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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 28, 1955)
o O o CLEANUP The Allman family lean to the job of cleaning up in Yuba City, Calif., after the swollen Feather' and Yuba rivers broke through weakened levees and filled their home with water and silt. Here, Mr. and Mrs. Leader of Malaya Guerrillas Meets Vith Government Baling, Malaya (U.R) Chin Peng, young leader of the Ma layan Communist guerrillas, came out of the jungle today to talk peace with government officials. They promptly dead locked over recognition of the Communist party. The 34-year-old Chin insisted that the outlawed Communist party be recognized. A com munique issued after the open ing 3Vi hour session said the government refused the demand. To Meet Tomorrow A second session followed after an hour recess and ad journed with an agreement by both sides to rneet again tomor row. The communique saia the talks were carried on in "an atmosphere of understanding?" Chin said the Communists want peace, and for that reason he said he agreed to come out of the jungle and attend the meeting at great risk. The glum-looking Chin was once a British war hero its "most trusted guerrilla" leader in the war against the Japanese. He emerged from his jungle hideout today for the first time in years and entered this small north alayan village escorted by gritish trocigE. Chin, the secretary general of the Malayan Communist partjkOand his Qwo lieutenants, Chen Tien and Abdul Rashid bin Mahideen, headed the Commu nist delegation. They met with David Marshall, chief minister of Singapore, and Engku Abdel Rahman, chief minister of the Federation of Malaya. Talk Site Guarded The talkSfegan in a heavily guarded schoolhouse in this vil lage by the Siamese border. The principles, including Sir Cheng Lock Tan, head of the Malayan Chinese association, posed for picrur for 15 minutes and then sat down for a three-hour ses- sion. ??the talks are successful,"! theyvill end one of the bitter est and oldest struggles between the Crimunists and the free world since the end of World War II. The fighting in the jungles has been long and vic ious and both sides have indi cated they are tired of it.- Bald Eagle Among Birds Counted by Medford Group A bald eagle was the most notable bird observed by a Med ford group in the 56th annual Christmas time bird count here sponsored by the National Aud ubon (gfciety. The count was conducted by Mrs. Howard Bush and the Rev. and J. Thomas McSamant yesterday. The group also reported the first local appearance of star lings. The European bird, re garded as a pest in many East ern localities, has-been increas ing ir.Qwestern Oregon during the past few years, Mr. MCam ant said. A total of 159 starlings were counted. Territory Cored Territory covered by bird watchers is limited to a 15-mile diameter circle by regulations of the Audubo'n society. The lo cal group covered Rill areas eas of Medford, other areas adjacent to the city, and valley areas along Crater Lake ave. and An telope rd. to " ankee creek. Some attention was given water fowl population in ponds, Mr. McCamant said. The most numerous species observed was the robin, with 321, Mr. McCamant said, fol lowed by 159 starlings and 158 juncos. The number of robins counted is less than last year, he' said, because they are not using ft jsg i I 7 " - SViedford B Plans Calle Plans to bring Medford into the Northwest Class B baseball league have been abandoned, it was announced today by Harry Chipman, who has been acting as chairman of the movement. Public apathy toward the plan was given as the reason for the action. "Baseball fans in this area apparently do not want professional baseball badly enough to get behind the move ment with work and money, Chipman said. Park Facilities Needed It was the consensus of opinion of the committeemen that if Med- Hale Is Returned To Grants Pass Fred Hale, 43, Grants Pass, whose light plane crashed Satur day in rugged mountain area near Black Bar lodge, 25 miles west of Grants Pass, was re turned to Grants Pass today by a Mercy Flights plane. Hale was picked up at Marial, on the lower Rogue river, by an Army helicopter and taken to North Bend where he was trans ferred to a Mercy Flights plane piloted by George Milhgan, Medford. Hale was accompan ied on the flight by his phy sician, V. E. Mikkelson, Grants Pass. According to Milligan, Hale