Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About La Grande observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1959-1968 | View Entire Issue (June 30, 1959)
LA GRANDE OBSERVER 264th Issue 63rd Year LA GRANDE, OREGON, TUESDAY, JUNE 30, 1959 Prica 5 Canta U.S. Red Democrat's Dave Epps Dies At 52 SALEM VPI' Dave Epps, cl. airman of the Demociatic Slate Central Committee and an active party woker for 30 years, died suddenly here last night. He was 52. He had entered Sulem Jlemori ! al Hospital for treatment of a re currence of ulcers. It was be lieved he died of a perforated ulcer, but an autopsy was sched uled for today. Secretary of State Howell Ap pling, a Republican, commented: "While we differed sharply in political philosophy I respect the fact that he fought hard, openly and unceasingly for the things in which he believed. "His aspirations for government have lost a strong leader. His friends in both political par ties have lost a most personable companion. His family has lost a devoted father and husband. I ex tend sincerest condolences to his family and to his many friends everywhere." Gov. Mark Hatfield said: "Dave Epps gave of himself unceasingly to the Democratic party and to good government as he saw it in the state of Oregon. "He served ably as state chair man in time of victory and he tried valiantly to bind up his party's wounds in time of an guish. Always cheerful and en thusiastic he was an optimist at heart and spread good will for his party throughout the state. "His passing is that of an ad versary in the political arena but also a personal friend and in both capacities he had my respect. His death leaves the political scene with a vacancy that should be re gretted by all Oregonians for he; Drought to his job basic interest and understanding." The body of the political leader and merchant was taken tempo rarily to BaiTick-Clough funeral home here where the autopsy was scheduled. Hoffa Friend Probe Target WASHINGTON (UPD-The Sen ate Rackets Committee today un folds another chapter in the check ered career of Benjamin Dranow, who seems to have made a busi ness of being James R. Hoffa's friend. Chief Counsel Robert F. Ken nedy said today's episode would involve Dranow's interest in some airplanes and efforts by Hoffa, president of the Teamsters Union, to obtain union loans for their op eration. Kennedy said the planes were purchased from the U.S. govern ment by a private group for pos sible sale to the government of Fidel Castro after the Cuban rev olution. One of them later figured in a plot to fly arms to the Dominican Republic for Castro's old enemy, Fulgencio Batista. However, Ken nedy said Dranow and Hoffa had nothing to do with this. Dranow, a former Minneapolis businessman, first came into the committee's Teamster inquiry more than a year ago as the re cipient of a million dollar loan f:o.Ti Hoffa's union. His department store went bank rupt before the loan was repaid but this apparently did not deier the union from rendering him further assistatice. The committee heard testimony Monday that Hoffa channeled or ders for 26.495 Teamster jackets through Dranow, enabling Dranow to pocket $6,000 in commissions and $56,000 on a stock deal. EOC Enrollment Figures Reported Summer session enrollments at Eastern Oregon college in secon dary education and in general studies showed Urge percentage increases over enrollments in summer session a year ago, ac cording to the registrar's office. This summer there are 28 per cent more students in secondary education and nearly five times as many in general studies. Enrollment, however, in ele mentary education has decreas ed somewhat, and the over-all at tendance is Just slightly under that of the first week a year ago. Seven workshops yet to register will swell the total enrollment for the summer, according to Registrar Lyle Johnson. opes oncessions O. D. CHRISTOPIIERSON Will Take Over Soon Union Pacific Makes Change In Personnel Earl L. Chantry, assistant su perintendent of the Oregon divi sion of the Union Pacific, has been transferred to Seattle. O. D. Chri.stophcr.son of Poca tello, Idaho, will replace Chun try here. Chantry has lived in La Grande for three years with his wife and daughter, Barbara. Their son. Ben, recently graduated from MIT and is now employed with Aero Jet in California. Before coming to La Grande Chantry was located in Pocatel lo, Idaho. He has worked 39 years for the railroad. Christophcrson and his wife have two sons, Steven, 10, and Jeffry 2V4. He has worked for the railroad