Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989, February 16, 1956, Image 1

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Medford mail tribune., February 16, 1956, Image 1

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Newspaper Page Textr " '"" 1 1 Tin itt mm i m i i i IV i ' p? Ik '' Ilfes . j X7 o no n RECRUIT TRAINING Shown above is part of the recruit training class of Company A, 186th infantry, Medford unit of the National Guard. The class is made up of new enlistees with less than four months service in the Guard. ; pictured above are Privates Louis Nickel, James Martin, Donald Jenkins, Phillip Austin, Albert Peabody; second row, Larry McDonald, David -Wright, Jared Black, .Fritz Rumble, William Mason, Jimmie McKee; third row, Robert Thomas, John Hawley of Headquarters com panq, Melvin Saltmarsh, Edward Robinson, Robert Mason, Donald Rowden; fourth row, Weather FORECAST: cloudy with light snow tonight and Friday. Low tonight 20. High Friday 38. ' Temp. Highest Yesterday 35 Lowest this Morning .... 14 Free, to 4:30 a.m. Today ...03 Coffee and Other Supplies Dropped For Stranded Pair ' La Grande (U.R) Karl Singhr, 29, and Harry Rut ledge, 42. hoth of Kennewick. Wash., were rescued at 12:15 p.m. today by a ground party at the site of a light plane crash in the Blue mountains near here. La Grande (U.RV A ground party equipped with snow mobile left here today to rescue two Washington fliers, stranded in . deep snow and sub-zero weather in the Blue mountains of eastern Oregon since Tuesday. ' Ttie ground party, composed of six men, was expected to reach the two fliers early this after noon. Earl Snyder, director of the State Board of Aeronautics, flew over the area west of here this morning and dropped coffee and other supplies to them. He said they appeared to be in good con dition. . Sighted in Clearing ' The, pair, Karl Singhr, 29, and Harry Ruthledge, 42, both of Kennewick, Wash.; went down in their light private plane Tuesday afternoon. A search plane reported late yesterday sighting the pair and the plane in a small clearing about eight miles due west of La Grande. Both men were walking about and appeared to be unhurt. '. Ted Grote of Joseph and Jack Kriezendeck of Enterprise were flying the craft and siglited the wreckage at iAS p.m. yesterday. They said the plane apparently made a forced landing and nosed oyer in a hilly section. As they flew over the spot - both men waved and showed no indica tions of being injured. Fire Serves As Signal The two men were down near some old buildings, the searchers reported, and had a fire going to serve both as a signal and to protect them from the bitter cold. Temperatures in tne area dropped down to nearly 10 de crees below zero last night. Snyder took off immediately upon . receiving word of the plane's location and dropped food, a portable radio and sleep ing bags. Attempts were launched to take a Sno-cat in to bring the men- out but operators were un able to get the machine started. It was decided to wait until day light before sending the rescue mission in. . ' Singhr, a Kennewick trailer dealer, was piloting the plane when it disappeared on a flight from Halfway, Ore., to Pasco, Wash. Lima, Peru (U.R) A revolu tion has broken out iin the city of Iquitos in the Uppsr Amazon river region, the government an nounced today. RfuossiQi Donald Kell, James Forshey and Donald Atkins. Members of the' recruiting class not pictured are Privates Ronald Cooper, Robert Elden, Gerald Hall, Philip Johnson, Ronald Lingren and Charles Mires. National Guard officials said the present recruiting class is the largest in the -post-war history of the local company, and present indications are that "it will grow. . Re cruits are taught military formations and drill, manual of arms, first aid, rifle marksmanship, map and compas training and customs of the service. (Birchfield .Photo). . ; Medford . . United Press Full Leased Wire 50th Year 22 Pages TAX OFFICIALS ACT TO EiJD COl'FUSIOiJ A statement regarding : prop- erty taxation ip Jackson county was issued today by the chief state and county assessing offi cers. .- . 'f. ' . They said they hoped it would clear up confusion which has arisen over procedures uesd in assessing property in Jackson county for the current tax year. The matter arose when State Tax Commissioner- Samuel B. Public Hearing on Freeway Postponed A public hearing on a new route for Highway 99 in the Medford area will not be 'held until sometime in May, Mayor Earl Miller was advised today. A letter from State Highway Engineer R. H. Baldock said that while the hearing originally was scheduled in March, it will now be two months later before ar rangements can be made to hold it. The city will be informed as soon as a definite date has been arranged. I At least four routes for the freeway-type highway nere have been proposed. The one Baldock has said he favors runs