Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 59, Number 100, Decatur, Adams County, 28 April 1961 — Page 1

Vol. LIX No. 100.

27 To Graduate At Pleasant Mills

Plans for the annual baccalaureate and commencement exercises of the Pleasant Mills high school were announced today by Gerald W. Vizard, school principal. Baccalaureate exercises will be held in the school auditorium at 8 p.m. Sunday, May 7, and the commencement exercises, also at the school auditorium, at 8 p.m. Monday, May 8. There are 27 candidates for diplomas at the Pleasant Mills school. Phil N. Eskew, superintendent of the Huntington city schools, will deliver the commencement address. He graduated from Oakland City College, has a master’s degree from Indiana University, and has also done graduate work at Purdue and Indiana Universities. He was awarded an honorary LLD from Oakland City College in 1958. He has served as coach, athletic official, dean at boys, principal and superintendent of schools in various sections of Indiana. Eskew has spoken in Adams county on numerous occasions. List of Graduates Members of the senior class are as follows: Nancy Louise Bailey, Norma Jean Bauman, Kathleen Brunstrup, Walter James Buettner, Bonnie Lou Cook, Rose Louise Currie, James Allen Death, Donald Eugene Edgell, Roy Eugene Ehrsam, Barbara Dianne Garwood. Mary Lucille Geisler, Larry Lee Hindenlang, Kathryn Virginia Irwin. Patricia Louise Johnson, Robert Eugene Kelley, Robert Joseph Martz, Nina Marie McAhren, Susan Ann McCullough, Linda Lou Riley, Gerald Allen Smith, Ellamae Speakman, Phillis Ann Becher, Judith Mabie Tinkham, Helen Patricia Van Over, Carol Louise Watte, Anthony Lloyd Wagner, Virginia Lee Wolfe. Baccalaureate Bites The Rev. Leon Lacoax, pastor of the Pleasant Mills and Salem Methodist churches, will deliver the baccalaureate sermon. The exercises will open with music by Larry Merriman, followed by invocation by the Rev. Kenneth Angle, pastor of the Union Chapel Evangelical United Brethren church. A song by the Limberlost Lads will precede the bacca-

Flexible Work Week Asked By Auto Workers DETROIT (UPD— United Auto Workers union leaders today placed a “flexible” work week at the top of a list of demands they want served on the auto industry in contract negotiations this summer. The bargaining goals were contained in a resolutions committee report to a special UAW convention called to map collective bargaining demands. A floor fight loomed on the flexible work week plan which apparently did not go far enough to satisfy some UAW members. One union group has been sounding the cry: “30-40-60 or fight.” They want a 30 hour week with 40 hours pay and company-paid retirement pensions at age 60 as a means of fighting unemployment by spreading the work. To support these demands, they have been picketing the convention headquarters and hinted at a floor fight before the convention ends Saturday. > The resolutions committee recommendations followed the general pattern laid down by UAW President Walter P. Reuther in a keynote speech Thursday. Reuther unveiled a plan for a flexible work week which would reduce the number of work hours from the normal 40 during periods of high unemployment to spread the available jobs among more workers. He called on Congress to change the federal wage and hour law to permit a flexible work week. Today, the convention resolutions committee urged a similar plan be negotiated with industry as a means of solving unemployment problems. However, the resolutions committee also said it favored a flexible approach to the negotiations with the auto industry. Thus it indicated it also might consider a flat reduction in the work week, longer vacations, earlier retirement and control of overtime as means of combating unemployment, as weU as the flexible work week.

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT —— ONLY DAILY NEWSPAP ER IN ADAMS COUNTY t . .

Phil N. Eskew laureate sermon. The Limberlost Lads will present another song, and the service will conclude with the benediction by Rev. Lacoax. Commencement Rites Commencement exercises will open with the processional, played by Larry Merriman, and invocation by Rev. Angle. The Limberlost Lads will sing, followed by the commencement address by Eskew. Principal Vizard will make the presentation of awards, and the salutatory address will be given by Miss Louise Currie, and the valedictory address by Miss Patricia Johnson. Gail M. Grabill, superintendent of the Adams county schools, will present the diplomas to the graduates, Rev. Angle will pronounce the benediction, and the exercises will close with the recessional, played by Larry Merriman.

