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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 7, 1959)
9 Bsspisilts Sot 53rd Year Medford 16 Pages Demonstrators Meet Russian at Cleveland Airport Cleveland, Ohio-flJPD-Soviet Deputy Premier Anastas ' I. Mikoyan arrived here today to spend the day as a guest of financier - industrialist Cyrus Eaton. ' The Soviet official and his party were welcomed with a warm handshake by Eaton, but banners on a group of 100 cars, which assembled at Hopkins Airport two hours before Mikoyan's arrival from Washington, were not so cor dial. "Mikoyan go home and take Eaton with you!" was one of the sentiments ex pressed on placards carried by six organizations in the protest demonstration. Conspicious in the crowd were life-size pictures of Mi koyan and Eaton, bearing the caption: "Poison!" one banner read: "Mikoyan-mass killer!" Police Stand Guard More, than 100 policemen were on hand to guard Miko yan and the seven other Rus sians, including Mikhail Men- shikov, Russian ambassador to Washington, and Mikoyan's son, Sergo, but there was no indication of violence. Police Chief Frank Story said his men would not inter fere with the protest demon . stration unless laws , are broken, and a spokesman for the protesting groups, meet ing in a vacant store in the - Hungarian district, stressed that "our demonstration will be completely lawful. There will be no violence." Eaton, in welcoming Miko yan and his party to Cleve land, applauded the increas ing "exchange of visits be tween the United States and the U.S.S.R.," which he termed the "two most power ful nations in the history of the world." Then the 75-year-old Cleve land industrialist, who recent ly visited Russia, lashed out at American foreign policy and laws which prevent extension of huge American loans to fi nance enormous two - way trade between the two na tions. After a brief press confer ence at the airport, Mikoyan was driven to the Greenbrier suite at Cleveland Union Terminal. He will lunch with some 40 leading Cleveland in dustrialists, bankers and mer chants and then will tour the Lincoln Electric company plant. As Mikoyan flew into 'Cleve land, he left a two-day trail of cold war peace feelers through official and unofficial Washington. Program of Reform Starts in Havana Havana i (UPD President Manuel Urrutia's ministers re ported to their offices for the first time today to launch the revolutionary gove rnment's program of reconstruction and reform. Urrutia held his first for mal cabinet meeting Tuesday night, just a few hours after he had dissolved the Cuban congress and announced he would rule by decree for the next 18 months. The new president has em phasized in his talks with newsmen that his government would concentrate on a broad program to raise Cuba's liv ing standards, especially in the rural areas. He planned to implement the 26th of July Movement's land reform program calling for breaking up of the state owned lands into five-acre parcels which would be deed ed to the tenar-t farmers now working them. DOW-JONES AVERAGES New York-EP&-Dow-Jones final stock averages: 30 in dustrials 583.15, off 8.22; 20 railroads 160.10, off 1.76; 15 utilities 91.00. off 0.38, and 65 slocks 203.00. off 2.35. Sales today were about 4.140,000 shares compared with 3,690,000 shares Tuesday. DfflOKOYAN MEDFORD, OREGON, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 7, 1959 "The Idea Is To' Set It Up In A Quick Change, See? . . . New Auto Insurance Rates Go in Effect Portland-flJPD-New automo bile insurance rates increas ing liability premiums but re ducing the price of drivers' property damage insurance went into effect in Oregon to day. . The rates were announced by firms who are members or subscribers to the National Bureau . of Casualty Under writers and the National Au tomobile , and Underwriters association. These handle about three-fourths of the auto insurance business in Oregon. Liability rates for commer cial cars were increased an average of 21 per cent. The liability rate for passengers cars went up an average of 2Vz per cent. Material Damage The material damage rates for passenger cars were de creased an average of slightly more than 4V& per cent. Other changes increased by about 12 per 'cent the rates for liability insurances car ried by garages, filling sta tions and similar establish ments; reduced commercial fire rates about 4t per cent depending on the distance the vehicle is operated, and re duced collision premiums