Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 62, Number 299, Decatur, Adams County, 19 December 1964 — Page 1

VOL. LXII. NO. 299.

4 SHOPPING DAYS LEFT CHRISTMAS SEALS fight TB and other RESPIRATORY DISEASES S hXI JO ° « 5 wJ o TyJCjOk. s ? vN. o / f ; ? o Su re-reEy < ? ° J"f ?

Annual Program At High School Sunday By Tom Engle Costumes and scenery designed by the Decatur high school home economics and art departments will highlight Decatur high school’s annual Christmas program at 4 p.m. Sunday in the school gymnasium. The home economics classes are taught by Mrs. Phyllis Houk and the art department is under the direction of Hubert Feasel. Feasel will act as stage director and supervisor for the program. Assisting him will be Susan Ostermeyer, student general chairman. Stage designers for the program will be Susie Worthman, Sandy Cookson and Marilyn Harman S'age assistants Dan Baumgardner, Steve Beavers, Don Hunter and Steve Kohne will be in charge of changing the scenery between tableaus. The angels and shepherds from Tony Kelly’s speech classes will be wearing the colorful costumes which the home economics department has been making for the past two weeks. Mrs. Houk said, “The bogss are glad they are living today instead of in those days, because of the head pieces and clothing they have to wear.’’ Make Costumes Wardrobe mistresses Connie Lenhart and Linda Jones, assisted by other sophomore girls in the home economics, classes, have done most of the work on the costumes. The work included making the colorful ropes, belts and turbans to be worn by Mary, Joseph and the shepherds and the angels. For the. past few weeks the art department has been working on the scenery for each tableau and preparing decorations for the front of'Xhe stage. Feasel said that the art repayment's contribution to he program is he result of theater design and stage setting projects. The high school band and choir has also put many hours of preparation into the program. The band, under the direction of Richard Collins, will begin the program by playing “Sleigh Ride,” “Christmas Party,” “March of the Skaters,” and “Christmas Festival.” The choir, under the direction of Miss Helen Haubold, will then present “The Song of Christmas,” during which many favorite Christmas songs will be sung and the tableaus of the stage program will be presented. Narrator for the ‘‘Song of Christmas” tableau will be Richard Anderson, a senior and a member of the speech class. Good Fellows Club Makes Final Plea For Contributions The Good Fellows elub is making its last appeal for contributions. This year, club has had requests from many of the families for shoes and boots for children of school age. So far, the club has not received many of these items. Anyone wishing to contribute clothing or used toys, please take them to the fire station, or to any member of Delta Theta Tau Sorority, no later than Monday. This is also the last chance to turn in names of families needing help. Please call Mrs. Henry Neireiter at 3-2525 after 10:00 a.m. These names must also be in by Monday, as packing of Christmas baskets will start Tuesday. Anyone wishing to make monetary contributions, can send them to Miss Rosemary Spangler at R. R. 2. Decatur, or drop them in the canisters at the First State Bank, Holthouse Drug Co. or the Daily Democrat office.

Decatur Stores Now Open Every Night Until Christmas

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT

11 Children Victims Os •- • * Fires In Michigan And North Carolina Homes

WARREN, Mich. (UPD—Six small children all under the age of 12, died early today in a fire which swept througn their home, on the city’s South Side. The victims were identified as Martha Cox, 12, her two sisters, Mary Jo, 7, and Diane, 4, and her three brothers,. Johnny, 6, Jimmy, 3, and Charles, 1. They were the children of Albert and Marie Cox. Three other children. Albert, 13, Frank 9, and Tommy, 8, climbed to safety from the burning home by tying sheets together. Mary Jo was found outside the home dead. The rest of the children perished inside. Police said the mother was reported in critical condition at Holy Cross Hospital. The father, who works at a factory during the daytime and drives a cab at night, was away at the time of the fire. Hie cause of the fire, which destroyed the home, was not determined. Police said Albert told them he first smelled smoke shortly after 2 a.m. He woke his two brothers, strung together a ladGood Fellows Club Previously Reported $905.63 Jerome & Roger Geimer 5.00 Mr. & Mrs. N. W. Steury 5.00 Monmouth H. S. Juniors 38.00 Total $653.63

