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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 13, 1958)
Is That So? By EUGENE BURNS Ranger-Naturalist PORCUPINES OF MIDEAST Baghdad Via MEA One wouldn't expect to see porcupines in this country, but there are some, especially up near the Iranian border. One that I saw was being held for sale to animal buyer who would resell him to a zoo. It was one of the crested va riety that gets its name from the crest of heavy quills which run down its back from the nape of the neck to the base of the stubby tail. Some of the quills on the captive were a good 15 or 16 inches long, but on those that are full grown they may attain a length of 20 inches or even more. Though our porcupines are known al peace-loving ani mals, content not to attack others, there is evidence that their Asiatic cousins have a somewhat different outlook. Attack Other Animals The crested porcupine, on occasion, will attack other ani mals. How they do it is to erect their quills and then charge backwards on the ene my. The reason is almost cer tainly not for food. The crest ed porcupine is evidently as much of a vegetarian as our own. In addition to bark, ! bulbs and fruit, he is very fond of maize, potatoes and other crops. An Iranian assures me he has witnessed such an attack. It was on a bright moonlit night, on the edge of some wooded country. The porcu pine saw a civet cat, which the Iranian could easily recog nize by the scent, assumed its stance and charged in re verse. The civet fled and the porcupine then went on about its business. Lit in Burrows The crested porcupines live in burrows. There are records of as many as eight of them sharing the same one, each with a different entrance some of which may be 100 feet from the living srea. While this would indicate a Heart Attack Fatal To Circuit Judge San Francisco (UP1) Mich igan County Circuit Judge George Hartrick, 67, died from a heart attack here Tues day as his name was being brought up in a rackets in vestigation of the Teamsters Union in Washington. Hartrick collapsed in a tailor's shop. Police ordered an autopsy, but the coroner's office said a laceration on the judge's forehead "undoubted ly occurred when he col lapsed." The Oakland County Mich, circuit judge, whose home is in Royal Oak, was mentioned in a Senate Rackets Commit tee hearing by former Team ster official Robert Scott. Scott testified that Team ster boss James Hoffa asked him to see Hartrick about a new trial for Harry Fliescher, known as the leader of De troit's "Purple Gang." Scott said he told Hoffa "it was no use" because Hartrick had been promised a state su ' preme court seat for laying a heavy sentence on Fliescher. certain sociability in these spine-covered rodents, it seems to me that these under ground apartments are con nected more by accident than design. Very possible they live in such close proximity to each other for a most practical reason. Big and strong as the crested fellow is some of them weigh up to 60 pounds he undoubtedly wants to make his home where the dig ging is easier. Hence several of them would choose the same area to a point just short of overcrowding. (Released by McClure News paper Syndicate) Free: By special arrange ment with the editors of the Encyclopedia Americana, my panel of judges will award each week to the reader who sends me the best true-life nature adventure, the best nature observation or the best question on nature and wild life, a complete 30 - volume set of this world-famous ref erence work in a handsome Sealcraft binding. Each week new submissions will be con sidered. Sorry, I simply can't answer your many friendly letters. Please address your letter to: Is That So! c'o Mail Tribune, box 1069 San Fran cisco, Calif. Anli-Aircrafl Talos Gets Target Missile Alamoeordo. N. M. (UPD deadly Talos anti-aircraft in terceptor missiles speared and "killed" one of the Army's supersonic target missiles over the white Sands range here Tuesday in a startling demonstration of U. S. air de fensive might. The victim was the King fisher missile, which a White Sands spokesman said is as fast as any known tactical jet. A fire control officer, watching a radar "blip" which picked up the flight of the Kingfisher, pushed a button to rip the Talos into flight. It swooped down for the kill on a course calculated by the Talos' automatic ground tracking equipment. At the point where the in terceptor missile would have hit the Kingfisher a "kill" was recorded electronically and the Talos swerved away. This is done so the expensive mis siles may be recovered. The Kingfisher firing-error indicator transmitted a signal which showed Talos had struck home. The lowest temperature ever recorded in the U.S. was 69.7 degrees below zero at Rogers Pass, Mont., on Jan. 20, 1954. Small Colleges Boosted By Interim Group State Rep. Robert Duncan of Jackson county has return ed to Medford after attend ing the meeting of the legis lative interim committee on education at Seaside recently. Day and night sessions were held as the committee prepar ed its report to the next ses sion of the legislature. The committee is charged with studying the problems of school districts in Oregon, including minimum standards, school reorganization, and school finance; the problems of post high school education in Oregon, including vocation al education, community col leges, and the Oregon Techni cal Institute; and problems of curriculum development and teacher training." Hearings have been held in many parts of the state and the committee has prepared tentative drafts of reports, to gether with legislation to ac changes in many fields. Boost Community Colleges Duncan reports