The Bluffton news. [volume], November 27, 1947, Image 1

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BLUFFTON
A Good Place to Live
VOLUME LXXII
QUIET, OBSERVENCE
IN PROSPECT HERE
Union Service To Be Held At
Reformed Church Thurs*
day Morning
Traditional Family Dinner Is
High Spot of Day For Fam
ily Circles
Highlighted by the traditional
family dinner at noon, Bluffton’s
observance of Thanksgiving Thurs
day will be a quiet one, in keeping
with the pre-war custom of family
gatherings amid a general cessation
of business and industrial activity.
Public observance of the holiday
will be centered in a union Thanks
giving church service at 9:30 a. m.
in the St. John’s Evangelical and
Reformed church under auspices of
the Bluffton Ministerial association.
Speaker at the union service will
be Rev. Paul Cramer, pastor of the
First Methodist church. Special
musical features also will be present
ed.
Bluffton’s business establishments
and industries will suspend opera
tions for the day, and there will be
no mail deliveries on town or rural
routes. Windows at the post office
will be closed, but outgoing mail will
be made up and dispatched as usual.
Bluffton’s public schools will ob
serve a two-day Thanksgiving holi
day, with no classes on Thursday
and Friday. Pupils will return to
the regular classroom schedule on
the following Monday.
Bluffton college students, however,
will be dismissed from their classes
only on Thanksgiving day.
Raise $359 In Drive
Here For Scout Fund
A financial drive for the Shawmee
Council of Boy Scouts was conducted
on Monday by 20 friends of scout
ing. A total of $359.50 was raised
in cash, with two solocitors still to
be heart! from.
The program began with a “kick
off” breakfast at the Walnut Grill
at 7 a. m., with a keynote address
by Ray Schryer, chairman of Allen
District of Shawnee Council. In
the evening the solicitors turned in
their funds to the committee meet
ing in the First Mennonite church.
Those securing the funds were:
Forest Steinman, Ralph Lanham,
Charles Aukerman, Jack Vermilya,
Cloyce Bame, Gerhard Buhler, Rob
ert Ewing, W. A. Howe, Paul Em
mert, Gordon Bixel, Wilf ord Gratz,
day Henderson, Ralph Badertscher,
Ralph Stearns, Wade Shook, Ed
Chamberlain, Evan Basinger, James
Benroth, and Lamont Diller. The
program was organized under an
administrative committee consisting
of Rev. Paul Cramer, Rev. J. N.
.Smucker, Rev. V. C. Oppermann,
and Rev. E. N. Bigelow.
Bluffton has two scout units at the
present time: Boy Scout Troop 56,
of which Kenneth and Robert Oberly
are the leaders, and Cub Pack 82 of
which Harold Koch is the leader.
The field executive for Allen district
is Robert Changon.
Swiss Music Concert
Here This Saturday
The Tremp Trio, famous Swiss
yodlers and instrumentalists, of To
ledo, will present a concert in the
Bluffton High school auditorium at
8 p. m. Saturday night.
It will be the first appearance of
the talented musicians in this lo
cality, but many local residents who
have heard the program elsewhere
speak of it in the highest terms.
In the concert a program of real
Swiss music will be assured.
Births
The following births at Bluffton
Community hospital:
Mr. and Mrs. James Van Atta,
Arlington, a boy, Stephen Douglas,
Thursday.
Mr. and Mrs. Edw. Lauck, Mc
Comb, a boy, Ronald Neal, Thurs
day.
Mr. and Mrs. Olan Wolfrom, Find
lay, a boy, Geoffrey Serelie, Friday.
Mr. and Mrs. Jerome Allen, a
girl, Beverly Lucille, bom Nov. 12
at Presbyterian hospital, Newark,
N. J. Mrs. Allen is the former Della
Amanda Pifer, daughter of Mr. and
Mrs. Ami Pifer of Orange township.
Mr. and Mrs. Orlando Brand, a
boy bom Tuesday at Seattle, Wash.
