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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 19, 1955)
0 s 01 Jfl 2) it o WAVE COAST By UNITED PRES A bone-chilling cold wave gripped the nation's midsection today and spread southeastward into the Ohio Valley. Tie temperature dropped to 45 degrees below zero at Bern idji, Minn., this morning, tieing the all-tirne December low there Winter, officially due Thurs- day, was staging a coast to coast preview. At least 24 deaths during the week end were attributed to the weather. It was so cold at Minneapolis that traffic lights froze, remain ing red or green until crews could repair them. The "temper ature at Minneapolis hit 21 be low, a new record for the date. At St. Paul, water froze in a fire hose last night as firemen fought a blaze. Gales Lash Pacific Gales lashed the Pacific coast and small craft warnings were displayed along the Atlantic coast from Block Island to Cape Hatteras. Cold wave warnings were is sued for New York State, Penn sylvania, Ohio Valley and West Virginia as the frigid Arctic air mass moved southeastward. Plunging temperatures were forecast for today throughout the Middle Atlantic states and as far south as Tennesee. Twenty persons were trapped In a wooden apartment building at San Francisco near the Cow Palace when wind ripped the roof from the buildirifc. They were rescued by firemen and none was reported seriously in jured. ' Wind gusts in the San Fran cisco Bay area (reached 63 mph during an intense storm that swept the Pacific coast north ward. An inland fog in South ern California was blamed for three traffic accidents that kill g) five persons. Heavy rains fell in Northern California and heavy snows cov- Man Spends Night In Woods For Tree One Medford family will doubly appreciate a hard-earned Christmas tree. Early yesterday afternoon a party of four including Allen a Hatfield, 32, of 111 Elm st., went Christmas tree cutting in the Butte Falls area. All but Hat field returned. Other members of the party reported that Hatfield had been lost to the Butte Falls ranger sta tion about 6 p.m. Because of darkness, no search party was organized last night, but rangers and sheriff's deputies planned a search early today. About 10 a.m. today, Hatfield was located, apparently suffer ing no ill effects from his all night outing in the woods. " Forest rangers said Hatfield got his Christmas tree. Defense Authority Curtailment Eyed Washington (U.R) Congress will be asked to curtail the De fense Department's authority to buy goods through secret, nego tiated contracts. Chairman Carl Vinson (D-Ga.) of the House Armed Services Committee made this plain Sun day in accusing the Pentagon of a "shocking" abuse of military buying procedures. He said the Defense Depart ment has virtually scrapped open, competitive bidding in fa vor of negotiated contracts. As a result, he charged, an unneces sary $3,650,000,000 of the tax payers' money was spent on military purchases during . the past Zvz years. That much money shaved, Vinson said, would have been almost enough to balance the government's budget. Six Theological Schools Receive Gifts From Rockefeller Philanthropic Arm New York U.P.) Gifts of $10,375,000 to six interdenomi national theological schools and the American Association of Theological Schools were an nounced today by Sealantic Fund, Inc., a philanthropic arm of John D. Rockefeller Jr. The grants are the first from ( 820,000,000 gift to the fund made by Rockefeller last Janu ary "to strengthen and develop theological education in this country." Benefioiaries are Vanderbilt NATION; HARD HIT ered areas of- the Siskiyou and I Sierra Nevada mountains. South of San Francisco at Linda Mar a school roof was blown off. Several store wind ows in San Francisco were shat tered by the wind and some areas were darkened by power failures when lines were snap ped. Three television stations were blacked out. The northern tier of states from Wyoming east to the Great Lakes suffered with falling tem peratures and snow. Light snow fell over Wyom ing and the higher mountains of Northern Colorado. The mer cury fell to 3 below zero at Sheridan, Wyo., and 16 degrees above at Akron, Colo., at noon yesterday. More than 80 inches of snow has fallen at Houghton, Mich., this season for a new record. There . was 66 inches of snow on the ground yesterday. Parts of Northern Minnesota measured 25 inches of snow on the ground. Portland Snowfall Begins To Melt; Rain Turns To Ice Portland (U.R) Hopes of Portland children for a White Christmas were at least tem porarily dashed today when a Sunday snowfall began melting but old man winter, who arrives Thursday, might have some sur prises in store. Some of Oregon got part of a windy Pacific storm that struck during the week-end with wind gusts up to 60 miles" per hour reported on the coast and 2.83 inches of rain recorded at Capo- Portland received an east wind, Blanco in a 24-hour period. But a coat of snow and then freezing rain Sunday. By