County’s Oldest
Biggest Weekly
107th Year - * Published Every Thursday • ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND THURSDAY, JUNE 7. lU2 GArden 4-7700 3 SECTIONS JQC a Copy
Campaign Fosts Here Are Over $300,000
Reconsider 10-Cent Fire Tax Is City Plea ■
City Heads
Hit County
OK of Levy
Rockville City Council
voted Tuesday night to ask
the Montgomery County
Council to reconsider its ap
proval last week of a 10-cent
fire tax to be levied on prop
erty in the Rockville area.
City heads said they acted be
cause they did not feel the coun
ty government had complied
with their plea that a close
study be made of the Rockville
Fire Department's proposed
budget for the coming year.
An estimated $160,000 would
be raised by the fire tax and
City Councilman stated unani
mously Monday night at their
regular meeting that:
• The fire department should
be required to reveal more de
tails about its assets in order
to justify imposition of the 10-
cent tax. first in the fire depart
ment’s 41-year history, and,
• Present accounting stand
ards and requirements regard
ing standards of service and
equipment are not clearly
enough spelled out for volun
teer fire departments receiving
large sums of public money.
“The time has now come
when the fire department
must make use of public rev
enues and our position is that
high standards of account
ability must be maintained,”
Mayor Frank Ecker declared.
Ecker stressed that his criti
cism, and that of the City
Council's, was not directed at
the fire department but at the
County Council.
"We don’t see how any mem
ber of the County Council
could have known whether the
tax should be five cents, or
eight cents or 10 cents,” he de
clared.
The Monday meeting was
marked by a clash between Les
lie Abbe, longtime Rockville
civic leader, and David E. Betts,
volunteer general counsel for
the firemen.
"I begin to sense.” Abbe
told City Council, “that mem
bers of the private club
known as the Rockville Fire
Department are now begin
ning to get cold feet on the
basis of insufficient data
presented.”
He suggested a “further ac
counting” to determine if the
10-cent levy is an "appropriate
one.”
Betts denounced Abbe for re
ferring to the fire department
as “a private club” and said
volunteer firemen had provided
free fire protection to the Rock
ville area for 41 years, "often at
the cost of great personal sacri
fice.”
"There is no better way to de
stroy the volunteer snirit that
has given so much to Rockville
than this,” Betts said. “I feel it
is a kick in the teeth.’
City Council members re
peatedly stressed that they were
in no way criticizing the fire
men and that their concern was
only over “proper accounting
procedures and requirements of
high standards of service when
large amounts of public money
are involved.”
“We want to be as helpful and
friendly and constructive about
this as it is possible to be,”
Mayor Ecker emphasized.
County Manager Mason A
Butcher, who forwarded the fire
department's tax request to the
County Council, strongly defend
ed his handling of the matter
and that of his budget officials.
“You don’t budget assets,”
he declared in reference to
city claims that fire depart
ment assets should have been
considered in approval of the
new tax. “Did the City Coun
cil budget the Civic Center?”
he asked a reporter querying
him on the subject.
County Attorney Alfred H.
Carter told the Sentinel he was
unaware of the City Council’s
request to reopen the matter but
said that if the County Council
wishes to do so "it is still legal
ly possible between now and
July let”
lbntawntiw A Sentinel
- -
BF “
m
WB
t ** % ?4
w ..
MUNICIPAL SERVICE AWARD—AIex Hancock, director of fi
nance for Montgomery County, received a gold medal for
"outstanding service in the field of municipal finance” at a
recent convention of the Municipal Finance Officers Associa
tion of the United States and Canada. Hancock is shown with
the medal, highest annual award of the association, and a
certificate received at the Boston, Mass., meeting.
—Sentinel Photo by Tom Huestis
Backing Piles Up
Cahoon Denies
“Zoning Freeze’
With the County Council
apparently snowed under by
82 zoning requests filed in
May and a holdover of about
100 from last November and
earlier, question of a “zon
ing freeze” in the County
has been raised by some but
was denied this week by
Council President David L.
Cahoon.
