Montgomery County sentinel. [volume], February 07, 1963, Page 4, Image 4

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

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ftagiJictl Sentinel
An Independent Newspaper
4
Low Tuition Principle
A major hurdle has now been cleared with approval
by the School Board Monday of a budgetary item that
revives hopes the Rockville campus of Montgomery Junior
College can be opened to an estimated 1500 students by
September, 1964.
After much huffing and puffing about the Junior Col
lege program and indicating grave misgivings about the
yhole Junior College idea, the four new School Board mem
bers have acted wisely in leaving the door open for the
scheduled opening of this important—and highly needed—
facility.
A large site has been acquired, construction money is
In the current budget—and available. All that is needed
is $277,603 for furnishings for the first buildings. The
long-planned, carefully thought out proposal is ready to go!
But there are still two major obstacles.
One of these is necessary approval by the County
Council of the budget item for furnishings. The other is
the necessity for a final go ahead from the School Board—
again the four new members because the three holdover
members are heartily for it—and then construction can
begin. And not much time is left!
It has not been easy to keep up with developments in
the last two weeks since startled county residents learned
the entire Junior College program was in jeopardy. First
Board member Woodward urged the new Rockville facility
,be put on the shelf. Then it was decided a committee should
be appointed to study the proposal. Board President Bell
then indicated he would name to the committee the four
new board members who had already indicated misgivings
about the Junior College program but reconsidered when
such an idea struck the other three board members—and
the public attending the hearing—as highly irregular. Then,
on Monday, Woodward, after reconsideration, initiated the
move to approve the budget item for furnishings that is
absolutely necessary if the institution is to open on schedule
in 1964. Then Bell announced he was appointing to the
committee all seven members of the School Board to study
the question, with Woodward serving as chairman of the
“committee.” When is the School Board a School Board
and when is it a committee? All of this seems a strange
way to deal with a highly important matter of public busi
ness.
What is needed now is a promptly executed study by
the “committee” and a favorable report giving a green light
to the new facility. Then the County Council should give
final approval to the program in its budget consideration.
What seems to be bothering the four new School Board
members is the philosophy of having a publicly maintained,
two-year junior college that any high school graduate can
attend if he wants to. Yet the student must pay one third
of the tuition costs (with the State and the county sharing
the remaining two thirds). This seems an eminently sensi
ble approach to the growing problem of how to provide
aome form of college education opportunity for hordes of
high school graduates who will not be able to attend regular
institutions of higher learning for economic or scholastic
reasons, but who still want to try their hand at college.
They should have this opportunity. Both they and the
community will be richer for their having had it.
Writing in the Michigan Quarterly Review, Eugerte B.
Power, chairman of the committee on tuition of the Asso
ciation of Governing Boards of State Universities and Allied
Institutions, points out that the low-tuition principle has
been one of the unique features of American public higher
education. It has, as he points out, revolutionized college
and university education. In 1900, of the students attend
ing institutions of higher education, only 20 per cent were
in public institutions. In 1960, nearly 60 per cent were.
Our system, he says, is envied and copied all over the world.
It has vastly increased the nation’s supply of scholars and
specialists. "The philosophy that embodies the low-tuition
principle is one which recognizes that the unique character
of the franchise in a democracy makes it necessary that the
populace be educated.” And he adds: “Education is neces
sary to a democratic form of government.”
He goes on: “To impose barriers to continued attend
ance in the form of tuition fees at the time of high school
graduation, is as unsound as it would be to impose such
barriers at the end of the fourth grade.”
The question of whether we can afford to tamper with
this principle “is a momentous one,” he says. And the
School Board and County Council should, indeed, proceed
with extreme caution in their deliberations on this matter
which is of such vital concern to many thousands of future
county students.
Glissmann Retiring!
‘Sister City" 1 Visitors
Will Meet New ‘Mayor’
Rockville area visitors to
Pinneberg, Germany, on a
scheduled July “Sister City” ex
pedition will meet a new bur
germeister when they arrive as
the community celebrates its
annual rose festival.
