i -
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if 1
ITax Commissioner (Eete Verbal .Lambasting at Oirclhiairdl Assessmnieinift IHIeairDinig IHIeire
State Tax Commissioner Sam
uel Stewart took a verbal lam
basting from Jackson county or
chardists here yesterday at a
public hearing on assessment of
orchard property.
, Stewart has declared that the
commission plans to issue, an or
der directing County Assessor
R. G. Fowler to include the value
of orchard trees in the valuation
of the land on which they are
.growing.
Reter Is Spokesman
Chief spokesmen for the or
chardists on the non-legal phase
of the proposed order was Ray
mond Reter, Medford packing
plant operator, who charged
"Mr. Stewart probably has some
egotistical notion he is going to
force this down our throats."
Reter declared that "there has
been an extreme amount of uni
lateral action by one of your
Defense Requests
Power lo Eject
Known Subversives
Bill Doesn't Mean
Nationwide Screening
Washington U.R) The De
fense Department asked Con
gress today for power to oust a
few thousand" known subver
sives working in plants essential
to national defense.
Jerome D. Fenton told a Sen
ate Internal Security subcommit
tee task force that subversives
"already identified" are known
to number "a few thousand." He
is chief of the Pentagon's Indus
trial Personnel Security Review
branch.
Fenton told newsmen later the
subversives include employees of
such industries as railroads and
utilities: as well as plants actu
ally making goods tor the De
fense Department. He said he
has no exact total figures.
Bill Approval Asked
Defense Department General
Counsel Wilber M. Brucker urg
'.ed approval of a bill. by Sen.
John Marshall Butler (R-Md.). It
would authorize the President to
br from defense facilities per
sons who might be reasonably
expected to commit sabotage, es
pionage, or subversion.
Brucker said the bill would
not mean nationwide screening
of employees. He said it would
be "usel selectively in vital fa
cilities, concentrating on known
subversives."
. The Pentagon lawyer said the
bill would not impinge" on the
rights of American citizens, since,
workers barred from their jobs
would be informed of charges
against them and have right of
appeal. ..
The bill would not cover har
bors, piers and waterfront fa
cilities. These are already pro
tected under existing law.
Californians File
On Uranium Claim
: Three tjuartz location notices,
one of them . for a uranium
claim, were filed yesterday in
the county clerk's office.
- The uranium notice was filed
by George Avgeris and Gust
Avgris, Box 63, Hilt, Calif. It
was for six claims, known as the
Ureka Mine, in the Mill Creek
mining district east of Colestin.
A location notice for a gold
bearing ledge known as Pine
Tree Acres lode, in the Sterling
mining district, was filed by
Ruby Beard, route 2, box 13A,
Jacksonville.
The third notice was filed by
Everett Adams, 1811 Orchard
Home dr., Medford. It was for a
gold bearing claim, known as
Pay Little, located in the Apple
gate mining district.
Welfare Commission
Reduces Requests
Portland (U.R) The State
Welfare Commission today cut
about 11 per cent from the total
amount of requested county wel
fare appropriations for the com
ing fiscal year.
Administrator Loa Howard
Mason said requests exceeded
money available by about $3,
500,000 and that some cuts in the
state-wide program were neces
sary. The commission approved
anDropriations totaling $28,972,-
g03. The counties had asked $32,-
454,352. The figures do not in
clude administrative costs.
Control Board's Building
Program Passed by House
Salem (U-R) The Board of
Control building program, in
cluding a $6,000,000 mental hos
pital in the Portland vicinity and
an intermediate penal institution-at
St. Paul, was approved,
in the House yesterday by a vote
of 50 to 7.
- Rep. Loran Stewart (R-Cot-tage
Grove) objected to the $10,
000,000 program as "unrealistic"
because, he said, it spread the
money too thin. He said the
oard of Control could not pos
sibly spena me o,oou,uuu iut
tJnrtland mental hospital in two
" - - Ii iJll V.
because a ait still has not
years
commissioners Mr. Stewart by
name." He also rapped the com
missioner for "setting up one
class of taxpayer against an
other," in reference to a state
ment made by Stewart and re
ported Wednesday in The Mail
Tribune.
Statement Cited
In the statement, Stewart said:
"Owners of non-orchard prop
erty should be concerned with
the problem, in that if orchard
trees as such are not assessed
for tax purposes, they will pay
a significantly greater portion of
the total ad valorem tax burden.'.'
Reter asserted that Stewart
has been a "prime, mover" in the
effort to place orchard trees on
the assessment rolls, and added
that other members of the com
mission have not been familiar
with the problem.
