Montgomery County sentinel. [volume], July 23, 1959, Image 1

About Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974

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THIS ISSUE
13,330 Paid
(Subject to Audit)
11,127 Paid
AUDIT BUREAU OF CIRCULATK
REPORT OF MARCH 31, 1939
103 m Yor ■ No. 33 Pho— GArdii 4-7700 ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND THURSDAY. JULY 23. IST 2 SECTIONS—2O PAGES T en Cents a CODV
WSSC Set
To Talk
With Union
Washington Suburban Sani
tary Commission this week
agreed to discuss working con
ditions with the union repre
senting some 500 WSSC em
ployes —a privilege sought by
the union for the past year and
a half.
The Commission invited
union representatives to meet
with them at 2 p.m. on July 28.
The press and public also were
invited to attend.
The State Attorney General
has ruled that the union, Amer
ican Federation of State Coun
ty and Municipal Employes,
cannot sign a wage contract
with WSSC, but can bargain for
improved working conditions.
Union General Organizer Rob
ert H. Hastings recently
charged that conditions of
WSSC field workers are “a dis
grace to the national capital
area.”
Before the attorney general's
ruling, WSSC officials contend
ed they had no authority to bar
gain with the union.
Arts Center
Group Picks
F. Gutheim
Frederick A. Gutheim was
elected presidenl of the
Montgomery County Arts
Center, Inc., at a meeting
held Tuesday at the Cosmos
Club in Washington.
Other officers elected were:
Carl M. Freeman, vice presi
dent; C. Edwin Kline, treasurer;
Mrs. Warner Gardner, secre
tary, and Mrs. George Barshay,
executive vice president.
These officers and a board of
trustees consisting of 12 per
sons have plans to build a $1
million arts center to serve
Montgomery County.
The first regular meeting of
the officers and the board of
trustees will be held September
3. At this time a report from
the Park and Planning Commis
sion is expected in connection
with the group’s request for
public park land on which to
build the proposed Arts Center.
The officers hope at least 20
acres will be made available in
the vicinity of Rockville.
To finance the building, this
organization plans to launch a
fund-raising effort that would
be organized in neighborhoods
and reach into business and
other groups in the county.
Quinlan Post
GOP Counsel I
Sou glil on
Job Vacancy
The Republican State Central
Committee of Montgomery
County will be asked to supply
names of three candidates to
fill the term of William A. Quin
lan, member of the Montgomery
County Board of Zoning Ap
peals, which expires August 15.
Quinlan, a Republican, must
be replaced by a Republican.
Lone other Republican on the
five member Board is Mrs. Mary
A. Hepburn. The other mem
bers are Democrats.
The decision to ask for names
of three candidates for the post
all but quashed speculation that
Quinlan might be reappointed.
He was censured this week for
his role In criticizing an un
named "high official” for at
tempting to sway the Board in
favor of a zoning application
submitted by the Potomac Elec
tric Power Co.
County Hires
Traffic Aide
Earl C. Williams, jr., 38, a
graduate engineer from Mary
land University who holds a traf
fic safety course certificate from
Yale University, has been hired
by Montgomery County as
Chief, Division of Traffic Engi
neering, at an annual salary of
$9897.
He is now traffic engineer for
the city of Wichita Falls, Tex.,
where he has worked for three
years. He will fill the position
vacated upon the resignation ol
Eugene J. Clifford January 31
this year.
Sitek*tew (Mi Seißiif l
Multiple Tragedy
Plane Crash Kills
Builder Jim Davis
Simple funeral services
will be' held at 10:30 a.m.
Monday at the Christ Epis
copal Church, Rockville, for
James B. Davis, jr., Rock
ville businessman and resi
dent, and his son, Victor, 14,
who both perished with Mr.
Davis’ parents in a plane
crash last week.
The Rev. Raymond Black will
conduct traditional Episcopal
services for his former vestry
man before the father and son
are buried next to Mr. Davis’
wife, the late Madalein Beau
champ Davis, in Rockville Cem
etery. Mrs. Davis died two years
ago last May after a protracted
intestinal disorder.
Meanwhile, the two surviving
Davis children, James 8., 12,
and Diana, 9, are being cared
for at the home of their mater
nal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs.
Victor R. Beauchamp, of South
Glen rd., Potomac. The two
were in separate summer camps
when the multiple tragedy oc
curred high in the wild Uinta
Mountain range in Utah.
Mr. Davis, his son, and Mr.
and Mrs. James B. Davis, sr.,
parents of the doomed pilot, died
when the plane cracked up on
an 11,000-foot high peeA as they
returned homeward from a va
cation on the West Coast. He
would have celebrated his 40th
birthday tomorrow.
