Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989, July 10, 1955, Image 1

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Medford mail tribune., July 10, 1955, Image 1

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Newspaper Page TextRecommended WEATHER FORICAIT: rarttr eiendy and cool tonday; Ineremsini cload lness Sunday aisht and Mob- . day; high today 75; low to night St; high. Monday about M. ' - Temp. Highest Yesterday .,.7 Lowest Yesterday Memlng T T 11 vjb. YesUrday . He Feature stories B th, dec tkm scheduled FrMar by Med ford and Kogae Rtvcr Valley Irrigation district, and en the opening of the YMCA summer camp a Diamond lake, appear n Page 12 of today' Issue of The Hall Tribune. Ufiited Press hull Uused Wire) MEDFORD, OREGON, SUND 50th Year 28 Pages Price 5c No. 94 FUR nn vl juImJ iTRIBUIE , Unlfd Praaa Full Lsmd Wlra . o , toe FDOE r - AMI TOPS i i . if 1 t.' IT SpeecCa Lby LPtresSdleinit Gftpecteoi To (LDiultDDinie 0J.S. Addhs aft (Eeoneva Washington U.R) President Eisenhower will voice his hope for accomplishment toward world peace at the Big Four Conference in an address to the nation Friday night shortly be fore leaving for Geneva. The nationally-televised and broadcast speech, regarded as a strategic master stroke, will serve to put Russia on notice re garding American aims and Mayor Disappointed By Defeat of Two Measures by Voters Mayor Earl , Miller said Sat urday he was "very disappoint ed" residents in about 3,000 acres east, south and west of Medford rejected Medford's in vitation of annexation, and was "disturbed and .. shocked", that Medford residents defeated a proposed city budget $66,510 over the 6 per cent limitation. - ' Mayor Miller expressea nis disaoDointment in a statement ' read at an adjourned council mMtine vesterdav noon, when votes cast Tuesday in three elee tlnna in and around Medford were canvassed. - The entire text of Mayor Mil ler's statement appears on Page 3 of today's Mail Tribune. Residents in South Medford rejected annexation by a vote of 518 to 96, and Medford res idents defeated a budget pro posal by 636 to 207 votes. Bal lots cast on the tfiiror election which was in Laurelhurst addi tion also were canvassed. Laur elhurst addition residents voted in favor of annexation 24 to 19. The council yesterday adopt ed an ordinance annexing Laur elhurst addition, but a 20-day period must lapse before an nexation becomes effective 'to .iimir time for a referendum. No one appeared at a public hearing on the proposal yester day. Public hearings on annexation smith Medford was tabled indefinitely, and a public hear inff on Medford's 1955-56 budget was postponed until an adjourn ed meeting Wednesday nigui. Warkina on Budget ritv Manaeer Robert Duff said he wished to discuss with department heads deletions nec essary. Some $66,510 will be trimmed from a budget recom mended by the citizens budget committee. The council also directed City Attorney Frank Farrell to sub- mit an opinion on what Med ford's participation would be in any Metropolitan Sanitary Dis trict authority, if one is form ed. Mayor Miller expressed ap preciation for support of both the budget proposal and annex ation by the Mail Tribune. Polio Foundation Foe Fined on Mail Charge Miami, Fla. (U. A long time foe of the National Founda tion for Infantile Paralysis has been fined $1000 in federal court - here for sending scurrilous mat ter through the matt. Duon H. Miller attacked the foundation by mailing out mat ter under his Polio Prevention Inc. The organization was fined an additional $250 fine. . Judge Emett C. Choate placed Miller on probabtion for two years and barred him from mail ing out material dealing with medical questions. , - Siskiyou County Suffers Worst Drought in Years Treka, Calif. (U.R) Siskiyou county is suffering its worst drought in 55 years, county farm adviser M. V. Maxwell said Sat urday. , ' Maxwell said the Yreka area, in California's northernmost county, has had only 7.08 inches of rainfall to date this year. The normal rainfall is 17 inches. He said it was the county's driest year since the turn of the century. Yreka city officials have been forced to curtail the dom - estic use of water for the first time in yean. hopes and yet warn the Reds against expecting appeasement, After Paris Session The speech