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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 2, 1961)
KENNEDY A Ul n RECOVERY PR06RAM Person Fatally Burned in Wednesday Night House Fire HOME DESTROYED Numbers of curi ous on-lookers hampered efforts of firemen to quell flames which took the life of one man and destroyed the two -story frame house above. One body, believed to be that of Owen P. Short, 46, was found in the basement of the house, located on Carpen Minmum Age for Children Entering School Discussed Salem - HJPI1 -'Mothers, fa t h e r s and educators joined forces Wednesday to tell" the House Education committee that maturity, not age, should be the deciding factor on when a child starts school. But they split sharply on whether -' in, the absence of adequate tests'-: a bill should be passed to raise , the mini mum age t for"' youngsters en tering first-grade by switch ing the six-ycar:qld deadline from Nov. 15 back to Julx j. The change would j mearij children whose ibirtjifloys 'tafr between the two dates would have to wait a' year longer than presently. .Both parents and teachers spoke on both sides of t h e question, at a crowded 22 hour hearing. Would Eliminate Many Cecil Posep, secretary of the Oregon Education associ ation, said the average age when children- are first able to' cope with abstract think ing involved in first grade reading and arithmetic is be tween six years and two months and six years and five months. He said raising the age re quirement would eliminate many youngsters who fail be cause they are not mentally ready for first grade thinking. He said the legislation was "permissive" so that schools could agree to accept younger children if they were ad vanced. Most parents said they doubted the schools would do this. Posey said Sept. 1 might be accepted as a compromise date. Richard H i n e s, principal of Washington school in Eu gene, said the aim of starting youngsters to school when they were mentally and emo tionally ready was "fine, but this should be accomplished through kindergarten prepa ration and testing, and not through setting a flat age re quirement. WEATHER FORECAST: Vailry tog or low cloudiness tonight. Mostly cloudv Willi showers Kridav. Low tonight 38. tilth Friday 55. Temp. Ilichest Veslcrday 38 Lowest This Mornliic 4R Prec. to 10 a.m. Today .57 Our Skies Tonight Sunset today .. 5:?S a.m. Sunrise tomorrow .... 7:24 a.m. Moonrise tonight 7:36 p.m. I.asl quarter - Feb. 8 PROMINENT STAB Reculus, ieads the Moon. VISIBLE PLANETS Venus, low In west .... 8:56 p.m. Mars, hich In south .. 9:19 p.m. Jupiter and Saturn, rise 6:45 a.m. 'Silly Dog' Jumps on Back of Portland Woman Portland lUPD Said Mrs. Walker Mark to herself: "Look at that silly dog!" That was before the "dog" got close enough to see in the rain. The animal was Tanga, a 3-year-old cheetah that had escaped from a cage in the rear of the Dr. W. Donald Nick elsen residence Wednesday night. "Then it jumped on my back," Mrs. Mark said, "1 was so scared that I just screamed and kept on walking. I was afraid to run because I didn't know what to do." Mrs. Wayne Rasmussen, a neighbor, saw the leopard Sized cat jump and ran in her house and called the police. Dr. Nickelsen arrived on the scene on the heels of the police. He said his pet doesn't bite and can't claw anyone. He had had cheetahs for pets for 12 years. By the time the police arrived, Tanga had sought shel ter from the rain under a porch. Dr. Nickelsen walked up to thereat, took her by the collar and led ner away. ter Hill "road. Tankers from the Medford fire department had difficulty getting close enough to the house where the pumper truck was parked because cars of excited spectators crowded the roads and driveways in the vicinity. , Willis Graf, a Salem father of five, said he opposed any "arbitrary and capricious es tablishment of intellectual age. You can't legislate ma turity by making blanket or ders," he added. And, he warn ed, "once you change you can't go back," because of Legal Opinion Asked On Proposed Road The district attorney has been asked for a legal opinion on whether problems involv ing the proposed Medford Cor poration log truck road could be solved through a zoning approach, a group of Eagle Wafer Pollution . Measure Opposed Salem (OPU The chairman of the State Sanitary Author ity said today if a water pollu tion bill sought by Portland is enacted the state would be stopped for 10 years from cleaning