Cahoon said hearings have
been held on the holdovers and
the Council whittles away at
the backlog every week. Six
teen requests were handled with
a “yea” or “nay” between May
22 and June 1,
While a general freeze does
not exist. Cahoon left no doubt
that zoning requests concerned
with land in so-called critical
areas have been put on ice, or
will be denied. Critical areas
are those, presumably, to be
affected by controversial "cor
ridor” route or routes to the
District of Columbia and land
encompassed by plans of the
National Capital Transporta
tion scheduled to be unveiled
this rail.
No favorable zoning thaw can
be expected in critical areas
until the planners stop plan
ning. Applicants whose re
quests are turned down are re
quired to wait 18 months before
refiling.
Emphasis on necessity of
holding up zoning request*
for critical areas landed on
the Council’s doorstep re
cently when County Planning
Board chairman J. Newton
Brewer came to Rockville and
suggested a hold-off.
While some council members
objected to possible economic
swivet which might be engen
dered by a slowdown in develop
ment of lower county cornmer
Mrs, Lee Offutt , City 9 s Oldest Resident , Dies at 97
Rockville’s oldest resident,
97-year-old Mrs. Lee Offutt,
died last Friday and was
buried in the family plot at
St. Mary’s Catholic Church
on Tuesday.
A direct descendant of Mary
land's early Catholic settlers,
Mrs. Offutt was a member of
the Clements family which
came to Maryland from Middle
sex County. England, about
1670 to settle in what is now
Charles County.
Born at “Mount Pleasant,” a
large home midway between
cial and- light industrial areas,
; Council President Cahoon sees
: an offest for the County gener
ally by a trend toward more
rapid development of light in
(Continued on Page A3)
Parade
Trophies
Awarded
Twenty-one trophies were
awarded in Rockville's Memo
rial Day Parade. Trophies were
donated by Rockville business
houses.
Outstanding Unit trophy went
to the Mecca Drum and Bugle
Corps pf Washington; Best
Majorette was No. 16 of the
Bladettes; Best Drum Major
award was carried off by Rich
ard Montgomery High School.
Mecca Temple was judged
the best non-military drum and
bugle corps in the line of march
and Wheaton Majorettes won
the trophy for Best Women's
Marching Unit. The Mt. Ver
non Guard was judged the best
non-military men’s marching
unit.
In other awards, Richard
Montgomery High School car
ried home the prize for best
school band, the City of Rock
ville had the best float, and
Rockville’s Volunteer Fire De
partment was awarded a trophy
for having the best non-military
motorized unit In the parade.
The Judges Trophy was pres
ented to the Rockvillettes, Cub
Scout Troop 482 won as the best
Junior Marching Unit, while
Cub Scout Troop 472 was given
a special trophy for smart ap
pearance in the line of march.
Rockville and Gaithersburg that
was owned by her father, Mrs.
Offutt spent more than 50 years
of her life In the spacious home
at 8 Baltimore ave., Rockville,
now occupied by Radio Station
WINX.
The last eight years were
spent at 115 Park st. .Rock
ville, with her devoted maid
of 60 years, Mrs. Rose Cooper,
daughter of a slave owned by
her father, Lemuel.
Mrs. Offutt's husband, mayor
of Rockville from 1906-16 and
1918-20, died in 1929. The couple
had three children one of whom,
Defends Action
'Sell Out 9 Charge
Denied by Barbee
By Elly Bradley
ftentlnel Reporter
A charge by the county’s Fair Representation Com
mittee that Del. Alger Y. Barbee “sold us down the river”
with his attempt to dilute Gov. J. Millard Tawes’ original
reapportionment bill in last week’s special General Assem-1
bly session prompted a vigorous denial by the legislator
this week.
Barbee termed the criticism
“without any foundation at all”
and said it was based on “a lack
of legislative understanding.”
He charged, in turn, that he
has never been able to get an
explanation from backers of the
administration’s bill why they
had gone to the trouble of work
ing up a new bill when’one pro
For 4 New Seats
8 Delegate Candidates
To Get Nod by Aug. 1
Question of how addi
tional candidates will be
tapped to run for the House
of Delegates will be firmed
up within the next 10 days
after newly-organized Dem
ocratic and Republican State
Central Committees have
held pow-wows to consider
recent appointment respon
sibility dumped in their laps
by the General Assembly.
