Medford mail tribune., April 22, 1962, Image 36

G?3
Now Msies
a highlight
of the
National
Newspaperboy
Convention
Carrierboys who attend the National
Newspaperboy Convention at Disneyland
will have an opportunity
to win a Chrysler Corporation Valiant
4 Door Sedan, a mountain of Revell
model kits, and other prizes in an exciting
Hobby Sweepstakes competition.
Delegates will build a Revell kit model
of the Valiant and then "pilot"
their completed model in an actual race.
Among the other spectacular awards to
be made at the Convention are two trips
around the world via Qantas Airlines;
trips to the Seattle World's Fair;
a Family Trip to Brazil via Varig Airlines;
Encyclopaedia Britannica sets;
and deluxe American-made bicycles.
"Die National Newspaperboy Convention at Disneyland1
Editors of the Observer-Dispalch and Press hoar news of Pulitzer Prize;
rom Jei: Mason Taylor (seated), Gil Smith, William Woods, Neal Bintz.
Newspapers
newspaper exposes, selected car
salesman Frank Dulan as reform
candidate.
The machine took no chances
and attacked the newspapers in
below-the-belt fashion.
Mason Taylor, said the hatchet
men, was anti-Italian (Utica has
a large Italian population) ; he also
was anti-Jew, anti-Catholic, anti
Protestant, depending on who was
listening. The newspapers had
"perverted the truth, influenced
jurors, defamed innocent persons."
Whether the campaign, waged
by whispers and a pre-election
party "newspaper," was effective
was impossible to gauge. Only bal
lot counting could tell.
The voting was quiet and heavy.
First returns showed it would be
a close election, and the loser
could pretty well be sure his influ
ence in Utica was ending. Taylor
admits to being a little nervous as
he drove back to work that eve
ning. Suddenly a bulletin flashed
over his car radio: "Latest returns
indicate that Frank Dulan has won
an upset victory . . ."
THE EDITOR stopped his car and
sat for a few minutes savoring
the news.
Dulan's victory was partial, a
3,500-vote plurality with the city
council still in control of the ma
chine. But the cleanup campaign
had been endorsed by the people,
and the war was no longer one
sided. Over a period of three
years, 23 indictments and 21 con
victions were obtained by Fischer.
The resource of civic pride, par
ticularly in the long-dormant
League of Women Voters and the
new Citizens Association of Great
er Utica, brought about a redis
ricting of city wards and an end
to gerrymandering.
(Continued rom page 7)
The upheaval started cleanups
in both political parties; young
insurgents, for example, began to
campaign to oust the machine
bosses who had disgraced their
organization, and just recently
succeeded in electing Lawrence T.
Gilroy, a 38-year-old insurance
executive, as county chairman.
AS FOR the Observer-Dispatch
tand the Daily Press, they won
journalism's highest honor, the
Pulitzer Prize, "for disinterested
and meritorious public service."
When votes were counted in the
November, 1961, election, Utica
showed it liked the new look. Du
lan was re-elected by a large ma
jority, and his party took control
of the city council. "Sin City" was
yesterday's news.
So was citizen apathy. The local
Chamber of Commerce now offers
a practical-politics course. In
three years, more than 350 per
sons have completed it and put
the lessons to use.
Civic vigor brought business
vigor, too. John Grier, a Utica ex
ecutive, says: "When a community
is well run, it keeps the cost of
doing business down. This makes
it possible for industry to com
pete, and this, in turn, creates
more jobs."
As for editor Taylor, he looks
back on the campaign like this:
"No newspaper wants to stir up
dirt about its home town, but in
most cities the newspaper is the
only protection people have when
local law breaks down. We hope
we never win another Pulitzer
Prize if it means putting certain
aspects of our city in a bad light.
No editor would but no editor
would hesitate, either, if corrup
tion were driving out honest busi
ness and honest citizens."
Family Weekly, April 12, 1361