Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (April 7, 1959)
"I"""1 f"'-1. 'fii0iL J, "? y.y.Jj''ywAWWWW ')'ji"jn-i;mjjnjmi.ijjj.ii.i .i...iiiiiii,ii,i..,j,ii!iiiwwwj'-ii'.W"j..h"'J""1 'm i,.im. .11.11. u 54th Year prfce 10 Cents L Medford Tribune Pages MEDFORD, OREGON,- TUESDAY, APRIL 7, 1959 No. 15 Huge Welfare Budget Expected To Be Presented Big Fight Seen In Oregon Senate Salem-OJPD-A huge welfare u e i ft s i i ' f Mffi xfy VOTERS TURN OUT-Voters in line above at Jacksonville school were among the 1,794 who turned out in six Jackson county school districts Monday to "vote on consoli-' dation into one large administrative school unit. A total of 1,246 voted for the merger while 548 were opposed. -(Knackstedt photo) Oils dation f Districts Approved Voters in six Jackson coun ty school districts yesterday voted 1,246 to 548 to consoli date into one large adminis trative school unit. Alf B. Mekvold, county school superintendent and sec retary of the Jackson county boundary board, said the board probably would canvass the vote this week. Consolidation probably will become effective as soon as the vote is canvassed, he said. Mekvold pointed out that school officials have indicated they want consolidation to be come effective as soon as pos sible for budgetary reasons. Complete but unofficial re turns by districts are: Jack sonville, 258 yes, 125 no; How ard, 133 yes, 57 no; Ruch 56 yes, 49 no; Griffin Creek, 190 yes, 16 no; Lone Pine, 161 yes, 26 no; and Medford, Hed riek; Junior High school poll, 229 yes, 106 no; at McLough lin Junior High 229 yes, 169 no, for a total of 458 yes and 275 no. Administration The new district will be ad ministered by officials of the present Medford district, un der the state law, which pro vides largest district involved in consolidation assumes ad ministrative duties of the new district. Mekvold said the boundary board also will consider a re quest from Medford school of ficials that the district's num ber be assigned. A recent amendment to the state law provides that consolidated dis tricts may request restoration of a district's previous num ber. The number of the new dis trict may be 49, the number of the Medford district prior to consolidation with Grand view, Kenwood, Oak Grove and West Side districts. Or it could be given a different number. The new district will have an assessed valuation esti mated at $43,875,450.39, based on the assessed valuation of the six districts for the pres ent year. There are 10,576 census children within it. Orchard Heating Starts About 1:30 Orchard heating occurred throughout the Rogue valley starting at 1:30 a.m. as the temperature dipped to about 26 degrees, according to Clif ford B. Cordy, county horti cultural agent. This, he said, is the coldest temperature so far this season, and the heaviest lighting of orchard heaters. In some cases growers ex tinguished heaters ust after sunrise, and the temperatures dropped t(:low the danger point of 29-30 degrees, he said. Orchardists should be careful that heaters are not extinguished until . after the danger point is passed, he ad vised. The coldest time is about sunrise, as a general rule, Cordy explained. President Eisenhower Arrives at Augusta Augusta, Ga.-IUPD-President Eisenhower landed at this Georgia golf capital today in bright, sunny weather and went immediately to Augusta National Golf Club for an afternoon round on the links. Stricter Traffic Control Sought: Phoenix-A group of Phoe nix citizens appeared oefore the Phoenix city council last night with petitions urging stricter control of traffic northbound on the South Pa cific highway through Phoe nix. M. E. (Red) Norton, acting as spokesman for the group, presented petitions containing the signatures of 258 Phoenix citizens. Following consider able discussion the council agreed to allow Norton to ride with Phoenix Police Chief Clay Johns to make a survey of traffic conditions and re port back to the council. The police chief will be re lieved of any odd construction jobs for the city to concen trate on enforcing traffic regulations on the highway, the council voted. The petitions will be for warded on to the state speed control board and the state highway commission, it was decided. The petitions request enforcement of all speed lim its and the limit through Phoe nix be lowered to 25 miles per hour from the present, posted 45 miles per hour, in stallation of crosswalks at the end of Fifth st. across the highway and at Truax market, and installation of traffic light at Phoenix to slow down traffic and reduce the speed limit from 30 miles per hour as posted at the north end of town to 25 miles per hour. Salem -(UPD- Oregon moun tain highways were reported free of snow