Hubert E. Butler Dies Last Evening Hubert E. Butler, 50. who resided in St. Mary’s township, three and one-half miles southeast of Decatur, died at 6:35 o’clock Thursday evening at the Adams county memorial hospital, following an illness of four weeks. He was bom in Washington township June 20, 1910, a son of Harve and Amelia Winters-Butler, and was married to Luella Kelley March 9, 1934. Mr. Butler, a lifelong resident of this community, was an employe of the state highway department until ill health forced his retirement in January. Surviving are his wife; five sons and one daughter, Thomas, Joseph, Paul, Jack, James and Judy Butler, all of in or near Decatur; six grandchildren, and two brothers, Harold Butler of Fort Wayne, and Robert Butler of Decatur. Funeral services will be conducted at 1:30 p. m. Sunday at the Zwick funeral home, the Rev. Stanley Neuenschwander officiating. Burial will be in the Decatur cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home after 7 p. m. today until time of the services.

Sen. Kefauver Asks Study Os Testimony

WASHINGTON (UPD — Chairman Estes Kefauver, D-Tenn., asked the Justice Department today to study the testimony of General Electric executives before his Senate antitrust subcommittee for possible perjury action. Kefauver sent the department contradictory testimony given Thursday about whether GE vice president Arthur F. Vinson condoned or authorized price-rigging by men working under him. Testifying under oath, Vinson said he never even knew that $125,000-a-year division chiefs and $75,000-a-year department managers met with competitors to agree on prices they would charge for heavy electrical equipment. Former executives who accused him of pressuring them into pricefixing either lied or were laboring under an "honest misunderstanding.” Vinson testified. Retains Composure The heavy-set, $200,000-a-year GE vice president did not appear disturbed by testimony from a surprise witness, Raymond W. Smith, who as chief of the company’s huge transformer division worked under him. Smith, who has pleaded guilty to criminal charges of price-fix-ing, said the president of GE and the president of Westinghouse Electric Corp, met in Boston in 1958 to discuss a sharp drop in transformer prices.

Cuba Charges US, Planning On Aggression MIAMI (UPI) — Fidel Castro’s Cuba told the world early today that it is in imminent danger of “direct armed aggression by the United States.” Radio Havana said President Osvaldo Dorticos handed the latest Castroite charge of “U.S. aggression” to foreign diplomats summoned from their beds to a predawn meeting at his official residence. The broadcast said Dorticos made the charge thrdugh diplomatic channels because of the “exceptional and dramatic circumstances.” Dorticos said the Castro regime is willing to try to negotiate a settlement with the United States, “but we will fight. . . to the last drop of our blood if they attack us,” the radio reported. The broadcast quoted a note signed by Castro and Dorticos citing “American press reports” as the basis for the Castroite charge that the “ruling circles of the United States” are openly preparing for war against Cuba. It mentioned reports of U.S. “consultations and soundings” with other Latin American nations “seeking aid for direct armed action against our country.” The broadcast charged that last week’s invasion of Cuba by antiCastro refugees was "organized, equipped, directed and militarily aided by the government of the U.S.A.” It said Cuba has repeatedly expressed wilingness to settle its differences with the United States, while the U.S. government “has responded with threats, measures of aggression and economic blockades, with sabotage and conspiratorial activities, with air bombardment of our cities and more recently with the invasion of our country, using counter-revolution-ary and mercenary troops.”

