Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 62, Number 53, Decatur, Adams County, 3 March 1964 — Page 8

PAGE EIGHT

I ’I x i a *1 a J ******" iMoWr-JT Man anno* < i j, JSII f freon F 4 J'" 1 ' n,n " " > zj o, - GA Xcop* | »n<dy !A • - \ e ~ I t I \ t o *, 4 SB v 'o 4 ’i art ”“”"'1 iPALATKIIy j FLORIDA SHORT CUT— The cross-Florida barge canal which was begun with a ceiemonial blast touched off by President Johnson will be 107 miles in length wh«n completed. It will take from eight to ten years to put it into operation.

DECATUR LIONS (Continued rrom Page One) facts about his country and city, including the fact Florence has a Lions club. Italy is a long, narrow country about 250 miles wide in the north and about 150 miles wide most of the places on the peninsula with over 2,000 miles of coast line. Into this area only three times bigger than Indiana, fourfifths of which is hills and mountains, are crowded over 50 million people. With so many people crowded into such a limited area unblessed with good land, abundant minerals or important raw materials, many economic problems have arisen. According to the speaker, southern Italy is the most backward and impoverished region. It is so much so that the government has taken steps to convert at least 60% of all current investments to that region. Textile manufacturing is Italy’s leading industry. Shipbuilding and the manufacture of all kinds of machinery and electrical equipment are also important. Italy is second to Spain in the production of olives and second to France in the production of wine. About 50 different kinds of cheese are produced in Italy. Many activities of Italian commerce and business are government operated. Radio. TV, electric power and much of the transportation is under public ownership and management. There are 7 million or more communists in Italy, who are in almost constant opposition to' the government in power. ~ Now A Republi c Since World War II Italy has been a republic. It has a parliament of over 700 members and a president. An interesting feature of the presidential office is that the president serves for seven years and must be 50 years of age or older. The president and parliament select the country’s 15 member constitutional court. The country’s political subdivisions are called regions. Each region is governed by a regional council. Divorce is not allowed in Italy. Income taxes are levied and collected in much the same manner as in America except that the regions do all the collecting rather than the central government. Education in Italy is free and compulsory’ through eight grades. Public education includes religious instruction, the country being over 90% Catholic. Yet, the speaker estimated that hardly more than 25% of Italy’s population regularly attends church. The schools are divided into three kinds. Up to grade 5 they are elementary schools. From grade 5 through 8 they are middle grade schools. The next five years after grade 8 are high schools High schools are of three kinds, namely, classical, scientific and teachers’ institutes. All students are required to take at least one foreign language and English is the most popular. Schools are generally’ attended only in the forenoon and there are no study periods or study halls; since studying is done hi the afternoon and even-

DECATUR LIONS CLUB ■ESKra pancake f and uj&l SAUSAGE HjpW°S*OZ SUPPER MONDAY, March 9th 5:00 to 7:30 P. M. ~W^rj- Adults sl.2s—Child 75c at Decatur Youth & Community Center

Mt ' \ :; jaff S& Sk ' x IB ' <w® S * 1 : ■' ' ' ~ -*& <' isOeS? « AtaSwwS ' < v . z ’ A a, ■ jM- ' X 5> ' # " SQUATTING SQUIRREL — This fellow knows the good life. No tree-climbing and food-grubbing for him. No need to fear cats and dogs. Callie, a squirrel who liked the Edwin Nederloe farm home in Soldier’s Grove, Wis., so much he moved in, takes his ease in a custom-built rocking chair.

ing at home. The school includes Saturday classes. Leois of the opinion that Italian high schools are harder than American high schools and go deeper into subjects, Italian high schools have no extra-curricular activities or fringe courses. Italy has 27' universities. At least 13 of these universities were founded in either the 13th or 14th century. Leo’s native city of Florence has long been known as the art and culture center of Italy. The “city was settled over 2500 years ago. The word Florence means flowering and according to Leo the most wonderful time to visit Florence is in the spring when the flower market is in full business. There are five great libraries in Florence and the national library has over a million and a half volumes. Florence and adjacent area has been the birthplace or residence of many great men including Michel Angelo,. Dante, Machiavelli. Petraarch, Galileo and Americus Vespucius. Florence has been called the “Cradle of the Renaissance.” . Miss Nora Herron Dies Monday Night Miss Nora E. Herron, 64, died suddenly Monday night at her home in Berne. She was a retired Winner House employe. One sister, Mrs. Elmer Kneuss, survives. Services will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday at the Yager funeral home, with burial in MRE cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home after 12 noon Wednesday.

County Residents Involved In Wrecks Several Adams County residents had autos that suffered “damages' this past weekend in area accidents.

Two Dectur men were involved in a four-car accident at 10:20 p.m. Saturday on U. S. 224 eight miles west of Van Wert, O. David C. Reed, 22, of Decatur,driver of one of the autos, was cited by Sheriff W. L. Clay for reckless operation. Other drivers were Robert D. Uhrick, 50, of route 6, Decatur, and Elmer C. Miller, 53, Van Wert ,0. Injured were Mrs. Hazel Irene Salway, 64. Monroeville, who sustained a sprained back and was taken to the Van Wert county hospital where she was treated and released. Mrs. Salway was a passenger in an auto driven by Mrs. Grace R. Gaskill, 45, Fort Wayne. Damage to the cars was: Reed car, front section: Salway car. rear: Miller car, right rear; and Uhrick car, left rear. All vehicles were east-bound. In Portland, at 7:23 p.m. Sunday, William D- Stahly, 24, of route 5, Geneva, started to pull into a parking place in the 200 block—of North Meridian street when he noticed the car next to the parking place had the door open. Stahly stopped and his car was hit from behind by a vehicle driven bv John S. Esparza, 22, route 2, Portland. The left rear panel of the Stahly car was damaged while damages to the Esparza vehicle resulted to the right headlight and fender. Escapes Injury In One-Autd Accident Marilyn Jane Irwin, 21-y.ear-old resident of route 3,' Decatur, escaped injury in a one-car accident at 8 o’clock this morning. The mishap occurred five miles southeast of Decatur on the Piqua road, as she was traveling south. As she approached h bridge, her auto went into a skid and left the road on the right , side, narrowly missing the bridge. Deputy _sheriff_WarreQ_ Kneuss investigated, and estimated damage to the auto at $250. T - —