today. Water Supply Forecasts Revised by Weathermen Reports from representative U.S. weather bureau precipi tation reporting stations for March showed precipitation generally below the 15-year average over southwestern and south-central Oregon, R. D. Church, meteorologist in charge of the Medford office has reported. As a result, water supply forecasts have been urevised slightly downward from those issued at the first of March. For the entire winter season precipitation over the north Umpqua basin has been 95 per cent of the 15-year aver age, he said, while the Rogue and Klamath basins averaged considerably less. The Chewaucan basin in south-central Oregon totalled only 65 per cent of average, he said, and unless heavy pre cipitation is received there the coming season will be the driest on record. The bureau's forecasts for the water year, October through September, - sets the Rogue river below South Fork at 1,160,000 acre feet or 87 per cent of average; North Umpqua near Lemolo, 305,000 acre feet or 102 per cent; Klamath lake net inflow, 1, 410,000 acre feet or 115 per cent; Williamson river below Sprague river, 863,000 or 120 per cent; Sprague river, 473, 000 or 112 per cent, and Che waucan river, 61,000 or 56 per cent. For the period April through September the fore cast for Rogue river below South Fork, at 610,000 acre feet or 90 per cent of average and Klamath lake net inflow, 539,000 acre feet or 102 per cent of average. Condemnation Suit Settled; More Are Scheduled A "condemnation suit brought by the state highway commission against Phil B. and Lois Buck, Rogue River, has been settled out of court for $9,000, according to Attor ney Stanley C. Jones Jr. to day. The Bucks were , asking $9,500 for .54 of .an acre of land condemned by the state for the Grants Pass-Rock Point section of the new Pa cific highway. The state had offered about $7,000, it was reported. The Buck property is located near the Evans creek and Rogue river conflu ence and on the north side of Rogue River. Next in a series of con demnation suits to be tried in court is that involving Rich ard H. and Genora Long, Rogue River, set for April 13. Their property is located at the confluence of Evans creek and Rogue river, includes 3.8 acres and 700 feet of river frontage. Jones is also repre senting the Longs. Highest Offer Highest offer from the state is $25,000. Main bone of con tention seems to be whether the Longs'property should be valued from the standpoint of river front homesites. The Longs are seeking $30,000. Lowest appraisal made by agents of the Longs is approx imately $34,000. Another condemnation suit possibly to be tried this week involves Henry Corbin of Rogue River, and tracts of his property which will be used for location of a highway via duct. The state has offered $14,000 for two tracts, one containing 16.1 acres and one for .4 of an acre, to be re moved from Corbin's Sunny- side Farm land. Corbin is ask ing $16,500. Lowest appraisal made by Corbin's agents is $16,920. Jones is also the at torney for Corbin. The property to be used by the highway commission in cludes homesites and all of Corbin's yard trees. The con demnation would leave 70 acres into which a road must be constructed. budget for the 1959-61 bien nium totaling $86,455,370 is expected to be reported out of a subcommittee of the Joint Ways and Means Committee next week. Of the total, $35,- 576,850 would be derived from the general fund. A deficiency appropriation of $1,200,000 to cover wel fare costs during April, May and June has been passed by the House and is due for a vote in ,the Senate Wednesday or Thursday of this week. Said Not Enough Welfare officials contend that this is not enough to carry on present activities for the three-month period. Mem bers of the Ways and Means Committee say if officials will tighten regulations and trans fer more recipients to federal- paid categories the sum. will carry the program along un til the end of the present fiscal year. Members of the subcommit tee have been studying seg ments of the big budget and expect to get together late this week to formulate the com plete recommended budget for presentation to the ' general committee-April 17. Judging from the temper of the Ways and Means Commit tee members, a good guess is that the requested and recom mended budget of $86 million plus will be trimmed some what. A large portion of this sum comes in grants from the federal government. In addi tion to the state contribution, the 36 counties also are called upon to bear a portion of wel fare costs. - Senate Fight Seen One of the " biggest Senate fights ' of ;. the session -is X ex pected when the deficiency appropriations comes up for a vote there. ' Welfare officials