Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 55, Number 27, Decatur, Adams County, 1 February 1957 — Page 1

Vol. LV. No. 27.

FLOODED TOWNS DECLARED DISASTER AREAS «ar . s ■ *- 7 ■ -.,zc»/. to> : ■ ■JB&dk; '• <♦'■' FLOOD WATERS course through the streets of Logan, W. Va., as relief agencies, spurred by a designation of major disaster areas in W. Va., and Ky., by President Eisenhower, rushed assistance to stricken towns. Fresh water, food and medical supplies are being rushed to inundated areas under Presidential orders to provide whatever federal aid is necessary tor relief operations.

Flood Waters Spread Death And Desolation "Landslides, Flash Floods Unleashed By Spreading Water By UNITED PRESS President Eisenhower today declared a flood disaster in a third state—Virginia. Four other states were suffering from ravages of the mid-winter floods. Parts of Kentucky and West Virginia were designated a disaster area Thursday. The President declared an emergency in six southwestern Virginia counties that are part of a broad, seven-state area where the floods death, misery and The death toll in the floodlands rose to 13 and the homeless numbered high in the thousands. An eighth state, South Carolina, received • warning of ‘’moderate” flooding upstream on the Saluda, Broad and Catawba rivers. The broadening flood belt reached Chattanooga, Tenn., this morning forcing some evacuations. In western North Carolina, evacuation alerts'were cancelled at mid-morning for low-lying towns when streams that had gushed out of their banks during the night began falling. Seven States Hit The Tennesse River, key stream of the vast Tennessee Valley Authority, sloshed over into lowland areas at Chattanooga. A city relief crew evacuated a family of nine from low ground near Chattanooga. The National Guard sent three amphibious trucks and 200 litters from Nashville. The Red Cross and some 100 volunteer National Guardsmen stood by in anticipation of a possible good crisis. By this morning, the flood area in the regions of the Appalachian, Cumberland and Great Smoky Mountains affected parts of Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia and North Carolina. Evacuees returning to scores of once-inundated Appalachian Valley coal mining towns of West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia were confronted with shortages of food and shelter. Whole cities were covered with mud. National Guardsmen hurried to Prestonburg, Ky., to stop an outbreak of looting and to help quell a-rash of fires. Authorities appealed to President Eisenhower to expand disaster areas. Grnenther To Inspect Gen. Alfred M. Gruenther, national president of the American Red Cross, flies to Lexington, Ky., today to begin an inspection tour of the flood area. Gov. A.8.-Chandler said he found “dirt, mud, filth and destruction” wherever he went in a two-day journey through flooded towns and cities along the Cumberland River and tributaries in eastern Kentucky. ; ' ”1 went through the 1937 flood and it just wasn’t the same thing,” Chandler said. “From Pikesville to Prestonburg it is just desolation, as though a war or a pestilence tCmtlaaed M Paste Wive) INDIANA WEATHER Mostly cloudy and turning colder tonight with precipitation ending. Saturday partly cloudy and colder, chance of snow Harries near Lake Michigan. Low tonight 10-20 north, 20-25 sooth. High Saturday mostly in the 20s. Sunset 0:05 p.m., sunrise Saturday 7:52 a.m.

