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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 22, 1957)
o O ear Price 10e Tribune DFORD Full Leased Wire United Press Full Leased Wtr MEDFORD, OREGON, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1957 No. 183 f - V, , " . ' - I. : , &4 St'. m A J - - ii iZAJF ' ' - " ft iteagd Cost Iris Dl mm SHOCK WAVK1 The picture above shows shock waves which built up in front of a Regulus 1 missile as it made a terminal straight-down dive on a target. The picture Is believed to be the first of its kind. Taken by the Sandia Corporation in California and released by the department of the Navy, the 1,200 Men Fight San Gabriel Blaze In 25,000 Acres Atrial Tankers Ar Grounded by Winds Jizusa, Calif. OP) A sprawling forest fire, whiplashed by gusty 60-mile-an-hour winds, spread over rearly 25,000 acres of San Gabriel Mountain brush land to day to force the evacuation of residents fringing the fire line. More than 1,200 men were on the fire lines, including a spe cially trained team of Indians from Albuquerque, N.M. Their job was hampered by the winds which kept much needed aerial tankers grounded. The fire and winds dumped a gritty mixture of ash and dust on much of Los Angeles, 35 miles southwest of the blazing moun tainside. However, diminishing winds, which washed across southern California from the Arizona border- to the Pacific Ocean Thursday night, lessened the danger to nearby towns of Du rate, Arcadia, Monrovia, Sierra Madre, East Pasadena and this foothill city. For a time Thursday night the fire verged on breaking the fire- lines and sweeping down into the cities, but the country fire chief, Robert Klinger, said little danger existed now. Only one mountain cabin was known to have been ravaged by the fire, though several others In the area were in the line of the fast-stepping blaze and were ordered evacuated earlier. The winds raged at 90-miles-an-hour gusts Thursday night in the area of the Los Angeles International Airport and turbu lence battered one airliner so hard over Ontario, -Calif., that several persons were treated for injuries when the plane landed at International Airport. Immediate aim of the fire fighting crews was to bridge the fire at a bulging line at the 5.000-foot high Angeles Crest Highway in the San Gabriels. The L-shaped blaze swept up San Gabriel canyon on a two mile front toward Etevil and Bear canyons, a lush wild area that was described as inaccessi ble to fire fighters. It last was blackened by fire in 1924. The Weather Bureau said the winds would continue through the day and resume Saturday (gfter quieting somewhat during the night. Jay Peterson, Forest Service fire prevention officer, said the blaze apparently started when a portable stove was overturned in a brush area at the convict road gang camp near the 7,500 foot elevation on ilt. Islip above Crystal lake. The convicts were Rising the stove to keep warm since the weather has been below freezing in the area, with snow on the ijrth side of the moun tain, Peterson said. 0 O Salem UP) Spots of ice were reported on roadways near Gov ernment Camp, Warm Springs junction and McKenzie pass by thi state highway department to day. ' JVEATHEf (FORECAST: Fair through Sat- urdav. Patches of valley log earlv morning hours. Low to night 28. High Saturday 55. Temp. Hiehest Yesterday 57 Lowest this Morning 21 Our Skies Tonight Sunrise :,1 a m. Sunset 4:44 p.m. Moonset 5:5 P-n. Moon rides low. First Ouarter Nov. 28 PROMINENT STAR Altair. high in southwest at moonset. VISIBLE PLANETS Venus, low in south west 6:45 p.m. Jupiter, rises 4:16 a.m. Mars, rises 5:52 a.m. WHIP Meeting Dates Set On Basin Programs Three future meeting dates were announced, and a look into the workings of the Jackson County Water Resources com mittee, given during a special meeting for press and radio in formation this morning in the Jackson hotel. On Monday, Nov. 25, there will be a meeting in the office of the county court to consoli date the preliminary reports made by the weight subcommit tees under the Jackson County Water Resources committee. Following this a public hear ing will be beld for residents of Jackson county in, the courthouse auditorium at 8 p.m. Dec. 2 on the findings and recommenda tions of the subcommittees, Bill Jess, Eagle Point, chairman of the committee, announced. At this time county residents will be asked to present their prob lems and recommendations in connection with development of water "resources of the Rogue River basin A public hearing will be held Dec. 11, starting at 9 a.m. in the courthouse when members of the state water resources board will meet with water re sources