up Oregon's rivers. Harold Wendel of Portland told the Senate Local Govern ment Committee that the city's measure, SP138, would "frus trate the will of the people expressed so far." He spoke strongly in favor of the authority's own bill, SB36, which would strengthen its power over making cities and industries halt pollution of rivers and streams. Polaris Submarine Launched by Navy Newport News, Va. (UTD The Navy's largest Polaris submarine, with striking pow er greater than all the conven tional bombs dropped by the United States in World War II, was launched today. Rayburn Forecasts Benefit Approval Washington - IUP1I - Speaker Sam Rayburn today forecast quick House approval of Presi dent Kennedy's proposal to boost social security benefits as a key part of a 12-point antirecession program. WINS APPROVAL Washington -0JPU- The Sen ate Armed Services Commit tee today approved nomina tion of Kenneth E. BeLicu, a native of Portland, Ore., to be assistant secretary of Navy for material. crowded schools. Several mothers said they wouldn't mind the bill if test ing for advanced children were included. Committee Chairman Tom Monaghan (D - Milwaukie) a teacher, said the committee may take up the bill Friday. Point area residents were told yesterday. David Lowry, chairman of the Jackson county planning commission s arterial commit tee, told the group that, other than that, !'We didn t come prepared to give a definite answer to the problem." Existing uses of property when an interim zone is estab lished are considered,- it was explained. Whether the rail road right-of-way would qual ify as an existing use when it is converted to a log truck road would have to be. de termined. ' Committee Member Gerald Latham said he doubted if an interim zoning ordinance would control use or estab lishment of the log truck road. The county only controls travel across county highways, he stated. Don Kimball, Eagle Point city councilman, said such a log truck road would be a nuisance and dangerous to the safety of children living along it. Only growth possible in Eagle Point is the 200 acres between the tracks and Crater Lake highway. This may be annexed in the near future, he added. Cutting a log truck road through this area would halt that possible future growth, he argued. A crowded schedule did not permit a meeting with the county court yesterday, but a meeting may be held later. Prineville Appeals As Depressed Area Prineville -IUPII- Prineville Wednesday appealed to be made a federal depressed area. The appeal, prepared by President Robert Love of the Chamber of Commerce, was made to Sens. Maurine Ncu- berger and Wayne Morse and Rep. Al L'llman (D-Baker). As a federal depressed area, Prineville could bo given ad ditional government contracts. Love said the appeal was made after a study of the local trend in lumber and general business in the community Love said the survey showed that Prineville was in a worse overall situation than the rest of the nation or the state. Memorial Urges Defense Projects Salem - (UPD - A memorial has been introduced by Sen. Daniel Thiel (D-Astoria) urg ing Congress to authorize more defense projects for Or egon. TO ELIMINATE JOBS WashingtonJUPD-A report to President Kennedy estimates that machines will eliminate 4 million office and clerical jobs in the next five years, it was disclosed today. Firemen Find Body Believed To Be Owen P. Short Others Feared in Building Located An unidentified person, be lieved to be Owen P. Short, 46, died late Wednesday night in a house fire in the Sweden burg orchard on Carpenter Hill rd. Medford rural firemen were called to the blaze at 10:53 p.m. Upon arrival they found the two story structure en gulfed in flames except for a bedroom in the front of the house. A neighbor, Richard R. Kime, discovered the fire. He told firemen that he broke a window in the basement in an attempt to rescue anyone in side. He said he shouted and a voice said "I'm in the base ment." Kime said that intense heat kept him from entering the building. Two firemen with a hose line also attempted to enter the house, Chief Gordon Bar ker said, but they too were driven back because of the heat and. flames. Shortly af terwards the building caved in. The body was recovered from the basement by firemen about 1 a.m. Seven firemen and an assistant fire chief fought the blaze and remained at the scene until 4:45 a.m. Others Located The house was located at route 4, box 463, about a mile