Montgomery County sentinel. [volume], October 11, 1962, Image 1

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

Image provided by: University of Maryland, College Park, MD

                
Valuable Coupons , Many Bargains liffiSpecial Section of This Issue
Showcase Special
This edition of The Sentinel
contains special stories and pic
tures of displays which will be
on exhibit today, Friday and
Saturday in the Science-Indus
try Showcase in Silver Spring.
Don’t miss reading of the area’s
scientific achievements on pages
B-l, B-2, and B-3.
lOStk Year - No. 15—Published Every Thursday MARYLAND THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11. 1941 GArdon 4-7700 THREE SECTIONS IQt m Cpy
Tawes Shuns
Political
Rally Here
Gov. J. Millard Tawes de
liberately avoided tangling
with his Republican oppo
nent, Frank Small, Jr., at a
Bethesda-political rally Mon
day night.
"We learned about an hour be
fore the meeting that it was to
be a free for all debate with no
rules laid down and the gover
nor had no knowledge that this
would be the case,” an aide to
the governor told the Sentinel.
“So we immediately sent word
to the governor where he was
attending a reception near Rock
ville and advised him not to
go,” the aide said. “He said he
had some work to do in Anna
polis, anyway, so he returned
home."
Tawes had spent the after
noon in Prince Georges County
and toward late afternoon offi
ciated at a groundbreaking of a
new home in Colony North, sub
division of W. Evans Buchanan.
The message reached him about;
7:15 p.m. at a party that fol
lowed and he left Rockville at
once, about 45 minutes before
the Bethesda rally was to begin.
“None of us had any Idea
(bat it was going to be a free
debate —an open forum type
of thing—although we learned
the governor’s opponent had
known it and was ready,” the
aide said.
Before leaving. Gov. Tawes
dispatched an aide, Edmund
Messer, to read his prepared
talk at the rally sponsored in
the Woodward & Lothrop audi
torium by the Bethesda-Chevy
Chase Chamber of Commerce.
“This is an effront to the peo
ple of Montgomery County,” ob
served William Kloepfer, Jr.,'
co-chairman of Small’s Montgo
mery County campaign commit
tee, when word came that Gov. '
Tawes would not appear.
The affair had been billed as
a Joint appearance—first in the
campaign—of the two guberna
torial hopefuls. Small has ang
rily lashed out at Tawes’ re
fusal thus far to enter into pub
lic debate.
But on Tuesday Tawes said
for the first time he would
consider debating Small on
TV “if time can be worked
out and the proper rules laid
down.”
“The people have a right to
know what Assistant Governor
Tawes has been doing and not
doing for the past three and a
half years.” Small said.
“On Sept. 21 I invited Mr.
Tawes to debate the issues and
I have not yet received a reply.
I am willing to meet him for a
debate or a series of debates,
but it is very apparent that he
is afraid to debate the issues.
He is content to hid behind the
press releases of his puppeteers. 1
Broadcast stations have of
fered us the air time for de
bates, but so far George
Hocker, ‘Little Herbie O’Conor
and his other behind-the
scenes manipulators have not
seen fit to permit him to come
nut of Ills cocoon of silence
where they feel he is will In
sulated against the public.”
"They want to field a second
stringer against me. but I re
fuse to debate anyone but the
man who beare the personal re
sponsibility for the miserable
government Maryland has had
for the past three and a half
years.”
Monday’s audience of more
than 300 was preponderantly
Republican. Two Democratic
candidates for the County Coun
cil, incumbents Stella Werner
and Stanley Frosh, faced a hos
tile audience and their remarks
were greeted by polite applause
and scattered boos.
Henry Hiser, Republican and
longtime Bethesda theater own
er trying to unseat Mrs. Wer
ner. was given a near ovation
as talked about “waste and ex
travagance” by the current
Democratic County Council and
the elected school board.
Republican Congressman
Charles McC Mathias drew
loud applause when he talked
while his Democratic oppo
nent, former congressman
John B. Foley, drew only
scattered, token applause.
