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About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 20, 1951)
VOT.tTME 71._NUMBER 33. O'NEILL, NEBRASKA. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20. 1951 PRICEi 7 C*TTTt stats hist hoc m ‘BLANKET TAX’ CONSTITUTIONAL Judge Mounts Upholds 1049 - Law in Peterson Test Case District Judge D. R Mounts, of O’Neill, Monday held the blanket 4-mill tax levy law affecting school districts is constitutional. He made the ruling in a suit brought by Charley W. Peterson, extensive Holt county landowner, seeking to prevent Holt County Treasurer J. Ed Hancock from collecting the tax against Peter son’s properties in school district 231, which amounted to $943.98. Judge Mounts heard arguments on the action November 7 and handed down his ruling dismiss ing Peterson’s action. A motion for a new trial was J filed Wednesday. Mounts over ruled the application and the matter will promptly go to the supreme court. O Peterson sought to test the 1949 law on the grounds that district 231, in which his ranch home is located, will not participate in distribution of the tax money be cause there were less than 5 pu pils enrolled during the 1950-1951 school year. He held it is in effect taxation without representation. He contended the tax is not levied uniformly and proportion ately and is gross discrimination against him as plaintiff and others similarly situated, in favor of taxpayers in districts where there are more pupils. He held that cipce there was *’ no school operating in the dis trict there were no expendi tures for which tax money was required. There are 35 such districts, with less than 5 pupils in the county. He said that the law provides for a tax levy without a provision for the needs of the district. He said the title of the law does not disclose that elementary districts with fewer than 5 pupils would not share in the distribution of the funds. Peterson said that the Nebraska law specifically requires that a tax be levied in each district to maintain the school in the district that year. Julius D. Cronin, of O’Neill, and Daniel Stubbs, of Lincoln, are at torneys for the plaintiff. Holt County Attorney William W. Griffin and the attorney-general are defending Hancock, the nom inal defendant in the case. Atkinson Burial for Former Resident ATKINSON—Mrs. Mary Doyle, 68, former Atkinson resident, was discovered dead in bed at her home in Chicago, 111. The body was found by a cousin, who had gone to call on Mrs. Doyle, who lived alone. The remains reached Atkinson early Tuesday and funeral ser- j vices were conducted Wednesday, December 19, at St. Joseph’s Catholic church. Burial was in St. Joseph’s cemetery. Rev. R. J. Parr officiated. Pallbearers were Alex Cleary, Fred Mack, Patrick Corrigan, William Morgan, Jo seph Judge and Nick Schmit. Mrs. Doyle’s husband died a bout 3 months ago. There were no children. Survivors include: Brothers — ‘ John Slachetka, of Newport; Ste phen Slachetka, of Omaha; Frank Slachetka, of Omaha, and Leo Slachetka, of Newport; sis ters—Mrs. Josie Maring and Miss Stella Slachetka, both of Atkin son; nephew—Francis Moore, of Fremont. Her brother, Stephen, went to ’ Chicago to accompany the body * to Atkinson. Schools Await Holiday Recess The O’Neill schools—the public and “St Mary’s academy—will dis miss classes early Friday after noon for the annual yule vaca tion. Classes at the public school will be resumed on Wednesday, January 2, and at the academy on Monday, January 7. Because of storm warnings sev eral boarding students living a distance away were dismissed from the academy early Wednes day. _' Group Sends Yule Greetings To Men in Service— PAGE—Members of the Meth odist Youth Fellowship have sent Christmas cards to men from Page now serving in the armed forces. They include: Cpl. Jack Hartman, Cpl. William Hartman, Cpl. Ernst Graves, Pvt. Gary E. Banth, Pfc. James H. Parks, Ster ling Albright, FA; Melvin Al bright, RMM2; Lt. D. M. Stewart, Pfc. Merwyn French, Cpl. Don ald Nasland, Pfc. Elwin Haynes, Pfc. Arnott Buxton, Cpl. Dale Braddock, Pvt. Donald Prill, Pvt. Sidney Frahm and Cpl. Errol Held. _ Receiving Entries in Decoration Contest — The Chamber of Commerce is * receiving new entries daily in the annual home yule decoration con * test. First and second prizes