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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 1, 1959)
Ex-Oregon Congressman Tells Of Conflict of Interest Case i 1 By A. ROBERT SMITH Mail Tribune Washington Correspondent Washington -(Special)- Sam Coon, ex - congressman from eastern Oregon, has disclosed details of a "ugly Ameri ca n i s m" in i Peru where a U. S. foreign aid director : has been fired for a conflict of interest. Coon last March resign- ' ,t m xi A. Bobt. Smith ea i r o m uie post of deputy director in Peru for the International Coopera tion Administration, .the fed eral agency which handles the foreign aid program. In June he went before the House Ap propriations Committee, of which he was once a member, to reveal behind closed doors shenanigans connected with the Peru operation. The testi mony has now been made pub lic. The story Coon told contain ed these elements: 1. John R. Neale, ICA di rector in Peru, was fired for being in the livestock business in that country. He was in partnership with the Peruvian husband of another ICA em ployee, his administrative as sistant. 2. Neale used an ICA vet erinarian six or seven times to treat his stock. The vet told Coon the ranch was 17,500 acre3 devoted to 2000 sheep and a string of cattle. No Foreplanning 3. Neale's daughter ' t h e n bought a ranch near an iso lated town, Oxapampa. Short ly thereafter, Coon found that three main ICA programs agriculture, health and educa tion were started in that area without any apparent foreplanning. Coon caught the reason. The head of one of these three programs said he went in because he learned the other two were going in. The second said the same thing. Coon added: "I asked the director of the third one and he told me-he kind of smiled-and said, 'Do not ask any embarrassing questions'." 4. A road project, whose location was settled with lo cal authorities, was suddenly relocated into - an area that hadn't been checked by ICA technicians and was only a "short cut to the jungle." Coon, stating that local Communists took advantage of Peruvian discontent over these things, told how he personally tried to call it to the atten tion of top ICA officials in Washington but only got the run-around. Often he was ad vised not to relate these de velopments to anyone. He wrote a long letter to the head of ICA, but his only reply was a request that Coon thereafter go through proper channels with his letters. Sought Top Brass Coon then flew to Washing ton at his own expense to try to see the top brass at ICA He was unable to get an ap- nointment with James ti Smith, then ICA head, and lower officials suggested he re turn to Peru and not mention this to any members of Con gress. When asked by his old col leagues why he didn t maice these matters known then- back in 1958 to the press or to Congress, Coon said he knew that a new director would be coming in soon and he thought this would Bring needed changes. When Vice President Nixon vited Peru on his rocky South American trip, Coon was told by an aide to the U.S. ambas sador in Peru not to say any thing critical of ICA Director ltfealp "or vou will pay the consequences." Apossible later consequence was tnai Coon's work in Lima was given a low rating by his su perior, Neale. Coon told how the main of fice in Lima showed an elabo rate map that was not accu rate in showing the extent oi ICA work in the country, but he was told it ' was only to impress visitors from wasn ineton. The budget for Peru was from $2.5 to $2.75 million a year, Coon said. Under Investigation Neale was finally relieved and reDlaced by another man whom Coon had" little praise for. Neale then went to work for the Minister of Agricul ture of Peru, and then the Minister of Agriculture was hired by ICA, Coon declared. Coon wasn't solely respon sible for brineinz Neale's con flict of interest to light. That had been under investigation for several , months before Save time... ENJOY EXTRA CARE ON UNITED AIR LINES When you fly United you can conduct your business and have time left to enjoy yourself. You save time going and coming home. And all the way, both ways, you enjoy famous , United extra care at the regular fare. Convenient daily departures to Eugene, Salem, Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and all the east. For Reser vations" or- further information pi, one Medford SPring 3-6233. THE EXTRA CARE LINE united! Coon arrived, ICA officials claim. Queried now, they say they are still investigating The Republican from Baker, who won high praise from his congressional colleagues, said he wasn't against the foreign aid program and thought it had in many cases helped com bat Communism. But he criti cized its top management. Coon resigned after his ini- tial two-year term was up, as be was free to do. He was of fered another post in Pakistan at slightly higher salary but turned it down. When asked why, he said he thought he would find "more peace of mind if I went back out in the West and did not have the re sponsibility of being connect ed with this program any longer. Family Council Harriet R. I can't stand mother's new husband. Mrs. J. F He has almost saved my life. Harriet R. I am happily married and the moiher of two youngsters. My problem concerns my mother who rec ently remarried. Mother was a widow for ten years. She owned and operat ed a small business very suc cessfully. She took in Ralph, a man nearly 20 years her junior, as an assistant. He managed to win her confi dence and she finally married him. Now Ralph runs the busi-ness-and Mother as well. She does everything he tells her. He has fallen into gravy for he didn't have a dime of his own. Everyone is laughing at Mother and I feel so bad for her that I can't bear to face her. I certainly can't stand the sight of Ralph. I love my mother, but she won't visit me without him and I can't visit her. Mrs. J. F. I certainly nev er expected to be estranged from my only daughter in my late years We have always had a warm, wonderful rela tionship. Now she acts as though she is my enemy. The few times we have been to gether since my marriage, it has all ended in bitterness and tears. - Harriet is so sure I have married a fortune-hunter. But I have no fortune and Ralph knows it. I am 63 and have worked hard all my life. I couldn't go on indefinitely. Ralph learned the business in no time and almost saved my life by taking over some of the heaviest burdens. My husband has tried to win Harriet over, but she has been nasty to him. I feel I