Both Frosh and Foley told the
audience they were aware the
listeners were “Republican” and
“hostile” but put forward their
arguments, anyway. Mrs. Wer
ner, sensing the crowd’s hos
tility, vigorously defended the
Democratic County Council’s j
achievements during the pastj
eight yeais
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Oysters ‘TC for Ricky
There’s a first time for everything, and the
first time for oysters for 5-year-old Ricky
Cicheskie evidently was the Rockville Civl
tan Club's annual oyster roast and turkey
shoot last Sunday. Eyes closed, mouth
Showcase Opens
At Silver Spring
The second annual Mont
gomery County Science-Indus
try Showcase opens today at
the Silver Spring Armory
with an array of displays
presented by leading research
companies and manufacturers
from the area.
The Showcase, which con
tinues through Saturday, is
free to the public. It will be
open from 10 a.ni. to 9 p.m.
the first two days and Lft a.m.
to 6 p.m. Saturday.
It is sponsored jointly by
the County Council and the
Silver Spring Board of Trade.
This Issue of The Sentinel
carries stories oil some of the
many organizations represent
ing the Showcase on pages
B-l, B-2, and B-3.
Heminer New
President
Of Chamber
Nicholas H. Hemmer. jr., an
executive with IBM-Federal Sys
tems Division, has been elected
president of the Rockville
Chamber of Commerce.
Elected to other chamber
offices were James R. Miller,
jr., first vice president; Joseph
C. Rodgers, second vice presi
dent: Mrs. Sidney Fishman,
treasurer; and Waller Thiele,
secretary. New directors named
were John C. Hickman, Glen J.
Koepenick and W. Mack Wells.
The new officers will be for
mally installed at the cham
ber’s annual fall-winter dance.
Federation Topic
Is General Plan
Arthur K. Stellhom, director
of planning for the Maryland-
National Capital Park and Plan
ning Commission, discussed the
commission’s development plan
at a monthly meeting of the
Montgomery County Civic Fed
eration Monday.
The meeting was held in the
Commission Auditorium in Sli
ver Spring. Civic club delegates
from over thhe county attended
the session.
School Group
Elects Breimyer
School Board member Harold
F. Breimyer has been elected
second vice-president of the
Mary land Association of Boards
of Education.
Breimyer, a staff economist
with the U. S. Department of
Agriculture, was School Board
president last year and is a can
didate for re-election to the
board next month.
agape, Ricky gives every indication he'll
down his first oyster like a man. He is the
son of Mr. and Mrs, Alex Cicheskie of
Poolesville. Ed Mervis Photo
Fight Launched to Get
HEW Unit in Rockville
If North Carolina thinks its free land offer is going to
enable it to snatch the government’s new S7O million En
vironmental Health Center from under Montgomery Coun
ties nose, it has another think coming.
Local, county, state and fed
eral agencies are marshalling
their forces for an all-out drive
next year to have the Depart
ment of Health, Education and
Welfare’s new facility located
right where they feel it belongs
—here in the county.
Long-established plans to set
the environmental health center
down at Rt. 28 and Shady Grove
rd. west of Rockville suffered
a setback last week with dele
tion of $2. million in funds for
site planning and land acquisi
tion by the House Appropria
tions Committee.
In knocking out the funds
from a supplementary appro
priation bill, the committee
branded as “improper” the loca
tion of the facility anywhere in
the Washington area.
The committee’s action has
confounded authorities from the
local level up to HEW high
echelons, who recall the county
site was settled on two years
ago by a committee of physi
cians and scientists appointed by
the U. S. Surgeon General.
Other factors In favor rtf
the county site. Include the
proximity of many agencies
with which the new health
center would have day-to-day
contact and the pool of re
search and scientific person
nel available to the center in
the Washington area.
Opponents of the suburban
Washington location cite an
offer of free land in the “big
triangle” center of learning In
North Carolina bounded by
Duke and North Carolina State
Universities and the University
of North Carolina.
Architect
Firm Picked
For Renewal
Donald N. Coupard and Asso
ciates of Bethesda have been
named architectural consultants
for Rockville's urban renewal
program. Selection of the Coup
ard firm from a list of several
indicating interest in the six to
eight weeks job was made by
the Rockville Mayor and Coun
cil Monday night.
Coupard, a native of Rock
ville, has designed a number of
well-known buildings in the
area. Among these are City
Hall, the P. J. Nee store on
Rockville Pike, and Congression
al Shopping Plaza.
