The Bluffton news. [volume], July 15, 1948, Image 1

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

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BLUFFTON
A Good Place To Live
VOLUME LXXIII
CHANGE IN WATER
BILLING INCREASES
MINIMUM CHARGE
Consumer Who Stays Within
The Minimum Will Pay $2
More Per Y ear
Meters Will Be Read And Con
sumers Billed Monthly
Instead of Quarterly
City water service will cost the
consumer who stays within the
minimum bracket $2 more each year
under a new system of monthly
billing which will supplant the form
er quarterly basis with the June
accounts.
Altho water rates are unchanged
so far as charges for the volume
used, a new minimum of $1 per
month has been established as con
trasted to a former minimum of
.$2.50 per quarter.
For three months, consumers
formerly could use up to\ 1,000 cubic
feet of water at a quarterly fee of
$2.50. In the future under a month
ly billing schedule, the minimum will
be $1 per month, or $3 for three
months of service.
On the quarterly basis of payment
for water service, the charge for
one year’s minimum service was $10,
but with a $1 monthly minimum in
effect, service will cost $12 per year.
New Rate Schedule
For the monthly minimum charge
of $1, consumers may use 462 cubic
feet of water, and for the next 638
cubic feet charges will be on the
basis of 25 cents per 100, to main
tain an exact proportion to the
former quarterly rate of $2.50 for
1000 cubic feet.
The rate schedule also is un
changed as it applies to use of water
in excess of 1,000 cubic feet, for
■which the charge is $1.20 per 1,000.
Customers will be billed monthly,
but bills do not fall due until the
10th of the second month thereafter.
For .example, bills for June will not
be mailed until late July and- are
payable by August 10.
All water consumers will be billed.
Officials estimated there are between
650 and 675 accounts.
Council Defers Action
In Police Car Purchase
The two-fold problem as to how
badly Bluffton needs a police cruiser,
and how to make limited municipal
funds stretch to cover the purchase
of a vehicle Monday night caused
councilmen to table for further con
sideration a bid submitted by Bixel
Motor Sales to provide a Ford auto
mobile for police use.
Bixel’s bid was the only one sub
mitted in response to the council's
request.
Limited funds available in the
municipal treasury will mean curtail
ment of other services in case a po
lice car is purchased, it was pointed
out at the session, and there was a
question as to whether a police pa
trol car is more essential than other
village activities.
Woman Fractures
Arm In Fall Here
Mrs. Med Murray of North Jack
son street is at the home of her
youngest daughter, Mrs. F. S. Mad
den of Dayton following a fall at her
home here in which she sustained a
fracture of the right arm.
Births
The following births at Bluffton
hospital:
Mr. and Mrs. Geo. Pearson, Find
lay, a boy, Richard Eugene, Friday.
Mr. and Mrs. Frank Crawford,
Bluffton, a girl, Darlene May, Sat
urday.
Mr. and Mrs. Robt. Rosenberger,
Ottawa, a boy, John Charles, Satur
day.
Mr. and Mrs. Chas. Kinsinger,
Bluffton, a boy, Mark Allen, Sunday.
Mr. and Mrs. Gerald DeVore, Ot
tawa, a girl, Rochelle Lea, Sunday.
Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Weller,
Ada, a girl, Jennine K$y, Monday.
Mr. and Mrs. James Hilty, Find
lay, a boy, Thomas Eugene, Monday,
Mr. and Mrs. Robt. Peterson, Find
lay, a boy, Jerry Eugene, Tuesday.
Mr. and Mrs. Cecil Young, Galion,
a girl, Tuesday.
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Fox, Arling
ton, a boy, Berry Eugene, Tuesday.
Mr. and Mrs. Willis Mayberry, Co
lumbus Grove, a girl, Paula Rae,
Wednesday.
Mr. and Mrs. Reno Baumgartner,
Pandora, a girl, Wednesday.
