Montgomery County sentinel. [volume], February 11, 1960, Image 1

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

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THIS ISSUE
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AUDIT BLKKAU OH CIRCULATIONS
REPORT OF SEPTEMBER 30. 1950
lMrt Y.or - No. 10 ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1960 2 SICTIONS 22 Pages GArden 4-7700 Ton Cents ■ Copy
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DISPLACED SECRETARY Helen Day eyes
beams placed inside the gutted interior of
the Kelley Building, Rockville, where she
and around a dozen lawyers worked before
LIKE MARCHING ROBOTS,
some of the 80 parking meters
on the City of Rockville park
ing lot off Middle la. are In
spected by Sergeant Walter
Atwell, Rockville’s chief of
police. The meters give up to
12 hours parking at one time,
or as as one hour. New
method of construction makes
for easier servicing and re
pairs.—Staff Photo.
If you don't want it
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it starting a naw feature
THE
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If you have something to
trade or "swap," call
GArden 4-7700
before next Tuesday, 4 P.M.
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fire drove them out in late December. The
building will be reconstructed by Thomas C.
Kelley. Steel Girders were the first step to
make the building safe. Staff Photo.
By Parochial Schools
$5 Million Saved
In School Costs
Catholic parents who send
their children to parochial
schools are saving the coun
ty approximately $5 million
annually in educational
costs.
Put another way, If these
schools were forced to close
and their students transfered to
public schools, taxpayers would
face a 40-cent increase in the
property tax to provide more
teachers and classrooms.
Fire House
Site Okayed
Final approval of a one-acre
tract for a new Kensington Vol
unteer- Fire Department was
granted by the County Council
this week.
The Council approved an op
tion for Kensington Station No.
3 at Veirs Mill and Gaynor rds.
The option was for $7500 on
land owned by M. G. and Bettie
W. Coplen.
New Trial Denied
Contee Sentencing
Is Set For Today
Gordon Leon Contee was to
be sentenced this morning at
9:30 o’clock for raping a for
mer Chestnut Lodge patient.
The Circuit Court jury
which convicted the 23-year-old
Gaithersburg man last Decem
ber 17 made no recommenda
tion for mercy. That means a
possible maximum penalty of
death in the gas chamber.
The sentence date was fixed
Monday by Judges Kathryn
Lawlor and James H. Pugh,
after they denied a motion for
a new trial by defense attorney
James Davis.
Davis contended that State’s
Attorney Leonard T. Kardy had
injected the racial issue in the
case and that this "grossly prej
udiced” Contee’s right to a fair
and impartial trial. Contee 1s
a Negro. His victim is white.
The defense attorney also
claimed that certain evidence
which had been ruled Inadmis
sible should have been admitted
during the trial.
In their opinion, the two
judges said they found no legal
basis for granting a new trial.
“The evidence in this case
was conclusive, direct and sub
stantial,” they declared. “The
verdict of the jury was not
based upon circumstantial evi
A total of 12,309 children are
attending Catholic elementary
schools ir. Montgomery County
and another 1,871 are going to
| high schools, according to offi
cials in the Washington Arch
diocese.
Based on the current $385 an
-1 nual per pupil cost in public ele
| mentary schools, the School
Board would have to put up an
' additional $4,700,465 to educate
: 12,000 elementary students.
The high school per pupil cost
Is $487, so add $911,177 more for
the 1,871 new high school stu
dents.
Those sending their children
to any of the 19 elementary
, parochial schools pay a tuition
. charge ranging from sl2 to S7O
i a year. Tuition for the six
I parochial high schools in the
county ranges from S2OO to SBOO
. annually.
These charges are in addition
. to the $2.48 basic* county tax
i rate, paid by all property own
; ers. Of this amount, $2.19 goes
for schools.
denee, but to the contrary, was
based on eye witnesses to the
crime. The jury was correct in
its conclusion.”
Fingerprint Teachers Now
Prompt School Board ac
tion to carry out the grand
jury’s recommendation for a
police check of all school
employes was demanded this
week by State’s Attorney
Leonard T. Kardy.
His challenge came nearly
three months after the investi
gating group made this sugges
tion in its report to Circuit
Court:
“All persons employed by the
Board of Education In or around
public schools or being con
sidered for such employment
in the school system should
have their background checked
by the county police."
