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About Herald and news. (Klamath Falls, Or.) 1942-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 16, 1956)
IT t T fcig"- .zrz. -wt. I 1 HARD-FIGHTING CIVIL DEFENSE workeri were credited with ' saving Alturas from total inundation Sunday by raging flood i waten which caused damage estimated at more than $100,000. Don Kettler, Herald and News photographer, who reached the stricken community a few hours after the Pit River over j flowed its tanks, obtained these graphic action shots. Shown . (left to right) .water pouring over the Klamath Falls-Alturas f '. ' h n n i i n n r n, n ""N m u mm In The- Day's lews By FRANK JENKINS President Eisenhower sends to the congress this morning a mes sage proposing a balanced budget in, the fiscal years of 1956 and 1957. Perhaps It would be well to pause here and explain the term "fiscal year." A fiscal year Is a MONEY year that is to say, a bookkeeping year. The U.S. gov ernment's fiscal year begins on July 1 and ends the following June 30. The fiscal year that will end on the 30th of the coming June is known in accounting parlance as fiscal 1956." In brief, Ike proposes no tax re duction AND HIGHER SPENDING. That Is made possible by the pros perous state of our economy, which is bringing in a lot of tax money. In addition, he proposes to RE DUCE THE DEBT by some 14 million dollars by .the end of the present fiscal year on June 30. In the next fiscal year, which will end June 30.. 195T; lfhepropoe a debt, reduction of 500 million dol lars. . , At that rate, in some 600 YEARS we could be even with the world. Pretty slow, you say? Well, it's better than going In the hole every year. If we go in the hole every year ' for 600 years, where will we be? History tells us in no uncertain terms we'll be bankrupt long be fore that time. Why the added spending? The bulk of it is for defense. We must think of defense spending in this modern cold war world something like this: If you lived in a dark forest peopled by bloodthirsty savages njld hungry wild beasts, you a leei that you HAD to have good guns and plenty of ammunition even if you had to go short on other . things. We're surrounded by communists which are far more dangerous than savages or wild beasts. I'm hopelessly old-fashioned, of course so much so that I think Ve could cut a couple of billions or so in the way of frills and ex. travagances out of our proposed total of expenditures and hardly miss it. I rather imagine Ike feels the same way about it, but we must remember that this is an election year and so he is under tremen dous pressure to make it appear that if the GOP is returned to power every voter will get every thing he wants and won't nave anything worth while taken away from him. I feel this way about Ike: He described himself at the beginning of his political career as a mod erate conservative a middle-of-the roader, neither a reckless spender nor a tightwad. In general, he has lived up to that definition. He has reduced spending. And Our country has prospered under his policies. I have the feeling that if his policies are continued our country will continue to prosper. And I have the further feeling that if his policies are continued we won't spend ourselves into bankruptcy. The political news this morning contains a VERY interesting para graph. It reads: ' "President Elsenhower's budget figures got a mixed reception in congress. The Republicans tended to stress the balancing of outgo with income. The Democratic, com ments WERE POINTED MORE AT THE PROPOSED INCREASE IN SPENDING." That is to say: The Democrats, who have been the big spenders, are critical of President Eisenhower because in his budget message he proposes to spend somewhat more than he has been spending. How come? This the explanation: Whatever the party In power does, or proposes to do, the party out of power has to be against. That is the first law. of politics.. Otherwise, the voters might ask: WHY CHANGE? T Yuba City Fights High River Crest SAN FRANCISCO (UP) Mud smeared levee workers sloshed across the spongy top of the re paired dike at Yuba City today in belief they had saved the city from a second inundation by Feather River. Yuba City, however, still re mained the critical situation in the Northern California flood disaster area. All the coastal streams that had gone over their banks and driven thousands from their homes during the weekend were reported falling today. The crisis passed when the 48-hour storm came to an end yesterday afternoon. For a time, the storm had Patterson, To Tell Plans COOS BAY UTI Gov. Paul Pat terson will announce - by Feb. 1 whether he will enter the race for U. S. senator from Oregon. Political observers expect him to. especially since he said here Saturday he Is considering it strongly and will announce his de cision by Feb. 1. If he rims, it likely would mean a contest for the GOP nomination since Elmer Deetz, Canby dairy man, said earlier Saturday he would run. Whether the governor's decision would change