this morning the snow was melting in most sections although there was some freezing rain in high areas and in the Columbia gorge. Willameile Rain Freezes Freezing rain was reported yesterday in parts, of the Wil lamette valley and from Port- lantd to Astoria. Rainfall was widespread over the rest of west ern Oregon. North Bend had 2.02 inches, Astoria 1.21, New port 1.44 and Eugene 1.36. Mod erate to substantial rises were forecast for western Oregon rivers, which all were well be low flood stage early today. Vancouver, Wash., public schools and Clark Junior Col lege were closed today. The weather man indicated that the worst was over for the time being with some snow and frozen rain forecast in the north part of eastern Oregon and Train elsewhere through Tuesday. Traffic Hailed A heavy coating of ice was be lieved responsible for a 66,000- volt Pacific Power and -Light Company line which fell across the Pacific Highway at Albany yesterday. Traffic was halted for about half an hour, and a large area went without power, while linemen patched the break. A 12,000-volt power line in northeast Portland failed this morning, because of icing condi tions, leaving hundreds of cus tomers without power. Service was all restored by 8 a.m. Army Convoys Pass ' Through Medford Convoys of second infantry division vehicles returning from Operation Sagebrush in Louisi ana to Fort Lewis, Wash., passed through Medford yesterday and today. The convoys, which will to tal 539 vehicles, will continue for two more days. Sunday, 171 vehicles passed through the city, 100 vehicles today, 98 will go through Medford tomorrow, and 170 Wednesday. School of Religion, Nashville Tenn.; Federate Theological Fac ulty of the University of -Chicago; the Pacific School of Re ligion, Berkeley, Calif.; Union Theological Seminary, New Yor; Yale University Divinity School and Harvard University Divinity School. The funds are to be used for developing faculty, increasing salaries, new buildings and oth er program expansion. Dana S. Creel, director of the fund, said the six schools were M EDF0RD United Press Full Leased Wire 50th Year 18 Pages President Returns To Busy Schedule With Conference Augusta Vacation Due After Christmas Gettysburg, Pa. U.R) Presi dent Eisenhower, fresh from five days of rest and relaxation, dug into government business today, starting with a confer ence with Chairman Lewis L. Strauss of the Atomic Energy commission. Presidential Press Secretary James C. Hagerty said Strauss! visit would be "mostly social" but that a "few" atomic matters would be discussed. To Discuss Agenda Tuesday Mr. Eisenhower will meet at his' Gettysburg office with Dillon S. Anderson, a spe cial assistant who will discuss with him an agenda for Thurs day's National Security Council meeting at which the President will preside. Mr. and Mrs. Eisenhower will leave their Gettysburg farm on Wednesday to spend Christmas in the White House. After the holiday, again on his doctors' orders, the President will go to Augusta, Ga., for rest and exer cise in the southern sunshine. Cards in Mail Mr. Eisenhower's Christmas activities began to pick up Sun day. He and Mrs. Eisenhower got their Christmas cards in the mail and, the President, in a ra dio and television appearance, gave his Christmas message to the nation. He also touched a gold telegraph key to light the huge Christmas tree at the White House. The official White House Christmas greeting was a double folded' card on crisp linen. It bore the gold-and-white presi dential seal on the front against a royal blue background and the engraved words "Season's Greetings, 1955." Inside the card read, "The President and Mrs. Eisenhower extend their best wishes for Christmas and the New Year." The Eisenhowers also sent out personal cards which were not described to reporters. Recovery Found Excellent The . President's physicians, headed by Dr. Paul Dudley White, the Boston heart special ist, gave him a detailed exami nation Saturday and came up with the basic finding that his recovery from his heart attack was "excellent." White declined to pronounce a political prognosis for the President, saying generally that what Mr. Eisenhower does about 1956 must be essentially the President's own decision. Hearing On Service Expansion Tuesday A public "hearing on proposed revision and expansion of toll free dialing in Rogue valley by the Pacific Telephone and Tele graph company will be held at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow .in the Jack son county court room here. : The hearing was called by Public Utilities Commissioner Charles H. Heltzel. The proposed changes effect service between Medford, Ash land, Talent, Phoenix, Gold Hill, Central Point and Jacksonville. Hood River Man Held On Bad Check Charges Vancouver, Wash. (U.R) Harry Longhofer, Hood River, Ore., was held by police authori ties here on charges of passing severw false checks. Longhofer was arrested Sat urday by Detective Robert Ax lund, but he broke away and fled down a