4 Sunday, April 5, 1M
MAIL TRIBUNE, MEDFORD, ORE.
MedfordWTribune
"Everyone in Southern Oregon
Reads The Mail Tribune"
Published Daily except Saturday by
MU3FORD PRINTING CO.
33 North fii St. Ph. SP 2-6141
ROBERT W RUHL, Editor
KERB GREV Advertising Manager
GEPALD LATHAM. Business Mgr
ERIC W ALLEN JR.
Managing F.ditor
EARL H ADAMS. City Editor
HARRY CHIPMAN Teleg Editor
RICHARD JEWETT Sports Editor
OLIVE STARCHER Women-! Editor
DALE ERICKSON, Circulation Mr
An Independent Newspaper
Entered as second class matter at
Medforrt Oregon under Act of
Maith 3. 1897
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
R Mai 1 In Advance. Coot 10c.
Dail- and Sunday 1 year $15.00
Daily and Sunday 6 mos. 8.00
Daily and Sunday 3 mos. 4.25
Sunday Only one year i4.au
Rt Carrier In Advance Med ford
Ashland, Central Point, Eagle
Point, jacKsonviue. ooia run,
Phoenix Shady Cove Rogue Riv
. Talent and cm motor routes
Daily and Sunday 1 year $18.00
Daily and SunUsy 1 mo. 130
Carrier and Dealers copy 10c
All Terms Cash in Advance
Official Paper of City "t Medford
Official Paper of Jackton County
United Presa International
Fun Leased wire
MEMBER OF AUDIT BUREAU
OF CIRCULATION
Advertising Representative:
WXST-HOUDAY CO-- INC. Of
fices in New York, Chicago. De
troit. San Francisco. Los Angeles,
Seattle. Portland. St. Louis. At
lanta. Vancouver B C
0" NEWSPAPER
PUBLISHERS
ASSOCIATION
NATIONAL EDITORIAL
ASWOCWkTlS
ax
2E
Flight 'o Time
Medford and Jackson County
History from the files of The
Mail Tribune 10, 20. 30, 40
and 50 years ago.
10 YEARS AGO
April 5, 1949 (Tuesday)
The flowering plum tree on
the Jackson county courthouse
lawn bursts into bloom, con
firming beyond a reasonable
doubt the arrival of spring."
Two ."eggbeaters" (U.S. hel
icopters) pay a whirlwind call
at Medford airport.
20 YEARS AGO
April 5. 1939 (Wednesday)
The Medford city council
urges residents and owners of
business properties to conduct
a "spring cleaning" before the
tourist season. . '
From Arthur Perry's "Ye
Srudge Pot" column: "Wan
derers in the wildwoods of
late, report running into poi
son ivy, .but no democratic
picnics, sa far this spring." .
30 YEARS AGO
April 5. 1929 (Friday)
City police order that dogs
must be kept tied up or face
a trip to the pound.
The county court declines
to provide gasoline for strand
ed tourists.
40 YEARS AGO
April 5, 1919 (Saturday)
Taxpayers rush to Jackson
ville to pay their taxes.
The first Medford auto of
the year negotiates the pass
over the Sifkiyous.
50 YEARS AGO
April 5, 1909 (Monday) ,
A vein of bituminous coal
is uncovered on the Broad
bent property and Desert Oil
company drills even deeper
in its well on the Gore tract.
Central Point's new Com
mercial club plays host to the
Medford Commercial club.
What's Your I.Q.?
Nine or ten correct it superior;
seven or eight is excellent; five or
six is good. '-
1. During World War II,
what was the OPA?
2. If a contest took place
in Santa Anita, would it most
likely be a horse race, dog
race, or foot race?
3. Name the three ships
commanded by Christopher
Columbus on his first voyage.
4. Correct the following
sentence, "He must go : and
lay down."
5. The city of Taipeh is on
what large island off the coast
of China?
6. - Name the five States
that have coastlines on 4he
Gulf of Mexico.
7. A female deer is known
as a ?
8. "Gopher State," is a
nickname for which state of
the United States?
9. Was Nathan Hale a hero
of the French and Indian,
Revolutionary, of Mexican
War?
