Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989, March 07, 1955, Image 1

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Medford mail tribune., March 07, 1955, Image 1

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Newspaper Page Textmm iimif Jm MM : : : . o : . . . Wife Explosion Lights 1 1 - - I Tl a. - P U IViEDFORDfflk M RIBUNE United Cress full Learned wue 49th Year 14 Pages Pearson Proposes Income Tax Bill To Raise $55,1 Tax Credits Would Replace Exemptions Salem (U.R) Rep. Walter Pearson (D-Portland) today in troduced a Tiniversal ' income tax proposal designed to raise about $55,000,000. ' Pearson said last, week, he would introduce such a measure. The ,f House Tax Committee's program calls for a personal tax increase but the committee did not specify what form it would take. ' ,- --. . Tax Credits Substituted Under the so-called universal tax, exemptions a r e removed with certain tax credits sub stituted. Pearson said that al most everyone, under his pro posal,' would pay a tax with the biggest"increase coming to those in the income bracket between $6,000 and $20,000. Pearson's bill calls for a net income tax of two per cent on the first $3,000; four per cent on the second $3,000 and six per cent on all income over $6,000 The bill provides, as a substitute for exemptions, a $10 credit against the tax itself for . each dependent. The House Tax Committee provided for only about $39,000, 000 of the- $55,000,000 it said was needed to come from in creased income tax. (Sea Story on Pag 7) Pension, Vet Bills To Receive Study A sub-committee willbeap-' pointed to keep tabs on propos ed changes in veterans and pen sion legislation, it was decided by the legislative committee of the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce at a breakfast meet ing this morning. Frank J. Van Dyke, chairman of the group, will name the sub committee. It will be asked to make a study of the present veterans' pension situation, and proposed changes. A " Hoover commission task group recently was named to conduct a similar study. It has been pointed out by President Eisenhower that there are now some 21,000,000 veter ans in the United States, and that the number is increasing. Pension costs now total some $2,800,000,000 annually. It - is new developments in this situa tion which the committee will study. The legislative group discuss ed other legislative matters, but 'took no positive action on any single measure. Ike Previews Speech Scheduled by Dulles ; Washington (U.R) Secretary of State John Foster Dulles pre viewed, for President Eisenhow er today the report he will make to the nation tomorrow night on his recent Far East trip. Dulles hurried from the White House, declining to discuss with reporters his speech or the two-week Asian trip from which he returned yesterday. He mere ly noted that he had conferred with Mr. Eisenhower for more than an hour yesterday about his radio-television report to the nation and went over the speech again today in another hour-long aoeeting. 13-YearOld Admits Part in Thefts A 13-year-old Medford youth has admitted participation in several local cases of petty lar ceny, according to city police. Part of the thefts involved two other boys and included about $15 taken from the coin box in the photo - machine at Newberry's store and about 10 boxes of candy and eight car tons of cigarettes from both Med ford Safeway stores, the Gro ceteria Super Food market and Western Thrift Drug store: The youth told police that they had sold most of the candy to junior high students and the cigarettes to high school stu dents. " ". ' Salem U.R) Robert H. Fo ley, Bend, has taken over as a member of the Upper Columbia River Basins commission of Ore goo. ,.: .. - IV. " ..- MEDFORD, OREGON, MONDAY, MARCH 7-1955 : HAWAIIAN VILLAGE DOOMED Mother,: : is daylight view , of the doomed village of Nature puts pn a fiery show as-'fm''and''j;'V;jpoh6:(3)as lava flows all around, it (arrow.) molten lava light up the. night sky (top) in ' Smoke rises from tne; Puulena rift (1) and this aerial view of the erupting fissure - of from a new fissure near Kapoho (2). The sea . the Puulena cinder cone,' a remote first rift is off to the left of the photo. .of famed Kilauea volcano. In bottom photo V' , 1,340 Return Stack Heaters Installed at Hill Orchard A total of 1,340 "return stack" smokeless orchard heat ers have been installed in Hill orchard, south of Stewart ave. at the end of Oakdale ave., ac cording to David Holmes Jr., of Bear Creek Orchards. ' The heaters, 20 to the acre, have been set up on the 67acre tract on an experimental basis, Holmes said, adding that opinion as to the adequacy of the return stack heaters is still divided. , "The fact that these heaters work well in California does not necessarily mean they will work here," Holmes stated, noting that various weather conditions, including lack of high ceilings, makes heating easier in that area. - Installaton of the new' type heaters is very costly, accord ing to Holmes. He pointed out that 'it '-would be impossible for Hawaii Residents Warned of Eruption ' Pahoa, Hawaii U.R) An eruption of lava from the angry Puukii fountain subsided today, but a volcano expert warned jittery-inhabitants of Hawaii Island, fwe're : not out of the woods yet." - The warning came from vol canologist Gordon MacDonald, who has gone with practically no sleep since the Kilauea Vol cano field began spewing lava and endangering villages in the Puna District a week ago. "I think the pressure is off," he said, "but it may break out again " - McKay Sees Time Near for National Park Improvements By A. ROBERT SMITH Mail Tribune Correspondent ' Washington The Interior De partment has decided the cli mate of opinion is becoming in creasingly favorable for a big national parks improvement pro gram, to satisfy 'mounting , criti cism about the declining con dition of the parks. Director Conrad Wirth of the National Park Service an nounced that such a program would be advanced next year. His boss, Secretary of Interior Douglas McKay, has found out from personal experience' on Capitol Hill just how severe the criticism has ; become ; on this jssua. - - .--. tinited 111 even the largest orchardists to convert to them all at one time. The old type open heaters have, been - installed in Hill orchard along with the new re turn stacks. However, they will not be used unless temperatures drop to the danger point and the new , heaters are not ade quately protecting the orchard, Holmes said. ' t - Youngster Injured When Struck by Car '" An 11-year-old - cyclist was struck by a car yesterday at the intersection of South Riverside ave. 'and East 12th st., but 're ceived only minor injuries, city police said. William Lee Smelser, 826 East Main st., was given, first aid treatment by. police and re leased. He suffered an abrasion on the right elbow. ' The boy was operating a bi cycle when struck by a 1947 sedan driven by Edward Alfred Evensen, 2847 Biddfferd., police' said. Evensen was cited for. fail ure to yield the right of way and failure to stop at a red light, po lice said. i Ambulances Mjjst Stop At Lights, House. Vote? . Salem (U.R) The House tcv day passed a bill prohibiting am bulances from ignoring red traf fic lights and .other, control de vices. . ' - McKay went up to testify be fore the. Senate Appropriations Committee on his department's annual budget requests. What he encountered was a squad of senators from both parties who evinced more intense interest in the conditions of the parks than any " other single controversial subject, including power. -.Chairman .Carl Hayden .(D Ariz.) in whose state is Grand Canyon National Park, told Mc Kay mahytourists have been dis appointed upon arrival at the park to find the gates closed. He said he looked into it and found that with the limited number of attendants -on duty to sell ad missioa tickaU -to- at Grand L - ' fress Full Leased Wire Price 5c No. 300 Liquor Dispensing Licenses Refused Three liquor dispensing li cense applications for Medford outlets have been turned down by the Oregon Liquor Control commission. In all three cases, the' refusal to grant the applications ' was based on sufficient licensed premises in the area, according to local sources. Included were applications by the Holland hotel for the Wood en Shoe room, Hollywood club, 414 East Main st. (old Legion club)" and Bohemian club. The Hollywood club and Bohemian club applications were turned down after reconsideration. . The other two applications had received local council approval on Jan. 4 by a 4 to 3 vote. The hotel's application was for a Class "B" outlet, which would also allow entertainment and dancing. , 1 The action by the OLCC fol lowed its recent action of deny ing any more outlets for Med ford at the present time. An ap plication by a Front st. tavern also was turned .down recently on the same basis. Portland State College , Gets First President ' Portland (U.R) Dr. J. F. Cramer, 55, today was named as the first president of Portland State College. - Dr. Cramer is dean of the gen eral extension division of the state system of higher education. Canyon, there were periods dur ing the day when no one was available to sell tickets so to avoid letting the public in free, the gates had to be closed. , Sen. Earl , Clements (D-Ky.) was unhappy about the rundown condition of the hotel accomo dations at Mammouth Cave in his state. Looked to him, he badgered McKay, like nothing had been done there since the war between the states. McKay pointed out that Amer ica's national parks have been tremendously popular in recent years,- with attendance figures ciimbing every year. "We are making a determined e&ort-to reduce a backlog of (4ijj! ' - J1 Weather FORECAST: Fair through Tuei day. Low tonight 28-30. High Tuesday 65-68. Temp." Highest yesterday . 