Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About La Grande observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1959-1968 | View Entire Issue (June 4, 1959)
GRANDE ERVER 245th Issue 63rd Year LA GRANDE, OREGON, THURSDAY, JUNE 4, 1959 Price 5 Cents LA OBS OUTSTANDING STUDENTS Pictured above are Mary Virginia Speckhart and Bob Klomp, who were chosen as the most outstanding boy and girl in the La Grande Junior High School. Their selection was an nounced at graduation exercises at the Junior High School auditorium last night. There were 182 students in the graduating class. (Observer Photo) Somoza's Fears Ship MANAGUA, Nicaragua UPI President Luis Somoza's govern ment, fearing the arrival of invad er-laden schooners from Cuba, has ordered the air force to at tack any unidentified ship ap proaching the coast. There was no fresh word of the three schooners said to be heading here from Batabano, Cuba, car rying men and arms to reinforce the invaders who flew in from Costa Rica during the week end But warplanes were maintaining dusk-to-dawn patrols along both ol Nicaragua's coasts. By night, the air force flies protective cover over the nation s principal cities. No new fighting -has been ' re Timber Firm Doubles Cost OhWhiteFir The Mount Emily Lumber Com pany has bid $120,620, almost double the appraised price, for 9 million board feet of Pine, Doug las Fir and Larch and White Fir, auctioned by the La Grande Dis trict,' Wallowa-Whitman National Forest office. Forest Service officials said "This is the highest price ever re ceived for white fir. and the clos est we have ever been to, to ap praised price doubling." Ap praised price for the timber was $60,895. The white fir had been appraised at $2.25 per thousand board feet. The Mt. Emily firm bid $16.50. ' The volumes sold and appraised price per thousand feet were: 1,800,000 feet of pine at $16.80; 4.900,000 feet of Douglas Fir and Larch at $5.20; and 2,300,000 feet of White Fir at $2.25. Prices bid were: Mt. Emily. Pine $16.80; Douglas Fir and Larch, $10.70; and White Fir, $16.50 for a $120,620 total. Harris JPine company, $16.50 for Pine, $5.20 for Fir and Larch and $2.25 for White Fir, for a $60,895 total. Blue Mt, Fir Products, $21 for Pine, $10 for Douglas Fir and Larch, and $9 for White Fir for a $107,500 total. Alicel Lumber Com pany bid $22 for Pine, $12.50 for Douglas Fir and Larch and $8.50 for White Fir for a $120,400 total. WEATHER Sunny today; increasing clouds tonight; mostly cloudy with a few showers Friday: high today 75-80 and Friday 72-78; low tonight 50-55. CLOSE-KNIT MONOPOLY Pinhall Kingpins Refuse To Admit Making Payoffs WASHINGTON (UPD Two Lake County, Ind pinball king pins refused in unison today to tell the Senate Rackets Commit tee whether they paid a former county prosecutor to help them set up a close-knit gambling mon opoly. George Welbourn and Steven So hacki. both of Gary, resorted to the Fifth Amendment in' their re fusal to discuss their alleged deal ings with the ex-prosecutor, Met ro Holovachka. Holovachka, now chief deputy prosecutor, sat in the hearing room as committee investigator Richard Sinclair testified that he (Holovachka) had been able to make a $43.5'jy cash down pay it ;; Government Invasion ported from the central Nicaragu an invasion zone. The govern ment said 70-odd rebels were flee ing through snake-infested jun gles, pursued by loyal troops. An official spokesman, making the government's first mention of casualties, said 12 invaders and three loyal soldiers were killed .Monday soon after an invasion landed on the plains of Olama. The rebels had reported 133 per sons killed or wounded in a series of engagements, but the govern ment spokesman said there has been no large-scale fighting so far. The rebel radio reported Wednesday that the invaders are entrenched at two points in the mountains of central Nicaragua- northwest of Muymuy and in the Santo Tomas area. The radio said the rebels plan to wage guerrilla warfare against the-govornment,--sneaking, smali bands down from the inaccessible peaks to harry loyal forces. - Ail insurgent .broadcast said 400 odd invaders have entered the country,, and that 300 peasants armed with sporting rifles and jungle knives have flocked to join them. The radio report said a supply convoy with arms and equipment for 500 men is expected shortly, oui a ia not indicate where it is coming from. Fighter planes in the Nicaragu an air screen Wednesday inter cepted and forced down a Costa Rican air freighter carrying a cargo of shrimp to Miami. The plane was released and allowed to proceed about 9 p.m., after Costa Rican President Mario Echandi had warned that his country would break off diplomatic rela tions with Nicaragua unless the plane was released by 10:30 p.m. Woman Arrested On Check Charge A Claudine Bver. who lists hor home as Kellogg, Idaho, is being held in county jail todnv nn hneus check charges. The Idaho woman, who reDorted- ly arrived in La Grande a few days ago by bus with an unidenti fied man, is