through town on a line along Gennesee and Cottage sts. Other proposals are down the line of Bear creek, suggested in a highway commis sion study of Medf ord's street system, and routes east and west of town. No decision is expected before the hearing is held. Medf ord Has Coldest Morning on Record Coldest temperature on record for Feb. 16 in the Medford vicin ity was registered this morning when the thermometer at the airport weather station dropped to 14 degrees. The low temperature was re corded between 6 and 7 , a.m. Previous low for Feb. 16 was 20 degrees in 1932. Today's read ing was also lowest for the sea son; Temperatures of 19 degrees were . reached on Feb. 2 and again just before midnight last night. . Yesterday's mean temperature of 27 was 16 degrees below nor mal. ; . i Regional Reclamation Director in Medford Harold Nelson, regional bur eau of reclamation director, will be in Medford tonight and has expressed willingness to discuss flood control possibilities with those interested, Lee McAllis ter, bureau area engineer in Sa lem, has announced. : Nelson will accompany McAl lister to Illinois Valley Friday to survey . projects proposed in that area. . MEDFORD, OREGON, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1956 Stewart reported at a recent meeting here that rear property in the county this year was being taxed on a basis where "true cash value" was figured at 100 per cent of "market value." A statement in reply to this which challenged some of Stewart's statements was issued later by the assessor's office. The joint statement issued today follow: Clarify Confusion - "It is the hope of the State Tax Commission and ' the Jackson County Assessor's office that confusion 1 arising from recent conflicting statements about property taxes in Jackson coun ty this year can be clarified by this joint statement. - "The facts are these: "Real property in Jackson county for the current tax year was assessed on a formula which resulted in 'true cash value' being figured at 100 per cent of 'market value.' "This was done as the result of a misunderstanding somewhere between the two offices. "However, it should be under stood that the net result of this action is negligible to. virtually all taxpayers. Since the formula applied to all real property tax payers in the county, there was no, inequity created among them. The only inequity was that real property was taxed on a slightly different basis than was personal property, and the difference in most cases, if any, amounted to a few cents. In the'ease of large property tax payers, the' maxi mum difference would amount to only a few dollars. , Formula Corrected "The formula has been cor rected and will be applied cor rectly in coming tax years. "The reasons for what tax in creases there were lie elsewhere, but are not to be found in any single reason. In some cases .they resulted from more realistic ap praisals of property under the reappraisal program. In all cases they reflected a large increase in the overall tax levy; resulting' from increases in the budgets of the county and of most school districts and some communities andy other taxing units.; . ."It is our conviction that the work being done by groups mak ing a study of property taxation and budgeting in Oregon is valu able, and may lead ultimately to simplification of taxation pro cedures, many, of which have their origin in the last century, and which we feel to be unneces sarily complicated and confusing to the average taxpayer." r. Samuel B. Stewart, State Tax Commissioner. Robert G. Fowler, County Assessor, acting through Mrs. Elva Jen nings, chief deputy asses- .. sor. PROPER POSITION-Lt. Donald M. Ivie, execu tive officer of Headquarters company, 186th' infantry, Medford unit of the National Guard, demonstrates the proper sitting position with the new sniper scope. Members of the . class are, left to right; first row, Sgt. Milton A. Kornstad, Pfc. Michael W. Hawkins, Pfc. John A. Bellack, Pfc. Robert E. Larson, Pfc. William J. Wyman, Pfc. Ronald L. Negles; second row,, Pfc. Jack H. McCandliss, Pvt.. Eugene D. Win ningham, Pfc. Stanley D. McClanahan, ' Pvt. George F. Perreard, Pvt. Ronald A. Muir, and Sp3 David R. Ashton. Besides being executive United President Ditches Campaign Thoughts For Quai Thomasville, Ga. (U.R) Presi dent Eisenhower sidetracked thoughts about seeking a second term today and mapped a differ ent sort of campaign -with shot gun . against southern Georgia quail. ' There was a threat of rain but the President was hopeful. He planned another try, weather permitting, for the quail that eluded him in two hours of roam ing the. pine and brush-covered acreage of Treasury Secretary George MHumphrey's "Mile stone" plantation Wednesday. Anxious To Hunt . '-. Mr; Eisenhower was so anx ious to hunt his first such out ing since his heart attack last Sept. 24 that 15 minutes after he arrived at t h