10. In the nursery rhyme,
what sat down beside Little
Miss Muffet?
Answers: 1. Office of Price
Administration. 2. Horse race.
3. Nina, Pinta, Santa Maria.
4. "He must go and lie down."
5. Formosa. 6. Florida, Ala
bama, Mississippi, Louisiana,
Texas. 7. Doe. 8. Minnesota.
9. Revolutionary. 10. A spider.
Salem-TCPD-Gov. Mark Hat
field has appointed Charles W.
Fox of Portland, a member of
the State Board of Forestry,
to the Forest Protection and
Conservation Committee.
t
Best School Plari
Tomorrow, the people of six school districts
in Jackson county will have a chance td vote on
whether or not the six should be consolidated into
one big school district.
The opposition to the change has been fairly
vocal. Those who support it have been less so, per
haps on the theory that the plan has such obvious
merits that its passage is a foregone conclusion.
There's nothing foregone about it.
m m
A COUPLE of 'points should be made at the
outset.
First, make no mistake about it, costs of edu
cation are on the rise, and will continue to go up.
It isn't as much a question 'of "cutting taxes" as it
is a question of keeping them from rising faster
than necessary. If anyone tells you to the contrary,
he either doesn't know the facts of life, or he's
pulling your leg.
Second, the most important thing involved is
the education which we can offer to our young
sters. In today's world, a good education is prob
ably the most vital thing we can give to any
youngster. More, education is vital to the nation,
not only in its "cold war" with Communist im
perialism, but in the new space and nuclear age,
which will demand the best trained, thinking
minds available.
THERE is a lot of sentiment connected with
small schools.
This is not only understandable it is right
and proper.
And the old adage about the best education
being a top educator on one end of a log and a
bright student at the other has a lot of truth to it.
But you can't put 7,660 kids on one end of a
log and 339 teachers on the other. You need
buildings. And books. And special-equipment.
And good administration. The "little red school
house" won't do any longer.
If high standards are to be maintained, you
likewise need a district which has the resources to
provide special equipment for instruction over
and above the "Three R" level audio- visual
aids, laboratory equipment, school buses, extra
curricular activity equipment, and so on.
THESE things can be done by a larger district.
TPV Vrs rlnnn V.ir o cm oil rlicf vinf nnlir
at a much greater comparable cost, and with
real effort.
- A larger district has
fied administration, a lack of duplication in pur
chasing, services, bus routes, and so on.
it nas ine advantage oi unuorm stanaaras.
. It can maintain special education classes for
handicapped and retarded children.
It can obtain a higher quality of teachers, not
only by offering adequate pay, but also by being
able 'to let them fulfill the roles in which they do
their best work not asking an English teacher
to coach a team or teach elementary arithmetic on
the side. . '
TTHE changes in tax levels in the various districts
under the consolidation proposal will be neg
ligible a few dollars a year, at most, either way.
, As remarked earlier, there are some valid
arguments against the consolidation proposal.
But the advantages to the youngsters them
selves, who are the most important consideration
in the whole thing; to teachers; and, in the long
run, to taxpayers far outweigh the , disadvan
tages. The clinching argument, for us, is that the
school boards of all six districts the people who
have devoted hours and hours to studying the
problem over the years have come to the con
clusion that the consolidation proposal is sound,
and in the best interests of all concerned.
THERE is no selfishness in the proposal.
It has been made soberly by intelligent,
public spirited citizens, who, many of them, real
ize that in proposing a plan for the best good of
all in the long run, some sacrifices will have to be
made by everyone involved; .
But good schools are not a luxury. They are a
necessity in today's world. They orm the whole
basis for the American ideal of an educated, liter
ate citizenry.
And, despite whatever slight disadvantages
may attend the consolidation proposal, it is, under
present circumstances, the best way to continue
working for the best possible education of our
children. E.A.
Early Tax Dodging
Most people, these days, are perfectly willing
to pay taxes if they know where they're going,
and if they are convinced they're getting their
money's worth for whst they pay. .
A hundred years ago, in southern Oregon and
northern California, there didn't appear to be
quite the same spirit.
