Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 56, Number 292, Decatur, Adams County, 12 December 1958 — Page 1

Vol. LVI. No. 292.

Judge Myles F. Parrish

Eastern Coast Bears Brunt Os Latest Storm Up To 15 Inches 01 Snow In Sections Os t Carolinas, Virginia United Press International A hit - and - run snow storm churned northward along the Eastern Seaboard today, unloading falls of up to 15 inches in sections of the Carolinas and Virginia. The Atlantic storm dropped temperatures below freezing as far south as northern Florida and dumfied a snow cover across parts of Alabama and Georgia. As the storm whipped northward, powered by gale winds of 40 to SO miles per hour, weathermen issued heavy snow warnings for the mid-Atlantic region into New England. Up to six inches of snow was expected in the Northeast. At Oswego, N. Y„ a fleet of 40 snow plows and two Sno - Cats made progress in freeing the city of its six and one-half foot snow blanket, despite a fresh four-inch snowfall Thursday. No snow was expected today. Weather Kills 54 The week long series of wintry storms, which have ranged from the continental divide to the Atlantic, have been blamed for at least 54 deaths, 19 of them Thursday. Cold weather fires and fumes from overheated stoves took a tragic toll with most of the victims children. Ohio counted 12 fire deaths, six of them Thursday, and five persons died Thursday in two fires near Norfolk, Va. There were four such deaths in Illinois, two each in lowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota and one in Nebraska. Traffic accidents on snow and ice slicked highways also claimed a mounting toll, including a woman killed Thursday at Atlanta, Ga., in a collision blamed on icy roads. Other traffic deaths included nine in Illinois, three in Indiana, two in New jersey and one each in lowa, Michigan and New York . Three men froze to death in Chicago. Exhaustion was blamed for two deaths in lowa and Michigan and one in Illinois. Snowy Southland The Eastern storm began in Dixie Thursday and continued through the night in parts of eastern North Carolina and Virginia. Columbia, S. C., battled an eight - inch snowfall, the city’s heaviest since 1914, and snows up to a half-foot deep clogged roads in southeast Virginia. Communications and travel were disrupted in much of eastern North Carolina, Virginia and parts of South Carolina. A tornado spawned by the storm lashed a suburb of Sarasota, FlaThursday causing $25,000 damage. Small craft warnings were raised today along the south Florida coasts. Gale warnings were out from Cape Hatteras to Eastport, Maine and tides three-to five feet above normal were expected along the Virginia rnd North Carolina coasts. The brunt of the storm was expected to bypass the New York metropolitan area, but some snow was seen for eastern long Island. Light snow blanketed the coastal regions of New Jersey, creating (Continued on page eight) File County Bills By Next Wednesday Edward F. Jaberg, Adams county auditor, today announced that all claims against the county should be filed in the auditor’s office no later than Wednesday, Dec. 17, in order that checks may be written Dec. 22, and settlement made' for the year.