for 19 years. Crews Complete Diagonal Runway Work At Airport City crows completed the re sealing of the diagonal runway at La Grande airport yesterday. If the work meets the standards of the Oregon State Board of Aero nautics the state will pay up to $3,000, on a matching fund basis, for construction costs. In places where the runway was cracked the grass that was grow ing through was killed and dug out. The cracks were then filled with canal liner and part of the runway given a seal coat. Approximately one-third of the diagonal was resaled before funds ran out. City officials are waiting for the inspection by a representative of the state board. Band And Chorus Records Available Records of the La Grande high school band and chorus are now available at the music room in the junior high school, it was an nounced today by Donald Scott. Persons who ordered record ings can pick them up during the roornng for the next three weeks according to Scott. SERIOUS CHALLENGE TO CONGRESS Private Without WASHINGTON (UPD Pres sure built up in Congress today for legislation to provide the gov ernment's industrial defense pro gram with a system of security clearance. The Supreme Court ru ed Mon day that security measure taken in private factories in the pust are without legal authorizatit n of either Congress or the Prrsident. Sen. Kenneth B. Kerning (R N.Y. said in a Senate speech to day that the court ruling amounted to "a serious challenge to Con gress." The result is a situation "which cries out for action by Congress and prompt action," he added. The same feeling was expressed by Sen. Karl E. Mundt (R-S.D). He said Congress should study the matter and try to frame legisla tion "to protect our country from enemies who might endeavor to subvert it." t Several other senators joined in the demands for legislation. The (ozlov On EARL L. CIIANTRY Transferred To Seattle THEY DIDN'T OBEY SCRIPT CRYSTAL CITY, Mo. (UPI) Gerold Burke and Graham Heikes lost their canoe, ped dles and $500 worth of camp ing equipment Monday for failing to follow their histor ical script. Burke end Heikes were attempting to re-enact Pere Marquette's 1673 explor ation of the Mississippi, from Lake Michigan to New Or leans. They had left their equipment to hike into town for provisions. Flaming Jet Hits School In Okinawa NAHA, Okinawa (UPI) A flaming U.S. Air Force jet fighter abandoned fcy Its pilot struck an Okinawa schoolhouse today and exploded in the midst of a crowd ed housing area, killing and wounding scores of persons. The Air Force said 10 Okinaw- ans were killed and 76 injured when the plane exploded on im pact and spewed burning wreck age onto a row of houses, destroy ing 30 of them. Okinawa police said six children also were killed, raising the toll to 16 dead. They said 100 were injured. Four children, two with skull fractures and two with serious burns, were reported among the injured. Officials on this former Jap anese island set up tents and other shelters near the resort city of Ishikawa. about 25 miles from the capital of Naha, to shelter the homeless. Police said 150 persons were without homes. There was some confusion on the number of persons in the jet, an F100 Super Sabre. First re ports said there was only the pi lot. Capt. John G. Schmitt, Chal mers, Ind., who parachuted to safety. The Air Force then said a trainee was with him but later said only Schmitt was aboard. An Air Force announcement said Schmitt's aircraft developed engine trouble shortly after take off on a routine training mission Security Measures Legal Authorization court ruling left the government with no means of taking action against possible security risks among three million workers in private plants doing defense work. Other congressional news: Farm: The House passed a com promise bill providing $3,971,362. 000 for the farm price support program, and other Agriculture Department ' activities. It con tained an amendment putting the first ceiling in history on support benefits. The limit would be $50. 