In the delightful little historical booklet en
titled "The Pictorial History of Southern Oregon
and Northern California," just off the press, the
author, Grants Pass Teacher Jack Sutton, has this
to say:
". . . The areas covered by this -text' cannot be
divided in presenting a true nlstory.
"Neither Indians nor early gold seekers bothered
to determine the actual location of the border between
the two states. Close elections were completely con
fused when miners of Jacksonville, Waldo (Sailor's
Diggin's), Democrat Gulch and other Southern Ore
gon gold producing centers voted in both states but
refused to pay taxes in either.
"Whenever a tax representative of the Oregon
Territory called, he would find the miners had just
decided they were Californians, but they became
staunch Oregonians by the time the California collec
tor arrived on the scene . . ."
E.A.
the advantage of a uni
Dennis the
mil mmm iiinmNYM
...AND WHEN OEMS ENTfRED THE TMOR BttHPOOM.tfB STARRED
fat. TAYLOR, WHO THEREUPON DROPPED AND, CONSEQUENTLY. 6SOKE
HIS UPPER 0EN7Uf?E. IS TWTESSQJTlALiy CORRECT?
Communications
Letters to the Editor must bear the name and address of the writer,
although under certain circumstances the use of a pen name or initial
for publication is permissible. The Mail Tribune reserves the right tc
edit all letters with a view to clarification and condensation. Letters
submitted for publication must not exceed 400 words. The letters
printed in this column do not necessarily represent the views of the
paper; in fact the contrary is often the case
Put Aside Selfishness
To the Editor: I have been
dismayed -to note during the
past few days the tone of a
number of letters-to-the-editor
opposing the consolidation of
our schools.- These letters
seem td be motivated by con
siderations other than that of
giving every child in this area
the best education possible.
The arguments advanced
against consolidation range
rather widely in content but
none seems especially con
cerned with this most de
sirable goal. Many appear
prompted by various personal
cant and others have made
reasons while others exag
gerate inconsequential factors,
such as minor changes in the
rate of taxation. Nowhere
does anyone contend that con
tinued separation into smaller
districts will give a better op
portunity to every , child in
an area already bound by
economic, social, cultural and
other ties. . .
In this post-Sputnik era the
whole field' of education has
been subjected to considerable
criticism because of our fail
ure as a nation to keep up
with our potential enemy in
several critical zones of en
deavor. It becomes clearer
with every new development
in foreign affairs that the most
urgent task of our time is that
of meeting the challenge
posed by a nation avowedly
bent on destroying us. A con
flict seems inevitable unless
we make ourselves invincible.
To do this requires us as a
nation to excel in many high
ly complex and. .difficult
fields, but particularly in
mathematics, the -sciences and
in certain technical skills. To
ward this end Dr. James Co
nart and others have made
some specific recommenda
tions for the education of as
many of our children as we
can. The reorganization and
consolidation of our schools
is in line with their sugges
tions. It is important that we
do not let trivial or selfish
considerations influence our
voting on this matter.
I should, therefore, like to
make a plea to all of those
who are also concerned with
educational improvement on
a national scale, no matter
what district they live in, to
exert the effort to vote for
consolidation.
O. T. Heyerman, M.D.,
125 Winema Way
Medford.
Facts Not "Beclouded"
To the Editor: In answer to
Mr. Fred Edens' communica
tion in the April 1 Tribune,
I'd like to bring out a few
of the facts he deems "be
clouded" about consolidation
with the Medford School dist
rict. First: It was stated that we
wouldn't receive a reduction
in taxes due to the fact the
drop in millage would be
tabled and held in reserve for
future improvements. Surely
this must be his own point of
view. To my knowledge no of
ficial has stated, nor did an
article in the March 25 Trib
une (one of a series of articles
written to acquaint the peo
ple with consolidation) state
that this saving was to be set
aside for future improvements
or expansion. The article did
point out that the millage rate
in all but the Medford dist
rict would decrease.
Second: It is true we have
graduates attending colleges,
but what percentage of our
students go on to higher edu
cation, ' and what vocational
training is provided for those
students who do not wish to
go on to college?
