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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 25, 1960)
SUNDAY. DECEMBER 25, 1960 MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE, MEDFORD, ORE. City-;Mdnager Observing .-3 5 'Years -Service 8 A ft) v n , is; iJf r, , I TIlT'll' I ' III 'lit Willi HIIIH lM Ml I M I I hmmmlm;,M KNOWS CITY WATER PROBLEMS City assist in designing the first of two water Manager Robert A. Duff was intendent from 1931 until 1955, and during that time became well-acquainted with the city's water problems. One of Duff's first jobs with the department in 1925 was to Heavy Fog, Icy Roads Cause Several Accidents in Four persons were injured in one of several accidents oc curing in the heavy fog and on icy roads Friday and Sat urday morning. Friday, a mother and her three children were injured when a car driven by the mother, Mrs. . Dolores Eliza beth Voss, route il, Box 169M Medford, missed the road at the intersection of the North Phoenix and B a r n e 1 1 rds., took out several feet of pas ture fencing, and hit. a tele Seasons T of a " v .'; Ilplir Bird Watcher W Fall I960 ' Anybody that watches birds gels a special pleasure from seeing them around the place where he lives. I am fortunate to live in a favorable spot, so every two weeks I keep a. list of the species I see in & seven day period. Any week in the year if I watch I can find as many as 20 species and often over 30. My total for the year on the home place broke all records, with 78. This goes to show that Increasing population and many new houses in the neighborhood haven't reduced the number of birds much. It has cut down, though, on the number of indi vidual quail in the flocks. New ones seen on the place this year and never before were barn swallows and marsh hawks flying over, and a mountain bluebird which perched in a tree by the church and gave me a good view. As before I saw great blue herons and kingfishers flying over. These birds are easily recognized In flight. We have a few somewhat unusual observations to record for the fall scasun. We saw a hummingbird at our penstcmon flowers on Oct. 25, which Is a pretty late date for this species. RHlph Browning has an even more remarkable late record. He saw a male Bullock's oriole on Nov. 22 as he was going home from high school in Phoenix. J. H. and I saw at least three chipping sparrows on Nov. 28. There are always a few summer birds that linger, but this seems to have been a good year for that. J. II. was also responsible for another unusual record. On Nov. 13 he saw red phalaropcs on a pond near his cabin on the Rogue. This kind of phalarope Is an ocean or coastal species and rarely strays inland. Wilson's phalaropcs probably nest around Hoover lake in the summer because we often see them there. Phalaropcs are interesting birds because they arc the feminists of the avian world. The females are the more brightly colored, and the males do all the incubating of the eggs. J. H. and I were together one fall day when he spoiled and identified a rough-legged hawk. After he pointed it out I could confirm that this was what it was. We have been looking for this hawk in our valley for years, and it was quite exciting finally to see it. As a matter of fact I had never seen one anywhere before, but J. H. had seen them in east ern Oregon. It was on Nov. 7 we saw this later. This particular trip was When we started out it was a little showery and we thought we wouldn't see much, but we ended up with 57 species on our four hour trip. We saw Reservoir. . Now the season of our Christmas Bird Count has again come around. We had a little for it and set Friday, Dec. 30, for our date. We will count birds again in the 15-mile diameter circle centering about a mile south of White City. It includes all of Medford, Roxy Anne, botli Table Rocks, the Rogue Rver from Gold Rey dam almost to Dodge Bridge, and a ing on the west side quite a Old Military Road. Phone calls or notes from us quite a little on last year's count. We located our barn owls that way then, and I think we know where we can find them still. Does anybody know where great horned owls roost regularly, or do they keep moving around? How about screech owls? They are supposed to be permanent residents in Oregon, but I don't recall ever seeing one In the winter. Another species that readers might help us locate is the slate-colored junco. Oregon juncos are among our common est winter birds, but there are often one or two slate-colored juncos among the hundreds of the commoner species. I won't attempt to describe them but any one with the aid of a good bird book can pick them out if they come to your feeder, or close to the house. The standard bird book that most of us use is Peterson's Field Guide to Western Birds. Phone me at SP 2-8860 if you have any of this information to impart. You may call me also if you would like to join us on the Christmas bird count. T.M. A ' water super phone pole, breaking it off at the base. The injured children were Lorrie Voss, 5; Stephen, 3; and David, 10 months. Ail except Lorrie Voss were treat ed at Sacred Heart hospital and released. The five-year- old girl was reported in good condition Saturday morning. Another child in the car, Den- ise, 