The Bluffton news. [volume], March 14, 1940, Image 1

About The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current

Image provided by: Ohio History Connection, Columbus, OH

                
BLUFFTON NEWS
The Advertising Medium for
Bluffton Trade Territory
VOLUME NO. LXIV
VOCAL GROUPS
FROM 32 HIGH
SCHOOLS HERE
Northwest Ohio Choral Meet to
Be Held in High School
Gymnasium
Sessions will be Held During
Morning, Afternoon and
Evening
Bluffton will be host Friday to one
of the largest music festivals ever
held here when more than 1500 stu
dents representing 32 schools in this
district gather for the Northwest Ohio
Choral contest in the high school
gymnasium.
Competition will be conducted on
an all-day schedule, opening in the
morning and continuing thru the af
ternoon and evening. All classes in
high school and grades will be dis
missed.
Boys and girls glee clubs and mixed
choruses will compete in four classes,
with two winners in each classification
earning the right to represent the dis
trict in state competition at Columbus
in May.
Entries have been received from 32
schools, Prof. Russell A Lantz, chair
man of the festival, announced Tues
day.
Four Classes
Competing schools will be in four
classes: B, BB, and CC, the chair
man said. No Class A schools will
sing here this year, Lima Central and
Bowling Green, the only entrants, be
ing certified for the state meet with
out competiting.
Bluffton High will enter all three
events in the BB section, with the
boys and girls glee clubs and the
mixed chorus all scheduled to sing at
the Friday night session.
In the morning competition, open
ing at 9 a. m. Class CC schools will
sing. Entries include Vaughnsville,
Tontogany .Beaverdam, Risingsun, Ot
tawa, Malinta, Grover Hill and Havi
land.
Class competition will be in the
afternoon, beginning at 1 p. m. This
class has the largest entry list, with
singers coming from Pioneer, Grand
Rapids, Pandora, Continental, Colum
bus Grove, Lake Township, Hicksville,
Ridgeville Corners, Arcadia, Harrod,
Spencerville, Wayne, Delta, Liberty
Township, Holgate, Bloomdale and
Arlington.
Bluffton Sings at Night
At the evening session, scheduled
for 7:30 p. m., Class competition
will be continued, to be followed by
Class BB and offerings.
In Class BB with Bluffton are Bry
an, North Baltimore, Perrysburg and
Ada. The lone Class entrant is
Lima Shawnee, which will compete in
mixed chorus only.
Each competing group will be re
quired to sing two numbers. One of
these is the assigned competitive se
lection and the other may be chosen
by the school.
Adjudicators for the all-day event
will be Miss Faye Reese, supervisor
of music in the Wooster public
(Continued on page 8)
Births
Announcement has been made of
the birth of a son, Kennion Junior,
to Mr. and Mrs K. K. Kauffman of
Chicago, last Wednesday. Mrs.
Kauffman was the former Miss Mag
dalene Baumgartner, daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. A. L. Baumgartner
of South Main street.
Mr. and Mrs. Jesse W. Steiner of
Toledo, former Bluffton residents,
are the parents of a son, William
Samuel, born March 1.
Rev. and Mrs. Emil Burrichter are
the parents of a daughter, Lorene
Esther, born at the Bluffton hospital,
Thursday.
Real Estate Deals
Joshua Beery has purchased the
Eli Amstutz property on West Elm
street. Mr. Beery together with his
son-in-law and daughter, Mr. and
Mrs. Clayton Murray and family ex
pect to occupy the property this
spring and vacate the Med Murray
property at Thurman and Jefferson
streets where they now reside.
Bluffton Coach
With Green Team
First In District
Coach Dwight Diller, who built a
green team into a
sectional cham
pionship winner
this season, for
the second time is
going to the Ohio
Coach Diller
Class basketball
tournament at Co
lumbus in search
of a state title
for Bluffton.
Back in 1931 Diller was the vars
ity center on a strong Bluffton High
team that won sectional honors, and
dropped a one-point decision to Con
nelsville in their first Columbus
tourney start.