Will Replace Panama Canal

WASHINGTON (UPD — The United States, in a history-mak-ing decision, is pushing ahead wi h plans to replace the 50-year-old Panama Canal with a new sea-level waterway connecting the Atlantic and .Pacific. President Johnson, in announcing the decision Friday, also declared that America is ready to negotiate an “entirely new treaty” with Panama to replace the 1903 pact which governs the present canal. Johnson’s announcement was described as a “happy omen” by Panamanian President Marco A. Robles, who said it was something his countrymen had been awaiting “for five generations.” La’in American diplomats in Washington were equally enthusiastic. One described it as “a fantastic demonstration of solidarity and cooperation within the Americas.” Johnson said there were four possible routes for a new eastwest waterway —two in Panama, one in Colombia, and one which would go through Nicaragua and possibly Costa Rica. Starts Discussion “I have asked the secretary of state to begin discussinns with all the governments concerned with these possible new routes,” he said. The President said any new treaty with Panama on the existing canal should recognize that country’s sovereignty. Such a pact should also come to an end when a sea-level canal comes into operation, he said. He did not make it clear whether the present canal would revert to Panama, however. Johnson gave these reasons for pressing ahead with a new sea-level route: The present canal, “■wi'h its limiting locks and channels, will soon be inadequate to the needs of world commerce. • Already more than 300 ships built or being built are too big to go through with full loads. Many of them — like our own mod-

5 1 der of sheets, and made them climb out the window. Albert hailed a passing car with two young men in it and told them of the fire. The men broke a window in the home and pulled Mrs. Cox, 35, to safety. The three surviving boys were taken to Holy Cross Hospital where they were treated and released to the care of a neighbor. Warren is just outside the city limits of Detroit. KINSTON, N. C. (UPD — Five children died early today when fire destroyed their frame home near/) here. The five, their ages ranging from 6 months to nine years, were the children of Mrs. Verda Spence, who escaped without injury from the burning tenant house about five miles west of here off U.' S. 70. The victims, all sleeping in the same room when the fire broke out about 3 a.m., EST, included five-year-old twins. The temperature was 24 degrees at the time of the fire, but it was not immediately known what kind of heat was used in the tenant house. - • The victims were Bobby Charles, 9; Brenda Joyce and Linda Faye, 5-year-old twins; Ervin Ray, 2; and Arlene Gibbs 6 months.

ern aircraft carriers — cannot even go through at all. So it is time to plan in earnest for a sea-level canal. Such a canal will be more modern, more economical, and far easier to defend. It will be free of complex, costly, vulnerable locks and seaways. It will serve the future as the Panafa Canal we know has served the past and present.” * Possible Routes Studied The Sena e Commerce Committee studied possible routes for a new sea-level canal last March, following the bitter antiAmerican riots in the Canal 2tone in January. Adminis'ration . officials said then that four sites were being considered: —San Blas Gulf, near the present canal in Panama. — Caledonia Bay, several miles south of the present canal. —Salinas Bay in NicaraguaCosta Rica. — Atrato - Truando site in Columbia. The Caledonia Bay route in Panama would be the second shddtest and the cheapest, probably costing about SSOO million if nuclear explosives were used. The shortest rou‘e is the San Blas site, but it is along population centers. The other sites, including San Blas, would cost betuveen $1.2 billion and $1.9 billion. Johnson’s s’atement made no reference to suggestions that nuclear ■ explosives might be used to speed the cutting of a new canal to link the two oceans. In announcing his decision to push for a new canal and negotiation of a new treaty, the President said: “These two steps are needed now —for the protection and promotion of peaceful trade — for the welfare of the hemisphere — in the true interest of all of the United Sta‘es — and in fairness and justice to all.”

ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER IN ADAMS COUNTY

Decatur, Indiana, 46733, Saturday, December 19,1964.