Decatur High School Revue This Evening The Decatur high school revue, “America Celebrates,” will be presented at the high school audirorium at 8 o’clock tonight. Adult admission is only 50 cents. A dress rehearsal this afternoon, primarily for the students, was warmly received, and a large crowd is anticipated tonight. Library To Close All Day Tuesday The Decatur public library will be closed all Tuesday because of the district library meeting in Columbia City. This year’s theme is “Changing the public’s image of the library.” The panel discussion will be on recent legislation as it affects the public image of the library. Attending from Decatur will be Miss Bertha Heller, librarian; assistants Mrs. Martha G. Heller and Miss Dianne Linn, and Dick D. Heller, Jr.

Smith sajd Vinson gave him details of the meeting and that he interpreted Vinson’s account as a cue to meet with Westinghouse and other competitors to. seek agreement on stabilizing prices. Vinson insisted that Smith misunderstood him completely. Later; spokesmen for the two companies said GE president Robert Paxton and Westinghouse president Mark W. Cresap Jr. had merely exchanged greetings and held a “general and proper” discussion at the Boston meeting. Favors Competition Vinson pictured himself as a man who believed in price competition and who delegated responsibility for determining prices to his division chiefs. Under questioning, Vinson said he could not reasonably have known about price-rigging by subordinates. He was asked whether former division chief George E. Burens and three department managers under Burens fabricated testimony about a luncheon in 1958 at which Vinson allegedly authorized them to meet secretly with competitors. “That is my belief,” Vinson replied. Burens and the three managers all were convicted of price-rigging and all have been fired. They have said they disliked price-fix-ing arrangements but became involved on orders from company higher-ups, including Vinson.

Decatur, Indiana, Friday, April 28, 1961.

Mercury Space Craft Is Blasted Aloft-Preliide To Flight Os Astronaut

Rusk Speeding Back To U.S.

WASHINGTON (UPD— Officials said today that Secretary of State Dean Rusk is cutting short his stay at the CENTO conference in Turkey to speed back here early Saturday for consultations on the growing Laos crisis. This was disclosed as the United States weighed the wisdom of military intervention in Laos if the Communist-led rebels continue to ignore the British-Soviet cease-fire call. There was no sign that President Kennedy had reached any firm decision. Rusk had not planned to return to Washington until early Sunday. Instead, he will arrive here at 6 a.m. Saturday and confer with top State Department officials and others at 9:30 a.m. Rusk also is expected to be called into consultation by President Kennedy, who also is returning to Washington during the night' from a speaking engagement in Chicago. Kennedy met Thursday with top diplomatic and military officials and key congressmen to discuss possible Allied military moves in the face of the Red offensive in Laos. » Officers Elected By Jefferson Club The Adams county Jefferson club held a re-organization meeting at the Geneva high school Thursday evening, with a potluck supper preceding the business meeting. The business meeting was opened by Suzanne Hofstetter playing the Star Spangled Banner on the saxaphone. Stanley Baumgartner introduced the entertainment for the evening. Mike Fenstermaker and George Cott, who played several accordian numbers. L. A. Mann conducted the business meeting. Officers for the year 1961-62 were elected, with the following taking office: president, Roger Singleton: vice president, Helen Hofstetter; secretary, Rose Kneuss; treasurer, Al Cott. Burl Johnson, state representative from Adams and Wells counties, and Von Eichhorn, senator from Adams, Wells and Blackford counties, related some of the legislative measures passed at the last session of the legislature, and some of the necessary measures that need to be passed. Instances were cited wherein some of the tax changes have benefited big business and the working class has had increases.

INDIANA WEATHER Frost or freezing temperature warning tonight. Clearing, diminishing winds and colder tonight. Saturday fair and warmer. Low tonight 27 to 33. High Saturday in the 50s north, low 60s south. Sunset today 7:36 p. m. Sunrise Saturday 5:49 a. m. Outlook for Sunday: Increasing cloudiness with scattered showers and turning colder again late Sunday. Lows 30 to 38. Highs 55 to 65. Decatur Temperature* Ix>cal weather data for the 24 hour period ending at 11 a.m. today. 12 noon 60 1 a.m SO 1 p.m 62 2 a.m. 48. 2 p.m. - ............ SO 2 a.m 46 3 p.m 62 4 a.m 44 4 p.m 64 5 a.m 44 5 p.m 62 6 a.m. 44 6 p.m. 60 7 a.m 46 7 p.m. 59 8 a.m 50 8 p.m 57 9 a.m 48 9 p.m 55 10 a.m 47 10 p.m. 54 11 a.m 43 11 p.m 52 midnight 50 Rain Total for 24 hours ending at 7 a.m.. today, .39 'inches. The St. Mary's river was at 19.08 feet. 6.08 feet over theoretical flood stage.