000. but this would apply only to single jrops declared by the Ag riculture Department to be in sur plus. The Senate has yet to act on the bill. Gl housing: President Eisenhow er signed into law a bill raising the maximum interest rate on CI housing loans to 5' per cent. The increase is expected to stimulate housing sales, which had lagged under the old maximum of 4 per cent. The Veterans Administration was expected tc give lenders im Bearing Berlin Deputy Premier Arrives WASHINGTON ll'PI Soviet First Deputy Premier Frol K. Kozlov arrives here late today for talks with President Eisenhower and other high U.S. officials that may show whether Russia is ready to crack the Cig Four dead lock over Berlin. Administration officials would like to think that Kozlov is bear ing some Russian "concession" that would pave the way for a Berlin solution. But their more sober assess ment is that his trip is designed primarily to "sell" the Soviet Un ion as an ardent advocate of peace, try to foster Russian American trade and pump for a summit meeting w.ielher or not the foreign ministers reach any agreement at Geneva. The foreign ministers confer ence resumes July 13 alter a three-week "cooling off" recess called after 41 days of deadlocked negotiations. Kozlov, the 51-year-old engine who runs the day-to-day machin ery of the Soviet government, has been mentioned as a possible suc cessor to Premier Nikita Khrush chev. Vice President Richard M. Nix on will head an official delega tion to welcome Kozlov and his party when they arrive late this afternoon at the Military Air Ter minal aboard a commercial air liner from Philadelphia. Kozlov today is visiting Cam den, N.J., to inspect the atomic- powered ship construction site at the New York Shipbuilding Corp. The President will hold a White House meeting with the Russian late Wednesday mornmi immedi ately -after Kozlov- confers with secretary of State Christian A Herter. Kozlov will lunch with members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, then meet with Nixon in the afternoon, fol lowed by an evening reception given by Nixon at the President's guest house. Thursday's schedule for the vis iting Russian and his party of about 25 includes a visit to an Agriculture Department experi mental station and a speech at a press luncheon. He also has scheduled a sightseeing tour of Washington and a reception at the Soviet Embassy. Kozlov leaves Washington early Friday for Sac ramento to continue his two-week tour of the United States. The State Department listed the following dates for Kozlov's visit in other American cities: Sacra mento, July 3: San . Francisco area, July 3-6; Detroit area, July 6-8; Chicago area, July 8-10 rmsourgn area, July lu-iz. in cluding visit to Shippingport on July 11; New York City July 12-13. WEATHER Fair through Wednesday: high Wednesday 75-80; low tonignt 40-45. mediate clearance to charge the new rate. The increase will not apply to existing mortgages. Air defense: The Senate ap peared ready to approve a mili tary construction bill containing the Defense Department's "mas ter plan" for air defense. Some Democrats criticized the plan, but conceded it is a step in the right direction. The new plan is part of a measure authorizing $1,209, 971.000 to fill over-all military needs. The Defense Department offered the plan as a possible means of settling an interscrvice dispute over how air defense should be carried out. Interest rates: The House Ways and Means Committee was ex pected formally to approve a bill which would allow the President to order increased interest rates on government bonds. The meas ure was drawn up as a compro mise, and was backed by most Democrats because it would give Eisenhower full responsibility for any interest hike. Y' V HE DIDN'T COME BY TRAIN Fred Moser, above, didn't come to the railroad convention in a train. He drove his 1923 Model T Ford to the B of LF & K conclave. Moser, who is from Auburn, Wash., took two days to travel the 414 miles from his home. Mrs. Long Says Tried To COVINGTON. La. HTD-Mrs. Earl K. Long charged today in counter action to her governor- husband's separation suit that he tried to kill her in a rage May 28. Mrs. Lung returned to Baton llouge, the state capital, Monday night and filed her answer to Long's separation suit against her. The governor said he took the action against his wife to pre vent her from again having him committed to a mental institution. Long, 63, is in a Covington mo tel, suffering from a nervous breakdown, a stroke and heart trouble. East; Germans Trv No Major Traffic Block BERLIN (UPI) -The East Ger man Communists resorted to brief slowdown of truck traffic outbound from Berlin today in ap parent retaliation for the West German government's decision to hold its presidential elections here Wednesday But the Reds made no major attempt to blockade the city, and even subdued their propaganda this morning. Alter beief harassing moves against the outbound traffic in the middle of the night, the reds eased off. Truck convoys and individual vehicles moved across