committees of Jackson and Josephine counties to hear reports and recommendations. A public hearing will be held for Curry county at Gold Beach for the same purpose. Consolidated reports and recommendations for development of the Rogue River Basin will be presented the state legislature later. General Summaries This mornine. chairmen of three subcommittees under the county committee gave general summaries of their reports and stressed cooperation and educa tion for development of Rogue River basin water resources and solution of its problems. Pur pose of the meeting was to set up a press and radio information program on the work of the Jackson county water resources committee. Representing the county com mittee were Bill Jess, Eagle Point, chairman; Ron Gandee, Medford, chairman of publicity for the committee; Robert Lee, city water superintendent, and chairman of the domestic and municipal water users subcom mittee; Manville M. Heisel, Med ford, chairman of the pollution abatement subcommittee; and Kathryn E. Heffernan, Jackson ville, chairman of the watershed subcommittee. Can't Point Finger In correcting watershed abuses, Mrs. Heffernan, said it is impossible to point the finger at any one group as responsible. Cooperation among logging in terests, farmers and the general public must be established and an education program set up, she said. As a starting point, her subcommittee has recommended parallel state and county laws be established setting up a govern ing board of the county of not less than five persons represent ing a cross section of interests. The board would hire a water shed management consultant educational representative, en forcement officer and executive secretary. One of the main abuses has been through poor logging prac tices, Mrs. Heffernan said. An educational program here should be aimed at the smaller operators as the large companies employ a full-time forester to maintain conservation practices. Regula tions would probably have to be established through logging con tracts to ensure better practices, she explained. Over-irrigation and over-grazing are other sources of polluting and cause of erosion, she said. Robert Lee, Medford water superintendent, also emphasized photograph shows- waves in front of the Chance Vought built missile's nose as it passed the speed of sound. Its speed has been estimated at Mach 1.1. The picture was taken through a 60-inch, F-5 reflective telescopic lens at a distance of IV2 miles. F cooperation. His subcommittee estimates that 45,840 people are now served by municipal water systems. In 10 years the subcom mittee estimates this will in crease to 61.250, by 1977, to 77, 400 and in 2007 to 122,400. The forecasts are based on the U.S. bureau of census figures, he ex plained. Present laws should be changed to allow industrial use of Rogue river water, it was recommended. Pulp manufacturers, as future industry, would probably be the largest users of water in this area, he said. Pulp processing requires a high quality of water for manufacturing, he added. Under the present system, city water could handle the pulp in dustry, he added. Practically all major industry in the area is now on municipal water systems, Lee said. Heisel stressed the potential danger of stream pollution in the county, particularly from the sanitation standpoint. People must be educated in installing and maintaining proper sanita tion facilities in the outlying areas, Heisel said. Their cooper ation must be obtained and teeth put into present sanitation regu lations, he said his subcommit tee has recommended. Suggests Authority His group has suggested that a metropolitan sanitary author ity be established along the lines of the state industrial accident commission. Then, permits should be required for all those building industrial plants or homes in the county. This would regulate installation of sanita tion and waste disposal facil ities. A serious health hazard are the irrigation ditches in the fringe - area housing develop ments which are actually open sawers carrying off wastes from improperly installed septic tanks, Heisel said. Overflooding of agriculture lands with irrigation water further complicates the sanita tion problem in subdivision areas, he pointed out. The subcommittee chairman declined to say if a county sub division ordinance would be the answer to the problem. County regulation on sanitation facilities is necessary, he added. La Grande (IP) Francis A. Shoufe, 54, Oregon City, died apparently of a heart attack about 7 a.m. while hunting elk in the Limber Jim area 35 miles southwest of La Grande. "How Did You Say Their Election Came Out?' Business License Upheld