will be made after Secretary of State John Foster Dulles meets in Paris earlier the same day with British Foreign Secretary Harold MacMillan and French Foreign Minister An toine Pinay. The President will talk from 6:15 to 6:30 p.m. (PST) over all television and radio networks and then' will take off for Geneva at 10:30 pjn. (EDT) aboard the Presidential plane, the Columbine. He will arrive there at about 4 p.m. (EDT) Sat urday . In announcing the broadcast, the White House said Saturday the President "will indicate some of the world problems he expects to come under discussion in the conference and describing his hopes for accomplishment there." ; The White House did . not say what problems the President ex pects to be discussed in the con ference which begins next Mon day and may run five days. However, "the United States ex pects that - the unification, of Germany, disarmament, atomic and hydrogen weapons, the So viet satellites, and International Communist efforts to undermine the free governments will come up. In laying the groundwork for British - American-French unity at the meeting with ; Russia, Dulles will meet Saturday in Paris with representatives of the 15 North Atlantic treaty powers to review aims and hopes for the conference. ; ... White Trial Set To Start Monday The trial of Bernice Hampton (Tex) White, 37, of 228 Harley rd., is scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow in circuit court. White is charged of first degree murder in the death of Eugene Raymond Birk, 32, Phoenix. , . Birk died in an Ashland hos pital last March from head in juries. White is charged with striking Birk with a two-by-four piece of lumber. ; The trial has .been delayed pending rulings on various de fense motions and, because White was hospitalized follow ing an emergency appendectomy shortly after he was jailed. Six Persons Drowned In San Joaquin River Modesto, Calif. (U.R) Six persons including two infants were swept to their deaths Saturday beneath the swollen waters of the San Joaquin river in a tragic human chain. Sheriffs deputies at the scene some 12 miles west of here said the victims, members of two Decoto, Calif., families, were pulled under the swift, muddy waters at an isolated bathing area when the children lost their footing. , ' ' j The victims were identified as Trino ' Hernandez Ramirez, 26; his two children, Peter, 3, and Mary, 2; and three sisters, Gloria Villa, 7, Henrietta Villa, 15, and Santos Villa, 18. By midafternoon only two of the bodies had not been recov ered, those of Peter and Santos. . Letter by Einstein Warns World of A-Wcapon Danger London (U.R) Albert Ein stein joined posthumously with seven other scientists Saturday to warn that the human race stands "in imminent danger of perishing '. agonizingly" unless peaceful means are found for settling all world disputes. . The warning was disclosed at a press conference held by Bert rand Russell, world-famed phi losopher and long-time ; friend of Einstein. - ' v ' " - " Must Renounce War -' - The statement said it was not enough merely to outlaw nu clear weapons, but that war it self must be renounced if the world is to survive. Five of the statement's signers were nobel prize winners. Sign ing of the plea for world peace I JL . o w - mKT T aJ '--vrii ' . . - c NEAR END OF BLAZE By 7 p.m. Friday, the Medford Furniture store fire was mostly under control:- 'A small por tion of the huge crowd is shown above, as well as the some thousands of feet of hose which were in use. At right, the Three Turncoats Reach Hong Kong In Good Spirits Hong Kong, Sunday (U.R) Three American turncoat GI's returned to the free world today after a disillusioning year-and-one-half in Communist China. The dishonorably discharged soldiers crossed the border into this British crown colony at 2:12 p.m. InCbina 18 Months The three former prisoners of war had gone behind the Bam boo Curtain at the end of the Korean War rather than return home. After 18 months they said they had had enough and asked permission to leave, even though they face' possible prison sen tences in the United States for collaborating with the . enemy during the war. " - The three are William A. Co wart, 22, of Dalton, Ga., Otho G. Bell, 24, of Hillsboro, Miss., and Olympia, Wash and Lewis W.' Griggs of Neches, Tex. They