The consultants will advise
city officials, as well as the
planning commission, on de
sign and in the development
of conservation standards for
i the mid-city urban renewal
i area.
This offer .they say, would
save about $1.2 million in costs
of the new center. But Mont
gomery County officials point
out that any saving in site ac
quisition costs in North Caro
lina would be more than offset
by transportation and mail ex
penses to maintain liaison be
tween the new center and close
ly-related agencies in this area.
In cutting the health center
appropriation, the congressional
committee put off final selec
tion of a site until the next ses
sion of Congress, which starts
in January. This leaves advo
cates of the Montgomery Coun
ty location just three months in
which to act.
From Gov. J. Millard Tawes
on down, they have already be
gun countering criticism of the
county site. Said the governor,
in a speech prepared for de
(Continued on Page Air
Kennel Club Show
Set For Sunday
The annual all-breed dog show
and obedience trial of the Rock
Creek Kennel Club will be held
from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday,
!at the Agriculture Center fair
j grounds in Gaithersburg.
The Mount Vernon Miniature
Schnauzer Club will present an
! speeiaty show. Admission foo
adults will be sl, children, 50
cents.
Gaithersburg
Column Starts
In This Issue
After several weeks’ ab
sence, the Gaithersburg com
munity column Is resumed
in this Issue of the Sentinel
and will continue every week.
It will be written by Mrs.
Ellen Bltely, Gaithersburg,
who has been a community
resident for 12 years and has
been aetlve In community
groups.
Gaithersburg and Washing
ton Grove area residents are
urged to call Mrs. Bltely with
their news Items at WA -
2025.
McCartin Named
By City Heads
Matthew J. McCartin, 1612
Bradley ave., Rockville, has
been appointed to membership
on the five-member Rockville
Public Housing Authority. He
was sworn in Monday night by
Mayor Frank Ecker.
An attorney, McCartin has
been active in Twinbrook Civic
j Association and in other local
civic affairs for several years.
Established 1855
School Will Close
2 Days Next Week
County public schools stu
dents will get two days off
next week, when classes will
be suspended for special in
service teachers meetings,
Thursday and Friday, Oct. 18
and 19.
‘Pm Going
Ahead . .
Siegel Says
Undaunted by the town of
Poolesville’s rejection of his
3000-acre annexation bid,
up-county developer Bern
ard Siegel said this week his
plans are “the same as
they’ve always been” for
creating an 8000-acre model
community around his River
Road Country Club.
“This annexation business has
only delayed, not stopped, my
plans,” he commented, follow
ing the 101-74 Poolesville vote
against taking his land into
the town.
He said his immediate plans
involve a community of 15,000
persons—compared with some
35.000 which would have been
housed under the 3000-acre an
nexation proposal “just as
soon as a means of access is
completed.
Siegal referred to final “miss
ing link” River road connection
of about 3000 feet from Hughes
rd. to Willard rd. which runs
through his property, a 120-ft.
wide thoroughfare which, he
stressed, is scheduled for com
pletion late this fall.
"It would be proper, I think,
to assume this road will bring
people out Into my territory
who might want to live there.
If they want two-acre home
sites, I have some,” he said,
adding, however, tliat most of
his land Is in half-acre zoning
now.
.. Under plans originally an
nounced for the model com
munity on 8000 acres owned by
Siegel and others, over 2300
acres was to be reserved for
single-family dwellings. Remain
ing land was to be allotted as
follows:
Open spaces, recreation,
parks. 3190 acres; high-rise
apartments, 139 acres; garden
type apartments, 241 acres;
employment centers. office
buildings and industrial, 860
acres: schools. 194 acres;
churches, 89 acres; circumfe
ential and planned access roads.
266 acres and other uses, 180
acres.
If the Mary land-. National
< u pita I Park and Planning
Commission and (he County
Council attempt to “go
through with any attempt
to quickly rezone this laud
so it can’t be developed,”
Siegel thereatened, “I’m cer
tainly not going to sit still
and twiddle my thumbs.”
His reference was to current
proposals for open-space zoning
in his area, which reserve it
from development between cor
ridors of high-density land use,
possibly in the five-acre cate
gory.
