Montgomery County sentinel. [volume], June 20, 1963, Image 1

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

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Two Big Pages of Baseball News On B 2 And B 3
Footlight Review
Read a new feature that’ll be
running regularly in the fast
growing Sentinel. Margaret
Bucky will keep you Informed
weekly of what’s going on here
In the exciting world of drama,
musical comedy and other en
tertainment. Turn to Page A9.
lOltk Yoar ■ No. 52—Published Every Thursday MARYLAND THURSDAY, JUNE 20. I*3 -fjffrr * TWO SECTIONS GArdan 4-7700 Copy
Decision
On Prayer
J
Due Study
There is no regulation in
Montgomery County requir
ing Bible reading in public
schools and what impact, if
any, Monday’s Supreme
Court ruling will have on the
county system will be studied
this summer, Dr. Homer O.
Elseroad, deputy superin
tendent, said this week.
Present practice, Dr. Elseroad
said, is to allow individual
school principals or teachers to
decide what religious observ
ances are followed in class
rooms here.
The official said he assumed
policy on the controversial sub
ject would be determined this
summer and a decision an
nounced before schools reopen
In September.
A majority of county
schools practice some reli
gious observance, including an
opening prayer, it is believed,
although practices vary wide
ly from school to school.
The high court’6 ruling spe
cifically outlawed required de
votional exercises including
Bible reading ahd prayer in
Baltimore City.
But School Board Attorney
Charles W. Prettyman pointed
out the high court in its ruling
had sent the case back to the
Maryland Court of Appeals for
further action.
It will be up to Maryland At
torney General Thomas B.
Finan to recommend a future
course of action to the State
Department of Education, he
said. He added that he did not
yet know whether the policy to
be followed by Montgomery
County schools would be deter
mined at the state or county
level.
New Move
Planned by
Fairchild
Fairchild Stratos Corp. is
scheduled to move a missile
and space engineering group
into a new $f million addi
tion at National Capital Re
search Park, Rockville, next
month, it was announced this
week.
The firm’s operation there
will be in addition to a proposed
$lO million satellite center to be
located on a 106-acre tract op
posite the Atomic Energy Com
mission off Route 70-S that will
eventually employ up to 8000
people.
The 50-acre National Capital
Research Park, located inside
the Rockville boundary and
fronting on Route 70-S, already
houses Rabinow Engineering
and Microwave Devices, Inc., a
subsidiary of the Bendix Cor
poration.
Richard J. Donohoe, executive
vice president of Donohoe Con
struction Co., developers of the
science-industry center, said
Fairchild Stratos will occupy
the entire 45,000, two-story addi
tion to the existing facilities at
NCRP which is now 70 per cent
complete.
Water, Sewer Lines
To Fairchild Okayed
Construction of five-miles of sewer and water lines
to the proposed $lO million industrial site planned by Fair
child-Stratos at Old Germantown Road and Rt. 70-S has
been approved by the Washington Suburban Sanitary
Commission.
Developers of the tract, how
ever, must pay a $150,000 con
tribution toward the project
before WSSC engineers can be
gin to design the major exten
sion, the WSSC ruled.
Also, the WSSC said, the
firm must agree to pay com
mission assessments and
charges pending inclusion of
the area in the Washington
Suburban Sanitary District.
Water to the site will be pro
vided by extending the WSSC's
so-called "Project 37” which in
cludes a main due to reach Ger
mantown Road in the 1964-65
period.
Sewer service will be depen
dent on construction of the
Great Seneca outfall sewer now
P ttttit Sortie!
Rockville
Post Ofiice
Bids Sought
Competitive bids to build
and lease back to the govern
ment a new post office building
for Rockville at North Washing
ton Street and Martin’s Lane
are now being sought.
Bids are due by Aug. 1, a
spokesman said.
The new building will relieve
major overcrowding at the pres
ent Rockville Post Office on
the corner of West Montgom
ery Ave. and South Washing
ton St.
Under the proposal, the suc
cessful builder will purchase
the property, construct the
building according to post office
department specifications and
lease it to the government for
20 years with renewal options.
