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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (March 28, 1956)
G 15) fr i i . : 1 : '. ! M JULZl M EDFORD 51t Year 24 Pages Supreme Court Orders Assessor To Take Action Technical Reasons Cited in Decision Salem (U.P.) The Supreme Court today ordered the Jack son county assessor to strike certain increased assessments on commercial orchard proper ties rom the tax rolls due to certain technical reasons. The case was brought by the Medford Pear company which claimed increased assessments covering trees in its orchards were void. Assessment Ordered Before 1955, the county had not taxed the trees, but in June, 1955, the State Tax commission ordered the board of equaliza tion to assess the trees and add their valu to the assessed land value. The pear company contended the increased assessments were void because the board failed to give notice of he increases. The tax commission ruled that the increased assessments were void, but the assessor failed to delete them from the assess ment rolls. Proper Notice Claimed Later the tax commission, act ing as a board of equalization, made assessment of the trees. The court, in an opinion by Justice George Rossman, held the tax commission gave prop er notice, but that assessments previously made by the assessor and not adopted by the tax com mission should be deleted. The Dasic question of taxing the trees was not involved in the, case. Sam Stewart, chairman of the State Tax commission, said he was "very pleased" with the state Supreme Court's decision in the Medford Pear company case. Stewart said he regarded the decision as a victory both for the commission and the taxpay er. Appikl on Grounds of Errors. Stewart pointed out that the commission had adopted prac- tically all the increased assess ments after hearings were held. The tax official noted also that Medford Pear company ap pealed the tax on grounds of ad ministrative errors and did not attack the right of the tax com mission, to include the value of the orchards in its property tax. This, Stewart felt, was an im plicit admission that the trees were taxable. By UNITED PRESS Financial and commodity mar kets throughout the United States will be closed Good Fri day, but banks and foreign ex change markets will operate as usual. Domestic livestock mar kets also will be open. . Certain Tree Ordered St Chamber Study of Taxation Report Includes Nine Recommendations A four-month study of state and local taxation was conclud ed last night by the legislative committee of the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce. Its find ings, which include nine recom mendations, will be presented to the chamber board at a spec ial meeting tomorrow noon. In brief, the report recom mended: 1. Elimination of the 6 per cent tax limitation, and the adop tion of a tax levy limitation based on a percentage of market values averaged over a period of years. Published Budgets 2. A requirement that pub lished budgets contain compari sons with tax revenues of past years to provide taxpayers with some idea of what taxes will re sult from proposed budgets. 3. An increase in the number Ma MEDFORD, OREGON, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28, 1956 ricken if ' zm&fck was! Jsf rkimxM feygy ?sJjl ri . 4Jgsl A POINT OF INTEREST President Eisenhower (center), Mexican President Adolfo Ruiz Cortines (left) and Canadian Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent pose on lawn at L White Sulphur Springs, W. Va before meetings of the "little summit" conferences. Talent Residents to Ask Reinstatement of Dismissed Marshal Talent More than .60 Tal- lent citizens met in the city hall last night to exchange protests over last week's discharge of John Baldwin, Talent city mar shal, on grounds that he has fail ed to meet Requirements of the job and has been the target for numerous complaints. At least one spokesman will be delegated to carry the citi zens' support for Baldwin to the city council when it meets Fri day at 8 p.m. in the city hall to hear' protests and consider hir ing a new marshal. A petition bearing signatures of about 170 people advocating Baldwin's re instatement will also be given to the council at that time. Special Meeting The marshal was fired March 19 at a special city council meet ing at the home of Mayor Keith V. Thoreson. Councilmen un animously voted in favor of the mayor's recommendation for Baldwin's dismissal. Later that night the council decided to give Baldwin until April 1 to sub mit his resignation. He has held the position for about two years. During the meeting Tuesday Baldwin was given a standing vote of confidence and a number of people gave testimonies as to his accomplishments. As evi dence of his competency, they cited his work toward control ling traffic problems, answer ing calls for assistance from the citizens and aiding in numerous maintenance projects in the city. It was explained at the meet ing that Baldwin's job has con sisted of both maintenance and police work. Actual percentage figures on police and mainten ance work Baldwin was hired to do were unavailable at the meeting Tuesday. Several speakers voiced the of qualified personnel in the county assessor's office. 