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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 21, 1962)
.1 MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDKORD. ORECON SUNDAY. OCTOBER 21. 1962 .6 A Thornton Campaigns in County Despite Day-Long Downpour By GEORGE H. BELL Mail Tribune Staff Writer Candidates for political of fice naturally prefer sun shiney weather to do their campaigning in. During fair weather, people are on the streets, and a candidate can in the space of a few short blocks, shake a satisfying number of hands and pass out his cards to every voter he meets. But, like the proverbial postman, when the weather turns bad, neither rain nor hail nor dark of night can deter an office seeker from making his scheduled rounds. So when Attorney General Robert Y. Thornton, Demo cratic candidate for governor, arrived in Medford a week ago last Tuesday for a day of campaigning in the valley -and found it pouring down rain - he had no choice but to go ahead and do the best he could. His spirits, as well as his wide-brimmed hat and rain coal, seemed a little damp ened when he came into the newsroom about 9:45 a.m. to pick me up. He had attended a candidates fair in Grants Pass the previous night, and the turnout had been disap pointing. Takes It Philosophically "It just served to point out one tiling," he said. "The po litical candidate these days must go to the voters. The era of the big meeting, the old time political rally, is a thing of the past. "The change has created a real handicap for Democrats though," he observed, "be cause they, in general, can't afford to utilize the mass me dia for their campaign the way the Republicans can." But he brightened shortly. He turned to his Medford campaign manager, Mrs. Eliz abeth Poston, and Charles Crary, Democratic candidate for the legislature, who were to travel with him during the day, and told them that he had a "good day" in Douglas county over the week end. Visit Lumber Mills "I visited some lumber mills, had luncheon in Drain, made a radio-television ap pearance, and had a press conference with some news men. My people there did a real good job for me," he said. We arrived at the Labor Temple on South Grape si. V if f . GREETS WORKERS During his day of campaigning in Jackson county Tuesday, Oct. 0, Attorney General Robert Y. Thorn ton, right, spotted three men working on the remodeling of Landis Photo Studio and Severson's Candy store at the corner of Main and Grape sis. Thornton is seen here shaking hands with Bob Chriss while Oscar Privette, far left, and Louise Haussler look on. Standing between Chriss and Thornton is Alexander Diepenbrack, who was talking to the three workmen when the attorney general walked up. BEAUTIFUL NEW HORIZON TRAILER VILLAGE . . . offen loh of thing, for you to do! Pay ui t visit ADULTS ONLY. Hiway 99 South of Medford at Phoonix. about 10 o'clock, and Thorn ton walked through all the of fices upstairs, introducing himself, shaking hands and passing out his cards. The Deople seemed glad to see him, and he stopped and chat ted briefly with several of them. The next stop was Bear Creek Orchards on South Pa cific highway. Shortly after we arrived there about 10:20 o'clock, a firm executive came out to the lobby where we were waiting and greet ed Thornton. "You've come at an unfor tunate time," he said. "This rain has stopped most of our packing work. We just had a small crew come in this mor ning, and 1 Hunk mcy ve pioo ably finished by now." Tour Main Building But he hastened to assure Thornton he would he happy to have him tour the main business building to famili arize himself with the npcr i ntion of the organization. Thornton agreed, and Har ry Jewell, department man ager for Harry and David's took over and guided us through the sprawling offices of the multi-million dollar business. 11 was an interesting excur sion, and the attorney gen eral was obviously impressed with what he saw. But all the employees were so busy, there seemed little opportunity 'or ELECT jim mm Democrat 4: i STATE REPRESENTATIVE Ont of your 3 votci foi Jim Redden foi Rcprcientjtive. Pd Pnl. Adv T 4 1 E.tstwood Dnv J P rector Medtord the candidate lo meet many of the workers, other than three or four supervisors. Tlie half hour spent there, at least from the point of view of an office seeker who is admit tedly running behind his op ponent, was not time well an.' " Wanted To Return The tour was cut short, though Thornton told Jcwett he wanted to return later in the day and finish it if he could. The attorney general brought the subject up again in the afternoon, but by then it was too late and he wasn't able to go back. We drove back to down town Medford to visit Thorn ton's old law office. On the way, I noticed him yawn a couple of times and 1 asked him if he were tired, if the strain of the campaign were telling on him. "Oh, no," he said, "this is my tourth stale-wide cam paign, and I am used to it. Hut I've been having trouble getting enough sleep lately. I go right to sleep the min ute I get in bed, but for the last few mornings, I've been getting up at 5 a.m. I'm just sleepy." Avoiding Label He and Clary and Mrs. Poston began to talk about how the Republicans in this campaign "arc trying lo avoid the GOP label." Thornton said that when Senator Gold water and former Vice Presi dent Richard Nixon visited in Oregon recently. Gov. Hat field avoided having his pic ture taken with them. "But when Secretary of Ag riculture Freeman and Sec retary of Labor Goldberg came to Oregon, you notice the governor had his picture taken with them." Thornton smiled. Thornton said he had need led Hatfield one time because the word "Republican" was missing from some of his campaign material. "He got every indignant about it," Thornton