Three Os Concert Dates Confirmed Reports on the recent membership campaign and the 1961-62 concert series were made at a meeting of the board of directors of the Adams County Civic Music association, Thursday evening at the Roy Kalver residence. Mrs. Kalver, president of the organization, spoke on the recent successful drive and told the group that the dates for the first three concerts had been confirmed. Weekley and Arganbright, duo-pianists, will appear here Oct. 12, the Purdue glee club, Nov. 2, and the Indianapolis Symphony orchestra, Jan. 23. Miss Mildred Dilling will perform in March and Stan Freeman in April, but exact dates have not yet been set. * Herman Krueckeberg. association treasurer, gave his report 'and told the directors that the organization is in a very healthy financial condition. Funds have been set aside for the payment of next season’s concerts, plus whatever expenses might be entailed. When tickets are mailed to members next fall, it was decided to enclose with them the dates of the Civic concert series in Wahabi, Warsaw, Huntington and Columbia City. Memberships in the Adams county group permit local ticket holders to attend concerts in these neighboring cities free of charge. Plans were discussed to make memberships in coming years available to communities near Decatur which do not have concert series. A discussion was also held on various nationally known artists who might be engaged in future yeans. Twenty members of the board were in attendance at last night’s meeting.

Musical Program At Adams Central May 5 The Adams Central music department will present “MusicTime” Friday evening, May 5, at 8 o’clock. Four music organizations will participate in the concert frofri the junior and senior high school. Don Gerig will direct the senior band and junior band and Leon Gerig will direct the concert choir and junior choir. The program will have a variety of musical selections, from sacred to novelty numbers. The concert choir will have a unique presentation of southern folksongsQ and novelty numbers called “A Southern Songfest.” Several ensemble groups will also participate in this portion of the concert. The concert choir and ensembles have presented several church concerts in recent weeks. This organization is composed of 60 selected voices. The junior choir is composed of 98 seventh and eighth grade students. This group will sing four numbers. Another junior high school music organization, the junior band, will present two selections. This group has 75 members. The most active of all the musical organizations at Adams Central, the senior band, will present several varied selections. This organization has 72 members. The concert will be given at the Adams Central gym. Tickets are being sold by members of the various bands and choirs. Adult tickets will be 65 cents, and student tickets will be 40 cents. Tickets will also be available at the door.

WASHINGTON (UPD— A Mercury space craft was blasted aloft today in a tough and apparently successful test of its' escape system, although the rocket did not reach the expected altitude. The test, last of a series before an American astronaut is to be rocketed into suborbital flight next week, was conducted at the federal space agency’s experimental station at Wallops Island, Va. The space administration reported that the rocket reached only 14,000 feet, instead of 40,000 as planned. But a spokesman said the escape system designed to enable an astronaut to escape from a rocket failure appeared to have worked well. “The escape was triggered under much more severe conditions than will occur during either the manned Mercury - Redstone (suborbital) or Atlas-boosted (orbital) flights,” the space agency said. “The capsule (fired at 9:04) was recovered at 9:14 a.m. EST and was returned to Wallops Station at 9:30 a.m. EST by helicopter. The capsule appears to be in good condition.” In explanation of the low altitude, scientists at the scene said “one of the launching rockets was a little slow in firing.” The “Little Joe” launcher used in the experiment was made up of six solid-fuel rockets bound together in one rocket frame. After examining the capsule, the scientists said it could be used again in tests or space flights. The same capsule was slightly damaged in the March test, but was fully repaired. The recovery was effected eight, miles off Wallops Island in the Atlantic. Electronic data showed that the rocket reached a maximum speed of 1,100 miles an hour. o

