Newspaper Page Text
The Rambler Hasn't Anything But Will Travel By GEORGE KENNEDY For several days now, the Rambler has been trying to find out what this Peace Corps is all about. He attended the hearings before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the nomination of R. Sargent Shriver. And he attended a more re cent press conference given in the Peace Corps offices at 806 Connecticut avenue by Forrest Evashevski, Michi gan All America quarter back before the war and now consultant to the corps on physical fitness. The Ram bler even asked some ques tions but he didn’t find out much about the shape of things to come. No one seems to know. He asked for an application blank, and was told one would be sent to him as soon as they were printed and yesterday one arrived in the mail. He’s a do gooder, has phil anthropic impulses. Call him Abou Ben Adhem. Perhaps would help. But to be intro spectively frank about it, his principal motivation is a de sire to travel—something he can’t afford. The Rambler would like to go to Tibet. There is a map of the world on his wall and he has long been fascinated by the vast area in central Asia that is colored purple —that means more than two miles high. o THE QUESTIONNAIRE is one of those that for the most part calls for check marks in blank squares. The first is “I am available on or after June 15.” He checked that. That’s all right. It will give him time to make the necessary arrangements. Under “Military Service” he checked “I have served in the Armed Forces and have no reserve obligations.” (It was in World War I. That ought to assure them.) The next was on languages. The Rambler wanted to check French, but no French man can understand him. There was also Hindi/Urdu, Mandarin and Cantonese Chinese, and Arabic. All the Rambler wishes to observe is that if these languages are necessary, the Peace Corps is going to have difficulty re cruiting. Another check list started with. “I participate’ for an average of at least two hours a week in track, football, swimming, camping, moun tain climbing, hunting, golf, boxing, wrestling, fishing, hiking, tennis” and others but no three-cushion billiards. The Rambler used to spend more than two hours a week at that but the table has been sold. o THE 16TH QUESTION gave him pause. It was: “Have you ever been dis charged or resigned ffom any job because your employer considered that your conduct, or work was unsatisfactory?”" He did not answer that question. He considers it an unwarranted intrusion into something that should be very confidential between his former employers and him self. A subsequent check list was on college courses completed in a number of subjects. The Rambler checked “English” and “Humanities.” Os course he’s all for the humanities. Otherwise, why would he want to go to Tibet? But he was unable to check some very practical courses such as “forestry,” “agron omy,” “animal husbandry” and “horticulture.” In another category he was unable to state that he can operate a tractor or a bull dozer. He did put down that he can operate an inboard motor boat but he can’t see what good that is going to do him about going to the Himalayas. If he still could be in the running, the final check list probably flunked him. It went: “I know the area as well as a person who has lived there for many years. “I know the area about as well as a person who has made a few brief trips to it. “I have little or no knowl edge of the area.” The Rambler checked the last. He’s afraid that he is not going to Tibet. /A Za "Wa ■ z / .fatly . 'X k U is -EFHwWBIWm ■ iir wfl 8 W' \ h JhAbUJBWK kl 1 > • A t i : > ailH’ 1 I f&nP ’ 1 IJi ‘MrW I W f If If J ’ll i 88BfBHww > F WwB ■■Mi I i A group of Cherry Blossom Princesses poses on the lawn after an early-morning tour of the White House and its grounds. GSA Sets Up Advisory Unit On Parking A special advisory commit tee on Federal employe parking needs is being set up by the General Services Administra tion and will include represen tatives of 25 major departments ' and agencies. The group’s first meeting is expected to be held in about.’ two weeks, a GSA spokesman said. Officials are now preparing j several proposals for study by the inter-agency committee. These are an outgrowth of sug gestions made earlier by a ’ smaller study committee that had looked into the Federal ’ parking problem last year. The committee probably will take up the question of whether to continue to allow Federal < ! employes to have free parking spaces on Government lots. : This matter was shelved by the Budget Bureau. Charging fees for these spaces was sug- ' gested by the study committee. ’ Under the proposal, fees' would have been charged for , the approximately 11,400 Gov ernment-controlled spaces in the downtown area. The funds 1 would have been used for con- ' struction of additional Govern- ' ment parking facilities. Other matters that will be ; brought before the new inter- k agency advisory committee , concern methods on how to en- | courage Federal employes to use existing public transporta tion and how to foster greater reliance on car pools. Encouragement of private garage operators to expand their facilities is another aspect that the new group will study, the GSA spokesman said. Woman Charged In Abortion Case A Washington woman was charged by District police yes terday in-the abortion of a 26- year-old woman from Damas cus, Md.. who died March 21 in Suburban Hospital. Homicide Squad Detective Samuel Wallace identified the suspect as Mrs. Louise Parker, 56, of 302 Forty-seventh street N.E., who was arrested yester day on a United States Com missioner’s warrant at her home by Detective Joseph O’Brien. She was charged with abortion. Detective Wallace said the abortion was performed on| March 14 in Mrs. Parker’s 1 home. ■ I Plan to Raze Old Western Market Brings No Surprise to Merchants By WILLIAM GRIGG Star Staff Writer Forgive Joseph L. Cannon if he thinks progress is out to get him. He consolidated his seafood business at Western Market when he had to leave his spot at Eleventh street and Maine avenue. S.W/ because of that areas redevelopment. Yester day the District Commissioners announced intentions to tear down Western Market at Twenty-first and K streets N.W. and sell that site. Where to now? Mr. Cannon’s hope is that progress may leave a little area of new wharf space for his 25-year-old business. Then he can move back. He will still have lost his sales area in Western, where he has been for 18 years. But that, at least, will be a 50-50 split with Progress. Progress did not catch Mr. Cannon and others at Western completely by surprise. There have been rumors of plans to sell in recent months. Preston R. Burrows, who has sold meats from nearby farms at Western for 33 years, said METRO AREA 52 PRINCESSES VISIT Fete Goes to White House A visit to the White House! by the 52 princesses today launched the second day of the 1961 National Cherry Blossom Festival amid weather prospects charitably described as cool. The princesses, who shivered through the opening event at the Japanese stone lantern at the Tidal Basin yesterday, hoped to see some members of jthe Kennedy family on their ’White House trip. Other events scheduled today include a luncheon and fashion show at the Mayflower Hotel; a repeat performance of “Holi day Time” at the Mayflower at 5 p.m.; a concert at 8:30 p.m. by the Marine Band in the I Interdepartmental Auditorium, and a performance of “The Mikado” at 8:30 p.m. in Lisner Auditorium. Twenty-first and H streets N.W. . The blossoms around which the festival revolves remained ,at the peak of their beauty ; today, but the weather outlook for the rest of the week is bleak. The Weather Bureau's five day forecast issued today indi cates temperatures will average seven or njore degrees below normal through the week end. Rain is a possibility tonight with a temperature drop to 40 degrees, and more rain is pre dicted for Friday or Saturday. Despite the nip in the air. Secretary of Interior Udall, a rugged Westerner, showed up yesterday for the opening .of the Festival without an over coat. He stood out in a crowd of, several hundred overcoated. , topcoated and befurred specta tors who had gathered in the snappy weather at the sun ! dappled Tidal Basin for the I traditional lighting of the Jap anese lantern. ! Secretary Udall, after listen i ing on a breeze-swept platform to music from the United States Navy Band, choral se lections by the Navy Sea j Chanters, the Japa nese National Anthem, playing of the American National An them, opening remarks by! Bryson Rash, master of cere-j monies; more opening remarks 1 by Harold D. Fangboner, festi val chairman, remarks by Com missioner Walter N. Tobriner, remarks by John M. Steeves, acting assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs, 1 : more musical selections by the : Navy Band and remarks by, Koichiro Asakai, Japanese Am bassador to the United States, ione recent rumor had the