Burgermeister Henry Gliss
mann, who has held the city gov
ernment reins there for 15
years, is retiring Feb. 28.
Glissman took the job in 1948
as the then community of about
10,000 struggled to absorb 10,-
000 war refugees who settled In
Pinneberg almost overnight.
Since then, Pinneburg—a sub
urb of Hamburg—has grown to
more than 30,000 persons.
Glissnian is credited with
many civic and governmental
improvements, particularly in
planning, as the city tripled its
population during his adminis
tration.
He will spend a vacation in a
Harz mountain retreat and then
Lip Reading Classes
A course in lip-reading for
adults handicapped by deafness
will start Tuesday, Feb. 12 at
7:30 p.m. at Bethesda-Chevy
Chase High School and continue
through April 16. It Is being
held under the sponsorship of
the Montgomery County adult
education program.
Thursday, February 7, 1963
return to the city to assume
many unofficial tasks.
Rockville area residents are
invited to join the “Sister City”
visit in July that is designed to
strengthen the ties between the
two communities under the
“People to People” program.
There will be stopovers in
Paris, Berlin and Hamburg be
fore the contingent arrives in
Pinneberg to enjoy the “Festi
val of Roses” and participate in
a round of official and unoffi
cial festivities,
Groups Listed
In New Booklet
The “Rainbow Directory” of
Montgomery County’s organiza
tions, clubs and agencies is now
available to local residents from
the County Health and Welfare
Council, 8510 Dixon Ave„ Silver
Spring.
Rita E. Beuchert, HWC direc
tor, announced that there are
more than 600 organizations of
all types represented, including
agencies, business, civic, garden,
political, senior citizens, wom
en’s and men’s activities, as well
as current representatives of
each group.
The information-packed bro
chure is distributed without
charge every year
Inside Annapolis
Bottle Clubs Must Go!
by State Sen. Gilbert Gude
A considerable amount of pressure is be
ing exerted in the legislative halls of Annapo
lis to amend Montgomery County liquor laws
so some of our larger restaurants can serve
cocktails and highballs with their meals.
This same pressure is aimed at my pro
posal to abolish the so-called bottle clubs in
the county, unless my move is accompanied
by my willingness to go along with some re
laxation of liquor legislation for restaurants.
Since I have made no secret of my inten
. tion to oppose any
extension of liquor
W*k licenses to include
restaurants until I
Ip get the facts from
pj|K the 10-member inves
vm: tigating commission
Wk which I have sug
mt gested, the heat is on
§H as far as my bottle
club proposal is con
ill cemed.
I have done much
181 soul - searching and
mind-probing in this
Sen. Gude matter and I lust
can’t see how, in all justice and reason, you
can equate bottle clubs on the one hand and
liquor law relaxation on the other.
It appears to me that the first involves
an evasion of liquor laws that must be
stopped if we are to have a clear-cut under
standing of exactly what we can and cannot
do. To say, as some do, that it is not fair to
eliminate the practice of permitting restaurant
customers to keep liquor bottles or to order
miniature bottles from nearby county dispen
saries unless you allow restaurants to serve
their own liquor appears to me to be fuzzy
thinking. There is no quid pro quo involved
in this matter of abolishing bottle clubs. This
practice, which has grown up in the last few
years—under the Democratic administration,
I might point out—gives these eating places
no vested interest in its continuance.
Furthermore, if we accept the recom
mendation by their supporters to regulate
them, rather than abolish them outright, we
The Public Forum
Lawyers' Role
Mr. Phillip Marcus has
lately extended his myriad ac
tivities into the business of
Montgomery County courts
and attorneys. His letter to
the editor of last week char
acterizes the rule of the Cir
cuit Court which requires at
torneys practicing before this
Court to have local offices as
"abhorrent monopoly.” He fa
cetiously inquires as to why
the Bar Association does not
prohibit Montgomery County
Attorneys from practicing in
the District of Columbia.
The fact which both Mr.
