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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (April 5, 1956)
Anti-Labor Writer M 4 nr EDFORD RIBUNI Splashed United Press Full Leased Wire United Press Full Leased Wire 51st Year 28 Pages REGON, THURSDAY, APRIL 5, 1956 Price 5c No. 13 .VP in Face By cm Thrower ' O New York (U.PJ Victor Risel, anti-racketeering labor column ist, -was splashed in the face by acid thrown by an unidentified man early today. Doctors said he is in danger of losing his eye sight. U.S. Attorney Paul W. Wil liams said Riesel was to have been a witness before a special Grand Jury investigating rack eteering in the garment indus try, and "I regard this as an attempt to intimidate witnesses in the government's investigation." Williams called FBI agents and the chief of his criminal division to an immediate con- xerence in an attempt to get a line on those responsible." The attack was made about 3 a.m. when Riesel and a girl assistant left Lindy's Restaurant at 51st st. and Broadway and prepared to enter her auto. Attacked Racketeering The two had gone to the res taurant after a midnight radio broadcast in which Riesel inter viewed two members of a Long Island building trades union fighting the local dbmination of William C. De Koning Jr., son of a Long Island labor czar and convicted extortioner. In two previous appearances on the program, and in columns which appeared this week in 193 newspapers across the country, Riesel had attacked labor rack eteering on a broad front, in cluding the New York garment industry, the trucking industry, and the New York waterfront. He also had attacked Southern segregation moves as they affect the labor field. In a column which appeared Monday, Riesel wrote: "Now there's still plenty of muscle around, and they can put acid on dresses or 'stink bombs' on food in restaurants. But that's crude. The dress trucking racket works another way these days." 1 Can'l See' Betty Kevins, Riesel's assist ant on the radio program, in which he was making vacation appeara-ices for Barry Gray, said the shabbily dressed young man approached them as they neared her car around the corner from the restaurant. Egypt Makes New Aggression Charges United Nations, N.Y. (U.RV New charges of aggression flared today between Egypt and Israel on the eve of a peace mis sion to Palestine by U.N. Secre tary general Dag Hammerskjold. Egypt charged in a letter to the U.S. Security Council that Israel deliberately attacked Egypt cities in the Gaza Strip. The letter said 33 civilians were killed and 92 were injured. At the same time, United press dispatches from Jerusalem re ported an Israeli charge that Egyptian forces had made seven attacks on Jewish settlements along the Gaza border. The Egyptians said Israeli troops attacked four Egyptian cities in the narrow Gaza Strip of Southern Palestine. Barnhari Low Bidder On Building Addition H. Barnhart Construction com pany of Medford has been award ed the contract to build a one- story concrete block addition to the Pacific Telephone company's equipment building in Gold Hill, J. H. Creager, local manager said today. Barnharfs bid was $7,600. The only other bidder was Wiley company of Ashland, which bid $7,892. Work on the 21x25-foot addi tion will be started about April 10, Creager said, and is sched uled for completion about mid September. The addition "will be used to house more dial central office equipment. Josef Stalin Attempted To Be Superman, Malenkov Tells London Press Conference London (U.R) Former Soviet Premier Georgi Malenkov today publicly repudiated the leader ship of his political mentor, the late Josef Stalin whom he charged had attempted to be a superman. Malenkov succeeded Stalin as Soviet Premier. He now is Soviet minister of power stations, a role in which he is winding up a tour of British conventional and atomic power installations. Supernatural Features In repudiating Stalin, he told a press conference that Stalin had tried to assume "super natural features" in pursuing his "cult of personality." Malenkov thus fell in step with the new line set at the recent 20th Soviet Communist party Miss Nevins said the man came out of a dark alley alongside the Mark Hellinger Theatre as if he were seeking a handout. She said she saw him throw something into Riesel's face. "At first I thought it was water," she said. "Then Vic put his hands to his face and said, 'My gosh, my gosh.' " Miss Nevins said she led the stricken writer back into Lindy's. Riesel told Manager Fred Schuterman: "I can't see. There's a film over my eyes.' Schuterman called police who took Riesel to St. Clares hos pital. Doctors said Riesel's vision was impaired and his face badly burned by the acid. They said he was able to distinguish light and moving objects but that full damage would not be known immediately. Lumber Industry In Confusion Oyer Notices by FHA Portland U.R) The West Coast lumber industry was thrown into confusion here to day when the Federal Housing Administration issued official notices that boards now manu factured by many segments of the industry did not conform to FHA standards. The notices said building con structed of the "illegal" boards would not be eligible for FHA loans. Emergency Meeting The Portland Home Builders Association called an emergency meeting to consider the situa tion. ' Portland is headquarters for the West Coast Lumber Grading and Manufacturing Association which March 15 revised grading rules by dropping the thickness of boards from 25-32 to 3-4 inch. The new thickness has been common for several years at' thousands of sawmills both in the western fir and southern pine regions but was only recog nized officially last month and the new dimensions stamped, on the boards. Lumbermen here said much of the southern pine lumber manufactured east of the Missis sippi is already 3-4 inch and may come under the FHA ban. Said Not Feasible The FHA notice said "it is not considered feasible to ac cept the new specification pend ing a change in American Lum ber Standards rule or an agree ment by a majority of the indus try on some other standard thick ness." The AL.S nas scheduled a meeting in Chicago to consider board dimensions April 20 but H. V. Simpson, executive vice president of the West Coast Lum bermen's Association here, said it would take some time for the ALS rule to be changed. Smooth Seas Carry Grace Toward Monaco Aboard Constitution (U.R) Movie queen Grace Kelly today sailed on calm seas, an omen of good fortune, to Monaco to become a princess. The Constitution, several hun dred miles at sea, knifed through moderate seas to Miss Kelly's storybook wedding to Prince Rainier III. Miss Kelly, the 70 members of her wedding party and the ship's other passengers welcomed the relaxed atmosphere aboard the vessel in contrast to the actress' frantic press conference before sailing time. ' Stewards, recovered from the excitement of the departure, re moved from Miss Kelly's luxuri ous stateroom armfuls of flow ers, trunks, hatboxes and the scores of gifts which jammed her accommodations. ' Congress in Moscow by party secretary Nikita S. Khrushchev. The pudgy former Premier at tacked the "cult of personality," which is Communist doubletalk for the downgrading of the Stalin legend, at his first formal press conference outside Iron Curtain lands. Newsmen Ask Views Some 250 newsmen crowded into the Soviet Embassy to ask Malenkov his views of Soviet policy. Their questions ranged from arms shipments to Egypt to intervention in the Kashmir dis pute. But main interest centered on the first opportunity given West ern newsmen to sound him out on his stand on the new Soviet .line on Stalin. . Mysterious Blasts Off Florida Coast Being Investigated Military Exercises May Be Responsible Sarasota, Fla. U.R The Coast Guard said today a mys terious explosion which rocked 70 miles of the Florida Gulf Coast may have been caused by "night exercises" of the Navy or Air Force. The Coast Guard in Miami re ported that the cause of the blasts was still unknown and was being investigated.' Restricted Area "We know there is a restrict ed area off the coast and that it is used for night exercises by either the Navy or Air Force or both," a guardsman said. The "rumbling explosions" were felt along the coast from Englewood, some 30 miles south of Sarasota, to Indian Rocks Beach near Clearwater. Alarmed shoreline residents swamped local radio stations and newspapers with calls. Sev eral windows were reported shattered in the Bradenton area. A flier, E. T. Denham Jr., said he saw two flashes from the gulf that looked at first like "lightning flashes from a big thunderhead squall." No Storms in Area "I checked my weather re ports and the sky and saw there were no storms in the area, so I figured they must be explosions." He said the blasts appeared to come from a spot in the gulf West of Sarasota. Fred J. Kruea, leader of the Civil Defense Ground Corps at Englewood, also said he saw two flashes from the gulf at 9:05 p.m. (EST). A Coast Guard helicopter and amphibian were quickly dis patched from the air station at St. Petersburg. But both re turned with negative reports. Fluoridation Vote Called at Ashland Ashland The Ashland city council Tuesday passed a reso lution calling for a special elec tion May 18 on fluoridation of the Ashland water supply. The council did not adopt a specific ordinance for fluorida tion, but called for a vote on the general issue. Registered voters will cast ballots on the proposition: "Shall the City of Ashland, Jackson county, Oregon, add fluoride to the public water sup ply in accordance with regula tions of the Oregon State Board of Health, with the cost thereof to be added to the water bill of each user not to exceed 15c per month?' The action follows a public hearing last month at which pro ponents and opponents discussed the proposal. A show of hands at that time indicated the ma jority present favored fluorida tion. A group of Ashland physicians and dentists presented a petition urging fluoridation to the coun cil earlier this year. Famous Engineer Leaves Estate of $7,000,000 Redwood City (U.R) Col. Daniel Cowan Jackling, Wood side, Calif., the world famous mining engineer who died March 13, left an estate valued at $7 million. He left $500,000 outright to his widow, Mrs. Virginia Jol liffe Jackling, and $400,000 