were met at the border by Immigration department of ficers who took them to Hong Kong. , The men seemed happy as they crossed the border- from Red China. . .The three, who had been given permission by the Communist Chinese to leave, all were smil ing when they arrived. Three Cross Border Bell was the first across the border. He wore a cheap foreign suit. Cowart came next, wearing black boots, white trousers and a white shirt with no tie. Then came Griggs, carrying a small bundle on his shoulder. c British officials immediately informed - the three that they could not stay in Hong Kong indefinitely. American officials, are Expect ed to issue one-way passports to the men, allowing them to pro ceed only to the United States. (See Story on Page 6) was one of Einstein's last acts. Einstein's theory of relatively unlocked the secret that opened the way to manufacture of the atomic bomb. Before his death at Princeton, N. J., last April 18, he frequently had voiced his regret that a dis covery of his had led to one of the most fearful of all weapons of mass destruction. Might End Human Race "The best authorities are unan imous in saying that a war with H-bombs might quite possibly put an end to the human race," the appeal said. "It is feared that if many H bombs are used there will be universal death the men who know most arc most gloomy." JJ. j aT" f&tiL. ---r! . ... DESTRUCTION SHOWN The picture above, taken Saturday morning, shows the 'extent of the destruction caused on the second floor of the Medford Furniture store during the Fisherman Admits Send Series of Fake SOS Messages Mineola, N. Y. (U.R) A 21- year-old fisherman said Satur day he was "showing off a little too much", when he became a 20th century "boy who cried wolf" by sending out a fake SOS that launched a $50,000, 30-hour air and sea search for a non existent sinking boat . carrying 21 imaginary men. A government spokesman charged the hoax could have re sulted in "a great many deaths." Too Many Beers Thomas Maldona, admitted he sent ,a series of dramatic mes sages calling for help but blamed Sports Bulletin Washington Cheney Studs , dumped the Medford Cheney , Studs I to 2 here last night, The Washington nine collected only -four nils but three ware for extra bases and they com bin ad them with errors, walks, sacrifices, a wild pitch and stolen bates for runs. Jack Cooney tripled for Medford in the fifth frame and scored oa a wild pilch. He got on base on . an . error in the ninth and tallied on , Derald Wooton's. safety Terry Mad dox socked the only other Medford hit off Pitcher Ron Geiger who sjtruek'out 14.' Moscow (U.R) Soviet Pre mier Nikolai A. Bulganin Satur day promised a speedy reply to Britain's proposal to give the Soviets guarantees against ag gression to allay Russian fears of a free and united Germany. aerial ladder truck is shown pouring water on the fire from above. At one time 12 streams of water were in play on the blaze, creating a big volume of water on the upper floor, some of which can be seen cascading out the front door of the store, creating a gutter-high pooL (Brainerd photo).. .. " Friday afternoon fire. The picture was taken from the roof of the next-door Newberry's ; store. (Other fire pictures on Page 13). . -' (Brainerd photo) it all on too many beers. His skills as a radio operator brought out five boats, three air planes and 150 men on a 4,000 squ are-mile Atlantic ocean goose chase. "Sure I knew what I was do ing," Maldona said.. "I want to show my pal a radio. I guess' I was showing off a little too much. . :. "We had a couple of beers. That's what did it." Later in the day, another pos sible hoax-sent air and sea units searching a 1,200 mile area in the Atlantic1 off Savannah,. Ga., for a "tug" that allegedly sent a distress signal. The Coast Guard called off the search, for the tug "Betsy, Lee" four hours later "for .lack' of further infor mation." - ' r: -'-'. - ' Picked Up Message Marine operators ' In South Carolina and Florida picked up the "Betsy Lee's" distress mes sage at 11 ajn. - Nothing else was heard from the ship and no evidence was found of a sinking at sea. Also, no tug named the Besy Lee was known to be oper ating in the area. Maldona-and his "pal," George Teen, 17, were arrested Friday and appeared in district court here today on burglary