Deetz' was uncertain. The governor . made his an nouncement at the end of a talk to an informal Republican group here. He said his wile is willing to go along with any decision he makes. Patterson, on the strength of his vote-getting record, would be fa vored to gain his party's nomina tion and oppose Sen. Morse (D- Ore) in the November election. Re. publican leaders have been urging him to do that almost since the ty he piled up a big margin in being elected governor in 1954. Patterson said he has been trav. eline about the state to determine whether the people want him to carry on as governor or to take on 'new political Job. If enougn people want him to run for sen ator, he will not "shirk" his duty, he said. ,: Indians Seek Land Payment FLORENCE. Ore. I Three tribes of Oregon coastal Indians want a sizable chunk of Uncle Sam's cash or a seat in the United Nations. Their attorney. James Green, a Justice of the peace here, said the tribes are tired of waiting for the federal government to pay them for land along the coast. If the cash they want about 100 million dollars isn't forthcoming soon they will demand seats In the U. N. as sovereign powers. Green said. The confederated tribes of the Siuslaw, Lower Umpqua and Coos Bay say they signed a treaty for the United States to buy a strip of land in 1855. The strip includes the present-day cities of Florence, Reedsport and Coos Bay. But the U. 8. Senate never rati fied the treaty, so the Indians as sert they never gave up sovereign ty over the strip. "We claim thse tribes are free people and not subject to federal laws. The United States recognized their sovereignty in the 1855 treaty with them. Since the treaty was never ratified, no rights of sover eignty were surrendered and no conveyance of land took place. It won't take 15 minutes to settle this if the government lives up to its obligation," Green said. But if no money is paid "We Intend to apply for seats in the United Nations as sovereigns," he said. U Q? 0R3G0.T LIBRARY EUGENS, ORE. highway, one mile north of Timber Mountain Inn. Volunteer workers are shown building a channel to divert the flood waters in Alturas. Next a bulldozer is pictured speedily erecting dikes to protect railroad bridges. Far right is a home surrounded by a miniature lake with two boys shown crawling along a wooden fence to get out of the danger area. Three hundred civil de fense workers were mobilized to battle the flood under the di IF threatened to duplicate the Christ mas week disaster when floods re sulted in 75 deaths and more than 175 million dollars property dam age. Although the storm Tiad passed, constant vigilance1 had to ne maintained at Yuba city. CRITICAL HOURS The danger there was pin-pointed at - Shanghai Bend, where the Feather River lapped at the mud dy top of the reconstructed levee. It was here that the bulwarks broke at Christmas time, sending nearly 10,000 persons fleeing for their liven nnH Icillin? at lf.fl.qt. 33 At ft a.m. this morning,' the river stood at 67.1 feet, a danger point, but the river was falling above Yuba City and the waters were rising at the rate of only a tenth of a foot' an hour at Yuba Cltv. , , The levee at Shanghai :Bend Is 71, feet nigh, and the city levee commission did not believe th water now would go over the top. The -greatest danger, however, was whether the levee would con tinue to hold. Since the Christmas break, construction crews and heavy equipment has been used in the three-week struggle to restore the city's defenses. This work, however, was untested, unpacked and spongy. There always was the chance that the river could come boiling in from the bottom. AROUND THE CLOCK A crew of Army Engineers from Oamp Beale Air Force Base, work ing in shifts of 100 around the clock and augmented by city vol unteers, continued to man ' the levee. Heavy equipment had to be removed because it could not be used in the mud. Upstream, north of Yuba Citv. the river had dropped a tenth of a foot at Gridley. At Orovllle. 16 hours away as the stream flows, the river had dropped seven feet. So far, three deaths were re ported from the current floods. Henry'R. Beneken Sr., 64, a car penter, apparently .slipped Into the paper mill creek behind his home at Forest Hills in Marin County around midnight and drowned. Rav Stepp, 50, drowned in an irri gation ditch south of Alturas, and John' Maurer. 