The Greene County Guardian, December 13, 1956

the greene county GUARDIAN Vol. I No. 3 Jamestown,Ohio December 13,1956 second ci m Perm it pending Jamestown, o . Ten Cents MILTON PETTIT . . .hide-and-seek (Guardian Photo) NON-VOTING VOICES STRONGEST Farmers Protest Corn Programs Greene County farmers pro­ tested the two cut-back a l­ ternatives o f t h eU. S . Gov­ ernment by s t a y i n g away from Tuesday's c o r n refer­ endum polls in droves. Only 370 of this c o u n t y 's corn-growing eligibility list of 2, 587 farmers cast ballots at the Tuesday election. Those 370 favored the soil bank base plan by 244 to 126 over the allotment program. Those who stayed away are assumed to have favored the status quo. But, the way the election was set up, farmers had no choice toward main­ taining the present situation. And that's what kept them. Pettit 9 Valves Playing Hide-and-Seek Game Milton Pettit vows he and 12 water valves are going to end a game of hide-and-seek as soon as warm weather chugs around again. If he do e s , it's g o i n g to mean less i n t e r r up t ion of LionsSet YulePlan Pr i ze s of $15, $10 and $5 will be awa r d e d the best- lighted home in the Greene- v i e w School D i s t r i c t this Yule by the Jamestown Lions Club. Lions are s p o n s o r i n g the annual contest to sWing res­ idents into the C h r i s t ma s spitit. Ent r y is easy. Just drop a postcard to Russ Flax, James­ town, and you're e n t e r e d . There's nothing to buy. Or, clip the c o up o n from this edition of The Guardian and mail same to Russ. The Lions, howe v e r , are selling- s om e t h i n g a b o u t now--Christmas t r e e s . But the trees are b e i n g sold to bolster the Lions sight-saving fund. Lions International has taken the lead as an organi­ zation d e d i c a ted to sight- saving programs in commun­ ities everywhere. Christmas trees, ranging in p r i c e from $1 to $5 are in stock now and are being sold at the r e a r of C a r r ' s Drug Store, at the Adams-Thuma Co., at the Hall J.H ill Farm S e r v i c e S t o r e and at the Smith Farm and Home Cen­ ter, all in Jamestown. Prizes also will be awarded by the Lions Club to the best Christmas d e c o r a t i o n s in commercial establishments of the vicinity. w a t e r s e r v i c e for ma n y Jamestownians. The hidden valves are part of the control system of the village's 21-year-old water system. As long as their lo­ cation is unknown it often me a n s that a much larger than necessary portion of the v i l l a g e has to go without water wh i l e a break in thei mains is being repaired. So far this year there have been 5.1 breaks in the water mains—quite a few tempor­ ary dry periods. There are 49 valves in the wa t e r system and, up until this y e a r , the whereabouts of 21 of them was unknown. But the c o m b i n ation of a map of the system from the, state and a magnetic divining] rod now has na r r owed that down to nine. The valves were placed on the missing list as contrac­ tors laid new asphalt streets here without making provi­ sions to raise the valves, re­ sulting in most of them be­ ing under asphalt. "But I'm going to find those valves this summer if 1 have to tear up every street in the village, " Pettit says. awa y from v o t i n g place?. They just didn't like either proposal. No matter how you read the ballot Tuesday, it m e a n t a cut-back in com p r o d u c t i o n . Farmers just aren’t in a c u t t i n g - b a c k mood these days. Delmar Bone, office man­ ager of the c o u n t y ' s Agri­ c u l t u r a l Stablization and Conservation office, said the vote tally here shows a 65. 9 percent margin in f a v o r of the soil bank base plan. I n C e d a r v i l l e township, there were 33 in favor of the soil bank, 17 for the allot­ ment plan. That m e a n t a total of 50 voters from 223 eligible. Jefferson township farmers v o t e d 27 for the soil bank plan, nine for the allotment p r o g r am . That meant 36 votes from 225 eligible. Silvercreek township voters f a v o r e d the soil bank plan Robert Guthrie Heads Fire Unit Robert Guthrie was elected president of the Ceda r v i l l e Volunteer Firemen's Associ­ ation at that group's annual Christmas party and election of officers Tuesday night. G u t h r i e r e p l a c e s Lewis Lillich as prexy of the fire­ fighters. Ro g e r Collins was elected to the v i c e president's post to succeed John B r a d f u t e . Arnold Thordsen is treasurer, replacing Jesse Chamberlain. Two trustees, Harold Cooley and Robert Van Tress, were elected. The new o f f i c ers for 1957' will take their posts on Jan. 1. Guests included Fire Chief Edwar d Pitt and Lt. James Walker of the S p r i n g f i e l d Fire Department, with their w i v e s . C h i e f Pitt and Lt. Wa l k e r are conducting the 10 -we ek firemen's training course at the Cedarville fire station. Wives of the firemen were guests at the Christmas event T u e s d a y night at the IOOF Lodg e Hall. A banquet was served by the women of the Rebekah Lodge. Nearly 100 persons ^tended. by 26 to e i g h t , making a total of 34 ballots cast from an eligibility list of 196. In Ross township, com grow- r a l l o t m e n t program. That ers cast nine ballots for the * meant only 27o f 171 farmers soil bank plan and 18 for the j eligible cast ballots. Riley Death No Murder; Butts Couple Is Cleared Mr. and Mrs. T om But t s, earlier i m p l i c a t e d in the "murder" of William Riley, 41, Cedarville, h a v e been cleared through a lie detec­ tor test taken at the London Prison farm. In fact, the Greene County Sheriff's Department investi­ gator Don S t e p h e n s now is of the o p i n i o n there wasn't any murder. Doubt grew steadily about the