Third: Devaluation of our
property would be no threat
because through this consoli
Menace
dation we would offer the
same education per tax dol
lar as the other districts. This
in turn would bring potential
property owners into our com
munity, resulting in more
building and prosperity to our
city. ,
Fourth: Of the 13 teachers
we are supposed to lose as
residents if this consolidation
goes through, only four live
in Jacksonville. The other
nine live in Medford and else
where in the valley.
Mr. Edens prefers to wait
for future legislation and gov
ernment gifts to solve our
problems. He is forgetting the
school boards involved spent
many months studying and
analyzing the consolidation
program and that they highly
recommend it. Why wait years
when we can solve this prob
lem at the April 6 election?
Actually the study and plan
ning of this consolidation
started in the fall of 1952 so it
can hardly be called a hasty
decision.
I, too, say let's forget about
taxes and think of this con
solidation from the education
standpoint. Let's think of the
broader curriculum it has to
offer in the field of sciences,
foreign languages, vocational
training, music, sports and a
few "of the "extras" our chil
dren so richly deserve.
A. E. Reinking
P. O. Box 66
Jacksonville, Ore.'
On Outside School Aid
To the Editor: School boards
of the school districts propos
ing consolidation have been
criticized for not waiting for
State andor Federal Aid on
our school problems.
Additional state aid now be
ing considered by our legisla
ture will not be sufficient to
solve the serious problems fac
ing our school .district. Fur
thermore there is no basis to
assume that federal aid will
be forthcoming soon, since
this issue has been before Con
gress for several years. It is
also a question whether or not
we would qualify for any
funds so appropriated.
Opponents of the consolida
tion plan object to some loss
of local control. Surely any
federal aid would entail far
greater loss. It should not be
necessary to remind anyone
that the federal government
cannot give us anything it has
not first taken from us. It's a
long pipe line from Jackson
county to Washington, D. C,
and return, and there are
many leaky faucets en route.
This issue' is of great im
portance to all the children
involved and should not be
resolved on the basis of emo
tion, personal prejudice or
lack of information.
Harold M. White,
Box 643,
Jacksonville, Ore.
Give Children The Best
To the Editor: Having seen
in various places the big
schools eat up the little ones,
and the different types of
problems brought on by such
consolidation, being forceful
ly brought to mjattention, I
would like to state that here
is more headache than any
one is entitled to. Taxes may
fco down for a year, then go
up higher than ever, and you
just can't do anything about
it. Transportation is one item
that is always being used as a
lever to raise the cost. The
board in control will no long
er be your board, but of the
other district you consolidated
with.
You will have no say! Also
the larger schools have a ten
dency to regiment all chil
dren to the place where very
few do any individual think
ing. The new school aid bill be
fore the state legislature
Matter of Fact
THE UNRENOVATED
REPUBLICANS
Washington - The resigna
tion of Meade Alcorn as
Chairman of the Republican
National Com
mittee will be
lamented by
the party's or
thodox profes
sional politici
ans. The or
thodox profes
sionals have
liked Al c o r n
pre cisely be-
XT- 2 1 1
cause mis dDie, jos,ob nj,
businesslike man was also
completely orthodox and com
pletely professional. The ques
tion remains, however, wheth
er orthodox professionalism is
really what the Republican
Party needs.
The question is raised, for
instance, by the story of Neil
McElroy's bad beginning as
Secretary of Defense. When
first appointed, McElroy con
sidered bringing in as Under
Secretary one of the principal
authors of the Gaither Report,
William C. Foster. But Foster
had been Under Secretary of
Defense once already, at the
end of the Truman adminis
tration. He was "tainted with
Trumanism," as the orthodox
professionals like to phrase it.
TN THE eyes of the profes-
sionals, all Republicans with
the "Truman-taint" deserve
the blackest sort of black list.