4, received no injuries, state police said. Foggy weather and icy road caused accidents Friday hawk, and J. H. saw it again one of the best we ever made a lot of ducks on Gardiner meeting a while ago to plan great portion of valley, extend distance into the hills above readers of this column helped pipelines from Big Butte springs. He is shown above talking to Robert Lee, who assumed the job of water superintendent when Duff became city manager. Valley morning at the Tolo ovcrcross- ing when several vehicles piled into each other. The road and bridge had been sanded but the cars were trav eling too fast for the condi tions, stale police said. Drivers ' were Larry Lee Logghe, 27, Santa Clara, Cal if.; George Henry Kitchen, 64, Vernonia, Ore.: Wallace Arnold Gabrielson, 34, Castro Valley, Calif., and Joel Knox, 43, Bandon, Ore. Two rear-end accidents oc curred within a few minutes of each other Friday morning at the Stewart avc. and High way 99 junction. Involved in one were truck driver Bert Julius Stats Jr., 44, of 702 Park st., Medford, and Fred- crick Paul Meyers, 27, Sun nyvale, Calif., and in the sec ond John Milton Cook, 49, Phoenix, and Gene Harold Hillhouse, 20, Sunnyvale. Later Friday morning, another rear-end collision oc curred between vehicles driven by Homer Jackson Hyl ton, 54, of 315 Laurel st., Med ford, and Charles Francis Dacges, 29, Ben Lomond, Calif., on Highway 99 about a mile south of Medford. Friday night, a car driven by Hubert Paul Bentley. 24. Grants Pass, slipped on an icy curve near Jacksonville and slid over a bank. Also ion Friday, trucks driven by Franklin Ray Lind sey, 23, of route 1, box 319, Eagle Point, and Eugene Ray Arnold, 29, of route 2. box 495, Gold Hill, collided near the entrance to Burrill Lum ber company on Agate rd. A car driven by Junior Lee Parker, 32, of route 2, box 508X, Central Point, struck two Hereford heifers on the Table Rock id. Friday after noon, about lVi miles south of the Sams Valley highway state police said. Both ani mals. owned by the Reter fruit company, were killed They were being driven by the ranch foreman, Benny rciK. Accidents in City Medford city police report ed several non-injury acci dents Friday. Adding to the traffic diffi culties of icy pavement and foggy weather was removnl of wires from the traffic signal control box at Oakdale ave. and West Main st. later Fri day night, and the placing of cans In the street in front of the YMCA at West Sixth st. A tvenworth truck and two trailers driven by Clarence Edward Smith, Portland, ran into a ditch off McAndrews rd. between Biddlc rd. and Riverside ave. A car driven by John Quincy Adams. 2495 West Main St.. ran Into a ditch at West Main and Jeanette sts. Donald Thurston Wilinson, 1407 West Main st., Medford, reported a car ran over his lawn Friday night. A car driven oy Bruce Wei lington Moffat, 2178 Spring sl ran off the road near the intersection of Modoc and Hillcrest rds. Three vehicles were in volved in a collision at East Main st. at Crater Lake ave. They were driven by Herbert Clement Rtidd Jr., 2323 Ar nold ave., Medford; by Harold Warren Smith, 547 Bessie st Medford, and by Arthur Hill Shackleton Gill m ore. 128 South Kecneway dr., Medford. Cars driven by Wllma Ger trude McLean, Grants Pass, and John Coleman Norris, 831 Minnesota ave., collided Fri day at Eighth and Grape sts.. city police records show. Medford One of Finest Cities, R. A. Duff Says By GREG NOKES Mail Tribune Staff Writer Christmas is a day of spe cial meaning to all people everywhere, but it has taken on an even added significance for Medford's city manager who today is celebrating his 35th Christmas as an em ployee of the city of Med ford. The city of Medford, its problems and people, have been Robert A. Duff's busi ness since he came here in 1925 to work as a drafting en gineer in the city water de partment. Thirty-five years is a long time for a man to work for a city. But, if Duff had it to do all over again, he wouldn't change a thing. He declares: "Medford one of the finest communities anywhere. Its people are of as high a caliber as I have ever seen. What reason could there possibly be for me to want to leave here?" Changes Since Start The city has changed a lot since Duff started working for it, and Duff has seen most of these changes. He has seen the city grow from a town of 5,000 persons to a city of nearly 25,000. He has seen it struggle through depression days and virtual economic collapse, to the war time Camp White era and the post-war lumber boom, which together did much to get the city back on its feet again. It takes a special kind of a person to devote his life to municipal government. He must be willing to stay silent and courteous while irate citizens are heaping un justified abuse on him or the city government for doing, or not doing, something over which they have no control. Answer Demands He must answer with a civil tongue when people demand to know why the city has not paved such-and-such a street, nor provided for a more abundant water supply, when the city doesn t have the mon ey to do it. He must be able to take it for granted that few expres sions of appreciation will come from the citizens when a new bridge is built, or city streets repaved. He must be