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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (March 30, 1955)
Wednesday' March 30, 19S5 MEDFORD (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNE THREE 4SiIi Legislative Assembly 'Undistinguished Host Observers Agree Biflls in Legislature Salem U.R) The Joint Ways and Means committee of the Oregon legislature yesterday ap proved a $7500 budget for the Battleship Oregon' commission. The Oregon Historical society biennium 'budget was cut from $50,000 to $43,000. Salem U.P.) The Senate Elections committee yesterday recommended that a legislative Interim committee be formed to study the Oregon Corrupt Prac tices act. Formation of the would delay action on several bills introduced during the cur rent session to change campaign laws. Salem fJ.R) A bill to permit formation of grasshopper con trol districts similar in organi zation to rural fire protection districts was being prepared to day by an eastern Oregon legis lator. Sen. Stewart Hardie of Con don said he was introducing the bill at the request of W. W. "VVeatherford, Heppner rancher. Weatherford said the grass hopper problem was serious, par ticularly in Morrow and Umatil la counties. He said Department of Agriculture studies show the area has an infestation of 14 to 28 grasshoppers per square yard. Eight to 11 hoppers per square yard will eat as much as a cow on a range, he said. A bill to allow ranchers to set ud their own districts and tax themselves to control grasshop pers would help the control fight, he said. Salem U.R) The Senate has 'passed and sent to the House I a resolution that would amend I part of the constitution which calls for the governor to receive a salary of $1500 a year. The section, which has been ignored since 1862, was part of the original constitution written in 1857. It also provides the sec retary of state shall receive S1.500, the treasurer $800 and Supreme Court Justices $2,000 each. A taxpayer in 1936 sued to have the governor's salary cut committee j Daclc t0 l,5uu, but the Mate supreme Lourt held the legisla ture could fix salaries. The gov ernor now gets S15.000. Su preme Court justices $12,000 and the secretary of state and state treasurer $10,000. Salem- U.R A measure to Increase statutory maximum pay of bar pilots was passed by the House, 33-21, yesterday and sent to the Senate. The bill .introduced by Reps Orval Eaton. Astoria, and Tho mas R. McClellan, Notsu, would increase maximum compensation for piloting vessels over a bar from $2.50 to $3 per foot draft and from 2 to 214 cents per reg ister ton. Rep. Harvey . H. DeArmond, Bend, objected to the bill, saying the Legislature was establishing maximum compensation for a private operation which he said was unconstitutional. Salem U.R) Attorney Gen eral Robert Thornton ruled yes terday it would be constitutional for Oregon to have a special election should the Legislature's tax program be threatened with delay by referendum. The opinion was given at the request of Rep. Loran Stewart, chairman of the House Taxation committee. Salem OI.R) The Senate Highways committee didn't give the green light to a measure to prohibit ambulances from run ning red traffic lights Monday, pending a study of possible amendments. Rep. George Layman of New berg, author of the measure, told a hearing its purpose was aimed at reducing number of traffic accidents resulting from speeding ambulances colliding with other vehicles at intersec tions. Irving F. Wedel. Salem Memo rial hospital administrator, sug gested that ambulances be made to stop for red lights and then to continue if traffic were clear. There are some cases, he said, where delay might cost the life of a patient. 'Agreeable, Incompetent' Tag Put on Legislature by Veteran; Governor Concurs (Editor's note: Mrs. Bren (Oliye) Starcher, society edi tor of the Mail Tribune, last week end attended a meeting of the Oregon Presswomen in Salem, and stayed over to visit the legislature for two days before returning home. Following is .her report on impressions she received dur ing her legislative visit.) Salem-4U.R) Two bills that would alter the state's school support fund's distribution pro gram were argued at a hearing before the Senate Education committee Monday. One measure would attempt to apply anticipated increases in the support fund to equalize the tax spread between different in come groups. The other would change the support plan to achieve the same end. Relative merits of the two bills were that the one would attempt to equalize the educa tional opportunities of school children, while the other would attempt to equalize the tax bur den. School officials from Portland and eastern Oregon were strong ly opposed to the proposal to change the school support formula. HUSKIES PUT IN BID Seattle (U.R) The University of Washington will put in a bid to hold the NCAA 1956 basket ball championship finals at Ed mundson pavilion, Harvey Cas sill, the school's athletic director, said today. By OLIVE STARCHER Mail