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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (July 13, 1955)
air force mm plahe o fin Pffin Lru mm mi IS In. u r INVADING THE WILD and woolly west, Keiko Takahashi, "Miss Japan,", arrives in'Los Angeles to compete for "Miss Universe" honors against girls from all na.tions.(lnternational)t MeiniitaftVSairaDfy ISecoines RHaBoii tissue Don YirSaD -ffdr u.wjer: The sanity of Bernice Hamp- ton (Tex) White became the pri mary issue this morning in the first degree murder trial now under way in circuit court wmte, 37, 01 zzb Hartley ra., Is charged with the death of Eu gene Raymond Birk, 32, Phoe nix. The importance of the sanity Issue became apparent this morn ing in the opening statement by Defense Attorney Robert Dun can. He told the jury, "We know that Gene Birk is dead, and we Vnnw that ha riied ae th result rt Kintf cfmplf nn the Vioa H tw a piece of lumber in the hands of the defendant." Three state witnesses had ap pealed on the stand by the noon Polio Makeup Shots Given: More Slated w--w-r Make up shots for about 75 first and second graders who missed second anti-polio shots in a make-up clinic yesterday will v 1 . . 1 A.OV ' -J ne neia Between o ou a.m. uiu 5 p.m. next Tuesday, July 19, in the Jackson county health de partment office in the court house, Dr. A. Erin Merkel, health officer, said today. 1 Some 139 children received second series make up shots yes terday, Dr. Merkel said, but rec ords indicate that 70 or 75 more were notified and failed to re port for the Salk vaccine shots. . The third shot, known as a booster dose, is recommended between seven months and year following second shots. These will be given by f amilyJ physicians. ... Dr. Merkel stressed the need for the second shot because one does not give sufficient protec tion. The second shot, he said, gives the degree of protection recommended for controlling polio. McKay To Report On Water Resources Washington (U.R) Interior Secretary Douglas McKay said today he hopes to give President Eisenhower by Aug. 1 a report covering the basic principles for a new national water resources TJOllCV ' - McKay is a chairman olf a cabinet committee named by Mr. Eisenhower May 26, 1954, to - establish a uniform national wa ter . resources policy. ? The report will not be a vol- iiminnm document TUtnKm airi. He said it will recommend the basic principles to be followed to carry out a uniform policy by all government departments and agencies. He said it will not go into the field ox production of power from water sources. It will go into the use and control of sur face and ground waters. Miss Oregon Contest Draws 12 Candidates Seaside (U.R) TweWe candi dates will compete for the title of Miss Oregon of 1955 at the annual Miss Oregon : pageant here this week end. The. event starts Friday night ?nd.' end3 Sunday. Represented - ' -avtv parents will be Port- r --i county, Columbia . "-. rsrver ton, Coos u - - "orest Grove Lin-r- - -.-s t- "ew'rg, Spring Leid and Willamette. - recess today, and two of them testified that they saw White strike two blows against Birk. Both identified a piece of two-by-four lumber as the weapon. Richard Dale Blunc, 24, Ash- I land, 'who was a "lineup" man for White at the Talent mill, where the attack was commit ted, told of seeing White knock Birk down with the piece of lumber, and then strike him again after Birk had fallen. William Bushnell, 25, Talent, who was working as' ah edger picker in the mill on March 2 when the attack occurred, gave substantially the same testimony, although he said he could not see whether the second blow ac tually struck Birk. I . - BoetatVTeslifie- The third witness for the state, and the first to appear on the stand, was Dr. A. E. Merkel, Jackson county health officer, who testified concerning an au topsy conducted on Birk's body, and on the cause of death. Dr. Merkel declared that death was caused by a skull fracture and cerebral - hemorrhage. He testified that these injuries ap parently were caused by one or two blows, depending upon the weapon used. - . Blunc's testimony brought a sharp exchange between Duncan and District Attorney Walter Nunley, concerning a statement taken from the witness by Dun can about 10 days after Birk's death in an Ashland hospital. Most of Duncan's opening statement centered ft r o u n d White's medical history since the age of 14, when the defense at torney said White fell from a pony. Since that time, Duncan said, White has been subject to seizures, some of them convul sive. ' '-' Had Epilepsy ''-.': White has been diagnosed as a victim of epilepsy on several oc casions, his attorney said, one of which resulted in his receiving! a medical discharge from the Ma rine Corps in 1939 only four weeks after he had enlisted. Duncan said the defense testi mony would show that White received a sharp blow under the chin through an accident with a piece of lumber only a few min utes before the attack on Birk. He added that the defense testi mony , would . showthat