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About The Plattsmouth journal. (Plattsmouth, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 28, 1957)
TUBE PLOTM(D)llJTIHI JflMMIMl Consolidated With the Nehawka Enterprise and Elmwood Leader-Echo Read Twice Weekly by More Than 3500 Cass County Families PUBLISHED SEMI-WEEKLY Monday-Thursday VOLUME 76 SIXTEEN PACES PLATTSMOUTH, CASS COUNTY, NEBRASKA, THURSDAY. MARCH 28, 1957 TEN CENTS PER COPY NUMBER 37 rom odeeot CASS COUNTY'S CREATEST NEWSPAPER c n yft ... "A WVt V, V" Heavy damage was done to trees over the ing limbs of trees bent low and nearly blocking city from broken limbs unable to withstand the traffic. This scene was typical of many Platts- tremendous weight of the wet snow. Above 1 mouth streets early Monday morning:, a scene at Fourth Street and First Avenue show- Journal Phot Teenage Road-E-0 Contest Is Saturday An estimated 40 teenage driv ers at 1 p. m. Saturday will toe the mark for competition in the junior chamber of commerce-sponsored teenage road-e-o. Oeneral chairman Wayne .E. Schneider today announced his committee was completing final details of the road-e-o which Is attracting young drivers from Plattsmouth, Louisville and Weeping Water. The contest Is to be condmc ted on Main street between Third and Fourth and Schneider said Jaycees will begin setting up the course at 7:30 a. m. Saturday. ,' In. discussing the upcoming Louisville Set For Tuesday's Village Election LOUISVILLE This village is set for a running start in Tues day's election when residents will select two members for the village board of trustees, two members for the school board and a police magistrate. Polls will be located in the Louisville city hall and voting hours are set from 8 a. m. to 8 p. m. Candidates for the town board are: John Reveilliac, Fritz True and Clarence Ackles along with LaRue Williams and Clarence Nessen whose names appear on the ballot by petition. Seeking election to the school board are: Mrs. Anna Stiffler, Mrs. Sue Pankonln, Laurls Hen drix and Dr. Herbert Worth man. William Kahler is running by petition for the position of po lice magistrate. Cass County's Greatest Newspaper The Plattsmouth Journal Hastings To Play The Hastings College concert band at 8 p. m. Friday in the high school auditorium will pre sent a program under the di rection of James M. King. No admission to the concert will be charged but it has been announced a free will offering will be taken. Featured on the evening pro gram will be clarinetist, Nor man Walker, and a trumpet trio. The concert here Is one of 22 appearances for the Hastings College band which is currently on a nine day tour of the area. Plattsmouth has been selected as one of the overnight stops and college musicians will be housed with members of the First Presbyterian Church. driving contest. Schneider said Jaycees felt it was "an oppor tunity for teenagers to demon strate to themselves and to their community they are interested in increasing their knowledge of traffic laws and Improving their driving skill." Named as contest judges are: Capt. Donald R. Shear, Nebras ka Safety Patrol, Chief of Police H. P. Kinsey, Bellevue, Chief of Police Clarence Iverson, Ne braska City, Chief of Police John Hobscheidt, Plattsmouth, and Don Davlne, Louisville. Among the events facing con testants in Saturday's test of driving ability are: Driving forward and then back ing through 10 tennis balls spac ed HVi inches apart: driving and backing through three bar rels 23 feet apart; a curve and offset excercise; and a parallel parking exercise. It has been announced winner of the Saturday contest will par ticipate in the state teenage driving contest which will be held at Red Cloud in May. A wards in the local competition will be made to the three top drivers, Schneider said. He urged all contestants to appear at the competition loca tion notl ater than 12:30 p. m. Saturday to receive instructions for the drive-off. Automobiles to be used by the young drivers will be furnished by Plattsmouth car dealers and all will be 1957 models. Agen cies supplying the moving stock are: Wiysel Studebaker, Platts mouth Motors, R. V. Bryant and Cass Motor Co. Judges and Jaycee officials for the contest are to be treat ed to a Saturday dinner by Boyd Lytic of the Hotel Coffee Shop. Plattsmouth will be