e Humphrey estate from Washington Wednes day ; afternoon, he had changed from his brown business suit into hunting clothes and was ready to go with his 410-gauge shotgun. . He and Humphrey climbed into a hunting "roadster," a four wheeler vehicle drawn by two white mules and with room for the hunters sitting on leather covered seats atop a compart ment for bird dogs and drove for two hours in search for quaiL Other Possibilities Mr. Eisenhower has plenty of other recreational possibilities if his quail luck 'continues to be poor. He brought his paints and easel with him, plus his bag of golf clubs. Within a few days, he may try two or three holes of golf at the Glen Arven Country club outside Thomasville. S-STriendly crowds greeted the President and Mrs. Eisenhower almost the entire 43 miles from Spence Air Force Base to the plantation and he responded fre quently by getting to his feet and waving with one arm, then ,the other io the people cheering him.1 ' : Fiisul Student Goyerrimenf Plans for the eighth annual Student Day program March '5 and 6 have been announced by C. Aubrey Sander, exalted ruler of the Medford Elks lodge, spon sor of the program. The annual project, which is given, in conjunction with city and county high schools within the Elks' jurisdictional area, has received national recognition. About 100 senior and upper division high school students are expected to participate in the program, which will include students from Medford Senior High school, and Crater High school in Central Point, Jack sonville, Phoenix, Eagle Point, Butte Falls and Prospect High schools. During the - two-day period, Press Full Leased Wira Price 5c No. 281 KARL JANOUCH Announces Candidacy : Janouch Files For Treasurer v . . County Treasurer Karl Ja nouch filed his candidacy today for nomination for election to that office on the Democratic ballot. He has been treasurer since Oct., 1955, when he was appoint ed to fill the unexpired .term of the late Ralph Sweeney. He was deputy treasurer tor.' more than three years previous. The Ore gon primary is May 18, with the deadline for filing March 9. . Forest Supervisor '' Janouch was ' supervisor for the Rogue River National forest from 1933 to 1949, - and once served as a timber appraiser and buyer for private lumber com panies. A graduate of -the Uni versity of Nebraska, he was pres ident of the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce for three terms, and has worked with other civic groups. ' : . f - The Janouchs have- resided, in Jackson county since 1931. Only other candidates who have announced their candidacy are Ray J Schumacher, Medford J realtor, who is seeking the Dem ocratic ; nomination' for county assessor, and Commissioner L. G.: .Morthland, :- who '; has an nounced his intention to file for reelection. ':-; ...... : . . : One precinct committeeman, Linn Nesmith, Camp White, has filed for one of a possible . 384 vacancies. ,n , , . , , : . March 5 and 6, students elected or appointed; to city, and county offices, will learn the jobs of their counterpart officials Also included in the two-day activi ties are ; tours of various city and county, installations such as the airport, rcity disposal plant and the county shops. ; The steering ' committee in cludes County .Judge r Rodney Keating, County: Commissioners L. G. (Shy) Morthland and Ches ter L. Wendt; Medford Mayor Earl Miller; Mrs. Dorothy Sned den, Millervs secretary; Mrs. Jo Anne Smith, --Medford Senior High school; .the . Rev. Robert Tomisser, St. Mary's school; Mrs. Una B. .Inch, county school sup erintendent's office; and Frank lin Van Pelt," Dr.'. 'August : W. officer, Lt. Ivie is the motor ' officer for the battallion, and is a special staff officer to the battallion commander. Lt. Ivie, along with Lt." Jack Phillips, platoon : leader of Company A, are directors of the one-day recruiting drive here Sunday, Feb. 19. The one-day campaign nation wide is expected to recruit about 75,000 en listees for the National Guard, , to bring the organization up to the full quota set by . Con gress. There will be open house at the North Bartlett. st. Armory in connection with the drive. (Baker's Photo). Benson Blames . . . . - Wage Hikes for Farmer Squeeze '". - . ' San Francisco (U.R) Secre tary of Agriculture Ezra T. Ben son charged today that wage in creases for labor were largely responsible . for the cost-price squeeze on farmers. .Most of the wage increases for labor in the food industry, Ben son said, were -"paid for by ranchers and farmers who paid it by taking lower prices : for meat animals." He also charged that more than half the wage increases for food processing and distribution since 1947 were unjustified. Approves Soil Bank Plan .Benson referred to "excessive" wage increases as "round after r.Qund2of-ftrwa5ef.settlemerjis'i in a speech prepared for delivery before the' Western States Meat Packers association. He coupled the labor attack with praise and condemnation of the farm bill approved by the Senate Agricul ture committee. He approved the administration-backed soil bank plan contained in the bill but said he was "distressed" at the committee's vote to revive "90 per cent rigid, wartime emergen cy supports on basic commodi ties." - .'