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About La Grande observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1959-1968 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 4, 1959)
WEATHER Mostly fair tiVouah Saturday cpt fof 9y or cloudy tome valleys Saturday; highs W-50; low 20-30 except IMS Mm hih valleys. LA OBSERVER 80th Issue 64th Yar LA GRANDE, ORE:qn FRIDAY. DECEMBER 4, 1959 8 Page Five Cents GRANDE ASC PROGRAMS EXPLAINED Lloyd German, left, office manager of the Union County Agriculture Stabilization and Conservation office in La Grande, discusses programs administered by his of fice with a Union County farmer. A branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the ASC administers five programs of th federal government for farmers. For act ditional pictures and details see the farm page in today's Observer. (Observer Photo) Ike Gives Simple To Italians From ROME UPl President Eisen hower delivered to the Italian peo ple today a "simple message from America. . .We want . to live in peace." He stood bare-headed in wind and driving rain for the playing of the United States and Italian na tional anthems after stepping down to the puddle-filled runway of Ciampino Airport from the 707 jet airliner that carried him here from Washington at the start of an 11-nation goodwill tour. Tie heavy rain that has pelted Rome for a week delayed his ar rival by 16 minutes and gave the airport ground radar installations a few moments of difficulty in locating the presidential plane as it approached for a landing in a heavy overcast. But the huge plane splashed down to a safe and wet landing at 3:13 a.m. p.s.t. When he stepped from the air craft, Eisenhower was greeted by Italian President Giovanni Gron chi. Premier Antonio Segni and a host of other officials. The rain held the crowd to a minimum, but even the Commu MUDDY CREEK HEARD FROM County School Reorganization Group Criticized By District Union County School Reorganiza tion committee members came un der sharp criticism today from residents of the Muddy Creek School District. In a special release to various press media in this area, spokes men claimed that the district 'No. 17 1 was being denied the demo cratic process of law as well as their right to vote on the issue being denied. Muddy Creek committee mem bers making the charges are Ted Heard. W. E. Justice. Kenneth Dover and Joe Ipdegraff. Their statement is as follows: "For the past several months Muddy Creek School District 17. just West of Haines (Oregon, has been suffering the necessary steps to try and legally meet the provi sions set forth in the Schol Dis trict Reorganization laws and at the same time try to satisfy the desires of the majority of the vot ers within that district. Sample Vote "During this process, a meeting was held in December 1958, at which two possibilities of reorga nization were discussed one, to join with Baker Dist. 5J; two, join with North Powder District in Un ion County. A samrle vote was taken to get the feeling of the few present. A majority of 19-11 voted favorine Baker. "The ronrunniMtion boards of Baker and Union counties however, had some tvr of prior agreement and said that their plan would be submitted for vote to go to North Powder "A group of legal voters secured Candy Cane Lane' Stores nists had joined with the rest of Italy beforehand to make it clear that Eisenhower's visit was wel comed with warmth and high hopes for world peace. Despite the rain and slim crowds, the President was greet ed by warm applause at the air port. A handful of spectators shouted "We Like Ike" as he drove by en route to an afternoon of quiet rest after his arduous jcurncy. He had a scheduled informal evening meeting with Gronchi and his advisers. An hour later, Ei senhower was guest of honor at a dinner given by the Italian Pres ident. The weather was the principal negative factor on this second trip abroad for the President this year. When he was in Europe last August for talks with allied lead ers he also hit a siege of damp ness'. That time he came down with a cald and a lingering chest ailment which caused concern for a man nearing 70. He was in good health when he began this trip. Eisenhower stepped into the the services of a lawyer who thought a more comprehensive sampling of opinion would help de termine the true wishes of the community. There are about 95 to 100 legal voters in the community and a questionnaire was mailed out to them. Scaled ballots were returned to the lawyer