Tribune Society Editor The 48th legislative assembly of Oregon, 80 days old today, will probably be written down as an undistinguished one. This is what is being said in the halls, in the press room, in the offices of state officials and at the numerous gatherings which go on in Salem during a session. One competent observer, a veteran of many legislative ses sions, said "this is the most agreeable and the most incom petent legislature I can remem ber for a long time." Newsmen listening agreed. A tax expert who has attended several ses sions said Monday morning ' practically nothing useful has been accomplished so far." Many In First Terms One reason given for the in ability of the two bodies "to get going" is the high percentage of members serving their first terms. It takes time to learn procedures and routine, and the absence of exDerienced men to fcuide the newcomers is being felt in both House and Senate. This session has also seen more than the usual number of "gar bage" bills, which prevents the legislators from putting their minds to the really important problems. Even Gov. Paul Patterson feels that things are not goin? too well. During an interview Tues day with three members of the Medford League of Women Voters, the governor remarked wearily, "This is a peculiar legis lature," and then added, "But they have had some peculiar problems to solve." The league committee discus sed with the governor his stand on HB99, which would provide state inspection of meat. The governor sympathized with the women but pointed out that he was struggling to put through even the most important points of his program. He declared that appropriations for a new mental hospital in Portland are "in danger," and added, ''I am not even sure I can get through a little appropriation of $48,000 '-m y ty " foVOGUE H52 White or Avocado In Doggie Leather ruffian... Its soft cradling leather pampers your busy feet . . . your every step is cushioned by the light, bouncy sole. In several colors in vour size .... $795 CLUTCH BAGS TO MATCH $3.95 THE CORNER SHOE STORE Central at Main Medford to put an educational TV pro gram in operation." Governor Weary Governor Patterson looked gaunt and weary, and it Is being said that Republican party lead ers are worried that he is work ing too hard. His staff is too small, some say, and he is too conscientious about his duties. Party leaders don't want Gov ernor Patterson to use up too much of his strength now, for many of them are counting on him to oppose Senator Morse in the next election, and they keep telling one another that whoever campaigns against Morse will be in for a rugged time and must be in top physical condition and in good spirits. Mrs. Frank Fairweather and Mrs. Harlan P. Bosworth Jr., official members of the league delegation, were undiscouraged by the governor's refusal to make an issue of the meat legis lation (they did. not really ex pect that he could) and returned to Medford last night feeling that the battle on HB99 is not lost by any means. Attend Committee Monday night they attended a meeting of the meat marketing and livestock committee during which a resolution was passed pledging representatives of meat packing firms to double their license fees as a means of fi nancing a state meat inspection program, providing the House ways and means committee would appropriate a minimum of 5100,000 this term. The fig ure of 400,000 first set as nec essary was said to be "unreal istic." j , Tuesday the two women talk ed to some 30 people, including Jackson county's legislators, Rep. V. T. Jackson, who kept the bill from being killed by the ways and means committee and Rep. Robert J. Steward. La bor has supported the meat bill with the statement that it is needed health legislation. Governor Patterson also told the league members that many Jackson county voters are tak ing a firm stand for a sales tax as a means of solving the state's pressing financial problems. Rep. E. H. Mann from Jackson county also said he had had sev eral letters urging him to sup port a general sales tax, and Mrs. Phillip Lowry reported that letters to her husband on tax matters heavily favor such a tax. (Senator Lowry is being praised as the most outstanding of the freshmen legislators). See Cigarette Tax Many around the State House are saying that the cigarette tax bill will pass, and that possibly the general sales tax will be come the subject of an initiative from the people after this session is closed. Monday morning the House passed four tax bills, HB238, the "skyscraper" exemption repeal and utility exemption repeal; 495, a corporation income tax to catch interstate firms; 495 which is an insurance premium tax and 520, a withholding tax increase to include farm work ers. To the voter attending the leg islature for the first time, com mute hearings are often more interesting than the actual ses sions of the House and Senate. One of the liveliest of the hear ings Monday was on SB333 and SB323, both of which would change the formula under