Hence McElroy's inclination
towards Foster was firmly dis
couraged. McElroy, being at
a loss, then decided to con
tinue Under Secretary Donald
Quarles m office. Having
sought one of the authors of
the Gaither Report as his chief
tutor, the wholly untutored
McElroy ended by leaning on
the most obstinate opponent
of every idea and theory in
the Gaither Report
This result was rigidly or
thodox and st-'ictly profession
al. No doubt the choice of a
"Truman-tainted" Under Sec
retary of Defense would have
disquieted such Republican
Congressional grandees as
House Leader Charles Halleck
Certainly such a choice would
have disquieted men like
George M. Humphrey, at
least if McElroy had followed
the Gaither Report line. The
orthodox, professional thing
to do was also the safe thing
to do-at least for the short
run.
Yet it is a pretty safe fore
cast that this . was not the
safe thing to do for the long
run. By election year, the
unwisdom of tossing the Gai
ther Report into the scrap
basket will surely be appar
ent. The policy that Donald
Quarles has stood for and sold
to his chief will surely be
discredited. The price for
short run party harmony
will be paid, in the long run,
should lift the burden to a
large extent and a close watch
on your economy will do the
rest. Give your children the
best by keeping the small
high schools going: You do
not have to consolidate! Don't
lose your individuality!
Ruth Stagg, v '
Harold Stagg,
Jacksonville. Ore.
Many Suport Plan
To the Editor: We - would
like your readers to know that
there are many of us who are
whole-heartedly behind our
school board and the Jackson
county reorganization commit
tee who have recommended
consolidation of our school
with the five other adjoining
school districts.
We have attended the pub
lic meetings which were con
ducted by the board and feel
that the issue has been clearly
and f airly'presented. Contrary
to some people's belief, this
consolidation issue is not a
sudden' one, but has been dis
cussed for some time (as long
ago as 1952, at which time
at least three meetings were
held). We have followed with
interest your paper's coverage
of the work of the reorganiza
tion committee from the time
of its establishment.
True, we do have a
strong sentimental attachment
Try and
-By BENNETT CERF-
DOROTHY SIMS tells this story with a moral worth re
membering. There once was a lady named Mabel Jullup
who had taste. She bought a lovely vase at an auction and put
it on her table! It was Ming,
and very elegant, but it
made the rest of her furni
ture look tacky. So she sold
the rest of the furniture, and
had an expensive interior
decorator re-do her entire
apartment. That made Mr.
Jullup look cheap. So she
got a divorce from Mr. Jul
lup, and married a Mr. Pres
ton Potter, of the Social
Register.
But here's the sad end
ing to the story. Mr. Pres
ton Potter made HER look
cheap!
' "What are you reading?" a mother demanded of her 7-year-old.
"A story about a cow jumping over the moon," was the answer.
"Throw that book away at once," commanded the mother. "How
. often have I told you you're too young to read science fiction?"
O 1959, by Bennett Cert Diitributed by Kins features Syndicate.
By Joseph Alsop
in lost Republican votes at
the polls.
ONE could cite other, similar
cases, such as Alcorn's suc
cessful effort to block the au-
pointment of Henry Labouisse
as Foreign Aid Administrator.
But there is no need to ac
cumulate further evidence, in
order to make the essential
point, which really has to do
with the President rather
than Meade Alcorn. The point
is that the President s drive
to reconstruct, or as he put it,
to "modernize" the Republi
can Dartv has utterly failed
in the end. Having been Re
publican National Chairman
in the second Eisenhower ad
ministration, Meade Alcorn
cannot justly be blamed tor
this failure.
The banishment of the "Tru
man-tainted" Republicans was
of the Dattern from
the'outset-although the Presi
dent himself was Truman
tainted, too. For just that rea
son, the present Chairman of
the Atomic Energy Commis
sion, John J. McCone, was ve-
tnpH for a maior Defense De
partment job in 1953. Mc
Cone got his present post be
cause his predecessor, Lewis
Strauss, got into such a fear
ful row with Congress.
Still another, even more
imDortant Dart of the pattern
was the heavy preference giv
en by Eisenhower to men
"who had met a payroll"-to
industrial executives, as op
posed to lawyers, bankers,
and men with academic back
grounds. Practical experience
showed that industrialists
commonly find it more diffi
cult than almost any other
group of men to adapt them
selves to the peculiar ways
of government. Furthermore,
the competition for promotion
in the great industrial hier
archy makes it very danger
ous for the abler junior execu
tives to shift to government
work; so the second-raters are
more easily available. All this
was plainly proven by the ap
palling effects of the Charles
E. Wilson years at the De
fense Department.
