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About The Plattsmouth journal. (Plattsmouth, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 26, 1955)
, IIEB3. STATE HIST 1500 R ST. T,I!OT,T. ?,rnr CASS COUNTY'S GREATEST NEWSPAPER MAO. PUBLISHED SEMI - WEEKLY , Monday - Thursday JQQE Consolidated With the Nehawka Enterprise and Elmwood Leader-Echo Delivered Twice Weekly to More Than 3000 Cass County Families VOLUME 75 SIX PACES PLATTSMOUTH, CASS COUNTY, NEBRASKA, - MONDAY, DECEMBER 26, 1955 FIVE CENTS PER COPY NUMBER 10 JjODQJ unity A Snakodle Attempt A prisoner, who would have completed a ten-day sentence in Cass county jail Friday, slashed himself short ly before 7 a.m. that day. It nearly cost his life. Cass County Sheriff Tom Solomon said that Willard II. Rueter of Alvo, finishing a 10-day jolt for scattering rubber checks, cut the back of his left hand and his leg. Mrs. Solomon found him at breakfast time lying in a pool of blood. , ' Since Rueter would have com- - . i ill it Hf) Dl faArStl ""X-C"' .""""1 . ..7 . ; -) .V A n Brian Nelson, Journal car rier in the north Sixth street area, is strictly an outdoor man. He is 13, an eighth grade stu dent at St. John's school'. Scout Nelson is Den chief of Cub Scout Den No. 5; hobbies are hunting, fishing and trapping. Brian, son of Mr. and Mrs. Wil liam Nelson, also plays the pi ano, but declares he likes the outdoors. Thrifty Stitchers Have Television Date WOW Dec. 31 OMAHA A .Cass County 4-H club known as the "Thrifty Stitchers" will be featured on "Down on the Farm" with Mai Hansen Saturday, Dec. 31 over WOW-TV, Channel 6 at 12:30 p. m., the station said. Under the direction of Mrs. Chester Wiles, the nine-member team of girl 4-H'ers will present a musical novelty. "I Am an American." This patriotic skit won these girls a trip to the National 4-H Congress held in Chicago this summer as a result of compe tition at the State Fair in Lin coln. Auto License Sale to Begin On January 3rd Cass county license plates will go on sale at the county trea surer's office at Plattsmouth Jan. 3. All plates for passenger cars this year will cost $8, a new law. Last year passenger car plates came at two prices, $6 and $8, but now the cost is $8 for all cars. Also uo were commercial li cense plates which vary in price according to the tyoe of vehicle. No plates have been received at the treasurer's office so far. Alice Jayne McShane, county treasurer, said the office has heard of no delay in delivery of plates and expects them here in time for Jan. 3 sales. Of course motor vehicle taxes must be paid before license plates will be is sued. , Real estate taxes become due on Jan. 1 with the first half de linquent on May 1 and the sec ond half delinquet on Sept. 1. Subscribe to The Journal Now! THE WEATHER Compiled for the Plattsmouth Journal at the Masonic Home Weather Station, Plattsmouth, Nebraska. December 22, 23, 1955. High Low Prec. Thursday 44 17 Friday 54 30 Forecast: Saturday balmy and mild colder Sunday possible scattered snow flurries. . ,. r - i 1 - r 1 Prosoosnieir iriist, Leg; pleted his sentence that day, Sheriff Solomon surmised he ing transferred to Saunders charges- ' The sheriff usually feeds pris oners at 7 a.m., but Friday morning had gone to Pender to pick up another prisoner. Mrs. Solomon came with breakfast at 8 a.m. Sheriff Solomon said that it is apparent Rueter thought someone would come at 7 a.m. and find him with his wounds. Mrs. Solomon summoned De puty Sheriff Shrader Rhoden, a physician and County Attor ney Richard Peck. The sheriff said Rueter had bled heavily before he ' was found. Deputy Sheriff Rhoden took him to University Hospi tal at Omaha where he remain ed. The attending physician estimated that Rueter had lost about a pint of blood. The pris oner was taken to the hospital to have tendons in his hand tied. When he is released he will be taken to Wahoo to face check charges. ' Rueter complained of a crip pled leg earlier in the week, Solomon said, but when a phy sician told him sleeping on the bunk would be just the . thing for it, Rueter appeared to get well from that complaint. Radio Network Brings Arrest Check Passer A man