“I’ll attempt to prove a con
spiracy, an attempt to confiscate
peo p 1 e’s property,” Seigel
warned.
Asked if he would submit his
blueprints for the model plan
ned community for planning
commission approval, Seigel
said;
"I don’t think there’s going
to be any Park and Planning
Commission, at least on the
same basis it’s now operating.”
He said that with hi* land
now zoned for half-acre resi
dential development “all I need
to do Is apply for permits to
build at the county building in
Rockville. If I meet the county’s
criteria. I will build—and they
can’t set me apart on the basis
that they’re going to have a
general plan which says I can’t.”
Even under strengthened sub
division regulations to guaran
tee pure water supplies to com
munities not served by Washing
ton Suburban Sanitary Commis
sion water or seweT lines, Seigel
feels his property will qualify
for development.
He said he has eight deep
wells located throughout his
land, capable of pumping 980
gallons of water a minute—or
“enough to handle a city of the
size contemplated, about 15,000,
for five years,” on the basis of
75 gallons per capita per day.
Seigel has been operating a
sewage disposal lagoon on his
property for 15 months, under
permits from both the Mary
land State and Montgomery
1 County Health Departments.
In Poolesville
Annexation Foes
Mapping Plans to
Oust Incumbents
Schotter Blast At Offutt
Enlivens Sheriffs Race
Major William A. Schotter, a deputy Montgomery
County sheriff and GOP nominee for sheriff, Tuesday re
signed with a change of foul play against his Democratic
opponent. i
Schotter, in his resignation
announcement, stoked the cam
paign fire with a number of
direct and indirect charges of
poor administration against his
opponent, Ralph W. Offutt.
Offutt, now serving an In
terim appointment following the
resignation of Sheriff Luke
Bennett recently, parried Schot
ter’s thrusts, indicating he
doubts the GOP candidate “is
qualified for a deputy’s job.”
Schotter cried foul over the
former chief deputy Offutt’s
cancellation of a two-week leave
Schotter claims Bennett ap
proved while still in office.
Schotter said Bennett knew the
leave was to allow time for cam
paigning.
Not so, said Offutt Tues
day. “As far as I can find out,
he (Schotter) was not given
any leave, Offutt said. ,
He said a check with the
County Personnel Office failed
“to turn up any papers support
ing Schotter’s claim to a leave.
Offutt said Schotter did ask
Victory and Defeat
Poolesville Will Long Remember
The Big Day of Annexation Vote
By Elly Bradley
Sentinel Reporter
From sunup until the last V-for-Vlctory
candle flickered out on Nana Hall’s lawn well
past dark, last Saturday was a day they’ll re
member well and long in Poolesville.
Phones were ringing around town well
before breakfast, as neighbors and friends
checked on an eleventh-hour—and totally un
founded, it turns out—rumor that Bemie Sie
gel might offer the town a $250,000 water sys
tem in return for a favorable vote on his
annexation bid.
Annexation foes were stirring early,
counting heads and making arrangements for
transporting some of the town’s elderly resi
dents to the old Town Hall where, before sun
down, one of the most crucial issues in town
history would he settled.
Well before the polling place's open
ing at 10 a.m., the three-man team of
election judges was busy setting up shop,
stacking ballots, getting the heal up In
the damp old hall, and preparing for wliat
they expected would be a heavy turnout
of voters.
All longtime residents, they were John \V.
Hickman, one of the last of the old stagecoach
drivers travelling the route from Garrett
County to Barnesvllle; George A. Maerdink, a
retired government worker who has gained a
reputation as an artist and portrait painter,
and Zachariah M. Compher, a retired town
merchant.
By 10 a.m„ the sun was as high as
the hopes of townspeople on both sides of
• the annexation conflict. Within the flrsl
hour of voting, more than 30 residents had
voted, coming In by families and exchang
ing small talk with the judges.
"Yep, almost had pneumonia, you know
Doc kept me in the house two weeks,” said
one oldtimer of a recent ailment.
Another, hobbling In on a cane, cracked
In response to greeting: “How am I? Don’t
you see how I am?”
Lounging alongside his Chevy pickup
truck across the street from the town hall.
Mayor Billy Bliss watched the early arrivals
come and go.
