Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About La Grande observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1959-1968 | View Entire Issue (July 21, 1959)
"They'll Never Believe Me If This One Gets Away" f T I ttV EDITORIAL PAGE LA GRANDE OBSERVER Tuseday, July 21, 1959 "A Modern Newspaper With The Pioneer Spirit" RILEY D. ALLEN Publisher rnni.isiiKn nr tub jA guandb i'Uiii.isniN( comtant GEORGE S. CHALLIS .... Adv. Director TOM HUMES Circulation Mgr. Depends On How You Look At It A man named Wcnzell worked as a con sultant to the Rudjrct P.urcau. His full time job was with a lioston financial house. Then the Rovei nnvnt made a big; deal. The Atomic energy Commission en tered into a contract with a private firm, nick named Dixon-Yates, to build a 107 million dollar power plant in Arkansas to supply TV A with power to replace what the AKC had to take from TVA. Thnn the storm broke. Public power advocates in Congress denounced the deal for all kinds of reasons, butr mainly be cause it constituted government help for a private power company. Eventually the Kisenhower administra tion backed down. The heat was too great. As an excuse it contended that the contract with lh'xon-Yalcs was invalid because the lioston firm for which Wen zcll worked was in on the financing of the power plant. Conflict of interest. I'.ecause Ihe Dixon-Yates group had spent $1,807,5-15 on the project before it was thrown out, it sued. Last week came the decision. It is a fine example of jus tice at its best. The court found that the 1 ixon-Yates sponsors saw the possibility of Wenzell being a source of trouble early in the game. lie didn't work for them but they urged him to resign. Wenzell apparently offered to do so, but both the lioston financial company and the Unr eal) of the liudget told him to sit tight. Thus, said the court, the two entities which could have removed Wen.ell from the scene did not do so, and the one en tity which urged his removal is made the victim for his non-removal to the tune of 1.8 million dollars. That is the price, to be paid out of tax funds, for the administration's decision to back down, or because Dixon-Yates was a bad deal in the first place, depend ing on how you look at it. DREW PEARSON SAYS: Keeping Hands Off Th The Taft-Hartley law empowers the President, when "a threatened or actual strike or lockout affecting an entire in dustry or a substantial part thereof . . . will . . . imperil the national health or safety," to appoint an emergency board to investigate. The board is limited to reporting only the facts of a dispute. President Truman used this provision of the law 10 times in sevep years. Presi dent Kisenhower has used it five times in six and a half years. At his last press conference the sec ond question put to Ike asked in effect why he hadn't invoked the Taft-Hartley law in the steel situation. He had two good reasons. First, he said, the national health or safety is not imperiled by this strike. Pad as it is, it isn't that bad. Se cond, what facts are there to be reported that haven't already been reported? Negotiations have been going on for months. lioth sides have presented their case in full page newspaper. ads across the nation, newsmen have been writing Strike about it almost daily for weeks, and gov ernment departments, of course, have compiled every fact there is to find as the situation developed. Presidential intervention, then in Ike's opinion would serve no useful purpose. He couldn't forbid a strike. All he could do is delay one 'for 80 days, hoping that in the meantime he could knock heads together and bring about a compromise settlement. This was the Truman method and the result- inevitably was another round of wage and price increases. Presidential intervention meant victory for the union and another inflationary boost for the nation. This time, as far as Ike is con cerned, the government is going to keep hands off. The 28 steel companies who are struck by the one union can either see who can out wait the other, or they can get back to the bargaining table and through give and take work out a reasonable settlement. Man Dies Struggling With Estranged Wife LOS ANliKLKS ITI A man attempting to kiilmip his es tranged wife at knife point died of an apparent heart attack while struggling with her, the coroner's office reported today. ISonald S. Rickard, 38, went to his wife's nearby Norwalk home Monday pulled a five-inch hunt ing knife and forced her to get in his car. said Mrs. Rickard, 42. When he stopped at a filling sta tion, she jumped out and he start ed to chase her but suddenly col lapsed and died. Rep. Edith Green Will