Birk struck or shoved -White on the chest at about the same time. ."Tests have been taken show ing White is not normal,". Dun can said. "This act is the product of a diseased mind." , - i -. Nunley's opening statement outlined the sequence -of events preceding and including the at tack on Birk, -which he said would be given in the state's tes timony. . Selection of a jury was com pleted at about '2:30 p.m. Tues day. The trial was recessed after the jurors visited the Talent mill. Brush, Timber Blaze On Klamath Reservation Klamath Falls (U.R) More than an acre of heavy brush and timber on the ' Klamath Indian reservation north of here was burned before a small forest fire was brought under control early today. '.;.:..." . '' The blaze, which . foresters said was caused by smoker's carelessness, was spotted by the Agency Butte lookout station about 3 p.m. Tuesday. A nine man crew with two power wag ons, a pumper and tractor was dispatched to control the flames. It was Klamath county's first forest fire of the season. MedfordB United PrM full Leased Wire 50th Year 20 Pages Undersecretary of Treasury Selected To Be Successor : Resignation Comes A No Surprise . Washington (U.R) Mrs. Oveta Culp Hobby resigned today as secretary of Health, Education and Welfare. President Eisenhower selected Marion B. Folsom, undersecre tary of treasury, to be her suc cessor. Mr. Eisenhower accepted Mrs. Hobby's resignation in an extra ordinary public ceremony at the White House before a crowded room of reporters and photog raphers. ' As Mrs. Hobby stood by, the President paraphrased Secretary of Treasury George M. Humph rey and bade an admittedly sad farewell to Mrs. Hobby by dub bing her "the best man in the Cabinet." Folsom, 61, former executive in tbe Eastman Kodak Co. at Rochester, N.Y., was to be form ally nominated later in the day. Praise From Ik Mrs. Hobby's departure from the Cabinet has been expected for some time. The administra tion has sought to depress the idea, voiced particularly in Dem ocratic circles, that her depar ture would be due to her handling of the Salk polio vac cine program. . Mr. Eisenhower has praised her publicly for a "magnificent" job in handling the vaccine pro gram. He said she is being forced to leave government ser vice because of the illness of her husband, W. P.' Hobby of Hous' ton, Tex., former governor" of Texas. Expresses Regret Mrs. Hobby, second woman Cabinet member in the nation's history, issued a statement ex pressing "regret" and "a deep sense of sadness" in leaving gov ernment service. Mrs. Hobby later told report ers that she informed the Presi dent in January that she would have to leave the government. Asked whether the polio vaccine controversy, which did - not be gin until months later, "forced" her out, she said, "nothing could be further from the truth." Houston, Tex. (U.R) The Houston Post announced today that' Mrs. Oveta Culp Hobby, who resigned today as secretary of Health, Education and Wel fare, will become president of the Post Publishing Co. - Mrs. Hobby's husband, former Gov. V. P. Hobby, now president of the publishing company, will become chairman of the board when Mrs. Hobby returns to Houston. Heuberger Proposes End To Auto Racing . Washington U.R) Sen. Rich ard L. Neuberger (D-Ore.) yes terday said that it is time Con gress prohibits the "bloodshed" of auto racing. . The Oregon Democrat told the Senate that "the time has come for the United States to be a civ ilized nation and to stop car nage on race tracks." He cited a number of recent fatal racing accidents, and said, "deaths on our highways are sad and tragic, but at least they are not staged for profit and for the delight of thousands of screech ing spectators." Weather Bureau Shifts from 'fair to 'Hot Medford office of the U.S. weather switched Us- predic tion from "fair' to "hot" to day ; on the heels of ' yester day's 98 degree temperature which brought - to an abrupt end a spell of ''cool" weather. The weather bureau looked for a maximum of near 100 degrees today and its forecast was "hot through Thursday.'' A maximum temperature of St to 100 degrees was foreseen for tomorrow. Thermometer at the weather station read 82 degrees at 10:30 a.m. today. There is a chance of after noon thunderstorms ia the mountains. MEDFORD, OREGON, CuaDp Cd OVETA CULP HOBBY Resignation Accepted Oil Right Leases For 12,000 Acres In County Secured Oil right leases for more than 12,000 acres of land in the north ern part of Jackson, county -have been secured, it was reported today by R. A. James, chairman of a landowners committee. They will be placed in a safe deposit box in a local bank Mon day, July 18, pending arrange ments for exploratory drilling, he said. . It was necessary ' to obtain lease agreements covering : at least 12,000-acres before Natur al Resources association, San Jose,- could agree to work on drilling arrangements. James said the leases cover more than the necessary minimum acreage. Deadline Saturday ' No leases will be accepted for deposit later than