Evening star. [volume], March 29, 1959, Page C-3, Image 31

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
Warren's Senior Class
Now Has Lone Student
•FRONT ROYAL, V*.. Mir 28 (AP).—A girl aits by herself
in a classroom designed to accommodate 30. She listens Intently
to the Instruction of her teacher.
This lone girl Is a Negro. She Is the entire senior class of
Warren County High School—a school occupied a year ago by
1.000 white pupils.
Now the total enrollment Is
21—all Negro.
Eight teachers, a librarian
and Principal James S. DuS
are the stall.
■ “The program of instruction
is practically an individualized
program” says Q. D. Casque,
superintendent of Warren
County schools.
“Seven pupils Is the largest
class we have.” says Mr. Duff.
"The smallest—well, we have
. only one senior.” She is 17-
year-old Ann E. Rhodes.
' Warren County High, a
white-columned brick building
atop a hill In this rural north
Virginia area, has been operat
ing on the present basis since
February 18. It opened then
after being closed since last
September under Virginia’s
now-defunct massive resistance
to integration laws.
Had Ne School
Unlike many other Virginia
localities. Warren had no high
school for Negroes. Any Negro
pupil seeking an education
above the elementary grades
was taken at county expense to
regional Negro high schools
elsewhere.
A Federal court ordered the
school to admit 24 Negroes. Un
der State law. since Invalidated 1
by both Virginia and Federal
courts, the school was closed
to prevent classroom race mix
ing.
When the school reopened In
compliance with a Federal court
order. 22 Negroes registered, i
But not a single white child i
that day or since attended
classes.
; More than 700 of the white
pupils are attending private, i
segregated make-do classes ini
several buildings scattered
about this town of 9.000. One
season they give for not re
turning to Warren County High
Is that they don’t want their
education Interrupted a second
time m one year. The reopen
tag of the school came after the
new semester started.
! “We’re giving all the stand
ard high school classes the
pupils requested.” Mr. Duff
kaya. "The most popular class
is English. We have five taking
biology and six taking general
science, the only science courses
they asked for.”
•
Normal Operation
• School starts promptly at 9
<.m. with a homeroom period.
Then, as in any other public
sigh school in the State, the
pupils attend six periods of 55
rfiinutes each.
• “We don’t operate the cafe
teria.” Mr. Oasque says. “All
qf our cafeterias are self sup
porting: we don’t spend tax
tfioney for them. We couldn’t
j
Closed Session Draws
Arlington Criticism
• A member of the Arlington County Board said yesterday
the governing body is ‘Toeing the battle of public opinion” in
developing a master plan
• The statement by Leo Urbanske was made after the press
and public had been barred from an hour-long discussion
between the board and the planning commission on progress
<in the master plan.
Reporters were asked to leave the meeting by Chairman
David Krupsaw. When they
were readmitted an hour later
the planners and board mem- .
byrs were discussing how they
could Improve the lines of com- :
munication with the public.
- County Republican Chairman
David Gordon, one of those
asked to leave, condemned the
closed session.
“This practice seems to be
completely contrary to recent I.
statements of ABC (Arlington- i,
ians for a Better County > board
members that executive sessions
nq. longer would be held by the
county board,” he said.
I Mr. Krupsaw said he wanted
a* portion of the session closed
to discuss pending litigation,
negotiations for parking facil
ities in Clarendon and ‘'person
nel matters as they may relate
to progress that has or has not
bfcen made on comprehensive
planning."
? Completion of a master plan,
a* major project of ABC, was
siheduled a year ago. The date
rfjaw has been set up to the end
of 1959 or early 1960.
• Krupsaw to Run Again
’The terms of two ABC board
rflembers, Mr. Krupsaw and
Ralph Kaul. expire this year
Mr. Krupsaw has announced he 1
will seek re-election. Mr. Kaul,!
who came in after the session
had been reopened, has not de
cided whether he will seek re
election.
Mr. Kaul said he missed the)
early part of the meeting be
cause of business reasons. He
told reporters later that he
dbes not believe public business
should be carried on behind
closed doors.
•Several segments of the mas
tor plan study have been re
leased. Some proposals, partic
ularly rezonin? of commercial
land back to residential classi
fication, have drawn criticism
especially from the business
community.