charged.with obtaining $10 under false pretenses from a local merchant. District Atlnrnpv (Itmroa Anripr. son is also holding a chck cashed by a "Cormac Mave." Mrs. Byer told police she met the man on a bus and that his first name is Jim. Police have been unable to locate the man. ment on an $80,000 home. This oc curred even though Holovachka's salary was $12,000 a year, Sin clair said. Welbourn and Sohackl have been accused of raking in more than 12 million dollars over a five-year period from pinball' gambling op erations. Holovachka was to be questioned later on whether he helped them. Other congressional news: Spending: Outnumbered House Republicans tried to woo southern Democratic votes to spike a bill that would double federal aid for construction of state and local sewage disposal plants. The meas ure would authorize 100 million dollars a year. Rep. John A. Blat- Russians Thought Willing First Signs Of 'Progress GENEVA, (UPt A high allied official said today Russia has shown signs it may be willing to give the western powers a firm gurantee of their continued rights in West Berlin. Such a development would be the first major break in the East West Foreign Ministers Confer ence which was called because of a Soviet demand that the western allies get out of West Berlin. The allied official reported the Soviet move only one- day after President Eisenhower told a press conference that the summit meet ing asked by the Soviets depend ed on such a gesture. The West already had present ed a five-point program on a Ber lin truce and was trying to push it through before Soviet delaying tactics block a summit conference altogether. The high allied official also dis closed today that Britain, France and the U.S. might be willing to reduce the size of their 10,000 man Berlin garrison if they got a broader agreement underwrit ing their rights there. The reports, from an unim peachable source, disclosed signs that both sides were budging somewhat in an effort to reach an interim deal on Berlin and make a summit meeting possible. High allied' quarters emphasized that the western powers will in sist that any stopgap deal on Ber lin last until there is a final set tlement of the problem of Ger man reunification and not just un til the summit meeting. Eisen hower made this clear Wednes day. High allied officials said the most sensitive point in their cur rent sparring with the Soviet con cerns the, relationship of Berlin to West Germany, and ' the 'move ment of civilians and civilian trade across the 110 miles, of Communist territory separating West Berlin from West Germany. An authoritative allied source said the possibility of offering Russia some token reduction in the western .forces had never been mentioned to Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko or any other Russian. . Hunt To Face Oregon Trial ALBANY, Ore. WPI) Sheriff George Miller said today he hoped to leave sometime this weekend for Wyoming to return Richard Allen Hunt, 26, to Oregon to face trial for wounding a police chief. Hunt, one of the FBI's 10 most wanted fugitives, was arrested Tuesday while working on a ranch about 35 miles west of Thermopo lis, Wyo. He Is wanted in Oregon for the wounding last March of Brownsville police chief Robert Kemnow and the abduction of Harrisburg police chief E. G. Mc Phee. , District Attorney Courtney Johns said he would send extradi tion papers to the governor's of fice in Salem for forwarding to the Wyoming governor's office and that they should be In Wyo ming by this weekend. Johns indicated federal authori ties had giveiTpermission for Linn county to try Hunt, although he is wanted by federal authorities for unlawful flight to avoid prose cution and for interstate trans portation of a stolen vehicle. nik (D-Minn.), the sponsor, pre dicted the House would override administration objections and ap prove the measure without change. Johnson: Senate Democratic Leader Lyndon . B. Johnson of Texas said he does not expect to disclose his position on the confir mation of Lewis L. Strauss as commerce secretary until shortly before the Senate reaches the show down vote. Schools: Dr. Arthur S. Flem ming, secretary of Health, Edu cation and Welfare, said he would urge President Eisenhower to veto any school construction bill passed this session in it does not follow closely the "principles" in the ad ministration's legislation. EVEN CROOKS ARE SLIPPING N SAN FRANCISCO (UPI) Inspector George Dyer, 34 year veteran on the San Fran cisco police force, said that even criminals were better in the good old days. Today's criminal simply doesn't take pride in his work," Dyer said. "Some of the old-fashioned confidence men would consider it an af front to their professional , pride If they had to stoop to the hit-run action of today's criminals." Coroner's Inquest Tonight A coroner's inquest will be held tonight in the death of Mrs. Lola Jean Jensen, North Powder, who was killed in a single-car accident near North Powder the night of May 15. Mrs. Jensen was killed