have a right to demand that she re spect him. The Council. We're with Mrs. J. F. She has a right to demand respect for her hus band. . Harriet should also recog nize that love and respect for her mother demand that she treat her stepfather with cour tesy and kindness-even if she can't muster any enthusiasm for the relationship. Harriet seems deeply affect ed by the external appearance of this marriage of her moth er's but we don't see any sign of an effort on her part to delve further. , If Mrs. J. F. has fallen into the hands of a real fortune hunter who will selfishly use her and show no love and con sideration in return, Harriet will be needed. But the critic al,, hostile attitude she has taken sets up a barrier be tween her and her mother, and it may prevent her moth er from coming to her should she need a friend. On the other hand, Harriet should recognize that she can not judge a relationship like marriage purely on the social appearance. It is just possible that this older woman and younger man have much to give one another mentally and emotionally as well as eco nomically. . .. i ; Mrs. J. F. seems satisfied with the arrangement she has made at this time at least. It may be hard for Harriet to accept the fact that her moth er could be quite content to let this man enjoy certain eco nomic advantages while she enjoys other benefits. It may also be hard for her to under stand that two individuals so far apart in age could love one another sincerely. But life is full of interesting possibili ties and Harriet should !e willing at least to look at this relationship with an open mind. Outsiders who scoff aren't worth thinking about. (Copyright 1959, General Features Corp.) . About 5,500 Americans visited the Union of South Africa in 1958. STANDING ON ROSTRUM, Martin B. McKneally, New burgh, N.' Y., and Mrs. Alexander H. Gray, Brownsville, Term., new American Legion National Commander and Auxiliary President, acknowledge cheers at Minneapolis. Small Worlds Around Us By Lynn M. Watkins WSC Now Officially State University Pullman (DPD Washington State College officially be came Washington State Uni versity today as the result of action by the last legislature. Established in 1890 by the legislature, the land - grant school has grown from a handful of students to this year's estimated enrollment of 6,650 students. San Pedro, Calif.-dJPD-R. E. Goodwin told police today that a thief in a cabin cru iser slid alongside his wharf while he was talking to a friend, scooped up $180 worth of tools, and roared away across Los Angeles harbor. Chicago - (DPD - J. Earl Wet more of Oswego, Ore., has been elected western vice president of the National So ciety of Public Accountants. Dallas Mill Owner Planning To Rebuild Dallas, Ore. (DPD Andy Ialack, Jr., owner of the Da Oreole Lumber Company, whose mill was destroyed by fire Aug. 24, said today it would be about three months before the new mill can be iri operation. About 30 men were employed by the mill and planer. MAIL TRIBUNE, Medford. Or. O Tuesday, Sept. 1, 1959 ' There are no railroads in Iceland, but there are about 2,728 miles of j highway. These Bees Were Bugged I would not have believed it either, except that I saw it very plainly under the mag: nification of a strong hand lens. It was rather startling, The subject under observa tion was a honeybee, but the unbelievable part about the inspection was the "passen gers" on the bee's body, the other "animals" the bee was carrying. Member of a populous col ony of honeybees, this one we were examining had been "acting funny." The bee's owner told me this particu lar colony "hadn't been doing so good." An inspection inside the hive had revealed that "something was drilling tiny holes in the comb." Careful observation of the incoming and outgoing bees from this hive had attracted the attention of the beekeep er. Several times he had no ticed that a bee, landing on the hive entrance, would go into a crazy sort of dance, turning in tight circles, then reversing the circles and twisting and turning in the opposite direction. "Funny and highly unusual behav ior," the man said, 'for nor mally well-behaved and well- adjusted bees." Ridiculous It was one of these "twist ing bees" we now had under the magnifying glass, and what we were seeing, besides the bee, was utterly ridicu lous. On the body of the bee, an area equivalent in size to a navy bean, was a crawling horde of microscopically tiny insects. The . bee was infested with "bee lice." With a soft brush, a pair of tweezers and a needle, we brushed the lice from the lit tle bee-body onto a sheet of blue paper ninety-one, very small, wingless lice. These tiny parasitic insects, crawl ing over the sensitive body of the bee-host, had been driv ing her to go into her crazy, circular dance, interrupting her nectar gathering, and lat er infecting the hive itself as the lice departed the host to take up residence in the hon ey-combs. In the comb the larvae of the bee-louse feeds on the nec tar as well as the bee-bread. On the living bees, the lice take food from the bee's mouth. During the night, when the activity of the hive slows down, the bee-lice are known to crawl from the mouth of one sleeping bee to another, taking what food it can from each one it visits. From Old World Bee lice came over from the Old World, probobaly on the bodies of imported bees or in combs. They laid their smaller-than-mite sized eggs in every bee hive they could find. Man himself helped a great deal by transporting hives and swarms of infected bees from one point to anoth er. The tiny lice, sometimes as many as a hundred on the body of a single bee, went along, unwanted and unseen, and even unsuspected. , The poor honeybee has no defense against the tiny tor mentors. All the bee can do is keep on flying, carrying the pesky little non-paying pas sengers and going into her twisting dance when the irri tation becomes greater than she can bear. Who knows but what the peculiar saying is true that, "Small fleas have yet smaller : fleas that bite them-ad infinitum." (Released by The Register and Tribune Syndicate, 1959) New York-(DPD-Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker, chairman of the board of Eastern Air Lines, will relinquish the title of chief executive officer on Oct. 1. Rickenbacker said Malcolm A. Maclntyre, the company's newly elected pres ident, will become the new chief executive officer. rlPEWMI TERRIFIC BUY! Shop Monday Until 9 P.M. 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