•Mr. Urbanske suggested dur
lilg the open portion of the,
meeting that citizen participa
tion be obtained before plans
for Individual sections are de
veloped.
“We are losing the battle ofi
public opinion. Fires are being |
built all over the county and
we have no one to put them
out,” Mr. Urbanske said.
Litigation Expected
Mr. Krupsaw said he expects
litigation against rezoning com-!
mercial land back to residential!
to be decided in the board’s
favor.
*Mr. Kaul said he believed
tiiat the fires referred to by Mr. j
Uwanske are being built by
I V
afford to operate a cafeteria
for that few.
“We have milk for them. But
they bring their lunches from
home.”
When the school was ordered
to reopen, the 26 teachers who
had signed up for the private
classes decided to stay where
they were. One teacher had
taken a job In another county.
Os the 15 who remained on the
county payroll, five were re
assigned to other schools.
Morale among both pupils
and teachers Is high, Mr. Duff
says.
But Mr. Duff and Mr.
Oasque say there have been no
disciplinary problems.
When the Negroes entered
the high school here for the
first time, a number of white
persons gathered down the
street and watched. They were
kept from entering the school
grounds by barricades and
armed police.
Ne Crowds Now
Today, there are no crowds
watching as the children arrive'
or depart., some by bus, some
ion foot and some in private
1 cars.
The superintendent says it is
, impossible to estimate the total
cost of keeping the school open
ifor the 21.
“Last year.” he says. “$220
was our total cost of operation
per pupil.”
From the time the Negroes
entered school February 18 un
til the end of the semester in
| June. Mr. Oasque says, salaries
'will total $35.000 —a per-pupil
cost of $1,666.
“But,” Mr. Oasque says,
j “the teachers were on the pay
| roll and would have to be paid
whether there were 21 or 1.000
: or no pupils in the school.”
Under construction and
scheduled for occupancy next
September is a new half-mil
lion-dollar combination ele
mentary and high school for
Negroes.
Although county officials are
reluctant to predict what may
happen when the new term
opens in the fall, some say they
feel that some Negro pupils
will go to the new Negro school.
The white pupils will be back
in Warren County High next
fall, they believe, but there
may be a sprinkling of Negroes
among the student body,
i
Bus Replaces Horse
NORDERNEY. West Ger
many, Mar. 28 (AP).—Prog
ress has come to this island re
sort in the North Sea. A bus
is replacing the horse car that
for a century connected town
and harbor.
vested interests who may lose
something in development of
a plan for the general county
welfare. He said he did not
think some of the opposing
business interests could ever be
■converted.
i Mr. Krupsaw said a financial
committee expects to present
within 30 to 60 days ah estimate
of how much money will be
available for improvement pro
grams in the next 10 years.
Montgomery Budget
To Get 3 Hearings
By G. O. HERNDON
Stir SUIT Writer
The fate of Montgomery County’s proposed $72.1 million
budget—including $53.2 million for school operation and con
struction—rests to a considerable extent on public opinion to
be expressed at three important hearings this week.
One hearing, Thursday's tax rate session, Is unprecedented;
in county History, county officials said. In the past, budget
hearings have dealt only with
specific departmental requests.
At this hearing, however,
county officials plan to out
line the county government’s
fiscal structure and list the
various categories of county
' revenue.
Hearing Tomorrow
The first hearing, devoted
to police, fire, library and rec
reation budgets, will be held
at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow in the
County Office Building audi
torium in Rockville.
On Tuesday, at 7:30 p.m. in
Broome Junior High School in
Rockville. County Council mem
bers will be listening for public
support or criticism of the
1959-60 school budget. As pro
posed. it includes funds for a
new teacher salary scale that
would make county educators
the highest paid in the metro
politan area.
The public forum will return
Ito the county auditorium
| Thursday night for the third
'hearing, on the subject of the
county’s financial structure and!
i the proposed 39-cent increase
,n the real estate tax rate for
ithe coming year.
Approved By April 15
II By April 15. the County
i Council must by law formally
(approve a budget for the new
I fiscal year and set the year’s
I tax rate.