While the committees have
until August 1 to name candi
dates to run for the four addi
tional House seats picked up by
the County in the recent reap
portionment hassle. neither
party is dragging its feet 'n
dealing with the appointment
plums.
Democratic brass met at
Rockville. headquarters Tues
day night Republicans have
scheduled their get-together
for June 12.
The candidates' question for
the Democrats poses problems
and pressures which could ex
plode the State Central Com
mittee's stated objective of a
united party into a private don
nybrook.
The "County Democrats" fac
tion which took over a 4-3 edge
on the committee when the of
ficial canvass upset Warren
Browning from his seat and in
stalled Mrs. Stella W. Allison
in his place, is firm in stating
that faction fights during the
three-slate Democratic Primary
will not be reflected in choice
of candidates to be added to the
November ticket.
Public utterances have it that
the committee, with "County {
Democrats” in control, will have
a careful look at the records
and vote-getting proclivities of
all good Democrats regardless
of which slate the candidates
ran on in the May primary.
Since the committee's choices
are not confined to df feated can
didates on other slates, admit
tedly party brass will be scrutin
izing other good Democrats who
can be counted on to throw the
House of Delegates race into
the Democratic column in No
vember.
Foremost in the minds of a
good many Democratic obsei-v
--ers is the question of what the
committee will do about veteran
Clements, died in a typhiod
fever epidemic at the age of
17 or 18. The other died as
young children.
Mrs. Offutt devoted her life
to her husband, a leader of the
Rockville community for dec
ades, and to her church. She
was extremely active in the af
fairs of St. Mary’s where she
was the “unofficial historian,"
as one parishioner put it. Her
father was one of the builders
of the parish and church in 1813-
17.
Mrs. Offutt, survived by a
Estabtished 1855
viding for permanent reappor
tionment had already been
passed under his sponsorship in
the legislature's first session.
Though it got through the
House, the Senate failed to
pass it.
He predicted that as soon
as tile enacted stopgap mea
(Continued on Page A3)
House of Delegates member
Blair Lee who ran for the U. S.
Senate on the Mahoney-Lee
ticket and carried the County,
but who was defeated at the
State level along with the Dem
ocrats for Progress slate.
Second and third questions
deal with defeated House
member Alger Barbee of the
Democrats for Tawes ticket
who ran for State Senate
nomination and was defeated
by Incumbent Margaret
Schwelnhaut, and William F.
Hickey, County Council mem
ber who ran for State Senate
tinder the Mahoney-Lee ban
ner.
With several hot potatoes tn
the form of defeated candidates
in its lap, Democratic brass are
expected to bum the midnight
(Continued on Page A3)
Actors, Dancers
Need Rooms Here
How’d you like to share the
comforts of your home with a
Broadway chorus girl for the
summer?
Before the lady of the house
hits the ceiling, she should
know the offer also applies to
chorus boys and bit players of
both sexes, who will hit town
next week for the opening of
the new Shady Grove Music
Fair’s 15-week summer theater
season June 18.
Producers of the Music Fair,
which has set up tent next to
the Shady Grove Country Club
outside Gaithersburg, say they
need rooming accommodations
for about 35 cast members in '
a hurry.
Although the productions’
stars will be housed at motels
in the area, the supporting ac
tors, actresses, dancers and
musical performers "don’t earn
enough” to do the same, offi
cials say. They are also pre
vented by union regulations
from paying more than mini
mum rooming rates.
Area homeowners interested
in having a theatrical roomer
on the premises through Sep
tember should call Jim O’Neill
at 948-3400 during business
hours to make arrangements.
The Music Fair’s first produc
tion will be “Brigadoon,” star
ring TV personality Dorothy
Collins.
large number of grandnieces
and grandnephews, had an un
usual memory of people and
happenings over her long life
span. She often reminisced
about her family and drew on
her rich fund of recollections,
particularly when relatives col
lected at annual get-togethers
to eat chicken and talk.