In explaining the background
MEDF
,rrrt
50th
Morst
Over FL.uie lo
Pick Oregon Judge
Lack of Patronage
Agreement Charged
Portland U.R) Sen. Wayne
L., Morse (D-Ore.) arrived in
Portland today on a "reporting
and checking" trip and immedi
ately charged the Republicans
with doing a "great injustice"
by delaying the appointment of
another federal judge for Ore
gon. Oregon's senior senator said
the appointment has been de
layed because "Republican pa
tronage dispensers" couldn't
agree on a choice.
"I want to make it clear that
the sole and complete respon
sibility for the failure to make
the appointment rests with the
Republican party," Morse said
on arriving here for a week end
visit to the state.
He said he would "give sena
torial clearance" to Circuit
Judge William G. East of Lane
county. East has been reported
in line for the appointment.
The senator said that his .cur- j
rent trip to Oregon is for the j
purpose of reporting, to the peo
ple and checking up on views cf
his constituents in a series of
conferences. "
He spoke at noon today at
West Linn and tonight will talk
at Corvallis. He will appear Sat
urday night at , Springfield and
will leave Sunday morning for
Los Angeles before returning to
Washington.
Lebanon, Ore. -4U.R) State
Sen. Mark Hatfield said last
night the Democrats were pre
pared to spend "half a million
dollars" to assure -election of
Sen. Wayne Morse next year.
Hatfield, a Republican, told
the GOP Women's Club here
that "it should be apparent .
that the biggest guns in' the
Democrat party are already
trained -1 on Oregon in , Sen.
Morse's behalf." He cited recent
visits of Democratie officials to
the state and the forthcoming
visit of ex-President Harry
Truman.
"And right behind the big
names will come the big mo
ney," Hatfield predicted.
Auto Goes Berserk;
Driver Dies in Wreck
Susanville, Calif. U.R) A
1955 convertible gone berserk
catapulted 165 feet on a lonely
stretch of U.S. 395 north of here
and killed its driver, David H.
Bowles, 21, Portland, the High
way Patrol said last night.
Bowles, estimated to be speed
ing "in excess of 100 miles per
hour" when he lost control of
his car, had a day-old Oregon
speeding citation in his pocket.
Capt. Robert' Blossom, Susan
ville area Highway Patrol com
mander, said Bowles' car raced
past another auto near Lively,
Modoc county, went out of con
trol and shot into the air: Blos
som said the distance ' of the
car's flight measured 165 feet.
He said it was 979 feet from the
point of 'takeoff to the spot the
demolished car came to rest.
been chosen
Rep. Orval Eaton (R-Astoria)
countered that "Oregon is no
longer in the horse and buggy
age" and had to move ahead
with its building requirements.
The House completed action
on all remaining' building pro
gram bills and sent the entire
package to the Senate. Included
was $175,000 to equip the new
dental school building in Port
land. An appropriation-was re
quired since the State Board of
Higher Education has been un
able, so far, to dispose of the
. school's old building.
of the dispute, Reter stated that
County Assessor Fowler, when
asked what he was going to do
about assessing fruit trees, de
clared he did not believe the
move was proper and that he
was going to do nothing about it.
Stewart then said, according to
Reter, that he would issue an or
der directing Fowler to assess
the trees. "I thought this was a
three-man commission," Reter
said. .
Notes Statement
He noted a statement by one
of the commissioners that the
tax commission has requested an
attorney general's opinion on le
gality of the proposed order. "In
view of the fact Mr. Stewart said
nine months ago he was going to
issue such an order and you are
just now asking for such an opin
ion this appears to be a very
strange procedure," Reter de
r AO &
tm sJte&R hi C r iN .,..
I . . i ....
ON THE BRINK OF DISASTER Only a fallen tree prevents these two men in their
powerless boat from being swept over dam on the rain-swollen St Joseph River near
South Bend, Ind. One of the men, Curtis Miller, clings to a Tope floated downstream
. from a rescue boat The other, Louis Lanthier, clings to boat and tree.
County
Budgeters
Have Few Details"?
Still To Work Out
Jackson county budgeters in
dicated today that a few minor
details remain to be ironed out
before the county budget for
1955-56 is completed. Judge
Rodney Keating said he expects
it to be ready about the middle
of next week.
The new budget" total is ex
pected to be considerably larger
than that for the current fiscal
year because of the addition this
year of $685,859.07 in O&C
funds which- will be allocated
to county school districts, and
$65,000 for construction of juve
nile detention facilities.