will be awarded by judges on decora Itions on the north and south sides of the city, divided by Douglas street. Entries should be filed with Secretary James W. Rooney, phone 42. I •*„ ° c o ‘Ave Maria’ Sung from Scaffolds Gounod’s “Ave Maria’’ as sung from the choir loft is fa miliar to St. Patrick’s Catholic church parishoners. Very Rev. Timothy O’Sulli van. church pastor, was some what surprised Tuesday when he entered and heard a rich tenor voice filling the church with the strains. A 50-year-old German-born artist, Wolfang Wittich, was in a precarious position on a high scaffolding busily redecorating the church interior, his brush es working to the accompani ment of his own music. Wittich, a member of the Ea gle Studios art firm specializ ing in church decorations, was born in Germany, studied mu sic and art there, and came to the U.S. about 25 years ago. He is a substitute on the O’ Neill job. The original artist contracted virus pneumonia and could not take on the pro ject. Both are Chicagoans. The art is done freehand and includes work on the altar, ceiling and stations of the cross. The pews this week are being revarnished. The painting is a part of an extensive redecorating and im provement plan at the church, according to Father O’Sulli van. CHESTER FEES, SR., DIES SUDDENLY Funeral Services Tuesday for Veteran Chambers Garageman CHAMBERS—Funeral services for Chester Fees, sr., 54, Cham bers garageman who died sudden ly last Thursday, December 13, at his home were held on Tuesday, December 18, at 2:30 p.m., at the lemorial Baptist church in Cham bers. Rev. Lawrence McElheran, church pastor, officiated. Burial was in the Chambers cemetery. The pallbearers were Wm. Ren inger, Kenneth Werner, Thomas Newhouse, Herman Hubbard, Darrell Gillette and George Thompson. The body was taken to Biglin Bros., in O’Neill and was re moved at 10 a.m. to the Fees home in Chambers the day of the funeral. The late Mr. Fees was born March 8, 1897 at David City. He _ame to Holt county in 1922. He was married to Myrtle Gor don at Plainview, Tex., on Sep tember 18, 1920, and they became the parents of 3 children. Survivors include: Widow; daughter, Mrs. Albert Farrier, of Compton, Calif.; suns—Richard, of Chambers, and Chester, jr., also of Chambers; brothers—Alvin Fees, of Vallejo, Calif., and Robert Fees, of Lincoln; sister—Mrs. Wm. Workman, of Lincoln. There aVe 2 grandchildren. The late Mr. Fees was a veteran of World War I and a member of he American Legion. More Off-Campus Studies Planned — “We are trying to arrange foi 2d semester off-campus courses,’ explained the Holt county super intendent of public instruction, Miss Alice French, this week. At the last meeting of the pri mary activities class the following seemed to be the most desirec subjects: Children’s literature geography of South America, and teaching arithmetic. “Please con tact the office if you are interested in any of these classes,’’ Mist French explained. “Since we are all busy with Christmas preparations, my office will close at 12 o’clock noon Sat urday, December 23. It will be open all day Saturday for the re mainder of the school year,” she added. NEWS DELAYED Considerable newsmatter from The Frontier’s correspondents in outlying sections of the O’Neill region has been delayed because of storm conditions. As a result this issue is being contained in 12 instead of 16 pages. Frontier for printing 1 RETURNS FROM KOREA . . . QM/3 Francis B. Luben (a bove), son of Mr. and Mrs. Wil liam Luben, of O’Neill, has re turned from navy duty which included the Inchon landing in Korea. A reservist, he was re called to the navy a year ago. He was separated from the na vy Friday and is spending the holidays hero. O'NEILL CIVIC CHORUS IN DEBUT . . . Director Charles B. Houser and members of the newly-formed O’Neill Civic chorus posed for The Frontier’s camera following Sunday’s debut—a pre sentation of Handel’s oratorio. "The Messiah.” In the photo are (left-to-right): Front row—Rev. k. W. Olson, D. H. Clausson, Clif ford Dick, Stanley Lambert, John Bowen, Melvin Miller, Mr. Houser (standing). Grant Peacock, Roy D. Johnson. Dewayne Landis. Eddie Bridges, Bruce McElhaney, Don Hagensick, Delbert Dick John H. McCarville. James Bastian (pianist); second row— George Hammond, Mrs. Earl Ralya, Mrs. D. H. Clausson, Priscilla