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER IN ADAMS COUNTY

■ *9l Judge G. Remy Bierly

Judges Are Honored By Bar Association Bierly And Parrish Honored Thursday Special awards were given to Judge-elect G. Remy Bierly and Judge Myles F. Parrish by the Adams county bar association Thursday evening following the second annual Christmas dinner held at the Fairway restaurant, Robert S. Anderson, president, said today. The awards, rosewood gavils with a banded silver inscription to each recipient, were presented to the two men for their services and special recognition brought to two members of the Adams county bar association. Myles F. Parrish was honored for his 10 years as judge of the Adams circuit court, while G. Remy -Bierly was honored for his election as one of the six Indiana appellate judges who will take office starting January 1. Favors were given to the attending attorneys’ wives, and gifts of two-pound boxes of candy were given to the wives by Mr. and Mrs. Bierly. Those attending the event were: Mr. and Mrs. Robert S. Anderson, Mr. and Mrs. Earl B. Adams, Mr. and Mrs. Howard E. Baumgartner, Mr. and Mrs. D. Burdette Custer, Mr. and Mrs. John L. DeVoss. Mr. and Mrs. Henry B. Heller, Mr. and Mrs. David Macklin, Mr. and Mrs. C. H. Muselman. Mark Morin, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Lutz Smith, Mr. and Mrs. Robert G. Smith, Mr. and and Mrs. Arthur E. Voglewede, Mr. Mrs. Severin Schurger, Mr. and Mrs. G. Remy Bierly, and Judge and Mrs. Myles F. Parrish. Last year, Henry B. Heller and Judge Earl B. Adams were honored for their 50 years of service in the bar association. To Award Prizes To Homestead Owners Herb Banning, president of the Homesteads Association, today announced that prizes will be awarded to association members having the best Christmas decorations at their homes. Three prizes will be awarded, of sls, $lO, and $5, with the judging to be made Dec. 24. Judges will be persons living out of the Homesteads area. Decatur Stores Open Nights Until Christmas Decatur’s retail stores will be open every night, beginning tonight, until 9 o’clock for the balance of the Christmas shopping season. These longer shopping hours will be in effect tonight and Saturday, all of next week, and Monday and Tuesday of Christmas week. The stores will close not later than 6 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 24, in order that owners and employes' may spend Christmas Eve with theirfamilies. j Retailers also asked persons holding Santa Claus train ride num--, bers which entitle the holder to prizes from the participating merchants, to claim their prizes by tomorrow. The winning numbers are posted by each store. INDIANA WEATHER Partly cktady north, some scattered snow mostly extreme north, cloudy south tonight and Saturday with snow spreading over most of south portion tonight and Saturday. Chance of rather heavy amounts extreme south. Not much temperature change. Low tonight 5 below to 5 above north, 5 to 15 above south. High Saturday 15 to 25.' Sunset today 5:21 p.m. c.d.t. Sunrise Saturday 7:57 a.m. c.d.t. Outlook for Sunday: Partly cloudy and continued cold. Snow flurries near Lake Michigan, lows Saturday night aero to 5 above north and central, aero to 5 above south. Highs Sunday 1$ to 2d.

Ike And Dulles Confer On New U.S. Proposal Secretary Os State To Meet Leaders Os Allies In Paris WASHINGTON (UPD — President Eisenhower and Secretary of State John Foster Dulles planned today to put the finishing touches on a U. S. proposal for Allied strategy to keep Berlin out of Communist bands. The President’s meeting with Dulles was to take place a few hours before the secretary leaves by air for Paris and *a Sunday session with the foreign ministers of Britain, France and West Germany. the past week in Walter Reed Army Hospital for treatment of an inflamed colon. His doctors said he recovered sufficiently to make the Paris trip-without endangering, his health. American officials said the four Western powers were flr m1 y agreed on the necessity to reject in blunt terms Russia’s Nov. 27 demand that the Big Three pull, their troops out of West Berlin and agree to establishment there of a "demilitarized free city.” Must Determine Counterproposal However, they have yet to agree on what kind of counterproposal to send Moscow in an proposal to send Moscow in an effort to sidetrack Premier Nikita Khrushchev’s Berlin campaign and get him to discuss anew the broad problems of German reunification and European security. Meanwhile, Russia Thursday night stepped up its war of nerves on Berlin by indicating it might turn the Eastern sector of the city over to the German Communists before the June 1 deadline set earlier unless the West comes to terms. The Russians also warned mat if Britain, France and the United States should try to force their way through German Communist territory to Red - encircled West Berlin it would be considered an act of war by the Soviet Union and the satellites allied with her in the Warsaw Pact. American officials characterized the renewed Russian blasts as designed to shake the determination of the Allies to stand firm on the Berlin crisis. They predicted the Moscow effort would fail completely. _ , Formulate Allied Reply The four - power Paris meeting (Continued on page eight) Over $400,000 On Road Work In County Master Report By State Department More than $400,000 in construction and repair of Indiana highways was completed in Adams county this year, according to the master report of the state highway department. Largest project of the year was the contract for resurfacing highway 224 from 13th street in Decatur to highway 1 in Wells county. Meshberger Bros, won the contract for $292,386. , County roads built with federal and state funds were next in amounts spent here. The road 2.5 miles north of highway 224, running west from highway 101 for 301 miles, cost $54,419.90, or $lB,079.70 a mile. The contract was awarded to Meshberger Bros. Another county road built through the state highway department with federal funds was the one which 'is five to four jniles west of U.S. highway 27, three miles north of !state road 118. Meshberger Bros, won the contract for $16,182.90, to build .95 mile of road. Another county road improvement three miles north of state road 118 and one mile south of Salem was awarded to Yost Construction company for Highway 27 was resurfaced from 1.47 miles north of its junction with 124 to 2.3 miles south of the junction at Coppess Corners by the state highway department at an estimated cost of $31,000. Total cost of construction with federal or state aid tor the yeas was $416,705.00 in Adams county, a small portion of which was in more federal money was spent than Wells county. Almost three times state money on all the Hoosier projects, the report shows. Federal funds were $97,304,692; the state spent $36,995,552 on construction in Indiana. The federal government matched the state funds on primary and secondary highway building. .

