Montgomery County sentinel. [volume], June 14, 1962, Image 1

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

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County’s Oldest, !*J
Biggest Weekly^/
107 Y*or -SO Publiihed Every Thursday cWO CV ' Vfrt t ' A ° 1. MARYLAND THURSDAY. JUNE 14, 1762 GAnton 4-7700 20 PAGES !()£ • Copy
Kardy Probe
Of Campaign
Costs Is On
Corrupt Practices Act
Violators Are Sought
By Lila .\l. Thomson
An investigation of campaign costs and statements
filed by candidates in the May 15 Primary Election is under
way by the States Attorney’s office.
Irregularities, failures to file
or to file by the midnight June 4
de a dline, discrepancies, and
other possible omissions will be
checked into in order to deter
mine whether or not there are
violations of the Maryland Cor
rupt Practices Act.
State’s Attorney Leonard T.
Kardy said violators will be
summoned to appear before the
grand jury for whatever action
it is determined should be
taken.
Last week, the Sentinel re
ported election costs of over
$325,000 and showed that, as of
Wednesday noon 36 hours
after deadline for filing 3B
candidates who ran for public
office still had not filed spend
ing statements, and pointed out
that many of those on file were
dated after the deadline.
Since that time, 16 additional
have been filed, including those
of GOP candidates for House of
Delegates Elaine Lady and
Charles Bressler; County Coun
cil member Stanley Frosh and
candidate for Judge of the Cir
cuit Court, John Reges.
Expenditures for the 16, from
three to eight days behind dead
line, totaled $8,247. Reges was
high spender of the group with
a total of $4,226.
There remain to be filed at
least 20 statements of others
who ran for office, some suc
cessfully. Total for campaigns
in the Primary now stands at
over $333,000.
The law concerning final ac
counting of campaign costs is
apecific and calls for filing with
the Clerk of the Circuit Court
Grove to Spend S2OOO
To Learn How It Lies
Picturesque Washington
Grove is about to solve a long
standing dilemma—where does
It begin and where does it end
and who owns what where?
The wooded mid-county com
munity, long a haven for citi
zens with more of a bent to
ward the unconventional and
creative than such mundane
matters as town boundaries, is
about to go straight with a
S2OOO survey of town limits and
Interior control points.
Plans for the survey were
laid before a receptive citizens
meeting last weekend by the
town planning commission,
headed by George Pughe.
Because of the town’s "ex
traordinary design,” said Pughe,
people historically have had
trouble getting surveys made,
and usually have had to travel,
miles to establish reference
points.
He said the County Surveyor's
Scull Pledges GOP Victory; Democrats Gird for Fight
With Democratic and Republican State Conventions
over, primary winners nominated officially in last week’s
Baltimore party conclaves, and platforms in hand on which
candidates will run, this much is certain:
Shape of things to come in general election campaigns
will not take the form of shadow boxing.
Democrats functioning to
prove that a unified and har
monious party can be whelped
from the cat and dof fight* of
the recent primary, can be
counted on to bar no holds to
retain their control of state and
county offices.
At the County level, the
Democratic State Central
Committee ha* sounded the
party call for the auditorium
of the County Building in
Bockville for tonight Win
ners and loser* in the pri
mary have been invited a*
well a* precinct chairmen,
and party worker*.
The State Central Committee
hopes the meeting will end as
a love feast between recent war
ring factions and ail will
•merge united in the cause of
UtKtpoera Cnniti SenHorl
a statement of mony expended
in behalf of personal candidacy
or the candidacy of any other
person or persons.
Inspection of statements on
file, however, shows a number
of flagrant discrepancies. For
example, one candidate listed
personal cam paign expenses
which ran close to SI,OOO.
A treasurer’s report made on
behalf of another candidate
showed his candidate had bene
fited by SI,OOO from a contribu
tion made in the amount by the
candidate who claimed his total
costs in the election were under
SI,OOO. Thus, the candidate’s
costs in the Primary should
have been given as close to
$2,000 rather than under the
SI,OOO listed.