Holsclaw. Suzanne Moss, Mrs. Clay Johnson, jr., Mrs. George Jan + + + —Th« Frontier Photo A Engraving ousek, Mrs. Kathleen Flood Hansen, Mrs. Grant Peacock, Mrs. Thomas Hutton. Mrs. Donald Loy. Mrs. Roy D. Johnson, Mrs. Howard Manson. Mrs. D. E. Nelson. Mrs. John Harbottle. Loretta Enright. Mrs. R. W. Olson: back row — Janice Holsclaw. Betty Thomas. Leona Troshynski. Mrs. Kenneth Adams, Mrs. Nick Schmit, jr.. Mrs. C. L. Brady, jr., Barbara Bennett, Pat DeBolt, Mrs. Stanley Lambert. Mrs. William Mattern. Mrs. Robert Corcor an, Betty Harmon, Phyllis Harmon, Elizabeth Schaffer, unidenti fied (partly hidden), Mary Lou Conard, Mrs. Harold Lindberg, Helen Thomaa. ★ ★ ★ ‘The Messiah’ Pleases Large Audience <?'------ ~ I O’Neill Civic Chorus in Successful Debut with Handel’s Oratorio (By a Staff Writer) The O’Neill Civic chorus com posed of 60 voices made its debut Sunday in a presentation of George Frederick Handel’s fa mous oratorio, “The Messiah.” About a thousand persons, a surprisingly large turnout, heard the creditable offering of difficult music from a chorus which had been formed only a few weeks before and which had staged on y 6 rehearsals. The music lovers were duly im ressed with the organizational and leadership ability of the di rector, Charles B. Houser, who came to O’Neill in September. Every great musical work, whether operatic or oratorio, has a twofold purpose: (1) To tell a story; (2) To give a pleasing de scription of the composer’s music as nearly as possible in the man ner which the composer intended. From the point of view assum ed by many in the audience the newly-formed chorus succeeded in both. The voices, although ov erwhelmingly soprano and alto, were succesfully blended to por tray the true spirit of Handel’s immortal music. The balance a chieved with the hastily assem bled chorus was commendable. “The Messiah” is recognized as very difficult music. Handel in tended it to be sung with full orchestra and organ. The O’Neill musicians were obliged to use only the piano. Arias are inserted in works of this kind to display vocal tech nique. Certainly the arias as in terpreted by Sunday’s soloists proved that talent abounds. Mrs. Kathleen Flood Hansen’s soprano role was professional. Her poise and perfected interpre tations were rare indeed for a provincial audience. By virtue of a very fine voice and intensive training over a period of years, Mrs. Hansen’s singing highlight ed the presentation. The other soloists, Stanley J. Lambert, tenor; Mrs. Herbertta Hutton, alto, and Mrs. Phyllis Johnson Loy, alto, portrayed 'onsiderable native talent. Their lesser trained voices projected well and ably told their part of he story. It was apparent that “The Mes siah” music was not new to Mr. Lambert, who sang the tenor role last year at the University of Ne braska. It was remarkable—if not in credible—that Mrs. Hutton, who once lost her voice following an attack of polio, could step for ward and sing alto arias with a very fine voice and with ease. The rich quality of Mrs. Loy’s alto has long been recognized in j north-central Nebraska circles. Mr. Houser’s musical know j ledge and experience accounted for the fine execution of this work in consideration of the minimum of time spent in preparation. James G. Bastian. jr., piano ac companist, should be commended for his excellent rendition and tireless hours spent in working with the amateur group. It should be remembered that “The Messiah” was written for experienced singers. This factor varied considerably among the 60 voices but their love for music was obviously a common denom inator. George Hammond, of "Voice of The Frontier” radio fame, was the reader, setting the mood for each number and bridging the gaps where music necessarily had to be omitted. No person in the ■ auditorium, designed for basket I ball and not for opera or dramat C-47 GETS JET ASSIST ... An air force C-47, after being mired in the mud at Clearwater for a week, Friday became airborne with an assist from an improvised jet attachment. School class es were dismissed and townspeople turned out en masse to witness the takeoff. The C-47 with a crew of 6 was on a routine training flight and had instructions to land at Clearwater. Everything went well except a wheel on the landing gear broke through the sod after a