4. Legislation to create in counties of 50,000 or more popu lation tax supervisory and con servation commissions to "ride herd" on all taxing bodies in those counties. Finance Bureau 5. Creation of a municipal finance bureau in the tax com mission to keep track of trends in local government tax and fiscal problems. 6. A state sales tax with food and medicine exempted, pro ceeds to go to the state general fund; repeal of the 45 per cent surtax on incomes; considera tion for eliminating any tax on incomes of less than 35,000 year ly; a change to make state capi tal gains and depreciation sched ules conform to federal tax practices. opinion that police work should be a full time job . and that maintenance' work should not be added to the marshal's duties. Recent House Fire Further discussion concerned a recent house fire at which it was learned the marshal did not know how to connect fire fight ing equipment. This was among factors the council reportedly considered in deciding to fire Baldwin. The feeling of the crowd appeared to be that fire fighting was not included in the marshal's -duties and he there fore should not be required to be familiar with the equipment. Another major protest the citizens voiced against the coun cil's action concerned the fact that thf meeting in which -Bald win was fired was held in the mayor's home rather than in a public place. Only councilman accepting the group's invitation to attend the protest meeting was Clif ford Nicholson. He made no statement during the session. Conducting the meeting was Ray Garland, chairman of the special citizens' committee. Other committee members are Howard Lockwood, F. C. Learn ing and Fred Morris. Supreme Court Allows Otto Cahill Petition Salem (U.R) The State Supreme Court today allowed, without written opinion, a pet ition of Otto W. Cahill for a hearing of his appeal. Last January 25, the Supreme Court had affirmed Cahill's con viction for conversion of public funds from the Taft-Nelscott-De-Lake water district. Cahill had been fined $1,500 and sentenced to one year in the penitentiary. Completed; 7. Publication of detailed re ports on the county's sinking funds. 8. A broad study of the per sonal property tax and of pos sible substitutes. Emergency Clauses 9. Elimination of the ban on emergency clauses on tax legis lation. The committee has been meet ing periodically since the mid dle of last November, and has heard testimony from many state, county and. other local taxing and fiscal officers. The report was copiled from the records of these meetings, fol lowing evaluation and discus sion. . The complete report, includ ing a statement of the scope of the study, the general findings, and the recommendations in de tail, will be published in tomor row's issue of the Mail Tribune Tribune Price 5c No. 6 Daily Worker Paper Published Despite Seizure New York (U.R) The Com munist Daily Worker, published its regular daily edition in make shift offices today with assur ance of Treasury officials that yesterday's tax raids were not designed to interfere with pub lication of the newspaper. Internal Revenue agents raid ed and seized the property of the Communist publication in Chicago and New York for non payment of income taxes. Tax Raids All Over At the same time Treasury agents raided and locked offices of the Communist party in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Philadelphia and New York for refusing to file a claim for tax exemption and failure to cooper ate with tax investigators. The Daily Worker staff left its offices on the eighth floor of a New York building when agents sealed the door with warning stickers saying the property had been seized for non payment of internal revenue taxes. Editorial offices were set up hastily on a lower floor of the same building where the Worker is printed by the F and D Pub lishing Co., Inc., a job printing concern not otherwise connected with the Communist publication. The Worker made arrange ments later to establish semi permanent editorial offices in quarters occupied by the Morn ing Freiheit, a Yiddish language Communist Newspaper at the same address. Fight Expected Both the Daily Worker and the Communist party t indicated they would fight the seizure of their property in the courts. Today's edition of the Daily Worker said in a front page edi torial the federal action showed "contempt for the Bill of Rights." John