“I’ve seen people up here tills morn
ing who haven’t been out of their house*
in 15 years,” was his comment. Majority
of the town’s young people, many of
whom worked Saturday, were expected
later In the day, he said.
Bliss was joined sporadically in his day
long vigil by Charles Jamison, local realtor
who, with Siegel, petitioned for the annexation
of property they own. Jamison said he’d been
up with, the birds spreading voting-day signs
around the town.
for a leave in early September,
but Bennett indicated it was to
be denied because of protests
from Offutt.
“Mr. Bennett, told me early
this year he wanted all person
nel to take leaves and vacations
before the opening of the Oc
tober term of court,” Offutt
said. “All the other man had
compiled so I couldn't see why
Schotter should have special
treatment.”
As to the alleged cancella
tion, Schotter told Offutt In
his letter of resignation the
action "dealt me a low blow
without Justification.”
"You already had the advan
tage over me with your Interim
appointment,” Schotter’s letter
said. “And yet you stoop to
this.”
Schotter, In a statement, made
a number of charges against
Offutt alleging too many "poli
tical spoil-system deputies”; un
fair politicking through the use
of Offutt’s posters on deputies'
(Continued on Page A4)
“1 don’t want to leave anything to de
fault,” he explained.
By noon, more than 50 voters had
cast their ballots, and the judges had be- .
come accustomed to reminding people to
fold up their ballots before stuffing* them
In the rapidly-filling box.
"Some of them even walk up to us, wav
ing their vote under our noses,” said Maerd
ink.
Outside, Bliss was predicting a close vote
and telling all comers, “If we lose, you can
mark this day down as the day Poolesville
died.”
Questioned about a report the Town
Council had met two nights before the
election to outlaw absentee ballots for
three bedridden town residents reported
to be against the annexation. Bliss said:
"There’s nothing in our charter about ab
sentee ballots."
By mid-afternoon, more than 100 votes
were in. and tension was building. Down at
Titus’ restaurant, small groups of men gath
ered to talk over the election in quiet tones.
A gas station attendant across the street
said he couldn’t vote, but wished he could.
“People who have been here 100 years
have done nothing for this town,” he said.
“Somebody's got to do something.”
At six o’clock, as advertised, the doors to
the Town Hall closed and Mayor Bliss Joined
the three Judges and several newspaper re
porters to witness the ballot counting.
Forty minutes later, It was all over.
“It’s all cinders and ashes,” muttered
-lanilson when the results were an
nounced.
“Anything we do now will be too expen
sive and half enough,” said Bliss, before he
and a small group of followers joined Siegel’s
public relations man and Siegel for whst was
to have been a victory celebration at the River
Road Country Club, owned by Siegel.
Over at the home of Nana and John R.
Hall, two of the leaders of the fight against
annexation, spirits were both high—and flow
ing—for hours as town residents wandered in
and out to offer congratulations and talk about
“where we go from here.”
Passerby In the dusk could see Nana
on her knees out on her lawn, setting up
her V-for-Victory randies In unique col
ored bags she said slie hadn't used since
the celebration of statehood In Hawaii.
One oldtime resident, Mrs. Herbert Brown,
a sister of attorney John Oxley who lives on
the outskirts of town, summed up the vic
torious faction's sentiments:
“Don't let’s stand around and gloat now,”
‘causa we'va got a lot to do.”
Backers See
Future of
Independence
While developer Bernard
Seigel mulled over the future
of his 3000 acres of land
south of Poolesville this
week, the victorious leaders
of opposition to his annexa
tion proposal were already
up to the elbows in plans to
assure steady and orderly
growth for the town with
out his land.
Their first action-was forma
tion of a slate of candidates
whom they hope on Nov. 6 will
oust Mayor Billy Bliss and the
Town Council which approved
the Seigel property annexation
in September as away out of
the town’s growth problems.
The five-man, t w o-woman
slate, composed entirely of an
nexation opponents, will be
composed of:
Eugene E. Halmos, Jr., Wash
ington editor of Civil Engi
neering magazine, official publi
cation of the American Spclety
of Engineers. As a columnist,
Halmos writes extensively on
city planning, engineering, eon
(Continued on Page Als>