Leroy Krider Named As County Planner Leroy P. Krider, 33, of Fort Wayne, assistant planning director for Allen county, has been hired as Adams county planning director, William F. Schnepf, president of the plan commission, announced this morning. Krider will begin his job January 1, and will have his office ’h the former meeting room for the county board of education. Mrs. Bernard Hain will continue to serve as part-time secretary. Year’s Experience He is a graduate of Fort Wavne center s Purdue University, and attended I. U. for eight weeks for a planning institute, and Ohio school of trades, Columbus, C. He had four years of military service with the U. S. Air Force. For the past pear Krider has been assistant in the Fort Wayne office, Schnepf added. The Adams county planning board has been looking for a planner for six months, and two weeks ago hlld a secret meeting and interviewed two men, Schnepf said, unanimously selecting Krider. The new planner is married, and they have no children. They plan to move to Decatur in the near future. Years Old The Adams county plan commission was created in 1961, and it began its active life in planning in 1962. In 1963 its planner resigned, and a new group took over early last year, setting the program back six months or a year. Hie Adams county, plan commission administers Adams county outside Decatur, Berne, Monroe, and Geneva, but is paid for by the entire county, including the four incorporated greas. By law, members of the county board are advisory members of the plan commissions established in the four corporations, and conversely the cities and towns must appoint advisory members to the county plan commission, who have a right to vote on those proposals which affect a two-mile area surrounding their corporation limits, according to the 1947 statute. Mrs. Martha Teeter Dies This Morning Mrs. Martha Ellen Teeter, 95, died at 5 a.m. today at the Berne nursing home, where she had resided for the past three years. She had been ill for . two weeks. Born in St. Mary’s township March 18, 1869, she had made her home in recent years with a daughter, Mrs. Alvie (Hazel) Teeter of Berne route 2. Her first husband, Perry Springer, died in 1902, and her second husband, John Teeter, also preceded her in death. Mrs. Teeter was a member of the Maple Grove Church of Christ. Surviving in addition to the daughter are a son. Harvey R. Springer of Fort Wayne; three grandchildren; seven great-grand-children. and four-great-great-grandchildren. One brother, two half-brothers, and four half-sis-ters are deceased. Also surviving are three stepsons, Perry Teeter of Decatur, Alvie of Berne route 2, and Archie Teeter of Elkhart, and a stepdaughter, Mrs. O. M. Robrnoon of Mnnroev’lle. Funeral rites will be held at 2 pun. Monday at the Yager funeral in Berne, with the Rev. Gary Unsworth officiating. Burial will be in the Decatur cemetery. Friends may call at ’ the funeral home after 2 p.m. Sunday.

Storm Moving Out Os West

By United Press International A snow storm of near blizzard proportions billowed out of the Far West today to follow up the recrd cold air mass that numbed the East. Blowing snow, sleet and freezing rain tangled traffic from the Pacific Northwest to the Rio Grande Valley. The rapid-ly-developing storm will continue to move east, the weather bureau said. Below zero cold spiced in New England by winds up to 54 miles-an-hour featured the second half of the wintry .onetwo punch. Freezing temperatures extended almost as tar south as Brownsville —the southern Texas city on a longitude with Caribbean winter retreats. Snow whipped into five feet drifts by 40 mile an hour winds .closed In'erstate 80, the main east-west route in Oregon Friday night and stranded- an estimated 170 cars. Up to six inches of snow fell across the northwest and an- equal amount in the mountains of Arizona and New Mexico. ’’ The temperature fell to a record 13 degrees at Memphis, Tenn., Friday night and officials blamed the dea‘h of a woman on exposure to the cold. The weather bureau said it was the deepest cold air mass to touch the city since 1923. Below zero temperatures were reported in 18 states Friday — including marks of 10 and 20