west of Phoenix. For a time today it was feared that Mrs. Short and a daughter, Linda Santos, 13, might have been in the house at the time. They were discovered later this morning at the home of friends where they had spent tne nignt. Chief Barker said today that it will be almost impos sible to determine the cause of the blaze. From information obtained from neighbors who were first at the scene, it is believed that the fire started in the basement. Oregon state police and Jackson county sheriff's depu ties have the fire under inves tigation. D e p u ties reported that they had received infor mation that the furnace had been repaired recently. Another neighbor, Jack Pct terson, told firemen and offi cers that the Short home was dark when he arrived home about 10 p.m. Orchard Foreman Short had been employed as an orchard foreman for about three months. Chief Barker said that the firemen operated under ex treme handicap caused by the traffic congested roads and driveways in the immediate vicinity of the fire. He said that the fire was fought by relaying water from the department's tankers to the pumper. Because of curiosity-seekers, the tankers had difficulty getting close enough to the house where the pump er was parked. After each tanker was emptied it had similar 'trouble leaving the area to refill. Portland Has Third Warmest January Portland -IUPII- Portland had its third warmest January in 59 years last month. The weather bureau said since 1902 only two Januaries. 1934 and 1953, had higher mean temperatures. The maxi mum daily average last month was 51 and the sun shone 37 per cent of possible time. Passengers Leave Hijacked Recife, Brazil -UPI)- The hi- jacked Portuguese liner Santa Maria pulled into the port of Recife today and began land ing the exhausted passengers who had been held captive 12 days. Two ocean-going Brazilian tugs moved alongside the 20,000-ton liner and a stream of doctors and medical authori ties went aboard to check the condition of the pas sengers. The first passengers board ed the tugs for transfer to shore where Red Cross ambu lances waited to takc-the more seriously ill to hospitals. Buses were on hand to lake the other passengers into the town. Kennedy To Lift Restrictions on Families Abroad News Conference Told of Savings Washington -IllPli- President Kennedy announced Wednes day that restrictions imposed by the Eisenhower administra tion on the number of military dependents abroad are being lifted. He told his second White House news conference that Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara had found ways to make an equivalent savings in dollars. The President said top mili tary leaders were concerned with the impact on morale and the effect on reenlist ments. Inasmuch as the Defense Department expects to make an equivalent savings of dol lars spent abroad, he said, the action docs not mean any weakening in his determina tion to protect the value of the dollar. Antirecession Measures Kennedy also announced two new antirecession meas ures - the establishment of five pilot projects for food stamp distribution in areas of maximum chronic unemploy ment, and a speedup in pay ment of veterans insurance dividend checks. The actions, he said, will "assist the economy at this critical time." Kennedy also said: -He has instructed the Fed eral Housing Administration to reduce the maximum in terest rate on FHA insured loans from 5'JA to 5V4 per cent to stimulate new home con struction. -Action will be taken by the govern mcnt's Communities Facilities Administration to re duce rates on new loans for public facilities. -The housing and Home Fi nance Agency has been in structed to "hasten" its build ing projects wherever pos sible. In discussing his antireces sion plans, the President said the food stamp program by which needy families ex change federally supplied stamps for various types of food at the grocery store would be established in five points. He said one would be in West Virginia, one in Penn sylvania, one in southern Illi nois, one in eastern Kentucky and one at a location "yet to be determined." Each state has areas plagued by substantial long-term un employment. Chamber's Annual Dinner Friday The annual dinner of the Medford Chamber of Com merce will be held at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 3, in Rogue Valley Country club. Dr. How ard W. Runkel of Willamette university speech and drama department will be the main speaker. Short