A good many candidates run
ning for relatively minor offices
turned in statements bearing
the words "no expenses.” Filing
fees are a campaign expense
and, as such, are required to be
listed in an accounting.
Better than 50 per cent of all
statements for all offices do not
list filing fees. While this is
a relatively minor matter, it
occurs even on statements of
candidates who are long-time of
fice holders and/or contestants
for office.
Another candidates of promi
nence who staged an elaborate
campaign here and maintained
special ground level headquar
ters in strategic locations filed
a statement of expenses total
ing under $3,000. He also used
(Continued on Page B-8)
Office has started the survey
and that the town will reim
burse the county for costs in
volved.
“This town is so crazily laid
out,” said one member of
Pughe's audience later, “that
it’ll be a relief to a lot of people
to find out just what we do own,
if it ever came to selling our
property.”
Other aspects of the planning
commission’s program viewed
favorably by town residents at
the meeting included proposals
for demolition of the town au
ditorium, disposition of several
small parcels of town property,
to be sold and placed on tax
rolls, acquisition of other prop
erty and continued conservation
procedures in the forest pre
serves.
Harold F. Sylvester was re
elected mayor, and Donald Mc-
Cathran and Harold F. Shattuck
were named to three-year terms
as town council members.
electing Democrats in Novem
ber.
On the other hand. Republi- j
cans are making no bones about |
their chance* in November.
Neither is Montgomery Coun
ty’s Dave Scull, newly elected
chairman of the GOP State Cen
tral Committee.
Scull won the chairmanship'
over W. Rae Dempsey, customs
collector for the Port of Balti
more, endorsed and strongly
backed by retiring GOP chair
man, E. Eldred Rinehart and
GOP gubernatorial candidate
i Frank Small, jr. Scull won elec
i tion by a 86 to 36 vote but
■ collected only four of seven j
l votes of Montgomery County’s j
! GOP State Central Committee.
_ ** H
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Bilk <**..■ . ~
. . -ngtiv-iwffiyriff-y vXA
Jjl§ I9H 1 * -
SCHOOL’S OUT Permanently, that is, for
Clara Barton Elementary school teacher
Mrs. Margaret A. Elgin, who retires this
week after 40 years in the county school
system. It will be out just for the summer
for two of her sixth-grade students, Danny
Painter, son of Mr. and Mrs. Gerland Paint
Planners to Stress
County Autonomy
County Council members and members of the Plan
ning Board agreed this week to emphasize the county’s
“economic autonomy” in future land planning.
“It's time we took a firm posi
tion and initiative in planning
for the county's development,”
said Council member Stella
Werner. “After that, we can co
operate with other agencies
not vice-versa.”
Said Council president David
L. Cahoon: “I seriously question
whether we shouldn’t try to
guide our future development
in a manner not so closely ori
ented to the economics of the
District of Columbia as we have
in the past. We’ve got to go for
ward with the problems of Mont
gomery County.”
Planning Board member
Louis A. Gravelle echoed this
sentiment with an announce
ment he will ask the Mary
land - National Capital Park
and Planning Commission to
lay both the long-stymied Wis
consl n ave. traffic corridor
and another major artery
through Silver Spring Into the
county’s new general master
plan.
Formal plans for both these
| badly-needed commuter routes
!to the District Line have been
' held up while county officials
i awaited decisions by the Dis
trict to lift its freeze on con
struction of major northwest
highways and by the National
Capital Transportation Agency
on regional mass transit needs
of the future.
Gravelle said he will also sug
gest that the planners recom
mend a moratorium on all down
county zoning until the first of
next year, pending final land
use agreement.
1 At a joint meeting this week,
■-/ toy
f tefc JKk
Mary Hepburn
Observers here see the Scull
engendered “young turk" revolt
against longtime and en
trenched GOP leaders as repeti
tion of maneuvering staged by
er, and Dean Gray, daughter of Mr. and
Mi'S. Carlton Van Emon. The longtime
teacher at one time taught both Danny's
father and mother the former Elizabeth
Daniel and Dean’s mother, the former
Florence White.