East Ger many in normal fashion as the day wore on. West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer arrived here this morn ing on one of his rare visits and pledged continued support for West Berlin against its Red Be siegers. Adenauer said he would remain here only until Wednesday eve ning, by which lime the Federal Assembly should have elected a new West German President. But he said he would visit the city again at the end of July to confer with members of the Senate which governs the city. Man Pleads Guilty To Assault Charge William It. Marcum Jr.. nf Tn Grande, pleaded guilty yesterday o cnarges ot assault and battery against his former wife, Myrtle V. Solomon, also of La ftrnnri Marcum was brought before Justice of the Peace Geo. II. Mill er and after pleading guilty was fined $200 and sentenced to 60 days in the county jail. He was charged with having administered a severe beating to his former wife involving three stitches above her right eye and a broken rib according to District Attorney George L, Anderson. Biologist To Talk At EOC Assembly Biologist Floyd Echmoe is to be the featured speaker at this week's assembly in the EOC ad ministration bulding auditorium ''ednesday, ut 2 p.m. Srhmoc has just returned from a 4.000-mile Journey through Africa and will speak on the Aswan Dam project, the Gaza re fugee situation, and the tremen dous drive for freedom in Africa today, illustrating his talk with colored slides. The public is welcome to attend iir.y or all of the College Summer Session assemblies. i Kill Her She named May 28 as the day Long threatened her life and said she had to take steps to protect herself. Furthermore, Mrs. Long said, she is afraid to be alone with her husband. She wants $2,500 a month temporary ali mony. "She needs treatment and 1 recommend she hire my doctors 'psychiatrists i or similar ones," Long snorted today when he heard about it. "I don't make $2,500 a month and that would be ridiculous for her to ask. She has as much money as 1 do and is 12 years younger and can work." Ludwig Erhard, vice chancellor and economics minister, arrived at the same airfield about the same time as Adenauer. But he traveled by commercial airliner, whereas Adenauer arrived aboard a U. S. Air Force plane. It was not known whether the two men traveled separately be cause it was thought unwise to have the two top government of ficials aboard the same plane, or whether it was due to their re cent political differences. Soviet newspapers and broad casts have called the decisions to hold the presidential elections here a "hostile act" and "provocative. East Germans said the meeting would be convening on "foreign territory" and that West Berlin was part of East Germany. The presidential election is car ried out by 1,0;I8 delegates made up of all members of the West German lower house of Parlia ment plus an equal numlwr of delegates elected by the 11 state legislatures. The assembly is con vened once every five years and only to elect a President. The presidential candidates are Minister of Agriculture Heinrich Luebke, member of Adenauer's Christian Democratic party; So cialist Carlo Schmid, and Free Democrat Max Becker. I 1 $ " $ 1 a . nUi r i ii . I CORSAGE PRESENTED Mrs. V. T. Sherwood pre sents the National president of the B of LF & E auxil ary, Lillian Kemp, with a corsage on behalf of the wo men present at the convention. Today the group will be at Wallowa Lake for a barbecue and will return late in the afternoon. Governor In Rage A psychiatrist said Long was not upset or worried. The psychiatrists borrowed Long's own words Monday night to tell hhn that he is a sick man and may gel worse, although he is now rational. Physically, the psychiatrists said, he is suffering from the ef fects of a small stroke, or series of strokes and his heart is still laboring from the effects of an attack he suffered nine years ago while chasing a hog. The psychiatrists refused to guarantee he will get well, but said there is now "nothing that would indicate that the governor cannot make another comeback." The psychiatrists Drs. Rob ert Heath, Charles Watkins and Victor Leif told Long what was wrong with him in a motel room conference after he had returned from a week end at his "little pea patch" his farm in Winn field, La. Long, 63, went along with everything except their diagnosis that he had suffered a stroke. "1 want to tell you that 1 re spect these men and they're doing what they think is right," he said. "But I highly disagree. never suffered a stroke in my