Marcus and the District news
papers blithely ignore is that
the Courts of the District of
Columbia for many years
have prohibited lawyers from
Maryland or any other juris
diction from practicing there
unless they associate with a
District of Columbia attorney.
This is the only purpose of
the Montgomery County Cir
cuit Court rule to obtain
jurisdiction and control over
attorneys who practice before
this Court.
Perhaps Mr. Marcus would
now like to comment on Dis
trict of Columbia problems.
Maryland Attorney
Owners Speak
This letter Is written on be
half of the Upper Rock Creek
Land Owners Association com
prised of over 150 members
who are the owners of over
75 per cent of the entire un
developed land in the Upper
Rock Creek Watershed. Our
members range from second
generation farmers to build
ers and developers, and we
are deeply concerned as own
ers of land whose fate is be
ing decreed by the Maryland-
National Capital Park and
Planning Commission Staff.
We, too, are against econo
mic waste and are for good
sound planning, but after
carefully reading the volume
“on Wedges and Corridors”
we seriously question whether
we are getting good planning,
and wonder too if our tax dol
lars are not being foolishly
wasted.
We are shocked and disap
pointed to find that the Plan
ning Staff has completely
ignored the great and real
GEORGIA AVENUE COR
RIDOR.
Yet the GEORGIA AVENUE
CORRIDOR is a real and liv
ing entity which contains over
half of the population of the
county and many of its princi
ple centers such as Silver
Spring, Wheaton, Glenmont
and Aspen Hill, as well as
many of its major institutions,
schools, churches and hospi
tals. No consideration is given
in this plan to either the con
tinued new growth of this cor
ridor along upper Georgia Ave
nue. Apparently the reality of
this area has been missed or
overlooked by the Planning
Staff.
We are shocked and disap
pointed in reading the corridor
are, in effect, closing our eye* to their delib
erate evasion of the law. We would then be
legitimatizing a practice which is Illegitimate
to begin with; and we would open the flood
gates to the establishment of bottle clubs all
over the county.
Incidentally, my mail has been running
heavily in favor of eliminating bottle clubs
and making the liquor law investigation I
proposed through my 10-member investigating
commission.
I just can’t help feeling that by permitting
these bottle clubs to continue, we are eroding
our laws and giving the public the impression
that if you evade a law by easy stages, with
out an outright defiance, you can get away
with it. I don’t think that is a healthy situa
tion. This is what has happened in Prince
Georges County and the recent raids by the
sheriff on taverns there demonstrate rather
clearly, I think, the unfortunate results of
laxity in law enforcement.
Here in Montgomery County, we should
be thankful to our law enforcement officials
and to our courts for their vigilance In keep
ing the county clean. Indeed, this is a bi
partisan responsibility, since it was E. Brooke
Lee, the county’s long-time Democratic leader,
who was responsible for instituting the county
dispensary system.
Right after prohibition was repealed, the
late Governor Albert C. Ritchie of Maryland
gave the various political leaders in the coun
ties their choice of the kind of liquor law
they wanted. Mr. Lee chose the dispensary
system—and I believe it is the only one of its
kind in the nation—while Lansdale G. Sasscer
in Prince Georges County selected the indi
vidually owned tavern and liquor store system.
We can all see what has happened in the two
counties since that time.
During the last session of the Legislature,
Blair Lee put in a bill to do something about
bottle clubs, but it was lost in the rush of
the closing days of the session. Alger Barbee
put in a bill to give liquor licenses to fraternal
and veterans clubs. That, too, was lost. I
intend to do something about bottle clubs
early in this session, so the problem can be
solved.
plan to find that the report
gives not the faintest clue that
it understands the recycling
of urban development in the
built-up areas of a corridor
which is the direct result of
continued growth. It seems
much simpler to the Planning
Staff to account for growth
by merely adding another sup
posedly self-contained satel
lite city bead to the string,
which it claims is the way a
corridor is supposed to work.
Nothing could be further from
the truth. The changing his
tory of Silver Spring and
Wheaton reveal these changes
are directly due to growth of
the GEORGIA AVENUE COR
RIDOR. Each new resident on
the frontier of the corridor in
many ways affect the economy
and physical make-up of the
entire corridor.