—Ed Mervls Photo
Council members questioned the
planning board closely on a
number of aspects of the newly
released master plan for North
Bethesda-Garrett Park and vicin
ity.
Major items for discussion
were removal of a proposed cul
tural and civic center, which ap
peared in the preliminary mas
ter plan.
Board member Donald E.
Gingery said he felt a “closer
in” location for the center was
more desirable, and said he
had recommended It be built
In the Meadnwbrook area off
East-West hwy., closer to Sil
ver Spring and Chevy Chase
“where it would be able to at
tract a greater number of peo
ple from both the District and
the county.”
Council president David L. Ca
hoon and others questioned why
the commission had decided to
set land aside along the Rock
ville pike for neighborhood shop
ping center use and asked
whether it wouldn’t depress
Rockville’s economy.
The board and council will
meet again June 26 to discuss
other aspects of zoning.
In another development, the
“watchdog” Montgomery Coun
ty Citizens Planning Association
questioned legality of the final
master plan because it differs in
so many respects from the pre
liminary plan on which, under
: law, a public hearing was held.
The Planning Board, however,
l is not required to hold a hear
j lng on the adopted plan, even
l though it differs from the pre
-1 liminary.
Scull in Montgomery County in
1958 when he took over con
trol of the Republican commit
tee here and shoved the so
called “old guard” into the
background.
Scull carried an entire new
slate of officers onto the com
mittee with him. Of chief in
terest to the County was elec
tion of Mrs. Mary Hepburn,
Rockville, president of the
Maryland Federation of Repub
lican Woman’s Clubs, to the of
fice of committee vice-chairman.
Mrs. Hepburn, a lawyer, was a
member of the County’s Board
of Appeals and is the GOP can
didate for County Council, 3d
District.
Scull’s Baltimore scuttling
of Customs Collector Demp
*ey I* wtid to be a major set
back for gubernatorial candi
date Frank Small, jr., but
Scull (who withdrew from the
governor’s race in favor of
Small) was backed by young
er element* In the party and
Established, 1855
Whittier Cites
Advances in
Schools Here
Number of students graduat
ing from Montgomery County
schools and going on to higher
education jumped 9.4 per cent
in the four-year period 1957-60.
Statistics on increases in stu
dents acquiring college educa
tion were contained in a report
on school years 1957-61 made
this week by Superintendent of
Schools C. Taylor Whittier, to
the County Board of Education.
Whittier pointed out that re
sults of the schools’ testing pro
gram show that in grades 3, 5
and 6, county students equalled
or exceeded national norms In
53 out of 54 comparisons and
equalled or exceeded the corre
sponding matched group in 51
out of 54 comparisons.
At the sixth grade level, Whit
tier pointed out that Montgom
ery County achievement was
higher than national norm
achievements in science and so
cial studies.
In the eighth grade, Whitter
said county pupils achievement
levels exceeded national norms
at every quartile. Exceptions,
he stated, were in arithmetic
fundamentals and spelling.
Whittier told the Sentinel a
published report that he is leav
ing his job as head of the coun
ty school system is “absolutely
untrue and unfounded in fact.”
“I have every expectation,” he
said, “of staying with Montgom
ery County schools ... I am
particularly eager to stay to im
plement and execute the new
reorganization program.”
“I would not accept another
position for next year even if
it were offered me,” he said.
retiring 11. S. Senator Butler.
Long critical of the State
party, Scull politicked in Balti
more on the premise of bring
ing “new vigor” into the Party.
He told the Sentinel this week
hi* victory was in no sense
“personal victory for me but
was victory for a point of view.”
“The great need in the Re
publican Party,” he said, “is
building of precinct strength
throughout the 1400 precincts
in this State."
The people who voted for
him, Scull stated, knew he felt
this way. They were convinced
a State Central Committee dedi
cated to building precinct
strength would turn Maryland
into a two-party State.
Calm evaluation of facts and
factors developed in the recent
Primary, Scull said, can lead to
only one conclusion: “The Re
publican Party will win in No
vember."