Gates, editor in chief of the Daily Worker, said the news paper did not owe any taxes be cause it had never made any money. "The Worker was founded in 1924. We have had a deficit every year since then. We have never been out of the red," he said. Medford's Population Estimated at 20,083 Mf df ord's population has reached 20,083, according to an estimate made by city officials today following a special census of the recently annexed south east area. City Manager Robert Duff re ported to the state board of cen sus that the southeast Medford area has a population of 355. That, plus the city's estimate of Jan. 1 of 19,728, comprises the new figure. " The special federal census made here in 1954 found the pop ulation totaled 19,050. Weather FORECAST: Variable hieh cloudiness tonight and mostly cloudy Thursday. Expected low tonight, 32. High tomor row, 62. Temp. Highest yesterday 56 Lowest this morning 30 Fire Destroys Dry Kiln Unit at Tolo Lumber Firm Plant .300,000 to 350,000 Board Feet Burned Some 300,000 or 350,000 board feet of timber and one complete dry kiln unit were de stroyed by fire last night at the Double Dee Lumber company at Tolo. Wayne Safley, general mana ger of the firm, said the fire started in a control room. When discovered it was burning on belts and motor, and was thought to be extinguished. But after that, the glow of fire burn ing inside kiln tunnels was seen. Starts About 8:30 The fire, which started about 8:30 p.m., destroyed three double-track kilns and a cooling shed in the unit. The three tun nels were full of lumber as was the cooling shed. Safley said two tunnels were discharged of lumber yesterday afternoon, and the lumber placed in the shed. Central Point Rural Fire Pro tection district which had water on the fire about eight minutes after the alarm was turned in, saved the boiler house and fuel storage tank, Safley reported. Firemen controlled the fire on one wall while electrical equipment and other machinery was removed. A compressor and other small motors were saved from the second control room. As much lumber as possible was saved from areas near the fire, Fire Chief Dick Krupp said, but the blazing dry lumber pre vented fire fighters from salvag ing much of it in the fire area itself. The fire was allowed to con tinue to burn under control to dispose of debris, company offi cials said. v Safley has not yet estimated the amount of damage. At pres ent company officials have not considered The possibility of re construction. Krupp said state police were called to control traffic near the scene, and Central Point city fire department had crews standing by in case of another alarm. The plant was owned by J. L. DeArmond. The unit which burned was the Tolo Lumber Driers. Five Appearances in Circuit Court Today Judge H. K. Hanna this morn ing revoked suspension of a two year penitentiary sentence pre viously given to Warren E. Keller, 30, Trail, Ore., when he appeared in circuit court on a charge of obtaining money under false pretenses. John Butler Childress, 25, of 430 DeBar ave., was given a sus pended two - year penitentiary sentence for entering a motor vehicle with intent to steal. Arraigned this morning were William H. Mitchell, 19, Salem, who pleaded guilty to a forgery" charge; Lee James Potter, 40, of 408 Edwards st., who pleaded guilty to an embezzlement charger and Lawrence Duncan Ferguson, 20, Renton, Wash., who also pleaded guilty to a forgery charge. Investigation was ordered con tinued on a grand larceny case against Berkley Keller, 34, Trail, Ore. Motel Construction Planned at Merrick's Construction of a 40-unit mo tel, with a swimming pool, res taurant, cocktail lounge and service station, is tentatively planned for the site of Merrick's old Natatorium on North River side ave., it was reported today. The Merrick building, now being torn down, is one of Med ford's most historic structures, the site of many community events. It was purchased a few years ago by a partnership including Otto Frohnmayer, Jack Craw ford and Tom Culbertson. An option to lease the prop erty has been given to Bob Cross man, of San Francisco and Eagle Point, owner of the Medical Cen ter building. Crossman said his plans for the motel and other units are still in the development stage. Russia Embraces Ike's Proposal in Own Blueprint Many Restrictions Declared Included London U.R) The Soviet Union has embraced President Eisenhower's "open sky" recon naissance plan for the first time in a formal disarmament pro posal, it was learned today. An informed source said the new Soviet proposal introduced here yesterday also goes further on armaments inspection than ever before. The United States, France, Britain and Canada were re ported giving cautious study to the still secret Soviet blueprint. The part that embraces the Eisenhower