Dry Cleaning Fluid
Ignites Youth Burned
Alfred Diller, student at Bluffton
college, suffered painful burns on
the hands Saturday evening when in
flammable fluid he was using to clean
clothes in the basement of his home
on South Jackson street, ignited
from an open gas flame.
The Bluffton fire department was
summoned to the Clarence Diller res
idence to extinguish the fire. Dam
age to the house was slight. The
youth’s burns were treated by a
physician.
According to the fire department
report the fluid was being used near
a lighted gas water heater, and the
fire occurred when flames from the
fluid ignited.
FIRST NEW WHEAT
INDICATES BUMPER
HARVEST FOR AREA
First of New Crop Marketed
Last Thursday First Car
Shipped Friday
Grain Commands $2.15 Figure
At Start of Marketing
Slips to $2.11
Bluffton area farmers and grain
elevators are in the midst of
handling a bumper wheat harvest
this week, with combines and binders
busy in fields interrupted only by
Monday’s near cloudburst.
First Reported Case Of Polio Here
Under Treatment At Lima Hospital
The first wheat in a flood pouring
into the Bluffton elevator of the
Farmers Grain Co. was the harvest
from the Amos Reichenbach farm,
north of Bluffton, last Thursday
morning. It was closely followed
by other marketings heavy enough
to permit loading the first car for
shipment on Friday. The first ship
ment from here was bough by Pills
bury Mitts and shipped to Columbus.
This year’s grain is of better than
average quality, testing up to 62
pounds. Moisture content is from
13 to 16 per cent. Quality of the
wheat reflects ideal growing condi
tions of the year, cool and moist in
the spring and hot and dry for
harvest.
Price $2.11 Bushel
Last Thursday’s wheat price was
$2.15 a bushel, but had fallen off
four cents to a figure of $2.11 on
Tuesday. Five cars had been ship
ped in that time, and two more were
loaded at the elevator. First wheat
in 1947 sold for $2.26 a bushel.
Yields are unusually good this
year, with several farmers reporting
up to 40 bushels to the acre. The
average has been around 27 bushels.
In another phase of the farm
picture, potato prospects are for a
better than average yield, farmers
reported. In the area northwest of
town where large-scale commercial
potato growing is general, observers
said fields never have looked more
promising.
Com, which has made remarkable
growth during the last month, now
is more than fence-high in many
fields, and early varieties of oats are
ripening rapidly and should be ready
to cut by the time wheat harvest is
ended. Oats yield will be about
average, however the acreage in
this section is limited.
15 Scouts Leave
For Summer Camp
Fifteen members of Bluffton Boy
Scout Troop No. 56 left last Sun
day for a one-week stay at the
Shawnee Area council scout camp,
near Defiance.
In the group at camp are Senior
Patrol Leaders David Bixel and Don
Badertscher Assistant Patrol Lead
ers Karl Klassen and Bruce Hauen
stein Richard Patterson, Ronnie
Conaway, Marl Watkins, John Koch,
Joe Smucker, James Green, James
Henderson, Fred Habegger, Gene
Wells, Joe Joseph, Fred Basinger.
Acting Scoutmaster Wade Shook
is in charge of the troop at camp.
Scoutmaster Robert Oberly accom
panied the group to camp Sunday,
and then returned to Bluffton after
camp was established.
Visitors night at camp will be
Wednesday of this week, and many
from Bluffton are planning to visit
the troop at that time.
With its paper drives and socials,
the troop earned the greater portion
of the $9.75 admission fee charged
per scout. Dick Habegger furnished
the truck in which the scouts made
their trip to camp.
THE BLUFFTON
Condition of Charles Bucher,
14 Is Reported Satisfactory
By Physician
Case Is Described as Mild Son
of Mr. and Mrs. Clair
Bucher
Charles Bucher, 14-year-old son of
Mr. and Mrs. Clair Bucher of West
Elm street, Bluffton’s first reported
case of polio, is in Lima Memorial
hospital where he has been a pa
tient since last Friday night.