successful landing and the crew was marooned for a week. The en forced stopover was a lark for the airmen. They were royally entertained. Offutt air base mechan ics brought portable jet equipment to aid in the takeoff. I Rebroadcast Planned A rebroadcast of “The Mes siah”, as sung Sunday by the O’Neill Civic chorus, will be presented Christmas morning over radio station WJAG (780 kc), originating through the facilities of the “Voice of The Frontier” and WJAG. The Handel music was re corded in full at Sunday's pre sentation, and the tape will be edited to an hour’s program. The program will start at 9:15 a.m., a time especially pro vided by the station to enable family circles everywhere to hear the O’Neill music. This is a half-hour earlier than usual “Voice of The Frontier” pro grams begin. This special events program has been made possible through the cooperation of 5 sponsors: Spelts-Ray Lbr. Co. O’Neill Photo Co. Central Finance Corp. Jacobson’s. Lohaus Motor Co. Several critics who have heard the tape have acclaimed its quality as even better than the original presentation. A WJAG special events engineer, Duke Derry, was in charge of the recording. _ ics, was out of range of Mr. Ham mond’s settings. The auditorium simply does not do justice to the arts. The Chamber of Commerce sponsored the presentation and an offering was received at inter mission to defray expenses and to help perpetuate the chorus finan cially. The audience was a bit hasty in leaving, probably due to an un comfortably low temperature in the big room. The chorus received only one curtain call and Mr. Houser was not given the oppor tunity to present the soloists, ac companist and reader. This may have been due in part to the solemn notp on which the grand Hallelujah chorus brought the work to a conclusion. In any event Mr. Houser and the singers themselves seemed to be ade quately repaid for their efforts bv the first round of lusty ap plause and bv the turnout. After all. road conditions were adverse and the weather was cold. Tt is a fair prediction that Mr. Houser and the O’Neill Civic chorus t’ave established a splen ’’d tradition. NEW COLD WAVE GRIPS REGION North-Nebraskans are paying now for the grace of the weather man during a long Indian sum mer. On 5 recent mornings subzero temperatures greeted the citizen ry when they stepped outdoors. Late Wednesday another mass of icy air, accompanied by more snow and strong winds, was headed into the region. The new storm is the result of ■ well-developed low pres sure area which was located early Wednesday over Wyom ing. It was moving eastward rapidly. Highest temperature during the week was 25 degrees reached last Thursday. That night 10 inches of snow fell. Several inch es of snow fell intermittently through the week. Lowest temperature was 18 de grees below zero, registered early Saturday. The bad roads and storm condi tions shortened the yule buying season. Merchants and many un finished shoppers are hoping for a break in the weather before Christmas. Mainline trains on the North Western railroad were running up to 6 hours behind schedule, at tributed primarily to the heavy volume of mail and partially to storm conditions. The Burling ton’s freight service was inter rupted Friday and until late Wed nesday was not back to normal. It was the “Burl” that ex perienced a costly chapter during the historic 1948 - ’49 recurring blizzards. All principal highways in the region were still open late Wed nesday. All busses were running. Storm warnings were broadcast to stockmen. Week’s summary, based on 24 hour periods ending at 5 p.m daily, follows: Hi Lo Prec. Dec. 13_ 25 14 10-in. snow Dec. 14_„14 -6 Dec. 15. 