Mr. Brand is a son of Mrs. D. J.
Brand and a brother of Miss Eliza
beth Brand of this place.
(o
Wednesday will mark the 86th
birthday anniversary for two Pan
dora women, Mrs. David Wehrly
and Mrs. John Sommer, believed to
be the oldest living twins in this
area.
Bom during the Civil War, the
sisters have been lifelong residents
of the Pandora community. Their
father, the late J. D. VanScoder of
Pandora was a four-year veteran of
the Civil war.
The twins, both widows, live to
gether and do their own housework.
MAN IS FATALLY
BURNED WIFE’S
CONDITION GRAVE
Albert Amstutz Accident Vic
tint Starting Fire in Kitchen
Stove
Conflagration in Cloverdale
Home of Former Bluffton
Area Family
Albert Amstutz, 44, a former
employee of the Gray and White
Produce Co. in Bluffton, was fatally
burned and his wife sustained critical
injuries, in an early-morning fire
last Thursday at their home in
Cloverdale, where they had recently
moved. They formerly lived near
Beaverdam.
Amstutz died at 5:30 p. m. on
Thursday in Bluffton Community
hospital, 10 hours after the house
fire was started when a kerosene
can exploded as he was kindling a
fire in the kitchen stove.
His wife is in the hospital in
critical condition, sufferng from
bums received when she collapsed
in her blazing bedroom, Bnd w in
jured before being rescued by a son.
A daughter, Dorothy Amstutz, is
a nurse at the Bluffton hospital.
Other members of the family were
in bed when the early-morning blast
occurred, and a son, Richard 11,
looking from an upsteairs window
saw his father in the yard with his
clothing aflame. He leaped from
the window to go to his father’s
assistance.
Meanwhile Mrs. Amstutz, who had
been ill, was in a downstairs bed
room, and three other children, Dale,
19, Marjorie, 14 and Linda, 5, were
upstairs. Dale carried little Linda
to safety through the flames, follow
ed by Marjorie.
The children could not locate their
mother until Richard finally found
her on the bedroom floor, unconscious
from suffocation and shock. She was
painfully burned about the hands and
face.
Meanwhile, Marjorie had run bare
footed and in her night clothing half
a mile to a neighbor to call aid. The
Kalida volunteer fire department
extinguished the flames after the
house was badly damaged, and Mr.
and Mrs. Amstutz were brought to
the Bluffton hospital.
Born March 1, 1903, north of
Beaverdam, Amstutz was the son of
John and Rosina (Henze) Amstutz.
Survivors include the widow, the
former Rena Moore and the follow
ing children, Mrs. Selma Long, Ada
Dorothy, the nurse at the Bluffton
hospital Dale, Alberta, Marjorie,
Richard and Linda, all at home.
Sisters and brothers include Mrs.
Roy Best, Beaverdam Mrs. Harley
Grant, Route 5, Lima Mrs. William
Wiedeman, Toledo Mrs. John Weller,
Route 3, Lima Melvin, Jesse, and
Noah Amstutz, all of Route 2, Bluff
ton and Oliver Amstutz, Route 3,
Lima.
Funeral services were held Sunday
in the Paul Diller funeral home. Rev.
Howard Landis, pastor of the F.bene
zer Mennonite church, officiated.
Burial was in the Ebenezer cemetery.
Eye Examination
Outfit for Schools
Eye examination equipment donat
ed to the Bluffton schools by means
of public funds raised through the
Lions club sale of sight-saving
stamps has been ordered from the
Keystone View Co., Meadville, Pa.
School officials, it is said, will have
thorough training in order to operate
the apparatus efficiently’ when it ar
rives here, making possible the
detection of -yesight deficiencies.
