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About The Plattsmouth journal. (Plattsmouth, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 3, 1959)
f I'lU'I'IHHHHl f'm I ' I I mm-m w i CASS COUNTY'S GREATEST NEWSPAPER n PUBLISHED SEMI-WEEKLY Monctay-Thursctay Consolidated With the Nchawka Enterprise ond Elmwood Leader-Echo Read Twice Weekly by More Than 3500 Cass County Families VOLUME 78 SIX PACES PLATTSMOUTH, CASS COUNTY, NEBRASKA MONDAY, AUGUST 3, 1959 TEN CENTS PER COPY NUML'ER 74 FLA 1' r "M l AN in. ri.Ol I) ol your project. Sen. Roman llruska said here Friday night at the dedication of 3 flood dams. Shown at the head table at the dedication dinner from left are Paul Fail - 'illl.I, CITV LAKE' The new lake behind Dam 10-A was only about two hours old when this photo was taken looking north- east from the Missouri-Pacific KK track. Three boys are near the! Showboat's Coming! The Showboat's CominR. Not for a while ye tbut that's the theme for the Kins Korn Karnival parade this year and those who will enter floats may want to think about it a little for those last weeks co fast. The Kin;; Korn Klub believes the thomp will Rive entrants a big field from which to choose float ideas. Boats, river naviga tion, minstrels, can-can dancers, showboat comedy routines or many other features connected with the show boat era are pos sibilities. The Merchants Parade will be Sept. 23. This year's Korn Karnival is the 27th annual event. Louis D. Noble, 89 Dies, Weeping Water Louis D. Nolte, 89, of Weeping Water, died early today at the home of a daughter. Mrs. Fran'.; Domingo. Survivors are four daughters, Mrs. Eva Snyder, Grand I land; Mrs. Mi'inie Roberts, Weeping Water; Miss Leah Noble, Lincoln; Mrs. Mildred Domingo, Weeping Wafer; two sons, Lawrence W., Grand Island; Louis, Weeping Water. , Funeral services Wednesday i morning at 10:30 at the Congre- j Rational church in Weeping Wa- j ter. ! Ilob-on funeral home in charge of arrangements. Obituary will appear later. Widening of Main Street Shown Wise In Friday Rainstorm The widening of Main street some five years a".o, really pro ved its wisdom Friday noon in the heavy wind and rain storm that swept over the community, end for a few moments give the impression of one of the flash floods of years ago. There was some opposition when it was proposed to take off six feet from the sidewalk on Main street and give this addit ional wid.h to the street, chang ing the design of the curbs and drainage of the street, but in the first real test given in the Friday storm it proved its value. On Sixth street where the street is the old width and high curbs the flood waters sweeping in largely from the north, reach ed over the curb in st veral pla ces and later on during the high waters on the south side. Call Your News And Social Items to 211 I ; 7 ill , 4 .MAIN SI KI.LT AFLOAT fulfil 1 1 T 1 1 1 Mf--, I . - -- . - , . ' scene on Main between 5th and 4th Friday noon at about the height of the runoff of storm water. Oldtimers were heard to say, "This! Wait'll you really see some water!" That might be true but 4.25 Billion Bushel Corn Crop Is Still in Prospect As July reaches its last week, crop prospects are coming into focus for the current year. Winter wheat is one of the largest crops of the century; spring wheat production is one of the smallest crops in the last 20 years due to drouth in the Dakotas; oats is the smallest crop in 20 years due to green bugs and disease; sorghum and soybeans both have reduced acreages and soybean prospects have been cut materially by drouth in the most concentrat ed production area from Cham paign to Quincy, Illinois. Corn stands pre-eminent among all farm crops with its re cord forecast ciop of 41 billion bushels as of July 1st. Nothing lias occurred to change the over all picture very much in July. The narrow band of drouth across central Illinois has been relieved but slightly by scatter ed showeis, but this area affects only a small per cent of total corn production. i About mid-July, the farm re-. porter of Champaign, Illinois! newspaper estimated farmers there were losing $240 a day for each continuing day of drouth estimated 2 bushels loss daiiy on 120 acres of corn. Seed corn production areas Indicate considerable range in 3 v 'it . quel, local flood control administrator; County Attorney and Mrs. j James Iteglry, Clem Wosler, Mrs. llruska, the senator and .Mayor j and Mrs. (Irani Koberls. "island at center". They seemed to enjoy the water although it was thick. There were also two dogs in the muddy drink, This was the lor a neoptiyle take a great deal the street would of water of 5 to flow instead of corn development this year. Across central Illinois and Ind iana, the crop is a week ahead of normal; in the area embrac ing northwest Iowa and south ern Minensota. 