for two . cars and . other , similar commercial vehicle about 11 per cent. , A year ago the same com panies increased passenger car liability rates about 30 V per cent and material damage rates for passenger - cars ' 10 per cent. At that time com mercial vehicle insurance rates were not changed. Automobile liability insur ance rates in Jackson coun ty were increased from $42 to $43, according to the Na tional Bureau of Casualty Un derwriters. This rate applies to Class 1A, non-business family car with no young male opera tors. Basic limits coverage means protection up to $5,000 for bodily injury for one per son, up to $10,000 for bodily injury for more than one per son resulting from one acci dent and up to $5,000 for pro perty damage resulting from one accident. t)regon material damage premium rates have dropped from $96 to $88, a decrease of $8, it was reported, for the WEATHER FORECAST: Cloudy, windy and mild with rain in valleys and snow in mountains tonight. Showers and cooler Thursday. Low tonight 42. High Thursday, TEMP. Highest yesterday 42 Lowest this morning 32 Our Skies Tonight Sunset today 4:54 p.m. Sunrise tomorrow 7:41 p.m. Moonrise tomorrow .... 6:52 a.m. New moon Thursday night PROMINENT STARS Vega, low in northwest 7:28 p.m. Spiea, in the , southeast 3:43 a.m. VISIBLE PLANETS . Venus, sets 5:32 p.m. Mars, high in southeast 8:40 p.m. Jupiter, rises . 4:07 a.m. area outside Portland. This pertains to full comprehen sive and $50 deductible collision-coverage for popular priced family car, with no male driver under , 25 years old. ' .. ; .: ,' ; ..... Gov." Commuter Nunn's Sentence Salem -(UPD Gov. Robert D. Holmes today commuted the death sentence of Billy Jun ior Nunn to life in prison. Nunn was convicted of the first degree murder of Alvin Eacret, Klamath Falls. His conviction was upheld by the State Supreme Court. The boy's parents later questioned the right of the governor . to : commute sen tences, but the governor's right was upheld by the Su preme Court. Nunn had been scheduled to die March 18, 1958, but an executive order of the gover nor postponed the execution until June: 26, 1959. In his commutation, the governor said that the impo sition of capital punishment "does not prevent the com mission of murder and ... is contrary to the .teachings of Christianity which are the foundation of our . govern ment. ''It is the obligation of gov ernment to be civilized even in the exercise of its obliga tion to protect society," the governor said. The commutation order not ed that the Supreme Court had decreed that it was the governor's responsibility t o determine . when his commu tation powers should be used. Motion to Disqualify Judge Filed in Case Attorneys for Ahe Eagle Point Irrigation District and The California Oregon Pow er company Monday filed a motion in circuit court seek ing the disqualification of Judge Edward C. Kelly. The motion was filed in the case of Paul D. Conrad, Fritz M. Carlson, Herman Higday, Ann and Howard F. Todd versus the Eagle . Point Irri gation district and J. Harvey Stanley, Clarence J. Greb and Elbert M. Bigham, its di rectors, and Copco. The complaint was filed by Conrad, Carlson, Higday and the Todds seeks nullification of the district's contract with Copco whereby Copco is guar anteed a portion of the dist rict's water for power use in return for financing mainten ance and improvement of the district's main canal above the power station. The number of plaintiffs in the suit, all of whom are dist rict water users, has shrunk from the original seven to five. The names of Joe Nork IB $231,977 Total Of Festival Fund; Meeting Slated A total of $231,977.52 has been collected to date in the Shakespearean Festival fund drive, according to Archie Fries, Shakespearean Festival association president. This leaves $43,022.48 yet to be collected to reach the goal of $275,000 for recon struction of the Shakespear ean Festival theater in Ash land. A Festival fund post holi- ,day progress meeting is sched uled for Friday, Jan. 9, from noon to 1 p.m. in the Red Cross building, 60 Hawthorne ave., Medford, Fries added. On Dec. 22 the Festival fund had a total of $224,- 624.93. This means the fund has moved ahead $7,353.59, Fries said. Medford's total is $73,467.93 and Ashland's $71, 379.84. An anonymous donor has contributed $68,726.50 in a matching fund, it was re ported. The Ashland total of $71,379.84 includes donations of labor and materials, it was explained. The mailing total outside Ashland and