I WEATHER Cloudy today; partly cloudy tonight and . Wednesday; highs 44-50; low tonight 20 25. Established 1896 Daily except Sunday LA GRANDE, OREGON TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 195S Price 5 Cents Chicago School Fire Kills 90 DALE CASE HONORED Oregon's 4-H tractor winner. Dale Case of Alicel, as a guest at the current national 4-H conference in Chicago, III., is shown as he received a crown as Oregon Tractor winner from conference Queen Ger aldine Gajewski. Lean M. McNair, left, pre- ?,:,' Dale Case At Chicago CHICAGO Dale Case, Alicel, lias been honored at the 37th an nual 411 Club Congress as the 4 H Tractor Program winner in the slate of Oregon. He won the stale tractor crown on the basis ot his outstanding record of activity and leadership in the 4-H tractor program anil was awarded an all expense paid trip to the Club Congress un derway this week in Chicago. Dale is the guest at the Con gress of the National Committee on Boys and Girls Club Work. Inc., which sponsors project ma terial and awards for the tractor Water Supply Study To Be Aired At Meet Roy Taylor, a consulting engi neer from a Eoise, Idaho firm, will meet with the city planning commission and other city, offi cials at 7:30 p.m. today to dis cuss details of a complete La Grande water supply study. City Manager Fred Young ar ranged the meeting to discuss the possible future water needs of La Grande. CALLING ALL KIDS . . . time for til k COLORING CONTEST Starting tomorrow the La Grande Eve ning Observer will run a Chrislmas sketch for coloring by youngsters 10 years old or under. Four sketches will appear, one each day, Wednesday through Saturday. The Observer will have 33 entries selected at local winners, with the win nesr to get cash prixos and show tickets. The entries will also be sent to Cleveland, Ohio to compete for national winners. Top prize locally will be $5 cash, with second and third place winners to get $3 and S2 respectively, and 30 additional win ners to get two show tickets each. A full set of colored sketch es are to be turned in at the Observer officers ioon as possible after the final sketch appears Salurday. The top national con- -testant will receive a S100 U. S. ravings Bond or set of Ency clopedia Britannica Junior. V .-4 ' J M."J hi sents Dale with 4-H Meet program in Oregon and five oth er slates. The program is direct ed nationally by the Extension Service in cooperation with the National Committee. Highlights of the week for Dale were his crowning as the state tractor winner by a beauty queen and the honors banquet attended by all state. winners, their spon sors and 4-H leaders. Dale is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Homer Case, and is a member of the Alicel Grease Monkeys. He is a junior of La Grande High school and plans to - enroll in college when he is graduated. In 1954. Dale won the junior tractor contest at the county lev el. In 1958, he won the senior champion tractor driving contest and at the state fair took third place. Dale has served as1 club president for three years and as junior leader for two. Union County Extension Agent, James B. Hubcr says, "Dale has been the top boy in our 4-H trac tor Program for the last five years." Dale states, "My experi ence in tractor maintenance dur iing six years of 4-H has saved wear on the tractor and equip ment and costly repair expenses." LITTLE VoPEOPLEV COLORING CONTEST Honored a plaque at the 37th annual club congress. McNair represents the 4-H na tional committee on boys and girls club work. David Schaad of La Grande is with Case at the convention. Utah Home Fire Fatal To Four SNYDER VILLE, Utah (UPI) Four children burned to death early today when fire swept their two-story frame farm home in this tiny community three miles north west of Park City in the northeast section of Utah. The victims were Christine, 8, Paul, 6, Mart, 4, and Rex, about 2, sons and daughters of Dale and Betty Durrant. The fire apparently started from a small space healing stove in the kitchen of the home. The house was heated by a coal fur nace in the basement but it was not believed to be the cause of the fire. Durrant, 28, a farmer, had made the fire before beginning his morn ing milking chores. Mrs. Durrant, 25, was still in her bedroom when she smcllcd smoke. . She said the doorway leading to tlie rest of the house was blocked by flames by the time she reached the kitchen. She then ran outside in her nighlclothcs to find her husband. Both parents ran back into the house but were unable to reach the ground floor bedroom where two of tlie children had been sleeping and could not climb the stairway to the upstairs bedroom where two other children perished. 