3-5 days ahead; southwest Iowa and eastern Ne braska, a week behind average; Northern Illinois, northern Ind iana and northern Ohio, slightly ahead of normal. Northern II- linois recently had a 2 to 4 inch ; rain which boomed prospects al- ready good. A recent USDA release indir I ated that Iowa and Illinois now i plant 10 per cent hybrid corn; j Ohio and Indiana - 99.5 per cent; and Missouri, Nebraska, Wiscon t sin and Michigan at 99 per cent. ! Minnesota is ranked as 98 per cent, the 2 per cent below 100 i per cent due no doubt to the I farmer in the very early matur ity zone who do not want to risk their uncertain crop against higher priced hybrid seed. States .1 at the bottom of the social scale j on use of hybrid seed are Ari-1 rona and Montana with 35 and; 47 per cent respectively. j Mr. and Mrs. George Tooth aker and family departed Fri day night for a three weeks vacation stopping first at Colo rado Springs and then taking the southern route to Californ ia where they will visit relatives. fit -'rrr1 """" t it 1 wiwiiw III II i JgfM.f.Mjmi; it was quite enough and it doesn't of imagination to envision how have looked if the 2 or 4 acres 6 feet in depth had been in the behind the dam above. Doll Costume Winners Listed Winners in the City Recrea tion doll costume contest are: Ages 7-9 1st, Vicky Winters; 2nd, Becki Tilson; 3rd, Twila Garrett. Ages 10-12 1st, Melissa To man; 2nd, Susan Rouse; 3rd, Juanita Davidson. Frederick and John Haith Here Airman Third Class Freder ick Haith has departed for ov erseas after a 30-dav furlough here with his parents and bro thers. ! The son of Mr. and Mrs. Ray mond Haith, he has been sta tioned at Guntcr AFB in Ala bama and was flown to South Carolina after the leave to eo to Africa where he will be sta tioned for two years. He is a firefighter. While the airman was home, he was joined here by his bro ther John who is a student at Syracuse University, New York. THE WEATHER July 30, 31, Aug. 1, 2, 1959 H'gh Low Prec. Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday ...93 73 .00 . . 90 64 1.60 .. 34 63 1.50 .88 68 .90 Partly cloudy to Forecast night. Men's in lower nn's Sun sets at 7:39; rises Tuesday at 5:21 a.m. 'iHlill City' Project Friday . .Downpour Value of Plattsmouth dedicated its first flood control dams and saw their need demonstrated Friday. The demonstration was unbid den as far as anyone here was concerned as upwards of 3 inch es of rain fell in a period of 30 to 45 minutes beginning shortly before noon. The rain had Main Street nearly curbful for 30 minutes and the storm washed nearly ev ery street not hard-surfaced to some extent or a lot. The brief savaee storm did widespread if mostly minor da mage to trees, gardens and homes. Also, the storm forced moving of the dam dedication from the Dam 10-A site in west Platts mouth indoors to the Lions Com munity Building. But, Friday noon's downpour and frightening runoff was still fresh in everyone's mind and the dedication in the presence of some 100 persons was effective. Clem Woster was emcee. The new dam site and area which will become a city park was dedicated "Hill City Dam and Park" in a sentence-long ceremony pronounced by Mrs. Roman Hruska, wife of princi pal speaker Roman Hruska of Omaha, Nebraska senator in Congress. A prayer of dedication was said by Msgr. Joseph Przudzik of St. John's Catholic Church. Before and afterward were several short addresses which recounted the history of flood control here and of the benefits derived irom ine lu-aam pro gram, the first 3-dam phase of which was dedicated Friday night. Sen. Hruska said the project was "a success at noon today," referring to the heavy rain that had Main and other streets a wash. The storm also put about two or three acres of water into a pool behind Dam 10-A, ranging to 5 to 6 feet deep. Rainfall at