TT WOULD take too long to
- analyze all the other ele
ments in the Eisenhower pat
tern, such as the very great
behind - the - scenes influence
that Robert A. Taft exercised
over many of the earliest ap
pointments.
Since Harry Truman's time,
the Democratic party has been
largely renovated, by the kind
of men who organized the
California and other state vic
tories in the last election. But
the Republican party will
have to wait for renovation
by Richard Nixon or Nelson
Rockefeller. Both men have
strong ideas about how to do
the job, and both frankly ad
mit that the job needs doing
for our "own little school,"
but we are equally convinced
that it would be foolish pride
that would not allow us to
transfer our affection and sup
port to any school which
would provide our children
with greater opportunities in
education. We sincerely be
lieve that we and our children
can make this adjustment, and
even further, we earnestly
hope that in doing so we can
bring with us some of the
school spirit of which we have
so long been proud.
Those opposing the plan
have studiously avoided mak
ing any mention whatever of
the obvious and important ad
vantages this consolidation
will bring to our young peo
ple. Many opportunities for in
tellectual advancement will be
available which Jacksonville
cannot offer now nor in the
future.
We want to commend the
Jacksonville School Board for
their conscientiousness and
hard work on this matter.
We also wish to thank Mr.
Becken for appearing at one
of our meetings and thank the
Medford School Board and
Administrators for their coop
eration. Mr. and Mrs.
Woodrow Davis,
P. O. Box 671,
Jacksonville, Ore.
Stop Me
PTILUCC
(By M-T Staff and Contributors)
Joseph Hall of Shady Cove
wrote us a nice letter last
week about a tree which he
calls the "Teamsters' Tree"-
or "the perfect graft."
Just in case we didn't be
lieve him, he enclosed the
snapshot of it reproduced
above.
The trees (or tree) grow (or
grows) a few miles south ' of
Prospect, Mr. Hall reports,
are firs, and he speculates
that the soil is so poor that
it took two stumps to support
one tree.
With all the fuss about
the little foreign cars these
days, it fell to the uninten
tional lot of the Mail Tri
bune to figure out the per
fect name for them a fact
drawn io our attention by
our persistent friend down
Phoenix way. In a story
the other day we made ref
erence to an "antomobile"
and if you can come up
with a better name than
that, we'll put is with you.
A telephone call to the
weather bureau for the fore
cast is a daily occurrence at
In the Day's News
By FRANK JENKINS
In Washington, President
Eisenhower addresses the 10th
anniversary session of NATO.
"NATO" is alphabetese for
North Atlantic Treaty Organ
ization. The North Atlantic
Treaty Organization is the al
liance of Western nations
whose job is to protect the
Western free way of life
which is threatened by the
communist objective of world
conquest.
(UR JOB, he told the mem
vbers of this 15-nation alli
ance, is to follow the road
that leads to lasting peace
and universal justice. If we
are to reach our destination,
he said, we must:
1. Have the courage to
stand fast in the face of men
ace and of threats.
2. We must be willing to
make the sacrifices needed
to maintain and improve our
collective strength over a long
period of time.
3. We must have the per
severance to explore every
avenue which offers reason
able hope for just solutions
to the issues between our
selves and the Soviet Union.
H
OW are we doing?
Well-
Ike told' the NATO nations
We aren't doing too badly.
l?OR example:
Hit 11AXU alliance
was forged ten years aeo. our
President said, the commu
nists have made NEITHER
POLITICAL NOR MILITARY
GAINS IN EUROPE.
Nor, he added, have the
military efforts made by these
countries stunted in any way
their ECONOMIC growth. On
the contrary, he hammerpH
home, there has been a NOTA
BLE INCREASE IN PRO
DUCTION. TRADE AND LIV
ING STANDARDS among the
NATO peoples during the ten
years of NATO's existence.