The Democrat* also held
their convention in Baltimore
ACG Seeks
Changes In
Government
Far-reaching changes in Mont
gomery County’s governmental
set-up including election of
a county executive to relieve the
County Council of certain exe
cutive functions, and abolition
of several county offices—have
been proposed by a special com
mittee of the Allied Civic
Group.
The AGG’s Goveriiment Oper
ations Committee, headed by
Philip Marcus, also proposes
nine amendments to the county
charter, in an interim report
which Marcus said “represents
a small beginning” of a study
his group hopes to complete by
this fall.
In releasing its preliminary
survey, the committee blasted
both the County Council and
County Manager Mason A.
Butcher for their "uneoopeia
tiveness” in answering question
naires used in the survey.
“We regret that after eight
months, many promises, and
many equivocations, neither the
County Manager nor the Coun
ty Council have answered our
questionnaires,” the committee
declared, adding its hope that
before its final report Is com
pleted both Butcher and the
Council "will be among those
we can commend for their co
operation In this study.”
Chairman Marcus explained
that although his committee
has had repeated assurances of
cooperation from county offi
cials, efforts to elicit question
naire returns from them have
failed.
Council president David L.
Cahoon said many of ACG’s
questions were “based on erron
eous assumptions” and that the
answers to a number of them
are available in earlier ACG pub
lications, committee reports and
public documents.
He stressed the great amount
of "public time” required to
answer the questions and said
many of them dealt with per
sonal inventories of time and ef
fort spent on county matters
which he, for one, “couldn’t es
timate.”
The ACG’s questionnaire
seeks information and views
from county officials on pres
ent government operations. Mar
cus said it was also sent to all
bi-county agencies, the Board of
Education and to officials of
the county’s incorporated towns
and special taxing districts.
The ACG committee also crit
icized the county heads for giv
ing a private consulting firm,
Public Administration Services,
essentially the Information
sought In the questionnaire
“while such Information has not
been forthcoming to the au
thors of the questionnaire.”
Marcus said he had been told
by one Council member that
"many of the questions asked
by PAS could be answered or
ally without any work at all.”
The ACG official also ques
tioned Butcher's published state
ment that he hasn’t had suf
ficient staff to compile answers
to the questionnaire.
Highlights of the ACG com
mittee’s study, undertaken be
fore the County Council hired
the professional organization to
make the government study, in
clude:
—The recommendation for
(Continued on Page 3)
m -a
dfA
David Scull
lat week, blit minus the fur
or of the day* of the primary.
David Hume, defeated guber
natorial candidate who car
ried Montgomery County, wa*
greeted with applau*e; a doz
en or so booed George Ma
Rockville
Renewal
Plan Lags
Officials Still Certain
They Can Meet Deadline
By Elly Bradley
Although Rockville’s ur
ban renewal program is run
ning more than a month be
hind schedule, planning of
ficials are confident they
can make up the lag this
summer and keep their date
for unveiling the city’s pro
posed “new look” in No
vember.
Under the city’s downtown
facelifting schedule issued ear
ly this year, the month of
March was to have seen the
beginning of a study of land
use end business patterns
which, in fact, did not get un
der way until about May 1.
Last month was to have
marked the beginning of both
physical and relocation plan
ning for the project. This has
just been started.
Final plans in these two key
phases hinge on completion of
the 90-day land use and market
ability study, now set for mid-
August though originally sched
uled for July. Submission of a
preliminary urban renewal plan
looms, according to schedule, In
September.
City planning officials con
ceded the program has fallen
behind because of a six-week
delay In getting federal ap
proval of the marketability
study by outside consultants.
Planning and urban renewal
Stroke Study
J
Begins July 1
In County
Representatives of over 200
community groups in the coun
ty have been invited to attend a
June 21 meeting designed to
stimulate their interest in a
unique study of medical care of
stroke patients conducted by the
Montgomery County Health De
partment.
Dr. William J. Peeples, Coun
ty Health Officer, said citizen
participation will be of "vital
Importance” to the success of
the study, the first of its kind in
this country, which gets under
way July 1.