Probes Underway In Nursing Home Fire

FOUNTAINTOWN, Ind. (UPD —Authorities said today a nurs-. ing home destroyed by fire which killed 20 elderly patients and injured 14 others had “poor” health standards. They added, however, belowstandard health conditions were not responsible for the pre-dawn blaze Friday which also injured 14 other persons. Meanhile, a multi - pronged investigation by state and local officials into the tragic fire was under way. An official of the state fire marshal’s office said an overheated heating system was generally considered responsible for the blaze and the investigation was centered largely on the question of the adequacy of the home’s facilities. " The fire marshal's office said the home passed its last inspection with a top rating, but the State Board of Health said is license renewal was to have been held up because of violations of board rules. Vance Koonce, head of the board's nursing homes division, said Friday the Maples Nursing Home was inspected Dec. 1 and had deceived a "poor” rating from Miss Carol Ottinger, a public health nurse. Koonce said he recommended to the Indiana Health Facilities Licensing Council Wednesday that license renewal be withheld and that Max McGraw, op-, era tor of the home, be given until March 1 to remedy the de-. ficiencies found during the in-j spection. He said the home ’ would have been allowed to op--erate during the grace period. The coucil was scheduled tc |

belo® in northern New England to Montana and the Dakotas. But the weather bureau said the « cold air would moderate somewhat as it continued to move ast. Hazardous driving warnings were posted in parts of New Mexico, Arizona, Texas and Oklahoma. Highways were covered with thin layers of ice or powdery snow. It was the first snowfall in 30 years in some portions of the Southwest. President Johnson Friday declared eight eastern Montana coun'ies storm- disaster areas and released SIOO,OOO for relief of the blizzard-battered region. Snow blocked roads, and extreme,, cold have taken a high toll of cattle and wildlife in Montana and neghboring states. The Air Force ordered three Cll9 transport planes to Montana to participate in a haylift for stranded cattle. NOON EDITION INDIANA WEATHER Sunny and warmer today, mostly cloudy and not so cold with occasional snow late tonight or Sunday. High today' 25 to 34, low tonight 15 to 25, high Sunday in low 30s north, upper 30s south. Outlook for Monday: Partly Cloudy and colder with snow flurries north.

meet in Indianapolis later today to discuss the case. Koonce said Miss O‘tinger reported she- found paint and an open jar of grease stored in the basement of the home, dust and lint throughout the 60-year-old frame building, canned goods stored near the furnace and no registered or practical nurse on the staff.- . Koonce also said McGraw told Miss Ottinger he “could not be bothered with her inspection and didn't know about it because he never opened mail from the State Board of Health.” Dr. Wilson L. Dalton, Shelby County health officer, also criticized the operation of the home and said McGraw never filed the weekly report which the county asked from all nursing homes. Dwight E. Long, chief sanitation inspector for Dalton, said McGraw was “belligerent and threatening” to health officials who attempted to inspect the home. Howard Boegaholtz, inspector for the state fire marshal, said the fire apparently began in an interior wall which was ignited by an overtaxed beating system. Thir’een of the 14 surviving patients were hospitalized at Shelbyville along with an at- , tendant, Mrs. Myrtle ..Donahue, who led most of them to safety. - They were suffering largely Z from exposure and fright and a B doctor said they were "in reaIsonably good shape considering the ordeal they've been through.”