The plan calls for the proper
ty to remain under private own
ership with the owner paying
local real estate taxes.
Zoning Plea
Approved by
City Heads
ROCKVILLE Rezoning ap
plication of James H. and Ethel
V. Taylor requesting reclassifi
cation of property located at
1801 E. Montgomery Ave., Rock
ville, from R-S Suburban Resi
dential Zone to C-2 General
Commercial was granted by the
Mayor and Council Monday
night.
Also granted was the rezon
ing request of Anderson & Lin
thicum, attorneys, Rockville, for
the reclassification of property
located at 12 S. Adams St, from
R-90 Single Family
Zone to O-l Office Building
Zone.
Public hearings on both re
quests were held May 20.
Also granted was the request
of George Bergman n, Berg
mann's Laundry, to retain the
present front building line in
remodeling the building former
ly occupied by the Wilbert Vault
Works in the 1800 block of
Rockville Pike.
City Plans
To Acquire
Park Site
ROCKVILLE The city has
authorized its legal department
to start condemnation proceed
ings for the acquistion of about
25 acres of land on Route 28,
part of the Carter Farm.
Condemnation proceedings
were authorized after some
months of negotiations with
Guy L. and M. K. Carter to buy
the land for park purposes col
lapsed.
It is understood that the
Carters turned down the offer
of the city for the land recently.
While no official information
could be obtained on the offer
ing price, it was learned that the
per acre price offered was in
excess of S4OOO an acre.
Land in the vicinity of the
tract sought by Rockville lately
has sold for between S3BOO and
$4500 an acre.
being designed to serve the pro
jected International Business
Machines headquarters site
north of Gaithersburg.
A sewer will be built in Gun
ners Branch and its western
fork upstream from Great
Seneca Creek sewer to the
pumping station and force main
serving the Fairchild site.
The project will involve instal
lation of 27.500 feet of water
mains eight to 25 inches in dia
meter and approximately 27,400
feet of eight to 21-inch sewer
lines.
Agreement to service the
IBM site was reached last year
after a contribution of $350,000
was ordered by the sanitary
agency.
Hopes For More Teachers Fade;
Effects Of Slash Are Revealed
City Plan
On Housing
Expanded
ROCKVILE The city’s low
cost public housing development
scheduled for construction on 12
acres of land in the Southlawn
area will contain 90 units in
stead of the 45 originally plan
ned.
Agreement on doubling the
number of units was reached by
the local Public Housing Au
thority and the Mayor and
Council of Rockville this week.
The Housing Authority’s re
quest for additional units fol
lowed a redocumentation of
needs last month. Leslie Cole,
chairman of the Board of Gov
ernors of the Authority said the
increase has the approval of the
Regional Authority.
Cole said he could not “pre
dict" a date when construction
will start. The authority still
is in the process of acquiring
the site from the Lofstrand
property and Cole said “we are
going ahead as fast as we can.”
A 30-unit low-cost housing
development for the city’s elder
ly residents is included in Rock
ville’s Urban Renewal area, Cole
said.
Top Planner
Resigns in
Rockville
The chief architect of Rock
ville’s ambitious urban renewal
program has resigned to accept
a position with a New Jersey
firm, City Manager Walter A.
Scheiber announced this week.
Russell L. Montney, 40, has
supervised development of the
city’s plan to replace its blight
ed downtown area with ultra
modern stores and other build
ings for the past two years.
The plan is nearly completed,
Scheiber said, and is to be sub
mitted soon to the Federal Ur
ban Renewal Administration for
preliminary approval.
The plan, Scheiber told the
Rockville Chamber of Com
merce last week, is a five-seg
ment one devoted to land use,
disposition of property, residen
tial and business relocation, fi
nancial considerations, and
"miscellaneous."
Approval is expected by the
end of August, he told the busi
nessmen, after which a public
hearing will be held, then for
mal adoption by the city gov
ernment, and launching of nego
tiations with landowners in Oc
tober.