talks will be made by Gerald Latham, outgoing pres ident, and Robert Taylor, new president. Reservations should be made Immediately by those planning to attend. Drain Robbery Suspect Arraigned Portland-(UPD-Donald Gene Kelso, 35, chief suspect on the $2,400 robbery of the Drain branch of the U.S. National Bank last week, was arraigned on a charge of bank robbery before U. S. Commissioner Claire Mundorff Wednesday. Kelso, father of five chil dren, was placed in the cus tody of the U.S. Marshal and sent to the Multnomah county jail in lieu of $10,000 bail. Kelso was arrested by state police at Drain last Thursday night. Vessel The passengers had been held captive by Capt. Henrique Galvao who seized the ship Jan. 22 in a revolt against the government of Portugal Brazilian health officers who went aboard to check the 620 passengers found many of them weak. They were the penniless Spaniard immigrants being returned steerage class to Spain al government ex pense. i The Spanish consul here said the Spaniards had been cooped up in foul steerage air I in the intense heat of the , tropics for days. ' Thousands of sightseers crowded the waterfront to watch the disembarkation. Regional Edition Medford 36 Pages MEDFORD, OREGON, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 1961 No.. 273 Talent Woman Killed In Auto, Truck Accident Another Woman Hurt In Morning Crash One woman was killed and another injured in a car-truck collision on Highway 99 in front of Ihe Jackson county farm home this morning. Dead is Charlotte Mae Dailey, 32, of route one, box 483, Talent. Reported to be in good condition at Sacred Heart hospital is Alice Marie Shilts, 21, also of route one, box 483, Talent. State police said both wom en were In a car that was struck by a Los Angeles-Seattle Motor Express tractor truck about 7 a.m. Police said it has not yet been ascertained which of the two women was driving the car. Both the truck and the .ar had been headed north on Highway 99, according to police, when the car slowed to turn into the farm home and was struck from the rear by the truck. The car was knocked for a distance of about . 100 feet, state police said, and was a total wreck. The truck con tinued on for some distance until the trailer tipped over on its side. The extent of dam age to the truck was not im mediately known. Neither the driver of the truck, Raymond Dwight Ped- crsen, 45, Bcaverton, Ore., nor his passenger were in jured. Pedersen was not held, police said. Both women were reported to be employees at the farm home. Festival Moves Offices To Hotel Ashland - The office of the Oregon Shakespearean Festi val association will be moved into the Mark Antony hotel, it was decided last night by the festival board. The office has been In the Ashland Chamber of Com merce office, just off the Plaza, for the pas t seven years. ' , The board last night ap proved a two-year lease agree ment between the festival and the hotel, providing two rooms just off the hotel's mez zanine, plus reception space on the mezzanine itself. The contract includes an option agreement for a three-year re newal at the end of the lease period. Both the board and the ho tel felt it would be mutually helpful for the festival office to be in this location. The chamber building space has been rent free to the festi val. The new arrangement in volves provision of advertis ing for the hotel through fes tival publications in lieu of cash rent. The board decided on the change because of the growing need for more office space and a more central location. Prior to moving to the chamber building, the festival operate ed out of the little box office at the theater. Bid Received on Tunnel Approaches Sacramento. Calif. - (UPD - The Call fornia Division of Highways Wednesday re ceived a low bid of $2,186,789 for construction of approaches to the Oregon mountain tun nel. The low bidder was Morri- son-Knudsen Co., Seattle. The contract calls for grading and paving 4.2 miles of approaches to the tunnel on Highway 199 south of the Oregon line. Eisenhower Returns To Gettysburg Farm Gettysburg, Pa. - IUPD - For mer President Dwight D. Ei senhower came home to his Gettysburg farm in near-zero temperatures early today aft er a 10-day vacation and hunt ing trip in the southland. MAY BE SATELLITE Bochum, Germany (UPD As tronomers at the Bochum Ob servatory picked up a signal from space today which they said might have come from a new Soviet satellite. WOULD