This year he will return to the
state tournament wars as coach of
the scrappy team representing his
Alma Mater. He has been in charge
of coaching here since the fall of
1937, following his graduation from
the Missouri State Teachers’ college
at Warrensburg, Mo., where he was
an ace athlete.
MYSTERY SHOT
FIRED BY HIGH
POWERED RIFLE
Steel Jacketed Bullet Narrowly
Misses Orange Township
Woman
Shot Fired from Woods Near
by Inch Long Missile in
News Window
A mysterious shot from a high
powered rifle that narrowly missed
Mrs. John Anderson while she was
going about her barnyard chores last
Wednesday evening has had Orange
township residents aroused for the
past week.
While Mr. and Mrs. Anderson were
in the barnyard of their farm, three
miles southeast of town in Orange
township, about 5:30 p. m. they heard
the loud report of a firearm coming
from the Dudley Gallant woods, now
owned by J. A. Warren.
Simultaneously with the report a
steel bullet whistled past Mrs. Ander
son, struck the chicken house and
richocheted back toward Mr. Ander
son, a distance of about 15 feet.
Anderson picked up the missile and
found it was a steel tipped bullet
about one-inch in length.
Authorities on firearms advise it
was fired fropi a high-powered rifle
and that it is a type that would carry
for more than a mile. It is 90 rods
from the Anderson barnyard to the
woods from which the shot was heard.
No trace could be found of the per
son firing the shot and no other re
ports were heard, further adding to
the mystery of circumstances sur
rounding the shooting.
The bullet is on display this week in
the window of The Bluffton News.
Committee Starts W
For Active
Five Sub-Committees are Nam
ed to Put Control Measures
Into Effect
Personnel Named to Direct
Bluffton’s Campaign Against
Pests This Summer
Preliminary plans for a municipal
mosquito control program were
mapped Monday night at a meeting
of a citizens’ committee in the town
hall, marking the first step in a
campaign that is expected to elim
inate Bluffton’s annual summer mos
quito problem.
Futher details will be drafted at
next week’s meeting of the town
council, and sub-committees named
at the Monday session will proceed
with initial work in mobilizing the
entire town for assistance in con
trol work.
Five sub-committees were named
(Continued on page 8)
More Than 1,500-High School Pupils to Attend Contest Friday
SCHOOLS IN
THREE TOWNS
ARE CLOSED
Classes Dismissed at Bluffton,
Pandora and Mt. Cory all
Day Wednesday
Too Hazardous for School Buses
Say Authorities All Out
doors Ice-covered
Schools were closed, trees and tele
phone lines down and traffic on al
most deserted highways proceeded at
a snail’s pace when a sleet storm
swept this area Wednesday morning
coating all outdoors with ice from a
quarter to half-inch in thickness.
Because of the hazards in sending
buses over their routes, schools at
Bluffton, Pandora and Mt. Cory
were closed all day Wednesday.
Several lines of the Bluffton Tele
phone company were reported down
Wednesday morning because of the
heavy coating of ice. Electric lines
of the municipal plant here, however,
w’ere all intact, according to a re
port shortly before noon. Likewise
lines of the Central Ohio Light &
Power company were functioning
without trouble, according to a re
port from the Woodcock generating
station here.
Worst This Winter
Wednesday’s sleet storm was the
worst of the winter, which has been
particularly bad in this respect.
Rain which started falling early
Tuesday evening continued all night,
freezing as it fell.
Traffic jams on the Dixie highway
north of town near the Brundige
farm and south of Beaverdam at the
Foust bridge were reported Tuesday
night when trucks skidded off the
road. No injuries were reported.
Windshields of automobiles were
coated with a heavy covering of ice.
Country roads were reported as
extremely hazardous and for that
reason school authorities here order
ed buses not to go out Wednesday
morning and dismissed classes for
the day.
Mail carriers on Bluffton’s rural
routes expected to meet plenty of
trouble and delay in making their
rounds as they left the post office
here Wednesday morning.