by Judge In Ruling Today Says Ordinance Was Properly Presented Municipal Court Judge Noreen Kelly today again upheld the city business license ordinance. She said it was properly pre sented on the council agenda, properly introduced, and prop erly passed at the Aug. 15 coun cil meeting. The use of proper procedure in passing the ordi nance had been challenged by Ray DeMarrs, Medford barber, one of three businessmen charged with conducting a busi ness without a license by the city. DeMarrs, in evidence present ed to the court Wednesday, de clared the listing of the ordi nance on the Aug. 15 council agenda had been improper. He had also maintained that since a similar ordinance had been ve toed by the mayor, a new ordi nance could not be introduced and passed at the same meeting. Judge Kelly ruled that under council procedure rule, it is nec essary only to "list the matter on the agenda" to provide a frame work for an orderly conduct of business. She held the ordinance prop erly passed by a rule which per mits passage of an ordinance without being read at a preced ing council meeting if. it passes by a majority vote. "The ordi nance passed at the Aug. 15 meeting by a 7 to 0 vote, one council member being absent. DeMarrs, who purchased his business license Monday under protest, had challenged the ordi nance as unconstitutional in court action last week. Judge Kelly in a 15-page opinion ruled the ordinance valid at the Nov. 15 court session. - - - -She said DeMarrs had acted in good faith in challenging the li cense, DeMarrs business license amounted to $13.50. Method of Setting Fees Changed by City An amendment changing the method of setting fees for busi ness licenses for hotels, motels and apartment houses was adopt ed by the city council last nignt. The amendment permits the fee to be assessed on a space rental basis. The amendment provides that the number of space rental units used in setting the fee will be the average number of units oc cupied daily during the year be fore the license year. The num ber will be determined by divid ing the number of days of occu pancy for all units by the total number of days. The citv recorder will furn ish each firm with a special form to comply with the new require ment. Businesses may also be in spected by the city recorder to determine if the form is correct. The amendment, which goes into effect immediately was re quested by the council after some councilmen felt basing the li cense fee on the total number of rooms was unfair. Seattle (IP) Top Teamsters Union organizers met here again today to discuss further plans for expanding the union's organ izing work. VISIT LIBRARY As part of a program to stimulate children's interest in books during National Book week, Nov. 18 to 23, about 40 fourth, fifth and sixth grade students from Medford's West Side school held "class" this morning in the juvenile department of the Medford Public library. Above, Mrs. Nora Jane McKay, head librarian of the juvenile department, instructs a group of students in Ashland Voters To Act On Program Of School Building Ashland A school building program costing more than $1, 250,000 will be submitted to vot ers in school district five Dec. 16, the school district board has announced. - .The, program is a long range plan which calls for $1,263,000 in- bonds. Two junior high schools, which will cost $798, 372, are the bggest items on the list. Also involved is the addi tion of elementary classrooms to the school system. School Superintendent Dr. Howard Balderstone said the program, if approved by voters, would provide the basic needs of the system for about 20 years. This includes allowances made for expansion when needed, he said. Advisory Committee The district's citizens' advis ory committee recommended the building program which is slightly different from the pro gram recommended by Dr. Bal derstone. However, the three year junior high school program was retained in the committee's plans. Dr. Balderstone has made a study of school population growth since 1948 when the dis trict was first made into the pres ent size. He has estimated that school enrollment, which is now 2,378, will reach 2,810 in 1961. He also said that by 1967 junior high school enrollment will reach 1,568. The 1957 enrollment gam over the 1956 amount was about 2.1 per cent, he said. This is about 1.1 per cent less than we expected, he added. Amendment to Bike Ordinance Passed An amendment to the 'city bicycle ordinance was passed last night by the city council. It will permit children under 12 years old to have limited use of sidewalks while riding bicycles. The council requested the city attorney recently to prepare an