and count ed by him and the chairman of the Baker County Reorganization loa-d the results 67 for Baker and 7 for North Powder. Proposal Defeated 'The reorganization board said that it was too late to make any changes in their plans and it would be necessary to vote on their proposal to go to North Powder. In order to defeat this proposal it was necessary to defeat it with a fiO percent majority, which was done. However, according to the law inai is noi enough. You then have to secure a petition and ask for a second vote on the same question. This was done, and the second vote defeated the proposal with even a larger majority. "This left district 17 in the same position as before faced with the necessity of joining with a district maintaining a high school, t this time a committee of voters repre senting the majority opinion in Muddy Creek, as shown by the votes, studied the law and decided Uiat in view of the clear rut in dication of opinion of the people tnai mey wamea io g0 to Baker, uiai me moth ana surest way to acnieve h would be to follow the steps set out in the law and i petition the boundary board for an- nexation to district 5. Only five -'-I I Message America downpour nft he disembarked art', sum : oitant to keep his hi. d ior long at a time. He was escorted under a balcony by an attendant with an umbrella and delivered his speech under cover. The rain continued to pepper down and the proud horse-hair bristles of the brass helmted presidential guard saluting Eisen hower looked like tails of drowned rats. After his remarks which reit erated the views he expressed be fore leaving Washington Thursday night for the unprecedented 19-day journey 'Enforcer' Whalen Bumped Off On Underworld Orders LOS ANGELES UPI Jack The Enforcer) Whalen was a strong-armed extortionist threat ening to turn stool pigeon and his slaying in a restaurant may have been decreed by the underworld. Richard Rogan, chief deputy at torney general, said today the state was interested in Whalen's names are needed on this petition to the boundary board, but more than 55 percent of the total pos sible lc,a! voters in the district signed the petition. Joint Meeting "The Baker County Reorganiza tion committee received this peti tion from the boundary board and -erommended that the people be allowed to vote on the proposed administrative district with Baker, and since Baker Dist. 5J is a joint district with Union County be cause of the Pondosa school dis trict, they asked the Union County Reorganization committee for con currence. At. the Union County meeting, Nov. 16 the committee deferred action, and asked for a joint meeting of the two county boards. "At this' joint mcctig on Dec. 2 the Union County Reorganization committee rejected the plan pro posed by the Baker County Reor ganization committee. This plan had been proposed for the purpose of giving the patrons of school dis trict 17 an opportunity to vote on annexation as they had request ed. "By rejecting this proposal, the Imon county committee has de nied the people of Muddy Creek the right to vole. This is the first time in the history of either Union or Baker County that a school dis trict has been denied the demo cratic p-occss when the law pro vided the opportunity and the nec essary legal steps had been fol- lowed. (Tomorrow Tha reasons for Peering Bafcec Schools.) Probing Cause Of Dam Break FREJUS, France I I'I -Government investigators sought to day to find out why " the world's thinnest dam" collapsed the first time it was filled to capacity and buried this Riviera town under a sea of water and mud. Latest Government figures set ,,'the toll of the Wednesday night 'ii disaster at 270 dead. 50 missing. and 70 injured. But many more victims were feared swallowed up in the oozing mud that choked the six-mile-long Regnan Valley Many were swept out into tbe Mediterranean on a mountain of water. Unconfirmed reports said 500 were killed. A mass funeral planned for this afternoon could accommodate only 90 bodies, for the supply of cof fins ran out. A priest, his black robes plas tered with thick red mud. blessed the dead in unpainted coffins. "I helped to place people in cof fins, including many sweet chil dren," he said. "While I was see ing it, I somehow didn't realize the horror of the whole thing. But when I stood back to pray with the families of the victims, - I broke down and could not help crying." All of France shared that priest's horror. President Charles de Gaulle called the Krejus dis aster a "catastrophe" and order ed government experts to find out what caused the tall, thin Malpasset Dam to crumble and send 50 million tons of water on a rampage down the Regnan Val ley and over the town of Frejus Engineers slashed through the red mud to the collapsed dam to check its faulty foundations. Iron ically, Malpasset, roughly trans lated, means "it went badly.' There were reports the dam com pleted in 1954, was so mimed bo cause of a series of troubles that beset its construction gunshot death because his office had information the racketeer had threatened to expose bookies and their alleged payoffs to police. The 39-year-old Whalen hoped in returned for turning stool pigeon to be granted a new trial on his con viction last August for extortion charges, said Rogan. Whalen faced a I to 10-year prison sen tence on the charge and was free on $5,000 appeal bond when shot to death Wednesday night. Prime sus)cct in the shooting was Cleveland hoodlum Frank l.o Cigno, 38. identified by police as the man Whalen dragged out of a telephone booth and slapped around at Rondelli's restaurant The slapping took place in front of about 25 persons, including ex mobster Mickey Cohen. Police said Whalen was trying to collect a $900 debt from Lo Cigno. Whalen. also known as O'Ha'a. was shot once in the face during or shortly after the brawl. The gunman fled. Cohen, 46, his 18-year-old girl friend and two other men at his table at the time of the shooting were booked on suspicion of mur der and held today in jail. The others were Cohen's girl friend of two weeks, Sandra Has nation, who models under the name Sandra Hagen; George Bart Piscitelle, 28, a liquor salesman, and signer Anthony Reno, 24. Steel Negotiator Rejects Ike's Call For Conference WASHINGTON UPI) Steel management's chief negotiator to day rejected President Eisenhow er's call for round-the-clock neco tiations in an effort to end the marathon steel dispute. R. Conrad Cooper said it was the quality and not the quantity of bargaining that counted in set tling the differences between the "big 11" steel producers and the United Steelworkers Union. Eisenhower, prodding both sides to make a fast settlement, sue gested in his radio-TV speech Thursday night that 24-hour medi ation eflorts might turn the trick, when he thought they would be But Federal Med ation Director Joseph F. Finnegan said later that he would schedule meetings only He said the steel dispute .was so Open Until 9 Tonight; Santa Here FARV POLICY SERIES BEGINS Farm pc'ir ic ard programs of the federal government at ,hy are in effect in Union County ire being revised in a "ries of six articles in the Ob server firm section. First article in the series deals with Union County Aa- riculture Stabilization and Conservation office and ap Poars on page 3 of today's Observer. Successive stories will ex plore the bank program, price support program, wheat allotments, agriculture con. servation program, and tha incentive wool program. All farm programs of the eomiristration ara administ ered locally by tha ASC, a branch ef tin U.S. Depart ment of Agriculture. Brazilian Rebel Unit Reported RIO DE JANEIRO H'PD A "relH'l army'" of 28 officers held a tiny outpost in the jungles of central Brazil todav. but their efto-ts to promote a general up rising appeared to have failed. U S -made jet fighters of the government air force "buzzed' the reported rebel stronghold of Aragarcas Thursday night in a warning gesture, apparently with out opening fire. It was believed the government might drop para troops on the town unless the rclx'ls aukkly surrendered. The insurgent "air force" five stolen planes, none of them known to le armed was said to be parked on the turf runway of the airstrip in Aragarcas, a min ing town 700 miles northwest of Rio. There were unconfirmed re ports, however, that the rebels had abandoned Aragarcas and fled 600-odd miles further to the noithwest, into the Cachimbo Mountains of southern Para prov ince. Man Hospitalized With Bullet Wound A La Grande man is in seri ous condition at the Grande Ronde hospital today from a self- inflicted bullet wound in the chest. Guy Murchison, 65, 2805 N. Birch St., was admitted to the hospital last night after shoot ing nimsclt in the chest with a 32 special revolver, police said. The bullet entered his chest just above the heart and passed com pletely through his body, accord ing to the attending physician. The doctor described Murchi son s condition as serious but fair." Police were called