Mrs. Offutt was Justly
proud of her family. Num
bered among her forebears
were Maryland's second gov
ernor, Thoms* Greene; John
Hanson, president of Hie On
Wm
• STINKIN’ MUD HOIJE” —That’s the way noted conservation
ist. Associate Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas
described the end result of the Army Corps of Engineers’
proposed high dam at Seneca at a meeting before the Rock
ville Izaak Walton league this week. He called claims
that the dam would provide a great recreational area “fraud
ulent” and said “we pay the farmers not to grow crops;
maybe we could pay the Army Engineers not to build dams.”
—Sentinel Photo by Tom Huestis
Jury Study
Of Shooting
Is Ordered
The Montgomery County
grand jury will investigate
the fatal shooting of a Dis
trict man by a county police
officer, State’s Attorney Leon
j ard T. Kardy said Tuesday.
Kardy said he will present
the case to the grand jury
along with others when he re
calls the Jurors June 25.
The police officer. Pvt. James
A. O’Connor, 24, meanwhile, has
been placed on restricted duty,
according to Col. James S. Mc-
Auliffe. county police superin
tendent.
O’Connor told his superiors
he and his partner, Pvt. John
J. Gulsti, saw DeSales Love, 40,
no fixed address, walking in the
center of the 8200 block of
Georgia Avenue Sunday at 3
a.m. with two soft drink bottles
in his hand, one of them brok
en.
After questioning him, they
prevailed upon him to return
to the District, they said, and
he started walking toward the
District Line several blocks
away. A few minutes later they
said they heard the sound of
breaking glass and saw Love
standing near a car with four
occupants whose right rear
window had been broken by a
thrown object.
Pvt. O’Connor said he ran
toward the man. When he got
within 20 feet of him the man
raised his hand as if to throw
something at him and said,
"I’m going to kill you.”
O’Connor then fired, piercing
Love's kidney and liver. When
he fell, O’Connor said, a piece
of macadam paving rolled
from his hand. A Silver Spring !
ambulance took Love to Wash
ington Sanitarium but he died
about 30 minutes after the
shooting. Police said the vic
tim was unarmed.
federated .States of America;
tlie Calvert family, proprie
tor* of the vast land grant
that became Maryland, and
John Clements who reernlted
and outfitted a regiment of
troops for the Ameriean
Revolution and who had five
sons In the fighting. There
were also ties to such leading
Maryland families as the
Edelens. and Mudds, Gar
diners, Greenes. Sanders and
Abells. The Abelly family had
6* members In the Revolu
tion.
14 Seek
Planning
Post Nod
Fourteen applicants now
have dropped their name* in
the nomination hopper for a
seat on the Montgomery
County Planning Board.
Names of Rodney M. Thomp
son, Gaithersburg insurance
man, former member of both
the Town Council and the
! Gaithersburg Planning Com
' mission, and Mathew M. Wlten
; stein, planning consultant, who
I was retained by the City of
I Rockville several years ago to
intake a planning study for the
municipality, were announced
by the County Council this
week.
A vacancy will occur on the
Board June 14 when the term
of W. Lawson King expires.
King has applied for re-ap
pointment.
Other applicants are Clayton
R. Brown, Germantown; Ross
C- Hurrey, Ashton; Robert 13.
Myers, Washington Grove;
Dean W. Price, Rockville, and
Rodney Whitaker, Germantown, j
Also, H. John Redgrave, i
Clarksburg; Don R. Lambome,
Olney; Mrs. Winona Reed,
Clarksburg, and three suggest- i
ed last week by the Montgorn- !
ery County Citizens Planning
Commission.
They were Frederick A. Gut
heim, Dickerson; Col. Lathrop
E. Smith, Boyds, and Harold A.,
Knapp, Jr., of Germantown.
Moonlight Cruisf
St. Matthew's Cathedral Club
will hold its sixth annual moon- 1
light cruise down the Potomac \
at 8:‘15 p.m. Sunday, June 10. 1
Reservations can be made at the
club office at 1814 N s!„ N.W.,
Washington, or by calling FE.
8-2355.
Grandniece* and grand
nephews who survive Include:
Adrian L. and Albert Brunette,
Abell A. Norris, jr., John C.