who scattered five ni sufficient funds in Plattsmouth was arrested by the Nebraska Safety Patrol Thursdays night near Pender and returned to Cass county where he was fined $10 and costs and ordered to make the checks good. Ronald Raymond Menden- hall, 22, of Plattsmouth was re turned bv the Cass county sheriff's office Friday to face the charges. Mendenhall passed an insuf ficient funds check Thursday night about 6 p.m. at Sioux City, Iowa, and departed. A pickup order on the sheriff's radio con nection with Iowa the Nebras ka Safety Patrol brought the culprit's arrest near Pender, Neb. Sheriff Tom Solomon said that five other check of the same nature given in Platts mouth failed to clear the bank hurdle. Murdock Hardware Robbery Admitted Two young men have admit ted Friday to breaking into Bornemeier hardware store at Murdock in the early morning hours of Dec- 19, the Cass coun ty sheriff's office reported to day. They are Robert D. Brown, 18, and John Menard, 20, both of Lincoln. They were arrested Friday in Lincoln and are be ing held for robbery in Lan caster county. The pair revealed to author ities that they had gone to South Bend. Returning to Lin coln they stopped at Murdock and broke into the hardware store. They said they drove to the vicinity of Dorchester and threw the stolen merchandise out. The store reported as miss ing two electric coffee makers, an electric fry pan. a tea ket tle, a waffle iron and two oth er pans. HOME ON LEAVE Harvey Dale Eledge FN ar rived home Dec. 1 on a 30-day leave with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Fulton and other relatives and friends. He will re port back to duty Dec. 29 on the Cruiser USS Salem docked at Boston, Mass. He will spend Christmas at the home of his parents, Mr. . and Mrs. Franklin Jura of Omaha, Mr. and Mrs. Walter Fulton and Miss Shirley Conley of Creston, Iowa. FFA-FHA i Jo DJ.;--n (h rw Roger Wehrbein and Janice Lancaster, cen ter, were crowned Future Farmer-Future Home maker king and queen at a ceremony at the Plattsmouth high school last week. Others in Business Mag Lauds Local Bridge Set-up Nation's Business, a national ly circulated magazine devoted to conditions and operations of this country's business groups, gave Plattsmouth a regional plug in the December 10 issue. The story headlined over a quarter page spread told of Plattsmouth businessmen's Free Saturday Bridge program that has. attracted considerable trade from our Iowa neighbors. Although probably exagerated to some extent in the story, the program has proven most suc cessful and gives a hint to oth er communities similarly locat ed how they can improve their trading territory. The story follows: "The last few weeks have made merchants surer than ever that a good little town (Plattsmouth, population 6,500) can win trade from a good big town (Omaha, population 253,- 000). "Back in 1948 Plattsmouth' merchants decided to try to make engenuity triumph over geography. . Up till then, the town had a trade area of only about 150 square miles. Oma ha, 17 miles to the north, and a Missouri River barricaded by toll bridge, kept it from spreading out any farther. "But seven years ago to beef up a sies day merchants hit upon the idea of paying the bridge company to make the span toll-free to Iowa custom ers. The scheme worked so well that it was repeated, and later, put on a weekly basis. On Sat urday, any car bearing a license from nearby Iowa counties can use the bridge without paying, Plattsmouth's storekeepers pick up the tab. The effect has been to add 300 square miles to the town's trade territory. Last spring, when Iowa increased its sales tax (Nebraska had none), bus iness shot up more than ever. By the end of November, 11, 000 cars had come into Platts mouth from one Iowa county alone. ' "This, however, isn't all of it. A few weeks ago, merchants de cided to stay open evenings to' wangle customers from Oma ha. Last week, they got their first indication of how effec tive the late hours were: 20 of the cars parked at the curb, a test count showed, were from Douglas County (Omaha).' Meanwhile, merchants were re porting hikes in sales from 5 to 18 for the year as