Decatur, Indiana, Friday, December 12,1958.

Soviet Union Warning Points To Seriousness Os Red Stand On Berlin

East And West To Break Off Stalled Talks Agree In Principle To End Deadlocked Geneva Conference GENEVA (UPD — East and West have agreed in principle to break up the hopelessly snarled conference on prevention of surprise attack next week without setting a resumption date, informed sources said today. They said an understanding reached in behind - the - scenes moves would end the talks Wednesday or Thursday, ostensibly for the Christmas holidays. However, it was agreed that the United States and Russia would enter new diplomatic negotiations to redefine the task of the conference and that no new meeting date would be set until both sides agreed on an agenda in advance. Hie Soviet delegation presented today's session of the conference with the details of their previously proposed ground and aerial inspection scheme to prevent surprise attacks. The seven-page Soviet program included a detailed blueprint of ground control posts in ports, rail junctions and on highways in NATO and Warsaw Pact and Baghdad Pact nations. It also elaborated on the Soviet plan for aerial photography in an area 500 miles deep on either side of the Iron Curtain in Europe. The Russians linked the plan with their politically-loaded omnibus disarmament plan, a condition which made western rejection certain. The outlook was much brighter for Geneva's other conference —on prevention of nuclear weapons tests. Although no speedy agreement was in sight, the talks at least were making progress. The three atomic nations involved are trying to resolve the differing East-West views for a nuclear control organization. The West wants an organization unhampered by Soviet vetoes, while the Russians are demanding limits on the powers of nucleas investigating teams. Western sources said the Soviets appeared to be relaxing their opposition to leaving peaceful exploRotary Entertained By School Chorus Ladies Guests At Christmas Program The Decatur high school chorus entertained the Decatur Rotary club at its annual Christmas ladies’ night at the Decatur Youth and Community Center last night. H. P. Schmitt, Jr., club vice president, presided and Carl Gerber was program chairman. The chorus, under the direction of Migs Helen Haubold, began its program with a negro spiritual. Miss Ann K q,c h e r accompanied them on the vibraharp for their rendition of "Deep Purple.” Next followed a medley from “South Pacific.” The latter part of the program consisted of Christmas music. Jack Dailey played his trumpet to accent the choir’s ”0, Come All Ye faithful.” "Ave Marla” was the next number. Jim Corah sang the solo part of “Jesu Bambino.” “The Twelve days of Christmas” had been especially prepared for this concert. The program concluded with “Silent Night.” Peter Friederici, Rotary exchange student, was featured singing a verse in its original German. Charles Gable and William Snyder were introduced' as new Rotarians. Hie Rotary wives received decorative Christmas favors and the fines collected are to be given to the Good Fellows club.

No Relief In Sight From Cold Weather Below Zero Again In North Indiana United Press International A new siege of snow bore down on Southern Indiana today on the K heels of a new six-inch fall at the southern tip of Lake Michigan and forecasts called for sub-zero temperatures to stretch through the entire weekend. "Rather heavy” amounts of snow were forecast for the extreme south portion tonight and Saturday, with snow spreading over most of the rest of the southern area. A six - inch snow early this morning buried an area in a 10-mile radius of Michigan City and raised to about a foot or more the depth of the snow now on the ground there. This was the same area paralyzed by a four-foot snow last February. There was no immediate prospect of abatement of the weeklong cold wave which sent temperatures plunging below zero again this morning. Below-zero temperatures were recorded tpday for the fourth day in a row. Latest forecasts called for "scattered snow” to continue in the north portion of Hoosierland and snow spreading over most of tiie south portion tonb ht and Saturday. * ’ The Weather Bureau said there is a "chance of rather heavy amounts” in the extreme south portion. Meanwhile, the forecasts called for below-zero temperatures tonight and Saturday night, and there was every indication the same might prevail Sunday night. Lows tonight will range from 5 below to 10 above, and Saturday night from 5 below to 5 above, with daytime high temperatures from 15 to 20 Saturday and 10 to 20 Sunday. The outlook for Sunday was for snow flurries in the extreme (Continued on page elg-ht) Launching Sites In Tibet Aid Russians Doubt Advantage In Military Standpoint WASHINGTON (UPD—National space agency scientists said today that launching platforms at altitudes of 15,000 to 20,000 feet in Tibet would give the Russians a “substantial” advantage in missile and satellite firings. But at tiie Pentagon, officials expressed doubt whether any military advantage would accrue from high altitude bases. The scientists said that 50 per cent of the weight of the atmosphere is below an altitude of 15,000 feet, and consequently “atmospheric drag” would be halved. The high-altitude launching sites also could be a tip-off that Soviet scientists are making major gains in development of solid-tael rockets. The statements were made through a spokesman for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in commenting on reports from the Tibetan border that 250,000 Chinese laborers are working under Russian direction to "build two dozen launching platforms on the Tibetan plateau, which lies at altitudes of more than 15,000 feet. The space agency experts said tiie reduction in “drag" would increase by a substantial percentage the “payload” weight of a satellite that could be launched with a given rocket,' and would also substantially lengthen the distance a missile could travel. The Pentagon officials said the principal advantages to the Russians would be experimental and possibly psychological. The psychological effect could boomerang, however, if the Indian government should verify the existence of such bases and take serious exception to them. , z