The case is a mild one and his
condition is reported satisfactory, it
was stated by Dr. F. D. Rodabaugh,
Bluffton physician who diagnosed the
illness last Friday. The youth who
had been employed on a farm for
the summer became ill early last
week.
He is being given the Kenney pack
treatment at the hospital in Lima,
Dr. Rodabaugh said.
BY HAR.R.Y L. KALI
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.
The Poor Man’s
Railroad
It was the B. Z. & C. Railroad,
finished in 1877 and dubbed by
everyone from Bellaire, Belmont
County, where it started, to Woods
field, Monroe County, where it end
ed, the “Badly Zigzag & Crooked
Railroad.” What many of its pas
sengers and freight consignees along
the line called it can’t be put in
the paper. It really was the Bell
aire, Zanesville & Cincinnati Rail
road—which never got to Cincinnati.
Bellaire then had two other rail
roads 10 coal mines some factories
and plenty of stores three news
papers 11 churches and a bank.
There were natural gas, a w’ater
works, paved streets, a street rail
way and 8,205 inhabitants.
Woodsfield had two newspapers,
six stores a few factories four
churches a bank and 861 population.
Narrow Gauge Line
Promoted and built by John H.
Sullivan, Bellaire, who deemed it
impossible to build a regular rail
road through the Ohio hills along
the river in Belmont and Monroe
counties, the road was a narrow
gauge with steep grades and sharp
curves, which the builder himself,
called the “poor man’s railroad.” It
cost less than $11,500 a mile, was
42 miles long, and was a “miracle
of engineering.”
The mile-cost included hand grad
ing, bridges, tracks and all except
the rolling stock. Speed of its
passenger trains was about 16 miles
an hour. Entire cost of the road
was met by popular subscription—it
truly w'as a poor man’s railroad..
The line was of incalculable bene
fit to the fanners, small merchants
and businessmen of the Ohio River
hills for the cost of good wagon
roads was enormous and a serious
drawback to the development of the
country.
Steep Grades
Much of the road was a succession
of curves, steep grades and wooden
trestles, in places rising over 130
feet to the mile. Some curves had
a radius of only 400 feet and there
was one reverse curve on a trestle.
Where the curves were go sharp,
the outer rail was placed three
inches higher to hold the cars on the
track, which made the wheels
screech badly when they passed over
that spot.
Only the Colorado Central Rail
road, a narrow gauge leading from
the Union Pacific to the mining
regions was a worse graded road—
there the elevation ran as high as
275 feet to the mile—twice that of
the Poor Man’s Railroad in Eastern
Ohio. Persons riding over the
Colorado line on a car platform so
as to view the scenery', declared they
had to hold on to a railing for dear
(Continued on page 2)
Two Delegates To
Lions Convention
Charles Emans and Rev. Paul
Cramer have been named delegates
from the Bluffton club to attend the
Lions International convention in
New York city next week from Mon
day through Thursday. They will
leave Sunday night for New York.
A NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF BL'JFFTON AND
BLUFFTON, OHIO, THURSDAY, JULY 15, 1948
VICTIM OF MOTOR
CRASH IN HOSPITAL
HERE UNCONSCIOUS
Harold Amstutz, 21, Remains
Unconscious After Mishap
Sunday Afternoon
Amstutz Auto Demolished In
Two-Car Crash At Hilty
School Corner
Harold Amstutz, 21, son of Wil
liam Amstutz, tliving southwest of
Bluffton on thepormer Follet farm,
remained unconscious for the fourth
day in the Community hospital here,
following a two-car collision at ’a
road intersection at the former Hilty
school, four miles west of Bluffton
Sunday afternoon at 4 o’clock.
Hospital attaches said late Wed
nesday morning there had been no
change in his condition since he was
admitted to the hospital.
Amstutz suffered deep lacerations
about the head, and has been un
conscious since the crash, in which
his car was turned end over end in
the highway. Hospital attendants
said, however, that there is no skull
fracture and apparently no internal
injuries.