a whola." Teen Club Idea Moves Forward At Louisville LOUISVILLE Formation of a "teen club" got a mighty boost here this week when the -city fa thers turned over the city hall as space. For recreation facilities and meetings. First movement toward a club for teenagers came last spring when representatives of many organizations in Louisville band ed to express need of a youth program. The club may get a juke box, ping-pong table, and other equipment from local organiza tions for whom a meeting date has been set Dec. 29 at 7:30 p.m.i I at the high school. King and Queen t - if ?r . ''',' -M i 1,11 I ? ll.tl' lU.Ui 30 Years Ago a For Plattsmouth Yuletide Queen And King Crowned At Friday Ceremony Denny Hirz and Beverly Spri eck were crowned Yule king and queen at half time of the Plattsmouth - Shenandoah bas ketball game Friday night at Plattsmouth. The two were enthroned by last year's royalty, Terry Ernst, king, and Shirley Story, now Mrs. John Carper, last year's queen. - f Senior attendants for the cor onation were Dan Huebner and Janice Wiles; junior attendants were Sharon Harbaugh and and Mike Lewis; sophomore at tendants were Janet Campbell and Larry Cundall; freshmen attendants were Judy Meisln ger and Tom Winscot. . Rae Mae Henry acted as mas ter of ceremonies. ' Howard yogi Bureau Head Elmwood Unit ELMWOOD (Special) How ard Vogt became president of the Elmwood Unit of the Farm Bureau here Wednesday, step ping up automatically from the vice-presidency to head the unit for next year. In an election held at the Wednesday meeting, Lester Rosenow was named to succeed Mr. Vogt as vice-president; Henry Bornemeier will be secretary-treasurer; Mrs. Charles Marshall will be chairman of the women of the unit. . ' Meeting was held at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Howard Poole with Mr. and Mrs. G. R. Eve land and William Atchison as sisting. A total of 27 adults and eight children were present at the meeting presided over by La Verne Nickel. Mrs. Herbert Oihlerking, county Farm Bureau chairman, reported a meeting at the Bal four home in November where 43 had been present. Along with Mrs. Walter Oehlerking fehe re ported on the state convention of the Farm Bureau at Lincoln State Farm Bureau . President Charles Marshall reported on the national convention at Chi cago. . - . V- Mrs. Walter Oehlerking pre sented her son,!: Junior, who showed slides of Holland and parts of Europe, pictures taken while he was in service in Ger many. He also showed aerial photos of farms taken oh Air Day sponsored by Cass County S-C.S. last; fall. . A Christmas grab -bag was held. ' Arriving today at the home nf Mr. and Mrs. Les Niel were Mr. and Mrs. Leslie Niel, Jr., Scott Lynn, Connie and Sharon of Central City, Nebr. Leslie Niel; Jr. teaches Social Science ;in Central City high school ' . Mel Todd Jr., student at the University of Nebraska is spend ing the holidays with hisnarents Mr. and Mrs. Mel Todd "and iNancv at TTnion Crowned photo, from left, Gary Rieke, Jim Grosshans, Doris Ehlers, last year's queen, King Roger and Queen Janice, Roger Hild, last year's king; Betty Morris and ; Maralyn Sporer. Journal Photo by Butch Furse. ! Cold Memory Corn Pickers Thirtv vears asro Tuesdav t.wn Plattsmouth men scooped the last of 10,000 bushels of corn into a crib in a blinding bliz zard, thin and drawn but with $900 eoming. That was remembered this week by Logan. Covert of Platts mouth, who with his brother, Roy Covert, also c-f Plattsmouth, hand picked 300 acres of corn fOr Bent Livington, three miles south of Plattsmouth. They finished Dec. 20, 1925 under a rush of difficulties but stayed with the job until it was done. . " ; - Mr. Covert said he arid his brother contracted the job with Mr. Livingston when the weath er was fairly nice, about six weeks earlier, but before they could get started a . wind blew all the corn down. They tackled the Job with teams and wagons. This in volved scooping the corn out of. the wagon into bins after it. was picked by hand. They had to lift up nearly every stalk to husk the ear, enough to make 10,000 bushels. This was about 33 bushels per acre. ' Youth, It: appears, makes a difference". The next day, Dec. 21, Logan Covert was married at Omaha to Margaret Lahoda. They celebrated their 30th an niversary Wednesday. Luncheon guests of Grace Liv ingston Saturday were Mrs. Helen -Heyn, Omaha, Mrs. Ra chel Rising, Los Angeles, Calif, and Mr. and Mrs. Judd Rising from Purdue University of Wast Lafayette, Ind.