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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 12, 1958)
FOURTEEN MEDFORD (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNE Sunday, January 12, 1958 irvke SmpDoyee k AimoweirssiBif DVOU - ofe; FEDERAL AGENT Above, Fred Stabler, one of seven per sons empioyed by the Medford office of the bureau of in ternal revenue, goes over an income tax problem with a .Medford citizen. The 650 federal employes in Jackson county, lare nearly all under civil service. The annual payroll is ..approximately 53,593.909, which compares significantly with tjje pear industry's average annual payroll of 54,000,000. VTmi IIP -hi ; - , 1 V- v1 ''$Wia h tf 4 5 tMi T iVfl;? ! Mil i ' ;: ICHECK RECORDS Going over the records of a new appli Jcant for social security payments, above, are W. V. Nusbaum, ;-left, manager of the Social Security office in Medford, and -i Field Representative Kenneth L. Farner. The service is one Yof 33 listed in the Medford telephone directory, which almost without exception, hire employees under civil service. The Toth anniversary of the civil service act 'will be observed Jhis week. SIIUIDE AIRCRAFT Information vnai to me saieiy of air craft flying up and down the coast is relayed to pilots by tSRirways Operation Specialists Norman Harrington, left, and "Eugene Mars, who help man the tower at Medford airport. " under civil service. Landing xwere given by the Medford -instrument approaches were Allowable Cut Said Withheld in Decade tQt Timber Demand y (Editor'! note: This is lhc Ji3at in a series of articles ;3oncerninj a comprehen .Zive study by the Industrial -i-"orestry association of the importance of federal tim-r-ber holdings to Jackson county's economy). "The forest service and bur Jjeau of land management have a -moral and legal obligation -'ftx sell government timber, at aair price for the sustenance dt dependent communities." '.'.W. D. Hagenstein. executive vice president of Industrial Forestry association, said to-day. JV Hagenstein was comment ing on a comprehensive study recently completed by the as sociation on the importance Federal timber in Jackson ,ceunty's economy. 3rHagenstein said the report JSttows the federal government .USs withheld realistic allow la&le cuts from the market :iiring the last decade of ac- trve timber demand, which i enough funds for up-to-date .'?lias had the effect of raising ' forest inventories and ade 52iarply timber costs to lum- quate personnel to market the -?teer and plywood operators full allowable cut. It had urg a5d helped price forest pro- ed the Northwest congression .fucts out of the nation's buil- al delegations to concentrate JS&ng materials markets. on the problems of federal tZl Hagenstein was quick to ; forestry to help assure a con- GUnphasize that failure to sellitinued. economy in hundreds jjealistic allowable cuts was jjjl the fault of individual -government employees but bEcause of cumbersome pro cedures under which they must function. He pointed out that to put the Rogue River National for- eat and the O and C lands un-; rier better management soiSDectre of increasing unem-i they could play their rightful I instructions to 26.523 aircraft station during 1957 and 1,823 guided in. place in the county's economy would require: 1. Completion of current forest inventories in the next two years; 2. Recalculation of allow able cuts from new inventor ies; 3. Extension of timber ac cess roads; 4. Concentration on timber management activities as the No. 1 job; 5. Sale each year of the full allowable cut. Hagenstein said that the In dustrial Forestry association, whose members employ more than 63,000 people in western Oregon and Washington, had worked hard to help the Federal agencies sell a realis tic allowable timber cut for many years. He said the as sociation staff had urged Congress many times to ap prove adequate timber access road funds. It had also urg ed Congress to appropriate of communities which depend on an orderly harvest of gov ernment timber. ''Failure to get our federal forests under top manage ment in the shortest possible time," Hagenstein said, "will result in less business in our communities and the grim ployment." Act Was Result of Assassination of James Garfield By EVELYN OUSTERHOUT Mail Tribune Staff Writtr If the federal government moved out of Jackson county fa I tome taxpayers are wont to wish) and took its 650 em ployees along, it is a good guess that most of the rest of the residents would follow shortly. Not only would almost half the terrain in the county be included, but innumerable daily services now taken for granted would disappear. So would over half the general county revenues and 45 per cent of the commercial forests on which much of our economy is based. There would be no mail in the box, no forecast of the weather, no money in the bank. Great changes would appear in our highways, our farm program, crops research and irrigation, military defenses, flood warnings, loans