represent ed by 8 drivers, Louisville by 21, and Weeping Water, 11. Schneider said the public is not only Invited, but urged to attend the driving competition. Friday King, who is serving his 28th year on the Hastings College faculty, Is head of the band in strumental department and has gained recognition as author of the brass ensemble called the "Cornet Choir," publications of which are being used from coast to coast in high schools and colleges. King and his Hastings College concert band have conducted annual tours throughout the mid west since 1934. He is the dean of Nebraska college band directors, has been a critic and judge for music contests in surrounding states and is especially well known as a guest conductor in high ichool band clinics. Band 8 Al Etheredge Dies Thursday At Age Of 101 Alvin Etheredge, one of Cass county's oldest citizens, resident of Greenwood, died on Wednes day at Weeping Water where he has been a resident of a nursing home for some time, at the age of 101. Mr. Etheredge was well known to a large circle of friends and acquaintances in the northern portion of Cass county. He has often been a visitor in Plattsmouth while his health permitted his traveling. The funeral is expected to be held Saturday at Greenwood, ac cording to Kenneth Marcy, Ash land mortician. Atom Bomb's Blast Force Is Described The awe-inspiring but death- dealing forces unleashed in an atom bomb blast were vividly presented Tuesday night to Lions Club members and their guests by an A-bomb explosion eye witness, Walter Behlen, Co lumbus. Behlen, president of Behlen Manufacturing Co., showed col oredslides of a nuclear test he witnessed at Yucca Flats, Nev., and, while tha pictures were be ing screened, gave a running narrative of each one. Among the pictures shown guests were scenes of th atom bomb's fireball; before and after shots of buildings and "dummy" people placed at distances from seven-eighths of a mile to eight miles from the blast site. These pictures graphically portrayed the terrific heat and power generated by an explod ing atom bomb. Behlen said the scorching heat of an atomic explosion does not, as a rule, set fires but, at var ious distances, either complete ly disintegrates substances or sears them. The speaker presented piec es of wood which had been part of a building erected about 1V2 miles from the detonation tow er. One side of the wood pieces exhibited was scorched, the oth er side unmarked. Also shown were build'""s taken from a variety of angles, showing the smashing impact of the A-bomb's force. Feeders Tour, Drought Meeting Postponed Until Later Dates A scheduled Cass County Feed ers tour on Saturday has been postponed to Friday, April 12, it has been announced by County Agent Clarence Schmadeke. He said the tour would follow the original plan when it is con ducted. The County agent also disclos ed cancellation of a drought meeting which was to be held In Murray Friday night. Schmad eke said a date for the meet ing would be announced later. Both events were delayed be cause of the storm. Storm Moisture Hits 2.80 Inches Plattsmouth and Cass County today still were digging out from under a weekend blizzard which raged across the midwest dump ing about 12 Inches of moisture- laden white stuff in this area. But the digging out at this date consists mainly in opening country roads still blocked by deep drifts token reminders of the blizzard's wind driven force. Traffic is moving over all major arteries in normal fash Ion as highway crews struck quickly Monday and Tuesday to open snow-clogged roads along which stranded motorists were lined. . . . STORM ... HI-LIGHTS An engineer estimated that over seven tons of snow was piled on roofs of the average home during the severe storm over the weekend. Due to its excessive moisture content, one of the "wettest" snows on re cord, each snow sHovelfull wei ghed approximately 28 pounds, it was learned by one inquisi tive shoveler whose back began to ache before he had complet ed 20-feet of his sidewalk he weighed it. Street department and highway crews were up a gainst a tough snow remov al job. Due to the excessive moisture content of the snow, plows and maintauiers were nearly useless in hand ling the heavy fall. Rotary plows clogged with packed snow that soon turned to chunks of ice. Much of it to be dug out