' County leaders generally
Loan Interest
Bill to Face
j Maryland Test
By CHARLEB L. HOFFMAN
Star Staff Writer
ANNAPOLIS. Mar. 28
; Forces are at work in the Mary
, land Legislature to push
through a bill that would cost
I borrowers about 50 per cent
, more Interest on loans above
i 8600.
i The bill, however, may hit its
I first stumbling block at 3:30
. p.m. Monday when it gets a
; public hearing before the House
■ Ways and Means Committee.
Representatives of organized
i labor are expected to oppose it.
The measure sponsored by
Senate President George Della.
■ whisked through the upper
) chamber without difficulty.
Opponents of the measure
1 within the lending business
' had only about two hours ad
' vance notice of a hearing when
( the bill was before the Senate
1 Banking and Insurance Com
-1 mlttee March 20. But they are
I geared for the hearing Mon
day before tile House group.
The House committee al
ready has rejected another loan
(jblll. The first bill was blasted
"as "legalized usury” by Dele
' gate Blair Lee 111. Democrat of
' Montgomery. The Senate bill
provides even higher interest
> charges than the previous
measure on a $750 loan which
i was the ceiling under that
proposal,
i ‘ ,
True Interest Rate
The Della bill would provide
1 a true interest rate of 26.5 per
cent on all 12-month loans up
to SI,OOO.
It would increase the inter
est rate discounted in advance
from 6 per cent to 8 per cent
and would raise the service
charge from 4 per cent to 5 per
cent. The service charge cell
ing would be increased 150 per
cent from S2O to SSO per loan
and would be nonrefundable.
The result of the non-refund
able service charge would be
that a borrower would be pay
ing a true interest rate of 85.9
per cent on a SSOO, 12-month
loan if he paid It un at the
end of one month; 413 per cent
1 at the end of three months, or
30.5 per cent at the end of six
months.
These interest rates do not
Include credit insurance pre
miums. The Della bill allows
premiums of $2 per SIOO on in
surance sold to borrowers to
cover their loans.
The Della bill is being pro
moted as one primarily increas
ing the celling on loans from
$1,500 to $2,500 under the In
dustrial Finance Act.
Same Opposition
But the bill's chief benefit
would be to the lender in the
SSOO to SI,OOO loan category
where true Interest rates would
jump from about an average
17 per cent to 26.5 per cent.
The loan companies do 52 per
cent of their business in this
loan category.
Although the bill is being
backed by some large and small
loan companies, one of the
largest. Household , Finance
, Corp., is opposed to it. This
i company does more than one
i third of the business under the
si Industrial Finance Act.
lj Nat W. Barber, who repre
i sents HFC, charged that the
I proponents of the Della bill
>; "are the same interests that
drafted and sponsored the de
‘; seated House bill,
t “If that bill was conceived
r ! in greed this one was at least
i conceived in an atmosphere of
: deception and is being nurtured
[ by misrepresentation.” he said
: Mr. Barber said the interest
i rates proposed in the Della bill
1; are comparable to the rates
t! under small loan laws in many
The risk involved un
; der small loan laws is much
• greater than that under the
• Industrial Finance Act.
i
concede that, if anything in
the over-all budget is cut
drastically, the trim will be in :
the School Board’s $53.2 mil
lion program. The portion of i
the budget expected to draw
the most eloquent defense,
however, is the school budget,
and, in particular, the teacher
pay raise.
In submitting his budget rec
ommendations. County Mana
ger M. L. Reese said the over
all total could be funded only
by a 39-cent increase in the
tax rate, which now stands at
$2.18 per SIOO assessed valua
tion. He also proposed that the
: county levy a tax on gross pub-;
lie utility receipts and declared
that if this were not done, the
, tax rate would have to be ln
; creased another 10 cents.
Utilities Tax Rebuffed
In Annapolis, however, mem
-1 bers of the county’s delegation
1 to the Maryland General As-
I sembly turned thumbs down on
! legislation to grant the county,
II authority to Impose the utilities,
■ tax.
The legislators’ stand appar
ently would have resulted in a
proposed 49-cent tax increase.
But county officials have in the
r past two weeks determined that
r ; close to $1 million in revenue,
?,not anticipated by school offl
s cials when they prepared their
l budget, will be availably to off- [
r set the extra 10 cents.
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Washington, D. C., Sunday, March 79, 1959
C-3