to relatives, friends and employees. The remainder of the estate was left in trust for his widow. On her death, the principal goes to charities, churches and vari ous colleges to provide loan funds for engineering students. He was asked to speak out on the Soviet campaign to reduce the Stalin myth to human pro portions, since Malenkov was one of the men who worked inti mately with the late Soviet dic tator over a long period of time. "This question has been dealt with in the party conference and in the press afterward, "Malen kov said. Foreign to Party Spirit But he went on to attack the "cult" as being "foreign to the spirit of the party." He spoke of the "supernatural features" which he said the ex ponents of the cult had sought to assume. Malenkov meticulously avoid- ted using Stalin 'i name. HlT Hammarskjold Rome Conference On Mid-East Crisis UN Secretary-General To Leave on Friday United Nations, N.Y. U.R) U.N. Secretary general Dag Hammarskjold said today he planned to hold a top level con ference with his Middle East aides in Rome Saturday before proceeding on his peace mission to Palestine. He told a press conference that he would "take all the time necessary" to ascertain the sit uation in the troubled Mid-East. The Security Council, which au thorized his personal survey mission yesterday, instructed him ot report on his findings by May 4. To Leave Tomorrow He will leave here tomorrow for Rome, via London. He said he had summoned for confer ences in the Italian capital Maj. Gen. E. L. M. Burns of Canada, chief of staff of the U. N. Pales tine Truce Supervision team; Henri Vigier of France, political adviser to Burns, and Henry La bouisse of the United States, chief of the U. N. Palestine Re lief and Works Agency. The Swedish diplomat said he would spend about three days in Rome, going then to Beirut, Le banon, to begin his tour of Mid- East capitals in an effort to find a means of ending the mounting threat of war between Israel and the Arab nations. ' The secretary-general said he may look into many matters in the Middle East beyond the council's directive that he con vey compliance with the Pales tine armistice agreements and U. N. peace directives. These matters, however,, would, not be part of his formal report, he said. The resolution sending Ham marskjold to the Mid-East was sponsored by the United States which asked early and urgent action on means of reducing the tension. Sehorn Transferred From ASC Office Talbert (Tab) Sehorn, office manager for the Jackson county Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation committee for the past 'five years, will be trans ferred to the state ASC office in Portland, it was announced yesterday. Date of Schorn's transfer has not as yet been set. He will be program specialist in Portland. The ASC committee will re ceive applications for the posi tion here until April 13. The committee said applicants must be high school graduates between 19 and 65 years old and must have at least two years of farm experience or equivalent training. They also must have at least two years of responsible office experience. Applications may be filed in the . ASC office in the county courthouse. Two applicants were interviewed by the com mittee at a meeting Tuesday. Leeland Ross, -new farmer field representative, was pres ent at the Tuesday meeting. Ross replaced Ted Dunwoody who recently resigned. Vofer Pamphlet Mailing To Households Ruled Out Salem (U.R) Dave O'Hara, head of the State Elections Di vision, said today a proposal to send voters' pamphlets to each household rather than to each registered voter was unwork able. The household delivery plan has been recommended to the Interim Committee on Elections by its research staff as a money saving move. O'Hara contended the new plan would require a canvass of many communities lacking house mail service. Alaskans, Hawaiians Must Pay Their Taxes Washington U.R Internal Revenue officials said today rep resentation or no representation, residents of Alaska, Hawaii and District of Columbia still must pay their taxes. A Fairbanks, Alaska, jury this week acquitted former Internal Revenue collector Jack Marler of a charge of wilfully failing to file an income tax return. Mar ler pleaded "taxation without epreseniation,' tie RIPPING THROUGH FOUR STATES, tornado kills at least eight persons, injures more than 75. This is destruction wrought in Drumright, Okla., where five died.