Saturday, July .16, unless mailed with a postmark dated earlier than July 16, James added. ' The Natural Resources firm will now discuss exploratory drilling operations with major oil companies. . The landowners committee has been actively investigating the proposal since early this year, and the leases have been discussed at several meetings of those interested within recent months. Elk City Water District Approved . Residents along Highway 99 between city limits, of Medford and Central; Point yesterday ap proved incorporation of the Elk City Water District. . -The unofficial vote was 38 in favor and 12 against, James Mc Goodwin, attorney for the group, said today. McGoodwin said the Jackson county court will can vass the vote soon. After incor poration, an election will be held on whether or not residents of the area should issue bonds to finance construction of water mains. - v- '.- :; ; Preliminary engineers' sur veys of the district have been made. . ... . :, ;: The district . includes both residential and industrial sites, and is the most likely area for future industrial development, McGoodwin said, because it is along " Pacific highway and Southern Pacific railroad tracks. Northwest By A. ROBERT SMITH Mail Tribune Correspondent Washington (Special) Pacific Northwest loggers are protest ing proposed new taxes on truck tires which , House Democrats have advanced as a means of paying for a stepped-up federal highway building program. Both parties are in.iavor of a new highway program, but they have been in conflict 'oyer how to finance if. President' Eisen hower proposed a plan by which revenue bonds would be issued by a government corporation set up to finance the program, with the bonds being paid off later by general taxation. I; i L ' When Democrats jumped on this scheme as a "give-away" to bankers, pointing out that for every dollar spent on road build X 1Y 13, 1955 Argentine Navy Demands Peron Be Land Army Also-Said To Favor Action Santiago, Chile U.R) The rebellious ; Argentine Navy is still insisting on the removal of President Juan D. Peron and is demanding - that he be - placed aboard ship and sent out of. Ar gentina, reports here from Buenos Aires said today. The reports were unofficial but came from persons in close touch with the situation in Ar gentina as it has developed since the bloody but apparently short lived June 16 revolution. :- These reports said the Army also favors eliminating the Peron influence but that it wishes to do so gradually. The Army is said to believe that such a policy will prevent confusion and tension which might, result were - Peron re moved now. It was learned here that evi dence came out at a Navy court martial directly linking former Minister of Interior and Justice Angel Gabriel Borlenghi with the Argentine flag burning inci dent which later was used as an excuse to desecrate Roman Cath olic churches in Buenos Aires. Catholics Accused Catholic demonstrators had been accused of tearing down the flag and burning it. Evidence was presented at the court martial of Rear Adm. An ibal Olivieri, former Navy min ister accused of leading the revo lution, that the flag burning was Lordenrf personally by Borlenghi. in xsew xorK. where be ar rived from Montevideo yester day, Borlenghi denied any con nection with the flag burning in cident ' Council To Study Trimmed Budget The 1955-56 Medford .city bud get, trimmed of $66,510, will be presented to the city council for approval at a special meeting tonight. The trimming was necessary after residents by a vote of 636 to 207 on July 5, turned down a proposal to exceed the 6 per cent limitation on budget in creases by that amount. City Manager Robert Duff has been working the past week to make the cuts, which he said will amount to an average . of about 10 per cent for all depart ments. His detailed proposals will be reviewed by the coun cil, which has the power to make last-minute changes in the bud get within the over-all limitation. A public hearing on the budget will also- be conducted during the meeting, which starts at 7:30 p.m. ' I' v ' State law requires that the budget be filed with the county assessor's office by Friday, July 15.- ' v Medford Hearing Due On Container for Pears : Salem (U.R) Two hearings will be held at Hood River and Medford this month as to wheth er Oregon apple and pear grow ers and shippers should be free to use any kind, size and style of container. ? The Medford hearing will be held Thursday, July 21, at 2 p.m. in the Medford hotel. ; Loggers Protest Pro ing 50 cents would go to invest ors -in interest" rates on the bonds, they came up with vari ous alternatives. ' Last week the - Democratic members of the House Public Works Committee; which is now working on the road bill, un veiled their own alternative for raising added road building funds. It involved increasing the federal .tax on gasoline from 2 to 3 cents per gallon, the tax on diesel fuel from 2 to 6 cents, and imposing a 50 cents per pound tax on new . heavy-duty truck tires and 