to home owners, and in Medford's water supply. Vorks Asked by Americans For with the hundreds of civil service workers, who observe the 75th anniversary of the civil service act this week come works and benefits demanded by Americans over the years through their representatives or by direct vote. The 650 federal employees in Jackson county, of which I the great majority are under five per cent of the estimated total number employed. Their annual payroll of approximately S3,593,909 compares signifi cantly with the pear industry's average annual payroll of more than 54,000,000. In addition, capital investment of the United States government in this section of Oregon totals more than 5300,000,000, including the vast forests of the O&C and Rogue River national forest, the Veterans Administration domiciliary at Camp White, and equipment of Civil Aeronau tics authority and weather bureau. The added boost to local economy brought about by op erational expenses and busi ness from employees' families is hardly possible to estimate. Operational expenditures esti mated by Medford district of fice of the bureau of land man agement alone, excluding pay roll, totaled $273,638.96 for 1957. The bueau of reclamation's Talent project to enlarge irri gation facilities totals approx imately S6,00,000 for the fiscal year ending July, 1958. Other Projects Other projects and services already complete or in prog ress have been financed in total or in part by the federal government. In such ways federal em ployees touch every county resident every day. Govern ment officials thoughout the U.S. are concentrating efforts during the week of Jan. 15 to "develop awareness and ap preciation of the people who compose the federal service, the important work they per form, and the satisfying ca reer opportunities it offers," the civil service commission reports. Signed into law Jan. 16, 1883, the civil service act was a climax to public sentiment for civil service reform which grew from the assassination of President James Garfield by a disgruntled citizen in a pa tronage dispute. Thirty-Three Agencies Thirty-three agencies with federal employees are listed in Medford's directory. With few exceptions, they are pro tected by the civil service act. They were hired following c om petit ive examinations which assure that randidates are qualified for t le jobs to be filled. The veterans adm. nistration domiciliary at C.'.uip White leads local agencif s in number of employees wfih 210, plus 870 members residing at the station. Valued at more than $6, 500,000, the domiciliary oper ated at a cost of 51,667,879.17 for the last fiscal year. Food, most of which is purchased locally, totaled $243,701.25. Employees there work un der an incentive awards pro gram common to many civil service agencies. The Camp White domiciliary's operating cost is one of the lowest among such installations in the country. Most Active Agency One of the most active and best known federal agencies in the valley at present is the bureau of reclamation, which employes 80 workers from the Camp White office and seven in Medford. The annual payroll is over S320.000. Under the U.S. department of interior, the bureau is in ternationally famous as an engineering agency in devel oping natural resources for irrigatioin, hydroelectric pow er plants, flood control and recreational benefits. Employees increased here during the past year when work began on the Talent project to enlarge and extend irrigation facilities and pro vide supplemental irrigation water to 10.030 acres in short supply and to 5.300 acres of dry land. The project, headed by J. A. Callan, construction engineer, is expected to be 35 per cent complete next July 1. Post Office Department Approximately 120 civil ; servants are employed by the post office department in J a c k s o n county, nrovidine I 1 many services besides that of civil service, represent almost gathering and distributing mail. Sixty-nine work under Post master Moore Hamilton in the Medford and Central Point post offices, 21 in Ashland under Parker Hess, and about 30 in the outlying offices. The post office is a collector of customs; it sells duck stamps, documentary stamps, U.S. savings stamps; issues money orders (requiring two full-time employees); and reg isters aliens each January as required by law. Care of the federal timber lands is another important government responsibility lo cally. About half of the com mercial national forests in Jackson county are adminis tered by the Medford district forestry office of the bureau of land management. Concentrate on Timber Headed by District Forestry Ross A. Youngblood, the bu reau's 57 employees concen trate on O and C timber and land valued at $155,000,000 in Jackson county, plus capi tal improvements such as roads, reforestation and blister rust control. Revenues from the O and C lands, which resulted from complex federal legislation in volving the state and the oid Oregon and California rail road, made up over half the