The space agency said the escape rocket was triggered at an altitude of 12,000 feet, and that the space craft then rose to the 14,000-foot level before parachuting into the sea. The plan called for triggering the escape mechanism at 35,000 feet after which the man-in-space capsule had been expected to rise to about 45,000 feet. Results of today’s test may determine whether a U.S. astronaut will be carried up in a similar capsule next week on a 115-mile downrange rocket ride from Cape Canaveral. In a test March 18, the escape rocket fired too soon and the capsule was slightly damaged. But the scientists said that an astronaut would have survived either the flight today or the one on March 18.

Advertising Index Advertiser Arnold Lumber Co., Inc 8 Adams Theater 3 Burk Elevator Co 5 Blue Flame Gas Corporation — 5 Beavers Oil Service, Inc 6 Carling’s Black Label Beer —7 Cowens Insurance Agency 8 Drive-In Theater —— - 3 D. & T. Standard Service ----- 5 Decatur Missionary Church 2 Evans Sales & Service 5,7 Erie-Lackawanna Railroad 2 Ehingers 3 First State Bank of Decatur —- 2 Allen Fleming 5 Paul Havens Chevrolet-Buick, Inc. 5,7, 8 Habegger-Schafers 2 I. & M. Electric Co —2, 3,4, 5. 4 6,7, 8 Little Elevator Co 6 Mies Recreation — 7 Model Hatchery 5 Niblick & Co a 3 Pure “5” Points Service ——7 L. Smith Insurance Agency], Ind'4 Smith Drug Co —————2, 3,4, 6 Schwartz Ford Co., Inc —, 5 Stucky & Co 2 Dr. Ray Stingely —— —— 5 Mrs. Jim Smith 5 Texaco, Inc 5 Teeple Truck Line 5 Tony’s Tap . 8 Zwick Funeral Home 3 Walt’s Standard Service 7 Zurcher’s Mobil Service ——7 Ruarl Church Page Sponsors - 6

Pancake Supper Os Lions Club Monday Committees were announced today for the annual pancake supper served by the Decatar Lions club, which will be held at the Decatur Youth and Community Center Monday evening, with serving from 5:30 to 7:30 o’clock. The co-chairmen, Herb Banning and Frank Lybarger, today asked all Lions club members to wear white shirts and bow ties. The majority of the proceeds from this annual supper are devoted to purchase of eye glasses for the needy children of all Decatur schools. Price of the supper is only sl, with children under 12 years of age served for only 50 cents. Adult tickets may be obtained from Lions dub members and these tickets and the children’s tickets will also be available at the center Monday evening. > The committees are as follows: Head cook, Alva Lawson; grillmen—Fred Corah, Deane Dor win, Jack Gordon, Victor Porter, Lyman Hann and Harry Schwartz; pancake battermen—Jay Markley and Dr. Mel Weisman; coffee detail—Jim Cowens and Norman Steury; Scout detail—Dick Mies and Byford Smith; ticket detail— Ed Highland and Roger Gentis; milk detail—Ralph Smith, Jr., and Carroll Schroeder; serving detail— Bob Worthman and Bill McCblly. Herman Krueckeberg, head waiter; row I—-Capt. Roy Price, Thurman Drew, Bob Frisinger, Bob Holthouse, Ron Parrish, Harry Knapp, Gordon Hooper, Glen Mauller; row 2—Capt. Bob Zwick, Jim Brader, Merritt Alger, Hugh J. Andrews, Rev. Richard Ludwig, Dr. Harold Zwick, Smith F. Snively, Lawrence Anspaugh; row 3— Capt. Noah Steury, Clyde Butler, D. B. Custer, Clark Mayclin, Alan Michels, James Beery; row 4— Capt. Leo Seltenright, Fritz Ellsworth, Clark Smith, Earl Cass, Richard Sullivan, Milton Spence, Charles McFarren; row s—Capt Weldon Bumgerdner, Russell Acker, Dick Heller, Jr., Rev. Hazen