the dam site was measured at 3.10 inches. The senator commended the people of Plattsmouth and co perating conservation and gov ernment agencies for the pro ject. It wasn't quick because "big things take a long time to grow," he said. Sen. Hruska referred to Platts mouth in another way and at the same time got in a comment on foreign aid spending and feeling toward America abroad. Talking of mob violence which greeted Vice President Nixon on a visit to Venezuela, he said: "Just think of it? Here was the official representative of the U.S. on a good will tour and this is how he was treated." (Ston es were thrown and the cars of the party shaken, pounded and spit on). In the vice president's party was the president of the Import Export Bank which makes for eign loans. It was a comment of the latter quoted from an ar ticle which referred to Platts mouth. The bank president was ask ed how he felt when the mob came at the American motor party. He replied that it was like a feeling he'd had in Platts mouth, Neb., when a wall of wa ter came down Main Street, sweeping everything before it, one felt so helpless. Sen. Hruska said that while the cost of the dam projects is great the saving to the com munity will be $13,000 to $14,000 a year, which is the estimated annual damage of all sorts from water runoff here. On foreign aid, he said such loans should be "hard-nosed" and "show a return." The senator was introduced bv County Attorney James Beg- ley. Other distinguished guests were introduced by R. R. Furse. They Included city and county officials, county and state con servation acency representativ es and others. Mayor Grant Roberts gave a welcome to the guests and said he hoped the bad floods of the rast here will only be "horrib le memories." Paul Fauquet, flood control administrator for the Platts mouth watershed, traced the his tory of the program here. First activity to promote a program followed a disastrous flood in 1947. 1 ot Points Up Structures Investigation, he said, showed the way to control water was not to dig a deeper ditch or build a bigger sewer but to hold back the runoff. Efforts of a volunteer flood control committee with the help of the Soil Conservation Service got a program outlined, result ed finally in inclusion in a pro gram under federal law and the start of preliminary work in Ap ril, 1948. First work was terracing of land on the Henry Schneider farm south of Valley View. Fur ther terracing in advance of dam construction then set the stage for building of structures. Fauquet said the program got 100 per cent cooperation from city, county and state levels of government and conservation agencies, also great cooperation from local persons. He said he hoped any of the latter who had failed to do a fair share in the initial projects would help with the others. Pearl Finnigan, director of the state department of agriculture, brought brief greetings from Gov. Ralph Brooks who was en route to the Governors Confer ence. (Continued on Page 6) Rainfall Totals 4.90 Inches Here Friday to Sunday Rainfall here F'riday, Satur day and Sunday totaled 4.90 in ches, as measured by Schreln er Drug Store. Most everyone thought Fri day's 2.46 (or 3.10 as measured by engineers at the 10-A dam site) was quite sufficient. But, then the second nor'eas ter arrived, this one just before 5 p.m. Saturday. It appeared to be a twin of the Friday noon storm but gusty winds at the start didn't have the force or lasting quality of the earlier storm. It did bring 1.55 inches of rain and wind and lightning caused some additional trouble on rur al phone and power lines. And, it added another acre to "Hill City Lake." Also, it dirtied up many of the places, sewer intakes and street intersectinns, the city street crew had labored Friday and Saturday to police. A Burlington freight train was held up here for a itme Satur day evening by a clay bank slide across the track near Louis ville. A work crew and machin ery from Lincoln were sent out to clear the line. Saturday's runoff had Main Street almost full again and 6th Street and the avenues were curb-full. Sunday's contribution to the rainfall total was .89 inch, com ing in a less violent storm from the southwest. Rain began about 3 a.m., lasted until nearly 6., Main Street looked more nor- i mal with "only" 8 or 10 foot1 streams on