Jury members went on to say:
“Cases have come before this
grand Jury in which persons
with unsavory backgrounds
have been employed In the
school system who should have
been eliminated from continu
ation for such work had an
efficient background investiga
tion been made prior to em
ployment.”
The jury apparently referred
to a school janitor who had been
125 Low-Rent Units Due
$1 Million Land Deal
Interracial Housing
Planned For County
Youth, 16, Flees
Police at 120 MPH
By Steed Evans
Staff Reporter
A 16-year-old Bethesda boy, with six-months driv
ing experience, “panicked” last week and led State and
County police on a 120-miles-an-hour chase through
Montgomery and Frederick Counties before crashing
into a ravine 25 feet deep.
The boy, son of a well-to-do family, was unhurt
although the late-model car he was driving sailed
through the air over both Northbound lanes of U. S.
240 South of Falls rd., Rockville. It came to rest on
its wheels after doing a complete flip-flop in the air,
police said.
The boy’s father came to his defense the follow
ing day and said the flashing lights on the police cars
and their sirens caused his son to lose his head.
He questioned the decision of police to chase
speeding cars on the grounds that such pursuit could
cause the kind of accident that his son experienced.
He explained that the boy had been merely cruis
ing along listening to the car radio and had drifted
over the 60 miles an hour speed limit. When he
realized he was being chased, he ran, his father said.
Police gave this account of the incident: At around
2 p.m. last Thursday, State Trooper Kenneth M. Mox
ley, of the Rockville Outpost, observed the youth driv
ing North very fast on the dual-lane expressway. He
gave chase near Clarksburg.
He radioed ahead to State Police in Frederick to
set up roadblocks when he saw the speeding car was
outdistancing his cruiser. But the boy turned South
again at Urbana. Trooper Moxley then radioed State
and County police in Montgomery County.
While chasing the car South, Trooper Moxley’s
car was taxed beyond its limit and blasted a sparkplug
out of its motor, forcing him to stop.
Meanwhile, Montgomery County Policeman James
Cobb was waiting for the speedster on his motorcycle
a few miles North of Rockville. He too was outdis
tanced in the ensuing chase.
(Please Turn to Page Bl)
School Board Seeks
Geodesic Dome Grant
West Bethesda High School
students may play their basket
ball games inside a geodesic
dome, rather than a conventional
fieldhouse.
The School Board on Tuesday
agreed to ask the Ford Founda
tion for an $8,500 grant to pre
pare preliminary plans for the
unusual structure that would
resemble an overturned coffee
cup.
A spokesman for McLeod &
Ferrara, the architectural firm
which will draft the plans, said
the partial sphere would have
a total seating capacity of 3,489
if used as an auditorium, and
2,574 when used as a basketball
court.
charged with using narcotics
and two teachers accused of
homosexual practices with stu
dents. The janitor was acquitted
and the teachers were found
guilty.
While the recommendation
did not describe the extent of
the police check, Kardy told the
Sentinel that such an investiga
tion should include an FBI study
o i employes’ fingerprints.
“It is time the board did
something to implement the
grand Jury’s recommendation,”
he declared. “I can’t see any
reason for not checking and
fingerprinting all School Board
employes, especially teachers be
cause they are so Intimately
connected with our most valu
able resource —our children.
"All Government employes
have to be fingerprinted, and
teachers, who are in a very
sensitive position, should have
no objection to being finger
printed if they have nothing
to hide.”
Kardy emphasized he was
speaking not only as the coun
ty's chief law enforcement offi
cial, but as a parent with two
.4 Century of Service
The spokesman said it has
not yet been decided what ma
terial to use. A similar dome
in Massachusetts is made of
wood, lie added.
Board members said they were
interested in comparing costs
of t-he dome with a conventional
building.
Foley Here Saturday
Rep John R. Foley (D-Md.)
will meet with his constituents
by appointment in his Rockville
office, 26 E. Montgomery ave.,
from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday.
Appointments can be made by
calling CApitol 4-3121, exten
sion 3826.
children in public school.
The School Board employs
about 3,000 teachers and 2,000
maintenance workers, clerks,
stenographers and other “sup
porting” personnel.