charges for breaking into a boat to send out their fake call for help at 2:15, a.jn. Thursday. They will be -arraigned in fed eral court Monday on charges of unauthorized use of a radio. Messages From Ship Maldona readily told District Judge John Daly about the escapade, but then said only: "I didn't realize what wu happen ing." ' ' -; . The pair . perpetrated their hoax, from a 30-foot boat tied up at a pier at Oceanside, Long Island. They sent out a series of messages, reporting that the fish ing craft "Blue Star" had struck a log and that a boiler explosion had followed. They reported the "Blue Star" was swept by fire but that in the nick of time a foreign submarine surfaced and saved all aboard. Celebration of Centennial May Be 'Little World Fair' Portland (U.R) Oregon's 1959 Centennial celebration may take the form of a regional "Little Worlds Fair" at Portland if recommendations released Saturday by. Stanford Research Institute are followed. Would Cost $15,000,000 - .The institute said in its report to Gov. Paul Patterson and the 40-member Centennial commit tee that a regional fair would cost about $15,000,000 and should draw 5,000,00 to 7,000,000 visitors in its 120 to 150 days of life. . The research group estimated that-fair crowds would spend at least $20,000,000 on the grounds and another $40,000,000 in Port land and other Oregon cities. To .make the fair financially feasible, the -report warned, it should be tied into the new $8, 000,000 Portland exposition-recreation center and should be heavily supported by city, coun ty and state interests. f ... M sssssss. mm- ' mmm A spectacular fire gutted the second floor of the Medford Furniture store building Friday evening, causing damage unoffi cially estimated at well in excess of $100,000. The blaze, which was reoorted at 41 pjn., caused one of the worstSraffic snarls in Medford's history as rush-hour traffic was tied up. -All' Firemen Out . Every available fireman. was called out,, and. off-duty police officers were summoned to help control the traffic- and the crowds of onlookers, totalling in the thousands.;" Two firemen were overcome by smoke early' during the two hour blaze. Both returned to the Job as soon as they had . recov ered. A volunteer fireman. Frank Lear, was taken to a hospital to have stitches taken in a cut on his hand.. Dense clouds of acrid "black and yellow smoke billowed up from the fire, at the corner of Bartlett and Sixth sts., for al most two hours. It was visible for miles,, and residents of the Old Military, rd. west of here said the rising flames could be seen from there. Cause Undetermined Fire Chief Gordon Barker said the cause of the fire is as yet undetermined pending further investigation. . The blaze- started in storage rooms on the second floor, in the corner away from the street. It gave the appearance of being fairly small at first, and firemen attempted to control it without iiooc However, cniei Barker said the flames got into the attic space under the ceiling, gaining good headway. . The type of material afire, he said,, included synthetic fibers, rubber and wool,, which com bined to create smoke an ordinary-mask cannot handle. The oxygen in the room was almost completely gone, he said. It was Tree Assessment Members of the ' Jackson county board of equalization will go to Salem Monday to con fer with state, tax commission officials concerning assessment of orchard and shade trees. The board was to have met with the commission Friday but the conference was postponed by the state group. Board members including County Judge Rodney Keating, Ralph Cook and Arnold Bohnert are to leave by plane for Salem Monday morning. . Discussion will concern the recent commission . order in structing the board to assess trees in the county and have them on the tax rolls by .Aug. is. . . :.: ., . Saigon, Indochina (U.R) Counter-attacking Laotian para troops Saturday reported they had recaptured "many" positions seized by the Communists in the eastern jungles of the Southeast Asian Kingdom." ; Staging the fair would require at least 300 acres, including room for a coliseum and parking space for 20,000 cars. At fair's end, Portland would be left with a permanent exposition park valu- ued'at between $11,000,000 and $15,000,000 depending on how much state, regional and federal