able to serve the public, listen to his sub ordinates, satisfy the city council, and even sometimes deal with a misunderstanding press. , He must be a fighter, a dip lomat, a negotiator. He must have patience, tact, foresight, hindsight and understanding. He must be willing to do a lot of work for little pay. As Drafting Engineer Duff first started working for the city in 1925 as a draft ing engineer with the city water department, following his graduation thai same year from the University of Santa Clara where he received his BS degree in civil engineer ing. One of Duff's first duties was lo assist in designing the first of the two water pipe lines from Big Butte springs. In 1931 Duff was appointed water superintendent, and lie held that position until 1955. From 1951 until 1954, Duff doubled in brass as city super intendent. Following a special elec tion in 1953 at which time the city voted in the city manager form of government, Mayor Diamond Flynn appointed Duff city manager. He has since been city manager un der Mayors Flynn, Earl Mil ler and John Snider. Career With City Outside of a summer job with the U. S. forest service in 1925, Duff has spent his entire career with the city of Medford. Asked why he chose this line of work, and then stuck with it through all these years, Duff replied: "Because there is always a challenge. Problems are continually pre senting themselves which need solving. 1 like to see things grow and I like to see things accomplished." Things have been accom plished during Duff's tenure with the city, and they are still being accomplished. Medford's relatively sound financial shape is admired by cities throughout the state. Water System Envy Medford's water supply sys tem is the envy of cities ev erywhere. The city has been growing at a faster rate than most oth er Oregon cities-16 per cent during the past 10 years. Medford has established it self as the distribution point for the southern Oregon- northern California area, and its future in this respect ap pears bright. And the city's municipal JZWm si6" )!aKMsiBS .irti wi..iM,i.U. twin, i nmXlVaeMMMiii MEDFORD IS HIS BUSINESS City Manager Robert A. Duff could well consider the city of Medford to be his business. He has devoted his entire adult career to working for the city, coming here in 1925 as a drafting engineer with the water department. Few devclopmentss have taken place in the city during the last 35 years that Duff iias not Been a part of. airport (second largest in Oregon) has long been an ob ject of local pride. Duff, to be sure, is not sole ly responsible for all of this, but he has had a significant role to play in all of them. But what of the man him self? What kind of a person is Medford's city manager? Duff is 59; he is married and has no children. His once bright red hair is only now beginning to gray. Says Little He is a quiet man and says little more than what is abso lutely necessary. A newspaper reporter would not consider Duff to be an "ideal" news source. He is hesitant aoout receiving publicity, particu larly for himself, and ap pears reticent when giving a reporter the facts of a story no matter how important. Fellow city employees who know Duff best say they have never seen him lose his tem per. One department head re marked that Duff's patience is amazing. "It would do him good sometime lo blow off a little steam and get mad at somebody when they make a mistake - but he never does, Duff apparently has the loyally of -nearly every city employee, certainly all of those that this reporter talked to. One of the reasons for this, according to a water depart ment official, is that he treats everybody alike and gives them "the benefit of the doubt." Not a Politician This same official remarked that although Duff seems quiet, he makes friends easily, and people remember him. He explained, Duff is not a poli tician ... he doesn't make a lot of promises. If he can't live up lo what he says - he isn't going to say it." Neither docs Duff actively seek to leave a great personal mark on the city. While city officials elsewhere want to be known to one and all as being personally responsible for erecting a new bridge, build ing more and better city parks, or overhauling a city's outdated water system, Duff wants none of this. His subordinates point out that Duff wants simply to pro vide a good, effective and co ordinated government that will give the people what they need, when they want it, and within their ability to pay for it. Things Have Been Done Things have been done here. There are new bridges, new parks and an expanding water supply system, but they are not considered to be the ac complishments of one man -they are considered to be the accomplishments of the entire city. Indicative of Duff s desire lo provide for a continuity of government services was his engineering of the city's tran sition from the council-mayor form of government to the city manager form in 1954. in many cities such a tran sition is made with consider able confusion and a tempo rary ineffectiveness of the city government. i Heads of various depart ments, previously responsible to a particular councilman, now were responsible to one man - the city manager. Elected Officials Both the city recorder and the