Three Medford Departments Review Activities off Year
Editor's note: This is the
iirst in a series of articles
describing the purposes,
1959 accomplishments and
1960 plans of Medford's 17
departments, boards and
commissions as they were
reported at the city's Liv
ing Annual Report banquet
at the Rogue Valley Coun
try club Wednesday night.
This article gives' an ac
count of the reports of the
parks and recreation com
mission, library board and
water commission.
and
PARKS, RECREATION
The Medford parks
recreation commission com
pleted its first full year of
operation in 1959, and has
many worthwhile accomplish
ments to show for it, accord
ing to Russ Jamison, commis
sion chairman.
One of the first jobs the
commission had wa. the se
lection of a competent and
qualified parks and recrea
tion director, and for this po
sition they hired Robert Ha
worth, formerly the assistant
parks director at Spokane,
Wash.
Jamison said the commis
sion itself grew out of a citi
zen's fact-finding committee
appointed by the mayor and
city council in September,
1958,. to determine what was
needed to create an adequate
parks and recreation program
for Medford.
Several Departments
The report of that commit
tee showed the park and rec
reational services being of
fered by the city at that time
were administered by several
departments with no over-all
direction and a resulting loss
in efficiency.
To correct this condition,
the mayor and council ap
pointed the commission and
charged it with making
recommendations r e g arding
the general supervision and
control of all city park and
recreational facilities and to
establish a parks and recrea
tion department to carry out
the programs to be developed
Haworth assum3 his duties
in May last year, and the de
partment was organized in
time to carry out an expand
ed summer recreation pro
gram, Jamison pointed out.
Becoming Integrated
It is now on its way to
becoming well integrated
with the community and with
other city departments and
agencies, he said.
Some of the commission's
accomplishments in 1959 in
clude the coordination of citi
zen's efforts in establishing a
neighborhood park on Union
st., the renovafton of the Roxy
Ann park picnic area and the
establishment of an expanded
maintenance program, Jami
son said.
The commission accepted
the donation of the logging
locomotive from the Medford
Corporation and placed it in
Jackson park. It reviewed
and approved plans for the
development of the Jackson
park pool project, which is
now under construction, and
accepted the Crater Lions
club's offer to provide a wad
ing pool at the park as a club
project.
The year 1959 also saw an
expanded aquatics program,
an extension of the swimming
season at Hawthorne park,
and the development of both
summer and winter recrea
tional programs to compli
ment the program offered by
School District 549C, he point
ed out.
In addition to these ac
complishments, the commis
sion cooperated in hosting the
Senior Citizen's conference in
L
Coming . .
February
24
25
26
27
Bigger, Better
Than Ever
Medford last fall, Jamison
added.
See Active Year
In regards to the commis
sion's plans for 1960, Jamison
said, "It will be an extreme
ly active year if we are to
close the gap in this import
ant field of municipal re
sponsibility . . . but with the
necessary support we can re
cover many years of lost ef
fort and bring Medford's
parks and recreation facilities
up to a respectable level of
acceptance."
One of 1960's projects will
be the completion of a master
plan of city parks to facilitate
long range city planning and
orderly park development.
The year will also see the
completion of the Jackson
park swimming pool and at
tendant facilities, he said.
Another project will be the
participation in the joint ef
fort of other cities and Jack
son county to clean up Bear
creek, he noted, and they will
also work toward the creation
of a Medford Parks Memorial
Fund to more adequately at
tract and administer bequests
and contributions to city park
development.
The commission will con
tinue and expand the present
recreational programs, Jami
son added.
Besides Jamison, other com
mission members are Mrs.
Edith Eden, Mrs. Owen Kun
kel, Verl Walker, James Zack,
Herb Partridge, Eugene
Thorndike, Jerry Lausmann
and William Singler.
LIBRARY BOARD
The library board has three
main responsibilities: to set
broad library policies and em
ploy a capable librarian to
carry them out, to promote
library service, and to secure
adequate funds for its opera
tion, Board Member Elliott
Becken told those attending
the banquet.
Becken spoke for Mrs. Le-
land Mentzer, chairman of the
five-member libr&ry board
He pointed out that the of
ficial name of the library re
cently was changed to the
Public Library of Medford
and Jackson county..
The change in name was
made, he said, to give the li
brary a title indicative of the
cooperation between the city
and county which have joint
ly supported the institution
for the past 40 years.
Under a contract with the
countv the library provides
services for branch libraries
in Jacksonville, Gold Hill,
Central Point, Eagle Point,
Butte Falls, Phoenix and
Talent.
All books purchased with
library funds are made avail
able to the branches through
rotating collections and spe
cial requests, he pointed out.
Becken said that because
of this unified library system,
more services are possible for
all county residents.
One of the board's 1959 ac
complishments was the ac
quisition of Omar Bacon as
head librarian, and Becken
said under his leadership the
library will endeavor to more
effectively extend its services
to all groups in the commun
ity. Some 4,537 new books were
added to the library's shelves
last year, including many gift
books for which the library
administration is grateful,
Becken said.