Scheiber said he was “very
gratified at the partnership”
which he said has developed be
tween the city and the business
men during development of the
plan.
Rockville, he said, has
escaped the "pitfalls” that have
plagued some other dties In
urban renewal and he cited as
an example St. Louis where
nine years elapsed between the
time planning started and ac
tual land purchases were begun.
It also appears, he said, that
the city's one-fourth share of
the project’s cost may shrink
from the earlier estimate of
$750,000 to only $400,000.
He also noted that it had
been decided under the plan that
the Confederate Soldier statue
In Court House Square will face
south when It is relocated.
EASY AS BREATHING
to r#nt an a pirfmant through Sonti
ntl Wont Ad* oy* A. S. Prieo,
Brehor. Phono novor (topped ring
inq on thi* od
WASHINGTON GROVE—3 bed
room apartment, private en
trance. $145 per mo. including
utilities.
A. S. PRICE, BROKER
7880 So. Frederick Ave.
GAITHERSBURG, MD.
You, too, con got fost result*
through Sentinol Wont Ad* Coll
today.
GA. 4-7744
DoodliM Tuesday 4 P.M.
Restoration
Pleas Filed
With Council
By William H. Smith
Sentinel Reporter
Despite a formal opinion
by its attorney that it can
not legally reconsider its
action, the County Council,
remained under fire this
week for its reduction of
budget funds needed to em
ploy 200 requested new
school teachers.
Coincident with a ruling de
livered by the council’s legal ad
visor, Robert J. Tobin Jr. on
Tuesday, the governing body
was in receipt of a letter from
the Committee on Public
Schools in which Tobin’s posi
tion was sharply disputed.
The letter, however, which
Lee Conahan declared he de
livered personally to Council
President John A. Floyd Mon
day night, did not come up for
discussion when Tobin made
his report that dashed the
hopes of many foe restoration
of the cut.
The long-range debate devel
oped as a variety of other coun
ty organizations, including the
Democratic State Central Com
mittee, joined the Committee on
Public Schools to add their
their names to the list of civic
groups urging the council to re
consider its position.
Among them were the four
county branches of the Amer
ican Association of University
Women, the Montgomery Coun
ty Civic Federation, the Allied
Civic Group, the League of
Women Voters, the Council of
Parent • Teachers Associations,
and a group of students repre
senting six county high schools.
County Attorney Tobin, in
effect, told the council Tuesday
It Is legally powerless under Its
charter to either transfer funds
from unappropriated surplus or
provide a supplemental emer
gency appropriation to offset a
crisis that has brought school
supporters to the boiling point
In response to the contention
that the county has some SBOO,-
000 In unappropriated school
funds to apply to the new teach
ers’ pay, he insisted the govern
ment cannot transfer unappro
priated funds under the terms
of the County Charter.
A major point at Issue is the
interpretation of the term
“emergency’’ as It applies to the
funds sought by the school sup
porters.
In Its letter to the council, the
Committee on Schools cited two
instances earlier this year in
which the council authorized
additional appropriations to
(Continued on Page A3)
Three Named
To Financial
Advisory Unit
Three prominent Montgomery
County businessmen were ap
pointed by the County Council
Tuesday to three-year terms on
its financial advisory commit
tee.
All elected on the motion of
Dr. Thomas Wilson, they Include
former Georgia Congressman
Robert Ram speck, of Rock
Creek Hills, a former president
of Eastern Air Lines and now
its legal consultant; A. Murray
Preston, of Chevy Chase, presi
dent of the American Security
and Trust Co., and Floyd F.
Davis Jr., of Bethesda, president
of a Washington real estate
firm.
They will succeed Edward N.
Bernstein, Walter R. Gardner
and Joseph Pechman, whose
terms expired Feb. 23, but who
have continued to serve pending
selection of successors.
At the same time the council
elected Warren H. Lasher as
chairman of the financial unit,
created in 1951 to study and
make recommendations to the
council on financial programs
and policies. Other members,
serving unexpired terms, in
clude Leonard P. Hoyle and
Robert Hanson.