Medford is $18,403.25. Women Collect Mors The women have collected more money than the men in both Ashland and ' Medford. it was reported. In Medford, the .men collected $6,162. and the women topped t this by collecting $7,900.50. In Ash- lahdthe men'conecfed" $35,-' 373 and the women edged ahead with. $35,808.84 collect ed. Medford mail contribu tions totalled $1,687 and $198 in Ashland. Medford's special gifts divis ion collected $51,056.43 and the material , gifts division $6,662. The latter division in cludes donations of materials such as lumber and cement, it was explained. Ashland does not have a special gifts division. Mailing totals from other communities with. Festival fund chairmen include Port land, $3,156; Salem, $481, Eu gene, $1,537, Grants Pass, $3,005, San Francisco Bay area, $2,869, Southern Cali fornia, $365, Eureka $33. The balance of the fund is from general mailing covering many sections of the country, a spokesman said and totals $6,957.25. ' Too Much Snow Halts Travel To Ski Resort Mt. Shasta. Calif UJPD Five-foot snowdrifts block ed the road io the Mt. Shas ta Ski Bowl .lodge today, preventing three persons from leaving. Two Siskiyou county snow plows were expected lo clear Ihu . road lo , the lodge late today. Bill di Cristina. lodge manager, his wife, and E. A. Christen sen, lodge chef, were report ed in no danger. and Claude Self do not ap pear on the ammended com plaint. Says Kelly Prejudiced In the motion filed Monday, Attorney George Roberts at tached an affidavit stating that he believes Judge Kelly "is prejudiced against the in terests of The California Ore gon Power company to the extent that I believe that said defendant cannot have a fair and impartial trial or hearing ..." It was the first legal action by either of the parties since a hearing before Judge Kelly Dec. 23, at which time he postponed the taking of depo sitions in the case until Jan. 19. The delay was made be cause Ted Flury, Eagle Point, secretary-manager of the dist rict, and a witness, is cur rently under indictment on a charge of receiving a salary from Copco while employed by the district, in violation of an Oregon statute. Mrs. Todd instigated the suitV against Flury, Price 10 Cents No. 248 Hatfield Meets Legal Advisors To Decide Action Salem-(UPE-Gov.-eIect Mark Hatfield met today with his legal advisors to decide what action to take in his battle with Gov. Robert D. Holmes to name a new secretary of state. Holmes contends he has the power to appoint a new secre tary of state and he favors Dave O'Hara, a 71;year-old Republican who was' former state elections chief. The governor is backed by Attorney General Robert , Y Thornton who has issued an opinion that Hatfield must resign his present secretary of state's job before becoming governor. This would give the governor the power to appoint a new secretary of state. However, Hatfield has said he intends to appeal the mat ter to the courts for final de cision: If- the case is appealed to the Supreme Court, the ap propriate action would be a "quo warranto" proceeding which tests the validity of a person to hold public office. The jurisdiction of the high court is sharply limited as to what cases over which it can take original jurisdiction. The court may originally hear only mandamus, habeas corpus and quo warranto proceedings. If Hatfield chooses to file for a declaratory judgment as to his powers to appoint a new secretary of state, that action would have to be filed in Marion county Circuit Court Such a procedure would take longer than appealing directly to the high court. Sources close to the Su preme-Court indicated today that they would1 be able to Vact promptly" on a quo war ranto proceeding. If a declaratory judgment were sought in Circuit Court. it might be next Monday or later before a decision could be reached. Work Being Done On CP. School Central Point - Repairs are now under way on the Central Point Elementary school to meet safety standards requir ed by W. P. Roble, deputy state fire marshal, it was re ported today. Roble, Grants Pass, was called to inspect the 50-year old school building last month by Don Turner, Central Point fire chief. Touring the build ing with the chief and deputy fire marshal were H. P. Jew ett, district 6C school super intendent, and Charles A. Meyer, Central Point elemen tary and junior high school principal. Reqpirements specified by Roble included a metal ex terior fire escape to be placed on the north side of the struc ture and rooms