Otherwise Nearly Same
However, with these items de
ducted, the budget will be only
slightly larger than that for last
year, it was indicated. t
Members of the budget com
mittee are Tom Wray, Roger
Rath and Arnold Bohnert. They
meet in conjunction with the
county court, including Keating
and Commissioners Chester Wen
dt and L. G. Morthland.
The citizens budget commit
tee of Medfora reviewed the pro
posed city budget for fiscal year
1955-56 at the firs in a series
of meetings at the city hall last
night.
Budget committee meetings
will be held each Thursday night
until the budget is approved.
New Damage Suit Filed
In Drowning Accident
Portland U.R) Another dam
age action resulting from the
swamping last August of the ves
sel Mule Duzer at Bonneville
dam was on file in Federal. Court
here today. J
' The latest petition is for $100,
000 for the widow and six chil
dren of Leonard L. Boylan,
Cathlmet, Wash., who was one of
five men drowned. in the acci
dent. It brings to $245,000 the
amount of death claims filed so
far. ;
The complaint was brought
against the United States by
James L. Winton, administrator
of Boylan's estate. The widow is
Lydia Boylan. '
Weather
FORECAST: Parti? cloudy to
. night and Saturday. Cooler
- tonight with low 33. Slightly
warmer Saturday with high
' near 60.
Temp.
Highest Yesterday 48
Lowest this Morning 35
Pree. to 4:30 jn. Today .06
clared.
Question Statements
Several members of the audi
ence questioned statements by
Stewart concerning reasons why
crops such as alfalfa 'in Klam
ath county have not been as
sessed. One asked if the commis
sion is interested only in finding
"something easy to tax." Stew
art answered that this is not the
case.
The legal ramifications of the
proposed order were discussed
by Medford Attorney William
McAllister, -representing the
Rogue Valley Traffic association,
an organization of local orchard
ists. McAllister expressed the opin
ion that the question is "purely
a legal matter." "What is being
attempted is removal of the word
'trees' from the context of the
statute," he said. The attorney
united
0, OREGON, FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 1955 Price 5c No. 34
Officials
Named
Ord i nations
The Rev. George J. Davis, Sa
lem, was elected yesterday as
assistant superintendent of the
Oregon district of the Assem
blies of God.
His post is a new office cre
ated by district delegates this
week at their 19th annual con
vention here. Mr. Davis has been
field representative -for the dis
trict's extension plan. '. He will
assist the ' Rev; Atwood Foster,
Salem, the district superinten
dent. -' . -
Delegates also re-elected' the
Rev. Lester Carlsen, Springfield,
as general presbyter. He will
represent Oregon at the national
general council session in August
at Oklahoma City, Okla. -Sectional
Presbyters
Ten sectional presbyters also
were named. The ministers and
their sections are C. W. Ahalt,
Portland, 1; Thomas H. Fuller,
Gresham, 2; Levi Larson, Salem,
3; William Garner, Coos Bay, 4;
Vernon Klemin, Roseburg, 5;
John Fuiten, Butte Falls, 6; Er
nest W. Bedwell, Hood River,
7;- B. M. Shelton, Milto-Freewa-ter,
8; Willis W. Baker, Wallowa,
9, and Relna Bullock, Westport,
10.
Sunday school attendance in
Assemblies of God has shown a
consistent gain with a total of
14,306 in attendance during
1954, it was- reported yesterday,
an increase from 10,960 4n 1950.
In last night's sermon, the Rev.
Ralph M. Riggs, Springfield,
Mo., general superintendent,
noted that the Assemblies of God
now constitute the strongest
Protestant denomination in Alas
ka, with 20 churches, He stated
that there are 12,512 churches
around the world with more than
770,000 members.
Growth Cited
While the Assemblies of God
rank 29th in total membership
among denominations . in. the
United States, Mr. Riggs pointed
out that it ranks sixth in the
number of missionaries serving
abroad, and seventh in Sunday
school attendance. Some 19,712
ministers serve the denomina-
346th Patient Carried
By Mercy Flights Plane
A Mercy Flights, Inc., air
ambulance plane left Medford at
about 12:30 p.m. today for .The
Dallas to pick up a patient
there, according to officials of
the non-profit service."
patient, Mrs. Clara Brace,
was to be . taken . to San Fran
cisco, where she will receive
treatment for, a kidney infec
tion. She is the 346th patient to
be carried by Mercy Flights.
stated that the statute refers to
natural resources, such as tim
ber, and not to products of hus
bandry, such as orchard trees.