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT

95,000 Accidental Deaths billing 1956 40,000 Os Deaths Caused By Traffic CHICAGO (UP) - The National Safety Council today reported 95,000 Americans died in accidents last year, 40,000 of them victims of the nation’s greatest killer—the motor vehicle. The traffic toll was an increase of 4 per cent over the 1955 count of 38,426 and set a possible new r record in highway carnage. I The council said the traffic death > count put 1966 in “virtually a dead f heat” with the all-time high of 39,969. set in 1941. - However, the organization said r its 40,000 figure cannot be called a new record because later reports . will revise the estimate and the ( final total may be greater or less than estimated. i A record high 1956 toll had been i considered virtually a certainty on the basis of a steadily increasing , death rate iwofith mrtfi 1 October. Tide Is Turned A sharp decrease occurred then, ! and the tide was turned in December. The toll in the final month ’ was 4,000 unchanged from December of 1955 despite .record traffic . slaughters during the Christmas 1 and New Year's holidays. In addition to the heavy death ’ toll, traffic accidents resulted in 1 about 1,400,000 non-fatal injuries in ' 1956 and caused damages estiI mated at $1,850,000,000. I The injury rate in all accidents during the year was 9,540,000, and the cost was some $10,800,000,00. : Reducing the statistics still fur- ■ ther, it meant that 1 out of every I 18 persons in the United States suffered a disabling injury during t 1956. [ The economic cost included wage I losses, medical expense, produc- ! tion delays, and equipment and . property damage. Home Mishaps High Home accidents were the second . biggest killer, claiming 27,500 lives, or 500 fewer than in 1955. Eighteen states showed traffic 1 fatality decreases from 1955 and ; 29 had increases. Rhode Island had the best record with a drop of 23 per cent in its highway toll. ! Some states showing reductions 1 were Michigan, 12 per cent; Illinois, 3; Nebraska, 1 and South Dakota, 1. (Uoauonoe nr IdcUt) Meyer Infant Dies Thursday Evening Pneumonia Is Fatal To Gregory Meyer Gregory Anthony Meyer, five- . month-old son of Mr. and Mrs. , Raymond Meyer, 220 North Ninth street, died at 8:50 o’clock Thursday night at the St. Joseph hospital in Fort Wayne following a 10l day illness of pneumonia. The boy was born in Decatur Aug. 7, 1956, a son of Raymond I and Bernadette Hackman, and was a member of St. Mary’s - Catholic church. Surviving in addition to the par- [ ents are a brother, Harold Meyer, and a sister, Brenda Lee Meyer, 1 both at home; - the maternal grandmother, Mrs. Anselm Hack- ! man, and the paternal grandmother, Mrs. John S. Meyer, both of Decatur. r . „ Funeral services will be conducted at 9 a. m. Monday at St. Mary’s Catholic church, the Very Rev. Msgr. J. J. Seimetz officiating for the angel’s mass. Burial will be in the Catholic cemetery. Friends may call at the Gillig & Doan funeral home after 3 o’clock Saturday afternoon until time of the services.

Two Children, Five Airmen, Crash Victims Midair Collision Crashes Transport On School Ground PACOIMA, Calif. <W — Irate parents and congressmen demanded today an end to test flights over congested areas because a collision in air sent a luxury transport ripping through a school playground, killing five airmen and two children. More than 50 boys were playing kickball Thursday when suddenly a $1,950,000 Douglas DC7B ploughed through the playground after colliding nearly 25,000 feet above with a FB9D Scorpion jet killed instantly and another died within minutes of the crash that also brought death to the transport’s crew of four and the pilot of the jet. Forty-three children were injured and taken to San Fernando Valley hospitals. Several of the victims were reported injured critically. At least 12 other children were treated for minor cuts and shock at the scene and released to their parents. One Crewmember Survives A radarman in the .jet plane managed to bail out shortly before the twin-engined $990,000 interceptor crashed into a hillside six miles away from the school. The big transport began falling apart after the collision as it streaked directly toward the Pacoima Junior High School and the adjacent Terra Bella Elementary school. The crippled plane struck the playground as terrified chillUoaciouea on FaXe KtfMs Trinity EUB Church Plans For Addition / Building Committee Report Is Approved At the special congregational meeting at Trinity Evangelical United Brethren church this week the members voted almost unanimously to proceed with the plans submitted by the temporary building committee. The plans, which were presented by Herman Sautbine, president of the building committee, include a two-story educational unit and fellowship hall which would be added to the west side of the present church edifice. The unit will be 40 by 80 feet and will cost approximately $70,000. A building fund was begun several months ago and an intensive financial drive is planned in the near future. Plans for the new unit include a fellowship hall on the first floor, which would seat 225 people for banquets or 400 people for programs. The hall win be divided by folding doors into three large Sunday school departments, including recreational facilities for the youth fellowship. The second floor will include several large Sunday school class rooms and music room for the choir. Members of the temporary building committee are Herman Sautbine, Hubert Gilpin, E. A. Crider, Ed Hesher, Robert Butcher, Clifford Hoverman, Chalmer Barkley,. Lester Sautbine, Chalmer Bollenbacher, David Wynn, Julia Jacksofi, Barbara* Bowman, and the minister, the Rev. John E. Chambers, who presided at the special congregational meeting.