66 Lowest this morning .. ..28 Ellsworth Proposes Partnership Plan For Oregon Dams Cougar, Green Peter Projects rn Measure Washington -4U.R) Rep. Har ris Ellsworth (R-Ore.) today in troduced a "straightforward pro posal" to' authorize partnership construction of two dams in Ore gon. The bill would authorize the construction of Cougar Dam on the McKenzie river and Green Peter Dam on the Middle San tiam river. It was similar to a measure which passed the House last year but which failed to be acted on in the Senate. Ellsworth told the House his "straightforward proposal would give the state urgently needed power and flood control. He said the two projects would have a total capacity of 135,000 kilo watts, producing 436,000,000 kil owatt hours annually. Flood 'con trol benefits would total $2,000, 000 yearly. r The city of Eugene, would be empowered to participate in the construction of Cougar Dam, ac cording to the terms of the meas ure," contributing $11,000,000 to wards the total cost of $37, 000,000. PP&L Would Participate Pacific Power & Light Com pany of Portland would parti cipate in the Green Peter proj ect. , The company would pay $29,000,000 toward the total cost of an estimated $58,000,000. Both projects would have flood control features as well as the power-generating ones, t Ellsworth said the proposal represented "a forward step in the thinking of the people of my state" in that a public and a pri vate agency had joined ina com mon endeavor.''. "- : Matsu Garrison Being Reinforced Taipeh, Formosa '(U.R) Na tionalist naval headquarters said today the 13,000 man garrison on Matsu island is being rein forced "two or three times'- its present strength in a determined Nationalist effort to hold it from Communist invasion. f The naval sources said" the troops were, being ferried to Matsu, some 110 miles west of Formosa in Nationalist ships and under Nationalist air cover and that no American ships or air craft were involved in the oper ation. The troop' movements were disclosed when a Navy spokes man told newsmen a trip to Matsu tentatively arranged for Tuesday was. postponed because the troops are being transferred there "night and day." . Condemnation Eyed In Israel Aggression Cairo-'. U.R) Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Syria counted today on the condemnation of Israel for "brutal aggression" to help swing still hesitant Jordan and Lebanon into their pact against the Jewish nation. ' The U.N. Mixed Armistice commission blamed Israel in a stormy session yesterday for last Monday!s "pre-arranged 'and planned attack" against an Hgyptian outpost which cost 42 Egyptian and eight Israeli lives. At about the same time Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Syria an nounced in a joint communique that they had agreed to form a unified command for their arm ed forces to repel any attack pn anyone of them. They also an nounced they would sign no other pact as the one between Iraq and Turkey. maintenance and rehabilitation of physical facilities," McKay told the senators. "Once this is done, we plan to make every ef fort tp keep our facilities at a high-operatmg level. The budget provides for increases in both management and protection and maintenance and rehabilitation." Sen." Ed Thye (R-Minn.) wanted to know whether the government couldn't help finance improvements by increasing the admission fees. McKay replied that ' some fees had been in creased since he , took office. But he said "the parks are for Joe Doakes of Main street, not for. the rich people,, and you Nevada Explosion Plainly Visible Throughout Valley Orange Glow Covers Southern Horizon The explosion of a "city buster" atomic device at -' 5:20 a. m. today in the southern Ne vada desert, more than 600 miles away, .was. plainly .' visible throughout the. Rogue valley; Dozens of people in. this area reported that the blast lit up the horizon with a coral-colored and white glow. Most of those who saw the blast from this area were - people whose "work got them up early, but many others made a special effort to see the explosion. ' ' . ' . Sky Lighted Up Mr. and Mrs. Ralph E. Merritt, 2685 Crater Lake highway, were among those who, were watching for the explosion. They reported that the sky lighted up with a definite orange glow over the mountains south of Ashland, v Lou Kusel, Pioneer rd., said the ,' blast lookecf . much like a huge flashbulb explosion,. which almost blinded him for a mo ment. Kusel regularly gets up at about" 5 a. m. and just hap pened to be looking put the door in the right direction when the atomic blast went off at exactly 5:20 a. m. , ' Mr. and Mrs. Kenn Knack stedt, 940 Whitman ave., said the glow from, the blast was a pinkish coral color in the center, and rather white at . the edges. Knackstedt also compared . the light from the blast to that of a huge, flashbulb. "Believe me, it was a whopper," he said. ' v Couldn't Miss It Charlie Milam, 517 Dakota ave., who has been trying to see an atomic blast for the past two years of tests in Nevada, said "This was really a lulu. I don't see how- anyone could have missed it." ! Monte Morris, of Winchester st.,-who like Milam is a. radio station KYJC employee, said the glow from the blast Vpretty well covered the southern horizon." He added that "I .reaUy