general county revenues in 1955-56. Working closely with the lumber industry, BLM feels that management of public land must be intensified and refined to achieve what the public wants in wood, miner als, grass use, recreation and as esthetic assets. Operates Out of Inoom It is one of the few agen cies that operates, out of in come, a policy established by law requiring that BLM op erate from whatever propor tion of 25 per cent of total income that Congress chooses to appropriate. Permanency of wood har vest is assured on the lands through a sustained timber cutting basis. A $1,000,000 re forestation p r o g r a m was launched this year, and BLM also is working with other agencies and individuals in recreational development of the Howard Prairie project. In the Rogue River Nation al Forest are the rest of the federal commercial forests in the county. Forty-five per manent civil service em ployees care for the 394,327 acres. They include Super visor Carroll Brown, four dis trict rangers, 12 rangers man aging timber and related re sources, eight engineers and aides, 13 timber and fire con trol aides, and eight other office personnel. Lookouts, Fire Guards About 120 lookouts, fire guards, timber scalers and la borers work during the sum mers, resulting in a total an nual payroll in Jackson coun ty of about 5300,000. More than that amount also is spent for materials and equipment. Recreational use of the forests, which is encouraged by the service, is a leading asset, along with livestock grazing. Water for the cities of Medford and Ashland come from the Rogue forest, as does that for irrigating 53, 000 acres in the valley. Pro tection of watersheds through skillful management is one of ! the chief responsibilities of the forest service. 1 a third agency which aires WEATHERMEN Above, Bob Church, head of Medford's U.S. weather bureau station, holds one of the radiosonde balloons released at 3:30 p.m. daily at the Medford airport, while Meteorologist Stan Lacy checks the box of instruments that will send back signals indicating upper air tempera ture, humidity and wind information. The Medford weather bureau employs 11 meteorologists, under civil service, to keep a 24-hour watch on the weather. PLOTS DAM SITE Above, C. A. Tingleaf, supervisor en gineering aide of the Medford field office of the bureau of reclamation, is shown above plotting elevation contours on map of a southern Oregon dam site. Money spent by the federal government here for improvement of irrigation and power facilities is of great benefit to this area. Last fiscal year the bureau of reclamation spent S6. 600, 000 on the Talent project alone and the payroll for its 87 workers totaled more than 5320,000. for the timbered areas of southern Oregon is the Na tional park service. It em ployes 33 regular service per sonnel and about 100 more for special summer work. It is charged with preserv ing' and conserving "certain outstanding examples of nat ural or native America, along with areas of great scientific, scenic or historic vales," ac cording to Superintendent Tom Williams. The Medford office, with an average annual payroll of 5250,000, maintains Crater Lake National park, all of which lies in Klamath coun ty, and Oregon Caves Na tional monument in Josephine county. A well-known- and often censured agency, (especially in the Rogue valley's hard-to-predict climate) is the U.S. weather bureau. The hard working 11-man staff of me teorologists keep a 24-hour watch on the weather. Unpublicized Duties Their unpublicized duties include a constant observa tion program for airplane landings and takeoffs at the Medford airport, weather map preparation for national and international use, solar energy and radio activity measure ments, observations for the International Geo physical Year, flood warnings and fruit frost forecasts. In its "upper air" program, the bureau releases two radio sonde balloons daily at 3:30 a.m. and p.m., sounding the upper air for temperature, pressure, humidity and wind information. Two smaller bal loons are released at 9:30 a.m. and p.m. Weather forecasts direct from the bureau are made on local radio stations five times daily. Airport Activity Most of the activity at the Medford airport depends on the 23 civil service employees in the four offices of the civil aeronautics authority. Aided by equipment valued j at more than 5750,000, the! CAA provides for communi- j cations, direction finding,; weather information, ship movement reports and instru- ment landings. Landing instructions were issued 26,523 times during 1957 and 1,283 instrument approaches were guided by the CAA. An emergency power gen erator is part of CAA equip-j ment and is automatically in operation the instant normal power is shut ofi. -w. Social Security Work Few county residents are not affected by the Social Se curity administration, which employs seven persons in its Medford office. The 4,748 per sons drawing retirement and survivors insurance in Jack son county received S242.945 