that the use of community colleges will be Young Ensign Faces Six Years at Labor San Diego (UPI) Navv en sign James L. Johnson, 23, Long Beach, Calif., today faced six years confinement at hard labor and dismissal from the Navy for damaging a Navy vessel so he wouldn't have to go to sea. Conviction of the young of ficer in a court martial last week was disclosed Tuesday by the Navy. Johnson was found guilty of cutting oil lines and of dumping tools in a reduction gear box on the landing ship tank St. Clair County in Long Beach last January while waiting to put to sea. Damage to the ship was es timated at $3,100. During the court martial, it was indicated the ensign did not want to leave port because his wife was so upset he was afraid she might commit sui cide. His wife said she had not been feeling well and did not want Johnson to leave her side but she had not planned to kill herself. US OFFICIAL HONORED Berlin (UPD Martin J. Hil lenbrand, political adviser to the U.S. Mission in Berlin who is returning to Washing ton, was honored with a fare well party in the West Berlin city hall Tuesday night. He was presented a white porce lain bear, Berlin's heraldic figure. encouraged and made easier to form as the need increases; The school district reorgani zation bill will be tailored to eliminate problems and ob jections that have arisen since its passage; provision will be made for distribution of assets an liabilities of the non-high districts as they are termin ated in 1960; and recommen dations to improve the school standards and administration, together with recommenda tions strengthening the de partmene of education and the state board of education will be made. Report on school finance and Oregon Technical Insti tute are not yet completed. Duncan reported a continuing and growing movement, par ticularly in the eastern Ore gon areas, to reduce equali zation payments under the basic school support formula to the O and C counties by requiring O and C revenues to be taken into consideration in determining the elegibility for equalization. This is a seri ous problem which directly affects Jackson county. The next and final meeting of the committee is scheduled for September. Any suggest ions on the committee's final report should be made to Rep resentative Duncan as prompt ly as possible, he said. i Air Traffic Resumes Over Pacific Area Honolulu (UPD Airline service resumed over the Pa cific today as radio communi cations returned to normal fol lowing a nuclear blast over Johnson Island. The blast, which took place early Tuesday, grounded all flights and disrupted radio communications. The Civil Aero nautics Administration warned beforehand that radio reception might be poor or nonexistent at the time of the blast. About a dozen planes were grounded in Honolulu for pe riods up to 12 hours. Radio teletype circuits on several frequencies were snarled by static. The blast lighted the skies over Honolulu 700 miles away for a fraction of a second. A grey-white mushroom cloud appeared on the horizon and was visible for less than three minutes. After the explosion, several freight planes took off from Honolulu but returned later when their pilots reported ra dio communications were spotty. More than 12 per cent of all single-family homes sold in the U. S. now contain at least some prefabricated parts. MAIt TRIBUNE, Medford, Ore., Wednesday, August 13, IMS 7 New Type Hay Fever Shot Developed New York (UPD A New York scientist has come up with a new type of hay fever shot described as 98 per cent effective. It differs from the conven tional anti-hay fever injections in two ways. Only one shot a year is needed, in contrast to the from 15 to 70 annual injections of the old type shots. And it is made of min eral oil and ragweed extract. The shots now being used are made of a water base and extract. Dr. Mary Loveless said the medication is not now gen erally available and is still in the experimental .stage. She added, however, it has been used with good effect on hundreds of patients in five university medical centers. I llpilk JF BEDS Gadgets on Autos Said Nothing New San Francisco (UPD Peo ple who install television and other new-fangled gadgets in their cars have nothing on the inventors of earlier years ac cording to the National Auto mobile Club. During the 1890's a Chicago man devised a mechanical horse that would run along on wheels in front of a car. Horses often bolted when they saw a "horseless car riage." The inventor was out to fool them. Another inventor designed an automobile washing ma chine, simply a tank with a lid. The tank was filled with warm water, soap and dirty laundry. A ride over bumpy roads shook up and did the family wash. The parking problems was a source of brainstorms even' in 1926. An Iowa inventor came up with a car with a small wooden platform on the read end, furnished with cast ers. To park, the driver just up-ended his car until it stood on the platform, which he then rolled into the space. Then there was the Texan who eliminated the need for eyeglasses by having his whole windshield ground to his prescription. ri I I v L ..,,,:...., ,;; ..................... f. AM WlfrJ "1 C V j SALE MUST END SATURDAY! Motpoint 12 cu. ft. UPRIGHT FOOD FREEZES Hurry! This Store-Wide Clearance of New Hotpoint Appliances Ends Saturday Night! Choose the Appliance You've Been Want ing NOW... AND SAVE! Quantities Are Limited So Act Fast! 52 Gallon QUICK RECOVERY WATER HEATER $(j(Q)95 UPRIGHT MODEL 17 Cu. Ft. CHEST FREEZER Regular Price $489.95 CLEARANCE PRICE ONLY 1 LEFT! 3 ONLY! Hotpoint 1 1 ft. Refrigerator Regular $299.95 USVHJ Exch. A TERRIFIC VALUE BUY! 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