Slowly rising temperatures Wed
nesday noon brought a promise of
some relief to the situation with the
mercury several degrees above the
freezing point.
Speaker To Talk On
Life Of John Wesley
“The Life of John Wesley” will
be the subject of an address by
George Goslyne of Defiance who will
address the monthly Brotherhood
meeting of the Methodist church here
Wednesday night. The address will
follow a potluck supper at 6:30.
ork On Plans
Anti-Mosquito Drive
Lions Seek Talent
For Revue April 2
Amateurs specializing in novelty
and musical acts will have an oppor
tunity to compete for $25 in prizes
at the Bluffton Lions club revue to
be held in the high school gymnas
ium, Tuesday night, April 2, it was
announced the first of the week.
Entry in the competition is open
to any amateur and prospective con
testants should notify P. W. Stauf
fer or Gordon Bixel not later than
March 26.
Mission Broadcast
Saturday Afternoon
Bluffton radio listeners will hear
Saturday afternoon a broadcast of
the Christian Foreign Service Con
vocation, an interdenominational
meeting at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel
in New York city.
The broadcast will be heard here
from 2 to 3:30 o’clock over the NBC
network.
FI IE BLUFFTON NEWS
A NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE INT ERESTS OF BLUFFTON AND VICINITY
BLUFFTON, OHIO, THURSDAY, MARCH 14, 1940
HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL TEAM SEEKS STATE TITLE
Starting Lineup Announced for
First Game on 0. S. U.
Floor, at 4 P. M.
Team Will Have Headquarters
At Neil House During Stay
In Columbus
When Bluffton high school’s bas
ketball team leaves Thursday morn
ing at 9 o’clock for Columbus in
quest of the Ohio State basketball
title in Class competition, it will
mark one of thef**Ynost unusual
events in local sport annals.
An inexperienced team, a major
ity of whom are sophomores which
lost four of their first five games
staged a sensational reversal of form
to snatch the sectional Class
crown at Carey last week, bowling
over four favorites and upsetting all
advance calculations of seasoned
sport experts.
Bluffton suddenly became basket
ball conscious as the team zoomed
from obscurity to cop the finals at
Carey, Saturday night in a whirl
wind finish that surprised even its
most optimistic supporters.
BLUFFTON IN) GRIP OF WINTER’S WORST SLEET STORM
K
Basketball Main Topic
Basketball is virtually the sole
topic of conversation in restaurants,
recreation centers and other public
gathering places this week where
the team’s prospects are discussed
at length.
School will be closed Thursday
noon and all day Friday, it was an
(Continued on page 8)
Schools Here Close
Thursday Afternoon
And All Day Friday
OLUFFTON high and grade
schools will be closed Thurs
day afternoon and all day Fri
day it was announced following
a meeting of the board of educa
tion Monday night.
Announcement of the Thurs
day afternoon dosing followed
requests from a large number of
the student body who desired to
see the team in action in its first
game at the State basketball
tournament at Columbus.
The closing on Friday had
been previously scheduled on
account of the Northwest Ohio
Choral festival here on that day.
Speaker On Foreign
Affairs At College
Dr. Syud Hossain, professor of
oriental civilization and lecturer on
world affairs at the University of
Southern California will speak in
the Bluffton College chapel, Friday
morning at 8:50 o’clock, it was an
nounced the first of the week.
Dr. Hossain, a native of India and
of Persian lineage, recently returned
from the Sino-Japanese war zone
and other countries in the east. A
world traveler, he was also a former
newspaper editor and magazine writ
er.
His subject probably will be “The
Deadlock in Palestine—What the
Arab and Jewish Leaders Told Me”.
The public is invited.
Bluffton High Team Which Seeks State Title
rSL
K
i's ai"
_______
Front row, left to right—J. Herrmann. R. Howe. P. Schmidt, N. Beidler, R. Cooney,
G. Burkholder, C. Fisher. R. Zuercher. R. Short, Russ Gratz.
Back row—J. Clark, manager P. Klassen, J. Gratz, I). Clark. Coach Diller, Rich
Gratz. J. Schmidt, B. Fritchie, A. Ingalls, manager.