suffered facial burns but was able to walk. ' Hale, who had flown Walter Geer to Marial, was returning home when his light plane was caught in an air current and tossed into trees, Milligan said. Hale was taken to Marial by Glenn Wolldridge, veteran river guide. A ground rescue party of loggers arrived about 20 min utes before the helicopter but it was decided to wait for air transportation. Oregon Flood Waters Involve 1,430 Families Salem U.R) Flood waters in Oregon have involved about 1430 families and 157 business organizations, the Oregon Civil Defense agency reported today The information was request ed from civil defense to deter mine the expected work load in Oregon for the Small Business administration following the emergency. roosts in the Bear creek bottom "and.' The tojal number of species listed this year is 50, six more than last year. Birds and the number observed this year are: Birds Listed Pied billed grebe 1, great blue heron 1, mallard 2, American widgeon 3; green winged teal 40, fhoveller 1, red head 1, rud dv duck 54, bald eagle 1, red tailed hawk 1, marsh hawk 1 sparrow hawk 4, California quail 68, ring necked pheasant 2, American coot 22, killdeer 1, mourning dove 26, red shafted flicker 34, acorn woodpecker 1, Lewis' woodpecker 1, red breasted sapsucker 1, Steller's jay 2. Scrub jay 30, mountain chick adee 4, plain titmouse 16, white breasted nuthatch 2, Berwick's wren 6, American robin 321, varied thrush 2, hermit thrush 2, western bluebird 59, ruby crowned kinglet 3, common starling 159, Audubon's warbler 1, English sparrow 40, western meadowlark 21, red winged blackbird 3, Brewer's blackbird 123, brown headed cowbird 44, American goldfinch 15, lesser goldfinch 6, spotted towhee 16, brown towhee 9, savannah spar row 6, lark sparrow 15, Oregon junco 158, white crowned spar row 9, golden crowned sparrow 17, fox sparrow 1, song spar row 1. Marion Allman, assisted by daughter, Caro lyn, 14, clean up the kitchen of their home. The water within the home reached a level equal to the height of Carolyn's shoulders. asstjuSI ford had adequate park facilities, backing could be obtained but too many prospective financers were pessimistic regarding the committee's plans to renovate the Fairgrounds park in time for the 1956 season, it was pointed out. Chipman said that Medford possibly could' be extended an other invitation to join the league in 1957 but he said the committee felt that if the city was to have an entry at that time, it would be necessary for the city, county, or some other group to take over the task of renovating the baseball park or to build a new one, while an other group undertook the job of financing. "The series of meetings and conversations with interested people brought out the fact that a city the size of Medford cer tainly should be represented in professional baseball, but not enough people were interested in doing something about it," Chip- man said. Summer Start Seen Needed If another invitation to join the league is extended for the 1957 season, the committee felt that starting in the summer of 1956 to develop interest, it might be possible to "sell" the valley on professional baseball if field facilities are adequate at that time. County Schools Will Open Again January 3 All county schools are sched uled to open Jan. 3, it was an nounced today by County School Superintendent Alf Mekvold. The superintendent returned to his office yesterday after conva lescence from injuries suffered in a traffic accident Dec. 15. No major damage was sustain ed by county schools in the re cent flood, he said, although some districts found minor re pairs necessary. Reports indicate that roads will be accessible in all parts of the county, with the possible ex ception to the extreme ends of badly washed areas. Work on a new well is ex pected to be completed at the Elk-Trail school by Jan. 3 and and water systems are expected Lone Pine school's new sewage to be completed soon. Russian Budget Trimming Doubted Washington (U.R) Congres sional leaders doubted today that Russia really has trimmed its defense spending budget Moscow announced Monday that it would cut military spend ing 8.5 per cent next year. But congressmen cautioned that the Kremlin "propaganda" is no ba sis for changing U.S. defense plans. "I don't think we can rely on statements that emanate from the Russian government," Sen. John L. McClellan (D-Ark.) said. "Therefore, unless we get con firmation from other reliable sources, we shouldn't be affected by her purported actions." Settlement Reached In Wilsonville Crash Portland (U.R) A compromise settlement $1900 in a S6891 damage suit brought against the U. S. government by three property owners near Wilsonville where a B-29 bomb er crashed in 1952 was approv ed today by Federal Judge Gus J. Solomon.