(InterTvational) Tornado Victims Start Cleanup As Storm Moves Over Atlantic By UNITED PRESS The remnants of a vast killer storm moved out into the Atlan tic Ocean today, leaving a heart breaking job of reconstruction behind. The final death count in the two-day barrage of tornadoes and storms stood at 43. Hospitals Stevenson, Kefauver Wait Illinois Test Chicago U.R) Adlai Steven son and Sen. Estes Kefauver test their strength again Tuesday, this time in Stevenson's home state. It is not a clear-cut contest. Stevenson's name is the only one on the Democratic ballot. Voters will' mark their presidential preference and elect 50 dele gates to the national convention as part of the state's primary election. Write-in Campaign But Kefauver backers have been drumming up. a write-in campaign for the Tennessee sen ator, especially since his victory over Stevenson in Minnesota and his showing in Wisconsin this week. Though this', is Stevenson's home ground and the Illinois Democratic organization is be hind him, Kefauver's backers be lieve they will elect some dele gates 'favorable to their man. Herbert Lockwood, who heads the Illinois Kefauver clubs, said the number might hit 20. There also has been a last minute campaign for write-in votes for Gov. Frank J. Lausche of Ohio. The Illinois vote is strictly a popularity poll. It is not binding Lumber Wholesalers Promise Support Eugene (U.R) Lumber wholesalers and mill shippers representing some 40 southern Oregon firms agreed yesterday to support similar Northwest groups in handling traffic and lumber problems. The meeting was held as an outgrowth of an Interstate Com merce Commission order, effec tive next Monday, which bans slow freight routing for sale-in-transit lumber. They claimed such an order would hurt whole salers and many small mills. Robert Taylor, chairman of the Eugene area group, said it was voted unanimously to coop erate with similar groups in Portland, Seattle and other cities. A resolution asked the traffic department of the West Coast Lumbermen's Association to re frain from making recommenda tions to the ICC relating to rail service which might be detri mental to green dimension mill operations. DOW-JONES AVERAGES New York (U.R) Dow-Jones final stock averages: 30 indus trials 516.57, off 2.08; 20 rails 171.44, off 0.20; 15 utilities 67.08, off 0.06, and 65 stocks 181.78, off 0.49. Sales today were about 2,950,000 shares compared with 2,760,000 yester day. Wealher FORECAST: Fair tonight with .colder temperatures. Variable high cloudiness Friday. Low tonight 28-30. High Friday 65. Temp. Highest Yesterday 64 Lowest this Morning 38 were jammed with many of the estimated 500 injured. Hundreds of families, their homes wrecked, searched for new dwelling places. In Washington, U. S'. Weather Bureau officials said the 12-state tornado rampage may go down as one of the worst in the nation's on convention delegates. But a big Kefauver write-in would be a stunning blow to Stevenson. On the Republican ballot, can didates for the nomination will be President Eisenhower, Calif ornia Sen. William F. Knowland and a perennial . office-seeker from Chicago named Lar Daly. Knowland's name was entered before Mr. Eisenhower announc ed for a second term. Then, under state, law, it could not be withdrawn. ' Knowland has not campaigned ' but his supporters have been plugging for him any way. Corn Allotment Tentatively OK'd Washington (U.R) Senate House farm conferees tentatively agreed today to increase the 1956 corn planting allotments by 18.6 per cent. These are the allot ments that commercial corn pro ducers must comply with to get price support. The conferees adopted a Sen ate plan which would set this year's allotment at 51,000,000 acres instead of the 43,000,000 acres fixed by the Agriculture Department. In announcing the action, Chairman Allen J. Ellender (D-La.) said the Senate-House Conference Committee now has "just about buttoned up every thing" in the farm bill and ex pected to complete action tomor row. The final bill is expected to be put before Congress next week. Its supporters believed President Eisenhower is relax ing his opposition to it and will sign it. They based this belief on his news conference remarks yesterday. Portlander Beaten By Gang of Youths Portland (U.R) Albert M, McHenry, 21, told police today. he was beaten by a gang of six youths while parked with a girl friend on Council Crest last night. " McHenry told officers that while he and Barbara Goshorn, 18, were parked another car pulled up behind them. He said the door on his side opened and that he was pulled from the car and beaten up. "The girl sounded the auto horn and the youths fled. Police later questioned a youth who said he and five companions had been there. The youth denied taking part in any beating and would not identify his companions. He said the group intended only to frighten the couple but that the situation "got out of hand," Recording to detectives Einar Moen and Phil Jackson. The youth was released to his father. Salem (U.R) Gov. Elmo Smith designated April 15 to 21 as home economics week in Ore gon. , , history. Other tornado barrages have killed more persons, but few have ever moved so fast and covered such a wide area. The storms came raging out of the Southwest Monday and hit their climax Tuesday night when they killed 17 persons in western Michi2an.,The vicious Weather front kept going east, but lost much of its power trying to get over the Appalachian Mountains. Winds got up to 75 miles an hour at Rochester, N.Y., and a tornado funnel was sighted whirling over Vermont. Winds up to 70 miles per hour bit West Virginia, while a dense fog de layed shipping in New York City and made driving hazard' ous through eastern and central Massachusetts. The fog lifted in New York shortly before midnight, how ever, and the winds died. Fore casters said the East should have clear, sunny weather today. The twisters' final