16 Are Killed From Fires In East Midwest Most Deaths Blamed On Cold And Faulty Heaters And Stoves United Press International At least 16 persons, including eight children, died in fires through the East and Midwest Thursday. Most of the deaths were blamed on the cold weather which found many families using faulty heaters and oil stoves. A family of six perished in Ironton, Ohio, when an oil cook stove apparently exploded in their small, three-room frame home. Dead were Elmer Littlejohn, 29, his wife, Betty, 25, and their four children, Gary, 7, Gail 5, Dorothy 3, and a 3-month-old infant. Only a few miles from Ironton a blaze swept through a home late Wednesday night killing Harley E. Graham, 28, and his sister, Connie Sue, 8. Two infant brothers were asphyxiated in St. Paul, Minn., Thursday- when fumes from a faulty gas heater spread through a home. The victims were Dean Kittleson, 1, and Douglas, 2. Four other members of the family survived. In Grandview, Wis., Sherry Gustafson, 4, and her brother, Dennis, 2, died of smoke inhalation when an oil heater exploded in their home a few moments after their mother left to go to the store. Mrs. Pauline Davis, 17, died In the bedroom of her home In Culbertson, Neb., when a kerosene stove exploded. Firemen had to knock down a locked door to enter the home. Five persons were killed in two fires in Norfolk, Va. Eight persons in two families were left homeless when a fire gutted a two-family house in Belleville, Mich. Mrs. Marjorie Edwards, 27, and Mrs. Sylvia Freeman, 24, and their six children, ages 3 to 9, survived the fire, but their possessions were destroyed. Daniel Kipfer Dies Early This Morning Funeral Services Sunday Afternoon Daniel Kipfer, 91-year-old retired farmer, died at 4 o’clock this morning at the home of a daughter, Mrs. Obed Steffen, five miles east and one-half miles south of Bluffton, where he had resided since 1937. Death was attributed to complications. He had been bedfast for the past week. He was born in French township April 24, 1867, a son of Ulrich and Katherine Gerber-Steffen, and was married in 1894 to Mary Moser, who preceded him in death in 1935. Mr. Kipfer was a member of the Christian Apostolic church. Surviving in addition to Mrs, Steffen are three other daughters. Miss Elma Kipfer of Bluffton, Mrs. 'Joe Meyer of Bluffton, and Mf-fi. Wilmer Steffen of Decatur route 4; three sons, Edward and Reuben Kipfer of Bluffton, and Obed Kipfer of Monroe; 17 grandchildren; 19 great-grandchildren: one brother, William Kipfer of Adams county, and one sister, Mrs. Katie Reinhardt of Vera Cruz. Two sons, three brothers and three sisters are deceased. Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Obed Steffen home and at 1:30 p.m. at the Christian Apostolic church, the Rev. Samuel Aeschliman officiating. Burial will be in the church cemetery. The body will be returned from the Vager funeral home to the Obed Steffen residence, where friends may call after 8 o’clock this evening.