Red Offensive Perils Peace

By EUGENE McLOUGHLIN United Press International A heavy Communist-supported offensive against pro - Western troops in Laos today threatened international efforts to bring peace to the little jungle kingdom. The situation was growing so critical that the United States again considered the possibility of military intervention. Moscow Radio accused the United States of “endangering a peaceful settlement in Laos.” But dispatches from Vientiane said So-viet-built Ilyushin planes were continuing to airlift supplies to rebel troops on the Plain of Jars. Communist China broadcasted terms for a cease-fire that the West considered unacceptable—that the United States pull out all the military advisers and equipment with which it has been aiding the Laotian government. Russia agreed with the West Monday to call for a cease-fire in Laos. Messages of agreement came from both the Vientiane government and the rebel forces it is fighting. Doesn’t Work Out It had been expected the battling would taper off and each side would hold its positions until details could be worked out, but it did not work that way. The Communist Pathet Lao rebels and their left-wing supporters have intensified their military operations. Rebel troops were reported pouring into the former royal government stronghold at Muong Sai. north of the royal capital of Luang Prabang. This was the last major govern-

Seven Cents

Sparks, Russell Owens, Dr. Joe Morris, Kenneth Shannon, Kenneth Erhart. The kitchen detail is to report at 3:30 to 4 p.m., the ticket detail at 4:30 to 4:45 p.m., waiters at 4:45 p.m., Scout detail at 5 p.m. Emil Reidenbach Dies Early Today Emil Reidenbach, 74, retired farmer of St. Mary’s township, two miles east of Bobo near like Ohio state line, died at 1 o’clock this morning at the Adams county memorial hospital. He had been seriously ill for the past two weeks. Bom in Harrison township, Van Wert county, 0., June 17, 1886, he son of Ludwig and Margaret Hunsicker - Reidenbach, and was married to Agnes Myers Aug. 17, 1912. The family lived at Monroeville from 1936 uAtil 1950, when they moved to St. Mary’s township. Mr. Reidenbach was a member of the St. Paul Evangelical and Reformed church in Harrison township. Van Wert county. Surviving in addition to th* wife are one daughter, Mrs. Oren (Emma) Myers of Wren, O.; two sons, Carl L. Reidenbach of Markle, and Marcus M. Reidenbach of Monroeville, and 10 grandchildren. Three sisters preceded him in death. Funeral services win be held at 1:30 p. m. Monday at the Zwick funeral home, and at 2 p. m. st the St. Paul Evangelical and Re* formed church, the Rev. Robert L. Settlage officiating. Burial will be in Woodland cemetery at Van Wert. Friends may call at the funeral home after 7 p. m. Saturday until time of the services.

ment outpost between the royal capital and the Communist Chil nese border. It fell Wednesday i under a mortar-supported infanI try attack. A Lao army source I said the single government batta- , lion at Muong Sai was outnumi bered two to one. ; There was no word on whether ! the government troops had taken up new positions or had scattered . into the hills. Western military sources said it ■ was clear the Communists were ■ trying to gain as much territory i as possible for bargaining at an i international conference. Express Concern In the past two day*, Britain, ’ France and the United States have expressed deep concern to Russia over delays by the Redsupported rebels to put the Laotian cease-fire into effect. The Russians had not answered ' up to today but Communist China’s Peiping Radio said the rebel ' leaders were waiting at Xleng Khouang for a delegation from the royal government to discuss ceasefire details. There was no word from Vientiane that the government had agreed to any such arrangement since Xleng Khouang is in rebelheld territory. A 14-nation conference—including Communist China, the United States, Russia and Britain — is scheduled to open May 14 to Geneva to discuss the future at Laos. v But the United States had indicated it will not be there untoto a cease-fire is in effect to Laos first. '