life." Long sat in trousers and shirt, sleeves rolled above his elbows and sock feet planted firmly on a deep carpet as Dr. Heath read a statement for his colleagues. Legal Troubles Possible In addition to mental and physi cal troubles. Long may also soon have legal troubles The district attorneys in both Orleans and East Baton Rouge Parishes disclosed that they were looking into a charge that a steamship line's agent paid Long $5,000 in 1956 to veto a bill af fecting pilots on the lower Missis sippi River. The governor has announced that he will divorce his wife Blanche, whom he called "the most jealous woman God ever put on this earth. Long has been in menial hospi tals in both Texas and Louisiana, but the psychiatrists' statement was the first detailed diagnosis of what ails him. Marine Found Guilty Death Penalty. Awaits Rapist BEAUFORT, SC. (UPI A young while Marine with "over powering sex urges'" faces a sen tence of death in the electric chair for the rae of a 47-year-old Negro woman. An all-white jury took only an hour last night to convict Fred J. Davis. 22. of Atlanta, without a recommendation of mercy. The jury verdict made the death sen tence mandatory under South Car-. olina law, and Circuit Judge J. Henry Johnson planned to pro nounce the sentence today. Davis' attorney, Ben Carter, said he would appeal. Davis was believed to be the first white man in southern his tory to be sentenced to death for raping a Negro woman. Just a,. week ago, four white youths Of Tallahassee, Fla.. were sentenced to life imprisonment for raping a Negro college coed. There was no apparent racial feeling on either side in this sea coast town of 5,000 population near the big Parris Island Marine base where Davis was stationed. Five Negroes called to sit on the jury were excused when chal lenged by the defense. The trial before the all-white. all-male jury took only one day. The woman's name was with held under South Carolina law which prohibits publication of the name of a rape victim. v Davis was accused of accosting her on a Beaufort street, drag ging her to the municipal tennis courts, and raping her. Sheriff J. Ed McTeer told the jury that in a private interview Davis told him he was swayed at times by an "overpowering sex urge and "got pleasure out of using force with women." The sheriff said Davis told him he had committed similar offenses in At lanta and in Jacksonville, Fla., and . hid. tried unsuccessfully to rape two girls In Savannah, Ga. Davis denied the sheriff's state ments and said from the witness stand that they were "incorrect." Johnson, a veteran of almost 40 years on the bench, said Monday "equal justice must be meted out to all regardless of race.'' - He alluded to the wide publicity given the Tallahassee case. "We must penetrate that paper curtain of the very limited news coverage of any and all crime in cidents that might be considered unfavorable to the north," he said. "Those people up there just hate us." Head-On Bus Crash Fatal To Driver SAN JOSE, Calif. (UPI) A bus driver was killed and 19 per sons were injured, three seriously, early today when a Los Angeles to San Francisco Greyhound smashed head-on into a private car IS miles south of here on U. S. 101. The driver of the car told offi cers he swerved across the center line into the path of the bus when bumped from behind by another car. The Highway Patrol said the bus plunged off the highway, smashed through a billboard, sheared oft a telephone pole and rolled to a stop in a field. The bus driver, Martin NardUil, 57, Mountain View. Calif., was killed outright. It took rescuers about an hour to pry his body out of the mangled wreckage. The bus carried at least 20 pas sengers. ' Patrolman Edward Jeffries said Agnes Lane, 59, Vancouver, Wash, suffered compound fractures of both legs when she was pinned for 15 minutes in the seat behind the' driver. The seriously injured were tak en to Wheeler Hospital in Gilroy. They were listed as Mrs. Lane, the driver of one car. David Ran-' dall Kannely. 36, Morgan Hill, Calif., who suffered head injuries;" and a bus passenger. Roland March, 46, Fresno, Calif., who suffered head lacerations and con-" fusions. About 13 others, less seriously injured, were taken to San Jose Hospital. Three others were taken to a San Jose aid station. ' Patrolman Jeffries said Kannely told him he was southbound when" a car driven by Arthur Clinton Berryman smashed into his car't rear. This crash sent the Kannely auto into the path of the bus, Kan-' nely told Jeffries. Berryman was not injured.