agencies spent on permanent buildings. : :i . : Back Regional Plan . General Committee Chairman James A, Mount said the re search group recommended a regional fair rather than an old- type worlds fair on the basis of comparative studies of other fairs. : Competitive fairs at Cleve land, Houston or Miami in either 1959 or 1980 would not hurt the Portland fair, the report said But it urged coordination with Seattle, Wash., which has tenta tive plans for an Alaska-Yukon- Padfie Exposition in 1999. Meeting Monday mum then the firemen were overcome. Flashed Across Room V . When windows were broken, admitting fresh air, the fir flashed across the room in sec onds, cutting off several firemen briefly, and giving rise to rumors that one had been trapped. As it spread, firemen were unable to retrieve hoses stretched up to : the second, floor along: the in terior ramp, and Chief Barker -said losses of hose, nozzles and other equipment would amount to $1,600 or more. When the firemen were driven -from the second floor,' they then concentrated on saving the down stairs portion of the building, and nearby structures. No re ports of any damage elsewhere had been made Saturday; at ' though burning embers were driven over a wide area by a fresh breeze, some of them as far away as Montgomery-Ward' and Company.- Businessmen in the block, in- -eluding John Moffat, principal owner , and manager of Mann's ' Department store, spent the two hours of the fire on the roofs of their - establishments, stamping out sparks and wettting them down with garden hoses. 12 Streams of Water At the height of the fire, as many as 12 separate streams of high-pressure water were count' ed . pouring in to the building, creating a tremendous weight of water on - the second floor which "almost miraculously" held up. The street was gutter high in water" at one time. Damage to the downstairs portion was confined to water and smoke damage, except in one small area wheimBttf easts" were burned. Much of the fur niture was moved before the fire gained headway. The Wakefield : Drapery s'hop, on the second floor, was a total loss. Younger Appliance company next door sustained some smoke and water damage, but was untouched by flames. Newberry's was protect, ed by a firewall and no damage there was reported. Most of the clerks in the stores of the block were evacuated be cause of the smoke which swirl- ' ed around the area. ' Two or more air lines planes circled the business district sev eral times during the blaze, apparently to allow their pas sengers to get a "bird's eye view" of the fire; . ' - ' The worst of the blaze was out by 7 p.m., leaving scattered small flames and embers to be mopped up during the night by firemen. On-duty men stayed throughout the night, while off- duty men. were sent back to get soma sleep. Theirs was the Job Saturday of cleaning up equip ment, drying hoses and complet ing inventories. - : . Thirteen on-duty firemen, 19 off-doty men, 11 , volunteers and tne tire enter ana are MTani were at the blaze. A number of non-firemen assisted in hauling hoses and other tasks. Thro or four men from the water, depart ment and several from other city departments also assisted. Chief Barker said. . Central Point Stands By As most of the Medford equip ment was in service, a call to Central Point brought equipment from there which stood by at the main fire station. In addition, hose was loaned by the Central Point department. . California Oregon Pow e r company men arrived shortly after firemen to cut off power from live wires which dropped from the building. ; As the fire came under con trol, firemen were served with coffee through the cooperation: of downtown business people, including Snider's dairy across the street, TnS&c, heavy at that hour, was snarled as fire equipment came to the scene, and was tied . up further as traffic lights went off temporarily as switches were -cut All available policemen, ; deputy sheriffs and some state, officers cooperated in setting up traffic by-passes which got the flow going again. Manager and part owner of th store is Robert Rector, 200 Val ley View dr. The firm is one of the largest of Medford's retail establishments. It was understood Saturday -that plans are being made to re build the 33-year-old- building, which is owned by William Hansen.