Established 1855
Resting After Their Good Deed
Hundreds of Boy Scouts roamed the coun
ty’s roadsides last Saturday performing their
annual public service of picking up tin cans,
bottles and other debris strewn about the
countryside by thoughtless litterbugs. After
their stint, the scouts gathered at the conser
vation center maintained by the Izaak Wal
Wilson Asks
Industrial
Tax Waiver
The Montgomery County
Council has agreed to con
sider abolition of a tax on
manufacturing materials
that currently brings the
county an income of from
$200,000 to $300,000 a year.
The proposal was made by
Dr. Thomas WUson, who pre
dicted that elimination of the
tax would serve as an induce
ment to industry that "in the
long run” would bring added
taxes that would more than
offset the temporary loss.
Without setting a date, the
council agreed to conduct a pub
lic hearing on the proposal
after County Manager Mason
A. Butcher suggested that the
procedure, although not re
quired by law, would be in ac
cord with standard practice.
Specifically, Dr. Wilson sug
gested that the council waive
the tax on manufacturing equip
ment, machinery and raw mate
rials used by local industries.
He emphasized that he was not
proposing elimination of the tax
on finished materials produced
by the concerns.
The levy has been abandoned
In many areas throughout the
state, including neighboring
Howard and Prince Georges
counties, Dr. Wilson declared,
and as a result has brought
them additional income from
industries that have capitalized
on the waiver.
He said he felt a similar move
here would be a major step In
the oountys program to attract
industry as a source of taxation
to ease the burden now borne
largely by the Individual home
owner.
Scholarship
Availability
At Md. Told
Maryland University students
who need help in financing the
cost of their education may now
get low cost loans from home
town banks due to a plan re
cently put into operation.
Under the plan a student,
having completed the freshman
year, may borrow up to S3OOO
to be repayed in 36 monthly in
stallments beginning four
months after the student leaves
school.
ton League on Briggs Chaney Road to play.
Here, Donald Hagerllng, 11, of Troop 1806,
Colesville, fishes while James Braswell, 14,
Troop 784, Carson Jones 12, Troop 1096, and
Frank Maida, 12, Troop 784, all of Wheaton,
enjoy the rowboat.
—Sentinel Photo by Ed Mervis
Refugee Befriended
Cuban Industrialist
Now Machinist Here
Two years ago Ruben De La Rua owned a prosperous
pharmaceutical firm, three large homes, and a summer
cottage in Havana, Cuba.
Then, suddenly, the Castro
militia Informed him that his
property and business had been
confiscated and his bank bal
ance of over SIOO,OOO turned
over to the state. He was not
a political enemy.
“It was simply because I had
more money than the average,”
De La Rua says.
When he decided to flee to
the United States, bringing his
wife, Carmen, and 3-year-old
son Umberto, the Cuban govern
ment allowed him to have just
enough money for passage. The
De La Ruas arrived in Miami
penniless.
When the De La Rua family
arrived in Miami they reported
to the Cuban refugee camp. An
article in the Montgomery
County Sentinel, telling of the
Cubans’ plight, was read by
Genaro Mansell who owns the
Mansell Instrument Company
at No. 4 Meem Ave., Gaithers
burg.
Mansell, a native of Nicara
gua, obtained his American citi
zenship in 1956. "As a Latin I
can appreciate the problems
this man has,” Mansell report
ed, "and as an American I want
to hold out my hand to help
him.” He gave him a job as an
apprentice machinist.
Rev. B. Ross Morrison of the
Council Defers Action
On Peeples Resignation
Acceptance of the resignation
of Dr. William J. Peeples,
county health officer, was de
ferred by the County Council
Tuesday at the request of a fel
low physician of the outgoing
department head.
Dr. Thomas M. Wilson, a Re
publican member of the coun
cil, asked his fellow members
to withhold any action until he
had an opportunity to confer
personally with Dr. Peeples, but
declined to say what he had in
mind.