with picks and crowbars. In many instances packed ice cracked frame and shafts putting the plows out of commission un til repairs could be made. Many a farmer found himself in trouble. Hundreds pf wells pumping water to livestock are operated by electricity. When power lines failed, farmera were hard pressed in trying to supply water to animals. Cool ers were out, Iceboxes, lights and other equipment were put out of commission. But, think about one poor farmer near here with 32 milk cows and his elec tric milking machine out of com mission. This man and his wife got the job done by the old fashioned method. They really appreciate electric power again. Seventy people were stranded at the Babe Clark farm home south of Plattsmouth on High ways 73-75 and 34, many of them arriving early Sunday aft ernoon. Cupboards were bare and the fatted calf had disap peared before Mrs. Clark could get appetites subdued and her visitors on their way late Mon day evening. Mrs. Clark was not so lucky as friends further on down tke road, the Jack Harris and Walter Riecke families, who found over 100 Sunday visitors flocking Into their homes at the height of the storm. These folks could go no further, aud hungry mouths were plentiful. Luck was with them, however, as a driver of a large semi loaded with provisions for a food chain also became one of their guests. This fellow, Milton Beck of Omaha, op ened up the dors and doled out canned goods, fresh veg etables, and other supplies that placed this group In the spot of being the best fed "refugees of the storm" In the midwest. For nearly 48 hours, these motorists ate "high off the hog." Hatcheries were having their difficulties with power failures and Incubators crambed with thousands of unhatched chicks, brooders full of chicks needing warmth from heat lamps and brooders. Krelfel's Hatchery at Springfield, with nearly 30,000 chicks on hand and thousands of eggs ready to hatch was with out power beginning Sunday. Telephone lines are still down as this is being written only Krelfle knows what was bing Contkiued on pagt 4) While a death toll of 293 in Nebraska were reported in the midwest blizzard area, Cass County recorded one death, which may partially, at least be attributed to the storm. A 70-year-old Dawson woman, Mrs. Lucy Bell Mullins, died of a heart attack in a stalled car three miles north of the Union corner. Her death, however, was the only casualty noted among stall ed travelers whose numbers reached into the hundreds In various sections of the county. While the sneak blizzard's damage will reach an as yet UBestimated figure, mast obser vers feel and result of its mois ture will far outweigh the de struction. . For the first time this year the county is not only within shouting distance of normal pre cipitation, but the blizzard's 2.80 of an inch precipitation has actually placed this area at Its normal moisture figure. The soggy snow is expected to lnk deep into the subsoil giving the farmers the Jump on what Is hoped will be a good crop year. Actually many weather ex pert! are viewing winter's final vicious blast as a "drought breaker." They say the storm is a pointer to the end of the dry cyele which has plagued the midwest and heralds the ar rival of a wet period. The storm, striking with a wind-blown fury, wrecked tele phone and power lines in the county. Elmwood, Murdock, Ne hawka, Union, Weeping Water, Union, Avoca and Louisville all ,wer$ without power Sunday night and into Monday as ice-crusted lines sagged groundward and, in many cases, pulle-d poles with them. However, repair crews work ing feverishly has succeeded in above named communities and life is beginning to resume its normal pace. ' In Plattsmouth, as over the county, the moisture-heavy snow played havoc with trees. Droop ing tmder the snow's weight limbs, popping with a crackling sound like gunfire, stripped from trees. Water content of the snow proved a chief obstacle for high way crews as the "mush" quick ly turned to Ice during the night hours making road-clearing op erations doubly difficult. In Cass County's district 1, Commissioner William Nolte is reported to have thrown five bulldozers in addition to the dis trict's normal oomplement of equipment into the battle of equipment into the tablte of clearing snow swept roads. On the telephone front, Platts mouth area