There are nearly 1,800 others
county employes, Including
police—all of whom have been
fingerprinted and checked by
the FBI, according to County
Manager M. L. Reese. He said
he started the program about
two years ago.
Asked to comment, the chair
man and former chairman of
the School Board said the group
had discussed the matter in
formally but had taken no
action.
Chairman Paul C. Howard, a
Federal Government employe,
said public officials and those
employed by public agencies
"can’t be oversensitive about
being fingerprinted, but there
may be some practical prob
lems.”
While he agreed that every
precaution should be taken to
make certain those employed
by the School Board have clean
backgrounds, Howard asserted |
20-Acre Option
On Site Here
Now Obtained
By J. B. Zalman
Staff Reporter
Construction of an inter
racial housing development
is in prospect in Montgom
ery County, The Sentinel
learned this week.
Morris Milgram, Philadelphia
builder, whose firm has taken
an option on a site, refused to
reveal location of the proposed
project. He did say approxi
mately 20 acres were involved.
However, Joseph L. Rauh, jr.,
Washington attorney who is
connected with Milgram, said
he “understood” the site Is in
the county. Both he and Mil
gram declined to give any fur
ther information.
From another source, it was
learned that the development is
about one or two years away
from actual construction and
that other possible sites are be
ing sought.
Milgram, who heads Modern
Community Developers, Inc.,
has built interracial housing in
several states in the east and
midwest. His own home is in
a community occupied by two
thirds white and one-third
Negro families.
First reports that he was
seeking a Montgomery site for
such a development came last
I all when the builder spoke at
a meeting sponsored by the Uni
tarian Church of Montgomery
County.
Milgram and his supporters
say that a non-segregated com
munity is based on the dem
ocratic ideal of equal oppor
tunity for all and that his de
velopments have brought no
racial difficulties.
Chamber to Hear
Planners’ Plan
The proposed Rockville mas
ter plan, a product of many
months of work by the planning
department and the planning
commission, will have its first
public presentation on March 8
at the regular weekly meeting
of the Rockville Chamber of
Commerce.
Presenting the plan will be
Mayor Alexander Greene and
John McElroy, chairman of the
Rockville Planning Commission.
Shortly after the plan has been
publicly circulated, the Mayor
and Council will hold public
hearings at which Chamber of
Commerce officials and repre
sentatives of other groups are
expected to testify.
—Kardy
that the board’s present pro
cedures "do pretty well.”
He expressed certainty that
the board would carefully con
sider the recommendation "since
it was made by the grand Jury.”
Mrs. Rose C. Kramer, former
board chairman, said teachers
“are supeened very carefully
and we certainly have a good
record over the past years In
hiring qualified persons.” Edu
cators lean strongly now on
character references of previous
employers.
While she has not yet reached
a decision in the question of a
police check, Mrs. Kramer op
posed having such a check
handled by any agency other
than the School Board.
Reuben A. Sanders, president
of the County Council of Parent-
Teacher Associations, said that
"speaking as an Individual, I
think it may serve a useful
purpose.”
“I can see no harm from it,”
he added. “If we are saddled
with any undesirables, a police
check would certainly turn them!
up in time to prevent harm.” 1
338-Acre Tract
Faces Potomac
At Great Falls
A tract containing three
abandoned gold mines near
Great Falls .has been sold
for $1 million to a Bethes
da builder, it was learned
this week.
The 338-acre site parallels the
C & O Canal and MacArthur
blvd. from Angler’s Inn up to
Great Falls. Its new owner is
Bertil Malmstedt, head of Tor
pet Construction Co.
Malmstedt purchased the land
last Friday from Swanson Asso
ciates, of Detroit, thus success
fully outbidding the Federal
Government. Malmstedt said the
land he bought was under an
option to the Government until
October 15 last year.
When the option expired, he
said, he started dickering with
Swanson and finally came to
terms last week. He said the
Government wanted the land to
expand Great Falls Park.
The long, narrow tract Is fur
rowed by six ravines where
Civil War miners sunk their
shafts for gold. The gold sam
ples assayed as rich as any in
the U. S., but there was never
enough to make It a success
once the U. S. went off the gold
standard.
Malmstedt said he is consider
ing turning over the mineshafts
to historians of the Potomac
River Valley.