An order directing assessment
of orchard trees in Jackson coun
ty and not in other counties is
purely "discriminatory and in
valid, McAllister said. He made
the same observation concerning
any order which directs assess
ment of orchards, and not of
bushes or perennial grasses.
Same Line
The same line of thought was
followed by Robert Root, Med
ford orchardist and former state
representative, who declared
that the commission would be
opening a "Pandor's Box" which
would end in the overthrow of
the present system of real prop
erty taxation.
' The commission, Root said,
would have to go from orchards
Tribune
fress Full Leased wire
Tonig h t
tion. While - last year 517 new
churches were ' started . in the
United States, plans are being
carried out this year to begin
1,000 new churches. - .
. Tonight s . ordination . service
will conclude the meetings. The
Rev. Mr. Foster will deliver the
charge to the new ministers. Mr.
Riggs will preach the ordination
sermon. Plans will also be made
for the , location of next year's
district council.. , .
US May Send Token
Force To Formosa
Washington - (U.R) The Uni
ted States is considering the
possibility of ' moving a token
force of American ground troops
into Formosa, it was reported
in usually well informed quar
ters today.- ; ' ; '
- These sources said the pur
pose of placing such a con
tingent side by side with a U.A.
jet fighter squadron now on
Fonhosa would be to. bolster
Chinese Nationalist morale and
offset opposition to' a cease-fire
in the Formosa Straits.
The possible project was
understood to ' have been dis
cussed with Generalissimo
Chiang Kai-shek during the' just
concluded visit to Formosa by
Adm. Arthur W. Radford, chair
man of the Joint chiefs of Staff,
and Assistant Secretary of State
Walter Robertson.
Strike Authorized ,
Against Long-Haulers
Portland. (U.PJ An official
of the Teamsters union said to
day a strike had been author
ized against long:haul and, trans
fer firms in Oregon but that no
date had .been set.
" Both union and management
officials indicated negotiations
might continue ' although no
new talks were scheduled.
The current contract , expires
Sunday. . The union has . been
asking progressive wage in
creases up to 26: cents anl hour
more by 1957 plus better -vaca
tion, pension and working con
dition clauses.,
MOetiDflfl
. Washington (U.R) A Sen
ate ' highways subcommittee
approved by a vote of 6 lo 3
today a five-yeari $21,300,000,
000 highway construction pre
gxtrn' "
i bf JChMrch t i
by Delegates;
to cane berries and all other per
ennial crops. "You would be
working into a system that would
be impossible to police,' he said.
Root called upon the commis
sion to place the problem before
the state legislature so that body
can decide how far to go. "The
problem must be threshed out
thoroughly and the answer put
down in writing," Root said. The
idea of placing the matter be
fore the legislature was suggest
ed by several other speakers.
To Legislature
In answer to this, Stewart
stated that he had not taken the
matter to the legislature because
the legislature already had plans
to consider the problem. When he
later learned this was not the
case, he said, he took the matter
to a state senate committee and
was told that the law already
was clear enough.
Rep. Powell Urges
Release of Fliers
As Step To Talks
Move Would Prove
Premier's Sincerity
Honolulu (U.R) Rep. Adam
C. . Powell said today President
Eisenhower should confer with
Chou En-lai about the Far East
provided the Chinese Commun
ists first release 11 U.S. airmen.
Powell, a New York Demo
crat, stated his beliefs on the
subject on his arrival here from
Bandung, Indonesia, where he
attended the Afro-Asian confer
ence as an unofficial observer.
On Safe Ground
"On the basis of Chou's state
ment, at the conference that he
would talk with the United
States regarding tensions in the
Far East and Formosa, the Pres
ident would be on safe ground to
have a conference with Chou,"
Powell said. '
: But Powell said the first item
on the agenda of such a confer
ence should be a requirement
tht the Red Chinese premier
make a "tangible move to prove
his sincerity by releasing the 11
fliers."
Powell also reaffirmed a state
ment he made in Singapore that
a Pakistan, source had indicated
Chou would be" willing " to. re
lease the fliers if the United
States would sit down at the con
ference table.
He said he was much relieved
to learn that the President had
indicated the United States
would be willing to hold such a
conference . .
Rejection 'Too Hasty
Powell said a previous State
Department comment seemingly
rejecting' Chou's " offer was re
garded by "all our friends as
too hasty."