city treasurer were elected officials. Under the new form of government, the offices were combined and the city recorder-treasurer was made an appointed official, respon sible to the city manager. Previously, the city super intendent had little power. He could carry out only minor administrative tasks while the city council made almost all decisions, large or small. But a city manager docs have pow er. He is answerable only to the mayor and city council, whose responsibilities in turn, were limited to policy-making. Yet the transition in Med ford took place so quietly and smoothly that, as one city offi cial remarked, "even the city employees themselves didn't notice a change was taking place." To a man, they credit the smoothness of this transi tion to Duff. Little Social Life Duff has little time for so cial life. The nature of his job and the many night meetings which he must attend prevent tins, as he himself points out. However, he is an avid hunt er and fisherman, and says the love of the outdoors is one of the main reasons for his re maining in Medford. It is probable that Duff has made a number of enemies during his tenure as city man ager. But, it would be diffi cult to conceive of a man in his position who could satisfy all of the people all of the time. Duff said he has never se riously considered leaving Medford, although many at tractive opportunities else where have been offered Kim. He differs from most city managers in this respect, as the majority of these profes sional city administrators sel dom stay longer than five years or so in one city. Duff has not given any thought lo retiring. He says he plans to stay on as city manager for years-at least un til retirement age, six years from now. One city official, who has known Duff for many years. said: "Medford is fortunate to have, not only a city manager who is dedicated to his work, but a city manager who is dedicated to the city." Initial Exploration of Illinois River Project Nears Coquille-The initial explora tion phase for a proposed hy droelectric dam project on the Illinois river is nearmg com pletion, according to Bruce Shavere, general manager of Coos-Curry Electric Coopera tive, Coquillc. The proposed site of the dam is the Buzzards Roost area on the Illinois river in Curry county. A report on studies of this area were sub mitted to the board of direc tors of the cooperative. In the report it is indicated that tile physical characteris tics of the site are more favor able than a preliminary sur vey suggested. A design en gineer said, when presenting the report, that the core sam ples tested show twice the strength necessary to support the proposed structure. Topographic maps of the reservoir area should be com pleted and printed in the next few weeks. These maps, to gether with the dam site maps, will make possible a determination of the height of j the dam. So far only rough ! estimates have been available. ! Applied for License j In 1958, Coos-Curry Elec-i trie company applied to the ' Federal Power commission for j a license to construct a hydro-1 electric project on this stretch i of the river. The report was the first step in completing the application. ! Next will come an economic j height study of the dam to-; gethcr with hydrology studies, ' unit installation analysis, dam i layout and radial adjustment i rercgulating dam layout, spill- j way capacities and fish han-j Acme Office Machines 1949 W. Main SP 3-7964 Duncan Talks To Rights Council On Passing Laws Ashland-House Speaker Robert Duncan cautioned those attending a meeting of the Ashland Human Rights council last week against pass ing too restrictive laws to con trol hate literature and ob scene materials in the mails. "Every law that is passed takes a little of our freedom away," Duncan said. "And for this reason I advise caution against making too many laws to meet problems we don't like." "In the sphere of free will we do as we please within the bounds of prevailing custom and obey the unenforceable because it is the thing to do. In the sphere of law we do what we have to do or be pun ished. Abuses of free will re sult in laws and eventually if the sphere of free will- and custom are entirely 'taken ov er by the sphere of law, the result is totalitarianism," the Medford lawyer and legislator explained. Meet Them With Truth Duncan admitted that he does not know the answer, but perhaps the most effective way to fight ideas people do not like is to meet them with truth and other ideas and not censorship. The legislator mentioned the different types of hate ma terial such as defamation of the Jewish race and the Cath olic religion through mass mailings of literature. Two different classes of this type of literature are originating in the south, one is inflammatory and the other thought-provoking. "Much as we regret the dis semination of hate literature we have to remember one of the basic rights guaranteed us is the one which says there shall be no law abridging the free expression of opinion," Duncan pointed out. "Libel, slander and obscen it, ofourse, are exceptions to freedom of speech, but it is hard to pin down what is ob scene in art or literature for each person interprets the same thing differently." Protect Individual Civic and