Pirate Squad of Eleven Will Embark
Thursday Morning in Quest of State Title
1.0.0. F. LODGE
HALL SOLD TO
TOWNANDTWP.
Council and Trustees Take Over
Order’s Interest in Town
Hall Here
Fraternal Group Owned Third
Floor of Building More
Than Fifty Years
Bluffton corporation and Richland
township authorities, acting jointly,
purchased the interest of the Odd Fel
low’ lodge in the Bluffton town hall
when the fraternal order’s holding in
the real estate wras sold at Lima, Mon
day to satify taxes due the county.
The sale price of $196.66 represent
ed the amount of delinquent tax.
There was no other bidder for the
property
For more than fifty years the order
owned the third floor of the town hall,
having been granted permission for
its construction at the time the hall
was built.
Three Own Building
Since that time ownership of the
building has been divided between the
municipality ,the township and the
lodge.
Although the sale at.Lima, Monday,
formally marked the end of the
lodge’s half-century tenure, it is said
that regular meeting have not been
held for more than a year.
Mayor W. A. Howe stated Monday
night that following the sale no ac
credited local representative of the
order had appeared to claim its para
phernalia and that disposition of the
furnishings and regalia would await
word from state officers of the lodge.
Prominent Many Years
For many years the Odd Fellow
lodge held the largest membership of
any fraternal order here and about
the turn of the century exerted a pow
erful influence in the life of the com
munity. Its large lodge room which
occupied the entire third floor of the
tow’n hall was the scene of many bril
liant and colorful social events. In
recent years, however, interest in the
order dwindled
Old records at the mayor’s office in
dicate that permission to construct a
third story’ onto the town hall was giv
en by the council and a lease granted
by that body to the lodge on April 18,
1887. Ordinance granting the lease
was signed by J. .Patterson as
mayor and Will A. Triplett as clerk.
The lodge property sold Monday w’as
one of a number of real estate items
offered at public auction by Floyd B.
Griffin, county auditor in a move to
wipe out tax delinquencies. Deed for
the lodge’s former interest in the town
hall here will be held jointly by the
town council and the township trus
tees.
Pirates, Under Dogs At Opening
Of Season Are Tourney Surprise
“Cinderella” Team, Formerly
Disregarded, Wins Sec
tional Crown at Carey
Inexperienced Bluffton Team
Downs Four Strong Con
tenders to Win Trophy
A “Cinderella” team............
That is the surprising Bluffton
High school basketball aggregation
that bounced back from a disastrous
early-season start to win the sec
tional Class tournament champio
ship at Carey last week.
Averaging 4 points a game in
their four tourney starts, the scrappy
Bluffton outfit that scintillated at
Carey was an entirely different crew
than that which at the opening of
the season lost four of their first
five games.
Prospects appeared black at that
time, but Coach Dwight Diller kept
hard at work with his willing, if
comparatively green team, and as
the winter progressed Bluffton im
proved.
Showing Improves
By the end of the season, the Pi
rates had an impressive record,
finishing second in the Western Buck
eye cage league, the championship of
which was won by a Bellefontaine
team that this year goes to the
state tournament as a Class A sec
tional champion for the second con
secutive year.
Despite Bluffton’s improved show
ing, fans were a little jittery when
tournament time approached, espe
cially when the strong Chatfield
team was drawn as opening round
opponent.
There was no stopping the deter
mined aggregation wearing the
Crimson and White, however, and
they forged thru a difficult four
game schedule to add another sec
tional trophy to the school’s already
impressive array.
Win Four Assignments
Chatfield fell by the wayside a
week ago last Friday, 54 to 46, as
the first victim of the Dillermen.
Continuing their victory, the Pi
rates crushed Fostoria St. Wendelin
47 to 33, Thursday of last week, and
on the next night won over Betts
ville, 51 to 26.