manager today ask ed subscribers still without phone service to be patient as his crews are working at top speed to restore all phone lines to normal. Ernst said all nine toll cir cuits from Plattsmouth north to Omaha will be returned to ser vice shortly after noon today and disclosed Omaha toll cir cuits south to Nebraska City, Falls City and Auburn were re stored Wednesday evening. The Plattsmouth to Nebraska City line was repaired Wednes day, but full toll service from Louisville, Weeping Water to Ne braska City Is still out with resumption expected possibly by Friday. Service between Plattsmouth and Lincoln Is also expected to be resumed Friday. Ernst said the big difficulty on this line was bad wire breaks and down ed poles in the Union area. In the Plattsmouth area, two local and 17 rural phones still are out of service with repnlr slated as quickly as possible. Nehawka has nine rural and one local phone still out of commis sion, Ernst reported. He also said complete service has been reestablished at Mur ray but added Louisville has 24 local and 5 rural teleDhones on the "out of order" hook. Ernst advised he had two hea vy crews working on the Omaha toll leads and said both crews would remain in this area until everything is "clear." For the power plctore. Con sumers Power Districts reports a complete return to service with the bl? remaining task the clear lie of ovtrhonging tree limbs Considerable damage was done at the Hal roofs. Breakage caused heavy damage in many Perry home, 915 Second Ave., when two large instances and the clearing away Job has been limbs from a giant 100-year-old tree gave way a slow and costly task for many home owners. Sunday night crashing into porch and house Journal Photo Ten Candidates Tuesday City n Tuesday's election for two council seats and three mem bers of the board of education is quietly approaching with no fanfare and a marked lack of enthusiasm of the voting public. Four candidates will be vieing for election in the Tuesday bal loting for two seats on the city council currently held by Ray Wiysel and James McMillian. Both Wiysel and McMillian are seeking reelection to their To Pick Up Tree Limbs City officials today announced municipal street de partment trucks will pick up all brush and tree limbs piled on parkways next to curbings. But they emphasized the city will not take out or trim damaged trees for they believe that to be the property owner's responsibility. In making the announcement, authorities said re moval of brush and tree limbs stripped during the soggy snowfall of Sunday and Monday would take several days because the task will have to be sandwiched in between other street department duties. Police Ask Help In Finding Dog Wide search is being made over the city for a white terrier type dog with brown and black spots for a rabies test. Police have been combing the city in an attempt to locate the animal after it had bitten Walter Yenney at the Central School grounds Tues day afternoon. Two other boys, Roger Roberts and Dennis Horn, were also vic tims of the dog, but medical attention was not necessary. Citizens are requested to keep a lookout for a dog of this type and notify the po lice immediately. If the dog is not found, Walter, the son of Mrs. Eraest H. Yenney, will be forced to undergo a series of costly rabies shots as a precautionary measure. Roy Smith Wins Ak-Sar-Ben Award For FFA Record OMAHA Roy Smith, vocation al agriculture student at Platts mouth High School, received a $25 cash award this week from Ak-Sar-Ben,Omaha civic organ ization. The prize was awarded for his outstanding record In FFA work. J. L. Thurmond, chairman of th Ak-Sar-Ben public affairs committee, announced 20 top ranking vocational agriculture students In Nebraska have re ceived the $25 cash awards to defray expenses in attending the Nebraska FFA convention in Lincoln, next week. THE WEATnER Compiled for the Plattsmouth Journal at the Masonic Home Weather Station, Plattsmouth, Nebraska. March 25, 26, 27, 1957 Date High Low Prec, Monday 37 29 1.3 Tuesday 42 29 .00 Wednesday ....44 20 .00 Forecast: High near 50. Low tonight near 20. Skies will be fair Friday with cooler temper atures. Sun sets tonight at 6:44 Sun rise Friday at 6:13 a. m. seats with opposition furnished by George Kalasek and Louis Swoboda. The terms are for two