- The property owners are Norman and Sadie Taylor and Ida Myers. They complained the bomber destroyed fences and damaged a house plus hay, grass and corn crops. The 11 occupants of the B-29 were killed after a mid-air col lision with a jet fighter which later landed safely. President Arrives For Two-Week Stay In Southern City Brother Milton, Physician on Trip Key West, Fla. (U.R) Presi dent Eisenhower flew today to Key West, the nation's southern most city, for a two-week stretch of sunshine, rest and work. The presidential plane, Col umbine II, touched down at the airport here after a three-hour, 34-minute flight from the frosty winter temperatures at Wash ington. A cavalcade, with the Presi dent in the lead in a Cadillac, crossed newly named Eisenhow er dr. at the junction of Truman ave. and Roosevelt blvd. Informal Reception The reception was almost in formal compared to the greet ings extended former President Truman during his 11 visits here. There was no reception line of city and county officials. Several hundred civilians were waiting at the end of the runway to wave at the President.. Mr. Eisenhower stepped from the plane and waved with his hat to the small crowd. Only a few clouds were in the sky. The 73-degree temperature compar ed to 28 degrees at noon in Washington. Key West's 30,000 residents started lining the route of the motorcade to the naval base some three hours before Mr. Eisenhower's plane arrived. ' Brother Makes Trip Accompanying the President, among others, were his brother, Dr. Milton Eisenhower, and his physician, Maj. Gen. Howard McC. Snyder. Mrs. Eisenhower was remaining in Washington to be near her daughter - in - law, Barbara, who gave birth to her fourth child last week. The President's decision to make the trip to Key West came as a surprise and represented a change of mind on his part. His doctors had been urging him to go south for some mild exercise in a warmer climate as part of his recuperation from his heart attack.. But rmly last week Mr. Eisenhower indicated he intended to ignore their sug gestion. At that time he informed the Key West Chamber of Com merce that he did not think he would be able to get away, from Washington this winter and that if he did, he probably would go only as far south as Georgia. What caused the President to change his mind was a mystery. 420 Traffic Deaths Over New Year's Seen Chicago U.R) Safety ex perts feared today that the na tion will follow its all-time "Black Christmas" holiday mas sacre with a New Year's record for deaths on the highways. The National Safety council said the "cold figures" forced it to predict 420 deaths in traffic crashes during the holiday pe riod between 6 p.m. next Friday to midnight Monday. A 420 death toll would be far below the record total of 621 persons who died in traffic dur ing the three-day Christmas holiday last week end. But it would set a new' record for a New Year's holiday making it the second shameful mark set in the nation within a period of one week. Many state governors, shock ed by the all-time, all-holiday Christmas toll, moved quickly to hold down the death count next week end. Cold, Fair Weather Forecast for Valley Temperatures dropped to an official low of 25 degrees last night as weather in the Medford vicinity continued a transition from last week's" wet and mild to cold and fair. The mercury at the Medford station of the weather bureau was expected to fall to a low of 20 degrees tonight. No sharp warmup for several days is fore seen. However, fair weather is anticipated tomorrow with early morning fog clearing by noon. Only a trace of precipitation was reported at the weather sta tion at the airport in the 24 hours up to 4:30 a.m. today. But some snow fell last night and thin layers of the snow froze to the tops of automobiles. DOW-JONES AVERAGES New York (U.R) Dow-Jones final stock averages: 30 indus trials 484.22 off 1.59; 20 railroads 163.09 off 0.30; 15 utilities 64.13 up 0.01; and 65 stocks 171.85 off 0.39. Sales today were about 1,990,000 