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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (June 2, 1963)
Two Women Mail Carriers Get Medford Post Office Assignments Features Medford Sports Tribune SECTION B MEDFORD, OREGON. SUNDAY, JUNE 2. 1963 PAGES 1 to 8 ,:r- I !Hv i :. . . ' t 1 ; iJ'C I f ! r- ; 'si I Mrs. Ernestine Charley, when photographed, was just entering the parcel post truck. Delivering parcel post is one of her many assignments for the post office. Proof that men do not object to women invading the field is the shirt she is wearing. Benny Fagone, , long time employee, took it off and loaned it to her for the picture. (Knackstcdt Photo) Feminine forces have invaded another man's world. The Medford juut office for the first time in its history has two women foot carriers of the mail. They are Mrs. Ernestine Charley and Mrs. Sandra Stine. The assignments are in keeping with 1 recent agreement reached by the post office department with the Letter Carriers and allied associations, handling the mail. The agreement. Acting Postmaster Al Bradford ex plained, is an outgrowth of an executive order handed down about a year ago by President Kennedy. The order bans any discrimination regarding sex in the hiring from Civil Service lists. It has been written irto the Civil Service regulations governing the hiring of post office personnel. Were Hired At Substitutes Mrs. Charley and Mrs. Stine were hired as sub stitutes. Mrs. Stine from the clerk's list. When the need for (heir work failed to exist in the area for which they were hired, they were placed on routes as foot carriers, an accepted procedure for years for men employees. How do the women feel about this? They like It, both declared yesterday. Mrs. Stine, interviewed while she distributed mail at the post office annex before starting forth on her "appointed rounds," said she liked to be outside, she liked to visit with people and she wanted to work for the Civil Service. She finds all these desires fulfilled in carrying the U.S. Mail. She has been working for the Medford post office for one month. She was "well conditioned for some phases of the job" when she attended school at Oak Ridge and in Lyndcn, Wash. She walked a mile to school for most of her education long before President Kennedy launched his physical fitness program. Hadn't Been Walking Much "The trouble is, I haven't been walking much during the past six years," Mrs. Stine confessed. "There are sPome aches arid pains with every new Job and I was bound to have a few." She was not referring to her feel although she has not been able to find the kind of walking shoes she wants. Her complaints were of some muscles she had forgotten she had during six years of riding wherever she went. She was working in a bank in Bakersficld. Calif., when she decided to move to Medford and take the Civil Service examination last December. She has had "two close calls" with dogs, the woe of a mail carrier's life, but managed to "bluff them out," she said. - Mrs. Charley was not so fortunate when covering a foot route out of the Central Point branch. Describes Dog Incident "It was most humiliating," she described the In cident. "I have three dogs. They are my hobby. But this dog just ran out and bit me, not once, but twice, and ruined my wool trousers. Of course I didn't feel like a full fledged carrier until 1 had been bitten by a dog," she added. Mrs. Charley has been working for the post office for 11 years. Only the foot route is new to her. She has one of the most versatile careers in the service. She started as a substitute for Bob Ellis, rural carrier out of Central Point. Later she look over Ed Nicols' route for three months when he retired. She has carried a mounted route, worked as a post office clork, and delivered parcel post, the latter is her favorite post office job, she decided yesterday. Carried A Foot Route Mrs. Charley carried a foot route in Medford for two weeks recently before assuming her current Cen tral Point assignment. She said she found the "people quite delighted" with a woman on the rounds. Most of them asked questions. Did her feet hurt, was her pack heavy, and how did she get her job? Mrs. Charley has a daughter and son-in-law attend ing Fresno State college and she would rather talk about them than her own accomplishments. Both are going to be teachers. The daughter, Patsy Edwards, will teach retarded children, and her husband, John Edwards, plans to be an agriculture teacher. "Don't forget I have a son, too," she extended the interview. "Mike is a sophomore In Eagle Point High school.'' , . . . Makes Her Home Here Mrs. Stine is making her home hore with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Klein. Her father is with the Federal Aviation agency. His reports on his work influenced her to join the Civil Service, she said. She hs' glad that she did. "People have been extremely friendly," she com mented in answer to anyone who might expect op position to women mail carriers. The women do not have uniforms. But uniforms are now available for women carriers, it is, however, necessary for them to work three months on regular four-hour shifts before requesting them, Bradford said. T H J I J Wearing a bright blue slack suit and dark glasses to protect her .eyes, Mrs. Sandra Stine, finds Medford side walks Inviting on a May morning, as she delivers the mail. (Knackstedt Photo) body Cow Maim Records By CLEVE TWITCHELL Mail Tribune Staff Writer On the morning of Oct. 15, 1960, a few minutes . before 8 a.m., Mrs. Miriam Richey started to walk to the Wildwood store from her home opposite it on Highway 62, four miles southwest of Prespect. It was a sunny, clear