Mr. Davis was president of
the Rockville Construction Co.,
and of the Rockville Insurance
Company. He formerly was em
ployed by his father-in-law, who
On Sidewalk
Blind Man Bowled Over
Three Times hy Cyclists
For the third time last
week, blind L. Curtis Mor
timer, 65, of 25 Wall st„ was
rundown by children riding
bicycles on the sidewalks of
Rockville.
Although the two prior acci
dents only scratched him a lit
tle, the latest occurrence last
Friday threw him violently to
the ground with his little pet
terrier, Cleo. He said yesterday
he was still limping.
As a result, Montgomery
County Police told Mr. Mortimer
and his wife that they would
crack down on bike riding on
city sidewalks, which is against
the law.
“The child I think it was
a girl said she was sorry and
ran away,” Mortimer said bit-
Olney Water Line
Okayed by IUSSC
An SBO,OOO water line to
extend service to Olney and
Montgomery County Gener
al Hospital was approved
Tuesday by the Washington
Suburban Sanitary Commis
sion.
The new line will run from
Williamsburg Village along
Route 97 to Olney, where it will
branch out both ways along
Route 28 and continue another
2000 feet up Brookeville rd.
One branch will enable instal
lation of a sprinkler system at
Previous Court Ruling
Is Cited in Oath Case
Attorneys for Roy R. Torcaso
of Wheaton this week cited a
legal precedent holding that
public officials need not declare
a belief in God. But the State
Atorney General says the pre
cedent does not apply in Mont
gomery County.
Torcaso was denied a notary
public's commission when he
balked at an oath declaring his
belief In the existence of God.
Carleton Sickles, an attorney
for Torcaso, drew attention to
a 1949 ruling in which Circuit
Court Judge Charles Marbury
of Prince Georges County de
creed that the oath requirement
is in violation of the Maryland
State Constitution.
The 1949 case involved a
Brentwood city councilman who,
like Torcaso, refused to take the
oath. The councilman subse
quently served out his term and
was re-elected in 1951.
owns the Victor R. Beauchamp
Construction Co., Inc. He was
considered one of the best, if
among the youngest, contract
estimators in the construction
business throughout the Metro
politan Washington area when
he worked for Mr. Beauchamp.
Some of this skill oame natur
ally. He held a bachelor of sci
ence degree in engineering from
Mississippi State College, not
too far from his birth place at
Itabena, Miss. His late father
owned a hardware store there.
The senior Mr. and Mrs. Davis
will be buried in Mississippi.
Moving out on his own, Mr.
Davis took over the Rockville
Construction Company about
five years ago, three years after
its formation. History of the
young company was one of
heavy construction.
In addition to the pre-stressed
concrete water tower that serves
Rockville from atop Hunting
Hill, Mr. Davis’ firm built the
highway bridge that carries
Falls rd.—a stone’s throw from
his home—over the new U. S.
240 expressway. In all, asso
ciates said be built 12 bridges.
Although he never went into
house building, he did construct
his own, and with an eye to chil
dren. A huge recreation room
was provided so his children and
their friends could view full
length movies Mr. Davis would
rent. The room also was used
for teenage dances and dances
for adults.
Outside the house was a full
scale baseball field Mr. Davis
(Continued on Page A-3)
terly. "I was really afraid she
had hurt my little body guard,
Cleo, because the bike fell on
her. But she was alright,” he
added.
He said he was brushed twice
before by careening bikes, de
spite the fact that he carries
the blind man’s traditional white
cane. Last Friday’s incident
caught him entirely defenseless
because he couldn’t hear the
bike coming. He was struck full
front and got up spitting ad
mittedly language he seldom
uses.
But his epithets fell on empty
air as he nursed his bruises and
his whimpering pet. “I walk on
Wall st. because it’s only a block
long with no intersecting streets.
But I don’t know if I should
continue,” he said.
County General Hospital, which
in the past has goi.ten its water
from its own wells. A spokes
man there said work on the
sprinkler system will begin im
mediately.
Bids on the water line project
will be opened by the Commis
sion the afternoon of August 3.
Specifications will call for
4200 feet of 16-inch line, 2800
feet of 12-inch ippe, 610 feet of
8-inch and 105 feet of 6-inch.
The water line to Williams
burg Village was extended from
Norbeck last year.
However, since the ruling was
by a county court and never was
tested in the State Court of Ap
peals, It has legal force only In
Prince Georges County, Attor
ney General C, Ferdinand My
bert said this week.
Sybert’s office is preparing a
legal opinion on Torcaso’s case.
If Sybert rules against him, the
Wheaton man says he will take
the case to the courts.
Attorney Sickles said there is
an apparent conflict between
two articles of the State Consti
tution. One sets forth the oath
to be administered to all per
sons assuming public office or
trust, without mentioning belief
in God. The other section, how
ever, specifically permits such a
provision in the oath.
Even if sanctioned by the
State Constitution, Sickles said,
the oath possibly violates the U.