shares compared with 2,010,000 shares traded yesterday. Mf United Press F 50th Year 14 Pa. Officials Estimate .1 Flood Damage Here About $800,000 CD Mokes Estimate For Emergency Repairs Estimates of the dollars and cents damage caused by last week's floods in Jackson county mounted today as official agencies began totaling pros pective costs in various cate gories. It began to appear that the total might go over $800,000. Gov. Paul Patterson this morning telephoned the county civil defense agency to request an estimate of emergency repair costs in three categories. Maj. Gen. Joseph Hicks, civil defense administrator, early this, after noon listed preliminary esti mates as follows: Amounts Listed For work essential to protect life and property only a few hundred dollars; for clearing wreckage and debris, an esti mated $30,000, emergency and temporary repairs to roads, creeks, bridges, sewers, disposal systems and septic tanks, an estimated $275,000, for a total of more than $300,000. Gen. John Hargraves of the state civil defense agency is due here today to continue the pre liminary survey, and later will be followed by a civil defense committee representing the gov ernor's office. The estimates will be used by Governor Patterson to prepare requests for federal disaster' assistance. Meanwhile, a "horseback" es timate, of $500,000 damage to homes, businesses and personal property was made by Mrs. O. A. Eden, vice-chairman for dis aster relief for the Red Cross here. She said a more accurate tally would have to await a more detailed survey. Her ' estimate does not include road or agri cultural damage. Based on Survey Mrs. Eden based her figure on an earlier Red Cross survey and on her own observation during visits to the Shady Cove and Rogue River flood areas during her work as disaster relief co ordinator before arrival of pro fessional personnel. County Judge Rodney Keating this morning designated the Red Cross as the official disaster re lief agency in the county. In a proclamation, he pointed out the work already done by the Red Cross, and said it will follow with rehabilitation assistance to all in need of such assistance. "I urge all our citizens to ex tend their full cooperation to the Red Cross in this time of great need. All agencies, both public and private, are requested to extend to the Red Cross their full support," he said. - Miss v Josephine McNamara, Red Cross disaster worker from San Francisco, said the procla mation makes it unnecessary for othei? agencies to carry on relief work alone, and that now all work in the flood areas can now be coordinated through one of fice. She welcomed the cooper ation of other agencies. Accept Gifts Although the National Red Cross has given a "blank check" to the local chapter to pay for flood assistance, Miss McNa mara said the local organization will gladly accept gifts of funds to carry on the work. Red Cross assistance includes emergency relief, and rehabilita tion assistance for homes and small businesses not eligible for loans. E. O. Sheard, of the Portland office of .the small business ad ministration, arrived here today, and said the agency has author ized any local bank to accept ap plications for disaster loans for homes and businesses. A temporary office will be set up in Grants Pass soon, he said, and Red Cross centers in Shady Cove and Rogue River will ar range for local applicants to meet with a representative of the ad ministration. Loans, either joint ly with lending agencies or di rect, may be authorized by the SBA. Further details on the loans, and how to apply, will be published tomorrow. Weather FORECAST: Fair and cold to night with valley fog early Thursday morning, clearing oy noon. Low tonight 20. High Thursday 40. Tern p. Highest Yesterday 40 Lowest this Morning .....25 Prec. to 4:30 a.m. Today, Trace. f IV iEDFORD, OREGON, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1955 Califee Mops Up , Se In rvices Restored fJW California Eureka, Calif. (U.R) Residents of Humboldt and Del Norte counties, isolated for a week by swirling flood waters, were at last joined to the outside world today. Telegraph and telephone communications were restored yester day for the first time since last Thursday. Press association tele types brought the news of the world to newspapers and radio stations. Highway crews repaired the Klamath river bridge and opened U.S. Highway 101 north of Eureka for