32, Eureka contrac tor, was killed Saturday by a falling tree as he worked to break a long Jam in a creek. ' Two San Francisco duck hunters C. S. Miles and a man Identified only, as a Mr. Risk!, were missing and feared dead on Butte Slough 15 miles northwest of Yuba City. Early today. Army Engineers watched the swollen Feather River Inch up along the weak Shanehal Bend levee Just south of Yuba City. It was this levee that gave way on Dec. 24, forcing 10.000 per sons to flee for their lives. Yuba City counted 33 flood victims alone then. At midnight, the Feather River stood at 67.3 feet opposite Yuba City proper and 66 3 at the Shang hai Bend levee. Since Christmas, the levee had been built up to 70 to 71 feet, but 67 feet is con sidered "dangerous." Ike Presents Balanced U.S. Budget WASHINGTON I President Elsenhower Monday sent Congress a balanced budget for the new fis cal year proposing a rise of 1 1 a billion dollars in government spending. He said the bigger spend ing would be more than offset by an expected climb In revenue. Eisenhower's budget also antici pates as he had said In his State of the Union message earlier this month that the government will wind up the current fiscal year, ending next June 30, in the black. This is because revenues are run ning ahead of expectations due to the general prosperity in 1955. Here are the president's over-all figures: Spending In this fiscal year to i'be, S64.270.000.000 and income 164,- 3uo.uoo.ouu, with a surplus ror this year of- 230 million. Spending in the new fiscal year. ending in mid-1957, to be S65.&56,- 11 . . KLAMATH Price Five Centa 10 Pages Inspectors Study Train Wreck Cause By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS An eastbound Union Pacific pas senger train Jumped (rom the tracks as it entered an s curve east of The Dalles earlv Monday. spilling the.3nR'ne.. M fW1 cars. - Inspectors searched for clues to the cause in the rain - softened earth. The 65 passengers on the Spokane bound train were shaken but un hurt, and continued later by bus. As the dlesel engine left the rails it plowed Into stacks of ties. One of them flew against the windshield, showering brakeman W. B. Ford with glass. He was hospitalized for treatment of cuts and engineer R. W. Harvey, who said the engine seemed to hit a bump then leave the rails, suffered a back injury, Both are from Portland. SLIDES ' Rains that touched off slides and high water over much of Oregon and southwestern Washington slackened late Sunday and Mon day, giving streams a chance to fall back to safff levels. More rain was forecast for Tues day, though. . Surging water from snow melt caused by a warm south wind Sun day swept out a highway bridge norm oi rnnevine. in central ure- gon. South bn the California bor der the Lost River spread out over some low spots in Klamath County. And all up and down Western Ore gon there was high water and slid ing earth. Virtually all of the rivers crested before dawn Monday without caus ing extensive damage. SCHOOL BUS An empty school bus- broke through a road undermined, by high water at Mapleton and some 20 houses were marooned there as the Siuslaw River went four eel above flood stage before starting to fall. At Willamette City near Oak- rid?e, southeast of Eugene, volun teers built a temporary dike and bulldozers started cutting a new channel for the upper Willamette so it would bypass houses. The Union Pacific reported three westbound trains delayed In mak ing a detour. of the derailment area and the eastbound morning mail train was late. A temporary track around the derailment was to be ready for use In early afternoon. 000.000 and Income $66,300,000,000 leaving a surplus' of 435 million. The massive figures got a mixed reception In Congress. By and large, Republicans tended to stress the balancing of outgo with Income -something the government has achieved In only three years out oi the last 25. On the Democratic side, com ments ran more toward pointing at the proposed increase In spending. The biggest part of the spend ing increase proposed by the Pres ident was In what he listed as for major national security meaning chiefly the defense establishment, atomic energy and foreign mili tary aid. Here is a general breakdown by government functions of the pro posed 1 1 1 billion spending boost: National security, at borne and abroad. 903 million dollars. Welfare, 228 million dollars. rection of Charles Lederer. Sheriff E. R. (Buckl Server organ ized crews of volunteers who removed furniture and other household goods from scores of flooded homes. Red Cross of ficials opened a canteen at Modoc County Courthouse to feed the flood workers. Standby crews are ready to go into action 4gain if new storm develops. Almost countless tons of sand were bagged and distributed throughout the town. Mitchell FALLS, OREGON, MONDAY. JANUARY 16, 1956 Telephone Sill 9 O'clock Special GARY PEARSON, 935 Pacific Terrace, was on his way to Klamath Union High School this morning when the 9 o'clock photographer stopped him. Gary is a senior. Weather FORECAST Klamath Falls and vicinity: Clearing Monday night and Tuesday morning. Rain Tuesday afternoon. High Tuesday 52; low Monday night 35. Low last night - 28 High yesterday 44 Precip. last 24 hours 68 Since Oct. 1 13.84 Same period last year 3.41 Normal for period ..... ......... 