criminal actions for libel and slander generally protect the individual rather than the group and inade quately at that, Duncan said. In areas of libel and slander some cases are black, some almost white and a limitless variety of gray exists in be tween, he added. "As a matter of fact, the charges made by Republicans and Democrats against each other amount to mass slander sometimes," the legi s 1 a t o r noted. Dam Finish dling facilities, access roads and transmission layout and cost estimates. Shavere said completion of these studies will make it pos sible to determine the power generating cost of the project and will give sufficient infor mation to complete the appli cation to the FPC. a. n JC U MORTUARY CEMETERY 605 Highland May your Christmas be IIf filled with peace and with , , I something of the calm ww I joy of the very first , . i Christmas. . I SOC Winter Term Classes Scheduled Ashland-Wlnter term regis tration at Southern Oregon college will be held Jan. 3, the last day to register without penalty. Saturday, Jan. 14, will be the final day for all registration or for the addi tion of new courses. Evening classes to be held at the college during winter term include: ceramics (2 credit hours), Monday or Tuesday, 7, 8, 9 p.m., Britt 103; painting (2 credit hours), Tuesday, 7, 8, 9 p.m., Britt 111; orchestra (1 hour credit), Monday, 7:30 p.m., Churchill 207; appreciation aspects of music (3 hours credit), Tues day, 7, 8, 9, p.m., Churchill 207; problems in education (seniors only, & hours credit), Monday, 7, 8, 9, p.m., Chur chill 108; applied mental hy giene (graduate credit, 3 hours), Thursday, 7, 8, 9 p.m., Churchill 203; principles and practices in curriculum con struction (graduate credit, 3 hours), Monday, 7, 8, 9, p.m., Churchill 203; first aid (3 hours credit), Thursday, 6:45 p.m., gym 101; skating (1 hour credit), Wednesday, 6:30 p.m., at the rink; skate dance (1 hour credit), Tuesday, 6:30 p.m., at the rink; social dance (1 hour credit), Tuesday, 6:30 p.m., in the ballroom; phone tics (3 hours credit), Tuesday, 7, 8, 9 p.m., clinic. Winter Pears To Get Promotion Winter pears from the Rogue valley will receive their second national adver tising and sales promotion campaign of the current sea son, beginning in mid-Janu ary and continuing into Feb ruary, according to R. A. (Dick) . Patterson, general manager of the Oregon-Washington-California Pear bureau at Portland. The promotion, in behalf of D' Anjou, Bosc and Cornice pears, will utilize more than 70 radio stations in 31 of the country's most populated areas. The main theme is "All Good Things Come in Pears." The fresh pairs will be fea tured as lunchbox favorites and "perfect partners" with meat, cheese and salads. Re tailers throughout the country are tying-in with the current advertising campaign, by making use of colorful display and promotional materials, as well as building large displays of D'Anjou, Bosc and Cornice pears. Due to three deaths during the last thirty days in Mrs. Bray's familywe take this opportunity to thank all our friends and patients for the beautiful cards sent to us, and wish all of you v A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR ' Dr. and Mrs. Jouett P. Bra SP 2-5488 SISKIYOU Drive Siskiyou All of the classes may be taken at a cost of $11 per term hour with a minimum fee charged of $22. Registration for classes meeting on Wed nesdays' and Thursday will be) held at the regularly sched uled class time during tha week of Jan. 3 to 6. Classes meeting on Monday or Tuesday evenings will hold their first class during tha week of Jan. 9 to 13 at the regularly appointed time. The last day to register for an evening class is at the second regular meeting. Lions Club To Pick Up Christmas Trees Central Point - The Central Point Lions club will pick up used Christmas trees on the afternoon of Jan. 1, according to Lyle Paull, publicity di rector for the club. Paull said persons desiring to have their trees picked up should put them in front of their homes between the hours of 1 and 4 p.m. ' Paull said there will be no charge for the service, but i anyone wants to donate to the Lions they should place their donation in an envelope and leave it with the tree. Pharmacy Phacts From GENE WESTLAND New discoveries are coming along so fast in drugs that it's often hard to realize that only 20 to 30 wsg years ago the only disease that doc tors could prevent with a drug was smallpox. There were many diseases for which there was just no help diseases that took millions of lives. Now illnesses like lockjaw, polio, typhoid fever, diph theria and the many nutritional de ficiencies are either lessened or conquered by the wonderful new drugs which stop them before they get a chance to destroy lives. You have heard us talk about today's prescription being the biggest bar gain in all history. The reasons given above are the proof of it. To an ever increasing number of friends and customers, McLain's Drug Centre is becoming known as prescription specialists. Prescrip tion filling is our business, so we are glad to be establishing a re liable reputation in our field. Re member, we are located in the center of the downtown business district, 8 No. Central. Adv. MAUSOLEUM CREMATORY Memorial Park 1