Congress Probe Os Inflation Is Urged Senate Democratic Leader Asks Probe WASHINGTON (UPD — Sen. Paul H. Douglas (D-IH.), said today a proposed congressional investigation of inflation should be broadened to include the problem of unemployment. Douglas made the suggestion in hailing Senate Democratic Leader Lyndon B. Johnson’s call in San Angelo, Tex., Thursday night for the new Congress to take a searching look at inflation, Johnson (D-Tex.) Indicated the study should be conducted by the joint economic committee, now headed by Rep. Wright Patman (D-Tex.). Douglas said he did not know whether he would be chosen to head the committee in the new Congress, but other senators indicated he was the probable selection under arrangements whereby the chairmanship revolves between the House and Senate. Study Inflation Prevention Douglas said Congress "should consider unemployment and how to reduce it as well as how to prevent inflation.” An economic investigation with Johnson’s influential support probably would become the Democratic Party’s major business Inquiry of the new session. The Senate Finance Committee last session began a study of government credit and monetary policies. Boomed as a sweeping investigation at its outset, the study failed to become an attentiongetter. Must Find Solutions Johnson said an investigation conducted more than 20 years ago by the temporary National Economic Committee, headed by Sen. Joseph C. O’Mahoney (DWyo.), was the most searching economic study in history. “It seems to me that we need to take the same kind of searching look once again,” he said. “The situation with which we are confronted has no precedent. We are going to have to bring together our best minds to find solutions.” Johnson said the inflation of the past year does not fit the economists’ classic pattern because prices continued to rise in a period of unemployment ahd partialy curtailed production. Two Children Killed As Train Hits Bus Canada School Bus Wrecked By Train ESSEX, Ont. (UPD — A crack passenger train from New York crashed into a parochial school bus at a grade crossing three miles east of here today, killing two young boys and injuring the driver and three other pupils. The victims were identified by Father M. I. O’Neill of Holy Name Catholic School, Essex, as Paul Posse and David Purvis, both about 9 years old. The driver, Albert Slock, Essex, and Roger Rivest, 8, Julie Bena, 13, and her sister, Jeanie, 10, were treated for injuries at the Essex medical center. Four other youngsters escaped without injuries. The bus was owned by the Holy Name school. Officials of New York Centerl Railroad said the passenger train, the Detroiter, was due in Detroit at 8 a.m., but was running about 30 minutes behind schedule. The crossing at which the accident occurred had no flasher signals. Visibility was reported as good. The impact of the crash knocked the bus clear off the tracks and apparently prevented additional deaths.

Warns Against Shooting Way Into Berlin Khrushchev Warns Use Os Force Could Lead Into New War MOSCOW (UPD — The Soviet Union’s warning to the West against trying to shoot its way into West Berlin was issued to show the deadly seriousness of Premier Nikita Khrushchev’s proposals on the future of Berlin, diplomatic observers said .-today. Russia, in an authorized declaration by the official Tass news agency, said Thursday night any attempt to force away into Berlin could lead to war “with all its disastrous consequences.” It said an attack on East Germany would be considered an attack on the Warsaw Pact nations led by Russia. (In Washington, the State Department said the United States would not be deterred by Soviet threats from defbndings its rights in Berlin.) Charges War Preparation Khrushchev, in an interview with the newspaper "Sueddeutsche Zeitung” of Munich, repeated the warning today and said the West could have only one motive in maintaining military forces in West Berlin—“to prepare a hot war.” Diplomatic observers noted the Russian warning came on the eve of the NATO foreign ministers conference in PaHs where Secretary of State John Foster Dulles meets the foreign ministers of France, Britain and West Germany this weekend. The statement reiterated the Soviet Union’s determination to carry out its plan to turn Berlin over to the East German Communists. It indicated that Sovi leaders are disappointed that their proposals have failed to bring a formal Western reply. “Fraught With Danger” In the absence of a reply Russia has had two weeks in which to sample and analyze official and unofficial reactions in the United States, Britain, France and West Germany. Indications in the press that the West is just as determined to stay in Berlin as the Soviet Union is to get out have made It necessary for Russia to make its position more explicit. On this score it left no room for doubt. It also underscored the comment of San. Hubert Humphrey (D-Minn.) after an eight-hour talk with Khrushchev that the Berlin situation was "fraught with danger.” Youth Is Sentenced To Life For Murder LOUISVILLE, Ky. (UPD — William Strickland, Jr., 17, Jeffersonville, Ind., was sentenced Thursday by a criminal court here to a life sentence for his part in the fatal stabbing of Ray B. Mitchell, 45, Louftville, on Oct. 6. Strickland was charged with aiding and abetting in the crime with three other persons. Two other youths, Eugene Harrison, 16, and Ronald Sanders, 15, both of Louisville, are awaiting a decision as to which court will try them in the case.

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Six Cents