5.77 CHANGES VIENNA. Austria, W Two more changes ih the Romanian government, making five in three days, were announced Monday by Radio Bucharest. Stefan Balan was appointed minister for con struction. He replaces Gheorghe Hossu, who Saturday was named the new minister of agriculture with the apparent task of speeding up collectivization. Mihai Sudor was appointed new minister for the timber industry. Interest on the debt, 191 mil lions. General government, 146 mil lions. Veterans affairs, 86 millions. International affairs, 55 millions. Reductions were listed for com merce and housing, amounting to 111 million dollars; natural re sources 14 millions, and agricul ture 12 millions. In a message accompanying his budget, Eisenhower repeated the go-slow caution of his State of the Union message as to a tax cut. He said the government could stay in the black in the next 18 months bv "slim margins only if Congress gives him "the utmost cooperation" in holding down spending and awaiting a prudent time for tax cuts. As long as booming prosperity continues, Elsenhower aald. Con gress should put at least some re .-. . . ' -.. .-,-1 ' M i HI No. 3375 Rain Causes Langell, Poe Valley Flood The crest of a flood In Langell and Poe valleys which was caused by warm rains over the weekend was in the - vicinity of Olene at li a.m. today according to J. Pitts Elmore, Klamath- Reclamation Project manager. Elmore said that the water downstream from Olene should be gin to recede by late this after noon. The floods, which began when (lie warm rain fell and melted off the snowpack Saturday morn ing, were described as being com parable to and possibly worse than the floods during the week before Christmas. However, Elmore said that any precipitation now Is snow, and that it probably will not melt off rapidly. There was no reported damage to any improvements, other than fields and pasture land, Elmore stated. FLOOD CREST The flow at the crest of the flood, which reached Harpold Dam at the head of Poe Valley at about 1 a.m. today, was estimated at about 4,000 second feet. The level at the Lost River Diversion Dam southeast of Klamath Falls was reported at about 8:30 a.m. to be within three tenths of a foot of the high reached last month. The flow through the Lost- River Diversion Channel to the Klamath River has reached the capacity of the channel, and the bureau began releasing about 1.000 second feet of water down the lower chan nel of the river at about 10 a.m., Elmore reported. The water will Lflow Into the TulelBke sumps. He said that about 3,000 second feet of water would be sent through the diversion channel when the crest reaches the dam, MINOR SLIDES Meanwhile, both state and coun ty highway officials reported that there were a number of minor slides and flooded roads In the county, but that the only major highway closure was on the Mer-rill-Malln state highway, where traffic was being diverted around a flooded stretch. Ed Propst, county road superin tendent, said that county crews had "been lucky" that the flood had not caused worse damage to the road system. According to the Herald and News correspondent at Bonanza, (Continued on pc 4) duction of the national debt ahead of tax slashing. His new spending blueprint al lowed for some debt reduction, but not for tax cuts. He reiterated that Congress should act to keep cor poratlon and excise taxes at their present levels, rather than allow them to drop as scheduled on April 1 to the levels In effect before the Korean War. For fiscal 1957, which begins next July 1. Elsenhower proposed that Uncle Sam spend $66,865,000. 000. He estimated Hiat federal in come in that 12-month period would be $66,300,000,000, If both predic tions are achieved, the government will wind up the fiscal year with a atirplu), of 4.15 million. In other main facets of his budget message Elsenhower: 1. Estimated that spending this (Continued en page 4) Jurasevfck, manager of the Niles Hotel, declined an offer of sand and was prepared to protect his property with 300 sacks of flour. Modoc County health officials were surveying the flooded area Monday as a precaution against an outbreak of disease. Cleanup work has been started but it will be many days before the damages can be repaired. m Residents Battle Rampaging Water By LYLE DOWNING ALTURAS A 24-hour' battle against the raging flood waters of the north fork of the Pit River which Inundated nearly a square mile of Alturas had apparently been won Monday morning. Charles Lederer, Modoo County civil defense director, told the Her ald and News that the river which swirled over its banks early Sun day morning and for a time threat ened to engulf the entire communi ty, was rapidly receding. One man was drowned Sunday as a result of the flood. Ray Stepp. 50-year-old ranch worker, fell into a swollen Irrigation ditch near Like ly, 20 miles south of here. His body was , recovered by Modoc County Sheriff E. R. JBuck) Server!..