- '': : : "Wage increases that reflect a corresponding gain in labor pro ductivity are clearly justified," Benson said. "But when wages outrun labor productivity, the result is increased costs. On equipment and production sup plies for , which he is the con sumer, the farmer pays the cost. : "Between 1947-49 and 1955, wage rates in food processing and . distribution .-; increased 43 per cent. - "Less than half of this increase was offset by gains in labor pro ductivity. More than half became an increase in the labor cost per unit of food handled. In these years the retail price of food 'rose 11 per cent, but the wage' cost per unit of food processed and distributed . rose 26 per cent. Clearly farmers absorbed some of the difference and their prices were correspondingly de pressed," Benson said. DOW-JONES AVERAGES . New York flJ.RJ- Dow-Jones final stock averages: 30 indus trials 469.61 off 1.03, 20 rails 155.94 off 0.34, 15 utilities 64.86 up 0.30, and 65 stocks 167.10 off 0.18. Sales today were about 1,750,000 shares compared with 3,000,000 yesterday. ; Hood River (U.R) State Rep. George Annala ' said he woulti seek reelection to the. 1957 Leg islature on the . Democratic ticket. ' " : - . ' - b Glutsch,- Jack Thompson, Tom MacLeod and Elliott Becken,- of the Medford Elks lodge. ; Political campaigns in ; high schools which 'will participate are now being conducted to se cure nominations and. elections to county and city offices appor tioned to the schools by- the steering committee. - - The program gives students experience serving with an of ficial, and gives them practice in regular primary and general elections. The high school offic ials,' after, nomination and elec tion," are sworn into office. -1 '- The program is in conjunc tion with senior social; study programs of - city - and county governments. An announcement "By UNITED PRESS An icy snow storm marooned families in the Pacific Northwest today and flooding rains pound ed the Southland." The Northwest cold and snows closed schools and blocked roads in Eastern Washington's Doug las and j - Okanogan counties. Many Douglas county families, marooned for four days by drift ed roads, were reported running low on food and fuel. Mercury 20 Below - Temperatures plunged to 20 degrees below zero in the snow bound area and forecasters could see no immediate warmup. At Seattle, a 17-above reading made it the coldest Feb. 15 on record. Sub-zero cold also gripped the Rocky Mountain states, ' along with snows which were expected to mount to bilzzard proportions in Colorado and Wyoming by to morrow. Low temperatures early today included 29 below at both Cutbank and Lewistown in Mon tana and; 17 below at Sheridan, Wyo. . - . Temperatures were balmy in the Southland, but they teamed up with torrential rains which triggered flash floods at New Or leans and Hot Springs, Ark. Water Over Curbs - The water lapped over street curbs at New : Orleans, where more than three inches of rain pounded down in two hours yes terday. Car backwashes forced the water into stores. ; - Earlier, the worst flood in. 33 years sent water running four feet deep down Hot Springs' Central ave. A woman was swept to her death from the top of her -, car. Flood water ; crashed through store windows. Damage was estimated to be at least $250,000. Violent weather claimed two other lives in Dixie. A tornado killed one person near Sugar Loaf, Ark., and a pilot died Fire Damages Two Homes in County, Fire almost destroyed the home of Mr. and Mrs. E. E. Fin nell, 150 Winema way, early J this - morning .and . the residence of Mr. and Mrs.7 Bryan Hawkins, 738 West 14th st.; was consider ably damaged in -another morn ing blazer The fire at the Finnell home was not discovered until it was well underway, since the family was not at home, Chief Richard Krupp of the Central Point Ru ral Fire Protection district said. They have been vacationing at New Orleans, La. . Flames Through Roof , r Flames were burning through the roof of the j three-bedroom structure when they were no ticed and reported to the rural district by Arthur J. Churchman, 105 Winema way, about 3:20 a.m. Krupp said the nine firemen dispatched to the scene with four vehicles, were successful in pre venting spread of the flames to a carport and garage. The fire apparently started in the master bedroom, Krupp stated, but the exact cause was not known. Firemen were severely handi capped . by 'freezing weather. Since the area is not in a water district, all water used had 'to be hauled to the scene. Krupp said special precautions - had