didn't expect to ;see it." . " i ' . '; ' , ' ' Others "in i this areai who ''-te-ported seing.1he. explosion were uuney ( Anderson, Midland rd., who was on his way to work, at radio station KMED when - he saw the" blast; Robert Morse, a route supervisor ' for ' Shider's Dairy,' who was at work; Ronnie Moore, and Gus and Jim Golden penny. Welker Collapses In Senate Dining Room ' Washington ; (U.R) Sen. Herman Welker (R-Ida.) col lapsed today in the Senate pri vate dining ; room. ... Dr. . George W. Calver, Capitol physician, said his condition is not serious. Welker was taken by stretcher to Calver's office. CalveV said he r had not determined cause of the collapse. ; "I think it was just some little flareup," Calver said. "It might be the early stages of flu," Welker appeared later at the Senate Internal Security Sup committee's hearing on ; turri about witness Harvey M. Matu sow. ,He told reporters then he felt "fine." He said he had got "just a little tired" after attend ing two committee meetings this morning. New Judge Assigned To Circuit Court A new circuit court judge has been assigned to serve here start ing March 10 for nine days, ac cording to court officials. '"Judge Pro Tern James Albert Powers, Portland, will assume local,, duties for that period. Judge Pro Tem Louis Starr, who arrived last week, will ' be here for the remainder of this week. ; The state supreme court is as signing temporary judges for Jackson county to take, care of the business in 1 the , absence ,of Judge H. K. Hanna, who is re cuperating from an illness. can't help makinr them too high." ; Sen. Holland (D-Fla.) grumbled about the bad roads in Ever glades National park. McKay said the federal highway aid act of the last Congress authorized new park roads and that "sub stantial progress is being made in this program." It was suggested to McKay that a long range , improvement program ought to be mapped cut that would"' bring the parks up to par. That was Monday. On Friday the park director went before the same group of sen ators and said such a program waa now in the work. - r Skies in 1 ; Mt. Charleston, Nev. (U.R) The most powerful atomic weapon, of, the 1955 test series was exploded in the Nevada desert today with a roaring flash that shook houses some 370 miles away and lit the skies over an 1800-mile diameter in 10 Western states. i The nuclear device, which could have been the prototype of a warhead for an intercontinental guided missile, was triggered on schedule in the pre-dawn darkness of the Nevada Proving grounds. i So potent was the explosion that it blinded temporarily the 25 observers atop this 8900-foot peak 45 miles distant. Brilliant Flash Visible in Missoula, Mont. i Its light flashed like a short-circuited bulb for 900 miles into Missoula, Mont. It was also sighted in New Mexico, Colorado, Idaho, Washington, Oregon Utah, Arizona, California and Nevada. ! ; Residents in Salt Lake City, 370 airline miles distant, com plained the shock, wave rattled their houses and broke windows. One family rushed out of their home when the shock hit because they feared the house was collapsing. ' s With its cuktomary reticence the Atomic Energy commission refused to disclose the exact yield of the device. : ' All it -would reveal was. that the weapon, fired from a 500-foot steel tower at. Yucca Flat, was not as powerful as some which were touched off here two years ago. , Atomic Explosion Reported Seen in Northwest Cities By UNITED PRESS 5 ; The atomic device detonated in the Nevada desert at 5:20 a. m. today "lit up the sky" in southwest Oregon and was seen as "a big flame" in Vancouver, Wash., some -800 airline miles tq the north. ' : ' Other witnesses to the (explos ion were reported in Portland, Salem, Eugene, Medford, On tario, Klamath Falls and at Pay ette, Ida. - i Officers Donald Cowdrey and Thomas Hewitt of the Vancouver police department said they saw the : blast ; from McLoughlin Heights at 5:20 a. m. Died Down Slowly . "It was like a big flame that suddenly shot up," they said, and then it died down real slow." '. ,i ; Mr. and Mrs. "Martin R. Kar iictm, j-ortiana, saia it was as if. an electric flash had gone off in the distance." . ; Mr, and Mrs. Edward J. Dyke of .. "Salem - reported seeing - the explosion from an ; airplane. Dykels a' member of the Salem Pilots Association. He said the flash was clearly - visible from their vantage point 13,000 feet directly above Salem. Seen at Roseburg At Ontario and at nearby Pay ette, Ida., several reports were received that the flash was seen. At Roseburg, RayLynes, a re tired policeman,' said he saw the blast at 5:20 a. m. and that it was shaped like a larger quarter of an orange ball. Lynes said at 5:30 a. m. the shape was like a spinning cone with - the center still orange. - The Civil Aeronautics Admin istration in Seattle said a north bound .United Airlines plane saw the flash while flying about 5000 feet 6 v e r - Toledo, Wash., 840 airline miles from Las Vegas. Sky Lit at Klamath Desk Sgt. Oscar Gerlede of the Klamath Falls