site already sold. • 1 The structure —brick with a barn-high, L-shapcd interior— ; was built in 1872 for $lOO,OOO. ! Aides told the Commissioners ; ’ yesterday that the 1-acre site i of the market and its neighbor, ' the third police precinct, would sell for about $2 million.. Sale has been an off-and-on ' . threat for years. In 1942, the , ’ market was closed down for , planned, but never accom ’ plished, construction of a war r J time dormitory for male Gov- ( ernment employes. Planners under George Wash ■ ington planned a Western s Market, as well as Eastern and 1 ' Center Markets. The first Western market 1 was a very small one built at ' Twenty-first and Pennsylvania avenue. In 1822, an addition : was built that contained a sec- 1 ond floor popularly used as a i meeting hall for citizens in the I area. j The present structure had 107 single stalls, at first. Now I there is a large Safeway at one I end of the market. About a i dozen smaller retailers rent i space in the rest of the build ing. < CLlijc Micnina jMaf WASHINGTON, D. C., WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5, 1961 The lone man is Harold D. Fangboner, festival chairman. —Star Staff Photo. Blossom Festival Events TODAY 5:00 p.m.—Repeat of Festival Fashion Show, “Champagne Showing,” at the Mayflower Hotel. Reservations available from Festival Committee, 1616 K street N.W. Evening Princesses Receptions, Contact State Societies : for invitations. 8:00 p.m.—U. S. Marine Band National Cherry Blossom Festival Concert, at Interdepartmental Auditorium, Fifteenth and Constitution avenue N.W. Open to 1 the public, 8:30 p.m.—“The Mikado,” last performance, at Lisner Auditorium. TOMORROW 10’ a.m. i p.m.—Competition by all participating high j school bands, District National Guard Armory, 2001 East Capitol street. Open to the public. finally got his chance to make some remarks. “I thought maybe I could face the weatherman down if I left my overcoat at home," he remarked with a shiver.! "I am sorry I failed.” However, compared to some of the rain-sogged openings ( of the festival in recent years, yesterday’s beginning was con- 1 sidered a success. I And the lacy blossoms on the I cherry trees approached per-1 section. The original cherry . trees were given to Washington i by the city of Tokyo in 1912. j The ceremony yesterday pro- i ceeded with only one minor hitch. I, Half of the Cherry Blossom : Festival princesses and their ! escorts failed to arrive until the program was half over. A ' harried festival committee of ficial explained later that a bus 1 the princesses had been waiting for didn’t show up. However, 1 another bus was soon found 1 and the stranded princesses 1 sped to the ceremony behind a police escort. After the speakers completed 1 1 their remarks. Miss Noriko Ikeda, daughter of the Japa nese Prime Minister Hayato i ’ Ikeda, attired in colorful Japa- i , nese costume, doffed her fur ’ stole and flicked on the electric I ' bulb inside the Japanese lan tern to officially open the fes j tival. Then she switched it on and i off several more times for the I benefit of a throng of photog-! raphers. Some of the quicker photographers started taking pictures of their slower col leagues snapping pictures of ! Miss Ikeda. I Crew-cut Robert Pittie. who bought Hudson Brothers’ 30- year-old fruit business seven years ago, said he felt very lucky. "Fortunately, I'm open ing a second place this week on Wisconsin avenue.” He said he would still like to remain in the Western area and would like to see a real estate firm work with all the present retailers in building a new, private Western Market. But Robert Moore, a grandson of Joseph L. Cannon, said he doubted if such a venture could be privately financed. None of the tenants will be put out until the precinct sta tion house has been relocated, probably not before early 1963, officials have indicated. At the old markets "one stop shopping” was born. Huge su permarkets. where impulse buy ing and eye-catching packag ing are a science, developed out lof this old idea. Perhaps such a store, selling frozen foods designed to taste like fresh, will be incorporated in whatever is built an the $2 million site. That's Progress, for you, Mr. Cannon, Progress. Ancient Chinese Form of Poetry Lauds Blossoms A 1,400-year-old form of Chinese poetry has been: brought to life to sing the praises of Washington’s cherry blossoms. ! Dr. Li Lin-tsan, a Chinese scholar, painter and poet, wrote the verses recently after