on the lower floor are to have fire-resistant ceilings. Fire doors are also required between ' the two floors and the stairwell is to be walled with fire-resistant materials. Also to be corrected were trash chutes and the old fur nace vents, which are to be closed. The safety requirements are to be met within 30 days from the time of inspection, it was reported. Fire Alarm Sounded In Chicago School Chicago - (UPD - A whiff of smoke drove 200 students out of their classrooms and onto the sidewalk at Our Lady of Sorrows Parochial school to day. An alarm was sounded but there was no fire in the school. Sister Superior Regina Ce cile smelled smoke in the school's second floor gym nasium. She immediately turned in a fire alarm and then led the children out of the school in fire drill for mation. When firemen arrived, there was no fire to put out. Investigation showed that a strong southeast 'wind had driven smoke from an incin erator 75 feet south of the school through underground ducts and into the gymnasium. First Degree Murder Charged Against Woman ARRAIGNED Maxine A. Click, 46, who has confessed in writing to the slaying of her husband, Houston James Clark, in Ashland yesterday morning, is shown above entering Jack son county court house in custody of police prior to being charged with first degree murder. Mrs. Click, the mother of nine children age 4 to 21 years, said she shot her husband after a series of family arguments. She was arraigned late yesterday afternoon. Fall Employment Said Fairly The fall months up to mid- December formed a period of relatively high employment in Jackson county, according to John J. Patton, manager ployment office. Such unem loyment as occurred was gen ployment as occurred was generally of short duration. Unemployment in Jackson county, at the end of Decem ber was estimated at 2,100, Patton said, which is 66 per cent above November,-but 15 per cent - below . the same month a year ago. The pres ent unemployment total is ex pected to drop in January unless bad weather forces ad ditional shutdowns and pro longs the present ones, he said. Lumber Activity Helps . During the past three months, with lumber prices good, the unemployment lev el has been less than half that of the. previous year, Pat ton reported. Jackson county has been consistently better off than most other areas in Oregon which undoubtedly had a strong influence on the high sales activity during the Christmas season as reported by local retail firms, he said. During the three-month period ending in mid-December ' orchard pruning was in full operation. Experienced pruners were in demand. Job prospects during the next 60 days are poor for new hires; Patton said, although it ap pears at; present layoffs will be far below last year. The weather pattern of the -next two months is likely to de termine the amount of un employment in this area, he said.. Building permits in Med- Two Plead Guilty In Circuit Court Three men appeared in cir cuit court Tuesday morning before Judge Edward C. Kel ly. Two entered pleas of guil ty to district attorney's infor mation and. a third had his probation revoked and was sentenced to three ears in the Oregon state penitentiary. LeRoy Beebe, 31, transient, had his parole 'revoked for failure to report to his parole officer following a suspended sentence on a charge, of bur glary not in a dwelling. He was sentenced to the state penitentiary. William E. McDermott, 330 North Front st., pleaded guil ty to a charge . of obtaining money by false pretenses and had sentencing suspended one year under rules of the state parole and probation depart ment. Jack Price Skipworth, 49, transient, also pleaded guilty to uttering and publishing a false check. His sentencing was continued by Judge Kelly. Portland (UPD The Liberty theater here has been sold to the Bank of California. Bank officials ' said the theater would became, a parking lot before the property was uti lized for expanded banking facilities. High ford for 1958 totalled $5,778, 527, Patton said. These per mits are only for Medford and do not reflect building activity in the rest of the county, he explained. ' Most of the lumber firms expect to resume operations shortly. During the last half of December several such firms shut down for about two to three weeks. '' ' Other layoffs resulted when retail trade business complet ed its Christmas gift peak. These lay offs coming on top of those from the lumber in dustry brought the highest un employment total of the pres