Economic and military
strength, he said, have devel
oped hand in hand.
I
S THAT a bad record?
It -is NOT.
It is a WONDERFUL record.
A THOUGHT in closing:
- A lnt nf tylnnm line Keen
peddled. We've been told that
the Russians are too much for
us. That they have us over
a barrel. That they are going
forward while we're slipping
back.
Ike says it isn't so.
And-
He is the world's top sol
dier.
LET'S take him at his word.
Let's BELIEVE IN OUR
SELVES. Let's get back the
old American confidence that
the bigger they are the hard
er they fall.
the Mail Tribune. And the
newspaper frequently refers
enquiries on weather to the
bureau's station at the Med
rd airport (telephone SPring
K1QS7).
The tables were turned the
t!er day. The meteorologists
alledothe M-T asking for a
py of the 30-day national
Mcast, having misplaced
ttir copy. The M-T, having
eived the report by United
International wire, wai
efcte and happy to oblige.
0e of our readers had i '
IwPFY day last week, after
seading a word in a head
ing which he just KNEW '
was wrong. He looked for
ward all evening to drop
ping in the next morning to
tease the staff about their
goof. He came in, started
his teasing, and was con
siderably abashed when he
found that the word was
perfectly correct after all. .
The word in question was
"temblor," another name
for an earthquake. There is
no such word as "tremblor."
he discovered before he
left, somewhat 'apologeti
cally. i
A reporter was in the
sheriff's office the other day
when a deputy answered the
telephone. His side of the
conversation started out like
this:
"Yes. Yes. What did you
say happened? He did
WHAT?"
The reporter, sensing a hot
news story, questioned him
after he hung up the tele
phone. It developed that the call
was from home, and it was
his wife reporting that his
young son had used a spray
gun filled with black paint to
spray on his face.
It's spring, all right. The
same reporter mentioned
above was walking back to
the office when he saw a
hat. He described it as "A
straw hat with visor, and
what appeared to be a
rocket mounted en the
crown with other rockets"
shooting off the sides of the
hat." In bemusement, he
stopped and stared. Where
upon an older nn, ob
viously a veteran of many
springs, spoke softly: "You
ain't seen nolhin' yet, son!"
We've always heard of cafc
nip as a feline delicacy, but
never knew what it was wntil
we were motivated to look it
up Friday. (It is a "strong
scented herb of the mint fami
ly, having whorls of small
blue flowers in a terminal
spike.")
Anyway, we learned from
a news release from the state
department of agriculture that
it grows in Oregon, and, in
deed, that a lot of people
either grow it, or know
where to get some.
A man in New York wrote
the department asking about
sources of supply, -and the
department relayed the word
through the press. Where
upon the New York man was
4'snowed under" with replies
from Oregon.
The department says that
catnip isn't yet sufficiently a
cash crop to get rich on, but
that (who knows?) maybe
Oregon will some day become
the catnip center of the U.S.
0 t
The hunt for Hunt, the
young Brownsboro gunman.,
has spread far and wide,
and there have been sev-.
eral false alarms about him
being seen in this area
each of which are carefully
checked by law enforce
ment officers. We are told
that one of the city's con-
scienlious Western Union,
messengers is the one most
frequently mistaken for.
him.
April Fools Day has come
and, fortunately, gone, and
no one is much the worse.
There was an abominable
snowman reported in the La
Grande area. A search for a
lost gold cache got undtr way
in eastern Oregon. Kids
switched over from crowding
into telephone booths to
crowding into tiny cars.
And up at the Kiwanis club
that day. Dr. Tom Anderson.
president of the flub, was pre
sented with a sandwich con
sisting of a hollowed-out loaf
of oread -containing two baby
chicks.
At the same luncheon. Po
lice Chief Charlie Champlin
was handcuffed to his chair
by a couple of his officers. .
Isn t it about time for Med
ford High school boys to start
demanding the right to wear
Bermuda snorts to school? .
v
We still see a few Cen
tennial beards around, but
the attrition is something
awful. Is it wives revolt
ing? Or itchy skins? Or
just a wearying for that
old. smooth-shaven feeling
again?