instantly when a car driven by her husband, Buckley Jensen, failed to nego tiate a curve on a county road leading toward Anthony Lakes, a few hundred yards from Highway SO. The couple was heading for the Durwood Hill ranch for dinner at the time of the accident. Jensen received minor injuries in - the accident and was treated and the next day released from a Baker hospital. The car skidded about 200 feet on gravel and 78 feet on pave ment before flipping, according to reports immediately following the accident. The car door opened on Mrs. Jensen's side, investigating state police reported. The 7:30 p.m. inquest has been arranged by County Coroner Norman Daniels and District Attor ney George Anderson. The inquest will be held at Daniels Funeral Home. Jury members, who viewed the body the day following the acci dent, inclifde Leslie Keefor, Lloyd Moore, Forest Masters, Max Mc Glasson. Ed Brog sod Arnold Hal mark. ,... -. State Bureau Refuses To OK Farm Proposal Directors of the Oregon 'Farm Bureau have refused to go along with a resolution from the Union County Grange Center which called upon property owners to quit pay ing taxes "until a sales tax Is en acted." But they did go on record advocating a broader tax bas? through a sales tax to offset "un henrnhln" nrnnprtv Invpq Tho mntfAmanl haiiM nihon Mif, I Powder Farm Bureau members asked all property owners to defer paying taxes until a sales tax is enacted. The proposal was adopt ed by the local Farm Bureau center. "Property taxes have become un fair because of the inability of the land to earn for the owner the taxes demanded," declared a state ment released with the resolution, which called for a sales tax which shall be limited to be a direct offset of real property taxes and shall be earmarked to cover the entire cost of education and welfare." The state board of directors, meeting May 25-26 in Salem, con curred with the Union county group that "property taxes are almost unbearable and that farm ers across the state have repeat edly called for a broader base tax plan." Gerald Detering, president of the Oregon Farm Bureau Federation, said the directors "are not ad vocating tax balks as a solution to the problem." Instead, it asked each county Farm Bureau to make a study of its tax situation and re port to a policy-making session in the fall. Local farm bureau members hoped the state board of directors would go along with their idea of tax-refusal. Ed McCanse, North Powder rancher, stated at the time of the initial resolution that The way taxes continue to go up, in 10 years we won't be able to pay them so they might as well take our land now." Marine Recruiter Due In La Grande Traveling Marine Recruiter Set. Robert A. Jefferson will be at the La Grand? post office June 9 and 10 to interview prospects for the Marine Corps. Under currrent programs, men or woman can join the military organization and not report for ac tive duty for. 120 days, according to Marine Corps officials. l t EOC EDITORS CHOSEN Editors for two EOC publica tions have been selected. Suzanne Switzer (left) Condon, will be editor of the Beacon, campus newspaper. Jo Ann Berryman, La Grande, (right), will direct publication of the Mountaineer, student yearbook. Miss Switzer is the recipient of the La Grande Observer scholarship and Miss Berryman will receive a scholarship from KLBM. City Fire Concerns City commissioners last night directed City Manager Fred Young to contact the Oregon In surance Rating Board to deter mine what 'would be needed by the city to change La Grande from a number 5 rating to a class 4 status. Young is to explain proposals being made to build a new cen tral (ire station and' buy an aerial ladder truck and the state rating board members will be asked what affect thos,e changes would make in the cUys rating Lowering the raiinK.,-"l result in lower insurance premiums for residents. In the continuation of the dis cussion on city fire protecting, Commissioner Arlo Noyes said he favors remodeling the city hall building to house additional fire department equipment. Commis sioncr William Herrmann said the proposed new centrally local ed fire station would better serve the north side area of La Grande. He said he is against trying to re- Garage Okay Judge Rules Mrs. Mae Walson, former La Grande woman living in Portland, will not have to tear down a gar age on her property on the Island City highway, Circuit Court Judge W. F. Brownton has decided. , Mrs. Watson and Mr. and Mrs. William Jeffers became involved in a legal snarl over the prop erty line between their proper ties. The legal argument reach ed circuit court last week where Judge Brownton listened to ar guments on both sides. The Portland woman said she had assumed that a fence line was her property line and. that she had built a garage about three feet( from the' fence. Jeffers said his records showed that he own ed 20 feet of the property claim ed by Mis. Watson. Had the case been found in Jeffers' favor Mrs. Watson would have had about 16 feet of