each side. i A weather forecast of mostly ; fair for today and tonight wa ' welcomed. j MYNAKI) DAMAGE At a residence owned by Myron Wiles in the east part of the Mjnarcl community, the wind demolished a shed and an Dedicated by Plattsmouth, Near Areas Hardest Hit By Storm Plattsmouth and the area to1 the west, northwest and south-l west of the city bore the brunt: of Friday's flush storm. I There was general damage i throughout the city to roofs audi windows of homes, trees, gar- dens and flowers and Main Street, Sixth Street and the av enues had the most runoff seen j here in several years. Rainfall was measured at j 2.46 inches by Schreiner Drug, 3.10 inches at the 10-A dam site in west Plattsmouth. Longe t-lasting trouble perhaps was that experienced by the tel ephone company which worked for two days to get some 500 city and 320 rural phones back in service. Manager V. V. Clark of the telephone company said troub le was due to tree limbs blown over lines and "wet cable." The latter caused most of the trouble. Water gets into the phone cab les containing the lines and the result is shorts, crosses and ground outs. Water enters where there are cracks or holes in the lead casing, Clark said. These are caused by wind whipping the cables and cracking the cov ering or even by squirrels gnaw ing the cables, it is thought for mineral content. The solution is to find the wet cable, open up the casing the entire length of the wetting, in sert a drying compound and close it up again. Fourteen men worked Friday until after dark and Saturday, some from 4 a.m.' on, to get the trouble corrected. Water damage in Plattsmouth otherwise wasn't great but some basements did take in water, one downtown where four inch es invaded. Several downtown businesses reported taking a lit tle water at ground level. Consumers Public Power crew men worked until 8 p.m. Fri day to clear up, at least tempor arily, all difficulties. Here, about 25 house electric services were ripped from hom es by wind or falling tree limbs. liaics of hay were If , 4 - ' . . ' . . if llr.V! fence into a ditch, even across Highway 66 at the Ralph Wehr bein farm west of here. Herman llennings of this city was wit ness of the flight of the baled hay. He was at his farm west of the city when the storm started and decided to drive home to Plattsmouth. Passing the Italph Wehrbein farm he was startled to see bale after bale of hay come rolling down the hill, through the fence and into a drainage ditch. "" - - - - .- - . :--fi., j--; wr-r "early American half-bath." No one lives un the place at present. am Site A big cottonwood fell onto the main feed line to the city water plant pump house. Murray had two power out ages and a Union area one out age from tree limbs. More work will be done in the next few days to .make more permanent the repair work al ready done, CPPD Manager Er nest 'Elliott said. A big job of cleaning up was handled Friday and Saturday by the city street department. With two trucks hauling and all available men cleaning debris from streets, many loads were hauled. Gravel, crushed rock, sand and mud were washed many blocks down hilly streets. Tree branch es blocked sewer intakes and had to be cleaned out. The big flow down Main St. carried trash of all sorts, boards and large limbs, even a bicycle for a way. Water was up on the sidewalk at spots on Sixth St, and to within a foot or two of curbs on Main St. The street was quickly cleared as soon as the flood warning siren was blown. Rose trellises took a beating and garden corn and beans were battered. A large elm blew onto the home of Mrs. Marietta Long, 816 Ave. E. A weeping willow at the Don Born home was blown next door into the Ray Story yard on Washington Avenue. At Story's a walnut tree was bro ken off and light lines and met er ripped from the house. There were dozens of other in stances of damage, including an aluminum window ripped apart and mostly carried off. The E. O. Vroinan home on Clinton Street was damaged, one chimney blown away, an other badly loosened and the porch loosened from the house. In rural areas, damage was evidently worst in the first 10 miles or so west, northwest and southwest of town. At the Fritz Siemoneit-Emil Schmidt farm, six large trees were broken. (Continued On Page 6) lossrd by Friday's wind across a i ei(, i