- ...f'-- , :. .v,.. DEFENSE WORKERS Monday morning .civil defense workers were still standing guard on the banks of the Pit which was heavily sandbagged along most of its course through the center of Alturas. A survey of the damage showed tliat virtually all streets in the southern section of the town, were Floods Ravage Eureka Area EUREKA (UP) At least 1.000 persons fled their homes in Del Norte and Humboldt counties when rain-swollen rivers and streams flooded Northwestern California during a weekend storm. The flooding rivers were the same ones that caused the havoc of Christmas week. This time. however, the damage was rela tively minor. The Del Norte county, smith River was over Its banks. Five hundred persons were evacuat ed from the towns of Klamath and Klamath Glen In the southern part of the county when the Klamath River began rising. In Humboldt County, Klamath River rose so rapidly that It put some lowland areas under water. Residents of Orleans in the north eastern part of the county were warned to be ready to leave. Jaycee Award Dinner Slated The annual Klamath County Jun ior chamber of Commerce dis tinguished service award winner will be named at a Joint dinner meeting of the Jaycees and the chamber of commerce In the Wll lard Hotel Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. The winner of the annual award will be named on the basis of community service in 1955. Any young man between the ages of 21 and 35 is eligible and he need not be a member of he Jaycees He will be selected by a commit tee of six persons Ineligible to re ceive the award. Gall Osborn, 1954 award winner, will make 'the presentation with Jim Stllwell acting as master of ceremonies. The Rev. Dwayne Proett will give the Invocation- Tickets for the dinner may be ob tained from any chamber director or member of the Jaycees. Previous winners of the award are: Percv Murray. 1935: Harlan P. Bosworth Jr.. 19?6; L. Orth Slsemore. 1937; Charles Mack. 1938- Cl'fford C. Jenkins (Tule lake), 1939; Martin Swaiifcn. 19-10; Don Drury, 1911; Ralph Waggoner, 1942: James Kerns Jr.. 1943: John Sandmeyer, 1944; Karl Dchllnger, 195: Robert R. Walker, 1946; James Stllwell. 1947; Chester Hamaker. 1948; Earl Kent, 1949; Darrell Miller, 1950; Robert L. Smith, 1951- Elton Smith. 1952; Rex M. Dye, 1963; and Gall Osborn, 1964. ' , flooded. Water was a foot deep ill many homes in that area. Five frame buildings ot the United States Forest Service were surrounded by a miniature lake. One of the chief concerns of the flood fighters and a focal point of their activities throughout Sunday1 was the Modoc Medical Center, where 58 patients were prepared for immediate evacuation. Water lapped for hours against the Tear wall of the rambling one-story hospital building. Civil defense workers stood by ready to trans fer the patients to Modoc Union High School, DRASTIC TURN ... Shortly after 3 p.m. Sunday it appeared the situation had taken a draatle turn for. the , wortp. 1 K shortwave radio report wai re ceived at olvll defense headquart ers in Modoc County Courthouse announcing a cloud burst at Cedar Pass, 15 miles upstream from Al turas. Water from that area was further swelling the Pit. However, the increased water did not affect the flow of the river here. The first big break for the bet ter came shortly after 6 p.m. Sun day when the wind shifted from south to north and sodden skies quickly cleared. -CREWS STAND BY Civil Defense Director Lederer said emergency crews will be kept on a standby basis for the next 24 hours. We are certain the worst Is over," he added. "We now face the big task of cleaning uo the flooded area." Almost countless tons of sand were bagged and -distributed throughout the community bv the civil defense workers. Mitchell Jurasevick. manager of the Niles Hotel, said he had no confidence In sand keeping out waler and was prepared to utilize 300 sacks of flour to protect his property. However, the flood did not reach the hotel. Teens Plan KF Polio Dance One of the big events of the Teens Against Polio division of the March of Dimes Drive will be a dance planned for Saturday, Jan uary 21 at the Klamath Falls Armory, Music will be by the Star Ughters dance band with dancing from 9 p.m. to 2 p.m. The presidents of the classes In all the high schools of the county will be in charge of ticket sales for their classes, announced Wally Wunder, county Teens Against Polio chairman, and Klamath Un ion High School student. He said the dance Is for both teen-agers and adults. The high school that sells the most tickets per capita will be given the- privilege of choosing a 4ance queen for the dance. The queenwlll be crowned by Wunder at the dance. The winning school will also name the county chairman for the Teens Against Polio drive for next year, Wunder said. This chairman will compete for the state chair man's post next year. The Pep Peppers and the Future Nurses ot KUHS staged "Blue Crutch Dav" Saturday on the streets of Klamath Falls. The girl students presented miniature blue crutches to all donors to the March of Dimes. The K Club of KUHS will set up "toll bridge" Saturday, Janu ary 21 (weather permitting) at the corner of East Main and Main streets. A sign denoting the bridge will be placed at this Intersection and the K Club members will col lect donations from motorists stop ping at the toll bridge in Polio buckets, Wunder said. In addition to these events the Teens Against Polio are planning Polio Peanut Sale, and a talent show to raise funds for the Maxch of Dimes, V