20 cents per, pound on recaps. V Two. Northwest Republicans immediately jumped on this as "exorbitant' . and "discrimina tory." Reps. Thomas Pelly and Russell Mack (R-Wash.) pointed RIBUNE United Press Full Leued Wire Price 5c No. 97 GETS JC POST Thomas J. Reeder, above, Medford . attorn ey, has been named state chair man of the Junior Chamber of Commerce . safety: program, it was announced today. He will attend a meeting of the state executive committee in Salem Saturday, at which time he ex pects to be briefed in his new duties. The , appointment . was made by Ike Congelton, Port land, state JC president. ice Due Telephone Users In Applegate Area A Pacific and Telegraph com pany constructiaaproject will bring dial telephone service to more than 200 subscribers' in the Applegate valley region is well under way, it was reported today! . " 1 Jack Creager, company man ager here, said the new service will replace : present, "farmer line" service, where requested. Surveys indicate initial demand for 257 telephones by January of 1956, he added. Construction crews have start ed erecting telephone poles along 20 miles. Other work to be done includes placing 111,700 feet of aerial cable, 1,400 feet of buried cable, and 150 miles of aerial wire. Estimated cost of the entire project, Creager said,, is $147, 000. " Telephone users in the Ap plegate valley region, will have new Jacksonville numbers. ; Oveross Trial Said 'Parade of Herrings' Salem (U.R) Marion County District Attorney Kenneth Brown today accused the defense of making "a parade of red. her rings" at the trial of Casper Oveross, accused of the first de gree, murder of Ervin Kaser at Silverton Feb. 17. ' - In his closing arguments to the jury, Brown said the defense had made "much to do" about the hiring of Charles Raymond, Portland, as a special prosecutor. ; ''What difference does it make as to the guilt or innocence of this man whether I or 20 others prosecute?" Brown asked; the jury. ; , J;: Z The defense was to give its closing arguments and Judge George Duncan gave his instruc tions before the jury took the case under advisement. out that , loggers in the region would be hit hardest by this tax, even though - they "seldom use the interstate highways" which would be financed by the bulk of these funds. "Nevertheless," Pelly told the House, "logging-truck owners would be compelled to pay this exorbitant $50 or more tax on every tire purchased under this bill. .The average' logging truck has a complement of 16. tires, so that for every set of tires pur chased an additional tax of $800 or more would be assessed." "I have received telegrams from some truckers who seldom if ever use interstate highway systems that the proposed 1,000 per cent increase in the tax on tires will put them out of bus iness," declared Mack. 1 Weather FORECAST: Hot through Thurs day. Chance of afternoon thunderstorms in mountains. Low tonight (A. High Thurs day SS-109, Temp. Highest Yesterday . S . Lowest this Morning 6 Dulles Will Seek Allied Unity in Advance Meeting Secretary of State En Route To Paris Washington U.R) Secretary of State John Foster Dulles was en route to Paris today to seek Allied unity on Germany, dis armament and other controver sial East-West problems in ad vance of next week's top-level Big Four meeting at Geneva. . Dulles will confer in Paris with British Foreign Secretary Harold MacMillan, French For eign Minister Antoine Pinay, and representatives of the 15 nation North Atlantic Treaty Organization - which Russia wants to wreck. Plans Discussed . President Eisenhower and Dul les discussed their plans for the Big Four conference with con gressional leaders of both par ties Tuesday. One of those attending the conference said Mr. Eisenhower and Dulles made these points: 1. The United States will not try for "substantive solutions" to existing problems but rather will seek "new approaches" to those problems and try to inject a "new spirit" into the attacks on those problems. ' . 2.. This country will not agree to discuss Asian problems with out representatives of those countries being present. 3. From the outset, the United States will stress its desire for reunification of Germany. To Insist on Inspection v 4. It will seek a limitation of armaments but will insist on ade quate inspection machinery be cause, as Dulles was reported to have put it, "nothing can be taken on faith." : . 