ent season, Patton said. Shore Batteries Shell Quemoy Tapeih, Formosa -UPD- Chi nese . Communist shore bat teries rained more than 12,000 shells on the Quemoy out post islands today in a renew al of the Formosa Strait hos tilities, the Chinese National ist Defense Ministry reported. A Chinese Communist spokesman said in a broadcast heard in Tokyo, that the bombardment was punish ment for Nationalist shelling last week end which Peiping reported killed 48 civilians, including 23 children. Today's barrage began at 2 p.m. and lasted for five hours. Heaviest shelling occurred in the first two hours. . The new flare-up in the off shore war came as no sur prise to National authorities in view .of Red threats" of "punishment" for the earlier Nationalist shelling. Obeserv ors here did not believe the Reds planned o invade the 14 off-shore islands defended by the Nationalists. - Today was a "shelling day" under the alternate day bombardment plan which the Peiping government imposed last November.' Park Commission Considers, Levy To Cover Ashland City Program Ashland - An additional one-mill levy for the Ashland park commission may be plac ed before the voters in the near future, it was revealed at last night's Ashland city council meeting. This would be in addition to the present 4V mill levy on which the park commission now operates, a city official explained. Ashland's park commission was to meet this noon to decide whether to place the proposed levy - be fore the voters. The Ashland city council last night gave its approval of the suggested one mill additional levy. The additional mill would bring in $6,000 additional a year in tax revenues to the commission, Eldon Scripter, park commission chairman, said today. The additional funds are needed to cover an expanded maintenance pro gram, he explained. This would include land scaping ihe area around the Appearance at Grand Jury Set For Mrs. Click Mrs. Maxine A. Click, 46, Ashland, who was jailed Tuesday for the shooting, of her husband, Houston James Click, 47, waived the right of attorney and preliminary hearing late yesterday after noon in district court. She has been charged with first de gree murder. Held in the county jail without bail, she is to appear before the grand jury Jan. 19, according to District Attorney Tom Reeder. Mrs. Click, mother of nine children, aged 4 to 21 years, was arrested by Ashland po lice Tuesday morning , after she told them by phone, "I'd like to report a man has been shot." Sheriff Joe Walsh said Mrs. Click confessed in writing to shooting her husband in the bedroom of their home at 720 Indiana st. as the culmination of a long series of family ar guments She told officers that she and her husband had quar reled almost constantly since he returned Dec. 26 from Mis souri where he had been hos pitalized for treatment of a back injury. Click was shot twice, in the head and chest, about 8 a.m. Tuesday. Mrs. Click said she did not know if he was asleep at the time, but that after the shooting she covered the body with a blanket so it would not be seen by. the six chil dren at home. Three older sons of the cou ple, George. 21, Houston, 19 and Robert,; 13, are in Mis souri. Six others were placed in zoster nomes Tuesday under the supervision of the county welfare department. They are Tom, llDavid, 8; Russ,:4; Beverly Ann, 15; Elsie, 10; and Nancy, 9. . Following the shooting, the three girls accompanied Mrs. Click .to the grocery store where she called police. Her call was answered by Ashland Police Chief Herb Hays and Sgt. Roy Hanson. When their police car turned off Siskiyou boulevard to In diana st., Hays said he no ticed a woman signaling him. When he stopped, Mrs. Click and the girls approached and she said, "A man has been shot at 720 Indiana st." State police, sheriffs offi cers and the district attorney's office aided in the investiga tion. Mrs. Click told them that she and her husband had quarreled for years, but the situation had become more acute recently. An autopsy was performed by the coroner this morning but results had not been an nounced by press time. Most Highways Clear In Southern Oregon Most highways in southern Oregon and northern Califor nia were reported bare this morning, according to state police. Pavement is reported bare at Grants Pass, the Siskiyous, Cave Junction, Prospect and Mt. Sexton. Highway 99 between Duns muir and Weed, Calif., was reported clear. Shakespearean theater which is to be reconstructed. Land scaping costs are