Cost Of Thanksgiving Dinner Will Be
Higher This Holiday
Only Slightly
86th Birthday For
Twins In Pandora
Cost of Poultry Shows Less Of
Increase Than That Apply
ing to Meats
Prices of Most Other Food Items
Remain About Same Or Low
er Than Last Year
Altho the cost of living has spiral
ed sharply upward over the last 12
months, the cost of Bluffton’s
Thanksgiving dinner this year will
be only slightly' higher than in 1946
unless you prefer a choice cut of
meat to the traditional turkey or
chicken generally associated with the
holiday, menu.
Poultry prices have shown only
moderate increases during the last
year i» contrast to the sharp up
turn iit the cost of other meats,
particularly' beef and pork.
A survey, of prevailing market
prices tMh week also indicated that
most or the trimmings for the
Thanksgiving dinner will cost no
more than a year ago, with several
items priced downward slightly.
Those who want the traditional
turkey for the holiday, will find the
big birds plentiful and also will get
another break, for turkey prices hav
not soared as much during the last
year as the cost of choice cuts of
meats.
Turkey last Thanksgiving sold at
35 cents a pound liveweight, with
this year’s quotations at 40 cents a
pound for toms, and 50 cents for
hens.
Chickens Higher
Top quality live chickens, heavy
springer type’, also are up in pric
from 33 cents a pound last year
39 cents a pound this Thanksgiving
Those who plan to substitute mea'
for poultry on this year’s menu wil
nay more however, with most choic
cuts are ranging higher than price:
of one year ago.
Oysters at 77 cents a pint are tw
cents under lot star’s market pric»
one of the fewMflhs to move down
ward. CranbOT^R, “mwt” fo
most holiday tables have droppe
from 48 cents a pound last year
35 cents this fall.
Butter at 77 cents a pound if
cheaper than last Thanksgiving whe
it commanded a price of 91 cents
Celery at 25 cents a stalk and let
tuce at 25 cents a head hold stead
at the same price commanded las
year. Assorted nuts are selling a
49 cents a pound, six cents cheape
than last Thanksgiving. Engl is’
walnuts also are off from 49 cent
to 43 cents.
Body Of Pfc. James
Amstutz Enroute Here
Body of Pfc. James Amstutz,
killed in action in Germany on Feb
ruary 9, 1945, has been returned to
this country, and soon will be sent
to Bluffton with a military escort,
according to word received by his
parents, Mr. and Mrs. Harry Am
stutz, former Bluffton residents.
On its arrival here, the body will
be taken to the Paul Diller funeral
home, and after lying in state there,
funeral services will be held in the
Emmanuels’ Reformed church, of
which Pfc. Amstutz was a member.
Rev. V. C. Oppermann, pastor of the
church, and Rev. Paul Cramer, chap
lain of Bluffton Legion post wih
officiate.
Inducted into the army on May 19,
1943, Pfc. Amstutz took his basic
training at Camp Shelby, Miss. He
went to England on July 5, 1944,
and first entered combat duty in the
Aachen, Germany, sector, Sept. 16,
1944.
Amstutz graduated from Bluffton
High school in the class of 1942
and worked for the Bluffton Stone
Co. and the City Market before en
listing.
Mrs. Eli Amstutz, of Poplar
street, is a grandmother, and Mrs.
Rayon Boutwell, of near Bluffton, a
sister. His parents now live in
Harrod.
His body arrived at New York
early this week on the Army trans
port, Robert Burns.
Also on the transport was the
body of Pfc. John F. Beach, son of
Mrs. Mary Beach, Lima, who was
born in Bluffton, January 29, 1911.
Woman in Hospital
Injured in Fall
Mrs. Leona Stettler is a patient
in Bluffton hospital with a fractured
left thigh as the result of a fall in
her Vine street apartment Monday
morning. Her condition is reported
satisfactory.
THE BLUFFTON NEWS
A NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF BLUFFTON AND VICINITY
BLUFFTON, OHIO, THURSDAY, NOV
RECOUNT OF VOTE
CONFIRMS BAKER
AS TOWN’S MAYOR
County Board of Elections
Counts Ballots Cast Here
November 4
1
Board Takes Nearly Three
Hours to Count Vote in
Four Precincts
Election of Arden Baker, Demo
crat, as mayor of Bluffton on No
vember 4 was confirmed in an offi
cial recount of the mayoralty vote
in the four precincts here by the
Allen county board of elections at
the boards’ office in Lima last Thurs
day afternoon.