and their higher requests have support ers led by Sen. Robert Straub (D-Springfield) while mem bers of the Ways and Means Committee have convincing speakers who will insist the Welfare Commission can func tion on present standards if regulations are tightened. on o mi P on fed Unemployment Figures Decline Washington (UPD Unem ployment in March fell off 387,000 to 4,362,000, the gov ernment' reported today. Employment shot up by more. than a million to nearly 64 million jobs during the same period. The drop in the jobless to tal was about twice as large as normal for this time of year. Even so last month's un employment was the highest for any post-war period, ex cept for recession-s c a r r e d 1958. . - Employment increased . by a 1,106,000 to 63,828,000 in March. The number of jobs usually goes up about half that amount from February to j March. Car Reported Taken Found at Grocery Medford Police Officer Gerald Butler confronted an embarrassed Hamilton st. housewife with her reported ly stolen automobile this morning less than 10 minutes after she reported the theft to the station. Police said the frantic wom an called officers at 9:15 a.m. to give details of how sha had parked her red and white coupe in front of her house and discovered it missing shortly after. Officer Butler discovered the missing car in front of Cooley's grocery, 328 Hamil ton st., while he was en route from the station to the home. The blushing owner appar ently forgot she had 'parked it in front of the grocery, a block down the street, and failed to notice it as she car ried her groceries to her house. Public Hearing On Rural School Budget Tomorrow $146,624 Proposed By Rural Board A public hearing will held at 11 ajn.i tomorrow on the Jackson county rural school board's total proposed expenditures of $146,624.37 for the 1959-60 snhool year according to the county school superintendent's office. "This figure does not consti tute the proposed levy, a spokesman said, "since the total expenditures will be off set by reimbursement and tui tion receipts for the special education program and fed eral funds from the National Defense act-$26,850 and $31,' 000, respectfully." The 'National Defense Act provides for assistance for strengthening science, mathe matics and foreign language instruction, it was explained, Largest Item Largest item in the budget is the visual aids and supplies and equipment for the cur riculum center, a total . of $49,017.95. This item includes $31,000 budgeted to match federal funds under the Na tional Defense Act. Estimates on the amount required on the local level for the expenditure.is $31,000. The act provides that 50 per cent of this will be matched by federal .funds. However, such federal funds will not be available until after the school year closes so the en tire amount of $31,000 has to be budgeted for the first year, officials said. An estimated $9,116.50 will be used to provide films for such other areas as language arts, health and social studies. Other items under the cur riculum materials center alto cation include $2,070.50 for a iilm catalog publication and $6,689 for various technical items including film racks, inspection and cleaning of equipment and several types of projectors. A total of $571 is estimated for costs of a county testing program. The second largest item in the budget is $29,565.78 for special education or for classes for the mentally retarded. It is estimated it will take from 8 to 10 classes in Jackson county to adequately take care of the children in this special type of instruction. A total of $14,000 of this is reimbursed. STOCKADE UNDERWAY-Members of the 417th Engineer brigade, United States Army reserve unit stationed at Medford (above) worked Sunday oh the Siskiyou Summit Stockade which will serve as a welcome booth for Oregon visitors during the Cen tennial year. Construction is expected to be completed after two more Sundays of work, April 12 and 19, according to Brig. Gen. W. H. Prentice. Funds for operation of the unique welcome booth will be derived from the sale of memberships in the Centennial 59ers which may be purchased at any bank in Jackson county or by sending $1 to Cen tennial association, 1959 Oregon ave., Medford. Dalai Lama Said On Way To Bomdila New Delhi (UPD The Dalai Lama has left Towang and started for Bomdila to put more distance between him self and the Communist Chi nese occupation army in Tibet, official sources reported today. Plowing Contest Deputies Stop Prisoner's fry To Escape Jail Sheriffs deputies yesterday foiled an attempted county jail escape by Thomas Leroy Sowell, 40, Klamath Falls. - SoWelT - was ,; arrested by Medford police 'on a bad check charge and has been lodged in the county