- J Christmas guests at the home of . Judge H. and Mrs.- Graves will be ' Mr. and Mrs. Lester Thimgan and daughters Susan Jane, Sara Lynn and son Jerry; Mr. and Mrs. A. Paul Keil and three daughters Karen K., Nan cy Lee and the recent arrival Debra Ann, all residents of this city. ' Something WW r,v. ( j ; - iJy w J ' - - " -:' : I . I t , ''hiv i v V " J. A- class -ring salesman,, right, qaught the row of examiners, from left; Bob Wilson, Dennis Plattsmouth Blue Devils basketball squad, right and Larry Long. , Back row, Mike Lewis, in the middle of undressing for Rose Parade Entry Sends Aunt Photo Mrsi Lena Schlichtemeier of Nehawka received a pho to and a short note from Miss U. S- A. last week. From her niece, Miss Car lene King Johnson, daugh ter of Dr. and Mrs. Norman Johnson of Rutland, Vt.. she received a large photo of Miss U.S.A. as she ap peared in the "Miss Uni verse Pageant" this year with a huge trophy, crown yand scepter. The photo was inscribed: "To Aunt Lena, my love always. Carlene. Miss U.S.A. 1956." Miss Johnson will ride on the Long Beach float in the Rose Parade at Pasadena, Calif., on Jan. 2- Part of . tbis parade, which starts at 11:15 a m. CST, is expected to be seen on television. The Johnson family are former Lincoln residents. Sunday School Furnishes Program Methodist Church The first Methodist church at Plattsmouth had a well-attended Christmas program at the church Thursday night. Fred Fischer led the audience in carols before ) the Sunday school children got their pag eant of the first Christmas un der way. ' - - - Sunday school classes, grade one through high school took part in carols and the program proper. Mrs. Dale Philpot acted as narrator for the pageant of Christmas. Taking part in the program were these: Larry Walton, Pam Kaffenberger, Carol Davis, Ron nie Grant, Jesse Clint, Lois Kel lison, Larry Mullenax, Illene Porter, Patty Smock, Oral Ex Smith, David Waterman, Jim my Eledge, Elmer Gochenour, Donna Lee Martinson, John Reed, Adela Exline, Gary Gram mar, Barbara Newson, Marvin Lancaster, Jerry Garrison, Yvonne Nelson, Roger Hutchin son, Polly Davenport, - Carl Schreiner, Wanda Spacholtz, Marilyn Hutchison, Lind Senf, Eddie Lancaster, Dennis Smith. This did not include the names of the junior choir which sang several numbers and gave speaking choir parts. Mrs. Clint and the primary department al so gave numbers. Mr. and Mrs. Cragmile and son David will be Christmas guests of Mr. and Mrs. Joe York, and the group will have Christ mas dinner with Mr. and Mrs Don C. York. to Remember practice. Front Jim urossnans Photo by Butch S7 (r mil Cass county picked over $50,000 in December in gasoline taxes returned to the county for mail routes, county roads and bridges, cities and villages. Total received in December was $52,922.53. Of this $39,688.19 went to fill a void in county, city, and village treasuries left by the impounding of two months gasoline taxes by the state November and De cember 1954. Checks were received here 800 Expected Training Meets During January LINCOLN More than 800 leaders of 4-H Clubs in Nebras ka will attend training meetings during January, according to Assistant State 4-H Club Leader Duane Loewenstein. The training meetings will be held at Norfolk, Jan. 10-12; Scottsbluff, Jan. 17-19; and Lincoln, Jan. 25-28. Leaders attending the meet ings will hold similar training sessions later on in their own counties to share, information with leaders unable to attend the state meetings. All three .meetings will offer special project training sessions in clothing, foods, home living, animal husbandry, tractor, rur al electrification, safety and health. In addition, the Lincoln meeting will offer training to dairy, soil conservation, field crops, and garden and yard beautification leaders. Workshops will be held on parent participation