morning without a cloud in the sky. As was usual for this hour, Mrs. Richey had left the house to cross the highway and open her store. Sho. looked first up the northeasterly stretch of the highway to see if any traffic was coming. There was nothing in sight. - 0 i, Then' Mrs. Richey looked to the southwest and was startled to see what she described as an immense1 silvery object hovering between 40 and SO feet above the highway about 1,500 feet from where she was standing. Later measurements Indicated the object to be at least 150 feet in diameter. . Made of Bright Aluminum Mrs. Richey said the object appeared as if made oP bright spun aluminum in the shape of two saucers or hub caps put together lip to lip.She looked at it for about a minute, debated trying to get closet0, but then decided to get someone else to come and witness it too. She ran to her store and telephoned Mr. and Mrs. Sherman Poole, whose home was located about 2R0 feet northeast of the store. The Pooles said they would get in their car and be right down. The Pooles arrived in about two minutes, and as their car approached, Mrs. Richey hurried outside to' meet them. She looked up at the point where she had seen the large object but saw nothing there. Had Seen The Object The Pooles,, coming in their car, had seen the ob ject, however, and they drew Mrs. Richey's attention to it. Ths object had left its hovering spot and was speedily traveling away about a 45 degree angle in a northwesterly direction. During these few minutes, no other vehicles went by. It was later theorized that the object may have started to depart at the moment the Pooles' car pulled out onto the highway. Mrs Richey and Mr. and Mrs. Poole are just a few of about 100 southern Oregonians whose sightings of unidentified flying objects, UFOs, flying saucers or whatever you want to call them have been researched and chronicled by Carroll D. Watson, Shady Cove gift shop owner. Watson, who has made the Shady Cove area his permanent home since 1918, has during the past three years recorded detailed reports on more than 50 sight ings of unusual objects in southern Oregon, a few of them dating back as far as 1950, but most of them ob served since 1930. Some Made Around Medford A few of the observations recorded by Watson were made around Medford and Ashland, but a great majori ty of them took place in the Prospect and Shady Cove areas. One of the earliest reports in Watson's file was made by Everett Cushman and Carl Robbins of Trial. One evening during October of 1950 (the exact date is not known) the two men were driving on a logging road in the Crowfoot-Camel Hump region of the Big Butte creek drainage area when they saw a large red dish lighted object very close to the ground, if not actually on it, about a quarter of a mile away. It seemed to be a solid object, although the brilliance of the light made it hard to distinguish. Two hounds who were with the men acted very scared and kept shaking their heads as if their ears hurt. Almost immediately after the men saw it, the ob ject rose straight up 150 to 200 feet, and as it did the. color changed to an arc welder's blue, then back to a fire red again as it stopped. From this point it began to move in a northeast erly direction, retaining its fire red color and proceed ing in a forwards and backwards motion similar to that of a lantern light held by someone while walking. When it was a half mile away it changed to a blue color again and made a wide elliptical circle to the east, eventually disappearing in the vicinity of Mt. McLoughlin, the tallest peak in the area. The men heard no sound whatever. Men Feel Uneasy When the object returned after making the great circle, the men felt uneasy, thinking that perhaps they were being watched by someone in the object. They were about to leave in a hurry when the UFO disap peared. They found that the two fnzhtcned hounds had already left in a hurry. The dogs weren't found until seven! hours later. L 'Vtri "..- . -, ' h k s A CARROLL D. WATSON Records Detailed Reports Among he more recent sightings is one reported by Dwiglit Hamilton of 916 East Main st Medford. Five young men of high school age, including- Hamilton, and two of grade school age were gathered outdoors al 726 Broad st. on the afternoon of June 9, 1962. One boy was attempting to view the planet Venus with a 30 power telescope when he saw an object shaped like a hub cap, with three spots looking some thing like portholes near the top and three objects sticking out of the bottom. Several of the other boys took turns viewing the object and generally agreed on the description. Spend Time Observing OS)i:t Total time spent observing the object amounted to 20 or 25 minutes. During this time it appeared to move slowly in various directions, as if possibly ob serving the city of Medford. When last seen the UFO was disappearing as several jet planes appeared in the neighboring sky. The jets left vapor trails. The UFO didn't. The object disappeared going in a straight up ward direction. Watson records his reports of sightings in a de tailed manner, usually like this: "Report on UFO: Drnni Mason & Floyd Ehrheart. Addressrv Rogue River Drive, Shady Cove, Oregon. "Observation Area: North bank of Rogue River less than ;14 miles down river from Shady Cove. "Observation Date: 15th or 16th or 17th of June, 1962. "These two 16-year-old boys were fishing just after sundown when both sew about 200 yeards downstream a red (ircball like object coming slowly up the river just above the tree tops of the river's north side. It was round, made no noise, and was about the 'size of a beach ball.' "The boys ran upriver to tell their parents about what