Tlie meeting will be held at
8 p.m. in the auditorium of
the Maryland-National Capital
Park and Planning Coin mis
sion, 8787 Georgia ave., Sil
ver Spring.
The county health department
has joined with the county
Medical Society, TB and Heart
Association and the U. S. Public
Health Service in a one-year
program of rounding up an
swers to such questions as how
many people suffer strokes, how
disabled they become, what care
and services they get and how
1 their families are affected.
honey and Mahoney let It Ist
known, however, reluctantly,
he would Is- supporting Dem
ocrat* in November.
The Democratic platform, de
scribed as “moderately liberal,"
proposed by Governor Tawe*
and adopted by the Convention
without change, call* for enact
ment of a public accommoda
tions law, improved labor law*
and a permanent constitutional
amendment in 1963 reapportion
ing the House of Delegates.
Republicans came up with a
strong civil rights plank; a
pledge to strengthen savings
and loan regulatory law; fair
and equitable redistricting for
congressional districts; certain
election law reforms, election
rather than appointment of the
State treasurer; improvement
of secondary roads program;
creation of a crime commission
to help law enforcement agen
cies, and fair reapportionment
of House of Delegate* seats.
In th meantime, local Demo-
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.
director Russell L. Montney
says, however, that he foresees
no lag in meeting either of two
major target dates—a Novem
ber “public information meet
ing” at which plans for the bus
iness district of the future will
be disclosed, or the September,
1963, mark for earliest purchase
of property and relocation of
families and businesses.
“We’ve given ourselves so
(Continued on Page 3)
In Gaithersburg
Town Council
Gets Mayor’s
’63 Budget
Gaithersburg residents who
turned out Monday night to
hear Mayor Merton Duvall’a
1962-63 budget proposals to tha
Town Council voiced no objec
tions and posed few questions
to the $125,171 the Mayor wants
to spend next fiscal year.
Proposals contemplate no
hike in the town’s present 60-
cent tax rate. Duvall said tha
tax rate in Gaithersburg re
mained at 50 cents from 1912
until last year when a 10-cent
increase was voted.
While budget proposals for
196263 did not deal with speci
fics and were concerned, chiefly,
with lump sum allocations, Du
vall explained that the Council
would come up with e detailed
budget before adoption.
John Thomas, local business
man and former Town Council
member asked the Mayor for
detailed Information concerning
proposed expenditures of $48,-
000 on street construction and
storm drainage. Duvall declined
detail until the Council consid
ers the budget He said, howev
er. completion of earlier work
on Diamond, Summit Lee,
Brooks, Russell and Park aves.,
will be studied.
In the matter of storm drain
age, the Mayor said a large pro
ject off Summit ave., across
from Town offices and to tha
side and rear of Southern States
Cooperative is contemplated.
Controversy expected over the
Mayor’s new proposals that
$6500 be set up to hire a town
manager or town administrator,
and an additional $5500 to em
ploy a Town bailiff did not de
velop. Duvall said Gaithers
burg's growth required employ
ment of a full-time administra
tor but said he did not know
where one could be obtained for
the amount set in his proposals.
In the matter of a bailiff, the
Mayor said Gaithersburg needs
an officer to enforce ordinances
which presently cannot be en
forced by County Police. County
(Continued on Page 3)
crat* and Republicans ride the
who and when merry-go-round
in the matter of naming addi
tional candidates to run for the
House of Delegates.
Both parties, chaffing under
a barrage of inquiries, point
out they are in no hurry and
that the deadline for coming
up with candidate* Is August L
BULLETIN
Republicans will accept addi
tional candidates to run for the
House of Delegates in Novem
ber through a special party con
vention to be called, tentatively,
for July 25. Convention dele
gates will be precinct chairmen
and co-chairmen who will decide
by vote among names to be sub
mitted to the State Central Com
mittee by party member*. The
convention system method of se
lecting candidates was arrived
at Wednesday night at a special
meeting of the County GOP
State Central Committee.