'Package' Power Reactor Dedicated IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (UPI A portable "package" power plant reactor, which could provide el ectricity and heat continuously at isolated military posts without re fuelling for three years, was ded icated today on the lava bed des ert of Eastern Idaho. The dedication ceremony took place at the Argonne National Laboralorys Idaho site at the Atomic Energy Commission's Na tional Reactor Testing Station near here on the 16th anniversary of the birth of atomic energy. It was in this same area that the propulsion unit was developed for America's atomic submarines and where work is now proceeding on nuclear aircraft propulsion. Justice Frankfurter Makes 'Good Recovery' WASHINGTON UPH - Su preme Court Justice Felix Frank furter sat up in bed Monday and is making a good recovery from his heart ailment, his office re ported. Frankfurter was hospitalized last Monday. There is still no word as to when he may return to the bench. , . The court is in recess this week. It meets ugain Dec. 8.. Stand Vote Campaign BERLIN (UPI) - Renewed American pledges to fight an all out war if necessary to maintain the U.S. position in West Berlin have boosted the chances of May or Willy Brandt to win a smash ing victory in Sunday's city elec tions. On Sunday West Berlin's 1,050,- 000 electorate goes to the polls to elect a new 127-seat city parlia ment which in turn will elect a mayor. Brandt's Social Democrat Party has ruled since 1954 and his strong position i.' Berlin and Western support were raising his stock. ' I Ho was helped late Monday when informed sources passed the word in the city that the United Slates would support its garrison against any military attack by the Communists against West Berlin West Berlin newspapers accepted it as the strongest pledge yet It followed a declaration Sun day by Gen. Henry I. Hodes, American Army commander in Europe, that the United States would consider an attack against the American garrison as an at tack, against the United States. . Sound trucks toured the streets of West Berlin today urging the citizens to get out and vote on Sunday. From the trees of Ber lin's once-e I e g a n t boulevards, posters carried huge pictures of the mayor and the slogan "Berlin needs Willy Brandt." Brandt's Social Democrat Party has held 64 scats in the city par liament since : 1954 as against 44 foro. tbe Christian . Democrats ot Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and 19 for the Free Democrats (Liber als). The Communists arc not represented. LoeqlManCited After Wreck A car driven by Glenn 'G. Wag' ner of La Grande was completely demolished in a wreck and by fire near the Glover overhead about 3:30 p.m. yesterday, State Police reported, this morning. Wagner, traveling east oh High way 30 at the time of the acci dent, was not injured. The car careened off the highway, over an embankment and landed in a creek. The car then burst into flames. Wagner was cited for- violation of the basic rule. ' Boycott Ties Up 'Runaway' Ships NEW YUKK IUP1) ADOUl 7! flags of convenience" ships in American ports were tied up to day in a boycott called Monday by two maritime unions. Teamsters and longshoremen failed to cross picket lines set up by seamen in most U.S. ports and in some foreign ports. The National Maritime Union, one of the unions involved, said the first day's action in the United States "indicates an effective blow has been dealt the runaway ship operators." NMU members picketed at least six ships in New York and tliree in Portland, Ore. In Europe, some ships were boycotted at most major ports but not always with success. The boycott was termed eitective in most British ports. Target of the boycott were ves sels flying tlie Liberian, Panaman ian, Honduran and Costa Rican flags. The Seafarers' Internatioal Union was a co-sponsor of the demonstrations in the United States but the worldwide boycott, planned to last through Thursday, was called by the International Transport Workers Federation. CHECK ARTIST AT WORK A warrant is being issued today by District Attorney George An derson Jr. in connection with a number of worthless checks pass ed in this area Sunday and Mon day. Checks cashed in La Grande and Elgin totaled $345, Anderson re ported. The worthless checks were cashed in taverns and service stations. IKES VACATION ENDS AUGUSTA, Ga. (UPD A jaunty President Eisenhower shifts his base of operations back to Wash ington today to prepare for the new session of Congress.,. . U.S. Aids Mrs. O. Lentz Enters Contest Mrs. Orville Lantz of Island City will replace Mrs. Elsie Komma as I he Union county representative in the Oregon Wheat Growers As sociation cake bake-off at the state meeting of tlie association in Portland this weekend Wren Case, Alicel, president of the county association here, said yes terday. Case said Mrs. Komma will not be able to make the trip due to illness in the family. She won the county title at the county fair here in September. Mrs. Lantz was runnerup. The 31st annual meeting of the wheat association is being held this Thursday, Friday and Satur day in the Multnomah hotel in Portland. At the meeting repre sentatives from over the state will draft resolutions and study various programs concerning the state wheat growing industry. Case said he and other association members from Union county would attend U.S. A-Plane Delay Told WASHINGTON (UPI) Chair man Melvin Price (D-Ill.) of the joint congressional atomic re search subcommittee disclosed to day U.S. scientists have reached "a critical stage" in development of a nuclear-powered plane. He said the United States is in a position "to push forward vig orously to