they had seen but the object had soon passed out of ight bihind intervening trees. It was headed north west and was observable for a period of time up to 10 seconds. "The evening sky was clear." Examines Every Possibility When inveiigating reports of UFO sightings. Wat Kin first examines every possibility of explaining the object observed in earthly terms. He checks with the weather bureau to find out if any weather balloons were m the area at that time, or to determine what yiF Sightings time the moon rose that particular night, or even to in quire about the temperature at a certain elevation at a particular hour on a particular date. His concern for precise details has earned him a little ribbing by certain friends who have been heard to remark that "if you want to know what the tem perature was a 5,000 feet elevation at 8:32 a.m. Sept. ' 4;: 1962, just ask Carroll Watson." . ' Watson's care in obtaining precise details la par ticularly evident in reports like this one: , , , "Report on UFO: Gene Ash. Address: Shady Cove, Oregon. "Observer's Area: Section 20 T33S R1W (About " one mile from Tiller Trail Highway and up Canyon Ci feck). ' .. ' o , : ' ' "UFO Area: Southwest quarter of Section 22 T33S ' R1W. Ridge between drainages of Trail Creek and Lewis Creek on the East. "Sighting Dale: Oct. 28, IflfiO at 4:00 p.m. Driving Forest Pumper Tiuck "Gene was driving a slate forest patrol pumper truck on the 'mine' road up Canyon Creek when he chanced to look out of the car window towards the northeast. He saw a very bright silver object (his words: 'like a stubbed off cigar ) hovering motionless and noiseless about 200-300 feci above a ridge saddle around 2Vi miles away o Gene estimated it to be 20-30 feet in length and 30 inches thick as seen in per spective. "The object never moved for 20-25 minutes; then H slowly raised foP a short distance without tipping, and again without tipping it slowly floated down out of sight into the Lewis Creek canyon area near the old abandoned Tom Adams cabin. "Gene watched the area for about one hour longer but saw nothing more of the UFO. "Notes: When all factors are considered, the size of the UFO was probably considerably larger than in dicated above. Afternoon Sky Was Clear "The afternoon sky was clear except for a few high clouds. It had rained that morning. "UFO area is of about 2,500 feet elevation." Watson was born In Spokane, Wash.,in 1908. Me was educated at schools in California and al the Uni versity of Oregon, and served with the combat engi neers in Europe during World War II. When flying saucers started In make newspaper headlines in 1947, he didn't pay much attention to them. But as the years went by, friends for whom he had great respect told him of their sightings and he began to think that there must be something to the UFO field something worthy of investigation. "You have to consider all possible natural explan ations," Watson feels, "such as hallucinations or tem perature Inversions, and you have to consider the char acter of the person making the sighting.'' . Reports 'Defy Natural Explanations' . Watson is quick to add thai he has high respect tor the character of those persons whose sightings he has chronicled and thinks that most ot tho objects sighted in these reports , "defy natural explanation." "These people . know they've seen something," he. concluded. i What does Watson think they migljt be? "They're from somewhere." he comments. "Having heard many people, Including numerous retired military officers, voice the opinion Hint these UFOs are of extra-terrestrial origin, I am. of the opinion thai they must be from out-.-rr space, propelled by a power that we know nothing about." Has Watson ever seen one himself? He figures in three of the reports. On the evening of Sept. 18, 1961. shortly before 10 p.m. he and his daughter Shcri, both saw a bright object for about eight seconds making a steady downward descent in the north northeast sky. ' It was brighter than the brightest star in tho heavens, moved too fast for a plane and too slow for a meteor. The sky was partially cloudy, Watson said. Few stars could be seen. The moon was high in the southern sky. Over High Rock Formation Watson and his wife, Evalyn, observed an object about three times the size of a star on the night of April 17, 1962, at 9:53 p.m. It hung over a high rock formation about three miles north of Shady Cove for about four seconds after they first noticed it. Then It went out instantaneously. Finally, on June 29, 1962, about 9:35 p.m., the Watsons got in on the tail end of a sighting made by their next door neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Al Cooper and their daughter Joanne of an intense red light, bright er than the type used by conventional aircraft. The object appeared to be about three miles away, but made no sound. In contrast, a conventional airplane at a higher altitude and apparently farther away came into view during the observation period, and its sound could be heard clearly. Watson plans to go on compiling reports of UFO sightings as long as there are people willing to tell him about them. He urges anyone who has made a sighting to contact him. His address la simply Shady Cove, Oregon. 3 This is not an actual photo of an unidentified flying object, but rather an artist's con ception, drawn on a photograoh taken at the spot where Mrs. Miriam Richey reported seeing a large silvery object on Highway 82 about four miles southwest of Prospect on Oct. 15, 196(1. This sighting is one of more than 50 recorded In rrport form by Carroll Watson of Shady Cove. He and Mrs. Richey drew In the object to give an idea of the lm mene site of the object she saw.