plan for mutual aerial reconnaissance is hedged by many restrictions, the in formed source said. . , Giving Serious Study Nevertheless, the Americans were reported somewhat heart ened by the fact that the Soviets built the Eisenhower plan into a formal disarmament proposal for the first time. The Americans were under stood to be giving the offer serious and lengthy study. U. S Delegate Harold Stassen accord ingly withheld substantive Amer ican comment on the plan until next week. Stassen did, however, ask Soviet Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko many questions m an effort to clarify the Rus sian position at today's session of the five-power U. N. Disarma ment Subcommittee meeting. Discussion described as "inten sive" and "animated" boiled for two hours and 15 minutes in the closed door meeting. It centered altogether on the new Soviet plan and the Anglo-French dis armament proposal which the Soviets are attempting .to bypass, The United States will ad vance more proposals of its own early next week after the con ference's Easter recess ends Tuesday. The informed source said the United States will make a "con siderable presentation." Western delegates avoided dis closing details of the new Rus sian plan until Moscow does so But it was understood to switch emphasis from nuclear disarma ment toward conventional ' dis armament. McKay Submits Resignation Washington (U.R) Secre tary of Interior Douglas McKay has formally submitted his resig nation, freeing him for the po litical wars in Oregon. McKay, a former GOP govern or of Oregon, said he plans to quit about April 15 to get into the Oregon senatorial race. He will try to unseat Democratic Sen. Wayne L. Morse. The secretary sent his resigna tion to the White House yester day. He mentioned no specific date of resignation in the letter. McKay told a group of Am herst college political science students at his office that he couldn't rest easy in retirement unless he at least tried to un seat Morse, a former Republi can who bolted to the Demo crats in 1952. "I'll either be a senator or I'll be free," McKay said. The 62-year-old secretary's first campaign target is the Oregon Republican primary May 18. Neuberger Delighted By Eugene Bond Vote Washington (U.R) Sen. Rich ard L. Neuberger (D-Ore.) said today he was "delighted" with rejection of a bond issue by voters in Eugene yesterday for the proposed Beaver Marsh power project on the upper Mc Kenzie river. House-Senate Administration on Cotton Washington (U.R) House-Senate conferees, in another rebuff to the administration, voted to day to boost the support price for the 1956 cotton crop by an additional 1.4 cents a pound. The conferees voted to delete from the big administration backed provision plans for changing the way of figuring cot ton supports. Reconciling Differences The provision had been in cluded "in the Senate bill. The conferees are working to recon cile differences between bills passed by the House and Senate. The conferees yesterday ig nored administration jpleas to Diamond L. Flynn, 59, mayor of Medford for three terms and immediate past president of the League of Oregon Cities, died unexpectedly of a heart attack early today. He was stricken at home late yesterday, and was taken to a local hospital at about 8:22 p.m. He died at about 3:30 a.m. Active in Community "Dime" Flynn was one of Medford's and southern Ore gon's best-known citizens, hav ing been active in a wide variety of community and civic enter prises over a period 'of many j years. During nis terms as mayor, the city underwent many changes and improvements, in cluding a reorganization of both fire and police departments, construction of a new city water pipeline, improvement of Haw thorne park and building of the swimming pool, and many others. The flag at the city hall was at half staff today in his honor. Mr. Flynn entered city gov ernment in February, 1948, re ceiving an appointment to the city council to fill an unexpired term. In November of that year he was elected mayor, and serv ed three two-year terms, leaving office in January, 1955., League President He was elected president of the League of Oregon Cities at the 1954 convention, and trav eled widely throughout the state during his one-year term of of fice. He was long an advocate of good municipal government, and it was under his leadership Ike Summons Top Officials Charlottesville," Va. (U.R) President Eisenhower, en route to Washington after his Ca nadian - Mexican conf ere n c e s, called a late afternoon meeting at the White House with Secre tary of State John Foster Dulles and other top State Department officials. White House aides described the meeting as "very import ant," but declined to discuss the subject matter. The President's special train was scheduled to arrive at Wash