Virgil Laman, 39, of Lima, oper
ator of the other car, was uninjured,
according to a report by State High
way patrolmen. Both men were driv
ing alone.
According to the investigation re
port of the highway patrol, Amstutz
was eastbound on the Columbus
Grove -Bluffton road, and Laman
w’as southbound on Route 696, the
Napoleon road.
Amstutz’s car was demolished in
the collision, and that of Laman was
badly damaged.
Amstutz was brought to the hos
pital here in the Paul Diller ambu
lance.
Three-Car Accident
On Dixie Sunday
A Dayton womnn treated in
Bluffton Community hospital for a
bruised right shoulder suffered when
she was thrown from an automobile
in a three-car crash, one mile south
of town on the Dixie highway, Sun
day afternoon.
The injured woman was Mrs. Jean
C. Broughton, who was released from
the hospital following treatment. Her
husband, John Broughton, Suffered
bruises.
No one was hurt in the other two
cars, one of which was driven by
Michael Reagan, Bluffton and the
other by J. S. CantrelJ, Detroit,
Michigan.
Following the mishap, Cantrell was
fined $15 and costs in Bluffton may
or’s court on a charge of reckless
driving filed by the state highway
patrol.
Prepares To Move
House On Lot Here
Francis Marquart of South Jack
son street is making preparations to
move a house on the vacant lot be
tween his property and that of Mrs.
Peter Gratz.
Marquart who recently purchased
the site from Mrs. Gratz has started
excavation for the residence which
will be moved from the farm of his
father, Ed Marquart south of Bluff
ton.
Home From Motor
Trip Thru West
Mr. and Mrs. B. R. Shafer and
daughter Carolyn of Jefferson street
road and Mrs. Shafer’s parents W.
E. Yoxthimer of Findlay have re
turned from a tww weeks’ vacation
motor trip visiting relatives in Wat
erloo, Iowa.
Enroute they stopped at points of
interest including the Little Brown
Church in the Vale of Nashua, Iowa
Niagara Caves at Harmony, Minn.
The Clocks at Spillvale and Back
bone State park, Iowa.
Their route home was through
Missouri, Illinois and Indiana where
they report farm crops looking most
promising.
Notice
Because of increased produc
tion costs the following subscript
tion rates to the Bluffton News
sent anywhere in the United
States will become effective
August 1, 1948:
1 Year. $2.50
6 Months, $1.50
3 Months, $1
Single copie#, 7c
night. They will become effective
August 1.
The new scale provides for an in
of $15 monthly for salariec
es and an increase of sever
'or employees on an hourh
crea
emp
cent
basi
Salaries will
nthly scale:
Rains Monday and Tuesday
Boost Corn Crop Halt
Wheat Ha nest
fror adian
rn
heat
engulf
High degree of humidity added to
the discomfort of the warm weather
and made the heat unusually' oppres-
The hot weather struck with
expected intensity' Saturday
sent the thermometer to 95
highest mark of the summer,
maximum temperatures were
tered in the nineties for the
following days.
Thunderstorms Monday' and
day failed to afford any appreciable
relief from the heat and added to
the humidity. A heavy downpour
Monday flooded streets here at the
noon hour when catch basins were
unable to handle the rain which be
came a near cloudburst.
Because of the rains ball games
scheduled for Harmon field Monday
and Tuesday were conceited.
Rains which have proved of mark
ed benefit to the corn crop have
temporarily halted wheat harvest.
Recommend Treatment
Of Combined Straw
According to “Treatment of Com
bined Straw” experiments conducted
on the agronomy plots at The Ohio
State
from
yield
when
after
taken off.
University, Columbus, Ohio,
1943 to 1947, the best hay
the following year is obtained
the stubble is mowed at once
combining, and all the material
When this material is left on the
field, the hay harvested the following
year will contain a large amount of
straw.
For any clipping of alfalfa or
red clover, set the cutter-bar low.