the first time in a week. However, travel to the south was limited to 30 miles. Emer gency vehicles were being convoyed to Garberville, 75 miles south of Eureka. ' The only way to get to San Francisco from Eureka was by way of a 400-mile detour through Grants Pass, Ore. Mail service was also restored and the Pacific Gas and Electric company succeeded in restoring power to the flood stricken cities and towns of the two counties. More than 2000 persons were living in emergency shelters. A preliminary count showed 400 homes wiped out and 1500 others damaged. In San Francisco Safeway Stores announced it has chartered five air flights a day to ship perishable foods into Areata, Eureka and Fortuna. Each flight will carry 14,000 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables, frozen foods, meat, butter and eggs. y Prices will not be raised despite the higher cost of flying in the fresh foods, Safeway officials said. Armour and Company chartered a Flying Tiger freight plane to fly 14,000 pounds of meat to Eureka yesterday and another 14,000 pounds today. Coquille To Bandon Only Danger Areas Remaining Portland (U.R) Only re maining danger spot today in Oregon's improving flood pic ture appeared to be from Co quille to Bandon along the Co quille river in southwestern Oregon. A nine-foot tide in that hard hit area was expected to cause more trouble today. The river itself was reported down to 26 feet. . Elsewhere, rivers were report ed dropping and residents were surveying destruction and start ing the big cleanup. Civil de fense workers said much dam age remained to be totalled, especially in isolated sectors. Officials said 10 homes on a bluff at Glasgow, overlooking Coos Bay, were in danger of falling into the bay. Full electric power was ex pected to be restored in North Bend and Coos Bay today. There still was delay in long distance telephone calls to the Coos Bay Coquille area. The toll in human life over the week-long flood period stood at 13 dead and three missing. Ed Audther, 36, Coos county ranch worker, was identified as the 13th victim. He fell into the Coos river and drowned. Telephone and power lines restored in Grants Pass yester day and the city's sewer system was expected to be in full opera tion today. 162 Cattle Drown Southern Pacific passenger train service over the Cascade route was reported normal. Coast highway 101 was closed between Coquille and Bandon. Coos county civil defense Road Conditions Highway 99 Over Siski yous,, packed snow, carrying chains advised; 6 inches new snow; 11 inches ioial. North, Highway 99 is open. Highway 66 Green Springs packed snow, carrying chains advised; 2 inches new snow. Highway 199 Slick over Oregon mountain; closed earli er loday, expected to open early this afternoon. Highway 101 Between Layionville and Eureka, Calif., open io emergency traf fic only with daylight convoy; closed at Coquille. Highway 42 Coquille to Myrtle Point open to one-way traffic with delays; Myrtle Point to Roseburg, closed by slides. Gold Beach io Port Orford open io light traffic only, delays up io one hour. Highay 62 Packed snow, carrying chains advised; 2 inches new snow. Crater Lake National Park Highway 62 and road io rim open; chains required An-' nie Springs to rim, advised on Highway 62. 5 inches new snow; present depth 84 in ches; ikiiag fair. A. T'T. in State workers yesterday reported the death of 162 head of cattle in flooding around Coquille. They said 351 head were evacuated. v State police at Roseburg said the Umpqua river was down but that the city's sewage disposal plant was badly damaged and might be out of service for some time. At uregon uty, two paper mills were restored to full oper ation vesterdav. Russian Respect for Four-Power Pad Seen Berlin U.R Soviet release of an American airman arrested by the East German Communists makes it clear the Russians will respect four power agreements on treatment of Western Allied Nationalists in the city, Ameri can officials said today. Action of the Soviets in re turning MSgt. Mike Kliman, 45, Brooklyn, was seen as a re buff to the East Zone Commuists who labeled him a "drunken dri ver" and demanded his trial by a Communist court. The Communist press and ra dio denounced the sergeant in a campaign as bitter as that di rected against two other Ameri can soldiers arrested recently in East Berlin on charges of strik ing an East German actor. The Americans . were