SPEED WORK Salem - lUPil - Rep. Edward N. Fadeley (D-Eugenc) has In troduccd a bill that would speed up construction of small watershed projects. "All Right Everybody Up Let's Go" County To Benefit From New Forest A proposed new national forest consisting largely of Klamath Indian lands will be generally beneficial to Jack son county, J. Herbert Stone, Pacific Northwest Regional Forester, told a meeting here yesterday afternoon. There were no objections voiced to Stone's proposal. Similar meetings have been held in Klamath Falls and Lake'vlew Creation of the new nation al forest covering about 900 000 acres will mean a greater ; share of Rogue River national forest timber receipts for Jackson county, the regional forester said. Although a new national forest administration must be set up it will not in terfere with scheduled timber sales in this area. Adminis trative costs within the dis trict will be . increased with the establishment of the new headquarters staff, . but this will be justified In, supervision and service, Stone said. The multiple use concept will be continued. Klamath Falls Headqusrtorg The new. national forest with headquarters In Klamath Falls would consist of reserva tion lands, the entire existing Klamath district of the Rogue River : national forest, parts of the Silver Lake district of the Fremont National forest nd the Crescent district of the Deschutes national forest. Under this organization a part of the reservation area could best be managed as part of Nunn To Attend Welfare Hearing Salem - (UPD - Gov. Mark Hatfield said today he will not appear in person at the Tues day night hearing here to dis cuss operations of the State Welfare Commission. . Hatfield will be represented by Warne Nunn, his adminis trative assistant. . ' - The hearing will be con ducted by the House Commit tees on State and Federal Af fairs and Public Health and Welfare. . The; groups want to hear testimony on Hatfield's charges that the commission is not doing its job. Nunn will cover the governor's relation ship with the commission over the past two years. London - ItlPII - Prince Charles, 12, heir to the British throne, has the measles, it was announced today. Punxsutawney Groundhog Gets Faint Glimpse of Shadow; More Punxsutawney, Pa. - (UPD - The Punxsutawney groundhog nearly misled the nation on the course of the weather for the next six weeks today when he cast a shadow so faint that observers thought for a while there was no shadow at all. The grizzled old gentleman of Gobbler's Knob emerged from his lair at 7:41 a.m., only two minutes after sunrise, shuddered In 3 below zero temperature and cast the barely visible shadow. That means, according to an 80-year-old tradition, that the na 55th Year Price 10 Cents Tribune the Bly district and would be added to the Fremont forest, the regional forester said. Jackson county now re ceives $466,545 from its share of the national forest timber receipts. After creation of the new forest including reserva tion lands, this county will re ceive $500,078. Each county receives 25 per cent of the gross receipts from timber sales from national forest lands within county bounda ries. Estimated Harvest Estimated . timber harvest from the new forest would be ? million board feet. Follow ing the reorganization of the timber lands, Rogue River forest would have an esti mated 135 million board feet to harvest; Fremont, 127 mil lion board feet and Deschutes 136 million board feet The new forest would have 900,633 acres, Rogue River, 620,592 acres compared to the present 886,493 acres, Fre mont, 1,217,292 acres com pared to 1,254,608 acres and Deschutes, 1,587,098 acres compared to 1,659,370 acres. Stone's recommendation has been forwarded to Dr. Richard E. McArdle, chief of the U.S. Forest Service, Washington, D.C. There will be no redistri bution of the supervisory of fice staff on the west side of the Cascades since this Is where most of the work load n the national forests is car ried," Stone said, "The changeover to the new nation al forest will be set up in the next few weeks. A skeleton crew will be established at first. After April 1 we hope to go ahead with timber sales in the new national forest." Background Detailing the background to the proposed new national for est, Stone said, "under the terms of the Termination Act for the Klamath Indian reser vation, 525,744 acres of form er reservation forest land are destined to become- nkijonal forest on April 