Montgomery County sentinel. [volume], August 30, 1962, Image 1

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

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New Voter Registration Sweepstake&cfc^unched
<?* V (See Story Below)
Full GOP Platform
The 1962 general elecion cam
paign is off and running to an
early start even though the
votes won’t be counted until
Nov. 6. County Republicans this
week released their carefully
prepared platform. Be sure to
read it in full pn Page 89.
10Sh Year - No. 9-Publi.hod Every Thursdoy ROCKVILLE. MARYLAND - THURSDAY. AUGUST 30. IM2 OArd.n 4-7700 TWO SECTIONS 0 Copy
Poolesville Is Stirred
By Polluted Well Issue
By Elly Bradley
Sentinel Reporter
The tiny (pop. 350) up
'county town of Poolesville to
day is the scene of a quiet
but determined tug of war
between the old and the new.
Its citizens face a choice be
tween retaining a water system
believed 85 per cent polluted, or
pursuing a safe water supply
which would mean growth and
progress after 100 years of rel
ative dormancy.
Poolesville’s pollution prob
has been known not only to the
county but to town residents for
more than six months, following
disclosure by the State Health
Department last fall of a water
sampling survey.
But because most of its citi
zens are not up in arms and
those who are find themselves
strapped for an immediate solu
tion nothing concrete has
been done.
Residents, Including Mayor
Billy Bliss, are piping water to
neighbor’s whose wells have run
dry.
Water polluted with the same
chemicals, detergents, nitrates,
excrement and residue of septic
tanks which have been noted in
two official water samplings
continues to pour from some
taps.
Babies daily are drinking and
bathing in water containing
nitrogen compounds which can
hit their vital hemoglobin pre
venting it from carrying suf
ficient oxygen through their
blood to keep them from being
“blue babies.’’
And the whole free-wheeling
concept of trying to get water
out of the same ground
they've been putting waste
into for more than 100 years
hasn’t lost an iota of its ap
peal to the gambling instinct
of some oldtimers.
In Potomac, where most resi
dents could afford to bring in
public water and sewers, they
don’t want them. In Pooles
ville, where residents say they
can’t afford a safe water sys
tem. their mayor and council are
determined to get one.
The question is how. and it's
not an easy one to answer.
Mayor Bliss tallies the town’s
total income last year at $5713.-
37, one-fifth of wl\ich was raised
through local taxes.
“Taxes paid by the town
didn’t quite pay our street light
ing bill,” he says.
Best estimates on the cost of
a good water system for the
town range between $200,0001
and $225,000. With the town's
present assessable base and slow
rate of growth, Bliss said, neith
er local tax financing nor a bond
issue can be considered the way
out now.
That their existing pattern of
wells and septic tanks is unsav
ory, literally and figuratively, at
times, plenty of Poolesville peo
ple and outsiders agree.
“It's always been a hellish
ground base,” says county sani
tation director R. W. Koch, re
ferring to the inability of the
soil and earth configuration
around Poolesville to absorb
sewage effectively.
Both Koch and Mayor Bliss
recognize that the oldtimers
whose forbears had no trouble
with their septic tanks reach a
mental block in accepting the
(Continued on Page BBt
Albert Einstein
School Opening
Delayed 3 Days
Students scheduled to attend
the new Albert Einstein High
School, Newport Mill Road, Ken
sington, will have a summer
vacation three days longer than
the rest of the county's 92,000
students.
The $2.6 million, 1,200-student
capacity school was scheduled
to open Tuesday along with the
county's 130 other schools but
officials said Tuesday they
could not open the school’s doors
until Friday.
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Silent Petitioner
T.and developer Bernard N. Siegel, who, with realtor
Charles Jamison, seeks to have the tiny town of Poolesville
annex some 3000 acres of land on which they hope to create
a model satellite community, silently reviews some facts in
tlie case at last week’s public hearing on the annexation be
fore the mayor ami council. Siegel personally presented no
argument in favor of the proposal at the hearing.