re-, turning to this country follow ing a five-year absence. Dr. Li is curator of paintings with the Imperial Chinese col lection and is here to supervise the installation of 253 works fpm the collection to be dis i played in the National Gallery jof Art May 27. The poem is written in the classical Chi Je form consisting of four lines of seven Chinese characters, each with rhyming last syllables. The form was de veloped about 500 A. D. by the ; great Chinese poet, Le Pq, The poem describes the poet's love of the blossoms and his reluctance to leave them. Dr. JLi wrote: “Z returned to Washington; my memories dimmed by a i veil of dreams. "But the cherry trees have not changed! They are still as captivating as before. "Why do I hate to leave I this lovely lakeside? "Because I know that the fleeting beauty of pink blos ! soms will not wait, nor to morrow be as radiant as ■ today." A ■I 1 1 This is the K street side of the 89-ycar-old West ern Market. Years of indecision over the fate of the old brick landmark have ended with the RLA to Press Congress on Parking Lots The Redevelopment Land ! Agency today decided to go to ! ! Capitol Hill to fight for the i right of the District Motor Ve ’ hide Parking Agency to build parking lots. Provisons in the House passed bill increasing the Dis trict's sales tax would strip the : parking agency of its authority to build lots and transfer most of its money to the District Highway Department. John R. Searles, jr„ executive director of the RLA, told his board that the RLA is counting ion help from the parking body ito build parking spaces in the, j Southwest . waterfront and' i Tenth Street Mall and Plaza i areas. He said: “If this bill goes through, nobody could build > i parking lots under public streets.” He said this would be harmful to the District’s urban i renewal program. The tax bill is expected to undergo public hearings in the Senate later this month. The RLA and the District Commis , sioners are expected to join < forces to oppose the provisions ‘ regarding the parking agency. ’ In other developments, the RLA approved a lease with the ’ First National Capital Redevel opment Corp., the developer of , Capitol Park Apartments and ,jthe surrounding town houses, j for four more projects. The J redeveloper will build three i eight-story apartment houses and an additional 302 town > j houses. H. Ralph Taylor, vice p> esi : dent of the redevelopment s firm, told the RLA that his • company hopes to start con ’ struction on two apartment houses with a total of 609 units , next month. The new apart j ment houses, near the Capitl ; Park Apartments, will be joined j j by a common lobby. ’ Mr. Taylor estimated the , two apartment houses will be j finished by May, 1962. Harry A. Barbour of 4925 ’ Deal drive, Glass Manor, Md„ s at the public hearing on the ■ leases with the redevelopment firm, objected to the scarcity of middle income housing being planned in urban renewal areas. Mr. Barbour added that the District would be better off if slum-cleared property was put up for public bidding rather than negotiated in private by the RLA and the prospective developer. As it is, he said, these public hearings on land leases amount to “nothing but approving somthing already approved.” > Metro Area News, B-l-3—Obituaries, B-4 Business, B-6-B—Sports, B-9-13 Transit Agency Gets Friendly Tips From House Unit Members Urge Accurate Estimates And Warn on Overstaffing The infant National Capital Transportation Agency has won well wishes of House Appropriations Committeemen, tem pered with warnings against loose cost estimates and over staffing. In transcripts of House hearings released today, Interior Subcommittee Chairman Kirwan, Democrat of Ohio, said: “I favor this program. . . . You have got a big job on your hands. ... I realize that it is: not going to be easy in a city like Washington.” Representative Fenton, Re- j publican of Pennsylvania, wished agency officials sue-: cess in this "necessary” under taking for the area. But both committee mem bers joined with Representa tive Jensen, Republican of lowa, in giving notice that Congress expected an econom ical transportation program drafted by a hard-working staff. Portions Earmarked The agency, created last year, asked for $975,000. Os I this 62.5 per cent would pay for a staff of 75. 