downtown street. Axlund fired a warning shot in the air, but Longhofer kept on running. selected "as strategic institu tions representing various re gions of the country and less likely to receive significant con tributions from denominational bodies who quite" understand ably concentrate their" support on their-own denomination sem inaries." Pacific will get an outright gift of 51,000,000 and $500,000 to be paid on the basis of SI for every SI raised from other sources for specific programs and needs. MEDFORD, OREGON, MONDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1 r .'Votes h Nationalists Surge To Landslide in General Election Government Pledged To Restore Territory Saarbruecken, Saar (U.R) The triumphant German nation alists announced today they would form a Saar government pledged to restore the rich coal steel territory to Germany. The three German parties, banned until last summer, surg ed to a massive landslide victory in Sunday's general elections for the 50 -'man legislature (Land tag). The election came just seven weeks after an Oct. 23 referen dum in which the Saarlanders rejected by a sweeping majority the "European statute," hand ed them by France and Ger many. Votes Add Punch The Saar is German - speak ing but French controlled since the war. The two votes added a tremendous punch to the cam paign by the German parties to restore this 900-square mile "lost corner" of Germany to the fath erland. But the German parties the Christian Democrats (CDU), the German Social Democrats, (SPS) and the Saar Democratic Party (DPS) fell just short of complete triumph. They had hoped to pile up a three-fourth majority of the new Landtag, or at least 38 v seats. They actually won 64 per cent of the popular vote and 33 par liamentary seats. A three - fourths majority would have enabled them to change the 1947 Saar consti tution at once. This would el iminate all references to the ter ritory's political separation from Germany and economic attach ment to France. And it would have paved the way for the Saar's early return to Germany from which it has been separat ed since 1945. Banded in Alliance The German parties banded together in an alliance known as the "Homeland league," (Hei matbund) to fight both the ref erendum and the election con tests. At a 1 a.m. news conference after the election results were announced the Heimatbund in dicated it would maintain the al liance in a drive for restoration of the Saar to Germany. Both Germany and France have feud ed over the Saar for centuries. (See Story on Page 12) " Nationalists Damage Communist Gunboats Taipei, Formosa (U.R) Na tional Chinese Thunder jets "heavily damaged" three 250 ton Communist gunboats today in their second straight day of attacks on vessels off the South China coast, the Air Force head quarters announced. A communique said a flight of its jet fighter bombers, while on patrol off South China coast this morning, discovered a concentra tion of six Communist gunboats, all of 250-ton class, near Tung shan Island. The patrol immed iately strafed and rocketed the vessels after the patrol was at tacked by anti-aircraft fire from the Communist ships and Tung shan Island. All Nationalist planes re turned safely to base on For mosa, the communique said. Nationalist warplanes sank two Red vessels and damaged three others near Tungshan Island yesterday. DOW-JONES AVERAGES New York (U.R) Dow -Jones final stock averages: 30 indus trials 481.80 off 0.28; 20 rails 161.42 up 0.06; 15 utilities 64.21 off 0.16, and 65 stocks 170.89 off 0.12. Sales today were about 2,380,000 shares against 2,310.,- 000 Friday. Portland (U.R) A Salt Lake City firm is apparent low bid der at S616.461 for construction of a 1400-foot highway tunnel in Oregon's Lane county. - 5" -Full Leased Wire LIFTING LOADED TRAILER .. copter handles record load at Culver City, Cal. U. S. Air Force XH-17 can handle loads of more than 10 tons, was built by Aircraft Division of Hughes Tool Co. (International) ee Men Killed ane Lincoln, Neb. (U.R) A Navy jet plane warming up at the Lincoln Air Force Base sudden ly slipped its moorings and killed three men when it ran wild at 80 miles an hour. The F9F Navy Cougar finally crashed in flames into a hangar and set it afire at the end of its rampage yesterday. It had also crashed into four planes, one of them a P2V4 Neptune Patrol bomber which was knocked at right angles. Pilot Among Dead The dead were the pilot of the jet, Lt. (jg) Vernon R. Chap man Jr., 25, Grand island, Neb.; Air Controlman 1C Kenneth Cecil Newman, 26; and Air Con trolman 3C Hubert Lee Tracy, 29, both of Lincoln. Chapman had won seven air medals as a Navy aviator during the Korean war. He had been discharged two years ago, but was on active duty as a reservist. Newman and Tracy were in the hangar when the jet crashed into it and apparently burned to death. Chapman was said by wit nesses to have tried to jump from the runaway plane. He was thrown clear when it rammed into a bomber. Air Force fire fighting