years. In the school board race, four nominees are contesting for two three-year hitches on the board with two other candidates seek ing a one-year term. Asking election to three-year terms are Maxine Cloidt, Merle Stewart, Robert Trltsch and Al bert Hansen. The one-year Busy Schedule Arranged For Coast Youths Plattsmouth Chamber of Com merce Saturday night will roll out the welcome mat for three Santa Paula, Calif., youths ar riving here under an FFA ex change program. The West Coast trio will be returning an earlier visit to their stomping grounds by Herbert Kraeger, Roy Smith and Gary Rieke, of the Plattsmouth FFA chapter. A chamber delegation Is sched uled to meet the youths In O maha Saturday night bring ing them to this city where on Sunday they will clamber into a busy week of sight seeing and visitation. The visit will be launched Sun day morning with a breakfast in the VFW Club and will be followed with attendance at the First Christian Church for morn ing services. In the afternoon the three will be taken on a tour of projects of the local FFA chapter. On Monday the youths will Inspect the Omaha- Livestock yards and exchange building, lunch there and tour a radio station. They then will be taken through SAC headquarters at Offutt Air Force Base. The Californlans on Tuesday will visit classes at Plattsmouth High School and at noon will attend a meeting of Rotary. Aft ernoon Itinerary calls for them to view the sand pit, BREX shops, Rhylander and Cady. Stander Implement and the Huebner' Quarry. Topping the agenda Wednes day will be a tour of the Al lied Chemical Plant and visit to the Mel Hanson farm broadcast Thursday the trio will be taken to Lincoln where they will attend the state FFA conven tion. They are scheduled to em bark Friday nlht on the re turn trip to their California homes. Cass County's Greatest Newspaper Tht Plattsmouth Journal To Vie Ballot term has George J. Smith and Everett Newton as contestants. City Clerk Albert Olson this morning said neither election judges or clerks have been se lected for the city's five pre cinct polling places. But he In dicated the task should be finish ed sometime this afternoon. Polls will be located as fol lows : First Ward, First Precinct: Court House. First Ward, Second Precinct: Christian Church. Second Ward, First Precinct: Cass County Motors. Second Ward, Second Precinct: Cass County Maytag. Second Ward, Third Precinct: Stites Implement Co. Polls will be open from 8 n. m. until 8 p. m. to accommo date the city's voting public. To be eligible for voting Tues day the person must be 21, own real or personal property prop erly assessed In the last assess ment of the district in which he desires to ballot or must have children of school age. In addition, the voter must ! have been a resident of Ne braska for six months, and lived in the county 40 days and In the ward or precinct for 10 days. This upcoming eloctlon, obser vers believe, Is following th pattern generally followed In off-year balloting: Interest Is low and predict only a small per centage of eligible voters to cast ballots. VFW Officer Will Speak Here Friday A dinner, reception and meet ing, all of which are open to the public, will feature a Fri day evening visit to Plattsmouth by Richard L. Roudebush, sen ior vice commander of the na tional Veterans of Foreign Wars. Roudebush, who Is scheduled to arrive at Omaha by plane shortly after 6 p. m. Friday, will be greeted at the airport by local VFW officials and honor guard. The dinner, a smorgasbord affair, will get underway In VFW clubrooms, promptly at 7 p. m. and tickets are priced at $1.00 per person. The smorgasbord is to be fol lowed immediately by the even ing program for which Com mander Roudebush has been named main speaker. Following the program a reception will be held for the commander, who halls from Indianapolis, Ind. Several hlghranklng state lev el VFW officers also are slated to appear. The list Includes: Wilbert Wagner, state dfnart ment commander; Frank Short, Lincoln, state department sen ior vice commander; and Rob ert A. Lowe, departmental ad jutant. The entire program for Roude bush, who Is a livestock broker in his home city, Is open to the public and Interested persons are ureed to attend. Commander Roudebush Is ex nected to speak on matters of Interest to veterans of armd service. . .