police depart ment, who saw one of the prev ious bombs from the southeast Oregon city, said today's bomb was a lot brighter. "It really lit up the sky," he said. At Eugene, Sgt. Harold Hock ett and two other officers were on Skinner's Butte overlooking the city when they saw a dull glow, in: the sky at 5:20 a. m., time of the blast. They said it seemed to be directly overhead, and thus might have been a re flection. Hong Kong Freighters Target of Nationals Hong Kong (U.R) Nation alist Chinese warships fired on two Hong Kong registered freighters today in the Formosa Strait, the British Navy an nounced. The two ships,, the British owned SS Westway, and the Taiseung Hong, both radioed they suffered no damage or casualties. : The Westway, a 3,538-tpn freighter owned by the Western Steamship Company, radioed it was under attack off Amoy. The British Navy said a war ship was immediately dispatched to aid the Westway. Policeman Arrests Brother for Burglary J Newport, Ore. (U.R) A state police officer ; yesterday was forced to put his job ahead of his heart, when he arrested his youngest brother on a charge of burglary. ' Everett Hockema, state police officer stationed here, arrested his . 17-year-old brother, Virgil, of Alsea, for the burglary of a service station at Alsea. . The youth was turned over to the officer by another brother, Lloyd, who , discovered seven new tires in an outbuilding on the Hockema place following the burglary. - i 0 States Believed Equivalent To 40,000 Tons of TNT But unofficial observers who have witnessed all or most of the blasts during the past five years of testing here estimated it was equivalent to approximately 40,- uuu tons of TNT. comriared tn the 25,000 ton rating accorded j the Nagasaki and Hiroshima de- ' An explosion unofficially cal culated at around 50.000 tons two years ago in March, heftiest known-of all tests, was sighted luuo miles away m Montana. 35ih Atomic Blast Today's blast was touched off ' right on schedule at 5:20 a.m. (PST). It was the 35th detonation in the five years of testing at tne .Nevada site and the, 36th inside the United States count ing the first A-bomb of all time ' at Alamagordo, N.M. , Although troops and airmen participated in today's test, get ting their schooling in the aee ; of nuclear warfare, the shot ap parently was far too strong to be of use.on a tactical-size weap on in the close quarters of the '. battlefield. . ' Guilded Missile Warheads ' ' . The AEC is known to be test ing warheads for guided-missiles, including the entire ranee ud- ward from "baby" tips for the noses of air. to air, ground to air and other smaller ( missiles nil uuii 1,3 if nitypr nnps rnar ran be hurled from , off-shore sub marines, or even across oceans when such missiles are per fected. So strong was today's explo sion that its shock- wavp "npr- .. IT - 1 t 1 ' . - i-tpnuij. aiiuuA a uuuse ill oitib - Lake City, 370 air line miles , away. Shock waves have erratic ' ways- of bouncing off atmos pheric layers and hitting the Earth. But this distance is one of the greatest ever recorded un officially from any Nevada test. Soldiers Get Baptism , Some 600 soldiers and airmen ; in 103 warplanes got a baptism of nuclear warfare in this test. The soldiers, from the Camp Desert Rock "housekeeping" unit that maintains and guards the Nevada Proving Ground, crouched in trenches; nearly three miles away from -ground zero beneath the tower. When the fireball had rolled ; itself into the mushroom cloud and disappeared and the area : was marked "safe" by radiolog ical monitoring teams an hour later, the troops moved into the area in a simulated maneuver. Planes in Battle Plans ' Overhead, fighters and bomb-' ers from the Air Force, Navy : and Marines, took part in var ious battle plans or went to work checking radiation in the mushroom cloud and charting its , course. The AEC announced that the test was successful and that there were 'no casualties. Numerous small fires were ; visiblfe'from the control point. dotting the desert among the various test equipment that was subjected to the blast. Dust Covers Area A pall of dust and smoke ; seven miles long and five miles ; wide completely blanketed Yuc- ' ca Flat an hour after the ex plosion, another indication of : the power of this "granddaddy" bomb. The mushroom could hit an officially calculated height of . opposing upper strata winds and torn apart, the lower part head ing almost due west and the up per portion east. The lower section, at 20,000 feet, was expected to pass over California and out into the Pa cific Ocean between 5 p.m. and , 8 p.m. (PT). The upper portion . rolled across Southern Utah and Colorado at 40,000 feet and was expected to cross Southewestern Kansas and the Oklahoma pan handle within 24 hours. DOW JONES AVERAGES New York (U.R) Dow- Jones final stock averages: 30 industrials 416.84 off 2.84 20 railroads 153.08 off 0.44; 15 util ities 65.25 off 0.27, and 65 stocks 156.11 off 0.81. Sales today were about 2,630,000 shares, compared with ; 2,770,000 shares traded Friday.