We get the impression from
the Planning Staff that non
use of land is considered good
use of land. Yet we are begin
ning to believe that non-plan
ning is probably better than
the kind of planning we have
been getting, and that perhaps
we are wasting our tax monies
in this type of planning. Why
pay $50,000 to print an elabor
ate report before it has been
adopted by the commission,
and which under the best of
circumstances would be sub
ject to considerable modifica
tion, if not complete obliter
ation?
Under these conditions, so
as not to be one who just ob
jects to the Staff Plans, we
feel that we can help more by
giving professional sugges
tions to the Planning Commis
sion. In our positive approach
to help this commission, we
have decided to employ a pri
vate consulting group to make
an independent analysis of the
economic, social and physical
character of the GEORGIA
AVENUE CORRIDOR, with
special emphasis on the ter
rain potential for residential
and open space development.
This completed study will be
delivered to the Planning Com
mission within three weeks.
This study, which is well under
way, will be added to the stud
ies of the other corridors
being assembled by the Subur
ban Maryland Builders As
sociation covering the entire
suburban Maryland area
Frankly, we fell that the
Planning Staff and their pub
lic relations department are
slowly wearing us out, and
may prevail in their plans that
are, in their opinions, ideal
for our children’s children.
What about those of us who
are living today—our children
who are living today, in this
developed area from Silver
Spring, Wheaton, Norbeck
through to Olney—are we not
entitled to modem transporta
tion, highways and conven
iences? Are we farmers, devel
opers and builders not entitled
under our free enterprise
system to develop our proper
ties to their highest uses sub
ject to the best interest of our
community?
If the National Capital Park
& Planning Commission will
cooperate with the citizens, we
feel that the result can be a
successful plan for the con
tinued progress of Montgom
ery County.
Melvin A. Robinson
Chairman
Upper Rock Creek
I-and Owners Association
Safety Patrol
On behalf of the Aspen Hill
students, faculty and myself,
I wish to express appreciation
for the excellent article writ
ten by Reporter Bill McAda
and the fine photography done
by Ed. Mervis in the Badge
of a Heroine article published
by your very fine paper, Mont
gomery County Sentinel, on
Jan. 24.
We are proud of Linda La-
Fond. We are proud of the
gentleman whose report of the
incident made possible the
good publicity of the worthy
work of the School Patrol.
These young unsung guards
of the safety of the children
of our county (and state and
country), these patrols who
brave wind and weather, the
teasing and the hardships of
having to direct peers, these
boys and girls of above aver
age academic standing (above
average dispite much loss of
school time) and these same
children whose own conduct
must be exemplary at all times
in spite of all the foregoing
listed and ongoing obstacles,
these School Boy and Girl Pa
trols: all thank you for letting
the public know about their
work.
Suzanne .1, Bandy
Principal
Captains' Thanks!
On behalf of the Aspen Hill
School Safety Patrols, and
especially Linda LaFond, I
wish to thank you, Mr. Mervis
and Mr. McAda for the nice
story and Photograph which
appeared in the Montgomery
County Sentinel.
We are all proud of Linda
for saving little Nancy’s life.
Lionel Kier
Captain of Patrols
IMpaeti
CwnfcSntliiif!
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by Matthew Fields
Published bv
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Editor
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Publisher
BERNARD KAPILOFF
President
MICHAEL R. McDADE
Circulation Manager
Member Audit Bureau ot Circulation
Mart land Press Association. Affiliate
Member NaUonal Editorial Association.
Published every Thursday at 215 E.
Montgomery Ave., Rockville, Md.
Entered as second class matter at
Post Oft Ice, Rockville, Maryland, under
Act of Congress, March 3,187 S.
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
One Tear M. 50 Two Yean 57.30
Telephone: GArden 4-7700
Mailed In Maryland and the
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Welsh Rare Bit ‘ f .