to the Birch St. address by Doris I. Rhoads at 5:22 p.m. When they arrived at the hospital, a doctor and ambu lance already had been called. Police Chief Oliver Reeve -said Murcnison left a letter and a note, saying he was depressed because of recent illness. Another Name Added To Sewage Committee Another name was added to the list of citizens appointed by the city commission to investigate the sewage problem in La Grande at the regular meeting last night. Robert A f)rr mil Washing ton Ave . was artrlerl tn the list increasing the number to 27. Orr is a civil engineer employed by the Union Pacific Railroad. productive. Cooper backed that view, saying that "continuous hours of meet ings do not necessarily 'mean ef fective bargaining." He talked with newsmen utter a two-hour session with Finnegan. Union Makes Proposal "I think the experience of the past shows- that when pcoole are Drain-weary for too many hours their judgment is not good and mistakes are made," he added. he said the steel dispute was so important to the nation that noth ing should be done to impair the negotiators' Judgment. Union President David J. Mc Donald came up with his own pro posal for speeding a settlement shortly after the President ad dressed the nation. ecover fter ANIMAL CAPSULE FALLS INTO ATLANTIC OCEAN WASHINGTON UI'1'-A seven- pound monkey named Sam was rocketed to an altitude of 75 miles over the Atlantic today in a suc cessful test of escae equipment to be used by human space pio neers. His space capsule was re covered a few hours later. Word that the capsule had been recovered was flashed to headquarters of the National Aero nautics and Space Administration here. Scientists immediately set aliout opening the capsule and de termining the monkey's condition. Sam. a 30 month old American born Rhesus, was sent aloft from Wallops Island, Va . at 8:15 a.m. p. s t in a capsule like the one which will carry space pilots into orbit in the Mercury manned sa tellite program. When the capsule reached an al titude of almut 20 miles, an es cape rocket, mounted on a 14-foot tower above it, ignited with a burst of flame. The powerful escajic rocket, generating about 55,000 pounds of thrust, lifted the capsule away from the booster at a speed of 200 feet a second. The capsule and tower coasted on up to atMHit 55 miles and the lower was jettisoned by a timing device. Minutes later, the capsule had descended by parachute into the ATOMIC WAR WOULD REDUCE MAN TO 'CAVE LIFE' STATUS (Editor's note The Observer newspaper is presenting a series of articles on . U.S. Civil Defense national, 'state and local level in the interest of the public. Today's story deals primarily on fallout shel ters fr protection in case of attack.) By GRADY PANNELL - Observer Staff Writer Modern society will be reduced to the status of our cave ancestors and people will have to forag from shelters deep underground to avoid the creeping death of radia tion shou'd ever a devastating nu clear war be launched upon the earth. This sage bit of opinion is not our own but comes from official U.S. Civil Defense announcements. If attacked and with little warn ing given, what then? The primary effort of a populace about to be hit, or any community endangered by fallout, is to get in side a shelter. It can b home built or one constructed with Civil Defense-approved specifications. First Things First There are preliminary things first, howeyer. Communications will all but cease under an attack. Radio sta tions will revert to Conclrad. This L rViV) y I M T"! , v. 1 ! i' V I -sV - Monkey pace Shot choppy Atlantic 200 miles from shore. The destroyer Borie was steam ing toward the capsule in 'order to pick it up. Navy search planes flew around the capsule to keep it in sight and direct the Bone in its rescue operations. At 20.000 feet, a so - called drag parachute opened to sta bilize the vehicle in its descent. At 10.000 feet the main cargo par achute opened and landed the capsule gently into the water. As soon as Sam is recovered from the capsule and removed from the form - fitting cushioned couch on which he made the trip, he will be sent to the School of Aviation Medicine, Brooks Air Force Base, Tex., for extensive post-flight examination. It was expected that detailed study of Sam. and of tiny sam ples of living mailer sent along with him to study radiation ef fects, will take several days. The Wallops station is operated by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and today's shot was another of