These crops recover from the crown
regardless of the height of clipping,
while broadleaved annual weeds re
cover from buds along the stem.
The lower the weeds are cut, the less
likely they are to recover, so clipping
low controls the weeds but does no
harm to the alfalfa or red clover.
Install Television
Set In Store Here
A set for television reception will
be installed at the Ellenberger Bros,
store on South Main street during
the coming week, it was announced
Monday by management of the store.
It will be in operation by the last of
next week when television broad
casts from Toledo are expected to
be on the air.
Begins Course In
Nurse's Training
Miss Peggy Eckenwiler who was
graduated last May from Bluffton
high school has begun a course in
nuise’s training at St. Rita’s
pital, Lima.
BLUFFTON MARKETS
Wednesday Morning
Grain (bushel prices)
$2.1V corn $2.00
$3.75.
Poultry—Heavy
hens 28c leghorn
fryers 39c.
NEWS
VICINITY
Employees Of Municipal Light
n s mu
Blufft
and i
the
ard of public affairs were ap
by the town council, Mondaj
the following
Temperatures Register High
Mark in Nineties For
Four Days
And Water Plant lo Get RaiselrnrA-rn
fc
ric ou main-
clerk
hour
Action of the board of public af-l
fairs follows a raise approximating!
five cents an hour authorized by the I
town council for village employes!
1. I
salaries!
nd night!
pay for!
and un-|
which became effective July
These rates fix monthly
of chief of police at $125 a
police $170. Hour rate of
skilled labor is 90 cents
nt $245 inain- With e
ooler Weather Breaks Wave Of
Humid Heat Here First Of Week
NEW
LAID
AVE.,
1
Extension Completes Expansion I ]t
Program Started Here Two I
Years Ago
,000 Feet of Four-Inch Line
Laid
To
From Lincoln Hall
Back of College
Laying
and
the
for
Higl
three
s Mondav Tues-
The new four-inch
from Lincoln hall oi
avenue
thence
to the end of
south on Colle
opposite the
residence.
hos-
Wheat
soys
oats 80c
hens 31c leghorn
fryers 35c heavy'
Eggs—Large white 48c large
brown 46c.
Butterfat—82c.
macher
To provide fire protection for the
district, a hydrant was installed on
the road at the rear of College hall.I
Fourth Extension Project
This is the fourth water main ex-1
Marsh Run bridge to the corporation!
Six Hurt In Another
1. A
H. M. Bockes, 75, and Harry Wul
helm, 74, both of Grundy Center,
Iowa, were treated at the office of
an Ada physician.
Following the mishap, Grayson,
who was driving north on Route 69,
pleaded guilty of failure to observe
a stop sign, when he was arraigned
in the court of Guy Anderson,
Orange township justice of the peace.
He was fined $10 and costs.
Organize Red Cross
Life Saving Class
BLUFFTON
A Good Place To Trade
will be
load.
tension program in two years, and!
completes projects undertaken to as-IL e'‘ sau Cherry street
sure city water service and fire pro-1 ... J? 0 e pastorate
a. a. 11 4L n I °f toe I nited Mennonite church
of1
tection to all areas within the vil-l ... U"UI
lage limits. I Omaha, Nebraska, he announced the
i' ii ’itl first of the week. He and his fam-
Earher this spring approximately!.... a,n
AAA 4- 4. 1 I dy moving to that city where he
1,000 feet of new water lines were I ...are
... I will assume his new duties August 1.
laid on Cherry street to the Allen-I
i i. I Kev. Esau, known as the blind evan
Hancock county line road, to service I .. ...
... ... I gelist has traveled widely throughout
new subdivisions being built up I
there 1 I the west where he has been called to
s A A
rasn At Oa Ana UU1\
NUMBER 13
NEW STEEL STACK
ERECTED MONDAY
AT LIGHT PLANT
mon| Remaining Work On Boiler And
Building Will Require
About 90 Days
New Equipment For
System Will Be in
Fall, Flint Head
progres
WATER LINE
ON COLLEGER
COLLEGE RD.
new
ion of
new water I but so
West College avenue andlstructu
ad during the last weekPai!ui'
has completed a program started two
years ago to make city water serv
ice and fire protection available any
where within the corporation limits.