Trade in a piiod town — Decatur.

THE DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT. DECATUR. INDIANA

“War On Poverty” In 10-State Area

(EDITOR’S NOTE* Hunger and despair haunt thousands of families in the Appalachian region ’from Pennsylvania to Georgia. “There jlst ain’t no jobs around,” one proud mountaineer t old a United Press International reporter who visited him in the stark surroundings he calls home during a 1,300-mile swing Il you nave something to sen or trade — use the Democrat Want ads — they get BIG results tlwf ’' J’S jdßw • .dk.. ■ ' I ! ,^'x. k ‘ WiiA BIG BABY? — He is 14 pounds, 1 ounce, but not the biggest ever—not even in his own family. This fellow weighed almost two pounds less at birth than did his sister, born two years ago. He’s the son of Mrs. Julien Hubert, 39, of Maniwaki, Quebec. The boy is being he d by nurse Cyr.

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through the region. The following b the second of three dispatches.) By NICHOLAS C. CHRISS United Press International STEEP GUT HOLLOW, W.Va. (UPD— When the sun shines on Steep Gut Hollow in the winter the blackened earth turns into a quagmire of water, coal dust and dirt. The wind whistles through the shack that Mr. and Mrs. Virnal Maynard and their eight children call home. It is a collection of weatherbeaten boards—four rooms that perch haphazardly on stilts on a hillside. The Maynards were married 21 years ago. Virnal is 39 and his wife is 37. Their youngest child is 9 months old and their eldest, a boy, is 16 and a school dropout. They have four children in school and four at home. Immersed In Misery A welfare worker found the family starving, dressed in rags and immersed in misery. Virnal, a proud mountaineer but with defeat in his eyes, lost his job recently and the family is fighting desperately to stay out of debt. Like so many highlanders in the Cumberland Plateau —first target of President Johnson's war on poverty—Maynard is plagued not only by the misfortunes of the Appalachia but also with the ill luck that stalks the destitute. A welfare worker confirms that Maynard did everything that he could to avoid receiving charity. “There jist ain’t no jobs around,’’ Maynard said. Aside from a few debts for food, the Maynards also owe a $538 hospital bill for an operation Mrs. Maynard "“had last year. The month before she en. tered the hospital their house burned down. Now the Maynards live on a

handout of about $195 a month including $45 for food stamps and they have boarded the treadmill of subsidized poverty that welfare workers have come to call the ‘curse of the Appalachian.’ Works On Road Gang West Virginia, wtth all 55 of its counties “depressed,” has pioneered welfare programs that mean more than just a handouj: and Virnal works out his benefits on a county road gang. But he has another problem. He is 39 years old, and although no one will admit it publicly, coal miners 40 and over are seldom hired in the state. “A younger man has the job I had,” Virnal says. Virnal Jr., a tow-headed goodlooking boy, wore a bright yellow shirt and yellow slim trousers, both covered with dirt. He boarded the treadmill at 16 when he quit school in the sixth grade. It was only some hard advice from a Welfare worker that stopped him from getting worried despite his lack of education and no job. Why did he drop out of school? “We jist couldn’t seem to keep him there,” his mother sighed. “Young’uns Like School A bosomy dark-haired woman dressed in a tattered brown

MASONIC MASTER MASON DEGREE FRI., MARCH 6 6:00 P. M. Niland D. Ochsenrider W. M.

sweater and dungarees, Mrs. Maynard added: “Sometirties we didn’t have no clothes or shoes for him, but mostly he wouldn’t go.” % "Education means more to us than anything in the world,” said Virnal Sr. ‘Why I’ve got four of my young’uns in school now. They’re different from Virnal Jr. They commence to crying if they have to miss a day of school. I’m hoping they’ll stay. They jist got to. I cain’t see no way out for them lessen they do. “I went to only the third grade. I jist barely can write. I read a touch. I jist up and quit school and went to the mines to help my daddy load coal. I guess I fist didn’t want to learn. “I’ve searched everywhere around here for a job. We got to get out of this ole shack. But they ain’t no jobs hereabouts. I swear I don’t know what we’ll

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TUESDAY, MARCH 3, 1964

<Jo. I Jist cain’t pick up and go somewheres else in the shape we’re in. “Lord in heaven, it’s hard.” sls a Month Rent The Maynards pay sls a month for their shack on stilts. They use their food stamps at a country grocery at the end of the hollow where they pay higher prices than they would at a supermarket. They have nd car, no television, no running water, ho indoor sanitation. A fire burns fiercely in the broken grate and the children huddle dangerously close. In front of the fireplace there is a crack in the floor and the dirt, water and coal dust is visible below. Mrs. Maynard glanced down at the crack. “We got to git out of here someday,” she said. Next: Two towns in trouble.