Gophers Rise Again
by Barney Welsh Jl
Skinner Gopher, the not so fleet of foot
ancestor of Monty, and who was shot In the
back at the Battle of Bladensburg, served long
ago as the personal representative De Bonis
Non Cum Testamento Annexo, without truf
fles, of his brother's estate.
That was all the Latin he learned, but,
during that singular period of fiduciary rela
tionship, Skinner Gopher acquired an endur
ing distaste for undertakers. He was forced
to pay from the assets of the estate, first of
all, this regally preferred creditor. Having
observed the exalter position enjoyed by mor
ticians and having witnessed the commanding
handicap they are given by the Maryland
Legislature over other deserving creditors,
Skinner did two things.
First, he retained the lobbyist for the
morticians union in an effort to obtain a
liquor license for him. Skinner thought bottle
clubs were sleazy institutions, and he only
From This Angle
Religion In Politics
by Les Kimble
In these days when public relations ex
perts spend so much time grinding out copy
to improve the public image of this or that
group or person, it has become fashionable to
avoid controversy in any form. Many of our
various forms of communication go through
unbelievable conniptions to avoid criticism or
slights, real or imagined, to any large organ
ized group. Of all the groups that our com
munication media stand in awe of, the organ
ized religions are the most sacrosanct.
There is nothing strange about this atti
tude towards religion for it has long been an
American belief that a man’s religion is his
own business. This attitude has changed some
what in recent years. Some individuals have
hinted or stated that the lack of membership
in a church or of belief in a religion makes a
man less an American, or at least tends to
reflect on his integrity or morality. No words
should be necessary to refute such bigotry.
When a religious group steps into the
political arena to influence public policy or to
obtain tax funds, it is no longer a matter of
religion but a matter of politics. The expendi
ture of public funds and the formation of
public policy are matters for public debate
and once religious groups step into such posi
tions, they can no longer claim freedom from
public examination or criticism that their re
ligious philosophy enjoys.
To prevent religious political activity from
dividing our nation should be the concern
and aim of every American. To this end the
writer believes that the separation of church
and state remains our best, and perhaps only,
hope.
Religion has been a concern in American
politics since the beginning of our nation. In
the Declaration and Resolves of the First Con
tinental Congress which was adopted in 1774
the following paragraph appears as a protest
against one of the “acts of Parliament (which)
are infringements and violations of the rights
of the colonists.”: “Also the act passed the
same session for establishing the Roman Cath
olic Religion in the province of Quebec, abol
ishing the equitable system of English laws,
GOP Views
You Can Do Something!
by Gerda Crow
If the act of governing were a child’s
game, the new Republican Montgomery Coun
ty officials would be chanting "sticks and
stones.” The left-wing Democratic minority
has let no stop unpulled. Reacting true to
form to the stimuli of proposed economy and
responsibility in government, they have gone
into the automatic cadence of opposition which
once won them the national name of “knee
jerk” liberals. The local press has been filled
with diatribes against all elected Republicans,
ominous portents of dreadful things done and
to come—the usual mewling myths, red her
rings and scare threats which are meant solely
to confuse the reader and keep the man in
office off balance. To the opposition, the end
justifies the means; all's fair in love and war,
etc.
Today 17 persons (5 County Cotincilinen,
5 School Board members, and 8 members of
the delegation to Annapolis) are holding the
line against the gargantuan pressures of an
tagonistic state and national administrations
and a vociferous and vindictive local Demo
cratic minority. These 17 people represent
over 53,000 voters in this county. These voters
are the silent majority who vote their convic
tions every four years and then are rarely
heard from until the next election.
If you are one of this silent majority,
there is something you can do to back up this
handful of officials as they carry out your
mandate.
A plank in the Republican platform favors
“the installation of a nonpartisan primary
system in the election of school board mem
bers so as to assure that an elected member
shall have been chosen by a majority of the
electorate.”
The Annapolis delegation now wishes to
fulfill this campaign promise. It is interested
in the public reaction to the proposed legisla
tive changes.
Why propose such a change?
In the past election some 101,000 voters
went to the polls In Montgomery County. Of
these 80,000 failed to vote for the School
Board. At present School Board candidates
do not appear on the spring primary ballot.