ONLY DAILY NRWfiPAPRR IN ADAM* COUNTY

Decatur, Indiana, Friday, February 1, 1957

State Assembly Passes Measure To Put Brakes ’■ ’■.l { • «. I | " * ’. ■ On Spending In State

State Budget Is Cut $lO Million By Committee Principal Item Is Six Million Slash From School Funds INDIANAPOLIS (UP) — A rec-ord-setting proposed budget for operation of Indiana state government the next two yeari( was 10 million dollars leaner today, thanks to a House Ways and Means action. Committee members slashed the 790 million dollar estimate to about 780 million dollars after two weeks of frequent meetings aimed at bringing the budget more in line with anticipated income and forestalling substantial tax increases. Biggest one - stroke reduction came Thursday night when tthe committee cut six millions from a proposed 178.7 million dollar school budget. ‘Previously, the committee had lowered the total state budget by about four million dollars. Rep. S. Paul Clay (R-Indlanap-olis), a member of the committee, said the school slash was made on the basis of discrepancies bee tween budget figures submitted by State School Supt. Wilbur Young’s Office ahd Robert H. Wyatt, executive secretary of the Indiana State Teachers Association. Wyatt's budget suggestion actually was millions of dollars higher than the sum proposed by Young’s office for the 1957-59 bienniurp. But Clay subtracted proposed salary increases Wyatt had included and Young had omitted, and revised Wyatt’s estimate for new schoolroom construction, which Clay said were “unrealistic." The lawmaker then came up with what he termed “base figures” from both proposals and found Wyatt’s to be lower than Young’s. Only one dissenting vote was cast for the six million dollar cut in the school budget. Rep. Charles Miser (R-Garrett) said he did not favor cutting down state funds for education. Eisenhower To Spend Weekend In Georgia WASHINGTON (ffl — President Eisenhower will leave here early Saturday for a two-day visit in Augusta, Ga., the White House announced today.

School Teacher Relates Flood Water Nightmare

By FRED PARKE United Press Staff Correspondent CLINCHPORT, Va. (UP)— How does it feel to see swirling, muddy water sweep into your new home across shiny hardwood floors, slap against the sides of a cherished piano and climb slowly up draperies and walls? “It’s like a nightmare,” said Mrs. Alonzo Starnes, a first grade >chool teacher in this tiny mountain community of 700 imperturbable folk. “You watch it come into your front yard and you know it will come no farther—it never has before! r-t “Then it crawls up your steps and inches under the front door. Still you have no real fears be?auSt you are in your home where you always have 1 been safe. “But it keeps coming. And when it gets knee deep, you go to higher ground. You watch it climb still higher before the rescue boat comes and takes you and your neighbors to safety.” The Little Things During the two days and nights you are away from your $12,000 shingle home, just 3 years old, the water rises almost to the ceiling, then slowly starts to fall. You don’t worry still about the safety of the home itself, Mrs. Starnes, an attractive, middleaged woman with greying hair, said. “You worry about the little things,” she said. “You hope the