estimated at $3,500. It would also include the new center parking strip on the new part of the Siskiyou blvd. extending from East Main sL or the fire station to the Ashland General hospital. Cost is estimated at $2,800 and $2,000 each year to main tain it. Park commission em ployees' salaries and wages would be raised also if the ad ditional mill should be put through. ; The park commission . now operates on a budgeta of $23, 000 and under the 6-mill lim itation is allowed to raise on ly $1,200 extra each year. So far the commission has been dropping behind in its budget, it was explained. The addi tional one-mill levy would raise the budget total to $29, 000 a year. The park commission hopes the Shakespearean Festival , Economy, Space Challenges May Dominate Session 86th Congress Convenes Today . ; Washington -(UPD- The new and bigger 86th Congress con vened today with a Democrat ic leadership pledge of "re sponsible service" and a Re publican minority operating under a changed command in' both the House and Senate. An economy challenge from President Eisenhower and a space challenge from the Rus sians wer expected to domin ate the first session of the most overwhelmingly Demo cratic Congress since New Deal days But sparks were expected to fly on such issues as efforts to curb Senate fili busters, civil rights and la bor legislation. The Congress with s which Eisenhower must deal in his last two years in -the White House is the largest in his tory because of the addition of two senators and a House member from the new state of Alaska. As the gavels fell in both chambers for the opening, 64 Democrats and 34 Republi cans were on hand in the Senate; 293 Democrats and 153 Republicans in the House. GOP Chooses Dirkten . Shortly before the Senate met, Senate Republicans elected Sen. Everett M. Dirk sen of Illinois as their leader and Sen. Thomas H. Kuchel of California as whip. This completed a GOP congression al leadership- revamping that began Tuesday when Rep. Charles A. Hallack of Indiana ousted Rep. Joseph W, Mar tin Jr. of Massachusetts from the House leadership he had held for. 20 years. Democrats operated under their long established leadership-Speaker Sam Rayburn of Texas in. ; the House and Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas in the Senate. The keynote of "responsible service" was sounded by John son at a party caucus prior to the ceremonial first session. -. - Johnson called the new ses sion the "starting of a new era" for Democcrats. ' Johnson cautioned the Dem ocrats against any intraparty fighting that may stem from the antifilibuster . and civil rights issues. - Johnson chided the Eisen hower administratiton's lead ership saying, "there is be tween the people and their government a deficit of vigor, a deficit of confidence and a deficit of will." Republican Compromise The Republican leadership controversy apparently result ed in a compromise settle ment. Dirksen, and 1 "old guard" nominee, defeated Sen. John S. Cooper, (R-Ky.), the nominee of a liberal bloc. Kuchel however came from the liberal group. He defeat-1 ed Sen. Karl E. Mundt, (R S.D.), by the same 20 to 14 margin which Dirksen had. Dirksen takes, over duties previously held by Sen. Wil liam F. Knowland of Calif ornia who lost a governorship bid last November. . Before the opening gavel sounded in both chambers, Eisenhower and top members of the administration joined legislators of both parties at a special prayer and commun ion service at the National Presbyterian church. Rev. Frederick Brown Harris, Sen ate chaplain, offered special prayers for the President and Congress in their efforts to achieve world peace and pro vid for the nation's welfare. association will assume some of the costs of landscaping the area of the theater in Lithia park, the commission chair man explained. However, in order to start work ' on the new theater building work men tore up a larger area than was landscaped 1 before. This is the area which the park commission expects to have to landscape. "It is our hope, also, to raise the salaries and wages of our employees up to a level with those; of other city em ployees," Commissioner Scrip ter said. "In hourly wages, this would mean a 15-cent in crease." Four men are employed the year around and additional personnel are added during the summer peak season as needed, Scripter said. Under the city charter the city council can ask the park commission to include more land in its maintenance pro gram any time, Scripter added.