her garage on Jeffers' property. Judge Brownton ruled that for years the fence line had been regarded as the property line and that the 20 feet of property in question should be decreed to Mrs. Watson. The decision was filed yestjerday in the . county clerk's office. Judgo Brownton today left for Virginia where during June he will be attending an Army mili tary school for judges. La Grande Library . Sets Closing Hours The La Grande library will close at noon each Saturday through June, July and August. Mrs. G. L. Gregory, acting lib rarian, said the new closing time will take affect this Saturday. Bulletin OMAHA, Neb. (UPI) A panel of three federal judges trday turned down mass slay er Charles Starkweather's appeal far further court hear ing and refused to extend his stay of execution. The circuit judges' ruling was read by Judge W. Wood-rough. Plunges oon After Launching Protection Commission model the city hall building. Commissioners last night con cluded a pact with the Union Pa cific railroad for the use of the railroad's well water system which for years was used in con nection with steam engines. City and railroad officials have been in complete agreement on use of wells, but legal technicalities have taken months to Iron. out. The city will use the wcls to augment tne city water supply. -Eastern Oregon College off! cials and city officials last night reached agreement on improve ment of Storm sewers along the campus, on Eighth street, from J street to just past I street. The college will put $700 toward the project, with the city to furnish an estimated $1,300. City officials last night approv ed the use of the city street flush or at the Eastern Oregon Live stock Show in Union but decided to charge $7 per hour for use of the equipment, fuel and opera tor. Livestock show officials had asked for free use of the equip ment. City officials also authoriz ed the use of city equipment for the cleanup program being spon sored by the Retail Merchants Association next week. Inland Machinery Announces Plans For New Plant Plans have been completed by Inland Machinery Company for the construction of a 20,300-square-foot plant in La Grande. Bids for construction of the con crete structure will be received in Portland until 4 p.m. June IS at the architect firm of Jensen Gil ham. The nw plant wilt include 9,000 square feet of shop area, a 6,000-square-foot parts department, and 5,250 square feet of office and dis play space. The building will be of tilt-up concrete construction with brick veneer in some portions. Roof con struction will be of glued laminated beams with purlins and two-inch and three-inch decking, and built up roofing. Interior features will include asphalt tile on floors in offices and colored concrete floors in the dis play rooms. Office walls will be wood paneling and sheet rock. Acustical tile ceilings will be pro vided in the office section. Exterior work will include con crete aprons and asphaltic con crete parking areas. RECORD-SMASH ING FLIGHT IS SET BY SAN FRANSISCO PILOT EL PASO, Tex. (UPI) Pilot Max Conrad, San Francisco, broke the record for nonstop, single-en-gined, light plane flight today and radioed as he passed over El Paso that he is going to try to fly to San Diego. Conrad took off from Casablan ca, Morocco, Tuesday In a Piper Comanche 250 and has been going ever since. "I am feeling good," he radioed Southwest Air Rangers as he passed over El Paso International Airport at 9:52 a.m. p.d.t. The Southwest Air Rangers ra To DATA RECEIVED FOR. 13 MINUTES VANDENBERG AFB, Calif. (UPI) The Discoverer III satellite vehicle, fired aloft Wednesday with four "moon mice" aboard, re-entered the earth's atmosphere and burn- i ed up, it was announced today. , Roy W. Johnson, director of the Advanced Research Pro jects Agency, said that "all available data" indicated the mouse-cdrrying rocket plunged its tiny passengers to a fiery death several thousand miles i south of here within minutes af ter launching. But Air Force bioastronautics authorities indicated that valuable information . was received on the mice during the period of rocket lift-off, the period of "weightless ness" in space and the period when the satellite stage fired tc inject itself into orbit. "One of the possibilities under investigation, Johnsons state ment said, "was that the injec tion (into orbit) angle of the ve hicle was improper, causing it to re-enter the atmosphere... Heard For 13 Minutes Air Force scientists added: "Data thus far available indi cates that the mice were alive and apparently in good condition during these periods and that the 'life cell' which housed them was functioning properly." ' The announcement said the last signals obtained from Discoverer III as it roared toward the South Pole were received 13 minutes after launching from this base. Johnson's Washington statement was combined with the announc ment issued here. Earlier, Air Force sources had expressed extreme pessimism about the fate of the satellite and its four "space mice." "It is very, very doubtful that it went into orbit,' said an official.