1 -18 Dec. 16_7 -8 1-in. snow Dec. 17 _22 -6 1-in. snow Dec. 18_10 -12 Dec. 19 10* 1* ‘Unofficial. The Christmas Story (Rev. Robert Hupp, a native of the Deloit community and now pastor of St. Mary’s Cath olic church at Wayne, wrote the following article for the current issue of The Nebraska Legion naire. Father Hupp is chaplain of the Nebraska department of the American Legion.) By Rev. Robert Hupp In great contrast to the gospel of hate being promoted in Un world today is the mission ol Christ whose birthday we cele brate each year on Christmas day. His was a mission of love— a Child’s love for His Father who had been offended—a Child’s love for His brothers and sisters who tad lost their way and were ar ming and quarreling among hemselves in their utter confu sion. He came into this world to tell us to work and play together; to be happy and make others happy; to think of others and forget self; to love and be loved. Children can understand such things. It seems to come naturally for them. On the other hand children do not understand hate, greed, and war. They are puzzled by the blundering of their elders. Just try to explain to one of these lit tle ones why his daddy must go to a distant land to fight and kill other men. The Babe of Bethlehem came iot as a mere symbol of peace but as the only means of peace. He gave us a formula for peace, but the world refuses to listen to it. Perhaps it is too simple, too childlike to be understood and practiced by minds that have grown in power until they over shadow the little ones who must tarve, suffer and die. During His lifetime He once aid: “Unless you become as little children you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.” Applying this to the world today it sounds like this: Unless simplicity re places our world-wide duplicity, unless humility roots pride out of the hearts of men, unless love conquers hate, we will not under stand the message of Christmas. And. as long as the formula of the Babe of Bethlehem goes un heeded there will be no peace. Patient in VA Hospital— CHAMBERS — P. T. Avard who was a patient in the Veter ans hospital at Grand Island, re turned home early last week. VETERAN JET PILOT RETURNS Capt. Brennan Chalks Up 103 Missions Against Reds in Korea Capt. Herbert O. Brennan reached O’Neill late Tuesday, and is home again after 9 gruelling months in the Korean air war. An air force F-80 jet pilot, Bren nan returned with 103 mission* to his credit and decorations in cluding the distinguished flying cross and air medal with 2 clus ters. The youthful U.S. Military academy graduate (class of 1947) went to Korea in March and join ed up with the Eighth fighter 4roup of the Fifth air force. His work was strictly tarsal, including attacks on enemy strong points and other military objectives, interdiction of the en emy’s communications, and an occasional bomber escort assign ment. “We generally avoided the Russian - built MIGs,” Captain Rrennan explained, “leaving hem to our Sabres. “During the past 4 months we have been pretty busy working out an interdiction plan and tbfi has been fairly successful.” A St. Mary's academy gradu ate in 1944 and a son of Mrs. F. M. Brennan and the late Colonel Brennan, the youthful career airman suggested that O'Neill has as much rail traffic as all of North Korea. He point ed out, however, the North Koreans were surprisingly apt in recuperating following an attack. Anti-aircraft fire is heavy and quite accurate and the reds are quite clever in deliberately ex posing a locomotive, for example, mly to have the U.S. airman dis cover it surrounded by flak bat teries. Captain Brennan has highest praises for U.S. ground forces in Korea. He says they deserve the credit for what has been accom plished todate. “Their lines are now stable nd they've dug in for the winter unless the reds mount a big at tack. “Our troops are much better situated than a year ago. The mm Captain Brennan ... "ground forces deserve the credit." morale for all U.N. troops is very high, I think,” Brennan continu ed. The O’Neill pilot, who rose from flight leader to group oper ations officer while overseas, re ceived the DFC a month ago for extraordinary heroism. He was leading a flight of F-80s, they encountered an enemy strong point near their target. Brennan left the flight, neutralized the troublemakers, rejoined his com rades and led the flight to the end of a successful mission. He left Japan Friday, reach ed San Francisco Saturday, ar rived Monday in Kansas City, Mo., and continued to Omaha all jumps by air. Following his rest and recup eration leave he will report to Dow field, near Bangor, Me., and fly F-80s in an interceptor squad ron. Captain Brennan appears to be in fine physical trim despite the 9 months jet ordeal. A former schoolmate, 1/Lt. John Lee Baker, son of Mr. and Mrs. H. J. Lohaus, is also here on leave for the holidays. Baker flew more than a hundred jet missions o in Korea earlier in the war.