—Ed Mervis Photo
In Poolesville
Opposition V oiced
To Annexation
“Will annexation spoil Poolesville?”—or carry it to
heights of progress and prosperity the like of which hasn’t
been seen in the upper county since Rockville started
bustin’its seams? , ;
This is the question which
faces the 350 residents of the
I town as their mayor and coun
: cil prepare to approve a petition
by land developer Bernard Sie
gel and realtor Charles Jamison
and others for annexation of
3195 acres of adjoining property
on which they hope to create a
model planned community.
Mayor Billy Bliss expects the
town heads to give the nod to
the annexation within the next
10 days—‘‘or at least as soon as
we get the transcript of the
hearing.”
His reference was to a
spirited public hearing on
the annexation held last week
at which town residents de
bated the annexation and its
potential effect on their
futures.
Bliss and other local leaders
. favor taking in the property as
a shot in the arm for the com
munity.
‘‘We’ve been sitting here on
our hands for 100 years,” he
says, “going nowhere. I'd like
to see this town win back some
of the prominence it held in the
county a century ago.”
Advocates of the annexation
cited twin benefits to the town
if it goes through—immediate
increase in Poolesville’s assess
able base and availability of a
safe water supply from deep
wells dug by the developers to
serve their satellite community.
If townspeople choose not to
tap into the satellite's water
supply, the increased tax in
come from new residents there
might finance a municipal
water supply for Poolesville,
they point out.
Poolesville has been plagued
with a system of wells and
septic tanks producing water
found to be contaminated in
over 85 per cent of the homes.
The annexation, largest ever
proposed by a municipality in
this county, is opposed by other
local residents many of them
members of old Poolesville fami
lies.
They are also concerned that
it will mean higher municipal
costs, hence higher taxes, and
that the 35,000-resident satellite
will put Poolesville in the posi
tion of “the small tail on the
back of a very large dog.”
The last possibility can be
avoided, advocates argue, by
adopting a master plan for the
annexed land "that would guar
antee development of the land
the way we want it to develop.”
At the hearing, however,
many oldtimers refused 1o be
sold on the bright prospects:
“Why can’t they develop
that land and let Poolesville
alone?” asked one woman.
“As long as I pay taxes, I
want to know how much will
have to go toward keeping up
these streets down there,” said
John W. Kimberling.
When the shopping center
goes up in the planned commu
nity, warned Frank Hayden,
"Poolesville’s gonna be on the
other side of the tracks.”
“What’s gonna happen to this
satellite when the dam goes
in?” asked Carroll ChiswelL
Faced with this sort of op
position, the mayor and council
have agreed to submit their
forthcoming decision to referen
dum. which Bliss anticipates
will be held about Oct. 1.
Established 1855
City Extends
Tax Deadline
Deadline for paying Rockville
City taxes without penalty has
been extended 30 days, or until
: November 1.
| The mayor and council grant
-1 ed the extension this week when
it was learned that the County
will not mail out tax bills until
Sept. 5.
Business
District
Plan Urged
Future Rockville under
the coming urban renewal
| program was previewed
this week in a series of rec
ommendations made to the
mayor and council by the
committee of the Urban Re
; newal Advisory Council.
Released by Steering Com
mittee chairman, Alexander J.
Greene, recommendations cover
general goals, residential uses,
parking and the future char
acter of the mid-city project.
In the matter of general
goals, the committee recom
mended that the urban renewal
project become a mixed area—
with development closely con
trolled emphasizing retail,
some office buildings and other
buildings with offices above the
first floor; also, buildings for
apartment use.
The council said the urban
renewal plan should make
provision for residential uses
in the form of apartments
with provisions for suitable
parking; and that it is reeißa'*-
nized “there are specific
dwelling needs for certain
i types of people who want to
I live close to the downtown
area, in other than single
family, detached houses.”
Parking for the Urban Re
newal area, the council pointed
out, should be provided on a
; collective basis, possibly using
! multi-story structures to con
serve land, and provision should
be made for short term cus
tomer parking and all day park
ing for employees.
So far as the character of the
area is concerned, the advisory
group said the mid-city area to
be rehabilitated should be one
tha A will “encourage a number
of different uses, including but
not limited to the following:
residential in form of apart
ments, offices, retail sales, in
[ eluding a department store and
specialty shops.
Service uses are envisioned as
theatre and restaurants while
"public and cultural uses” are
described as “city, county, state,
and federal offices, and library.”