jail since Jan 30. Deputies were making routine inspection of the jail when they discovered that square light fixture had been removed from over the show er stall in the maximum secu rity unit. Sowell had man aged to crawl through the opening less than a . foot souare and into a room for plumbing and storage. There he had started to saw into bars across two courthouse roof vents with a hacksaw blade, deputies said. Blade in Boot Sowell apparently had placed the blade in the hard leather back of his cowboy boots before being arrested, deputies said. A handle had been fashioned from a block of wood and part of a coat hanger found in the storage room. Sowell also had gath ered up some clothes stored there by prisoners sent to the state penitentiary. . Once through a roof vent, Sowell could have gained the roof and escaped down a fire escape or down a back stair way, deputies said. Wide steel bands will be welded over the lighting fix ture hole to prevent future at tempts, deputies said. Sowell was to be formally charged with attempted jail break and could receive a year's addi tional sentence in the county jail, it was explained. Alternate Route For Sewer Studied An alternate route for a sanitary sewer in Eastover Terrace is being studied by the city engineering depart ment, following a meeting Monday night of Eastover residents and members of the city council. Residents of the area re cently expressed disapproval of two low bids made for installation of the line. The bids were in excess of en gineer's estimates. City officials said that the cost of laying the sewer in rock in the area accounted for discrepancies in engineer's es timates. Residents are hoping for a more economical route for the installation. The engineering depart ment's investigation of a pos sible new route will be dis cussed at the regular city council meeting April 16. Plumbers' Walkout Ends in Agreement A plumbers' walkout in Jackson and Josephine coun ties ended this morning fol lowing agreement on a con tract last night hy union and employer representatives, .ac cording to George Beltz, busi ness agent for Local 418 of the United Association of Plumbers and Fitters. Terms agreed to are 15 cents an hour pay increase retroactive to April 1, an ad ditional 10 cents an hour as of Oct. 1, another 10 cents an hour wage raise as of April 1, 1960, and 10 cents an hour more on Oct. 1, 1960, Beltz said. The new total, including all fringe benefits, will be $3.90 an hour, the union agent said. Without fringe benefits the new wage scale will be $3.70 an hour, he said. Health, Welfare Plan A health and welfare plan in which the employer would contribute 10 cents an hour is included-The previous con tract has included another 10 cents an hour contribution from employers for a vaca tion with pay plan. By the fend of the two year period . covered by the new agreement, plumbers of the two-county area would be re ceiving two cents , an hour more than Portland area plumbers, Beltz said. Ap proximately 45 plumbers in rne iwo counues are invoivea in the new agreement, the union agent added. The impromptu walkout be gan Friday, after employers refused ., to grant contract changes recently , won by plumbers in Portland and some other parts of the state. The scale here was $3.55 an hour and is now $3.88 an hour in Portland, Beltz stated Salem - (UPD - Public Com missioner Jonel C. Hill said today that proposed rate in creases of Northwest Natural Gas Company have been sus pended. They had been filed to become effective May 1. Man Sighted at Market Not Hunt A man sighted at Grandview market, 2330 Crater Lake ave., Friday and believed to be fugitive Richard Allen Hunt has been identified as 19-year-old Medford youth, city police reported today. Officers investigatmg in the Grandview area this morning said the youth who resembles Hunt, had stopped at the mar ket to purchase a box of .22 caliber ammunition and a candy bar. He lives near the market. Hunt, an ex-convict, is be ing sought in connection with the shooting of a police chief and kidnaping another in the Willamette valley. WEATHER FORECAST: Fair through Wednesday. Cool aitain tonight. Airport low 32. High Wednes day near 75. Temp. Highest Yesterday 68 Lowest this Morning 33 Our Skies Tonight Sunset today 6:43 p.m. Sunrise tomorrow 5:43 a.m. New Moon tonight 7:29 p.m. An annular eclipse of the Sun occurs at this New Moon. Its path, begins in the South Indian Ocean, crosses the Australian continent and ends in the South Pacific Ocean. The par tial phase of this eclipse Is vis ible in all of Australia and New Zealand and in most of Indonesia. Salem Radio Man Pleads Innocent Salem -flJPD- W. Gordon Al len, Salem radio station own er, Monday pleaded