After completing the recount the
board announced the vote as Baker,
Democrat, 349 W. A. Howe, Inde
pendent, 321, and Paul Stauffer, Re
publican, 204. Total for Baker and
Stauffer were unchanged from the
previous official count following the
election.
However, 48 disputed votes which
the board’s recount credited to Howe
added to his previously announced
official total which reduced Baker’s
majority from 76 to 28 votes. Howe’s
gain by precincts was: A, 2 B, 23
C, 1 D, 22.
Petition
for
Mayor-elect Baker is serving his
econd tarm on the town council and
s a-meMber.-of the finance commit
ee. Besides his position as mayo
ie is personnel manager at the Trip
ott Electrical Instrument Co.
BY HARRY L. HAU
Editor’s Note—This is one
of a series of articles to appear
in the Bluffton News dealing
with early Ohio history. Others
will appear in forthcoming
issues.
Ohio’s First
Thanksgiving
Not only, by official proclamation,
did Ohioans celebrate their first
Thanksgiving Day on Christmas but
in so doing set precedent for the
World War II custom of fudging
Thanksgiving back and forth to any
ime best suiting scattered localities.
Roosevelt wasn’t the first to switch
the Thanksgiving date—Arthur St.
Clair did it too.
The first official Ohio Thanks
giving Day was observed December
25, 1790.
“In as much as it is incumbent on
all men to acknowledge with grati
tude the infinite obligation to Al
mighty God for benefits received—”
he proclamation of Arthur St. Clair,
governor of the Northwest Territory
and Commander in Chief, started off
—and then he fixed the first Thanks
giving Day as December 25, 1790.
That President George Washington
already had by proclamation fixed
the national Thanksgiving Day to fall
on Thursday, November 26, 1789, and
on the corresponding Thursday in
November thereafter, meant little to
St. Clair. What was the decree of a
mere President of the United States
as compared with the ideas of a ter
ritorial governor?
So Marietta and Cincinnati, which
was all of settled Ohio then, took the
(Continued on page 10)
Chorus At Arlington
The Ebenezer Men’s chorus will
give a program at Arlington, Sun
day night at 7:45 o’clock.
College Music Course
Presents Accordionist
Bill Palmer, accordionist, will ap
pear in the second number of the
Bluffton College concert series in the
high school auditorium, Tuesday
night, December 9 at 8 o’clock, it
was announced the first of the week.
27, 1947
Recount
Petition for a recount of the vote
for mayor in precincts B, C, and I)
was filed by a group supporting
Howe, present mayor, for re-election
n a write-in campaign, after 90
nallots in the three precincts were
.eported to have been disqualified by
•lection officials on technical
grounds.
Later a bi-partisan group which
upported the caucus-nominated can
lidates, Baker and Stauffer, peti
ioned for a recount of the vote foi
nayor in precinct A.
The board was two and three
uarters hours in making the official
ecount.
The
$
Her
Organized Recreation Program
Starts in Two Gymnasiums
December 1
THANKSGIVING
spirit and season of thanksgiving go back to
THE PILGRIM FATHERS**. BUT OUR CELEBRATION
OF IT AS A NATIONAL HOLIDAY WE OWE TO
Elo
r"......... “■qpni.‘ in**
SARA JOSEPHA HALE
Coach Kent Cotterman Will
Serve Again As Winter Re
creation Director
Bluffton’s winter program of or
ganized recreational activity will get
jnder way next week, with opening
of basketball and volleyball play and
jther activities in Bluffton High and
Bluffton college gymnasium.
Coach Kent Cotterman, who di
rected last year’s successful pro
gram, has been re-employed by the
recreation committee as supervisor
of winter activities.