many ex periments to further the Mercury program. The launching was carried out in fine weather, NASA officials here said the escaie equipment apparently functioned perfectly. is a special wave length system MO and 1240 kilocycles) and dur- ing periodic tests in the U.S. all other stations go off the air except Conelrad. Special advice is given by this system under the exclu sive direction and operation of CD. La Grande would be concerned with "rural survival" rather than a metropolitan type of planning. Rural survival shelters can be con structed from $50 to $500, depend ing on what amount of work would have to go into such a shelter. Shelters Built In some farm areas there al ready are underground-type stor age and shelter areas, especially throughout the tornado belt re gion in America. First concern of people about to be blitzed by missiles, fallout or a scattering population from a disaster area is to gather as a family unit and proceed by a planned course of strategy. Locally, there may be little con cern other than from radiation. But water could be contaminated and so could growing fcodstulf. Th? natural course of action would be to store up weeks or months of canned or tin foods.' water for drinking purposes, wa- City Commission Approves Liquor License Renewals City commissioners have ap proved the renewal of four state liquor licenses for 1!M0 and have granted endorsement for a new license. A club license was renewed for the BPO Elks 443, Depot Street and Washington Avenue, in 4he name of C. K. McCormick, sec retary of the house committee. Renewals were also granted to the Imperial Cafe, 208 Depot St., in the name of Bonnie " ' inie B. I.a- roecry, Ki(K) R. Spencer,. . inc.. !io7 Ilonte; Tenth Street G Tenth St., for Albert and fcalcway Stores. Inc.. 907 Adams Ave., in the name of A. Acarrcgui. Approval for a new license was issued to The Stockmiins, 221 Depot St. The application was signed by c. Everett and Alma II. Holmes. ; Benson In Good Shape Fo"owing Operation -""-"I 'tl M ly.Vf culture Secretary Fir T rt,.t,,n 60, underwent surgery today for ri-muvai oi ms gall bladder. if ...r k iie was reported "in good posti' v ... . operative condition" t Walter1; - .-v- Heed Armv mi: i - , iuii.ui veiiie:. ine operation on Benson took an hour anrl h..i nail. Ike 'Birth' Stand Is Criticized WASHINGTON (UPI Presi dent Eisenhower's stand on giving birth control information to other countries has been assailed as "otfensive to the majority of the American people." Glenn L. Archer, executive di rector of Protestants and Other Americans United for Separation of Church and State, hotly criti cized the views voiced by Eisen hower at a news conference Wednesday. The President told reporters that as long as he was in the White House, the U.S. government would have no business providing birlh control help to countries with overpopulation problems. Archer's attack was seen as further evidence that although Eisenhower may have dimmed the religious issue as a factor in the I960 presidential election, he has not eliminated it entirely. The touchy religious debate flared up last week when the U.S. Catholic bishops issued a state ment condemning birth control as a means of combatting the "popu lat:on explosion" and opposing any use of American foreign aid to encourage such .practices. ier puriiicniion taunts to prevent stagnation effects, changes of cloiiunt!, buttery powet.'v radio, flashlights and battery supplies, lirst aid kits, reading material and any otlvr simple necessities to sustain a person or family for an undetermined period. Mass Evacuation Some communities, where there is a strong Civil Defense group, already have practiced mass evacuation, constructed shelters for residents and city officials and have oMTational radiation de tection teams. Many experienced CD workers have been recruited from American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars posts where members gained that spark of coolness and readi ness "under fire." A great many areas, however, have .done little on preparing a course of action and planning should the "worst happen." Oregon, naturally has an active Civil Defense. Its governor is the key men in CD and he has appoint ed capable directors and assist ants. Union County is an integral part of the state-wide program. (Next What hat been done in the La Grande area to data and what remains to be dona?) ; 'Hi- - . .-- ife j.' : Z- j. I fV" Immaamm ; T '''t i,.. . -V- SI-TWO?! a I "3 L-'-J1 Saturday f4 "