17 per cent would cover contract jobs and 20.5 per cent would be taken by administrative expenses. Congress authorized' the agency to prepare a mass transit development program, which now envisions a sub way, and recommended financ iing and organizational meth ods by November 1,1962. Special congressional direc tives called for study of ex panded use of transit and : railroad facilities, the role of today’s streetcars, a Union Station-to-downtown subway, the question of whether express Sunset Hills Farm Sold Again for $12.8 Million Sunset Hills Farm in Fairfax i County, the rolling 6,818 acres 11 of farm land formerly owned i by the A. Smith Bowman & Sons distillery, has been sold for the second time in two years, it was learned today. The Lefcourt Realty Corp, i sold everything but the distillery to the Palindrome Co. of New York, headed by Robert E. Simon, jr„ formerly president of Carnegie Hall, Inc. The transaction was handled by. Shannon & Luchs, Inc., of Washington. The price reportedly was $12.8 million. Lefcourt last! year bought Sunset Hills Farm from the Bowman family for an announced $19,750,000, in cluding the stock of the dis tillery, which turns out Fair fax County and Virginia Gen tleman bourbons. A spokesman for Lefcourt Realty Corp, said there are no plans to stop producing the whisky. Had Planned Town The Lefcourt firm had plan ned to build a satellite town on the property, which meas ures about 11 square miles. jThis also had been the idea of jthe Bowman family, who re vealed their own plan for a community of 30.000 persons in 1957. But neither proposal got beyond the planning stage. Mr. Simon confirmed the sale but said he had not made up his mind just what will be built on the property. “We’re just starting,” he said. “We have no plans yet.” He said he purchased 6,750 acres of the 6,818 acre-tract. The remainder is distillery property. Seward H. Mott & Associates of Washington drew up the plans for the Bowman family in 1957. Buford M. Hayden, a partner in that firm, said the Fairfax farm “has got every thing” to make it an ideal District Commissioners’ decision to raze it and sell the 1-acre site. It may bring $2 million.— Star Staff Photo. highways ever should be built jin Northwest Washington and co-ordination of highway and transit rights-of-way. Asks Close Estimates Mr. Kirwan was skeptical of the $5OO million estimated cost of an area transit system. “I hope that your planning estimates are better than we usually experience,” he said. “They told us at first they were going to build the Pentagon for . . . about $24 million. It actually cost over $BO million. They not only missed the boat, but they missed the ocean." He cautioned that the Nation could ill afford careless ex penditures “with our stagger ing national debt and the present size of the Nation's budget.” The staff increase from 16 ! currently employed to 75 re quested positions was critized by Representative Jensen. He also pointed out that the j agency, now quartered at 726 'Jackson place N.W., would have j to move when that building is j torn down in the next few years . Committeemen also made it I clear that they expected sub j urban areas surrounding the i Federal City to pay a fair , ’ share of Metropolitan trans i portation costs. residential development as well as an industrial park on 700 acres of the property. Facilities Near Mr. Hayden said the homes could be put on the rolling countryside while industrial plants could be situated near the C&O railroad, Dulles Inter national Airport and the new expressway going to the air port. i At present, the property's zoning does not permit the uses outlined by Mr. Hayden. But j Fairfax County planners en vision an industrial park on the Sunset Hills Farm property and also, partly because of the (stimulus from the airport, are expected to provide more land for homes. Fairfax County planners said that if sewer service becomes available to the area the county certainly would consider a sat ellite development at Sunset Hills. The county has been hoping that the Federal Government would run a spur line off the interceptor sewer to Dulles Air port up Difficult Run. The sale of the Sunset Hills Farms was closed in New York ;City last week. Mr. Simon said Palindrome is a private com pany which has no relationship with Lefcourt. He operates his realty investment business un der his own name from offices at 250 West Fifty-seventh street. New York. Give Land to County Ten acres of stream valley land on Accotink Creek above Eakin Park have been given to the Fairfax County Park Au thority by Sigman Goldblatt and Douglas Rosenbaum, de velopers of Manuta Hills sub division. B