In its recommendation, the
advisory council said also,
“warehouses and other like
Industrial uses should not be
included In the Urban Renew
al Plan.”
At the same time, the council
said, “there is need for a policy
on signs and architectural con
trols which will provide for a
proper mix of different types of
architecture.”
Consideration should be giv
en, the Council added, to land
scaping and the possibility of a
pedestrian mall.
In presenting the recommen
dations, Chairman Green told
the Mayor and Council, “the
once in a lifetime opportunity
offered by urban renewal to re
| cast the center of Rockville
makes it mandatory that our ob
jectives be considered from long
range as well as short run
standpoint.”
The fact that the center of
Rockville also serves as the
center of Montgomery Coun
ty’s governmental activity,
"establishes a major basis for
the sound future growth of
the mid-city area,” he said.
“The first goal,” Greene
added, “must be to provide a
seating which will be compati
ble with the city’s role as coun
; ty seat.”
Gutle Wink Contract
A. Gude Sons Company of
! Rockville has been awarded a
[contract for landscaping
grounds at Rockville City Hall
for $5,975. The local landscap
ing and nursery firm was low
of three bidders by $1,300.
Council Clears Peeples
In Septic Tank Furor
.
**** am
Scorched Pasture Feeding
Advance feeding of hay they'd hoped to save
for their stock this winter is a grim neces
sity in these days of prolonged droiight for
county farmers such as Thomas Garrett,
above, of Maple Spring Farm outside Rock-
Sponsored by the Sentinel
New Voter Registration Sweepstakes
Will Offer Exciting Prizes, Rewards
Are you one of the esti
| mated 45,000 persons in
Montgomery County who
are eligible to vote in the
I forthcoming general election
but won’t be able to unless
they register?
If so, read this!
The Sentinel with the enthu
-1 siastic indorsement of both
major parties and leading com
munity, civic and business
groups is sponsoring a “New
Voters Registration Sweep
stakes.”
Here's how it will work:
Starting September 4, 12 so
called roving boards of registry
will be going out to the new
; voters sitting in schools and
i churches near their homes to
make it easier for them to regis
i ter.
The cut-off dale is September
; 24. After that no new registra
tions can be accepted for the
: November 6 election.
Accordingly, a major drive to
• sign up new voters will be
kicked off September 4, And
that's where the “Registration
' Sweepstakes” comes in.
As an inducement to get
more new voters to sign up,
the “Sweepstakes” plan will
offer prizes and certain re
wards to those lucky new
voters whose names are
chosen at random from
among all new voters signing
up between September 4 and
September 26.
Here are a few of them:
• A visit with Gov. J. Millard
;Tawes in his office in the his
toric State Capitol Building in
, Annapolis.
• Lunch with U. S. Sen. J.
Glenn Beall on Capitol Hill and
! a tour of the U. S. Capitol.
• Some lucky new voter will
be the guest of the seven-mem
ber Montgomery County Coun
cil at lunch in Rockville on a
regular Council meeting day.
The County Council will pick up
l the tab lor his lunch and the
ville. Garrett and Ids brother, Asldon, say
they've been doling out winter wheat for the
past six weeks to cattle whose green pas
tures have dried up this summer.
—Ei Mervis Photo
[ new voter can discuss any facet
of county government with the
; elected county heads during
the lunch period.
* A SI (HI savings bond do
nated by tlie Montgomery
County Sentinel will be given
one lucky new voter.
• Another new voter will be
given a $25 savings bond by
Maryland National Bank.
But that's only a beginning
of the many prizes and rewards
that’ll be available and given out
soon after the registration cut
off September 24.
The list will grow during tlie
! next four weeks to sizeable pro
portions and we’ll report the ad
ditions each week. Public spirit
ed community leaders and busi
nessmen are invited to join in
the fun and make contributions
to this worthwhile effort free
lubrications, hair cuts, gift cer
tificates, savings bonds, what
ever they wish to donate. The
names of all donors will be pub
lished on the front page of the
i Sentinel each week.