Annual C. C. Dinner Held Here Thursday Youth Is Accented At Annual Banquet The accent was on youth at the 27tb annual Chamber of Commerce dinner meeting, held in the (Decatur Youth and Community Center Thursday evening. About 200- young men and women graduate each year from Decatur high schools, and only about 100 of these remain in Decatur because of limited job opportunities, retiring Chamber of Commerce president Robert H. Heller explained. The Chamber is about $5,000 short of its payment on 20 acres of land being purchased to provide industry with a ready site in Decatur. The payment will be due February 11. Heller introduced Clifford Brewer, new president of the Chamber. ' Brewer outlined a threepoint program for Chamber work this year, which includes the industrial development project so that Decatur’s youths will remain here, an industrial appreciation program, and assistance to retailers in their special programs, and continuance of the Chamber’s (regular functions. t Entertainment for the event was furnished by Dr. Theodore HoeltyNickel, director of music at Valparaiso University. Dr. HoeftyNickel, who was born and educated in Australia, later -.attending the 'University of Leipsic in GeA many, captivated the audience with his humorous wit and piano skits. Using the tune "Three Blind Mice,” he played ft as a church hymn, march, waltz, and several other styles, to show what can be done by changing the tempo and style of playing the same bars of music. A panel discussion on youth opportunity in foreign countries was presented by four young men from Indiana Technical College. William Hanum, instructor at the college, introduced the 27 foreign students who were present. Each sat at the head of a table, and table members were fined if they could not pronounce their names correctly. Fines went to the March of Dimes. Asad Thahabeyah, of Syria, pointed out that that youth of the Arab nations have a wonderful opportunity to learn and help advance their Moslem culture in certain western technologies. He added that ft was the youth of the Arab countries who were leading the way to freedom and democracy. At the end of the meeting, Thahabeyah turned his check over CaattaaeA «■ Page Eight

couch won’t float into the picture window and break it. “You trust that irreplacable pictures of your son as a baby won’t be ruined. You pray that your white collie Lassie, 12 years old, and cat, Rhubarb, both left behind for the more precious load of neighbors, will somehow come through the ordeal.” Mrs. Starnes and her husband, an agricultural instructor at nearby Gate City, Va., High School, found a home away from home, like some 400 of their neighbors, with a friend, Mrs. Ethel Miller at Gate City. The evacuation came on Tuesday afternoon. During the night flood waters of the Clinch River and converging Stock Creek — no more than a trickle in summer but now 50 yards wide — rose 9 feet ab6ve the town’s one main street. Two Inches of Mud Two days later the ugly, butterscotch water starts falling. By .Thursday afternoon you are able to ford the main street and return to the mess that was your home. - Mud two inches deep lies everywhere throughout the house. A side has escaped caving forces of debris by the stance of a hedge alongside the house. ; Your furniture is topsy-turvy. Your television set and piano are hopelessly watersoaked. By scraping a- swath of mud away with (Coßtlaae* P««« Five)