Instead they file late in the summer giving
the voters little time to become aware of or
acquainted with the people who wish to con
trol one of the moat important units of gov
owned two of them from necessity. Second,
he wrote a will after mulling over the problem
of getting buried without paying an under
taker.
It was the peculiar provision in Skinner’s
will that was responsible for Monty charging
into my office braying that dead bodies h4(i
been found on part of his Sugarloaf farm!
“aclutterlng up the title to the whole dam'
parcel.”
It developed that Monty had become
alarmed about all the talk of "Year Two
Thousand” and had entered into a contract
to sell out, kit and kaboddle, and go over to
Loudoun or Clark county in Virginia, where
people who owned land amounted to some
thing and weren’t always being pot shot at by
planners who can’t plow a straight row.
Thus it was that the dead bodies on the
(Continued On Page 5)
and erecting a tyranny there, to the great
danger, from so great a dissimilarity of a
Religion, law, and government, of the neigh
boring British colonies . .
The Declaration of Independence adopted
two years later changed this paragraph to
read: “For abolishing the free System of
English Laws in a neighboring Province,
establishing therein an Arbitrary government,
and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render
it at once an example and fit instrument for
introducing the same absolute rule into these
Colonies.”
An incident involving the Senate Subcom
mittee on Constitutional Rights in 1955 shows
how impotent Congress can be on the matter
of separation of church and state. This com
mittee called hearings on violations of the
religious provisions of our Constitution. Ready
to testify were: a Protestant clergyman and a
Jewish rabbi from Connecticut about the sup
pression of birth control clinics under clerical
pressure: American Jewish Congress spokes
men regarding the sectarian invasions of pub
lic schools: and spokesmen for POAU, an or
ganization devoted to maintaining the separa
tion of church and state, who were prepared
to present a detailed and documented study
of public schools in Indiana taken over by
Catholic religious orders and of public high
schools in the South which were being ex
ploited by certain Protestant groups.
Fear of religious controversy caused the
Senate Committee to cancel the public hear
ings and to substitute a weak public survey
instead.
Due to political attitudes in our country,
the Supreme Court remains our best hope of
keeping church and state separate. All Ameri
cans who cherish their freedoms will give the
court solid support on this matter. American
Catholics can be proud that few Americans
have stood more firmly for the separation of
church and state than two high public offi
cials who also happen to be American Catho
lics. They are President John F. Kennedy and
Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan Jr.
ernment, the education of their children.
This needed change is proposed to give
the electorate a closer and longer look at the
candidates and their philosophies. Each can
didate will also have adequate opportunity to
present his views to the public. He will be
in the campaign for office the same length
of time as those running for other county
positions.
How many candidates will be selected in
the spring primary?
Two from each district electing School
Board members, and four for the at-large
seats. When more than two people file for
a district seat, the two candidates winning the
greatest number of votes will appear on the
November ballot. When the at-large members
are to be elected, and five or more file for
the candidacies, the names of the four lead
ing contestants will be placed on the general
ballot.
What does this accomplish?
It removes the possibility of someone
winning with a plurality vote when three or
more candidates run for the same district seat.
This has happened in the past. With the
number of contenders reduced to two in the
spring primary, someone must win with a
clear majority in November.
Since Montgomery County operates under
a closed primary system won’t this prohibit
the Independent or "decline" voter from his
right to select the candidates?
No! It is physically possibly to lock the
voting machines to permit the "decline” to
cast his ballot for School Board candidates
only. He will not be able to vote for party
candidates on either slate.
The machine can then be reset to permit
the party registrant to vote for both his party
slate and the School Board candidates.
How can you support this proposed
change?
U rite to James R. Miller Jr., Chairman
of the Delegation from Montgomery County,
Republican Office, the State House, Annapolis,
Md. The deadline is Feb. 14—next Thursday.
The chips are down. The pressures are
heavy. Help your delegation fulfill its prom
ises made to you. Let them know that you
back them now as you did in November. Do
it now!