innocent to two indictments charging him with slandering H. G Maison, superintendent of the state police. Trial date will be set later. Circuit Judge Val Sloper set trial for July 7 on anoth er indictment in which Allen and George Utley, Independ ence police chief, were ac cused of slandering Capt. R. G. Howard of the state police. The indictments were return ed by a grand jury last week. Ambulance Takes To Ditch to Avoid Car A Medford Ambulance Service ambulance received an estimated $500 damages following an accident yester day afternoon while respond ing to an emergency call, it was reported. The ambulance was travel ing behind another car on Ross lane when the driver ahead pulled to the right. The ambulance started to pass, then the driver of the other car suddenly pulled to the left to turn, and the ambulance drove into a roadside ditch to avoid hitting the car, the re ports 1 said. Lights and siren were operating at the time, it was reported. There were no injuries. Hagerty Claims Report on Radio Lacking in Truth CBS Report Said Based On European Sources Washington-(UPD-The White House asserted today that ail ing Secretary of State John Foster Dulles has not submit ted any resignation thus far. The statement was prompt ed by a CBS radio report, based on what it called Euro pean sources "believed to be reliable," that Dulles has de cided to give up his role as chief allied negotiator in the cold war. 'Irresponsible Reporting' Press Secretary James C. Hagerty told reporters that CBS had broadcast that Dul les had- submitted his resigna tion and, according to reliable sources abroad, that the Presi dent had accepted it. "This is not true," he said. "This is about as irresponsible reporting . . . about as low a form of reporting as B know of." However, the CBS actual report by Correspondent Dan Schorr did not say that Dulles actually had resigned. Schorr said Dulles had decided to re sign and that the President was in agreement with the de cision. ' Correction Demanded ; Hagerty said he had called Theodore F. Kopo, CBS news director here, and "demanded that they (CBS) correct this statement on their network." John Day, director of CBS news, said in New York, "We are very sure of our sources.'.' He said the information came from "high official quar ters abroad" and added "We are very sure we know what we're talking about." Earlier, the CBS report had been "categorically" denied by the State department. To Decide by April 20 Reliable sources told Unit ed Press International that Dulles, now recuperating in Florida from massive radia tion treatment for abdominal cancer, probably will decide by April 20 whether he feels able to resume his duties. The date is three weeks before the scheduled opening of the Geneva meeting of foreign ministers on the crisis over Berlin. Dulles is resting at the home of Undersecretary of State C. Douglas Dillon at Hobe Sound on the east coast of Florida. i Congress Resumes Following Recess Washington- (UPD - Congress started its legislative wheels rolling today after an 11-day Easter recess. Eight Senate committees and seven in the House scheduled meetings. But no serious floor work was planned for the rest of this week. Washington - (UPD - Chicago is now virtually assured of playing host to the 1960 Re publican National Conven tion,, according to informed GOP sources. Meteor Reported Seen at Widely-Scattered Points Moffett Field, Calif.-(UPD-A glowing object, believed to be a small meteor, flashed across the Northern California sky Monday night and apparently crashed into a mountain peak about 75 miles southeast of San Francisco. Appeared To Break Up Observers at the Naval air station here said they spotted the object at 8:45 p.m. (PST) nd it appeared to break into three pieces. Two pieces ap parently burned out, but the third plunged to the ground in the Pacheco Pass area be tween Gilroy and Los Banos. A Navy spokesman said the meteor was also reported by two airline pilots and John Stevens, a gas station operator who said he saw the object hit the mountain. The meteor was seen from widely scattered parts of Ore gon. Airport control tower personnel at Portland, Red mond and Klamath Falls re ported it was seen from their areas. One resident said it appeared to carry a trail of smoke behind it. Residents in the Delta Wa ters rd. and New Crater Lake highway area Sunday evening, reported seeing a reddish orange light in the northwest sky which traveled in an arc to the northeast. Persons who saw the light reported that it wobbled, as did Sputnik last year, and was about the same size as Sput nik. It was spotted between 8 and 9 p.m. and when halfway across the sky, reversed its path. No other reports of the light were received. r