It was a tired Bluffton outfit that
took the floor Saturday night against
Tiffin Calvert, one of the best crews
in the meet, and a team which had
an advantage of an additional night’s
rest over the Pirates.
Determination carried the locals
thru to the title, however, and the
team rallied in the closing minutes
to wrest a 31 to 28 victory after
Tiffin had overcome an eight-point
disadvantage at the third quarter
to take a one-point lead momen
tarily.
In New Locations
Carl Devier moved the first of
the week from apartments in the
post office building to Fremont where
he is employed.
BLUFFTON
A Good Place to Live and s.
Good Place to Trade
NUMBER 46
BLUFFTON IN
OHIO TOURNEY
FOR 5th TIME
Pirates will Play Strong Mid
vale Team at Columbus,
Thursday Afternoon
Midvale Aggregation Defeated
Bluffton in State Meet
Three Years Ago
For the fifth time since 1.923
Bluffton lh :li school is sending a
sectional championship basketball
team to compete in the state tourna
ment at Columbus. Five sectional
championships in 17 years is a
record in Class high school bas
ketball competition.
Bluffton’s name, as a result, will
be a familiar one to those who fol
low the Ohio tournament wars when
the surprising Pirate outfit takes the
floor this Thursday afternoon to
meet Midvale, of southeastern Ohio.
Starting time of the contest is set
at 4 p. m.
Once before Bluffton tangled with
Midvale in the state tournament. In
the second round of 1937 tourney
play, a hot Midvale outfit, led by
Fiankie Baumholtz who captured
Ohio intercollegiate scoring honors
this year and last year, edged the
Pirates by a score of 39 to 32.
Formidable Foe
Despite the fact that Midvale will
bring a record of 23 victories and
only four losses to Columbus this
week, Bluffton has high hope^ of
gaining revenge for the setback of
1937 and thereby keep in the run
ning for Ohio honors.
Should the Dillermen beat Mid
vale, their second opponent will be
the winner of the Smithfield
Germantown contest, in a tilt at 2
p. m. Friday.
Smithfield is one of the tourna
ment favorites. This crack quintet
has the state’s best record, having
won 29 consecutive victories without
once going down in defeat.
Semi-final contests at Columbus
will be played Saturday, at 1 p. m.,
with the championship assignment
coming at 8 p. m.
May Meet Willshire
In the upper bracket with Bluffton
are Midvale, Smithfield, German
town, Willshire, Marysville, New
Carlisle, and Waynesburg. Of these
Willshire, which won the Lima
Shawnee tournament, was a Bluffton
opponent during the regular season.
Should both be successful in their
first two starts they would meet in
the semi-finals on Saturday.
Bluffton’s five trips to the State
Class tourney establishes a new
state record, and puts the local
school in a class all by itself.
The Pirates first competed in the
state meet as a sectional champion
in 1923, the first year of organized
competition. Wellsville was victor
over the crew in the first round that
year.
Beaten in Finals
Again in 1929 Bluffton was a
challenger for the crown and the
team went to the finals before be
ing eliminated by an inspired Akron
St. Marys crew.
Bluffton was back in the running
again in 1931, and dropped out in
the first round when McConnelsville
captured a one-point decision.
The team’s last trip to Columbus
was in 1937 when the Pirates got to
the quarter-finals before being elim
inated by Midvale.
Named On State
Music Committee
Miss Elvira Niswander, daughter
of Mr. and Mrs. C. F. Niswander of
South Main street has been appoint
ed a member of a state committee to
outline a course of instruction in
public school music, it was announced
the first of the week.
Miss Niswander, instructor in mu
sic in the Pandora schools will serve
on the girls’ glee club committee un
der the senior high school division
of vocal music.
Chairman of the committee is
Professor Joseph A. Leader, head of
vocational music instruction of Ohio
State university. Plans are under
way for a course of study in music
for junior and senior high schools
in Ohio.