and roles of both junior and afiult leaders in 4-H clubs. ,V ' - Miss Ima Crisman, assistant state 4-H Club Leader in South Dakota, will assist with general club management sessions at the Norfolk meeting. Ty Thompson, service director for the National Committee on Boys and Girls Club Work, Inc., and Miss Fern Shipley, associate leader, 4-H Clubs and YMW program, USDA, will be on hand to provide in formation on the general ses sion programs at the Lincoln meeting. T. T. Martin, Missouri State 4-H Club Agent Emeritus, will present leader training techniques at the Scottsbluff meeting. ... Banquet speaker at the first two meetings will be Don Novot ny of Clarkson, Nebraska's 1955 International Farm Youth Ex change (IFYE) delegate to ''In dia. Dean W. V. Lambert of the College of Agriculture will speak on his trip to Russia at the Lin coln meeting. ; :' Conference sponsors include the Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben, Omaha; Cooper Foundation, Lincoln; Standard Oil Founda tion, Inc., Chicago; and the leaders' local rural power sup plier, in cooperation with the Agricultural Extension Service of the University of Nebraska. Journal Want Ads Pay All This By ana dod aeyerage. journal Furse. FtDFDd this week by Alice Jayne Mc- Shane, Cass county treasurer," irom vv. r . sanaers, cierK oi me Lancaster district court, who mailed out check for $2,912,828 to Nebraska counties this week. The money was deposited with the court when, former State Treasuerer Frank Heintze filed suit for a delacratory judgment interpreting the law covering the method of distribution. Douglas and Lancaster had ob jected to the population figures I on which distribution was bas- ed. The district court recently handed down a ruling and even though some counties are ap pealing, it will not affect the court-ordered distribution o f funds. Cass county received two checks one for mail routes in which the withheld money amounted to $18,875.27; one for regular funds amounting to $23,812.92. This latter fund will be distributed, along with $7,940.60 received for December a total of $31,753.52 among cities and villages, county road and bridge funds. The Cass county board of commissioners pointed out re cently that many miles of roads and some bridge work has been held up in the last" year because funds were withheld by the court. It also reduced this year's county budget since it would have been necessary to increase the tax levy more to replace the delayed tax gas funds. Savings Bonds Honor for Cass Banks Tuesday The banks of Cass county will be honored for their parts in selling United States Savings bonds at Plattsmouth Tuesday night, Dec. 27, at a meeting of the Lions Club at the Communi ty Building ,in Plattsmouth. Representatives of the banks will be guests of. the Lions Club and the United States Savings. Bonds Division of the U.S.. Treasury. Glen Cunningham, former Omaha mayor, now state sales director for Savings Bonds, will pay tribute to the banks and award certificates from the Treasury Department. Speaker for the evening will be Don D. Strand, director of; National bank of Omaha. His. subject will be "Sound Money." The evening will begin with a dinner at 6:30 p.m., followed by the savings bond program. Otto Schafer Elected Head Co. Fair Board WEEPING WATER One Of Cass county's top beef raisers wa? elected nresirient of the Priss county Fair Eoard last week. He is Otto Schafer of Nehaw ka, who was elected to head the r ! -.A - T T cuuiity our iicai. ycai. ne suc ceeds V.. T. Rtacev who rasie-ned.' New directors of the fair board. an Robprt Jameson Nphnurlrn - - - , - - . ..m, succeeding Harold Elliott; Ho ward Philpot, Nehawka, filling an unexpired term of Mr. Schaf er; Charles Boedeker of Mur ray, who was re-elected to the board of directors. Other officers are J. W. Phil p o t, Plattsmouth, vice-president; Joe Bender, Weeping Water, secretary - treasurer. Other directors are Neil Munkrps and Gordon Heneger, both j3f Weeping Water. Mr. Schafer and Mr. Philpot will represent Cass county at a meeting of fair managers at Lin coln in January. Joe Bender will represent Nebraska as vice-president at that meeting.