Powell said his idea of achiev
ing peace in the Far East en
tailed two steps:
1. A Big Six conference for
the Far East, composed ot the
five Colombo nations and the
United States to form an Asia
policy for the "first time in our
lives." '
2. The State Department
should send American Negroes
and Americans of Oriental ex
traction to embassies in the Far
East. . " - .
"We should use our 25,000,
000 colored people to prove we
aren't an all white nation,",, he
said.
Senate Passes Bill
On Obscene Comics
Salem (U.R) A series of
eight bills designed to ban the
sale or distribution of crime or
obscene comics to minors passed
the Senate today with wnai
some observers said was a sur
prising minimum-of debate.
Sen. Mark Hatfield (R-Salem)
objected to what he called the
censor-like nature of some of
the hills and said morality was
something that , should, be at
tended to through the home ana
not through the Legislature.
Sen. Paul Geddes (R-Rose-burg)
said the package of bills
would make it illegal to sell
pocket, size books with lewd,
obscene or lascivious covers on
them to minors, and 'would ban
.crime or sex comics that might
linfluence .. youth , toward crime
or lewdness. ' :
Bridge Collapses;
Truck Falls Into River. '
The Dalles (U.R) A truck and
trailer dropped into the Klick
itat river Wednesday night when
the four-year-old Wahkiacus
bridge, three miles east of Klick
itat, Wash.', collapsed. '
The driver, E. C. Miller, was
not injured.
The loss of the bridge virtual
ly isolates Wahkiacus, a small
community of about 30 persons.
Cause of the collapse has not
been determined.
: i
Medford Orchardist Dave
Lowry suggested that the com
mittee may have reached that
conclusion because they had re
ceived only "unilateral informa
tion." "I went before them and
asked that something be done,"
Stewart answered.
Difficulty Cited
Various speakers pointed out
the difficulty of assessing or
chard trees for several reasons.
These included the fact that trees
do not come into productivity
for about 10 years; that trees
reach an optimum producing age
and then decline in productivity,
and that because of changes of
desirability in various types of
fruit, orchardists must graft
trees, thus losing - another
five years of productivity. .
Stewart answered that '' "We
could solve a lot of problems by
doing nothing. However, if it is
his mm
Baseball
AMERICAN
Boston . . 0 4 0
Chicago ..... 7 11 1
Nixon, Brodowski (4), Smith
(6), Trimble (8) and White;
Donovan and Lollar. ,
State Fair Trade
Act Ruled To Be
Unconstitutional
Portland U.R) Circuit Judge
Lowell Mundorf f yesterday ruled
that Oregon's fair trade act is
unconstitutional because it im
properly empowers the Legis
lature to set prices.
The ruling was expected to
have . important ramifications
throughout the state's retail cen
ters. It was handed down in a
suit brought by General Electric
company against Rolla H. Wahle,
a Portland consumers' agent.
Fails To Set Standard
Judge Mundorff said the con
stitution prohibits-the Legisla
ture from fixing retail prices.
He also ruled that it failed to
set a standard and to guide price
fixing.
General Electric sought to en
join Wahle from advertising, of
fering for sale or selling any
appliances made by GE at less
than set by an agreement made
with Sprouse-Ritz '.company .of
Portland, which was not a party
in the suit.
The ; judge ruled the "fair
trade" agreement with the com
pany was invalid because al
tnougn an ujs retailers were
bound by the Sprouse-Ritz pact,
GE had offered no consideration
for the contrct '
School District
Vote OKs Bonds
Central Point Voters of
School District 6C yesterday ap
proved the issuance of $350,000
worth of bonds to pay for two
new school buildings.
The vote was 311 yes, 146 no.
By polling places, the vote in
Gold Hill was 89 yes, 31 no; in
Central Point 222 ys, 115 no.
The school district plans a
new four-room building at Gold
Hill for elementary students,
and a 12-room primary building
at Central Point. They were
made necessary by rapidly in
creasing enrollment totals in 6C,
which have filled every exist
ing classroom at both schools.
Superintendent of Schools H.
P. Jewttt said today that it is
hoped construction can be
started sometime in June. The
Gold Hill unit will be rushed
to completion, and may be ready
for a portion of the 1955-56
school year. Both will be ready
for the beginning of the 1956-57
school year.
Crowded, makeshift facilities
will have to be used until the
work is done.
Raft Lehi II Puts To Sea
Without Skipper, 3 Others
San Francisco (U.R) The
comic-opera raft Lehi II finally
shoved off on its 'delayed drifting
trio to Hawaii today but typi
cally , something went wrong,
the craft started its cruise with
only one crew member aboard.