Beall, and Mrs. Ellen P. Ire
land, all of Rockville, Charles
Beall, Miss Edna Beall and Nor
belt E. Norris, all of Gaithers
burg; W. Clements, Albert L,
and Mary E. Gloyd, all of Ger
mantown; Mrs. Clarence Offutt,
Barnesville; fxiuls C. Beall, Ken
sington; Mrs. Gertrude l,in
hardt, Chicago, Mrs. William
Callaghan, Chevy Chase, and
Mrs. Gilbert Gude, Bethesda.
Want a *2 Gift?
If you are not a Sentinel
subscriber here’s your chance
to get a $2 gift. Subscribe
now and get a coupon worth
$2 toward any purchase in
Rockville's leading stores.
See details on Page 85.
! Manv Miss
*
; Deadline
j For Filing
By Lila Thomson
tantlnH Reporter
Candidates in Montgom
ery County spent well over
$300,000 to run in the May
15 primary election.
The total candidates claim
ed was spent in statements
on file in the Clerk of the
Circuit Court’s office. 12
hours after the legal dead
line for making expenditures
public property, was $313.-
410. Missing were state
ments from 14 Republicans
and 41 Democrats, as well as
one from a candidate in the
cross-filing judgeship race.
Missing on the Republican
side were statements from
Charles S. Bresler and Elaine
Lady, candidates for the
SK v-. V••
Bulletin
Candida ten spending In the
Primary Election jumped an
additional $12,419 by Wednes
day morning when 17 Demo
crats and Republicans drop
ped expenditure statements
Into the Clerk of the Circuit
Court’s office.
These Included statements
of State Sen. Margaret C.
Schwelnhaut. $109; Harry L.
Simms, COP candidate for
U. S. Senate, $8,791; Ray
Murphy. S9O; and William
Sher, County Council candi
date, $1,298. Thirty-nine oth-
House of Delegate*; C. T.
James defeated in the sher
iff* race, and GOP State
Central Committee "mem
bers Dorothy Aubinoe and
Hal Lackey.
Among the Democrats who
had not made statements of ex
penses and contributions 13
hours after deadline were Wil
bur Baughman, Council mem
ber Stanley Frosh, William F.
Hickey, defeated in a try for
nomination as State Senator and
incumbent Margaret Schwein
haut who won renomination
over Hickey and Alger Y. Bar
bee.
Mrs. Stella W. Allison and
Dorothy Hostetler elected to
the Democratic State Central
Committee had not turned In
their expense accounts. That
of Ray V. Murphy, another
committee member, also was
among the missing.
Of the 23 who ran for nom
ination to the Democratic State
Convention, only 13 had filed ft
nancial statements.
The judgeship candidate who
apparently missed a legal dead
line, unless his statement even
tually reaches the Clerk’s office
postmarked on or before mid
night Monday, was John Y,
Regos.
Of the $313,410.50 claimed !o
have bepn spent. Democrats ac
counted for $240,031.62 and Re
publicans $42,515.13. The Judge
ship con test involved expendi
tures of $30,863.75,
Largest spenders were at
the tops of both party tickets.
Blair I,ee (II topped the list
with campaign exists for his
U. 8. Senate race listed at
$125,193. I>ee’s personal out
lay represented $77,317 of the
total. Contributions to his
campaign committee by mem
liers of his family ran up to
$12,090.
Second highest was Herbert
J. Hoover, also defeated In the
U. S. Senate race. ,vho, along
with his supporters ponied uo
$34,4-18. Hoovpi contribution
to hi" campaign fund was 30800.
A fund raising dinner brought
in $11,600
James P. Gleason, GOP can
didate for the U. S. Senate,
spent $17,148 to be defeated by
Edward T. Miller while William
J. Amelse who hoped to unseat
Sixth District Congressman
Charles McC. Mathias account*
ed for spending of $11,664. Ma
thias' primary campaign price
was placed at $2054.
Heaviest spender among the
three local Democratic factions
was the Mahoney-Lee-Barrick
slate known as Democrats for
Progress, with $21,099. United
Democrats for Tawes spent
$10,364 in behalf of its candi
dates. while tlie County Demo
crats’ slate spent the least ani
(Continued on Page AlOj