Forty-seven volumes on
Oregon history were added
from the fund established by
the will of the late Ella J.
Smith, he noted.
Another of the past year's
accomplishments was the ex
pansion of the library's serv
ices by the acquisition of
paperback books which sup
ply many titles that could not
otherwise be purchased.
Circulation . Increase
Becken pointed out that in
the last six months the circu
lation of library books has
shown an increase of about
10 per cent.
He said that this year, an
effort will be made to evalu
ate the direction the library
should go in building a book
collection that will serve the
economic, cultural, informa
tional and recreational needs
of this area.
Some of the new services
planned by the board for 1960
are the establishment of a
public meeting room in the
library for use by community
groups, the establishment of a
drive-up book return at the
main library and the encour
agement of the borrowing or
return of books at any branch
library and with a single card.
The library, in cooperation
with the Ashland library, is
seeking, Becken said, some
$23,000 in federal and state
funds for the purpose of ex
panding services to the
branches , and working to
wards keeping them open for
more hours during the week.
Besides Becken and Mrs.
Mentzer, other board mem
bers are Mrs. Eve Hamilton,
Gene Thomas and Richard
Travis.
WATER COMMISSION
Chester Hubbard, chairman j
of the Medford Water com
mission told those attending
the banquet the water depart
ment is somewhat different
from the other departments
in that it has more autonomy.
Hubbard said the city char
ter obligates the commission
to provide a pure and whole
some water supply for use
by the inhabitants of the city
and for fire protection, and
to carry out this function, the
charter gives the commission
the authority to maintain, op
erate and extend the water
system, establish rates and
regulations and collect and
control water revenue and
funds.
The charter also includes a
provision for the sale of sur
plus water to areas outside
of the city, Hubbard added.
During 1959, he said, the
total water consumption in
Medford was 3,318,045,000
gallons, a 10 per cent increase
over 1958.
Maximum Daily Use
The maximum daily use
was 23,800,000 gallons, a 13
per cent increase over the
previous year, Hubbard add
ed. He pointed out that the
sharp increase in water con
sumption was caused in part
by the rapid growth of the
city and in part by 1959's dry
weather.
The increase in the number
of water customers is indi
cative, he said, of the growth
of the city. At the end of
1959 there were 10,411
customers served by the Med
ford water system, an increase
of 456 customers or 4.8 per
cent over 1958.
To keep up with this in
crease, nearly five miles of
new water mains varying in
size from 4 to 24 inches were
placed in service in 1959, giv
ing Medford a total of 111
miles of water mains. He add
ed that the number of fire
hydrants had to be increased
from 701 to 735 last year.
Construction Projects
Two major construction
projects were undertaken by
the water commission last
year, one of these in the south
east part of the city where
the new 500,000 gallon, rein
forced concrete, Barneburg
stand pipe and pump station
were installed.
The second construction
project is on Capital Hill
where two previously open
reservoirs were covered with
aluminum roofs at a cost of
$98,000.
With the covering of the
reservoirs, Hubbard said, all
city water is now under cover
from the time it leaves the
subterranean depths at Big
Butte Springs until it comes
out of the householders faucet.
In 1960, the department
anticipates the addition of
400 new customers to the
MAIL TRIBUNE, Medford, Or.
Friday, Feb. 12, 1960 A '
water system which will re
quire the installation of three
to four miles of new water
mains, including a new 14
inch trunk main on Crater
Lake ave. for service to the
Grandview area, and 30 new
fire hydrants. ;
Diversion Canal
Another project contem
plated by the commission this
year is construction of a $150,
000 diversion canal from Four
Bit creek to the Willow Creek
reservoir.
The start on this canal
hinges, Hubbard said, on
whether or not the precipita
tion between now and May is
above normal.
If it's not, he said, then
the canal will be built so the
city will be able to meet its
water obligations to the Eagle
Point Irrigation district next
summer.
In addition to Hubbard,
members of the water com
mission are George Polski,
D w i g h t Houghton, John
Pletsch and Darrell Miller.
MISSING MAN SOUGHT Two Volunteer horsemen search
the area downstream from the point where the auto of
missing Adolph Coors III was found near Morrison, Colo.
The part of the stream where the horsemen are looking is
the place that officers found Coors hat and glasses. The
FBI has entered the case but so far has uncovered no new
clues. (UPI Telephoto)
MacArihur Makes
Further Progress
New York-UPD-The condi
tion of General of the Army
Douglas MacArthur, hospital
ized with a urological ailment
improved further Thursday,
an Army spokesman said.
MacArthur "made further
progress in gaining strength
slowly," Col. Gordon Barclay,
1st Army information officer
said.
MacArthur is scheduled to
undergo surgery as soon as
his condition permits.
WHO'S SEEIN' DOUBLE
Henley, England - (UPB -Things
got a bit confusing in
magistrate's court Thursday
during a trial in which a man
was found guilty of drunken
driving. The defense attorney,
John Easby, and the prosecu
tor, Denis Easby, were identi
cal twins.
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