ington in mid-afternoon. Before leaving, Mr. Eisen hower held farewell meetings with Canadian Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent and President Adolfo Ruiz Cortines of Mexico. Mr. Eisenhower decided to re turn to the capital by train in stead of by plane because of ex pected bad weather. He planned to return aboard the same Ches apeake & Ohio private railroad car that he used traveling to this plush resort Sunday night. American officials told news men the conference accomplished its main objective of creating a bond of friendship between the leaders of the three nations. The officials said the friendship would aid solving any future differences. They hinted the President may hold similar meetings following the same relaxed procedure in the future possibly the meet ing this July with Premier Jaw aharlal Nehru of India. Shady Cove Logger Hurt by Failing Limb Jack Dugger, 20, Trail, was injured in a logging accident near Shady Cove this morning. Dugger was working for Joseph Olliver, Trail, in the Long Branch area near Shady Cove when a limb fell on him, it was reported here. Extent of his in juries were not known. He was taken to Sacred Heart hospital by Medford Ambulance service. Conferees Hand Rebuff To continue flexible price supports They voted instead to restore rigid high supports at 90 per cent of parity for basic crops; also to provide a "dual parity" system which' would raise dollar and cents supports for cotton, wheat, corn and peanuts. Veto Predicted As the bill now stands, it is so objectionable to the administra tion that -Republican leaders again forecast a veto if the meas ure reaches the White House. As a result of today's action, the measure" would provide a 1956 crop support price of 31.7 cents a pound for 7-8 inch staple cotton. -This would mean sup r S- a I - r IX' DIAMOND L. FLYNN Heart Attack Fatal that Medford adopted the city manager plan of operation. He was born- in Palouse, Wash., on April 29, 1896, the son of Thomas and Alice F. Flynn. He was educated in Med ford schools, and on Christmas day in 1919 was married to the former Miss Fay Rinaberger of Medford. He started work as a division electrician in the Portland-Med-ford district of the Southern Pacific railroad, later becoming associated with the Peoples Elec tric company here. Still later, he was associated with his brother, Ben J. Trowbridge, in the firm of Trowbridge and Flynn. Semi-Retired He was semi-retired for a time, but recently had accepted the position of state public rela tions director for Pierce Auto Freight lines. Among his public service work . was service on the war manpower board, the county ar bitration board, the Jackson county selective service board, and the Medford civil service commission. He was a director of the Medford Community Chest in 1943, and of the USO between 1943 and 1946. His memberships included the Elks lodge-, the American Legion and the Medford Rotary club. He served in the Army during World War I. Active in RVMH At the time of his death he was acting director of the Rogue Valley Memorial hospital organization, having been one of the most active workers in the fund-raising organizations which campaigned for the new hospital to be built here. He was also ac tive in making plans for the Pear Blossom festival to be held here next month. Mr. Flynn suffered a minor heart attack several years ago, but appeared to have recovered from it completely. He spent a busy day yesterday, making calls on behalf of the hospital and of the Pear Blossom festivaL Survivors include Mrs. Flynn, two daughters, Mrs. Bruce Holmes, Panama City, Canal Zone, and Mrs. Donald Ross, Portland; two sisters, Mrs. George Peake,. Grants Pass, and Mrs. Mary Elkins, Los Angeles; four brothers, Alfred A. Flynn, Portland, Tom J. Flynn, Med ford, and Ray and Ben Trow bridge, both Medford, as well as four grandchildren.. Funeral ' arrangements are pending at Conger-Morris fu neral home. DOW-JONES AVERAGES New York (U.R) Dow Jones final stock averages: 30 industrials 510.25, up 1.57; 20 rails 170.35 up 0.18; 15 utilities 67.52, up 0.06, and 65 stocks 180.45, up 0.38. Sales today were about 2,610,000 shares compar ed with 2,540,000 yesterday. . Price Support ports averaging 33 cents a pound for the entire crop. Secretary of Agriculture Ezra T. Benson had indicated he wanted to peg 1956 crop supports at about 30 cents a pound for the entire crop. Small Portion of Crop As a result of today's action, price supports would continue to be computed on the basis of 7-8-inch staple cotton, which com prises only a small portion for the crop. Most of the crop is more valuable than that type, and brings a price premium over it. The adrninistration wanted to base the cotton sup ports on the average staple. This would have lowered the dollar and cents supports.