Introduce Kennedy At Dinner PORTLAND (I'l'll Rep. With Green D-0rc. will fly here to in troduce Sen. John Kennedy iD Mass.) at the Dave Kpps Memo rial dinner Aug. 1. Mrs. Reulah Hand, acting chair man of the Democratic party in Oregon, said sound pictures of Epps In action as spokesman for the parly would be shown as a feature of the evening's program. Epps, SI, died suddenly June 2!). Kennedy plans to arrive in Portland Saturday morning. Aug I, and to visit the Centennial Ex- STUDY VOTING ACE NASHVILLE, Tenn. UPD Lowering of the minimum voting age from 21 to 18 will be one of the major items of consideration at Tennessee's fifth constitutional convention which begins today. Ninety-nine delegates will attend the convention, the second since the present charter was adored In 1870. Family Of Coast Guard Brass Visits In Europe wrt3iniLiHjj. near Adm James Iliishlicld, the Coast Guard s second in command packed his family intrp-a govern ment Skymaster last month, and took off for a European vacation at the taxpayers' expense. The trip was listed officially as an "inspection lour," but he assem bled the . most curious "inspec tion party" in Coast Guard an nals. Included were his wife, his daughter Mary, his son James lr., and his brothers' family, Mr. and Mrs. Casey Ilirshfield and their daughter Denise. The son also brought along his college classmate, William Delaney. Apparently the only member ol the admiral s household left behind was his French poodle which was entrusted to an enlist ed man's care. Besides the Ilirshfield clan. space was found in the plane for Hear Adm. Edward Tiiicle. his wife and daughter. He is the Coast Guard's engineering chief. The vacationing families also bright along Lt. Comdr. Robert Ilea to handle baggage, and Comdr. Jlobert YValdron to fly tne plane. Their whirlwind tour took them to England, Belgium, Den mark, Germany, Italy, France and Spain. After inquiries at the Coast Guard were ignored, this column reported the unique trip to Ad miral Hirshfield's boss, Secretary of the Treasury Robert Anderson, who promptly ordered an in spection of the admiral's "inspec tion party. Cup-Collecting Senator Vivacious Sen. Allen Ellender if Louisiana is probably the most traveled solon in the Senate. Ev ery year he takes a trip to var ious parts of the world on the theory that as a member of the appropriations cummitlce he shuuld check on expenditures by American embassies and info: ma lion agencies. In other directions also Senator Ellender is a versatile man. He is an expert on sugar, an excel i. nl cook, and a collector of an tunics Visiting in La Paz, Bolivia, sometime ago, he admired the collection of Incaic cups belong ing to Mrs. Edward Sparks, wife ol the American ambassador. "You know, I'm a great col lector of cups. 1 don't have any pre-Colnmbian cups at all," ob served the senator from Louisi ana, referring to the fact that Mrs. Sparks' ciijis predated Chris topher Columbus. "Oh, how interesting, Senator," replied Mis. Sparks quite firm iy- This ended the conversation until a year later, when Senator Ellender again visited Ambassa dor .Sparks, this time in Caracas, Venezuela. "Oh. I sec you still have those beautiful Incaic cups," he re marked to Mrs. Sparks. "Yes. wc still have them," re plied Mrs. Sparks. "And I in tend to keep them." Rejected Colonel One Air Force reserve officer tne Senate armed forces would n't promote last week was Col. Frank S. Perego. Reason was that the senators found Perego Occu pying a position which had all the earmarks of being a part of the munitions lobby. As a reserve officer Colonel Perego has b-en assigned to a position as "chief of tactical air division of directorate of require ments of offire of deputy chief of staff for development. This. is a long and roundabout way of saying that Colonel Pere go, in case of mobilization, would have a lot to do with "require ments" and "development" ir other words, purchases. The senators further found that Colonel Perego occupied a position with General Dynamics which gets more defense con tracts than any other compan; except Boeing, the biggest rie fense contractor in Ihe U.S., will a stupendous total of $1,542. bOO.OOo in orders last year. Thir is 6.5 per cent of all our military contracts during 1058. General Dynamics also rank second in hiring retired military men. Head of General Dynamics is Frank Pace, Truman's direc tor of the budget and formei secretary of the Army. Pace ha; hired 54 retired officers. Colone Perego is only one of them Nevertheless, he occupied suet ur important position in the mob ilization table that Senators pass id over his name for promotion. Capital