I hold revival services.
First project in the program was I _________
installation of 1,200 feet of mains I
on the Dixie highway not th of thel/Veir
In addition, the West Elm street I T„ ...
.. Larry Gara has been added to
water line was extended north on I .. _.
n .. n I faculty of Bluffton college as in
College road to the new Garmatterl
,.. I structor in history, it was announced
cllHlltlOll. II 1. yx
_________ I by Dr. .L. Ramseyer, president of
Six persons were injured last! singer.
Wednesday afternoon in a two-carl
collision at the Junction of Routes!
69 and 30N, southeast of Bluffton. I’
Four of the vicN.’^s received treat-1
ment in Bluff.-a Community hos-1
pital. I Bluffton students enrolled for sum-
Everett Ballard, water safety in
structor at Buckeye lake announces
a course in Red Cross life saving be
ginning Monday and continuing thru
Friday for three weeks.
The highway crossing wai the! mer courses at Ohio State university
scene of a fatal crosh five days earl-1 include Genevieve Buhler, Herbert L.
ier when two West Virginia persons! Coon, Ralph S. Lanham, Marion H.
received injuries that resulted in I Marquart, Robert B. Marshall,
their deaths at the hospital here. I George Swank and Howard D. Raid,
After last Wednesday’s mishap,! it was announced this week.
Jack Grayson, 25, Detroit his wife,! From Lafayette there are three
Margaret, 24 their daughters, Mary,! students: Leslie Ackerman, Dean L.
5 and Judy, 2 were brought to the I Cochensparger and Ruth L. Klingler,
hospital here for treatment.
Classes will be held from 5 to 6
p. m. Junior life saving course will
be from ages 12 to 16 years and
the senior course will be from 17
years and over. Those satisfactorily
completing the course will be eligible
to wear the Red Cross life saving
emblem.
Municipal
Use By
-foot steel
and work
of a new
onstruction
s municipal
of a brick addition at th
light plant, Supt. Joh
estimated Wednesday that new plant
equipment will lie in operation in
Supt. Swisher said.
Assembling of the boiler
completed, altho auxiliar
and othc
main was laid I Workn
West College I proximal
the street, and Ito comp:
ge road to ter-1 tion,
aftei
will be
han the 110
plant, which
'henever the
ig the plant
ler
Crane Used
the new st
Motor
I
W. of
huge
0 lift
into pla
lumg in
addition,
ting the
:ause of
needed,
building
tion of the
le delay i
e is anticipated
to obtain steel a
s been
piping
'0 day:
uired
the addi-
which the new equipment
ready for use to carry' the
normally heavier winter
Accents Call To
ebrOSKU CllUrch
Instructor In
Historif At College
I the college this week.
|, G“ra "ith 7as,''of
9/JA’l from enn ^tate Colle*fe» Pa., will
the.
l| fm the vacancy in the faculty caused
I by the resignation of Justus Hol-
Seven From Here At
O. S. V. This Summer
Undergoes Operation
Robert McCune, Bluffton city mail
carrier underwent an operation for
appendicitis at the Community hos
pital, Friday night. His condition is
reported satisfactory. During his ab
sence Roger Howe is employed at the
post office under temporary appoint
ment.
Mrs. Paul Deitler is convalescing
at the Bluffton Community hospital
following an operation which she
underwent Saturday afternoon.
Miss Gaynelle Basinger who under
went dn operation at Lima Memorial
hospital is still a patient at that
place.
Maynard Pogue Off
For Naval Training
Maynard Pogue who was graduat
ed last May from Bluffton high
school has enlisted in the Navy and
left Wednesday to begin his train
ing at Great Lakes Naval Station,,
Illinois.