braced for a test case on four power oc cupation rights when the Soviets released Kliman 23 hours after his arrest by East German police as a "drunken American occu pier" after his car collided in East Berlin with a speeding taxi. New Year's Holiday Looms As Test for Dionne Family Montreal (U.R) The New Year's holiday plans of the four surviving Dionne quintuplets loomed today as a test of the seriousness of the rift between the famous girls and their fam ily. Marie and Annette "are sup posed to be going home for New Years." Cecile and Yvonne "will be working." Worked on Christmas But at Notre Dame de L'Es perance hospital, officials said student n u r s e s Cecile and Yvonne had worked through Christmas day and were to take a three-day holiday at New Years. In North Bay, Ont, Oliva Dionne, the girls' father, made no effort to hide his grief that none of the "Quints" had re turned home ..for Christmas. He publicly blamed "outside intruders for this separation" but refused to identify the "out siders." "We didn't even receive a United Press Fall Leased Wire Price 5c No. 239 Sun Welcomed; Situation Still Critical in Delta State Estimates 47 Persons Dead San Francisco (U.R) Cali fornia, beset by a week of tor rential rains and catastrophic floods, welcomed today the re turn of its famed sunshine. As thousands of persons began the grim task of cleaning up their flood ravaged homes, the state listed 47 dead and estimated the damage conservatively at $100, 000,000. Floods took another 13 lives in Oregon. Even with a break in the weather, the danger from fur ther floods was not yet over in the delta area. This is a vast area of islands and channels through which the swollen Sac ramento and San Joaquin rivers are dumping their muddy waters into San Francisco Bay. "The situation is still criti cal," said the San Joaquin county sheriff's office at Stockton early today. "It will remain critical at least through tomorrow." Levees Have Held So far, the soggy levees man aged to hold back the surging river waters and to fend off high tides backing into the delta area from the bay. At Isleton, a community of z,uuu persons on the lower Sac ramento river, 200 men worked day and night to bolster the levees with sandbags. Mayor Morris Stewart said the levees withstood a high tidef 9.8 feet Tuesday.. . "It's still very dangerous and it's a mighty tough battle," he said, "but we're holding." The town has been battling flood waters and high tides for seven straight days. The main danger lies a mile and a Kfelf south of the town, where the San Joaquin and Mokelumne rivers join. The Sacramento flows on the north side of tow. Rio Vista in Trouble 0 The town of Rio Vista, on the Sacramento river five miles west of Isleton, also was battling high waters, but it was having an easier time of it. Much of that town lies on higher ground. Levees in the delta area of Contra Costa county, which lies west of San Joaquin county, were holding against 4he San Joaquin river. Some lateral frac tures were reported, but they were on the inside of the levees rather than on the water side. Meanwhile, Yuba City went under a virtual state of martial law. Three hundred national guardsmen patrolled the flooded streets to guard against looters. The Feather river sent a new crest through a huge hole in the levee along Yuba City yesterday, flooding the deserted town for the second time in less than a week. The 10,000 residents were still barred from their homes, mainly because of a contami nated water supply and no sew age system. New York (U.R) Comedian Jackie Gleason will enter a hos-Q pital early next year for a minor operation. card from them," he said. "They didn't write. They didn't phone. They did nothing to tell us where or how they planned to spend Christmas." Yvonne burst into tears when a reporter told her of her fath er's statement. "It's not true. Don't believe it," Yvonne said outside her room at the hospital. When asked why her parents had not received a Christmas card, Yvonne explained, "We sent one. Is it our fault they didn't get it?" To Stay On Duty Why they hadn't telephoned? "We were on duty. It's not easy, this job . . . Marie and Annette are supposed to be going home for New Years. We have to stay on duty." No telephone calls were ac cepted at the Dionne home in North Bay Tuesday night. Dionne also ignored telegrams sent to him by Canadian report ers. (See story on Page 13) O