which state school support money is al located. Of the 14 or 15 speakers this reporter heard, well over half were opposed to both bills. It is understood that Jackson county would profit from the new formula. Many Appear Appearing in favor was Cecil Posey, executive secretary of Oregon Education association, a retired professor, a PTA repre sentative and one or two other citizens. Included in the opposi tion were school board superin tendents from Klamath Falls, Oak Ridge and Pendleton, and former Senator Giles French of Sherman county, as well as rep resentatives of the Oregon Grange, labor, a citizen's com mittee of 400 Portlanders, Port land American Association of University Women. Thftse favoring the bills brought up the usual arguments of the inability of poor districts to provide standard education for their children, while those opposed said the new formula "doesn't provide equality of edu cation but only equality of Only 2 More Days Until Stark's Drawing for the New 1915 EUREKA Vaeuum Cleaner Phone er come in for a Free Demonstration in order t be eligible. No Obligation. STARK'S VACUUM CLEANER SALES & SERVICE 1 111 N. Riverside Ph. 2-4998 Peter iawfords Become Parents of 7-Lb. Boy Hollywood U.R) Actor Peter Lawford and his wife, Pa tricia, today were the parents of a seven-pound boy. Mrs. Lawford, the daughter of Joseph Kennedy, former U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain, gave birth to her first child in St. John's hospital at Santa Monica yesterday. taxes, and if we are going to equalize school taxes, why not other types of taxes," that the new formula is contrary to the principles laid down in the first state school support law, that state support is promoting in efficiency among districts and has brought consolidation, strongly proposed by the Holy report, almost to a standstill. Educators, school board mem bers and parents were also out in force Tuesday morning for a hearing on a bill which would repeal the law which makes physical education compulsory in Oregon schools. The PTA favors retention of the law. Although agreeing that it may not be perfect, some said school districts were not obeying it any way, and others said repeal or not wouldn't matter, that school districts will keep their physical education programs regardless. The director of health from the state department of education appeared upon request of the committee, and said that he be lieved the department would still require pre-school examina tions and continue its immuni zation programs, regardless of what happened to this bill. Tuesday afternoon the House of Representatives was strug gling with Oregon's milk prob lem again. Since the voters abol ished the milk-control law last election, a bill setting up certain regulations on producers and dairies has been introduced in the house, and caused lively debate. Representatives Maurine Neu berger and Elmer "Gallon Jug" Deetz both spoke in opposition to the bill which will probably come up for final vote today or tomorrow. Peak of Steel Demand Seen Arriving Early Next Month New York XU.R) Iron Age magazine predicted today steel demand "will hit its high point in April" with operations top ping 96 per cent of rated capacity. It noted "(he terrific demand from automotive companies in the critical production period just ahead." j "The car makers underesti mated strength of the new car market and are trying to make up for lost time," said the na tional metal-working weekly. "Meanwhile, the market build up is spurred by pressure from virtually every industry." Steel operations this week are scheduled at 94.5 per cent of ca pacity, up one-half point from last week. "A leveling off can be ex pected this summer," Iron Age stated. "But on a .seasonally adjusted basis it probably will indicate an improvement and continuation of the recovery movement. "There will be another upturn following the summer breathing spell. Strength of the steel mar ket rests on such a broad base that another surge is almost cer tain in the last half of 1955." Steel and automotive labor are having an influence on the market," Iron Age pointed out. "Outcome of labor negotiations remains uncertain. Odds Favor Settlement "But in steel the odds favor peaceful settlement of forth coming talks between the indus try and the United Steel Workers. "Chances are that negotiations in the steel industry will wind up with a moderate wage in crease, followed by a compen sating price boost." "Meanwhile, automotive pres sure has created tense feeling among steel consumers," Iron Age said. "Everyone is clamor ing to get his requirements on the books and from the mills as fast as producers can handle them. "This factor will pitch steel production to near-record levels before the downturn comes." Woman Sues Husband In 11th Divorce Case Memphis, Tenn. (U.R) Th odds favored marriage today at Mrs. Garnett Lee Pearson sued her husband for divorce for the 11th time of their five years of marriage. 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