said, "and told me, 'Nonsense, every body knows I'm a Republic- Medford Lions Club PANCAKE SUPPER HEDRICK JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL CAFETERIA THURSDAY, NOV. 1 5-8 P.M. HELP A WORTHY CAUSE All Proceeds To The SIGHT CONSERVATION and YOUTH PROGRAMS COURTESY OF THE MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE To Leverette Building In Medford, we began to walk up to the Leverette build ing, where Thornton had practiced law for about a year in 1938 in partnership with Sen. A. E. Reamcs. Just as we were turning the corner, he looked across the street and saw several men working on the remodel ing of Landis Photo Studio and Severson's Candv store. He crossed over to say hello to them. Pictures were taken of them all - a candidate for gover nor, three men in hardhals, and a sidewalk superintend ent type - standing there in the rain talking together. Thornton was pleased with the picture, and he smiled broadly as we walked back across the street. "That will be one of the best pictures of the campaign I think," he said. Describes Firm's Office We took the elevator up to the fourth floor of the Lev erette building, and when we stepped out Thornton immedi ately began describing how his firm's offices had been situated over two decades ago. He went in and introduced himself to the present occu pant, C. T. Groomes, who op erates an insurance adjust ing company there. Groomes was cordial and the two posed lor pictures together in his office. The next slop on the itin- i crary was the U.S. National j bank, but we had some diffi- culty finding a parking place j and it was necessary to drive j around Ihe block and come back. . On the way. we passed the j Southern Pacific depot. Thornton gestured toward it and chuckled. "Many's the time I've come j down here to board the old Rogue River Rocket." he mused. i Successful Stop ! ' The visit to the bank turn- i ed out to be one of the most I successful stops of the day. j at least in terms of meeting potential voters. It was 11:'25 when we walk ed in. Thornton met and shook hands with several bank ex- ' eculives. After a moment, one j of them volunteered to show him around so he could meet I employees. j He listened carefully dur- ; ing each introduction, and al ways managed lo greel each , person by his or her first name and lo add some iiip ; or comment to his salutation. ; He teased some of the girls . ho met aboul being "too : good line, even when he was wrong. It was close to noon when we got back to the car to drive out to the Medco mills by the Big Y Junction. The rain hadn't let up a drop. Getting Into Politics I asked him how he had happened to get into politics. "Oh, I ve always been in terested in politics," he said, "but when I was first start ing out, I worked mostly for other people. I joined the young Democrats the year I practiced here in Medford. When I moved to Tillamook, the county organization need ed a chairman, and I got the job. I've been at it ever since." At Medco we obtained a vis itor's pass and set out across the yard without a guide to try to find some employees. After a fruitless search through one building (it was lunch time), we were final ly directed to a "smoke house," where the men cat their lunches during bad weather. Introduces Himself There were about lfi men ranged around tables in the building when we found it. Thornton went up to them, in troduced himself and handed them his cards. "Hello," he said, "I'm At torney General Thornton. I'm running for governor and I'd appreciate your vote." From there we went over to the plywood mill, but the employees there were work ing at such a pace, with the precision timing required of such an operation, that the candidate was reluctant to disturb them. We climbed up on the catwalk that runs the length of the building and walked through the plant. At 12:45 we arrived at the Union club, a downtown res taurant, for lunch. About a half dozen party leaders met him there to talk with him and pay their respects. He had fried oysters. At exactly 2 o'clock, the four of us left for Ashland to visit Southern Oregon col lege, where a student press conference had been ar ranged for him. Campaign Rumors The subject of campaign rumors came up during the conversation on the way over, and Thornton recounted a number of them that had hap pened to him. He recalled thai one time a rumor began circulating that he was a Catholic, a political ly risky religious affiliation to have in Protestant Oregon. "I've always tried to keep i religion out of politics," he said, but I ve never made any secret of the fact that I'm a long-time Episcopa lian" At SOC Thornton was met in Churchill hall by Dr. A! Fellers, director of student affairs, who introduced him to a group of Young Repub licans. The youngsters were delighted that they had scored a coup on Ihe campus Young Democrats, who were waiting in the Britt Student center to meet him. Holds Press Conference After going down the hall briefly to greet Mrs Mabel Winslon. SOC registrar. Thornton went over to the student union to hold the press conference in the offices of "The Siskiyou," t h e school newspaper. En route, he made conections with Dave Elliot, president of the young Democrats, who greeted him familiarly. Thornton excused himself briefly to make a long-distance telephone call to check in with his office in Salem. Then he returned to the Sis kiyou office, where, for the next half hour, he stood lean ing against the door frame, fielding questions tossed at him by the student leaders. The youngsters were sharp and rather well informed, though the questions tended toward the seasoned chest- IN DEMAND Washington TPi Peace Corps Director Sargent Shriv rr has announced that ti isi ness executives have conuu't eri