For the program, the Bluffton
High school gymnasium will be
available each Monday night and
Saturday morning, and activity will
be conducted in the Bluffton college
gymnasium each Tuesday night.
Periods will be arranged in each
week’s program for young and mid
dle aged men, women and grade
school children, on much the same
basis as last year’s schedule.
Detailed plans for the winter were
completed last week by the re
creation committee, with th® pro
gram starting the first week in De
cember.
Basketball play will start at 7
p. m. next Monday night in the high
school gymnasium. General practice
sessions will mark the meetings on
the first two Monday nights in
December, after which teams will be
selected and a league will be organ
ized.
In each Tuesday’s activities at
the Bluffton college gymnasium, the
first half of the evening will be
devoted to a program for men inter
ested in volley ball, work with gym
nastic equipment, etc. Those of
middle age and older are especially
urged to attend from 7 to 8:30 p.m.
Girls and women will have a pro
gram designed for them in the
gymnasium from 8:30 p. m. until 10
p. m. on the same night, according
to the present schedule.
Saturday morning’s program in
the high school gymnasium will be
for boys from the fourth, fifth and
sixth grades, Coach Cotterman an
nounced. The morning’s program
will start at 10 a. m.
Religious Education
Classes Have Exhibit
Exhibit of hand work by the class
es in religious education in the
Bluffton grade schools is being shown
in the window of the Peter Gratz
drygoods store. The classes are in
charge of Mrs. Chas. Lauby.
Your own faults look as big to the
other fellow as his do to you.
ijogi
l\S ’''vKVvW*
ww
v' VJUH 6dli’•.
w^.
W,\
For
goal was attained in 1864 when
17 years she worked
TO HAVE a DAY OF THANKS
SET ASIDE TO BE
OBSERVED THROUGHOUT
THE NATION.
ISSUED A PROCLAMATION ASKING "MY FELLOW-CITIZENS
IN EVERY PART OF THE UNITED STATES *..TO OBSERVE
THE LAST THURSDAY OF NOVEMBER AS A DAY OF
thanksgiving AND PRAISE.**"
from THAT TIME ONt THIS PAY HAS STOOP ASA SYMBOL.
OF FAMILY UNITY ANO NATION- WIPE THANKSGIVING.
■U.I u
Winter Recreation Activity Will
Get Under Way Here In December
President Lincoln
Sr
MEETING IN LIMA
IS CALLED TO AIR
WATERSHED PLANS
County Asked to Join Creation
of Maumee Conservancy
Area Discuss Costs
Discussion May Guide Allen
Com rassi oners in Decision
on Participation
Arguments pro and con including
explanation of the cost of including
Allen county in the proposed Maumee
watershed conservancy district will
be heard at 1:30 p. m. Saturday,
December 6 at a public meeting call
ed in Lima Memorial hall by county
commissioners.
Bluffton’s Riley creek is one of
the streams which links Allen county
to plans for the conservancy district,
it was pointed out in an announce
ment several months ago.
The stream, formed by convergence
in Bluffton of Big and Little Riley
creeks, flows into the Blanchard
river, which empties into the Au
glaize, and then eventually into the
Maumee river.
Seeking public opinion on the
proposal, Allen county commissioners
have called the meeting for open
discussion.
Among questions to be answered
are details of the cost to Allen
county municipalities and rural
areas, and the possible extent of
condemnation proceedings against
lands needed for backwater from
dams.
A .3 mill assessment for not more
than two years for preliminary costs
would entail a cost of $74,000 to
Allen county taxpayers, it was re
ported recently.
It has been stated actual construc
tion costs would be borne by the
federal government under the flood
control act, but there has not yet
been an answer to questions whether
additional local assessments for
maintenance could be made.
Lecture On Atomic
Bomb At College
Dr. M. L. Pool, physicist of Ohio
State University, Columbus, will give
an illustrated lecture entitled “The
Atomic Bomb and the Bikini Experi
ment” in Bluffton college chapel,
Wednesday night, Dec. 3 at 8 o’clock.