Meanwhile, he said he 4a s
Igams of experts walking over
the tract in order to determine
Its best possible use. He would
not say how he would use the
land other than to say he def
initely would not develop It com
mercially.
Malmstedt owns Dada Woods,
a 48-acre tract across Mac-
Arthur blvd. from the goldmine
property. He has employed an
architect to desgin ultra-mod
ernistic houses that will fit into
the typography of the land. Al
most all the trees are being pre
served.
Malmstedt, a Swede from
Stockholm, chose Dada as a
name for his 22-lot subdivision
because of its connotations of
extreme change from the norm,
after the cult of Dadaism that
swept France and Sweden In
1917-20.
The name of his construction
company, Torpet, means “little
house” in his native tongue,
Malmstedt explained.
While the goldmine prop
erty is not served by sewer or
water, the new Rockville filtra
tion plant is not far away.
Aged Group
Is Set Up
By Council
A new Montgomery Coun
ty Commission on Aging was
created Tuesday by the
County Council, following
similar action at the State
level by Governor J. Millard
Tawes late last year.
In setting up the group, the
Council noted that aged citizens
face problems of financial, edu
cational, social and organiza
tional status as well as consider
ations of employment, housing,
medical service and recreation
activities.
The Council suggested that
representatives of 20 organiza
tions might be likely candidates
to sit on the Commission for
two-year terms. None would be
paid and the Council would ap
point the Commission’s chair
man.
The new Commission will be
charged with a making an an
nual report to the Council and
will have the authority to make
surveys leading to the better
ment and welfare of the aged
residents of the County.
Mrs. Margaret C. Schwein
haut, a member of the Mont
gomery County Delegation to
the General Assembly, currently
serves as chairman of the State
Commission on Aging. |
Weather Outlook
Temperatures will be from 2
to 4 degrees below normal
highs and lows of 45 and 28
through Monday. Rain Sunday
or Monday.
Fund to Plan
City Project
Is Approved
The Rockville Housing
Authority is preparing plans
for an additional 125 low
rent units to further relieve
local slum conditions, under
a $23,750 loan from the Public
Housing Administration.
The new units probably will
be located nearby Lincoln Ter
race, the authority’s first proj
ect, according to L. Ross Rob
erts, the agency’s vice chairman.
Although a site has not yet
been acquired, Roberts said the
Authority is making every
effort to obtain one as quickly
as possible.
He said all of the 65 units in
Lincoln Terrace are occupied by
Negoes and there Is a backlog
of more than 20 applications f •' *
from people living In substand
ard dwellings, as well as nearly
100 old applications which have
not yet been brought up to date.
All are from the Rockville area,
and virtually all are from Ne
groes.
“We think there Is a definite
need for additional units,”
Roberts said, “and the Authority •
Is moving ahead as fast as we
can.”
The housing official added
that Federal laws prohibit any
racial restrictions on public
housing and that the local Au
thority has no policy to restrict
the units to members of a par
ticular race.
However, in view of the 100
per cent Negro occupancy of
Lincoln Terrace, it Is expected
that the additional units will
have a similar preponderance
of Negro occupants.
On Completion of preliminary
plans, the authority will prepare
a development program cover
ing such factors as site, sketch
plans and estimated cost of (he
new housing. Approval by the
FHA of this program will serve
as the basis for an annual con
tributions contract between the
Rockville Authority and the
Federal agency.
In the meantime, the local
housing agency is amending Its
agreements with the city, the
School Board and the County
Council to clear the way for
erection of the additional units.
Roberts emphasized that the
low-rent units not only are de
signed to be self-supporting, but
are intended to set up a reserve
to pay off the construction loan.
-ifa.
j,
Stedman Prescott, Jr.
Prescott, Jr.
Will Seek
Judge’s Seat
Stedman Prescott, jr., 40, son
of the Maryland Appeals Court
judge, was to file today for the
Circuit Court seat now held by
Ralph Shure. Prescott will
seek both the Democratic and
Republican nominations in the
May primaries.
The candidate, who has been
deputy attorney general for
Maryland since 1956, is an hon
or graduate of the University
of Maryland and a member of
the Order of the Coif, national
legal honorary fraternity.
A native of Montgomery
County, he lives at 3606 Cardiff
rd., Chevy Chase. He is mar
ried arrd baa three children.