Skipper DeVere Baker and
three crewmen, were late ;arriv
ing at Aquatic Park where the
Lehi -: II was moored so First
Mate Lawrence Hall of fTacoma
put to sea without them.
Fishing Boat Hired ?
RaVor: at this Doint numbed
to seiDacits, prompuy uucu
fishing boat to take him and fel
. . t i , . 41 m
low sailors William Sousa,
Crawford Hartley and George
Harris to the raft. .
At last report the Lehi, with
Baker and his men in hot pur
suit, was bouncing on the waves
under the Golden Gate Bridge
headed for the open sea.
The confusion over the Lehi's
departure, nothing new in a run
our duty to make assessments,
we've got to tackle the problem."
The importance of orcharding
to the economy of Jackson coun
ty was pointed out by Reter. He 1
noted that the industry here ships
about 3,500,000 boxes of fruit
a year, using from 15,000,000 to
16,000,000 board feet of timber
for boxes. "You are going to hit
a point of diminishing returns if
you slap another tax of $5 to $6
an acre on orchardists," he said.
Study Pledged
Commissioners Ray Smith and
Carl Chambers pledged that they
would give the question close
study before an action is taken
on issuance of an order to the
county assessor.
A crowd estimated at from 60
to 80 people jammed Into the
small courthouse auditorium for
the hearing.
Federal Troops
Score Victory
In Bloody Fight
Loyal Forces Attack
Under Heavy Barrage
Saigon, Indochina (U.R) Gov
ernment troops destroyed the
headquarters of the rebel Binh
Xuyen gang and drove its com
mandos back to a river island to
day in a great but bloody civil
war victory for pro-American
Premier Ngo Dinh Diem.
The counter - attacking loyal
troops, moving under cover of
heavy mortar barrages, . shatter
ed the rebels' main strongpoints
in a two-day battle that killed
several hundred persons, wound
ed nearly 1000 and left 100,000
homeless. ...
Diem Spurns Order
in uie wane vx nis victory.
Diem spurned an order from
Chief of State Bao Dai to fly
to the Riviera and to give up con
trol of the Army. His Cabinet
sent a message to the absentee
chief of state affirming that
Diem's presence in' Saigon was
essential and thai no one. had
the authority to replace him.
The government forces moved
quickly to complete their vic
tory over the tough Binh Xuyen
trnnnL - . .
Reliable informants said Gen.
Paul Ely, the French supreme
commander, consulted w i t h
American officials in Saigon on
a joint effort to win a cease
fire. But the effort failed when
Diem defied his Emperor and
decided the time had come to
smash the rebels.
Ia Defiance of Appeal ' -
The second day of street-fighting
in this flaming city began at -dawn
in defiance of Emperor Bao ,
Dai's appeal to the- government
and to rebellious wprlord troops
to end the battle that has re
duced the heart of Saigon to
flames,
.i The Saigon city 'health serv
ice ; announced that "several
have been killed and nearly 1,
000 wounded In the past 24 hours
of clashes.
An exact count of the dead
and wounded was impossible, of
ficials said. Corpses and groan
ing wounded littered Saigon's
bullet torn streets. A square mile
of the city was in flames and
rescue work was crippled.
Bridge Blown Up -
, The assault of the rebel head
quarters climaxed a government
base of operations in Cholon, the
drive toward the Binh Xuyen's
the Chinese sector of the city
separated from Saigon Itself by
a canal. The government blew
up the Y-bridge across the canaL
The bridge was blown up to '
prevent more Binh Xuyen rebels
from the gang's 10,000 man
forces from pouring into Sai
gon. . Rebel headquarters were
near the end of the bridge in the .
Chinese twin city.
ning saga that saw the first Lehi
abandoned off - the California
coast last summer, resulted from
threatening weather.
Original plans called for the
M. X 1 x O n 1 4-
rail 10 leave at u u.ui., uut ot&r
scanned the cloudy skies and de
layed the sailing until after 8
a.m. 1
- But apparently no one told
TTall nhont the rhanffp in nlanc.
He showed, up on schedule and
waited patiently until about 7:30 -but
when the others failed to ar
rive he got the Lehi going on
his own.
Free of Currents
Present plans called for the
fishing boat Sea Bee' to tow the
Lehi beyond the Farallon
Islands, about 25 miles' west of
San Francisco.
At that distance, Baker fig
uredthe raft would be free of.
the southerly coastal currents
that caused his first expedition
last July to end in failure.