Dr. Pool, an official government
observer of the Bikini experiment
will present motion pictures of the
explosion and also show a Geiger
counter used to measure resulting
radio activity.
BLUFFTON
A Good Plsre to Trade
________NUMBER 32
TRAPPERS HIT AS
FUR CATCH DROPS
FROM WAR PEAKS
Take On Trap Lines About
One-Third Lower So Far
This Winter
Prices Generally Are Slightly
Lower Muskrat Pelts Up
Five Cents
Trapping done extensively in
streams thruout the Bluffton area
this year is not yielding the bonanza
returns of 1944 and 1945 because of
the unusual combination of low prices
for furs, plus the fact that trappers
generally are having a poor season.
Local buyers reported this week
that the catch in November has been
approximately «|pe-third less than
normal, and with prices remaining
near or slightly below the low levels
prevailing throughout last winter,
trapping is not yielding any spec-*
tacular financial returns.
Muskrat furs this year are the
only pelts commanding more money
than on the 1946 market, with this
week’s quotation of $2.25 exactly
five cents niome than the price paid
one year ago. Two years ago,
muskrat pelts brought $3.50.
Raccown Bring I^ess
Raccoon and red fox priqes are
decidedly lower this season, the buy
ers reported., Coon pelts being
bought for $1.-56 ^brought $2.60 hast
year, and in 1945 the price was $3.25.
Red fox furs are down to $1 per
pelt, exactly half the amount paid
last winter.
Mink, on the other hand, quoted
at from.$6 to $20 are at prices the
same as last year a situation which
'ilso is true of weasels, $1.50, and
opposum, 3b cents.
Raccoon are plentiful this season,
ind to assure a continuance of good
hunting the Bluffton Sportsmen’s
fiub will pay $1.50 for females and
$1 for males above market price for
ive animals turned over to Albert
Gewnatteu t„
Most of the trapping In this area
is done by farmers and their sons,
altho a few town residents arq en
gaging. in the avocation this winter.
Farmers who do not trap their
land lease rights to run trap lines
in their streams.
Long Trap Line
Reports from some of the oldest
rappers so far have confirmed the
fact that the season is poorer than
usual, especially by three Bluffton
men who are running one of the
biggest trap lines in this district, a
♦wo-mile stretch of Riley creek, west
of town.
In the trapping trio are Charles
Burkholder, a trapper for 35 years
his son, Lewis Burkholder, who has
trapped for 25 years and a son-in
aw, Franklin Beach.
Burkholder reported the catch on
their two-mile trap line was off
about one-third this year. Muskrat
catches especially show the result of
last spring’s heavy rainfall, bring
ing floods that killed off the early
litters of rats, Burkholder said.
Furs are bought locallv by Jesse
Manges and Russell Lciber, veteran
dealers. They pay the same price
for animals, skinned or unskinned,
because the carcasses can be sold for
waste fats and oils, or if suitable can
be marketed as meat in larger cities.
Meetings at Riley
Creek Baptist Church
Rev. O. G. Lewis of Minneapolis,
who was a commercial artist before
entering the ministry, will conduct a
series of evangelistic meetings at
Riley Creek Baptist church in Orange
township from December 2 to 14, it
is announced by the pastor, Rev.
Robert Turner. Services will be held
every night at 8 o’clock.
Rev. Lewis, with long experience
as an illustrator, paints large
pictures before his audience while
singing the hymn which is illustrated
in his painting.
In New Location
Mr. and Mrs. Clyde Ream moved
Monday from their home on Mound
street to their farm east of Bluffton.
Herold Diller and family will move
from the apartment above City
Market into the residence vacated
by the Reams.
Christmas Carols
The Bluffton Business Men’s asso
ciation is sponsiring the playing of
Christmas eanffs in the business dis
trict beginning Saturday afternoon
and evening.
J” ,T