a successful conclu sion" of the program. He added that "the nation can ill afford further delay and inde cision" on the multi-million dollar project. Such delay, sho declared would v mean forfeiting once again our technological leader ship." Simultaneously Rep. August E. Johansen (R-Mich.) called on the House manpower utilization sub committee to look into the possi ble need for extra scientific man power in the light of reports that Russia has. developed an atomic piano ahead of this country- Price blamed "bureaucratic snafus in Washington" for Amer ica s failure so far to develop a nuclear-powered plane. He said in an angry statement the adminis tration has consistently pulled the rug from under scientists working on the project. Defense Department officials continued to take a skeptical at titude of a published report that Russia already is flight-testing the world's first atomic plane. Their comments echoed the view of Defense Secretary Neil H. Mc- EIroy who doubted the report and conceded only that Russia "may have a slight lead over the United Slates in this area. East, West Hopeful Of Ban Agreement GENEVA (UPI) Both East and West appeared hopeful today that the atomic Big Three will be able to agree on a treaty linking a ban on nuclear tests with the control system needed to muke it work. The three-power nuclear confer ence, down to brass tacks at last after a month of haggling about what it would discuss, meets to try to extend the ground gained at Monday's "useful and practi cal" session. Tlie 10 - nation surprise-attack conference, still deadlocked after three fruitless weeks, resumes its efforts later today. The progress achieved at tlie nuclear conference was made pos sible by an abrupt reversal in Russia's position. The Reds, who had been demanding an immedi ate unconditional and permanent ban on tests, suddenly yielded to the Western insistence on effec tive controls. T. B. Salmon Reelected Cemetery Director T. B. Salmon, whose term ex pires as a director for the La Grando Cemetery Maintenance District, was re-elected for anoth er three-year term yesterday. Salmon was the only candidate who had entered a petition. Sal mon received 29 voles. Wcldon O. Marshall received one write-in vote NEUBERCER TO SPEAK PORTLAND (UPI) Sen. Rich ard L; Ncuberger (D-Ore) will be keynote speaker at the Oregon Wheat Growers League meeting here Thursday through Saturday. Money Missing; Man Held LOS ANGELES (UPD A mild mannered bank vice president to day was held in jail on federal charges of embezzling more than $800,000 from the Sun Valley No tional Bank. John E. Petersen, 49, father of two children, was arrested Mon day by FBI agents at his home in nearby Van Nuys on n com plaint issued by U.S. Commission er Theodore Hocke charging him with a false entry in the bank records. Tolul bank shortages might amount to more than one million dollars, D.K. Brown, special agent in charge of the FBI Los Angeles office, said. Auditing of the books continued today. Petersen, who said he got his start in the banking business in Omaha, Neb., before coming here in 1937, said after he was ordered held in lieu of $35,000 bail: "I don't have any of this mon ey. I d like to know where it is. The Sim Valley National Bank was sold Suturday to the Security First National Bank which is the nation's sixth largest banking chain. Officials tor Security First said they bought the bank to maintain confidence of depositors and that they knew about the alleged short ages when they made the deal. "There isn't any' danger 'that depositors will lose anything) a spokesman Said. He explained the losses would bo covered by Fed eral Deposit Insurance Corp. funds or by excess earnings of the bank. Phone Group OK's Strike SEATTLE (UPD Employes of West Coast Telephone Co. Mon day authorized the International Brotherhood of Electrical Work ers to take strike action if neces sary to obtain their demands. The union is seeking wage in creases and Improvements in va cation and sick leave benefits for about 1,400 hourly workers in Washington, Oregon and southern California. - W. L. Vinson, chairman of the Northwest Communications Coun- cil, said the employes authorized the strike in a ballot vote, the results of which were made known Monday. The union's working agreement with West Coast expired Nov. 30. Meetings with federal conciliators Monday ended in a deadlock. The two parties were to meet again today and the company was expected to make a revised pro posal to tlie union. The company has offered a four-to-seven-cent hourly raise to employes but the union is after an increase which would amount lo 10 .pents an hour in some cases. , ' jWv-'lf mil f (3 If EOC "MESSIAH" SOLOISTS Featured in the Eastern Oregon College presentation of Han del's "Messiah" will be (pictured from left) accompanists Ardyce Garrett, pianist. Baker; and Patsy Carpenter, organist, La Grande; and soloists Eb Barrett, Yakima, Wash.; Evadne Police Quiz Students; Check On Arson Angle CHICAGO i UPI i Police fanned out through a grief-stunned West Side neighborhood today to ques tion students in the belief one of them accidentally caused a fire which killed 117 students and throe nuns in a Roman