$26 Million Is Cut From Fund On Drought Aid House Committee Reduces Fund For Drought States WASHINGTON (UP)-The House Appropriations Committee today slashed $26 million from the administration’s proposed $76 million emergency aid program for farmers and ranchers in the droughtridden Great Plains states. The congressmen said in an official report that S2O million of the amount they cut is not needed now. They said President Eisenhower can get it later if it is still needed. The President’s $76 million program, based on findings during his recent tour of the drought region, called for immediate soil conservation programs and for rushing feed grains to the stricken area. Agriculture Department officials had said some of the money would not be used until later this summer or fall. But they asked that *ll the money be provided now in an urgent deficiency bill. The House Agriculture Committee Thursday approved a bill to spend $25 million to S3O million annually on a soil bank for ranch$1.25 for each acre of land they took out of use. Some 25 million acres of land could be set aside under the program. The Appropriations Committee today approved deficiency appropriations to provide: 1. sls million for immediate soil conservation programs to provide for deep field plowing and emergency cover to stop wind erosion. Mr. Eisenhower asked $25 million for this purpose—with $7 million of it to be spent next summer, fall and winter. 2. sls million for the disaster loan revolving fund to provide emergency feed and seed for farmers and ranchers. Mr. Eisenhower asked $25 million. The committee said only $lO million is urgently needed now, and the remaining $5 million is to be used as a reserve fund. 3. S2O million for farm ownership loans. Mr. Eisenhower asked $26 million. The committee said the. S2O million fund would be "adequate." (Coatiaued ep Fax* Eirht) i■J— v ‘ ■ Mrs. Silas Sprunger Dies This Morning Funeral Services Sunday Afternoon Mrs. Silas Sprunger, 79, lifelong resident of Adams county, died at 4:15 o’clock fills morning at the home of a daughter, Mrs. Lawrence Von Gunten, Decatur route 6. She had been in failing health for four years and bedfast since last Sunday. She was born in Monroe township March 29, 1877, a daughter of Samuel and Anna Speheger-Riss, and was married to Silas Sprunger, in Berne. Mr. and Mrs. Sprunger resided at the Von Gunten home. Mrs. Sprunger was a member of the First Menhonite church at Berne. Surviving in addition to the husband are three sons, Hubert Sprunger of; Winter Haven, Fla., Milo Sprunger of Pendleton, and Fenton Sprunger of Monroe; three daughters, Mrs. Gus Dailey of Decatur, Mrs. Franklin Von Gunten of Fort Wayne, and Mrs. Lawrence Von Gunten of Decatur route 6; 12 grandchildren and six greatgrandchildren. Funeral services will be conducted at 1:30 p. m. Sunday at the ' First Mennonite church, the Rev. Olin A. Krehbiel officiating. Burial will be in the MRE cemetery. The body was removed to the Yager funeral home at Berne, < where friends may call after 1:30 p. m. Saturday until noon Sunday, : after which it will lie in state at ; the church. .

Hungary Reds Urge Severe Punishment Soviet Domination Os Hungary Shown VIENNA (W — Hungarian Communists urged today severe “punishment” for persons who incite or help others to escape from, their Soviet-dominated homeland. The Russian grip on Hungary was pointed up by Radio Budapest Thursday night. The Communist—run radio said Hungarian police reached agreement with the Soviet city command to ease the curfew in the Hungarian capital. The curfew now will be in effect from midnight to 4 a.m. instead of the former 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. restriction. Budapest Radio also announced the new effort by the Janos Kadar regime to curb mass escapes. About 185,000 Hungarian have fled since the freedom—from-Mos-cow uprising flared last October. The radio said the government has called on the Hungarian Peoples Republic Presidental Council to impose “severe punishment for persons who help people to escape or make propaganda for leaving the country.” Informed sources said the punishment for such activities under present law is two to three years imprisonment. The Presidential Council is the supreme administrative body in Hungary, but actually has no real approve with the Communist regime’s suggestion. State Police Post Restaurant Fired PENDELTON, Ind. ffl — Indiana State Police at Pendleton Post didn’t have a place to take a coffee break today. The Post restaurant, located across the road from the police headquarters, was , damaged badly by fire early this morning. Report Is Awaited On Cause Os Deaths Medical Report Is Awaited In Chicago CHICAGO (IP) — Authorities said a medical report may be ready today establishing the mysterious cause of death of the .teenaged Grimes sisters. The announcement came during a hearing Thursday into charges by an illiterate Skid Row dishwasher that he was tricked and beaten into confessing the murders of Barbara Grimes, 15, and her sister, Patrica, 13. Bennie (The Dishwasher) Bedwell repeated and expanded on his testimony concerning alleged police mistreatment in a second lengthy Criminal Court session. The habeas corpus hearing, by which Bedwell hopes to gain his freedom on bail, was recessed until Saturday without a decision. Bedwell is charged with the double murder of the girls. Bedwell previously retracted his confession in the slaying and said he signed the 13-page document because he was “ascalrt.” Chief Justice Wilber Crowley, who is conducting the hearings, drew ai? admission from the state’s attorney's office that the cause of the girls’ death still is unknown--10 days after their nude badies were found in a roadside ditch. Asst. State’s Atty. Robert Cooney told the court he expected to be able to furnish a report on the : death cause soon, perhaps today. Another witness, Dr. Walter Camp, stat® toxicologist, testified he believed the girls died Dec. 28, 1 on the same night they disappear(Coattned on Pa*c Five) Auto Theft Charged To Two Schoolgirls LINTON, Ind. (W — Two school- ( girls 14 and 15 years old were , charged with vehicle taking " in Greene County Juvenile Court. At}thorities said they played hookey ( from school, stole an auto from , a used car lot and parked it near 1 the lot after a two-hour joyride.