ordinance which would permit children to ride bicycles on city sidewalks in residential districts only. The councl also told City Attorney E. R. Bashaw to de fine residential, as distinct from downtown, sidewalks when pre paring the amendment. The amendment passed last night will permit children under 12 years old to ride bicycles on sidewalks in residential districts as defined by the motor vehicle code. The amendment requires riders to dismount when over taking or meeting a pedestrian and to remain off the bicycle until the pedestrian is out of range. The amendment is the second to the city bicycle ordinance within two months. An amend ment permitting the municipal judge to impound bicycles up to seven days if a rider is found guilty of violation of the ordi nance was passed in October. Theater Firm Granted Closed TV Franchise An ordinance granting California-Oregon Theaters a closed circuit television system in Med ford was passed by the city coun cil last night. The action followed a report by the executive committee which studied the effect the sys tem would have on "free" TV and whether or not the system would be practical to operate in Medford. The council requested the executive committee obtain more information about the sys tem before action be taken. The committee, headed by City Manager Robert A. Duff, Committee to Study Fence Code A committee of Councilmen Paul Van Sickle and Al Brad ford was appointed by Mayor John W. Snider last night to meet with City Manager Robert A. Duff to discuss the building code requirement for fences in fire zone one. The committee was appointed after an appeal from Wendell Sessions, owner of Medford Motors company. Sessions said a wooden fence, on which adver tising could be displayed, was necessary for the automobile business. The nresent code requires that the fence be open or solid metal with metal posts of solid ma sonry and not be more than six feet tall. Sessions said the requirement was recently added to the build ing code and a type of fence un der construction at his building was found to be in violation. He also said another automobile comDanv in Medford had found that a fence built before the change in the building code was legal but a small section recently completed on one end was found to be in violation. City Attorney E. R. Bashaw said there are no means of ap peal at present. He said an amendment to the building code must be made if the council feels a fence other, than what the code allows should be constructed. The committee is scheduled to make a report at the next coun cil meeting. Two Men Sentenced To Penitentiary Willie Woodrow Wolfe, 36, Los Angeles, was sentenced to six -years in the Oregon state penitentiary this morning by Circuit Court Judge H. K. Hanna. Wolfe was found guilty on grand larceny charges Wednesday in a jury trial. Also sentenced in circuit court was Glen Eugene Johnson, 36, Live Oak, Calif., who changed his plea on a grand larceny charge to guilty. He was. sen tenced to three years in the state penitentiary. They were arrested last July in connection with the robbery of Grady Allen Conner, Med ford. the use of the card file. After a lecture pe riod, each child was given a slip of paper which had written on it the name of a book to be looked up. This special instruction in the use of library facilities is open to all schools in the county, as well as special groups as part of the function of the library, according to Head Librarian Miss Helen Webster. believed the council should not consider the matter from an eco nomic standpoint but rather from a point of control of regu lation to insure public welfare. The committee recommended adoption of the- ordinance. The ordinance grants Cali-fornit-Oregon Theaters a 10-year franchise. Installation of the sys tem must begin within two years after the franchise is granted, according to the ordinance. Any transfer of the franchise must be approved by the city A fee of 2 per cent of the total gross receipts from subscribers and advertisers will be collected by the city each year. The group will have 10 days to file a surety bond with the city for $5,000 after passage of the ordinance. The group will also have 90 days in which to file a notice of agreement with the city. The ordinance provides the city maintain the right to set fees and rates for service given subscribers. The group plans to run fea ture-length movies to private homes. It is the first such fran chise granted in Oregon. The. group said how subscribers would pay has not yet been de cided. All But Two Tax Bills Are Signed Salem flPi Gov. Robert D. Holmes today completed signing all but two of the bills passed by the recent