S. Constitution's guarantee of
freedom of belief and religion.
A Century of Service '
Right Idea But
Wrong Stomach!
"The Case of the Wrong
Stomach”—a mixup tnat could
have proven fatal but had a
happy ending—was told this
week by Suburban Hospital of
ficials.
It involved two little boys, the
smaller of whom was discovered
by his mother holding a bottle of
aspirin with half the contents
missing. Alarmed, she rushed
the child to Suburban Hospital
poison control center where his
stomach was pumned out.
After she had returned homo,
the mother was astonished to
hear a belated confession from
her older child that it was he—
not his little brother—who had
consumed the aspirin.
Fortunately, a return trip to
the hospital and more stomach
pumping became unnecessary
when the older boy vomited the
aspirin.
The case was one of 343 han
dled by Suburban’s Poison Con
trol Center during its first year
of operation, officials said.
County Firm
On Wheaton
Library Site
The county means busi
ness about a three-acre site
for a library in Wheaton.
This week, Council members
told their legal staff to make
one more offer for several
parcels along Georgia ave. be
tween Areola and Hermitage
aves. If the offers are not ac
cepted by August 2, legal aides
were told, they are to initiate
condemnation proceedings.
The Council was told $45,000
was offered the owner of slight
ly more than half of the tract,
but the offer was turned down
as too little. An option has ex
pired on the remainder of the
land but County Manager Mel
vin L. Reese said he believed he
could renew it and do business
■with owner.
Thus It would appear that a
long and at times temptuous
search for a library site in
Wheaton has ended. Testimony
at public hearing on various
sites Included statements that
sites in question were too near,
or too far, from residential or
commercial zones; that access
roads were inadequate and the
library would be wasted, or
that there was far too much
auto traffic, posing a pedestrian
danger; that libraries should
not be located in or nearby
county service buildings that
also housed police stations;
that sites were too expensive
and that next door neighbors
didn’t want all that activity on
residential streets.
2 Boys Admit
Taking S3OO
From Swim Pool
Two Silver Spring boys are
awaiting hearings in Montgom
ery County Juvenile Court on
charged that they entered the
North Chevy Chase Swimming
Pool twice after dark and took
S3OO plus two portable radios.
They told police this month
that they used their bikes to
ride from their homes to Chevy
Chase the nights of June 25 and
July 6. Office of the pool was
open the first night when they
took the money from a desk
drawer. They also took a Zenith
radio.
They had to scale an eight
foot fence tne second time and
then they found the office
locked. They climbed over a par
tition, however, and stole an
other radio.
The boys volunteered the in
formation that about a month
and a half ago, they entered
the Kensington Junior High
School through an open window
and took 35 cents in change,
five records and some Tee-shirts.
Funk to Visit
County Soon
John B. Funk, chairman of
the Maryland State Roads Com
mission, has announced that he
will visit Montgomery County
next Thursday to look over
some of the traffic bottlenecks
put on record by the County
Council at a recent joint meet
ing with the SRC.
Still unconfmkned are reports
that he might take to the air
in a helicopter to view these
bottlenecks and crowded ar
terial highways.
$4 Million Hospital
Plans Are Revealed
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A HOSPITAL FOR SILVER SPRING is pic
tured in this architects’ rendering of the pro
posed $4 million, 200-bed Holy Cross Hospital
of Silver Spring on Forest Glen rd. Ultimate
use of the top two floors will allow expan
sion to 300 beds. Half the cost will be born
by the Sisters of the Holy Cross, with an
New Era in Store
For Drunk Driver
_ *
By Bob Bernstein
Staff Reporter
In many ways, it was just a routine drunk driving
case that was tried before People’s Court Judge John
B. Diamond 111 last Thursday.
A county police officer delivered the usual and ex
pected testimony. The defendant, he said, had been
driving in an erratic manner and had shown the symp
toms of drink: flushed face, bloodshot eyes, unsteady
walk.
Later, the defendant took the stand, and his testi
mony, too, was more or less standard for the circum
stances. He said he had drunk only a few beers on the
night in question—four glasses of draft brew some
five hours before his arrest.
In the past, most drunk driving cases have boiled
down to this basic conflict, a case of one man’s word
against another’s. And the situation has created no
little consternation among enforcement officers and
judges.
This is due to the fact that, under the theory pre
vailing iij our courts, prosecution is difficult without,
scientific, objective evidence to bolster the testimony
officers.
A heavy percentage of drunk driving suspects, as
a result, have gone free because the State—even when
morally certain of the suspects’ guilt—frequently could
not prove its contention beyond any reasonable doubt.
Last Thursday, however, a new factor was inject
ed into what otherwise might have been just another
routine case.
A factor that, from that moment, would make it
more difficult for the guilty to escape, or for the inno
cent to be unfairly convicted.