Catholic school. Police headquarters assigned 35 officers from the Austin Police Station to the arson squad to as sist in questioning boys whose job it was to carry trash to bins near a basement stairwell where the fire apparently started. Airlines Strike Situation Eases United Press International The airlines strike situation brightened today with the pros pects of an early settlement of the Trans World Airlines walkout and continued service by Pan American World Airways for at least three months. Leverett Edwards, chairman of the National Mediation Board, said in Kansas City that a quick settlement of the TWA dispute could be expected as soon as. ne gotiators decided whether me chanics promoted to foremen should continue to accumulate seniority rights. Pan American's contract with tlie Transport Workers Union, representing 8,025 mechanics' and flight service personnel, expired at midnight Monday night without a strike, The union, pledged Mon day in state Supreme Court that it would not conduct a strike or slowdown until the mediation pro cedures of the Railway Labor , Act are exhausted eV perhaps' hot .for three months or -morai-' Prospects wero not so bright in the nine-day-old Eastern Air Lines strike. The Flight Engineers In ternational Union, representing 550 striking engineers, turned down a company arbitration offer in Miami, Fin., Monday. American Airlines, threatened by a strike of 1,500 pilots, got an other reprieve Monday when U. S. District Court Judge Frederick van Pelt Bryan decided in New York to continue his hearing of the company's complaint against the Air Line Pilots Association. Sputnik Ill's Rocket To Fall CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (UPI) The rocket of Russia's third Sput- nick will probably plunge toward earth in flames Wednesday morn- ing, according to the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Dr. Luigi G. Jacchla said the carrier probably would complete about 2,890 trips around the world before falling into the earth's at mosphere about 4 a.m. p.s.t. Wed nesday. The rocket, which went inlo or bit around the earth with its sat ellite May 15, will probably dis integrate in flames when it comes in contact with the earth's at mo sphere. The physicist said it could not yet be accurately predicted over whul section of the world the ob ject would plunge earthward. Authorities theorized that a pu pil might have tossed a lighted cigarette into the trash, setting off Chicago's worst fire in 55 years. Tlie disaster brought con dolences from Pope John XXIII. The blaze swept Our Lady of Angels Parochial School Monday less than a half hour before class es were to be dismissed at 3 p.m. Tlie scaring heat and suffocating miiiikl' twiiuii do ii is, ot uuya ciiiu , Ihrpn ninw Thi phiWIrpn rflnppH ' ill ago from 9 lo 15. Nearly 100 others were injured. - i Coroner Walter McCarron de ferred a "blue ribbon jury" inves tigation of tlie fire in order to se lect "the lop men, the best I can find" to serve on the panel.. "In the face of such grim trag edy it is imperative that we move slowly and with firm determina tion to learn the basic cause of this tragedy," he said. , The coroner said he would cull an inquest into the fire sometime next week. i, Of tlie injured, 82 remained hos- puuuzuu luuuy. ruur were nuai . death.. . ' ". .Many of the children leaped from windows on the upper floor r it. . ....... - u..:i.i:. il.ij. Ill I.I1H LWII-.-.III1 V UUHUlIlt!. . LIltHI clothing and hair afire. Bystand:. ors and firemen caught or broke the fall of many of them. Others smashed to the frozen ground and were killed. Still others never left their classroom, desks and were found suffocated, seated in front, of their "open books. . i About 1,300 pupils were in the section of the school that burned and another 400 students were in an unaffected section. The large . hnilllntf ,whiit ' one! atViii1' mnal ; Jif the fire .damage j -.was' built in 1910; The annex was constructed within' the last five years. . , , At ' the ' Vatican, Pope John XXIII cabled his condolences to the Chicago Catholic Archdiocese, and offered his "apostolic bles sing" to the sorrowing parents, relatives and families of the vic tims. "We have been deeply an guished in learning of the grave disaster which has truck the Arch diocese of Chicago," the pontiff said. Chief of Detectives Patrick Dee ly ordered the arson squad to "try to enlarge" on the theory that a hastily discarded cigarette might have touched off the trag edy. Driver Learns To Park, Hard Way A driver with a training permit license learned to park the hard way last night, according to a city police record this morning. Randi Gail Johnson of Sum incrvillc, driving on a learner's permit, was practicing parking on Adams Avenue near Chestnut and Depot streets about 11 p.m. yes erday. A car driven by John D. Carl .run of La Grande, was parked m Adams avenue, according to the report. -.- There wasn't room for; both cars. Dumage was minor, i Kelsoe, La Grande; Janit Robertson, Forest Grove; and Howard Anderson, La Grand. The program it scheduled for Sunday, Doc. 7, at 3 p.m. In the College coliseum, and is un der the direction of Neil E. Wilson. (IOC Photo) i