per month, according to W. V. Nusbaum, district man ager. Applications for social security benefits totaled 1,896 last year. Social security cards are is sued by the office and anoth er chief function is taking ap plications from eligible per sons for payments. Farmers and agriculture re ceive help in numerous ways from three federal agencies with offices in Jackson coun ty. The soil conservation serv ice works with the two con servation districts "to plan and apply soil, water and plant conservation practices." Overall Objective The overall objective of the six employees is "to assist farmers in using their land to sustain a high level of eco nomical return," according to Robert Lonzway, work unit conservationist for the Sams Valley-Beagle district. Clem Ault is conservationist for the Rogue district. Actively handled by local committees, the SCS assists in land leveling, stream bank control, crop rotation, under- J ground drainage and other ' conservation practices. Funds paid to farmers to assist in some conservation ; projects are administered by the agricultural stabilization and conservation committee, with offices in the courthouse. It assists also in developing a county conservation program and administers the wheat al lotment, wool incentive, price support and soil bank pro grams. Research Farms Further aid to agriculture j Daily's U-Drive Medford Airport Open House Slated At Vets Domiciliary The 75th anniversary of the civil service will be ob served with open house at the Camp White (Veterans administration Domiciliary Wednesday, Thursday and Friday this week. Visitors at the Domicili ary will be conducted on tours of the facility and will be advised by department heads as to operations and maintenance. Manager E. K. Ricker and Assistant , Manager Harold Jaffrey will welcome visi tors at the domiciliary. is offered by the research farms in the county under the management of Superintend ent Harold White, an Oregon State college employee. Federal funds bolster the state budget for operating the three farms, including one for agronomy at Talent and two for horticultural research at lalent on Kings highway. One federal employee, Dr. Roland C. Blake, serves local ly. The other state employees receive federal assistance through federal funds to the state. Although not under civil service, members of the arm ed forces contribute hundreds of thousands of dollars to the county's economy each year. sixteen members of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force are stationed here as recruiters or with reserve units. In addition almost 100 men receive pay while serv ing part time with the reserve. Ground Observer Corps The ground observer corps, under the Air Force, has a local program under the di rection of Master Sgt. Clifford C. Poulson. Some of the federal funds reach the county through the National Guard which has over 250 men in training in the two Medford companies and two Ashland batteries.- Separate from the armed forces, but also under the de- tense department, is the selec tive service, which has two civil service personnel in its county office. They register all men born after Aug. 30, 1922, plus recording former veterans for the stand-by re serve. Veterans have further con tact with Uncle Sam through the veterans administration local office. Its services in clude explaining benefits pos sible for veterans and assist ing applicants. Geological Survey The geological survey, sur face water division, employees four civil servants to studv surface water run off in south ern Oregon. The federal housing admin istration maintains a Medford office to appraise property preceeding local requests to FHA from local lending insti tutions.. Federal law enforcement agencies are represented here only by the federal bureau of investigation, although each executive branch of the gov ernment has its own investi gating agency. Two FBI agents are head quartered here, under the de partment of justice, to "inves tigate violation of federal laws and, also to investigate matters in which the U.S. is a party of interest." Most of their work, however, concerns crime and security. Housekeeping Agency The comparatively new housekeeping agency for the federal government is the gen eral services administration, which has 10 civil service ll serveJ fry I fry mt 4 l Conger-oM'oms vJ WEST MAIN AT SIXTH "Your TV Weatherman" KBES-TV Monday Thru Friday 6:00 P.M. Member National Selected mm i n riiirjir Retrial Set For Klamath Patrolman Klamath Falls (W Cir cuit Judge David R. Vanden berg said Saturday a retrial will be set in the case of Kla math Falls city patrolman John Wilson, 26, who is ac cused of assault with a dan gerous weapon. Judge Vandenberg Thurs day ordered a mistrial in the case when he learned that Wilson's attorney, Ben. J. Goddard, had died of a heart attack. A new attorney will be appointed and time grant ed for him to familiarize him self with the case, Judge Van denberg said. Wilson is accused of beat ing Clyde