1, 1961, and will be managed for multiple use and sustained yield." After the Klamath termina tion act, the Klamath Indians' forests were liquidated and units of the timber land were offered for sale. Only unit bought was the Antelope desert unit by Crown Zeller bach. The law provided that those not sold should be taken over by the secretary of agri culture and managed as na tional forest lands. tion can expect six more weeks of winter. One of the faithful follow ers of the furry weather prog nostlcntor, who at first failed If thar art any ground hogs around her. thay probably got their now wet If thay cam out of thir holas this morning. But If they did com' out, Ihty carlalnly didn't their shadows to spring shouldn't b far bthind. to see the shadow, exclaimed gleefully: "Thank goodness, we've seen an end to the lousy winter." Extension of Unemployment Benefits Urged Minimum Wage Increase Stressed Washington (UPD President Kennedy asked Congress to day for a multibillion dollar economic "road-to-recovery" program containing increased social security benefits for 4.8 million persons on April 1. In a 7,500-word message to the House and Senate, Ken nedy also recommended emer gency extension of unemploy ment benefits, an increase in The text of President Kennedy'i economic message to Congress ap pears on page 1, sec tion D. the minimum wage to $1.25 an hour, faster federal spend ing on highways and public works and aid for depressed areas. Kenedy announced in the message that unemployment rose another 900,000 in Janu ary to bring the estimated number of jobless to 5,400,- 000. He stressed that unem ployment has been rising since last summer and "has reached serious proportions in these rigorous winter months." Might Get Worse The President, who pic tured the U.S. economy as sagging badly in a lime of world, crisis, warned that the slump might get worse unless Congress swiftly approved his 12-point program. "The nation cannot and will not-be satisfied with eco nomic decline and slack," he said in projecting a three-year drive - to restore America s 'vigor and vitality." The Kc n n e d y program woulcj-if approved-soon boost the wages and weltare bene fits of millions of Americans and give the economy a mas sive ' injection, of buying power. - - - ,The,' President did not put a- price -tag on his antireces sion package, w nite House ot flclals ' declined to estimate its over-all cost but said it would not be above $5 billion. Under the ' Kennedy pro gram, however, expanded so cial security benefits would be paid for by an increase of one-fourth: of 1 per cent In payroll taxes on employees and workers, starting two years from now. Employers covered by the unemployment insurance system would fi nance the extension of jobless benefits by paying higher taxes starting next Jan. 1. Mentions Tax Incentives In his only reference to In come taxes, Kennedy said he expected to recommend revi sion of these levies soon to provide additional "incen tives" for corporate spending on plant and equipment. He also declared that loss of revenue as a result of any such change would be offset v by elimination of "several un warranted special tax bene fits" and more efficient tax collection. There was no elabo ration on either point. rain Derailment Takes Seven Lives Bowie, Md. - IUPD - At least seven persons were killed and 50 injured today when three coaches and two diesel en gines of a Pennsylvania Rail road special train were de railed and overturned en route from Philadelphia to the Bowie race track, the Mary land state police reported. State police headquarters at Pikesvllle, Md., said emergen cy crews were searching the wreckage for more casualties. The Army base at Fort Meade, Md., sent 12 ambu lances, four doctors and a spe cial vehicle equipped with stretchers and other emergen cy equipment. Special wards were being set up at the base to handle any injured brought there. Winter Due The sleepy-eyed groundhog, lea.-' after a winter under ground but still alert, quickly put an end to the short-lived notion that spring was just around the corner. Before crawling back under ground to sleep out the win ter, the Punxsy groundhog confessed he was partially re sponsible for the bitter weath er most of the nation has ex perienced in recent weeks. The old boy, admitting he was getting forgetful with age, came out by mistake last De cember and saw a very clear shadow, dooming the nation to six weeks of severe weather.