“I have m.v own personal
reasons,” he said In reply to a
question about the purpose of
Cuban refugee De I.a Rua,
left, at a precision Instrument
machine with his benefactor,
Genaro Mansell, of Mansell,
Instrument Co., Gaithersburg.
First Baptist Church of Rock
ville, also saw the story about
the De La Rua’s. He and his
congregation decided to “adopt”
(Continued on Page B 9)
his conference with the health
offl*r. “As a member of the
medial profession, I have
known Dr. Peeples for some
years.”
A short time later, after the
council adjourned, the two doc
tors conferred briefly in a
closed room but had no com
ments when they came out.
Asked if there was any possi
bility of his changing his deci
sion, Dr. Peeples said “I can’t
say, at this point.”
During a brief discussion that
followed County Manager Ma
son A. Butcher's announcement
of Dr. Peeples’ resignation, Mrs.
(Continued on Page A3)
SchooFs Out!
Thousands of children are
now out of school for the sum
mer and motorlsta In residen
tial areas should be extremely
alert. Please drive carefully!
Reductions
Of Services
Are Ordered
By Robin Dorr
Sentinel Reporter
Major educational cuts in
county schools have been or
dered for this September as
a result of the County Coun
cil’s decision to chop 200 of
the School Board’s requested
222 new teachers.
With an expected increase of
5700 students, and across-the
board elimination of courses
and teachers resulting from the
cut, an informal survey by The
Sentinel this week showed the
following conditions will pre
vail at some schools when they
reopen:
• Increased class sizes for
nearly all teachers.
• Dropping of many classes,
seme of them academic typea
considered “essential,” and
other types “highly desirable.”
• Lack of time for teachers
to plan their work, confer with
superiors, individual students
and parents, and use of super
visory personnel for teaching
duties.
• Heavy Increases In assign
ments of kindergarten pupils to
each teacher, In some cases up
to 70 or more; assignment of up
to 100 pupils per teacher, in
some cases, for physical educa
tion.
• Combination classes of 4th
and sth grade pupils and sth
and 6th grade pupils.
• Reduction of some kinder
gartens from five to four days
a week.
• Reduction of already limit
ed student counseling.
The following is a breakdown
of anticipated conditions at
schools included In the poll:
Bethesda-Chevy Chase
Current enrollment, 1984 J
teachers, 82; Projected enroll
ment, 2031; teachers, 74. Aver
age class sizes, 33 to 36 stu
dents in English, U.S. history,
economics, languages, math.
Phys. ed. averages, 45. Com
bined classes: Spanish 8 and
Spanish 4. Dally period for
counselling of students, plan
ning and administration elimi
nated.
Damascus High
Current enrollment, 630 1
teachers, 33; counselors, 2. Pro
jected enrollment, 705; teach
ers, 33. Average class sizes; up
to 40 in history, English, math.
Class cuts: advance biology,
Journalism. Projected horticul
ture class cut. Teacher cuts: no
teacher for specialized training
j of students with scholastic disa
bilities, no free periods for con
sultation and planning, depart
ment heads will teach with no
time for departmental work.
Gaithersburg Junior High
Current enrollment, 1205;
teachers, 34; counselors, 2. Pro
jected enrollment, 1200; teach
ers, 46; counselors, 3. Class cuts:
teacher period to assist in spell
ing, math, study skills, devel
opmental reading program,
catch-up math progiam, weekly
group guidance for Junior high
students eliminated. 7th grade
science eliminated. Department
chairmen time allotted to teach
ing. Average class sizes: 35 in
average group, 20 in low, 40 in
high scholastic group.
Kensington Junior High
Current enrollment, 1,205;
teachers, 53. Projected enroll
(Continued on Page A3)
Jaycees to Offer
Free Safely Check
A free "safety lane” check
will be offered the public June
29 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the
Hampshire - Langley Shopping
Center, University Boulevard
and New Hampshire Avenue by
the Takoma-Langley Park Jay
cees.
Safety belts will be sold at
cost and windshield wipers,
brakes and lights will be tested.
Free first-aid kits will also be
available.