Cioud, 52, when the man was picked up by police and allegedly ordered to get out of town. Plywood Workers Laid Ofi Friday Portland (IP) Between 300 and 400 plywood workers were laid off Friday after noon fct the Ply-Lock plant of the Simpson Logging Co. at the firm's St. Johns plant here. Another 275 employees at the company's Albany plant were affected also, according to a company spokesman. Einer Pat Reiten, person nel manager for Simpson here blamed the curtailment of op erations on' "a lack of work orders." He said the Ply-Lock operation ordinarily employs 450 employees. The Friday layoff was one of a series dur ing the last five months, Rei ten said, the the largest so far. He said the layoff was tem porary, but would continue "until orders pick up." Deserters Rounded Up In Series Of Raids Couenhagen, Denmark W) Danish police "flying squads" rounded up eight U.S. Army deserters in a series of raids on bars and restaurants here Friday night, it was announc ed Saturday. The raids were made with the knowledge and coopera tion of the U.S. Embassy and service oficials, police said. workers here headed by Sup erintendent Glenn Herdman. They care for the mainten ance of the post office and fed eral buildings, each housing nine agencies. Many other non-federal government units, such as the extension service, welfare de partment, employment service and school lunch program are bolstered with monies from the national treasury. Internal Revenue Taxes pay for the innumer able services and Uncle Sam has the bureau of internal revenue's seven employees in Medford to help collect. Despite what many taxpay ers think, income taxes do not pay for them all. Of the entire federal budget, individ ual income taxes have been less than 50 per cent of the federal income. Corporation income and excise taxes and customs and other receipts make up the rest. When considering the great amount of the budget which goes toward U.S. military and security programs, the im portant services provided by most of Jackson county's fed eral offices cost comparatively little to the average taxpayer. And maybe that will make it easier wThen April 15 comes 'round again. qualified and understanding people William E. ASHLAND MORTUARY 4h an C Streets Ashland Morticians by Invitation JL National Guard News ' By MARGARET BEHNKE Tuesday, Jan. 7, the tro phies purchased by Company A were awarded winners of the rifle matches recently con cluded. At last formation, after the regular drill, Company Com mander 1st Lt. Donald Ivie presented a trophy to second platoon. The team won the series of matches. The trophy was accepted by platoon ser geant MSgt. Jack Burns. First Lieutenant Ivie also presented MSgt. Burns the trophy for being the high scoring individual in the com pany. After accepting the per sonal trophy MSgt. Burns announced that he wished to award it to the man in the company who showed the most improvement in firing during the matches. He said he believed that it was more appropriate to award the trophy to a young er man in the company with out as much experience, and that he hoped it would help promote interest and competi tion in future matches. The men gave M Sgt. Burns a round of applause that showed their approval of his gesture in giving up his tro phy, and in his choice of Cpl. Charles Brown to receive it. 1st. Lt. Jack Phillips, who has been in charge of the company matches, announced that Sunday, Jan. 12, the bat talion matches will begin at the Medford Armory. Com pany A and Headquarters Company and Company C of Grants Pass will compete with the other half of the match being held at the same time in Cottage Grove. The final matches will be held in the Medford Armory Jan. 26. Headquarters Company has promoted Pvt. Fred C. Corbin ! from Pvt. El to Pvt. E2. Pvt. Corbin wil leave Jan. 11 to begin six months active duty training at Ft. Ord, Calif. Erwin Stockford, a student at Medford High school, has enlisted for three years in Headquarters Company. At the drill Jan. 5 the men in Headquarters Company at tended class in various phases of training including "Field Fortifications," instructed by Sfc Daun Chaney, and Pfc. Bill Bowling; "Telephone Switchboard," instructed by SP3 Raymond Hilton, assit ed. by Pfc. Anthony B. Misksche; "Coding and De coding," under Pfc. Frank Artmire and Pfc. Kenneth R. Jacks; "Combat Intelligence" instructed by Pfc. James Ben son and Pfc. Derwin Large; and "Theory of Combustion Engines," instructed by Sgt. James Heberling. This class was supplemented by a film. The films used by the Na tional Guard are furnished by the Sixth Army and cover every possible phase of train ing. They are used as often as possible in classes at the Ar mory. Members of the winning rifle team from the second platoon include MSgt. Burns, Pvt. David A. Dahl, Pvt. Rob ert L. Thomas, Pfc. Donald D. Goyette, Sfc. Harold H. Ves sey, Sgt. George C. Halberton, Pvt. John L. Shama, Pvt. Perry H. Sneed, and 1st. Lt. Jack C. Phillips. Driscoll, Jr. FUNERAL DIRECTORS