Six Cents

Bill Is Aimed At Preserving General Fund Bill Freezes Five Per Cent Os All Appropriations INDIANAPOLIS (UP)—The Indiana Legislature sent to'Governor Handley without a dissenting vote today a bill designed to put the brakes on state spending In the waning weeks of the current fiscal year. The Senate passed 50-0 a bill which got through the House 90-0 earlier. Handley undoubtedly will sign it, for he asked for It in a message to the Legislature last month. The bill freezes five per cent of all appropriations in all state departments the remainder of this fiscal year ending June 30. It was aimed at slowing down the depletion of general fund balances, which are being drained at an alarming rate as governmental costs exceed state revenues. New Bills Come In Sen. John Van Ness UUVaI paraiso), Senate president pro tom, said the bill “certainly wffl slow down the procedure" of some Apartment heads who have a. from one classification to another near the end of fiscal years in order to make more money available for spending. Meanwhile, a flock of new bills were introduced in House and Senate as the Legislature began its 23rd day of a 61-day session. Sens. Martha Burnett (R-Indian-apolis) and Eugene Bainbridge <DMunster) proposed a means of financing a previously suggested program for a driver education course in every Indiana high school and a Division of School Traffic Safety in the State Department of Public Instroction. It recommended that $1,500,000 be appropriated from state funds to distribute operating funds at the rate of $25 per enrolled pupil. Sens. John Harlan (R-Richmond) and Von Eichhorn (D-Uniondale) proposed that automobile dealers be required to close on Sundays under threat of SIOO fine and 10 days in jail. Would Ban Beer Sale Reps. Charles Miser (R-Garrett) and Arthur Atwell (R-Anderson) introduced a bill to prohibit groceries from selling beer or 'wine. Sen. Matthew Welsh (D-Vincen-nes) offered a bill to increase the salaries of Indiana Supreme and Appellate Court justices from $15,000 to $25,000 a year, the increase to be financed through fees collected for filing certain legal documents. The Senate Labor Committee also announced it will hold a public hearing next Wednesday on the “right to work” issue. Three bills have been introduced on that subject thus far, one calling for a 1958 voter referendum. A watered-down version of a tough time bill came out of a Senate committee aimed at permitting communities to operate on Daylight Saving Time during summer months. Permits DST In Summer The Senate Public Policy Committee voted late Thursday to recommend passage of an amended bill which would withhold state fund distributions only from cities, towns and counties which stayed on . “fast” time during winter months. . The same committee voted to kill a bill which would outlaw pinball machines-both payoff and no payoff types. The amended time bill offered by Sen. Arthur Wilson (D-Prince-ton) would* remove the penalties during the six months from May through October. Wilson’s original bills—the stiffest time measures yet proposed—called for the aid withholding plus criminal fines and jail terms for agencies of government violating CST any time during the year. ■’*% ... On the House side, the Elections Committee postponed action on a bill for nominating the governor, the U.S. senator and lieutenant governor candidates by (Ccatlauoa on Png* Btgbt)