5. The U; S. delegation will reiterate the U. S. position that free elections should be held in Communist satellite countries, but Mr. Eisenhower and Dulles do not know whether anything can be accomplished along this line. i , 6. It was believed that Russia would press for a relaxation of restrictions on trade between the free world and the Communist countries. Melvin Glenn Wi e r. Phoenix, a driver for Medford Furniture store, told city po lice early this afternoon, that the fire which heavily dam aged the store last Friday was caused accidentally. He and Gene Wallace Laud erdale, a temporary employee of the store, were looking for a specific color of mattress in a dimly lighted storage room, he told officers, , and used matches to furnish light. He' accidentally ' dropped one. which started the fire, Wier told police. He was dictating his statement and was to sign it this afternoon. He said he has been "wor ried sick", about it ever since the fire, and was "glad it's over according to Police Chief Charles Champlin. Brattleboro, Vt-0).R) Mrs. Lucille Miller, a - Vermont . housewife, was convicted by a federal jury today of advising young men tododge the draft. "Take the case of the logging industry," Mack went on. "Near ly' all timber today is hauled to tidewater or to the mills on trucks. The -' average 7 logging truck in. the Pacific coast states is equipped with 16 to, 22 tires. These tires sell at about $100 each, plus a $5 tax." 5 "In short, the logging truck owner' who now pays a tax of $80 to $110 this is $5 a tire will be .required under the" pro posal in the Democratic .high way bill to pay a total, tire tax of $88 to $1100 truck. This is $50 a tire for 16 to 22 tires." Mack's pet peeve is that auto mobile and truck owners pay a multitude of special taxes at present which are channeled into the general fund of the U.' S. oosed New Tax Engine Suddenly Bursts in Flames, Eyewitness Says 6,000 Pounds of Jet y Fuel Said on Board Merced, Calif. (U.R) A four engined air tanker, loaded with 6000 pounds of jet fuel, crashed today a few minutes after taking off from Castle Air Force Base, killing all 11 crewmen. Air Force authorities said the plane, attached ' to the 93rd Wing, was on a routine refueling flight. The crash occurred about six miles north of the air base in a grain field near Cressey Bridge. Engine in Flames An eyewitness of the crash, Wilma Nelson of Cressey, said the plane was quite low when an engine . suddenly burst into flames. "It looked like the pilot was trying to make a forced landing in the grain stubble field.' The plane, exploded when it hit the ground and threw . Doaies ail over uie piace. A nearby rancher, R. W. Strat- . ton, said he reached the scene a few, minutes later and found most, of the bodies thrown out in front of the wrecked plane. Stratton said all the bodies "were burned to a crisp." It appeared that two or three of the men had tried to -parachute out. It looked like they ' were wrapped in partially opened chutes." A Cressey fireman,, L. H. Moyer, said his crew found one of the plane's engines about a quarter of a mile from the rest of the wreckage. "The engine was on fire and it took quite a while to put it out. I think the engme dropped -off before the plane hit . the ground." - Grain Field en Fire He reported flames from the wreckage set fire to grain stubble and burned about 20 acres. Mrs. Louise Flint, a Modesto newspaper reporter, said - the plane's tail assembly and land ing gear "were the only parts in one piece." She said "the center of the ship was in little pieces, it was just blown all over the place. I think the pilot was try ing to make an emergency land ing in the field. : -- "Firemen were hampered somewhat by the grain fire and had to fight this blaze before they could reach the plane. . "I talked with several other persons at the scene and all agreed the plane burst into flames before it crashed." Roseburg Council Hits Passenger Train End : Roseburg The Roseburg city council this week passed a reso lution declaring itself against the plan to end passenger ser vice on the Southern Pacific line between Portland and Ashland. Mri addition, it asked that day light service be added on the SP schedule in southern Oregon, as well as the nightly Rogue River passenger trains. . The city will file objections -with the state public utilities commissioner to the SP's plans to discontinue passenger service Aug. 7. ' V. .. The . council volunteered its services in a cooperative attempt with the Roseburg Chamber of Commerce to keep passenger service alive. Daughter of Pioneers, ' 96, Dies This Afternoon Mrs. Ada Walz, 96, of 3045 Bellinger lane, died early this afternoon. Mrs. Walz, a native , of Jack son county, and lived here all her life, and was the. daughter of a pioneer couple. Her hus band preceded her in death. - Conger-Morris funeral home is in charge of funeral arrange ments, which will be announc ed later. She. is survived by several relatives in the valley. on s Treasury and not earmarked specifically for road building in vestment. "These special automotive tax es, paid almost exclusively by auto and truck owners have brought into the federal treas ury more than $2 billion annu ally," Mack said. "Yet, through out the past 10 years the federal government never has provided more than $575 million in any year for . highway construction despite the fact that it was col lecting four times that amount, in special taxes from auto and truck -wners." , A showdown between the two parties in the House on how to finance future road investments is expected to be a major fight before the lawmakers adjourn for the year this summer.