All other communications
(Continued on Page A3t
Held L p by Officials
Meltzer Says In Suil
He Can’t Use His Land
A group of county land developers headed by builder
Louis C. Meltzer has filed suit against the Maryland-Na
tional Capital Park and Planning Commission for delaying
approval of plans to develop a subdivision.
Similar action is anticipated
by a second group of landhold
ers who claim the commission's
stalling is preventing them
from developing their property.
In the first case, Meltzer’s
syndicate seeks commission ap
proval of plans to build a 157.3-
acre community of half-acre
homesites known as Redland
Knolls near Redland.
The second involves 165.3
How , Where
New Voters
Will Sign Up
The county board of elei
tion supervisors this week
announced a list of places
where roving boards of reg
istry will sit Sept. 4-24
throughout the county to
sign up new voters.
At each place listed below
in this tsory the election offic
ials will sit from 7:30 to 9:30
p.m. for the voter's convenience.
It is wise to arrive early because
this is a popular service and
sometimes lines are found and
you must wait your turn.
In addition lo the supplemen
tal registration places, new vot
ers may sign up at the Rockville
office of the Supervisor of
Elections every Monday through
(Continued on Page A6)
■acres of the Perry tract owned!
by the Seaboard Land Co., Mel
! Robinson, president, at the In-
I tersectlon of Muncaster Mil) i
| and Redland id.
A planning commission
spokesman said hall-acre home
sites planned in both subdivi
sions will conflict with the five
acre zoning for the area to be
j (Continued on Page A3; j
Dr. Peeples' Statement
Montgomery County's boiling
septic tank controversy stems
mainly from developments in
the Concord subdivision in Po
tomac. You'll find the county
health officer’s full statement on
Concord on Page A6 of this
Issue.
Health Head’s
Refutation
Is Accepted
County Health Officer
William J. Peeples emerged
Tuesday from a two-hour
grilling by the County Coun
cil on the subject of septic
tanks smelling like a rose.
The council, concerned over
press reports Indicating health
department negligence in ad
vising owners of contaminated
wells, summoned Peeples to get
his side of the story.
By the time It was over, Peep
les had assurances that council
members “are all behind you
completely” and that they “re
gret very much repeated insin
uations” against him and his
department.
Peeples’ detailed, systematic
refutation of charges that con
tamination of private water sup
plies in the county creates a
major health hazard drew from
Councilman Stella B. Werner
the statement :
“I have a very high regard
for Dr. Peeples and Mr. (R.
W.l Koch (head of environ
mental sanitation.) I want to
express an opinion of confl-
See related editorial. Page
A4, and Dr. Peeples’ state
ment. Page B.
dence in them and in the fact
that we are moving into a con
tinuation of a good public
program.”
Council members referred
Peeples’ comprehensive report
to the County attorney's office
for advice on what will be re
quired in ordinances and pro
j cedures to carry out the health’s
j officers recommendations for
improving county control and
1 inspection of wells and septic
j tanks.
At the same time, the Council
named a special commission to
investigatt Republican charges
that its president, David L. Ca
hoon, may be guilty if malfeas
ance, personal profit, or conflict
1 of Interests in connection with
; ills wife's former ownership of
(Continued on Page A4)
Spectrum
By The Observer
We believe in separation
of church and state.
But we must say we think
a group (whose name shall
remain anonymous) that
dedicates itself to the cause
of separation of church and
state went a little too far
recently i n Montgomery
I County.
Ruhh Dwwaon, minority clerk
' of the board of HUitervißorn of
elections, lined, up a new / tolling
id we, for -H ln the coining
general election. It in in ttolu
CrutsH Elementary School on
■ Strathmore avenue. Il'n n fine
bright modem school building
ideal la suited for the purpose.
Rose b’liiKil bark, satisfied
slic’d done a good job. Then
she got a blast from tills
group for having the audacity
to locate a polling place In a
Catholic selnail.
How far can you go in losing
' your perspective?
For more yearn than she
cares to remember, Rase has
net up polling pla/es in Baptist,
1 Lutheran, Presbyterian, Meth
odist or whatever churches. And
never a peep. Suddenly thin
group comen along.
To her credit she went ahead
with her plans and 4-4 voters
will mark balJots in Holy Cross
' Elementary.
•* m m
We can’t report the exact
1 (Continued on Page Ail