Kim Berschauer greeted guests and cut the ribbon. In the first official gathering in the new performing arts center, teacher Marcelle LaGrou told the history of the school buildings at that site. That evening, more than 400 people turned out for a community dinner catered by the Goodwill Coalition and prepared by the women of the Omak Community Center. The crowd swelled for the final ceremony, with some people standing in the 560-seat auditorium and others watching from the adjacent multi-purpose room on closed circuit television. Masters of ceremony were John E. Andrist and Mary Koch, who portrayed homesteader Sarah Robinson, Omak’s first school teacher. Entertainment included music by the high school band, the “Omak Select,” Middle School chorus, and encore performance by the East School choral reading group and creative dancing by North School students.
Omak man charged with arsons March 2, 1988 A lifelong Omak resident remained in the Okanogan County jail March 1, accused of setting $6.5 million worth of school and church fires. Adrian Julius Howe, 23, was arrested Feb. 24 and, amid a throng of television crews and reporters, made a preliminary court appearance the next day. He was charged Feb. 25 in Okanogan County Superior Court with five counts of firstdegree arson and one count of second-degree arson. Howe’s arrest came just days after formation of an arson task force that drew on local, state and federal investigators. The first-degree arson charges allege that Howe set two fires that destroyed much of North Omak Elementary School dec. 6 and Dec. 14, two fires that gutted the Free Methodist Church Feb. 8 and Feb. 13 and a fire that demolished the First Presbyterian Church Feb. 15.
Get your feet comfy
Another Feb. 15 fire damaged a house owned by the Free Methodist Church used for storage. That fire brought a second-degree arson charge. ‘Sanity has returned’ In the days since Howe’s arrest, activity at the Omak Police Department and Okanogan County Sheriff’s Office has slowed considerably, said police chief Pete Sirois and sheriff Jim Weed. “Sanity has returned,” Weed said. “I’ve been able to rest much better” at night, said Omak school superintendent Vic Power Feb. 29. Howe was arrested Wednesday afternoon and officials, who have been besieged by nationwide media, called a press conference for Thursday morning. After persistent pressure from the press, Howe’s name, age and hometown were released Wednesday evening. Additional
details were released during the press conference. Howe made an initial court appearance Thursday morning and bail was set at $250,000 cash. Public defender Scot Stuart was appointed to represent Howe, and Superior Court Judge Jim Thomas informed the prisoner of his rights. As of late Feb. 29, no arraignment date had been set. (Continued on (Continued on Page76) 2) Page
Church destroyed by arson
Flames pour from the Omak Presbyterian Church, destroyed by arson Feb. 15.
It was the third building destroyed by arson. – Chronicle photo
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