The new element is a laboratory test that meas
ures the amount of alcohol present in the suspect’s sys
tem. Such chemical testing was sanctioned in Mary
land by a new law adopted by the last General Assem
bly, and has just been put into effect in Montgomery
County.
First “victim” of the testing system was James
Earl Phebus, 51, a Howard County road department
(Continued on Page A-9) ))))) y
Emergency Condition
County Polio Group
In Financial Straits
The Montgomery County
Branch of the National Founda
tion (March of Dime*) Is nearly
paralyzed from lack of funds,
according to David Macdonald,
chairman.
He believes that the only way
to get the Branch back on its
feet is to hold a supplemental,
emergency fund drive. Plans
for the drive are under way and
details will be announced soon.
Macdonald reported that the
Branch is $7690 in debt and that
hills roll in each month to the
tune of S4OOO.
He said that unless immedi
other $1 million expected from a public fund
drive. Silver Spring Hospital Association is
contributing SIIO,OOO cash and the site, worth
$150,000. The Federal Government will pay
another $650,000. A special zoning excep
tion to permit construction will be sought
from the County Board of Appeals.
ate remedial steps are taken,
the Branch might be $30,000 In
debt by the end of the year.
He noted that although the
Branch has appealed to national
headquarters for help, so have
numerous other branches
throughout the country.
"There seems to be no way
out,” he observed, adding;
"Every day, we go deeper into
the hole.” 'The $3600 sent the
branch by national headquar
ters already has been spent and
branch officials now face cur
tailment of operations.
Anti-Bulldozer
Group Headed
By Blair Lee
Blair Lee 111, leader of the
Montgomery County Delega
tion to the Maryland Gen
eral Assembly, was elected
chairman of the Soil Erosion
Advisory Committee to the
County Council this week.
John Neumann, county resi
dent and attorney, was appoint
ed vice chairman, while Mason
Butcher, director of the County
Public Works Department, was
made secretary.
Job of the committee Is to
offer recommendations to the
County Council on how It can
use existing authority to imple
ment the so-called "anti-bull
dozer” law.
The law if used would control
construction practices hy de
velopers of open land, particu
larly acreage near stream*. It
was written after conservation
ists complained that tons of silt
were washing into county
stream* and that fields cleared
of vegetation frequently lay
bare, o(>en to erosion.
Lee is a logical choice for
chairmanship of the advisory
board: it was Lee who pushed
for the new law giving the
County Council authority to
vote itself an anti-bulldozer
measure.
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Weather Outlook
Hot weather looms the next
four days, averaging four de
grees higher than the normal
highs and lows of 86 and 69.
Thunder showers tomorrow,
maybe again Monday. Mean
while, spotty showers likely.
Public Drh e
[ For $1 Million
To Be Launched
A $1 million expansion in
plans for the Holy Cross
Hospital of Silver Spring
was announced this week.
Revised estimate of the hos
pital's cost is $4 million, as com
pared to $3 million under origi
nal plans.
The larger amount will allow
initial construction of a 200-bed
hospital, instead of 150, and
will permit more economical
expansion later, according to of
ficials of the Silver Spring Hos
pital Association.
Of the total amount needed,
$1 million will be sought from a
public fund drive to bo
launched in September. Remain
der of the funds will come from
the Sisters of the Holy Cross,
Federal Hill-Burton funds, and
the Association.
Chairman of the fund cam
paign will be Frank H. Proud
toot, vice president of the Bank
of Sliver Spring, who was
named last night in a joint an
nouncement of Association trus
tees and the Order.
Plans call for a seven-story
building on a 10.2-acre site
owned by the Association on
Forest Glen rd. between Dam
eron dr. and Sligo Creek pkwy.
The top two floors will not be
used initially, but will accommo
date another 100 beds later.
Because of the upward cost
revision, the Sisters of the Holy
Croaa will contribute $2 million,
Instead of $1,490,000, as origin
ally announced.
The $1 —mlHlon public fund
drive is $250,000 higher than had
been planned earlier.
The Association will contrib
ute SIIO,OOO to the total cost, in
addition to the site, which is
valued at about $150,000. Hill-
Burton funds will amount to
$650,000.
A proposed site plan of the
hospital was submitted last
night to the Park and Planning
Commission, who were told that
hospital grounds will be exten
sively landscaped and screened
from adjacent property.
The building is designed by
architects Faulkner, Kingsbury
& Stenhouse, with Gordon A.
Friesen Associates as hospital
consultants.
Campaign Chairman Proud
foot has been In Silver Spring
since 1957 and has been active
in numerous civic affairs. Pre
viously he had been an officer
at various banks In West Vir
ginia, and was a national bank
examiner for the Federal Re
serve System for five years.
He and his wife and two chil
dren live in Burnt Mills Manor
and attend the Woodside Meth
odist Church, Silver Spring.