to be taken to prevent freezing. Clothing Saved y . , He said that some clothing and furniture, partially dam aged, was saved and is being cared for by relatives. . Finnell is sales manager for Double Dee Lumber company, Tolo. Fire at the Hawkins residence about 5:55 a.m. apparently ori ginated from the stovepipe or flue and the ceiling and wall of one room' and the attic and roof were damaged. City firemen said they were told that Hawkins built a fire in a wood stove about 430 a.m. and went back to bed. He was awakened by the sound of the fire. Two trucks were sent to the. blaze. v- of student selections will . be made later. . ..';'; . ; I, S ;; Students will receive oath of offices by Mayor Miller and Mrs. Bereth : Hopkins, county clerk, the afternoon of Monday, March 5. ' : ' The annua Student Govern ment Day banquet will be held at the 'Medford Elks lodge at 6:30 p.m Monday, March 5, with John R. Dellenback of the lodge serving as master of ceremon ies. State Senator ' Philip B. Lowry will be principal speak er,. - - . . All day Tuesday, March 6, will be devoted to student officials working with official counter parts, with tours scheduled later in the afternoon. Tuesday night, March fi, student city council- v-.U' ll F84F Thunder-st-H.l'.'.T crashed while trying to ms.p. an instrument .Janding in ' Euorpean Rivers Clogged by ke, Floods Threatened London (U.R) A threat of floods by ice-choken rivers to day spurred new fears in weather-plagued Europe where at least 584 persons have died in the worst cold wave of a century. The latest count : of victims claimed by cold and snow and weather-triggered accidents showed: France 150;': Italy 111; Germany 65; Yugoslavia 58, Brit ain 39; Denmark 31; Portugal 22; Greece 17; Turkey 17; Swe--den 15; Austria 14; Switzerland 14; Holland 12; Belgium 10 and Spain 9.. . Flood Threats The threat of floods rose be cause ice clogged many of the great inland waterways which criss-crossed Central Europe and heavy snows fell in many areas. On the Rhine river, ice jam med the narrows by the fabled Lorelei Rock, backing up a 13 mile stretch of water 15 feet deep. Highways, and railways were closed and homes in the village of Lorch were evacuated. U. S. Army Engineers stood by at Kitzinge,f 75 miles down river trom iraniaurt, ready to blast an ice jam that plugged the Rhine for more than six miles. An ice pack that has clogged the Danube in Southern Bavaria was crunching slowly down river toward Vienna under the pressure of pent up waters. An-i other huge floe was moving down from Hungary on the Aus trian capital. . . -River Frozen . The Inn river was frozen solid for a 25-mile stretch along the Bavarian-Austrian "border. With predictions of a break, in the cold later this week, experts v expressed concern that the riv-' ers would not be able to contain', the expected flow from melting snows. But there was still no imme diate-relief in sight for the mil- J lions suffering thiough" the' third- week on an unprecedented cold spell. The icy front moved down from Siberia Feb. 1. . New Snow Storm in Portland (U.R) A snow-laden storm moved into the Northwest from Canada today. The weather man predicted about three inches of snow would fall in the Portland area overnight, tapering off Friday. Snow was reported early to day as far south as Toledo, Wash. . The snow came on the heels of a cold wave mhich sent temper atures plunging below zero in parts of Eastern Oregon. Baker had 8 below, Burns 5 below and Bend ; and . Redmond 1 ; below.. Portland had ,18 above, Salem 18, Medford 14, RosebUrg 14, Brookings 27, Astoria 20, New port 18 and North Bend 23. County CD Officials Participate in Test : Jackson county civil defense personnel, public schools, and other organizations and officials took part in a statewide civil defense air test warning at 10:10 ajn. today. The Medford key point at state police headquarters re ceived the first test warning from Salem and contacted the Jackson county sub-key station at the city police station. Police officers contacted .the county civil defense headquar ters, .various key points in sur rounding cities, all public schools and related county .officials and civil defense personnel. ' The statewide a"ir tests are made about once a month. men and mayor will conduct the regular scheduled council meeting in the Medford city hall. Student officials last year were Don Robinson of Medf ord -Senior : High school, Medford mayor,-and Harvey Hueners of Jacksonville High; school, county judge..' ;., .;., ' - Medford Senior . High school last year received a principal award by the Freedoms Founda tion organization. Mrs. Smith social Study department chair man, and Miss Carol Denman of the high school, visited Valley Forge, Penn., and Washington, D.C., under the auspices of the foundation. The school also re ceived the George Washington Honor medal from the Valley Forge Freedom library. -