equip ment and five Lincoln fire com panies were unable to save the" hangar. The wooden building housed operation, . maintenance and personnel departments for Naval Reserve operations. Authorities were unable to Road Conditions Siskiyous, Green Springs and Prospect Pavement bare, rain ing. California Motorists advised to carry chains between Mt. Shasta and Dunsmuir. Chains required on sections of Highway 97 north of Weed. Crater Lake National Park Chains advised on Highway 62 through park; Annie Springs to rim road expected to open this afternoon; 2 inches new snow; total 68 inches. Highway 101 -Closed at Hum bug park', slide. Umpqua highway One-way traffic on Highway 38 east of Reedspori, slide. Help Fight TB Byy Chrittmos Sc!iHt As 5c No. 231 y Toe V ermnioiray VAN, world's biggest heli Runs say what caused the jet to run away. Witnesses said it was warming up for a routine flight and the engine roared to "100 per cent full power" and jumped its wheel chocks. Girl Knocked Down In Crosswalk Here Jeanette Ellen Parker, 14, of 307 . Monroe st., was struck by a car at 4:50 p.m., Sunday, while in the north crosswalk at "West Sixth and North Holly sts., ac cording to city -police. She was knocked down but not injured, police said. Miss Parker told police the driver of the car stopped, took her name and address and offered to trans port her to a hospital. He was not identified. Two non-injury accidents in Medford were reported to city police over the week end. A three-car accident at the in tersection of West Main and Newtown sts. Saturday involved vehicles driven by Arthur Ruben Clement, 211 Cottage st., Her bert Gunn Miller, 216 Lincoln st., and Byron Baker Carter Sr., 611 South Riverside ave. Cars, driven by Charles Albert Langstbn, 263 Beatty st., and Carl Francis McQuigg, 533 Aus tin st., collided at the interesec tion of Beatty and Edwards sts., about 7:46 p.m., today. About 12:09 p.m., Saturday, cars operated by Berwick Lewis Wood, 2445 East Main st., and Donald Wayne Greaves, 716 West 13th st., collided" in an alleyway on West Sixth st. be tween North Grape and North Holly sts., according to police reports. Roseburg Man's Spree Ends in Big Headache Roseburg (U.R) Casey Gor don, arrested Saturday night on a drunk charge, had a man-sized headache today. He also had a broken nose, four stitches in his lip and five stitches in his head. Gordon and a friend, Charles Boyd, who was arrested with him on a drunk charge, tried to rush Roseburg police officer Charles Harcourt in an escape attempt last night. Boyd, in his report, said he sidestepped the pair, tripped Boyd and "subdued" Gordon. Officer Harcourt was a com bat judo instructor in the Ma rine Corps during World War II and a champion wrestler while in the service. Washington (U.R) The Ag riculture Department has set the 1956 raw sugar quotas for local consumption in Hawaii at 45,000 short tons and in Puerto Rico at 100,000 short tons. . Wild Weather FORECAST: Rain through to night. Showers and slightly cooler Tuesday. Low tonight 40. High Tuesday 45. Highest vesterdav Lowest this morning To 10 a.m. today Tense Gaza Strip Clash Kills Four; Rioting Reported Curfew. Clamped On Bethlehem Jerusalem (U.R) Egypt reported one Egyptian and four Israeli soldiers were slain in an hour-long clash in the tense Gaza Strip today. The neighboring state of Jor dan, torn by riots over reports its new government plans to join the Baghdad pact, mean while clamped a dusk to dawn curfew on the city of Bethlehem where Christ was born. The new Egypt-Israeli clash was reported by an Egyptian military spokesman at Gaza.- It was ihe first incident in which fatalities were reported since Egyptian Premier Gamal Abdel Nasser warned that Syria and Egypt would retaliate on two fronts against any Israeli "ag gression." Thousands of Pilgrims The first report said Israeli and Egyptian troops clashed in the Gaza Valley south of the Egyptian strongpoint. at Gaza. New trouble was breaking out in the Holy Land just as thous ands of travelers were flocking toward the shrines of Christen dom on Christmas pilgrimages. Jordan s government ordered a curfew on Bethlehem "until further notice," presumably to quell disorder spread by oppon ents of the Baghdad pact. if tne curlew continues on throughout the week, the histor ic Christmas Eve mass at the crypt that marks Christ's "birth place would have to be can celed. Riots In Jerusalem The Holy City of Jerusalem itself was rocked by more riot ing today. Israelis, watching from van tage points on their side of the divided city, said troops of the British-trained Arab Legion op ened fire on demonstrators in the Jordanian old city. The Israeli reports said riot ing took place in the Sheikh Jarah quarter of Jordanian Jer usalem and inside the old city itself. After an hour, the area was reported quiet. American Soldiers Acquitted by Army Berlin '(U.R) Two American soldiers accused by the Commu nists of attacking 'a Communist actor in East Berlin were ac quitted today by a U.S. Army