Chaff Pep. Howard Smith of Virginia was joshing a fellow Democratic Rep. Mendel Rivers of South Car olina, about a recent merry-go round expose of Rivers' effort, to influence a defense contract. Mendel, you've been around here a long time, but you've fin ally qiade the grade. You've been written up in Drew Pear son's column." . . . Averell llarri- man was an excellent governor ol New York but he has a lot to liarn about becoming a newspa perman. He made the mistake of cabling his interview with Khru shchev to the state department before releasing it to his newspa per syndicate. The state depart ment then leaked it to the press. On top of this, Harriman, who had contracted to write seven ar ticles for the North American Newspaper Alliance exclusively, saved the cream of his Khrush- QUOTES FROM THE NEWS United Press International TALLAHASSEE, Fla. Gov. Leroy Collins, sizing up Russian iwliticians he met on a four-week lour in Russia: "They've got a lot of bluster, l lot of drive, a lot of snced. and a determination to win by what ever means they can employ 'Butt if you talk right hack to ihcm they respect you." WASHINGTON Capt. John Henry Morse Jr., government atomic adviser, calling for the publication of more information on atomic fallout: "We are killing ourselves by so '.urity." WEST COVINA. Calif. - Dr. Raymond It. Finch. sin.ikinL' ol his son Dr. Be-nard l(. Finch who is accused of slaying his es tranged wife: "My boy is sick He's been off the beam for three or four months and should have been' out away before this terrible thing happened. ' Trumpeter Swans Due In Portland PORTLAND l'PI Americans this summer will get their first look at the largest waterfowl in North America, the trumpeter swan, the Interior Department an nounced Monday. Cn lcr a program of the bureau of Stmits Fisheries and Wildlife of the !' S. Fish aid Wildlife Service, the big birds will be seen in (His in Portland, San Diego, San Antonio, Philadelphia, Bronx zoo in New York and Tracy Avi ary in Salt Lake City. Each zoo is being loaned a pair of the buds, the department said. bluntly that she cannot continue .ecepling American aid and still keep her good standing in the Communist world. Poland has Lien receiving about $fK).000,000, (i(i(l chiefly in American wheat .re playing into Khrushchev's disapproval. (Some congressmen are playing into Khrushchev's hands by wanting to cut down this wheat.) BOSTON - Daniel A. Spaeth, of Lincoln, Mass , a passenger on an American Airlines plane that nosed over on landing and skid- ed to a stop, describing the acci dent : "There was a crash and sparks shot all over the place. I was scared as hell. We all went to the forward cabin door and jumped out after the captain told us to." chev interview for Life Magazine . . . Secretary of State Herter's aides have spread the word that Averell Harriman's interview with Khrushchev was overly dra matized by his ghost writer. Charles Thayer, III . . . Premier Khrushchev has notified Poland 501 V r ? 'l 3 a -' -""1 I I . T Pacific Northwest's Finest Pools go First Class with NATURAL GAS position in the afternoon. On Sun day he has scheduled several meetings plus television appear ances, and on Monday he will speak at the annual AFL CIO convention in Seaside. The Epps Memorial dinner will be held at 7 p.m. in the Neighbors of Woodcraft hall here. 1 1 hid 4 V5 -irf.n rats ili 1 ai 1 JtA t m 9 vr iiCAi - xtl "-v dty rr ' : : '--f T . i k - l udt " ; Sl: - r Jttnlten swim suit from The Bon Marcht WHEREVER HEATED WATER is required, natural (?as proves best. That is why natural gas was chosen to heat the beautiful new swimming pool at Seattle's gas-heated Nettleton Apartments, shown above. FAMILY AND FRIENDS enjoy the W. L. Hansen pool (above) in Yakima for a longer swim-season: gas-heated water is always comfortably warm. MANY LUXURY MOTELS, such as the magnificent "Thunderbird" in Boise (below), are all-gas equipped including .gas-heated water for the pool. fx T'vlV-''-'' iii . .... ! ST-8-" A TOrULAR SrOT for many happy years to come is the Fred WnllT pool in Spokane. Natural gas was this family's choice, too, to heat an abundant, continuous supply of warm water for their pool. Nailhircslrrnrrs srlccl the sensor's fmnrtcf-t m suimsuils from Portland's rmiois -Innttrn. Inc. Jantzrn uses natural gas both or healing and for steam procrssing-a modern fuel for a modern plant. An ,;wni pan f c morthwekt rireliim t uurporat un ..,...w,.,wivf - - - - . - - - - x rnTT g To puf natural gas ta work for you eo the gas company thai jervei (he oreo in which you live. If natural gat is not yet ovoilobfe in your oreo, coll your propane dealer.