special session of the Legislature. The remaining bills will be signed by the governor as soon as he receives them. House Bill 1 is the major tax bill lowering state income taxes about 20 per cent. House bill 24 is a supplemen tal appropriation for expenses of the special session. Earlier the ' governor had signed House bill 2 raising basic school support from $95 to $105 per census child and a bill rais ing the State Emergency Board's j fund to $1,500,000. Air Force Plans New Base For Missiles in Washington (IP) Atlas Inter continental ballistic missiles ap parently will be pointed square ly at Russia from a huge new missile base to be built in Wyo ming. The Defense Department an nounced late Thursday the 65 million dollar base will be built at Francis E. Warren Air Force base near Cheyenne. The Pentagon said construc tion would begin "during the middle part" of next year. The base presumably would be ready about the time the United States has the Atlas fully perfected and rolling off production lines. The missile is undergoing tests at the Cape Canaveral. Fla.. testing center now. The Pentagon did not announce the exact purpose of the new "missile site." But observers Seasonal Drop in Food Prices Said Primary Factor October Prices Hold To September Level Washington OP) The 13 month climb in the cost of living has ended, the government an nounced today. Consumer prices in October held to their September levels, the bureau of labor statistics re ported. The announcement followed a statement Thursday by Labor Secretary James P. Mitchell that the inflationary spiral has been checked. A seasonal drop in food prices was primarily responsible for stopping the long upward push on family budgets which had occurred every month since Au gust,' 1956. The good news was coupled with a warning, however. The bureau of labor statistics predict ed there may be a slightly higher over?all price index this month because of higher price tags on 1958 autos. It said this gain will offset continued seasonal drops in food prices, which are expect ed to hit a low point in January. ' The index for October, as for September, was 121.1 per cent of a 1947-49 consumer price average. It was 2.9 per cent higher than in October, 1956. Lower Take-Home Pay In a separate report the labor department said a half-hour re duction in factory work weeks in October chopped 85 cents a week off the take-home pay of production workers. That drop, together with ris ing prices over the year, meant a 1 per cent loss in purchasing power from September and a 3 per cent drop compared with a year ago. This loss of buying power, ac cording to the commissioner of labor statistics, Ewan Clague, was one reason that the price in dex did not rise. He noted that some people are "not so pros perous as a year ago." For a factory worker with three dependents, October take home pay was $74.78 a week. In September it was $75.63 and in October, 1956, it was $75.03. Meat Prices Lower Most of the 0.5 per cent drop in food prices from September to October, Clague said, was due to lower meat prices, especially those for hogs. Mitchell said the leveling off of prices is a "good sign" be cause inflation "has been a con cern of many people." It repre sents an end of the "so-called in flationary spiral," he said. One big Item in the nation's economy appeared certain to go up, however. That was defense spending and with it a prob able rise in the federal budget. In another economic develop ment, the Federal Reserve Board authorized three more District Reserve Banks in Kansas City, Minnapolis and Philadelphia to lower their discount or interest rates from 3Vi to 3 per cent. Four other reserve banks dropped their discount charge last week. DOW-JONES AVERAGES New York (IP) Dow-Jonei final stock averages: 30 in dustrials 442.68, up 2.88: 20 railroads 103.46, up 0.76: 15 utilities 67.10. up 0.27, and 65 stocks 148.33, up 0.32. Sales today were about 2,850,000 shares compared with 2,900, 000 shares Thursday. Wyoming gathered from the wording of the announcement it was intend ed as a base for the 5,500-mile range Atlas. The Warren site apparently will be fully equipped for the launching of the big missiles which could streak across the top of the world to land a nu clear payload on Russian targets in 30 minutes in case of war. The Defense Department said that 4,000 to 5,000 men would be needed "to operate the missile facility." It added that Air Train ing . Command schools now lo cated at the base would be trans ferred to other installations as construction on the base pro ceeded. The Pentagon said the Air Force Air Research and Develop ment command would take over the Warren base.