court martial. The twb soldiers were charg ed with "being disorderly in uniform in a public place." Both pleaded not guilty and claimed Communist actor Wer ner Lierck called Pvt. William J. Holden, an "American swine" and that Holden knocked Lierck to the ground. Holden, of Popularville, Miss., and Pvt. Richard L. Calbert, 22, of Kansas City, Mo., were ar rested by the Reds Dec. 7 after the; allegedly knocked out Lierck outside a bar in the So viet sector. Holden said that after Lierck called him a swine the German moved forward as to hit him. The soliders' defense counsel, Capt. Melburn N. Washburn of Mountain Grove, Mo., told the court the soldiers acted in self defense. Olympia (U.R) The Wash ington Public Service Commis sion has authorized Portland Gas and Coke company to serve the Vancouver, Wash., area with natural gas. Temp. 5d 47 Prec. 21 Highway Accidents Leave Four Oregon Persons Dead By UNITED PRESS Oregon counted four persons dead today in highway accidents since Friday. Frank Earl Thomas, 2Z, cot tage Grove, was killed instantly yesterday morning when his auto crashed off highway 58 about 10 miles east of Lookout Point Dam, some 20 miles east of Eugene. State police said Thomas ap parently fell asleep at the wheel, and his vehicle failed to come out of a long turn. The auto hur tled 62 feet through the air be fore crashing into a rock and dirt wall. Betty Je&a Curl, Silets, was Gun Play Follows Argument, Logger Tells Authorities Pair Slain in View Of Seven Children Tillamook (U.R) A young Warm Springs man and his wife were shot to death at Rockaway early yesterday in front of sev en children and authorities held a 33-year-old logger here on an open charge. Dead were Donald Peecard, 23, and his 25-year-old wife, Dor is. They had three small chil dren. Held was Grant C. Bailey, a father of four children who once -was a prisoner of the Germans in World War II. Shootings Follow Fight Police Chief Delbert Walpole of Rockaway said the shoot ings followed a round of drink ing and fighting. He said Bailey was arrested when he found him without a shirt and bleeding on the street at Rockaway about a.m. Sunday. The Peecards died in Tillamook county hos pital soon after the shootings. Walpole said Bailey appeared to have been badly beaten. Wal pole said Bailey told officers the Peecards had been staying with him and that he had order ed them from his home early Sunday. Bailey's story said he waited for them at the foot of the stairs with two rifles and that Peecard pulled one of them from his hand. He said he fired with the other, a 22 caliber rifle, according to Walpole, and Pee card was hit with the first shot. He said he thought Mrs. Pee card was going for the other rifle so he shot her, police said. O Children in View Walpole said Bailey'g four children and the Peecard young-u sters were in bed in clear view of the shooting on the main floor of the house. Bailey said he had ordered the Peecards from his home after Peecard started beating bis wife, according to Walpole. Tillamook county District At torney John Hathway said Bail ey had planned to find Peecard a job in the woods. , Bailey was captured during World War II and almost died of starvation and pneumonia in a German prisoner of war camp. Sales Tax Studied For Education Use Portland (U.R) The school finance committee of the Ore gon; Education association has recommended the study of a state general sales tax to raise public education revenue. The recommendation, reach ed at a committee meeting here last week end, will be forward ed to the OEA representative council for final action next March. The finance committee also supported a proposal to attach the emergency clause to state tax measures. The proposal will be on the ballot at the next general election. Draft Calls To Lower In Next Six Months Washington U.R) Draft calls will run below 10,000 men a month during the next six months, the lowest level since the start of the Korean war, de fense manpower officials say. While draft calls are fixed on a month to month basis, the De fense Department plans to call only between 6,000 and 10,000 men a month' for the first half of 1956. Draft calls averaged about 10,000 monthly during most of 1955. Highway Landscaping Seen Traffic Safety Aid Salem (U.R) Good highway landscaping can contribute to traffic safety, Mark H. Astrup, landscape engineer for the State Highway Department, told a weekend meeting here of the Oregon Society of Landscape Architects. killed Saturday when a con vertible in which she was riding went over an embankment on a county road 30 miles north of Newport. Her sister, Mary Hed--da, was injured seriously. Three other sisters and Leonard Harris, DeLake, driver of the car, were uninjured. Adrian -Renay Erickson, 42, Sacramento, Calif., was killed Friday night in an accident near Savage Rapids dam on the Pa cific highway near Grants Pass. Mrs. Clinton van Cleef, 38, Hines, was injured fatally when her car skidded on an icy high way 40 miles west of Burns. o