him already with offers lo hire corpsnion when ihey re turn from the two-year tours oung to vote for me." It was of duty overseas. r ELECT CHARLES CRARY DEMOCRAT STATE REPRESENTATIVE ABLE HONEST QUALIFIED ! V I i ' -V'- h 1 m r.t rM a.k . tie, i-t Si Kre Ci- ICIN h.i.wII t"V' Jill H.iliv. A.hljrvl O'l nut variety, ones that have been asked over and over before. Thornton was able to use them as springboards, however, to develop some points that he wanted to make. Expand Promotion He would "expand" the ex port promotion division to seek more foreign markets for Oregon products. He wouldn't "sacrifice our scen ic advantages for the sake of obtaining smog-producing in dustries." He regarded our natural resources as "price less." He would give "top pri ority to the Oregon way of living." He felt there was "nothing sacred about either public or private power He would have vetoed the Daylight Sav ing Time bill since it had previously been voted down four times by the people. He was opposed to a sales tax in Oregon because "it would op erate most heavily on the low income earner." He would check the stale's tax structure to determine if there were any bracket "not paying its fair share." He would plug whatever "loopholes" he found. Race May Be Close Asked to evaluate his con test with Hatfield for the gov ernorship, he said he felt "the race may be as close as the Cordon-Neuberger sena torial race in 1954." (Neuber- ger won in that election by about 2,600 votes when late returns from Multnomah county gradually overcame a downstate lead for Cordon.) The affair was wound up about 3:20 with Thornton and the youngsters posing for pic tures. As we left the campus, he turned to me and said, "That's one of the nicest re ceptions I've ever had at any college." On the way back to Med ford we stopped off for a few minutes in Phoenix so he could talk with Red Norton, owner of Norton s Lumber yard. The day of campaigning was concluded with a visit to county Democratic headquar ters to "greet the faithful, as he put it. Talks About Material The rain seemed to have cleared the streets, and the place was deserted except for the receptionist, Mrs. Ira Mc Donald, who was nearing the end of her five-hour stint at the desk. They talked about campaign materials, and he noted that the supply of bumper stickers was getting low. Aboul 4:30 o'clock, he re turned to his host's home to prepare for dinner with a few friends at the Rogue Valley Country club at 6 o'clock. Thornton seemed a little preoccupied that night at the Candidates Fair at Medford high school as he waited on the platform for his turn to speak. But when he rose to address the crowd, his speech was clear and articulate and he delivered it with onlv a o'clock when I went up to slight glance at his notes. He ihim to say goodbye, finished the five-minute talk I His day in Jackson county, on time. the last one he planned on Afterwards in the cafe- before the election, was al teria, a number of people most over. But with Nov. o came up to his table to shake a few weeks away, he could his hand and talk with him. look forward to more busy He seemed in good spirits and days and long nights before relatively unfatigued about 10 i it was all over. The Beautiful New COLONY RESTAURANT Corner 4th and Front Streets Opening Soon . . . We invite the applications of qualified restaurant personnel. (Waitresses, Cocktail Waitresses, Hostess, Bartenders, Bus Boys, Pantry Girls, Dishwashers) This will be Medfords finest dining place and we want personable employees, experi enced and with proven backgrounds. These are permanent positions with top wages and excellent working conditions. All applications will be held in strictest confidence. Please Call Alex Murphy at 779-1616 , Between 2 P.M. and 6 P.M. Sunday to Arrange Interview THE YOUNGER '' THE BETTER! XS. jfr The youngster who learns early that the difference between lvt : wishing and Having is SAVING ... is headed in the right ftV I direction. Teach your youngster (his important savings- J j habit-lesson by opening a savings account here ! tj I" mi prflai Jackson County Federal Savings and Loan Assn. Home Office: 2 East Main, Medford Ashland Branch: 337 E. Main, Ashland Attention. . . CITIZENS OF ROGUE RIVER VALLEY: I would like at this time to personally assure you that, as a citizen of Medford and an employee of the Medtord Hotel for 14 years, we are offer ing a Dinner Card for the Candle Room to show you our appreciation for the wonderful success that YOU have made the Candle Room over the past 5 years. Please believe thai if I honestly did not believe this is of a benefit to you my name would not appear at the bottom of this letter. Thank You, Your Host Dint Mil nun General Ma Hirer CANDLE ROOM DINNER CLUB During the next few days a limited number of people will be invited to join this marvelous new innovation tn dining excellence. As a member, you will receive . . . 12 FREE DINNERS OF YOUR CHOICE, ONE EACH MONTH ... As member of the Candle Room Dinner Club, you may dine one evening each month in the Candle Room any night except Saturday. All you need do is be accompanied by one guest. Then, you just pay for one of the two meals you have . . . any dinner on Ihe menu. THE COST OF MtMBERSHIP IS JUST $12 FOR THE ENTIRE YEAR ... In order to insure our finest service, the number of members in the Candle Room Dinner Club must be strictly limited. We, therefore, suggest that you place your reservation as soon as possible in the event that the roster is filled before you receive your personal invitation CLIP AND MAIL TODAY EHSYJLf : Add No. of Cards . Please Send Membership Cards To: Name ress Enclosed is check or M O. in amount of $ IB HOTEL MEDFORD For Phone Information Call 772-61 SI "T,"U'X,S'" .irt.ii1rk,nf- .iJMi I