Jaycees List Judges For State Contest

A three-ft»an panel of judges for the state Junior Chamber of Commerce outstanding young farmer program, was announced to-, day bv Wayne Roahrig, president of th* local Jaycee chapter and state OYF chairman. The judges will select the state winner and runners-up in the OYF program, which is being co-spon-sored in Indiana by Central Soya. Named to the panel were the following: Burr S. Swbzey, Jr., president of the Indiana bankers association: Robert Kellum, farm editor of the Indianapolis Star; and Dr. J. L. Krider. head of the department of animal sciences, Pursue University. In commenting on the panel of judges. Roahrig said. “We are, very fortunate in obtaining men of this caliber to serve as judges; representing as they do, a broad range of experience in agriculture and areas related to it." State Program Here The three judges will pick the state winners from among local winners chosen by Jaycee chapters throughout the state who ace participating in the young farmer program. The Indiana winners will be announced at a state-wide recognition day program in Decatur February 20. 1965. The state winner will then represent Indiana at the national finals in Fort Collins, Colo., April 11-13. Bank President Swezey, who is president of the Lafayette National Bank, has been associated with the bank since 1950. He has served as Indiana vice president of the American bankers association and has been committee chairman of several Indiana bankers association activities, including the chairmanship of the association's legislative study committee and its legal affairs committee. He is a graduate of both Princeton University and the University of Wisconsin’s school of banking. Swezey is a past recipient of the Greater Lafayette Junior Chamber of Commerce distinguished service award, and a member of the Purdue area committee on airborne television instruction. Kellum, farm editor of the Indianapolis newspaper, has been encaged in newspaper work in Indianapolis for 40 years. In addition to his work on The Star, he was for 13 years the executive secretary of the Indiana flood control and water resources commission. He is now a member of the Indiana stream pollution contra] board and also a member of • the Great Lakes commission. A native of Wayne county is this state. Kellum has long been closely associated with agriculture and natural resources. He is a grdua{e\of Earlham College.. HeaSr Department Dr. Krider is in charge of Purdue's department of animal sciences, which includes all meat, milk and egg producing animals as well as food technology. He is a member of the executive committee of the national institute of animal agriculture and the Purdue agricultural experiment station research committee. He also serves on the Purdue University extension councitl. Dr Krider is a graduate of the University of Illinois, where he received B. S. and M. S. deHarriel Wright, 90, Is Taken By Death Mrs. Harriet Wright, 90, of Willshire, 0., died at 9:05 a. m. Friday at the Adams county memdtiai hospital, where she had been a patient for the past three and one-half weeks. She was born in Adams county March 12, 1874, a daughter of Thomas and Mary Mallonee-El-zey. and resided in Wren, 0., until 10 years ago, when she moved to the Willshire home of her son. Lester Wright. Her husband, Jacob Wright, preceded her in death Jan. 19, 1936. Mrs. Wright was a member of the Wren E. U. B. church. Surviving in addition to her son are one grandson, Gary Wright, of Ann Arbor, Mich., and one brother, Emerson Elzey of Decatur. One sister is deceased. Funeral services will be _ conducted at 2 p. m. Sunday at the Zwick funeral home, with the Rey. George Bailey officiating. Burial will be in the Decatur cemetery. Friends may call ct the funeral home after 2 p. m. today until time of the services.,

SEVEN CENTS

Ml ' ■-% ' -Sk " 7 • W BL Dr. J. L. Krkler IL ■ M ’ -’’<H rl ■ *£< -■ ■ *** ■ > _ * Burr S. Swezey

grees, and of Cornell University, whore he completed his doctorate, majoring in animal nutrition and production. This is the ninth year the Jaycees have conducted a program to honor young farmers between the ages of 21 and 35, who have made the most progress in crop and livestock production, net worth, soil and water conservation and have contributed unselfishly to their community. To be eligible, the nominee .must be an actual farm operator deriving a minimum of twothirds of his income from farming. He need not be a Jaycee. «“In addition to recognizing the achievements of the young men who are making a success of their farm business,” Roahrig said, “the OYF program promotes rural - urban understanding which is important to all of us in these changing times.” Maurice L. Steele Dies Last Evening Maurice L. Steele, 85 .lifelong resident of Decatur, died at 7:20 o’clock Friday evening at the Adams countv memorial hospital, where he had been a patient for several weeks. He had been jp failing health for several months. He had resided at the Adams county home for many years. Born in Decatur Oct. 8. 1879. he waspr son of John H. and Mary Barnhart-Steele. Mr. Steele was employed for many years at the Cloverleaf Creameries in this city. >" Only surviving relative is a brother, Frank Steele of California. One brother is deceased. Funeral services will be held at 1:30 p.m. Monday at the Adams county home chapel,. with the. Rev. Elbert Smith. Jr., officiating. Burial will be in the Decatur cemetery. The body was removed to t h e Winteregg-Linn funeral home, where friends may call after 7 p.m. Sunday. The body - will lie in state at the county home chapel from 12 noon Mon'day until time of the services. Paint Shop At State Prison Is Damaged MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. <UPI) —A fire which broke out in the Indiana State Prison paint shop , Friday burned out of control for two hours but did not threaten. cellblock buildings. The fire was the second in a week” at the prison. Earlier, flamps destroyed a quantity of foodstuffs in a prison warehouse. • .