toll in terms of lives and millions of dollars probably will not be known for weeks. Long after a tornado had passed, the fatality count went up in Tennessee with the death of an infant hospitalized victim. State by State Toll State by state, the death count was Michigan 17, Wisconsin 8, Tennessee 5, Oklahoma 5, Texas 3, Kansas 2, Mississippi 1, Minne sota 1, and Kentucky 1. Twisters and storms also spread havoc through parts of Indiana, Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska and Arkansas. The worst-hit states called upon their full resources to clean up .the wreckage. Damage was estimated at $11, 000,000 around Grand Rapids, Mich., with 69 buildings de stroyed and 186 others damaged or destroyed. National Guards men and other authorities sealed off the entire disaster area. Woodcock Resigns City Council Seat City Councilman Dick Wood cock, who has represented Ward II on the council for the past 3 13 years, today submitted his resignation. He has moved from Ward II, and no longer is eligible to rep resent that district on the coun cil. The resignation is effective immediately. Woodcock said he hopes that eventually he can re turn to city service in some ca pacity, possibly on the council again. His successor, under the city charter, will be named by the council. Its next meeting will be April 17. Woodcock was elected for a four-year term starting Jan. 1, 1953. 70 Indicate Participation In Fire Training School About 70 men have indicated they plan to participate in a foreman's fire training school here April 19 and 20, according to Lewis L. Simpson, secretary manager of the Southern Oregon Conservation and Tree Farm association. Arrangements for the training course were made in coopera tion with state apd federal agen cies. Instructors will be furnish ed by the state and federal for est services, Simpson said. The need for a foreman's training school developed dur ing last September's forest fires in this area when supervisory personnel had to be brought Victims Trapped Beneath Rubble Of Old Building Six Perish, Six Others Injured New York (U.R) The brick front- wall of a burning one story building collapsed on a squad of firemen .Wednesday night, killing six of them and injuring fix others. Five of the firemen died in stantly in the roaring mass of rubble and the sixth casualty died shortly after he was taken to a hospital. Two of the injured suffered broken bones and the others sustained cuts, bruises and shock. It was the worst toll of fire men taken in a New York fire since, 1932, when eight firemen were killed. Others Narrowly Escape Several score more firemen narrowly escaped injury Wed nesday night by scrambling to safety when the cry went up that the wall was falling. Fireman Joseph O'Keefe, 29, who was on a ladder with two of the men who were killed said "I heard a cry, 'watch out, watch out, it's going in!" I had no chance to do anything. The next thing I knew, I was going down." O'Keefe said "I was lucky. I rolled when I hit but it hap pened so quickly the other men never hao a chance." Marquee Supports Melted The fire was in a former theater building, now used for the manufacture of artificial flowers.. . The intense heat of burning chemicals apparently melted the thin supports of a heavy marquee on the front of the building causing it to col lapse, Fire Commissioner Ed ward Cavanagh said. The falling marquee i tore loose a large section of the front wall which collapsed, smashing ladders and equipment, and carrying the screaming victims with it. County Receives Instructions for Aid Jackson county has received instructions from the civil de fense agency to apply formally for federal disaster relief aid, according to County Engineer Paul B. Rynning. Word was received last week that the county's preliminary ap plication for $62,289.19 in fed eral aid has been approved by the federal civil defense admin istration. Rynning said at least five copies must be made of all items, with four certified copies going to the government. Total claims must be in by June 29. Included in the request is $562.50 for Rogue River debris clearing; $1,331.65 for Rogue River police protection; $86,600 for emergency road and bridge repair; and $1,640.04 for equip ment damage. The items are part of the more than $100,000 cost caused by the December floods. Governor Advocates Clean Communities Salem (U.R) Clean commu nities to match Oregon's scenery and draw a record-breaking tourist crowd here advocated by Gov Elmo Smith today in desig nating May 14 to 20 as clean-up and general beautification week. from outside the area, Simpson said. He pointed out that local fore men are more familiar ' with men fighting fires in this area, as well as the topography, burn; ing conditions and other factors. Simpson urged mills to make a special effort to send men to the school, as mill crews back up logging crews in fire fighting. He noted that last fall the need for trained foremen from the mills was acute, and that only one or two operators had any trained personnel in mill crews. The school will be held at the state forest patrol1 headquarters on Table Rock rd. Lunch will be furnished by the forest patroL