case ever since a mem- Cedarville Council OK’s Reduced Street Lighting In a money-savingcutback, members of C e d a r v i l l e ' s village council Monday night sketched out minor changes to the town's lighting plan. What faced the councilmer. was a year-end sum of $30 in the village t r e a s u r y if original p l a n s were carried through. With the rivisions Cedarville should enter 1957 with approximately $180 in the coffers. Mrs. Virgil Sticka, chair­ man of the council's lighting c o m m i t t e e , reported the new p i ah calls fo r 4000- lumen fixtures on Main street at the church comer and at the intersection of Xenia and Miller streets. The costlier fluorescents were originally scheduled for these points. At all f our po i n t s of the corporation line--pn US 42 and Ma i n street --the pro­ grammed 4000-lumen lights are b e i n g s l i c e d batk to 2500-lumen f i x t u r e s . On Xenia avenue on the south­ west side of the village two Crashes into Rail T h om a s P. Stirsman, 20, Cedarville, c r a s h e d into a guard rail early Sunday along U .S. 42 between Cedarville and Xenia, state patrolmen s a i d , causing considerable damage to his car. He was cited for speed excessive for conditions. 4000-lumen fixtures are be­ ing consolidated into a sin­ gle light m i dwa y between the c o r n e r s o r i g i n a l l y planned. Mrs. Sticka and Mrs. Robert Marshall, also a member of the council's lighting com­ mittee, are planning to con­ fer next week with lighting e n g i n e e r s of the Dayton Power & Light Company de­ termine if the changes can be effected. aces Auto eath Char Former Jamestown resident Marion Reed, 22, Wilming­ ton, is facing a manslaughter c h a r g e In connection with the traffic death last Aug. 12 of a Xenia man. R e e d was f i n e d $50 and c o s t s and had his d r i v i n g rights S u s p e n d e d 90 day: when he appeared last Sat­ urday in Xenia M u n i c i p al Co u r t on a S t a t e P a t r o l c h a r g e of d r i v i n g left of center. That charge, too, grew out of the wreck which claimed the life of Forest Smith, 28, Xenia, who was a passenger in the Reed auto. Both Reed, t h e n a r e s e d e n t of 21 S. Limestone St. , Jamestown, and Charles H. Stewart, 22, Hussey Pk., near Jamestown, were hurt in the wreck. BING-BONGS ON THE BLINK Church. Bank Clocks Clunk Out "The curfew tolls the knell of parting day. . . " This might h a v e held true for a n E n g l i s h church yard but the days' greetings and partings are b e i n g marked with large batches of silence these days in Jamestown. Both of the vocal v i l l a g e timepieces — the Methodist church clock and the Farmers and Traders Bank timekeep­ er—are on the blink. But s c h o o l k i d s who have b e e n late for c 1a ss e s and s t e no s who have overtyped1 the lunch hour can take heart in the fact that Max J enk s , c a r e t a k e r of the c h u r c h clock, has promised to get it back in the time-chiming business Saturday. Jenks, who originally elec­ trified the clock in the church steeple, avowed that all the mute c l o c k needs is a new pulley combined with a trip up the ladder by him, prin­ cipally the latter. "I'm going to speed up the chimes so that they don't take so long, " he said. And cor­ rect the time, presently about 10 minutes slow. R e p a i r of the bank time­ p i e c e , a g r a n dd a d d y of clocks, is a mo r e intricate joJ>, President R. C. Moorman said. He didn't know when the s k i l l e d labor would be available. Meanwhile, as payment for the past weeks' u nm a r k e d hours, Jenks will rig up h i- f i d e l t y speakers to b e a m Christmas c a r o l s from th e church steeple from 5:30 to 6:30 p. m ., beginning Mon­ day. ber ofDr. Robert E. Z i p f ' s Montgomery County Coron­ er’sOffice made a homicide ruling by a long-range trac­ ing of events. That office said the death within the past month of Ri­ ley was directly caused by a fight sometime in August in Cedarville. It was learned, h owe v e r , that the f i n d i n g was made almost entirely upon a note which had passed b e t w e e n Riley and Dr. R. L. Haines, Jamestown. Dr. H a i n e s is G r e e n e County Jail Physi­ cian. Both Tom Butts andhis wife, who live in the Clifton vi­ cinity, submitted readily to the lie detector tests, even insisting they wanted to take them to c l e a r that n o t e ' s implication. And, according to a report r e c e n t l y returned to the S h e r i f f ' s Office, they did just that. The report stated that, in the opinion of state officials, Mr. and Mrs. Butts had n o t h i n g to do with the death of William Riley. Deputy S t e p h e n s said be feels that the homicide ruling may be stretching matters a bit. R i l e y , known to be a d r i n k i n g man, had taken several spills in his day, even touched off a couple of sticks of dynamite in his backyard at one time. He probably, then, was i n v o l v e d in any n um b e r of incidents which might have led to die skull fracture and s u b s e q u e n t miningitis which caused his death. Firemen Pick Slunkle D e lm e r S h l n k l e is the choice ofJamestown firemen to s u c c e e d Dora L. Fields whose retirement as fire chief becomes effective Jan. 1. Firemen met last week and named Shlnkle, a volunteer f i r e m a n whose home is in Jamestown, as their pick far thejjob that Fields it vaca­ ting after a quarter century of service. Horever, this is a recom ­ mendation only and selection of a new fire chief h inges upon a g r e e m e n t between towmhip trustees and James­ town councllmen of Fields' successor. The matter is expected to come upat both die trustees' meeting S a t u r d a y evening and the c o u n c i l meeting Monday evening.