- To succeed, scientists; had to aim the huge seven-story rocket at such a precise angle that a two-degree error in any direction could have caused it to roar through the skies like a "super- intercontinental ballistic missle," officials said. If that happened, Discoverer III and its black mice burned up in the heavy earth atmosphere like a blazing meteorite. It could have flown in excess of 6,000 miles before disintegrating. Two other possibilities existed. Power Failure Possible A "complete power failure" could have blacked out all of the satellite's radio transmissions even if it were in orbit. The breaking of several electrical couplings could cause such a fail ure. Or it could be tumbling end over end like the first Discoverer did last April. The tumbling mo tion prevents transmission of vi tal data. The 78:foot modified Thor mis sile with a Bell-Hustler second stage was blasted aloft at 4:09 p.m. e.d.t. Wednesday in what ap peared to be perfect launching. The second stage with its mice cargo and array of scientific measuring data Ignited as planned. . But radio signals were received for only 13 minutes. The last station to receive the vehicle's signals was a tracking ship 1,200 miles down the Pacific range shortly after blastoff. At that time all appeared well. . It was learned Discoverer III was speeding at almost the 18,000 mile an hour velocity necessary for orbiting. It was 140 miles high and seemed about to go into a planned orbit which would have whirled it around the earth across the north and south poles. Hours of silence followed until 10 p.m. e.d.t. when the Air Force issued this statement: "Reduction of the 13 minutes of telemetry received during the launching of Discoverer III is still under way. dio station lost contact with him shortly after he passed over the airport. His battery was reported weak. Conrad at first thought he could make it to Los Angeles, which is 701 miles from El Paso. He de cided later to try to fly to San Diego, which is 628 miles from El Paso. He could also stop at Tucson, Ariz., which is 270 miles west of El Paso. Officials arranged for Customs Service agents to be at Tucson in case he decides to land there. Conrad, known as the "flying Fiery Escaped Convicts Captured DES MOINES, Iowa (UPD The Highway Patrol said today all four convicts who escaped from the Iowa Penitentiary Wednesday, have been captured. Three were captured near Georgetown, Iowa, and the fourth was picked up a short time later near Tyrone, Iowa. l A farmer. Identified as George Conway, provided the tip that led ' to their capture. Conway said he pulled a car out of the ditch for four men about an hour before they were captured and identified them through pictures as the con victs. Conway came across the men in a ditch near his farm near Mel rose. Georgetown is a small farm ing community near Melrose. The convicts, led by cop-killer Lloyd Woodson, 38, Quincy, 111., broke out of the state prison at ' Fort Madison early Wednesday N by overpowering two guards and sawing out two cell bars. Wind Delays Space Ship Flight Test EDWARDS AFB, Califi (UPI) Adverse winds today delayed the possible first free flight test of the manned rocket ship, the X15. It was rescheduled tentatively for Friday. . . The experimental plane built by North American Aviation was to have gone aloft today cradled un der the wing of a giant B52 mother ship," presumably on Its fifth captive flight. But it had been planned to release the ship in powerless free flight if all equipment checked out once the linked planes were airborne. Friday's flight was rescheduled as another captive flight and pos sible free-flight drop. "If everything works out prop erly, it will be released," officials said. The craft, with veteran test pi lot Scott Crossfield, 37, in the cockpit, would glide back to earth over the Mojave Desert from a -height of around 38.000 feet. City Firemen Rescue Child A four-year-old La Grande youth had his feelings hurt more than anything else when he became entrapped in a sunken water meter at his home at 510 Fourth street yesterday. ' City firemen rushed to Brad Sar gent's house, gently folded his leg closer to his body and lifted him from the water meter hole. Firemen responded to a fire call at 1:30 a.m. today at 604 Lane avenue where a water pump house burned. A "silent" run was made by the department at 11:45 a.m. yesterday to 1406 T avenue to in spect an overheated oil stove. There was no fire, firemen said. grandfather," dipped to within 100 feet of the ground as he passed over the El Paso airport. He was escorted by a squadron of El Paso planes. Conrad told the control tower at El Paso that where he stops de pends on how his gasoline supply looks. He reported over Van Horn, Tex., 80 miles out of El Paso, that he had 70 gallons left. It Is 6,958 miles from Casablan ca to El Paso. The old record was set by M!L. Boling on a flight from Manila to Pendleton, Ore., last year. Boling flew 8,856 miles. -